Southwest
Border bill co-author Sinema addresses 'real misunderstanding' as House GOP calls it 'DOA'
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., responded Monday to House Republican criticisms of the border legislation she co-authored.
Sinema, the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Management chairwoman who crafted the bill with Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News the section of the bill most critiqued by Republicans – the triggering of emergency authority to prohibit migrant entry if average encounters surpass 4,000 or 5,000 per day – has been subject to mischaracterizations.
“I think there’s some real misunderstanding about this section of the law. The Border Emergency Authority is actually a really critical element,” Sinema said on “Special Report.”
Sinema said the bill is right to expand detention capabilities, given the estimated seven to 10-year Notice To Appear (NTA) timeframe for migrants ultimately released into the nation’s interior.
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“That’s obviously a horrible, horrible outcome. But that is what happens with the majority of illegal entrants right now. So we expand detention beds so that those individuals will go into detention, be processed and deported right away,” she said.
“Not everyone can go into detention, though. Little kids who are here alone, families; we’re not allowed to keep them in detention. And so, we create a new system for them where we keep them under supervision. And then we have a very short period of time in which we determine if their asylum claim is valid or not, and then deport them out of the country.”
Sinema said the rapid removal authority described under the section targeted by House Republicans is intended as a backstop if the processing of illegal immigrants or asylum seekers becomes too much to handle under the increased detention capacity.
Several House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik of New York, have been heavily critical of the law. Johnson has declared it “dead on arrival.”
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Stefanik recently said the bill “incentivize[s] thousands of illegals” to ingress into the United States.
However, Sinema took issue with comments from Johnson and others who believe President Biden has all the authority he needs to secure the border properly, given that he followed through on a high-profile promise to undo immigration measures brought about under the Trump administration.
Sinema said that while she has been at times critical of President Biden on the immigration issue, there are holes in Republicans’ argument.
She said that, under current conditions, the Department of Homeland Security needs more detention beds and cannot act unilaterally without congressional approval. Sinema cited the current figure as 34,000 beds, and said the bill would increase that to 50,000.
Additionally, Sinema said the Senate bill ends catch-and-release seen under former Presidents Obama and Trump, and that it creates a new authority requiring entrants to be detained or supervised until their asylum case is resolved.
“The third thing that changes is that we’ve taken the asylum system and raised the initial bars so that people have to provide real proof when they get to the country’s border, and they don’t get to just come in like they have in the past,” she added.
Sinema also cited the fact the judiciary has mooted Title 42, which allowed for more stringent border security measures for national health care concerns. She said the new bill would essentially create a legislative version of Title 42 that enshrines the authority in federal statute.
Sinema said she and Lankford, the top Republican negotiator, have been working on the border control issue for years and that they both are confident the bill will bring about much-needed reforms members of both parties are clamoring for.
House Republicans, meanwhile, have passed H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act originally authored by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.
Senate Democrats have, however, characterized that bill as extreme and it continues to languish on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s, D-N.Y., desk.
In her interview on Fox News, Sinema also claimed her legislation furthers a border security improvement plan endorsed by Trump in August 2020, saying it will require both repair to and construction of “new elements of [border] wall.”
“That’s in the legislation because the reality is you’ve seen it yourself, Bret [Baier]. The cartels are just cutting holes in the border walls in Arizona and just letting thousands of people through — down in Lukeville, Arizona. We have to have the ability to stop that.”
For his part, Trump roundly condemned the legislation, saying that only “a fool or a radical left Democrat” would support it.
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He said the bill is a “gift” to Democrats and a “death wish” for Republicans, predicting it would allow Democrats to “absolve them[selves]” of the border issue with its passage, in a recent TruthSocial post.
Trump also said any border bill should be standalone legislation and not tied to Ukraine aid or any other unrelated appropriation.
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The family of Brianna Aguilera, the Texas A&M student who fell to her death from a high-rise apartment in November, is suing two organizations for allegedly overserving alcohol ahead of the 19-year-old’s death.
Attorney Tony Buzbee on Tuesday announced a $1 million wrongful death lawsuit was filed in Travis County against the Austin Blacks Rugby Club and the UT Economics and Business Association.
“It is illegal to serve minors any amount of alcohol in the State of Texas. It is reckless and irresponsible to grossly over-serve a group of minors at a University of Texas football tailgate to the point where those minors lose their physical faculties and ability to control themselves,” the lawsuit states.
Aguilera died when she fell from an Austin high-rise apartment following a Texas A&M vs. University of Texas football tailgate at around 1 a.m. Nov. 29, according to police.
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An image provided by the family of the young Texas A&M student, Brianna Aguilera, found dead in Austin over the weekend. (GoFundMe)
A police investigation later determined Aguilera died by suicide despite her family’s claims that she was killed.
Brianna Aguilera was found dead in an apartment hours after attending a tailgate party. (Facebook/Brie Aguilera)
According to the filing, the alleged “egregious over-serving of minors” led to Aguilera’s death. Witnesses described her behavior over several hours as “shifting from upbeat to disoriented and ultimately grossly intoxicated,” the suit says.
Brianna Aguilera holds a sign congratulating her on her acceptance to Texas A&M. (Instagram/brie.aguilera)
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Buzbee said the lawsuit is also intended to support the ongoing investigation into the events of that night by allowing the firm to seek phone and text records, documents and data and to compel witness testimony.
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The lawsuit requests a jury trial.
Fox News Digital’s Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
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Nobody handles oil quite like Texas and a fresh supply of Venezuelan crude could soon be headed to the Lone Star State’s coast.
The first barrels of thick, tar-like crude could arrive as soon as next week at ports across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, where dense clusters of refineries are built and bred to process heavy oil.
The development follows President Donald Trump’s Tuesday evening announcement that Caracas will transfer up to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., worth about $2.8 billion at current market prices.
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Venezuelan children swimming near an oil tanker docked at a pier near the refinery of the state oil company PDVSA. (Jesus Vargas/picture alliance/Getty Images)
“The Gulf Coast concentrates most of our refining capacity, and those refineries were built or revamped over the years to process extra-heavy crude similar to what is produced in Venezuela,” explained Jaime Brito, executive director of refining and oil products at OPIS.
“From a market perspective, additional volumes of extra-heavy crude entering the U.S. refining system would be an extraordinarily positive development,” Brito said. “It would allow refiners to operate more efficiently, something they haven’t been able to do for years and could help keep gasoline and diesel prices at better levels because refiners would have access to cheaper crude and more optimal operations.”
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He added that tankers could arrive within five to six days if they leave Venezuelan waters on Thursday.
Because Gulf Coast refineries supply a large share of the nation’s fuel, shifts in how efficiently they operate can ultimately ripple through to prices paid by U.S. consumers.
Texas oil refineries are poised to benefit from additional crude oil supplies. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
The arrival of 15 to 25 oil tankers carrying up to 50 million barrels of crude is only a fraction of what Venezuela could ultimately supply.
With more than 300 billion barrels of proven reserves, it holds the world’s largest oil endowment — eclipsing long-standing energy heavyweights like Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait.
Despite its vast reserves, U.S. sanctions have effectively blocked most Venezuelan crude from reaching the U.S. Gulf Coast, leaving Chevron — operating under a special authorization — as the sole exporter of limited volumes.
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A Chevron Corp. flag flies on the drilling floor of a Nabors Industries Ltd. drill rig in the Permian Basin near Midland, Texas, on March 1, 2018. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
That disruption has been felt most acutely in Texas, which anchors the nation’s refining hub and hosts several of the country’s largest heavy-crude refineries.
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A renewed flow of Venezuelan barrels could also intensify competition in the heavy-crude market, particularly between Venezuela and Canada, Brito said.
“You’re going to have fierce competition between Canada and Venezuela, which benefits American refiners and gives them more flexibility to potentially lower fuel prices,” he said, adding that he was speaking strictly from an oil-market perspective.
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A security guard was fatally shot outside a Houston restaurant Wednesday evening after a confrontation with another man, authorities said.
The shooting happened around 6:15 p.m. outside Connie’s Seafood Market Restaurant, the Houston Police Department said.
Police told reporters that the security guard, who was working for the restaurant, was standing in the parking lot when a fight broke out between him and another man, FOX26 Houston reported.
Police said the security guard was shot at least once. He was rushed to a hospital where he later died.
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A security guard was fatally shot outside a Houston restaurant Wednesday evening after a confrontation with another man, authorities said. (Houston Police Department)
Authorities did not immediately release the name of the victim.
The suspect was last seen running away from the parking lot after the shooting.
The security guard was working for the restaurant at the time of the shooting. (Google Maps)
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No details about the suspect or the circumstances that led to the altercation have been released as of Thursday morning.
Houston police were reviewing surveillance footage as they search for the shooting suspect. (Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle, File)
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Officials said investigators were reviewing surveillance footage and speaking with witnesses to get a description of the suspect.
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