Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Alejandro Mayorkas hails pace of handling border surge of children
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department has cut the number of children in Border Patrol custody by nearly 90%, taking a 100-day victory lap even as immigrant rights activists took to the streets around the White House to complain that the Biden administration hasn't done enough to erase the Trump legacy. Published May 2, 2021
Migrant dies after being run over by Border Patrol vehicle
Border Patrol agents tracking a group of illegal immigrants in Texas Thursday ran over two of them, killing one man, authorities revealed Saturday. Published May 1, 2021
DHS to repair ‘damage’ from Trump border wall construction
Homeland Security announced Friday that it would repair "damage" it said resulted from border wall construction under President Trump in Texas and California. Published April 30, 2021
Immigrant-rights activists arrested outside White House
Secret Service officers arrested immigrant-rights protesters outside the White House Friday afternoon, capping a day of demonstrations that highlighted unrest on President Biden's left wing. Published April 30, 2021
Sanctuary city loses as judge rejects East Chicago’s ‘welcoming’ policy for illegal immigrants
An Indiana judge this week ruled against East Chicago, finding the city's sanctuary policy limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities violates a state anti-sanctuary law. Published April 30, 2021
House GOP accuses Biden of politicizing census
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee on Friday accused the Biden administration of politicizing the census, pointing to the new numbers released this week that were more favorable to Democrats than anticipated. Published April 30, 2021
Activists, illegal immigrants march near White House to protest Joe Biden
A group of illegal immigrants and other immigrant-rights activists are rallying Friday morning near the White House demanding more speed and broader actions from President Biden, saying he hasn't met his promises to their community. Published April 30, 2021
Census population shifts favoring blue states under Biden raise alarm
Republican-led states made gains in this week's census count, but one conservative activist says they should have been larger, and he's questioning shifts in the numbers over the last four months coinciding with the Biden administration's watch. Published April 29, 2021
Joe Biden signals compromise on immigration legalization scope
President Biden signaled Wednesday that he is willing to forgo legalization for all illegal immigrants in the U.S. and instead pursue bills that would cover nearly a third of the population, comprised of illegal immigrant "Dreamers," other long-time humanitarian cases and people working in American agriculture. Published April 28, 2021
DHS postpones Real ID compliance to 2023
Citing the coronavirus pandemic, Homeland Security announced Tuesday that it is granting yet another delay in compliance with the Real ID Act's deadline for having secure identification to board an airplane, setting a new target of 2023. Published April 27, 2021
Ed Gonzalez, Texas sheriff who restricted cooperation with ICE, tapped by Biden to lead agency
President Biden will nominate Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, a Trump critic who cut some cooperative ties with ICE, as the new director of the immigration enforcement agency. Published April 27, 2021
Courthouses now off-limits for arresting illegal immigrants, DHS says
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas nudged the country's courthouses into sanctuaries for illegal immigrants Tuesday, ordering ICE and Border Patrol agents to stop arresting people at the facilities unless national security is at risk or there are overwhelming public safety reasons. Published April 27, 2021
DHS to revoke visas, freeze assets on smugglers
Fed up with watching smugglers drop children from the Border Wall or dumping them in the roiling waters of the Rio Grande, Homeland Security said Tuesday it was kicking off a new operation to identify and slap penalties on them, including revoking visas and freezing assets in U.S. banks. Published April 27, 2021
Red states see gains as census shifts House seats
Political power shifted slightly from blue to red states Monday as the Census Bureau announced how seats in the U.S. House will be divvied up for the next decade, giving Texas two more seats and Florida one seat, while California and New York each lost a seat. Published April 26, 2021
U.S. population at 331,449,281
The official U.S. population in 2020 was 331,449,281, up 7.4% from a decade earlier, the Census Bureau announced Monday. Published April 26, 2021
Migrant surge shows Border Patrol is ‘critically understaffed,’ Jody Hice says
The Border Patrol is "critically understaffed" amid the border surge, sapping agents' morale and punching gaps in the nation's security, the top Republican on a subcommittee that oversees government operations said Monday. Published April 26, 2021
Migrants take to trains to jump border, get around highway checkpoints
Nearly every freight train crossing the border from Mexico into El Paso, Texas, has illegal immigrants on it, marking a major increase in one of the more dangerous methods of jumping the boundary, Customs and Border Protection said Monday. Published April 26, 2021
Biden triples Trump in immigration actions in first 100 days
President Biden has come out of the box swinging when it comes to immigration, averaging about one new immigration executive action a day during his first 100 days, according to a new analysis Monday. Published April 26, 2021
DHS cancels fines for illegal immigrants who refused to leave U.S.
Homeland Security announced Friday it was canceling fines for illegal immigrants who refused to leave, and would grant an amnesty for any fines already imposed by the Trump administration. Published April 23, 2021
Concepcion Malinek convicted for forcing Guatemalan migrants to labor
As tens of thousands of illegal immigrant families stream into the U.S., the case offers a stark warning about what some of them are likely facing now that they are in the country. Published April 22, 2021