Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
DHS secretary signals she’s open to adding guest worker visas
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told Congress on Wednesday she will make a decision "soon" on whether to approve tens of thousands of additional visas for temporary foreign workers, but signaled a willingness to allow more workers. Published April 11, 2018
Paul Ryan to retire
Speaker Paul D. Ryan announced Wednesday that he'll retire from the House at the end of this year, ending a two-decade career in Congress and igniting more soul-searching for a GOP already bracing for a rough round of midterm elections in November. Published April 11, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg apologizes for Facebook abuses
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced off against senators Tuesday, acknowledging growing pains as his company went from dorm-room project to internet colossus that now faces a crisis of confidence after mishandling users' data and seeing its platform abused by Russian operatives who meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Published April 10, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg: ‘System basically worked as it was designed’ in sharing 87 million users’ data
Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday that Facebook worked as they designed it when it shared 87 million users' data with a researcher who then turned around and sold it to a political consultancy tied to the Trump campaign. Published April 10, 2018
Trump updates travel ban, lifts restrictions on Chad
President Trump removed Chad from his "extreme vetting" travel ban policy Tuesday, saying the country had made enough strides in cooperating on sharing data and boosting security that its citizens can again be admitted to the U.S. Published April 10, 2018
Facebook assisting Mueller probe into Trump 2016 campaign
Facebook is working with special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Trump campaign interactions with Russian operatives during the 2016 election, company founder Mark Zuckerberg told Congress on Tuesday. Published April 10, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder, struggles to defend failure to alert users after 2015
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg struggled to explain Tuesday why his company didn't alert tens of millions of users after it first learned in 2015 that a British political consultancy had gained access to users' personal details. Published April 10, 2018
Dems demand bill to protect Mueller after Trump comments
Democrats warned Tuesday of a "constitutional crisis" if President Trump were to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, and demanded Congress move quickly to approve legislation that would take the decision out of the president's hands. Published April 10, 2018
Facebook’s Zuckerberg to begin two days of congressional testimony in Cambridge Analytica hearing
Senators scolded Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during the first of two days of congressional testimony on Tuesday accusing the massive social networking company of failing to protect private data and threatening to impose significant regulations it the firm does not change its ways. Published April 10, 2018
Muslim group sues to block Trump terrorism report
Two anti-Trump organizations filed a lawsuit Monday arguing that a government report earlier this year linking immigrants to most of the country's terrorism cases since 2001 is so misleading that it violates federal law. Published April 10, 2018
Environmental group asks appeals court block Trump wall
Environmental groups on Monday demanded a federal appeals court step in and block President Trump from building any new fencing on the southwest border, saying the administration has outstripped its legal bounds in waving dozens of laws to speed up construction. Published April 9, 2018
Trillion-dollar deficits come roaring back under Donald Trump
Republicans' tax cuts and the new spending bill Congress approved last month will send the economy surging this year to 3.3 percent growth -- but will also send the deficit soaring back to the record levels of the early Obama years, the Congressional Budget Office said Monday. Published April 9, 2018
DHS to build 20-mile wall along border in New Mexico
Homeland Security began building a border wall in New Mexico on Monday, moving to replace vehicle barriers and outdated mesh fencing with a modern wall that will deter pedestrians attempting to cross in the remove desert west of El Paso. Published April 9, 2018
Donald Trump sends National Guard to southwest border to catch border jumpers
Stymied by Congress on immigration, President Trump and his top aides have taken matters into their own hands with a series of executive actions over the last week designed to push back against a renewed surge of border jumpers. Published April 8, 2018
Trump signs memo vowing end to ‘catch-and-release’ of illegal immigrants
President Trump signed a directive Friday ordering the government to end the so-called "catch-and-release" policy at the border, moving to combat what the administration says is a growing "crisis" of illegal immigration. Published April 6, 2018
Man threatened to kill GOP lawmaker to defend Mueller probe: Feds
A Virginia man threatened to kill a Republican congressman while saying he was trying to defend special counsel Bob Mueller's probe into the Trump administration, prosecutors said Friday in announcing federal charges against the man. Published April 6, 2018
Feds notch worst March in budget history; monthly deficit tops $200 billion
The U.S. government just notched its worst March on record for a budget imbalance, adding another $207 billion to the deficit for the month as the Trump tax cuts began to sap revenue, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday. Published April 6, 2018
Feds announce ‘zero tolerance’ policy for illegal immigration
Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday ordered federal prosecutors to take a "zero tolerance policy" toward illegal immigrants nabbed at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible. Published April 6, 2018
PETA announces billboards demanding Donald Trump Jr. be deported
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals announced a billboard campaign Friday calling for Donald Trump Jr., the president's son, to be deported from the U.S. for his interest in hunting. Published April 6, 2018
High-skilled visas go fast; Feds reach cap for H-1B program in one week
It took less than a week for businesses to snap up all 85,000 of the high-skilled visas available for 2019, the Trump administration said Friday, announcing that it has already received more than enough petitions to account for all of the H-1B visas it's allowed to give out next year. Published April 6, 2018
