“The findings raise concerns about national security, as visa overstays were a factor in the 9/11 attacks.”

(NewsNation) — The Office of Inspector General (OIG) revealed that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has insufficient information on whether nonimmigrant visa holders have been interviewed by the Department of State (DoS).

A recent OIG report shows that between 2020 and 2023, the DoS granted approximately 7.1 million nonimmigrant visas without conducting in-person consular interviews. During the same period, fingerprints were not collected for an undisclosed number of visa applicants.

In December 2023, DoS and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agreed to expand the categories of visas and applicants eligible for interview waivers starting January 1, 2024. The fingerprint waiver program concluded in December 2023….

Read the entire report here.

* Related reading: What’s better than instate tuition for illegal aliens? Georgia’s Dual Enrollment program

The slanted weeper below from the far left The Guardian.com is agonizing over Georgia law that excludes illegal aliens from instate tuition in public colleges and attendance at several other taxpayer-funded colleges. But it is useful in that it puts a number of illegal aliens in our high schools. We caution readers to grasp that the actual number is likely much higher because of Biden’s ongoing open border policies. We note that according to federal law illegal aliens are not eligible to work in the U.S.

* Related reading: Who is Emiko Soltis?

_________

Free tuition, secret locations: the ‘underground university’ teaching 25 undocumented students at a time

TheGuardian.com

31 May 2024

“But even that pipeline doesn’t reach many of the estimated 4,000 undocumented students who graduate from Georgia’s high schools every year, as the much less expensive public colleges and universities remain out of reach.”

“Only hours after Joe Biden spoke at Atlanta’s Morehouse College – a 19 May ceremony watched closely in light of student protests in support of Palestine – a much smaller, visibly different graduation ceremony took place nearby.

The ceremony’s location was not publicized, a nod to past threats the Ku Klux Klan has directed at the school, as well as continuing hate mail and social media attacks.

The school’s director, Dr Laura Emiko Soltis, wore a keffiyeh while addressing parents, faculty and students from the stage. Flor M, a commencement speaker and alumna, quipped: “I know in my heart I will never have to demand a divestment from Freedom U.” The proceedings included a performance of son jarocho, the lively rhythm from Veracruz, Mexico; the 18 graduates and small audience of supporters sang and clapped along.

Graduates here were receiving recognition from Freedom University – the nation’s only program providing free college-level and college prep classes for undocumented students, with studies grounded in a human rights framework. It was the “underground” school’s 10th graduating class since relocating to Atlanta from Athens, Georgia, in 2014, a deliberate move to tap into the city’s civil rights legacy.

In that time, more than half of its 300 or so graduates have gone on to college with full scholarships, and many have participated in advocacy work, particularly involving access to higher education for undocumented students in Georgia – one of the most prohibitive states in the country when it comes to tuition and admissions policies at public colleges and universities.”   …more here.

Per 8 USC 1304 “(d) Certificate of alien registration or alien receipt card

“Every alien in the United States who has been registered and fingerprinted under the provisions of the Alien Registration Act, 1940, or under the provisions of this chapter shall be issued a certificate of alien registration or an alien registration receipt card in such form and manner and at such time as shall be prescribed under regulations issued by the Attorney General.”

see also:

Per 8 U.S.C. § 1302, all aliens in the United States for 30 days or longer are required to register with the U.S. Gov’t, and § 1304(e) requires they “at all times carry with [them] and have in [their] personal possession any [proof of] alien registration [] issued”.

New FAIR study estimates a 30% increase since 2017

Criminal justices costs alone: $47 billion annually

Illegal immigration is now costing U.S. taxpayers $151 billion a year, marking a 30% increase in five years, according to a new study by a hawkish immigration group being released this week.

The study, “The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers 2023” by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) concludes that American taxpayers pay overall around $182 billion annually for services and benefits to illegal immigrants. However, those costs are offset by around $31 billion in taxes collected from what they estimate are 15.5 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.

Those costs represent a 30% increase since 2017, when FAIR — which advocates for stricter border security and lower levels of immigration overall — put the annual net cost at $116 billion a year.

While illegal immigrants are not eligible for the majority of federal welfare programs, the study also takes into account services, such as education and food assistance programs, provided to the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants and also programs that they may be eligible for at the state level. Here.

“Bold, necessary, and overdue”: Sheriff Owens declares end to 287(g) immigration enforcement

Marietta Daily Journal

January 19, 2021

“At the announcement, Owens was flanked by his newly selected command staff, and invited a number of community leaders and public officials to speak. Among them were Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, who called Owens’ decision “bold, necessary, and overdue,” and Cobb’s new District Attorney, Flynn Broady.”

United States Attorney’s Office

Media release

Nov 22, 2021

Recently unsealed indictment targets 24 defendants for human trafficking

INDICTMENT: USA v. Patricio et al, Operation Blooming Onion: 521cr9.pdf

WAYCROSS, GA:  Two dozen defendants have been indicted on federal conspiracy charges after a transnational, multi-year investigation into a human smuggling and labor trafficking operation that illegally imported Mexican and Central American workers into brutal conditions on South Georgia farms.

The newly unsealed, 54-count indictment in USA v. Patricio et al. details felony charges resulting from Operation Blooming Onion, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. The multi-agency investigation, led by Homeland Security Investigations and other federal agencies, spans at least three years, and the 53-page indictment documents dozens of victims of modern-day slavery while spelling out the illegal acts that brought these exploited workers into the United States and imprisoned them under inhumane conditions as contract agricultural laborers, said David H. Estes, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

“The American dream is a powerful attraction for destitute and desperate people across the globe, and where there is need, there is greed from those who will attempt to exploit these willing workers for their own obscene profits,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Estes. “Thanks to outstanding work from our law enforcement partners, Operation Blooming Onion frees more than 100 individuals from the shackles of modern-day slavery and will hold accountable those who put them in chains.”

“OCDETF Operation Blooming Onion maximized the expertise of multiple law enforcement agencies and leveraged analytical and coordination support from OCDETF’s International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2) to target an international criminal organization engaged in human trafficking and visa fraud,” said OCDETF Director Adam W. Cohen. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office’s leadership of this multi-agency law enforcement effort positions us to disrupt and dismantle the operations of transnational criminal networks that pose the greatest threat to our communities and to the Nation.”

As described in the indictment, investigators from Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the FBI began investigating the Patricio transnational criminal organization in November 2018. The indictment alleges that in or before 2015, the conspirators and their associates “engaged in mail fraud, international forced labor trafficking, and money laundering, among other crimes,” fraudulently using the H-2A work visa program to smuggle foreign nationals from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras into the United States under the pretext of serving as agricultural workers.

The activities took place within the Southern, Middle, and Northern Districts of Georgia; the Middle District of Florida; the Southern District of Texas; and Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and elsewhere. The conspirators required the workers to pay unlawful fees for transportation, food, and housing while illegally withholding their travel and identification documents, and subjected the workers “to perform physically demanding work for little or no pay, housing them in crowded, unsanitary, and degrading living conditions, and by threatening them with deportation and violence.”

Exploitation of the workers included being required to dig onions with their bare hands, paid 20 cents for each bucket harvested, and threatened with guns and violence to keep them in line. The workers were held in cramped, unsanitary quarters and fenced work camps with little or no food, limited plumbing and without safe water. The conspirators are accused of raping, kidnapping and threatening or attempting to kill some of the workers or their families, and in many cases sold or traded the workers to other conspirators. At least two of the workers died as a result of workplace conditions. In the Southern District of Georgia, these activities were alleged to have taken place in the counties of Atkinson, Bacon, Coffee, Tattnall, Toombs and Ware as farmers paid the conspirators to provide contract laborers.

The conspirators are alleged to have reaped more than $200 million from the illegal scheme, laundering the funds through cash purchases of land, homes, vehicles, and businesses; through cash purchases of cashier’s checks; and by funneling millions of dollars through a casino.

Then, as the continuing investigation into the conspiracy moved forward in late 2019, the indictment alleges that three of the conspirators attempted to intimidate and persuade a witness to lie to a federal grand jury and deny any knowledge of the illegal activities of the Patricio organization.

More than 200 law enforcement officers and federal agents from around the United States convened in the Southern District of Georgia to execute more than 20 federal search warrants at target locations.

Those indicted in USA v. Patricio et al. and their charges include:

• Maria Leticia Patricio, 70, of Nichols, Ga., charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; two counts of Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Daniel Mendoza, 40, of Ruskin, Fla., charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Nery Rene Carrillo-Najarro, 56, Douglas, Ga., charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; 14 counts of Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Antonio Chavez Ramos, a/k/a “Tony Chavez,” 38, a citizen of Mexico illegally present in the United States, charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; four counts of Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• JC Longoria Castro, 46, Vidalia, Ga., charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; four counts of Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Victoria Chavez Hernandez, 38, a citizen of Mexico illegally present in the United States, charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Enrique Duque Tovar, 36, of Axon, Ga., charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; nine counts of Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Jose Carmen Duque Tovar, 58, of Axon, charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; nine counts of Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Charles Michael King, 31, of Waycross, Ga., charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Stanley Neal McGauley, 38, of Waycross, charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Luis Alberto Martinez, a/k/a “Chino Martinez,” 41, of Tifton, Ga., charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Delia Ibarra Rojas, 33, of Lyons, Ga., charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; three counts of Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Juana Ibarra Carrillo, 46, of Alma, Ga., charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Donna Michelle Rojas, a/k/a “Donna Lucio,” 33, of Collins, Ga., charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; three counts of Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Margarita Rojas Cardenas, a/k/a “Maggie Cardenas,” 43, of Reidsville, Ga., charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; three counts of Forced Labor; Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering; and Tampering with a Witness;
• Juan Fransisco Alvarez Campos, 42, a citizen of Mexico illegally present in the United States, charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Rosalvo Garcia Martinez, a/k/a “Chava Garcia,” 33, of Haines City, Fla., charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering; and Tampering with a Witness;
• Esther Ibarra Garcia, 63, of Dade City, Fla., charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; three counts of Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Rodolfo Martinez Maciel, 26, a citizen of Mexico illegally present in the United States, charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; three counts of Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Brett Donavan Bussey, 39, of Tifton, Ga., charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; four counts of Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering; and Tampering with a Witness;
• Linda Jean Facundo, 36, of Tifton, charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Gumara Canela, 34, of Alma, charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; 14 counts of Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering;
• Daniel Merari Canela Diaz, 24, a citizen of Mexico illegally present in the United States, charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering; and,
• Carla Yvonne Salinas, 28, of Laredo, Texas, charged with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud; Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor; and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering.

The charges of Conspiracy to Engage in Forced Labor, and Forced Labor, each carry statutory penalties of up to life in prison, while the charges of Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, Mail Fraud, Money Laundering Conspiracy, and Tampering with a Witness each carry statutory penalties of up to 20 years in prison. Each of the charges also include substantial financial penalties and periods of supervised release after completion of any prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Criminal indictments contain only charges; defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Operation Blooming Onion also is designated as a Priority Transnational Organized Crime Cases.

Agencies investigating Operation Blooming Onion include Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Fraud Detection and National Security; the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, and Wage and Hour Division; U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service; the FBI; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and the U.S. Marshals Service, with assistance from the Georgia National Guard; the Georgia Bureau of Investigation; the Georgia State Patrol; the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office; the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office; the Tattnall County Sheriff’s Office; the Bacon County Sheriff’s Office; and the Tift County Sheriff’s Office. The case is being prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorney and Human Trafficking Coordinator Tania D. Groover, and Assistant U.S. Attorney and Criminal Division Deputy Chief E. Greg Gilluly Jr., and Assistant U.S. Attorney Xavier A. Cunningham, Section Chief of the Asset Recovery Unit.

If you believe you have information about a potential trafficking situation call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888. Anti-Trafficking Hotline Advocates are available 24/7 to take reports of potential human trafficking. All reports are confidential and you may remain anonymous. Interpreters are available.  The information you provide will be reviewed by the National Hotline and forwarded to specialized law enforcement and/or service providers where appropriate.

Here.

NumberUSA.com

Fri, JUL 30^th2021 @ 4:18 pm EDT

The Biden Administration is exempting many illegal aliens from the Transportation Security Agency’s government photo ID rules for airline travel, giving them special permissions to board planes without a passport or other photo ID.

TSA officials reportedly say they are confident the background screenings that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials are doing before aliens are allowed on U.S. domestic flights is ensuring security, however, Mark Morgan, the former Acting Commissioner of USCBP under President Trump is not so sure of that; he stated:

I’m sure CBP is doing as much due diligence as possible. But when you have 180,000 people crossing a month and many don’t have the official travel documents normally needed to ensure identity, there is only so much you can do.

Currently, all Americans are required to provide TSA a government-issued photo ID, ideally a Real ID despite the federal government’s continued extension of enforcing the program. Other means of identification accepted by TSA include ​​a state-issued driver’s license, a passport, Homeland Security trusted traveler card, a green card, or a Department of Defense ID.

There is more here from NumbersUSA.com .

Newsweek

KEN CUCCINELLI , FORMER ACTING DEPUTY SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
ON 5/24/2

No one likes to admit that their team does something badly, but conservatives have long done an inadequate job informing Americans about just how good conservative policies are for poor Americans. And as is well known, our poorest fellow Americans are disproportionately minorities.

Did you know that the nation’s poverty rate reached an all-time low at the end of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck? It was the result of higher wages and spectacularly low unemployment. And while that sounds simple enough, we have to ask: How was this achieved?

There are a host of driving factors behind these successes, including President Trump’s common-sense economic policies, which slashed red tape through deregulation and cut taxes for working families, unleashing the American spirit of innovation and unlocking the American dream for millions of previously-forgotten Americans.

But one of the greatest boons for low-income Americans under President Trump was his administration’s immigration policy. By actually enforcing immigration law and reducing the influx of illegal, low-wage labor that directly competes with America’s poorest workers, President Trump helped the long-neglected working class to see their highest pay raises in 20 years and lowest unemployment in 50 years, including the lowest Black and Hispanic unemployment ever recorded

President Trump recognized a reality others refused to acknowledge: Our broken immigration system has hurt poor Americans most of all. Decades of low-skill, low-wage immigration had depressed wages and employment for workers on the bottom rung of the economic ladder.

Read the rest here at Newsweek.com