'Biden now says border isn’t secure, believes ‘massive changes’ needed: ‘I’m ready to act’'

 Tell us something we don’t know, Joe.

President Biden told reporters Friday that the US-Mexico border is not secure — contradicting Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — after endorsing “massive changes” in immigration policy.

“No, it’s not,” Biden said when asked whether the frontier was secure following remarks to a bipartisan group of mayors in the White House East Room.

During his speech, the 81-year-old Biden said he hoped for Senate negotiators to announce a compromise next week on border policy as part of a broader $106 billion supplemental spending request that would also finance military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

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President Biden told reporters Friday that the US-Mexico border is not secure.Getty Images

“I believe we need significant policy changes at the border, including changes in our asylum system to ensure that we have the authorities we need to control the border. I’m ready to act,” the president said.

“Now the question is for the [House] Speaker [Mike Johnson] and the House Republicans: Are they ready to act as well?” Biden added.

“They have to choose whether they want to solve a problem or keep weaponizing the issue to score political points against the president. I’m ready to solve the problem. I really am,” he added. “Massive changes, and I mean it sincerely.”

It’s unclear what asylum policy changes could be palatable to all three of the White House, Senate Democrats and House Republicans.

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“We need significant policy changes at the border,” Biden said.Getty Images

Current administration policy allows nearly all migrants who illegally cross the border to enter the US to await backlogged asylum proceedings, entitling them to work permits after an initial wait period.

Soon after taking office in 2021, Biden ended former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which required most asylum seekers to await their case rulings while remaining south of the border.

Mayorkas, whose Department of Homeland Security administers border policy, outraged Republicans in the spring of last year by repeatedly claiming “the border is secure” as record numbers of foreigners crossed illegally.

Despite apparently disavowing Mayorkas’ claims, Biden defended his DHS chief when asked about House Republican efforts to impeach and remove him, telling reporters Friday that “I don’t get it.”

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Soon after taking office in 2021, Biden ended former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy.Getty Images

Biden expressed willingness to get tough on illegal immigration as polls show dismal approval ratings for his handling of the migrant crisis after December saw an all-time high in illegal crossings, capping a record-breaking calendar year.

“I love how I turned on [TV] and, ‘Biden is for a free and open border, just tear down everything — everybody come, no restrictions,'” the president sarcastically remarked during his speech.

Biden also defended his record, including by citing reform legislation he sent Congress in 2021 that would legalize most migrants currently in the US illegally, as well as noting an October request for more border security funds after fiscal year 2023, which ended Sept. 30, also saw an all-time record for unlawful crossings.

https://nypost.com/2024/01/19/news/biden-admits-border-isnt-secure-says-massive-changes-needed/

US travelers outraged by airport signs appearing to allow migrants onto flights without ID

 American travelers are outraged by signs appearing at US airports appearing to allow migrants onto flights without showing proper identification.

US citizens traveling domestically have to show a valid identification card or a passport to board a plane, but signs at certain airports say there are different rules for some newly arrived migrants.

The signs claim the Transport Security Administration is working with Customs and Border Protection to “validate adult non-US citizen travel documentation when the traveler does not otherwise have an acceptable form of identification.”

In practice, this means migrants who have entered the country using the CBP One app – some 45,000 people a month – can use it as their travel document and even choose whether to allow officers to take their picture.

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American travelers are outraged by signs appearing at airports appearing to allow migrants onto flights without showing proper identification.AFP via Getty Images

Retired CBP Chief Patrol Agent Chris Clem told The Post this presents bad optics.

“I’m an American citizen and I’m quite offended that these migrants that have come in here are getting preferential treatment and being prioritized in so many ways,” he said.

“The rest of us are paying the price at gas pump and grocery stores. Tax is going up. Yet [the US is] continuing to bring masses of people [in].”

“[The Administration’s mentality is] to try and make it the most humane and pleasurable experience for these poor people under distress because it is such a tough ordeal to navigate an American airport…but you’ve gotta be kidding me, many of them just came from Middle East, traversed seven countries, used apps to get here, and we’re supposed to believe Phoenix Airport might be all to much for them …ridiculous!”

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Passengers queue up at Denver International Airport.AP

Those who enter the country via the CBP One app have to give biometric information such as fingerprints and be photographed when they are interviewed at the border before being admitted to the US.

However, Clem says authorities still only have basic information about individuals at that point, and asks how authorities can be sure people are who they claim to be if they arrived at the border with no passport or ID card.

“We’re basing it all off what this person is telling us and a minimum system of information,” he said.

“Do we really know who they are? Did they use the app or did a smuggler do it all for them?

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US citizens traveling domestically have to show a valid identification card or a passport to board a plane.Getty Images

“If you’re a known criminal, the likelihood of you giving the same name when coming into another country is pretty low unless you’re a dumb criminal.

“There are so many questions we don’t have answers to be concerned about.”

Numerous reporters at the border have posted pictures of ID cards, passports and visas for travel through countries discarded at the border, often by people who do not want their real identification known to US authorities.

The TSA, CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not respond to questions from The Post.

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People wait for their relatives outside the Guatemala City airport.REUTERS

CBP has stressed those who have entered the country are vetted using biographic and biometric information, and those who are paroled have already provided a photograph, Fox News reports.

The sign which described the separate process for migrants also noted the vetting scheme was still a pilot and being tested, rather than a permanent fixture.

Last month, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas seeking more information about the screening of migrants who have crossed the border via the CBP One app who them went on to board flights.

“While Americans must present an acceptable form of identification to fly, or at least have their identities confirmed, TSA is permitting illegal aliens without ID to opt for an alternate identity verification process utilizing the…’CBP One’ app,” Cruz wrote in the letter, saying the process “takes illegal aliens at their word” on certain data and allows them to obtain DHS documents and fly out of airports.

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CBP has stressed those who have entered the country are vetted using biographic and biometric information.AP

“In effect, TSA is applying one standard for verifying the identities of American citizens, and another, weaker standard for ‘verifying’ the identities of illegal aliens. This is alarming.”

Cruz, the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, also pointed out migrants who do not have a passport or verifiable form of identification may also be inadvertently legitimized by the system, if fake names and dates of birth are accepted by CBP then printed onto government issued ID cards.

“TSA may use his unverified name and date of birth in CBP One to verify his identity, even though the person may in fact be a terrorist or other criminal traveling under a fake identity,” he wrote.

https://nypost.com/2024/01/19/news/are-migrants-allowed-to-board-us-flights-without-id/

Fire in Panama's largest landfill blows toxic smoke over capital

 A large blaze at a garbage dump outside Panama City blew a toxic smoke in the country's capital on Friday, forcing evacuations as firefighters battled to put out the flames that authorities said were likely caused by arson the night before.

Firefighers told a press conference that the garbage dump known as Cerro Patacon, the largest in the country, had between 6 and 8 hectares (15-20 acres) its more than 130 (321 acres) affected by the fire.

"Everything points to the fire being started deliberately," firefighter chief Ernesto de Leon told a press conference.

Health Minister Luis Francisco Sucre told reporters evacuations were being effected to protect residents from the flames and toxic gases. Health centers were also set up to treat cases of visual irritation and respiratory problems, he added.

Sucre advised vulnerable people in affected areas to move or to use air conditioning and face masks.

Videos on social media showed a helicopter flying above the thick gray smoke spraying down water as birds scatter overhead.

Citing the fire department's Lieutenant Angel Delgado, local outlet La Prensa reported that some $350,000 had been spent on the disaster, though the figure could soon exceed half a million.

Since 6 a.m. some 7,360 gallons (around 28,000 liters) of water have been sprayed over the area, authorities told reporters, saying some 60% of the blaze was controlled and this could reach 90% by Saturday.

President Laurentino Cortizo said on X that an action plan had been activated "from the moment the fire broke out."

Though authorities had been evicting the around 75 families that live in the immediate area since Thursday night, outlet La Prensa said, many had refused to leave their often makeshift homes.

According to local media at least 15 fires broke out at Cerro Patacon over 2023.

https://news.yahoo.com/fire-panamas-largest-landfill-blows-223738923.html

US court accepts $20.8 bln in claims against Venezuela in Citgo auction

 A U.S. court on Friday approved claims by 17 Venezuela-linked creditors, including ConocoPhillips, Rusoro Mining and Koch Industries, to get proceeds from a coming auction of shares in the parent of Venezuela-owned oil refiner Citgo Petroleum to satisfy claims for expropriations and debt defaults.

The list, which reduced the scope of the claims to $20.8 billion from the $24 billion sought by creditors, comes after a court officer excluded arbitration awards and court rulings that had failed to satisfy the court's requirements on time.

Creditors have flocked to a U.S. court in Delaware to press claims that are almost double Citgo's $11 billion to $13 billion value. The Houston-based refiner operates an 807,000-barrel-per-day refining network, 38 terminals, six pipelines and supplies 4,200 independent retailers.

First bids for the shares are due on Monday with a second bidding round to come later this year. A final decision on the winners is still months away, with awards requiring approval by the U.S. Treasury Department, which has protected Citgo from creditors since 2019.

A board supervising the refiner has been in payment negotiations with U.S. oil producer ConocoPhillips, Canadian miner Crystallex Corp and organized bondholders for over a year, but no settlements have been announced.

Citgo declined to comment on the court decision.

Friday's decision gives priority in payments to Canadian miner Crystallex, which brought the case, Tidewater, Conoco, O-I Glass, and Huntington Ingalls, the filing shows. Citgo has been valued in he past at between $11 billion and $13 billion.

The auction, which could lead to one of the largest court sales in U.S. history, was launched in October by U.S. Judge Leonard Stark after he received a green light from the U.S. Treasury.

Crystallex first introduced its $990-million claim against Venezuela in 2017, but U.S. sanctions on Venezuela prevented it from collecting.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-court-accepts-20-8-224018611.html