Homeland chief: Troops a border option
WASHINGTON -- Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told Congress on Tuesday that he would consider every conceivable, lawful option to deal with a continuing flood of aliens crossing the U.S. border illegally in south Texas.
Johnson told the House Homeland Security Committee that he won't rule out using National Guard troops, as several lawmakers have suggested, but he warned that there are limitations to using troops to help manage what has become a humanitarian crisis at the border.
The White House indicated later in the day that it wasn't interested in the proposal to deploy troops.
Since the start of the budget year last October, Border Patrol agents have apprehended more than 52,000 alien children crossing the border alone. Most of the young aliens are from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and have been caught in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
At the same time, the Border Patrol has arrested more than 39,000 adults with children. An unknown number of those aliens have been released with notices to report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices near their final destinations inside the United States.
Rice says gay rights globally a U.S. aim
WASHINGTON -- With anti-gay laws taking root in nearly 80 countries, national security adviser Susan Rice on Tuesday cast the protection of gays from global discrimination, abuse and even death as one of the most challenging international human rights issue facing the United States.
Rice told a White House forum of gay rights advocates that President Barack Obama has directed that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote the rights of homosexual, bisexual and transgender men and women around the world. She urged religious, human rights and HIV health care advocates to form a united front to halt global discrimination against the gay, bisexual and transgender community.
"To achieve lasting global change, we need everyone's shoulder at the wheel," she said. "With more voices to enrich and amplify the message -- the message that gay rights are straight-up human rights -- we can open more minds."
Ruling on gays stands, 9th Circuit says
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court Tuesday refused to reconsider its ruling granting heightened legal protections to gays, prompting three dissenting judges to warn of far-reaching implications in same-sex marriage cases in the western United States.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in January banned the exclusion of potential jurors because of their sexual orientation, saying such action was akin to striking someone from the jury pool because of their race or sex.
An undisclosed majority of the full 29-judge court voted against rehearing the case over the objections of three judges.
The dissenters, led by Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain argued that the ruling "bears significant implications for the same-sex marriage debate and for other laws that may give rise to distinctions based on sexual orientation."
O'Scannlain argues that giving gays the same protections as minority groups and women prematurely decides the same-sex marriage issue without the U.S. Supreme Court's input. O'Scannlain pointed out that officials in Nevada and Oregon have cited the 9th Circuit opinion to drop official opposition to same-sex marriage.
O'Scannlain was joined by Judges Jay Bybee and Carlos Bea. All three judges were appointed by Republican presidents.
Shooting in Miami kills 2, wounds 7
MIAMI -- Two people were killed and seven others were wounded in a shooting early Tuesday in the Miami neighborhood of Liberty City that has been plagued by violence, police said.
One victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and the others who were shot or injured were taken to a nearby trauma center, where the second victim died.
At the crime scene, the sidewalk was littered with dozens of spent shell casings marked by green police cones and shattered glass by midmorning Tuesday, and people said they were afraid to talk about the shooting. Some 50 to 60 shots were fired, police spokesman Frederica Burden had said.
The dead were identified as Kevin Richardson, 29, and Nakeri Jackson, 26.
Miami City Manager Daniel Alfonso said at the scene that city officials are going to look at their strategy against crime.
A Section on 06/25/2014