House committee demands answers from Mayorkas on catch-and-release policies

By BETHANY BLANKLEY THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) — The U.S. House Judiciary Committee is demanding that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas provide information about the department’s catch-and-release policy through which it’s released millions of foreign nationals into the country.

The policy has been struck down by a federal judge in a lawsuit brought by Florida, ruling it’s illegal.

Secretary Mayorkas has claimed that through the policy, “the vast majority” of those applying for asylum claiming “credible fear” passed an initial screening by federal agents. Those who claim credible fear say they’d be in imminent danger if they were forced to return to their home countries.

In an interview with CNN last month, Secretary Mayorkas said, “The vast majority of those individuals have not sought to evade law enforcement, but have actually surrendered themselves to law enforcement and made a claim for relief under our laws … And so they make their claims, and the initial threshold for those claims under the law is lower than the ultimate asylum standard.”

However, in a letter to Secretary Mayorkas, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, told Mr. Mayorkas, “DHS’s own data contradict your statements. Only a fraction of the illegal aliens DHS personnel apprehend receive a credible fear screening prior to being released into the country.”

According to federal data for last December, for example, more than 140,000 of the 172,116 Title 8 apprehensions resulted in individuals being released into the U.S., but only 5,001 were referred for credible fear screenings. A similar pattern is reported in other months.

“Because of contradictory data posted on various DHS websites, however, it is impossible to know the extent of DHS’s catch and release

Weather

Continued from Page A1 tree down across all lanes of State Route 192 between Cravens Lane and Ocean Oaks Road in the Carpinteria area, but it’s since reopened. The Carrillo onramp was closed on southbound Highway 101 in Santa Barbara due to another downed tree this morning. That has also reopened. email: kzehnder@newspress.com

“Our maintenance crews are patrolling our roads all day long, ready to respond to potential downed trees, slides and flooding,” Ms. Bertola said.

The News-Press went to press Tuesday night when the rain was expected to continue to fall across Santa Barbara County.

The forecast from the National Weather Service calls for a 90% chance of rain today in Santa Maria and Lompoc and an 80% chance in the Santa Barbara area. Lows in the county are expected to be around the mid-40s and the highs in the mid to upper 50s.

The forecast for Thursday in Santa Barbara is partly cloudy with a low of 45 and a high of 64 with a 10% chance of precipitation at night (early morning hours on Thursday) and 0% chance during the day.

In Lompoc, the forecast for Thursday is partly cloudy with a low of 48 degrees and a high of 59 degrees, with a 20% chance of rain at night (early Thursday morning) and a 0% chance during the day.

In Santa Maria, it will be partly cloudy with a low of 45 and a high of 58 degrees, with a 20% chance of precipitation at night (again that’s early Thursday morning) and 0% chance during the day.

The rains have benefitted local reservoirs. As of Tuesday, the Gibraltar capacity was at 100.8%, with its elevation at 14,000.17 feet. Lake Cachuma capacity was at 97% with elevation at 751.13 feet. Jameson capacity was at 100.5% with elevation at 2,224.20 feet.

Twitchell capacity was at 55.4% with elevation at 623 feet.

Bailouts

Continued from Page A1 doubt on those comments.

“The deposit insurance fund doesn’t have anywhere near enough liquidity to cover depositors,” E.J. Antoni, an economist at the Heritage Foundation, told The Center

USDA

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The professor said it is “unequivocal” that access to many USDA programs with funds has had a much lower participation rate involving minorities.

Antony Davies, an associate professor of economics at Duquesne University, said it policies,” Rep. Comer said. Instead of referring the majority who were released for credible fear screenings, Rep. Comer argues, Secretary Mayorkas’ “policy in most circumstances is to simply release illegal aliens into the country.”

The committee requested the Department of Homeland Security provide all documents and communications on how many people were released into the U.S. This includes how many were processed under Title 8 who claimed they planned to apply for asylum and how many were referred to a credible fear screening.

Among them, the committee asked for data on how many received a positive credible fear determination and how many were detained during their pending asylum applications, were paroled into the U.S., released with a notice to appear, released on recognizance, or released with instructions to report to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for further processing (notice to report). The committee also asked how many received a negative credible fear determination.

It also asked for documents and communications about how many were processed under Title 8 who didn’t claim asylum and how many of them were removed from the U.S., paroled into the U.S., released with a notice to appear, released on recognizance, or released with a notice to report.

The committee also asked for all documents and communications on how many were processed under Title 8 who were referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution for a violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326, which governs illegal entry and reentry into the U.S.

The request was made after more than 1.6 million people were apprehended or reported evading capture by law enforcement after illegally entering the U.S. this fiscal year to date. Despite Secretary Mayorkas claiming the border is closed and secure and CBP reports it’s making progress on less apprehensions being reported, the committee says it’s investigating “the Biden administration’s creation of and failure to resolve the worst border crisis in American history.”

U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell for the Northern District of Florida Pensacola Division ruled the Biden administration’s “catch-and-release” policy “effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speed bump for aliens flooding into the country by prioritizing ‘alternatives to detention’ over actual detention and by releasing more than a million aliens into the country – on ‘parole’ or pursuant to the exercise of ‘prosecutorial discretion’ under a wholly inapplicable statute – without even initiating removal proceedings.”

He also said the administration’s collective policies “were akin to posting a flashing ‘Come In, We’re Open’ sign on the southern border.”

STEKETEE, Jeremy Paul C.

It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Jeremy by his own hand on February 18, 2023.

Jeremy was born on March 22, 1980, in Santa Barbara, California to Paul Steketee and Donna Gingrich, where he joined older brother Joshua, and later a sister Jennifer joined the family. He lived his entire life in Santa Barbara. He did high jump at Dos Pueblos, setting a school record and going to the Easter Relays. He later returned to DP to coach high jump. He went on to study Geology at UCSB where he received the Department Field Award.

Jeremy was smart, funny, generous, thoughtful, kind and loving. He cared about people, animals and nature. He enjoyed disc golf, camping and backpacking. As a young child he would find heart-shaped leaves and rocks, taking them home to family as a token of his love, a habit he continued the rest of his life. He would often bring home a homeless person to feed them a hot home-cooked meal.

Jeremy is survived by his wife Marie and her daughters Jennifer and Suezzan, and grandkids. He is also survived by his children, Orion and Aurora and their mother, his mother Donna Steketee-Asten (Michael Asten), brother Josh and niece Sophie Steketee, sister Jen and niece Sara Aswad, as well as many aunts, uncles, and cousins. He was preceded in death by his father Paul, and grandparents, Marvin and Connie Steketee, and Donald and Barbara Gingrich.

Jeremy was an organ donor, and the family takes some solace in knowing that our tragic loss has provided miracles for other families.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you donate in his name to a Suicide Prevention or Mental Health Association.

Hug your loved ones and let them know how much they’re loved.

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Fast winds make palm trees lean Tuesday on Anacapa Street.

Square. “If it did, the Federal Reserve would not have had to announce an emergency lending fund to meet the demand for liquidity.”

There is also dispute over the term “bailout.”

“There is no way around the reality that taxpayers are on the hook here,” Mr. Antoni added, as The Center Square was unclear why the USDA was involved in a discrimination program.

“What I don’t understand is why the USDA is having to determine who suffered this discrimination,” he said. “We have laws regarding discrimination in lending. And we have a legal system that is designed to, and is expert in, determining whether the law has been broken, who has been previously reported. “When the FDIC runs out of cash, it simply goes to the Treasury for more, as we saw in 2009.

“There’s three ways to pay for that. First, the FDIC can increase its insurance premiums charged to banks. But those fees that finance the FDIC are passed entirely on to customers. The second option is for the harmed, and the magnitude of that harm.”

Dr. Smith said the legal system can get expensive.

“There are always other avenues, the question is how expensive are those avenues for those who have been disadvantaged,” Dr. Smith said.

“These are not people who have deep pockets. The legal system can take care of X, Y,

Treasury to just give the money to FDIC instead of loaning it, in which case the taxpayer is directly responsible for it. Lastly, the Fed can finance the expense by just printing the money, which causes inflation, which is a hidden tax.”

Casey Harper works at The Center Square’s Washington, D.C., bureau.

Z, but in practice, access to effective representation requires substantial funds.”

The $2.2 billion program was announced in October.

The USDA stated advocates for the program claim that the USDA denied loans and credit to minority farmers for decades that led to a large loss of landownership, specifically among black farmers.