Stephen Dinan

Audit finds DHS wastes millions on unused detention beds

Homeland Security spent more than $20 million for detention beds that went unused during just one month last year, according to a new congressional audit. Published February 13, 2021

ICE reveal: 1.2 million illegal immigrants awaiting deportation

ICE is currently monitoring nearly 1.2 million illegal immigrants who've been ordered deported but have not yet left the U.S. -- and nearly all of them are still free in the community, the agency told a federal court this week, revealing the monumental task of policing them all. Published February 12, 2021

DHS will admit 25,000 migrants waiting in Mexico

Homeland Security will allow tens of thousands of migrants who'd been mired for months in Mexico into the U.S. starting at the end of this week, erasing a Trump-era policy and sparking new worries over risks of coronavirus infections. Published February 12, 2021

Lawyer warns Black workers would be harmed by Democrats’ immigration plan

Hiking the minimum wage at the same time Congress is pondering granting legal status to 11 million undocumented immigrants would create a vortex of misfortune for Black workers, and particularly Black men, a member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission told Congress on Thursday. Published February 11, 2021

Federal deficit pegged at $2.3 trillion this year: CBO

Even after the coronavirus pandemic is behind it, the federal government will run massive deficits for the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday, underscoring the deep fiscal hole facing President Biden even before his new round of COVID-19 spending. Published February 11, 2021

GOP demands Nancy Pelosi pay fine for bypassing metal detectors

Republicans demanded Thursday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pay a $5,000 fine for bypassing the metal detectors around the House chamber last week, saying "multiple" lawmakers saw her break her own new rules. Published February 11, 2021

Biden rescinds national emergency declaration at U.S.-Mexico border

President Biden on Thursday officially informed Congress that he has revoked the previous administration's national emergency declaration for the border, recapturing Pentagon money that President Trump had diverted toward border wall construction. Published February 11, 2021

White House: ‘Now is not the time’ to seek asylum

The White House pleaded with would-be illegal immigrants and legitimate asylum-seekers on Wednesday to stay home, saying the U.S. doesn't have the capacity to handle them right now. Published February 10, 2021

VA doctors harvested liver tissue from sick vets without consent: OSC

Doctors on a Veterans Affairs research project harvested liver tissue from sick veterans without their consent, breaking the department's own rules and placing the patients themselves "at serious risk," the government's top whistleblower watchdog agency said in a report to President Biden this week. Published February 10, 2021

William Belknap’s impeachment trial looms large over Donald Trump case

A high federal official who has recently left office. A Senate vote that he can still be tried on impeachment. A widespread belief that he was guilty. Published February 9, 2021

Biden’s DHS opens new tent city to process illegal immigrants

Facing a new surge of illegal immigration, and particularly children, at the U.S.-Mexico border, the Biden administration said Tuesday it's had to open a new tent facility in Texas to handle the increases. Published February 9, 2021

Joe Biden border surge prompts ‘catch-and-release’ restart in Texas

Border Patrol agents are being overwhelmed with a surge of illegal immigrants in parts of Texas and have had to restart "catch-and-release" policies, turning people loose into the U.S. as the first signs of a new migrant surge emerge under President Biden. Published February 8, 2021

Eleanor Holmes Norton announces bill to block permanent Capitol fence

The District of Columbia's member of Congress announced legislation Monday that would ban authorities from building a permanent fence around the complex, calling it outdated and offensive "security theater." Published February 8, 2021

CBO: $15 minimum wage would lose 1.4 million jobs

Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would lift nearly 1 million people out of poverty but would leave even more people without any job at all, the Congressional Budget Office said in a new analysis Monday that deals another blow to President Biden's demand for a wage hike in the next coronavirus relief bill. Published February 8, 2021

Rep. Ron Wright: First member of Congress dies after contracting COVID-19

Texas Republican Rep. Ron Wright, 67, has died, becoming the first member of Congress to die after a coronavirus diagnosis. Published February 8, 2021

Memo: Biden Homeland Security Department to cancel agreements made under Trump

The Biden Homeland Security Department has concluded that at least eight agreements signed by the Trump administration giving states a stake in federal immigration enforcement are "void, not binding and unenforceable," and is moving to cancel them as quickly as possible, according to a memo seen by The Washington Times. Published February 7, 2021

Trump supporters words at Capitol riot loom large ahead of impeachment trial

As the former president prepared to face his second impeachment trial this week, the words of his supporters, captured in court documents, are looming large as senators try to place blame for the attack. Published February 7, 2021

DHS deletes deportation warning over fears of ‘undue stress’ to illegal immigrants

Worried that illegal immigrants may feel "undue stress," Homeland Security's legal immigration agency has now deleted a standard warning to people that overstayed their visas that they ran the risk of being deported. Published February 6, 2021

House gives final OK to budget

House Democrats gave final approval Friday to a new federal budget for fiscal year 2021, moving with striking speed on a version that cleared the Senate just hours earlier. Published February 5, 2021

Memo details DHS strategy to cancel cooperation deals with states

The Biden Homeland Security Department has concluded that eight agreements signed by the Trump administration giving states and localities a stake in federal immigration enforcement are "void, not binding and unenforceable," and is moving to cancel them as quickly as possible, according to a memo seen by The Washington Times. Published February 5, 2021