Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Ballooning number of ‘gotaways’ poses public safety, national security risk
At least 270,000 migrants have sneaked into the U.S. and burrowed into communities across the country so far this fiscal year, according to the latest Border Patrol data. Published July 23, 2021
Biden’s border crisis gets worse; surge of illegal juveniles, fentanyl and migrant deaths
The border crisis is worsening, undercutting President Biden's early assurances that the chaos along the U.S.-Mexico boundary was just a seasonal blip. Published July 20, 2021
House Republicans challenge caught-and-released migrants’ ability to fly on U.S. airlines
House Republicans demanded answers from Homeland Security on Tuesday on why undocumented immigrants caught and released at the border are able to board commercial flights, going deeper into the U.S. Published July 20, 2021
ICE deported at least 70 potential U.S. citizens: GAO audit
ICE deported at least 70 people who had a possible claim to U.S. citizenship, according to a new audit by the Government Accountability Office that dinged the deportation agency for failing to do a good enough job investigating and tracking the issue. Published July 20, 2021
Audit finds Trump Cabinet official misled Congress over census citizenship question
Then-Secretary Wilbur L. Ross Jr. "misrepresented" his reasons for why he wanted to add a citizenship question to last year's full census, according to an inspector general's investigation that found he misled Congress in testimony on two occasions. Published July 19, 2021
Anti-DACA court ruling sets Democrats scrambling to protect ‘Dreamers’
A federal judge's decision against the DACA program injected new urgency into Congress's desire to give "Dreamers" a permanent legal solution -- but the court ruling did nothing to overcome the deep divisions that have blocked every attempt over the last decade. Published July 18, 2021
Mexican migrant dies from border wall fall
An illegal immigrant who fell from the border wall in Texas last month has succumbed to his injuries, the Border Patrol said Saturday. Published July 17, 2021
Biden calls DACA ruling ‘disappointing,’ urges Congress to act
President Biden on Saturday called on Congress to create a citizenship path for illegal immigrant "dreamers," after a federal judge declared the Obama-era DACA program violated federal law and blocked new applicants. Published July 17, 2021
DACA was enacted illegally, federal judge rules
A federal judge ruled Friday that the Obama administration violated procedural laws when it created the DACA program for illegal immigrant "Dreamers," and blocked new applications from being approved. Published July 16, 2021
Trump’s new anthem: ‘Paint the wall!’
Amid the other curiosities of former President Donald Trump's recent visit to the border was his peculiar complaint about the border wall: President Biden is refusing to paint it. Published July 15, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Most illegal immigrants are no-shows after catch-and-release
Few illegal immigrants caught and released at the border on promises of turning themselves in to ICE later are actually showing up, defying Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' assurances of a "high rate" of compliance and leaving the department with few options for tracking the migrants down. Published July 13, 2021
ICE eases rules for pregnant illegal immigrants
Illegal immigrant women who are pregnant or nursing will no longer be arrested or detained, barring exceptional circumstances, ICE announced Friday. Published July 9, 2021
Soldier’s sham marriage conviction exposes immigration fraud ring in military
An Army soldier's conviction on marriage fraud charges last week pulled the curtain back on what experts say is a problem within the U.S. military, with troops entering into sham unions with illegal immigrants in order to earn more money for themselves and to help the migrants stay in the country. Published July 8, 2021
Federal worker: ‘We are traumatizing’ immigrant kids
Immigrant rights groups lashed out at the Biden administration this week after a new whistleblower complaint from two volunteers at a shelter for illegal immigrant children said they'd seen tragic mismanagement and suffering youths. Published July 8, 2021
Public loses faith in Biden on immigration ‘crisis’
On no other issue has President Biden lost the faith of the country as quickly and thoroughly as immigration, where Americans tell pollsters they not only find his strategy lacking, but they actually yearn for a return to the Trump days. Published July 6, 2021
Immigration activists call Texas border security efforts an ‘insurrection’ against U.S.
A major Latino group issued an Independence Day demand to President Biden to confront growing efforts by red-state governors to impose border security on their own, calling it an "insurrection" that the federal government must put down. Published July 5, 2021
Broken system: Deportation backlog now nearly three years for average case
More than 1.3 million people are currently awaiting deportation decisions in immigration courts, and the average case has been pending for nearly three years, according to new data that sheds light on just how broken the U.S. immigration system has become. Published July 4, 2021
DHS to bring back veterans who were deported ‘unjustly’
Homeland Security announced Friday that it will launch a campaign to invite immigrants who'd served in the U.S. armed forces, but who ran afoul of the law and were deported, to come back into the country. Published July 2, 2021
CBO sees supercharged recovery as pandemic dissipates, predicts severe inflation in coming months
The U.S. economy will roar to life over the rest of this year and remain supercharged for a year or two beyond, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday, though the analysts also warned Americans to expect inflation to rise "sharply" for several months. Published July 1, 2021
Federal judge rejects Arizona challenge to Biden deportation rules
A federal judge on Wednesday gave a tentative blessing to the Biden administration's current limits on deportations, saying the government has the right to set priorities, even if that means some illegal immigrants face almost no risk of deportation. Published June 30, 2021