Trump Slams Mexico With 5% Tariff to Stop Illegal Alien Crisis

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By Mike Murphy. President Donald Trump announced new tariffs against products imported from Mexico late Thursday, saying in a tweet that they would stay in effect until the illegal immigration problem was solved. “On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP,” Trump said. “The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied at which time the Tariffs will be removed. Details from the White House to follow.” In a separate statement, Trump blamed Mexico for not doing enough to stop illegal immigrants from crossing into the U.S., saying “Mexico has not treated us fairly.” Trump said the tariffs will rise to 10% on July 1 if the crisis persists, and by another 5% for every successive month up to 25% by Oct. 1, unless “Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory.” (Read more for how Trump plans to stop the illegal alien crisis HERE)
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Tariff Goes Into Effect June 10

By Joanna Tan. The U.S. will impose a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports from June 10 — and more duties will be added in the coming months if Mexico does not take action “reduce or eliminate the number of illegal aliens” crossing into the U.S., the White House said Thursday.

It comes as U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Thursday sent a letter to congressional leaders, kick starting the process of approving updates to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

U.S. President Donald Trump first announced the Mexico tariffs via Twitter. (Read more about Trump stopping the illegal alien crisis HERE)

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Full White House Statement

To address the emergency at the Southern Border, I am invoking the authorities granted to me by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Accordingly, starting on June 10, 2019, the United States will impose a 5 percent Tariff on all goods imported from Mexico. If the illegal migration crisis is alleviated through effective actions taken by Mexico, to be determined in our sole discretion and judgment, the Tariffs will be removed. If the crisis persists, however, the Tariffs will be raised to 10 percent on July 1, 2019. Similarly, if Mexico still has not taken action to dramatically reduce or eliminate the number of illegal aliens crossing its territory into the United States, Tariffs will be increased to 15 percent on August 1, 2019, to 20 percent on September 1, 2019, and to 25 percent on October 1, 2019. Tariffs will permanently remain at the 25 percent level unless and until Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory. Workers who come to our country through the legal admissions process, including those working on farms, ranches, and in other businesses, will be allowed easy passage.

Chinese State Media: Crackdown on Smuggling Is ‘First Step in China-US Rare-Earth War’

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By Breitbart. The trade war is quickly becoming a rare earth war–at least in the rhetoric of Chinese state media.

The often belligerently nationalist Global Times, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, called on China to cut-back on rare-earth licenses and “tighten management’ of foreign-invested companies as first steps to “weapons the minerals.” . . .

From the Global Times:

The crackdown on rare-earth smuggling makes it possible for China to weaponize the minerals in an escalation of the trade war. Now China needs to tighten management of rare-earth enterprises, especially foreign-invested companies, to make smuggling absolutely impossible.

Rare-earth minerals are important strategic resources but China had never thought of using the minerals as leverage to hit the US. The trade war is prompting China to rethink its rare-earth strategy and make quick adjustments. Once merely an economic sector, rare earths have become a counter weapon for China to hit back at the US. There is a lot of work to be done, and cracking down on smuggling is only the first step in weaponizing the sector.

(Read more from “Chinese State Media: Crackdown on Smuggling Is ‘First Step in China-US Rare-Earth War'” HERE)

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‘Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You’: A Phrase from China Signals the Trade War Could Get Even Worse

By CNBC. The biggest Chinese newspaper explicitly warned the U.S. on Wednesday that China would cut off rare earth minerals as a countermeasure in the escalated trade battle, using a history-laden expression the publication has used ahead of full-on wars.

“We advise the U.S. side not to underestimate the Chinese side’s ability to safeguard its development rights and interests. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!” the People’s Daily said in a commentary titled “United States, don’t underestimate China’s ability to strike back.” The publication is the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China.

The phrase “Don’t say we didn’t warn you” has been used before by the People’s Daily in 1962 before China’s border war with India and ahead of the 1979 China-Vietnam War. (Read more from “‘Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You’: A Phrase from China Signals the Trade War Could Get Even Worse” HERE)

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50 Children Have Been Rescued After Officials Busted a Multinational Paedophile Ring

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By TIME. Nine people were arrested in Thailand, Australia and the U.S. and 50 children were rescued following an Interpol investigation into an international paedophile ring. . .

Operation Blackwrist began after Interpol spotted images showing 11 boys under the age of 13 on a website where users utilized encrypted software to hide their identities, according to the BBC.

According to an Interpol statement, weekly images of children being abused were being uploaded to the site, but it was difficult to track down the perpetrators as the children’s faces were generally hidden. (Read more from “50 Children Have Been Rescued After Officials Busted a Multinational Paedophile Ring” HERE)

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Fifty Children Saved as International Paedophile Ring Busted

By BBC News. The arrests were made in Thailand, Australia and the US and more are expected, Interpol said.

The investigation began in 2017 and focused on a hidden “dark web” site with 63,000 users worldwide.

Police believe 100 more children have suffered abuse and are working to identify them.

Operation Blackwrist was launched by Interpol after it detected images showing 11 boys aged under 13 being abused on a site where people can use encrypted software to maintain secrecy. . .

The first arrests came last year, when the site’s main administrator, Montri Salangam, was detained in Thailand, and another administrator, Ruecha Tokputza, was caught in Australia. (Read more from “Fifty Children Saved as International Paedophile Ring Busted” HERE)

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Pompeo: $8B Arms Sales to Middle East Allies ‘Appropriate and Necessary’

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Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said Friday in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News that a newly-announced $8 billion in arms sales to Middle East allies would help protect their and America’s interests against increased Iranian threats in the region.

“It is significant that we are not only demonstrating our will to continue to help them support and defend their countries and deter these threats, but the challenge from the Islamic Republic of Iran that we face,” Pompeo said in a phone interview.

“We’ve seen the heightened tensions over the last handful of weeks, so our expectation is that the risks will continue to stay at a heightened level, so it is appropriate and necessary to get these arms sales moving forward,” he said.

The State Department on Friday notified Congress of 22 pending arms sales to the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia worth $8 billion total. The equipment includes aircraft support maintenance; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); munitions; and other equipment.

Pompeo said that the first sales will begin to be delivered within the next few weeks, but others could take some months. “It’s about prioritization, delivery schedule, availability,” he said. (Read more from “Pompeo: $8B Arms Sales to Middle East Allies ‘Appropriate and Necessary'” HERE)

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Iran Has Reportedly Quadrupled Its Production of Enriched Uranium

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Iranian nuclear officials are claiming that the country is quadrupling its production of enriched uranium.

The state-run IRNA news agency in Iran is claiming that Iran is increasing its uranium production and that the International Atomic Energy Agency had been alerted to this development. The Independent cited Iranian officials who insisted that the uranium would only be enriched to 3.67 percent purity. In order to be used in an atomic bomb, uranium purity needs to be at 90 percent.

At this increased rate of production, it won’t be long before Iran has a larger stockpile of enriched uranium than is permitted under the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration. While the United States pulled out of this deal in 2018, other signatories have tried to keep it going.

James Clapper, former President Barack Obama’s director of national intelligence, dismissed the announcement, telling the BBC that he did not think it was “necessary to go into panic mode yet.”

This announcement from Iran comes just two days after President Donald Trump tweeted, “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called Trump’s comments “genocidal taunts.”

National security adviser John Bolton also announced that the U.S. was sending a carrier strike group to the region “to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.”

Bolton said that this was “[i]n response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” from Iran. (For more from the author of “Iran Has Reportedly Quadrupled Its Production of Enriched Uranium” please click HERE)

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Influencing Elections? Ha — Russians Are Coming Right to Our Border

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Our political system has been paralyzed over the past year with the incessant news cycle on Russian influence in our elections. Anything and everything related to Mueller’s Russia probe has forced our border crisis to take a back seat to the implied threat of “the Russians are coming.” Well, according to border experts who’ve spoken with CR, Russians are showing up on our southern border. Will the broader media and the politicians now take an interest in the border?

Jaeson Jones, a retired captain from the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division, warns that the cartels in charge of the plazas at the border are now helping to smuggle Russians into south Texas. “In the last few weeks in south Texas, Border Patrol agents have apprehended several Russians being smuggled between the ports of entry by the Gulf Cartel,” said Jones in an exclusive interview with CR.

Although Jones is retired from his counter-cartel work for Texas law enforcement, he is in regular contact with border officials and cartel informants and continues to train local, federal, and state law enforcement on the latest trends, tradecraft, and capabilities of the cartels. Jones is hearing that the smugglers are strategically using the masses of Central Americans showing up in the Rio Grande Valley, often up to 2,000 per day, to carefully bring over Russians in small, unassuming numbers.

“The Gulf Cartel is currently staging small groups of two and three Russians throughout the Reynosa plaza to be smuggled into the country illegally,” said Jones, who used to manage the daily operations of the Texas Rangers’ Border Security Operations Center (BSOC). “This type of smuggling activity is utilized to move what the cartel deems high-value people. We see this activity often when smuggling special interest aliens (SIAs). Those are people who come from a country with a terrorism nexus. This is due to their ability to pay more money to be crossed illegally.”

Current government officials working on border issues have confirmed a similar trend of aliens coming from countries of terrorism concern or threats of espionage. Last week, I interviewed Jack Staton, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) El Paso division. He observed that there is nothing unique about Central Americans using the loopholes and lapse in coverage at the border. He noted that because we’re not able to detain these people, they’re incentivized to come from all over the world, including Russia.

“Along with the continued flow, you’re going to have every nationality do it. It’s not just going to be Central Americans. We’ve seen non-Central American family units also coming up. We’ve seen families from Turkey and from Brazil. In our area here, we’ve seen Turkish nationals coming in, we’ve seen individuals from Angola, the Congo, we’ve seen individuals from Russia. … We’ve seen a lot of Brazilians coming in; many of the Brazilians are coming in as families, as are Turkish families. We’ve also seen a major influx of Cubans coming into our area here.”

Russia has a robust presence in Latin America. Border agents are tied down at the border, and the secondary checkpoints in the El Paso sector, which includes all of New Mexico, are completely unmanned. This means that any suspicious immigration activity, such as people coming from non-traditional migrant countries up the main highways, will go unchecked.

Staton noted that the secondary checkpoints were actually set up more for immigration enforcement than for drugs. “They’re not narcotics checkpoints. That’s a secondary function of them, in the sense that people have to stop for an immigration inspection. And then, all of a sudden, agents might find narcotics.”

In a recent interview with Staton’s counterpart at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in El Paso, Kyle Williamson, he also expressed concern that countries of security concern are exploiting the vulnerabilities. When I asked Williamson whether he thinks there is a looming threat from terrorists coming into the country with the knowledge that our agents are tied down at the border and that the secondary checkpoints remain unmanned, he responded emphatically, “Yes, it’s definitely a threat.”

“Let’s just put it this way, the cartels are an international organization. It’s a real threat, it’s a prevalent threat, and they do have their associations with groups like Hezbollah, with Afghans, and with radical terrorist organizations,” warned Williamson, who also served in the DEA’s offices in the Middle East overseeing narco-terrorism enforcement. “What that does is effectively move those borders right up to the United States. Those cartels link the borders. Just like they use their resources, their technology, their criminal enterprise to conduct criminal activities, they can use those resources to assist terrorists as well.”

Williamson sees no reason why national security should be any less affected by open borders than vulnerability to drug trafficking. “When you look at a terrorist organization, obviously they capitalize on chaos. When your borders are in chaos, the same way the drug traffickers exploit that to move the drugs through while border agents are moved away from the field, the terrorists have the same knowledge how to exploit the situation.” So what are Russians being moved in for?

Sheriff David Black of Otero County, which has two checkpoints now unmanned thanks to the surge in migration, was concerned that the highways coming up from El Paso into his county may serve as a conduit for national security threats. “If someone wants to get in to do harm to this country, there is nothing stopping them whatsoever,” said the sheriff. “They don’t even have to risk the hardship of coming over the rugged Mesa area with a load and a gallon of water when they can come straight up our highway without anyone stopping them.”

It’s no wonder the Supreme Court has said, “The right to [exclude aliens] stems not alone from legislative power but is inherent in the executive power to control the foreign affairs of the nation (Knauff v. Shaughnessy, 1950). The vulnerability of a broken asylum system has a cascading effect on numerous diplomatic and security issues not just with Mexico but with many adversaries in the world. If the president’s power over immigration isn’t enough to justify shutting down asylum processing at the border, perhaps the ubiquitous fear of “Russian interference” will spawn the political actors to act. (For more from the author of “Influencing Elections? Ha — Russians Are Coming Right to Our Border” please click HERE)

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Christian Father Imprisoned for Homeschooling

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A Cuban Evangelical pastor sentenced to two years in prison for homeschooling his children says his family has endured “psychological pressure and a war on behalf of authorities” for refusing to allow the Castro regime to indoctrinate his children into communist ideology.

His remarks form part of a petition to the Organization of American States (OAS) for a precautionary measure protecting Rigal and his wife, Ayda Expósito – who was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison for the same crime of “acts contrary to the normal development of a minor.” Homeschooling is illegal in Cuba and legal schools are of notoriously low quality, prioritizing the development of submissive citizens over life and professional skills.

A precautionary measure prompts the OAS’s Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to act rapidly to prevent “imminent risk of irreparable harm to persons or groups of persons in the 35 OAS member states.” Cuba remains an OAS member despite violating the organization’s requirement that all members be democracies for over half a century.

The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), a nonprofit advocacy group defending the right to home school, and the Global Liberty Alliance, a legal defense fund dedicated to defending the defenders and advancing justice in places such as Communist Cuba, filed the petition for a precautionary measure on behalf of the Rigal family.

“The persecution of homeschooling parents is an assault the family and parental rights. These young Christian families, and the independent lawyers in Cuba who make a valiant effort to defend them, are at the tip of the spear in defense of religious liberty and fundamental individual rights,” Jason Poblete, an attorney in Virginia with the Global Liberty Alliance, told Breitbart News. “If you’re interested in helping, share this story with your friends and in your social media networks. The HSLDA will soon provide additional tools to help get the word out to policymakers to help support these families in Cuba.” (Read more from “Christian Father Imprisoned for Homeschooling” HERE)

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Trump Issues Big Warning to Iran

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Days after the Trump administration ordered American diplomatic personnel to leave the United States’ embassy in Baghdad, a rocket attacked the very area they were in on Sunday, The Washington Times reported. The area that was attacked was the Green Zone in the Iraq capital. It’s where the U.S. embassy and the main headquarters for combating the Islamic State sat.

As of now, no casualties have been reported and no group or person has taken responsibility for the attack. Iraqi officials did, however, confirm that one rocket landed inside the diplomatic compound. Eyewitnesses say a second rocket landed inside the Green Zone but that has not been officially confirmed.

British Major General Chris Ghika, the deputy commander of the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS publicly disagreed with America’s assessment earlier this week, saying there was no increased threat. . .

Although the U.S. wants to negotiate with Iran, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to make a stark warning: come after America and you will be defeated.

(Read more from “Trump Issues Big Warning to Iran” HERE)

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Signs Point to Iran Behind Gulf Ship Attacks

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By Jordan Schachtel. Assessment: Iran’s IRGC likely organized Gulf oil tanker attacks

Reuters reports that Iran is the likely culprit behind recent attacks on vessels belonging to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

According to the report:

“A confidential assessment issued this week by the Norwegian Shipowners’ Mutual War Risks Insurance Association (DNK) concluded that the attack was likely to have been carried out by a surface vessel operating close by that despatched underwater drones carrying 30-50 kg (65-110 lb) of high-grade explosives to detonate on impact.”

The U.S. has sent more military resources into the region to protect our interests and allies. Iran has repeatedly threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil is transported. (For more from the author of “Signs Point to Iran Behind Gulf Ship Attacks” please click HERE)

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Insurer Says Iran’s Guards Likely to Have Organized Tanker Attacks

By Reuters. Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) are “highly likely” to have facilitated attacks last Sunday on four tankers including two Saudi ships off Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, according to a Norwegian insurers’ report seen by Reuters.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Norway are investigating the attacks, which also hit a UAE- and a Norwegian-flagged vessel. . .

The attacks took place against a backdrop of U.S.-Iranian tension following Washington’s decision this month to try to cut Tehran’s oil exports to zero and beef up its military presence in the Gulf in response to what it called Iranian threats. (Read more from “Insurer Says Iran’s Guards Likely to Have Organized Tanker Attacks” HERE)

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Air Force Deploys New Weapon to Deal with North Korea

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The United States Air Force has reportedly deployed 20 new missiles to deal with the escalating threats from North Korea and Iran that can “zap” their military electronics, thus rendering their militaries completely ineffective.

“Known as the Counter-Electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP), the missiles were built by Boeing’s Phantom Works for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and tested successfully in 2012,” The Daily Mail reported. “They have not been operation until now.” . . .

The missile, which reportedly has a range of 700 miles, is delivered from bombers and flies at a low altitude and delivers “sharp pulses of high power microwave (HPM) energy.” . . .

Tensions have risen sharply in recent weeks with North Korea, which has resumed missile testing, and Iran, which has reportedly been behind multiple provocations in the Middle East in recent weeks.

“In response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings, the United States is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the U.S. Central Command region to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force,” National Security Adviser John Bolton said earlier this month. “The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces.” (Read more from “Air Force Deploys New Weapon to Deal with North Korea” HERE)

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