Texas governor Greg Abbott will never be mistaken for Vladimir I. Lenin‚ but his role during the border crisis recalls the revolutionary’s famous line about “heightening the contradictions.” It is‚ of course‚ beyond Abbott’s power to secure the border in the teeth of a determined federal policy of nonenforcement. Still‚ he’s used the instruments available to him to force sanctuary-city mayors to confront the consequences of their own professed beliefs on immigration and to bait the Biden...

As the Friday night deadline approached for a Homeland Security request for the State of Texas to open up Shelby Park in Eagle Pass to federal authorities‚ the state’s attorney general shot back a letter saying they aren’t backing down. In a letter Friday‚ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton disputed a claim by DHS officials in a previous letter that federal authorities have rights to Shelby Park lands that were established during the building border barrier in 2008. “Your own map shows...

MAGA Republican immigration policy is no longer just a series of cynical‚ cruel‚ ill-considered‚ half-baked‚ ham-fisted‚ pig-headed political stunts‚ although it remains all of those things. It is now at the center of two serious-as-a-heart-attack threats to U.S. national security—threats that are themselves each potentially more grave than the chronic problems with immigration that are their ostensible cause. On Wednesday‚ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that he would effectively ignore a...

A hidden path to America’s dinner tables begins here‚ at an unlikely source – a former Southern slave plantation that is now the country’s largest maximum-security prison. Unmarked trucks packed with prison-raised cattle roll out of the Louisiana State Penitentiary‚ where men are sentenced to hard labor and forced to work‚ for pennies an hour or sometimes nothing at all. After rumbling down a country road to an auction house‚ the cows are bought by a local rancher and then followed by The...

Air defenses failed to stop an attack on a U.S. military outpost in Jordan on Sunday that killed three American soldiers at least in part because the hostile drone approached its target at the same time an American drone was returning to the base‚ two U.S. officials said on Monday. The enemy drone was mistaken for an American surveillance drone returning to the remote resupply base‚ and air defenses were not immediately engaged‚ according to the officials‚ who spoke on the condition of...

President Biden and other top U.S. officials discussed Sunday a "significant military response" against pro-Iranian militias over the drone attack near the Jordan-Syria border that killed three American soldiers and wounded dozens of others‚ a U.S. official and another source briefed on the matter told Axios. Why it matters: The White House and Pentagon are hoping to calibrate their retaliation to contain the growing risk of regional war. But pressure for more significant action is brewing...

Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-N.Y.) stock is rapidly rising in the race to be former President Trump’s running mate. Stefanik‚ the No. 4 House Republican‚ has become a close ally of Trump’s and has increasingly positioned herself as a betting favorite to be on the GOP presidential ticket if the front-runner wins his party’s nomination.   She’s made campaign stops to boost the former president‚ frequently issues statements and social media messages backing him and at times...

US authorities have charged three men with plotting to murder an Iranian defector living in Maryland. Naji Sharifi Zindashti‚ 49‚ who lives in Iran‚ allegedly asked Canadian Damion Ryan to help with an assassination. Mr Ryan‚ a member of the Hells Angels motorcycle club‚ then enlisted associate Adam Pearson‚ who is currently in prison. They are also accused of targeting the defector's female companion. Mr Zindashti - who US and UK officials say operates a criminal network targeting...