Sanders hypes bill to crack down on undocumented migrants who commit crimes
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders tied Arkansas immigration policy to President Donald Trump in announcing proposed legislation Monday that will impose harsher penalties on undocumented migrants who commit crimes in the state.
'After only a few months in office, President Trump has brought law and order back to our country, and Arkansas will continue to partner with him and help lead the way,' Sanders said in a press conference.
The legislation, Senate Bill 426, expands the state ban against so-called 'sanctuary cities' into all unincorporated communities and counties and mandates Arkansas law enforcement agencies participate in a federal program that deputizes them to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in apprehension and deportation of undocumented migrants held in local jails and state prisons.
'The Defense Against Criminal Illegals Act makes it clear: Arkansas will not tolerate violent, criminal illegals and will do our part to help the Trump administration keep our citizens safe,' Sanders said as state troopers and county sheriffs stood behind her in the governor's conference room at the state Capitol.
Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, and Rep. Fran Cavanaugh, R-Walnut Ridge, are lead sponsors of SB 426. Hester could not attend the press conference but said in a press release that the 'legislation will help Arkansas reduce violent crime and keep us a safe place to live, work, and raise a family.'
Cavanaugh spoke at the press conference and said, 'We need to give law enforcement the tools they need to help to be able to actually assist ICE.'
Sanders cited several highly publicized incidents involving undocumented immigrants in Arkansas, including the arrest in January of a man who struck an Arkansas state trooper, November's arrest of a man from El Salvador wanted for gang association in his country, and the arrest of a Honduran native in September after a fatal drunken driving accident.
'These crimes didn't have to happen,' Sanders said. 'Violent criminal illegals have no place in Arkansas. In this administration, we will make sure they are held accountable.'
SB 426 'will slap enhanced penalties on illegal immigrants who commit additional crimes while in our state,' she said.
The sanctuary city ban will be expanded 'so that no place in Arkansas, including unincorporated areas and counties can be a safe harbor for illegals.'
The bill also will require county sheriffs in charge of local jails and the state prison system to participate in the federal 287(g) program, specifically the Warrant Service Officer Program, which authorizes participating agencies to serve administrative warrants under federal immigration law.
SB 426 was on the Senate Judiciary Committee agenda Monday afternoon but was not brought up.
Sanders has been a strong supporter of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's efforts to apprehend migrants who cross the border illegally, sending a total of 120 Arkansas National Guard members to Texas in the past two years. She has also visited the border crossing at Del Rio, Texas, twice.
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Bolivia's election may spell the end of its long-ruling left. Here's what to know
LA PAZ, Bolivia -- For most of Renan Aliaga's adult life, a single name dominated the politics of Bolivia: Evo Morales. Morales, a former union leader for coca farmers, founded the Andean nation's most successful political party and transformed Bolivia over three consecutive terms marked by political stability and economic growth. But when Aliaga goes to the polls on Sunday to vote for Bolivia's next president, he won't see Morales' name on the ballot after electoral authorities excluded him. In fact, for the first time in two decades, Aliaga won't see any big name from the governing Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party that Morales founded — not even President Luis Arce, Morales' protege-turned-rival, who withdrew from the race over his failure to halt an economic tailspin. Under MAS, Bolivia enjoyed years of a fixed exchange rate, low inflation and subsidized energy. Now, high inflation, a scarcity of imported goods and fuel shortages have beset the country. Arce handed the reins to a little-known minister, Eduardo Del Castillo. The main options remaining include a conservative businessman and right-wing former president — both of whom have run and lost three times before — and a young leftist Senate leader. Unsatisfied, Aliaga, a 39-year-old bus driver and former MAS voter, says he'll make a last-minute decision. 'The right wing had its chance, and it was a disaster,' he said, recalling the hardship of the 1990s, when Bolivia became a poster child for free-market economics and the two right-wing front-runners — businessman Samuel Doria Medina and ex-President Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga — built their careers. 'But the left wing has proven to be the same, or worse,' Aliaga said, referring to how the MAS strategy of nationalizing resources and redistributing tax receipts sputtered out with the end of the commodities boom. The main issues in this hotly contested election are Bolivia's long-standing leftist economic model, its democratic integrity and the livelihoods of millions of people undergoing the country's worst financial crisis in four decades. 'This seems the end of the cycle not only for MAS, but for an entire model of government,' Bolivia political analyst Verónica Rocha said. Tensions within MAS can be traced to Morales' disputed 2019 reelection. Protests erupted and the leftist leader resigned under pressure from the military. He fled into exile and right-wing Senator Jeanine Áñez took office in what many view as a coup. Violent clashes between protesters and security forces killed at least 37 people. Morales returned to Bolivia following the 2020 election victory of his former finance minister, Arce. But their competing ambitions collided when Morales announced his intention to return to politics. Lawmakers loyal to Morales deprived Arce's government of its majority. 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Doria Medina and Quiroga vow to slash fuel subsidies, dismantle inefficient state-owned companies, let foreign investors mine Bolivia's abundant lithium reserves and reorient the nation's foreign policy toward the United States after years of its alignment with China and Russia. Graffiti sprayed across La Paz reads '100 days, dammit" — Doria Medina's pledge to fix fuel shortages and stabilize the exchange rate within his first 100 days. Motorists waiting for hours to get gas find themselves facing billboards of Quiroga promising 'No more lines!' If no candidate wins a majority of the vote, a runoff between the top two finishers will be held on Oct. 19. Voter cynicism is widespread, with many Bolivians saying that they have no faith in any of the candidates to improve their lives. Longtime MAS voters wary of austerity under a right-wing president aren't sure where to turn. Some initially pinned their hopes on 36-year-old Senate President Andrónico Rodríguez, a coca-farming union activist who could have appealed to Indigenous communities looking for the kind of representation they found under Morales. But Morales branded Rodríguez a traitor for advancing his own candidacy. The Senate leader has made few public appearances since. A rare centrist candidate, lawmaker Rodrigo Paz and his media-savvy running mate, ex-Police Captain Edman Lara, have recently energized young voters with TikTok videos from the campaign trail. With Doria Medina and Quiroga neck and neck, Paz could play kingmaker. But their Christian Democratic Party's blistering attacks on both MAS and the right-wing have left some voters without a clear sense of where they stand. 'We've all been raised on politicians' broken promises,' said Irma Marín, 38, shouting to be heard over the crowd at a Paz-Lara campaign rally Sunday. 'I'm not sure who to trust.' Facing an arrest warrant, Morales, 66, has been holed up for months in his tropical stronghold of Chapare. His followers staged raucous protests against his removal from the race, blocking key roads and confronting police in clashes in June that killed four officers and four civilians. Morales is urging voters to register their rage by casting null-and-void ballots. 'Null votes signal that these elections are not legitimate and the next government of Bolivia won't be legitimate,' said Chris Velasco, an organizer close to Morales. 'That will mean political instability, social instability.'
Politico
7 hours ago
- Politico
Inside the end-of-session energy pileup
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New York Post
8 hours ago
- New York Post
Trump's takeover of DC policing is entirely sensible and a win for the people of Washington
Washington, DC's political class may scream in fury at Team Trump's takeover of policing, but we suspect most district residents will be relieved: Regular people put public safety first. The city's politicians have failed to do that, and the feds have a duty to act when the nation's capital is unsafe. Even Democrats have been willing to stomp on DC's demands for 'home rule' when it comes to fighting crime: By a vote of 81-14 in 2023, for example, the Dem-run Senate joined with the GOP-run House to override the City Council's bid to reduce maximum penalties for violent crime, including carjackings — and President Joe Biden signed the measure into law. Advertisement Carjackings, for the record, are still triple the 2018 level, part of a grim wave of youth crime — yet city leaders have refused to get serious about stopping the violence. Nor did President Donald Trump rush to do this: He warned Mayor Muriel Bowser last year that action was on the table; she's had six months to turn things around — but several high-profile recent crimes, including last month's shooting death of 3-year-old Honesty Cheadle, showed she needs help. Indeed, as Trump noted, the US capital has more murders per capita than notorious Mexico City and Bogotá, Colombia. The homicide rate is six times New York City's. Advertisement To drive crime down, this intervention will bring in new resources, including hundreds of National Guard and broader deployment of the federal Park Police. Note, too: The feds share blame for DC's high crime: The US Attorney for the District of Columbia is responsible for all felony prosecutions in the city — but Biden appointees to the job refused to prosecute over half of local crimes. We hope neither the City Council nor Democrats (in Congress or neighboring Maryland and Virginia) try to sabotage this intervention. Everyone but the bad guys, and DC's citizens most of all, is a winner if it succeeds.
