In our estimation the bottom line reason for the secrecy is simple. There are few, very few, unaccompanied children. If reporters actually went to the facilities -which only house people for 30 to 35 days average- they would find families, and/or women with children, not unaccompanied alien minors.
The administration wants to keep up the ruse of tens of thousands of poor innocent children. That false impression is what gives the administration public support and simultaneously keeps their opponents from undermining them. That’s why Glenn Beck and Dana Loesch were so stupid in the teddy bears and footballs tour. They gave credibility to the false claims, undermined opposition to the illegal influx and as a direct consequence, undermined the rule of law.
WASHINGTON DC – The Obama administration is concealing key details about its response to the surge of unaccompanied children illegally crossing the southern border, including where the unaccompanied minors are being sheltered and the circumstances under which some are set free inside the U.S.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill say the lack of information has handicapped their push to pass legislation to gain a handle on the surge — a debate taking place this week in both chambers. (more…)
Tornillo Land Co. owns the plot outlined in the application @15.6 acres.
The proposal was to build a complex on 15 acres located in/around Clint, Texas. Here’s the general media outline(s): (our research will follow)
This is the first Associated Press mention of the facility – CLINT, Texas (AP) — Authorities are considering a bid to build a shelter in West Texas that would be the largest in the U.S. to hold unaccompanied children who enter the country illegally.
A number of sites in Texas and elsewhere are being considered as detention facilities for many of the more than 57,000 unaccompanied children who have entered the U.S. since October.
But with 3,500 beds, the proposed Abraham Lincoln Transitional Lodge southeast of El Paso would be far larger than other centers. A temporary processing facility in McAllen holds about 1,000 children.
The lodge’s marketing director, Charles McGuire, tells the Houston Chronicle (http://bit.ly/1AmXUMR ) that the principal backers of the bid previously have invested in housing for oil workers in Texas.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is reviewing the proposal (read more)
(Reuters) – Militant fighters overran a Libyan special forces base in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday after a battle involving rockets and warplanes that killed at least 30 people.
A special forces officer said they had to abandon their main camp in the southeast of Benghazi after coming under sustained attack from a coalition of Islamist fighters and former rebel militias in the city.
“We have withdrawn from the army base after heavy shelling,” Saiqa Special Forces officer Fadel Al-Hassi told Reuters.
A separate special forces spokesman confirmed the militants had taken over the camp after the troops pulled out. Part of the area is Camp 36 in the Bu Attni district and the special forces school. (more…)
TURKEY – Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister has said women should not laugh out loud in public and urged them to stop talking about ‘unnecessary’ things on the phone.
Bülent Arınç also complained about ‘moral corruption’ by television programmes which he claims are transforming teenagers from ‘symbols of chastity’ into ‘sex addicts’.
Speaking at an Eid el-Fitr – breaking of the fast – event in the northwestern city of Bursa, he claimed Turks had ‘abandoned their values’ and pleaded people to rediscover the Koran.
Describing his ideal chaste man or woman, Arnic said they should both have a sense of shame and honour. (more…)
(Via Daily Signal) Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina says $2 billion in federal aid and other U.S. investment in Central America could help end the flood of immigrants across the U.S. southern border.
But it’s a fool’s game, says the leader of a charity serving immigrants from Honduras.
“I think giving money to these governments is a serious mistake,” said Francisco Portillo, president of the Honduran Francisco Morazan Integrated Organization in Miami. “Corruption in our country [Honduras] is huge, no limits. And the money they are talking about is coming from our taxes.”
Giving money to Central American governments in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador is basically the same as throwing it away, he said. (more…)
A really odd dynamic surfaces yet again in the realm of the Obama administration’s remarkable list of “firsts”. President Obama has become the first U.S. administration ever to factually side with radical islamists – like al-Qaeda, ISIS, The Muslim Brotherhood and HAMAS – over the more moderate Arab nations like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Even the Palestinian Authority, yes the Palestinian Authority, was shocked by the Obama/Kerry proposal for Gaza.
For years some people have claimed the Muslim Brotherhood actually has serious influence inside the White House. Given jaw dropping recent events it seems almost impossible now to refute such a proposition.
(Via Newsweek) American diplomacy in the Middle East in recent days may have failed to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, but it has managed to reposition the United States on an unfamiliar side of the region’s complex web of alliances.
Israelis believe US Secretary of State John Kerry’s week-long ceasefire negotiations has firmly placed the US in the camp of Qatar and Turkey, both of which back the militant government of Hamas, while it has sidelined its traditional allies. (more…)
There was, and for many still is, a considerable amount of Stockholm Syndrome type anxiety amid the general population of Israel when it comes to decisions to mount defensive strategies using offensive engagements.
However, even the most dovish of the Israeli population recognized the inherent risk when the IDF began publically exposing the size, scope and intents of the Gaza Tunnels:
With thirty tunnels found and almost seventy entrances it is now apparent that there was a “second Gaza” under the ground – complete with weapons stocks and everything needed for a combined attack on Israel.
Some of the tunnels had storage facilities with IDF-issued uniforms, helmets and shoes, as well as syringes with tranquilizers and handcuffs, ready for kidnapping Israeli citizens and taking them into Gaza.
Some people have asked me how come Israel never saw these tunnels which have exits inside Israeli territory. The answer is that the tunnels are not fully dug. They leave the last 3-6 feet of dirt intact so that there would be no outward sign of a tunnel being there.
The Hamas plan, it now turns out, was to simultaneously dig out of those tunnels the last 3-6 feet and then attack Israel from 30 or 40 tunnels simultaneously, using hundred if not thousands of Hamas terrorists, some dressed as IDF personnel. Such a massive wave of attack, combined with a barrage of rocket fire, could have had a devastating effect on Israel – had it not been for Operation Protective Edge.
Even the doves within Israel recognized they could not simply attempt defense any longer. Consequently the internal support for the Netanyahu and IDF response has been overwhelming. Hamas must be left without the potential to create such a network again. Against this reality Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to his nation: (more…)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama administration officials were fuming Monday over a torrent of Israeli criticism of Secretary of State John Kerry’s latest bid to secure a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
In unusually harsh language, officials said the criticism of Kerry could put the relationship between the U.S. and Israel in jeopardy. They also said the personal attacks on Kerry crossed a line and were particularly disappointing at a time of active conflict.
Israeli media commentators have leveled almost nonstop criticism at Kerry in recent days over his attempts to bring Qatar and Turkey — two countries viewed by Israel as strong Hamas supporters — into the cease-fire negotiations. Kerry was also being accused of abandoning some of Israel’s key demands during the negotiations. (more…)