Stephen Dinan

Homeland Security ‘limited’ in ability to detect asylum fraud: watchdog report

Homeland Security officials have "limited capabilities" to detect fraudulent asylum applications, the government's chief watchdog said in a devastating report released Wednesday that could deal a major blow to President Obama's approach to illegal immigration across the southwestern border.

December 2, 2015

Obama expands ICE powers to pursue illegal immigrants for deportation, angers activists

The Obama administration has created a tool to push local authorities to hold illegal immigrants for eventual deportation even when they don't match the top priorities the president laid out last year, in a move both sides of the immigration debate say is proof that his deportation amnesty is falling short.

December 1, 2015

Obama tells COP 21 climate deal will be legally binding for next president

President Obama vowed Tuesday that the U.S. will provide leadership on global warming, then left the Paris talks and flew back to Washington to leave it to his lieutenants to try to strike a deal that he hopes will be "legally binding" on his successor.

December 1, 2015

Bipartisan consensus forms on restricting Visa Waiver Program

A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation Tuesday to stop foreigners who've recently visited Syria or Iraq from traveling to the U.S. on a visa waiver, signaling Congress's next likely target as it tries to take steps to reduce the chances of a Paris-style terrorist attack.

December 1, 2015

Paul Ryan: Planned Parenthood shooting requires action on ‘mental illness’

House Speaker Paul Ryan mourned the victims killed in last week's shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood facility and said it should spur Congress to take steps to combat mental illness.

December 1, 2015

Diversity Visa lottery raises concerns over Social Security fraud

The Diversity Visa lottery, one of America's weirder immigration programs, appears to be a gateway for Social Security fraud, according to the findings of an inspector general's report released last month.

November 30, 2015

Hillary Clinton’s server went down ‘for two weeks’ after Hurricane Sandy

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton lost Internet service "for two weeks" after Hurricane Sandy struck New York, disrupting the email server she kept at her home there, she told one correspondent in emails released Monday.

November 30, 2015

Hillary Clinton email classification rate rises

The classification rate for former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's government emails rose again Monday, as the department released more than 5,000 additional messages and deemed at least 6 percent of them to contain information that had to be kept from the public.

November 30, 2015

Congress sets Jan. 12 date for Obama’s State of the Union

President Obama will deliver his State of the Union address to Congress on Jan. 12, marking an early start to what's expected to be a year more dominated by politics than accomplishments.

November 30, 2015

New Senate waste-watchers fill up ‘Federal Fumbles’

The dating habits of America's seniors might be of interest to online matchmakers and certain pharmaceutical companies, but Sen. James Lankford wants to know why the federal government felt it needed to get involved — to the tune of nearly $375,000 — to conduct its own study.

November 30, 2015

COP 21 climate deal hinges on cash payouts to developing countries

Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa was explicit earlier this year when asked what it would take for developing countries to sign up for the emerging U.S.-led climate deal: "Money."

November 29, 2015

NSA to end phone-snooping, but asks for three-month extension to keep records

The intelligence community was scheduled to stop collecting Americans' phone metadata Sunday -- but still wants three more months to continue looking through the billions of phone call records it already has, as it tries to see whether its replacement snooping program is working.

November 27, 2015

Visa waivers get bipartisan support in effort to toughen laws

Visa waivers are the next likely target for a Congress trying to prevent terrorists from entering the U.S. — and a surprising bipartisan consensus is developing about the need to tighten the laws.

November 26, 2015

GOP sees ‘hypocrisy’ as Obama goes after states on refugees but not sanctuary cities

Republicans accused President Obama this week of "hypocrisy" after his administration sent threatening letters to states warning they could lose federal funding if they don't cooperate with his plan to resettle 10,000 refugees this fiscal year.

November 26, 2015

Obama uses Thanksgiving address to scold Americans over Syrian refugees

Dubbing the Pilgrims the country's first refugees, President Obama used his weekly radio address Thursday to chide his fellow Americans for their reluctance to accept Syrian refugees and to insist that the U.S. has a duty to accept them and other immigrants.

November 26, 2015

Google deems Bernie Sanders’ economic plan a ‘phishing scam’

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernard Sanders' economic plan triggered Gmail's "phishing scam" antenna, with the mail system saying the senator's liberal campaign promises -- including lower prescription drug prices and free college for all -- sound like frauds.

November 25, 2015

Obama administration released illegal immigrant children to criminals’ homes

The Obama administration released thousands of illegal immigrant children to sponsors with criminal records, including arrests on charges of child molestation, human trafficking and homicide, a top senator charged Tuesday.

November 24, 2015

IRS audits target wealthy taxpayers as agency seeks best return on investment

Tea party targeting may be out, but wealth targeting is still very much in vogue at the IRS, where auditors target the wealthy and those with high incomes at much higher rates than other taxpayers.

November 23, 2015

Illegal immigrant children, non-Mexicans surge across U.S. Southwest border at record rate

The Southwest border has broken open in recent weeks, with non-Mexicans -- and illegal immigrant children in particular -- crossing at a record rate in October, according to Border Patrol statistics that suggest the administration's victory lap earlier this year was premature.

November 22, 2015

Obama administration asks Supreme Court to approve executive amnesty

The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to reinstate President Obama's deportation amnesty Friday, filing papers appealing a federal appeals court's decision blocking the amnesty exactly a year after the program was first announced.

November 20, 2015