Free Republic

The Trump administration plans to allow 45,000 additional seasonal guest workers to return to the U.S. this summer, the highest number since the president took office, according to three administration officials. The Department of Homeland Security plans to announce the additional seasonal-worker visas next week, an administration official said. They will become available in two waves: the first 20,000 will be immediately available, while employers can apply for the remainder for jobs beginning June 1. It wasn’t clear whether the White House has fully signed off on the numbers, and an administration official cautioned they could change. The additional visas...

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, in an exclusive interview with Fox News while touring the border just days after taking the helm at DHS, detailed what he described as an urgent and “exciting” plan to go after the gangs fueling the flow of illegal migrants, weapons and drugs across the southern border. "The TCOs and cartels, they control the southern side of the border — they have to be paid, they have to be compensated for any of these large flows coming across the border,” he told Fox News. “You eliminate that and you eliminate their ability to recruit...

(Just picture of the new levee wall in South Texas)

Tom Homan hits back after Wasserman Schultz claims Trump immigration policy driven by 'white supremacy' Former acting ICE Director Tom Homan hit back Friday at Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who at a House hearing this week accused the Trump administration of pursuing a "heinous white supremacist ideology" through its immigration policies. "It's really pathetic that a U.S. congresswoman can't have an intelligent debate or ask an intelligent question because she's unarmed. She's ignorant to the facts. The facts don't support her false narrative on this administration's immigration policies, so she spends her five minutes attacking and calling people racist," said...

Republican senators are warning President Donald Trump that he cannot legally appoint immigration hard-liner Ken Cuccinelli to lead the Department of Homeland Security. The White House and DHS lawyers, however, are continuing to work on a controversial end run around a federal law that prohibits Cuccinelli from serving as an acting secretary. It would likely face an immediate court challenge as well as the ire of members of his own party. “The White House would be well advised to consult with the Senate and senators before they take any decisive action that might be embarrassing to Mr. Cuccinelli or to...

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli is being seen as a likely replacement for outgoing Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan, sources tell Fox News -- a move that would be welcomed by immigration hardliners. President Trump on Friday announced that McAleenan would be leaving the job to spend more time with his family, and added that the new acting secretary would be announced next week. The announcement immediately led to speculation as to who would step into the vital cabinet position -- one that is a central post for the nation's immigration policy....

President Trump announced Friday night that Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan would step down from his position. “Kevin McAleenan has done an outstanding job as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security. We have worked well together with Border Crossings being way down," tweeted Trump, who tapped McAleenan to lead the department earlier this year. Trump named McAleenan the department’s acting chief in April following Kirstjen Nielsen's resignation. -DEVELOPING "Kevin now, after many years in Government, wants to spend more time with his family and go to the private sector,” Trump tweeted. “Congratulations Kevin, on a job well done!” Trump said...

Protesters forced acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan to end his speech at a recent event in Washington, D.C. On Monday, McAleenan was invited to give remarks and then participate in a discussion session at an annual immigration policy meeting hosted by Georgetown Law. However, protesters kept standing up, holding banners and shouting to prevent the acting secretary from being heard by other attendees.

Likely will not be edited or removed any time soon       Wikipedia, the online Encyclopedia, which has been routinely accused of left wing bias, has a list of ICE facilities under a section titled “concentration and internment camps,” and is keeping it there despite critics requesting it be removed.The list of ICE facilities reappeared on the concentration camps page after Democrats, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, used the rhetoric to describe US holding centers on the border with Mexico.Editors of the Wikipedia page cited the Democrats’ use of the term “concentration camp” to justify the inclusion of the ICE centers on the...

The Trump administration implemented new policies on Wednesday in an effort to end the "catch-and-release" of family units entering the country illegally or applying for asylum. In the past, the Department of Homeland Security has only been able to detain and process families together for 20-days. After that, they've been released into the United States and become unlikely to show up for immigration court dates months or years later. That practice is changing and DHS will now hold family units together, without separating children from parents, until their immigration hearing and full processing. "Large numbers of alien families are entering illegally across...

The Departments of Homeland Security and Justice released a new rule Monday under which migrants who enter the United States at the southern border are ineligible for asylum unless they sought protection in one of the countries they traveled through first. The measure, an effort to stem the flow of migrants from Central America into the U.S., is expected to take effect Tuesday. To remain eligible for safe harbor in the U.S., the rule requires migrants to first seek protection in a country they traverse, such as Mexico, El Salvador, or Guatemala, before arriving at the southern border. Attorney General...

The city braced for deportation raids this weekend that didn’t come to pass, but legal groups and city officials fanned out across the five boroughs to assuage fears and inform immigrants of their rights. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were planning to arrest families who recently arrived, missed their court dates, and were ordered deported. But fear has spread among many immigrants. At Saint Joan of Arc Church on Stratford Avenue in the Bronx, around 60 people filed into the basement for know-your-rights workshops. Alejandra, who didn’t want to provide her last name, said she came to the U.S. 12...

New information regarding Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kevin McAleenan is raising questions about his commitment to the Trump administration. Fox News had reported that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) raids, slated to begin last Sunday after months of planning, had to be canceled due to the plans being leaked to The Washington Post. That someone, according to Fox News and The Washington Examiner, was allegedly McAleenan himself. The Washington Examiner also uncovered McAleenan’s past political donations and found he has a track record of supporting Democratic candidates. Since 2008, McAleenan has given almost entirely to...

When I was the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, I often talked about sanctuary cities and how politicians who push them were dishonest with their communities. I often talked about how these jurisdictions are un-American, undermine public safety, put the public in harm’s way and make life harder and more dangerous for law enforcement. Let's dissect the false narrative pushed by advocates for sanctuary policies. We often hear that sanctuary policies enable victims and witnesses to report crime and communicate with police without the worry of being turned over to ICE and being deported. Other politicians say that...

"DHS Frees 8.5K Illegal Aliens in Eight Days; 204.5K Released in Half a YearJohn Binder 12 Jun 2019 President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released about 8,500 border crossers and illegal aliens into the interior of the United States over the past eight days, federal data confirms.…Since December 21, 2018, DHS has released a total of 204,500 border crossers and illegal aliens into the interior of the country, with all of them going to four American communities: San Diego, California; Phoenix, Arizona; El Paso, Texas; and San Antonio, Texas.San Antonio, for example, has been forced to absorb nearly 80,000...

Border crossers and illegal aliens are being released into the interior of the United States without going through basic medical examinations and disease tests, Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kevin McAleenan admits. In written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, McAleenan admitted the thousands of border crossers and illegal aliens DHS is releasing every week are not undergoing disease tests. McAleenan wrote: The public health risk — family units are released into our communities with unknown vaccination status and without a standard medical examination for communicable diseases of public health concern, as well as a public...

Former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli is expected to take a top job at the Department of Homeland Security to help steer the administration's immigration policies, a senior administration official said. Cuccinelli is not expected to take on the role of "immigration czar," a position President Donald Trump had considered establishing to improve coordination between the agencies involved in handling the steep uptick in migrants crossing the US's southern border in recent months. But Trump and White House officials hope Cuccinelli, a politically savvy immigration hardliner, will ensure the White House's immigration priorities are being carried out at the Department...

Did search and nothing popped up. The Department of Homeland Security is racing to implement a plan that would give federal law enforcement on the border the authority to conduct interviews with asylum seekers who fear returning to their home countries, according to two sources with first-hand knowledge of the plan. Under the pending procedural change, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers would train Border Patrol agents on the southern border how to conduct "credible fear interviews," which immigrants must pass to go on to claim asylum. Agents would conduct the interviews shortly after apprehending people who have illegally crossed...

The shakeup within the Department of Homeland Security’s leadership continued on Wednesday after it was announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Ron Vitiello would be stepping down on Friday. Outgoing DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen issued a statement Wednesday announcing Vitiello’s departure and thanked him for his “unwavering” leadership. “For over three decades, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Ron Vitiello has protected our homeland with courage and conviction,” the statement read. “Ron’s knowledge and expertise as a seasoned law enforcement professional has been invaluable to DHS, and he has left a legacy of excellence as our Department...

President Trump said Tuesday that his administration isn’t bringing back the policy of family separation for migrants and blamed former President Barack Obama for putting illegal immigrant children in cages. Asked by reporters about the policy of family separation, Mr. Trump pointed to the actions of his predecessor. “Just so you understand, President Obama separated the children,” Mr. Trump said. “Those cages that were shown — I think they were very inappropriate — were by President Obama’s administration, not by Trump. President Obama had child separation.” He challenged reporters in the Oval Office, “Take a look. The press knows it....