Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

Lives washed away: A mother’s loss in Mozambique

The Wider Image: Lives washed away: A mother's loss in Mozambique
A tear falls down the face of Maria Jofresse, 25, during an interview with Reuters at a camp for the displaced in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, in John Segredo, near Beira, Mozambique, March 31, 2019. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

April 10, 2019

By Stephen Eisenhammer and Zohra Bensemra

CHEIA, Mozambique (Reuters) – Maria Jofresse cannot find her two young daughters’ graves, though she helped dig them herself.  

A single teardrop swells beneath each of her dark eyes as she recalls the moment the girls were snatched away by the fast-flowing floodwaters.

It took four days to find their bodies, which were buried where Cyclone Idai had left them, far from where they lived.

“I cannot recognize it anymore,” the 25-year-old mother said, drying her eyes with a patch of patterned skirt at a makeshift camp of blue tarpaulin, near the riverside village of Cheia. “I cannot find them.”

On the night of the storm, Jofresse took shelter at her mother-in-law’s house with her husband and children, a 6-month-old baby and 4-year-old girl.

The next day, the river beside the village broke its banks and water rushed in. The family fled, trying to reach the main road, which lies on higher ground. 

But the water was too quick. Afraid they’d drown, the family climbed into a single cashew tree.

For 11 hours they clung to its branches, Jofresse cradling the baby while her husband held their eldest girl.

At 10 pm, in total darkness, the flood ripped the tree’s roots from the soaked earth, throwing the family into the fast-flowing water and separating them. 

Jofresse survived by grabbing onto another tree. The next day, wading through the now largely stagnant water, she found her husband. Together they searched for the girls.

On the morning of the fourth day, they found the body of their eldest, and in the afternoon, their lifeless baby.

The children were among more than 800 people killed in the storm and the heavy rains before it struck Mozambique and two other southern African countries, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

After digging two small graves, the couple joined other families at the camp set up just a few kilometers (miles) from their destroyed home.

“We will stay here, because there’s nothing to go back to,” Jofresse said, sitting in a small square of shade at the camp.

“You can come and live with me,” her father, Joao Jofresse Ngira, interjected, distraught at his daughter’s pain.

Jofresse does not answer.

It is not the first time she has lost a home. In 2000, when she was just 5, devastating floods destroyed her nearby village of Mashongo.

The government moved the family to a new community, built for those with nowhere to go after that disaster.

Ngira showed Reuters around the village, located by the River Muda. It became known as Cheia, or “Flood” in Portuguese – “because we were brought here from the water,” he explained.

The spot was chosen because it was on higher ground and less prone to flooding.

“It was meant to be safe,” he said, standing outside the ruins of the four-room house the government helped him build. Five young children played in the pile of broken bricks and cracked cement.

Cheia’s fate shows how climate change is threatening places that just under two decades ago were considered safe.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the catastrophe in Mozambique rings “yet another alarm bell” about the dangers of global warming, which scientists say will make devastating storms like Cyclone Idai more frequent.

“Since this disaster, we haven’t seen anyone from the government, even though they’re the ones that put us here,” Ngira said.

Asked if he would like to move somewhere else, he looks down at his muddy yellow trainers, before replying: “I don’t have any money. It’s best not to dream.”

On the Sunday Reuters visited, the camp bustled with rumors that food would be delivered that afternoon.

It had been a week since the last bit of aid arrived and people were hungry. Jofresse canceled a memorial service for her daughters because she feared the food might arrive while she was gone.

When the aid finally comes, Jofresse unpacks the parcel in her blue tent. There is a set of nappies.

She puts them to one side.   

Click on https://reut.rs/2UHekC4 for a related photo essay.

(Writing by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Alexandra Zavis and Alexandra Hudson)

Source: OANN

0 0

For Republicans, national emergency vote brings a dessert dilemma

Do you want ice cream or cake?

As someone who recently celebrated a birthday, I know it’s hard to decide.

The easy solution is an ice cream cake.

Head to Baskin-Robbins. Dairy Queen. Carvel. All we need is ice cream cake.

Congressional Republicans may need to enlist the services of Fudgie the Whale themselves. They too face a dessert dilemma. Ice cream or cake? Funds for a border wall? Or money for a military spending priority in their state or district?

This is where Fudgie comes in.

President Trump’s national emergency declaration plunders various appropriations silos, which Congress targeted for specific Pentagon and “Military Construction” projects. The national emergency redistributes money for the wall. GOPers want the wall. But they also don’t want President Trump to pilfer their pet project back home.

So, maybe the best solution to the quandary is the appropriations equivalent of an ice cream cake.

All lawmakers know right now are the general pots of money from which the Trump administration will loot funds for the wall. But everyone’s in the dark when it comes to specifics.

“I asked for the particulars,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., after having breakfast at the Pentagon with Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

Democratic leaders of the House Appropriations and Armed Services Committees also wrote to Shanahan demanding what programs were on the chopping block.

“We request that you produce the requested documents and information no later than March 21, 2019,” wrote the Democrats.

This is what happens when the power of the purse is ceded to the executive. No one on Capitol Hill knows what’s going on.

The Senate is cruising toward following the House’s lead and voting to terminate the national emergency. The House already voted to undo the president’s action. The Senate will follow suit. At least four Senate Republicans will join all 47 Senate Democrats to cease the national emergency. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is among the four public GOP yeas. Paul says there are about ten other GOPers who will likely vote to halt the national emergency.

“If there is four, there’s ten,” said one Republican senator to Fox.

But there aren’t enough votes in the House or Senate to override a prospective veto by Trump. Sixty-seven yeas are required in the Senate to override a presidential veto.

However, that’s why the list of “particulars,” as Shelby put it, is so important. If senators actually had the concrete information at their fingertips as to which military projects the administration may raid for the wall, it’s possible even more senators could vote to rebuff Trump.

If you’re for the wall, perhaps that’s a good argument to withhold the list until after the Senate’s taken the vote.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, says he’d like to see the docket ahead of time.

“I would certainly support that. I know a number of people who probably would,” said Romney.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., keeps saying that Republicans are having a “spirited discussion” about the vote to disapprove of the national emergency declaration and potential impacts on key military projects. McConnell backed Mr. Trump’s decision to declare the national emergency in an effort to avoid a second government shutdown. But McConnell adds “I advised the president not to take this route.” The Kentucky Republican also says he doesn’t “have a solution as to how this ends.” The only thing that’s clear is the Senate will vote to reject the national emergency declaration, tempting President Trump to issue his first veto.

A vote to overturn the resolution is yet another example of Senate GOP dissension when it comes to the president. In recent months, Republican senators broke with the president on a speedy withdrawal from Syria, how the administration dealt with Saudi Arabia following the death of Jamal Khashoggi and the cancellation of some Russian sanctions. Fox is told Trump was close to facing a “jailbreak” of GOP defections had the government not re-opened when it did following the shutdown.

A vote to overturn the resolution is yet another example of Senate GOP dissension when it comes to the president.

If the Senate approves the package, the House and Senate are aligned and the package goes to President Trump, begging for the veto.

President Obama vetoed his first piece of legislation after only 11 months on the job. President George W. Bush never vetoed a bill until he was in office for five-and-a-half years. President Bill Clinton didn’t use a veto until two-and-a-half years into his presidency.

Presidents have only vetoed 2,500 pieces of legislation in the history of the republic. But the Founders wanted to give Congress one last chance to go over the head of the executive. That’s a veto override.

One of the few things more rare than a veto is a successful veto override.

The gambit requires a two-thirds vote by both bodies of Congress. That’s 67 votes in the Senate, provided all 100 senators cast ballots. And 427 House members cast ballots on the bill to block the national emergency last month. So the yardstick there is 285 yeas. There were 245 members who voted in favor of the bill. Thus, the House fell 40 votes short.

We are not expecting a successful override of a prospective veto of the national emergency. The math simply doesn’t work.

The last unsuccessful attempt to override a veto came in January 2016. President Barack Obama vetoed a Republican effort to repeal ObamaCare. The House voted 241-186, well short of the 285 yeas needed to override. The maneuver never went to the Senate since the override maneuver failed in the House.

Note that the vote to override is based on how many lawmakers take part in the override effort itself, not how many members voted on the bill when it passed both bodies. So, determining a precise number required to override is impossible until the veto override vote concludes.

The last successful veto override came in September 2016. Obama vetoed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. The measure allowed families of 9/11 victims to sue those responsible or the attacks, including Saudi Arabia. The Senate voted 97-1 to override Obama; 66 votes were needed. The House voted 348-77 with one lawmaker voting present. And 284 yeas were needed for the override.

The potential veto override attempt will only go to the House, since that’s the body which originated the disapproval legislation of the president’s national emergency declaration. If the House comes up short with the override initiative, the effort dies there. It never moves to the Senate.

That’s an advantage for some Republican senators. They can be for the national emergency. Oppose Mr. Trump plundering money for the wall from projects important to them and know they’ll never have to cast a vote to override the expected veto. GOP senators can spin their votes and positions any way they want.

It’s the ice cream cake of politics. Having it both ways. Getting ice cream and cake, wrapped into one.

Source: Fox News Politics

0 0

AIG paid CEO Duperreault $20.9 million in 2018: filing

FILE PHOTO: Brian Duperreault, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of American International Group (AIG) speaks at the UJA-Federation of New York General Insurance Annual Event in New York
FILE PHOTO: Brian Duperreault, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of American International Group (AIG) speaks at the UJA-Federation of New York General Insurance Annual Event in New York City, New York, U.S., June 5, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar

April 2, 2019

(Reuters) – American International Group Inc paid its chief executive officer, Brian Duperreault, about $20.9 million last year, a proxy filing showed on Tuesday.

Duperreault, who joined AIG in May 2017, received a total compensation of about $43.1 million for roughly eight months during 2017.

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by James Emmanuel)

Source: OANN

0 0

Apple’s Cook to China: keep opening for sake of global economy

FILE PHOTO: Apple CEO Tim Cook attends the China Development Forum in Beijing
FILE PHOTO: Apple CEO Tim Cook attends the China Development Forum in Beijing, China, March 18, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

March 23, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – Apple chief executive Tim Cook nudged China on Saturday to open up and said the future would depend on global collaboration, as the United States and China remained locked in a bitter trade dispute.

“We encourage China to continue to open up, we see that as essential, not only for China to reach its full potential, but for the global economy to thrive,” Cook said at a China Development Forum in Beijing.

Despite official pledges and repeated assurances that China would continue to open its markets, some analysts worry that its reform project has slowed or even stalled under President Xi Jinping, who has sought greater control over the economy and a bigger role for state-owned firms at the expense of the private sector.

Cook’s comments come as Apple weathers sinking sales in China because of a contracting smartphone market, increasing pressure from Chinese rivals, and slowing upgrade cycles. The company reported a revenue drop of 26 percent in the greater China region during the quarter ending in December.

Before those results came out, in a January letter to investors, Cook blamed the company’s poor China performance on trade tension between the United States and China, suggesting that pressure on the economy was hurting sales in China.

(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Writing by John Ruwitch; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: OANN

0 0

Japan factory mood hits weakest since 2016 as trade rifts bite: Reuters Tankan

FILE PHOTO: A man cycles past chimneys of facotries at the Keihin Industrial Zone in Kawasaki
FILE PHOTO: A man cycles past chimneys of facotries at the Keihin Industrial Zone in Kawasaki, Japan September 12, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

March 19, 2019

By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Izumi Nakagawa

TOKYO (Reuters) – Confidence among Japanese manufacturers hit its weakest in two-and-a-half years in March, a Reuters poll showed, as global trade friction fueled concerns that a postwar record growth cycle driven by Abenomics may be over.

The monthly poll, which tracks the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) closely watched tankan quarterly survey, found confidence fell for a fifth straight month while sentiment in the service sector held steady, suggesting domestic demand is unlikely to offset external risks such as the trade war and China’s slowdown.

Both manufacturers’ and service-sector morale is expected to rise just slightly over the coming three months, underscoring a bumpy road ahead for the world’s third largest economy, according to the Reuters Tankan.

The central bank will closely read the results of its official tankan due out April 1 for clues on strength of sentiment and capital expenditure at its policy meeting next month when it issues fresh economic and price projections.

The BOJ stood pat at its policy review last week, citing an economy posting gradual growth, but cut its views of exports and output due to increasing headwinds from overseas.

Slowing growth in Europe and China, the Sino-U.S. trade war and uncertainty surrounding Britain’s exit from the European Union have strained businesses around the world.

While U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping appear to be closer in striking a truce in the U.S.-China trade war, Japan’s export sector remains vulnerable to the fallout from trade friction between the world’s two largest economies.

In the Reuters poll of 479 large- and mid-sized companies, completed by 250 firms on the condition of anonymity over the March 4-15 period, managers also complained about costs of raw materials squeezing profits.

Sluggish consumer spending makes it difficult to pass on such costs to thrifty customers, they wrote in the survey.

“Our clients are turning cautions on capital expenditure due to the U.S.-China trade war, spreading protectionism and political jitters in emerging countries,” a manager of a machinery maker wrote in the survey.

The Reuters Tankan sentiment index for manufacturers fell three points to 10 in March, with exporters of electronics, precision equipment, steel and nonferrous metals especially gloomy.

The manufacturers’ index was down 13 points from three months ago, indicating the possibility of a similarly sharp decline in the BOJ tankan. The Reuters Tankan index is expected to inch up to 11 in June.

The service-sector index held steady at 22 in March from a month earlier but was down from 31 seen three months ago, indicating a likely decline for the sector in the official tankan, which measures confidence on a quarterly basis.

The service-sector index is seen edging up to 23 in June.

The BOJ’s last tankan out in December found the business mood held steady from three months ago, but business conditions were seen worsening ahead amid trade war and slowdown in China.

The Reuters Tankan indexes are calculated by subtracting the percentage of pessimistic respondents from optimistic ones. A positive figure means optimists outnumber pessimists.

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Sam Holmes)

Source: OANN

0 0

China has to learn from Japan’s lost decade: former official

FILE PHOTO: Property buildings are seen against the dawn sky in Beijing
FILE PHOTO: Property buildings are seen against the dawn sky in Beijing, China, April 25, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA. GLOBAL BUSINESS WEEK AHEAD

March 12, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – China needs to learn lessons from Japan’s lost decade and control future levels of debt, the country’s former central bank governor said on Tuesday.

Debt levels in China are too high, but the Chinese government is taking steps to try to deleverage the economy, Zhou Xiaochuan said in a speech at Chatham House in London.

“Japan had very fast development and later then a so-called lost decade,” he said. “The Chinese economy may have a similar overleveraged problem and we need to absorb the knowledge and lessons from what happened.”

The lost decade refers to a period of economic stagnation in Japan that began in the 1990s.

(Reporting by Tom Arnold; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

0 0

Russia looks to extend detention of ex U.S. marine held for spying: Ifax

FILE PHOTO: Detained former U.S. marine Paul Whelan attends a court hearing in Moscow
FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. marine Paul Whelan, who was detained by Russia's FSB security service on suspicion of spying, attends a court hearing in Moscow, Russia January 22, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo

February 20, 2019

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s FSB security service has asked a Moscow court to extend the detention of former U.S. marine Paul Whelan who is being held on suspicion of spying, the Interfax news agency cited a court spokeswoman as saying on Wednesday.

Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, was detained in a Moscow hotel room on Dec. 28. He denies the charges against him. [nL8N1ZM2ZU]

The court ruled in late December that Whelan should be held in custody until Feb. 28, the agency reported. The FBS wants to extend this to May 28.

(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: OANN

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of
Avengers fans gather at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to attend the opening screening of “Avengers: Endgame” in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

April 26, 2019

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Marvel Studios superhero spectacle “Avengers: Endgame” hauled in a record $60 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices during its Thursday night debut, distributor Walt Disney Co said.

Global ticket sales for the film about Iron Man, Hulk and other popular characters reached $305 million for the first two days, Disney said.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Funeral of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attends the funeral service for murdered journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland April 24, 2019. Brian Lawless/Pool via REUTERS

April 26, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – The leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said on Friday he had turned down an invitation to a state dinner which will be part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Britain in June.

“Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honor a president who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric,” Corbyn said in a statement.

He said maintaining the relationship with the United States did not require “the pomp and ceremony of a state visit” and he said he would welcome a meeting with Trump “to discuss all matters of interest.”

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Writing by William Schomberg)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli
Libyan Minister of Economy Ali Abdulaziz Issawi speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli, Libya April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara

April 26, 2019

By Ulf Laessing

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s U.N.-recognized government has budgeted up to 2 billion dinars ($1.43 billion) to cover costs of a three-week-old war for control of the capital, such as treatment for the wounded, to be funded without new borrowing, the economy minister said.

Ali Abdulaziz Issawi suggested the government hoped for business to continue more or less as usual despite the assault on Tripoli, in the country’s northwest, by forces tied to a parallel administration based in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Once Africa’s third largest producer of oil, Libya has been riven by factional conflict since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with the country now broadly split between eastern-based forces under Khalifa Haftar and the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, in the west, under Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.

Still, with Haftar’s Libyan National Army forces unable so far to pierce defenses in Tripoli’s southern suburbs, normal life and business activities continue in much of the capital and western coastal towns.

Issawi, in an interview with Reuters in his Tripoli office, also said Libya’s commercial ports and wheat imports were still functioning normally, although some roads have been blocked.

He said the Serraj government estimates it will spend up to 2 billion dinars extra on medical treatment for wounded, aid for displaced people and other “emergency” war costs.

He said this was not military spending but analysts believe that the sum will also cover expenditures such as pay for allied armed groups or food for fighters.

“We could actually spend less,” he added, in comments that gave the first insight into the economic impact of the fighting.

Issawi said the Tripoli government, which controls little territory beyond the greater capital region, would not incur new debt to fund the war costs, sticking to a plan to post a 2019 budget without a deficit.

Tripoli derives revenue largely from oil and natural gas production, interest-free loans from local banks to the central bank, and a 183 percent surcharge on foreign exchange transactions conducted at official rates.

But with centralized tax collection greatly diminished, public debt has piled up – to 68 billion dinars in the west, including unpaid state obligations such as social insurance.

Some analysts expect Serraj’s government will be forced to raise new debt if the war for control of Tripoli drags on.

With much of Libya dominated by armed factions that also act as security forces, the public wage bill for both the western and eastern administrations has soared as fighters have been made public employees in efforts to buy their loyalty.

The east has sold bonds worth 35 billion dinars outside the official financial system as the Tripoli central bank does not fund the parallel government apart from some wages.

Despite its limited reach, the Tripoli government still runs an annual budget of around 46.8 billion dinars, mainly for public salaries and fuel subsidies.

“This year we cannot finance via debt…we will not borrow (by agreement with the central bank),” Issawi said.

According to International Monetary Fund data, Libya’s central government debt-to-GDP ratio is 143 percent, making it one of the most heavily indebted in the world on that measure.

Issawi declined to say what parts of the budget would be trimmed to support the extra outlay for war costs.

However, with some 70 percent of the budget allocated to public wages, fuel subsidies and other welfare benefits, a portion devoted to infrastructure is most likely to be axed.

Widespread lawlessness has meant there have been no major infrastructural projects since 2011, when a NATO-backed uprising overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi, leaving schools, hospitals and roads in acute need of restoration.

FOREX SURCHARGE

Issawi said the government planned to raise as much as 30 billion dinars by the end of 2019 from hard currency deals after imposing in September a 183 percent surcharge on commercial and private transactions done on the official rate of 1.4 to the U.S. dollar. That fee has effectively devalued the official rate to 3.9, much closer to the black market equivalent.

Some 17 billion dinars have been raised since then, with hard currency allocated for import credit letters now issued without delays, Issawi said. The forex fee has helped the government forecast a budget in the black for 2019.

Despite the narrowing spread between the two rates, the black market continues to thrive. Dozens of traders remained at their favorite spot behind the central bank headquarters in Tripoli when Reuters reporters visited it last week.

But traders said it could take time for the Serraj government to register the extra forex receipts as official banking channels were taking up to six months to approve import financing, keeping the black market in play for dealers.

Issawi said authorities planned to lower the forex fee from 183 percent, without saying when. The black market rate has dropped from 6 to around 4.1 since September but it has hardly moved of late as demand for black market cash remains high.

The Tripoli government has stopped subsidizing food and bread, which used to be cheaper than drinking water in Libya. Wheat imports are now being arranged by private traders and there are surplus stocks of flour at the moment, Issawi said.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing in Tripoli with additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., threatened possible jail time for White House officials refusing to comply with subpoenas to testify before the House Oversight Committee.

Connolly, a member of the House panel, made his comments during an interview on CNN on Thursday. He said that “if a subpoena is issued and you’re told you must testify, we will back that up.”

He added: “And we will use any and all power in our command to make sure it’s backed up — whether that’s a contempt citation, whether that’s going to court and getting that citation enforced, whether it’s fines, whether it’s possible incarceration.”

“We will go to the max to enforce the constitutional role of the legislative branch of government.”

His comments came after three officials have refused to comply with congressional requests to testify, CNN noted.

Trump told The Washington Post that his staff should not testify on Capitol Hill, explaining that the White House cooperated fully with special counsel Robert Mueller and “there is no reason to go any further, especially in Congress where it’s very partisan.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

“Outdated laws” need fixing to deal with the surge in illegal immigrant families crossing the U.S. border with Mexico, a top Border Patrol official said Friday.

Migrant families face no consequences if apprehended trying to cross the border illegally under present law, Border Patrol chief of Operations Brian Hastings claimed during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

“We need a change in the current outdated laws that we’re dealing with for this current demographic and this crisis that we have,” he said.

Hastings said as of Thursday there have been 440,000 apprehensions along the southwest border. There were 396,000 apprehensions all of last year.

SOUTHERN BORDER AT ‘BREAKING POINT’ AFTER MORE THAN 76,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TRIED CROSSING IN FEBRUARY, OFFICIALS SAY

And those numbers continue to rise, he said.

Historically 70 to 90 percent of apprehensions at the border were quickly returned to Mexico, Hastings said.

Now, 83 percent of those apprehended have come from the Central American northern triangle which includes Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, and of those 63 percent are “family units” and children who cannot be returned, he said.

“There are no consequences that we can apply to this group currently,” Hastings said. “We’re overwhelmed. If you look at agents there doing a tremendous job trying to deal with the flow.”

The law dictates children have to be released after 20 days of detention.

FLORIDA SHERIFF ON BORDER CRISIS AFTER MAJOR DRUG BUST: ‘IT MAKES ME ABSOLUTELY CRAZY’

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says that has forced immigration officials to release entire families because “you don’t want to separate families.”

Recently, he said he is drafting legislation that would allow children to be detained for more than 20 days.

Hastings said agents are frustrated with the situation but are doing the best they can with the resources they have.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Up to 40 percent of our agents are processing at any given time,” he said. “That should say that in and of itself is pulling from those border security resources.”

Source: Fox News National

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist