April 8, 2019
White House senior adviser Stephen Miller (click here) wants to make sure that outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is only the first of a string of senior officials headed out the door.
Trump administration officials say that Miller, who played key a role in Nielsen's ouster, also wants the President to dismiss the director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Lee Cissna, and the department's general counsel, John Mitnick.
A senior administration official also said that under the law, DHS Under Secretary of Management Claire Grady, the current acting deputy secretary, is next in line of succession to be acting secretary. That means there are questions as to whether she will need to be fired as well in order to make Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan the acting DHS secretary, as Trump tweeted Sunday night...
Randolph Alles, current director of the Secret Service, is highly qualified to be in that position. Alles has previous credentials with border security and that is probably what Miller doesn't like. Trump is stupid in removing Alles. He has excellent credentials and there really hasn't been any reportable incidents under his watch.
This is what happens when an administration is hyperpolitical and makes changes under a "theme." The Trump Theme is "Deep State." So, with so many things going wrong in the administration of this president, the theme wins out to satisfy his base.
Ah, oh, the USA is FULL. Time to enforce birth control. Maybe Miller needs to find a speech writer if that is at all possible.
What is the definition of FULL?
April 8, 2019
President Donald Trump (click here) visited the southern border near the California town of Calexico on Friday. At a roundtable event, Trump expressed his concerned over the upsurge in illegal crossings, declaring that the “country is full” so migrants should “turn around.” The visit followed a week of tariff threats against Mexico and foreign aid cuts to Central American countries. California and 19 other states are suing the Trump administration over his emergency declaration to build a border wall.
The Trump administration is seeking to drive border security agencies in a “tougher direction,” according to a statement from the White House. Yesterday, Kirstjen Nielsen announced her departure from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As DHS Secretary, Nielsen’s tenure became the object of Trump’s criticism for her leniency towards immigration control, despite enacting “zero tolerance” policies at the southern border. Kevin McAleenan, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner, will serve as acting DHS secretary....
Donald Trump and quite possibly Stephen Miller are creating their own emergency at the border. Trump has now cut off all aid to the Northern Triad and more people are leaving for places north. This is ridiculous. The so called emergency at the USA southern border is created by the very people declaring it.
By Greg Clary
The United States (click here) is cutting off aid to the Northern Triangle, otherwise known as the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the State Department told CNN Saturday, one day after President Donald Trump said they had "set up" migrant caravans for entry into the United States.
"We were paying them tremendous amounts of money. And we're not paying them anymore. Because they haven't done a thing for us. They set up these caravans," Trump said Friday.
"At the Secretary's instruction, we are carrying out the President's direction and ending FY 2017 and FY 2018 foreign assistance programs for the Northern Triangle," a State Department spokesperson said. "We will be engaging Congress as part of this process."
The government of Honduras responded to the announcement later Saturday, blaming "contradictory policies" by US agencies for the move....
The highest amount Guatemala has received from the USA was in 2016 in the amount of $297 million.(click here) That amount of money to a near USA country with the inhumane conditions of drug cartels is not an enormous amount of money.
The F-35 currently costs between $94 million (F-35A) and $122 million (F-35B) for low-rate initial production run 10, though sustainment cost projections are as big a concern as production costs for a program that is expected to cost $1.5 trillion over its 55-year lifespan.
No one can accuse Guatemala of building up it's military against the USA as Venezuela has under Russian oppression and demands.
April 1, 2019
AILSA CHANG, HOST: The Trump administration (click here) is moving to end aid programs for three Central American countries - El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. This is in retaliation for the tens of thousands of migrants leaving those countries each month for the U.S. White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney went on CNN yesterday to defend the move.
(SOUNDBITE OF CNN BROADCAST)
MICK MULVANEY: The people say it's working, but the proof is in the numbers. It's not working well enough to help us solve our border crisis, and that's what the president is focused on....
...CHANG: Well, now President Trump is threatening to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance. What would that mean to El Salvador, to lose that money? How do you currently use those funds now?
CANJURA: You know, that money - that money isn't managed directly for our government. That money is managed and administrated by different companies, enterprise - enterprises, NGOs that work in the government - that work...
CHANG: And how do they spend the money?
CANJURA: ...In our country. They spend the money in different programs of cooperation that are related to safety, to youth empowerment, to security, you know, that has to be with the creating better conditions of living in our country in terms of improving the conditions for our young people, creating jobs, creating great opportunities, developing spaces of recreation for our people. So it's a very important cooperation for our countries. But we don't manage the money, as government....
Letter of intent to the International Monetary Fund (below). No one bothered to reassess the impacts of the 2008 Global Economic Crisis on country's the USA has sent aid to. If that reassessment had been conducted, it is possible the increase, albeit gradual under Obama, of migrants would have been averted.
It may be the programs need to be bolstered to return impact to the Northern Triad countries, or, they may need to have a more focused approach to bring about recovery of the failings of their governments with the economic collapse of the global market.
At any rate, the reason for the migration north from the Northern Triad is related to deteriorating economic conditions. To cut aid to these countries only increases the crisis. Does the USA actually want more failed governments this close to it's border? We already know the repercussions of this economic failure, but, the idea the USA is not going to participate makes these countries look to other sources of help. The withdrawal of these funds causes as much a national crisis for the USA, but, in a way that attacks national security in countries alienated from USA principals of freedom and democracy.
April 13, 2009
Guatemala―Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies for 2009–2010 (click here)
Chart to right (click here)
1. Over the past several years, Guatemala has made progress in consolidating
macroeconomic stability and in implementing important structural reforms. Reflecting this progress and favorable external conditions, the economy has been expanding at rates above historical records, averaging 4¾ percent in 2005–08. This outcome was attained without a deterioration of the underlying external and fiscal positions.
2. Volatile external conditions, however, are having a strong impact on the
Guatemalan economy. Up until mid-2008, higher commodity prices put upward pressure on inflation and the external current account deficit. We reacted timely, tightening monetary conditions, enhancing exchange rate flexibility, and strengthening the social safety net, while maintaining a prudent fiscal stance. The global economic and financial crisis, however, is now changing the scenario significantly, and our economy has started to feel its impact, through a deceleration of economic activity and tightening of domestic financial conditions.
3. The Guatemalan economy is well prepared to face the adverse external outlook. As the global slowdown is likely to be protracted and significant downside risks still remain, we are adjusting our policies to minimize the domestic effects of the external shock and to be better prepared in case downside risks materialize. At the same time, we remain committed to
addressing the medium-term development challenges facing Guatemala, and we will implement necessary reforms to ensure sustainable medium-term growth, continued progress in reducing poverty, and protection of the neediest....
The policies of previous administration work and they need to continue to work. Capture and release is the only way to handle these migrations. Detention is ridiculous on it's face. Trump is WRONG!
It would be better if the economics were better for these people, but, in pulling support for the Northern Triad the USA is creating it's own crisis and causing instability in USA national security.
...“I didn’t want to emigrate, (click here) but necessity obligated it. I do not want my children to grow up in a place full of violence and poverty,” says F from the room where he lives in Texas with his son. In recent years, the collapse of coffee prices and the increased presence of gangs in his community, which were already threatening K, made him think that there he could not guarantee a future for his children. So he began to plan the trip. He and his wife were convinced that, even if they had to separate, migrating was the best option for the family....
...In the case of F and K, after turning themselves in to the Border Patrol, both spent 52 hours in detention before being released. The father left with an ankle monitor that allows authorities to track his movements. He must also report to the authorities every 15 days. He already has two jobs in Texas that allow him to pay off the coyote and send money to his family while his son goes to school and learns English....
