Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descended on Mississippi yesterday in a massive raid. The Aug. 7 crackdown was the largest single-day act of immigration enforcement in American history, with nearly 700 laborers detained in raids that targeted seven food processing plants.
The normal justifications were made. According to NBC News, U.S. Attorney Mike Hurd said, “While we are a nation of immigrants, more than that, first and foremost, we are a nation of laws. They have to come here legally or they shouldn’t come here at all.” Hurd also indicated that this was part of a wider crackdown targeting businesses that employ illegal immigrants.
Hurd’s sentiments are understandable, and the rule of law is of course important. But all laws call for sensible, compassionate enforcement, and a crackdown on undocumented laborers who aren’t hurting anyone causes needless pain to both immigrant families and American businesses — to no one’s benefit.
Most of those detained are probably harmless laborers, who haven’t done anything wrong other than, at some point, entering the country illegally. It would be a far better use of taxpayer dollars and ICE resources to target raids at those illegally residing here who also have committed violent crimes or other serious offenses.
It seems that’s not, largely, who worked at these plants.
One U.S. citizen who worked alongside many of the detained illegal immigrants told the Washington Post that the food processing companies were not refuges for criminals but “work sites for people who came to this country to work, who came to fight for their family.”
These raids pose a troubling question: Who is actually helped by the mass deportation of undocumented laborers?
Certainly not the American companies they work for, which now face crisis. In this instance, the target was Koch Foods, which generates over $3 billion in revenue and employs 13,000 people nationwide. Indiscriminate immigration enforcement is incredibly disruptive for the economy: There’s a reason the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, while it supports border security, also insists that we must treat undocumented workers fairly and offer many a path to legal residency.
Additionally, these Mississippi laborers were likely paying at least some taxes in the form of assessments for Social Security, even though they will never see the benefits unless they become American citizens.
And it’s not as if many American workers are really harmed by undocumented competition. After all, there are currently more open jobs in the country than people seeking work, with extremely low unemployment to boot. The argument that illegal immigrants are taking Americans’ jobs has never been less relevant.
Plus, American family members are often affected by the unnecessary deportation of their undocumented relatives. This latest round of raids led to the detainment of countless undocumented immigrants with native-born American children. The Washington Posttold the story of one such child, a girl named Angie:
It’s important to keep the interests of Americans such as Angie in mind when we’re shaping our immigration policy, which must be both just and compassionate.
I spoke with Alex Nowrasteh, director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. He told me “Past raids like this usually have either no impact because companies hire other illegal immigrants to replace those deported, or they devastate the town when its economy collapses.”
And, he said, this harsh enforcement “does nothing to make Americans safer. These raids leave many American kids to go on welfare without a parent around to survive, to say nothing of the psychological cost.”
Nowrasteh is exactly right.
We should focus our efforts on securing our border, weakening the grip cartels have on our immigration system, and deporting dangerous people who have managed to enter our country. Nobody’s interests are truly served by rounding up otherwise law-abiding laborers, even if it makes for a dramatic PR stunt for hawkish politicians.
The sudden shuffle in the highest ranks of the intelligence community added to the turmoil since Mr. Trump announced on Twitter on July 28 that Mr. Coats would leave and that Representative John Ratcliffe, a Texas Republican who is an outspoken supporter of the president, would be his nominee for the next director.
But last Friday, Mr. Trump dropped his plan to nominate Mr. Ratcliffe after it came to light that he had exaggerated his counterterrorism experience as a former federal prosecutor, and as concerns mounted among lawmakers of both parties that he lacked qualifications for the job.
In his initial Twitter announcement, Mr. Trump suggested that Ms. Gordon might not become the acting director until a new one was confirmed, notwithstanding the succession statute. The New York Times reported last Friday that the White House had decided not to let Ms. Gordon become the director, although she had not yet been formally informed of that choice, and that the administration had requested a list of other senior agency officials, a suggestion that it was searching for a different successor.
The signs of turmoil prompted lawmakers of both parties, including those leading the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senators Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina, and Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, to issue strong expressions of support.
Mr. Burr called her departure “a significant loss” for the intelligence community.
“In more than three decades of public service, Sue earned the respect and admiration of her colleagues with her patriotism and vision,” he said in a statement on Thursday. “She has been a stalwart partner to the Senate Intelligence Committee, and I will miss her candor and deep knowledge of the issues. I look forward to seeing what new challenges she will tackle next.”
President Donald Trump on Wednesday ridiculed former Rep. Beto O’Rourke and bragged about the crowd size at one of his rallies while visiting medical staff who treated victims of the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, over the weekend.
“So, I don’t know if you know it because you’ve been pretty busy lately, right? But they’re talking about you all over the world,” Trump told hospital employees during a stop at University Medical Center of El Paso, according to a video posted online by a local television station.
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“The job you’ve done is incredible, and they’re talking about you all over the world,” Trump continued, before turning to praise the doctor who introduced him to the staff.
“It’s an honor to be with you. Look at this group of people, can you believe this? I was here three months ago, we made a speech,” Trump said. “And we had a — what was the name of the arena? That place was packed, right?”
Trump last traveled to El Paso to host a campaign rally in February.O’Rourke, a Texas Democrat who until earlier this year represented the vast majority of El Paso in Congress, held a competing rally in the Southwestern border town that night, railing against the administration’s immigration agenda and the president’s proposal to build a wall separating the U.S. and Mexico.
When one of the hospital employees Trump was addressing Wednesday said he had sat in the front row of the “Make America Great Again” rally earlier this year, the president reached out to shake his hand.
“That was some crowd, and we had twice the number outside,” Trump replied. “And then you had this crazy Beto. Beto had, like, 400 people in a parking lot. They said, ‘His crowd was wonderful.’”
The employee then pulled up one of his pants legs to show the president a sock emblazoned with the word “Trump.”
“Don’t tell it to the press because they won’t even believe it,” Trump remarked, appearing to pantomime reporters’ reactions to the result of the 2016 presidential election.
“On the day of the vote, they say, ‘What happened, what happened?’” Trump said. “I want to thank everybody. How do we get some kind of a picture here?”
The El Paso Fire Department has denied the president’s claims regarding the number of people at his February rally, and the Trump campaign has yet to reimburse the city roughly a half-million dollars for the cost of the event.
National Democrats have linked Trump’s immigration rhetoric to the suspected gunman in the El Paso shooting, a 21-year-old white man who is alleged to have authored and posted online a racist, anti-Hispanic manifesto before murdering 22 people at a Walmart on Saturday morning.
On Sunday morning, within 13 hours of that attack, a gunman in Dayton, Ohio, murdered nine people before he was shot and killed by police. The attacks left dozens more injured.
Trump made trips to both communities Wednesday to speak with first responders, law enforcement officers and victims. O’Rourke was among a handful of Democrats who urged the president to stay away from El Paso.
“Beto (phony name to indicate Hispanic heritage) O’Rourke, who is embarrassed by my last visit to the Great State of Texas, where I trounced him, and is now even more embarrassed by polling at 1% in the Democrat Primary, should respect the victims & law enforcement – & be quiet!” Trump tweeted Tuesday night.
O’Rourke responded early Wednesday morning, tweeting: “22 people in my hometown are dead after an act of terror inspired by your racism. El Paso will not be quiet and neither will I.” He later in the day declared Trump awhite supremacist and predicted an act of violence similar to the one perpetrated in El Paso “will happen again.”
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Two things can be true: White supremacy is an ugly, evil ideology that rarely rears its head. But when it does, the consequences are often deadly. It took 22 innocent lives in El Paso, Texas, and it will take more if allowed to fester.
This is why many conservatives have called on Trump and the GOP to condemn it in the strongest terms possible. It might not be an everyday evil, but it is a dangerous one. Tucker Carlson seems to disagree. In a monologue last night, Carlson alleged that “the whole [white supremacy issue] is a lie.”
“If you were to assemble a list, a hierarchy of concerns of problems this country faces, where would white supremacy be on the list? Right up there with Russia probably,” he said. “It’s actually not a real problem in America. The combined membership of every white supremacist organization in this country would be able to fit inside a college football stadium.”
“This is a country where the average person is getting poorer, where the suicide rate is spiking — ‘white supremacy, that’s the problem’ — this is a hoax,” Carlson continued. “Just like the Russia hoax, it’s a conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power.”
I understand and even share some of Carlson’s concerns. The Left has taken isolated incidents like El Paso and used them to label roughly half of all Americans as racists who encourage white supremacism, even if they don’t openly sympathize with it. The liberal media was all too eager to join in the feeding frenzy. Smear enough Republicans with baseless accusations, and the result is a rant like Carlson’s.
Carlson is right that white supremacism is not the widespread threat the Left wants it to be. Few Americans harbor genuine hatred and animosity toward different ethnicities, and thank God for that. Those who do rarely lash out as the El Paso shooter did. In fact, a report by California State University’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism found that there was a “significant national decrease” in hate crimes during the first half of 2018. For now, white supremacists remain fringe actors who lack credence and organization.
But they’re becoming bolder. In a manifesto investigators believe the El Paso shooter wrote, the mass murderer admits he hated immigrants long before Trump entered the White House, but then refers to mass immigration as an “invasion,” a term the president has, in fact, used to support his administration’s hard-line policies. To suggest Trump is somehow responsible for the shooter’s crime, as the Left and media have done, is ridiculous. But conservatives need to face the facts: Trump is a powerful man with the ability to inspire. And it just so happens that a group of isolated, hateful bigots have latched onto him as the inspiration they’ve been looking for.
Again, this isn’t Trump’s fault or that of his supporters’. No one but the El Paso shooter is responsible for the hate he produced. But there is an undeniable trend here: the El Paso shooting, the Gilroy shooting less than a week before, and before that, shootings in a San Diego synagogue, a Pittsburgh synagogue, a Christchurch, New Zealand, mosque; all within the past few months and all connected to white supremacy.
This isn’t a “hoax.” This is real. And it is our responsibility to disassociate conservatism from this hateful ideology, and then destroy it. Carlson and others on the Right are hesitant to agree to the latter, in part, because rooting out white supremacists would require the government to be more aggressive in its supervision of and investigation into these kinds of crimes. Allowing intelligence agencies, the same ones that lost much of the GOP’s trust during the Russian collusion investigation, to determine what does and what does not qualify as white supremacist rhetoric or activity is a line Carlson and many others aren’t willing to cross. Again, this is an understandable concern.
But what’s the alternative? Do we do nothing and hope white supremacy remains isolated and uncoordinated? That’s a risk no reasonable person should be willing to take. Lives depend on it. We must stand up as a unified movement and make it clear that there is no room for hatred and bigotry in the GOP, conservatism, or the U.S.
We must discourage this evil from reappearing. Do not give these monsters the credibility they seek, and also don’t give them the devil’s victory by pretending they don’t exist.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids occurred in small towns where the workforce is made up largely of Latino immigrants. USA TODAY
DETROIT – Forty years ago, Jimmy Al-Daoud came from Greece to the U.S. legally as a 6-month-old baby, along with his Iraqi Christian parents, who were refugees.
The Hazel Park resident struggled with mental illness, homelessness and was convicted 20 times of crimes such as stealing power tools, assault and marijuana possession. In 2005 and 2018, an immigration judge ordered him removed from the U.S. despite the fact he had lived in the U.S. almost his entire life.
On June 2, agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported him to Iraq after a federal appeals court decision in April opened the door for Iraqi deportations.
This week, Al-Daoud, 41, died in Iraq after struggling as a homeless man on the streets of Najaf and Baghdad to find insulin he needed for his diabetic condition, according to friends, the American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. Rep. Andy Levin, D-Mich.
For the past two years, Iraqi-American Christian leaders in Michigan have said that deporting Chaldeans back to Iraq would be a virtual death sentence. Al-Daoud’s death on Tuesday has confirmed their fears, say advocates.
“Jimmy Al-Daoud, a Chaldean resident of Oakland County, should have never been sent to Iraq,” said Levin. “For many reasons, it was clear that deporting Jimmy to a country where he had never been, had no identification, had no family, had no knowledge of geography or customs, did not speak the language and ultimately, had no access to medical care, would put his life in extreme danger. Jimmy died tragically yesterday of a diabetic crisis. His death could have and should have been prevented.”
ICE officials told the Free Press on Thursday that Al-Daoud cut off his tether in December and had absconded until police caught him in April for vehicle larceny. ICE said they provided him with enough medication to ensure his care when they deported him in June.
A video in June of Al-Daoud in Iraq that the ACLU says was taken by another deported Iraqi national shows him explaining how ICE agents deported him despite his pleas to stay.
“I was deported 2½ weeks ago,” he said in the video posted on Facebook, wearing a red shirt and sitting on the street. “I’ve been in the United States since 6 months old. … Two and a half weeks ago, immigration agent pulled me over and said I’m going to Iraq. And I refused. I said I’ve never been there. I’ve been in this country my whole life. … They refused to listen to me. … They wouldn’t let me call my family, nothing. … I begged them, I said, ‘Please, I’ve never seen that country. I’ve never been there.’ However, they forced me.”
Al-Daoud described his stay in Iraq as confusing and desperate.
“I don’t understand the language,” he said in the June video. “I’ve been sleeping in the streets. I’m diabetic. I’m take insulin shots. I’ve been throwing up, throwing up … trying to find something to eat. I got nothing over here.”
Levin and the ACLU confirmed that the video is of Al-Daoud.
Al-Daoud suffered “from mental health issues and had diabetes that required insulin twice per day,” said ACLU Michigan spokeswoman Ann Mullen. “He died in part due to not having access to quality health care despite being able to periodically receive insulin.”
It’s unclear whether Al-Daoud was born in Iraq or Greece, said the ACLU. Some documents show he was born in Greece, others in Iraq.
Leaving Iraq, his parents “made their way to Greece, where they applied for refugee status in the U.S.,” Mullen said. The family was in Greece just a few months before being admitted into the U.S. in 1979.
His death has outraged some in metro Detroit’s Iraqi Christian community, one of the largest in the U.S.
Officials with ICE in Detroit told the Free Press in a statement that Al-Daoud has a long history of criminal convictions over the past 20 years. Spokesman Khaalid Walls said Al-Daoud entered the U.S. “lawfully in 1979, before violating the terms of his status due to several criminal convictions.”
Under law, legal immigrants can be deported if they commit certain crimes.
ICE Detroit office said: “Al-Daoud has an extensive criminal history involving no less than twenty convictions between 1998-2017, to include assault with a dangerous weapon; assault and/or battery; domestic violence; contempt of court-failure to appear; breaking and entering; malicious destruction of a building; malicious destruction of property; assaulting, resisting, or obstructing a police officer; disorderly conduct; home invasion; possession of marijuana; larceny; breaking and entering a vehicle, and receiving and concealing stolen property.”
In 2012, Al-Daoud was arrested after he stole power tools from a garage in Ferndale, reported WWJ at the time. He was described in the story as a homeless man.
A Michigan appeals court later threw out the conviction after he served his time because he had represented himself in court without the judge warning him of the risks, reported the Associated Press in 2015.
ICE said that “Al-Daoud’s immigration case underwent an exhaustive judicial review before the courts ultimately affirmed he had no legal basis to remain in the U.S. He was ordered removed from the United States to Iraq on Nov. 8, 2005.”
In 2017, Al-Daoud became part of the ACLU lawsuit filed against ICE to block the deportations. ICE had arrested about 1,400 Iraqi nationals living in the U.S., most with criminal convictions who had final orders of deportation.
Before President Donald Trump took office, they were allowed to stay, but the Trump administration sought to remove them after striking a deal with Iraq to take them back. Many were able to have their cases reheard in immigration courts and temporarily had their deportations halted, but in December, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the ACLU, saying the deportations could not be blocked. In April, the full court refused to rehear the case, which means the deportations can continue.
“He was later granted a motion to reopen his immigration case but was again ordered removed to Iraq on May 14, 2018,” said ICE spokesman Walls. “Al-Daoud waived his right to appeal that decision.”
Levin said he’s trying to help get Al-Daoud a Catholic burial in Iraq. Christians are a minority in Iraq, where they are increasingly persecuted.
“At the moment, Iraqi authorities will not release Jimmy’s body to a Catholic priest without extensive documentation from his family members in the U.S.,” Levin said. “This seems to be a cruel irony, indeed. I am working with the Iraqi government to make sure this process happens as quickly and smoothly as possible.”
“Jimmy’s death has devastated his family and us,” said Miriam Aukerman, ACLU of Michigan senior staff attorney, who is litigating the Hamma v. Adducci lawsuit filed against ICE on behalf of Iraqi nationals. “We knew he would not survive if deported. What we don’t know is how many more people ICE will send to their deaths.”
Aukerman said Al-Daoud was “sleeping on benches in Najaf with no food, no money, nothing but the clothes on his back.”
According to ICE Detroit officials, “Al-Daoud was released from ICE custody on Dec. 18, 2018, pursuant to a Nov. 20, 2018, federal court decision, which ordered the release of Iraqi nationals who had been detained for removal.”
Al-Daoud then “immediately absconded from ICE’s noncustodial supervision program by cutting his GPS tether on the day of his release.”
ICE said he “remained an absconder until he was arrested by local law enforcement for larceny from a motor vehicle in April 2019. At his June 2, removal, he was supplied with a full complement of medicine to ensure continuity of care.”
Al-Daoud had first arrived in Najaf and then ended up in Baghdad, said Levin’s office and the ACLU.
In the June video taken a couple of weeks after his deportation – believed to be in Baghdad, according to Levin’s office – Al-Daoud recounted being thrown off the property of a place where he was trying to sleep because he was homeless.
“I was kicked in the back a couple of days ago,” Al-Daoud said, by a man who told him to “get off the guy’s property. I was sleeping on the ground. He claimed it was his property. I begged him, I said, ‘Please, I’ve never seen this country. I don’t understand the language. Nobody speaks English.’ “
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is resisting calls for the Senate to return from August recess to take up gun reform measures after deadly mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, last weekend.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is resisting calls for the Senate to return from August recess to take up gun reform measures after deadly mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, last weekend.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate will discuss measures aimed at addressing gun violence in September. He said he expects background checks, assault weapons and “red flag” laws to be part of the debate.
“What we can’t do is fail to pass something,” McConnell told WHAS radio in Kentucky, adding, “the urgency of this is not lost on any of us.”
The comments come following the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that killed 31 people. McConnell, a strong supporter of gun rights, said he is not calling the Senate back early but instead spending the next few weeks working with staff and Republicans and Democrats on key committees to develop something to get bipartisan support. He did not guarantee votes on the variety of proposals he mentioned and repeatedly noted there had to be bipartisan agreement on proposals.
But Democrats and Republicans are likely to disagree on what they should focus on.
McConnell expressed skepticism over a possible assault weapons ban, which was in place from 1994 but expired 10 years later and was not renewed.
“We had that ban for about a 10-year period. There’s a good deal of dispute about whether it actually had an impact or not,” McConnell told radio host Terry Meiners. “It’s certainly one of the front and center issues. I think … probably background checks and red flags will probably lead the discussion. But a lot of other things will come up as well.”
Before departing to visit the affected cities on Wednesday, President Trump told reporters there was a “great appetite” for background checks, but “no political appetite” for banning assault-style weapons, even though public polling has indeed shown broad support for such a measure.
As to why he won’t summon senators back to D.C. sooner, McConnell maintained that such a speedy reaction would only bring partisan rancor.
“I don’t want to just engage in finger-pointing or making a point,” McConnell said. “What’s happened after every one of these shootings is that there’s been a temptation to just engage in political discourse rather than actually passing something.”
McConnell said Trump called him Thursday morning and that FBI Director Christopher Wray spoke to the GOP conference during a call on Monday.
Trump is “anxious to get an outcome and so am I, and I think the Democrats will have to just admit that it’s better to get a result than just engage in this endless point scoring,” McConnell said.
Democratic leaders also spoke with the president Thursday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer released a joint statement saying they “told him the best way forward to address gun violence in our country is for Leader McConnell to let the Senate take up and pass the House-passed universal background checks legislation and for the President to sign it into law.”
In February, the House passed a background check bill that would only allow gun sales between individuals if a background check can be conducted, but McConnell has so far refused to take it up in the Senate, and Trump said he would veto it. There was another bill passed to expand the time federal officials have to finish background checks that also stalled in the Senate.
“The President gave us his assurances that he would review the bipartisan House-passed legislation and understood our interest in moving as quickly as possible to help save lives,” the statement said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have announced they will draft a bill to address the red flag laws, which would let local officials seize firearms from people determined to pose a risk to themselves or others. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., have said they intend to revive their bill to expand background checks to gun shows and Internet sales, which failed in 2013 after the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre that killed 20 young children and six adults.
President Trump said in a tweet Thursday that he will name Joseph Maguire, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, as the acting director of national intelligence, following his aborted effort to install a political loyalist.
Maguire is a retired Navy admiral not steeped in the inner workings of the intelligence community, but his appointment was seen as steadying in the middle of a tumultuous shake-up in the top ranks of the country’s spy agencies.
As Trump announced Maguire’s appointment, he also said that Sue Gordon, the deputy director of national intelligence, would resign and not serve in the acting role when director Daniel Coats also departs next week.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers had said they wanted Gordon, a career intelligence official, to fill in for Coats. But Trump was reluctant to keep someone with whom he had never formed a close bond. The president and his aides also regarded her as a career official and consequently suspicious, according to officials with knowledge of the president’s views.
In a handwritten letter to Trump reviewed by The Washington Post, Gordon wrote that she had offered her resignation “as an act of respect & patriotism, not preference. You should have your team.”
A U.S. official said that Gordon was “heartbroken” and agonized over her decision to step down, but that she recognized she served at the president’s pleasure.
“No one ever doubted her commitment to the officers who make up the intelligence community,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Maguire, 67, will assume the role Aug. 15, when Gordon leaves her position.
“Sue Gordon is a great professional with a long and distinguished career. I have gotten to know Sue over the past 2 years and have developed great respect for her,” Trump said in a tweet.
Trump had intended to nominate Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Tex.) as the director of national intelligence. But Ratcliffe’s potential nomination collapsed amid bipartisan criticism about his lack of national security expertise and allegations that he padded his résumé as a former federal prosecutor.
In her letter of resignation, Gordon emphasized her years of experience and praised intelligence agency employees.
“I am confident in what the Intelligence Community has accomplished, and what it is poised to do going forward,” Gordon wrote. “I have seen it in action first-hand. Know that our people are our strength, and they will never fail you or the Nation. You are in good hands.”
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, praised Gordon, but didn’t signal that he would oppose Maguire as the acting director.
“Sue Gordon’s retirement is a significant loss for our Intelligence Community,” the senator said in a statement. “In more than three decades of public service, Sue earned the respect and admiration of her colleagues with her patriotism and vision. She has been a stalwart partner to the Senate Intelligence Committee, and I will miss her candor and deep knowledge of the issues.”
Current and former intelligence officials were relieved by Maguire’s appointment, although it wasn’t clear whether Trump would formally nominate him as the permanent intelligence director. Maguire was already confirmed by the Senate for his current position and by law is allowed to assume the duties as acting director.
“He’s not a career intelligence officer, but he does understand the role that the men and women of the intelligence community play and will represent them well,” said one former senior intelligence official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid.
Maguire, who was a Seal Team 6 commander, has extensive experience in counterterrorism operations and national security, said Mike McConnell, a former director of national intelligence who worked with Maguire during the George W. Bush administration.
“He listens, he’s deliberate and he makes good decisions. He’s the kind of guy that all the troops want to have as boss and would follow him anywhere,” McConnell said.
“Joe is a terrific leader who cares deeply about the men and women of the intelligence community,” said Nick Rasmussen, who held Maguire’s job at the counterterrorism center under Bush and President Barack Obama. “He’s someone who has always accepted the call to serve his country in whatever way is required. This is no different.”
Congressional Democrats said Trump has pushed out Gordon as part of a plan to bring the intelligence agencies to heel.
“President Trump has repeatedly demonstrated that he is seemingly incapable of hearing facts that contradict his own views,” Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.
“The mission of the intelligence community is to speak truth to power. Yet in pushing out two dedicated public servants in as many weeks, once again the President has shown that he has no problem prioritizing his political ego even if it comes at the expense of our national security,” Warner said.
“The retirements of Dan Coats and Sue Gordon represent a devastating loss to the Intelligence Community, and the men and women who serve in it,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.
“Gordon brought decades of experience and encyclopedic knowledge of the agencies to bear, and her absence will leave a great void. These losses of leadership, coupled with a president determined to weed out anyone who may dare disagree, represent one of the most challenging moments for the Intelligence Community.”
Smith summed up Biden’s speech as noting “the unmistakable rise of white nationalism and white racism in America.”
Then, in direct contrast to Carlson’s comments, Smith said Biden was “calling us to our better souls, to recognize that white nationalism is real, that white nationalism is on the rise, that white nationalism is without question a very serious problem in America and beating down those who would help facilitate it and encourage it.”
Carlson hours later announced he was taking a vacation as calls to fire him trended on social media.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and guest Shepard Smith during Friday’s 12/16/16 show in New York.
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LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS — Episode 248
Pictured: (l-r) Fox News Shepard Smith during an interview with host Seth Meyers on August 17, 2015
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Shepard Smith attends the 19th Annual National Lesbian And Gay Journalists Association New York Benefit at The Prince George Ballroom on March 20, 2014 in New York City.
(Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images)
Shepard Smith attends the 19th Annual National Lesbian And Gay Journalists Association New York Benefit at The Prince George Ballroom on March 20, 2014 in New York City.
(Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images)
Shepard Smith attends salute to Brit Hume at Cafe Milano on January 8, 2009 in Washington, DC.
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Fox News anchor, Shepard Smith on the set of ‘Studio B with Shepard Smith’ during a rehersal at Fox News studios in New York. Fox News Channel celebrated its 15th anniversary on the air on October 7th.
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THE VIEW
Shepard Smith was a guest on ‘THE VIEW,’ THURSDAY, NOV. 5, 2009
(Photo by Steve Fenn/ABC via Getty Images) SHEPARD SMITH
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith on the set of ‘Studio B with Shepard Smith’ at Fox News studios in New York. Fox News Channel celebrated its 15th anniversary on the air on October 7th.
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FOX News Correspondent Shepard Smith attends the Fox News Channel 10th Anniversary celebration on October 4, 2006 in New York City.
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Harvey Weinstein, John Antioco, Chairman/CEO of Blockbuster Video, Joshua Jackson, Emilio Estevez, Sharon Stone, Christian Slater, Mathew Smith, General Merchandise Manager of Blockbuster video, Nick Shepard, President of Blockbuster Video, Freddy Rodriguez, Bob Weinstein, Trevor Drinkwater, Steve Bannon and Larry Madden, CFO of The Weinstein Company.
(Photo by Jamie McCarthy/WireImage for The Weinstein Company)
Chairman & CEO, FOX News Roger Ailes (R) and (via satellite from Kiryat Shmona, Israel) anchor Shepard Smith from ‘Fox News’ speak during the 2006 Summer Television Critics Association Press Tour for the FOX Broadcasting Company at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel on July 24, 2006 in Pasadena, California.
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Shepard Smith and Rick Leventhal, news anchors for FOXNews.
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Jane Skinner and Shepard Smith during Fox at NCTA – FX, Fuel TV and Fox Reality – April 10, 2006 in Atlanta, GA, United States.
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The Pulse correspondents, Bill O’Reilly and Laurie Dhue with ‘The Pulse’ host, Shepard Smith at the FOX 2002 Summer TCA Tour, held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Los Angeles, CA, January 22, 2002.
(photo by Kevin Winter/ImageDirect).
Shepard Smith during 2002 Fox Summer TCA Party at Sky Bar at The Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood, California, United States.
The mother of the suspected El Paso shooter called police weeks before the massacre worried that her son did not have the maturity or level of experience to possess a firearm.
The mother called the Allen, Texas Police Department concerned that her 21 year old son possessed a gun, the family’s attorneys Chris Ayres and R. Jack Ayres told CNN. She did not give her name or the name of her son during the call.
After she described the situation and her concerns, the public safety officer who fielded her call told her that her son was within his rights to own a gun.
The suspected El Paso shooter, Patrick Crusius, had a thin history with Allen police. A false burglary alarm at the Crusius’ home, a vehicle accident involving a bus he was on, and one occasion where Patrick ran away from home and returned 30 minutes later “are the entirety of our dealings with Mr. Crusius, in any capacity, be it suspect, witness, reporting party, or in any other manner,” Allen police said.
Crusius killed 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso on Saturday, according to police. He is facing capital murder charges that could carry a death sentence if he is convicted.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Walmart released a statement to KY3 News about the arrest of a man following reports of an armed man at a store in south Springfield.
“The behavior of a customer was concerning to those inside our store and out of caution, law enforcement was contacted. They quickly arrived, managed the situation without further incident and no one was injured.”
Police say a man, appearing to be in his twenties, pulled up to the Walmart Neighborhood Market on Republic Road, where he donned body armor and military fatigues. Police say the man had tactical weapons. He walked into the store and began recording himself on his phone.
The store manager at the Walmart Neighborhood Market pulled a fire alarm, urging people to escape the store.
The mother of El Paso shooting suspect 21-year-old Patrick Crusius called police in Allen, Texas, weeks before the deadly shooting, because her son owned an AK 47-style assault rifle, CBS News has confirmed. The family’s attorney, Chris Ayres, said the phone call was “purely informational,” and that there was “absolutely no fear of violence nor any belief of an intent to do harm” that led Crusius’ mother to call police.
The lawyer added that Crusius did not identify herself or her son to police when she made the call, and that the department did not file the call or follow up on it.
Crusius is accused of opening fire at an El Paso Walmart on Saturday, killing 22 people and injuring dozens more. It’s not clear if he used the same style of gun that his mother called about. Investigators said Crusius drove 10 hours from Allen to El Paso. The alleged white supremacist has been charged with capital murder.
A manifesto believed to have been written by the suspect and uploaded to the web forum 8chan expressed concerns about the growing Hispanic population of Texas. Officials have referenced the document and said the shooting may have a “nexus” to a hate crime.
El Paso police said Sunday that Crusius legally purchased the gun used in the rampage.
CNN first reported Crusius’ mother call to police weeks before the shooting.
Crusius’ family issued a statement Wednesday to The Wall Street Journal saying “Patrick’s actions were apparently influenced and informed by people we do not know, and from ideas and beliefs we do not accept or condone.”
Crusius is being held on capital murder charges, the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office said. The District Attorney’s office is seeking the death penalty.
President Donald Trump shared a campaign-style video Wednesday full of smiles, thumbs-ups, and dramatic music depicting his visits with mass-shooting victims in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas.
Trump went to Dayton and El Paso after the mass shootings that have left both communities reeling and the nation palpably traumatized. He faced protests and sharp criticism from local leaders along the way, and he lashed out at critics by tweeting attacks at his political opponents throughout the day.
But you wouldn’t know that from the cheerful video Trump released in a tweet in which the president thanked citizens of the two cities for “a job well done!”
Initially, that did not seem to be the case, as reporters described not being allowed to gain access to Trump’s hospital visits and being told by the White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, that the visits were about the victims and not a “photo op.” Hours later, however, Trump released this video:
Trump did not visit the district in Dayton where at least nine people were killed and more than two dozen were wounded by a gunman early Sunday, and Mayor Nan Whaley said it was a “good decision” because of what she said was Trump’s tendency to be “divisive.”
When Trump went to El Paso later in the day, none of the hospitalized survivors of the Saturday mass shooting wanted to meet with him, according to The Washington Post.
Trump has often struggled to find the appropriate response to national tragedies, and he is facing strong criticism over these recent shootings given the broader conversation they’ve sparked on gun violence as well as white nationalism.
The shooting suspect in El Paso is accused of writing a manifesto that echoed some of Trump’s rhetoric on immigration and that cited animus toward immigrants as the motivation for the massacre, which left at least 22 people dead at a Walmart.
De Blasio, Hannity joke over bet after fiery interview
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and “Hannity” host Sean Hannity had a fun moment of levity at the close of Wednesday night’s comprehensive interview about the 2020 presidential hopeful’s platform.
Earlier this year, de Blasio tweeted about his support for “Meatless Mondays” in Big Apple schools — where students would be given a “meatless” lunch one day per week.
“You know how I know #MeatlessMondays is a good idea? Because our students love it and Sean Hannity hates it,” de Blasio wrote in a Twitter message. “Meatless Mondays: coming to all 1,800 NYC schools this fall.”
Hannity projected that if a poll of all New York City schoolchildren was taken, they would support the host’s weekly meal plan over the mayor’s.
“You willing to put money on that?” Hannity asked.
Hannity jokingly offered several alternatives to “Meatless Mondays,” like “McDonald’s Mondays,” and “Wendy’s Wednesdays.”
The mayor smiled, quipping, “You really are a threat to society.”
“By doing this, we are helping kids to be healthier,” de Blasio added, defending his plan over Hannity’s. “We have an obesity problem in this country.”
Regarding the initiative, City Hall said it will provide the school system’s one million students with all-vegetarian breakfast and lunch menus every Monday.
“The announcement that Mayor de Blasio has expanded Meatless Monday to all New York City public schools marks a major milestone,” said Sid Lerner, founder of the Meatless Monday Movement, in a statement. “Through this united effort, New York City’s schools take a leadership role in getting our children on a healthier track, as well as making a positive impact on our environment.”
The 33-year-old man who is suspected of killing four people in a stabbing spree that terrorized two cities in Southern California was described by officials as a documented gang member and “violent criminal.”
Zachary Castaneda, 33, was identified as the suspect in the string of attacks across the cities of Garden Grove and Santa Ana, officials said in a press conference Thursday.
“He is a violent criminal who should have never been considered for release,” Garden Grove Mayor Steven R. Jones said.
Castaneda had previously been incarcerated for possession of methamphetamine with the intention to distribute while armed with an assault weapon, according to Garden Grove Police Chief Tom DaRe. Officials did not know the exact date of Castaneda’s release, but said they knew he had “a violent past” and gang associations.
Jones lambasted a California state Assembly bill passed into law by voters in 2011 that apparently hastened the suspect’s release from incarceration.
The Pubic Safety Realignment initiative was a response to a U.S. Supreme Court order to move inmates out of California’s 33 state prisons because of a shortage of medical and mental-health care. The initiative sought to shift part of that population — including those convicted on felonies not deemed serious — into county jails.
“Our community becomes vulnerable when these criminals are released back into society,” Jones said.
The deadly spree began at 4:09 p.m. local time on Wednesday and ended at 6:25 p.m. after officers spotted his car in front of a 7-Eleven in Santa Ana. Castaneda came out of the convenience store armed with a handgun and knife, officials said.
He told investigators the blood he was covered in was tomato juice, according to Garden Grove Police Lt. Carl Whitney.
The victims in the attacks, the two who were injured and the four who died, ranged in age from 25 to 64.
Police said Castaneda “remained violent with [police] through the night” but did not say why he allegedly committed the crimes. Witnesses told investigators the suspect did not say anything to the victims, but rather “he just savagely attacked these people,” Whitney said.
“This is tragic,” Whitney had said earlier. “We don’t want to see tragedies like this happen. We’ve seen tragedies like this happen across the United States, but what the good point we can see out of this is that our officers responded quickly, rapidly and were able to take this guy into custody as fast as we could.”
At 4:09 p.m., officials received a call about a residential burglary at the apartment complex where Castaneda lived.
4:23 p.m. local time, Castaneda allegedly robbed a bakery in Garden Grove, California, a few miles south of Anaheim. At 5:04 p.m., police said they found two men stabbed at his apartment complex.
One of those victims was pronounced dead at the scene, while another died at the hospital, according to authorities. The two victims are believed to have been the people who called about the residential burglary. They confronted Castaneda and an “altercation occurred,” Whitney said.
At 5:40 p.m., the suspect allegedly robbed a check-cashing business, also in Garden Grove.
And then, 25 minutes later, a woman was stabbed multiple times at a Garden Grove insurance business. She is expected to survive, police said on Thursday.
Four minutes after robbing the insurance business, the same suspect got into an argument with a man pumping gas at a neighboring Chevron station. The man was stabbed multiple times with knives and a machete and his nose was nearly severed, police said. He is, however, expected to live.
By 6:25 p.m., he allegedly robbed a 7-Eleven in Santa Ana and stabbed an armed security guard then used his knife to cut the guard’s gun out his holster. The guard, who was a customer at 7-Eleven and not an employee, has also died, police said.
After investigating the robbery and fatal stabbing at the 7-Eleven, police discovered the suspect had also previously robbed a Subway and stabbed a person to death outside the store.
An undercover Garden Grove police officer found the suspect’s car at the 7-Eleven — and when suspect exited store armed with a handgun and knife — he complied with an officer’s order to drop his weapons and was taken into custody.
“Without a doubt other people would have been at risk if it weren’t for their actions,” Whitney said.
Police called the man “full of anger.”
A spokesman for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said Castaneda “certainly made himself a candidate” for the death penalty. The DA’s office is expected to file charges Friday morning.
ABC News’ Timmy Truong contributed to this report.
Canadian police said Wednesday they believe two fugitives suspected of killing a North Carolina woman and her Australian boyfriend as well as another man have been found dead in dense brush in the northern part of Manitoba province.
Authorities found two male bodies and are confident they are Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy. She said an autopsy will confirm their identities and causes of death.
Crucial evidence found last week when police discovered items directly linked to the suspects on the shoreline of the Nelson River helped locate the bodies, MacLatchy said. Following that discovery, authorities were able to narrow down the search.
Police sent in specialized teams and began searching high-probability areas. On Wednesday morning, police discovered the bodies within 0.6 of a mile from where the items were found and about 5.6 miles from where the suspects left a burnt-out vehicle on July 22.
“We are confident that these are the bodies of the two suspects wanted in connection with the homicides in British Columbia,” MacLatchy said.
McLeod and Schmegelsky were charged with second-degree murder in the death of Leonard Dyck, a University of British Columbia lecturer whose body was found July 19 along a highway in British Columbia province.
They were also suspects in the fatal shootings of Australian Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese of Charlotte, N.C., whose bodies were found July 15 along the Alaska Highway about 300 miles from where Dyck was killed.
A manhunt for the pair had spread across three provinces. The suspects had not been seen since the burnt-out car was found.
The bodies were found near the town of Gillam — more than 2,000 miles from northern British Columbia.
Police had said Tuesday they were investigating all possibilities including that the suspects might have drowned.
A police helicopter initially spotted a damaged boat along the Nelson River last week and a follow-up search in the area uncovered the items directly linked to the two in what MacLatchy described as “very tough terrain.”
MacLatchy said there is a sense of relief for families of the victims and the communities in the area.
“It’s huge to be able to hopefully give some people the opportunity to exhale and to hopefully go back to being normal and not be afraid of who is out in the woods,” she said.
Deese’s brother, British Deese, said the family needed time to process the news that the suspects’ bodies were apparently found.
“We are speechless,” he said in a text message, declining to comment further.
Gillam Mayor Dwayne Forman said people in the community have been on an emotional roller coaster and are relieved the manhunt is over.
“The closure is here for Gillam and the Fox Lake area. But the closure for the victims’ families is far from over,” he said.
The discoveries of three bodies shook rural northern British Columbia and Manitoba.
Schmegelsky’s father, Alan Schmegelsky, said last month that he expected the nationwide manhunt to end in the death of his son, who he said was on “a suicide mission.”
McLeod and Schmegelsky grew up together on Vancouver Island and worked together at a Walmart before they set off together on what their parents thought was a trip to Yukon for work.
McLeod and Schmegelsky were originally considered missing persons and became suspects later.
Police were investigating a photograph of Nazi paraphernalia allegedly sent online by one of the suspects. Schmegelsky allegedly sent photographs of a swastika armband and a Hitler Youth knife to an online friend on the video game network Steam.
Alan Schmegelsky had said his son took him to an army surplus store about eight months ago in his small Vancouver Island hometown of Port Alberni, where his son was excited about the Nazi artifacts.
Alan Schmegelsky said he didn’t believe that his son identified as a neo-Nazi, but that he did think the memorabilia was “cool.”
Fowler and Deese were found shot dead along the Alaska Highway near Liard Hot Springs.
Fowler, the son of a chief inspector with the New South Wales Police Department, was living in British Columbia and Deese was visiting him.
The couple had met at a hostel in Croatia and their romance blossomed as they adventured across the U.S., Mexico, Peru and elsewhere, the woman’s older brother said.
British Deese said the couple was on a trip to visit Canadian national parks when they were killed. He said the family believes they must have had engine trouble in their van.
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“He says, ‘That’s OK with me,'” O’Rourke said of Trump’s response to his supporter’s violent remark. “He’s not the source of racism in this country. This country has been racist as long as it’s been a country, but he’s certainly fanning the flames. He’s certainly making violence like this more possible and more real.”
Other Democratic presidential candidates have also denounced Trump in recent days, but none have gone so far as to directly describe the White House occupant as a white supremacist.
Former Vice Joe Biden argued Wednesday that Trump had “fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation.”
“Trump readily, eagerly attacks Islamic terrorism but can barely bring himself to use the words ‘white supremacy,'” Biden said at a campaign stop in Iowa. “And even when he says it, he doesn’t appear to believe it. He seems more concerned about losing their votes than beating back this hateful ideology.”
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., also blamed Trump for inciting violence. During a visit Wednesday to South Carolina’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where a white supremacist shooter killed nine black worshipers in 2015, Booker said this weekend’s violence was “sowed by those who spoke the same words the El Paso murderer did, warning of an ‘invasion.'”
Trump, for his part, has denied responsibility for emboldening violence by racists in the past, and he publicly condemned white supremacy Monday during a televised address to the nation.
“In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy,” he said. “These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul.”
But just two days later, Trump refused to point out the role ideology played in the El Paso massacre, arguing that he is concerned about “the rise of any group of hate.”
He also accused his opponents of “looking for political gain” by linking his comments to the El Paso shooting. He claimed he would like to “stay out of the political fray,” even though he attempted to tie the Dayton shooter to Democrats.
“That was a person that supported, I guess you could say Bernie Sanders, I understood. Antifa, I understood. Elizabeth Warren, I understood. It had nothing to do with President Trump,” he said. “I don’t blame Elizabeth Warren. I don’t blame Bernie Sanders. These are sick people.”
Trump claimed his rhetoric “brings people together,” although he then called illegal immigration a “terrible thing for our country” and claimed he has “toned down” his rhetoric.
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