Latest news with #HouseHomelandSecurityCommittee
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
SCOOP: Top congressional committees launch probe into Nashville mayor accused of blocking ICE
FIRST ON FOX: Two powerful committees in the House of Representatives are opening an investigation into another Democratic official accused of blocking federal immigration authorities. House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., is leading a probe into Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell alongside Nashville-area Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn, Fox News Digital learned Friday. Ogles had been petitioning leaders for weeks to look into O'Connell after the Democratic leader publicly denounced Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in his city and signed an executive order aimed at tracking ICE movements in the area. He sent a letter earlier this month accusing O'Connell of "obstructing federal law enforcement." The probe is being supported by the House Judiciary Committee, which is led by Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., chair of the subcommittee for immigration enforcement. Scoop: House Gop Memo Highlights Republican Wins In Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' "The Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Homeland Security of the U.S. House of Representatives are conducting oversight of state and local jurisdictions that endanger American communities through efforts aimed at thwarting the work of federal immigration officials," the four leaders wrote in a letter to O'Connell. Read On The Fox News App "While the state of Tennessee has outlawed sanctuary policies, recent actions from your office threaten to chill immigration enforcement in the City of Nashville and Davidson County. Accordingly, we write to request information about how your recent actions, including a directive to Nashville and Davidson County employees to disclose their communications with federal immigration officials, affects the robust enforcement of immigration law." The lawmakers said O'Connell's executive order, which mandated that government employees report interactions with federal immigration authorities, "could have a chilling effect on the ability of local law enforcement to communicate freely and candidly with federal immigration employees." "In fact, your chief lawyer recently admitted that it was an 'open question' whether an individual could legally 'announce in advance that there's an impending enforcement activity,'" they wrote. Mike Johnson, Donald Trump Get 'Big, Beautiful' Win As Budget Passes House "This statement, when viewed in context of your order requiring all Metro law-enforcement officers to report about communications with ICE personnel, raises the prospect that Metro employees may use nonpublic information to warn criminal aliens of planned ICE enforcement operations. In other words, there is the real potential that your Executive Order could have the effect of diminishing ICE enforcement operations." It comes after ICE agents working with the Tennessee Highway Patrol arrested nearly 200 people the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said were illegal immigrants – many of them criminals with gang affiliations or other sordid pasts. The DHS news release targeted O'Connell by name over comments he made in early May. "What's clear today is that people who do not share our values of safety and community have the authority to cause deep community harm." Mccaul Touts Money In Trump Tax Bill To Pay Texas Back For Fighting Biden Border Policies After the arrests, O'Connell signed an executive order aimed at tracking peoples' interactions with federal immigration authorities, according to WSMV4. He said of ICE's work in his city, "It's important for us to get this right, and it's very frustrating to see a failure in the process." O'Connell also helped launch the Nashville government's nonprofit, "The Belonging Fund," to help illegal immigrants pay for urgent care needs. The fund's website states that "donations to the fund are made possible solely by individual donors and private organizations - no government dollars are included. That means no taxpayer dollars are being used in the administration or distribution of this fund." Republicans, however, have questioned whether that is true. "The recipients of these funds are untraceable, and the purpose seems crystal clear: help illegal foreigners evade the law," Ogles told Fox News Digital. "I refuse to sit back while our communities are overrun — while our neighborhoods are destroyed and our daughters are assaulted. And I doubly refuse to stay silent while blue city mayors aid and abet this invasion." O'Connell is now one of several Democratic leaders locked in an immigration fight with the Trump administration. House Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was charged by the Justice Department with assaulting an officer after she and two other House Democrats forced their way into a Newark ICE detention center, charges McIver has dismissed as political. Fox News Digital reached out to the Nashville mayor's office for comment on the article source: SCOOP: Top congressional committees launch probe into Nashville mayor accused of blocking ICE
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
GOP Representative Seriously Says We Should Listen to Putin More
Republican Representative and House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green wants the federal government to 'listen' to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'Russians don't seem to be taking President Trump very seriously, it's a sort of schizophrenic message coming out of them. I wouldn't take what [Dmitry] Medvedev says very seriously, though. If you read his Twitter feed it's … clearly absurd,' Green said, referring to the former Russian president, who recently alluded to the risk of World War III on X. 'I think we really just need to listen to Trump, Putin, the Kremlin, and our [National Security Council] folks. That's who we need to be listening to,' the Tennessee congressman added. A Republican congressman suggesting that we defer to the intelligence of the Kremlin is yet another example of just how far the party has departed from its long-held stance on Russia. And exactly what NSC folks is Green talking about? Trump fired over 100 of them via email just before Memorial Day weekend. The NSC has been in disarray for months, as Signalgate saw the removal of Director Mike Waltz. Now, rife with internal turnover, it enters another crucial moment in Russia's war on Ukraine.
Axios
20-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
Exclusive: House cyber lawmakers plan Silicon Valley hearing
The House Homeland Security Committee is planning a field hearing on cybersecurity issues in Silicon Valley during the congressional recess next week, Axios has learned. Why it matters: Tensions between Washington and the cybersecurity industry have been high amid DOGE-led cuts at the nation's top cyber agency and growing concerns about nation-state cyber threats against critical infrastructure, particularly during a global trade war. Driving the news: Congress is also weighing the reauthorization of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, which expires at the end of the year. Without it, industry argues they'll no longer have the legal safeguards needed to trade vital cyber threat information with the government or each other. Zoom in: The House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing at Stanford University next Wednesday focused on the U.S. cybersecurity posture, a spokesperson shared exclusively with Axios. Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.), ranking member Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and cyber subcommittee leaders Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif) will travel for the hearing. Witnesses include H.R. McMaster, former national security adviser in the first Trump White House and a fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution; Wendi Whitmore, senior vice president of Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 threat intelligence team; and Jeanette Manfra, global director for security and compliance in Google Cloud's Office of the CISO. The committee will also hold private breakout discussions with lawmakers, cybersecurity stakeholders and researchers that same day, per the spokesperson. What they're saying: Green said in a statement to Axios that the committee is heading to Silicon Vally to hear directly form "innovators, job creators and academics" about the best ways to shore up the country's cyber defenses. "We must work together to flip the economic models of cybersecurity, deter malicious actors, bolster and better equip our cyber defenders, and find ways to harmonize the federal government's burdensome cyber regulatory regime," Green said. Thompson said he was "looking forward to hearing from companies on their turf to talk about how the government can promote and benefit from tech innovation." Swalwell said the trip was an opportunity to discuss "innovative cybersecurity solutions," and described Silicon Valley as the "epicenter of cybersecurity research and innovation."
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's purge of undocumented immigrants is already threatening North Carolina's economy
During a congressional hearing this week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem touted her department's crackdown on the southern border, where she said daily encounters with people trying to enter the U.S. without authorization have fallen by 93%. Noem told members of the House Homeland Security Committee, 'This astonishing turnaround is a testament to the resolve and to the leadership of President Trump to make America safe again.' What she didn't say is how the Trump administration's sealing of the border and its targeting of undocumented people in the U.S. could put the economy at risk. In North Carolina, workers are already in short supply. Dave Simpson, president and CEO of the Carolina Association of General Contractors, said there's more work than workers, particularly in western North Carolina, where there is massive damage from Hurricane Helene. 'The workforce shortage in North Carolina and South Carolina is the biggest challenge we have. Nothing comes close,' he said. Charlie Wilson, president of CT Wilson Construction Company, a 90-employee company that builds schools and other buildings in the Triangle and Triad, said the long-running standoff over immigration reform has created a chronic labor problem. 'We've had a workforce shortage for it seems like forever,' he said. 'There are just not enough people being born here to fill all the roles that need to be filled.' Wilson said his immigrant workers are in the U.S legally, 'but in the subcontractor market, a lot of the work is being done by undocumented workers.' The Trump administration's deportation threats are being felt across the workforce. 'There's an overwhelming sense of fear that something is going to happen, even among workers who are here legally,' he said. Trump promised during his campaign to close an 'open' southern border and deport criminals who are in the U.S. illegally. But he's taken aim at all undocumented people and is pushing for mass deportations. Noem stressed that hard line in a video saying, 'President Trump has a clear message for those who are in our country illegally – leave now! If you don't, we will find you and we will deport you. You will never return.' Some undocumented workers are taking Noem's advice and leaving, said Chris Barrett, president of the Charlotte-Metrolina Labor Council. 'Because of the threat of deportation, a lot of people are saying 'I'm not going to stick around for it. I'm just going to go ahead and go,' ' he said. It's estimated that more than 13 million unauthorized immigrants are in the U.S. Most of them are working and helping to keep the U.S. economy humming. Losing a significant share of these workers will hurt industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor, such as construction, health care and hospitality. 'It's going to hit industries hard,' said Daniel Costa, director of Immigration Law and Policy Research at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Costa said the push to remove immigrants goes beyond targeting those who entered the U.S. illegally. It's also affecting people who entered the U.S. legally but their visas have expired or their protected status has been revoked. As the Trump administration boosts spending to tighten the southern border and support more deportations, Costa said the effort is focused on the wrong end. Instead, he said, the administration should be hiring more judges to clear the backlog of asylum claims and end the long delays when immigrants seek to become legal residents or naturalized citizens. The U.S. doesn't need to be pushing people out, Costa said. It needs more people coming in. 'We're facing a massive demographic challenge in the U.S.,' he said. As the U.S. population ages, immigrant workers are increasingly important. Since 2019, they have accounted for 88% of the nation's labor force growth. Trump says he supports immigration, but he wants immigrants to come in legally. That's fine, but he hasn't offered legislation that would revise outdated immigration quotas and speed the legal immigration process. Instead, we have Noem scaring undocumented immigrants with the threat 'We will find you' at a time when employers can't find enough workers. Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@
Time of India
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
'You've been sloppy': Heated House showdown b/w Kristi Noem & Rep. Magaziner over mass deportation - The Economic Times Video
A fiery clash erupted at House Homeland Security Committee hearing as Rep. Seth Magaziner slammed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for allegedly 'playing dress-up' while breaking immigration laws. The Democrat from Rhode Island accused Noem of unlawfully deporting U.S. citizens and legal immigrants under Donald Trump's mass deportation directive. Show more Show less
