Free Republic

Many Americans might have felt surprised by recent news that U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona caught 11 Iranian migrants who crossed the southern border from Mexico. But this crossing is not surprising in one insular quarter: an international cadre of intelligence and law enforcement officers who work on this chronically misunderstood threat problem for the American homeland security establishment. For them, southern border crossings by Iranians, as well as by migrant travelers from other countries of terrorism concern, like Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, trigger an almost routine response the public never sees.My new book, America’s Covert Border War,...

Twitter locked the account of CPB Commissioner Mark Morgan over a post that touted the progress and effectiveness of the wall on the southern border. The tweet claimed that “walls work” and that “every mile helps us stop gang members, murderers, sexual predators and drugs from entering our country,” according to a screenshot provided to The Federalist. Twitter said Morgan violated the company’s rules against “hateful conduct.” “You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease,” Twitter’s message...

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday decried the U.S.-enacted limits on importing cotton, apparel, hair products, and other goods from companies reasonably believed to be engaging in slave labor in China, calling the sanctions a “naked act of bullying.” The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in tandem with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), announced five new Withhold Release Orders on products from Xinjiang, China’s westernmost province, believed to be home to over 1,000 concentration camps. China has imprisoned as many as 3 million Muslims, most of ethnic Uyghur descent, in the camps, where survivors say they...

AUSTIN, Texas – U.S. Border Patrol Agent Marco Gonzales was working the brush in the cooking heat of late June one night near his home town of Del Rio when he spotted four or five Mexicans together fresh out of the Rio Grande. Once among them, he noticed all were showing Covid symptoms, his 23-year-old daughter Catherine Gonzales told the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) last week.  The 49-year-old Border Patrol veteran of 15 years told his family he loaded up the Mexicans in his vehicle anyway, per duty, and drove them to the Acuna-Del Rio International Bridge for their...

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other Department of Homeland Security agents seized more than $2 billion in cash from travelers in U.S. airports between 2000 and 2016, according to a new report by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm. The institute's report is the first to comprehensively analyze the use of civil asset forfeiture by federal law enforcement in airports, where multiple news investigations have revealed horror stories of passengers having their money taken even though they weren't ever charged with a crime. Take a case that Reason covered: Rustem Kazazi, a U.S. citizen who...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Border Patrol’s parent agency said Friday that it fired four employees and suspended 38 without pay for inappropriate social media activity following revelations of a secret Facebook group that mocked members of Congress and migrants. The investigation began in July 2019 after posts surfaced in a secret Facebook group called “I’m 10-15.” They questioned the authenticity of images of a migrant father and child dead on the banks of the Rio Grande River and depicted doctored images of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez purporting to perform a sex act on President Donald Trump. Customs and Border Protection said...

Here’s one of the stranger stories to come out of the ongoing protests and riots, though it took place a week ago. During the June 3 protests in Detroit, a Customs and Border Protection helicopter was being used to monitor the activities in the southeastern portion of the city near the Canadian border. While the pilot was aloft and keeping an eye on things, someone on the other side of the border began repeatedly pointing a green laser into the cockpit. This continued even after the pilot took evasive action to avoid being blinded. Who would be targeting an...

El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents teamed up with local law enforcement officers to recover a stash of stolen firearms and ammunition near the California border with Mexico. The suspects, Mexican nationals, allegedly stole the weapons from Yuma, Arizona. Imperial County Sheriff’s Office detectives began an investigation on April 29 into a large number of firearms and ammunition reportedly stolen in Yuma, Arizona. El Centro Sector Special Operations Detachment (SOD) Border Patrol agents and the Yuma Police Department assisted in the investigation, according to information provided by El Centro Sector Border Patrol officials. The El Centro Sector SOD agents joined...

Emails Suggest Obama FBI Knew McCain Leaked Trump Dossier Mexican Hospital Overrun by COVID-19 Closes Near Busy U.S. Crossing Court Orders Maryland to Release Complete Voter Registration Records Our Campaign for Clean Elections Emails Suggest Obama FBI Knew McCain Leaked Trump Dossier We are getting more insight into the thinking of the corrupt FBI officials involved in the plot against Donald Trump – in particular what they knew and when they knew about the smear/leak operation using the shady “dossier.” Our new understanding comes from 138 pages of emails between former FBI official Peter Strzok and former FBI attorney...

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee, accused Democrats of exploiting the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic in order to push for "extreme changes in immigration policy." "This concept ought to be simple: We should not turn our back on the citizens and lawful immigrants of this great country to favor those that broke the law and came here illegally or overstayed their visas," said the Ohio congressman during a conference call with Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Matthew Albence and Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Mark Morgan. Democrats have called...

President Trump is "exactly right" to direct his efforts toward combatting sanctuary city policies, retired U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tom Homan said Saturday. Appearing on "Fox & Friends: Weekend" with host Griff Jenkins, Homan said he is glad the president is turning his attention toward the issue. "The Congress isn't going to fix it," he stated. "I asked them two years ago to fix it. They are not going to fix it. They want it to be a 2020 issue." Speaking in Washington on Friday, the president vowed to oppose sanctuary cities not complying with federal law...

Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan said Tuesday that he believes Mexico’s stagnant economy could be pushing migrants north to the United States in search of work. The number of Mexicans apprehended on the southern border increased 10.6 percent in January from the previous month, to 16,116. Mexican nationals represented about 61 percent of apprehended migrants last month, and the majority were single adults. The January figures mark a significant increase from the percentage of Mexican migrants last year. When border apprehensions hit a 13-year high in May, the majority of migrants were from Northern Triangle countries: Guatemala,...

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has "lost his mind" on immigration policy, retired U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tom Homan said Friday. Appearing on "Fox & Friends: First," Homan said Cuomo is "spitting in the face of federal law." Last December, the controversial "Green Light Law" was passed by the Sanctuary State's Democratic Legislature and signed by Cuomo. Under the law, county and state motor vehicle departments may accept applications for licenses, regardless of immigration status. New York is just one of the 15 states and Washington D.C. which operates under similar laws. On Wednesday, Acting Homeland...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Minnesota discovered $900,000 in counterfeit $1 bills inside a shipping container originating from China, the agency said in a press release Monday. CBP officers had referred a rail container for a Customs Exam Station inspection on Dec. 14 at the International Falls Port of Entry, which connects the cities of International Falls, Minn., and Fort Frances, Ontario, Canada. While inspecting the container Friday, CBP officers found 45 cartons of possible counterfeit currency in the form of $1 bills with a total face value of $900,000. The U.S. Secret Service was contacted and determined...

Former Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tom Homan said Sunday that U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made “dangerous” and “idiotic” statements regarding ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at a campaign rally for 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in Iowa. “She's disgusting,” Homan said on “Fox & Friends Weekend” on Sunday morning, reacting to Ocasio-Cortez’s comments the night before. On Saturday, with Sanders, I-Vt., tied up in Washington at President Trump's Senate impeachment trial, Ocasio-Cortez addressed his supporters in Ames, Iowa, calling for the abolition of ICE and CBP. The New York Democrat also urged Sanders'...

A group organized by Border Patrol agents recently collected and distributed Christmas and holiday gifts for the children of fallen agents. This marks the organization’s fifth year of giving. Border Patrol agents in the El Centro Sector began an organization that became knows as the Fallen Agents Fund shortly before Christmas 2014, Mike Matzke told Breitbart Texas in his role as president of the fund. Matzke also serves as president of the National Border Patrol Council, Local 2554.

Two men who were awaiting trial on unrelated murder charges when they escaped from a California jail early Sunday were arrested by federal officials Wednesday, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office said. Santos Fonseca, 21, and Jonathan Salazar, 20, were taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, the office announced in a tweet. Further details about their arrests were not immediately available, but police are expected to provide updates during a press conference at 2 p.m. ET. Both men are gang-related murder suspects and had been considered dangerous since their escape from a jail in Salinas early Sunday....

On October 7, United States Customs and Border Protection agents discovered that the two men in a truck at an immigration checkpoint were Hondurans. A border patrol agent was hurt when “the driver accelerated” while agents sought to remove the men from the truck. The men drove away in the truck but were later captured. From the CBP press release: Agents referred the vehicle for a more extensive inspection, during which agents determined the two occupants were citizens of Honduras. As agents attempted to extract the subjects from the vehicle, the driver accelerated, injuring an agent. The driver and passenger...

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room 11:02 A.M. EDT ACTING COMMISSIONER MORGAN: Good morning. Thank you all for being here today to discuss CBP’s southwest border enforcement statistics for September. But before I get to the numbers, I’d like to say thank you to the men and women of the Customs and Border Protection for their tireless efforts through Fiscal Year 2019, dealing with this unprecedented crisis. They do a phenomenal job securing our nation’s borders, enforcing our nation’s laws, saving lives, and maintaining the integrity of our system and rule of law — and doing so with humanity and...

Border officials apprehended just over 52,000 migrants at the southern border in September -- another drop in numbers for the fourth consecutive month -- as administration officials said Tuesday the numbers are proof that policies at the border are working. Total encounters, making up those apprehended or turned away, were 52,546 in September, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced. It marks a drop of almost 65 percent from the 144,000 encountered in May, and an 18 percent decline from August, when just over 64,000 were apprehended. "This represents the fourth month in a row of a steady decline in apprehensions,"...