The Biden administration made multiple last-minute moves that could make the Department of Homeland Security more expensive to operate, and cause the funds allocated to the department to secure the border to be less effective.
On January 17, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas wrote to all employees that he was giving them three days of additional vacation time to be used in 2025, in memory of him.
“It has been the honor of my life to support you and to work alongside you. In recognition of your extraordinary talent, dedication, and sacrifice, I am proud — this one last time — to grant all personnel 24 hours of administrative leave, to be used this calendar year,” he wrote in a memo to staff obtained by The Daily Wire. “Please take care of one another.”
The head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, meanwhile, sent employees a message saying that two career employees will lead the agency until a Trump appointee is confirmed. She signed the message “Ur M. Jaddou (she/her) Director.”
DHS employees were also given an extra day off for Christmas Eve and for former President Jimmy Carter’s death. Because simply not having law enforcement operate is not an option, this often means that the agency must pay for expensive and unbudgeted overtime just to have the coverage they were expected to have.
The change that could have significant impacts on the agency’s budget had to do with allowing employees to attain significant pay raises through tenure, rather than merit. The agency has historically had one Immigration Service Officer job, called ISO-1, that handled simpler cases and was lower-paid, starting at the GS-5 pay rank and allowing employees to climb to a GS-9. A second group of employees, ISO-2s, had to pass a test to get the job, handled complex cases, and were paid between GS-9 and GS-12.
In recent weeks, USCIS said it would combine them into one job, meaning all of its lower-paid agents could climb all the way to GS-12 pay simply by staying in their jobs. That gives the agency less of an ability to control its budget, and also means that the agents handling complex immigration cases could be less qualified.
The move could be an attempt to sandbag or budget-bust Trump’s DHS, or it could simply be a giveaway to public-sector unions, a primary Democrat constituency.
It means “everyone would eventually be GS-12… as long as you do your job at the basic level you will get promoted without any competition or proof of your ability to do or know your job,” a USCIS employee told The Daily Wire. “Someone straight from college with a degree in lesbian dance theory will get a GS-12 spot as long as they do the minimum.” 
A message dated January 6 and obtained by The Daily Wire said that “We have decided to combine these two positions into a single career ladder, eliminating the overlap of the GS-9. This new structure will feature one ISO position with a career progression spanning the 5/7/9/11/12 grade levels. However, there are several regulatory steps that we need to adhere to in order to make this transition. The new career ladder was tailored to meet growing operational effectiveness. This development also reflects our commitment to valuing and supporting the professional growth for ISOs.”
On January 17, the last weekday of the Biden administration, the merged jobs <a href="https://www.usajobs.gov/job/828825400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appeared</a> on USAJobs.gov, the government’s hiring site. 
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-republicans-target-federal-unions-after-11th-hour-deals-tie-trumps-hands-on-remote-work" target="_blank" rel="noopener">House Republicans Target Federal Unions After 11th-Hour Deals Tie Trump’s Hands On Remote Work</a>

Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas Holds Media Availability In Eagle Pass, Texas

Biden Administration Makes 11th-Hour Moves To Sabotage Trump Department Of Homeland Security

Alejandro Mayorkas

Budget

Department of Homeland Security

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

For those who don&#8217;t spend their Sunday mornings glued to the television — and their Sunday afternoons attempting to dig through a week&#8217;s worth of network and cable news media spin — The Daily Wire has compiled a short summary of what you may have missed.
Sunday&#8217;s narrative focused primarily on the terrorist attack that took place last week in New Orleans — along with a concerted effort to drive conversation away from the terror risk posed by the open southern border and toward the threat of homegrown terrorism.
As soon as it was clear that the truck attack in New Orleans had been motivated by radical Islamist ideology — coupled with conflicting reports about the truck that was used and whether it had recently crossed the border — a number, President-elect Donald Trump among them, pointed to the porous border and questioned whether more such attacks might be possible or even imminent.
But Democrats and legacy media were quick to put distance on the topic of the border and the crisis that has unfolded there under the Biden-Harris administration&#8217;s lax policies — and they emphasized the fact that at least in this particular case, the perpetrator was an American citizen who had been radicalized.
On ABC News&#8217; &#8220;This Week,&#8221; Chief Justice correspondent Pierre Thomas raised the question of how exactly the New Orleans terror suspect had been radicalized — specifically, whether ISIS had recruited him or he had come to them.
&#8220;The main focus of the investigation right now: trying to figure out if the suspect was radicalized on his own or if someone from ISIS directed him in anyway,&#8221; Thomas told anchor George Stephanopoulos.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/PierreTABC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PierreTABC</a> has the latest on the New Year&#39;s Day truck attack in New Orleans.
“The main focus of the investigation right now: trying to figure out if the suspect was radicalized on his own or if someone from ISIS directed him in anyway.” <a href="https://t.co/8o1oMWvGZN">https://t.co/8o1oMWvGZN</a> <a href="https://t.co/dhsDNS4kDu">pic.twitter.com/dhsDNS4kDu</a>
&mdash; This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1875911278952149161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas doubled down on that narrative, saying outright that the border was not part of the problem, at least in this current case.
&#8220;The assailant who perpetrated the terrorist attack in New Orleans was born in the United States, raised in the United States and served in our armed forces. It is not an issue of the border,&#8221; he said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
“The assailant who perpetrated the terrorist attack in New Orleans was born in the United States, raised in the United States and served in our armed forces. It is not an issue of the border,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says. <a href="https://t.co/rRMUv9vl3M">https://t.co/rRMUv9vl3M</a> <a href="https://t.co/CdxBxDH9S1">pic.twitter.com/CdxBxDH9S1</a>
&mdash; This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1875918619726557449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
He went on to add that officials had noted a &#8220;significant increase&#8221; in &#8220;homegrown violent extremism&#8221; in recent years, specifically over the last decade.
&#8220;It&#8217;s a very difficult threat landscape,&#8221; he said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas tells George Stephanopoulos that officials have seen a “significant increase” over the last 10 years in “homegrown violent extremism.”
“It is a very difficult threat landscape.” <a href="https://t.co/r02W91CgMN">https://t.co/r02W91CgMN</a> <a href="https://t.co/yVFQAGxKQg">pic.twitter.com/yVFQAGxKQg</a>
&mdash; This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1875916246870286446?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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On CBS News&#8217; &#8220;Face the Nation,&#8221; former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also addressed the idea of violent extremism coming from domestic sources, claiming that it was a deterrent for women who might otherwise run for office.
&#8220;Women are known to be more, shall we say, ethical, than men,&#8221; Pelosi claimed, giving no evidence to support her theory. &#8220;And so, when they go after women candidates, they go after their ethics. And they&#8217;ll say this, that and the other thing. And then the child comes home from school crying because somebody said a bad thing about mom on TV. And nobody wants that.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The threat of domestic violent extremism is discouraging women from running for public office, says <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpeakerPelosi</a>, telling <a href="https://twitter.com/margbrennan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@margbrennan</a> that women candidates are attacked particularly for their ethics.
&quot;Women are known to be more, shall we say, ethical, than men. And so, when… <a href="https://t.co/ZXOhIkrCdU">pic.twitter.com/ZXOhIkrCdU</a>
&mdash; Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1875939269451063489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Pelosi then pivoted to January 6th, as Congress prepares to certify the results of the 2024 presidential election, claiming that the American people had only voted for President-elect Trump a second time because they were more worried about their bank accounts than the threat of violence.
&#8220;They just had a different view as to what was in their interest, economically and the rest,&#8221; she told his Margaret Brennan.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpeakerPelosi</a> says she doesn&#39;t believe the American people disregarded the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol attack by voting to reelect Donald Trump, but &quot;they just had a different view as to what was in their interest, economically and the rest.&quot; Trump&#39;s continued efforts to falsely… <a href="https://t.co/km4MOA8SGp">pic.twitter.com/km4MOA8SGp</a>
&mdash; Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1875938011424391179?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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On &#8220;State of the Union,&#8221; CNN anchor Jake Tapper pressed Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) on the issue — asking specifically whether Trump had jumped the gun when he linked terror threats in the United States to the porous border and the lax immigration policies under Biden and Harris.
&#8220;Wasn&#8217;t that premature given that this was an American citizen?&#8221; Tapper asked.
Banks pushed back, noting that former President Barack Obama had referred to ISIS as &#8220;the JV team of terrorism, and obviously they&#8217;re not.&#8221; He went on to note that Trump had essentially cut ISIS off at the knees during his first term and was prepared to do the same again.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/jaketapper?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jaketapper</a> presses GOP <a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorBanks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenatorBanks</a> on his and Trump&#39;s comments connecting the New Orleans terror attack to Biden&#39;s border policies: &quot;Wasn&#39;t that premature?&quot; <a href="https://t.co/MhN6BNWdKe">pic.twitter.com/MhN6BNWdKe</a>
&mdash; State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSOTU/status/1875938781854884319?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
NBC News took a different tack and a different direction, with the focus primarily on the end of Biden&#8217;s presidency and the imminent certification of Trump&#8217;s victory.
On &#8220;Meet the Press,&#8221; after addressing the New Orleans attack, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ran defense for Biden — and his surrogates in the Democratic Party and legacy media — claiming that no one had misled the American people with regard to the president&#8217;s obvious mental decline.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Schumer says ‘we didn’t’ mislead Americans on Biden’s mental acuity: Full interview <a href="https://t.co/IfpizHdPFR">https://t.co/IfpizHdPFR</a>
&mdash; Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) <a href="https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/1875917176646799800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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On NBC&#8217;s soon to be spun off affiliate MSNBC, former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was laser-focused on her favorite target: Trump. Her guests joined her to discuss the upcoming sentencing in his Manhattan hush-money trial and how that was likely to impact the beginning of the presidency.
&#8220;The final thing that&#8217;s important to note is by sentencing Donald Trump this Friday, [Judge Merchan] will trigger Donald Trump&#8217;s appellate rights …&#8221; guest Andrew Weissmann noted. &#8220;It gives finality to the trial court&#8217;s ruling here, and it sends a message about this case to the public.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/AWeissmann_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AWeissmann_</a>: “The final thing that&#39;s important to note is by sentencing Donald Trump this Friday, [Judge Merchan] will trigger Donald Trump&#39;s appellate rights… It gives finality to the trial court&#39;s ruling here, and it sends a message about this case to the public.”… <a href="https://t.co/a9SsufKIDz">pic.twitter.com/a9SsufKIDz</a>
&mdash; Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) <a href="https://twitter.com/InsideWithPsaki/status/1875985476621947244?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

NOLANEWS

Spin Cycle: New Orleans Terror Attack Was Not About The Border, Stop Talking About The Border

ABC News

Border Crisis

CBS News

Chuck Schumer

Fox News

George Stephanopoulos

Jake Tapper

Legacy Media

Media

MSNBC

Nancy Pelosi

NBC News

New Orleans

Politics

Outgoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on Sunday that Republicans should &#8220;not politicize&#8221; the Biden administration&#8217;s efforts to root out alleged extremists from inside the U.S. military.
Mayorkas made the remarks during a Sunday ABC News interview with George Stephanopoulos on &#8220;This Week&#8221; while discussing 42-year-old Islamic terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who declared allegiance to ISIS and then murdered at least 14 people in an attack on New Orlean&#8217;s French Quarter last week.
&#8220;We have not only the persistent threat of foreign terrorism that, of course, created the Department of Homeland Security, but we have adverse nation states, and for the past 10 years, we&#8217;ve seen a significant increase in what we term homegrown violent extremism,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It is a very difficult threat landscape and it is why that we as a community, not just the federal government, but state and local officials and residents, need to be alert to it and take the precautions necessary to avoid violence from occurring.&#8221;
After downplaying how significantly his disastrous border policies have damaged U.S. national security, Mayorkas responded to criticism from President-elect Donald Trump&#8217;s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, over the administration&#8217;s &#8220;sham&#8221; of trying root out extremists from the military.
&#8220;The phenomenon of radicalization of individuals is not limited to the military,&#8221; Mayorkas said. &#8220;It is something that we are very focused upon in society writ large. The military is not immune to it, nor is the federal work force.&#8221;
He said that Republicans should &#8220;not politicize&#8221; the issue but rather focus on &#8220;confronting and combatting&#8221; it.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Disgraced DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas: &#8220;The phenomenon of radicalization of individuals is not limited to the military &#8230; The military is not immune to it nor is the federal workforce.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/Cg0ON1k0qv">pic.twitter.com/Cg0ON1k0qv</a>
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1875925117592801401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2025</a></blockquote>

Mayorkas: Republicans Should ‘Not Politicize’ Actions Of Biden Admin

Radical Islamic Terror

As we prepare to enter the new year, we&#8217;re taking you back to some of The Daily Wire&#8217;s best reporting from 2024. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/homeland-security-failed-to-enforce-mandatory-dna-tests-at-the-border-whistleblowers-say-violent-criminals-and-child-traffickers-took-advantage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on July 25. 
The Department of Homeland Security has refused to follow a law mandating it take DNA samples from illegal immigrants taken into custody, which would identify violent criminals and child traffickers, employees told the U.S. Senate.
Speaking to senators in July, three former officials presented evidence that DHS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had blocked their efforts to comply with a 2005 law, then retaliated against them when they sounded the alarm about the lawbreaking.
“Given the enormous potential of DNA collection to facility solving crimes, we took our job seriously,” Fred Wynn said.
Law enforcement experts from CBP’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) unit were tasked with implementing a mandatory program to DNA-test illegals. But higher-ups at DHS were so opposed to the law that they continuously thwarted it, eventually disbanding the entire WMD division, the whistleblowers say. Disbanding the division may have opened the United States to a WMD attack, in addition to criminals crossing the border.
The lack of DNA testing also contributed to allowing hundreds of thousands of children to stay with people who claimed to be relatives, but who may have been child labor or sex traffickers. DNA testing is the only reliable way to ensure that children aren’t coming across the border with traffickers, or being taken to live with them by U.S. officials as “sponsors.”
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Mark Jones, previously the acting director of CBP’s WMD unit, said that “the DNA tool is invaluable especially when establishing family units.” More than half a million “unaccompanied minors” have crossed the border illegally and been allowed to remain in the country, and are “reunited” with people purporting to be their relatives, who have sometimes been traffickers.
Jones said the WMD team had its responsibilities stripped, and were told to come to work and simply sit and do nothing. One team member was told to report to a new desk that had no internet, phone, or power.
“Certain senior officials were hell-bent on slow-rolling any process or pilot program that enabled DNA collection,” he said.
In 2018, Jones heard the special assistant to the Customs and Border Protection chief say that “the Commissioner does not want to do this,” while another official said, “if we have to, we will get the press to capture us forcibly taking DNA from an 89-year old woman to garner outrage,” he said.
That year, DHS “shut down the DNA collection pilot program and disbanded the WMD division,” and Jones was demoted three levels, he said.
Mike Taylor, the third WMD whistleblower, said the men have repeatedly reached out to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, but have received no corrective action. Meanwhile, those who retaliated against the men have been promoted.
Congress passed a law requiring the DNA testing of criminals and illegal immigrants in 2005, with near-unanimous bipartisan support. In 2010, the year the requirement kicked in, Barack Obama’s DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder asking for a postponement, writing that “we intend to phase-in implementation over the next year.” Holder acquiesced, with an admonishment that DHS should work quickly.
Ten years later, DHS had simply not done it, and cited the memo from Holder as evidence that it has been exempted from following the law.
In August 2019, the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), a federal agency that investigates whistleblower disclosures and retaliation, <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/osc_cbp_report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> that DHS’s “noncompliance with the law has allowed subjects subsequently accused of violent crimes, including homicide and sexual assault, to elude detection even when detained multiple times by CBP.”
The report points to an illegal immigrant who committed multiple sexual assaults in Arizona in 1997. Though police had the DNA of the perpetrator, they could not find a match, since the suspect was not in the system. The crime was only solved in 2019 because the suspect went on to go to prison for another crime, at which point he had his DNA taken.
In 2021, OSC found that DHS retaliated against the whistleblowers due to “displeasure with the Complainants’ perceived and actual involvement in bringing to light the agency’s intentional, decade-long failure to implement a law.”
The office lambasted DHS for lawbreaking and retaliation in the strongest possible terms, and said DHS had given shifting excuses that were demonstrably untrue.
Nonetheless, the retaliation continued. In 2022, DHS took Jones’ and Taylor’s badges, guns, and law enforcement credentials. Taylor lost his law enforcement retirement pension despite his having nearly reached the required 20 years of service.
In 2023, DHS sought to make the whistleblowers’ claims out to be a conspiracy theory with another misleading statement, telling the New York Post that “The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) terminated its investigation into these claims without issuing a Prohibited Personnel Practice Report or seeking corrective action.”
Recently, CBP has engaged in limited DNA testing of illegals—37% in fiscal year 2023. Even with that subset, it matched with the DNA of 1,037 violent criminals. Illegal immigrant DNA was responsible for 42% of all crimes solved using the FBI’s DNA database.
But that meant that nearly two million illegals in DHS custody did not get DNA swabbed that year. Jones noted that “we likely missed over 1,600 violent criminals in 2023 alone” based on the match rate of the smaller sample.
So far in fiscal year 2024, DNA testing of illegal immigrants has matched the DNA of people wanted in 10 homicides and 145 sex offenses.
The limited DNA testing belatedly implemented by DHS has been carried out in a way that ensures it won’t stop known violent criminals from being allowed to stay in the country. Although the technology exists to take and process a cheek swab on site in 90 minutes, DHS mails the samples to FBI headquarters and gets the results back months later. By that time, the illegal immigrants have already been released.
Failing to use rapid, on-site technology means the DNA samples will only be useful in identifying the illegal aliens if they commit crimes in the future.
The more illegal immigrants are tracked with their DNA, the more crimes they are tied to—an uncomfortable fact for Democrats who claim that illegal immigrants do not commit crimes.
In June, a man wielding a machete tied up and sexually assaulted two 13-year-old girls in New York City. DNA from the victims tied the crime to Christian Inga, an illegal immigrant who was swabbed when he crossed the border in 2021.
Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother of five, was raped and murdered last year. Charged in her death was Victor Martinez-Hernandez, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who was also suspected of a homicide there. Maryland police had a DNA sample of the perpetrator, but nothing to compare it to. Although Hernandez had been captured at the border three times, his DNA was never taken.
Maryland police ultimately identified Hernandez by comparing his DNA to that of his relatives.
The congressional panel was conducted by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI). The senators held the hearing as an unofficial “roundtable,” as Democrats, who control the Senate, refused to participate.
Grassley said the Biden administration has refused to respond to his oversight inquiries on the topic. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running for president and has positioned herself as a tough-on-crime prosecutor, was tasked by Biden with managing issues related to the border.

Joe Biden, Alejandro Mayorkas

DHS Failed To Enforce DNA Tests At Border. Whistleblowers Say Child Traffickers Took Advantage.

Illegal Immigration

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said on Sunday that he is “aware of reports of children being trafficked,” but that stopping it is “outside the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security.”
More than half a million illegal immigrant children have been knowingly let into the country in recent years — about 120,000 a year — under a policy shielding “unaccompanied alien children.” The New York Times found that one-third could not be located thirty days later.
Mayorkas shrugged aside the high numbers of children that disappear, saying some could just be illegal immigrants refusing to cooperate with the conditions they agreed to. &#8220;Individuals do not comply with the reporting obligations, or otherwise, I think it is inaccurate to say that all of them are trafficked or victimized,” he <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/dhs-alejandro-mayorkas-missing-children-trafficking-responsibility-2004975" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on Face the Nation.
Mayorkas declined to take responsibility despite his agency’s official watchdog, the DHS inspector general, in August, issuing a report saying Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of DHS, &#8220;must take <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dhs-made-no-effort-to-locate-missing-unaccompanied-alien-children-auditor-says-in-urgent-alert" target="_blank" rel="noopener">immediate action</a> to ensure the safety of UCs residing in the United States. … Without an ability to monitor the location and status of UCs, ICE has no assurance UCs are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.”
It said DHS had not been able to find, or simply didn’t bother trying to find, about 300,000 children to give them court papers. “At one location we visited, 34,823 (84 percent) of 41,638 UCs in the local area had not been served NTAs,” the inspector general wrote, referring to Notices to Appear. In other cases, they found the children, and they appeared to be being exploited, but DHS did nothing. Agents “had identified UCs in unsafe conditions but were unable to intervene&#8230; One ICE officer expressed concern with not being able to take action in a case involving a UC whose sponsor claimed the UC was in an inappropriate relationship with her husband,” the report said.
The loophole that gives preferential treatment to children if they come to the border alone—the preservation of which was a plank in the 2024 Democrat platform—has incentivized the separation of families, with children leaving their families behind and making the perilous journey with coyotes. The children are disproportionately from Guatemala, coupled with alleged <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/guatemalan-traffickers-exploit-bidens-unaccompanied-alien-children-program-records-suggest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extensive advertising by cartels</a> there. 
When the children are apprehended by DHS, they are turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, which identifies “sponsors” for the children to live with the in U.S. The sponsors are almost always fellow illegal immigrants and do not have to be related.
Remarkably, the head of Joe Biden’s HHS, Xavier Becerra, has repeatedly said that what happens to the children after they are released to sponsors is not his responsibility, either. “Our responsibility is to provide care while they were in our custody,” he told Congress in November.
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HHS never meets the sponsors before releasing the children to them, instead verifying their identities only by having them text screenshots of foreign IDs via WhatsApp, then paying a transportation contractor to take the children to them. Its only follow-up was a call thirty days later, at which point one-third of the sponsors would not answer or refused to put the child on the phone, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/us/unaccompanied-migrant-child-workers-exploitation.html">according</a> to The New York Times. The Times found that many of the children were being forced to work in dangerous factories, and there is evidence that others have been sold into the sex trade.
Becerra told Congress last month that they now make three attempts to contact the sponsors, but admitted that HHS has no authority whatsoever to do anything if the results of such check-ins go poorly. “We try to reach the child and the sponsor the times by phone to check in. The child and the sponsor are not obligated to return our call, we can&#8217;t require them to do so. And by the way, even if they don&#8217;t call back that doesn&#8217;t mean a child is lost,” he said.
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-California) lashed out at Becerra at the November hearing, saying, “You have dropped them off at a sponsor&#8217;s house, you now can&#8217;t get a hold of them &#8230; You shrug your shoulders and then send another batch of kids out. That&#8217;s frightening to me.”
Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said finding the missing vulnerable children will be a top priority.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rape-trees-and-discarded-passports-congress-hears-horrors-of-migrant-child-trafficking">‘Rape Trees’ And Discarded Passports: Congress Hears Horrors Of Migrant Child Trafficking</a>

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

Mayorkas Says Stopping Trafficking Of Alien Children Is ‘Outside The Responsibility’ Of DHS

Department of Health and Human Services

Tom Homan

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas struggled to answer over the weekend why the Biden administration has been unable to stop the ongoing &#8220;Salt Typhoon&#8221; hack from communist China on U.S. telecommunication companies.
Mayorkas was pressed on the issue during a Sunday interview on CBS News&#8217; &#8220;Face The Nation&#8221; when asked about the breach, which may be the largest in U.S. history as millions of Americans were hacked.
&#8220;Why hasn&#8217;t the U.S. government stopped it?&#8221; Brennan asked.
&#8220;The intrusion is a very significant one and an extraordinarily impactful one and an absolutely unacceptable one,&#8221; Mayorkas responded. &#8220;And the president has demonstrated a strong response to the People&#8217;s Republic of China. It is very sophisticated.&#8221;
Mayorkas claimed that President Joe Biden&#8217;s &#8220;strong response&#8221; to the hack was an action taken by the U.S. Department of Commerce against China Telecom.
&#8220;This is an ongoing situation. It is not static,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The intrusion is a very sophisticated one. The telecommunications companies are working very vigorously to remediate it. They are working in partnership with us, with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within the Department of Homeland Security, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies of the federal government.&#8221;
He said that the hack was &#8220;a very serious compromise&#8221; that required a &#8220;very serious action to remediate and recover from it, and also very serious response to it.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
When asked why the U.S. government hasn&#8217;t yet stopped the sweeping Chinese hack of eight U.S. telecom firms, DHS <a href="https://twitter.com/SecMayorkas?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecMayorkas</a> tells <a href="https://twitter.com/margbrennan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@margbrennan</a> &#8220;this is an ongoing situation. It is not static.&#8221;
&#8220;The intrusion is a very sophisticated one. The telecommunications companies are… <a href="https://t.co/Q6jadP7oro">pic.twitter.com/Q6jadP7oro</a>
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1870884398851400064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2024</a></blockquote>

Mayorkas Can’t Answer Why Biden Admin Has Not Been Able To Stop China’s ‘Salt Typhoon’ Hack

Communist China

Hackers

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during an interview over the weekend that it was deeply disturbing how leftists have praised the man who was charged with murdering a health insurance CEO on the streets of New York City earlier this month.
Mayorkas made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CBS News&#8217; &#8220;Face The Nation&#8221; with Margaret Brennan.
&#8220;Manhattan prosecutors called it a killing that was intended to evoke terror. Would you consider him a terrorist?&#8221; Brennan asked. &#8220;Is this domestic violent extremism?&#8221;
Mayorkas responded: &#8220;The rhetoric on social media following that – that murder is extraordinarily alarming. It speaks of what is really bubbling here in this country. And, unfortunately, we see that manifested in violence, the domestic violent extremism that exists. The threat of it in the United States is one of the great threat streams that we must counter.&#8221;
He said that a lot of hateful rhetoric on social media was becoming an increasing area of concern for law enforcement officials.
&#8220;And the language of violence accompanying or being a part of those narratives is something that we&#8217;re very concerned about that. That is a heightened threat environment,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I still am alarmed, though, by the heroism that is being attributed to an alleged murderer of a father of two children on the streets in New York City.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Homeland Security <a href="https://twitter.com/SecMayorkas?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecMayorkas</a> tells <a href="https://twitter.com/margbrennan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@margbrennan</a> the killing of United Healthcare’s CEO in New York is a manifestation of “domestic violent extremism” in the U.S.
He adds he’s “alarmed” by “the heroism” being attributed on social media “to an alleged murderer of a father of… <a href="https://t.co/hWqPcBw16b">pic.twitter.com/hWqPcBw16b</a>
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1870545809412079637?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2024</a></blockquote>

Mayorkas: Leftists Praising Man Who Murder Health Insurance CEO ‘Extraordinarily Alarming’

Face The Nation

There are, apparently, numerous strange drones flying around America, particularly the East Coast and military bases.
And we keep hearing from the government that it&#8217;s not a big deal.
They&#8217;re not sure what they are, they say. They&#8217;re not sure what to do about it, but it&#8217;s no big deal.
But here is my problem. 15 years ago, I might have believed the government was honest. I would have been more apt to think, “Hey, they know what they&#8217;re doing because no way in hell this government would allow, say, foreign drones or even domestic drones to simply hover around military facilities en masse for weeks on end. There&#8217;s no way they would do that.”
Then, Joe Biden became president and allowed a Chinese spy balloon to cross the entire continental United States without shooting it down. Only after he got called on it did he proceed to shoot down several balloons by using Hellfire missiles.
So, yes, I&#8217;m skeptical.
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That doesn&#8217;t mean these are Chinese drones, Iranian drones, aliens, or anything similar. Perhaps it&#8217;s just people who are mistaking airplanes for drones. That&#8217;s quite possible.
But I don&#8217;t trust the members of our government to tell us the truth — even if they know the truth — because they have not in the past.
In a piece titled, “What We Know About Mysterious Drone Sightings,” CNN <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/15/us/drone-sightings-east-coast/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>:
<blockquote>Mysterious flying objects overhead. Concern and confusion. And calls for military intervention. This isn’t the plot of “War of the Worlds,” but rather the result of numerous possible drone sightings in recent weeks. The flying objects have been spotted over residential neighborhoods, restricted sites and critical infrastructure.</blockquote>
If they&#8217;re floating above residential sites, I tend to think these are probably simply domestic drones, people who are hobbyists or something of that sort. But when reports of large swarms of drones apparently flying near military bases in Virginia or New Jersey surface, I start to have some questions.
CNN continued:
<blockquote>Reported drone activity prompted at least one airport – New York’s Stewart International Airport – to temporarily close its runways for about an hour on Friday night. 
At around the same time, airspace above Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio was restricted because of drone activity while authorities monitored the situation, base spokesperson Bob Purtiman told CNN affiliate WHIO. …
“This has gone too far,” said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Saturday, adding last month she “directed the New York State Intelligence Center to actively investigate drone sightings and coordinate with federal law enforcement to address this issue.” … 
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he’s asking the DHS to deploy special detection systems that use 360-degree technology to detect drones.</blockquote>
The reality is it&#8217;s actually quite difficult to track drones in the same way that a missile is tracked. This has been a problem in Israel, for example, where the Houthis have launched several drones.
The American government does not have a sufficient response to this as of yet. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said: 
<blockquote>There’s no question that people are seeing drones. And I want to assure the American public that we, in the federal government, have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings. … We know of no threat or nefarious activity. If we learn of any cause for concern, we will be transparent in our communication of it. </blockquote>
Some of those drone sightings are drones. Some are manned aircraft that are commonly mistaken for drones. Drone sightings apparently have been reported in at least six states: New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, as well as Virginia.
But there are drones elsewhere. I know because I saw one on the southern border. When we filmed “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/invasion-on-the-southern-border" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Divided States of Biden</a>,” I was with Border Patrol. It was fairly early in the evening, and suddenly, I looked up and saw a drone. I asked Border Patrol what it was, and they told me it was a drone.
I said, “Well, I assume that that&#8217;s our drone from our side monitoring the border.” They said, “No, that is a drug cartel drone.”
There are foreign drones flying over American soil. That is a fact.
I asked Border Patrol why they didn&#8217;t just shoot down the drone, and they said they would need explicit permission from Mayorkas.
It is possible that people are attributing planes to drones or they are experiencing a camera error. Any of that is possible.
But I have very little trust in the federal government that they are doing the job that they were designated to do.
I do not believe members of the Biden administration when they say that they are giving the American people all of the information.
* * *
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WH Briefing Oct 1

What The Hell Are All These Drones?

Biden Administration

Drones

Drug Cartels

New Jersey

Opinion

Southern Border

Two men were arrested on Saturday after police said they flew a drone “dangerously close” to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/boston" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boston</a>’s Logan International Airport. 
The Boston Police Department <a href="https://police.boston.gov/2024/12/15/two-suspects-arrested-following-hazardous-drone-operation-on-long-island/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Sunday that officers apprehended 42-year-old Robert Duffy of Charlestown and 32-year-old Jeremy Folcik of Bridgewater for allegedly flying a drone near Logan’s airspace. The two Massachusetts men were charged with trespassing, but police say they could face more serious charges. 
“Even small drones pose significant risks, including the potential for catastrophic damage to airplanes and helicopters,” the police said. “Near-collisions can cause pilots to veer off course, putting lives and property at risk.”
Police said that on Saturday, at 4:30 p.m., an officer specializing in real-time crime surveillance noticed an Unmanned Aircraft System “operating dangerously close” to the airport. That officer was then able to identify the drone’s location, altitude, and flight history and track the operator&#8217;s location on Long Island, part of the Boston Harbor Islands.
A police unit went to Long Island, where officers found the operators at a decommissioned health care center. 
“Upon attempting to make contact, the suspects fled on foot. Two of the three individuals were apprehended and identified as Duffy and Folcik. During the investigation, a drone was discovered inside a backpack carried by Duffy,” the police said. 
Police said a third suspect, who was not identified, likely escaped the island in a small boat. 
“Recognizing the serious risks posed by the drone’s proximity to Logan’s airspace, additional resources were mobilized,” the police said, noting that local law enforcement worked with Homeland Security, Massachusetts State Police, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Federal Communications Commission, and the airport to locate the drone and track the suspects. 
“The Boston Police Department is committed to ensuring public safety and will continue to take necessary action against hazardous drone operations,” the police said. 
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The arrests come amid a rash of &#8220;mysterious drone&#8221; sightings throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S., including New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. These sightings have left the public and elected officials confused and demanding answers.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mayorkas-claims-americans-have-nothing-to-worry-about-over-drone-sightings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Sunday that the agency would provide New Jersey law enforcement with special equipment and manpower to address the drones. 
“We’ve deployed personnel, technology, and if there is any reason for concern, if we identify any foreign involvement or criminal activity, we will communicate with the American public accordingly,” he claimed. “Right now, we are not aware of any. If we become aware of any, we will communicate accordingly and take appropriate action.”

Boston Logan International Airport

2 Men Arrested For Flying Drone ‘Dangerously Close’ To Major Airport

Air and Space

Boston

Massachusetts

Police

U.S.

For those who don&#8217;t spend their Sunday mornings glued to the television — and their Sunday afternoons attempting to dig through a week&#8217;s worth of network and cable news media spin — The Daily Wire has compiled a short summary of what you may have missed.
With less than two weeks to go before Christmas — and just over a month before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated to serve a second term in the White House — the news cycle is as jumbled as ever. Some of the focus remains overseas, as unrest continues to to rule the day in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad — but things at home are also quite literally &#8220;up in the air&#8221; as rumors swirl about mysterious drone sightings over states along the east coast.
After multiple reports of the strange aerial phenomena — many of which seem to be concentrated in northern New Jersey — local officials have admitted to being completely baffled and federal authorities have done little to dispel fears that all is not exactly what it seems.
During the week, the FBI <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dhs-fbi-release-statement-about-drone-sightings-in-new-jersey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released a statement</a> alongside the Department of Homeland Security, claiming that the majority of the sightings had likely been manned aircraft operating in a lawful manner — and while they could not give a definitive answer on what the people were seeing, they were certain that the public was not at any risk.
On ABC&#8217;s &#8220;This Week,&#8221; Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admitted that some of the sightings were, in fact, drones — but again said that he did not believe anyone was in danger.
&#8220;There’s no question that drones are being sighted…There are thousands of drones flown every day in the United States — recreational drones, commercial drones,&#8221; Mayorkas said, apparently suggesting that the things people were seeing were not really anything out of the ordinary.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
“There’s no question that drones are being sighted…There are thousands of drones flown every day in the United States — recreational drones, commercial drones.&quot;
DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas responds to numerous aerial sightings reported across East Coast. <a href="https://t.co/VM1aZSe1W6">https://t.co/VM1aZSe1W6</a> <a href="https://t.co/7v5CSSjzbe">pic.twitter.com/7v5CSSjzbe</a>
&mdash; This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1868300474199253481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Mayorkas also responded to claims that the drones were potentially being sent or operated by foreign adversaries, saying that he did not have any information leading him to believe that. Mayorkas told ABC host George Stephanopoulos that he had heard of &#8220;no foreign involvement with respect to the sightings in the Northeast.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas tells <a href="https://twitter.com/GStephanopoulos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GStephanopoulos</a> that his agency knows “of no foreign involvement with respect to the sightings in the Northeast” of aerial drones. 
“We are vigilant in investigating this matter.” <a href="https://t.co/EyuPQmaS8n">https://t.co/EyuPQmaS8n</a> <a href="https://t.co/KiLQoU8pgU">pic.twitter.com/KiLQoU8pgU</a>
&mdash; This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1868306745950425331?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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But former Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) also weighed in on the issue, and he pointed out the fact that the longer the American people went without any definitive answers, the more likely it was that conspiracy theories would run wild about what they could be seeing.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve lived in New Jersey my whole life,&#8221; the former governor explained. &#8220;This is the first time that I&#8217;ve noticed drones over my house.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
“I’ve lived in New Jersey my whole life. This is the first time that I’ve noticed drones over my house.”
Former NJ Gov. Chris Christie warns that conspiracy theories will grow if the federal government does not address reported aerial sightings. <a href="https://t.co/MkRObTfDiQ">https://t.co/MkRObTfDiQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/e206NSI4Se">pic.twitter.com/e206NSI4Se</a>
&mdash; This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1868313041911050312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Many local officials don&#8217;t appear convinced but the explanations offered thus far, either:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Sheriffs and other local officials in New Jersey are demanding more action from the federal government following a spate of drone sightings that has confused authorities and sparked alarm among residents. <a href="https://twitter.com/GioBenitez?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GioBenitez</a> has the latest: <a href="https://t.co/yTqK0GprGa">https://t.co/yTqK0GprGa</a> <a href="https://t.co/ULsbf3Zx8U">pic.twitter.com/ULsbf3Zx8U</a>
&mdash; This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1868298476666208532?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Rp. Michael Waltz (R-FL) joined CBS News&#8217; &#8220;Face the Nation&#8221; to discuss the issue as well, and he argued that the failure to address the situation showed the obvious gaps in the official capacity to handle such things.
&#8220;We need to get to the bottom of it,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And I think the Biden administration is working to do that.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Rep. <a href="https://twitter.com/michaelgwaltz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@michaelgwaltz</a> says drones being spotted above some East Coast states demonstrate “gaps in our agencies, gaps in our authorities,” saying, &quot;We need to get to the bottom of it, and I think the Biden administration is working to do that.&quot;
But Waltz, President-elect Trump&#39;s… <a href="https://t.co/VUtPlqpAcj">pic.twitter.com/VUtPlqpAcj</a>
&mdash; Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1868339235394400700?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) also joined host Margaret Brennan on Sunday&#8217;s broadcast of &#8220;Face the Nation,&#8221; and she called for &#8220;more transparency&#8221; on the issue.
&#8220;This just can&#8217;t be, no one knows why this huge drone is over their house,&#8221; she said, promising to work with the incoming administration to get to the bottom of it.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) says senators &quot;need a briefing&quot; and &quot;more transparency&quot; on the mysterious drones seen over the East Coast, though she notes the Biden administration &quot;has repeatedly assured people that they are safe.&quot; She said she plans to work with the incoming… <a href="https://t.co/cAXsNuBuyJ">pic.twitter.com/cAXsNuBuyJ</a>
&mdash; Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1868343536820617238?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Klobuchar also took some time to discuss a slew of pardons and commutations issued by President Joe Biden as his presidency nears its end.
While Biden&#8217;s Thanksgiving weekend pardon for his embattled son Hunter Biden certainly raised the most eyebrows — on both sides of the political aisle — Klobuchar noted that just by sheer volume, Biden was testing the limits of what she found to be acceptable.
Klobuchar first said that she was among those who did not like the fact that Biden had pardoned his son — but then said she also worried about the some 1500 sentence commutations he issued in the past week.
She proposed an &#8220;outside board&#8221; to aid the president in selecting cases for pardons or sentence commutations &#8220;instead of people just doing it in the middle of the night, and people in the White House — this makes no sense to me.&#8221;
&#8220;This whole process cries out for reform, because otherwise you undermine the justice system,&#8221; she added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) says she&#39;s not comfortable with some of President Biden&#39;s decisions when he commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people last week, and also &quot;didn&#39;t agree&quot; with Biden&#39;s pardon of his son, Hunter. 
She says there should be &quot;some kind of an outside… <a href="https://t.co/KQELzzydm7">pic.twitter.com/KQELzzydm7</a>
&mdash; Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1868343326040023273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told NBC anchor Kristen Welker on &#8220;Meet the Press&#8221; that Biden had set a &#8220;dangerous&#8221; precedent when he pardoned Hunter — and he urged the president to consider the possibility of preemptive pardons &#8220;very seriously.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
BERNIE SANDERS: The pardon of Hunter Biden sets a dangerous precedent. 
 <a href="https://t.co/6PjpwQtSjO">pic.twitter.com/6PjpwQtSjO</a>
&mdash; Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1868365660092613044?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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But on CNN&#8217;s &#8220;State of the Union,&#8221; retiring Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) said that despite having often been at odds with Trump himself, he was not overly concerned that the president-elect might use the Justice Department to attack those who had opposed him.
&#8220;I&#8217;m not particularly worried about criminal investigations,&#8221; he told anchor Jake Tapper. &#8220;I think President Trump is likely to try and focus on the future.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;I&#39;m not particularly worried about criminal investigations.&quot;<a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorRomney?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenatorRomney</a> shrugs off concerns he could face retribution from Trump, telling <a href="https://twitter.com/jaketapper?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jaketapper</a>, &quot;I think President Trump is likely to try and focus on the future.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/wtExtxZ1kN">pic.twitter.com/wtExtxZ1kN</a>
&mdash; State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSOTU/status/1868296795446497514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rio De Janeiro

Spin Cycle: Here Come The Drones … And The Pardons

Spin Cycle: Here Come The Drones ... And The Pardons

Amy Klobuchar

Bernie Sanders

Chris Christie

Mike Waltz

Mitt Romney

On Sunday, Senate Majority Leader <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/chuck-schumer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chuck Schumer</a> (D-NY) urged Homeland Security Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/alejandro-mayorkas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alejandro Mayorkas</a> for better equipment to locate mystery drones in the Mid-Atlantic.
&#8220;I’m pushing for answers amid these drone sightings,&#8221; Schumer <a href="https://x.com/SenSchumer/status/1868356493776687385" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X. &#8220;I’m calling for [Mayorkas] to deploy special drone-detection tech across&#8221; New York and New Jersey.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I’m pushing for answers amid these drone sightings.
I’m calling for <a href="https://twitter.com/SecMayorkas?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecMayorkas</a> to deploy special drone-detection tech across NY and NJ.
And I’m working to pass a bill in the Senate to give local law enforcement more tools for drone detection.
&mdash; Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/1868356493776687385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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The Port Authority said a New York airport <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/12/14/us-news/mysterious-drones-shut-down-runways-of-ny-airport-causing-hochul-to-demand-feds-step-in-gone-too-far/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">closed</a> runways on Friday night for about an hour following a report from the FAA about a &#8220;drone sighting,&#8221; according to The New York Post.
In a letter to Mayorkas, Schumer suggested &#8220;drone-specific radar like the ROBIN&#8221; given how there have been sightings near &#8220;vulnerable sites such as airports and critical infrastructure.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Schumer letter to DHS Sec. Mayorkas on drones: “Given that drone sightings have been reported across hundreds of miles, and in the vicinity of vulnerable sites such as airports and critical infrastructure, I urge you to deploy additional systems like this (ROBIN) across NY &amp; NJ.” <a href="https://t.co/K86VDbn31V">pic.twitter.com/K86VDbn31V</a>
&mdash; Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) <a href="https://twitter.com/CraigCaplan/status/1868401729764741279?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Such a detection system uses &#8220;not a linear line of sight, but 360-degree technology that has a much better chance of detecting these drones,&#8221; Schumer <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyme99ZahCU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a news conference.
Mayorkas <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mayorkas-claims-americans-have-nothing-to-worry-about-over-drone-sightings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indicated</a> on ABC News’ “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had begun to send equipment to New Jersey in particular.
&#8220;We, in the federal government, have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology, to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings,&#8221; Mayorkas said.
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The agency sent New Jersey State Police a &#8220;drone-specific radar that also cues a highly capable EO/IR, or electro-optical infrared camera system,&#8221; a DHS official <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2024/12/14/background-press-call-on-the-ongoing-response-to-reported-drone-sightings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> reporters in a call.
&#8220;If the radar detects a drone, the camera will be able to identify and track it,&#8221; the official said, adding, &#8220;This is extremely helpful for drones without a standard radio frequency signal.&#8221;
On Wednesday, New Jersey Republican Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia <a href="https://x.com/DawnFantasia_NJ/status/1866896860578717994" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shared</a> to X details from a briefing about the suspected drones that have been spotted over the past several weeks.
She said the &#8220;large&#8221; drones were 6 feet in diameter, operated in a coordinated manner, and appeared to avoid &#8220;traditional methods&#8221; of detection by helicopters and radio frequencies.
White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-feds-cannot-corroborate-mysterious-drone-sightings-over-new-jersey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> last week that &#8220;sophisticated electronic detection technologies&#8221; had not been able to corroborate visual sightings.
&#8220;To the contrary,” Kirby added, &#8220;upon review of available imagery it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully.&#8221;
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/statement-governor-kathy-hochul-43" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement on Sunday that her calls for &#8220;additional resources&#8221; to assist in solving the drone mystery had been answered.
&#8220;[O]ur federal partners are deploying a state-of-the-art drone detection system to New York State. This system will support state and federal law enforcement in their investigations,&#8221; she said.
Hochul, Kirby, and Mayorkas also called on Congress to pass legislation to boost the authorities and resources afforded to state and local law enforcement agencies to counter drones.
The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/8610" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act</a> will give states &#8220;the authority and resources required to respond to circumstances like we face today,&#8221; Hochul said.
In his post to X on Sunday, Schumer declared that he is &#8220;working to pass a bill in the Senate to give local law enforcement more tools for drone detection.&#8221;

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Schumer Presses Mayorkas To Deploy ‘Special Drone-Detection Tech’

National Security

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Technology

Embattled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who became only the second cabinet official in U.S. history to ever be impeached over his disastrous handling of the border crisis, claimed during an interview over the weekend that Americans had nothing to worry about when it came to recent reports of drones flying at night.
Mayorkas made the comments during a Sunday interview on ABC News&#8217; &#8220;This Week&#8221; with George Stephanopoulos when asked about recent drone sightings at night on the East Coast, in particular New Jersey.
&#8220;There&#8217;s no question that people are seeing drones,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And I want to assure the American public that we, in the federal government, have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology, to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings.&#8221;
&#8220;Some of those drone sightings are, in fact, drones,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Some are manned aircraft that are commonly mistaken for drones. And we do see duplicative reporting. But there&#8217;s no question that drones are being sighted.&#8221;
He said that part of the reason that this is happening is because the Federal Aviation Administration changed rules around flying drones late last year allowing them to be flown at night.
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He said that Congress needs to expand the abilities of state and local law enforcement agencies so they can &#8220;have the ability to counter drone activity under federal supervision.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
“There’s no question that drones are being sighted…There are thousands of drones flown every day in the United States — recreational drones, commercial drones.&#8221;
DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas responds to numerous aerial sightings reported across East Coast. <a href="https://t.co/VM1aZSe1W6">https://t.co/VM1aZSe1W6</a> <a href="https://t.co/7v5CSSjzbe">pic.twitter.com/7v5CSSjzbe</a>
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1868300474199253481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
When responding to President-elect Donald Trump&#8217;s calls to shoot the drones down, Mayorkas said that Congress needs to expand law enforcement&#8217;s ability to &#8220;incapacitate those drones.&#8221;
&#8220;We are limited in our authorities,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We have certain agencies within the Department of Homeland Security that can do that, and outside our department, but we need those authorities expanded as well.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
After President-elect Trump suggests shooting down suspected drones reported on the East Coast, DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas tells <a href="https://twitter.com/GStephanopoulos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GStephanopoulos</a>, “We are limited in our authorities.”
“We need those authorities expanded.” <a href="https://t.co/v1QBuzcCv3">https://t.co/v1QBuzcCv3</a> <a href="https://t.co/b7vc4qnZF4">pic.twitter.com/b7vc4qnZF4</a>
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1868303891692994928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
He claimed that the Biden administration has seen &#8220;no foreign involvement with respect to the sightings in the northeast. And we are vigilant in investigating this matter, the Department of Homeland Security, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the lead.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;ve deployed personnel, technology, and if there is any reason for concern, if we identify any foreign involvement or criminal activity, we will communicate with the American public accordingly,&#8221; he claimed. &#8220;Right now, we are not aware of any. If we become aware of any, we will communicate accordingly and take appropriate action.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas tells <a href="https://twitter.com/GStephanopoulos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GStephanopoulos</a> that his agency knows “of no foreign involvement with respect to the sightings in the Northeast” of aerial drones.
“We are vigilant in investigating this matter.” <a href="https://t.co/EyuPQmaS8n">https://t.co/EyuPQmaS8n</a> <a href="https://t.co/KiLQoU8pgU">pic.twitter.com/KiLQoU8pgU</a>
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1868306745950425331?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>

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Mayorkas Claims Americans Have Nothing To Worry About Over Drone Sightings

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