Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Illegal immigrant families crossing border at record pace in 2016
Illegal immigrant families are streaming across the border at record pace, according to new Border Patrol statistics released Friday morning that show more than 32,000 have been caught trying to sneak into the U.S. Published April 22, 2016
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hoping for split Supreme Court to halt immigration amnesty
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he's resigned to a less-than-total victory at the Supreme Court in his lawsuit challenging President Obama's deportation amnesty, saying Thursday that the best he can hope for is a 4-4 split ruling that would halt the amnesty but fall short of the legal spanking Mr. Obama deserves. Published April 21, 2016
Donald Trump gets crushed among Hispanic voters: Poll
Donald Trump would win just 11 percent of the Hispanic vote in key battleground states in a matchup with Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, according to a new poll Thursday by immigrant-rights advocates that underscores just how intent Latinos are on punishing Mr. Trump for his strict stances. Published April 21, 2016
Harriet Tubman to replace Andrew Jackson on $20 bill after pushback against Alexander Hamilton plan
Stung by a feverish outcry, the Treasury Department backed off its plan to ditch Alexander Hamilton from the $10 bill and will instead oust President Andrew Jackson from the front of the $20 bill, as part of a massive currency redesign intended to add more images of women's and black history. Published April 20, 2016
Donald Trump wins New York primary, demolishes Cruz, Kasich
Donald Trump crushed his opponents Tuesday night en route to a major victory in New York's Republican presidential primary, scoring a needed boost after a string of setbacks and putting himself back in the driver's seat as the campaign nears the final stretch. Published April 19, 2016
Illegal immigrant’s bail was ‘less than the amount it cost to bury my baby’: Mother
Michelle Root, mother of Sarah Root, recounted her daughter's death in Omaha, Nebraska, this year at the hands of an illegal immigrant who police said was drag racing while drunk, smashed into the young woman's car and left her brain-dead. Published April 19, 2016
Chief Justice Roberts uses Obama’s words against him on immigration case
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. prodded the Obama administration Monday to explain President Obama's immigration flip-flop, when Mr. Obama in 2014 reversed himself and decided he did, after all, have powers to grant a tentative amnesty to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants. Published April 18, 2016
Supreme Court divided over Obama amnesty; Kennedy says policy is ‘just upside-down’
A deeply divided Supreme Court grappled Monday with President Obama's deportation amnesty, as conservatives said the White House was encroaching on Congress' lawmaking powers, but liberal justices saying the court should stay out of the fight, leaving the president with a free hand. Published April 18, 2016
Obama amnesty Supreme Court case to test limits of presidential power
The Constitution was ratified more than two centuries ago, and in all that time no president had ever tested the limits of executive power enough to force the Supreme Court to rule whether he has lived up to the founders' command that the laws be "faithfully executed." Until now. Published April 17, 2016
Texas sued over exemption zone for drone use
A Texas man sued Friday to stop a new state law giving drones "unfettered" rights to snap photos or video along the southwest border, saying it appears to be a racially tinged effort to target Mexicans for intrusive scrutiny. Published April 17, 2016
Donald Trump embraces ‘New York values’; Ted Cruz stands by attack
Donald Trump returned to Manhattan on Thursday to woo Republicans ahead of next week's party primary, saying he had faith and invested in New York when others were giving up on it, and touting it as a model for how to rescue the country. Published April 14, 2016
Federal judge calls IRS untrustworthy in tea party case
A federal judge said the IRS isn't to be trusted as he and his colleagues tried Thursday to figure out whether the tax agency is still targeting tea party groups for intrusive and illegal scrutiny. Published April 14, 2016
Apple, FBI encryption battle heats up in Congress
The battle between Apple and the FBI has shifted to the halls of Congress, where the House and Senate are taking dramatically divergent approaches as they weigh Americans' privacy rights against what the government says is a pressing need to get a peek at its citizens' secrets. Published April 13, 2016
GAO urges feds to crack down on bad spending, increase efficiency
From the unemployed double-dipping on benefits to federal agencies leasing cars they don't need, the federal government is still awash in waste and duplication, the comptroller general said in a new report Wednesday that urged all sides to get serious about cracking down on bad spending and making the government more efficient. Published April 13, 2016
Ted Cruz ‘natural born citizen’ eligibility challenge rejected by New Jersey secretary of state
New Jersey's secretary of state rejected a challenge to Sen. Ted Cruz's eligibility to run for president, issuing a brief ruling Wednesday that said she accepted the reasoning of one of her judges that because of his birth to an American mother, he meets the criterion. Published April 13, 2016
IRS must publicize sensitive tea party data obtained in targeting, Obama administration says
The IRS says it has stopped targeting the tea party -- but three years later, the tax agency is still holding on to the sensitive information it pried from the conservative groups through invasive questions, and officials are even vowing to make the answers public. Published April 12, 2016
Paul Ryan to GOP: I don’t want presidential nomination
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan flatly ruled out becoming the Republican presidential nominee this year, insisting Tuesday that he would refuse all entreaties to accept the role -- though he would try to shape the agenda that the party carries into November. Published April 12, 2016
!["[The payments] should have been suspended until they were proved disabled," said former Sen. Tom Coburn, who led a congressional investigation that first exposed the scam in 2013. (Associated Press)](https://twt-thumbs.washtimes.com/media/image/2016/04/11/TomCoburn_c0-194-3734-2370_s652x380.jpg?84f0452c47d2524d2690ee0cabd4defeeb72343c)
Social Security still paying potentially bogus disability claims 3 years after fraud exposed
Investigators identified nearly 2,000 cases of potentially phony disability claims stemming from a massive Social Security fraud scheme, but three years after the scam was first exposed, the government says it's still struggling to stop the payments. Published April 11, 2016
Hearing to prove Ted Cruz’s eligibility for New Jersey ballot
The New Jersey secretary of state has scheduled a hearing Monday to make Sen. Ted Cruz prove he is eligible to run for president under the Constitution, after a Washington-area law professor filed a challenge arguing his Canadian birth makes him ineligible. Published April 10, 2016
Border Patrol ordered to release illegals ‘still soaking wet’ from Rio Grande, union says
Border Patrol agents have been ordered to release dripping-wet illegal immigrants at the Rio Grande unless they actually see them climbing out of the river, creating what amounts to "an open border with Mexico," the chief of the agents' labor union told Congress in new testimony last week. Published April 10, 2016
