Free Republic

(WASHINGTON) — An effort by House Democrats to override President Donald Trump’s first veto has failed. That hands him a victory because his declaration of a national emergency at the Southwest border will remain in effect. The Democratic-controlled chamber has voted 248-181 in favor of overriding Trump’s veto. That fell 38 votes short of the 286 needed

ATLANTA (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence’s visit Thursday to Atlanta included a stop at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s field office and a conversation about the “broader mission of border security.” He also blasted Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms over her decision last year to bar the city jail from holding federal immigration detainees and thanked the men and women who work for ICE. Pence highlighted some of the ICE arrests made in the area, including one Wednesday night in Riverdale, Georgia, news outlets reported. “Atlanta and Georgia are safer today because of the outstanding work of the men and...

The government is on track to catch nearly 100,000 illegal immigrants at the border this month, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Monday, renewing the administration’s plea for Congress to do something. That number would be the worst in more than a decade, and it’s more troubling than the worst years because the migrants are children and families who despite being unauthorized, are almost impossible to deport. “The situation at our Southern Border has gone from a crisis, to a national emergency, to a near systemwide meltdown,” Ms. Nielsen said in delivering an update on the state of her department...

FULL TITLE: Dramatic video shows dozens of Central American migrants cutting and shoving their way through a hole in a California border fence ....The migrants were seen cutting through the saltwater-corroded chain link fence They kicked the fence until a gap was big enough for people to squeeze through. The migrants rushed along the beach, past a single border patrol agent in a car. Authorities said all of the migrants were captured after a two-hour foot chase. The Central American migrants all claimed asylum after being caught.

Brian Kolfage Rumors of We Build the Wall’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, you can go to its GoFundMe page yourself, right now, and see that the group has collected a little over $20 million. This is despite a sustained media barrage claiming GoFundMe was going belly-up and refunding every donation — more than 300,000 — that had been sent into the wall-building effort. It’s also despite a sustained online pounding on founder Brian Kolfage’s past and character from the likes of BuzzFeed — the people largely responsible for clickbait listicles — and the Daily Beast. Brian...

Traffickers have established a low-cost bus route through Mexico to deliver thousands of economic migrants from Central America to U.S. blue-collar jobs, according to the Washington Post. The business model is being called the “conveyor belt” system, and large groups of customers are charged from $2,500 to $7,000 per adult and child, depending on amenities, says the Washington Post: Paying up to $7,000 per adult with child, families are transported to staging areas at ranches and hotels in southern Mexico, where they are organized into bus groups and rushed north along Mexican highways, “stopping only for food, fuel and bathroom...

President Trump issued the first veto of his presidency Friday afternoon against a resolution passed by the House and Senate to end the national emergency declaration on border security. Twelve Senate Republicans sided with Democrats on the issue.“Today I am vetoing this resolution. Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution and I have the duty to veto it," Trump said from the Oval Office.“People hate the word invasion, but that’s what it is," Trump continued, calling the resolution "dangerous" and "reckless." "Today I am vetoing this resolution," Pres. Trump says. "Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution,...

President Trump flexed his veto for the first time in his administration Friday, rejecting Congress‘ attempt to end his border emergency declaration and halt wall construction. Surrounded by “angel moms” who have lost children to illegal immigrant violence, Mr. Trump called the attempt to stop wall construction “reckless” and “dangerous.” “Today I am vetoing this resolution. Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution and I have the duty to veto it,” he said. He was moving with striking speed, rejecting the legislation just a day after it cleared the Senate on a 59-41 vote. It had previously cleared the...

Call it the procession of the RINOs. Call it the dirty dozen, standing up and getting themselves counted. Loaded with piety, tears, and flapdoodle, 12 GOP senators proudly voted to halt President Trump's declaration of a "state of emergency" at the U.S. border as migrant caravan after migrant caravan after migrant caravan from Central America and beyond prepare to roll into the states through our porous border, and cartel human smugglers prepare for a big cash flow to themselves, the better to wreak havoc on Mexico and Central America. Utah Senators Mitt Romney and Mike Lee, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio,...

More than a dozen Republican senators introduced legislation on Tuesday that would make it easier for Congress to terminate future national emergency declarations, days before the chamber will vote on President Trump's. The legislation, spearheaded by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), would require that Congress pass a resolution extending an emergency declaration after 30 days for it to continue, otherwise it would be terminated. “If Congress is troubled by recent emergency declarations made pursuant to the National Emergencies Act, they only have themselves to blame. Congress gave these legislative powers away in 1976 and it is far past time that we...

Perhaps American Christians cannot think clearly about homeland security, borders, and immigration for the same reason Americans cannot think clearly about anything else. As Christians we have rich, intellectually credible traditions and frameworks for ethical reflection at our fingertips, and yet, as Americans, we suffer from a historical amnesia. What we need is a historically-attuned theological framework that can lay the foundation for our debates and political deliberations. Without one, we risk acting in ways that contradict the Gospel that we profess. To jump, as we tend to, from Plato and Aristotle to Locke and Hobbes is to ignore crucial...

Congress could never get away with creating constitutional rights for illegal aliens to remain here, yet a single lower court just did so on Thursday. And where Congress would face deep reprisal in the next election, faceless judges will never feel the heat. Conservatives fear that extreme Democrats might actually abolish ICE and all immigration enforcement, but the lower courts are already systematically abolishing ICE’s authority, nullifying immigration enforcement statutes, violating separation of powers, and constantly increasing the wave of bogus asylum-seekers that they originally spawned with other radical rulings. The latest ruling from the Ninth Circuit demonstrates that unless...

President Trump will soon formally seek a total of $8.6 billion for border wall funding from Congress as part of the White House's upcoming budget proposal for the next fiscal year, sources tell Fox News, although the aggressive request faces all-but-certain rejection in Congress amid a growing crisis at the southern border. According to a source familiar with the request, Trump will look to secure $5 billion from Congress, plus $3.6 billion from the military construction budget, for the fiscal year 2020. The request is coming on top of the $8.1 billion Trump already has access to, which includes some...

House Democrats voted Friday to defend localities that allow illegal immigrants to vote in their elections, turning back a GOP attempt to discourage the practice. The vote marks a stunning reversal from just six months ago, when the chamber — then under GOP control — voted to decry illegal immigrant voting. “We are prepared to open up the political process and let all of the people come in,” Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and hero of the civil rights movement, told colleagues as he led opposition to the GOP measure. The 228-197 vote came as part of a broader...

Yesterday the Department of Homeland Security released new numbers showing 76,000 illegal aliens crossed the southern border into the United States in February, a significant increase from the 58,000 individuals who crossed in January. Today Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham is holding a hearing about the problem. "Contrary to what some political opponents and media outlets claim the situation at our southern border is dangerous and growing worse. It’s not a hoax. It’s not a manufactured crisis. It’s not a cable television ploy. It is real. It is serious. It is a threat. And it poses a direct...

Yesterday the Department of Homeland Security released new numbers showing 76,000 illegal aliens crossed the southern border into the United States in February, further overwhelming and hemoraging resources. They were apprehended. White House Press Secretary Sanders is putting that number into context. Saagar Enjeti ✔@esaagar Sarah Sanders on new border apprehension numbers: "76,000 illegal individuals came across our border just last month alone.... That would fill MetLife stadium.... If that doesn't define crisis, I don't know what does." 134 In January, 58,000 individuals crossed. "As border personnel deal with the surge of family unit aliens and alien minors arriving...

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky says he will back a resolution that blocks President Trump’s declaration of an emergency at the southern U.S. border, giving it the votes needed to pass but not enough to turn back a presidential veto. Mr. Paul, a Republican, announced his decision during a Saturday speech at Western Kentucky University, according to the Bowling Green Daily News. “I can’t vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress,” Mr. Paul said. “We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn’t authorize it. If we take away...

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told state lawmakers Friday that he hasn’t made a decision on joining a Congressional resolution opposing President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on the nation’s southern border. Lee objected to Trump’s use of executive authority to divert funding for the construction of a border wall. But he said he’s less concerned with that particular declaration than the underlying question of whether and when a president can sidestep Congress on government spending. “It’s probably not a good idea to give presidents that much power,” Lee said. Lee said while he supports the president’s goal of...

In both his excuses and op-ed, Sen. Thom Tillis sounds like another Democrat North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis’ ‘support’ for President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the border is as splintered as a certain part of his anatomy from sitting on the fence. His both For-Trump but-Against-Him, as laid out in a Washington Post op-ed, is akin to instructing someone to get out there and take down the enemy—but don’t mess him up in the bargain.

Sen. Thom Tillis said in a column posted Monday evening that he will oppose President Trump’s declaration of a border-security emergency. In an op-ed for the Washington Post, the North Carolina Republican said he would support a resolution blocking Mr. Trump’s decree when it comes before the Senate. “I would vote in favor of the resolution disapproving of the president’s national-emergency declaration, if and when it comes before the Senate,” he concluded the column after laying out his support for Mr. Trump’s border-security agenda in general and criticizing Democrats’ obstructionism on the matter. But he said it’s a matter of...