Texas Weekly Online

Texas-trans-white
Menu
Menu

Author: shailender

Top Trump official torches Dem senator’s ‘advocacy for a known terrorist’ during fiery hearing: ‘Alarming’

Top Trump official torches Dem senator’s ‘advocacy for a known terrorist’ during fiery hearing: ‘Alarming’

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Democratic senators, including Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Chris Murphy, sparred over Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador. “We have a limited amount of time. I just asked you, Madam Secretary, whether or not you or the Department of Homeland Security are taking any action to facilitate the 9-0 Supreme Court decision to facilitate his return. This is a very simple question. Are you taking any action to facilitate his return, or are you not?” Van Hollen asked at the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing.  “This administration is following and complying with all federal court orders,” Noem replied.  “So you are so because the court ordered that you facilitate his return. So you are facilitating his return?” ‘I AM AFRAID’: ANOTHER PROTECTIVE ORDER FILING AGAINST DEPORTED ‘MARYLAND MAN’ CHAMPIONED BY DEMS SURFACES “Sir. Senator, thank you for the question. But what I would tell you is that we are following court orders. I’m certain that your advocacy for a known terrorist is alarming,” she fired back. “Abrego Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador and should never have been in this country and will not be coming back to this country,” Noem told Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., in a heated exchange at the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday morning. “There is no scenario where an Abrego Garcia will be in the United States again. If he were to come back, we would immediately deport him again because he is a terrorist. He’s a human smuggler, and he is a wife-beater,” she continued. Murphy had asked the secretary if she had “reached out to your counterpart in El Salvador to facilitate Mr. Abrego Garcia’s release.” “Does the Supreme Court decision not require you to facilitate the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia?” Murphy later asked. DEMOCRATIC SENATOR TELLS NY TIMES WHY APPROVAL FOR PARTY IS ‘IN THE TOILET,’ GIVES OMINOUS WARNING FOR 2026 “The Trump administration is complying with all court orders and judges’ orders,” she replied. Abrego Garcia, 29, is a Salvadoran illegal immigrant and suspected MS-13 gang member who was living in Maryland until he was deported to the high-security Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) in his home country during the first 100 days of the Trump administration.   Though many Democrats, including Maryland’s Van Hollen, claim that Abrego Garcia is an innocent man who was “wrongly deported,” the administration has pointed to considerable evidence that he is a member of the infamous MS-13 gang. In recent weeks, two protective orders suggested that he was abusive to his wife, who is now advocating for his release. In addition, the Tennessee Highway Patrol released body camera footage of its 2022 encounter with him, where state troopers suspected he was involved in human trafficking. TENNESSEE BODYCAM OF ‘MARYLAND MAN’ TRAFFIC STOP SHOWS TROOPERS’ HANDS TIED DESPITE SMUGGLING CLUES Several Democrats have argued that he was not given proper due process and that the evidence that he is a member of MS-13, which has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration, is not sufficient to justify his removal.  Noem faced mixed reactions of praise and intense criticism at the hearing on Thursday, as Republicans applauded the department’s efforts on illegal immigration, whereas Democrats raised concerns about spending and legal processes. Fox News’ Peter Pinedo, Emma Colton and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.

Trump touts ‘rebuilding and modernization’ of US air traffic control, blasts Buttigieg for having ‘no clue’

Trump touts ‘rebuilding and modernization’ of US air traffic control, blasts Buttigieg for having ‘no clue’

President Donald Trump touted his administration’s efforts to rebuild and modernize U.S. air traffic control, as the Department of Transportation rolled out its three-year plan to build a brand-new, “state-of-the-art” system to address critical safety needs, while blasting former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for having “no clue.”  Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled the proposal Thursday, which would replace the current, antiquated Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) system and “enhance safety in the sky, reduce delays and unlock the future of air travel.”  AMERICANS DESERVE TO HAVE A ‘STATE-OF-THE-ART’ AIR TRAVEL SYSTEM: SEAN DUFFY “Under President Trump, America is building again,” Duffy said Thursday, upon rolling out the new proposal for a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a brand new, state-of-the-art air traffic control system.”  “Decades of neglect have left us with an outdated system that is showing its age,” Duffy said, noting that building the new system “is an economic and national security necessity, and the time to fix it is now.” Under the new air traffic control system proposal, the FAA would replace infrastructure, like radar, software, hardware and telecommunications networks to manage modern travel.  NEWARK AIRPORT HIT WITH NEW DELAYS, OUTAGE HEARD ON AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AUDIO Officials say the current system is one built “for the past,” but the new proposal is to build a system “for the future.”  The plan would ensure facilities are equipped with better technologies to reduce outages, improve efficiency and reinforce safety.  “We’re going to be buying a brand-new, state of the art system that will cover the entire world,” Trump said earlier Thursday.  The plan consists of four infrastructure components: communications, surveillance, automation and facilities, according to the Transportation Department.  Officials plan, by 2028, to replace current, antiquated telecommunications systems with new fiber, wireless and satellite technologies at more than 4,600 sites; 25,000 new radios, and 475 new voice switches. 618 radars will also be replaced by 2027.  The plan would also address runway safety by increasing the number of airports with Surface Awareness Initiative to 200. Officials expect this to be complete by 2027.  DUFFY BLASTS BIDEN, BUTTIGIEG FOR IGNORING REPORT ABOUT FAILING AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM: ‘DID NOTHING!’ The Transportation Department also proposed building six new air traffic control centers for the first time since the 1960s. It also proposes replacing 15 towers and 15 co-located TRACONs, or Terminal Radar Approach Controls, which are facilities that manage air traffic in the airspace surrounding busy airports.  Officials also proposed the installation of new modern hardware and software for all air traffic facilities, which would create a common platform system throughout all towers, TRACONs and centers.  The proposal also includes the deployment of additional technologies to the Caribbean and Alaska to provide accurate, real-time surveillance and weather information for air traffic control and pilots to ensure “safe and efficient flights for these critical locations.”  Officials stressed the need for a new air traffic control system, saying the FAA is grappling with a “rapidly growing, complex and demanding aviation sector,” as commercial air travel returns to pre-COVID levels. Officials also pointed to novel challenges including drones and advanced air mobility.  Officials said that the FAAs current systems “are showing their age,” which leads to “delays and inefficiencies.”  The Department of Transportation, though, stressed that the National Airspace System is “safe,” but stressed that maintaining the safety is necessary.  The proposal is based on a 3-year framework to reinvest in the National Airspace System, and called for an “emergency supplemental funding increase.”  ASTOUNDING NEW AUDIO SHOWS AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS REACTING TO FAA TECH OUTAGE: ‘THIS IS A SERIOUS ISSUE’ “Modernization of the NAS can no longer take 10+ years to complete; it must be done now,” the proposal states. “We need an immediate infusion of funding to address critical infrastructure needs.”  Duffy, on Thursday, said the project would take three to four years.  “I need help, I can’t do it by myself. And it’s going to take the help of the Congress to make that happen,” Duffy said. “We need all of the money up front.”  Duffy said that requesting the money in “small tranches” over the course of several years would extend the project.  “Politics change, leadership changes, presidents change, interest changes, and it never gets built,” Duffy said. “So I’m going to ask the Congress for upfront appropriations to give us all the money. I’ll come before the Congress every, every quarter and give them an update of of how far we’ve built, how much money we’ve spent.”  Duffy added that if the Department of Transportation is not given the money, it would take “ten to 15 years to build this.”  “And by the time we get done with it, what we’re going to build is already going to be old technology,” Duffy said. “So we want to build this in 3 to 4 years, and we can do it with the help of Congress.”  A report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in March shows that the Trump administration inherited an outdated FAA system from the Biden administration with “severe shortcomings” that resulted in dangerous travel conditions across the country. After Trump’s return to the White House, GAO advised the administration that it had made nine recommendations to the FAA under the Biden administration that remain open, and that “urgent attention” is needed to remedy the safety issues left by Biden. GAO said that under the Biden administration the FAA “did not prioritize or establish near-term plans to modernize unsustainable and critical systems.” The GAO’s 2025 report said the 2023 national airspace prompted an operational risk assessment, which found that of the 138 air traffic control systems, “51 (37%) were deemed unsustainable by FAA and 54 (39%) were potentially unsustainable.” President Trump, on Thursday, blasted the current “ancient infrastructure,” saying “it’s buckling under the weight of more than a billion flying passengers a year and supporting hundreds of billions of dollars.”   “Pete Buttigieg, who was the secretary of transportation, had no clue what the problem was,” Trump said. “He