Texas Weekly Online

Texas-trans-white
Menu
Menu

Author:

Amnesty remains priority for Biden admin, Democrats even amid record border numbers

Amnesty remains priority for Biden admin, Democrats even amid record border numbers

A pathway to citizenship or other legalization for illegal immigrants already in the U.S. remains a priority for the Biden administration and many Democrats, even amid a record-breaking crisis at the southern border. The issue was raised during a crucial U.S.-Mexico meeting this week in Mexico City, where Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas met with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.  During that broad discussion on the migrant crisis, the countries said they discussed the “benefits” of “regularizing” illegal immigrants who have been living in the United States for years, including those protected by the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) – an executive order signed by President Barack Obama, which shielded some illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as minors. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT POPULATION SOARS UNDER BIDEN: GOVERNMENT DATA “The delegations also discussed the benefits of regularizing the situation of Hispanic migrants who have been undocumented for several years and the DACA beneficiaries, who are a vital part of the US economy and society,” the joint statement said, adding that the delegations will meet again in January. The inclusion of the statement, during a month in which there have been record numbers of encounters at the southern border, drew immediate anger from House Republicans. At a time when America is experiencing the worst border crisis in our nation’s history, it is unconscionable to hear the Biden administration’s announcement that Secretaries Mayorkas and Blinken discussed with the President of Mexico amnesty for illegal immigrants,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said. “The United States must focus on policies that deter – not attract – people attempting to come here illegally, and the smugglers who profit from the catastrophe at our border.”  “This development further demonstrates the administration has no real intention of solving the humanitarian disaster and immediate national security crisis their policies have created. President Biden needs to stop vacationing and take immediate steps to stop the flow of illegal immigration into our country. Our nation’s security and sovereignty depend upon it, and the American people demand it,” he said. But the Biden administration has made no secret of its desire to grant legal status to millions of illegal immigrants. On Day One in office, the administration announced a sweeping immigration reform bill that included an eight-year path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. BORDER NUMBERS FOR DECEMBER BREAK MONTHLY RECORD, AS BIDEN TALKS AMNESTY WITH MEXICO It also included immediate green cards for llegal immigrant farmworkers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. Since then, even with the border crisis raging for nearly three years, the Biden administration has repeatedly touted that bill as an example of legislation it would like to see Congress pass to fix what it says is a “broken” immigration system. However, the population of illegal immigrants has exploded under the Biden administration. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) report issued on Friday said the number of illegal immigrants just on the non-detained docket had soared to over 6 million in FY 23 from 3.7 million in FY 21. It means the prospect of any form of amnesty for Republicans will likely be less palatable now than it was in 2021. Many Democrats have also shared the administration’s goals of passing a pathway to citizenship for those who have entered the country illegally. US-MEXICO MIGRATION TALKS INCLUDED BENEFITS OF ‘REGULARIZING’ ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS LIVING IN US  Democrats in both the House and the Senate have proposed amnesties this year. Most recently, Senate Democrats said any changes to the asylum system demanded by Republicans as part of any supplemental funding agreement must be combined with legalization for illegal immigrants. “Any proposal considering permanent changes to our asylum and immigration system needs to include a clear path to legalization for long-standing undocumented immigrants,” the lawmakers said. “We remain committed to working in good faith to modernize our outdated immigration system on a bipartisan basis and through a deliberative process,” they added. “We cannot truly secure our border and help American communities without increasing lawful pathways for migration and legalizing long-time undocumented immigrants who put food on our tables, care for our elderly, and form the fabric of our communities.” The calls come as the U.S. continues to grapple with a historic migrant crisis at the border. Fox News reported Saturday that there have been 286,000 migrant encounters at the southern border in December so far, setting a new record for monthly encounters. That’s on top of the record-setting 2.4 million migrant encounters in FY 2023 as a whole.  Fox News’ Griff Jenkins contributed to this report.

Biden allies turn against key part of his climate agenda

Biden allies turn against key part of his climate agenda

Democratic lawmakers and clean energy groups who often align themselves with President Biden on environmental policy are turning against his administration’s latest green energy tax credit guidance. In highly-anticipated guidance released late last month, the White House, Treasury Department and Department of Energy proposed rules governing tax credits for hydrogen power production, which advocates believe will be a critical tool for decarbonization. The guidance, though, tethers the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) highest production credit of $3 per kilogram of hydrogen produced to strict eco standards. “The Biden Administration’s proposal attempts to launch a green hydrogen industry while guarding against any possibility of emissions increases during initial commercial deployment,” said Jason Grumet, the CEO of the American Clean Power Association, a clean power industry group often allied with the Biden administration. “Unfortunately, the Administration proposal contains a fatal – but fixable – flaw that must be addressed to realize the economic, environmental, and climate benefits of commercially scaling a domestic green hydrogen industry,” Grumet added. “While ACP embraces the basic structure of the Administration’s three-pillar approach, the rushed imposition of the most burdensome restrictions fails to acknowledge the market realities of new technology deployment.” GOP REPORT HIGHLIGHTS 2023 ENERGY, OVERSIGHT WINS OVER ‘UNREALISTIC CLIMATE AGENDA’ The hydrogen production tax credits are some of the most generous clean energy incentives earmarked under the IRA, Democrats’ massive climate and tax bill President Biden signed in August 2022, and are worth up to $100 billion. The legislation marked the nation’s most ambitious effort yet to spur the growth of hydrogen generation, which remains a nascent technology requiring billions of dollars in investment to achieve large-scale production. But a common pathway for hydrogen production is electrolysis, a process by which hydrogen is split from water using an electric current. While the only emissions from electrolysis are hydrogen and oxygen, environmentalists have argued that hydrogen reliance could be rendered pointless as a zero-emissions power source if the electricity generated for that process is generated from fossil fuel-fired sources. BIDEN ADMIN AIMS TO PUSH TOWNS, CITIES TO ADOPT GREEN ENERGY BUILDING CODES: ‘VERY SUSPICIOUS’ “The Clean Hydrogen Production Credit aims to make production of clean hydrogen with minimal climate pollution more economically competitive and accelerate development of the U.S. clean hydrogen industry,” the Treasury Department said on Dec. 22. Under the guidance, hydrogen producers are only eligible for the highest tax credit if electricity is generated from a green energy source, such as wind and solar, that came online within three years of a new facility being placed into service. That provision means a facility fueled by green energy that has been operational for more than three years is ineligible for the credit. In addition, the guidance requires that, beginning in 2028, hydrogen developers’ electricity generation is sourced from a clean source on an hourly basis, the most stringent timescale. In other words, the electricity generated by electrolysis must be produced within an hour of hydrogen production from that electricity. Sens. Tom Carper, D-Del., the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, the chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee; and Bob Casey, D-Pa., all quickly expressed concern following the release of the guidance last month. BIDEN ADMIN HIT WITH LEGAL CHALLENGE OVER GAS APPLIANCE CRACKDOWN “The development of the U.S. clean hydrogen industry is critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, meeting our nation’s climate goals, and creating good-paying jobs across America,” Carper said in a statement. “While I applaud the Biden Administration’s work to advance clean hydrogen, I fear that this proposed rule may well miss the mark.” “When developing the Inflation Reduction Act, we intended for the clean hydrogen incentives to be flexible and technology-neutral,” he continued. “Treasury’s draft guidance does not fully reflect this intent, potentially jeopardizing the clean hydrogen industry’s ability to get off the ground successfully. Fortunately, the Biden Administration has made it clear that there will be opportunities in the days ahead to revise the rule. Without meaningful changes, I will find it difficult to support the final rule.” Brown, meanwhile, argued the guidance would “undermine” the nation’s ability to produce affordable clean hydrogen. “I have serious concerns about the administration’s proposed guidance,” the Ohio Democrat said. “These new proposed rules will slow down and ultimately undermine our country’s ability to produce the clean hydrogen needed to build the energy economy of the future.” “We wrote the Inflation Reduction Act to lower energy costs for Ohioans and unleash innovation in clean energy production in Appalachia and across the Midwest – and these rules undermine that clear goal,” Brown added. “The administration must listen to Ohioans and fix the serious flaws in these rules before they are finalized.” MAINE FORCED TO DELAY VOTE ON EV MANDATE AMID WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES And Casey similarly expressed concern that the administration’s proposal would harm workers and the economy. “I have serious questions that this proposed rule will hinder our ability to produce clean hydrogen to power the U.S.’s energy future,” Casey said in a statement. “Further, it appears that this rule may cut out of the equation Pennsylvania workers and businesses that are ready and willing to lead the way on hydrogen power.” “Pennsylvania jobs are at stake, and I am going to keep pushing the Administration to listen to Pennsylvanians, especially those in energy communities, and ensure our Commonwealth is poised to take full advantage of this tax credit in the way that Congress intended,” he said. Prior to the announcement last month, Carper, Brown, Casey and nine other Senate Democrats had called on Biden to issue looser guidance that would progressively get stricter over the next decade. Overall, hydrogen has been widely pegged as a key technology for reducing future greenhouse gas emissions, especially in hard-to-decarbonize sectors like shipping, heavy trucking and cement and steel manufacturing. The transportation and industrial sectors account for nearly 60% of U.S. end-use emissions.

Ex-CIA analyst says intel agencies to be politically active again in 2024 election: ‘Significant problem’

Ex-CIA analyst says intel agencies to be politically active again in 2024 election: ‘Significant problem’

A Georgetown University professor who spent 12 years as a CIA intelligence analyst is warning that DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) efforts and the overall politicization of the intelligence community have become a “significant” problem and that he is confident those agencies will attempt to interfere with the 2024 election similar to their efforts in 2020. “My guess is that the the proverbial deep state within the intelligence community will reemerge because presumably a Republican candidate will again be seen as a threat to the internal policies that many intelligence people like,” Dr. John Gentry, author of the new book, “Neutering the CIA: Why US Intelligence Versus Trump Has Long-Term Consequences,” told Fox News Digital.  Within days of the bombshell New York Post story that detailed the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop in the lead-up to the 2020 election, 51 former intelligence officials signed onto a letter in an attempt to discredit the laptop, saying it “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”  The CIA approved the publication of the infamous Hunter Biden laptop letter, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital in 2023. CIA THREATENED WITH SUBPOENA FOR RECORDS ON LETTER DISCREDITING HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP Gentry told Fox News Digital that downplaying the Hunter Biden laptop was “clearly political” and that a highly placed source told him “in no uncertain terms” that it was done “explicitly” with the “intent to help the Biden campaign.” He said there have already been signs in recent weeks that current or former intelligence agency members will be active in 2024. “I long have thought we are likely to again see former intelligence officers be politically active against Trump or whomever the Republican presidential candidate is next year, and I expect leaking to resume,” Gentry said. “The activities of ‘formers’ have resumed already, a bit before I expected.” Gentry pointed to a recent article from Marc Polymeropoulos, a CIA official who retired in 2019 and was the co-lead of the Hunter Biden laptop “open letter,” and former FBI employee Asha Rangappa that warned of the dangers of Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail.  “Asha Rangappa once worked at the FBI and also was openly anti-Trump, though as a relatively junior former, she attracted less attention than many,” Gentry said. “I think it is worth closely monitoring these people. Many have compromised their credibility by actions such as the ‘Laptop 51’ letter.” A major issue over the past few decades, Gentry said, was the introduction of DEI policies at the major intelligence agencies, including the CIA, that shifted attention away from day-to-day operations to a more “woke” political agenda. “It was an effort half a century ago to get more women and minorities into the intelligence community,” Gentry said. “This was done under the rubric of affirmative action. It gradually became more of a policy through the Clinton administration. But it took a significant step forward, or not, depending on your perspective, when President Obama signed an executive order designed to improve diversity and inclusion in the federal workforce.” DOJ KNEW HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP WAS ‘NOT MANIPULATED,’ CONTAINED ‘RELIABLE EVIDENCE’ IN 2019: WHISTLEBLOWER Gentry told Fox News Digital that discussions about personal politics didn’t happen during his time at the CIA but that sources in the intelligence community during the Obama years told him that standard was largely “gone” and political activism was “common.” Two of the main drivers of the more politically active intel agencies, Gentry explained, were former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Gentry said Brennan and Clapper were both “… very strongly supportive of Obama’s desire to transform the federal workforce, and so they began to accelerate this process and did a number of things from the standpoint of policy actions, in terms of specific recruitment efforts, for example, and they pushed their employees to be more concerned about diversity and inclusion issues and, even in Brennan’s case, to be politically active.” BARI WEISS CALLS FOR END TO DEI PROGRAMS, SAYS THEY UNDERMINE ‘CENTRAL MISSIONS’ OF INSTITUTIONS Gentry told Fox News Digital that there is no doubt that DEI and politicization within the intel agencies have had a negative effect on morale with the rank-and-file workers. “There are a lot of people who are unhappy about it because it’s politicizing the workforce, and it’s dividing the workforce among people who believe in DEI policies and those who don’t,” Gentry said.  “And even in the Obama period, the analysis director had people who were beginning to talk about, quote, ‘soft totalitarianism.’ That was a direct result of Brennan’s top-down, politically driven policies; the totalitarianism being a reminder of the Soviet Union and China and so on. Well, this has a number of effects in terms of performance and in terms of credibility.” Gentry said his book will hopefully help readers “appreciate that there is a significant political problem within the agencies” and that former members of the intel community saw how effective they were in damaging Trump in 2020 and “no one was criticized.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “So, put all these things together, and I’m pretty confident that we’ll see a reemergence of activism,” Gentry said. In a speech at the Aspen Security Forum in July, CIA Director William Burns addressed the issue of politicization inside the intelligence community.  “My obligation, and President Biden reminds me of this frequently, is to offer the best intelligence that we can collect and analyze straight up, even when that’s inconvenient to policymakers. I spent enough time on the other side of the table to know when it’s inconvenient to, when somebody’s telling you that the big new idea is actually not so big, not so new, and not so effective,” Burns said.  “Our job is to be straight about that, whether it’s welcome downtown, at the White House, or other parts of the executive branch or not. It’s not an easy role to play, but it’s an incredibly important one. It’s one I