BY: Mary Lou Lang Follow
@MaryLouByrd12

January 25, 2019 6:36 pm

The Texas secretary of state issued on Friday afternoon the results of a year-long evaluation that showed 95,000 non-U.S. citizens are registered to vote in the state and approximately 58,000 of them voted in one or more elections.

Texas Secretary of State David Whitley indicated the individuals were found over the past year by his office and the Texas Department of Public Safety in an evaluation of the voter registration rolls.

Whitley issued an advisory to county voter registrars on Friday about voter registration list maintenance activities including identifying non-U.S. citizens who are registered to vote in the state.

If a person votes in an election knowing he or she is not eligible to vote it is a second-degree felony in Texas.

“Integrity and efficiency of elections in Texas require accuracy of our state’s voter rolls, and my office is committed to using all available tools under the law to maintain an accurate list of registered voters. Our agency has provided extensive training opportunities to county voter registrars so that they can properly perform list maintenance activities in accordance with federal and state law, which affords every registered voter the chance to submit proof of eligibility,” said Whitley.

“I would like to thank the Department of Public Safety for providing us with this valuable information so that we can continue to guarantee the right to vote for all eligible Texas voters, who should not have their voices muted by those who abuse the system,” Whitley said.

Whitley’s office provided the data to the attorney general’s office, who vowed he would investigate and prosecute illegal voting activity.

“Every single instance of illegal voting threatens democracy in our state and deprives individual Texans of their voice. We’re honored to have partnered with the Texas Secretary of State’s office in the past on voter initiatives and we will spare no effort in assisting with these troubling cases,” said Attorney General Ken Paxton.

“Nothing is more vital to preserving our Constitution than the integrity of our voting process, and my office will do everything within its abilities to solidify trust in every election in the state of Texas. I applaud Secretary of State Whitley for his proactive work in safeguarding our elections,” said Paxton.

Texas law allows lawfully present noncitizens to obtain driver’s licenses by showing proof of lawful presence to the Department of Public Safety, however, only citizens are eligible to vote. Currently, state law does not require verification of a voter’s statement that a person is a citizen.

From 2005-2017, the attorney general’s office prosecuted 97 defendants for numerous voter fraud violations. In 2018, 33 defendants were prosecuted for election fraud.

Venezuela is a country driven to poverty by a socialist regime that has increasingly embraced dictatorial polices. The President/dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, has helped drive the nation into a humanitarian and economic crisis that now features an inflation rate of over 1 million percent and citizens starving to the point of resorting to eating dogs, cats, and zoo animals.

In May, Maduro was elected to his second six-year term — an election that many say was illegitimate due to electoral fraud and boycotts by Maduro’s opposition, as TIME reports. Now, the leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, 35, has claimed he is the rightful leader of Venezuela.

Guaidó is a one-term lawmaker in an opposition party that controls the legislature, which is recognized by most countries despite Maduro stripping away the powers of the legislature in 2017. Guaidó has condemned Maduro’s election as rigged and vowed to be the head of state until new and fair elections can be held, citing a constitutional amendment that gives the authority to the head of the legislature to take control when there is a “vacuum of power.”

The Venezuelan game of thrones has sparked protests nationwide and has captured the world’s attention. Here are five things you need to know:

1. People have died during protests against Maduro.

Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators have taken to the street in cities across the country to support Guaidó. “It will fall, this government will fall,” protesters chanted, the New York Times reports.

According to CNN, at least 20 Venezuelans have died in violence related to the protests, including some who were shot to death by security forces or pro-government groups.

Guaidó has announced another rally for next week. “The people who think that we are going to fizzle, I think they are not going to be happy,” he said. “There are people here in the streets for a long time.” If he were to be kidnapped, he urged his supporters to “continue on the path and move forward in a nonviolent manner,” the Times reports.

2. The military is on Maduro’s side.

Following Guaidó announcing his right to be the head of state, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, head of the armed forces, proclaimed his loyalty to Maduro. López insists that the effort to take away Maduro’s authority is a coup, the Times reports. The armed forces are “here to avoid a clash between Venezuelans,” he warned. “It’s not a civil war, a war among brothers, that will resolve Venezuelans’ problems.” Guaidó’s claim to power, he said, is “laughable.”

The Supreme Court likewise remains loyal to Maduro, declaring it would not recognize the National Assembly’s motion and making clear it would depose Guaidó, the Washington Post reports.

In a speech Friday reported by CNN, Guaidó called for Venezuela’s armed forces to “come to the side of the Venezuelan people.” But he says that he is open to dialogue with the other side. “We believe that it’s only possible through dialogue and diplomacy to find solutions to conflicts,” the opposition leader said. “Not through violence or foreign interventions or coup attempts or war.”

3. The U.S. is backing the national assembly president.

On Wednesday, the United States formally recognized Guaidó as the leader of Venezuela. The announcement came after Guaidó deemed himself the head of state. The U.S. declared Maduro’s election illegitimate while offering $20 million in humanitarian aid. Several other countries in the Western Hemisphere have recognized Guaidó’s claim, including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Guatemala.

In response, Maduro ordered U.S. diplomats to leave the country within 72 hours, but the State Department initially refused, claiming Maduro did not have the authority to make the order. But amid safety concerns, non-emergency U.S. diplomatic staff were instructed to leave the country.

The U.S. “is trying to mount a coup and install a puppet government [to protect] its interests in Venezuela,” he alleged, vowing that he won’t allow the country “to go back to the gringo intervention of the 20th century.”

4. Russia is warning the U.S. not to intervene.

While President Trump has used diplomatic and economic power to put pressure on the Maduro regime, Russia, an ally of Venezuela’s, has announced their opposition to any possible foreign intervention.

President Vladimir V. Putin’s spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov condemned external intervention as “very dangerous,” asserting, “We consider the attempt to usurp the top power in Venezuela as going against the foundations and principles of the international law.”

When asked about possible U.S. military intervention, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov echoed Peskov’s statement. “We consider that would be a catastrophic scenario that would shake the foundations of the development model which we see in Latin America,” Ryabkov said.

In August of 2017, Trump threatened “military action” against Venezuela, calling the country a “mess.”

“This is our neighbor,” Trump said, as reported by the Miami Herald. “We’re all over the world and we have troops all over the world that are very, very far away. Venezuela is not far away and the people are suffering. And they’re dying.”

5. U.S. lawmakers have varying opinions.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has been a vocal opponent of the Maduro regime and on Friday warned, “If something were to happen to [Guaidó] or, God forbid, to our diplomats or members of the national assembly, or the general public who’s peacefully protesting, there is going to be swift and immediate and significant consequences.” In the past, Rubio asserted there was a “very strong argument” for military intervention in Venezuela, Bloomberg reports.

On Friday, freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) criticized the Trump administration for supporting Maduro’s opposition.

“We cannot hand pick leaders for other countries on behalf of multinational corporate interests,” Omar tweeted. “ The legislature cannot seize power from the President, and Venezuela’s Supreme Court has declared their actions unconstitutional.”

In another tweet, Omar added: “We can’t afford to get involved in costly interventions abroad when tens of millions struggle to access housing, healthcare, and clear water right here at home. U.S. meddling abroad always ends badly for us, and the people we claim to be ‘liberating.’” Omar concluded, “If we really want to support the Venezuelan people, we can lift the economic sanctions that are inflicting suffering on innocent families, making it harder for them to access food and medicines, and deepening the economic crisis.”

A plurality of conservatives wanted President Trump to stick to his “America First” immigration plan and not reopen the federal government without securing at least some amount of border wall funding, a new poll finds.

The latest Harvard/Harris Poll found that a slight plurality, about 43 percent, of conservative voters said they would view Trump less favorably if he reopened the federal government without securing any border wall funding, as he announced he will do on Friday.

Nearly 40 percent of Republican voters and 38 percent of Trump supporters said they would find the president “less favorable” for reopening the federal government without securing the funds to build a wall on the southern border to stop mass illegal immigration.

Republicans, Trump supporters, and conservatives are largely split on the issue. A plurality of Republicans and Trump supporters said the reopening of the government without wall funding would have no impact on their views towards Trump.

A small minority of those voters said they would be more favorable towards Trump for reopening the government without securing wall funding.

Border crossings in November 2018 — the last month from which data is available — hit close to 52,000, marking the highest level of illegal immigration in the month of November since 2006. Projections indicate that illegal immigration for next year will reach 600,000 border crossings, the highest level of illegal immigration in more than a decade.

Meanwhile, drug overdoses in 2017 killed an unprecedented 72,287 U.S. residents, nearly three times the number of individuals killed by global terrorism. Nearly 50,000 of those deadly overdoses were caused by either heroin or fentanyl.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder. 

At least 30,000 illegal border crossings are expected to occur as President Trump signs off on a bill to reopen the federal government until February 15 without securing any funding for his proposed United States-Mexico border wall.

On Friday, Trump announced in a Rose Garden speech at the White House that he would sign a temporary funding bill to reopen the federal government until February 15. The funding measure does not include any additional funds for a southern border wall to be constructed, though the president said a conference of Republican and Democrat lawmakers will negotiate a border security package for the time being.

Between January 25 and February 15, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) illegal border crossings indicate that there could be at least 30,000 border crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border. This accounts for the roughly 1,300 crossings that occur every day at the border.

This is equivalent to about a caravan of Central American and Mexican migrants crossing the border every day for the next 22 days.

This estimate could be upwards of  44,000 illegal border crossings for the next few weeks if there are about 2,000 crossings a day, as there were in November 2018, the last month for which DHS has released total border crossings data. Federal immigration officials have said only about half of illegal aliens who cross the southern border are caught.

Most recently in Arizona’s Yuma Sector, a group of more than 110 illegal aliens scaled a border fence and crossed onto the U.S. side of the border. The group was assisted by a human smuggler.

On Monday #CBP #YumaSector Border Patrol agents apprehended a group of 110+ Central Americans who illegally scaled the wall with the assistance of a smuggler with a ladder #NationalSecurity #SouthwestBorder pic.twitter.com/T19JzI3xeC

— CBP Arizona (@CBPArizona) January 23, 2019

Border apprehension data from last month reveal that the number of adults traveling to the southern border with children has skyrocketed by 280 percent compared to the same time last year.

“Fiscal Year 2018 was a record year [for family unit crossings] and this year will surpass that if the current trend continues without any legislative fixes,” the DHS release states. 

Illegal immigration at the border, for December 2018, has increased 81 percent compared to this same month the year before. Additionally, there were about 22,000 illegal alien minors who crossed the southern border last month. 

As Breitbart News’s Bob Price has chronicled, there have already been about 53 large groups of illegal aliens crossing the southern border since October 2018. This amounted to the apprehension of about 9,000 border crossers. More than 96 percent of these illegal aliens traveled with children across the border.

The day after Trump visited the southern border this month, U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended a total of 771 border crossers, a daily record.

Trump has not ruled out declaring a national emergency at the southern border, though officials said he would only declare an emergency if a deal is not struck after the deadline of February 15. White House adviser Jared Kushner and some Republican lawmakers have lobbied the president not to declare a national emergency.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.

Friday on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” political operative Roger Stone, a former adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election effort, talked about the hardships he had faced while under the scrutiny of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Department of Justice probe.

Despite the pressure that Stone is facing, he vowed not to “bear false witness” against President Donald Trump through the ordeal.

“Here is the most important thing, Tucker: No matter how much pressure they put on me, no matter what they say — I will not bear false witness against Donald Trump,” Stone said. “I will not do what Michael Cohen has done, and make up lies to ease the pressure on myself. My God, a great wife, and my family see me through this.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

While the establishment media has been racing to cover themselves over their push to cast the Covington Catholic teens as bad guys, President Donald Trump’s administration has been busy doing more work related to immigration policy. And this move will give establishment media the vapors.

As a means of handling the surge of asylum seekers, the Trump administration has announced that illegal aliens who are seeking asylum will have to wait for a decision on their case in Mexico, not the United States, reported NBC News. The move comes in response to a federal court ruling that the outright denial of asylum to illegal aliens had to be halted.

Mexico has agreed to give humanitarian aid to the asylum seekers who are caught illegally entering the United States and sent back across the border to await their hearing. Exceptions to this removal from the U.S. include unaccompanied minors, illegal aliens who appear to be ill, and other “vulnerable populations,” wrote NCB News in another report.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen had explained the policy move in December, which begins on January 25, 2019. She made it clear that the Migration Protection Protocols policy was designed to benefit both the United States and the foreign nationals who are in true need of asylum.

“Today we are announcing historic measures to bring the illegal immigration crisis under control. We will confront this crisis head on, uphold the rule of law, and strengthen our humanitarian commitments,” she said.

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“Aliens trying to game the system to get into our country illegally will no longer be able to disappear into the United States, where many skip their court dates,” Nielsen said. “Instead, they will wait for an immigration court decision while they are in Mexico.”

Nielsen added that “‘Catch and release’ will be replaced with ‘catch and return.’ In doing so, we will reduce illegal migration by removing one of the key incentives that encourages people from taking the dangerous journey to the United States in the first place. This will also allow us to focus more attention on those who are actually fleeing persecution.”

Nielsen had previously explained how the immigration system had been gamed with fraudulent claims of asylum, wrote the Washington Examiner. She said that only an estimated 20 percent of the claims made were legitimate.

“The way the system works right now the threshold under law is so low that about 80 percent pass that initial interview, but only 20 percent are granted asylum by a judge, which tells us that 80 percent of that is either just a flat-out fraud or somebody who thinks they can come here because they want a job here. That’s not asylum,” Nielsen said on The Ingraham Angle.

She added, “Or ‘I want to reunify with my family.’ That’s not asylum. ‘I just want to come to the United States’ — not asylum. We have legal ways to do that, but it’s not through asylum.”

Currently, the wait for a hearing date can take months or even years due to the extreme backlog of 800,000 immigration cases, wrote NBC News. The partial government shutdown may add to the backlog because immigration judges have been furloughed along with many other federal employees.

The Department of Homeland Security has requested that the DOJ expedite the cases of those who have been sent to Mexico to await their hearings. The goal is to ensure that none of them have to wait longer than one year.

Tougher border security measures pushed by the Trump administration appear to address some key immigration problems. A better barrier helps to reduce the flow of illegal entry, as well as the incentive to attempt it.

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As the incentive is reduced, so is the number of cases being heard in immigration courts. This then lessens the wait time for legitimate asylum seekers.

If Democrats truly care about the welfare of asylum seekers, this plan is one that should be supported in order to help them get through the process more quickly. If they truly care, the faster they end the shutdown and fund all those things necessary to benefit the asylum seekers, the better.

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Democrats have a bunch of candidates eager to take on Donald Trump. So many in fact that there’s some concern the vote will be too spread out to reflect a clear early winner during the primaries. If that happens, the remaining candidates will begin fighting tooth-and-nail and, possibly, causing real damage to one another.

“Free for all,” “Thunderdome,” and “Lord of the Flies” are among the analogies…

If several candidates run deep into the race, the competition for cash and delegates could turn brutal, according to Jeff Berman, who devised delegate strategies for Barack Obama in 2008 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 and helped rewrite the party’s nominating rules.

“It could be like ‘Lord of the Flies,’” Berman said.

The likelihood of that happening in the 2020 election is greater than it was in the 2016 election because of a change Democrats made to the way superdelegate votes are counted:

Under the new rules, the universe of delegates has been changed to exclude the superdelegates unless no candidate wins a majority of the delegates on the first ballot at the national convention. Candidates still win regular delegates based on their proportion of the vote in congressional districts and across states (with the exception of a handful of states that use state legislative districts rather than congressional districts for boundaries).

You may recall that in 2016 there were a lot of complaints that superdelegates were effectively handing Clinton a win even though she didn’t seem to have as much enthusiasm (certainly young people’s enthusiasm) as Bernie Sanders. So the plan was to limit the influence of the superdelegates by preventing their early endorsements from shaping the outcome. But that could backfire if the result is that two or more candidates make it through the primaries with the backing of different factions within the party. That might put the superdelegates in the position of choosing the winner. Obviously, whoever they choose will agree with the outcome, but supporters of the person or people they don’t choose probably won’t feel as good about the selection.

“With up to 15 or 20 viable candidates, there is a real chance no one gets a majority on the first ballot — or, worse, that three or four candidates could make the case that they should be the nominee,” said Chris Kofinis, a longtime Democratic strategist and public opinion researcher. “In that case, it’s Thunderdome politics at its worst, with superdelegates playing king- or queen-maker.”

Another Democratic strategist, Scott Mulhauser, tells NBC News, “This is a free-for-all like the Democratic Party, and perhaps national politics, has never seen.”  Of course that’s all just a possibility at this point. It’s also possible Democrats will quickly settle on a single, strong candidate and intra-party squabbles will be kept to a minimum…

Okay, are you laughing at that thought? So am I. It seems much more likely that the divide between Clinton and Sanders supporters, which has never gone away, will be even more obvious this time around. Kamala Harris seems to have the backing of the Clinton machine but she’s already disliked by a lot of far-left people in the party. So expect someone to make a solid run to her left. Maybe that’s Elizabeth Warren or Beto or someone else. But this is not likely to be a kind-and-gentle primary.