The anti-sanctuary city: Arizona county bucks national trend

Casa Grande, Ariz. –  While an increasing number of cities declare themselves safe zones for illegal immigrants, a sheriff in Arizona is bucking the trend by openly working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol.
“I’m not for sanctuary cities,” said Pinal County Sheriff Paul Lamb. “That’s pretty much it in a nutshell.”
Pinal County, south of Phoenix, is the size of Connecticut. Its 450,000 residents are an ethnic mix – black, white, Hispanic and Native Americans.
SESSIONS TAKES AIM AT 'DANGEROUS' SANCTUARY CITIES, WARNS ON FUNDING
Lamb took office in January and instituted a cooperative program so his jail deputies are cross trained as ICE agents, allowing them to question and immediately determine an inmate’s immigration status. In practice, it allows for a seamless transition of criminal aliens from the Pima County courthouse or jail to ICE custody for deportation.
“Ultimately their goal is the same as ours – public safety,” said David Marin, an ICE director in Los Angeles. “Those sheriffs and law enforcement agencies realize that by turning over these criminal aliens to us they’re not going to be able to go out and commit additional crimes.”
Currently Pinal County has four jail deputies trained in the ICE 287g program, which allows local police to enforce immigration laws. The Trump administration hopes to expand the program to as many cities as possible.
“My job is to keep the people of Pinal County safe,” said Lamb. “The 287g program allows me to make sure I’m not putting criminals back in the community.”
MAYORS OF SANCTUARY CITIES SHOULD BE THROWN IN JAIL
As trained ICE agents, the deputies are able to tap into Department of Homeland Security computers and determine an inmates’ legal status. And unlike sanctuary jurisdictions, the county honors ICE warrants and detainers and will give ICE a call when an inmate is preparing to leave.
“This county cares about illegal immigration and it’s my job to make sure that we work with our federal partners to uphold the law,” Lamb said.
That includes the Border Patrol, which works closely with the county’s anti-smuggling unit.
“They back us up and we help them,” said Deputy Eddie Joseph.
Behind the wheel of an unmarked, black Dodge pickup, Joseph patrols Interstate 8 and 10, both of which cross east-west across Pinal County.
He watches a battered blue SUV suspiciously go up and down a desert road twice in 30 minutes. The behavior mirrors that of smugglers who are looking to pick up illegals hiding in the bushes along the road.
It’s a seven-day walk from the U.S. Mexican border about 80 miles away. Yet, piles of discarded clothes, water bottles and burlap sacks used to carry marijuana litter the desert in popular spots near the highways.
“We see a lot of drug and human smuggling” Joseph said. “You can see here the foot tracks in the sand. They’re probably a few days old.”
The Trump Administration sees local law enforcement as a front line in its battle against illegal immigration, at the border and in the interior. They do not expect to turn local cops into immigration agents. But once an immigrant is booked into jail, for any offense, they become fair game.
The administration argues it is the federal government’s prerogative – not a local mayor or city council – to decide who gets deported and who does not.
“It’s a slippery slope, when you get into that,” Lamb argued. “You can’t start determining this person meets a criteria and this one doesn’t. The bottom line is, it’s illegal (to be here). If someone is illegal, it’s against the law and my job to uphold the law.”
Marin wished more local law enforcement shared his attitude.
“It’s troubling for us because here’s a criminal alien, somebody that we can use our unique authorities to not only remove them from the community,” he said, “but ultimately remove them from the country and again there’s law enforcement  agencies that are just letting them go.”

Michael Goodwin: Susan Rice's lousy track record makes it tough to believe her now

Before we get to Susan Rice, first things first. Every scandal needs a catchy nickname so we can avoid repeating drawn-out descriptions. One-word nicknames are best, especially for those who traffic in tabloids and television.
Absent a better choice, this one shall be known as SpyGate. Spy because there is mounting evidence the Obama administration spied on Team Trump. And Gate because ever since Watergate, big scandals and wannabe big scandals must be Gate. It’s a rule.
We also need a memorable question or two that points toward the endgame. When Richard Nixon’s fate hung in the balance, the case turned on these: What did the president know and when did he know it?
In SpyGate, the crucial question is this: How do we know that the Obama spying on Team Trump was incidental?
What if it was intentional? What if spying was part of a plot to destroy Trump’s candidacy and, when that failed, sabotage his presidency?
We don’t have verifiable answers yet, despite being assured repeatedly that Trump and his associates merely were picked up in conversations with Russian and other foreign officials who were being spied on. Those doing the assuring said that since the Trumpsters were not the targets, it was incidental and thus no harm, no foul.
But there were lots of harms and fouls. For months, stories about possible collusion between Trump and Russia turned exclusively on leaks about members of Trump’s inner circle being caught talking to Russians.
Gen. Mike Flynn was the first example, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was second and others include Jared Kushner. Those leaks, always from anonymous officials, serve to undermine the new president and encourage Democrats to obstruct the administration in the hope that impeachment is coming.
By my count, at least six people — including Trump himself — have been identified as having their communications intercepted by American law enforcement or intelligence. Always, it was “incidental.”
Which gets us to Susan Rice and the importance of her role in seeking the unmasking of those Trump officials. Weeks after she denied any knowledge of unmasking, Obama’s national security adviser flip-flopped Tuesday and admitted she had “sometimes” asked intelligence agencies to identify American citizens whose names had been withheld, as required, in initial ­reports.
“And sometimes, in that context, in order to understand the importance of the report and assess its significance, it was necessary to find out, or request the information as to find out who that US official was,” she told MSNBC.
Count that as one mystery solved. But Rice made two other denials. One, that she didn’t leak any names to the media. And two, that the unmasking was never done for political purposes.
Her track record doesn’t help her credibility. Rice infamously went on five Sunday television shows in 2012 to assure the nation that the Benghazi attack that killed four Americans was in response to an Internet video. That was a flat-out lie — it was a planned terror attack and she had to know as much.
She also brazenly insisted in 2014 that Bowe Bergdahl, the Army sergeant held by the Taliban for five years, had “served with honor and distinction” to justify the trade of five terrorists from Gitmo for his release. Her claim was false, and even the Army disagreed with Rice, charging Bergdahl with desertion.
So when Rice and her defenders insist that SpyGate is much ado about very little, that’s not even close to good enough. She has to prove it — by testifying under oath to Congress.
To continue reading Michael Goodwin's column in the New York Post, click here.
Michael Goodwin is a Fox News contributor and New York Post columnist.

Lawmakers say intel agencies stonewalling on surveillance probe

Lawmakers probing the surveillance of key officials in the Trump campaign and administration say the intelligence agencies now nominally under the president’s control are stonewalling efforts to get to the bottom of who revealed names and leaked protected information to the press.
The House and Senate Intelligence Committees are currently investigating allegations the Obama administration spied on Trump associates – and possibly Trump himself – for as long as the year preceding his inauguration. And while former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice has been implicated as at least one of the officials who sought redacted names from surveillance transcripts, multiple lawmakers and investigators for the panel told Fox News the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency - all agencies in position to aid the probe – are not cooperating.
“Our requests are simply not being answered,” said one House Intelligence committee source about the lack of responsiveness. "The agencies are not really helping at all and there is truly a massive web for us to try and wade through.”
A Senate Intelligence Committee source said the upper chamber had the same experience.

“Our requests are simply not being answered.”
- House Intelligence Committee source

“Any information that will help find the wide extent on the unmasking and surveillance is purposely not being provided,” said the Senate source.
An FBI spokesperson said the bureau is working in good faith.
“The FBI will continue to work with the congressional oversight committees on their requests,” the spokesperson said.
A CIA spokesperson told Fox News the NSA was the lead agency on the matter and referred questions to it.
In a statement to Fox News, the NSA called the allegations "categorically untrue."
"Allegations that the National Security Agency is 'withholding information' from congressional intelligence committees investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election are categorically untrue," the statement said. "NSA fully supports the committees' work. We have already made available significant information in response to their requests, and we look forward to continuing to work with them in the execution of their important responsibilities."
Sources within the NSA said they are watching the investigation closely, with one telling Fox News, “A number of people saw a lot of very questionable stuff. [The Obama administration was] using national assets and intelligence for politics.”
It was not clear if the alleged lack of cooperation was from top brass or agency holdovers resisting the new administration.
The CIA is now headed by former Rep. Mike Pompeo, who himself served on the House Intelligence Committee prior to his nomination. The FBI and NSA are run by James Comey and Mike Rogers, respectively. Both are holdovers from the Obama administration. Last month, both men declined to appear at a private closed door House Intelligence Committee briefing and have not met with the committee members since.
The meeting was supposed to be a follow-up to public testimony by Comey and Rogers to the committee in late March on the topic of Russian meddling in the presidential election and the alleged mishandling of intelligence related to the Trump transition team.
During the public hearing, the pair had declined to answer more than 100 questions, and Comey has been completely unavailable since.
House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told Fox News he had hoped that behind closed doors, Comey and Rogers would be more forthcoming.
Nunes also wanted to ask them about intelligence reports he’d viewed that showed incidental electronic intercepts of Trump team communications. The intelligence reports, which included surveillance of foreign targets, revealed that the names of Trump's team had been "unmasked" or revealed, and their identities widely disseminated throughout the government and to the media.
Nunes said during a March 22 press conference that he was “troubled” because the reports he’d seen were not connected to Russia or any foreign intelligence.
U.S. intelligence sources have told Fox News that Rice, President Obama's national security adviser, is responsible for unmasking at least some of Trump team named in surveillance reports.
Rice said Tuesday on MSNBC, “It was not uncommon, it was necessary at times to make those requests…..” to understand the information. But Rice maintained she is not the leaker, didn’t send the information to the press and did not use the information for political purposes.
And while U.S. intelligence sources told Fox News that unmasking requests escalated after Trump was elected, Rice claimed she didn’t remember. “I don’t have a particular recollection of doing that more frequently after the election.”
President Trump on Wednesday claimed that he believes Rice may have committed a crime by requesting the identities of Trump associates who were mentioned in U.S. surveillance, though he did not provide proof.
Asked by the New York Times if Rice committed a crime, Trump said, “Do I think? Yes, I think.”
Rice isn’t the only Obama official implicated in the Trump team surveillance scandal. Multiple sources insist she was part of a group involved at the highest levels and was not calling the shots.
“A lot of us are upset. We believe this group of people were using national assets for politics and misappropriating them,” said one NSA source. “Don’t forget as the national security advisor, Susan Rice is supposed to ingest and digest. Despite what you are hearing, it is not normal to investigate especially in the broad manner that was being done. She [was] a White House staffer, not a member of an intelligence agency."

Democrat Crying Cartoons

Mitch McConnell: GOP evening the score by using 'nuclear option' for Gorsuch

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has told Fox News' "The First 100 Days" Tuesday that the GOP's use of the so-called "nuclear option" to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch is their response to the Democrats' "breaking the rules of the Senate" in 2013.
"For 230 years, up or down, simple majority [required] for Supreme Court, Cabinet, everything until [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer invented this, so it’s a fairly recent thing to filibuster executive branch appointments," McConnell told host Dana Perino. "All we’ll do faced with this filibuster is even that up so the Supreme Court confirmation process is dealt with just like it was throughout the history of the country."
McConnell also told Perino that that Senate was "going to confirm Judge Gorsuch on Friday. Exactly how that occurs, I guess, will depend upon our Democratic friends."
Earlier Tuesday, McConnell filed for cloture to end debate on the Gorsuch nomination. He is expected Thursday to enact a rules change eliminating the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees and lowering the vote threshold for confirmation from 60 to 51.
McConnell told Perino Tuesday night that Senate Democrats appear to be "pretty locked in" on their promise to filibuster Gorsuch.
"I think they’re responding to their base, which says ‘Resist everything.’ It’s particularly ridiculous to watch it on Gorsuch because there are no good arguments to vote against Gorsuch. None whatsoever."
McConnell also said Tuesday that he had asked the Senate intelligence committee to investigate reports that former national security adviser Susan Rice ordered the unmasking of Trump transition officials under surveillance.
"Anything related to Susan Rice or any of these other suggestions will be handled by the intelligence committee," McConnell said, "and we look forward to receiving their report."

DHS won't rule out arresting illegal immigrant crime victims, witnesses

Homeland Security cannot promise that illegal immigrants will not be arrested if they come forward to report they have been a victim of a crime or a witness to one, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Some victims and witnesses themselves are potentially criminal immigrants who may pose a threat to the country, David Lapan, a spokesman from DHS said at a news briefing.
Lapan added that immigration arrest in courthouses are necessary because some jurisdictions will not cooperate with requests to alert federal agencies.
Los Angeles officials, for example, are already attributing a drop in reported crimes to President Trump's illegal immigration crackdown. These officials fear the threat of arrests can deter victims from reporting crimes or witnesses from cooperating in investigations.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said last month that his city has seen a 25 percent decrease in the number of sexual assaults reported by Latinos living in the city and a drop of about 10 percent in the number of reported domestic violence cases since Trump took office.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Attorney General Jeff Sessions also defended the practice of arresting these immigrants at courthouses in a letter last month to the chief justice of the California Supreme Court.
"Because courthouse visitors are typically screened upon entry to search for weapons and other contraband, the safety risks for arresting officers and persons being arrested are substantially decreased," Kelly and Sessions wrote.

US coal companies reportedly ask White House to remain in Paris climate pact

Two of the top U.S. coal companies reportedly asked the White House to back down on President Trump’s vow to pull out of the landmark Paris climate pact, arguing that the deal could protect its global interests.
Cloud Peak Energy and Peabody Energy executives told White House officials over the last few weeks that staying in the climate deal may give U.S. negotiators a change to advocate for coal in the future, Reuters reported Tuesday.
"The future is foreign markets, so the last thing you want to do if you are a coal company is to give up a U.S. seat in the international climate discussions and let the Europeans control the agenda," a U.S. official familiar with the talks told Reuters. "They can’t afford for the most powerful advocate for fossil fuels to be away from the table.”
Richard Reavey, Cloud Peak’s vice president of government affairs, said staying in the accord and trying to create a “reasonable path forward” on fossil fuel technologies is a reasonable stance.
Officials said the coal industry wants to ensure the Paris deal provides a financial role for storage technology as well as role for low-emission coal-powered plants. The industry also hopes the agreement would protect multilateral funding for global coal projects through international bodies like the World Bank, Reuters reported.
Sources told Reuters in March that Trump’s administration had contacted U.S. energy companies to seek their input about their views on the accord. The sources said many companies would prefer the U.S. remained in the deal, but would also support reducing the country’s commitments in the deal.
Press Secretary Sean Spier said last week that a decision on whether to remain in the deal would be made during the G7 meeting in May.
Trump promised during his presidential campaign to pull the U.S. out of the pact. Trump signed an executive order last week that initiated the unravelling of the Obama administration’s sweeping plan to curb global warming.

Merkley takes to Senate floor 'as long as I'm able' against Gorsuch

Just before 7 p.m. ET Tuesday, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley went to the floor to talk for "as long as I'm able" to protest Republicans' 2016 blockade of President Barack Obama's nominee for the seat, Merrick Garland.
Merkley’s staff streamed the video of him on the Senate floor. So far, the senator has spoken for over 10 hours.
"Make no mistake: this is a stolen seat — & if this theft is completed, it will undermine the integrity of the court for decades," Merkley tweeted as he began.
His endurance was praised by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who tweeted, "Go, @SenJeffMerkley, Go! #StopGorsuch #HoldTheFloor."
Merkley's speech wasn't expected to delay Wednesday's debate on President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch or Thursday's votes.
Senators of both parties bemoaned the further erosion of their traditions of bipartisanship and consensus. Some were already predicting that they would end up eliminating the 60-vote requirement for legislation, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell McConnell committed Tuesday that would not happen under his watch.
He drew a distinction between legislation being filibustered and the filibuster being used against nominees, something that is a more recent development.
Gorsuch now counts 55 supporters in the Senate: the 52 Republicans, along with three moderate Democrats from states Trump won last November — Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana.
SEN. MIKE LEE VOWS TO CONFIRM GORSUCH
A fourth Senate Democrat, Michael Bennet from Gorsuch's home state of Colorado, has said he will not join in the filibuster against Gorsuch but has not said how he will vote on final passage.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told Fox News' "The First 100 Days" Tuesday that the GOP's use of the so-called "nuclear option" to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch is their response to the Democrats' "breaking the rules of the Senate" in 2013.
"For 230 years, up or down, simple majority [required] for Supreme Court, Cabinet, everything until [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer invented this, so it’s a fairly recent thing to filibuster executive branch appointments," McConnell told host Dana Perino. "All we’ll do faced with this filibuster is even that up so the Supreme Court confirmation process is dealt with just like it was throughout the history of the country."
Gorsuch, 49, is a 10-year veteran of a federal appeals court in Denver, where he's compiled a highly conservative record that's led Democrats to complain he sides with corporations without regards to the humanity of the plaintiffs before him.
Merkley also took issue with the Republican claim that Supreme Court justices should not be confirmed during an election year, and listed several judges in the past that were appointed during those timeframes, OregonLive.com reported.
"Until the FBI and Congress complete #Russia investigation, confirming @realDonaldTrump lifetime appointment to #SCOTUS is premature," Merkley tweeted.