Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Border improved as Biden adopts Trump-style policies
The Biden administration tallied more than 2.9 million illegal entries into the U.S. over the last year, marking a slight improvement on 2023's record, though things were trending better in recent months. Published October 22, 2024
IRS standard deduction, income tax levels rise in 2025
Inflation may be taking more out of workers' pay, but it also has a silver lining with the taxman, as the IRS announced Tuesday that it is hiking the standard deduction by $400 and raising the maximum payment for key tax credits next year. Published October 22, 2024
Social Security employee charged with trying to sexually exploit unemployed client
A Social Security employee in Massachusetts has been arrested on charges of using his job to try to recruit a woman for paid sex. Published October 22, 2024
Supreme Court rebuffs attempt to defend tougher Biden asylum rules
The Supreme Court on Monday shot down GOP-led states' attempt to defend President Biden's tougher rules governing asylum seekers, leaving the administration free to negotiate a weaker compromise with immigrant rights advocates. Published October 21, 2024
Harris vies with Trump on securing U.S. border; policies veer from longtime rhetoric
The biggest difference between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump lies in how they would approach the millions of illegal immigrants already here -- including an estimated 4 million that have arrived and settled on Ms. Harris's watch. Published October 21, 2024
Biden ends fiscal year with $1.8 trillion deficit; gross interest payments top $1 trillion
The federal government just notched its worst non-pandemic deficit in history, spilling more than $1.8 trillion worth of red ink across the budget and signaling even worse times to come. Published October 18, 2024
Jack Smith files huge docs in Trump election fraud challenge
A federal court on Friday unsealed documents detailing some of the evidence special counsel Jack Smith is relying on in his prosecution of former President Donald Trump over his handling of the 2020 election. Published October 18, 2024
New FBI data shows crime increased, even as Biden said it dropped
The FBI's latest data shows police reports of violent crime rose from 2021 to 2022, contradicting the bureau's previous assertions and undercutting the narrative President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have offered that public safety was improving. Published October 17, 2024
Afghan accused of Election Day plot wasn’t fully vetted
The Afghan man accused of plotting an Election Day massacre was not fully vetted before being allowed into the U.S., according to a media report Wednesday. Published October 16, 2024
Liberal justices question San Francisco in EPA fight over water pollution limits
One of the nation's most liberal enclaves ran into pushback from the liberal wing of the Supreme Court on Wednesday as San Francisco battled the EPA over how the city's wastewater spills into the Pacific Ocean. Published October 16, 2024
Texas anti-ballot harvesting rules revived by appeals court
A federal appeals court on Tuesday said Texas' law limiting ballot harvesting can remain in effect during this year's election after a lower court put it on hold. Published October 15, 2024
Harris asks border sheriffs how to ‘do better’ than Biden on immigration policy
Vice President Kamala Harris' team has sought advice from a top border sheriff on how to "do better" on immigration policy. Published October 14, 2024
Biden administration sues Virginia over attempt to remove noncitizens from voter rolls
The Biden administration sued Virginia on Friday over the state's effort to remove noncitizens from its voting lists, arguing the move violated a federal law that bars changes to the rolls so close to an election. Published October 11, 2024
Feds struggle to explain how Afghan terror suspect got into U.S. to plan Election Day shootings
When the FBI arrested Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi this week, it was coy in explaining why the Afghan man, now accused of plotting to martyr himself in an Election Day mass shooting, was free in the U.S. in the first place. Published October 10, 2024
Justice Department asks court to keep DACA in place for illegal immigrant ‘Dreamers’
The Biden administration and immigration activists asked a federal appeals court on Thursday to preserve as much of the Obama-era DACA program as possible, saying whatever its legal questions, the program has been around too long to just cancel it altogether. Published October 10, 2024
Social Security benefits to rise 2.5% as inflation ticks down
Social Security recipients will see an average of $50 more in their monthly checks next year as the government adjusts for inflation. Published October 10, 2024
Ex-ICE contractor concocted complex scheme to smuggle 39 illegal immigrants, feds say
A woman who had worked as a contractor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement used her ICE credentials to try to smuggle more than three dozen illegal immigrants deeper into Texas. Published October 9, 2024
No Oct. 7 remembrance, but Justice Department does celebrate Palestinian ‘resilience’
The Justice Department has irked employees who say it failed to hold any public commemoration of the one-year mark of Hamas' terror attack on Israel -- but found time a day later to sponsor an event celebrating Palestinian-Americans' "resilience." Published October 8, 2024
Afghan evacuee arrested on charge of plotting Election Day attack in U.S.
An Afghan man who came to the U.S. as part of President Biden's chaotic 2021 troop withdrawal now stands accused of an ISIS-fueled plot to launch a suicide attack on Election Day next month. Published October 8, 2024
Supreme Court casts skeptical eye toward unregulated ‘ghost’ guns
The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared sympathetic to the Biden administration's attempt to regulate "ghost" guns, whose kits and disassembled parts allow users to cobble together fully functional firearms. Published October 8, 2024
