Former ICE chief suggests Democrats are to blame for migrant children dying

Chantal Da Silva — Tue, 21 May 2019 03:37:33 +0000

Former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency chief Tom Homan struck at out Democrats over their “open border attitude” on Monday, blaming Democratic lawmakers for the recent deaths of migrant children held under federal custody.

In an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Homan took specific aim at New York Senator and 2020 Democratic hopeful Kirsten Gillibrand over her recent promise that, if elected as president, she would do away with the immigration detention system entirely.

“It’s ludicrous,” said Homan, who played a key role in enforcing the Trump administration’s hardline immigration agenda while serving as acting ICE director between January 2017 and June 2018. “I mean, she obviously didn’t do her homework, she didn’t study the data, she certainly didn’t study the history of immigration.”

“The reason that family units and the children are coming right now in record numbers, unprecedented numbers, is because they know we can’t detain them all,” the former ICE chief claimed.

“She’s just not that smart or she’s not doing her homework,” he said of Gillibrand.

Noting that, on Monday, U.S. immigration officials had seen a fifth child held in their custody die on their watch within the span of six months, Homan appeared to lay blame on Gillibrand and other Democrats.

“We just had another child die in custody today, right?” Homan said, referring to the death of 16-year-old Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, who died in federal custody after showing symptoms of influenza.

“This isn’t just about enforcing law,” Homan said. “This is about blame [Gillibrand] uses and thing she says and other Democrats that entice people to put themselves in the hands of criminal organisations.”

“So, if they want to blame, who’s to blame for this child dying in custody today? They need to look in the mirror,” Homan said. “Because, when you start preaching ‘open borders,’ ‘we won’t detain you,’ that’s when more people come and that’s when we’re going to lose the border for all.”

The former ICE chief said that Gillibrand’s plan to bring the practice of detaining immigrants to an end would only “cause a surge” in arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Look, the reason that family units and the children are coming right now in record numbers, unprecedented numbers, is because they know we can’t detain them all,” Homan asserted.

“So, her answer to that is detain less? That will cause a surge like you’d never believe. You think the numbers are bad now?” he said. “That’s what the problem is, when politicians like [Gillibrand] say things like, ‘we won’t detain anybody’ and she supports sanctuary cities, she wants to abolish ICE… When you have the open border attitude more people are enticed to come to this country.”

In recent months, the U.S. has seen a surge in Central American asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, including many families. Officials recorded a total of 98,977 people stopping at the Southwest border in April alone, with 58,474 being in family units and 8,897 being unaccompanied minors.

Thomas Homan, then-acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, testifies before the House Homeland Security Committee’s Border and Marine Security subcommittee on Capitol Hill on May 22, 2018 in Washington, D.C. Homan appeared to blame Democrats for a recent series of deaths of migrant children held under federal custody. -AARON P. BERNSTEIN/GETTY

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/former-ice-chief-suggests-democrats-are-blame-migrant-children-dying-trump-1431413?piano_t=1

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Third Annual Women’s March Marked by Antisemitism among its leadership

Michael Wilner — Sat, 19 Jan 2019 01:15:58 +0000

Linda Sarsour, one of the original organizers of the event, has come under fire for espousing antisemitism.

Thousands of people participate in Third Annual Women’s March in Washington, US, January 19, 2019.. (photo credit: REUTERS/JOSHUA ROBERTS)

WASHINGTON – A national movement for women’s rights gathered for the third time in the capital on Saturday under cloudy skies and the shadow of an antisemitism crisis gripping its leadership.

Tens of thousands showed for the Washington event, paired with solidarity marches across the country. But turnout was muted compared to years past as organizers in Boston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles bemoaned the organizational challenges caused by the refusal of Women’s March leaders to condemn all forms of antisemitism, and to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez – three of the original organizers of the activist event, which in 2017 culminated in the largest march in American history – repeatedly declined to condemn Louis Farrakhan in a series of interviews this week.

Farrakhan has called Jews his “termite” enemies and openly calls for Israel’s destruction. All three women have endorsed his politics in the recent past.

While the founder of the Women’s March last year called on its controversial cochairs to step down, they declined, and instead added to the official Women’s March agenda a defense of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement of Israel.

The scandal forced Democrats who had proudly aligned themselves with the march in 2017 to distance themselves from the movement ahead of Saturday’s events. Few sitting lawmakers attended any of the marches, save for New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who conditioned her appearance at an Iowa march earlier in the week.

Gillibrand “strongly condemns antisemitism from anyone, in all forms, and believes it has no place in a movement for women’s empowerment or anywhere else,” said a spokesman for the senator, who last week announced her candidacy for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

The Human Rights Campaign and Amnesty International disassociated themselves from the march this year, and even the Democratic National Committee removed itself from its list of partners. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi – the only woman ever to hold that position, third in line to the presidency – also declined to participate.

“While I still firmly believe in its values and mission, I cannot associate with the national march’s leaders and principles, which refuse to completely repudiate antisemitism and all forms of bigotry,” Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who once chaired the DNC and had marched in the past, said.

And national media coverage of Saturday’s events focused intensively on the antisemitism crisis, with CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others, leading their stories detailing the effects of the controversy on the movement.

Mallory, who two years ago posed for photos with Farrakhan after an antisemitic speech, appeared on The View on Monday and declined when pressed to condemn his remarks. “That is not my language,” she said.

Sarsour – who has come under fire herself for espousing antisemitism – defended Mallory on Friday, claiming that The View hosts had put her in a “difficult position” by pressing her to condemn Farrakhan.

“We understand that there will be schisms,” Sarsour told ABC News, acknowledging that the movement had requested access to smaller venues for their marchers this year. “There’s going to be hard conversations that need to be had. So we will work through this as a women’s movement because we are focused on what the real threat to this country is, and it is this administration and white supremacy.”

Later in the week, appearing with Margaret Hoover on PBS’s Firing Line, Mallory said Palestinians are “native to the land” of historic Palestine but declined to say the same of Jews in Israel. “I’m not Jewish,” she said.

“I have said many times that I feel everyone has a right to exist, I just don’t feel anyone has a right to exist at the disposal of another group,” Mallory said.

“Does that include Israel and Israelis?” Hoover pressed.

“I’m done talking about this,” Mallory replied.

Source: https://www.jpost.com/International/Third-annual-Womens-March-marked-by-antisemitism-among-its-leadership-577960

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The post Third Annual Women’s March Marked by Antisemitism among its leadership first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

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Former ICE chief suggests Democrats are to blame for migrant children dying

Third Annual Women’s March Marked by Antisemitism among its leadership