#homelandsecurity — Public Fediverse posts

https://www.europesays.com/people/229511/ Whistleblower: DHS Investigation Breaking State Laws [Op-Ed] #AlexPadilla #ChuckSchumer #DemocracyDefendersFund #DepartmentOfHomelandSecurity #DonaldTrump #HomelandSecurity #MarkwayneMullin #RepublicanParty #US

Mercyhurst University: Mercyhurst marks 25th anniversary of 9/11 with new Homeland Security Collection. “On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Mercyhurst University is launching a new digital archival collection documenting an important chapter in the nation’s response to 9/11: the creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and […]

Tom Homan confirms criminal investigation into Ilhan Omar’s alleged fraud

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! White House border czar Tom Homan confirmed on “The Sunday…
#NewsBeep #News #Headlines #fnflash #HomelandSecurity #IlhanOmar #Immigration #thesundaybriefing #TomHoman #UnitedStates #Us #USA
https://www.newsbeep.com/730631/

Pentagon Expands Tech Testbed Along US-Mexico Border

The Pentagon is ramping up its tech testing along the US-Mexico border, with plans to bring on new projects and programs - but only if they can do so safely and with Congressional funding.

https://osintsights.com/pentagon-expands-tech-testbed-along-us-mexico-border?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

#UsmexicoBorder #EmergingThreats #DefenseTechnology #HomelandSecurity #Pentagon

Trump Signs Executive Orders Ending Birth Tourism And Protecting The Value Of American Citizenship

Following the unfortunate decision made the by Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) regarding birthright citizenship, US President Donald J. Trump signed two new Executive Orders to formally end birth tourism while also protecting the meaning and value of American citizenship.

To put things in perspective, posted below is the News24 (formerly Sky News Australia) video covering the Oval Office. Watch it and pay close attention to the details.

https://youtu.be/YC3PrTABmic?si=qLGS_xhbDUE99gcD&t=239

In America, birth tourism is already a huge problem that has yet to be full resolved. If it is left unchecked, it will negatively impact and even deform democracy in the US. That said, President Trump signed the Executive Order ending birth tourism. To understand it fully, posted below is the entire content of the said Executive Order sourced from the White House website. Some parts in boldface…

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1.  Purpose.  United States citizenship is among the greatest inheritances the Nation can bestow.  It embodies a sacred bond between the American people and the Nation in which they live, and carries profound rights, privileges, and responsibilities reflective of the enduring allegiance of citizens to the United States and our Constitution.  Citizenship is not a commodity to be acquired through calculated exploitation and evasion of the immigration laws, such as by entering the United States on a nonimmigrant visa for the purpose of giving birth within the Nation’s borders.

Birth tourism operators use deceptive advertisements and inducements to entice foreign nationals to travel to the United States for the purpose of giving birth on American soil.  They promise citizenship; access to public benefits; and short-term stays in specialized facilities, hotels, or rentals, but often fail to deliver on these promises.  These operators coach their clients to misrepresent the purpose and duration of their travel to consular and border officials to obtain visas authorizing entry into the United States.  Failure to appropriately combat these schemes has resulted in thriving industries around the world that profit by enabling the evasion of American immigration laws to obtain citizenship and other immigration benefits for foreign visitors, and the exploitation of the women who travel here for purposes of giving birth.

The immigration laws of the United States establish discrete categories of temporary nonimmigrant visas to allow foreign visitors into the United States for study, exchange, temporary employment, tourism, and other transitory activities that are now exploited by birth tourism operators.  Participants in birth tourism schemes abuse these categories to establish a permanent foothold in the United States by securing the advantage of citizenship for their children and then potentially for themselves.

Birth tourism, defined in section 3 of this order, undermines the integrity of the Nation’s immigration system by enabling foreign nationals to exploit their temporary admission to obtain permanent immigration-related benefits.  Birth tourism also diverts limited consular inspection and enforcement resources away from legitimate visa applicants, erodes public confidence in the faithful enforcement of the immigration laws, and impairs the executive branch’s ability to protect the national security.

The United States has a compelling interest in ensuring that each visa category is used only for the purpose for which it was established.  Foreign nationals seeking temporary admission into the United States must adhere to the purposes for which the Congress has authorized their temporary admission, and cannot be permitted to circumvent the immigration laws in an attempt to vest themselves and their children with lasting benefits that are irreconcilable with their nonimmigrant status.

It is therefore the policy of the United States to promote the integrity of its immigration system, to ensure that nonimmigrant visa classifications are used only for their lawful and intended purposes, and to prevent the exploitation of those classifications by persons engaging in birth tourism.

Sec. 2.  Authorities.  Pursuant to section 301 of title 3, United States Code, the authority granted to the President under section 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1185(a), is hereby delegated to the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to the extent necessary to implement this order, including the authority to issue or adopt rules, policies, operational guidance, or other guidance to carry out this order.

Sec. 3.  Definition.  For purposes of this order, “birth tourism” is defined as:

(a)  the entry of any foreign national into the United States via a nonimmigrant visa for the purpose of giving birth on American soil; or

(b)  any effort by any foreign national to facilitate the entry of any foreign national into the United States via a nonimmigrant visa for the purpose of giving birth on American soil.

Sec. 4.  Scope and Implementation.  (a)  The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take such actions and update any rules, policies, operational guidance, or other guidance as necessary to effectuate the policy set forth in this order.  Such actions may include, within the Secretaries’ respective discretion and authority, appropriate action to prevent the entry into the United States of, or the granting of any visa or other travel authorization to, any alien entering or attempting to enter the United States for the purpose of engaging in birth tourism; revoking the visa or travel authorization and permanently barring entry of any alien who enters or attempts to enter the United States for the purpose of engaging in birth tourism; denial of entry to, or removal of, any alien who previously engaged or plans to engage in birth tourism; or other appropriate action against entities, organizations, or individuals, within or outside of the United States, responsible for facilitating or enabling birth tourism in any manner.

(b)  All other relevant executive departments and agencies shall provide such records and information as are necessary for the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to implement the terms of this order and the rules, policies, operational guidance, or other guidance issued pursuant to it, subject to applicable law.

Sec. 5.  Exemptions.  Notwithstanding the restrictions imposed by this order, the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security may exempt a foreign national from actions taken pursuant to this order on humanitarian grounds or when the foreign national’s entry is in the national interest, as determined by the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Sec. 6.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

(d)  If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstances, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of any of its other provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.

(e)  The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department of Homeland Security.

                             DONALD J. TRUMP

Let me end this piece by asking you readers: What is your reaction to this development? Do you think the two new Executive Orders signed by Trump will effectively end birth tourism while protecting the value of American citizenship? What kind of responses do you think the Democrats will come up with to oppose the Executive Orders. Do you think Islamist states like Iran, Pakistan, Qatar and Bangladesh are deliberately sending their citizens to America with birth tourism in mind? Did you spot any Chinese nationals engaging in birth tourism in America lately?

You may answer in the comments below. If you prefer to answer privately, you may do so by sending me a direct message online.

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Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

https://www.europesays.com/people/161813/ Funding extension passes House, heads for Senate rewrite – Roll Call #Alaska #Appropriations #Budget #california #Conservatives #ContinuingResolution #DEFENSE #DefenseSpending #democrats #election #Elections #ExecutiveBranch #Florida #HakeemJeffries #HenryCuellar #HomelandSecurity #house #JohnThune #KatherineMClark #KathyCastor #Kentucky #Leadership #LisaMurkowski #maine #Massachusetts #MikeRounds #Military #NewMexico #NewYork #NorthCarolina #Oklahoma

Iran’s threat on U.S. soil: Sleeper cells, lone wolves, cyberattacks

With U.S. and Israeli forces continuing offensive strikes on Iran, federal counterterrorism authorites are warning that the desperate…
#NewsBeep #News #BreakingNews #breakingnews #concern #counterterrorism #cyberattack #department #federalauthority #HomelandSecurity #Iran #IslamicRevolutionaryGuardCorps #lonewolf #proxy #SanBernardino #sleepercell #tashfeenmalik #threat #u.s.soil
https://www.newsbeep.com/427233/

Real ID: Federal Mandate, National Card, or Something Worse?

The Real ID is now the law of the land, but it is not the law most Americans think it is, and the story of how it arrived at your local DMV is a twenty-year saga of congressional sleight-of-hand, serial postponement, and a quiet transformation of the American driver’s license into something it was never designed to be. The question everyone should be asking is not whether they need one. The question is what the Real ID actually represents in the architecture of American civic life, and whether the reassurances offered by the Department of Homeland Security hold up under any meaningful scrutiny.

What Is Real ID, Exactly?

Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005 as a direct response to the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the federal government establish minimum standards for state-issued identification documents. The Act was attached as a rider to a military spending and tsunami relief appropriations bill, which meant it passed without standalone debate, without dedicated committee hearings on the identification provisions, and without meaningful input from the states that would be required to implement it. The law established that state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards would no longer be accepted for “official purposes” by federal agencies unless those cards met a new set of security and verification standards. Those official purposes include boarding commercial domestic flights, entering federal buildings such as courthouses and military installations, and accessing nuclear power plants.

The critical distinction that most people miss is this: Real ID is not a federal identification card. It is a federal standard imposed upon state-issued identification. Your Real ID is still issued by your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. It still looks like a driver’s license. It still has your state’s name on it. But it must now conform to requirements dictated by the Department of Homeland Security, and your personal data is now accessible through an interstate verification system called the State-to-State (S2S) Verification Service, administered by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. As of 2026, 45 jurisdictions participate in S2S. That is not a state database. That is a network.

Is Real ID the Same as a Passport?

No, and the gap between them is enormous. A United States passport is a sovereign identity document issued by the federal government through the Department of State. It certifies your citizenship. It is recognized internationally. It permits you to cross borders, enter foreign nations, and return to the United States. A passport is your proof of national identity in the eyes of every government on Earth that maintains diplomatic relations with the United States.

A Real ID does none of those things. It cannot be used for international travel. It cannot be used for border crossings into Canada or Mexico. It cannot be used for international sea cruise travel. It functions exclusively within the domestic sphere, and within that sphere, it serves only the narrow purposes defined by the Act: domestic air travel, federal facility access, and nuclear power plant entry. If you hold a valid United States passport or passport card, you already satisfy every requirement that Real ID addresses. The passport is, in every functional and legal sense, superior to the Real ID. The State Department’s own website confirms that both the passport book and passport card are Real ID compliant, meaning they satisfy the identification standard without requiring you to obtain a Real ID driver’s license at all.

This creates an interesting class dynamic. Americans who already hold passports, a document that requires its own application process and fee, have no operational need for a Real ID. Americans who do not hold passports and rely exclusively on their state driver’s license for identification are the ones most affected by the mandate. The burden of compliance, in other words, falls disproportionately on those who travel less, who have fewer resources, and who are least likely to have assembled the documentary chain (birth certificate, Social Security card, proof of residency) that the Real ID application demands.

Is Real ID Mandatory?

Here is where the federal government’s language becomes instructively slippery. Real ID is not mandatory in the sense that no law compels you to obtain one. You will not be arrested or fined for not having a Real ID. You can still obtain a standard, non-compliant driver’s license in every state, and that license remains valid for driving, voting, age verification, and all state-level purposes. Multiple state DMVs, including New York, California, Missouri, New Hampshire, and Ohio, explicitly state on their websites that obtaining a Real ID is voluntary.

But voluntary is doing extraordinary work in that sentence. As of May 7, 2025, the enforcement deadline that was delayed six times over twenty years, state-issued identification that is not Real ID compliant is no longer accepted at TSA airport security checkpoints. If you show up at an airport with a standard driver’s license and no passport, you are not getting on that plane through normal channels. You are, as of February 1, 2026, directed to a new system called TSA ConfirmID, where you will pay a $45 fee for a 10-day travel window, submit to biometric or biographic identity verification, and face processing delays of up to 30 minutes. That fee was originally proposed at $18 in late 2025 and was raised to $45 within weeks, with TSA officials citing higher-than-anticipated costs for the verification infrastructure.

So Real ID is voluntary the way that paying for electricity is voluntary. You are technically free not to do it, but the consequences of refusal are designed to make refusal progressively more expensive and inconvenient. The TSA’s own early data from February 2026 reports that 95 to 99 percent of travelers are now presenting Real IDs or other acceptable identification at checkpoints. The compliance rate surged after the ConfirmID fee was announced, which tells you everything about the nature of this particular “choice.”

Why Does This Matter?

The privacy and civil liberties concerns surrounding Real ID have been consistent for two decades, and they have come from across the political spectrum. The ACLU has argued since the Act’s passage that Real ID effectively creates a national identity card system by standardizing state identification under federal control and requiring machine-readable technology on every compliant card. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has warned that the interstate database network creates an irresistible target for identity thieves and facilitates government tracking of individuals. Jim Harper, a senior fellow of digital privacy and constitutional law at the American Enterprise Institute, has stated flatly that Real ID is a national ID system and that, historically, national ID systems have been tools of authoritarian control.

Twenty-one states initially passed legislation or resolutions opposing, or outright refusing to implement, the Real ID Act. Montana was among the last holdouts. The opposition was bipartisan: libertarians objected to federal overreach, privacy advocates objected to the data-sharing requirements, immigration-focused groups objected to the documentary burden, and state budget officials objected to the unfunded mandate. The federal government provided no funding for implementation. States absorbed billions in costs, and those costs were passed to residents through higher DMV fees, longer processing times, and the bureaucratic overhead of verifying birth certificates, Social Security numbers, and residential histories for every applicant.

The requirement that all Real ID cards include an unencrypted machine-readable zone is particularly troubling. That zone contains personal information that can be read by anyone with a barcode scanner. Every time the card is swiped or scanned, it leaves a digital record. The DHS insists that Real ID does not create a federal database of driver’s license information and that each state maintains its own records. That is technically true. It is also technically true that the S2S Verification Service allows states to electronically query each other’s databases, that 45 jurisdictions now participate in that network, and that the practical difference between a centralized federal database and a federated network of interlinked state databases accessible to federal agencies is a distinction without a meaningful difference to the person whose data is in the system.

The Twenty-Year Delay Tells Its Own Story

The original Real ID Act set an implementation target of 2008. Enforcement was delayed to 2009, then 2011, then 2013, then 2014, then 2017, then 2020, then 2021, then 2023, and finally to May 7, 2025, where it was further softened by a phased enforcement plan that extends to May 5, 2027. That is twenty years of delay. That is not a story about logistical complexity. That is a story about a law that the states did not want, that the public did not demand, and that the federal government lacked the political will to enforce until the question of enforcement became entangled with the security theater of post-pandemic air travel.

The fact that the TSA is now charging $45 to verify the identity of travelers who do not present a Real ID, rather than simply accepting other reasonable forms of state identification as it did for two decades, reveals the enforcement mechanism for what it is: a financial penalty dressed up as a user fee. The travelers who pay it are not security threats. They are people who did not get to the DMV in time, or who could not assemble the required documents, or who made a principled decision not to participate in a system they regard as an overreach. Charging them $45 per trip does not make air travel safer. It makes non-compliance expensive.

Where This Leaves Us

If you fly domestically and do not have a passport, you need a Real ID. That is the practical reality. If you have a valid United States passport or passport card, you do not need a Real ID for any federal purpose, and there is a reasonable argument that the passport remains the better document to hold: it is federally issued, internationally recognized, and does not feed your data into an interstate verification network administered by a nonprofit trade association of motor vehicle administrators.

The Real ID is not a federal ID card. It is something more subtle and, in many ways, more concerning: it is a federal standard that conscripts state identification systems into a national security apparatus, links them through shared databases, and imposes compliance through the denial of access to services that Americans have used freely for generations. It was passed without adequate debate, implemented without federal funding, delayed for twenty years because of legitimate and widespread opposition, and is now being enforced through a fee structure that penalizes the Americans least equipped to navigate the bureaucratic requirements of compliance.

That is not security. That is architecture. And the architecture, once built, rarely gets torn down. It only gets expanded.

My efforts to convince the government to create a stand-alone sovereign verified traveller program for Canadian airports continues! Here is my recent QP exchange with government representative Pierre Moreau on that quest. https://youtu.be/W7u7L_kPLdo?si=Lvx52a92duP6ceaj #cdnpoli #DHS #SenateofCanada #PBO #Canada #airports #HomelandSecurity #NEXUS

"At a time when the courts are denying a record number of asylum claims, a judge will soon decide whether he should be deported. If he is returned, he expects the Taliban to be waiting for him."

John Woodrow Cox for The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2025/10/14/trump-immigratio-afghanistan-asylum-deportation/

#Longreads #Immigration #Deportation #Journalism #Afghanistan #Afghans #Resettlement #HomelandSecurity #ICE

My Alberta colleague @KristopherWells rose in the Senate today to speak in support of my motion, calling on the Canadian government to investigate the creation of a made-in-Canada verified traveller program for Canadian domestic travellers. Kris is a respected champion of LGBQT rights - and his speech, which quotes to the words of Edmonton trans activist @marnipanas underlines just how unfair - and dangerous - the current system is for trans and gender queer Canadians #cdnpoli #abpoli #yeg #SenateofCanada #TransRightsAreHumanRights #NEXUS #HomelandSecurity https://youtu.be/ee1NSvqHgTE?si=i8ujAciv9IYE2Cj7

You can also read the transcript of my speech about the need to create a domestic Verified Traveller Program here: https://sencanada.ca/en/senators/simons-paula/interventions/669279/29#hID #SenateofCanada #NEXUS #HomelandSecurity #FrequentFlyer

Ooo, I've been itching to give this speech for ages. WHY is Canada relying on US Homeland Security to approve Verified Travellers in Canada? Why are we contracting out to a country that discriminates against trans, 2 spirit, gender nonbinary and intersex Canadians and doesn't provide service in French. Here is my RANT calling for the creation of a made-in-Canada verified traveller program, without American oversight. Time to patriate airport security, and give all Canadians the right to apply for life in the fast lane. https://youtu.be/yInsw13pkI4?si=c41OK4OqGq9gGmHv #Canada #SenateofCanada #NEXUS #HomelandSecurity #ElbowsUp https://youtu.be/yInsw13pkI4?si=c41OK4OqGq9gGmHv