Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
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
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
DHS chief Mayorkas: ‘Unfair’ to ask why Biden, Harris haven’t been to border
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday it is "unfair" for a Republican congressman to ask why Vice President Kamala Harris laughed when asked whether she would go to see the border surge. Published June 17, 2021
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
DHS secretary vows to be ‘ideology neutral’ in tackling domestic terrorism
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday that his department will take a broad approach to domestic terrorism, realizing that it's not just right-wing extremists who engage in the violence. Published June 17, 2021
Justice Department deletes Trump-era decisions limiting asylum claims
The Justice Department on Wednesday expanded the types of cases that can qualify for asylum, revoking two Trump-era decisions that had restricted claims based on domestic violence or gang activity in migrants' home countries. Published June 16, 2021
Texas announces $250 million border wall down payment, online fundraiser
Gov. Greg Abbott announced a $250 million down payment Wednesday on his plan to have Texas build its own version of the border wall, and he said the state will also accept donations online from supporters who want to pay for more miles of wall. Published June 16, 2021
Smartphone smugglers: How social media is reshaping border crime
Mark Delgado told Border Patrol agents he had been scrolling through TikTok one day when he came across a video asking for drivers, saying they could make $4,000 a trip. Published June 16, 2021
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
Top federal watchdog says Biden’s border wall halt was legal
The Government Accountability Office ruled Tuesday that President Biden was within his powers to stop border wall construction, calling it a "programmatic" delay, not an attempt to thwart the will of Congress. Published June 15, 2021
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
GOP Reps. Gohmert, Clyde sue to block Pelosi’s fines
Two Republicans announced a lawsuit Monday challenging fines slapped on them for violating the House's new security screening rules, saying someone has to stand up to what they see as an increasingly imperial way that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has run the chamber. Published June 14, 2021
Victims of immigrant crimes demand say in ICE deportation rules
A group of people who lost relatives to crimes committed by illegal immigrants has demanded to meet with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, saying they deserve to be part of his decision-making as he writes new rules restricting ICE arrests and deportations. Published June 14, 2021
Federal study predicts Biden’s plan to curb immigration onslaught is doomed to fail
A Homeland Security-backed study has found that it's unlikely Central America's economies can be boosted enough to stop people from trying to migrate to the U.S., undercutting President Biden's plans to rely on nation-building to curb the border surge. Published June 14, 2021
DHS ‘legally required’ to spend Trump’s border wall money, officials say
Homeland Security officials said Friday they are "legally required" to spend billions of dollars Congress allocated to Mexican border wall construction, but said they will focus on projects that "mitigate" damage from previous construction rather than on finishing the wall President Trump had planned. Published June 11, 2021
DHS cancels Trump’s office for victims of illegal-immigrant crimes
President Trump gave an unprecedented voice to victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants, creating an office in ICE to highlight their plight. On Friday, the Biden administration announced it was repurposing the mission of that office in a way that victims' advocates say drowns out their voice. Published June 11, 2021
Amnesty International says DHS is deporting thousands of children to Mexico
The Biden administration reversed a Trump policy and is no longer expelling illegal immigrant children from Central America who show up at the border without parents -- but children from Mexico who show up in the same condition are being deported, according to a new analysis. Published June 11, 2021
Doctors Without Borders details rape, murder of migrants heading toward U.S.
A U.S. congressman's shocking account last week of migrant abuse in Panama, including incidences of babies being washed downriver, is being echoed in a new report from Doctors Without Borders, which says staffers in the region are seeing a stunning number of sexual assaults of migrant women. Published June 10, 2021
Biden’s budget scalpel missing: Spend & tax plan breaks tradition of trying to cut waste
President Obama famously labeled him Sheriff Joe, the man the government had to answer to when it came to wasting taxpayers' money. But somewhere along the way, President Biden put away his budget scalpel. Published June 10, 2021
Illegal immigration flow shifts as authorities nab 180K migrants in May
Homeland Security said Wednesday that it tallied more than 180,000 encounters with illegal immigrants in May, keeping up a pace that's the worst in 20 years. Published June 9, 2021
