—The response under way includes a newly created — and previously unreported — Southwest Border Coordination Center (SBCC), essentially a war room to coordinate an interagency response.

Why it matters: Border officials have used Title 42 more than 1 million times to rapidly expel migrants at the southern border without hearing asylum claims. But the Trump-era order wasn’t set up to be permanent, and senior Biden officials are preparing for its end as the virus is brought under control.

—Department of Homeland Security intelligence estimates that perhaps 25,000 migrants already are waiting in Mexican shelters just south of the border for Title 42 to end.

—On Wednesday, DHS Deputy Secretary John Tien asked employees “to consider stepping forward to support the DHS Volunteer Force,” citing large numbers of migrants at the southwest border, according to an email seen by Axios. The email seeks general support for U.S. Customs and Border Protection and help with data entry.

—Sources spoke to Axios on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal conversations.

What they’re saying: White House spokesperson Vedant Patel did not confirm or dispute specifics of Axios’ reporting but said in a statement, “Of course the Administration is doing our due diligence to prepare for potential changes at the border.“

—“That is good government in action,” the statement said. “As always is the case this Administration is working every day to provide relief to immigrants, restore order, fairness, and humanity to our immigration system and bring it into the 21st century.”

Behind the scenes: Internal discussions have raised alarms that human trafficking networks throughout Mexico and Central America will exploit the situation to “generate a mass migration event.”

—Top Biden officials representing multiple agencies have been meeting to discuss a whole-of-government plan to deal with the potentially record-breaking spring influx of migrants. DHS has branded it the Southwest Border Mass Irregular Migration Contingency Plan.

The plan is sweeping, reflecting how serious the Biden administration believes the situation could soon become, worsening a border surge that has troubled it from the beginning.

Details: The SBCC will physically operate out of the DHS headquarters at St. Elizabeth’s in the case of a border emergency and will be led by Border Patrol’s Matthew Hudak, according to two sources familiar with the details.

—Although SBCC members have not been finalized yet, DHS is asking for senior officials to support the center from relevant agencies such as the departments of State, Justice, Defense and Health and Human Services.

—Meanwhile, DHS’s modeling would trigger some extreme measures, many of which have been taken during past border surges such as in 2021 and 2019.
The department could surge hundreds or thousands of additional personnel from Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Transportation Security Administration, Citizenship and Immigration Services and medical personnel from the Department of Health and Human Services.

—DHS could request aircraft from the U.S. Marshals Service to help transfer migrants to other areas of the border, and call on additional air and ground transportation from the Department of Defense.

—Officials could also request dozens of buses from the Bureau of Prisons to transport migrants between DHS facilities.

—And they anticipate having to expand and even build new soft-sided facilities that can shelter up to 2,000 migrants apiece.

Between the lines: Border resources are already strained with unusually high numbers of people attempting to cross every month for a year straight.

Officials expect those numbers to climb even higher in coming months due both to seasonal trends and the expected end of Title 42.

The backstory: The CDC’s Title 42 order, first issued under then-President Donald Trump in March of 2020, uses the pandemic as a reason for expelling migrants attempting to enter the U.S. — without the chance to seek asylum.

—Despite outcry from progressive Democrats and immigration advocates, the Biden administration has continued to rely on the policy to turn back migrant families and single adults.

—At the same time, the Biden administration has attempted to end Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which forced migrants into dangerous situations by making them wait for asylum hearings in Mexico.

—The government’s seeming self-contradiction in simultaneously defending Title 42 — which has also forced migrants back to Mexico — was raised in court by D.C. Circuit Judge Justin Walker in a unanimous decision blocking the U.S. from expelling migrant families to countries where they may face persecution or torture.

What to watch: Reuters recently reported that the administration is leaning toward ending Title 42 itself.

—The CDC was recently forced by courts to again end the use of Title 42 for unaccompanied minors, and the order notes “CDC anticipates additional lifting of restrictions” as DHS becomes increasingly able to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in its facilities.

—CDC reassesses Title 42 every 60 days. The next deadline for renewal is in early April. “We continue to defer to the CDC on the use of Title 42 and how long it might remain in effect,” a White House official told Axios.

—“As it stands right now — there are no changes: Title 42 is still in effect and anyone attempting to enter the country unlawfully will be subject to border restrictions — including potentially expulsion,” the official added.

In addition to preparations on the U.S. side of the border, officials are planning how to coordinate with Mexico and other Latin American nations.

—Buzzfeed News recently reported on DHS planning to discuss with Mexico Title 42 ending as soon as April, and what that could mean for migration flows. DHS Secretary Mayorkas visited Mexico this week.

The issue of immigration has plagued President Biden since he took office, opening him up to criticism from both the right and the left.

—Democrats have been most critical over the continued use of Title 42, which they see as a cruel Trump-era policy. Immigration advocates have been outraged over the low numbers for refugee admissions and the reimplementation of “Remain in Mexico” as ordered by a federal court.

—Meanwhile Republicans have pointed to record numbers at the border and reports of migrants being released into the U.S. by overwhelmed officials, saying Biden is creating “open borders.”

By the numbers: After declining in January, the number of encounters with migrants at the border ticked up in February to 165,000, according to new data released on Tuesday.

—While the number is well below last year’s peak of nearly 214,000 encounters in July, it is higher than last February’s, which initially sparked concerns of a border crisis.

—Border patrol arrests reached an all-time high in fiscal year 2021 at nearly 1.7 million.

—Officials are projecting similar numbers for this fiscal year with the end of Title 42, according to sources familiar with the estimates. And some are concerned that reports of migrants being released into the U.S. in lieu of Title 42 could further encourage migration.

Source: https://www.axios.com/biden-border-mexico-migrants-title-42-a91b6441-2197-463f-ab1f-2435824a9566.html

The post Biden officials fear “mass migration event” if COVID policies end first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The Justice Department explored possible criminal or civil charges against local officials in Portland, Ore., after weeks of clashes between federal law enforcement and violent protesters, spokeswoman Kerri Kupec told Fox News.

Kupec declined to comment on whether the department ultimately will bring charges. She said there were no specific charges in mind, rather, DOJ officials were looking at the way Portland officials “were handling, or not handling” the riots and violence.

PORTLAND MAN ALLEGEDLY SET DUMPSTER ON FIRE ALONGSIDE POLICE BUILDING WITH 19 PEOPLE INSIDE 

The spokeswoman also did not confirm whether DOJ officials were focusing on specific city officials. The office of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.

Separately, Justice Department officials disputed news reports that Attorney General William Barr told prosecutors in the department’s civil rights division to explore whether they could bring charges against Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan for allowing some residents to establish a protest zone this summer.

President Trump has criticized Democrats, and specifically, Wheeler, who he says have not done enough to stop nights of looting and unrest in cities across the U.S. Trump has called Wheeler a “wacky Radical Left Do Nothing Democrat Mayor” and has said the city “will never recover with a fool for a Mayor….”

Just days after the death of George Floyd while in the custody of police in Minneapolis at the end of May, large demonstrations reached Portland’s streets and nightly clashes between protesters and police officers continued for over a month until federal law enforcement was sent in to protect federal properties.

After arriving over the July 4 weekend, federal officers with the U.S. Marshals Service and other agencies were told Portland police was explicitly ordered not to respond to the federal courthouse as hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside, some throwing bricks, rocks, and Molotov cocktails at officers, and not to assist federal officers who were sent to try to quell the unrest.

US ATTORNEY DENIES REPORT THAT BARR ASKED PROSECUTORS TO CONSIDER CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST DURKAN 

Federal law enforcement remained in the city for about four weeks until the Department of Homeland Security and Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Kate Brown agreed on a plan to bring Oregon State Police into downtown Portland and for federal officers to begin leaving the city.

More than 100 people have been arrested in Portland on federal charges related to the unrest over the last few months. The FBI has said it was also shifting the agency’s resources to focus more heavily on violence and federal crimes committed during nearly three months of unrest during nightly racial injustice protests in the city that often ended in vandalism, clashes with police, and dozens of arrests.

Wheeler and Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell publicly clashed last week after the mayor ordered police to stop using CS or tear gas for crowd control. The Portland Police Bureau argued in a press release hours later that amid “repeated violence by a group of motivated and well-organized individuals” carried out for more than 100 consecutive nights, officers used tear gas to “disperse crowds only when there is a life safety event.”

“Most recently, it was used to disperse a crowd from which a Molotov cocktail was thrown at officers and ended up injuring a community member who was on fire,” the police bureau said, expressing regret that some gas seeped into nearby homes. “However, the community should be asking the rioters why they are committing violence that threatens the very lives of others nearby. When people gather lawfully, peacefully, there is no need for intervention by police, much less the use of CS gas.”

In an email to Lovell and assistant chiefs, Wheeler said: “While I do not often issue directives to the Portland Police Bureau, when I do I expect them to be followed. Civilian oversight of the Police Bureau is set in the Portland City Charter, and every sworn officer takes an oath to abide by that charter. Professionalism and public service demand nothing less,” a copy obtained by the Portland Tribune said.

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The mayor’s office added in a statement: “PPB’s decision to put out a press release questioning my direction was a serious breach of protocol and an inappropriate use of City communications resources. I made it clear, in no uncertain terms, to the Chief that this cannot happen again.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/portland-riots-justice-department-considered-pursuing-charges-against-city-officials-in-violent-unrest

The post Portland riots: Justice Department considered pursuing charges against city officials in violent unrest first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

At least 217 people have been charged with a federal crime, and more than 1,000 arrests have been made in major metropolitan cities since the Department of Justice launched Operation Legend in July, U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced on Wednesday.

Nearly 400 firearms have been seized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Barr launched Operation Legend on July 8 as “a sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative in which federal law enforcement agencies work in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials to fight violent crime,” the DOJ said in a release.

MURDER CHARGE ANNOUNCED IN KILLING OF LEGEND TALIFERRO, 4, WHOSE DEATH SPARKED OPERATION LEGEND

It was named in honor of 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed while he slept in the early morning of June 29 in Kansas City, Mo. Last week, a Jackson County prosecutor announced second-degree murder charges against his suspected killer, 22-year-old Ryson Ellis, who was being held in Tulsa County Jail.

LeGend Taliferro, 4, was shot and killed while he slept in the early morning of June 29 in Kansas City, Mo. (Courtesy of FBI)

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“LeGend is a symbol of the many hundreds of innocent lives that have been taken in the recent upsurge of crime in many of our urban areas,” Barr said at a press conference in Kansas City. “His life mattered and the lives of all of those victims matter. His name should be remembered and his senseless death, like those of all the other innocent victims in this recent surge, should be unacceptable to all Americans.”

Barr said the federal government has dispatched to nine U.S. cities more than 1,000 additional agents from the FBI, ATF, Drug Enforcement Administration, and U.S. Marshals Service to work shoulder to shoulder with state and local partners on homicide and assault squads to crack cases.

The government has also allocated $78.5 million in grants to support additional police positions, hire more prosecutors, and improve technology to solve firearms crimes.

“We saw one result of those efforts last week when Kansas City Police arrested the suspected murderer of LeGend,” Barr said. “This arrest will not bring LeGend back but it will make his case an example of how we can come together to take violent criminals off the street and to make our communities safer.”

The spike in violent crime, according to Barr, may have a lot of reasons, including the “pent up aggression prompted by state and local quarantine orders,” the premature release of dangerous criminals by the courts and prosecutors, and the efforts “to demonize police and defund their work.”

“Operation Legend is the heart of the federal government’s response to this upturn in violent crime. Its mission is to save lives, solve crimes and take violent offenders off the streets before they can claim more victims,” Barr said. “Rather than demonizing and defunding our police, we are supporting and strengthening our law enforcement partners at the state and local level.

First launched in Kansas City, Operation Legend expanded to Chicago and Albuquerque on July 22, to Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee on July 29, to St. Louis and Memphis on Aug. 6, and to Indianapolis on Aug. 14.

The latest figures on charges and arrests do not include Indianapolis, whose operation was first announced last Friday. The arrests of more than 1,000 people include those charged in state and local courts.

In Kansas City, a total of 43 defendants have been charged with federal crimes. Sixty-one have been charged with federal charges in Chicago, 16 in Albuquerque, 32 in Cleveland, 22 in Detroit, 11 in Milwaukee, 25 in St. Louis, and 7 in Memphis, Tenn.

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The charges include illegal possession of a firearm, possession with intent to distribute controlled substances or narcotics, drug trafficking, theft, carjacking, bank robbery, illegal re-entry of an alien in connection with a widespread drug conspiracy, and making false statements to licensed firearm dealers.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-operation-legend-barr-200-federal-crimes-1000-arrests

The post Operation Legend: More than 200 charged with federal crimes, 1,000 arrested, AG Barr announces first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The measure would allow children to stay in detention with parents for an extended period of time. This comes as congressional Republicans scramble to draft legislation to address the same issue, but face challenges mustering the votes.

In signing the measure, Trump said he wants to keep families together while also enforcing border security. He vowed his administration’s “zero tolerance” policy for illegal immigration would continue.

Trump, previewing the measure earlier in the day during a meeting with lawmakers, said the move would “be matched by legislation.” He also said he’s canceling the upcoming congressional picnic, adding: “It didn’t feel exactly right to me.”

The separations stem from the administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which aims to prosecute all illegal border crossers. But because of a 1997 order and related decisions, children cannot be detained for longer than 20 days with the adults.

Sources told Fox News that the executive action by Trump could be seen to run afoul of the 1997 order and would likely draw a lawsuit. But the White House wants to try to take steps to uphold the enforcement of the law, while at the same time lessening the trauma of children being separated from their parents.

In another possible approach, Fox News is told Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will recommend to Trump that he throw his support behind developing House legislation or, if that doesn’t pass, a standalone bill to close the “loopholes” regarding family detention. During the order-signing, Nielsen again called on Congress to act.

These measures are being pursued following days of escalating calls from both sides of the political divide for Trump, or Congress, to end the controversial family separation policy.

Rep. Peter King of New York became the latest Republican to join the chorus on Wednesday when he called on Trump to suspend the family separation policy if House immigration legislation does not pass.

Speaking on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” King said that while he agrees with the president’s goals in regards to immigration, the current policy of separating migrant children from parents charged with entering the country illegally is “really terrible for families.”

Republicans in both the House and Senate are struggling to shield the party’s lawmakers from the public outcry over images of children taken from migrant parents and held in cages at the border. But they are running up against Trump’s shifting views on specifics and his determination, according to advisers, not to look soft on his signature immigration issue, the border wall.

“The Democrats do not have a strong policy,” King said on Fox News. “But at the same time we are playing into their hands by allowing this to happen.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said that the House will vote Thursday on legislation to allow families to remain together in Homeland Security custody throughout their legal proceedings.

“We do not want children taken away from their parents,” Ryan said. “We can enforce our immigration laws without breaking families apart.”

That followed a closed-door meeting in Washington on Tuesday evening, where Trump told House Republicans he is “1,000 percent” behind their rival immigration bills. But it’s unclear whether any bill has enough support to pass.

Under the administration’s current policy, all unlawful crossings are referred for prosecution — a process that moves adults to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and sends many children to facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Under the Obama administration, such families were usually referred for civil deportation proceedings, not requiring separation.

More than 2,300 minors were separated from their families at the border from May 5 through June 9, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

In the House, GOP leaders scrambled Tuesday to produce a revised version of the broader immigration bill that would keep children in detention longer than now permitted — but with their parents.

The major change unveiled Tuesday would loosen rules that now limit the amount of time minors can be held to 20 days, according to a GOP source familiar with the measure. Instead, the children could be detained indefinitely with their parents.

The revision would also give the Department of Homeland Security the authority to use $7 billion in border technology funding to pay for family detention centers, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and commented only on condition of anonymity.

In a statement late Wednesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it has taken “immediate steps” to implement the president’s executive order.

“As specified in the order, families will not be detained together when doing so would pose a risk to the child’s welfare,” the statement read in part. “Additionally, as was the case prior to implementation of the zero tolerance policy on May 5, family units may be separated due to humanitarian, health and safety, or criminal history in addition to illegally crossing the border.”

Even if Republicans manage to pass an immigration bill through the House, which is a tall order, the fight is all but certain to fizzle in the Senate.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader from New York, is adamant that Trump can end the family separations on his own and that legislation is not needed.

Without Democratic support, Republicans cannot muster the 60 votes needed to move forward on legislation.

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

The post Trump signs executive order to stop family separations at border first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.