Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Illegal immigrant Dreamers get help from senators for full legal status
After the White House ruled out a pardon for illegal immigrant Dreamers, a bipartisan group of senators vowed Thursday to write a bill next year granting them full legal status -- though they will need to persuade a President Trump to back their effort. Published December 1, 2016
Congressional panel recommends charges against fetal tissue organizations
The special committee of Congress looking into the sale of fetal tissue has recommended that prosecutors investigate one Planned Parenthood affiliate and referred a handful of other organizations for criminal or regulatory probes, a panel member revealed Thursday. Published December 1, 2016
Border Patrol complains of administering to needs families and children
Border Patrol agents have been reduced to "professional child care providers" for illegal immigrants, warming burritos and babysitting the families and unaccompanied children who are surging across the border at an increasing rate, the agents' frustrated chief told Congress on Wednesday. Published November 30, 2016
Jeh Johnson gives Michael McCaul vote of confidence on border security
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson gave one of his potential successors a stamp of approval on Wednesday, saying Rep. Michael McCaul is the strongest member of Congress when it comes to border security. Published November 30, 2016
Steve Mnuchin picked by Donald Trump to head Treasury Department
Donald Trump will nominate Steve Mnuchin, who has ties to both Wall Street and Hollywood, to be treasury secretary, according to a report Tuesday. Published November 29, 2016
Congress to boost troop levels, duck gay-rights fight in final defense bill
Congress agreed to boost the active-duty strength of the military and maintained a ban on shipping terrorism suspects from Guantanamo Bay to the U.S. in the annual defense policy bill, negotiators said Tuesday. Published November 29, 2016
White House says Obama won’t pardon illegals
The White House's top immigration staffer said President Obama won't pardon illegal immigrants before the end of his term, dashing hopes of activists who had pleaded for Mr. Obama to use his powers to shield hundreds of thousands of Dreamers from deportation. Published November 29, 2016
FBI still hasn’t turned over Huma Abedin emails
The FBI still hasn't turned over to the State Department any of the messages it reportedly obtained from the computer shared by top Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her now-estranged husband Anthony Weiner, the administration told a federal judge Tuesday. Published November 29, 2016
Donald Trump wins Michigan’s 16 electoral votes, state board says
Michigan elections officials certified Monday that Donald Trump did win the state on Nov. 8, giving him a projected 306-232 win in the Electoral College -- but his opponents are still trying to wrench the victory away from him, raising millions of dollars to force recounts in enough states to swipe the race. Published November 28, 2016
Snuggies, Silent Shakespeare top annual government wasteful-spending list
If Shakespeare is performed without the bard's immortal words, is it really Shakespeare? The National Education Association has committed $10,000 of taxpayers' money to test that question -- one of dozens of projects to make the wasteful spending list of Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican who's continuing the tradition of former Sen. Tom Coburn's annual Wastebook. Published November 28, 2016
Hillary Clinton’s email woes persist after election: ‘Nothing has been settled’
They won't now complicate a Hillary Clinton presidency, but the emails from her time in the State Department will still trickle out over the next months as the administration tries to clean up the mess Mrs. Clinton left. Published November 27, 2016
Democrat Richard Blumenthal calls for special counsel to prevent Trump-tainted probe
One Democratic senator wants the Obama Justice Department to leave behind a watchdog independent of President-elect Donald Trump, calling for the attorney general to appoint a special counsel to continue a probe into the 2008 financial crisis. Published November 25, 2016
Electronic voting under scrutiny as computer experts lobby for recounts in swing states
The paper-or-plastic dilemma has moved out of the supermarket and into America's boards of elections, where officials are grappling with that very question in the wake of yet another messy presidential race. Published November 23, 2016
Number of illegal immigrants in detention surges 20 percent as DHS vows to deport Haitians
Homeland Security is holding some 41,000 illegal immigrants in detention right now, the department said Wednesday, as agents struggle to get control of a new surge across the border -- including a wave of Haitian migrants that is testing the limits of immigration policy. Published November 23, 2016
Justice Department backs down on immigration, digs in on Obamacare
The Justice Department has begun to suspend court cases over immigration policy, moving to give the Trump administration a chance to weigh in on the legal strategy, but it refused Tuesday to halt the challenge to Obamacare, suggesting it will try to go to the mat to protect the president's signature achievement. Published November 22, 2016
Green card errors send duplicates, wrong information
Green cards are the Holy Grail of U.S. immigration, but the federal agency responsible for doling them out regularly botches the process, issuing duplicates or triplicates to some immigrants or sending out 10-year permits to people who qualify only for two-year cards, an internal audit shows. Published November 22, 2016
Donna Brazile blames ‘voter suppression’ for election losses
Democrats have a lot to be pleased with after this month's elections, interim party Chair Donna Brazile said Tuesday, pointing to small pickups in the House and Senate and Hillary Clinton's moral victory in the popular vote as evidence things aren't as grim as some have said. Published November 22, 2016
Illegal immigrants pose as families, tell tales of woe to gain entry to U.S.
Illegal immigrants are trying a bold new strategy to sneak into the U.S. — pairing up with unrelated children and pretending to be families, fabricating tales of heart-rending woes back home to try to convince border agents to admit them into the country, according to internal Homeland Security documents reviewed by The Washington Times. Published November 21, 2016
Judge’s order to provide detained migrants with beds likely to strain Border Patrol
A federal judge ruled last week that illegal immigrants have a constitutional right to a bed and a mattress, and ordered the Border Patrol to begin providing sleeping mats for every migrant detained for more than a few hours. Published November 21, 2016
Donald Trump to withdraw U.S. from Trans-Pacific Partnership on first day in office
President-elect Donald Trump said Monday that on his first day in office, he will issue a notice that the U.S. is withdrawing from the Pacific trade deal negotiated by President Obama, calling it "a potential disaster for our country." Published November 21, 2016
