Stephen Dinan

Feds add human smuggling charges to case against illegal immigrant fake family

Prosecutors divulged new details Tuesday of an illegal immigrant fake family, and announced new human smuggling charges against the abusive couple.

December 29, 2020

Nations grapple with pasts after U.S. protests for racial justice

George Floyd's death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer this summer reverberated thousands of miles to the east, where protesters in Belgium toppled a statue of a former king, Leopold II.

December 28, 2020

Timothy Schmalz, sculptor, says statue removal advocates need reality check

Absolutely arrogant. For Timothy P. Schmalz, an Ontario-based sculptor, that's really the only way to describe the renewed push to tear down statues that commemorate people who are now deemed out of step with modern morals.

December 28, 2020

Coin shortage fears renewed as coronavirus surges

One of the weirder social symptoms of the coronavirus shutdowns has been a coin shortage, which has pinched operations at some businesses and left coin collectors scrounging for material.

December 27, 2020

Gund, Jellycat plush toys foment stuffed animal transformation

As children tear into boxes with flashing lights and gadgety beeps this Christmas, millions will find Santa has gone old school and left them a new cuddly pal.

December 24, 2020

Alan Ray, illegal immigrant, stole identities to get relief funds, prosecutors say

Federal prosecutors announced charges Wednesday against an illegal immigrant from Britain who they say stole dozens of identities and then used some of them to apply for and receive unemployment benefits from coronavirus relief funds.

December 23, 2020

Confederate statues stay in U.S. Capitol Statuary Hall collection despite Democrats’ opposition

Robert E. Lee may be gone, but other Confederate statues survived House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's attempt to oust them from the U.S. Capitol collection.

December 23, 2020

DHS deportations plunge amid pandemic; Trump falls far short of Obama record

Homeland Security's deportations plunged nearly 30% over the past year, officials said Wednesday, blaming the pressures of the pandemic for sapping them of the ability to find and oust immigrants who are in the country illegally.

December 23, 2020

Citizenship test drops questions on freedom of press, religion

The new citizenship test, which immigrants began to use this month, no longer includes a question dealing specifically with the right to religious freedom, one of the Constitution's defining liberties.

December 22, 2020

Congress freezes its pay in spending bill

They may not have known it, but members of Congress voted this week to freeze their own pay for another year.

December 22, 2020

Coronavirus bill creates new Smithsonian museums for history of Latinos, women

Tucked inside the massive coronavirus relief bill Congress rushed through this week is approval for a new National Museum of the American Latino and a new women's history museum, both to be added to the Smithsonian's collection and built near the National Mall in Washington.

December 22, 2020

Alex Padilla picked by Gavin Newsom to fill Kamala Harris Senate seat

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that he has selected Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill the seat of Sen. Kamala D. Harris once she is sworn in as vice president.

December 22, 2020

Trump policies chased immigrants off welfare: study

Immigrants have seen a "dramatic" drop in their use of welfare programs over the first three years of the Trump administration, according to a new report Tuesday that said the president's crackdown on migrants who become dependent on social services is having an effect.

December 22, 2020

‘Defund police’ falters as Congress moves to keep money flowing

The spending bill Congress is poised to approve this week rejects calls to "defund police," and instead keeps full funding flowing to federal law enforcement agencies, the Senate's leader announced Monday.

December 21, 2020

Border wall forces drug smugglers to turn to drones

Drone drug-smuggling has surged so much along the U.S.-Mexico border that the Border Patrol issued a stark plea last week asking residents in southwestern Arizona to step up and help them by spotting and reporting any incursions.

December 20, 2020

House passes stopgap bill to avoid government shutdown

Congress on Friday passed a two-day extension of government funding, hoping to avert a weekend shutdown and buy more time to finish negotiations on a full-year bill.

December 18, 2020

Democrats move to avert government shutdown

House Democrats on Friday introduced an emergency spending bill to fund the government through Sunday, looking to avert a weekend shutdown as all sides work on a broader deal.

December 18, 2020

Frustration builds over secret coronavirus talks on Capitol Hill

Senators expressed frustration Friday over being shut out of coronavirus relief negotiations and signaled they may erect roadblocks unless they are let in on the deal-making by each party's top leaders on Capitol Hill.

December 18, 2020

Supreme Court puts off ruling on Census count that excludes illegal immigrants

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that it's too early to decide whether President Trump can exclude illegal immigrants from the census count he will send to Congress to decide how House seats are divided up among the states over the next decade.

December 18, 2020

Lawmakers under pressure to finish spending package or face shutdown

Lawmakers on Thursday were staring another government shutdown in the eye as they tried to wrap up negotiations on a year-end spending package that would fund the government for 2021 and also deliver another round of cash for coronavirus relief.

December 17, 2020