Scott

Troll post reported and removed.

It is a misdemeanor and carries no incarceration. The vast majority of those crossing do present themselves to Border agents. Those long lines sitting on the US side of the border are awaiting preliminary processing by agents. For those who do not, they have up to one year to make a claim. Most asylees make contact immediately after entering.

While federal campaign finance regulators aren’t known for their aggression, things have gotten so bad that they’re practically begging Congress to give them more weapons to go after political scams—including a recurring donations scheme favored by Donald Trump that has fleeced unwitting supporters for years. But the recurring donations tactic is just one issue the Federal Election Commission highlighted last week when it published its draft legislation recommendations, the legal wish list the agency sends Congress each year. It’s not the first time the FEC has floated many of those same proposals, which include requests to shut legal loopholes related to the personal use of political funds, so-called “scam PACs,” and straw donor schemes. https://aseannow.com/forum/158-world-news/?do=add

Live Updates: I.R.S. Didn’t Audit Trump for 2 Years in Office, House Committee Says The House Ways and Means Committee voted to release six years of Mr. Trump’s tax returns, and members revealed that the I.R.S. failed to follow its own policy because it did not audit Mr. Trump during his first two years in office. It may be days before the tax information is revealed. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/12/20/us/trump-taxes-news

Topic is running in World News, please post in this thread:

The January 6 committee made a startling allegation on Monday, claiming it had evidence that a Trump-backed attorney urged a key witness to mislead the committee about details they recalled. Though the committee declined to identify the people, CNN has learned that Stefan Passantino, the top ethics attorney in the Trump White House, is the lawyer who allegedly advised his then-client, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, to tell the committee that she did not recall details that she did, sources familiar with the committee’s work tell CNN. Trump’s Save America political action committee funded Passantino and his law firm Elections LLC, including paying for his representation of Hutchinson, other sources tell CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/politics/trump-ethics-lawyer-passantino-cassidy-hutchinson-misleading-testimony-jan-6/index.html

I saw it. It's a visually stunning movie with a story that borders on borderline boring. It's WAAAAAAY too long though.

For those who can't access the NY Times, here's another link: Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee votes to release materials on Trump’s taxes to the public — The Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday to make public former President Donald Trump’s tax returns once they are redacted for personal information. The panel approved a motion on a party-line vote to release the materials to the House, clearing the way for Trump’s tax returns to be released publicly. It is unclear when the public will see these materials. https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/politics/house-trump-tax-returns/index.html

The House Ways and Means Committee voted to release six years of Mr. Trump’s tax returns, ending a nearly four-year process to make his financial information public. The House Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday to publicly release the tax returns of former President Donald J. Trump, the culmination of a yearslong battle during which he defied modern tradition by keeping his finances confidential during his campaign and while in office. Here’s what to know: After debating behind closed doors for about 3 hours and 20 minutes on Tuesday, the Democrat-controlled committee approved the release of six years’ worth of Mr. Trump’s tax returns 24 to 16. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/12/20/us/trump-taxes-news

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is planning to visit Washington on Wednesday and may meet US President Joe Biden, reports say. It would be his first foreign trip since the Russian invasion in February. Mr Zelensky could also address Congress, unnamed officials told US media. There is no official confirmation of the visit or the plans. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64047058

The Taliban government has suspended university education for all female students in Afghanistan, the latest step in its brutal clampdown on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women. A spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education confirmed the suspension to CNN on Tuesday. A letter published by the education ministry said the decision was made in a cabinet meeting and the order will go into effect immediately. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/20/asia/taliban-bans-women-university-education-intl

Inflammatory post reported and removed.

I suspect someone is telling porkies. The officials involved in screening are quite well aware of conditions in the home country. It is easy to verify specific aspects of an asylum claim. Many asylees do keep documents relevant to their claim and present them. Rape is not a reason for granting asylum unless it occurred in the home country and was a part of a broader claim. Victims of rape may not face deportation if they are a part of legal process to convict a rapist. The same is true of traffickers. The 95% may be close to correct. The vast majority of people who apply for asylum in some areas are denied.

Posts advocating killing people have been removed along with replies. Continue and face a suspension.

You are wrong. Self deportation does not mean you get released and leave at your own will. It means the Immigration people do not have to go through a deportation hearing. You agree to leave voluntarily and then you are escorted out of the country. If you self deport the option of entering the US under a legal visa is still an option. If you are deported, you will never get a visa. Once people enter the US, they may end up eligible to remain for example by marrying a US citizen or by having a child that is a US. In order to remain, however, an immigrant petition still needs to be filed. Quite frequently it isn't, but if the person is arrested, it's an obvious obstacle to deportation. If a petition is filed, the person may have to wait years before their case is heard. It is imperative that asylum cases be heard and adjudicated quickly. And just to be clear, I have handled asylum cases in the US.

I spent many years screening refugees. If past trends occur, then I suspect the very vast majority will have no credible claim to refugee status. There are a couple of problems that need to be addressed and that is the huge number of people who have been denied the right to make an asylum claim. Many of these people have been at the border awaiting the ability to make their case. The process at the Southern Border has been that there is a preliminary screening and if the person does not pass that, then they are given the option of being deported or self-deport. People can be poor and be refugees. Economic factors are not grounds for granting of refugee status. Sadly, many of the people that I screened in various countries were desperately poor, but it didn't make a difference. If they have a well-founded fear of persecution they are screened in; if not, they are returned. I don't know the exact status of the Ukrainians, but during the Bosnian conflict, most people were not given refugee status, they were granted temporary asylum. There was no reason to believe that once the war was over that they could not return. Many of the people from Central America do have a good claim for refugee status.

Once they leave France without travel documents, France has the right to refuse to allow them to return. If they are not a French national, France has no obligation to accept them back and I suspect they will not.

To be considered a refugee you do not need to be starving or in imminent fear of death. You need to demonstrates that they were persecuted or fear persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. I note that there were few people expressing concern about the Ukrainian refugees that were quite well dressed and well nourished.

Troll post removed. Stay on topic, please.

[Breaking news update, published at 7:07 p.m. ET] Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by foreign object of one woman Monday in a sexual assault trial in which prosecutors said he used his Hollywood influence to lure women into private meetings and assault them. Jurors found Weinstein not guilty of one count of sexual battery by restraint and was a hung jury on one count of sexual battery by restraint, one count of forcible oral copulation and one count of rape. Weinstein had pleaded not guilty to all seven charges. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/19/us/harvey-weinstein-trial-deliberations-los-angeles-monday/index.html

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday put a temporary hold on the termination of a controversial Trump-era immigration policy known as Title 42 that was set to end on December 21, leaving it in place for now. But in a brief order Roberts signaled that the court wants to act quickly and asked the Biden administration to respond by 5 p.m. ET Tuesday to an emergency appeal filed by a group of Republican-led states. The brief order from Roberts means the policy that allows officials to swiftly expel migrants at the US border will stay in effect at least until the justices decide the emergency application. The order does not necessarily reflect the final outcome of the case. https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/19/politics/title-42-supreme-court-gop-states/index.html

Off-topic post and reply removed. The topic is NOT about Hunter Biden. Not even close.

Five people were killed in a shooting at a condominium in a Toronto suburb Sunday night, police said, a “terrible” crime that came amid Canada’s efforts to tighten its gun control laws. After responding to an active shooting call about 7:20 p.m. at the residential building in Vaughan, just north of Toronto, police found a “horrendous scene where numerous victims were deceased,” York Regional Police Chief Jim MacSween said at a news conference. A male gunman, 73, was shot by an officer during a confrontation and died, the chief said. https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/18/world/condo-shooting-vaughan-canada/index.html

Off-topic, whataboutism, troll posts and replies removed.

Broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson has said he is "horrified" after "causing so much hurt" in a column he wrote in the Sun about the Duchess of Sussex. More than 6,000 complaints have been made to the press regulator after Clarkson wrote in Friday's newspaper that he "hated [Meghan] on a cellular level". In a tweet on Monday, he said: "Oh dear. I've rather put my foot in it." https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64029690