Latest news with #Balint
New York Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Vermont Democrat slammed over ‘disturbing' argument for more immigration: ‘We're not going to have anyone around to wipe our a–es'
Rep. Becca Balint (R-Vt.) has come under fire for suggesting President Trump's immigration crackdown will leave Vermonters without 'anyone around to wipe our a–es.' The congresswoman made the outrageous claim — which she herself called 'crude' — during a town hall in Newport, Vt., last week, in response to a question about US immigration policy. 'Our economy is completely bound up in immigration and migrant labor,' Balint told her constituents. 'We have to come to a place in Congress where it is no longer a political issue, but we see it as an existential issue for the country.' Advertisement 'If we don't have avenues for people to come here legally to work or to build a home here, I'm going to be really crude right now — we're not going to have anybody around to wipe our a–es because we don't have enough people in our country now to fill the jobs that we have.' 3 Balint made the crude comment during a town hall in Vermont on May 28. Becca Balient/YouTube 'We also want to make sure that we have an adult conversation in Congress' about immigration, Vermont's sole congressional rep continued. Advertisement Vermont Republican Party Chairman Paul Dame demanded that Balint apologize to Vermont's immigrant community for the 'disturbing sentiment' expressed in her remarks. 'Congresswoman Balint should apologize — not only for her crude choice of words, but more importantly for the disturbing sentiment that the primary purpose of immigration is to perform labor that she deems beneath the dignity of others,' Dame said in a statement. 3 Vermont's GOP chairman demanded Balint apologize for the remark. Becca Balient/YouTube 'At the heart of these remarks is an opinion so offensive and so profoundly out of touch that it reveals a fundamental lack of respect for those who come to this country — abiding by the rules — in pursuit of freedom, opportunity, and a better life,' he added. Advertisement Dame noted that immigrants in the Green Mountain State have held 'remarkable careers in high-tech fields,' served as 'world-class physicians' in Vermont hospitals, and are 'critical to our small business community, providing a wide array of goods and services that enrich our state.' 'The way Congresswoman Balint reduced Vermont's hard-working legal immigrants to little more than 'a– wipers' is embarrassing,' the GOP chairman argued. 'She owes them — and all Vermonters — an apology for such a shameful characterization.' 3 Balint, a former teacher, has served in the House of Representatives since 2023. AP The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) highlighted Balint's comments on Wednesday, arguing that the congresswoman was promoting 'open borders.' Advertisement 'While complaining about President Trump deporting illegal immigrants, Vermont Democrat Becca Balint claims: 'We're not going to have anyone around to wipe our a–es.' Democrats' goal is, was and always will be open borders,' the NRCC wrote on X. Mark Coester, the congresswoman's 2026 GOP opponent for Vermont's at-large congressional district, quipped that 'from this day forward,' Balint 'will not be remembered only for her incompetence but more for her INCONTINENCE.' 'We all have accidents in life but no Vermont residents ever required illegals to clean up a messy accident,' Coester wrote on X. Balint's office did not respond to The Post's request for comment.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Dem lambasted for saying ‘we're not going to have anyone around to wipe our a--es' without more immigration
Vermont's sole U.S. House member was lambasted on Tuesday after video surfaced of her warning Vermonters that unless the feds increase immigration to the U.S., "we're not going to have anyone around to wipe our a--es." Vermont Republican Party Chairman Paul Dame said Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., should apologize for her remarks both because of the "crude choice of words" and "disturbing sentiment" that the primary reason for allowing immigrants in is to "perform labor that she deems beneath the dignity of others." "It seems that every month Vermonters are subjected to coarse and vulgar language from our federal representatives," Dame lamented. "At the heart of these remarks is an opinion so offensive and so profoundly out of touch that it reveals a fundamental lack of respect for those who come to this country – abiding by the rules – in pursuit of freedom, opportunity, and a better life." Vermont Gop Pushes For Penalties Against Dems Accused Of Disrupting De-trans Event At Capitol Dame noted Vermont has welcomed foreigners to work at a microchip factory in Essex Junction and as well-trained physicians in the state's hospitals. Read On The Fox News App Mark Coester is a small business owner, fishmonger and craftman running as a Republican to oppose Balint in 2026. He criticized the congresswoman's comments and shared a headline reporting ICE arrested 10 construction workers one day later in the same town where she spoke. "Pack em up, fly em out," Coester wrote on X, in response to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., condemning the "dragnet raid." "Only an entitled Vermont Democrat would say such a thing," added former Vermont state Senate candidate Paul Bean, going on to warn tradesmen that the lawmaker purportedly "thinks you are basically a--wipers." Rnc Files Lawsuit Over Noncitizen Voting Rights In Vermont's Largest City Speaking in Newport, near the Canadian border, Balint said she used to have her middle school students take the official U.S. citizenship test as a classroom exercise. "And then they would take it home and have their parents take it. It was scary… We have to solve the immigration problem," she said. "I feel like in this moment we've forgotten that we actually can have an orderly immigration system that allows people, whether it's to come here legally to work, we all know our ag system in Vermont would collapse without labor," she said, calling the issue "existential." "If we don't have avenues for people to come here legally to work or to build a home here, I'm going to be really crude right now, we're not going to have anyone around to wipe our asses – because we don't have enough people in our country now to fill the jobs that we have right now, but we have to make sure those folks are getting a decent wage and making sure that their rights are protected…" Balint added that supporting secure borders is "not xenophobic" but that there is "lawlessness" from the Trump administration's ICE and Homeland Security apparatuses. Balint told Fox News Digital later Tuesday that in the last four months, the Trump administration "has repeatedly wrongfully detained, deported, and disappeared people — an immoral violation of fundamental human rights." "He has made immigrants, regardless of status, feel unsafe and targeted all around the country. As Vermonters, we're so proud that we are seen as a safe place to land. I'm unwavering in my position that immigrants and refugees are welcome in Vermont and that every worker in every job deserves dignity and fair wages — from doctors and scientists to carpenters and farmworkers." "I've relentlessly condemned the Trump administration's cruel practices targeting and separating immigrant families, and I will continue to stand up for the rights of every person in this country," Balint article source: Dem lambasted for saying 'we're not going to have anyone around to wipe our a--es' without more immigration
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'This family is all of us': Federal lawmaker criticizes Oklahoma ICE raid, Homeland Security responds
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A federal lawmaker criticized a recent ICE raid on an innocent family's home in Oklahoma City during a U.S. House Judiciary Committee meeting following News 4's coverage of the incident. On Wednesday, U.S. Representative Becca Balint (D-VT) addressed the April 24 raid where federal immigration agents broke down the door of a family's home in northwest OKC, ordered a mother and her three daughters to go outside at gunpoint, and seized all of their electronics as well as their life savings in cash. RELATED: Homeland Security admits Oklahoma raid targeted wrong people The U.S. Department of Homeland Security later told News 4 that they were searching for the previous residents of the home, and the mother and her three daughters, who are all U.S. citizens and had moved to Oklahoma City from Maryland two weeks prior to the incident, were not suspects in the operation. News 4 spoke with the mother, referred to as Marissa to protect her identity, who says she and her daughters are traumatized and struggling to deal with the aftermath. Balint played a short clip from News 4's initial report for her colleagues on the Judiciary Committee, and called the incident a 'colossal mistake.' 'This is what we have created here. This is Trump's America,' Balint said. 'These were citizens who were treated like this. This is what we want you to open your eyes to. If it can happen, as we've said, time and time again, if it can happen to folks with green cards, it can happen to citizens and in Oklahoma City we see a perfect example of that. This is what we're talking about. It's not other people. It's us. It's our neighbors. It's our friends. It's people who just moved from Maryland to Oklahoma for a better life and have their house destroyed and they can't get answers. If we watch the rest of the news clip there, they're asking ICE 'who's responsible for this?' And then they're sending them to another agency, and they're sending them to another agency and nobody is accountable for what happened to them.' 'We're citizens!': Oklahoma City family traumatized after ICE raids home, but they weren't suspects 'What happened to that family, once again, of American citizens in Oklahoma City should scare the hell out of all of us, and we should not be using this committee to find more money to pump into ICE so that these things can happen,' Balint continued. 'This family is all of us.' The full recording of Balint's speech can be viewed here. The House Judiciary Democrats posted a clip of Balint's speech on social media, saying 'Armed federal agents stormed a home in Oklahoma where U.S. citizens lived, including three children, and terrorized a family because ICE had the wrong address. This is Trump's America: lawless raids, shredded warrants, and zero accountability. Democrats are fighting to stop taxpayer dollars from funding this assault on due process.' The U.S. Department of Homeland Security then shared the House Judiciary Democrats' post on Thursday with the following caption. Wrong. The April 24 Oklahoma ICE operation was a lawful, court-authorized action explicitly targeting a property, that was a hub for human smuggling, not specific individuals, as falsely suggested by media reports. The day prior to the search warrant issuance and the day of the search warrant, HSI agents conducted surveillance, and confirmed via utility records that a member of the Lima Lopez Transnational Criminal Organization was still paying utilities at the residence. The warrant, issued by a Federal Judge was based on an 84-page affidavit detailing probable cause that the address served as a 'stash house' for human smuggling, authorizing the seizure of evidence such as electronic devices and documents, regardless of who was present. The warrant targeted the property itself, not specific individuals, and its execution was not contingent on the presence of any person. HSI, with Oklahoma state police support, executed the warrant with precision, seizing electronic devices as authorized. This court-authorized search was a critical strike against a dangerous human smuggling network in furtherance of our mission to protect American communities from the chaos unleashed by the Biden administration's open-border policies. This is an ongoing investigation, and we have not ruled out current occupants involvement in the smuggling ring. U.S. Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security's new statement also indicated that they still haven't ruled out 'Marissa' and her daughters as being involved in the smuggling ring. However, just this morning, the agency's top spokesperson said everyone who was the target of the operation had moved out of the home weeks before. She referred to this incident as unfortunate and not ideal. Following Homeland Security's mention of Oklahoma state police support, News 4 reached out to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol on Thursday to ask about their involvement in the raid. OHP confirmed they were at the raid, but declined to release a statement. On Wednesday afternoon, News 4 reached out to U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice, U.S. Senator James Lankford, and U.S Senator Markwayne Mullin with several questions about the raid. So far, Lankford's office is the only one of Oklahoma's federal delegation that has responded as of Thursday afternoon, saying, 'The Senator is following the situation, and we are working to get an accounting of what happened.' KFOR's reporting did not question the legitimacy or legality of the federal operation. Our reporting, then and now, is focused on the treatment that 'Marissa' and her daughters received on the night of the raid. News 4 will continue to bring you the latest updates as this story develops. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fox News
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
EXCLUSIVE: DHS fires back at claims ICE raided 'wrong home' in Oklahoma smuggling investigation
EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security is setting the record straight after media reports claimed ICE raided "the wrong home" and targeted U.S. citizens, setting Democrats fuming. The Independent ran a headline on Wednesday reading: "ICE raids wrong Oklahoma home, seizes life savings and leaves family 'traumatized for life'" writing that an Oklahoma mother and daughters were subject to a "violent and humiliating raid by federal agents last week, despite allegedly not being the intended targets of the operation." That same day, Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont, claimed that ICE agents mistakenly "terrorized" a family of naturalized U.S. citizens – including children – in a raid at a home in northwest Oklahoma City. Balint claimed that "this was all a colossal mistake" and placed the blame squarely on President Donald Trump, saying "this is Trump's America." The raid in question occurred on April 24 at a single-family home in northwest Oklahoma City. When ICE agents, assisted by Oklahoma state police, carried out the raid they encountered a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Guatemala as well as three others, the youngest of whom was 17. A representative for DHS told Fox News Digital that the raid was a "lawful, court-authorized action explicitly targeting a property, which was a hub for human smuggling, not specific individuals as falsely suggested by media reports." The representative clarified that the warrant "targeted the property itself, not specific individuals, and its execution was not contingent on the presence of any person." According to the DHS spokesperson, the warrant, which was signed by a federal judge the day before, was based on an 84-page affidavit detailing probable cause that the address served as a "stash house" for human and drug smuggling. From its months-long surveillance of the property, including observations as recently as April 20, DHS had probable cause to believe that the primary targets of the warrant, Cidia Lima-Lopez and V. Lima-Lopez, illegal aliens from Guatemala, were continuing to use the house for illegal activities. The spokesperson said that Homeland Security Investigations agents further confirmed via utility records that a member of the Lima Lopez transnational criminal organization was still paying utilities at the residence. DHS said that the warrant authorized the seizure of evidence, including electronic devices and documents, "regardless of who was present." The representative said that agents "executed the warrant with precision, seizing electronic devices as authorized," calling the raid "a critical strike against a dangerous human smuggling network in furtherance of our mission to protect American communities from the chaos unleashed by the Biden administration's open-border policies." Though the family living in the home is no longer in federal custody, the spokesperson said that the investigation is still ongoing and "we have not ruled out current occupants' involvement in the smuggling ring." Fox News Digital reached out for comment from Balint and The Independent but did not immediately hear back.
Trade Arabia
02-04-2025
- Business
- Trade Arabia
Dubai to hand over 11,300 new hotel rooms by 2027, says report
More than 11,300 new hotel rooms are set to open across Dubai by 2027, with almost 4,620 coming to the market this year, according to leading real estate advisory group Cavendish Maxwell. Last year, Dubai had added 4,255 rooms across 19 hotels to its inventory, representing year-on-year growth of almost 3%. As of December, the city boasts 724 hospitality establishments, with 151,245 keys between them, stated the industry expert in its Dubai Hospitality 2024 Market Performance report. Cavendish Maxwell pointed out that hotel inventory will grow by 3.1% this year, with 3.4% growth predicted for 2026. By the end of 2027, Dubai is set to have more than 162,600 rooms across 769 hotels. High end accommodation continues to dominate Dubai's hotel offering: in 2024, almost 70% of room supply fell in the high end (Luxury, Upper Upscale and Upscale) category. Of the upcoming supply for 2025, nearly 70% will be in the Luxury and Upper Upscale segment, the research shows, it added. Gergely Balint, Associate Partner, Commercial Valuation and Hospitality expert at Cavendish Maxwell, said: "Dubai's world-leading hospitality and tourism sectors set more records and reached new milestones in 2024, with 18.72 million overnight visitors, adding a string of prestigious new tourism-industry awards to its name and 4,255 new hotel rooms coming to the market." "We can look forward to continued strong performance in 2025, with another 20 hotels and resorts due to open, further highlighting Dubai's position as a world-leading hub for tourism, hospitality, business and leisure.," he added. According to Cavendish Maxwell, the number of overnight visitors to Dubai grew 9.1% last year, up from 17.15 million in 2023. The emirate's hospitality and tourism momentum was further underpinned by its outstanding performance at the 31st Annual World Travel Awards in late 2024, where Dubai was named the world's leading shopping and exhibition destination, Mina Rashid took the title of world's leading cruise port and Dubai International Airport was recognised as the world's leading airport, it stated. Balint said this continued international recognition strengthens investor confidence and further cements Dubai's status as a premier hub for hospitality and real estate development. The emirate continued to experience robust growth in the tourism sector, surpassing pre-pandemic levels and positively contributing to economic growth. In 2024, tourism contributed AED236 billion ($64.2 billion), up from AED220 billion ($59 billion) in 2023, to the UAE's economy, representing 12% of the nation's GDP. This growth highlights the sector's significant impact, reinforcing its vital role in the country's economic expansion, it added. Cavendish Maxwell pointed out that Dubai's hotel occupancy levels remained steady, rising to 78% in 2024, up 1% on 2023 – with the Luxury and Upper Mid-scale segments seeing the biggest gains of 3% and 2.4% respectively. On the average daily rates (ADR), the real estate advisory said it reached AED690, a slight increase of 0.2% on 2023, indicating pricing stability in Dubai's hospitality market. Upscale and Upper Mid-scale categories too saw ADR growth of 0.7% and 0.4% respectively, while there was a decline of 1.7% among Upper Upscale hotels.
