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It’s Time To End Federal Control Of Education And Restore Parental Authority

Authored by Sam Sorbo via American Greatness,

For decades, Americans have watched as federal involvement in education expanded, ballooning into a behemoth bureaucracy that imposes top-down mandates while divorcing parents from their rightful role as the primary educators of their children, while failing to achieve academic success for students.

If we are serious about fixing our children’s education, we must restore parental authority and end federal control of education.

America’s Founding Fathers never intended for Washington, D.C., to dictate how children in Kansas or Kentucky learn to read, write, and think. Education was, and should be, a local and parental matter. President Donald Trump rightly stated in Executive Order 13985, Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping, “The experiment of controlling American education through federal programs and dollars…has plainly failed our children, our teachers, and our families.” That failure is clearly documented by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often referred to as “The Nation’s Report Card.” Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, NAEP scores had stagnated or declined. Today, nearly 40% of fourth graders read below basic level, despite record federal funding. Billions of taxpayer dollars have produced declining literacy.

It’s not just ineffective—it’s indefensible.

Federal education initiatives have repeatedly promised results, especially for low-income students, but have failed to deliver. Programs like Title I and Head Start have cost hundreds of billions of dollars over the years with no consistent academic gains to show for them. Similarly, federal control over college grants and loans has inflated tuition and buried young Americans under a mountain of debt.

The evidence is clear: centralized, bureaucratic control undermines education.

As the founder of the “They’re YOUR Kids Foundation,” I work with parents every day who feel helpless. The system fails their children academically and often undermines their values. If we truly want to empower families, we must strip away the federal red tape and hand the reins back to those who know and love their children best: parents.

Representative Barry Moore of Alabama has proposed legislation (H.R. 2691, “Eliminate the Department of Education Act,” Congress.gov) to eliminate USED and redirect education funding based on what residents in each state pay in federal income taxes. But simply shifting USED’s functions to other agencies, as some proposals suggest, won’t solve the problem—it just moves the bureaucracy around.

That’s why I support the US Parents Involved in Education (USPIE) Blueprint: a five-step plan to close the U.S. Department of Education and return education governance to the states. The Blueprint is simple, sensible, and long overdue:

Return all program management and funding to the states.

Repeal laws like the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) that enable federal overreach.

Privatize college loan programs through local financial institutions for increased accountability.

Eliminate all divisions and spending within USED.

Reduce federal tax collection so states retain education funds directly.

We have a singular opportunity to implement meaningful change, including a federal tax credit system that empowers parents to direct their own children’s education. Under this proposal:

Parents who homeschool or choose private education would receive a Child Tax Credit equal to the federal per-pupil expenditure.

Federal taxpayers of households with children attending government schools would prompt their…

‘Biggest Self-Own In The History Of The Internet’: Hillary Clinton Tries To Get Cute Over Qatar

Authored by Steve Watson via modernity.news,

Hillary Clinton can’t help herself when it comes to President Trump, posting on X Wednesday “No one gives someone a $400 million jet for free without expecting anything in return. Be serious,” in reference to Trump’s acceptance of a luxury Boeing 747 from Qatar’s royal family.

Everyone quickly pointed out the hypocrisy, given the Clinton Foundation’s history of accepting substantial donations from Arab states, including Qatar, during her tenure as Secretary of State.

The Clinton Foundation has received over $40 million from Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and even accepted a $1 million gift from Qatar in 2011 without informing the State Department, despite Clinton’s agreement to disclose such contributions for review.

No one gives someone a $400 million dollar jet for free without expecting anything in return. Be serious.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 14, 2025
Respondents noted that Clinton’s post, comments closed as ever, reopened scrutiny of her own ethical lapses, with many pointing out that she’s the last person who should be commenting on this matter.

what did Qatar want from you https://t.co/l3lIEp1zw3 pic.twitter.com/pog3p2KnJ1
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) May 14, 2025
Clinton’s out here tweeting “be serious” about Trump’s plane while her Foundation’s Qatari cash begs for a mirror.

Reminder, the Clinton Foundation received more than $40 million from four Arab states including Qatar https://t.co/2ijleAMBE6 pic.twitter.com/gbC2AcFXvT
— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) May 14, 2025
Her money laundering front Foundation is basically an ATM for Arab donors.

Be serious. Nobody give millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation without expecting anything in return. Be serious. https://t.co/IqHMYunYeR pic.twitter.com/VeHpLkzG9B
— Soquel by the Creek (@SoquelCreek) May 14, 2025
She’s permanently residing in a glass house.

Locking the replies gives the game away. She knows we know and yet
— Thomas Raffles (@TomRafflesJr) May 14, 2025

No one tweets that stuff without expecting the replies. Be serious.
— Amelia (@AmeliaHammy) May 14, 2025
Hillary was on speed dial for Qatari cash.

This from someone who jetted around the world collecting “donations” and depositing them in the Clinton Foundation.
— Random Observer (@WilburFudd) May 14, 2025
It’s OK when they do it!

Although that is some of the best expert testimony on subject matter I’ve ever seen. If anyone knows about bribes and graft, it’s the Clintons.
— Frank Mustafa (@FrankMustafaDJ) May 14, 2025
The Uranium One scandal was also referenced, with claims that Clinton facilitated a deal benefiting Russian interests after donations to her foundation, further fueling accusations of double standards.

If there was ever a topic that Hillary Clinton specifically should stay out of it’s suspicious foreign transactions that have the stink of “pay for play” about them https://t.co/DXAHTsWvh5
— Enguerrand VII de Coucy (@ingelramdecoucy) May 14, 2025

This is the biggest self-own in the history of the internet. https://t.co/4Xj1uXoPs4
— Couldn’t Be Papa P (@CouldntBePapaP) May 14, 2025

The Pay for Play Queen has thoughts, y’all. https://t.co/BIWieTzyhN
— Inappropriate Ray of ☀️ (Sworn Enemy of Rufus!) (@MrsRotnjetski) May 14, 2025

You ran a pay for play State Dept, so maybe you should sit this one out,…

UK Farmers Fear For Bioethanol Market Following US Trade Deal

Via City AM,

A recent trade deal between the UK and the US has led to the removal of tariffs on American bioethanol, which British farmers fear will undermine their domestic market.

Concerns exist among beef farmers that the deal will result in increased American beef imports, leading to unfair competition and impacting their livelihoods.

The trade agreement has sparked widespread scepticism among British farmers regarding the government’s commitment to protecting their interests and the future of the agricultural sector.

Ministers and commentators heralded the UK’s trade deal with the United States as a political coup that will save thousands of jobs at British automakers. But changes to beef and bioethanol trade rules have left an already bruised agricultural sector fearing the worst, writes Ali Lyon.

When he’s not slavishly editing clips for the hundreds of thousands of people that subscribe to his Youtube channel, Olly Harrison has the not insignificant job of running 1,500 acres of farmland.

But as his impressively regular feed of videos illustrates, tending to that land – and trying to eke out a semblance of profit from it – has become a difficult, bordering on impossible task, as headwind after headwind hit his arable holding near Liverpool.

“It’s been rubbish,” he tells City AM, still dealing with the aftermath of what was England’s driest April on record. 

“We’ve had extremes of weather, which has been very wet or – like now – very dry.”

Added to recent years’ inhospitable climes, are the input costs for producing the wheat his family has grown for five generations. They have, he says, remained at the elevated prices sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, the price he is able to secure for his end product has fallen by as much as 40 per cent since those 2022 supply-constraint-induced highs.

But it is another, more recent, external shock that has Harrison especially worried. One that, while niche and esoteric, could kibosh the safety net he and his fellow British arable farmers have traditionally fallen back on when the wholesale wheat price drops too low.

Bioethanol: The little-known safety net of arable farmers

“The bioethanol market in the UK – for wheat – is quite big,” Harrison says.

“It’s basically the floor in the market.”

Opening up the UK and US’s agricultural markets to more trade was a key football in the frenzied negotiations that helped the Starmer administration become the first country in the world to secure a trade deal with America since 2 April’s ‘Liberation Day’.

And to spur the States’ capricious President into bringing down painful tariffs on Britain’s export industries like automakers and plane parts, the government agreed to lower its own levies on a selection of American agriculture products; namely beef and the fuel.

The beef tariffs were reduced only on imports that subscribed to the UK’s world-leading food standards, leading some in the farming community to breathe a partial sigh of relief. But the bioethanol concessions – which saw the UK’s 19 per cent tariff abolished completely – contained no such…

Adapt Or Die: Redefining Wargaming For The Age Of Algorithmic Warfare

Authored by S.L. Nelson via RealClearWire (emphasis ours),

Commentary

“Adapt or die.” This isn’t just a cliché; it’s a fundamental truth of human survival. Security—the psychological need for stability and protection—is second only to food and water in Maslow’s hierarchy. War directly threatens this security, so understanding war is essential for preserving peace.

One of the oldest tools for grasping the nature of war is wargaming. It is, in essence, a rehearsal—an intellectual simulation that helps leaders make sense of complex, high-stakes decisions before lives and national resources are on the line. But while its utility has persisted, its form has not evolved fast enough to meet the demands of the modern battlefield.

The Problem With Today’s Wargaming

Wargaming is indispensable, but too often, it’s outdated, misused, or misunderstood. In some defense circles, it functions as little more than a stage for confirmation bias, where senior leaders seek validation for preconceived notions rather than insight into novel threats. Worse, wargames frequently remain trapped in analog formats: players huddle around maps, move tokens, make subjective choices, and imagine the rest.

This traditional model assumes that human decisions lie at the heart of conflict. That remains true. But the battlefield is rapidly changing—and the human element is no longer acting alone. As militaries increasingly rely on uncrewed systems, autonomous platforms, and AI-driven operations, our method of simulating war must evolve accordingly.

To prepare for war in 2030, NATO and its allies cannot afford to rely on wargaming methods from 1980. The urgency of modernizing wargaming is not a choice but a necessity for our collective security.

The Rise of Algorithmic Warfare

Consider this: some forecasts suggest that by the 2030s, one-third of militaries could consist of robotic systems. In Ukraine, drone production is trending toward over 2.5 million units annually. This isn’t speculation—it’s already reshaping how war is fought.

In such a world, the idea of a wargame that exclusively simulates human decision-making is dangerously incomplete. Swarms of autonomous drones executing algorithm-driven tactics change not only the character of war but also the speed, scale, and unpredictability of combat. Abstracting these developments away misses the point entirely. A game without machines is a game divorced from reality.

Critically, decision-making itself is changing. While senior leaders continue to anchor their intuition in past experiences, research shows that overconfidence increases in situations involving more chance and ambiguity. Gut instinct, seasoned though it may be, will not suffice when confronted with system-level interactions between thousands of autonomous platforms and sensors.

Technology as a Catalyst, Not a Crutch

The tools to modernize wargaming already exist. Digital environments can now simulate everything from force placement to logistics flows to legal compliance, with users interacting via natural language, voice, or keyboard. This technological advancement offers a beacon of hope for the future of wargaming, allowing commanders to stress-test strategies in real time and track every decision across a replicable digital thread.

This is not science fiction. It is an underused science fact.

Yet many in the defense establishment cling to narrow definitions of wargaming. A leading DoD-affiliated practitioner recently declared, “If the players or sponsors…

Living Near Golf Courses May Double Parkinson’s Risk, Study Finds

Authored by George Citroner via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Residents living within one mile of golf courses may face more than double the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease compared to those living farther away, according to new research.

Potentially Due to Groundwater Contamination

The case-control study, recently published in JAMA Network Open, analyzed data from more than 400 residents living with Parkinson’s and more than 5,000 matched controls across southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, from 1991 to 2015.
DG FotoStock/Shutterstock

Researchers looked at how close the individuals lived to golf courses and whether their drinking water came from groundwater sources, especially in regions vulnerable to groundwater contamination from pesticide or herbicide use.

The findings showed that those living within one mile of a golf course had more than twice the odds of developing Parkinson’s compared to those living more than six miles away.

The study also found that residents whose tap water was supplied from groundwater sources, particularly in regions prone to groundwater pollution, faced nearly twice the risk of developing Parkinson’s if their water source was near a golf course.

While the study did not measure the type of pesticides used at the golf courses, the authors wrote that studies have linked pesticides used to treat golf courses with the development of Parkinson’s. Examples of pesticides include chlorpyrifos, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), Mancozeb, and so on.

Pesticides have been linked to nerve cell damage associated with Parkinson’s, yet are still commonly applied to golf courses to keep turf healthy and aesthetically pleasing.

These can enter the environment through runoff or groundwater contamination, which could leach into underground water supplies, according to researchers.

Parkinson’s is a progressive and currently has no cure. Risk of developing the degenerative condition increases with age, and most patients are diagnosed when older than 50.

Dr. M. Maral Mouradian, distinguished professor of neurology and director of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Institute for Neurological Therapeutics, and not involved in the study, told The Epoch Times that the study adds to growing evidence that environmental exposures may play a role in the disease’s development.

An unrelated 2020 study identified a cluster of Parkinson’s cases in a golf community. According to this group of researchers, golf courses may use more pesticides per acre than are used in agriculture.

This can be due to golf courses striving for a visually appealing, uniform appearance that can be achieved using large amounts of pesticides to control weeds, insects, and diseases that could compromise this look.

“We were contacted by a golf community of approximately 2200 people because of a concern that PD was unusually prevalent in their community,” wrote the researchers of the 2020 study.

They discovered that among the multiple pesticides used on the golf course, there were three previously linked with Parkinson’s risk: Mancozeb, 2,4-D, and manganese oxide.

Significant Limitations of the Study: Expert

Independent experts, not involved in the study, urge caution over interpreting the results.

Dr. Michael Genovese, physician and chief medical adviser at Ascendant New York, told The Epoch Times that researchers didn’t directly…

Florida Troopers Now Federally Credentialed To Arrest Illegal Immigrants On Their Own

Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Florida officials announced that 1,800 state Highway Patrol troopers are the first in the nation to receive federal credentials under an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agreement allowing them to arrest illegal immigrants on their own.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and a local police officer arrest an illegal immigrant in Florida in April 2025. ICE

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a press conference on May 12 that the state’s ongoing partnership with ICE included what is known as 287(g) agreements, where state and local law enforcement partner with ICE to help arrest and deport illegal immigrants.

The Florida Highway Patrol entered into a 287(g) task force model that gives them the power to arrest foreign nationals who are in the country illegally and place detainers on them during routine policing, such as traffic stops.

In essence, it allows local law enforcement to operate as an extension of ICE under federal supervision.

DeSantis encouraged other states to support President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants, noting the success of Operation Tidal Wave. The recent joint federal-state operation arrested more than 1,100 illegal immigrants.

Some of those arrested included members of gangs such as MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, both designated as terrorist organizations by the Trump administration.

Additionally, DeSantis said Florida also swore in 100 troopers as special deputy U.S. marshals, which will allow them to execute federal search warrants and remove dangerous illegal immigrants.

Dave Kerner, director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said during the press conference that the Florida troopers are the first fully credentialed law enforcement to be fully operational under the 287(g) task force model.

“What that means is, if you see a state trooper, he or she has federal authorities to detain, investigate, apprehend, and deport,” Kerner said. “We have troopers in all 67 counties of this great state that have that authority.”

Kerner told The Epoch Times that troopers serving as U.S. marshals will be able to go into homes to serve warrants, which isn’t part of the 287(g) agreements.

He said that the programs offer flexibility to state and local jurisdictions, allowing them to determine their level of involvement once they sign up for the agreements.

“It is, by and large, a voluntary effort,” he said. “You can decide how much you want to participate.”
Illegal immigrants from Venezuela turn themselves in to Texas state troopers after crossing the border from Mexico into Del Rio, Texas, on May 18, 2021. John Moore/Getty Images

DeSantis added that there’s a plan on the table that, if approved by the federal government, would allow military judge advocates to act as immigration judges and provide makeshift detention space and transportation for illegal immigrants.

The governor noted that the state’s experience with disaster response, such as during hurricanes, helped the state come up with the plan. He said there are 70,000 to 80,000 illegal immigrants in the state, with final deportation orders issued by…

Supreme Court Chief Justice: Critique Our Rulings, Not Our Justices

Authored by Jack Philips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. Supreme Court’s chief justice on Monday told an event that criticism of the court should be relegated to its decisions and not the nine justices themselves.
Chief Justice John Roberts attends the State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Feb. 7, 2023. Jacquelyn Martin/Pool/Getty Images

While speaking at Washington’s Georgetown University, Chief Justice John Roberts said that the Supreme Court “has obviously made mistakes throughout its history, and those should be criticized, so long as it is in terms of the decision.”

Roberts said that criticism of the highest court should not be based on “ad hominem” arguments or attacks “against the justices” themselves, referring to the logical fallacy where an argument is dismissed based on the character or background of the individual making that claim.

“I just think that doesn’t do any good. The harshest critics are usually colleagues, if it’s the sort of thing where there are dissents. So it’s something we’re used to,” he continued. “And again, it’s a good thing. We’re not immune from any criticism. And there are many, many instances in our history where it’s been effective over time in leading to a better result.”

The comment from Roberts marks the third time in nearly as many months in response to criticism about the Supreme Court.

In a rare written statement in March, Roberts appeared to respond to President Donald Trump’s public suggestion to impeach a federal judge who had blocked his administration’s deportations of accused Venezuelan gang members under the Alien Enemies Act.

“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times at the time. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

Following U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s initial ruling against the administration’s use of the 1798 law to deport accused gang members, Trump wrote that the judge wasn’t elected as president.

A senior adviser to Trump, tech billionaire Elon Musk, also commented on the judge’s stymying the administration’s agenda. In a post on Feb. 25, Musk wrote that the only way to allow the agenda to move forward is to “impeach judges,” responding to an article that said El Salvador’s president did the same starting in 2021.

Trump hasn’t been critical of the Supreme Court and has indicated that he will follow orders from any court. Since the start of his administration, numerous lawsuits have been filed against his administration, particularly in relation to his immigration enforcement, spending cuts, and efforts to downsize and reshape the federal government.

And last week, Roberts said during an event in Buffalo, New York, that the judiciary needs to maintain its independence in order to check executive or congressional power.

The judicial branch’s independence is “the only real political-science innovation in our Constitution,” Roberts said. Elaborating, he said that “in our Constitution … the…

Trump Rallies GOP To Back ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ As House Releases 389-Page Text

President Donald Trump on Monday called on congressional Republicans to unify behind what he hailed as his “ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,” a sweeping legislative package that merges tax cuts, immigration reforms, and a raft of domestic priorities into a single reconciliation measure.

“This week the Republicans are meeting in the Tax, Energy, and Agriculture Committees on major pieces of ‘THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,'” Mr. Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, urging lawmakers to stand behind House committee chairs Jason Smith of Ways and Means, Brett Guthrie of Energy and Commerce, and Glenn “GT” Thompson of Agriculture. “We must WIN! But now, with the tremendous Drug and Pharmaceutical Cuts, plus massive incoming Tariff Money, our ‘GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ just got much BIGGER and BETTER. The Golden Age of America will soon be upon us.”

The comments, made just before Mr. Trump’s planned trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, came as his administration unveiled an executive action to lower pharmaceutical drug prices by up to 90% under a new “Most Favored Nations” pricing policy. He also lashed out at Democrats, accusing them of trying to “DESTROY our Country” by offering amendments to the bill prior to his press conference.

“When I return from the Middle East, where great things will happen for America, we will work together on any and all outstanding issues,” Mr. Trump added. “But there shouldn’t be many — The Bill is GREAT.”

Despite the urgency in his messaging, progress on Capitol Hill has been slow. Lawmakers have sent just five bills to Mr. Trump’s desk this Congress. Still, Speaker Mike Johnson is aiming to change that, setting a Memorial Day deadline to pass the reconciliation package through the House. GOP leadership hopes to finalize the bill by July 4 — a timeline that coincides with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s request for a debt-limit increase included in the package.

GOP Draft Released

On Monday, the house GOP released a draft of the bill (full text below)- which confirms several core policy pillars previously signaled by leadership. Among the most consequential is a 5% remittance tax on international money transfers, designed to fund border security, which includes a new refundable credit for verified U.S. senders and strict compliance rules.

In a significant rollback of Biden-era environmental policy, the bill would terminate or phase out numerous clean energy tax credits, including for residential solar, new energy-efficient homes, and hydrogen production, with sharp limits on components sourced from “prohibited foreign entities”—primarily targeting Chinese supply chains.

The legislation also introduces a new federal income tax deduction for qualified tips and overtime compensation through 2028, aimed at working-class earners. However, these benefits explicitly exclude high earners, service-sector owners, and nontraditional tipping industries, and require both the employee and spouse to have Social Security numbers to qualify—adding a compliance hurdle that could reignite partisan fights over ID requirements.

Beyond those provisions, the bill extends provisions from the 2017 Trump tax law, including the higher estate…

The Manipulators’ Playbook

Authored by Gigi Foster via The Brownstone Institute,

[Here is the text of my TedX talk in Australia, October 2024, which the sponsor refused to post]

Every four years, when I was growing up in the US, my mother and father would go to the polling booths and cancel each other out. They’d come home and say as much, with a smirk. Then they’d clink their glasses and have “cocktail hour” together, and enjoy the end of another day of married life in each other’s arms.

Mom was a lifelong Democrat and Dad a lifelong Republican. Back then, people firmly positioned on opposing sides of politics could talk to one another – and even, apparently, marry each other and produce kids! Do you think that is common today? The “cancellation” my parents joked about 30 years ago has, today, become no laughing matter.

Diversity is one of humanity’s greatest gifts. Despite outward appearances, the person right next to us typically does NOT share exactly the same beliefs, perspectives, or assumptions that we hold. Look at that person now, being aware of this reality. Shock horror! You are not sitting next to a mental clone of yourself! Well, thank god for that, some of you may be saying. How boring would the world be if no one we met could teach us anything new?

I have grown all my life, as have you, by being exposed to new and different ideas, methods, and mindsets. At a societal level, all growth in quality of life ultimately comes from innovation. Innovation in turn can be seen as the manifested potential of diversity: the discovery of an idea or an approach that’s different from what is circulating in the mainstream. This is one of the crowning lessons of my home discipline of economics.

Yet individual and societal access to the potent and progressive power of diversity of thought was acutely damaged during the Covid era. 

This damage was done by the mainstreaming – by politicians, bureaucracies, large companies, the media, whole professions, academic disciplines, and even families – of a single accepted view on many Covid topics. On the subjects of lockdowns, masks, and vaccines, it was made very clear by those in authority that one way was correct, and alternatives were wrong. Not only were other views wrong, but anyone who challenged the mainstream view on lockdowns, masking, or especially mass Covid vaccination was labelled as a danger to public health, a tinfoil-hat wearing conspiracy theorist wedded to wacko, fringe ideas. Probably a prepper. Or a cooker. Maybe a “religious nut-job.” Almost surely a “far-right” adherent, and probably racist to boot.

In short, there was denigration, gaslighting, and suppression of dissenting (that is, diverse) voices on those topics, with this suppression of a core societal strength done in the name of preserving the health and strength of society.

That sounds ironic, but actually it’s a well-worn playbook from history.

This is the same trick that has been pulled in other historical tragedies, from the Cultural Revolution to the rise of the…

DHS Investigates Los Angeles For Allegedly Providing Federal Benefits To Illegal Immigrants

Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a subpoena to Los Angeles County for records tied to a state-run assistance program, which the department alleges might have been used to unlawfully provide federal benefits to illegal immigrants.
A Social Security Administration building in Burbank, Calif., on Nov. 5, 2020. Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images

Homeland Security Investigations served a Title 8 subpoena to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, which administers California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants.

While the cash assistance program is a state-funded initiative, the federal subpoena seeks records from January 2021 to the present to determine whether any recipients received Supplemental Security Income benefits but who were ineligible, based on their immigration status.

The requested documents include applications, immigration status records, proof of Supplemental Security Income ineligibility, and supporting affidavits, DHS said in an announcement.

“Radical left politicians in California prioritize illegal aliens over our own citizens, including by giving illegal aliens access to cash benefits,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now. The gravy train is over. While this subpoena focuses only on Los Angeles County—it is just the beginning.”

The move comes less than a month after President Donald Trump signed a memorandum directing federal agencies to crack down on misuse of Social Security Act funds. The April 15 directive, aimed at enforcing Executive Order 14218, calls on federal officials to identify and prevent payments to ineligible recipients, including those without lawful immigration status.

Trump’s memorandum directs federal agencies to investigate fraud and prioritize enforcement in areas with high numbers of illegal immigrants. It also calls for expanding fraud prosecution programs through special assistant U.S. attorneys, particularly targeting identity theft and improper benefit payments.

According to DHS, more than 2 million illegal immigrants were issued Social Security numbers in fiscal year 2024 under prior policies. The department said it is now working with other agencies to prevent any further disbursement of benefits to ineligible recipients.

The Social Security Administration previously expressed support for the White House memo and outlined steps it is taking to prevent future benefit fraud. In an April 16 statement, acting Commissioner Leland Dudek said the agency is committed to ensuring that benefits are “paid only to those who should receive them.”

The Social Security Administration said it is reviewing questionable earnings reports and considering whether to resume civil monetary penalties in cases of fraud. The agency also confirmed that it recently reclassified more than 6,300 Social Security numbers as ineligible after identifying recipients who had been paroled into the U.S. despite criminal records or national security concerns.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, and the California Department of Social Services did not respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times before publication.

Naveen Athrappully contributed to this report. 

Tyler Durden
Mon, 05/12/2025 – 22:35…