DACA Cartoons

Rep. Mac Thornberry: We need a strong vibrant economy to fund our military

This 2007 image shows two U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor aircraft during a training mission.  (AP/ U.S. Air Force) 

The primary job of the federal government is to provide for the common defense, yet today only 15 percent of the budget is devoted to that task.  While our military personnel will always try to do whatever is asked of them, years of inadequate and unpredictable funding have taken a real toll.  Much of their equipment is old and worn out, and too often they have not been getting the training they need to do what the nation asks.  In 2017 about four times as many service members lost their lives in routine training and operations than in hostile actions.

Defense Secretary James Mattis testified recently that “our competitive edge has eroded in every domain of warfare – air, land, sea, space, and cyber.”  Others have put our position compared with rival states, such as Russia and China, in much starker terms.  There can be little doubt that this erosion of American military strength has encouraged a variety of adversaries to be more aggressive and that the world has grown more dangerous as a result.

The budget agreement recently passed by Congress and signed into law begins to reverse this decline.  At the same time, sufficient resourcing comes with additional responsibility, for both the Congress and the Department of Defense.  While the added funding will allow us to begin to repair our planes, ships, and equipment, we must also continue to drive significant reforms needed within the Department and other agencies to stay ahead of rapidly changing technologies and a wide range of current and anticipated future threats.  In addition, the first full audit of the Department will occur this year, which will help uncover areas for financial improvement.
Over the past three years, Congress has enacted significant reforms with strong bipartisan support. We have modernized military benefits, reorganized much of the Defense bureaucracy, and reformed the way the Pentagon buys goods and services. All of this was done with a goal of making the Pentagon, and especially the acquisition system, more agile.  As a result, anyone entering military service today will witness these reforms, over the course of their career, save the taxpayer billions. We have more work to do, and top officials in the Department seem willing to work with Congress towards this important goal. 

A military starved of resources, training, and equipment will not long be able to protect the country physically or economically.

Still, some have opposed restoring military budgets by trying to revive the old “guns versus butter” debate.  In fact, American economic prosperity and our national security are more like the chicken and the egg – we cannot have one without the other.
We need a strong, vibrant economy to produce the tax revenue to fund our military.  We also need economic growth and innovation to ensure that our military technology stays ahead of authoritarian, directed economies like China’s that can force a whole-of-nation effort against us.
But a strong military is also an essential prerequisite to a healthy economy and to our quality of life.  Since World War II, the rules-based international order created and maintained by the United States has benefited peoples around the globe and none more so than Americans here at home.  We are living longer with a higher material standard of living than ever before.
When we talk about the necessity of a strong military, it is not only to protect our people and allies from North Korean missile and terrorist attacks.  It is also to guarantee freedom of navigation in the sea and in the air and to ensure that there are fair, enforceable international rules that give American companies and American workers a fair chance to compete.
Allowing our military strength to continue to wane adds fuel to China’s narrative that America is a nation in decline so that Asian nations would do better to enlist in China’s alternative economic and military order.  If China sets the rules for much of the world’s economy, America will feel the consequences in our pocketbooks as well as in our security.
A military starved of resources, training, and equipment will not long be able to protect the country physically or economically.  That is why Congress came together this month and ended the era of asking our troops to do too much with too little.  To make the most of that investment, we must now apply equal effort to agility driven reforms.
The brave men and women in the military serve the nation unconditionally, and our support for them should be unconditional as well.  They deserve the best training, equipment, and support that our nation can provide.  By providing that kind of support for them, we are also helping ensure that future Americans will inherit a country of growth and opportunity.
Republican Mac Thornberry represents Texas' 13th District in the U.S. House of Representatives where he serves as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

What is DACA and why is the Trump administration ending it?

DACA: What is it?

President Trump is expected to make a decision on the fate of Obama-era immigration Executive Order DACA. But what is it?

It’s down to the wire for President Trump and lawmakers to come up with a plan for the hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.

In September 2017, the Trump administration officially announced its plan to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) – which provides a level of amnesty to certain undocumented immigrants, many of whom came to the U.S. as children – with a six-month delay for recipients. However, two federal judges have recently ruled that DACA must continue while litigation is pending. 

Here’s a look at the DACA program and why the Trump administration dismantled it.

What is the DACA program?

Nearly 800,000 undocumented youth fell under the DACA program's umbrella.  (Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez)

The DACA program was formed through executive order by former President Barack Obama in 2012 and allowed certain people who came to the U.S. illegally as minors to be protected from immediate deportation. Recipients, called Dreamers, were able to request “consideration of deferred action” for a period of two years, which was subject to renewal.
“Deferred action is a use of prosecutorial discretion to defer removal action against an individual for a certain period of time,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services stated. “Deferred action does not provide lawful status.”
Individuals were able to request DACA status if they were under the age of 31 on June 15, 2012, came to the U.S. before turning 16 and continuously lived in the country since June 15, 2007.
Individuals also had to have a high school diploma, GED certification, been honorably discharged from the military or still be in school. Recipients could not have a criminal record.
It did not provide “legal status.”

How many people are affected by DACA?

Nearly 800,000 undocumented youth are under the program's umbrella.
Thousands of people could lose their jobs if the DACA program is rescinded permanently, according to a study by the left-leaning think tank, the Center for American Progress.
Daniel Garza, president of the conservative immigration nonprofit Libre Initiative, told Fox News that DACA offers a “reprieve from a life of uncertainty for innocent kids who didn’t break the law.”
“It’s rather disappointing to think they could return to a state of anxiety and fear,” he said.

Why did the Trump administration dismantle it?

The Trump administration announced in September 2017 that it planned to phase out DACA for current recipients, and no new requests would be granted.
Since the announcement, Trump has offered to work with lawmakers on a solution for the hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. who fell under DACA’s umbrella of protections. He has also repeatedly blamed Democrats on social media for lack of a solution.
On Feb. 13, a Brooklyn federal judge ordered the government to let people already in the DACA program continue enjoying protections but declined to guarantee the program to new applicants. In January, a San Francisco judge ruled that DACA must remain in place while litigation is ongoing.
The Supreme Court reportedly held a close-door meeting to discuss the court decisions on Feb. 16.
Earlier this year, Trump released his “four pillars” of immigration reform, which included a provision for legal status for DACA recipients and others who would be eligible for DACA status. The White House estimated that total to be 1.8 million people.
Republicans – and some Democrats – opposed Obama’s order establishing DACA from the start as a perceived overreach of executive power.
Obama spoke out on social media after the Trump administration announced the plan to dismantle the program, stating that it's "self-defeating ... and it is cruel" to end DACA and questioned the motive behind the decision.
One thing to consider: Trump's decision to end DACA could throw a wrench into his administration's other immigration reform efforts.

Do any DACA recipients serve in the military?

Despite some rumors circulating online to the contrary, Dreamers were eligible to serve in the U.S. military since 2014 when the Pentagon adopted a policy to allow a certain amount of undocumented immigrants to join.
In the fiscal year 2016, 359 DACA recipients had enlisted in the Army – which is the only branch to accept immigrants of this category.
A Department of Defense official said in April 2017 that the military would continue to accept noncitizen recruits, but it is unclear if that will continue to be the case.

Russia official calls US charges a joke worthy of actor Jim Carrey

A spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman says the U.S. indictment charging 13 Russians with trying to influence the U.S. presidential election is ridiculous enough to be the work of a professional comedian.

State news agency Tass quoted ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying Sunday: "I sometimes get the impression that ... behind these statements that are made in the U.S. are some of their most popular comedians, maybe Jim Carrey."

The indictment issued Feb. 16 alleges a businessman linked to President Vladimir Putin and a dozen other Russians ran a "troll farm" that created false social media content.
The indictment – the first filed against Russian nationals as part of Mueller’s probe – effectively returns focus to the meddling activities out of Russia in the run-up to the 2016 election, following a string of charges relating to the actions of Trump associates.
Further, the DOJ made clear that the indictment does not allege that any of the interference changed the outcome of the presidential race.
“There is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity. There is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the special counsel probe, said at a Friday press conference.
Tass says Zakharova commented during a talk show on state Rossiya-1 TV: "It's really very ridiculous to blame 13 Russians from a legal company with influence on the U.S. election and seriously discuss it as evidence."

Oakland mayor warns of impending ICE raid, ramping up sanctuary-city tension

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf warned on Twitter that ICE would possibly raid the city's Bay Area as soon as Sunday.  (City of Oakland)  This woman needs to see the inside of a jail cell.

The mayor of a sanctuary city in California issued a warning that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could be conducting a raid in the area as soon as Sunday — ratcheting up tension with the feds while giving her constituents an early heads-up.

Libby Schaaf, the Democratic mayor of Oakland, shared the warning — which she said she “learned from multiple credible sources” — in a press release on Saturday, “not to panic our residents but to protect them,” Fox 2 reported.

The mayor said she didn’t know further details of the ICE operation, but claimed she felt it was her “duty and moral obligation as Mayor to give those families fair warning when that threat appears imminent.”
The feds detained at least four people Sunday, a program manager for the San Francisco Immigrant Legal Education Network told the San Francisco Examiner, although the paper noted it was unclear if the detentions were related to any broader ICE operation.
Schaaf during a news conference on Sunday also said she told mayors of other Bay Area cities of the impending ICE sweep, SFGate reported.
Her tweet on Saturday aligned with previous reports that law enforcement officials in Northern California would not cooperate with ICE, and noted state law “prohibits business owners from assisting ICE agents in immigration enforcement and bars federal agents from accessing employee-only areas.”
Schaaf, who is seeking reelection, said in January that she’d be willing to go to jail to defend the city’s sanctuary city status, and has openly opposed the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
“It is no surprise that the bully in chief is continuing to try to intimidate our most vulnerable residents,” Schaaf said at the time. “We're very clear that our values are to protect all of our residents regardless of where we come from. We want to protect families, not tear them apart.”
WHAT ARE SANCTUARY CITIES?
And California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s running for governor, commended Schaaf’s public warning, telling SFGate: “We can and must protect immigrant families from Donald Trump’s mass deportations. I want to thank Mayor Schaaf for her courage and hope more local leaders will follow her lead.”
ICE told KGO-TV on Saturday that the bureau was unsure what Schaaf was referring to as “There are ICE operations every day.”