Immigration
July 17, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
A dispute has been brewing in federal courts about what to call people who are in this country unlawfully. In the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Judge Beverly Martin, an Obama appointee, has taken to writing concurring opinions in which says these people should be called “non-citizens” rather than “illegal aliens.” See here, here, and here. Judge Lisa Branch, a Trump appointee, has pushed back. She notes
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July 17, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Reconciliation is the process through which budget bills can pass the Senate with a simple majority of the votes. The idea, I take it, is that it’s so important to have a budget that the quest to pass one shouldn’t be subject to a veto by 41 Senators. The Democrats intend to pass a massive spending bill via reconciliation. The bill, once it’s actually drafted and proposed, will be full
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July 16, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
A federal district court judge in Texas has ruled that DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is invalid. The judge is Andrew Hanen. In 2015, he barred President Obama from carrying out DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans) and his decision was eventually upheld by the Supreme Court, 4-4. Now, in one of those nationwide injunctions everyone hates except when it favors one’s side on an important matter, Hanen
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July 12, 2021 — John Hinderaker
In Austria, a 13-year-old girl was raped and murdered. Four Afghan immigrants were arrested for the crime. The alleged rape and murder of 13-year-old Leonie has shocked much of Austria as it was revealed that several of the four Afghans arrested or wanted for arrest in the case had prior, years-old deportation orders against them, as well as prior criminal convictions. This kind of story recurs over and over again
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July 12, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Some conservatives dispute the idea that there are “jobs Americans won’t do.” In my neighborhood, however, there are jobs that only recent immigrants seem willing to perform, even when the compensation is quite generous (e.g., shoveling snow for a few hours after a big storm for $300 or more). Now, there is a new set of jobs that many Americans seem very reluctant to do — the ones they did
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July 4, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Title 42 is a public-health order that allows border agents to quickly expel illegal border-jumpers without a hearing, so as to keep them from spreading the Wuhan coronavirus. According to Mark Krikorian, it is the only one of Trump’s border initiatives that Team Biden has partly kept in place. The administration has exempted all “unaccompanied” minors from the policy, as well as most families, but continues to use it to
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June 15, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Donald Trump sent out this email a few minutes ago: I have accepted the invitation of Texas Governor Greg Abbott to join him on an official visit to our Nation’s decimated Southern Border on Wednesday, June 30, 2021. The Biden Administration inherited from me the strongest, safest, and most secure border in U.S history and in mere weeks they turned it into the single worst border crisis in U.S history.
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June 11, 2021 — Steven Hayward
By now it is clear that Kamala Harris has had the worst week for a Vice President since Dan Quayle misspelled “potato” and attacked Murphy Brown almost 30 years ago. There are news reports, no doubt aided and abetted by some cagey White House staff, that the White House is “troubled” or even “dismayed” by her poor performance. I’m guessing a lot of Biden’s long-time loyal staff have discovered the
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June 10, 2021 — John Hinderaker
The Southern border has rapidly turned into a crisis under the incompetent leadership of the “Biden administration.” Most recently, Kamala Harris made a fool of herself in Central America, apparently sent there to take the heat for failed policies that are deeply unpopular with the American people–except, of course, for the small but vocal base of the Democratic Party. The border fiasco, more than anything else, explains the relative unpopularity,
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June 7, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Kamala Harris is visiting Guatemala carrying this message from Joe Biden: “Guatemalans stay home.” Indeed, according to this New York Post report, Harris pleaded with potential migrants not to come to U.S. Begging people not to do what they clearly believe is in their interests isn’t much of a strategy for dealing with the border crisis. Thus, it’s not surprising that Harris isn’t being well received. Protesters greeted Harris with
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May 19, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
N.S. Lyons writes about political upheaval in France and reflects on its possible implications for the U.S. In France, two despairing letters — one by retired military officers, the other by active-duty personnel — have triggered controversy. In essence, the letters complain that France is disintegrating and in danger of civil war. The retired officers argue that Islamists in the immigrant-heavy suburbs are “detaching large parts of the nation and
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April 26, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
In January, my conservative cousin formerly from New York, currently from California, alerted me to the possibility that Governor Gavin Newsom might face a recall election. I posted my cousin’s observations in a post called “California Dreaming.” Now, as the Mamas and the Papas once sang, California dreaming is becoming a reality. State officials have certified that enough valid signatures have been gathered to put the question of recall to
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April 18, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Nothing so surely signals the essential emptiness of Joe Biden than his rapid flip-flop Friday on raising the cap on the number of asylum seekers the United States will accept. At first the Biden Administration announced that they would not lift the relatively low cap that Trump had adopted, but following “outcry” from “Progressives,” Biden did a pirouette worthy of Bolshie ballerina and said he’d now lift the cap. One reason
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April 12, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Byron York begins his article on the present border crisis this way: Anyone paying attention to the news knows the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border is terrible. Anyone who actually visits the border discovers it is worse than that. Byron bases this statement on his visit to the border, during which he accompanied a group of GOP House members. The observations in his report support his conclusion. But why is
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April 11, 2021 — Steven Hayward
I know, it is a silly question. But seriously, some news items over the weekend really make me wonder. First up, the New York Times—a former newspaper, as Andrew Klavan likes to remind us—has run an “explainer” about the growing universe of potential personal pronouns. The first expansion took us up to something like 60 or so, but now we have moved on to “neopronouns” (seriously), which takes us way
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April 1, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Here’s a question. If there is no border crisis, why is Joe Biden’s Department of HHS inviting federal employees in departments having nothing to do with immigration or health to travel to the border and provide assistance? Here’s another question: Isn’t the Biden administration inviting a misappropriation of federal funds? And finally: What are such federal employees from random agencies supposed to do when they get to the border? These
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March 28, 2021 — John Hinderaker
The Biden administration is desperately trying to prevent the American people from realizing the extent of the fiasco at our Southern border. Thus, loyal Democrat Chris Wallace this morning criticized Biden, pointing out that the Trump administration was more transparent. The Biden administration has repeatedly tried to prevent photos and videos of conditions at the border from reaching the American people. Late last week, a delegation of 18 senators visited
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