The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General has found “dangerous overcrowding” and unsanitary conditions at an El Paso, Texas, Border Patrol processing facility following an unannounced inspection, according to a not-yet released report obtained by CNN.
The IG found “standing room only conditions” at the El Paso Del Norte Processing Center, which has a maximum capacity of 125 migrants. On May 7 and 8, logs indicated that there were “approximately 750 and 900 detainees, respectively.”
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“We also observed detainees standing on toilets in the cells to make room and gain breathing space, thus limiting access to the toilets,” the report states.
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A cell with a maximum capacity of 12 held 76 detainees, another with a maximum capacity of eight held 41, and another with a maximum capacity of 35 held 155, according to the report.
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Detainees ‘standing on toilets’ for breathing room
Democrats in Congress can move ahead with their lawsuit against President Trump alleging that his private business violates the Constitution’s ban on gifts or payments from foreign governments, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
The decision in Washington from U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan adopted a broad definition of the anti-corruption law and could set the stage for Democratic lawmakers to begin seeking information from the Trump Organization. The Justice Department can try to delay or block the process by asking an appeals court to intervene.
In a 48-page opinion, the judge refused the request of the president’s legal team to dismiss the case and rejected Trump’s narrow definition of emoluments, finding it “unpersuasive and inconsistent.”
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The Trump International Hotel in Washington in March. (Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)
About 40 House Democrats now support impeachment, including about 90 percent of those on the House Judiciary Committee, according to a key Democrat on the judiciary panel who is one of the more aggressive advocates for impeachment.
In an interview with the Yahoo News podcast “Skullduggery,” Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., also pointed to a “a little bit of tension” this week during a closed-door meeting in which he told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that President Trump was “raping the country” and should be impeached.
“Speaking truth to power is one of the things that a good congressperson should do,” Cohen said. He acknowledged that Pelosi — with whom he remains close — stuck to her guns and continues to oppose the move, effectively blocking the Judiciary Committee from opening up an impeachment inquiry despite the sentiment of the 23 Democrats who make up the panel’s majority.
In what might be seen as a Memorial Day gift to President Trump, residents of a mountain range outside of El Paso today woke up to a new vista—a mile-long wall of metal slats constructed along the border with Mexico that just shot up over the weekend. The secret project, which started on Friday evening and was completed by Monday morning, was the work of We Build the Wall, a new group whose director is the former White House strategist Steve Bannon. The CEO is Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage, who had raised $20 million to build the wall through his GoFundMe project, but it appeared to be floundering until Bannon took the helm.
Bannon, who for much of the weekend was in Kazakhstan for a geopolitical seminar, says the project, overseen by construction mogul Tommy Fisher of North Dakota-based Fisher Industries, involved hundreds of workers and cost $6 million.
A Chicago bank chairman has been indicted in Manhattan on a charge that he issued millions of dollars in high-risk loans to President Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, in an effort to obtain a senior position in the administration, federal authorities said on Thursday.
Prosecutors said the chairman, Stephen M. Calk of Federal Savings Bank, pushed the bank to give Mr. Manafort $16 million in loans in 2016 in exchange for help in procuring an appointment for Mr. Calk.
Just after the election, Mr. Calk, 54, sent Mr. Manafort a list of 10 positions ranked in order of preference, including Treasury secretary, commerce secretary and defense secretary, according to the indictment unsealed in Federal District Court.
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Stephen M. Calk leaving Federal District Court in Manhattan on Thursday. Mr. Calk sent Paul Manafort a list of 10 positions he wanted in the administration, according to an indictment.CreditCreditJefferson Siegel for The New York Times
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Detainees ‘standing on toilets’ for breathing room
Impeach Trump
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James' World 2 