With eyes on midterms, Trump embraces immigration fight
WASHINGTON — Calling the shots as his West Wing clears out, President Donald Trump sees his hard-line immigration stance as a winning issue heading into a midterm election he views as a referendum on his protectionist policies.
“You have to stand for something,” Trump declared Tuesday, as he defended his administration’s immigration policy amid mounting criticism over the forced separation of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. The chorus of condemnation includes Democrats, as well as Republicans, who are increasingly worried that reports about bereft children taken from their parents could damage the GOP’s chances in November.
Still, Trump believes that his immigration pledges helped win him the presidency and that his most loyal supporters want him to follow through. While he made a rare trip to Capitol Hill late Tuesday to meet with GOP legislators seeking a solution, Trump remains confident that projecting toughness on immigration is the right call, said five White House officials and outside advisers who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
“It’s amazing how people are surprised that he’s keeping the promises he made on the campaign trail now,” said Trump political adviser Bill Stepien.
While the White House signaled Trump may be open to a narrow fix to deal with the problem, the president spent the day stressing immigration policies that he has championed throughout his surprise political career. He has resisted calls to reverse the separation policy, saying any change must come through Congress.
5 charged in immigrant smuggling scheme after Texas crash
DALLAS — Federal prosecutors charged five people Tuesday in a scheme to smuggle immigrants illegally after an SUV driven by one of them crashed in Texas while fleeing Border Patrol agents, killing five passengers.
The crash happened Sunday after Border Patrol became suspicious of three vehicles traveling in a convoy between El Indio and Carrizo Springs, Texas, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the western district of Texas. When agents tried to make “immigration inspections,” two of the three vehicles — a 2007 Suburban and a 2008 Tahoe — led authorities on a high speed chase.
The Suburban, carrying 14 people and traveling more than 100 mph (161 kph), lost control and overturned on Texas Highway 85 as it was entering Big Wells, a town about 100 miles southwest of San Antonio. Most of the occupants were ejected. Four passengers died at the scene and another died enroute to the hospital. The names of the victims have not been released.
The man driving that SUV, 20-year-old Jorge Luis Monsivais Jr., was among those charged, along with the driver of the vehicle that did not take off when agents approached, 55-year-old Marcial Gomez Santana. Two of the others charged are Santana’s children. The fifth person charged was a passenger in the convoy.
They are charged with transporting and conspiracy to transport and harbor “illegal aliens resulting in serious bodily injury and death.”
Twin brothers reunited 74 years after WWII death at Normandy
COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France — For decades, he was known only as Unknown X-9352 at a World War II American cemetery in Belgium where he was interred.
On Tuesday, Julius Heinrich Otto “Henry” Pieper, his identity recovered, was laid to rest beside his twin brother in Normandy, 74 years after the two Navy men died together when their ship shattered while trying to reach the blood-soaked D-Day beaches.
Six Navy officers in crisp white uniforms carried the flag-draped metal coffin bearing the remains of Julius to its final resting place, at the side of Ludwig Julius Wilhelm “Louie” Pieper at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.
The two 19-year-olds from Esmond, South Dakota, died together on June 19, 1944, when their huge flat-bottom ship hit an underwater mine as it tried to approach Utah Beach, 13 days after the D-Day landings.
While Louie’s body was soon found, identified and laid to rest, his brother’s remains were only recovered in 1961 by French salvage divers and not identified until 2017.
Looking for signs of global warming? They’re all around you
GOTHIC, Colo. — David Inouye is an accidental climate scientist.
More than 40 years ago, the University of Maryland biologist started studying when wildflowers, birds, bees and butterflies first appeared each spring on this mountain.
These days, plants and animals are arriving at Rocky Mountain Biological Lab a week or two earlier than they were 30 years ago. The robins that used to arrive in early April now show up in mid-March. Marmots end their winter slumber ever earlier.
“If the climate weren’t changing, we wouldn’t see these kind of changes happen,” Inouye said while standing on a bed of wildflowers that are popping up on the first day of May as marmots snoop around nearby.
It’s been 30 years since much of the world learned that global warming had arrived. On June 23, 1988, NASA scientist James Hansen testified before Congress, explaining that heat-trapping gases spewed by the burning of fossil fuels were pushing temperatures higher.