Neil A. Carousso produces NewsNation original “Kurt’s Country” – a celebration of country music and a slice of Americana with host Kurt Bardella.
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EXCLUSIVE: Retired Immigration Agent on the Heroin Epidemic as the FBI Director Links it to Mexican Drug Cartels
By Neil A. Carousso
FBI Director James Comey said that the heroin epidemic sweeping the United States traces to Mexican drug cartels.
“We cannot arrest our way out of this problem,” said Comey at an opioid summit in Virginia on Wednesday.
Mexican cartels have monetized the heroin business even selling the addictive drug for a loss in order to hook new clients. Heroin cannot be made in the United States. Production grew 160 percent from 2013 to 2014, according to DEA estimates. The following year, opium poppy cultivation in Mexico saw a 64 percent increase.
Retired Immigration and Naturalization Service Agent Michael Cutler sits down with this reporter in an exclusive to air on “The Neil A. Carousso Show” on Sunday. Watch a preview of the interview below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N8kokqdn5A
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prescription and illicid opioids, like heroin, accounted for 33,091 overdose deaths in 2015, quadrupling from 1999. These are the latest statistics available from the CDC.
“Our job is to try to crack down on the supply, literally, to be very blunt, to drive up the price to make it less and less attractive for people who are addicted to pills to move to heroin,” FBI Director Comey said.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency for the opioid crisis in his state, committing an addition $50 million over the next five years for increased enforcement, prevention and treatment services. The Maryland Governor lost a cousin to addiction.
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Unity and Leadership: President Trump Delivers an Inspiring Message in a Joint Session of Congress and to the American People, Pleads for Unity between Parties
By Neil A. Carousso
An optimistic, powerful, motivating, inspiring, bold and post-partisan, unifying message to Americans by President Donald J. Trump.
It was a message based on reality, focused on winning economically and militarily in order to protect our freedom and American values.
President Trump delivers his first joint session of Congress address (Reuters) The most emotional and poignant moment was when President Trump ensured Navy SEAL Ryan Owens‘ widow, Carryn, that Owens died for a reason in his mission to protect Americans and advance liberty, despite some of the criticisms from those who believe the raid in Yemen was not appropriate. There was a long standing ovation, lasting over two minutes, for Mrs. Owens.
Chief Petty Officer William ‘Ryan’ Owens. (Courtesy: Capt. Jason Salata/Naval Special Warfare Command) President Trump reinforced his pledge to eradicate the “vile enemy” of the Islamic State and provide much-needed and long overdue support for our veterans.
The Chief Executive called for both sides to come together to pass immigration reform to protect our borders and our children from drugs and violent crime. Trump called for inner-city reform, including school choice, to give people chances to succeed. A guest of Mr. Trump’s, Denisha Merriweathe, was the first person in her family to graduate from high school and college after overcoming adversity of failing 3rd grade twice and other educational and economic disadvantages.
President Trump called for Congress to repeal and replace of the Affordable Healthcare Act that has shrunk the private healthcare industry, driving premiums and deductibles higher and cutting competition across the board. The ACA or ObamaCare has not worked for all Americans.
President Trump called for unity in supporting a non-ideological, common sense agenda that Americans voted for on November 8th.
“The time for small thinking is over. The time for trivial fights is behind us,” pleaded President Trump in his call for American unity.
Democratic politicians, meanwhile, have not represented flexibility in their demeanor to hearing a message of putting the United States interests first and supporting victims of preventable illegal immigrant crime with families of people killed by illegal aliens as guests of the President. Democrats even sat during calls for increased women entrepreneurship. It was clear that the Democrats were not willing to agree with any point, even nonpartisan or more ideologically left positions, that Mr. Trump has taken throughout the campaign and into his administration like paid family leave.
President Trump even called for a more comprehensive infrastructure plan than President Barack Obama proposed.
The President began his speech by discussing Black History Month, saying it reminds us of “work that still remains to be done.” Trump denounced all hate crimes including anti-Semitic actions.
The President reenforced his agenda, listed his early successes, and reminded Americans of his campaign promises with effective messaging, heart and true “American spirit.” It is evident that Mr. Trump is a man of action who truly wants to Make America Great Again for everyone from the coasts to Middle America to the inner-cities.
“Believe in yourselves. Believe in your future. And believe, once more, in America,” said President Trump.
Given that President Trump expressed a more conciliatory tone, an instant CNN/ORC poll found that 57 percent of people who tuned in reporting a “very positive reaction” to the Commander-In-Chief’s first address to Congress. “Nearly 7-in-10 who watched said the President’s proposed policies would move the country in the right direction and almost two-thirds said the president has the right priorities for the country. Overall, about 7-in-10 said the speech made them feel more optimistic about the direction of the country.”
Carryn Owens, widow of Navy SEAL William Ryan Owens, reacts after being recognized by President Donald Trump during his address to a joint session of Congress in the Capitol’s House Chamber. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) 
President Trump looks up at Carryn Owens, widow of a Navy SEAL killed in last month’s raid in Yemen. (Getty Images) 
First Lady Melania Trump receives a standing ovation prior to her husband’s address to Congress. Behind the First Lady is Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump. Next to Ivanka is widow of Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, Carryn Owens. Adjacent to the First Lady are Mr. Trump’s invited guests, family of victims of illegal immigrant crime and others. (AP Photo) 
President Trump (centered) with Vice President Mike Pence (back left) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (back right) applauding the 45th President. After a busy day of signing executive orders prior to the Congressional address, President Trump is expected to pass another order this week suspending immigrants and refugees from terror-riddled nations, as in the original executive order, with some reported changes, that is tied up in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The President is hoping for better messaging from his administration to gain support for the national security measure, following the Department of Homeland Security memos that were issued last week.
Featured Image Courtesy: Associated Press.
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Making a Difference: 21-year-old Autistic Man Runs Atlanta’s Alternative Baseball Organization for Autistic Teen Athletes Who are Overcoming Disadvantages
On Sunday’s “The Neil A. Carousso Show,” 21-year-old Atlanta, Georgia resident Taylor Duncan joined the program to discuss how he is making a difference in his community, overcoming adversity and encouraging other autistic people to work hard and earn success despite their disadvantages.
Featured Image Courtesy: Taylor Duncan, Founder of Alternative Baseball Organization.
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Enforcing Immigration Laws: DHS Order to Prioritize Deportation of Criminal Illegal Aliens, End to “Catch-and-Release”
By Neil A. Carousso
Department of Homeland Security Secretary General John Kelly moved to implement President Donald J. Trump’s immigration policies, namely prioritizing criminal illegal immigrants, hiring more immigration officers, officially ending the “catch-and-release” policies, and beginning to execute the president’s plans to build a wall on U.S. southern border.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary General John Kelly (DHS.gov) “It is in the national interest of the United States to prevent criminals and criminal organizations from destabilizing border security,” wrote Kelly in one of two memos released by DHS on Tuesday.
The agencies “going back to our traditional roots” on enforcement said a Homeland Security official.
The key points in the DHS memo include:
-Prioritizing criminal illegal immigrants and others for deportation, including those convicted or charged with “any criminal offense,” or who have “abused” any public welfare program
-Expanding expedited removal provisions to aliens who have not been admitted or paroled into the U.S. This excludes unaccompanied minors, those who intend to apply for asylum or have a fear of persecution or torture in their home countries.
-Expanding the 287(g) program, which allows participating local officers to act as immigration agents – and had been rolled back under the Obama administration
-Starting the planning, design and construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall with mostly American materials being made to construct the wall
-Identifying and quantifying indirect and direct sources of aid to Mexico during each of the last five fiscal years
-“Hiring 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and officers”
-Hiring 5,000 Border Patrol agents
-Commissioning a comprehensive study of border security (air, land and maritime) to “identify vulnerabilities and provide recommendations to enhance border security.” The study will include the “availability of federal and state resources to develop and implement an effective border security strategy that will achieve complete operational control of the border.”
-Ending “catch-and-release” policies (ended in 2006 under President George W. Bush, but was continued under President Barack Obama) under which illegal immigrants subject to deportation potentially are allowed to “abscond” and fail to appear at removal hearings
-“Putting into place accountability measures to protect alien children from exploitation and prevent abuses of immigration laws. The smuggling or trafficking of alien children into the United States puts those children at grave risk of violence and sexual exploitation. CBP and ICE will ensure the proper enforcement of our immigration laws against those who facilitate such smuggling or trafficking.”
“DREAMers” in DACA and White House Intentions:
So-called DREAMers are not affected by the memos. DREAMers are defined in President Barack Obama’s June 2012 policy “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (DACA) as undocumented immigrants to the United States who entered the country as minors. Children, under DACA, have been granted a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility.
Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions from the press on Tuesday (Reuters/Carlos Barria) “The message from this White House and from the DHS is those people who are in this country and pose a threat to our public safety or have committed a crime will be the first to go and we will aggressively be making sure that that occurs. That is what the priority is,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said at his Tuesday press briefing, making it clear that the DHS memos and President Trump policies are not of mass deportations.
“Everybody who is here illegally is subject to removal at any time,” Spicer said. “That is consistent with every country, not just ours. If you’re in this country in an illegal manner, then obviously there’s a provision that could ensure that you be removed.
Illegal Immigration Statistics:
In fiscal years 2010-2014, 121 aliens were released from custody and later charged with a homicide-related offense. In fiscal year 2015, 15,715 offenders were convicted of illegal reentry, accounting for 82 percent of immigration offenders sentenced. Under 300 jurisdictions in the United States, illegal immigrants are granted sanctuary in which cities and states disobey federal immigration law.
An overwhelming number of voters say local authorities should be required to comply with federal immigration law. A Harvard-Harris Poll survey provided exclusively to The Hill found that 80 percent of voters are against sanctuary cities.
A Pew Research Center report released earlier this month, reveals that an estimated 2.5 million immigrants in the country illegally live in the metropolitan areas of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago – all cities that have vowed to fight President Trump’s enforcement of immigration law.
A recent U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement operation removed criminal illegal immigrant fugitives in New York, arresting criminals with an array of sexual assault, rape, drugs, DUI, robbery, larceny and other criminal offenses including reentry upon final orders of removal and an MS-13 gang member.
In New York City, an illegal immigrant MS-13 gang member was allowed to be released under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “sanctuary city” policy. There was a federal petition to hold him for deportation, according to officials. Estivan Rafael Marques Velasquez was set free from Rikers Island on February 16 after serving time for disorderly conduct. ICE officials requested last May that the gang member be turned over to immigration officials when he finished serving his sentence. An immigration judge ordered his removal in November 2015.
“This man is by his own admission a member of a violent street gang and he was released back into the community,” said Thomas Decker, field office director for the New York Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit. “Honoring a detainer request is not about politics, it is about keeping New York citizens safe.”
ICE sent in their own agents to find Velasquez the same day in Queens.
In another recent case, a 19-year-old murder suspect in Denver is in jail with another man for the killing of 32-year-old Tim Cruz on February 7. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed a detainer on the murder suspect after being arrested by Denver police in October 2016 for car theft and other charges. ICE wanted to be notified of any pending release because he was suspected of being in the U.S. illegally from Mexico.
“Angel mom” Laura Wilkerson (Screen-grab/Fox News YouTube channel) “Somebody’s gonna be inconvenienced, said “angel mom” Laura Wilkerson on a Fox News Channel’s special immigration townhall on”First 100 Days,” hosted by Martha MacCallum on Tuesday night. “Y’know, without the immigration laws being enforced, this country has run amok. And any way that he does it, there’s gonna be an inconvenience to people. But for myself, if you’re not burying your child in the ground and turning around and walking away, it’s not an inconvenience you can’t deal with.”
Wilkerson’s son Joshua was murdered by an illegal immigrant, a “DREAMer,” in November 2010.
The 680 illegal immigrants detained in recent ICE sweeps represent just .07 percent of the 950,062 with deportation orders as of May 21, 2016, according to statistics provided to Congress. There are an estimated 3 million illegal immigrants with criminal records in addition to their illegal status. The Trump Administration is making the criminal illegal aliens a priority for swift removal in order to protect the United States from preventable crime.
The number of southwest border patrol agents are down nearly 1,600 from an all-time peak of 18,611 in the fiscal year of 2013.
The United States gave $175 million in aid to Mexico from 2014-2016 with 45 percent of the aid going to “democracy, human rights and governance” and 9 percent of Mexican aid towards “peace and security.” President Trump has promised to have Mexico pay for the border wall by using aid funds, reducing the trade deficit between the two countries or other diplomatic measures. The wall is addressed in the DHS memo.
Immigration and Refugee Suspension from Terror-Riddled Nations:
The Homeland Security memos come after President Trump’s January 27th executive order that suspended immigration for 90 days and refugees for 120 days from six terror nations – Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Iran, Yemen and Libya – and an indefinite suspension on immigration and refugees coming from war-torn Syria with the intent to build safe zones in Syria for victims. A national halt on the order was placed by U.S. District Judge James Robart a week later. Robart’s stay was upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals with two judges appointed by Democrat presidents Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter. The courts have not ruled on the executive order’s Constitutionality.
President Trump speaks at a rally in Melbourne, FL on Saturday (Joe Raedle, Getty Images) President Trump has said as the Chief Executive, he has the authority to suspend immigration if he has reason to believe that the nation’s national security is in jeopardy.
8 U.S. Code § 1182 on “Inadmissible aliens” reads in part:
“Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate. Whenever the Attorney General finds that a commercial airline has failed to comply with regulations of the Attorney General relating to requirements of airlines for the detection of fraudulent documents used by passengers traveling to the United States (including the training of personnel in such detection), the Attorney General may suspend the entry of some or all aliens transported to the United States by such airline.” – Abridged 8 U.S. Code § 1182
The president is also granted authority by the U.S. Constitution to protect the country from “domestic violence.”
“The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.” – Article IV, Section 4 of The Constitution of the United States of America
President Trump is expected to rescind his original immigration suspension executive order that is currently tied up in the courts and release a revised executive order later this week or next week that will suspend immigration and refugees from terror-riddled nations that do not communicate about travelers to the United States government. Communication about travelers between countries is customary so that nations can prepare for any potential terrorist threats. The new order is likely to have an exemption for green card holders and a revision of the indefinite nature of the Syrian immigration and refugee program suspensions.
The temporary immigration suspension is intended to provide the Chief Executive and his national security team, led by newly appointed National Security Director General H.R. McMaster and Defense Secretary General James Mattis, time to develop and implement a comprehensive and effective “extreme vetting” policy. President Trump signed a memorandum on January 28th that mandates that his top national security advisors develop a plan within 30-days, by Monday, February 27, to defeat ISIS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXejrrBipOY&t=25s
Featured Image Courtesy: CBS News
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Supporting Our Veterans: U.S. Army Combat Vet Shares His Emotional Story of Service
By Neil A. Carousso
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hx5tv5uyYE
Jeffrey McQueen is currently the director of veterans services at Veterans Health Alliance of Long Island. He served the United States in the U.S Army 82nd Airborne Division from 1982-1988, seeing combat at age 19.
“I found myself at the turning point, at a crossroads about making a decision between life and death and I chose life,” McQueen told this reporter on Thursday’s episode 10 of “The Neil A. Carousso Show Podcast” after describing his substance abuse and other personal issues after serving the United States in Grenada. “As a result of it, I’m in this position today where I allow my particular pain to become stepping stones to other individuals growth to wellness.”
Mr. McQueen continues to serve the country and his community through supporting his fellow veterans who suffer from PTSD, homelessness and other medical conditions and personal issues upon returning from service.
“If the community is engaging and getting involved and looking at what’s going on around them…if you see something, say something,” McQueen said referencing the New York City Police Department slogan, continuing, “If you see a veteran that is in dire need of support and not getting the support that they need regardless of discharge status veteran then you should be reaching out to find out what you could do to be able to aid them and know that there are those of us out here that are willing to engage and support and care for these veterans.”
Veterans Health Alliance encourages and needs community support in order to accomplish their goals of “promoting the health and well-being of Long Island veterans and their families through advocacy and a broad array of services,” all discussed on last week’s podcast with Mr. McQueen.
One way people can get involved is by attending a free conference on Tuesday, March 14th at Adelphi University in Garden City, NY.
“As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have ‘officially’ wound down, the pace of deployments is much less,” reads a press release promoting the free conference, adding that because many service members have been home for upwards of 10 years, “the attention of government and the general public to veterans’ related issues has lessened somewhat.”
One can register for the “Veterans Mental Health Conference 2017” here as a way to learn more about giving back to those who served to keep us safe and protect our American values, freedom and our nation’s sovereignty.
There are 167,000 veterans living on Long Island, east of New York City, according to the latest U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs data. There is an estimated 39, 471 homeless veterans on a given night in the U.S. with 41 percent of homeless vets between the ages of 31-50, according to the V.A. and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Veterans Health Alliance of Long Island will also attend “Legislative Day” along with the Mental Health Association of New York State (MHANYS) to advocate for a wide array of matters including increased funding for the Joseph Dwyer Peer to Peer Program that allows veterans to heal by talking with their cohorts who understand the challenges of serving in the military. Other issues that will be brought to New York political representatives include funding for suicide prevention services, erasing stigma of mental illness for veterans, funding for mental health workforce and housing. People who are interested in attending to advocate on behalf of U.S. veterans should email Brent Russell, the program coordinator of Veterans Health Alliance or call (516) 489-2322, extensions 1312 or 1213.
Last week, there were House committee hearings on the use of official time at the V.A. A Government Accountability Office report found the Veterans Affairs cannot track official time usage and there are no standardized processes in place to record and calculate official time and money spent by federal union representatives on union activity.
President Donald Trump has vowed to take care of our veterans by reducing the V.A. bureaucracy and allowing veterans to receive healthcare at any private or public hospital with full federal government reimbursement in order to reduce wait times.
Over 505,000 veterans have waited more than a month to see a doctor, according to a June report published by the Military Times. That number is up 23,000 from April. Of the 6.7 million medical appointments at the Veterans Affairs Department medical facilities in the country, 92 percent were scheduled within 30-days – a standard set by Congress in 2014.
This interview originally aired on “The Neil A. Carousso Show Podcast,” which is uploaded daily to iTunes and this site. “The Neil A. Carousso Show,” a live streaming video program, airs Sundays at 12 Noon ET/9 AM PT.
