Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
DHS Secretary Mayorkas delays new deportation rules
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas won't have his new deportation rules written until August or September, the administration told federal judges this week, marking the second self-imposed deadline the department chief has missed as he tries to come up with a policy to govern whom ICE should target. Published June 30, 2021
Left-wing activists battle Biden over immigration with new lawsuits
Left-leaning immigration groups announced multiple legal offensives Wednesday against President Biden and his administration, suing to try to stop ICE movements of illegal immigrants in one case and demanding speedier action on admitting a refugee in another case. Published June 30, 2021
Migrant deaths rising in summer surge, rescues by border agents soaring
Far from cooling off, as the White House had predicted earlier this year, the border is becoming even more chaotic, with numbers of illegal immigrant juveniles once again rising and smugglers growing bolder about trying innovative methods to avoid agents. Published June 30, 2021
DHS employee pleads guilty to stealing COVID-19 funds
A Homeland Security employee pleaded guilty Tuesday to wire fraud, admitting he bilked a small business owner and the government out of thousands of dollars in emergency relief money. Published June 29, 2021
House Dems target Trump legacy in Homeland Security spending bill
House Democrats unveiled a new Homeland Security spending bill Tuesday that aims to wipe away large chunks of former President Trump's legacy at the department, including new restrictions on deploying agency personnel to police protests, and clawing back more than $2 billion in border wall money lawmakers had already approved. Published June 29, 2021
Supreme Court rules that some immigrants have no right to a hearing
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the government can indefinitely detain certain immigrants who say they will face persecution or torture if they are deported to their native countries. Published June 29, 2021
Health secretary cites ‘progress’ amid reports of rough conditions for migrant kids
Health Secretary Xavier Becerra made a snap visit Monday to a shelter holding illegal immigrant children at the border in Texas and insisted he's making "progress" in improving their living conditions, amid reports of lice outbreaks and youths facing mental breakdowns. Published June 28, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: San Francisco sanctuary protected illegal immigrant hate crime suspect
A man accused of mugging then spitting at a family of Filipino Americans is an illegal immigrant who was still loose on the streets of San Francisco because he was protected by that community's sanctuary city policy -- four separate times. Published June 28, 2021
Harris on first trip to border: ‘We’ve made progress’
Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday that the Biden administration has "made progress" in trying to gain control of the southern border, even as it tries to pave a more lenient path for migrants rushing to the U.S. in hopes of gaining a foothold. Published June 25, 2021
Kamala Harris makes first visit to southern border
Vice President Kamala Harris made her first pilgrimage to the border Friday, watching Border Patrol at work in El Paso handling processing of illegal immigrants, then making a snap visit to a border crossing where aides said she saw other migrants who hoped to claim asylum in the U.S. Published June 25, 2021
Restaurant that beat Biden in court faces affirmative action backlash
The Cajun wings at the Penn Hotel Sports & Raw Bar had always been a big favorite on Yelp. Now, it seems, all anyone wants to talk about is politics after the establishment's owner sued the Biden administration, alleging discrimination in the manner in which it prioritized COVID-19 relief. Published June 24, 2021
Biden administration using Supreme Court’s Obamacare ruling to justify border policies
The Supreme Court's recent ruling on Obamacare has quickly reverberated across the legal landscape, with the administration rushing to tell lower courts to shut down red-state challenges to President Biden's immigration policies. Published June 23, 2021
‘Frequent lice outbreaks’: Kids get Zumba classes, lack underwear, soap at migrant camps
Children have faced "frequent lice outbreaks" at one emergency shelter in Texas set up to handle the surge of juveniles jumping the border, a court-ordered audit says. Published June 23, 2021
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
Report: DHS to readmit illegal immigrants ousted under Trump
Homeland Security will allow some illegal immigrants ousted under the Trump administration to reenter the U.S and renew their cases, according to a news report Tuesday. Published June 22, 2021
Voters not sold on Dems’ 800-plus page rewrite of election laws; bill doomed in Senate
Democrats have labeled their major election overhaul the "For the People Act" -- but when pollsters talk to the people themselves, many of them say they would rather take a pass. Published June 21, 2021
Mailman gets probation for attempt to interfere in 2020 election
A mailman who altered eight absentee ballot requests in West Virginia during last year's elections was sentenced Monday to six months' house arrest. Published June 21, 2021
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
Juneteenth gives federal employees 44 paid days off each year: Study
Federal employees get 44 paid days off work each year, according to a new study by OpenTheBooks.com, a watchdog group. Published June 18, 2021
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
