AG Steve Marshall sues Joe Biden over policy releasing criminal aliens into U.S.
Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a lawsuit on Monday against the Biden administration, arguing that they are ignoring a federal law that requires the federal government to detain and deport aliens who have committed crimes in our country. Alabama, Florida, and Georgia have filed the lawsuit. Marshall joined Florida and Georgia in filing the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. The States are seeking an order that would halt the administration’s policy of releasing criminal aliens communities, stating that the policy threatens the safety of Americans while further undermining our country’s border security. “For more than three decades, a bipartisan majority of Congress has made law that the Executive Branch should arrest, detain, and remove all felon criminal aliens,” stated Marshall. “Congress was justifiably concerned that deportable criminal aliens who are not detained continue to engage in crime and fail to appear for their removal proceedings in large numbers. Furthermore, Congress intended that those arrested and ordered removed by an immigration judge were actually deported. What’s more, officials in previous administrations of both political parties have agreed that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has to prioritize the removal of criminal aliens, and the United States Supreme Court has held that immigration officials ‘must arrest those aliens guilty of a predicate offense,’” argued Marshall. The lawsuit argues that the Biden administration is ignoring the commands of Congress. The lawsuit states that the administration “claims the discretion to decide for itself which aliens should be arrested, detained, and removed, even if its policy preferences directly conflict with the clear commands of Congress.” Marshall continued, “However, President [Joe] Biden has reversed course, effectively thumbing his nose at federal law, slow-walking or outright ignoring legal requirements for detention and deportation of criminal aliens. On November 21, 2021, the Biden administration declared it would no longer strictly abide by the law regarding criminal alien detentions and deportations. It will instead loosely enforce criminal alien detentions and enforcement, asserting ‘broad discretion to decide who should be subject to arrest, detainers, removal proceedings, and the execution of removal orders.’ “Alabama and other states currently bear many of the consequences of unlawful immigration, collectively spending more than $100 million per year incarcerating aliens who commit crimes within our borders. We will spend even more because of the criminals the Biden administration is releasing instead of arresting, detaining, and removing, especially given the high recidivism rates among released prisoners. The Biden administration cannot ignore the law, nor should it place American lives in jeopardy by allowing criminal aliens to escape the long arm of justice,” Marshall concluded. Florida AG Ashley Moody stated on Twitter, “Joe Biden’s refusal to deport criminals here illegally after they complete their sentences makes us all less safe. I’m bringing a new multistate action to force the federal government to deport criminal aliens instead of releasing them into our communities.”
Gary Palmer introduces resolution condemning Biden Administration for turning to Venezuelan and Iranian oil
On Friday, Rep. Gary Palmer introduced a bill condemning the Biden Administration for looking to Venezuela and Iran to provide oil to the United States. H.Res. 1020 calls on the Administration to take action to reestablish U.S. energy independence. Last week, President Joe Biden began the order to release up to 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve to control energy prices that have spiked because of the sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Domestic oil production is equal to more than half of U.S. usage, but high prices have not led companies to return to their pre-pandemic levels of output. The U.S. is currently producing on average 11.7 million barrels daily, down from 13 million barrels in early 2020, the Associated Press reported. In a press release, Palmer criticized Biden’s energy policies. “Energy and gas prices began to rise as soon as President Biden took office. Within his first weeks in office, he shut down domestic energy production by closing the Keystone Pipeline and putting a moratorium on production on federal lands,” Palmer commented. “For the last year, we bought oil from Russia, which lined Putin’s coffers as he prepared to attack Ukraine. Biden is now negotiating with Venezuela and Iran for it, other dictatorships which hate American values and regularly commit human rights abuses. This is unconscionable and nonsensical. The United States sits on an abundance of energy resources. It makes no sense to rely on enemy regimes for our oil when we could produce it right here on our own lands. It undermines our economy, emboldens our enemies, and weakens our position on the world stage. American energy independence will lead to a more prosperous America and a safer world,” Palmer continued. “My colleagues and I are proud to introduce this resolution to censure the Biden Administration’s actions in seeking to purchase Venezuelan and Iranian oil and to call on the President to prioritize American energy independence,” Palmer concluded. On Twitter, Palmer stated, “Why is Biden turning to enemy regimes like Iran & Venezuela for oil when we could produce it? My colleagues & I introduced a resolution condemning the Administration for seeding oil from foreign dictators, & calling for prioritizing US energy independence.” Rep. Mike Rogers is a cosponsor for the resolution and has also been critical of the Biden administration’s decision to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve recently. On Twitter, Rogers stated, “Instead of unleashing the full power of America’s energy sector, President Biden has had to dip into our Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the 2nd time this month alone. Why won’t Biden just support American energy independence like President Trump?” According to the Department of Energy, more than 568 million barrels of oil were held in the reserve as of March 25. The U.S. and 30 other countries agreed to release an additional 60 million barrels from reserves, with half of the total coming from the U.S. Biden has tried to shame oil companies, saying the companies are focused on profits instead of putting out more barrels. He argued that adding to the oil supply was a patriotic obligation. “This is not the time to sit on record profits: It’s time to step up for the good of your country,” Biden stated.
Lindy Blanchard launches new campaign ads aimed at questioning Kay Ivey’s record
The campaign for gubernatorial hopeful Lindy Blanchard launched two new ads on broadcast and cable television. Both ads will run statewide. The first ad, raises questions about Gov. Kay Ivey’s record, arguing that some of her actions around Covid-19 and the gas tax have drawn praise from the Biden Administration. The second ad highlights Blanchard’s national security experience as a Trump appointee and compares and contrasts Ivey to Blanchard. “Try as I may, I cannot make sense of Kay Ivey’s liberal record. It’s no wonder she’s trying to rewrite history about her record but her actions speak louder than any campaign ad she may put out,” stated Blanchard. “After signing a pledge to not raise taxes, she led the charge to do just that. Now, while gas prices are devastating family budgets, she refuses to act and lead the effort to provide the relief we need.” “During the pandemic, Kay Ivey shut down Alabama businesses; adding insult to injury she condemned and mocked those who made the personal decision not to get the COVID-19 vaccination. It’s safe to say that when Joe Biden and Anthony Fauci are on your side, you’re on the wrong side of Alabama”, continued Blanchard. “After the 2020 election, where widespread fraud put Joe Biden in office, Kay Ivey gave up on President Donald Trump and welcomed Joe Biden with open arms. When Trump came to town? Ivey couldn’t be bothered to stand with him. Kay Ivey doesn’t believe President Donald Trump won the election and she doesn’t believe Alabama voters are smart enough to see through her weak leadership on the issue. “One of President Donald Trump’s legacies will be his conservative court appointments. Given the same opportunity, Kay Ivey appointed 8 liberal judges to Alabama courts. This includes choosing democrats to run elections in major counties rather than Trump conservatives. “I will stand up for the voters and make sure that confidence is restored to the election process. I will only appoint Republicans,” Blanchard concluded. Blanchard is on the ballot in the Republican primary for Governor on May 24th. She is a businesswoman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist from Montgomery, Alabama. A conservative outsider, Blanchard has never run for elected office before and will bring a fresh perspective, vast business and management experience, and conservative common sense to the governor’s office.
Dan Sutter: The cheating industry
I support free markets and economic freedom. But do all markets make society better off? The college cheating industry offers a challenge. An internet search quickly reveals the abundant assistance available. Companies and freelancers will write papers, even giving money-back guarantees. Uploading pictures of exam questions on a phone can get answers delivered. Entire classes and degree programs can be taken. As a professor, I could easily moralize about cheating. But let’s consider the economics. A market for cheating exists because some college students are willing to pay for help. Specifically, they will pay enough to induce individuals capable of, for example, writing good term papers to do so. The compensation must also offset any guilt about participating in misconduct. Cheating clearly predates the internet but now greatly enables this market. Students can easily connect with providers. Services can pay for ads to appear on internet searches. And paper writers use the internet to research topics quickly. Students demand custom-written papers because of plagiarism detection software. Software can now easily identify content lifted from the internet. Paper writing services routinely include plagiarism reports to assure customers of original content. Further exploration of the supply and demand sides of the market raise concerns about higher education. On the supply side, many writers (seemingly) are graduates from colleges in the U.S., Canada, or Britain. (Poorly written papers are apparently common with the cheapest services.) Unemployed honors English grads offer many of the testimonials from cheating industry workers. Some higher education critics argue that we have too many college graduates. Their evidence is often ambiguous. That the cheating industry can hire persons capable of researching and writing good papers on tight deadlines for about $10 per page speaks volumes about the job opportunities of at least some college grads. On the demand side, the major question is why cheating works. Teachers warn cheaters that they only cheat themselves. This statement contains some truth. Cheating lets students complete an assignment or class without learning the material. Does this truly help? Suppose someone cheats their way through truck driving school. How will they get and hold a job if they cannot put a truck into gear and drive it? Given this, why pay truck driving school tuition and then pay to cheat? The demands of jobs should limit the demand for cheating. Cheating is more likely on classes unrelated to the jobs students will seek. College curricula feature required courses of little direct relevance to a major, like chemistry for future bankers. Shortening the bachelor’s degree by eliminating unrelated required courses should mitigate cheating. College and graduate degree requirements are imposed by occupational licensing to reduce the number of practitioners. Occupational licensing is government permission to legally work in a field and has grown enormously in the United States. Such degree requirements will be particularly susceptible to cheating; employers will not care if applicants lack irrelevant knowledge. What are the cheating industry’s consequences? The willingness of some to cheat requires professors and universities to incur costs to control and deter cheating. The costs parallel the costs to businesses of shoplifting and employee theft. We could enjoy a higher standard of living if no one was willing to cheat (or steal). Cheating also diminishes the value of grades and degrees. This is often described as unfair to students who study and earn their grades. But for the economy, cheating makes grades and degrees less effective in identifying strong students for employers. This is particularly costly when employers cannot quickly identify unqualified applicants, unlike in the truck driving case. Cheating seemingly resembles other “victimless” crimes like illegal drug use. But this is not correct. The contract students have with colleges prohibits academic misconduct. Cheating involves contract violation, not merely consuming an unpopular product. People will supply what others are willing to buy. But contracts are a foundation of economic freedom, and enforcing contracts is a fundamental task of government. Protecting economic freedom does not require tolerating the cheating industry. Daniel Sutter is the Charles G. Koch Professor of Economics with the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University and host of Econversations on TrojanVision. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of Troy University.
Alabama COVID-19 hospitalizations at low for pandemic
Fewer people are being treated for COVID-19 in Alabama hospitals than at any time since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, but experts say the rise of a new version of the coronavirus combined with fewer safety precautions might mean the decline is only temporary. Just 90 people statewide were hospitalized with the coronavirus on Friday, which was one fewer than the tally at the very start of the pandemic, statistics showed. It was far less than the highs of roughly 3,000 patients who were being treated at once when the outbreak was at its worst. Dr. Michael Saag, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said the statewide trend matches what he is seeing at the hospital there. While the rise of a new omicron variant called BA-2 could cause more hospitalizations, he said, it could be that so many already have been infected in the state that the new version won’t make much of a difference. “Time will tell,” he said. The head of the Alabama Hospital Association, Dr. Donald Williamson, said he expects to see an increase in COVID-19 because of the new variant and the fact that so few people are wearing face masks and taking other precautions, but it’s impossible to determine how large the hike might be. More than 19,200 people have died of COVID-19 in Alabama, the nation’s third-highest death rate at nearly 395 fatalities for every 100,000 residents, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University. While the rolling average number of daily new cases increased by 33% over the last two weeks, the state released a new batch of older test results that may have affected the statistics. While it’s reasonable to relax mask requirements given the overall improvement, Saag said, people at higher risk for illness likely will continue to wear them. “For the rest of the population, we can begin to get back to some semblance of ‘normal,’ with the caveat that public health officials will continue to monitor the case load,” he said in an email. “Should a new spike in cases, and especially hospitalizations, occur, we should reinstate masking recommendations.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Lonnie Coffman sentenced to nearly 4 years in prison for January 6 charges
An Alabama man who parked a pickup truck filled with weapons and Molotov cocktail components near the U.S. Capitol on the day of last year’s riot was sentenced Friday to nearly four years in prison. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said she still hasn’t heard an explanation for why Lonnie Leroy Coffman had “almost a small armory in his truck, ready to do battle.” She sentenced Coffman to three years and ten months in prison, giving him credit for the more than one year he already has served since his arrest. Coffman, 72, of Falkville, Alabama, said he never intended to hurt anybody or destroy any property. He said he drove to Washington alone “to try to discover just how true and secure was the (2020 presidential) election.” “If I had any idea that things would turn out like they did, I would have stayed home,” he wrote in a handwritten letter to the judge. More than 770 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot when supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump stormed the building in an effort to disrupt lawmakers’ formal certification of his reelection defeat. Five people died, and scores of Capitol Police officers were seriously injured. Over 240 participants in the attack have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors punishable by a maximum of six months imprisonment. More than 130 have been sentenced. Coffman is one of nine defendants whose prison sentence exceeds one year. Coffman, a Vietnam War veteran who served in the U.S. Army, pleaded guilty in November to possession of an unregistered firearm and carrying a pistol without a license. He was carrying a loaded handgun and revolver without a license as he walked in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, according to prosecutors. He isn’t accused of entering the Capitol or joining the mob during the riot that day. When Coffman parked his truck a few blocks from the Capitol on the morning of January 6, it contained a handgun, a rifle, a shotgun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a crossbow, machetes, a stun gun, and a cooler containing eleven mason jars with holes punched in the lids, according to prosecutors. Each jar contained a mixture of gasoline and Styrofoam, which are components of the homemade incendiary devices called Molotov cocktails, prosecutors said. Law enforcement officers found the cache of weapons and ammunition when they searched Coffman’s truck. They had been sweeping the area after pipe bombs were found near the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee. Later, investigators also found Molotov cocktail components at Coffman’s home in Alabama. “Possession of so much dangerous weapons in our nation’s capital is uniquely offensive to our cherished, democratic political traditions,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Friedman said. Handwritten notes found inside the vehicle included a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln that said, “We The People Are The Rightful Masters Of Both The Congress And The Courts, Not To Overthrow The Constitution But To Overthrow The Men Who Pervert The Constitution.” The notes included a list of “good guys” and “bad guys,” with a federal judge named in the latter category, and contact information for a member of a Texas militia group known as the “American Patriots,” prosecutors said. “The handwritten notes also included an address for a reported gathering place in Texas called ‘Camp Lonestar,’ where militia groups had reportedly sought to patrol the border looking for illegal aliens,” prosecutors wrote. Investigators had previously identified Coffman as an armed participant at Camp Lonestar, according to prosecutors. Coffman, a retired machine operator, had traveled to Washington in December 2020 and tried to drive to the home of a U.S. senator who isn’t named in a court filing by prosecutors. He also called the senator’s office in an effort to “help with the election fraud he saw.” “A staff member at the Senator’s office recorded that the defendant seemed ‘unbalanced’ or ‘not 100% there’ during the call but did not seem threatening,” prosecutors wrote. Prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of approximately three years and six months. Defense attorney Manuel Retureta said a prison term wouldn’t be appropriate given Coffman’s age and medical condition. Coffman didn’t have a criminal record before this case. “At my age, one of the most precious (things) we possess is time, and I have wasted almost a whole precious year,” he wrote in his letter to the judge. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
ASU president Quinton Ross named to White House advisory board
The president of Alabama State University has been appointed to a White House advisory board on historically Black colleges and universities. President Joe Biden’s administration says ASU President Quinton Ross is among 18 people tapped to serve on the panel. Four other members also are presidents of historically Black schools. The advisory board works with an initiative to improve and support historically Black institutions. Ross, a former state legislator, is entering his fifth year at Alabama State, which is located in Montgomery. “The work of the advisory board is extremely important to advancing the mission and vision of our institutions. I consider it an honor to serve the president in this capacity,” he said in a statement Friday. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
