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International

Lawmakers call for changes at Secret Service after second assassination attempt

Published

3 weeks ago

6 minute read

From The Center Square

By 

“If Trump had a full USSS security detail following J13, the shooter at Mar-a-Lago wouldn’t have gone unnoticed for 12 hours”

U.S. lawmakers are calling for changes in how the U.S. Secret Service protects former President Donald Trump after a second assassination attempt Sunday.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was able to hide outside a golf course where Trump was golfing. Authorities say Routh pointed the barrel of an assault-style rifle through a chain-link fence toward the golf course, was spotted by an agent, who fired at Routh. The suspect was soon arrested after fleeing the scene.

Routh reportedly waited for 12 hours outside the golf course but was only spotted just in time, raising ongoing concerns about the Secret Service’s work and Trump’s safety.

“If Trump had a full USSS security detail following J13, the shooter at Mar-a-Lago wouldn’t have gone unnoticed for 12 hours,” U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, one of several lawmakers to call for an increase to Trump’s security detail.

The near-miss encounter comes just two months after Trump was nearly fatally shot July 13 in Butler County, Pennsylvania, when a shooter was able to get on a rooftop overlooking the former president’s position and fired several shots. Trump was grazed in his ear, one rally attendee was killed and two others were wounded. The Secret Service’s handling of that incident – from allowing the shooter to get a direct line of sight to the poor pre-planning to the nearly nonexistent communication with local officers – was widely criticized across the political spectrum and led to the resignation of the agency’s head.

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., called for Trump to receive the same protection as President Joe Biden, given the circumstances.

“While we are still awaiting more details about this horrific event, I am thankful that the perpetrator was unsuccessful and the Secret Service agent acted swiftly to ensure that the former president is safe,” Blackburn said in a statement. “But one thing is abundantly clear: within the span of a mere two months, there have been two assassination attempts against a major presidential candidate and former president in the United States of America. It is unfathomable and unacceptable that this incident occurred.”

A coalition of Senators sent a letter to Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe calling on him to allocate more resources to Trump.

Previous Trump requests for more security have reportedly been rejected.

Since Trump is not currently president, he does not receive as large of a team of agents as Biden. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told Congress after the first assassination attempt that Trump’s threat-level status would be increased.

Security experts have echoed that concern. Chris Ragone, owner of Virginia-based Executive Security Concepts who has worked with the Secret Service on presidential security in the past, told The Center Square that if a full presidential-level team of Secret Service agents had been assigned to Trump, they would have found the suspect much faster.

“If they were taking this threat serious… the entire perimeter should have been checked, and they would have found this guy,” Ragone told The Center Square. “You know, if he had parked his car 30 minutes before and got out, OK, but we now know that guy was there for 12 hours, which means there were no resources that checked that entire perimeter. And that’s always the first thing we do is check a perimeter and lock it down.

“I think it wasn’t noticed it because it was a manpower issue,” he added.

As The Center Square previously reported, President Joe Biden told reporters that the U.S. Secret Service “needs more help” though he failed to give specifics when asked.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called on Vice President Kamala Harris to support presidential-level security for Trump as well.

“Two attempted assassinations in 64 days, two failures by Secret Service for having woefully insufficient personnel,” Cruz said on his show, “The Verdict” Monday. “If President Trump wins in November, less than two months away, he will instantly get full presidential Secret Service protection on Election Day. Given that fact, and given the threats and the failures we have seen, the only reasonable and rational thing to do is assign President Trump right now, a full presidential detail that includes the perimeter coverage so that you can’t get a sniper that close, and if Joe Biden doesn’t do it, and by the way, if Kamala Harris had any sense at all, she would join in the call to do this.”

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Disaster

Aid pours into North Carolina; dozens still missing

Published on October 9, 2024

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From The Center Square

By 

Tragic stories continue to flow from western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene slamming the Appalachian Mountains nearly two weeks ago.

So, too, is the assistance. The General Assembly convenes Wednesday, with disaster assistance legislation expected to swiftly be passed.

Gov. Roy Cooper toured the area on Monday with Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Personnel are in the area from neighboring states, sent by other governors and the federal government.

The death toll is at least 230, according to published reports. The Asheville Citizen Times on Tuesday afternoon reported 62 missing persons cases are active in the Lake Lure and Chimney Rock communities.

Eight hurricanes since 1950 have killed 100 or more people. Helene is only eclipsed – so far – by Katrina (2005, deaths 1,392), Audrey (1957, deaths 416) and Camille (1969, deaths 256).

Cooper and Criswell, along with U.S. Northern Command Gen. Gregory Guillot and Dual Status Commander Brig. Gen. Wes Morrison, went through Lake Lure and Chimney Rock.

In a release, the state Department of Public Safety said 2,500 soldiers and airmen are in the area with about 500 more coming. The Joint Task Force-North Carolina, led by the state’s National Guard, is paired with armed forces from 12 states, two units from the 82nd Airborne out of Fort Liberty near Fayetteville; the 101st from Fort Campbell in Kentucky; and a number of civilian entities.

More than 6,100 National Guardsman are present, a release from White House said. The Biden administration said it has already supplied more than $137 million in assistance, and more is expected.

Cooper’s administration said more than $33 million in FEMA assistances to individuals had already been paid to more than 109,000 people. More than 2,100 are housed in hotels through FEMA transitional sheltering. Nineteen shelters are open, with an estimated 780 people and 95 pets.

The Department of Public Safety said more than 1,300 responders from 35 state and local agencies have executed 107 missions of response and recovery. Cooper said North Carolina has used 417 specialized vehicles and 26 aircraft to help in search, rescue and supply delivery.

“These communities are home to family-owned businesses and neighbors who are helping one another,” Cooper said. “We will continue to work with western North Carolina to respond and recover from this catastrophic storm.”

In addition to the government aid, scores of churches and other organizations have sent tractor-trailer loads of supplies.

Tuesday midday, there were 622 road closures because of Helene across the state. This includes three interstates, 50 federal highways, 51 state roads and 518 secondary roads.

Published reports say the grim findings have included corpses discovered as landslides are cleared. Swannanoa and Hot Springs are two communities reportedly “obliterated.” Chimney Rock, a popular tourist attraction, was also hard hit with rushing water through the main thoroughfare.

“It has been a long 11 days for the people of our mountains, and it’s reaching the point where folks are just tired,” U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., said in a release. “We will get through this.”

Many in the region remain without running water, electricity and even the ability to travel. Eighty-six water systems, Edwards said, are on a boil advisory; 15 treatment plants have no power; and 27 systems are out of water.

Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida the night of Sept. 26. Its remnants sped through Georgia and soaked the higher altitudes of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Helene had tropical storm force wins stretching 420 miles, larger than the state of Georgia.

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Daily Caller

Nearly One Million Foreign Nationals Flocked To US For Asylum In 2023, Shattering All-Time Record

Published on October 9, 2024

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

 

By Jason Hopkins

Nearly one million foreign nationals applied for asylum in the United States in fiscal year 2023, showcasing how dramatic the immigration crisis has become under the Biden-Harris administration, according to federal data.

There were a record-setting total of 945,370 asylum applications filed in fiscal year 2023, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Not only were these the highest numbers in recorded history, but the report confirmed how applications in both categories of asylum — affirmative and defensive — nearly doubled in one single year under the Biden-Harris administration.

Affirmative asylum applicants are largely defined as non-citizens who initiated their asylum application with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Foreign nationals who request asylum before an immigration judge during removal proceedings are considered defensive applicants — these applicants typically include illegal migrants and other non-citizens who are in violation of their status.

There were 456,750 affirmative asylum applications in 2023, the highest on record and nearly doubling from the 241,280 affirmative asylum case filings lodged the year before, according to DHS. In 2023, 488,620 defensive asylum applications were filed, the most ever recorded and almost doubling the 260,830 filed in 2022.

The DHS report also unveiled how initiatives championed under the Biden-Harris administration have resulted in explosive growth in asylum applications for certain nationalities.

There were less than 15,000 affirmative and defensive asylum applications lodged by Venezuelan nationals in fiscal year 2021, according to the report. That number skyrocketed to 173,190 in fiscal year 2023. Similar trends were also seen in Cuban, Nicaraguan and Haitian applicants during this same time frame.

These four nationality groups are included in the CHNV program, a parole initiative launched by the White House that has allowed hundreds of thousands of them to fly into the U.S. The CHNV program, which has been plagued with fraud, has so far paroled roughly half a million foreign nationals into the U.S. since it launched in January 2023, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The Biden-Harris administration has also helped streamline the asylum application process by expanding the role of the CBP One app, which allows foreign nationals to apply for asylum on a daily basis outside of the U.S.

Border Patrol agents have encountered more than seven million illegal migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border since the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration, according to the latest CBP data. While an executive order handed down earlier this year has recently dwindled the number of illegal entries along the southern border, the backlog of cases currently pending in immigration court rooms has already reached record levels, causing immense strain for federal immigration staffers attempting to process the crisis.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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