Jerry Seper

Obama flouts law with policy on deportations, senators say

Eighteen Republican senators led by the Senate Judiciary Committee's ranking member, Sen. Charles E. Grassley, are questioning the Obama administration's immigration policies, saying they go beyond the scope of the law and allow those who entered the country illegally to remain. Published September 27, 2011

Ex-FEMA chief decries ‘porous’ Mexican border

Joe M. Allbaugh, the outspoken former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), says the U.S. government needs to do a better job of securing the U.S.-Mexico border against illegal immigration and to step up its efforts to control what's being shipped daily into the United States. Published September 22, 2011

Taxpayers foot the bill for Justice Department’s $16 muffins

The Justice Department and several of its agencies engaged in "extravagant and wasteful" spending on food, beverages and event planning for law enforcement conferences, including paying $16 each for muffins, $76 per person for lunch and more than $8 for a cup of coffee, according to an audit released Tuesday by the department's Office of Inspector General. Published September 20, 2011

Indictment names 6 in fraud scheme involving Army recruiters

Six current and former members of the U.S. military have been charged in a 41-count indictment handed up in federal court in Texas on charges of defrauding various U.S. military components and their contractors of $127,000 by fraudulently obtaining recruiting bonuses, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer, who heads the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said Thursday. Published September 16, 2011

Suspected head of drug-smuggling ring arrested in Arizona probe

The suspected leader of a drug-smuggling organization accused of moving thousands of pounds of Mexican marijuana into the Phoenix metropolitan area was arrested Thursday following a major multi-agency enforcement operation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) and the Pinal County Sheriff's Office. Published September 16, 2011

Bridgestone to pay $28M fine in bid-rigging case

Bridgestone Corp. agreed Thursday to plead guilty and pay a $28 million fine for its role in conspiracies to rig bids and make corrupt payments to government officials in Latin America in the sale of marine hose and other industrial products manufactured by the company and sold globally. Published September 15, 2011

Feds cite Puerto Rico police for pattern of abuse

The Puerto Rico Police Department engaged in a "pattern and practice of misconduct" that included the use of excessive and deadly force and unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests, a three-year Justice Department investigation has concluded. Published September 8, 2011

Justice probe targets Puerto Rican police abuse

A three-year Justice Department investigation says the Puerto Rico Police Department engaged in a "pattern and practice of misconduct" that violated the Constitution and federal law, including the use of unnecessarily excessive and deadly force and unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests. Published September 8, 2011

FBI raids solar panel company hailed by Obama

FBI agents on Thursday executed search warrants at the California headquarters of Solyndra LLC, which was awarded more than $500 million in federal stimulus loans in 2009 to make solar panels in what the Obama administration called part of an aggressive effort to put more Americans to work and end U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Published September 8, 2011

New questions, possible cover-up surface in ATF ‘Fast and Furious’ probe

Two top Republican lawmakers say Arizona prosecutors "stifled" attempts by agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to interdict weapons purchased by "straw buyers" in that state that later were "walked" to drug smugglers in Mexico, and may have covered up the fact that two of those weapons were found at the scene of the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Published September 2, 2011

Feds seize illicit cash from border vehicle searches

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and agents in California and Arizona seized more than $1.1 million in U.S. currency during several vehicle inspections over the past two weeks — an average of nearly $80,000 a day in illicit cash. Published August 30, 2011

ATF replaces director amid weapons probe

Kenneth E. Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who was caught this year in a firestorm over the "Fast and Furious" undercover gun investigation, was reassigned Tuesday and will be replaced by U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones of Minnesota. Published August 30, 2011

Mexico offers reward in casino attack

The Mexican government is offering a $2.4 million reward for information leading to the arrest of armed men who torched a casino, leaving 52 people dead in what President Felipe Calderon condemned as an "abhorrent and barbaric" assault on men and women left to burn and choke to death in a blazing inferno. Published August 29, 2011

Google to forfeit $500M for ads

Google Inc. has agreed to forfeit $500 million for allowing Canadian pharmacies to place advertisements on the online search engine targeting U.S. consumers, who unlawfully imported controlled and non-controlled prescription drugs into the United States. Published August 24, 2011

Mexican cartel suspect sent to U.S.

A high-ranking member of the infamous Gulf Cartel in Mexico, who helped direct shipments of cocaine and marijuana to the United States and oversaw violent attacks by Los Zetas on Mexican law enforcement officers and rival drug traffickers, has been extradited to the U.S. and ordered held pending trial on drug conspiracy charges, the Justice Department said. Published August 23, 2011

White House must make visitor logs public, court holds

A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that White House visitor logs maintained by the U.S. Secret Service are agency records and, as a result, are subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act if not covered by one of the law's many exemptions. Published August 17, 2011

‘Fast and Furious’ weapons found at more violent crime scenes

Weapons purchased during ATF's controversial "Fast and Furious" undercover investigation, which included the sale to "straw buyers" of hundreds of AK-47 assault rifles, have turned up at a dozen violent crime scenes across the Southwest, the Justice Department told a Senate committee. Published August 17, 2011

Promotions of ‘Fast and Furious’ officials draw Texan’s wrath

A senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday described as "inconceivable" a Justice Department decision to promote key Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) personnel who oversaw the controversial "Fast and Furious" weapons investigation that allowed hundreds of guns to be walked into Mexico. Published August 16, 2011

Senator blasts promotions for ATF’s ‘Fast and Furious’ supervisors

A senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday described as "inconceivable" a Justice Department decision to promote key ATF personnel who oversaw the controversial "Fast and Furious" weapons investigation that allowed hundreds of guns to be walked into Mexico to new positions in Washington. Published August 16, 2011

Cornyn demands answers on gun probe

Another senior Republican has questions about the Fast and Furious undercover weapons investigation on the U.S.-Mexico border, demanding that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. immediately brief his office regarding the "scope and details of any past or present ATF gun-walking programs" in Texas. Published August 11, 2011