Feinstein Flips Vote On Disaster Relief After Schumer Talks To Her

Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein changed her vote on a disaster relief package that would have provided aid to California communities devastated by the wildfires after Minority Leader Chuck Schumer approached her on the Senate floor.

Feinstein voted in favor of the $13.5 billion package for disaster relief from recent floods, hurricanes and wildfires on Monday, however, only seconds after casting her vote, Schumer confronted Feinstein. Following the conversation, Feinstein immediately walked to the clerk and flipped her vote to “nay.”

The disaster relief package combined aid for a variety of natural disasters the country experienced, including support to southern farmers, California towns hit by wildfires and mudslides and states such as Georgia, Florida and North Carolina that were hit by hurricanes. Moreover, the legislation would provide funding to rebuild military bases in Florida and North Carolina that were destroyed during the hurricanes. The bill ultimately failed to advance in the Senate after it was voted down by 44 to 49. It would have provided $610 million in nutrition assistance to Puerto Rico, however, Senate Democrats reportedly voted against the bill claiming the island needed more disaster funding.

Feinstein has been an outspoken advocate for funding California’s wildfire recovery effort. The California senator called for more than $9 billion in federal funding in November after wildfires raged across the state causing billions worth of damage. Feinstein’s office did not reply to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/04/02/feinstein-vote-schumer-disaster/

Trump Compares Democrats To Central America: ‘Taking US Money For Years, And Doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING’

President Donald Trump compared Mexican and Central American governments to Democrats working in Washington, D.C., in a tweet Tuesday morning.

“After many years (decades), Mexico is apprehending large numbers of people at their Southern Border, mostly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. They have ALL been taking U.S. money for years, and doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for us, just like the Democrats in Congress!” the president tweeted. The statements come as a massive number of illegal migrants are arriving on the U.S.-Mexico border. A record amount of apprehensions took place in March, with Customs and Border Protection catching or stopping 3,974 illegal migrants on March 19, the highest number since Trump entered office. Nearly 100,000 apprehensions are estimated to have taken place in March, which would be the highest in over a decade.

Most of these illegal migrants hail from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, making the situation more difficult for law enforcement officials. These immigrants cannot be quickly deported because they are from noncontiguous countries — countries other than Mexico or Canada. The situation has left overwhelmed detainment centers stretched thin and forced to release illegal migrants by the thousands.

The Trump administration has pushed numerous measures in an effort to alleviate the situation. Beyond asking for billions more in funding for wall construction, the Trump administration is attempting to punish these Central American countries by withholding millions in financial aid and asking Congress to pass legislative fixes to immigration laws. All of these measures have been met with pushback from Democrats, earning ire from the Oval Office. Trump, later on Tuesday, quoted the vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, who has been extremely critical of the Democratic Party.

“I haven’t seen any Democrats down here at the Border working with us or asking to speak to any of us. They have an open invitation. We are getting overrun, our facilities are overcapacity. We are at an emergency crisis.” Art Del Cueto, National Border Patrol Council.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2019

The president has also put heavy pressure on Mexico, calling out its government for allowing Central American migrants to traverse through the country. Trump has repeatedly threatened to shut the entire border down unless the Mexican government rectifies the situation.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/04/02/trump-central-america-democrats/

Migrants Riot, Burn Mattress in Tijuana Immigration Facility

SAN DIEGO—A group of migrants set fire to a mattress, sheets, and blankets during a riot inside an immigration facility in Tijuana, Mexico, on April 1. Fifty-one people were evacuated and six—including two children 2 and 4 years old—had to be treated for smoke inhalation, according to reports.

Two young men from Guatemala, another two from Cuba, and one from India, allegedly burned the mattress and sheets in the bathroom, damaging the inside of the immigration facility where the migrants were being held, the director of the Tijuana Fire Department, José Luis Jiménez, told Mexican newspaper Milenio. The National Migration Institute facility, where the riot took place, is approximately 6 miles south of the San Ysidro Port of Entry that separates San Diego from Tijuana. It is one of the busiest ports of entry along the southwest border.

Jiménez said the suspects were arrested and have been turned over to the federal police and immigration authorities and are expected to be deported to their home countries. Though the motive is still unknown, the head of the National Migration Institute in Tijuana, Rodulfo Figueroa, believes that the migrants started the riot because they were unhappy with their accommodations in the border city. “It was not a problem of overcrowding. It was a problem of a couple of people, who did not agree with their housing situation, wanting to create a disturbance, which resulted in this,” Figueroa said, according to Unidad Radio. “Fortunately, and thanks to the support of the firemen, the Red Cross, civil protection, the municipal police, and the federal police, this was resolved without any incident.”

Migrants Set Fires in Detention Centers In January, Honduran migrants in a Mexican immigration facility in the border city Mexicali also set fire to a couch and other furniture during an attempted riot, according to an earlier report by Milenio. Figueroa said the migrants, who had been reported as being problematic by the authorities in the facility, had burned the furniture as part of a protest, though he did not elaborate on what they were protesting. The 23 men, including minors, involved in the arson were immediately transferred to the National Institute of Migration offices in Tijuana, the site of the recent fire. It’s not clear whether the migrants who started the fire in the Tijuana facility are the same ones who were transferred from Mexicali.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/migrants-riot-burn-mattress-in-tijuana-immigration-facility_2862768.html

Five Arrested in Louisiana Sex Trafficking Sting

Police in Louisiana have arrested five people accused of sex trafficking minors and branding victims with tattoos. A joint Louisiana State Police and New Orleans Police Department sting netted suspects in New Orleans and St. Tammany Parish, The Times-Picayune reported. Victims reported being beaten, raped, drugged, and pimped out, according to the report. A 17-year-old female was reportedly tattooed by one of the suspects on her forearm and under her eye.

One of those arrested on March 25 is Darnell Johnson, 26, who faces two counts of tattooing a minor and one count of “contributing to the delinquency of minors. Johnson also faces accusations of possessing an illegal firearm. He has a prior conviction for domestic battery. Two other men identified as Jayson Figueroa and Cordarrell Rudolph have also been arrested, Fox reported. They face charges of trafficking children for sexual purposes, second-degree rape, and felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile. A fourth man, Kortlen Hubbard, was also arrested after confessing to having had sexual relations with a 16-year-old girl.

Police rescued a 16-year-old sex trafficking victim from a New Orleans hotel in February, The Times-Picayune reported. 

A 17-year-old girl was also rescued in the sting. Johnson allegedly tattooed her forearm and face with the word “numb.” She has also been charged with trafficking children for sexual purposes after allegedly recruiting the 16-year-old into.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/five-arrested-in-louisiana-sex-trafficking-sting_2863205.html