Tag: immigration

Trump Slaps Tariffs on Colombia for Refusing to Accept U.S. Deportation Flights

Michael Matheron1 Comment

“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump threatened in a post on Truth Social.
“We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard
to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!”

President Trump – Rapacious Maximus – just punished Colombia for its failure to permit US military aircraft to land and offload our deported immigrants. Colombia’s sovereignty – although a foundational international foundation – was unsurprisingly ignored by Trump’s outburst of venom. He immediately impose a 25% tariff on all Colombian goods, and threatened to raise it to 50% within one week. He did not discuss the inflationary impact on U.S. consumers that this tariff will have on a number of consumer products. After often centering his campaign message on Biden’s inlation, it appears that is in his rear view mirror. . .

There’s much more to learn about this breaking news here and here, including other sanctions placed on Columbia, announcing at the end of his madman dictator’s message that this is only the beginning of U.S. disfavor, and stating that Colombia, by exercising its sovereignty, “violated its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!” What legal obligations, indeed? We’ll see. . .

In any event, here are the top 10 Colombian imports for 2023 (to see the long list see here). Though a small proportion of these items when viewed on the basis of total dollar value of all foreign imports, for Colombia a 25% tariff (and possibly a 50% tariff) will hurt, and for U.S. consumers should the tariffs might cause price rises in certain items sourced exclusively by Colombia. Finally, how long can Colombia hold out?

United States Imports from ColombiaValueYear
Mineral fuels, oils, distillation products$7.19B2023
Pearls, precious stones, metals, coins$1.86B2023
Live trees, plants, bulbs, roots, cut flowers$1.57B2023
Coffee, tea, mate and spices$1.42B2023
Commodities not specified according to kind$672.77M2023
Aluminum$637.48M2023
Edible fruits, nuts, peel of citrus fruit, melons$422.14M2023
Electrical, electronic equipment$296.99M2023
Miscellaneous edible preparations$232.35M2023
Plastics$219.92M2023

Dear Congresswoman Salazar, It’s the Year of ‘We Told You So!’

Michael Matheron1 Comment

A staunch supporter of Trump during the 2024 campaign, Florida Congresswoman Maria Salazar, representing Miami, found out that her support for Trump’s immigration disposal project would actually target her own constituents despite a Biden administration policy that protected them. Well, Maria, we told you so.

BACKGROUND. “The Biden Administration’s recent use of the statutory parole authority has attracted scrutiny. Since 2021, the Biden Administration has invoked the immigration parole authority to enable aliens from certain countries — Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela — to enter the United States so long as they satisfy other eligibility criteria. For instance, regulations provide that, to qualify for the parole processes for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (“CHNV”), the applicant must apply in his or her home country, pass a background check, demonstrate he or she has a financial supporter in the United States, and fly into the United States to an interior port of entry. He or she may remain in the United States for up to two years and obtain work authorization.” See Congressional Research Service Legal Sidebar for in-depth coverage.

The parole processes that make up the CHNV program have been available to Venezuelans since October 2022 and to Haitians, Cubans, and Nicaraguans since January 2023. As of the end of October 2024, 110,240 Cubans, 211,010 Haitians, 93,070 Nicaraguans, and 117,310 Venezuelans. See Refugees International Fact Sheet. As of December 2024, about 531,690 people had entered the country under that program, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. See Voice of America News.

On January 20, Donald Trump ended the humanitarian CHNV parole program. Under the executive order “Securing Our Borders,” which outlines various immigration-related actions, including the CHNV program which allowed up to 30,000 individuals per month.

CONGRESSWOMAN SALAZAR’S INTEREST According to the U.S. Census, 70% of Salazar’s district are Hispanic/Latino, especially Cuban. Salazar has been a vocal suppporter of Trump’s deportation goals, patticularly about thos immigrants that arrived under President Biden’s watch. While she is less draconian in her immigration policies yhan the more rabid Trump congresspeople, she had this to say during an interview on PBS News Hour during the GOP convention:

“You need to create a division between two groups of undocumented: the ones who came in during the last three and a half years – eight million people and the thirteen of fourteen [million] who have been here – picking the jalapenos in southern California, or the oranges in Florida – those people, I believe, because they have been here, they don’t have a criminal record, they have American children, they’ve been contributing to the economy, they’ve been paying taxes, those people should be looked at it with a dignity – and we can expand on that later – the people who came in in the last three and a half years, we don’t know what intentions they have. . .”

During the Biden administration, under the CHNV program, more than 500,000 persons entered the U.S. As discussed above they were thoroughly vetted. A significant number arrived in her district from Cuba, for instance.

But (now) there are exceptions. . . Note that Ms. Salazar was staunchly disapproving of the Biden administration’s use of the CHNV program but not those admitted during the Trump administration. Saying of the Biden era: ” the people who came in in the last three and a half years, we don’t know what intentions they have,” disregarding the strong vetting process that the CHNV requires, and that a large number of her own CHNV constituents gained admission to her district.

However, now, faced with Trump’s Executive Orders, assaulting the CHNV program, she has seen the light. And here’s her politically calculated backtracking:

I’m urging Homeland Security to PROTECT Cubans awaiting legal status adjustment through the Cuban Adjustment Act.
We must ALSO protect the Venezuelans and Nicaraguans without a criminal record
going through the asylum process.

Don’t penalize them for Biden’s screw-ups!

Tweet/X, January 24, 2015 – Representative Maria Salazar,
Representing Miami Florida since 2021

And here’s her pleading to the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Bengamine Huffman. What the Acting Secretary’s response will be is presently guesswork, however, Trump’s Executive Order was clear: sayonara CHNV . . .

DOGE’s Loss Is Ohio’s Loss Too

Michael Matheron1 Comment

The first act by the the advisory commission known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is the departure of Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the two top officials to pursue his bid for governor of Ohio. The (quite likely true) rumor is that Vivek’s open mouth policy has caused peptic rumblings among congressfolks and Trump himself. He particularly incensed the America Firster tribe with his recent comments supporting the H1-B visa program primarily by making it quite clear that homegrown Americans are dumb as stumps. He indicted American entertainment culture as the chief culprit. His solution:

“More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers. More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons. More books, less TV. More creating, less ‘chillin.’ More extracurriculars, less ‘hanging out at the mall.’”

Americans of all stripes objected to his comments, and generally, to his overall personality which many compared to “fingernails across a chalk board.” Also, in his usual way, Vivek offered no actual evidence supporting his view; in fact, American engineers are acknowledged as among the finest in the world. Vivek is very efficient if not effective in his thought processes, mouthing off first, thinking later. For instance, he failed to recognize that most high school and college students do their homework “hanging out at the mall.” He lso ignored the vast diversity throughout the world, where most countries exhibit similar characteristics in their societies, the world contains its own entertainment culture, it’s not exclusive to America.

In any event, Ohio needs to brace itself for a Vivek run for governor. As we know he can talk, and talk and talk, all with a self-satisfied certainty. How long will it take for him to talk his way out of contention? As he’s shown in his DOGE exit, he may not get past day one. Let us hope.

What Would a Strong Biden Border Security Executive Order Be Without Donald Trump

Michael Matheron1 Comment

In a video posted on Truth Social last Tuesday, Trump laid out another spoil sport diatribe even more maniacal than usual. This in the wake of President Biden’s recent Presidential Proclamation that closes the southern border depending on the number of border encounters. This will dramatically reduce the pressure on the border. The policy will allow Biden to close the border between points of entry once there is an average of 2,500 crossings over the past week preceding a given day. Trump preposterously claims that this will “make the invasion worse.” Of course, that’s logically categorical bullsh*t. What Biden’s action may make worse – hopefully – is Trump’s ability to own the immigration issue.

That Biden makes me so mad!!!

Crooked Joe Biden, the worst president in the history of our country by far, has totally surrendered our southern border. His weakness and extremism have resulted in a border invasion like we have never seen before,” began Trump. “Other countries have emptied out their prisons, insane asylums and mental institutions and sent us drug dealers, human traffickers, and terrorists. Millions of people have poured into our country and now, after nearly four years of his failed, weak leadership, pathetic leadership, Crooked Joe Biden is pretending to finally do something about the border.

But in fact, it’s all about Joe because he knows we have a debate coming up in three weeks. The truth is that Joe Biden’s executive order won’t stop the invasion. It’s weak and it’s pathetic; it will actually make the invasion worse. Millions of people a year will continue to pour across our border and be released into our country. And we recently learned Biden is secretly granting mass amnesty to hundreds of thousands of these illegal aliens, along with welfare and government benefits, work permits and jobs. He’s not doing that, however, for our veterans. He’s not doing that for our homeless. He’s giving illegal aliens far more than our veterans get, far more than our homeless get.

Many of the left are even pushing for illegal aliens to vote in our elections, which is what this is all about. That’s why they’re allowing up to 20 million people since he took office. When I was president, we built over 500 miles of border wall, stopped the flood of criminals, and we had the safest border in the history of our country. We need to secure our border once again. We need to secure our border once and for all. Crooked Joe will never get the job done. He doesn’t want to get the job done. It’s just words and misinformation because he could have done it very easily. All he had to do is say, “Close the border.” That’s the power of the presidency.

But when I’m elected, it will be my top priority. On day one, I will seal the border, stop the invasion, and send Joe Biden’s illegal aliens back home. They have to be sent back home because no country can sustain the damage that our country is sustaining. All over the world, crime rates are going down because all over the world, not just South America, they are sending criminals into the United States of America. They’re taking their drug dealers and their people in jail, lots of people in jail. They’re taking their murderers, killers, they’re taking them all and sending them into the United States. In Venezuela crime is down a staggering 67%. Because if you go to Caracas, if you go to different places, they’re sending their criminals into the United States. It’s a horrible thing. And that’s happening all over the world, many, many places, many countries.

We’re not going to let it continue. We’re going to get them out. We’re going to bring our country back to safety. We’re going to make America great again, greater than ever before. Thank you very much.

The Bipartisan Way That Biden’s Border Closing Proclamation Became Necessary

Michael Matheron2 Comments

Today, the White House issued a Presidential Proclamation, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a Fact Sheet announcing that President Biden effectively closed the southern border [DHS FAQ].

Excerpts from the Proclamation:

You DO have to live like a refugee, young man
Copyright, Michael V. Matheron

Section 1.  Suspension and Limitation on Entry.  The entry of any noncitizen into the United States across the southern border is hereby suspended and limited, subject to section 3 of this proclamation.  This suspension and limitation on entry shall be effective at 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on June 5, 2024.  The suspension and limitation directed in this proclamation shall be discontinued pursuant to subsection 2(a) of this proclamation, subject to subsection 2(b) of this proclamation.

     Sec. 2.  Applicability of Suspension and Limitation on Entry. (a)  The Secretary of Homeland Security shall monitor the number of daily encounters and, subject to subsection (b) of this section, the suspension and limitation on entry pursuant to section 1 of this proclamation shall be discontinued at 12:01 a.m. eastern time on the date that is 14 calendar days after the Secretary makes a factual determination that there has been a 7-consecutive-calendar-day average of less than 1,500 encounters, not including encounters described in subsection 4(a)(iii) of this proclamation.

Also, it directs that:

For purposes of subsection (a) and subsection (b) of this section, unaccompanied children (as defined in section 279(g)(2) of title 6, United States Code) from non-contiguous countries shall not be included in calculating the number of encounters.

President Biden has had understandably difficult policy, humanitarian, and political choices since day one of his administration. Hyperbolic MAGA/GOP criticism was expected, but due to Trump’s meddling this has not been consistent: during February, the GOP scuttled a Senate-created very workable and strict bipartisan immigration bill, one that the Senate fought hard to produce. Why refuse to pass a bipartisan bill MAGA/GOP members had helped craft? Well, enter the usual suspects: firstly, it’s impossible to please them, especially House MAGAs, with any Biden- or Democratic-supported victory, and, secondly, because Trump directed his congressional minions to deny Biden a victory – regardless of the human toll at the border. This interference is now commonplace since Trump is a demanding god who wants to mendaciously campaign on Biden’s failure to enact immigration reform. Thus, the southern border has devolved into a very serious train wreck with Trump the berserk engineman.

Also, of no small measure, there’s a pox on both houses. For example, Democratic progressives were unmoved by many of the concessions to GOP/MAGA allowed by Democratic senators during the border bill negotiations. The Congressional Progressive Caucus had this to say on May 22:

“We are disappointed that the Senate will once again vote on an already-failed border bill in a move that only splits the Democratic Caucus over extreme and unworkable enforcement-only policies. This framework, which was constructed under Republican hostage-taking, does nothing to address the longstanding updates needed to modernize our outdated immigration system, create more legal pathways, and recognize the enormous contributions of immigrants to communities and our economy. . . It is tempting to simply embrace the very policies we rejected under Donald Trump to counter the horrific xenophobic and racist attacks against immigrants coming from the right. We urge our Senate Democratic colleagues to resist this urge and instead show a clear contrast between Republicans and Democrats. Abandon unworkable policy solutions offered by Republicans and instead work with our caucuses to craft a common-sense bipartisan bill that provides holistic solutions that address our economic, humanitarian, and security needs — not more of the same enforcement-only approach that has failed us for the last 30 years.” 

Moreover, the Tri-Caucus – a diverse group of legislative leaders comprised of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) – were leery of the Senate’s deal. One of their group, CHC, issued a statement, excerpted below:

“The Senate border bill once again fails to meet the moment by putting forth enforcement-only policies and failing to include provisions that will keep families together . . . As written, the bill excludes critical protections and legal pathways for families, farm workers and America’s Dreamers who have been in the U.S. contributing to our Nation’s communities and economy for decades. . . CHC recognizes that our immigration system is broken and that there are challenges at the border that Congress must address. However, if this bill passes, it will set back real comprehensive immigration reform by years.”

I sympathize with the progressive concerns and usually side with them, and there indeed were some MAGA/GOP nasty provisions in the bipartisan border bill. The tactics here missed the moment though, when Democrats needed to present a solid front. There are times when one must accept the possible versus the perfect. This bipartisan bill was that moment when a Pyrrhic victory was worthwhile. With a win on the bipartisan bill, Democrats would have:

  • pleased most American voters (many Democrats consider border security their greatest concern);
  • helped Biden and Democratic 2024 candidates in red and purple states by giving them a big win by softening the resistance of swing voters; and;
  • turned some of those highly border-concerned independent votes from leaning MAGA/GOP to Democratic votes, and that group will be decisive in 2024 for Biden and Senate and House races with control of two out of three government branches at stake; and;
  • provided Democrats – should they capture majorities in Congress and return Biden to the White House – many chances to modify the bipartisan bill’s immigration policies to revise or remove some or all of the most objectionable MAGA/GOP provisions.

It was that important to compromise on the border security bill and there will be no more chances before the election. Opportunity – a big one – missed.

Is it too late for President’s border closing effort to remedy the harm done by failing to pass the bipartisan bill through a divided Congress? I do think the border issue will swing this election. Bear in mind, should MAGA/GOP forces repopulate the federal government in 2025, the immigration bill they will formulate will be draconian. For example, see a GOP bill that cleared the House one-year ago, a bill that would have codified President Trump’s policies and added ever more severe policies. Hopefully, the future of Biden’s Proclamation in the five months before election day will cure much of the public’s intense concern about the administration’s immigration policies and turn undecided votes to Democratic votes. Hope especially for a minor miracle – that the disappointing Biden campaign staff will know/learn how to use and widely publicize this win From my typewriter to God’s ears.

Arizona – No Taxation Without – Or With – Representation!

Michael MatheronLeave a comment

January 12, 2011

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the taxes.”
A (mild) paraphrase of Shakespeare’s “let’s kill all the lawyers”
Henry The Sixth, Part 2 Act 4, scene 2, 71–78

Ken Silverstein’s July 2010 Harper’s Magazine article, Tea party in the Sonora: For the future of G.O.P. governance, look to Arizona, surveys the political landscape of that Tea Party dominion. It’s relevant today as the GOP has seized control of the House and maintains its unofficial “filibuster majority” in the Senate.

Below are some excerpts:

Since the days of Barry Goldwater, an axiom of Arizona politics, particularly among Republicans, has been that tax cuts generate economic growth in all circumstances. Hence total state taxation has declined during fifteen of the past seventeen years; the individual income tax has taken the biggest hit, but sales, property, and corporate-income taxes have also come down substantially. The legislature has created tax exemptions for everything from country-club memberships to pedicures to food purchases by airlines (the latter at the behest of local airline lobbyists). None of this has produced the hoped-for effect. Although tax cuts “have lowered government revenues,” they “have not had any perceptible effect on the state’s economic growth,” concluded an Arizona State University business-school study, published last November, that examined the past three decades of fiscal policy.

Instead, to raise cash, the legislature has pursued a series of wild sell-offs and budget cuts. It privatized the capitol building and leased it back from its new owner, an arrangement that brought in substantial revenue but over time will cost Arizona far more. The legislature has sold off numerous other state properties at bargain prices, and has put up future lottery revenues as collateral on a $450 million loan. Meanwhile, Arizona removed more than 300,000 adults from state health coverage and terminated one health-care program for 47,000 poor children. Funding was slashed at the agency that deals with reports of child abuse and neglect, and also at Children’s Rehabilitative Services, so that parents of children with cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, and a number of other conditions are now required to pay 100 percent of treatment costs. 

The anti-government attitude in Arizona is now reflexive, especially because of its entanglement with the issue of immigration. As one local resident, who didn’t want to be identified because she has a government job, told me: “People who have swimming pools don’t need state parks. If you buy your books at Borders you don’t need libraries. If your kids are in private school, you don’t need K-12. The people here, or at least those who vote, don’t see the need for government. Since a lot of the population are not citizens, the message is that government exists to help the undeserving, so we shouldn’t have it at all. People think it’s OK to cut spending, because ESL is about people who refuse to assimilate, and health care pays for illegals.”

There’s a lot to think about. And not just in Arizona . . .