Already, the new Homeland Security secretary and Sen. John McCain have gotten off on the wrong foot, the Arizona Republic reports.

After missing the Senate’s 57-37 vote to confirm Jeh Johnson, McCain said he would have voted against the nomination. 

Johnson was tapped by President Obama to replace Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, who left in September to take a university position.

McCain said he’s frustrated with Johnson’s refusal to explain the metric behind measuring the effectiveness of border security.

“My question to him was, ‘When you are the secretary, will you give me that information?’ ” McCain said Thursday. “And he refused to say that he would, which is really very unusual.”

Steve Neavling

U.S. Customers and Border Protection has been helping illegal immigrants find their missing children across the country at taxpayers’ expense, the Washington Times reports.

A federal judge in Texas said the agency has sent agents on numerous flights to find the children, which enables the illegal activity.

In the latest case, the judge said agents delivered a young girl to her mother after the mother paid a smuggler to bring her daughter to the U.S. illegally.

“The DHS is rewarding criminal conduct instead of enforcing the current laws. More troubling, the DHS is encouraging parents to seriously jeopardize the safety of their children,” Judge Andrew S. Hanen said in a 10-page report. “It completed the mission of the conspiracy initiated by Salmeron Santos. In summary, instead of enforcing the laws of the United States, the government took direct steps to help the individuals who violated it. A private citizen would, and should, be prosecuted for this conduct.”

The judge said the department appears to have a policy of not prosecuting parents for helping smuggle their children into the U.S.

By Editorial Board 

You might shrug off concerns about how the Border Patrol operates. After all, it’s just the border. Migrants. Smugglers. Lawbreakers.

It’s not about you and me.

Well, yes it is.

We hold police to high standards to protect everyone’s civil rights. Exempting the nation’s largest police force undermines decades of work to increase the professionalism of your local cops. What’s more, the lethal power of the Border Patrol is not limited to migrants and smugglers.

They’ve killed citizens, too.

A lack of transparency and accountability raises red flags about human rights and public safety.

It raises questions about the efficiency and effectiveness of an agency that has grown rapidly in recent years and would double in size under the Senate’s immigration reform plan.

To read more click here.

Steve Neavling

The high life is expensive.

Just ask Lorne Leslie “Hammer” Jones, a former Border Patrol agent.

Jones was found guilty Friday of helping smugglers enter California from Mexico to help finance his ritzy lifestyle, UPI reports.

Feds say Jones took as much as a half-million dollars in payoffs in exchange for aiding the smuggling of marijuana and illegal immigrants.

Prosecutors said Jones lavished himself with luxuries like boats and football season tickets.

Steve Neavling

A veteran ICE agent is accused of accepting bribes to help smuggle illegal immigrants into the country by claiming they were witnesses to a drug investigation, CBS Miami reports.

That’s one allegation facing Special Agent Juan Martinez, who appeared in court Friday on 12 criminal counts, including extortion and bribery.

Martinez also is accused of looking the other way in exchange for expensive jewelry, airline tickets and liquor.

His attorney, Silvia Pinera-Vazquez, said the charges are false.

“We disagree with the government 100-percent. Agent Martinez has been a law enforcement agent for over 20 years. He has dutifully served his country. He denies every single paragraph of that indictment and is looking forward to a trial where is innocence will be proven,” Pinera-Vazquez said, according to CBS Miami.

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