The government has decided that legal terms are still legal terms even if they are not considered “inclusive”.
The Laken Riley Act has passed to the chagrin of Democrats. I guess Dems want to keep murderers in the country.
And RIP to DEI.
Some News
Here is some news:
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will change their terminology to resume the use of the term “alien” and drop the term “noncitizen,” a new memo indicates.
- The move marks a stark departure from the Biden administration’s decision to use “more inclusive” terms when discussing immigration. Even the word “assimilation” was dropped in favor of “civic integration.”
- On Wednesday, the GOP-led House passed a beefed-up version of the “Laken Riley Act,” legislation that would require federal officials to arrest non-citizens who are charged with crimes in the United States.
- The tally was 263-156. Forty-six Democrats joined with Republicans in voting for the bill, which will now be sent to President Donald Trump to sign into law.
- As originally written, the bill directs the secretary of Homeland Security to detain illegal immigrants charged with, convicted of, or who admit to theft-related crimes.
- The list was expanded with one Senate amendment that added “the assault of a law enforcement officer offense, or any crime that results in death or serious bodily injury to another person.”
AOC doesn’t like this bill:
- Senate Democrats blocked on Wednesday legislation that aims to protect babies born alive in botched abortions.
- By a 52-47 vote along party lines, the Republican-led upper chamber failed to invoke cloture on the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.”
- A two-thirds majority was needed for consideration of the legislation to commence.
- “Senate Democrats just voted to block the Born-Alive Act. This isn’t complicated: babies who survive a failed abortion deserve medical care. It’s truly unbelievable that protecting these precious lives is a partisan issue. I’ll never stop fighting for the voiceless,” Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) said in a post to X.
- The Senate Judiciary Democrats account on X argued that Republicans were “pushing an unnecessary messaging bill today. It’s already law: any child born in America regardless of circumstance is afforded equal protection.” The account added: “The so-called ‘Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act’ would only harm doctors and women.”
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Wednesday that it was rescinding the policy requiring legal immigrants to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in order to further the process.
- “Effective January 22, 2025, USCIS waives any and all requirements that applicants for adjustment of status to that of a lawful permanent resident present documentation on their Form I-693, Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, that they received the COVID-19 vaccination,” the announcement read.
- In 2021, at the end of his first term, President Trump implemented a limit of 15,000 incoming refugees with restrictions on refugees from countries such as Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, but soon after that, in April 2021, former President Biden threw those restrictions out and raised the limit to 62,500 per year, later raising that number to 125,000 per year.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/ice-to-resume-use-of-term-alien-and-drop-noncitizen-for-foreign-nationals
https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-passes-revamped-laken-riley-act-sends-bill-to-trump
https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-dems-block-born-alive-abortion-survivors-protection-act
https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-slashes-covid-vax-requirement-for-legal-immigrants
It’s Time for DEI to D-I-E
According to the BBC:
President Donald Trump has ordered that all US government staff working on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) schemes be put on immediate paid administrative leave.
The White House confirmed that all federal DEI workers had to be put on leave by 17:00 EST (22:00 GMT) on Wednesday, before the offices and programmes in question were shut down.
In an executive order issued on Tuesday, Trump also called for an end to the “dangerous, demeaning and immoral” programmes.
It is unclear how many people are affected by the order, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents 800,000 federal workers, said.
DEI programmes aim to promote participation in workplaces by people from a range of backgrounds.
Their backers say they address historical underrepresentation and discrimination against certain groups including racial minorities, but critics say such programmes can themselves be discriminatory.
On Tuesday, a memo was sent from the US Office of Personnel Management to the heads of government agencies, instructing them to place DEI employees on leave.
The memo had a number of requests, including the removal of public websites for DEI offices.
By Thursday, federal agencies must compile a list of DEI offices and workers. By 31 January, agencies must submit “a written plan” for executing lay-offs in DEI offices.
Trump’s executive order, meanwhile, took aim at what it called the “illegal” policies of DEI and DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility), framing them as being in opposition to US law.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj288ywj23o
This is How to Do It
According to the New York Post:
The Pentagon will begin deploying as many as 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the southern border in the coming days, U.S. officials said Wednesday, putting in motion plans President Donald Trump laid out in executive orders shortly after he took office to crack down on immigration.
Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses was expected to sign the deployment orders on Wednesday, but it wasn’t yet clear which troops or units will go, and the total could fluctuate. It remains to be seen if they will end up doing law enforcement, which would put American troops in a dramatically different role for the first time in decades.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement has not yet been made.
The active duty forces would join the roughly 2,500 U.S. National Guard and Reserve forces already there. There are currently no active duty troops working along the border.
The troops are expected to be used to support border patrol agents, with logistics, transportation and construction of barriers. They have done similar duties in the past, when both Trump and former President Joe Biden sent active duty troops to the border.
Troops are prohibited by law from doing law enforcement duties under the Posse Comitatus Act, but that may change. Trump has directed through executive order that the incoming secretary of defense and incoming homeland security chief report back within 90 days if they think an 1807 law called the Insurrection Act should be invoked. That would allow those troops to be used in civilian law enforcement on U.S. soil.
https://nypost.com/2025/01/22/us-news/pentagon-sending-as-many-as-1-5k-active-duty-troops-to-secure-us-mexico-border/?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=nypost&utm_medium=social
You’re Kidding?!
How Labeling Cartels ‘Terrorists’ Could Hurt the U.S. Economy by Maria Abi-Habib and Simon Romero.
According to the New York Times:
President Trump’s executive order designating Mexican cartels and other criminal organizations as foreign terrorists could force some American companies to forgo doing business in Mexico rather than risk U.S. sanctions, according to former government officials and analysts — an outcome that could have a major effect on both countries given their deep economic interdependence.
The executive order, which Mr. Trump signed on Monday, is intended to apply maximum pressure on Mexico to rein in its dangerous drug trade. The designation, more generally, also gives his administration more power to impose economic penalties and travel restrictions, and potentially even to take military action in foreign countries.
Yet, disentangling cartel operations from U.S. interests in Mexico could be immensely complicated. Mexico is the United States’ largest trade partner of goods, and many American companies have manufacturing operations there.
Even more complicated, these criminal networks have extended their operations far beyond drug trafficking and human smuggling. They are now embedded in a wide swath of the legal economy, from avocado farming to the country’s billion-dollar tourism industry, making it hard to be absolutely sure that American companies are isolated from cartel activities.
The foreign terrorist designation could lead to severe penalties — including substantial fines, asset seizures and criminal charges — on companies and individuals found to be paying ransom or extortion payments. U.S. companies could also be ensnared by standard payments made to Mexican companies that a cartel controls without the American companies’ knowledge.
Some extortion payments, even if made under duress, could be considered “material support” to cartels, said Pablo Zárate, senior managing director at FTI Consulting, an American firm that released a report laying out some of the risks of the terrorist designation.
Former U.S. officials and analysts pointed out that it would be nearly impossible to identify which business may employ or be affiliated with cartel members given the tens of thousands of people involved and operating in various industries, including the hotel and agriculture sectors. Cartels use the legal economy to launder money, which could mean that unwitting employees working at a resort or an avocado packing company could technically be on the cartel payroll but not know it.
As a result, companies in the risk-averse American financial sector may simply refuse to wire money to a Mexican factory, for example, to facilitate cross-border production and trade, or to wire money between personal accounts.
Banks could ultimately decide to avoid entire sectors perceived as high risk, said Fabian Teichmann, a Swiss lawyer and expert on terrorist financing. Mr. Teichmann singled out Mexico’s avocado trade, where cartels have drastically expanded their operations, as one area that could come under greater scrutiny.
Other types of financial institutions that facilitate payments between the United States and Mexico could also be affected, such as Venmo or PayPal, which Mr. Trump’s close confidante Elon Musk helped found.
The terrorist label could also push big parts of Mexico’s economy further into the shadows, where cash is used instead of electronically traceable transactions, making it harder for investigators to examine the cartels’ financial structures, Mr. Teichmann said.
The multinational banana producer Chiquita Brands was found liable in 2024 for killings by a Colombian right-wing paramilitary group that was designated as a terrorist organization. Chiquita Brands said that it had been extorted by the paramilitary group and forced to make payments to protect its Colombian employees. Plaintiffs, however, argued that the company had paid the paramilitary group to run out residents to buy land at depressed values.
The terrorist designation would also hurt American companies that are firmly north of the border but rely on Mexican labor. The designation is so broad and vague that ranches in Texas or farms in California could be swept up by the penalties if their employees send remittances to family members in Mexico who are involved in organized crime.
If money transfer companies like Western Union also stop transactions to Mexico over worries about properly vetting Mexican clients, it could affect the remittances the country relies on. That would be devastating for the Mexican economy, which received $63.3 billion in remittances in 2023, nearly 5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
The foreign terrorist designation could also pave the way for the United States to deploy forces inside Mexico against criminal organizations without the Mexican government’s consent, as it did in Afghanistan and Syria.
But Afghanistan was occupied by the United States, and Syria’s government lost control over much of its territory in recent years. That gave Washington some cover under international law for the American military to deploy troops and launch special-forces operations to kill or capture terrorist leaders in those countries.
Mexico, however, has built up cooperation with the United States for over 30 years to counter the cartels. Mexico could threaten to halt cooperation if the United States is seen to be violating Mexico’s sovereignty. When the U.S. federal prosecutors office arrested Mexico’s former defense secretary during Mr. Trump’s first administration, the Mexican government halted all cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
On Tuesday, President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico issued a stern warning to Mr. Trump during her daily news conference. “We will always defend our sovereignty,” Ms. Sheinbaum said. “We all want to fight the drug cartels, that is obvious. So what should we do? We have to coordinate efforts; we have to collaborate,” she said.
“May they know that the president of the republic will always defend Mexico above all else,” the Mexican president added.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/world/americas/mexico-cartel-terrorists-trade.html
Why Not?
According to CBS News:
Billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has a new target in its sights for trimming federal spending: the U.S. penny.
In Tuesday X post, Musk’s DOGE wrote that the U.S. spends about 3 cents to mint each penny, which, of course, is only valued at 1 cent.
“The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost U.S. taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023,” DOGE wrote. “The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40% of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced.”
In pointing out the penny’s costliness, DOGE is taking aim at an issue that has sparked debate for years, although the price of manufacturing the cent has only grown over the past several years. In 2016, for instance, the U.S. was spending about 1.5 cents to mint each penny, or less than half of its current manufacturing cost.
Still, the cent’s $179 million in costs represents mere metaphorical pennies when it comes to DOGE’s mandate to cut federal spending. President Donald Trump has said DOGE will provide recommendations to “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies.” Musk has said the group will aim to trim $500 billion in annual federal spending.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-musk-doge-trump-federal-spending-penny-179-million/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=721486515
Yeah, It Wasn’t a Mistake
According to Fox News:
Massachusetts must pay the federal government $2.1 billion over the next 10 years to resolve a debt after the state under former GOP Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration mistakenly used federal pandemic funds to cover unemployment benefits.
Current Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, and her deputies released details on Monday of a settlement they reached with the outgoing Biden administration last week in which the state will repay most of the money it owed because of the error, the State House News Service reported.
In 2023, Healey announced that her administration uncovered that the prior administration improperly used about $2.5 billion in federal pandemic relief funds to cover unemployment benefits that should have been funded by the state.
The total liability exceeded $3 billion, including fees and interest, according to Healey’s office. Negotiations with the U.S. Department of Labor dropped the total owed to $2.1 billion over the next decade.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/massachusetts-must-pay-feds-2-1b-after-mistakenly-using-pandemic-funds-cover-unemployment-benefits?intcmp=tw_fnc
He’s Got the Right Idea
According to the New York Post:
https://nypost.com/2025/01/21/us-news/qanon-shaman-pardoned-by-trump-plans-to-buy-guns-to-celebrate/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nypost&utm_source=twitter
https://www.inquirer.com/health/men-cuddling-group-healing-trauma-mental-health-20190325.html
