ICE releases hundreds of migrants in Texas, New Mexico
Border Patrol says the system is overwhelmed by Central American immigrants. More than 500 migrants were released onto the streets as the government struggles to detain illegal immigrants. The release followed other mass releases to prevent migrant families from being detained longer than allowed.
The agency released 186 migrants and another 400 were set free. More releases are expected.
After a similar release Sunday, ICE blamed "decades of inaction by Congress" for limiting its ability to remove families in the U.S. illegally. “To mitigate the risk of holding families past the time frame allotted, ICE curtailed reviews of families apprehended.”
Ruben Garcia of the Annunciation House, a homeless and refugee shelter said he has been working with ICE to coordinate drop-offs and sheltering. He said he has been receiving about 2,000 migrants a week.
ICE typically coordinates with shelters to make sure there is space. But U.S. Rep.-elect Veronica Escobar, told the AP that the agency dropped people off at the bus station after Annunciation House said it didn't have enough space.
Garcia blamed the agency's practice of releasing migrants on a policy change. The policy states that if ICE has “more people to drop off than local shelters and agencies can receive and house, ICE will drop those migrants off in the street.”
If Ocasio-Cortez's 'Green New Deal' succeeds in 2019 it will be the most radical plan offered in decades
What is the 'Green New Deal' proposal drafted by incoming Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?
Ocasio-Cortez has been calling for the creation of 'Green New Deal' legislation, which would eliminate much of the United States’ fossil-fuel consumption. So far, Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., and 40 House Democrats have said they support the proposal, but incoming House Democratic leadership has put it on pause for now.
Incoming Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., pledged to voters she would be a far-left outsider who would push her party toward adopting “democratic socialist” policies, including universal health care and free college tuition. So far, she has kept her promise.
Ocasio-Cortez has been calling for the creation of “Green New Deal” legislation, which would eliminate much of the United States’ fossil-fuel consumption. So far, Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., and 40 House Democrats have said they support the proposal.
Although the broad talking points of the plan have been circulating for months, it wasn’t until recently that Ocasio-Cortez provided any details of her proposal. On December 3, according to The Atlantic, Ocasio-Cortez spoke at a town hall led by Sanders and declared, "This is going to be the New Deal, the Great Society, the moon shot, the civil-rights movement of our generation."
The specifics have still not been worked out, but what we know so far about her plan is that it would have catastrophic economic consequences, dramatically increase America’s already skyrocketing debt, and transform the United States into a European-style socialist nation. (And no, these are not exaggerations.)
In a draft resolution to create a House select committee that would be responsible for writing the Green New Deal legislation, Ocasio-Cortez outlines the primary goals of her plan. Among them, Ocasio-Cortez proposes eliminating all fossil-fuel-powered electricity, closing every coal and natural gas power plant in the country, thus destroying the hundreds of thousands of jobs related to these businesses. Even more stunning, all this would occur by 2030, just 10 years after Ocasio-Cortez expects the legislation to be completed.
In its place, nearly all energy would be produced by renewable sources of power, especially wind and solar. This goal would create massive amounts of economic harm. Although economists have yet to provide an analysis of Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal to eliminate all fossil fuels, other studies have found less-extreme policies would be absolutely devastating. A study published in October 2018 by Capital Alpha Partners on behalf of the Institute for Energy Research found a national tax on carbon dioxide would cost the U.S. economy $4.21 trillion to $5.98 trillion, depending on the tax level chosen, in just the first 10 years of the tax scheme. By 2040, as much as $12.32 trillion would be lost. Nearly one-quarter of the country’s GDP, relative to what it would otherwise be, could be lost as a result of a nationwide carbon-dioxide tax. And this far left-wing plan is nowhere near as radical as Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal.
Not only would Ocasio-Cortez’s plan destroy trillions of dollars in wealth, but it would also be virtually impossible to achieve. When the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining, renewable electricity generation relies on fossil-fuel power to keep the lights on. Currently, the only way to have a 100 percent renewable-energy-powered electric grid would be for Americans to live without power when renewables aren’t producing enough energy. Among many other problems, that means there would be no stable electricity sources for hospitals and other essential services.
Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t merely want to destroy the existing energy industry, the plan also requires “upgrading every residential and industrial building for state-of-the-art energy efficiency, comfort and safety” and “eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from, repairing and improving transportation and other infrastructure, and upgrading water infrastructure.” Ocasio-Cortez’s draft resolution also proposes the elimination of “greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacturing, agricultural and other industries.”
The radical nature of these proposals cannot be understated. “Upgrading every residential and industrial building”—not just to make them more energy efficient, but also to improve “comfort and safety”—would cost untold trillions of dollars and insert the government into nearly every home and business in the country. Further, banning fossil fuels from all agricultural, manufacturing, and transportation would dramatically increase the cost of every product in the United States and make it difficult for American businesses to export products at reasonable prices.
Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal would also establish other extremely expensive government programs that would greatly expand the power and influence of the federal government. One such program would “assure a living wage job to every person who wants one.” Additionally, she says the Green New Deal legislation should include “additional measures such as basic income programs, universal health care programs and any others as the select committee may deem appropriate to promote economic security, labor market flexibility and entrepreneurism.”
How does Ocasio-Cortez propose to pay for these many trillion-dollar programs? By raising taxes, creating new “public banks,” and running up the national debt. In a “Frequently Asked Questions” section of Ocasio-Cortez’s draft resolution, she claims the way to fund her far-reaching proposals is to use the “same ways that we paid for the 2008 bank bailout and extended quantitative easing programs, the same ways we paid for World War II and many other wars. The Federal Reserve can extend credit to power these projects and investments, new public banks can be created (as in WWII) to extend credit and a combination of various taxation tools (including taxes on carbon and other emissions and progressive wealth taxes) can be employed.”
New reports indicate the House Democratic Party leadership has said it has decided not to create Ocasio-Cortez’s committee—for now. But supporters of the plan aren’t giving up. They say they are going to continue pushing for these policies until they are transformed into legislation.
Together, Ocasio-Cortez’s proposals would effectively eliminate fossil fuels from most of society, destroy millions of jobs and trillions of dollars of wealth, require “upgrading” every home and business in America, create a national federal jobs-guarantee program, impose single-payer health care (costing trillions more), establish a new system of publicly owned banks, run up the national debt by countless trillions of dollars, and move the United States closer than ever to socialism. If we don’t stop it, it will destroy our economy for a whole generation of Americans.
Another Cut&Paste of another's opinion, say what you will.
Would you rather me put up an image of it (that you probably couldn't read anyway)? lol
ICE: No contact with illegal immigrant accused of killing California cop before murder
Killing of California police officer sparks new debate over sanctuary laws
U.S. immigration authorities confirmed they had no contact with the Mexican illegal immigrant suspected of killing a California police officer until the man was arrested last week.
ICE emailed a statement to The San Francisco Chronicle saying it had placed its first immigration detainer on suspect Gustavo Perez Arriaga after the Dec. 26 killing.
Perez Arriaga, who was in the country illegally and had previous arrests, was taken into custody on suspicion of killing Newman police Cpl. Ronil Singh, who was a 33-year-old husband and father of a 5-month-old boy.
The arrest of the Mexican national followed a two-day manhunt.
The officer's death has rekindled a national debate over California sanctuary policies.
The disclosure by ICE calls into question that Perez Arriaga had benefited from policies that forbid local police from cooperating with immigration officials.
Sheriff Christianson, who led the investigation, blamed California's sanctuary law for preventing local authorities from reporting Perez Arriaga to immigration officials after two previous drunken driving arrests.
A spokesman for Gov. Brown said that police could have informed federal authorities if the suspect was a known gang member.