Frank Fang – American Conservative Movement https://americanconservativemovement.com American exceptionalism isn't dead. It just needs to be embraced. Mon, 05 Aug 2024 07:44:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://americanconservativemovement.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/cropped-America-First-Favicon-32x32.png Frank Fang – American Conservative Movement https://americanconservativemovement.com 32 32 135597105 DOJ Should Investigate China’s United Front Groups Over Violence in San Francisco https://americanconservativemovement.com/doj-should-investigate-chinas-united-front-groups-over-violence-in-san-francisco/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/doj-should-investigate-chinas-united-front-groups-over-violence-in-san-francisco/#comments Mon, 05 Aug 2024 07:44:05 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=210223 (The Epoch Times)—Two U.S.-based advocacy groups are calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the activities of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “united front” foreign influence organizations in the United States, after identifying groups responsible for street violence in San Francisco during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit in 2023.

The Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC) and Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) used open-source research and facial recognition technology to identify CCP-aligned actors allegedly assaulting peaceful pro-democracy protesters during Xi’s four-day visit, according to their newly-released report.

The groups found that 19 leaders of the CCP’s united front groups were in San Francisco during Xi’s visit and 12 of them allegedly participated in attacks against protesters. These leaders came from all over the United States, including New York, California, Portland, Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Philadelphia.

“Investigate whether united front groups in the U.S. are acting as unregistered foreign agents of the PRC in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act,” the two groups urged the DOJ, referring to China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

The report also urged the DOJ to “explore the potential criminal liabilities of individuals and groups engaged in” transnational repression.

Xi arrived in San Francisco on Nov. 14 last year for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Many decided to use his visit as a platform to peacefully protest against the CCP’s human rights violations, holding demonstrations at the San Francisco International Airport; on the streets near the Moscone Center, where APEC meetings were held; in areas outside of the St. Regis Hotel where Xi stayed; and in other locations around the city.

However, the peaceful protests were marred by violence allegedly committed by Xi’s supporters and pro-CCP demonstrators. The report documents 34 cases of harassment, intimidation, and assault.

Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, said in a July 31 statement that the CCP-directed attacks “were an outrageous violation of American sovereignty and the values we all hold dear.” He called on the FBI and the San Francisco Police Department to hold the perpetrators accountable.

“This thuggery—also known as transnational repression—has no place in America,” Moolenaar said. “The CCP cannot be allowed to bring its Orwellian model of totalitarian control to American soil.”

United Front Groups

The CCP leverages a network of groups, some directly under the control of the United Front Work Department within its Central Committee, to carry out its “united front” strategy to advance the regime’s interests overseas. A big part of the strategy involves exerting influence and control over Chinese diaspora communities and promoting favorable narratives about China under the CCP’s rule.

One united front leader identified in the report is Li Huahong, the head of the Chinese Anti-Cult World Alliance (CACWA). According to the report, Li, who was wearing a CACWA jacket at the time, allegedly attacked Chinese activist Jia Junwei outside of St. Regis on Nov. 14 last year. Jia had traveled to San Francisco seeking justice for her deceased father, a victim of the regime’s land expropriation policies who died in Chinese detention in 2017.

Jia said that Li “snatched her banner, dragged her into an area surrounded by other CCP supporters who held up their large PRC flags so that no one could see what was happening, pulled her hair, and hit her in the head,” the report states, adding that an ambulance later arrived at the scene and first responders treated Jia.

Li was “alleged to be involved” in more attacks the next day, alongside a dinner reception for Xi at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, according to the report. Inside a parking garage across from the hotel, an unidentified man wearing a CACWA jacket was among a group of 15 masked CCP supporters allegedly attacking Tibetan protesters, after the latter unfurled a banner with the words “Dictator Xi, Your Time Is Up.”

In 2013, Li was convicted in New York on charges of attacking Falun Gong practitioners. The faith group is persecuted by the CCP in China.

Also on Nov. 14 last year, Li Huanjun, a victim of forced demotion in China, said that she was hit in the head with a flagpole and pinched on the arms, waist, and other places several times during encounters with CCP supporters.

One of the individuals who allegedly participated in the harassment and intimidation of Li Huanjun was Jing Dongsheng, the report stated, identifying him as the president of the Oregon Association for the Promotion of the Peaceful Unification of China.

Four other united front leaders were allegedly responsible for attacks against Chinese activist Wang Wei on Nov. 15 last year. According to the report, their names are Wengxi Zhuoma, president of the Sichuan Association of Washington State; Guo Jianwei, president of the Henan Association of Washington State; Fang Weixia, chair of the Association of China’s Peaceful Reunification of Washington State; and Chen Wenshen, vice president of the Seattle-area Fujian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Washington State.

In a video, Fang can be seen “punching … and kicking” activist Wang, according to the report.

Wang explained in the report that he was wearing a “Free China” sticker on his arm, which could be the reason he became a target of the CCP supporters.

“A question which the U.S. government, local governments, and federal and local law enforcement authorities may need to confront is whether the CCP united front groups and individuals are essentially acting as unregistered foreign agents, in which case they may be in breach of the law,” the two groups wrote.

Transnational Repression

HKDC and SFT said that local authorities in San Francisco did not do enough to protect protesters.

“Despite strong awareness of CCP [transnational repression] at the federal level and a general commitment to countering it, agencies were unprepared to do so in San Francisco,” the two groups wrote.

“Local law enforcement authorities exhibited a lack of awareness of [transnational repression], were often unresponsive when alerted to the attacks, and took little and inadequate action in response to the attacks.”

The report explained that protesters had to change their protest plans several times “due to safety concerns.”

For example, Tibetan and Uyghur groups canceled their plan to march to the Hyatt Regency on Nov. 15, 2023.

“When they saw the large numbers of CCP supporters gathered outside the hotel and an absence of separate protest zones, they decided against this course of action as they feared it could lead to a potentially violent confrontation,” the report reads.

Standing Up for Liberty

The report offered recommendations to the White House, the Department of State, the DOJ, the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Congress, and state and local authorities to address the CCP’s acts of transnational repression.

It urges the State Department to impose targeted sanctions against foreign individuals who “direct or engage” in acts of transnational repression. It also asks the Department of Homeland Security to offer transnational repression-related training to state and local law enforcement.

Congress is also urged to pass legislation such as the Transnational Repression Policy Act, the Stop Transnational Repression Act (H.R.5907), the Combating Transnational Repression Act of 2024 (H.R. 7443), the Law Enforcement Support and Transnational Repression Hotline Act (H.R. 7433), and the Strengthening State and Local Efforts to Combat Transnational Repression Act (H.R. 7439).

Introduced by Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) in February and co-sponsored by Reps. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.), August Pfluger (R-Texas), and Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.), H.R. 7439 would require the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a “transnational repression threat training program” for state, local, tribal, campus, and territorial law enforcement, according to a press release.

“Silence and lack of action will surely signal to the CCP that it has ‘gotten away with it’ and simply encourage it to continue to pursue its objectives to silence, intimidate, and inflict violence on those it perceives as its enemies abroad,” the report reads.

“At best, it leaves those who live in the United States and advocate for freedom and human rights in East Turkestan, Hong Kong, the PRC, and Tibet uncertain and skeptical that U.S. authorities will protect them when the CCP seeks to come after them, and, at worst, fearful and intimidated in the ‘land of the free.’”

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.

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China and Russia Are Secretly Weaponizing Their Satellites in Preparation for War With America https://americanconservativemovement.com/china-and-russia-are-secretly-weaponizing-their-satellites-in-preparation-for-war-with-america/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/china-and-russia-are-secretly-weaponizing-their-satellites-in-preparation-for-war-with-america/#respond Tue, 30 Jan 2024 10:35:30 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=200827 (The Epoch Times)—China and Russia are populating space with dual-use satellites while concealing their military applications, according to a new report from the U.S. military.

“China and Russia view the U.S. as overly reliant upon space for military and information superiority. Seeking asymmetric advantages in future conflict, both countries are designing, testing, and demonstrating counterspace weapons to deny, disrupt, or destroy satellites and space services,” the report says. “They often mask or conceal these activities to avoid international condemnation.”

The report, titled “Competing in Space,” was jointly written by the National Space Intelligence Center, a U.S. Space Force unit, and the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, a U.S. Air Force unit.

“The dual-use nature of some spacecraft technologies makes counterspace tests or hostile activity difficult to detect, attribute, or mitigate,” the report adds. “For example, sensors to inspect other satellites and robotic arms for servicing other satellites support peaceful missions, but can also be used to target or attack spacecraft.”

A debris mitigation satellite could function as a weapon system, the report says, pointing to China’s satellite Shijian-21, which in January 2022 towed a defunct Chinese navigation satellite to a graveyard orbit.

The report named another Chinese satellite, Shijian-17, which is equipped with a giant robotic arm. “Space-based robotic arm technology could be used in a future system for grappling other satellites,” the report says.

Russia has deployed several prototype orbital anti-satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), including Cosmos 2504, 2519, and 2536, for testing “kinetic kill capabilities,” according to the report.

Most Earth-orbiting satellites are located in LEO, which is about 1,200 miles from the surface of the Earth. Other orbits include the medium Earth orbit (MEO), the highly elliptical orbit (HEO), and the geostationary orbit (GEO). GPS satellites are located in the MEO.

Space Capabilities

The report said Chinese military exercises “regularly incorporate jammers against satellite communications” and other targets, thus making Beijing likely to have been developing jammers targeting “a wide range of satellite communications supporting government and military operations.”

Other space capabilities that China and Russia are pursuing include directed-energy weapons.

“China has multiple ground-based laser systems of varying power levels that could blind or damage satellite sensors. By the mid-to-late 2020s, Beijing may have higher-power systems capable of damaging satellites,” the report says.

In 2021, China tested a hypersonic weapon system that, according to some experts, employs a deployment method similar to the Soviet concept known as the fractional orbital bombardment system. The report said the Chinese hypersonic weaponry “could prevent reliable missile warning and complicate defense engagements.”

Since December 2018, when a previous version of the report was published, there has been a drastic increase in the number of satellites. As of the end of 2022, there were 7,096 satellites, more than triple from 1,880 six years ago, according to the report. The United States led with 4,723 satellites, while China had 647 and Russia 199. The rest of the world had 1,527 satellites.

“Over the past decade, China has rapidly developed into a major international space power, effectively multiplying its number of on-orbit satellites tenfold,” the report says. “More than half of the approximately 200 satellites China launched in 2022 were remote sensing satellites.”

Now, China operates more than 300 remote sensing satellites with diverse sensors, the report said, thus “improving the Chinese military’s ability to observe U.S. aircraft carriers, expeditionary strike groups and deployed air wings.”

Space Norms

Competition pitting the United States against China and Russia extends beyond Earth’s immediate orbits. Asteroids, the moon, Mars, and other celestial bodies could provide countries with valuable resources or strategic advantages, according to the report.

China is aiming to put its astronauts on the moon by 2030. Meanwhile, several nations including Venezuela, Pakistan, South Africa, and Belarus, have signed up for a planned moon base project led by China and Russia. It is officially known as the International Lunar Research Station.

The report highlighted Chinese and Russian activities at the Lagrange Points in space, including China’s Queqiao relay satellite, which is stationed at one of these five points. Due to these points’ relative distance between the Earth and the moon, spacecraft can remain in these regions for a longer period while consuming less fuel. Experts have compared these points to strategic oceanic gateways such as the Strait of Hormuz.

“These regions are uniquely valuable for long-term missions, such as surveillance, space environment monitoring, or data relay, in deep space,” the report says.

The key to the future in space is “preserving space access” for all nations, the report said, but there is a lack of international consensus on space norms.

“Despite the substantial increase in new space operators, technologies, and spacecraft, the international community has not achieved consensus on major norms, rules, or principles governing activities in space since the 1970s,” the report says.

It noted that China and Russia have endorsed a draft treaty for space that “fails to address a variety of anti-satellite weapons and lacks meaningful verification mechanisms.”

As of December 2023, 33 nations have signed up to the U.S.-led Artemis Accords, which commit signatories to a common vision of peaceful, sustainable, and transparent cooperation in space.

“The expanding utility of space systems has extended the boundaries of conflict and exacerbated the world’s vulnerability to dangers in the space environment. Actors seeking to challenge international order will have access to systems capable of devastating and lasting impacts on our progress on Earth and in space,” the report concludes.

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CISA and FBI Warn That Chinese-Made Drones Destroy American Competition and Threaten Our National Security https://americanconservativemovement.com/cisa-and-fbi-warn-that-chinese-made-drones-destroy-american-competition-and-threaten-our-national-security/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/cisa-and-fbi-warn-that-chinese-made-drones-destroy-american-competition-and-threaten-our-national-security/#respond Sun, 21 Jan 2024 08:47:00 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=200526 (The Epoch Times)—U.S. owners and operators of critical infrastructure are being warned not to use Chinese-made unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) due to security risks, in a memo and report issued on Jan. 17 by the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

“Our nation’s critical infrastructure sectors, such as energy, chemical and communications, are increasingly relying on UAS for various missions that ultimately reduce operating costs and improve staff safety,” David Mussington, executive assistant director for CISA’s Infrastructure Security, said in a memo that accompanied the report, titled “Cybersecurity Guidance: Chinese-Manufactured UAS.”

“However, the use of Chinese-manufactured UAS risks exposing sensitive information that jeopardizes U.S. national security, economic security, and public health and safety.”

“Urgent attention” must be paid to “China’s aggressive cyber operations to steal intellectual property and sensitive data from organizations,” Mr. Mussington added.

Chinese-made drones have long been a concern in the United States, particularly those made by China-based Da Jiang Innovations (DJI), which is the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial drones. In December 2020, the Commerce Department added DJI to its export control list for being complicit in the Chinese regime’s human rights abuses. Two years later, the Pentagon added DJI to its list of “Chinese military companies” that are operating directly or indirectly in the United States.

The FBI–CISA report doesn’t mention DJI or other Chinese UAS makers by name.

Chinese Laws

However, it highlights the risks associated with using Chinese-made drones by pointing to different Chinese laws, including the National Intelligence Law that took effect in 2017, which compels Chinese companies to hand over data collected within China and elsewhere to Beijing’s intelligence agencies.

“The 2021 Data Security Law expands the PRC’s access to and control of companies and data within China and imposes strict penalties on China-based businesses for non-compliance,” the report says, referring to China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

“The 2021 Cyber Vulnerability Reporting Law requires Chinese-based companies to disclose cyber vulnerabilities found in their systems or software to PRC authorities prior to any public disclosure or sharing overseas,” the report adds.

“This may provide PRC authorities the opportunity to exploit system flaws before cyber vulnerabilities are publicly known.”

The report points out three major vulnerabilities that Chinese-made drones can exploit: data transfer and collection, patching and firmware updates, and a broader surface for data collection. Drones controlled by smartphones and other internet-of-things devices could allow foreign intelligence gathering on U.S. critical infrastructure.

Sensitive imagery, surveying data, and facility layouts are some of the vulnerable data that “allow foreign adversaries like the PRC access to previously inaccessible intelligence,” according to the report.

“Without mitigations in place, the widespread deployment of Chinese-manufactured UAS in our nation’s key sectors is a national security concern, and it carries the risk of unauthorized access to systems and data,” Bryan Vorndran, assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, said in a statement.

The memo encourages owners and operators of U.S. critical infrastructure to buy drones that are “secure-by-design,” including those made by U.S. companies. The report provides several cybersecurity recommendations.

Responses

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), issued a joint statement in response to the report.

“The new Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency report makes clear that Communist Chinese drones present a legitimate national security risk to our critical infrastructure and must be banned from the U.S.,” the lawmakers stated.

“The CCP has subsidized drone companies such as DJI and Autel in order to destroy American competition and spy on America’s critical infrastructure sites. We must ban CCP-backed spy drones from America and work to bolster the U.S. drone industry.”

Last November, a bipartisan group of 11 House lawmakers, including Mr. Gallagher and Ms. Stefanik, sent a letter to the Biden administration, calling for an investigation into Chinese drone maker Autel Robotics, citing national security concerns. The group said the firm is openly affiliated with the Chinese military and “poses a direct threat to U.S. national security as local law enforcement and state and local governments are purchasing and operating Autel drones.”

Mr. Gallagher and Ms. Stefanik also introduced the Countering CCP Drones Act (H.R.2864) in April 2023 to prevent DJI technologies from operating on U.S. communication infrastructure.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, advised people interested in purchasing Chinese-made drones to read the security report.

“For years, I’ve been concerned about the security risks associated with drones, including those made in the PRC,” he wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “This memo represents a good first step to studying that, and I hope anyone considering purchasing a Chinese drone reads it carefully.”

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Abortion Bans Result in 32,000 More Babies Being Born Each Year https://americanconservativemovement.com/abortion-bans-result-in-32000-more-babies-being-born-each-year/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/abortion-bans-result-in-32000-more-babies-being-born-each-year/#respond Thu, 23 Nov 2023 19:34:45 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=198696 (The Epoch Times)—About 32,000 additional babies are being born per year following the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade last year, according to an analysis.

“Our primary analysis indicates that in the first six months of 2023, births rose by an average of 2.3 percent in states enforcing total abortion bans compared to a control group of states where abortion rights remained protected, amounting to approximately 32,000 additional annual births resulting from abortion bans,” three researchers from the Georgia Insitute of Technology and Middlebury College wrote in a report published by the Institute of Labor Economics in Germany on Friday.

The researchers came to their conclusions based on monthly birth data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) starting from January 2005 to June.

The report noted significant changes in abortion access following the Supreme Court ruling.

“As of November 1, 2023, 14 states are enforcing bans on abortion in nearly all circumstances, and 23 percent of U.S. women of reproductive age have experienced an increase in driving distance to the nearest abortion facility, from an average of 43 miles one-way before Dobbs to 330 miles at present,” the researchers wrote.

“This represents the most profound transformation of the landscape of U.S. abortion access in 50 years,” they added.

The longer the driving distances to abortion clinics, the greater the increase in birth rates, according to the report.

For instance, Texas, one of the 14 states to enforce near-total bans on the procedure, saw its fertility rates increase by 5.1 percent as its driving distance to the nearest abortion clinic increased by an average of 453 miles.

Mississippi saw a 4.4 percent spike in birth rates, as the average increase in driving distance there was 240 miles after the state imposed its ban.

Meanwhile, researchers noted the availability of online abortion pills was a factor in some states with bans. Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana had increases in births that were “less than forecasted” based on driving distances, as they were also the states with the “greatest reported increase to Aid Access for medications to self-manage abortion following Dobbs.”

In the 14 states, the report estimated that about one-fifth to one-fourth of people seeking abortions did not receive one due to abortion bans.

The report also showed a sizable increase in birth rates for Hispanic women (4.7 percent) and women in their early 20s (3.3 percent).

On Nov. 22, separate data released by the CDC showed that the number of abortions reported to the agency increased 5 percent from 2020 to 2021. The CDC data do not include numbers from California, Maryland, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.

In response to the CDC numbers, the Washington-based conservative advocacy group Family Research Council (FRC) issued a statement saying unborn children need urgent protection.

“From 2020–2021, the number of abortions increased by five percent. This means that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision giving elected officials the power to protect unborn children from abortion came at the time when unborn children’s lives were most at risk. The time to protect the unborn is now!” FRC’s Director of the Center for Human Dignity, Mary Szoch, said in a statement.

“Additionally, this data shows that 56 percent of abortions occurred using the dangerous chemical abortion drug, mifepristone. While every abortion is tragic because it ends the life of an unborn child, abortions using the abortion drug, mifepristone, are especially horrific because of the great risk they pose to the mother’s health, and sometimes her life, as well,” Ms. Szoch added.

She continued, “The CDC data shows that six women and 625,978 unborn babies lost their lives from legal and induced abortion. This number is undoubtedly an underreporting. It is devastating, as each of these women and each of these babies have incalculable dignity and worth.”

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Gaetz Calls Trump ‘Strongest 2024 Candidate’ https://americanconservativemovement.com/gaetz-calls-trump-strongest-2024-candidate/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/gaetz-calls-trump-strongest-2024-candidate/#respond Sun, 21 May 2023 21:09:08 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=192803 Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) endorsed former President Donald Trump as the “strongest” candidate among presidential hopefuls in 2024, following Trump’s strong showings in a recent poll.

The poll, conducted by Harvard CAPS-Harris that queried 2,004 registered voters from May 17 to May 18, found Trump defeating President Joe Biden by seven points and Vice President Kamala Harris by 11 points in two separate hypothetical scenarios. The two Democrats scored a tie if either was matched up against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely seen as Trump’s biggest challenger to secure the GOP nomination in 2024.

“Trump is clearly our strongest 2024 candidate—and it’s not particularly close,” Gaetz wrote on Twitter on May 19, while sharing the results of the poll.

DeSantis has not officially launched a 2024 presidential bid but is expected to make his decision soon.

Apart from Trump, several major Republican 2024 challengers have formally launched presidential bids, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, biotechnology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, conservative radio host Larry Elder, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.).

There have been indications that former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will enter the 2024 race, but neither has made a formal announcement.

The poll also found Trump leading the GOP field with 58 percent of support, with DeSantis finishing second with 16 percent, followed by a three-way tie of four percent between Ramaswamy, Pence, and Haley.

Trump also came out on top in one-on-one hypothetical GOP matchups against Scott (79 percent), Haley (78 percent), Pence (77 percent), and DeSantis (65 percent).

A recent RealClearPolitics aggregate of polls shows similar trends, with Trump beating Biden by 1.4 percentage points and Biden and DeSantis knotting a tie at 42.3 percent in hypothetical matchups. The aggregate also shows Trump leading other GOP presidential hopefuls with 56.3 percent of support, followed by DeSantis at 19.4 percent, Pence at 5.6 percent, Haley at 4.3 percent, Ramaswamy at 3.6 percent, and Scott at 1.8 percent.

Gaetz

The Florida congressman has endorsed Trump’s reelection bid before the former president formally announced his White House bid in November last year.

“Only Trump can be trusted to enact the ‘America First’ agenda he ran on in 2016. We won’t accept any imitation,” Gaetz wrote in a Daily Caller op-ed in November, days before Trump launched his 2024 bid.

“There’s so many more accomplishments left for us to achieve if we elect Donald Trump back to the White House,” Gaetz added. “America is broken under Biden. Trump alone can fix it.”

In March, when Trump held the first rally of his 2024 White House bid in Waco, Texas, Gaetz was among a group of current and former lawmakers who gave a speech.

“The best and the brightest of the Republican Party must unify under the Trump banner so that we can take on the evil leftists, and socialists, and communists,” Gaetz said in his speech, calling out DeSantis to endorse Trump’s White House bid.

“There is no success without victory and there is no Trumpism in 2024 without Donald J. Trump,” Gaetz added, before declaring himself as a “Donald Trump Republican.”

Trump endorsed Gaetz’s reelection bid in 2018 and endorsed Gaetz again before the congressman won a fourth term in Congress in 2022.

“Matt is a Champion of our MAGA Agenda, who tirelessly works to Drain the Swamp, Secure the Border, Support our Brave Veterans and Law Enforcement, Defend the Second Amendment, Stand Up to the Woke Mob, and Fight the Never-Ending Witch Hunts from the Radical Left that are destroying our Country!” Trump wrote when endorsing Gaetz in 2022.

Eleven lawmakers from Florida have chosen to endorse Trump for 2024, according to Ballotpedia’s endorsement tracker. They are Reps. Byron Donalds, Vern Buchanan, Anna Paulina Luna, Brian Mast, Cory Mills, John Rutherford, Greg Steube, Michael Waltz, Gus Bilirakis, Carlos Gimenez, and Gaetz.

Article cross-posted from our premium news partners at The Epoch Times.

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Texas GOP Congressman Dismisses Claims Border Situation Is ‘Not That Bad’ https://americanconservativemovement.com/texas-gop-congressman-dismisses-claims-border-situation-is-not-that-bad/ https://americanconservativemovement.com/texas-gop-congressman-dismisses-claims-border-situation-is-not-that-bad/#respond Mon, 15 May 2023 11:45:35 +0000 https://americanconservativemovement.com/?p=192580 Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) said videos he recorded at El Paso showed that the border situation is worse than it’s being portrayed, following the expiration of the pandemic-era immigration policy Title 42 at midnight on May 11.

“This is what I’m hearing on the ground from mayors, from Border Patrol agents, from embedded media, everyone is saying it’s not that bad. So on Friday, I visited El Paso and went to the Central Processing Center,” Gonzales said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on May 14.

“In the El Paso sector, there’s over 6,000 people that are in custody in this particular facility. It’s meant to house 1,000 people, it’s housing over 3,000,” Gonzales said. “In one of these rooms … the max capacity is 90 people; there was over 400 in here, that’s a 450 percent capacity.”

He noted that another room, which was intended to hold 120 people, was holding over 700 people.

“We can’t allow ‘not that bad’ to be the normal,” Gonzales said, before adding that an unaccompanied minor had died while in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services last week.

Title 42

The Title 42 public health provision was invoked in March 2020 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It was put in place to stop the spread of the COVID-19, as illegal immigrants could be quickly turned away at the southern U.S. border, rather than be processed at immigration detention facilities under Title 8 immigration law.

There have been concerns that ending Title 42 would lead to a significant increase in illegal immigration. Anticipating a spur in illegal crossings, several south Texas counties have issued disaster declarations.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said U.S. Border Patrol had about 6,300 encounters with border-crossers on May 12—the first day after Title 42 expired—and another 4,200 on May 13. That’s lower than the more than 10,000 crossings per day before Title 42’s expiration.

On Sunday, Mayorkas warned “it is too early” to know whether the increased influx of immigrants has peaked.

Gonzales also called on the Biden administration to send more immigration judges to the southern border, as an alternative to releasing immigrants.

“The president should surge immigration judges to the border and that person should get their case heard in days, not years,” he explained. “Right now, in El Paso, if you apply on the one app, I was at the port of entry, if you apply on the one app, your court date is 2031. I mean, that’s eight years from now.”

He added: “The president can surge, instead of surging 1,500 troops, surge immigration judges. This is America. Get your day in court.”

The Biden administration announced the deployment of additional 1,500 military personnel for 90 days on May 2, to supplement the 2,500 already stationed along the U.S.–Mexico border.

Southern Border

Gonzales, who represents Texas’s 23rd congressional district, stretching from western San Antonio to El Paso, has been expressing concerns about the fallout of Title 42’s expiration.

Earlier this month, the Texas congressman voted in favor of the Secure the Border Act (H.R.2), an immigration bill that the House passed after a 219–213 vote mostly along party lines. The measure would restore many of the Trump administration’s policies, such as resuming construction of the border walls. It would also seek to increase the number of Border Patrol agents and strengthen the asylum process.

In a statement after the vote, Gonzales said the House bill “is a step in the right direction.”

“Unfortunately, and to my extreme concern, H.R. 2 falls short of addressing cartel activity at the southern border,” he wrote. “At the eleventh hour, my provision to begin labeling cartels as terrorist organizations was stricken from the bill. This common-sense policy would have paved the way for law enforcement to better seize their financial assets and strengthen criminal penalties on cartel operators.”

“For many of my colleagues passing H.R. 2 means ‘mission accomplished’, but the crisis at our southern border will not be resolved until a comprehensive border security bill ends up on President Biden’s desk and is signed into law,” he added. “I’ll continue to fight for the people who have had their lives upended due to Washington’s failure to protect our border and call the cartels what they truly are—terrorists.”

In January, Gonzales introduced the Security First Act (H.R.163), and a part of the legislation is aimed at designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.

Cartels have been buying precursor chemicals from China to make fentanyl and ship finished products to the United States.

“The root cause of the fentanyl crisis in America is the Chinese Communist Party,” Gonzales wrote on Twitter in February. “The U.S. must secure our border and stand strong against China for the sake of all Americans.”

Article cross-posted from our premium news partners at The Epoch Times.

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