Wednesday, January 17, 2018
ICE plans major sweep in California, report says
Trump has repeatedly clashed with California over sanctuary laws, which he argues inhibit his ability to restrict immigration. |
Federal officials are planning a major sweep of the
Bay Area and other Northern California areas in the coming weeks as
part of an operation to target more than 1,500 undocumented immigrants
in the area, The San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.
The source told The Chronicle that
the sweep is expected to be the largest of its kind since President
Trump took office.ICE officials declined to comment on the operation,
the paper reported.
Upon hearing about the planned the operation Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., accused the Trump administration of trying
to make a political point.California has clashed with law enforcement over immigration enforcement for a number of years. In October, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB54 into law, which effectively limits local police from cooperating with federal authorities.
Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration that such laws encourage immigrants to not cooperate with local law enforcement and inhibit his goal of enforcing immigration laws.
In October, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB54 into law, which effectively limits local police from cooperating with federal authorities.
One of the stipulations of the law is that it denies federal officials the ability to detain illegal immigrants who have been placed in local jails.
ICE officials have warned that such standards would force the agency to arrest undocumented immigrants in the communities that hold such policies.
Thomas Homan, the acting ICE director, maintained that SB54 “threatened public safety,” and that under such circumstances, the federal government would be forced to conduct massive arrests in the communities that hold such policies.
DOJ to appeal San Fran DACA ruling, will ask Supreme Court to end program
The Justice Department on Tuesday said it plans to
appeal a lower-court ruling that blocked the Trump administration from
ending an Obama-era program aimed at shielding immigrants brought to the
U.S. illegally as children from deportation.
In a separate release, the Justice
Department said it will also seek a review by the U.S. Supreme Court
–even before a ruling from the appeals court.
Last week, a San Francisco-based federal judge blocked
the Trump administration from reversing the Deferred Action on Childhood
Arrivals program, which has shielded more than 700,000 people from
deportation since its inception.“It defies both law and common sense for DACA—an entirely discretionary non-enforcement policy that was implemented unilaterally by the last administration after Congress rejected similar legislative proposals and courts invalidated the similar DAPA policy – to somehow be mandated nationwide by a single district court in San Francisco,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement Tuesday.
Sessions added that the Justice Department would also be “taking the rare step of requesting review on the merits of this injunction by the Supreme Court so that this issue may be resolved quickly and fairly for all the parties involved.”
The president has been vocal on the San Francisco ruling, tweeting just hours after the announcement that America’s court system is “broken” and “unfair.”
“It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court system is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts,” President Trump tweeted.
In September, Trump ended DACA, which had been in place since 2012.
The president is currently negotiating with lawmakers over comprehensive immigration reform, which would include his campaign promise of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, while Democrats are pushing to protect immigrants under DACA.
Trump cites federal report on foreign-born terrorists to urge immigration reform
President Donald Trump on Tuesday used a new report
from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security — revealing that
nearly three out of four individuals convicted on international
terrorism charges in the U.S. were foreign-born — to call for
immigration reform.
The DHS and DOJ released the report
to “be more transparent with the American people,” abiding by the
guidelines of Trump’s March 6 executive order, more commonly known as
the travel ban.
According to the report, at least 549 people were
convicted of international terrorism-related charges in the U.S. between
September 11, 2001 and December 31, 2016. Of those convicted, 254 were
not U.S. citizens, 148 were foreign-born and received citizenship and
147 were citizens by birth.It also noted that the DHS in 2017 denied U.S. entry to 2,554 people on the terror watch list.
Trump reacted to the report by tweeting: “We have submitted to Congress a list of resources and reforms we need to keep America safe, including moving away from a random chain migration and lottery system, to one that is merit-based.”
....we need to keep America safe, including moving away from a random chain migration and lottery system, to one that is merit-based. https://t.co/7PtoSFK1n2— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018
I am calling on Congress to TERMINATE the diversity visa lottery program that presents significant vulnerabilities to our national security. pic.twitter.com/tW4wOlI4vu— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2017
A senior administration official said Tuesday that the report “is part of the administration’s efforts to illuminate basic statistics that should be at the hands of the American people to inform public discourse on the issue,” The Hill reported.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions reacted to the report on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Tuesday.
"We have immigration, we want immigration, but we want to vet these people," Sessions said. "We want to know who they are and make sure they're going to be productive people, people who will flourish in America, who are going to not be terrorists, not be criminals and that’s exactly correct for America."
Sessions added that the U.S. should "tighten up on our admission of people from dangerous areas of the globe, where we can’t vet, where we have high numbers of terrorists that live in those areas. We should certainly be more careful and limit that kind of immigration."
Arrested ex-CIA officer suspected of compromising US informants in China: report
The former CIA officer arrested
Monday for unlawfully retaining classified information may have helped
China execute or imprison several U.S. informants, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, unlawfully
possessed top secret information whose disclosure could cause
“exceptionally grave damage to the National Security of the United
States,” the FBI wrote in the affidavit supporting his arrest.
Lee, whose security clearance was terminated when he
left the CIA in 2007, improperly retained books containing “true names
and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees,” the affidavit
read.The New York Times was the first to report that U.S. officials believe that Lee may have played a key role in outing US informants working in China, who started to go dark in 2010.
One of those officials was shot to death in front of coworkers in the courtyard of a Chinese government building, as a clear warning to other potential traitors, according to sources cited by The Times.
The paper cited sources who said Lee, who began working for the CIA in 1994, left because he was unhappy at his career progression there.
Between 18 and 20 key CIA sources in China were systematically jailed or killed from 2010 to 2012, in what US officials described as one of the worst intelligence failures in decades, according to the Times.
The losses were reportedly reminiscent of the significant damage caused by rogue agents Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, who became Russian spies.
The FBI said that its inquiry, which began in 2012, involved luring Lee back to the U.S. and searching his hotel rooms in Hawaii and Virginia.
As evidence mounted, the FBI interviewed Lee several times in 2013.
Lee never mentioned possessing classified information during those interviews, according to the arrest affidavit.
It is unclear whether Lee will be charged in the informants' deaths.
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
French Pres. Calls for Law Against Fake News, Spurs Free Speech Fears
France’s President Emmanuel Macron is ordering a law to foil efforts to disseminate false information during electoral campaigns.
In a New Years speech to journalists, Macron said he is ordering a new “legal arsenal” whereby news outlets must reveal their owners and where their money comes from.
The new law could see a cap on money to produce content, and allow emergency actions to block websites.
French regulators could suspend media controlled or influenced by foreign powers.
Russian outlets like RT and Sputnik, whose coverage was seen as favoring Conservative candidate Marine Le Pen, could be censored.
Media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders is also watching.
“We are not opposed to the principle of a law against fake news, but the point is to be able to write a law without endangering the freedom to reveal things about political, social, and economical life,” said Christophe Deloire, Secretary General for Reporters Without Borders.
Some fear banning fake news will backfire on human rights grounds, because there is no legal definition on the term.
Government shutdowns of websites may also have unintended effects, such as satirists and journalists being accidentally targeted.
North Korea Fires Back After South Korean President Thanks U.S.
North Korea suggested it may not be sending athletes to compete in the Winter Olympics after all.
Last week, there was a sign of optimism amid the North Korean nuclear crisis after much anticipated talks between the north and south.
“I think President Trump deserves big credit for bringing the inter-Korean talks,” stated South Korea President Moon Jae-in.
However, following the comments thanking President Trump for bringing the north to the negotiating table, the rogue regime is now back on the attack.
Through its state-run news outlet, North Korea called Moon’s ‘thank you’ a sordid act, adding it casts doubt on the future relationship between the two countries.
The broadcaster went on to threaten the regime’s exit from the Olympics, saying the train destined to carry the country’s delegation to the games hasn’t yet departed.
The two sides had earlier released a joint statement promising to hold a new round of talks, and officials were hopeful on the progress being made.
President Trump was also optimistic after speaking on the phone with President Moon last week.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has yet to speak out on the latest controversy surrounding his regime.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
Tit for Tat ? ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — A statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester on the an...
-
NEW YORK (AP) — As New York City faced one of its darkest days with the death toll from the coronavirus surging past 4,000 — more th...