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Nearly a year since Texas adopted a law empowering state and local police officers to arrest undocumented migrants who cross into its territory, Republican lawmakers in at least 11 states have tried to adopt similar measures, capitalizing on the prominence of immigration in the 2024 presidential election.

The fate of the proposals six have been enacted or are under consideration, with Louisiana expected to sign its measure into law as early as next week is still being litigated. In a case before a federal appeals court, Texas is defending its law by arguing that illegal immigration is a form of invasion, allowing it to expand its power to protect its borders. Federal courts have previously ruled that, from a constitutional perspective, the definition of the term invasion is limited to military attacks.

States have tested the limits of their power over immigration before, but lawyers and legal scholars said the push this year was accompanied by what had amounted to a public-relations campaign.

In campaign speeches, political ads and the halls of Congress, more Republicans are echoing former President Donald J. Trump by arguing that the rise of migration at the southern border is an invasion. President Biden, under pressure from both Republicans and Democrats to tackle the issues at the border, signed an executive order this month to curb asylum, and he could have more actions coming next week.

The measure expected to be signed by Gov. Jeff Landry, Republican of Louisiana, includes provisions allowing Mr. Landry and his attorney general to establish a compact with Texas to address border security. Mr. Landry has already met with Gov. Greg Abbott, Republican of Texas, and dispatched Army National Guard soldiers from Louisiana to Texas border with Mexico.

Valarie Hodges, the state senator in Louisiana who wrote the legislation, joined other Republicans in calling Mr. Bidens recent action too little, too late, saying in an interview that state measures like hers were essential because the Biden administration had failed to enforce immigration laws.

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G.O.P.-Led States, Claiming 'Invasion,' Push to Expand Power to Curb Immigration - The New York Times

EXCLUSIVE An illegal immigrant from Honduras who was released into the United States after coming across the southern border during the Biden administration has pleaded guilty in Iowa for the sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl.

Junior Manuel Dubon Benitez, 18, was arrested on Feb. 14 on suspicion of sexual abuse upon Jane Doe a 12 year old child at a residence in Waterloo, Iowa, days earlier, according to court documents obtained first by the Washington Examiner.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that Dubon Benitez was a citizen of Honduras who illegally entered the U.S. near Hidalgo, Texas, in April 2022 as a 16-year-old.

The case is the latest example of what former President Donald Trump has termed Biden migrant crime, used to describe crimes committed by immigrants who were released into the country after entering illegally amid the Biden-era border crisis.

Nearly 10 million non-U.S. citizens have been encountered by federal law enforcement attempting to enter the country in the more than 40 months since President Joe Biden took office more than any other period in history.

Dubon Benitez was charged with second-degree sexual abuse but accepted a plea deal for third-degree sexual abuse, according to the court documents reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

He pleaded guilty in Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County on May 14. The final judgment was entered into the record on June 7.

Judge MelissaAnderson-Seeber will sentence Dubon Benitez in the coming weeks. He faces up to 10 years in state prison.

Dubon Benitez is being held by the Iowa Department of Corrections until sentencing. ICE has lodged a detainer with the state, a request that Dubon Benitez not be released after serving his sentence but immediately turned over to the federal agency to begin deportation proceedings.

ICE did not disclose if Dubon Benitez arrived with a parent or as an unaccompanied minor who was placed with an adult in the U.S. by the Department of Health and Human Services.

His connection to the victim, whose identity is protected due to the victims age, was not described in the court records. The county attorney declined to provide additional information beyond what was obtained in the court documents.

Im saddened and disgusted to hear that a young Iowan has suffered the awful tragedy of sexual assault, Chuck Grassley (R), the senior senator from Iowa, told the Washington Examiner in a statement. The Biden administration ought to wake up to the crisis theyve created and begin enforcing our nations immigration laws.

Meanwhile, Ill continue to lead congressional oversight of the federal programs used to shuffle illegal immigrants, including unaccompanied minors, into our country, he added. By failing to enforce appropriate safeguards and vetting measures, the Biden administration is enabling bad actors to run rampant.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Elsewhere, New York police arrested a 25-year-old man from Ecuador on Tuesday in connection with the rape of a 13-year-old girl in the middle of the day at a park in Queens.

The suspect, Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi, is believed to have approached a boy and girl at the park and attacked the girl while wielding a machete.

Originally posted here:
Illegal immigrant pleads guilty to sexually assaulting 12-year-old girl - Washington Examiner

President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a new program aimed at helping some migrant families stay together by allowing noncitizen spouses and children to apply for lawful permanent residency without leaving the country and Donald Trump and other top Republicans already are crying foul.

The administration also said some recipients of deferred action under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and other so-called Dreamers would be able to more swiftly get work visas if they have earned a college degree at an accredited U.S. institution and received an offer of employment from a U.S. employer in a field related to their degree.

Todays a good day, a smiling Biden said to applause during an afternoon event in the East Room of the White House to announce his moves. Those who will be eligible for the spouse and children program would have been living in the United States for at least 10 years. These couples have been raising families, sending their kids to church and school, and paying taxes. They have contributed to our country for over 10 years or more.

Still, he described those individuals as living under a cloud of fear and uncertainty, adding: We can fix that. And thats what Im going to do today.

The White House estimates the new program could impact 500,000 noncitizen spouses, who on average have been inside the United States for 23 years. It also could affect up to 50,000 noncitizen children. During a briefing Tuesday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sidestepped a question about whether federal entities could handle a spike in applications. We believe this can move forward, she said.

About the program for work visa-seeking college graduates, Biden said: Those who have been educated in U.S. colleges and universities should put their skills and knowledge to work here in America. We want to keep building the strongest economy in the world, with the best workforce in the world.

The new process is expected to be implemented later this summer, Biden said.

A fact sheet released by the administration said the moves would facilitate the employment visa process for those who have graduated from college and have a high-skilled job offer, including DACA recipients and other Dreamers.

The action comes after Biden was criticized by some Democrats for issuing an order on June 4 that would limit migrants asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border and allow immigration officials to swiftly deport individuals who illegally enter the United States. Republicans called the move too little, too late, or said it was motivated solely by election year politics.

Jean-Pierre said Tuesday the new action should not be assessed as a counterweight to the June 4 action. Were trying to deal with a broad stroke of issues here, she said, not ruling out additional executive moves.

Advocates for immigrant families were already praising the White Houses plans ahead of an event at the White House on Tuesday.

Immigrant spouses & children of U.S. citizens & Dreamers contribute to our economy & communities & enrich our culture. America is home. They deserve to be here and live their American Dream, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Barragn, D-Calif., wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Through his actions, President Biden is helping half a million non-citizen spouses and step-children of Americans to remain with their families, including many from Asia and the Pacific Islands who have lived here for years. Easing visa processes for Dreamers will cut red tape and allow young people to secure a job of their choice and contribute to our communities and economy, Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., the chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said in a statement.

Rep. Sylvia R. Garcia, D-Texas, said in a statement that with the move, the administration reaffirms its commitment to the immigrant community.

An estimated 55,000 immigrants in the Houston area are married to U.S. citizens and many of them will now be able to live, work and raise a family without the fear of deportation, she said. Additionally, providing work opportunities to some of the 270,000 Texans who are undocumented Dreamers and considered high-skilled workers will be a huge step forward.

Lanae Erickson, vice president for social policy, education and politics at the center-left Third Way think tank said in a statement that the folks who will be eligible to apply for this relief have been in this country for decades, working hard, contributing to their communities, and caring for their families. It makes no sense to upend their lives and send them back to a country they barely know.

Republican critics, however, blasted the move even before the White House formally announced it.

Biden is preparing to give MASS AMNESTY to hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens! This is unsustainable and cant be allowed to continue! On day one, we will SHUT DOWN THE BORDER and start deporting millions of Bidens Illegal Criminals, Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, wrote Monday on his social media site. We will once again put AMERICANS First and MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!

A top Trump surrogate added more.

Bidens mass amnesty plan will undoubtedly lead to a greater surge in migrant crime, cost taxpayers millions of dollars they cannot afford, overwhelm public services, and steal Social Security and Medicare benefits from American seniors to fund benefits for illegals draining the programs Americans paid into their entire working lives, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Tuesday statement.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a Judiciary Committee member and candidate for Senate Republican leader in the next Congress, accused Biden of playing election year politics.

This is what the Border Patrol calls a pull factor. Its like a magnet, attracting people into the United States who know that if they wait long enough, President Biden will find some way to allow them to stay in the United States, even though they circumvent legal means of coming into the country, Cornyn said in a statement.

Now, I dont think anybody is fooled by President Bidens sudden interest in whats happening at the southern border, Cornyn added. This is a last-ditch attempt to turn down the heat on the border crisis in the lead up to the election, and the American people arent buying it.

Biden accused Trump of trying to play on migrants fears, adding his expected general election foe is solely interested in playing politics while Biden is focused on fixing the immigration system.

Among the Democratic lawmakers and officials standing on the stage behind Biden were Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, as well as Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada.

Read the original post:
Democrats hail Biden immigration moves that Trump brands 'amnesty' - Roll Call

Some 42,000 migrants have illegally crossed the border from Mexico in the days since President Bidens crackdown took effect, The Post can reveal.

Border Patrol sources say that most of the migrants are still being given court dates and released into the US despite the Biden Administrations claim that the new measure would stem the flow of illegal immigrants into border towns and major cities.

Thousands are still released by the day, a source said.

They get their ICE appointment and theyre gone in the wind. You think theyre going to show up when they know they dont have a legitimate claim? Of course not.

The average number of crossings each day is about 3,200 since the order began June 5, according to internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data leaked to The Post.

The two weeks before that, there was an average of more than 3,900 crossings a day, suggesting that the policy hasnt had a dramatic impact on illegal immigration at the southern border.

Crossings also tend to dip as the summer progresses and the scorching heat makes the trek more dangerous.

Bidens order restricts migrants access to asylum when crossings average 2,500 per day and will only be overturned after crossings average 1,500 per day for a consecutive week.

Migrant crossings havent been that low since July 2020, when President Trump sealed the border due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the Biden policy is in effect, most migrants who cross the southern border illegally will be ineligible to pursue asylum in the US.

However, this doesnt mean that theyre being immediately deported after being caught.

If they are found to be ineligible, they will still have the chance to tell federal authorities that they have a fear of returning to their home country.

An asylum officer will then vet their fear claims and determine whether they are legitimate.

If a migrant doesnt have a fear claim, the federal government will attempt to remove them quickly. If they do have a valid fear claim, they will typically be released with a future court date.

Morning Report and Evening Update: Your source for today's top stories

The system is still overwhelmed. This is a last ditch effort from this bullst administration to say we did something. We dont know why theyre still coming, the source said.

Too little too late. Its an election year and this administration knows theyre in deep shit.Theresstill thousands coming in by the day.

The restrictions, however, exclude large groups of migrants, including those who use the CBP One phone app to cross at a port of entry, enter as unaccompanied minors, or can prove they have suffered severe forms of trafficking or face medical emergencies.

Its all smoke and mirrors, Manny Bayon, the president of the National Border Patrol Council for San Diego, told The Post recently.

The San Diego sector has become the epicenter for illegal immigration at the southern border, where migrants from more than 100 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa are exempt from the executive orders restrictions and are being released into the country.

Migrants who are exempt from the order will have the chance to have their cases heard by an immigration judge.

However, under the Biden administration, 77% of migrants applying for asylum have been permitted to remain in the US, equating to 499,000 of the 648,000 applications. That is because immigration judges are dismissing hundreds of thousands of cases effectively allowing those migrants to stay in the country without the fear of deportation.

Migrants can also be ordered removed by immigration judge in absentia, meaning they failed to appear to hearings and were considered no shows.

Out of the more than 231,000 migrants ordered removed by an immigration judge in the financial year 2023, which ended in September 2023, roughly 159,000 failed to appear for their hearings, which resulted in deportation orders, according to federal data.

Each Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer has to manage an average of 7,000 cases, making it all the more difficult to track down migrants with deportation orders, according to Fox News.

More here:
42,000 migrants crossed border since Biden's executive order - New York Post

Mexican cartels are now offering VIP travel agency packages worth as much as $15,000 to help illegal immigrants sneak into the United States via a stream of underground tunnels.

The so-called VIP smuggling has become so lucrative that the cartels are now focusing roughly 70% of their criminal activity on getting migrants across the US-Mexico border instead of their usual drug trafficking, USA Today reported.

The La Linea cartel, for example, has allegedly been shepherding roughly 1,000 VIP migrants from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico into El Paso, Texas every month, a senior Mexican official told the outlet.

Criminals have shifted from their primary business, which was drug trafficking. Now 60-70% of their focus is migrant smuggling, Arturo Velasco, the head of the Chihuahua attorney generals offices anti-kidnapping unit, said.

A kilo of cocaine might bring in $1,500, but the risk is very high, he continued. The cost-benefit of trafficking a person is $10,000, $12,000, $15,000.

The migration travel agency packages can range between $6,000 to $15,000 per person, according to both smugglers and migrants.

The VIP migrants are given a code, which identifies what cartel theyve paid to help them, so they can avoid being harassed by local cops or rival syndicates as they traverse through the tunnels, according to officials.

Mexican National Guard members and immigration bureaucrats, as well as local cops, are allegedly in on the VIP ruse and have been accepting bribes from cartels, officials claimed.

In some cases, cops are even kidnapping migrants and keeping them in safe houses until they can find the money to pay a cartel for a VIP package.

They load people onto their trucks, and they care for them, so that another cartel doesnt abduct them, one smuggler, identified only as Ricardo, said.

The cops then bring the VIPs to tunnel entrances and, in some instances, provide cover for the smugglers and migrants as they head to the border, he added.

Ricardo said he forks out nearly $600 per migrant for the police protection service.

Its millions of pesos in extortions and everyone is in on it, Tony Payan, director of The U.S.-Mexico Center at Rice University, said of the VIP scheme.

In other words, its an extortion force.

Meanwhile, Jurez municipal police chief Cesar Omar Muoz Morales denied allegations of corruption, insisting his department was clean and efficient.

Were doing the best we can, he said.

News of the cartels VIP migrant operation emerged after it was revealed some 42,000 migrants have illegally crossed the border from Mexico in the days sincePresident Biden issued a crackdown executive order earlier this month.

The June 4 order threatens to haltasylum processingatthe US border if the average number of illegal arrivalscrosses 2,500 per dayin a week.

The average number of crossings each day has been roughly 3,200 since the order began, internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data leaked to The Post shows.

Border Patrol sources said most of the migrants are still being given court dates and released into the US despite the Biden Administrations claim the new measure would stem the flowof illegal immigrants.

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Mexican cartels offering $15K VIP packages to help illegal immigrants sneak into US - New York Post