Shameful & disqualifying, Sec Mayorkas should purge these agents, but this attitude is pervasive & there's a worker shortage.
BP agents freely used the derogatory slur “tonk” to describe undoc. migrants on govt computers, at times while joking about killing or beating them, acc to emails & text messages.
Docs, from 2017-20, reveal yet another instance of the BP’s use of a slang term that officials in DC have condemned but have struggled to stamp out.
Update: HSE Dems are whipping against the border bill.
"Bill contains most of the extreme provisions in HR2."
#ImmigrationReform is needed now, but not a harsh, cruel bill that further endangers asylum seekers:
"Dem aide points out to me that the rule that just passed doesn't incl. extreme border stuff HSE Rs want. That's gonna get a vote under suspension (2/3 needed) & will fail. Which means vulnerable Senate Dems may not even have to take a tough vote on border. Good all around."
-G Sargent
Biden admin is allocating $45M to CA programs that help migrants who've crossed the southern border. The money is part of a $300M national effort announced Friday by FEMA.
An additional $341M will be used to established a competitive grant program & allocated before the end of the fiscal year.
It’s less funding than programs helping migrants had hoped for *an 18% cut from last year’s $780M total.
Record-level migration has brought record-breaking death to Maverick Co -ground 0 in feud b/w TX & Biden admin over migration.
First responders: run out of body bags/burial plots -crude/haphazard manner in which migrant bodies-often being stored, ID'ed/buried here -adding to the indignity of their deaths. BP: 895 fatalities along the border: 2022 *an undercount. & migrants: targeted, some: tortured...
Gov Abbott continues to militarize the border, wasting$, resources...
"TX has spent $10B on Operation Lone Star so far, which has had virtually no impact at all on overall migration across the southern border."
-A Reichlin-Melnick
TX is building a massive new $400M anti-migrant MIL base. The "Forward Operating Base” outside of Eagle Pass will house up to 1,800 NG members, incl. an armory & have "surge" capacity for 2,300 troops.
Biden is likely to give Rs something on the border🚨:
The difference b/w backing #Ukraine or Russia is as critical to US democracy’s future as it is for European security. Johnson voted for the 1st rounds of US funding -changed his mind in Sept. Switch: little to do with his stated reasons. The US can easily afford it. At $113B over the past 2 yrs, <1% of fed spending over that time. Most of the$ is spent at home on US-made MIL EQP -much is ageing/needed to be replaced.
Biden: "We're examining whether or not I have that power. I would've that power under the leg. When the border has >5K ppl/day trying to cross the border bc you can't manage it, slow it up. There's no guarantee that I have that power *myself w/o leg. & some have suggested I should just go ahead & try it. & if I get shut down by the court -shut down by the ct. But we're trying to work that, right now."
Nexus to pay $811M in restitution & penalties in a lawsuit alleging -used deceptive & abusive tactics -promised to secure IMGs’ release on bond while their IMG claims were being processed but concealed & misrepresented the nature/costs of its services -collected thousands$ in fees above the FV of the bonds/forced IMGs to wear painful ankle monitors.
USDJ Dillon's decision -co isn't a licensed bail bond agent/surety co certified by: UST-:
After these years of listening & reporting on migration & borders, I believe: ppl should be able to move & migrate where they need or want to.
We should fear not the act of crossing a line but the society that compels anyone to deny a desperate person basic aid.
It's the abandonment of ppl on the side of the road that we should prosecute (in whatever constructive way we can). to leave them stranded on the side of a desert road.
Tuff Torq was fined nearly $30OK for hiring 10 children - required to set aside $1.5M to help the children who were illegally employed. Children as young as 14 working late at night at the 24-hr MANU FAC amid power-driven EQP-.
"Giving ppl legal status would make it harder for employers to exploit them, bc bad actors can't use the possibility of deportation as a threat."
-A Reichlin-Melnick
For now, Gov Abbott can't further weaponize his "Operation Lone Star" militia:
"Good news! A panel of the Fifth Circuit puts SB4 on hold indefinitely. That won't stop the en banc panel from stepping in and overturning this, though, so there is still a chance that SB4 goes into effect before this case eventually makes it to the Supreme Court next term."
-A Reichlin-Melnick
They do yeoman's work, helping vulnerable & dehumanized ppl. They're receiving horrific threats to their lives. The Catholic group is one of several faith-based orgs. incl. Lutheran, Jewish... grps that've long partnered with the fed govt to offer such services. Staff at Catholic Charities -faith-based nonprofit, are upping security & fielding threats after becoming a target for RW media figures like O'Keefe —& GOP Congressmen —bc of their work w/migrants.
"Immigration Is Fueling US Economic Growth While Politicians Rage."
"The positive tone among economists contradicts that seen on the campaign trail, as a surge in the number of undocumented immigrants entering the US through the southern border stokes political strife. The share of Americans who see immigration as the most important problem facing the US is now matching a record high in data going back four decades."
Republicans are weaponizing the border. Texas political leaders are militarizing the border & using deterrents like razor wire. Migrants are escaping horrific conditions in their home countries, & legally applying for asylum.
"Photo: Eagle Pass, TX. I was on the NPR Politics podcast discussing Texas, the history of states trying to pass their own immigration laws, & the socio- economic effects of measures like SB4." -J Garsd
Immigrants strengthen the overall resilience of the US economy & the labor market. Rising levels of IMG played a key role in the growth of the US workforce that helped relieve last year’s economic pressures.
Powell: “Immigration & labor force participation both contributed to the very strong economic output growth that we'd last year.”
"We call on our leaders in NYC, Albany & DC to: expand migrants & asylum seekers’ access to work authorization-."
Infuriating, bus executives know that immigration is critical to their profits, but they continue to vote Republican bc their taxes will be lower. A shortage of workers will result in lower profits.
"$7T is what the CBO says the current surge in immigration will add to the US economy over the coming decade by expanding the labor force & adding demand."
Bloomberg fails to report that Dems support #ImmigrationReform & Republicans have blocked it for decades.
Horror at the border: Gov Abbott has been winning his cases with GOP judges & RW courts. Abbott's is making #TFG's sinister immigration dreams come true.
"Appeals court reverses order blocking Texas immigration law, setting up SC showdown.
The 5th US CC of appeals late Sat reversed a lower court’s ruling that halted a new state law allowing TX police to arrest people suspected of crossing the border illegally."
Biden sought to spotlight the necessity of a bipartisan border sec. bill *tanked by Rs on TFG’s orders, & asked: R front-runner to join him in supporting a congress. push for more funding & tighter restrictions.
“This is like a war" -TFG.
Gazing out over the river thru the razor wire, he raised his fist & waved & shouted to ppl on the MX side -who waved back -said migrants: criminals & some: terrorists-.
More federal money is needed, but the R House hasn't passed...
This is just a taste of what a cruel Stephen Miller/#TFG admin would do to migrants, refugees...
"Border Patrol is dropping off hundreds of migrants at San Diego trolley station after welcome center closes.
San Diego Co. ran out of money to operate a migrant reception center, so after people are detained & given a court date BP is just dropping them off on the streets🚨.
Federal officials didn't coordinate the migrant settlement as they did with the Ukrainians. It's led to suffering, anger, confusion...:
The Biden admin admitted the Ukrainians under terms that allowed them to work right away -fed officials had a plan for where to place them. Gov Abbott transported 37K migrants to NYC, Chicago & other blue cities with no plan. To call this moment a "migrant crisis" is to let elected fed officials off the hook.
Abbott is forcing TX NG troops to be encamped so he can use his "personal militia" to round up, intimidate & sometimes abuse migrants crossing the border. Where is the DOJ?
TX to build a base in Eagle Pass for NG troops. It'll hold up to 2,300 soldiers who've been deployed to the border.
Op. Lone⭐ has faced problems: 1 in 5 troops reported problems with their pay *paid late, too little or not at all for months, shortages of critical EQP-.