Minutemen, Oath Keepers, CA State Militia, on the California Border

Gathering aims to relaunch Minutemen, fortify border, in response to caravan.

Operation Cinco de Mayo: In this video from the San Diego Union Tribune the founder of the Minutemen, former California State Assemblyman Tim Donnelly explains why he called for the muster on the border of California and Mexico. The groups that responded to the call were Minutemen, Oath Keepers, and the California State Militia. Tim Donnelly is currently running for Congress.

At the end of the San Diego Union-Tribune excerpt are photos by Lisa Collins. Wonder what the border actually looks like? See the photos below. There are plans to continue these operations on our southern border.

From the article by by Bradley J. Fikes for the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Pledging to report unauthorized entries into the United States — and shame any state leaders who welcome them — about 20 border security supporters assembled Saturday morning near Jamul.

The group, including members of the Minuteman patrol movement, coordinated volunteers to watch designated border regions for 24 hours.

Their vigil, starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, was meant to help federal officers, Minuteman leader Tim Donnelly said.

By reporting unauthorized border crossings, the observers hope to help outnumbered border officers, Donnelly said. He is a Republican candidate for the 8th congressional district, which covers much of the desert area north of Imperial County.

The border-watching exercise was in part a reaction to the caravan of Central Americans who traveled through Mexico to enter the U.S. at the border between San Diego and Tijuana, said Donnelly, a former assemblyman.

Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune A group of border security supporters put on their gear in preparation for heading to the U.S. – Mexican border to observe and report any signs of illegal immigration to the U.S. Border Patrol.

It was also meant as a warning to Gov. Jerry Brown, who signed the California Values Act, which limits law enforcement in the state from certain kinds of cooperation with federal immigration officials. The law has been criticized as an effort to make California a sanctuary for unauthorized immigrants.

“My hope is that we will reignite the (Minuteman) movement and that people will again be aiding (border agents) for longer periods of time, longer musters,” Donnelly said.

The camouflage-dressed volunteers, wearing boots, bringing backpacks and other wilderness gear, were instructed on safety such as avoiding rattlesnakes before heading out from Pio Pico campground.

Volunteers were told to avoid confrontations with border crossers if possible, and to help those in distress.

“There is no animus toward those who are crossing desperate, you know, to escape oppression,” Donnelly said. “But at the same time, among those people come through wolves, people who mean harm people like Luis Bracamontes, who was just recently sentenced to death here in California for executing two sheriff’s deputies up in Sacramento.”

While expressing sympathy for plight of border crossers, Donnelly and others blasted Brown, who they said has violated his oath of office.

“This is not about waving American flags,” Donnelly said. “This is about actually securing the border and sending a message to the political authorities, to Jerry Brown.

“I dare Jerry Brown to come down and arrest me, because you might get arrested down here for being a tyrant, for being a traitor, for aiding and abetting illegal aliens and harboring them in violation of federal law, which is the supreme law of the land when it comes to immigration.”

Read more at The San Diego Union-Tribune

Photos by Lisa Collins, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. of CA, who handled the logistics for Tim Donnelly:

Securing the border with the Minutemen, Oath Keepers and Militia at Patriot Point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Texas National Guard Starts Deployment to the Border

Trump says 2,000-4,000 troops needed at border with Mexico

 

Texas National Guard prepares to deploy

NOW: Officials discuss the Texas National Guard preparing to deploy to the border. MORE: https://bit.ly/2uSplV9

Posted by FOX 10 Phoenix on Friday, April 6, 2018

 

By: ANITA SNOW and CATHERINE LUCEY, Associated Press

Posted: Apr 05 2018 02:45PM MST

Updated: Apr 05 2018 02:52PM MST

PHOENIX (AP) – President Donald Trump said Thursday that he wants to send 2,000 and 4,000 National Guard members to the U.S.-Mexico border to help federal officials fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

Trump’s comments to reporters on Air Force One were his first estimate on guard levels he believes needed, and would be a lower number of troops than the 6,400 National Guard members that former President George Bush sent to the border between 2006 and 2008.

Asked about the cost, Trump said his administration was looking at it.

Trump said he plans to keep the guard members there until a “large portion of the wall is built.”

Earlier Thursday, Ronald Vitiello, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s acting deputy commissioner, cautioned against a rushed deployment.

“We are going to do it as quickly as we can do it safely,” Vitiello told Fox News Channel.

He said that guard members would be placed in jobs that do not require law enforcement work, an apparent reference to undertaking patrols and making arrests.

The National Guard in Texas expressed support, but said in a statement that deployment remained in “very early planning stages.” The Republican governors of New Mexico and Arizona have also backed the deployment. It remained unclear Thursday how Democratic California Gov. Jerry Brown would respond to Trump’s call.

In Washington, Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie told reporters at the Pentagon that it has not yet been determined how many, if any, of the troops participating in the border security operation will be armed.

With troops in all states, the National Guard has been called on by past presidents and governors to help secure U.S. borders, and the Texas contingent said it had “firsthand knowledge of the mission and operating area” that will allow it to move seamlessly into the new role.

Trump ordered the deployment because “we are at a crisis point” with illegal immigration, Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen of the Department of Homeland Security said.

“We’d like to stop it before the numbers get even bigger,” she said.

Nielsen said guard members would provide support to border officials, “help look at the technology, the surveillance, in some cases we’ll ask for some fleet mechanics” and free up agents trained in law enforcement for other duties.

Arrests along the U.S. border with Mexico jumped to 50,308 in March, a 37 percent increase from February, and more than triple the same period last year. Border arrests rose 10 of the last 11 months after falling in April 2017 to the lowest since the Department of Homeland Security was created in 2003.

More at Fox 20 Phoenix

If you believe in the mission of Oath Keepers, to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, please make a donation to support our work.  You can donate HERE.

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THE MILITARY CAN SECURE THE BORDER AND BUILD THE WALL

Why President Trump is right to call out the troops.

Daniel Greenfield  4-04-2018

The United States has 14,000 troops in Afghanistan, 39,000 in Japan, 34,805 in Germany, 23,000 in South Korea, and around 5,200 in Iraq. Our military protects the borders of countless nations.

Except our own.

In 1919, we had 18,500 soldiers on the border. “Twice a day every foot of the border line is patrolled by cavalrymen and infantrymen,” the New York Times noted.

A hundred years later, President Trump’s proposal to use the military to secure the border is controversial even though Marines fighting drug cartels have come under fire from drug smugglers.

El Salvadoran migration has inflicted 207 murderers on this country. The migrant caravan threatening to invade this country includes migrants from El Salvador. Some of them may be MS-13 members. The Pueblo Sin Fronteras caravan of 1,000 migrants is the product of an alliance between international leftists and migrant invaders. Their goal is the invasion, colonization and occupation of America.

And the only ones defending us against them are the members of an outnumbered border patrol, threatened by both drug cartels on the other side of the border and sanctuary states in this country.

That’s why President Trump is mobilizing the troops to do the job that the Democrats won’t do.

“Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military,” President Trump said.

Some of the same politicians who oppose withdrawing our forces from Syria also oppose sending troops to secure the border. But which should be a higher priority?

If an enemy army were invading South Korea, our soldiers would swing into action. But the United States has already been invaded. The invaders have occupied and seized control of state governments, including California, while declaring that their rebel cities will defy Federal immigration law.

They mean to do the same thing to the entire country. Their DREAM is the end of America.

From fighting Indian raids to the banditry of Pancho Villa, the military has always secured the border against invasions out of Mexico. The military was our defense against the “Plan of San Diego” terror waged by Mexican racists who vowed to seize control of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Colorado, liberate the “proletariat” and execute all “North American over sixteen years of age.”

And yes, the military can even “build the wall”.

Joint Task Force North’s military engineers have already built 62 miles of road, and border fence construction. There’s no reason why its anti-terrorist and drug smuggling prevention mission can’t be expanded to include securing the border with a wall and other impassable physical barriers.

Presidents have taken action against urgent illegal migrant threats before.

“Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. ‘I like Ike,’ right?” Donald Trump said during a primary debate. “Moved 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn’t like it. Moved them way south. They never came back.”

Operation Wetback was fantastically effective in clearing illegal aliens out of California and Texas.

Under General Joseph Swing, who had done everything from hunting Pancho Villa in Mexico to going up against the Japanese in the Philippines, the INS caught, detained and deported over a million illegals. Wetback had been based on the Operation Cloud Burst plan, which would have used a presidential proclamation to authorize the use of military force if the Army had not been tied down in Korea.

Some commentators have claimed that the Posse Comitatus Act would prevent the use of any military forces other than the National Guard on the border. But securing the border against foreign invaders (as opposed to domestic law enforcement directed against citizens) has always been a military matter.

Furthermore the military is already authorized to operate in areas where drug smuggling occurs.

Stopping illegal migrants does not subject “citizens to the exercise of military power”. If the military does not supplement ICE, but directly secures the border, there would be no Posse Comitatus issue.

But the law also permits the use of military force to “prevent disruption of Federal functions”.

Sanctuary states like California have disrupted the functioning of immigration law and have even passed laws prohibiting citizens from cooperating with Federal authorities. 10 U.S.C. 332, “authorizes use of the militia and Armed Forces to enforce Federal law when unlawful obstructions or rebellion against the authority of the United States renders ordinary enforcement means unworkable.”

The unlawful obstruction of immigration law by sanctuary cities and states has made ordinary enforcement unworkable. The rebellion against the authority of the United States must end.

10 U.S.C. 333 further, “authorizes use of the militia and Armed Forces when domestic violence or conspiracy hinders execution of State or Federal law, and a State cannot or will not protect the constitutional rights of the citizens.” That’s the current state of affairs in California and elsewhere.

Californians are being robbed, raped and murdered by illegal aliens because their government not only refuses to protect their constitutional rights, but criminalizes cooperation with immigration authorities.

 

Read more at FRONTPAGEMAG

 

 

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World War 3? Pakistan Vows REVENGE On India After Attack

As the world quietly goes about their business, Pakistan has vowed to get revenge on India after an attack.  The tensions between the two nations are quickly spiraling out of control leading many to wonder if World War 3 will break out in the area soon.

According to the Express UK, the devastating attack from India along the contested border known as the Line of Control (LoC) as tensions between the two South Asian nations flare, a retired soldier has claimed. The LoC splits the region of Kashmir, with Pakistan owning one side and India, the other. The region of Kashmir has been contested by both countries for decades causing high levels of tensions between the neighboring states.

Fayaz Ahmad, a politician from the Kashmir region of India, stated that announcements were made over some loudspeakers on the Pakistan side of Balakote that have declared acts of “retaliation” will take place.  “They said that India has killed many of our soldiers, we will take revenge for it after we bury our dead today. People are advised to take safety precautions,” said Ahmad.

Another resident in the region, Naseer Ahmad, spoke of “bombs exploding” and bullets being fired in the midst of heavy shelling. “All one could hear was the sound of bullets hitting tin or bombs exploding. The firing continued from morning till evening. We could see smoke from the hills around us. We are stressed. We don’t know what will happen when it will stop,” said the resident.

On Sunday New Delhi said that Pakistan had been “punished” for its “misadventure”, according to Brigadier Y.S Ahlawat of the Indian Army.  “In a befitting reply, the Indian Army has retaliated accurately with heavy fire on the Pakistani posts which were involved in ceasefire violations,” Ahlawat said.

Although India claimed that they were responding to aggression from Pakistan, an Indian resident in the area of the violation insisted that New Delhi started firing on its neighbor first. “The firing started from our side and then the Pakistanis also opened fire,” said the Indian resident.

But both sides have been accused of engaging in violations to the ceasefire that is supposed to be in agreement along the contested border. Both sides also accuse the other of regularly violating the ceasefire agreement in the hotly contested area of the LoC.  Late last month, Pakistan terrorist groups were accused of “conspiring to wage a war” against India.

Tensions between the two nations have led to actual confrontations and actions, sparking fears that World War 3 is just around the corner. Since February 22, the two South Asian nations have exchanged fire from both guns and mortars that have forced an estimated 2,600 residents in five villages to desperately flee areas of rising tensions. India recently disclosed that it was forced to evacuate “over 36,000” people from other areas along its border as ceasefire violations between itself and its neighbor continue to mount.

While people in the United States eat Tide Pods and come up with ways to destroy the rights of others, war is breaking out around key parts of the world and most are unaware. And history has shown everyone that once a war breaks out, the US war machine can’t help but make sure they add fuel the fire. 

Switzerland’s Top Party Initiates Referendum to Close Borders

By Dan Lyman  1-17-2018

The Swiss People’s Party (SVP), a nationalist-populist faction that currently holds the most seats in Switzerland’s Federal Assembly, will end ‘free movement’ agreements with the EU, returning full immigration controls to Bern.

The initiative has been approved by the Federal Chancellery and must now garner 100,000 signatures by July 16, 2019, before it can be put to a national vote, pending further consideration by parliament. If successful, the Swiss government would have one year to negotiate the termination of various agreements with Brussels.

Key arguments from the initiative include –

“A free and self-determined country like Switzerland has to control immigration itself, as most of the successful countries in the world do. It would never occur to them to grant over 500 million citizens of other states a legal right to immigration. Rather, many countries tighten their immigration laws against the background of global political developments with the aim of aligning immigration strictly with their economic needs, their security and the country’s potential.“

“Since the introduction of the free movement of persons with the EU, we no longer determine who is allowed to come to Switzerland and who does not. This must be over.  The limitation initiative requires that immigration be regulated and controlled independently by Switzerland.“

Switzerland is not an EU member state, but maintains bilateral agreements with the bloc, including free movement permissions within the Schengen Area which enable EU citizens to live and work in the country, in exchange for Switzerland’s ease of access to the European ‘single market.’

However, immigration has quickly become a sore subject in Switzerland as net population growth is approaching 80,000 per year, with nearly one-quarter of the country’s 8.3 million inhabitants now being foreigners, as well as another 300,000-plus citizens of neighboring countries who cross borders daily to work in Switzerland and enjoy its comparatively higher wages.

Nearly half of foreigners in Switzerland are collecting welfare benefits, and an influx of migrants are changing the culture, and contributing to a rise in crime and a deterioration of Switzerland’s world-renowned reputation as one of the safest countries in the world.

“Our country has undergone immigration in recent years like never before. Its population growth has exploded to that of a third-world country,” said Lukas Reimann, President of Action for an Independent and Neutral Switzerland, which co-authored the initiative. “Apart from the mountain regions, Switzerland now has one of the highest population densities in Europe.”

SVP leader Albert Rösti echoed these sentiments, saying, “A free and sovereign country like Switzerland must autonomously regulate immigration on its territory. Most of the world’s best performing states are doing this.”

Read more at newswars.com

 

 

 

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WW3 ALERT: Chinese Troops Told To ‘Ready For War’ And Sent To North Korean Border

Chinese tanks, soldiers, and military trucks have been gathering on the border in preparation for a war. The Chinese military was quickly rushed to the border they share with North Korea after being told to get “ready for war.”

According to the Daily Star, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces have been building up military assets in the cover of the night around the Tumen River in Yanji city, Jilin province, which borders North Korea. Chinese commanders are reported to have recently conducted the so-called “war ceremony” – urging their troops to be ready to fight as columns of PLA trucks have been pictured on the move near Yanji City which is close to the triple border between China, Russia, and North Korea.

China is North Korea’s only traditional ally and has been coming under pressure to tackle Kim Jong-un from the US.  Sources cited in Chinese media have claimed that the PLA is “preparing for war on the Korean Peninsula.” China would be expected to use its military forces to help quell a flood of refugees should the United States initiate an attack North Korea and chubby dictator, Kim Jong-Un. Beijing is also expected to quickly move into the rogue state to seize assets, and potentially have China join the war on the side of North Korea once the US begins a so-far theoretical attack.

According to Zerohedge, if the media report is accurate, it would suggest that China – fearing the worst – is preparing for a full-blown war on the Korean Penisula. Previously, internal documents leaked from China’s main state-owned telecommunications company shows three villages and cities in the northeastern border province of Jilin, have been designated for refugee camps-if war breaks out. China is afraid a swarm of refugees from North Korea could cross the Tumen River into China.

Zhang Liangui, a professor of international strategic research at the Communist Party’s Central Party School said, “it is highly possible that there is a conflict between North Korea and the United States now. What China does here is to be prepared for any kind of situation happening on the Korean Peninsula.”

While China prepares for a ground war on the Korean Peninsula by moving military assets to border cities along the Tumen River, there is another threat breaking Tuesday morning: North Korea is preparing to test the largest ICBM to date. Coupled with  im Jong-un’s “Happy New Year” threat to the world when he warned the “nuclear button” is on his desk, this could be the beginning stages of a third world war.

US president Donald Trump has warned there would be “no friendly solution” until China stops backing North Korea.

‘Cards Against Humanity’ Announces Plan to Stop Trump’s Wall and Save America

(ANTIMEDIA) — On Tuesday, the creators of the popular politically incorrect game, Cards Against Humanity, announced their strategy to foil President Trump’s notorious plans for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“It’s 2017, and the government is being run by a toilet. We have no choice: Cards Against Humanity is going to save America,” they wrote on the site announcing their new holiday promotion.

According to a promotional video in the form of a satirical historical mockumentary of current times:

“In the early part of the 21st century, Donald Trump had just been elected president of the United States. The American empire was in decline. After decades of global supremacy, the people had become lazy and stupid.”

According to the website they launched specifically for the promotion:

“Donald Trump is a preposterous golem who is afraid of Mexicans. He is so afraid that he wants to build a twenty-billion-dollar wall that everyone knows will accomplish nothing.

“So we’ve purchased a plot of vacant land on the border and retained a law firm specializing in eminent domain to make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for the wall to get built.”

According to the company’s video, which channels Mike Judge’s cult classic film Idiocracy, everyone who contributes $15 to the promotion will receive a small plot of the land in addition to six surprises throughout the month of December.

“On the first day of the campaign, Cards Against Humanity purchased acres of land on the US-Mexico border and didn’t build a wall on it. They retained a law firm to fight the U.S. government and prevent them from ever building the wall,” says a “historian” in the promo video.

Cards Against Humanity says they intend to fight “injustice, lies, racism, the whole enchilada.”

Despite the humor of the campaign, it’s unclear whether it will actually be effective or relevant. The federal government has already made it clear it intends to seize private property in order to move forward with construction, though the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection have been unable to clarify how many Americans will have their land confiscated for the wall. Further, as AZ Central noted Tuesday:

“Eminent domain poses the biggest hurdle to border-wall construction in Texas, where nearly the entire length of its international boundary is privately owned. A USA TODAY NETWORK analysis of property records shows almost 5,000 parcels of land sit within 500 feet of the Texas border.”

For now, though the House of Representatives has approved funding for the wall, the Senate has not. Prototypes, however, are currently under construction.

Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo

Friedman: Almost All Countries In Europe Have Border Issues

Authored by George Friedman via MauldinEconomics.com,

For centuries, Europe has fought wars over borders. In the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, Europe’s borders shifted wildly. As empires fragmented, new nations arose and wars were waged.

After 1945 and the beginning of the Cold War, a new principle emerged on the Continent. The borders that existed at the end of World War II were deemed sacrosanct—not to be changed.

Europeans knew that border disputes had been one of the reasons of the two world wars and that even raising the legitimacy of post-war borders risked igniting passions that led to violence.

Similarly, untouchable were the existing spheres of influence on the Continent. There was the East and the West, and neither would mess with the other.

Thus, when the Soviets crushed independence movements in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, the United States refrained from any military action (not that there were many options). When Yugoslavia chose a pro-Western neutrality over membership in the Warsaw Pact, the Soviets didn’t intervene.

But in the early 1990s, everything changed.

Border Issues Arise, Again

In 1991–1992, two things happened.

First came the fall of the Soviet Union; then came the signing of the Maastricht Treaty and the creation of the European Union. Border issues began to drive events again.

The border of the Soviet Union collapsed, and a multitude of countries popped up to reclaim their past. There were many questions about borders that were mumbled about.

But for Eastern European countries, other problems took precedence: establishing national sovereignty, finding their place in a Europe that they longed to join, and building a new life for their people. They let the border issue drop—for the most part.

Yugoslavia and the Caucasus were exceptions that drove home the lesson of European borders. There, outside the framework of the EU and of little consequence to others, more than 100,000 people died.

Compare this to the Velvet Divorce of the Czechs and Slovaks, which took place within the context of future European states and left no one dead.

After this, and with Yugoslavia and the Caucasus in mind, the European Union tried to reinstate the principle that borders were sacrosanct. It provided what it had promised—peace and prosperity—and treated borders as anachronistic. No one was supposed to care where the lines were drawn. But there was a problem.

The Europeans Union’s Oversight

The European Union had affirmed the principle of national self-determination while avoiding the question of what a nation actually was. A nation was, under the bloc’s definition, any political entity that was in place when the EU was formed. There was little consideration after that.

This is why Catalonia is so important, along with Scotland. The Scots rejected a divorce by a startlingly narrow vote. One would have expected 90% of Scots to want to remain in the United Kingdom. Slightly more than 55% wanted to.

This means secessionists are within striking distance of secession—which would not only divide Scotland from England, but would also maintain the divide among the Scots.

Add to this another critical element. Catalonia has been part of Spain for a long time, but it has considered itself a unique nation apart for an even longer time. Spain will not legalize an independence vote.

The underlying questions are the ones the Europeans tried to bury, particularly after Yugoslavia: What is a nation, and what rights does it have? Both Scotland and Catalonia are nations. Do they therefore have a right to national determination or have they lost that right?

And what are the consequences if the Catalans disagree?

No Solution

This is not the only such issue festering in Europe.

Hungary was partitioned between Romania and Slovakia. Does it have a right to reclaim these lands? Belgium was a British invention binding the Dutch and French in an unhappy marriage. Can they divorce? Lviv used to be a very Polish city, and now it is part of Ukraine. Can western Ukraine secede and its people rejoin the countries they were citizens of before 1945?

The European Union promised universal prosperity if everyone suspended the question of borders and ignored their identities. It was a good bargain. But times have changed, and economic problems make borders much more important.

Europe, of course, has no solution to the problem.

That we would be talking about an independent Scotland and Catalonia in 2017 would seem preposterous. No economist would see it as a rational discussion.

Nations matter because Europe is merely a continent, and the EU is merely a treaty. It is a useful entity, and being useful is the only thing that justifies it. If it loses its utility, it loses its legitimacy. And that would also mean that the boundaries it has set would wither and die.

Almost all current nations in Europe have border issues and some parts that want to be independent. Most are quiet at the moment. But they are watching Scotland and Catalonia. And they know where border issues in Europe lead.

*  *  *

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Shock Survey: Less Than 1 Out Of Every 4 Republicans In Congress Support A Border Wall

It is time to flush the toilet in Washington D.C., because the professional politicians that we have been sending there just keep betraying us over and over again.  On Wednesday, I was absolutely stunned when I came across a brand new survey that was conducted by USA Today.  They asked all of the members of Congress whether they support a border wall or not, and less than one out of every 4 Republicans said that they did.  This is just another example of why the American people are so deeply frustrated with the Republican Party these days.  Most Republicans are spineless jellyfish that have been compromising for so long that they don’t really stand for anything anymore.

If President Trump had not promised to build a wall, he never would have won the Republican nomination in 2016, and he sure wouldn’t be the president of the United States today.  This is a point that Ann Coulter had made over and over again, and the fact that I strongly support building a wall is a big reason why she is supporting my campaign for Congress.  Conservatives all over the country want a wall, and that is why it is so disturbing to hear that most Republicans in Congress do not support building one…

President Trump has been adamant that he needs Congress to approve funding to start building his border wall, but Republicans on Capitol Hill are far less adamant about supporting it. When asked by the USA TODAY Network whether they support the president’s initial $1.6 billion budget request to begin construction, only 69 of the 292 Republicans on Capitol Hill said “yes.” Among the rest, three Republicans said they oppose the money, several evaded a direct answer, and the rest simply refused to respond to the question.

The USA TODAY Network asked the 534 members of the House and Senate whether they support the $1.6 billion down payment approved by the House and found fewer than 25% of Republicans willing to stand up for the plan.

Building a wall seems like such a no-brainer to me.  For decades we have had an immigration policy that is all mixed up.  We have made it exceedingly difficult to come in through the front door, but meanwhile we have been keeping the back door completely wide open.

Today, our system of legal immigration is a complete and total nightmare.  It is extremely confusing, it is very expensive, and it takes way too long.  I once helped someone through that process, and it was so convoluted that I could barely even understand it.

Meanwhile, we have kept the back door totally wide open and have allowed tens of millions of people to enter this country illegally.  So we are actually discouraging good people from coming into our nation legally, and meanwhile we have rolled out the red carpet for criminals, gang members, drug dealers and those that would like to take advantage of the system.

As I discuss in my latest book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters”, we need to make sure that everyone comes in through the front door.  It has been proposed that we can use “technology” and other methods to secure our borders, and I would love to see something that actually works.  But we do know that walls work, and we know that building a wall on the southern border would dramatically reduce illegal immigration and begin forcing people to come in through the front door.

I have previously written about the tremendous problems that illegal immigration is causing in communities all over the nation.  If we would just secure our borders, we could start significantly reducing levels of human trafficking, violent crime and gang membership, and so I don’t know why anyone would want to be opposed to doing that.

Unfortunately, when USA Today approached Republican members of Congress about a wall, most of them didn’t even want to take a clear stance at all…

The overwhelming majority of congressional Republicans refused to take a stance on the wall funding when asked by USA TODAY. Most simply declined to participate in the survey or refused to even respond to queries. Many others offered general positions about the importance of securing the border and requiring employers to verify the immigration status of their workers.

It is time for the era of politically-correct career politicians to end.

If a Republican running for Congress will not solidly commit to building a border wall, that individual does not deserve your vote.

You guys know where I stand, and I’m not moving.  I am committed to building the wall, and we need to elect others all over the nation that are also committed to building the wall.  I hope that you will help us, and I hope that as many of you as possible will get involved in our campaigns all around the country.

Individually, there is very little that we can get done, but collectively we can make a massive difference.

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“Not Going To Risk A Shutdown Over Anything”: Democrats Get Trump And GOP to Abandon Border Wall

This article was written by Michael Snyder and originally published at the Economic Collapse Blog.

Editor’s Comment: It all boils down to politics; there’s the politics of the campaign, and then there’s the real politics of Washington deal making and budgets. Who knows if there will ever be a border wall, or if a better arrangement could be made. What is clear is that the American people can try again and again to get a government that will do its bidding, but there was a higher bidder a long time ago.

The Democrats Get Trump And The Republicans To Fold, And That Means There NEVER Will Be A Border Wall

by Michael Snyder

Well, that didn’t take long.  Yesterday I reported that the Democrats were threatening to force a government shutdown if money for a border wall was included in the bill to fund the government, and one day later Donald Trump has unconditionally surrendered.  Despite all of Trump’s promises, a border wall isn’t going to happen at this time, but of course he is pledging to “try again” in September.  But will anything change for the Democrats between now and September?  Of course not.  The Democrats will continue to use these same tactics whenever funding for a border wall comes up, and because Republicans always end up backing down on the most controversial issues that means that there never will be a border wall.

Do you know why the Democrats always get virtually everything that they want?

It is because they have a backbone.

They would have been willing to force a government shutdown that could have lasted for many months just to make sure not a single penny of taxpayer money was allocated for a border wall.

I certainly don’t agree with their principles, but at least the Democrats are willing to stand up for them.

On the other hand, Trump is showing that he is willing to flip flop on just about anything once he meets the least bit of resistance.

And if Trump is willing to give up on his number one campaign promise so easily, what else will he be willing to give up on?  The Huffington Post has compiled an excellent timeline of Trump’s border wall promises right here.  As you can see, he was very bold while he was campaigning, but now according to NBC News he has essentially thrown in the towel on a border wall less than 100 days into his presidency…

President Donald Trump has indicated that he’s willing to back away from his demand that a government funding bill include money to build a wall on the Southern border, a move that could help clear the way for Congress to avoid a shutdown.

A senior administration official tells NBC News that the president is open to obtaining funding for the border wall in the regular appropriations process for 2018 later this year instead of insisting it be included as part of the large spending bill to keep the government’s lights on past this week.

Of course we are being told that building the wall is still “an important priority” for Trump and that the administration will try again in September.  The following comes from Bloomberg…

“Building that wall and having it funded remains an important priority to him but we also know that that can happen later this year and into next year, and in the interim you see other smart technology and other resources and tools being used toward border security,” Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway said on Fox News on Tuesday.

But why in the world would the Democrats change their minds and give him funding for a border wall in a few months when they are so vehemently against it right now?

I have to say that I agree with Rush Limbaugh on this one…

“The Democrats seem to have successfully used this stupid, silly threat of a government shutdown to get their way,” Limbaugh said Tuesday, in one of his first major rebukes of the president. “What Trump is saying is if we need to get this done, then I’ll delay the spending on the wall until September. And it’s just a measly billion dollars.”

He continued: “Trump, I’m sure, does not ever think he caves on anything. But outward appearances are what they are. And the bottom line is that if he is willing to withdraw a demand of his for a measly billion dollars for the wall because the Democrats are threatening a shutdown, then the Democrats will have just learned that this threat works on Trump, too, not just all the other Republicans.”

Of course Trump and the Republicans have caved in on defunding Planned Parenthood too.

Actually I don’t think that they ever intended to put up much of a fight.

This is another battle that the Democrats would have been willing to shut down the government indefinitely to win.  They are completely united in their support for Planned Parenthood, and they would have been willing to risk the greatest governmental crisis in U.S. history to get their way.

So even though the Republicans control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Democrats are winning on big issue after big issue because they back up their convictions with courage.

Yes, there are potentially other ways that the Republicans could sneak the defunding of Planned Parenthood into various pieces of legislation, but because enough Republican members of Congress are “squishy” on this issue it isn’t likely to ever actually happen.

I have said it before, and I will say it again.  If Planned Parenthood was going to ever be defunded, now was the time.

Since the Republicans have chosen not to even put up a fight, that is a very, very ominous sign for our nation.

Just like every single one of the Democrats, any Republican that votes for any bill that includes funding for Planned Parenthood or that signs such a bill is going to be partially responsible for the blood of the countless number of babies that Planned Parenthood slaughters each year.

Unfortunately, most of these gutless Republican politicians seem unwilling to stand up for much of anything these days.  In fact, one Republican member of Congress has openly stated that she is “not going to risk a shutdown over anything”…

Republicans will also be content: many members of the GOP had indicated they would be satisfied with a spending bill that included money for means of strengthening security along the border other than a wall. “Border security’s the main issue—whether that includes a wall or technology, drones, or repairing what we have,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R., W.Va.) said Monday evening. Ms. Capito said she wasn’t interested in risking a shutdown over the border wall.

“I’m not going to risk a shutdown over anything,” she said.

So the Democrats are going to use the threat of a government shutdown to get their way on these big issues year after year until Republicans finally grow some spines and decide to stand up for themselves.

This article was written by Michael Snyder and originally published at the Economic Collapse Blog.

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Trump’s Border Wall Funding Could Be Delayed to Avoid Government “Shutdown”

(ANTIMEDIA) Washington, D.C. — While claiming he still has every intention of building his long-championed border wall between the United States and Mexico, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s willing to postpone that controversial plan if it will allow Congress to agree on urgent legislation.

“President Trump insisted on Tuesday that he remained committed to his hotly disputed plan to build a wall along the Mexican border,” the New York Times reports, “despite backing off a demand that the project be funded in a short-term spending measure that must be passed by Friday to avoid a government shutdown.”

On Twitter, Trump reassured his supporters of his conviction and warned them not to be led astray by outside influences.

“Don’t let the fake media tell you that I have changed my position on the WALL,” the president wrote Tuesday morning. “It will get built and help stop drugs, human trafficking, etc.”

The border wall was one of Trump’s primary campaign promises and has been an issue of great debate since day one. Congressional Democrats had previously accused Trump of slipping the border funding demand in at the last minute, claiming the demand itself was holding up the process.

“If the administration would drop their 11th-hour demand for a wall that Democrats, and a good number of Republicans, oppose,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s spokesman, Matt House, said in a statement last Friday, “congressional leaders would quickly reach a deal.”

On Monday, while speaking on MSNBC, House’s boss equated Trump’s move to him throwing a “monkey wrench” into the works.

Wrench or not, the fact — according to the president’s own Custom and Borders Protection agency — is that illegal border crossings have dropped around 75 percent since Trump entered the White House, which raises the pertinent question of whether a wall is necessary in the first place.

Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo

Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Stop Warrantless Cell Phone Searches at the Border

(ANTIMEDIA) In the waning years of the Obama administration, Customs and Border Protection agents had a bad habit of conducting warrantless searches of cellphones and laptops. Documents released to the American Civil Liberties Union under Freedom of Information Act requests revealed that Border Patrol agents searched over 6,500 people from October 2008 to June 2010. Though we are less than 100 days into the Trump Era, the focus on immigration raids and deportation seems to have contributed to an atmosphere of police state measures.

In early March, NBC News highlighted the rise in violations of basic rights, including an increase from 5,000 warrantless searches in 2015 to 25,000 in 2016. This data from the Department of Homeland Security also shows that an astonishing 5,000 people were searched along the border in February 2017. In response to these searches, four members of Congress have introduced legislation that would require border agents to get a warrant before performing a search of someone’s cell phone, laptop, or tablet. The bill was simultaneously introduced by Senator Ron Wyden and Representatives Jared Polis and Blake Farenthold. If the measure becomes law, it will require border agents to have probable cause and a warrant before accessing the contents of a device belonging to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. The bill also makes it clear that agents cannot hold individuals for more than four hours in an attempt to force them to unlock their devices.

“If the bill is passed it would effectively prohibit CBP from doing what it does now, which is searching and seizing devices of U.S. persons,” Neema Singh Giuliani, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, told The Intercept.

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Senator Wyden has often criticized invasive surveillance and violations of Fourth Amendment protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. In February, Wyden sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security seeking information on CBP searches. The Customs and Border Protection believes they have the right to search without warrants as part of their mission to secure the border. The CBP notifies the public of this belief in their tearsheet, which acknowledges that federal agents can search phones and make copies for forensic analysis. The CBP searches are backed by Supreme Court rulings that found people crossing the border have fewer protections under the Fourth Amendment. The court has not specifically ruled on whether or not cell phones are subject to force, although they have ruled that warrantless searches of phones are illegal inside the country.

“Searches of people at the border is an area where there’s a wide gap between what we think people’s rights are and what their facts are on the ground,” Nathan Freed Wessler, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, told Business Insider. “Various courts haven’t had an opportunity to weigh in on these issues yet, so CBP is operating with a lot of claimed authority and a lot of latitude.”

Until the Supreme Court weighs in, Border Patrol agents will continue to search electronic devices by the thousands. In fact, federal agents along the borders of the United States violate constitutional rights so often that it has come to be known as a “Constitution-Free Zone.” Earlier this year, it was reported that the White House is exploring the possibility of scanning the social media accounts of all incoming visitors to the United States. President Trump’s rhetoric and ramping up of police state measures in the name of fighting illegal immigration has set the tone for policing along the border. The new bill could potentially slow down the march towards a totalitarian border, but ultimately, it will take the people standing up — together — to fight against tyranny. We should be wary of those who attempt to sell security at the cost of liberty.

President Trump’s rhetoric and ramping up of police state measures in the name of fighting illegal immigration has set the tone for policing along the border. The new bill could potentially slow down the march towards a totalitarian border, but ultimately, it will take the people standing up — together — to fight against tyranny. We should be wary of those who attempt to sell security at the cost of liberty.

Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo

Opponents of Border Security and Immigration Law Enforcement Aid Human Traffickers

The debate over the construction of a wall along the U.S. Mexican border is heating up even as the infamous leader of the Mexican Sinaloa Drug Cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman awaits his trial in the Eastern District of New York for smuggling billions of dollars of heroin, cocaine and other illegal drugs into the United States across that border.

The DOJ press release, “Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera Faces Charges in New York for Leading a Continuing Criminal Enterprise and other Drug-Related Charges” provides the salient facts concerning this case.

On March 13, 2017 Bloomberg Business reported, Schumer Warns of Government Shutdown Over Trump’s Border Wall.

That report began with the following:

Senate Democrats warned Republicans Monday that attempts to take funding away from Planned Parenthood or pay for President Donald Trump’s border wall in a stopgap spending bill that must pass by late April would result in a government shutdown.

The threat from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democratic leaders sets up a climactic first showdown with the president, particularly with their inclusion of Trump’s signature border wall proposal.

“If Republicans insist on inserting poison pill riders such as defunding Planned Parenthood, building a border wall, or starting a deportation force, they will be shutting down the government and delivering a severe blow to our economy,” Schumer said in a statement.

Aliens trespassing into the United States poses a serious threat to national security and public safety yet while Mr. Schumer has proposed making trespassing on landmarks or critical infrastructure a federal crime with a five year jail sentence to deter this dangerous criminal conduct, he refuses to take the necessary measures to prevent aliens from entering the United States illegally by trespassing and/or violating our immigration laws within the United States.

Yet Schemer and his fellow Democrats are so diametrically opposed to securing the treacherous U.S./Mexican border against illegal (un-inspected entry) and mounting an effective law enforcement effort to identify, locate and arrest illegal aliens who have entered the United States without inspection, often aided by smugglers, that they are willing to shut down the federal government to prevent these critical enforcement efforts.

In Mexico aliens smugglers are referred to as “Coyotes” and a smuggled alien is referred to as a “Chicken” or in Spanish, “el Pollo” because coyotes eat chickens.  This is why it might be time for the Democrats to change their mascot to a coyote- they are certainly aligning themselves with the smugglers.

Constructing a wall along the southern border would help our valiant but beleaguered Border Patrol Agents to secure that violent border.

Enforcing our immigration laws from within the interior of the United States is another component of what I have come to refer to as the “Immigration Law Enforcement Tripod”  (The third leg of that enforcement tripod concerns the inspections conducted at ports of entry by CBP (Customs and Border Protection) inspectors.

When I was an INS agent I was assigned for a couple of years to the INS Anti-Smuggling Unit in NYC.  The alien smugglers we encountered were among the most vicious, violent and pernicious criminals I have ever encountered in my 30 year career.  They often smuggle narcotics as well as humans.  They frequently use violence, including rape, to control the aliens that they smuggle and to extort additional fees for their “services” from their victims or their victims’ families.

By arresting illegal aliens who had been smuggled into the United States and transported to the New York area, my colleagues and I convinced these illegal aliens to provide us with vital information so that we could identify, arrest and successfully prosecute the smugglers in Los Angeles who had smuggled them into the United States.  We shut down that smuggling organization by using the information we obtained from the illegal aliens.

The key to combatting human trafficking is effective immigration law enforcement.

On October 5, 2015 Senator Chuck Schemer posted the following press release on his official website:

SCHUMER, GILLIBRAND ANNOUNCE OVER $2 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDS TO COMBAT HUMAN TRAFFICKING & SUPPORT SURVIVORS IN NEW YORK CITY

Here is how the press release began:

Schumer, Gillibrand Announce Federal Grants Will Be Used To Fund Task Force to Develop & Implement Strategies to ProsecuteSex- and Labor-Traffickers and Help Human-Trafficking Survivors

U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced $2,070,022 in federal funding allocated through Department of Justice (DOJ) for four New York City based organizations. Specifically, the funding will help recovery for survivors of all types of human trafficking by survivor-centered services and interagency communication.

“With this critical federal funding, these organizations will be able to continue their important work, prosecuting vile sex- and labor-traffickers and serving the survivors of human trafficking in New York City,” said Senator Schumer. “It is important that we work to both eliminate human trafficking through prosecution and help survivors obtain the comprehensive services they need and deserve.”

 “This critical federal funding will allow these organizations to facilitate a wide range of programs to combat human trafficking and provide assistance to survivors,” said Senator Gillibrand. “New York City will now have additional resources to identify and respond to the needs of human trafficking survivors. I will continue to push for funding to help keep our families safe and better protected.”

While not all human trafficking involves smuggling aliens into the United States a significant proportion of such criminal activities involves the smuggling of aliens across international borders for a variety of illegal purposes that include sex trafficking and the importation of aliens trapped in virtual servitude to the alien smugglers.

Schumer may talk about prosecuting human traffickers but has done everything possible to impede the work of the DHS to secure our borders and enforce our immigration laws.

The primary opponents of these human smugglers are our Border Patrol agents and our ICE agents.  Yet, the Democrats in Congress as well as the mayors of Sanctuary Cities who are dead set against securing our borders and enforcing our immigration laws from within the interior of the United States.

To make this point succinctly, those who oppose the enforcement activities of immigration law enforcement officers are the best allies human traffickers could ever hope to have.

Human smuggling activities occur around the world and occur across our southern and northern borders as well as along our 95,000 miles of coastline and through our international airports.

Back on May 18, 2004 I was invited by Rep. Shiela Jackson Lee as her witness, to testify at a hearing conducted by the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims on the topic, Pushing The Border Out On Alien Smuggling: New Tools And Intelligence Initiatives.

At my insistence, Rep. Jackson Lee agreed to broaden the focus of the hearing and acknowledge  that alien smuggling is not limited to the U.S./Mexican border but also includes those who provide aliens with counterfeit or altered identity documents and engage in schemes that involve visa fraud.

That hearing convinced her and then House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner to work cooperatively to draft legislation to create a fraud task force.

It is worth noting that the 9/11 Commission determined that fraud documents and fraud schemes were vital to the success of terrorists.

One of the issues that was addressed during the hearing was the use of visas to protect illegal alien victims of human trafficking and alien criminals to create incentives for those illegal aliens to provide vital actionable intelligence about such vile criminals.

Of course the mayors of Sanctuary Cities refuse to discuss this critical issue.  If they were truly concerned about illegal aliens living in their towns, they would make certain to provide the ethnic immigrant communities with information about how they can come forward to assist law enforcement to identify, locate and arrest the alien criminals who live among them and prey upon them.

However, this would go against the narrative that immigration law enforcement personnel are the “bad guys” and the immigration law violators are the “victims.”

In fact, on March 13, 2017 The Hill reported, Dems back body cameras for ICE agents, noting:

Democrats in the House want to require immigration agents to wear body cameras amid concerns over increased immigration enforcement and the hiring of new agents.

Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill to that effect Friday, with 18 Democratic co-sponsors.

Clarke said the measure is necessary to protect those targeted by immigration enforcement from potential abuse.

I was interviewed on Newsmax-TV on March 14th about the threats by the Democrats to shut down the government over the border wall and the proposal to require ICE agents to wear body cameras.

As I noted during my interview, President Trump is determined to prevent the un-inspected entry of aliens into the United States  in order to prevent the entry of terrorists and criminals and to protect the lives and livelihoods of Americans.

How could any American politician be opposed to those important goals?

FRONTPAGEMAG

It’s Official: You’re Paying for Trump’s Wall — Twice

(ANTIMEDIA) “We’re going to build a big, beautiful wall — and Mexico is gonna pay for it,” was one of Donald Trump’s campaign mantras. However, as Americans who don’t have political short-term memory loss will remember, politicians break promises once they’re elected. Such is the case with Trump’s promise to make Mexico pay for his “great” wall.

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You’re paying for it, not Mexico, and Trump’s newly released White House budget has made it official.

The Trump budget blueprint, released late Wednesday, calls for taxpayers to fund $4.1 billion through 2018 for Trump’s wall along the southern border of the United States. But that’s just for the initial construction. According to DHS estimates, the overall cost to taxpayers could be $21.6 billion, a figure that will likely be even higher considering the government’s penchant for going over budget and deadlines.

But wait, there’s more. Because Mexico has made it abundantly clear that it will not pay for America’s “great” wall, Trump has floated the idea of slapping a 20 percent tariff on all goods imported from Mexico to make up for the cost. This idea may sound legitimate if you disregard the laws of economics, but the reality is that Americans will wind up paying for the tariffs through higher food and consumer prices. As Anti-Media reported in January:

“Many food products that people living in the U.S. enjoy, like fruits, vegetables, beef, and avocados, could be taxed an extra 20 percent under Trump’s plan. Mexican beer like Corona? 20 percent. Tequila, too. Cars, electronic equipment, machines, engines, pumps, oil, medical and technical equipment, furniture, lighting, signs, plastics, gems, precious metals, coins, iron, and steel products are Mexico’s top exports, which could be taxed 20 percent more.”

In response to the proposed tariffs, Mexico stated it would return tariffs — or border taxes — on U.S. goods going into Mexico, which would hurt American businesses and workers. So basically, you’ll be paying for the wall twice, or possibly three times if you are employed or own a business that relies on exports to Mexico.

At a time when illegal immigration to the U.S. from Mexico has reached a 40-year low, and the supposed economic benefits of the wall are nowhere to be found (though its negative effects are already being felt), many people are likely left wondering if it’s even worth it.

U.S. Marshals Scan Passenger Retinas to Board Flight: “Like Everyone Else, I Complied”

During the war on terrorism, Americans compromised their liberties to fight for freedom. Now, during the war on immigration, Americans will again be compelled to sacrifice liberties for American sovereignty.

In the name of security, anywhere, anytime. All measures will be justified, everyone will be authorized and the population will be controlled.

That is the moment we have arrived at in America.

A combination of policies that President Obama put into place, as well as fresh executive orders put in place by President Trump’s executive orders, have created a new front in the world of national security. They are now using biometrics to verify passport and identity, in the name of cracking down on immigration.

Additional scrutiny, and an over-bearing scent of gestapo is again cropping up in airports, as yet another layer of surveillance is added to the line up.

Here’s a look at one version of the machines now being tested and phased in at airports and other checkpoints:

Both visitors from abroad, and American citizens alike have now been required to submit to biometric iris scans in order to board a flight. Wow.

via Jeffrey Tucker of the Foundation of Economic Education:

For some 15 years, airport security has become steadily more invasive. There are ever more checkpoints, ever more requests for documents as you make your way from the airport entrance to the airplane. Passengers adapt to the new changes as they come. But my latest flight to Mexico, originating in Atlanta, presented all passengers with something I had never seen before.

We had already been through boarding pass checks, passport checks, scanners, and pat downs. At the gate, each passenger had already had their tickets scanned and we were all walking on the jet bridge to board. It’s at this point that most people assume that it is all done: finally we can enjoy some sense of normalcy.

This time was different. Halfway down the jetbridge, there was a new layer of security. Two US Marshals, heavily armed and dressed in dystopian-style black regalia, stood next to an upright machine with a glowing green eye. Every passenger, one by one, was told to step on a mat and look into the green scanner. It was scanning our eyes and matching that scan with the passport, which was also scanned (yet again).

Like everyone else, I complied. What was my choice? I guess I could have turned back at the point, decline to take the flight I had paid for, but it would be unclear what would then happen. After standing there for perhaps 8 seconds, the machine gave the go signal and I boarded.

I talked to a few passengers about this and others were just as shaken by the experience. They were reticent even to talk about it, as people tend to be when confronted with something like this.

I couldn’t find anyone who had ever seen something like this before. I wrote friends who travel internationally and none said they had ever seen anything like this.

I will tell you how it made me feel: like a prisoner in my own country. It’s one thing to control who comes into a country. But surveilling and permissioning American citizens as they leave their own country, even as they are about to board, is something else.

This isn’t required for all flights, yet.

This writer encountered a Homeland Security / U.S. Customs and Border Protection test at select airports… they are still working out the kinks.

But the question is, after all the frustrations that Americans had with flying after 9/11, and watching their liberties sacrificed at the alter security, after dealing with ridiculously long lines – are Americans now willing sacrifice even more liberties and submit their biometric scans?

Unfortunately, they may be.

As a general mass, Americans have proved underwhelming in their opposition to invasions of privacy on the part of private corporations, especially those online and in computing and communication devices. They have also shrugged off and become immune to fifteen years of airport harassment and additional checks and scans.

Now, iris scans might even one day make security faster – but it’s a devilish tradeoff, and an enormous trust of power an agency that was created into existence out of the 9/11 emergency atmosphere, and which grows only when feeding the machine fear and terror.

Update: a reader has pointed me to this page at Homeland Security:

As part of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) border security mission, the agency is deploying new technologies to verify travelers’ identities – both when they arrive and when they leave the United States – by matching a traveler to the document they are presenting. CBP’s goal is to enhance national security and protect a traveler’s identity against theft through the use of biometrics.

Biometric information (such as finger, face, or iris) measures a person’s unique physical characteristics. CBP incorporated fingerprints for biometric identification and verification in 2004, and is now testing facial and iris imaging capabilities to help improve travelers’ identity protection, the integrity of our immigration system, and our national security.

I happened to be on the “one daily flight” that gets exit scanned.

[…]

What people don’t often consider is that every rule that pertains to immigration ultimately applies to emigration as well. Every rule that government has to treat immigrants a certain way also necessarily applies to citizens as well.

Chandran Kukathas is right when he says that “controlling immigration means controlling everyone.” (source)

It looks like their tests have so far met with very little resistance, and all signs green, as support for Trump’s new order of police, border, military and security agencies are given new mandates to enforce laws, and take necessary measures to control borders, verify individuals and protect the country. That’s the narrative, and Americans are cheering it on with very little forethought about the consequences it could hold.

For now, Americans are willing to accept new controls.

That is, if nobody reawakens to the massive civil liberties issue that is going on.

Welcome Aboard, But First US Marshals Will Scan Your Retina,BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT FREE

Read more:

Under UN 2030 Plan, “Biometric ID Required For Everyone” On the Planet

TSA Administrative Directive: Opt-Outters To Be Considered “Domestic Extremists”

Special Ops Armed with Rapid DNA Scanners: “Get Ready for Advanced Biometric Warfare”

Want Cash? Next-Gen ATMs Demand Biometric Verification: “Smartphone and Eye Scan To Dispense Money”