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Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Stephen Dinan

A smuggler paddles a small inflatable raft across the Rio Grande from Mexico into the U.S. carrying migrant families in Roma, Texas, Wednesday, March 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) ** FILE **

Dollars over danger: Inside the mind of a smuggler

For Cecilio Rios-Quinones, life had always been about money -- and how little he had. Eventually, he and another brother, Ricardo, headed north to Tijuana, where Rito, another brother, was already hooked in with a smuggling organization, guiding people across the border into California. Ricardo and Cecilio were sentenced this spring to 66 months in prison each, and documents from their now-concluded case provide a unique and interesting look at the psychology of a smuggler. Published June 23, 2021

A Haitian migrant family looks to emerge from a rocky canal adjacent to a gap in the U.S. border wall in Yuma, Ariz., Wednesday, June 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Eugene Garcia)

Trump’s claims on construction of border wall system undercut by GAO audit

As the former president prepares to make his first trip to the border since leaving office, the Government Accountability Office has delivered a scorching report card on his border wall. It calculated that he completed only 69 miles of the wall system he promised Americans -- not the more than 450 miles he claimed. Published June 20, 2021

In this May 12, 2021, photo, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the Senate Appropriations committee hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Biden administration will stop using immigration detention facilities in Massachusetts and Georgia that are the subject of abuse allegations. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday announced that federal authorities will no longer use the jail facilities in Bristol County, Massachusetts and the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia. (Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)

DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas bristles at Republicans’ border questions

Republicans stumped Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday over the number of Border Patrol agents who are deployed to the southwestern border, in a testy hearing where he resisted charges that he and the administration have lost control of the boundary. Published June 17, 2021

In this Jan. 12, 2021, photo, President Donald Trump tours a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Alamo, Texas. During the Trump administration's final weeks, the Department of Homeland Security quietly signed agreements with at least four states that threaten to temporarily derail President Joe Biden's efforts to undo his predecessor's immigration policies. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) **FILE**

Trump administration cut corners to speed wall money, auditors say

The Army Corps of Engineers cut corners in order to beat deadlines for President Trump's Mexico border wall and get money out the door before it expired, according to an audit Thursday by the Government Accountability Office, which identified $4.3 billion in no-bid contracts for the project. Published June 17, 2021

President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, June 17, 2021, in Washington. The Supreme Court has dismissed a third major challenge to "Obamacare," preserving health insurance coverage for millions of Americans. Though the court has become increasingly conservative with justices nominated by former President Donald Trump, it nonetheless left the entire law intact Thursday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Biden administration faces record pace of lawsuits

President Biden came out of the starting blocks with the most sweeping agenda of any recent administration -- and he is drawing ferocious resistance in federal courts, where his opponents are filing lawsuits at what appears to be a record pace. Published June 17, 2021

Children and adults wait in lines for donated food at a makeshift camp for migrants near the U.S.-Mexico border Friday, May 14, 2021, in Reynosa, Mexico. Growing numbers of migrant families are making the heart-wrenching decision to separate from their children and send them into the U.S. alone. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) ** FILE **

DHS secretary says Biden policies didn’t cause border surge

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday that President Biden's policies have nothing to do with the surge in illegal immigrants that has swamped his administration, insisting it's part of normal ups and downs. Published June 17, 2021

This Tuesday, March 26, 2019, photo shows a border patrol checkpoint, north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, that U.S. immigration authorities have closed and have reassigned agents to repurpose inspection areas to handle an influx of Central Americans arriving at the Mexican border. All of the checkpoints in the El Paso, Texas, sector, which includes New Mexico and West Texas, have been closed. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)

U.S. soldiers charged with migrant smuggling

Two soldiers have been arrested for alien smuggling in Texas after agents say they were caught with two illegal immigrants in the trunk of their car at a Border Patrol checkpoint, where they had hoped their military uniforms would get them through without inspection. Published June 15, 2021

Annika Iwugo, 16, of Takoma Park, Md., center, helps to hold a banner as she joins fellow supporters of immigration reform in protesting for a path to citizenship and an end to detentions and deportations, Wednesday, April 28, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) ** FILE **

DHS will grant work permits to illegal immigrant victims

The Department of Homeland Security will speed up work permits for tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who claim they are victims of crime, the department announced Monday, saying the current wait, which can last up to five years, is too long to make people remain in economic limbo. Published June 14, 2021