File photo of a Border Patrol agent.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

While President Trump focuses on security at the U.S.-Mexico border, he may want to shift his focus to the northern border with Canada.

The Daily Beast reports that “far more suspected terrorists try to enter the country from the northern border with Canada than from the south.”

The media outlet analyzed monthly domestic encounter reports from the FBI Terrorist Screening Center, which details encounters with terrorists.

“We are looking the wrong direction,” said a senior DHS official familiar with the data. “Not to say that Mexico isn’t a problem, but the real bad guys aren’t coming from there—at least not yet.”

President Trump has claimed that jihadis are “pouring” into the country, but White House press secretary Sean Spicer declined to disclose any evidence.

FBI data shows there is more urgency at the northern border with Canada.

“We often hear about security concerns on the Southern border, but bad actors intent on entering our country will always seek the path of least resistance, so we must have the necessary tools and resources to secure both the northern and southern borders,” Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) said in a statement to The Daily Beast.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Joseph Barone was a former Mafia informant for the FBI when he spent 19 months in a Brooklyn prison before a federal jury acquitted him in 2010.

Barone, now 55, sued the FBI, saying the bureau wanted to discipline him for refusing to trick a gangster from the Gambino crime family into confessing criminal activity, Reuters reports.

But on Monday, a New York judge ruled against Barone, saying there wasn’t enough evidence to provide that agents conspired to discipline him by charging him with a crime he didn’t commit.

Barone was accused of participating in a murder-for-hire plot.

Judge Andrew J. Peck ruled that the FBI did nothing wrong and had probable cause to arrest Barone.

Protest at Wayne State University in Detroit. Photo by Steve Neavling.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The Justice Department is defending President Trump’s travel restrictions, saying the executive order was a “lawful exercise of the president’s authority” and did not amount to a ban on Muslims.

The Justice Department filed a 15-page brief with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is taking up the case today to determine whether a federal judge in Seattle made the right decision to lift the travel restrictions nationwide.

The federal judge said Trum’s executive order violates the constituent’s guarantee of due process and discriminates on the basis of religion.

“But even if some relief were appropriate, the court’s sweeping nationwide injunction is vastly overbroad,” the Justice Department argued in the brief.

Trump made an unprecedented attack on the independent judiciary, saying the Seattle judge was putting Americans in danger.

“If something happens blame him and court system,” Trump tweeted.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals also is expected to determine whether the Seattle judge had the authority to lift the ban nationwide.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Four days after Border Patrol agents exchanged gunfire with two people inside a van near the Rio Grande in San Benito, no one has been arrested.

Agents attempted to stop the van, which authorities said contained bundles of narcotics, KRGV reports. 

The van managed to flee in the direction of Mexico.

No one was injured.

“We had an agent and a trooper receive gunfire back in December,” Border Patrol spokeswoman Marlene Castro said. “Although the agent was not hurt because he was wearing his bullet proof vest, the trooper was struck in the hip area.  Both are doing fine now. DPS is in charge of that investigation.

“These types of incidents, narcotics smuggling and assaults on agents, do happen beyond the fence.  The main reason being that smugglers are willing to do anything to protect their drug load.  They often attempt to drive their narcotic-laden vehicles into the river to avoid having them seized by law enforcement and ruthlessly resort to assaulting agents to avoid arrest.”