Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Joe Arpaio to run for Senate in Arizona
Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced Tuesday he will run for Arizona's Senate seat as an unabashedly pro-Trump candidate, inflaming what was already one of the hottest races in the country. Published January 9, 2018
Paul Ryan confirms GOP talking about earmark revival
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan confirmed Tuesday that his troops are beginning a conversation about restoring the practice of earmark spending -- though he said they were just conversations at this point. Published January 9, 2018
Ed Royce, House Foreign Affairs chairman, to retire; latest GOP committee chief to call it quits
Rep. Ed Royce, a senior House Republican, announced Monday he will retire from Congress at the end of this year, marking the latest committee chairman to declare his time on Capitol Hill is coming to an end. Published January 8, 2018
DHS announces end to special status for 200,000 Salvadorans
The Trump administration will end a special protected status for about 200,000 would-be illegal immigrants from El Salvador who have been living here since 2001 -- though they'll have an 18-month grace period to get their affairs in order, officials announced Monday. Published January 8, 2018
House Republicans reconsider earmarks
House Republicans are about to take the first steps to revive earmarks, with officials planning to hold hearings early this year to look at how they might ease back into the practice, The Washington Times has learned, as a growing number of lawmakers think they have surrendered too much power by forgoing them. Published January 7, 2018
Immigration debate pulls government shutdown closer
The chances of an immigration-fueled shutdown showdown are growing after Democrats in recent days have rejected a long list of President Trump's border and interior security demands. Published January 7, 2018
DHS says $18 billion border wall, more security must be part of Dreamer deal
The White House is asking for full funding for the border wall, new authority to prevent another surge of illegal immigrant children and restrictions on so-called sanctuary cities all be included in any bill to grant legal status to illegal immigrant Dreamers. Published January 5, 2018
Comey leaks could become issue in FBI chief’s bar license
Former FBI Director James Comey's decision to leak memos of his interactions with President Trump could come back to haunt him in a challenge to his New York bar membership. Published January 5, 2018
Grassley, Graham ask Justice Dept. to open criminal investigation into ‘Trump dossier’ author
Two top Senate Republicans announced Friday that they have officially requested the Justice Department open a criminal investigation into Christopher Steele, the key figure in the anti-Trump dossier that roiled the 2016 election. Published January 5, 2018
DHS cellphone border searches jumped 50 percent in 2017
Border officials searching travelers' electronic devices cannot use them to get at information stored in the cloud, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a new policy Friday that puts some firm limits on the extent of border searches. Published January 5, 2018
TSP immigrant remittances boost GDP in Central America
Salvadorans living in the U.S. are, by most accounts, devoted workers with high workforce participation rates and better-than-average education levels compared with their countrymen still living in El Salvador. Published January 4, 2018
Donald Trump pushes need for voter ID laws after dissolving commission on voter integrity
President Trump pushed Americans on Thursday to demand ID at the polls as the solution to voter fraud, a day after dissolving his election integrity commission that he'd formed to investigate his own claims of massive fraud in the 2016 vote. Published January 4, 2018
Motel 6 won’t cooperate with ICE on immigration checks
The Motel 6 chain said it stopped cooperating with federal immigration officials months ago, responding to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by Washington state, which said thousands of guests' information was illegally shared with deportation officers. Published January 3, 2018
Kris Kobach says canceling voter panel will speed up investigation
The vice chairman of President Trump's now-disbanded voter integrity commission said Wednesday the decision to cancel the panel was a tactical decision that will actually speed up the investigation into voter fraud. Published January 3, 2018
Donald Trump dissolves voter fraud commission
President Trump dissolved his voter integrity commission Wednesday and ordered the Homeland Security Department to take up the job instead, in a move his backers said could speed up an investigation of the extent of voter fraud. Published January 3, 2018
Charles Grassley says James Comey likely leaked classified information
A top Republican senator said Wednesday that it appears former FBI Director James B. Comey leaked classified information in his effort to shape the narrative surrounding President Trump's decision to fire him. Published January 3, 2018
White House warns Democrats not to ‘hold the government hostage’ as budget talks resume
The White House kicked off a new round of budget negotiations with Congress on Wednesday, as President Trump told Democrats to abandon a "radical political agenda" on immigration and agree to a no-strings spending bill to keep the government open beyond a mid-January deadline. Published January 3, 2018
Judge orders potential release of hundreds of illegals from Iraq
A federal judge in Michigan has ordered the government to give bond hearings in preparation for releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants from Iraq into the community, saying the Constitution protects them from indefinite detention in the U.S. Published January 3, 2018
Schumer to Biden: ‘We need your help’
Was Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer joking when he told former Vice President Joseph R. Biden on Wednesday that Democrats would love to have him back in the saddle in the middle of big negotiations? Published January 3, 2018
Former DHS chiefs say DACA deadline is mid-January
Three former Homeland Security secretaries fired off a letter Wednesday insisting Congress's deadline for granting legal status to illegal immigrant "Dreamers" is actually this month, not the March 5 phaseout date set by President Trump. Published January 3, 2018
