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Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Stephen Dinan

A group of immigrants from Honduras and El Salvador cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in Granjeno, Texas, June 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File) ** FILE **

Obama amnesty has feds bracing for illegal immigrant application onslaught

The government expects so many applications for President Obama's new deportation amnesty that it's seeking a contractor just to open the new mail and enter the forms into the system, with plans to operate two shifts from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. every workday to keep up with the anticipated workload. Published February 10, 2015

The exterior of the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington is seen here on March 22, 2013. (Associated Press) **FILE**

IRS knowingly rehired tax cheats, other employees with ‘performance’ issues: Audit

The IRS rehired hundreds of employees who had previous records of bad performance at the agency, including 141 former employees who had botched their own tax returns, and others who had used their positions to peek at private tax information, the agency's inspector general said in a report released Thursday. Published February 5, 2015

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015, where she told reporters that she disagrees with House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, on his invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress without consulting the White House. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Nancy Pelosi blasts Netanyahu invitation, won’t commit to attending his speech

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she isn't sure she'll attend Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned speech next month to a joint session of Congress, saying the invitation was unseemly and that lawmakers have other important things going on that could keep them from going. Published February 5, 2015

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen confirmed Tuesday that illegal immigrants granted amnesty from deportation under President Obama's new policies would be able to get extra refunds from the IRS for money they earned while working illegally, as long as they filed returns during those years. (Associated Press)

IRS offers extra tax refunds to illegal immigrants granted amnesty by Obama

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen confirmed Tuesday that illegal immigrants granted amnesty from deportation under President Obama's new policies would be able to get extra refunds from the IRS for money they earned while working illegally, as long as they filed returns during those years. Published February 3, 2015

A member of the group Border Dreamers marches in support of a U.S. open border policy. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

Obama to host illegal immigrant Dreamers at White House

President Obama will host a half-dozen Dreamers — illegal immigrants here under his temporary deportation amnesty — at the White House on Wednesday as he tries to fight back against Republicans’ efforts to cancel his immigration policies. Published February 3, 2015

Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., center, with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., left, and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., right, answers questions from reporters following their weekly policy luncheon, at the Capital in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Democrats filibuster DHS spending bill, block GOP on amnesty debate

Senate Democrats filibustered the Homeland Security spending bill Tuesday even before it reached the floor for debate, leaving the department in danger of a partial shutdown this month as Congress fights over President Obama's deportation amnesty. Published February 3, 2015

"The president has always shown a penchant for increasing the size of government and increasing the reach of government," said House Committee on the Budget Chairman Tom Price, Georgia Republican. "It's hard to have a government that isn't as regulatory and prescriptive as the president wants without having more people." (Associated Press)

Obama budget calls for largest federal civilian workforce since Cold War

The federal civilian workforce will reach its highest level since the end of the Cold War under the budget President Obama submitted to Congress on Monday, surging by more than 100,000 employees over the next two years as he tries to restock agencies he says have been decimated by GOP-led cuts. Published February 2, 2015

In a Friday, Jan. 30, 2015, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Obama says he won’t accept budget that doesn’t raise spending

With $3.999 trillion in total spending, more than $1 trillion in new taxes over the next decade and a host of controversial new spending, the 2016 budget President Obama submitted Monday amounted to a declaration of political war against Republicans on Capitol Hill, who flatly declared his plans dead. Published February 2, 2015

Newly arrived people who were caught in Arizona by the U.S. Border Patrol are initially processed at Tucson Sector U.S. Border Patrol headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., on Aug. 9, 2012. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Ariz. sheriff: Illegal immigrant criminals ‘heading to your neighborhoods’

Immigration agents in Arizona are releasing up to 50 illegal immigrants a day with serious criminal records under President Obama's new amnesty, dropping them off at bus stations and they are "heading to your neighborhoods," an Arizona sheriff will testify to Congress on Tuesday. Published February 2, 2015

FILE - In a Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama’s budget will propose an ambitious six-year, $478 billion public works program of highway, bridge and transit upgrades, half of it financed with a one-time mandatory tax on profits that U.S. companies have amassed overseas, White House officials said. Obama will unveil a $4 trillion budget on Monday, Feb. 2, 2015. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Obama to demand GOP fund new amnesties

President Obama will escalate the looming Homeland Security shutdown showdown Monday by traveling to the department's headquarters for a special budget speech, saying more than 100,000 federal employees could be left on the job but without pay if Congress doesn't pass a funding bill by the end of this month. Published February 2, 2015

Protesters gathered outside the federal courthouse in Brownsville, Texas, to chant, read poems and share stories of their immigrations struggles. The leading immigration court case on President Obama's deportation amnesty has turned into a wild affair. (Associated Press)

Obama amnesty lawsuit cites wide variety of arguments — some of them wild

The leading immigration court case on President Obama's deportation amnesty has turned into a wild affair — including a Florida goat farmer who insists that cracking down on immigration would be bad for his business because native-born white Americans just don't buy goats. Published February 1, 2015

Incarcerated gang members. (Image: FBI)

Illegal immigrants released from custody committed 1,000 new crimes

One thousand of the 36,000 illegal immigrant criminals the government released in 2013 have gone on to commit other crimes, including child sex abuse, hit-and-run and child cruelty, according to new data released Friday evening by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley. Published January 30, 2015

Thousands of immigrants attend the Immigration Relief Education forum organized by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, CHIRLA, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The event looks to educate immigrants on President Obama’s Executive Action announcement. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Obama amnesty would save feds $7.5 billion: CBO study

Halting President Obama's deportation amnesty will end up hurting Uncle Sam's bottom line, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday in a new report that is bound to cause more problems for Republicans trying to block the White House's executive action. Published January 29, 2015

** FILE ** President Obama speaks on the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups for extra tax scrutiny in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Mr. Obama announced the resignation of Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Senate GOP demands Obama turn over all communications with IRS

Senate Republicans asked President Obama Thursday to turn over all communications he and his aides have had with the IRS since 2010, hoping to find out whether the tax agency shared private taxpayer information with political operatives at the White House. Published January 29, 2015

"This took a bipartisan effort to get done. That's what the people want," said Sen. John Hoeven, the North Dakota Republican who sponsored the legislation. (Associated Press)

Senate approves building Keystone pipeline

Senators approved the Keystone XL pipeline in a momentous vote Thursday as nine Democrats bucked their party leaders and joined Republicans in backing the long-stalled project, setting up an eventual showdown with President Obama, who has vowed a veto. Published January 29, 2015

FILE-This Jan. 19, 2015 file photo crews work to contain an oil spill from Bridger Pipeline's broken pipeline near Glendive, Mont., in this aerial view showing both sides of the river. Oil pipeline accidents have spiked in the U.S. as Congress pushes for approval of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, a project that would pass not far from where 30,000 gallons of crude spilled earlier this month into Montana’s Yellowstone River. (AP Photo/The Billings Gazette, Larry Mayer,File)

Keystone filibuster fails, pipeline poised for approval

The Keystone XL pipeline is closer than it's ever been to approval after the Senate overcame a Democrat-led filibuster Thursday and was headed for a final passage vote later in the day — setting up an eventual showdown with President Obama, who has promised a veto. Published January 29, 2015