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Merrick Garland Creates Task Force To Combat Transnational Human Trafficking


Reported by SEBASTIAN HUGHES, CONTRIBUTOR | June 07, 2021

Read more at https://dailycaller.com/2021/06/07/merrick-garland-alejandro-mayorkas-guatemala-kamal-harris/

Attorney General Merrick Garland Announces Justice Department will begin Investigation Into The Practices of the Louisville Police Department

(Photo by Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty Images)

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the creation of a task force Monday to combat transnational human trafficking in Central America. The task force, titled Joint Task Force Alpha, is intended to target the most frequent and egregious human smuggling offenders in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico, according to the announcement. Both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will team up to address the issue.

The effort will use the expertise of numerous federal prosecutors stationed along the southwest border to assist its counterparts in the Northern Triangle and Mexico, according to the statement. The FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will also aid the task force.

“We will take action to identify smugglers and their associates to ensure that we enhance the security of the U.S. border,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to the statement.

US Vice-President Kamala Harris (L) and Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei deliver a joint press conference at the Culture Palace in Guatemala City on June 7, 2021. - Harris arrived in Guatemala Sunday, bringing a message of "hope" to a region hammered by Covid-19 and which is the source of most of the undocumented migrants seeking entry to the United States. (Photo by Johan ORDONEZ / AFP) (Photo by JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

US Vice-President Kamala Harris and Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei deliver a joint press conference at the Culture Palace in Guatemala City on June 7, 2021. – (Photo by JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

“We will work with local law enforcement to stop these crimes,” Vice President Kamala Harris said of the task force during a joint press conference with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei Monday. 

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered 178,622 people attempting to cross the border into the United States in April, a 3% rise from March, according to the agency. The Biden administration has also announced plans to provide $861 million in aid to Central American countries to spur economic growth in the region and stem the flow of migration.

In the past 10 years, Guatemala has received more than $1.6 billion in aid from the U.S., but poverty has only increased in the country. Guatemala leads the world in the number of unaccompanied minors attempting to enter the U.S. in 2021, with 18,372 encountered between January and March.

“Do not come. The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border,” Harris said.

Harris will travel to Mexico City Tuesday to speak with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. They will similarly seek to address the issue of human smuggling and the lack of opportunity in the region, according to NPR.

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EXCLUSIVE: Jim Jordan Demands Answers From Garland, Mayorkas On Biden Admin’s Efforts To Enforce Federal Law In Portland


Reported by SHELBY TALCOTT, MEDIA REPORTER | March 29, 2021

Read more at https://dailycaller.com/2021/03/29/exclusive-jim-jordan-demands-answers-merrick-garland-alejandro-mayorkas-biden-administration-federal-law-portland-unrest/

Postmaster General To Testify To House Committee About Department's Ability To Handle Mail In Voting

Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images

Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan is demanding answers from Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas regarding how the Biden administration is enforcing federal law in Portland, Oregon, according to two letters obtained by the Daily Caller.

The letters, sent Monday, note that “anarchists and violent left-wing extremists continue to vandalize and destroy federal property in Portland.” The city experienced over one hundred days of consecutive unrest following the death of George Floyd in May 2020 and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was recently forced to re-install fencing around the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse just days after it was removed due to attacks on the building.

Jordan cited journalist Andy Ngo’s February 2021 testimony in front of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security in both letters. He noted that Ngo testified about “antifa and left-wing anarchists” developing “a riot apparatus that included streams of funding for accommodation, travel, riot gear, and weapons, which resulted in a murder, hundreds of arson attacks, mass injuries, and mass property destruction.” 

In the letter to Mayorkas, the Ohio lawmaker requested an explanation on what the DHS or the Federal Protective Service (FPS) is doing “to protect federal personnel and federal property” in the city. The letter also asked for explanation on what is being done to prevent further destruction to federal property as well as whether the DHS “still believes that it has the authority, the mission, and the intent to enforce federal law and protect federal property in Portland.”

Rep. Jim Jordan Letter To M… by Shelby Talcott

 “The Biden administration has a duty to ensure federal law is enforced and that both federal property and federal personnel are protected and kept safe from violent extremists in Portland,” Jordan wrote in both letters.

Jordan’s letter to Garland focused on the Department of Justice (DOJ) and asked for information regarding efforts surrounding identifying and prosecuting individuals responsible for the attacks on federal property and law enforcement. He also requested transparency with the DOJ’s plans to prevent further attacks, asked for clarification on whether the department still blames the city for allowing the unrest and wondered whether it stands by its previous characterization of “peaceful protesters.”

Former Attorney General William Barr said in 2020 that “peaceful protesters do not throw explosives into federal courthouses, tear down plywood with crowbars, or launch fecal matter at federal officers,” according to Jordan’s letter. The DOJ named Portland as one of the cities that has “permitted violence and destruction of property to persist” in Sept. 2020.

Jordan gave Garland and Mayorkas until 5:00 p.m. on April 12, 2021 to respond to the letters. The letters come amid continued unrest in Portland, Oregon.

The city approved cuts to its police department in 2020 and the current cost of repairs to various federal buildings in the city reportedly sits at around $2.3 million, Jordan noted.

Neither Garland nor Mayorkas’s offices immediately responded to a request for comment from the Daily Caller. Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler, who was included on both letters, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

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