Happy Wednesday!

It’s Juneteenth, the commemoration of the day slaves in Texas learned that they were free in 1865. Today’s serving of Al’s Afternoon Tea will take us on a journey back to the nineteenth century and the U.S. Colored Troops who helped make Juneteenth a reality.

But that won’t be out until this afternoon. In the meantime, let’s talk about illegal immigration.

Biden Announces Plan to Simply Grant Legal Status to Illegals Married to U.S. Citizens

And just like that, unless a court intervenes, Joe Biden has announced he’s granting legal permanent residency to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who happen to be married to U.S. citizens and have been here for at least ten years. (Great news for the wedding industry. Bad news for the U.S.) The program is called “Parole in Place.” Previously, the illegal immigrant would have to leave the U.S. while waiting for their case to be adjudicated.

The White House touted how the new program will “keep families together.” As if the U.S. spouse and kids couldn’t go with the illegal person to his or her home country.

Illegal immigration is one of, if not the top concerns of voters in the upcoming election cycle. But who needs voter approval when you can just manufacture new voters at whim?

Think I exaggerate? According to a shocking report in the New York Post, welfare and other agencies in 49 states are providing voter registration forms to migrants without requiring them to provide proof of citizenship.

Fed Up: 2/3rds Want Illegals Deported

According to a new CBS News/YouGov poll, 62% of registered voters want all illegal immigrants to be deported. Only 38% oppose the idea. Most Hispanics who entered our country legally also are on board, with 53% supporting mass deportation.

That could explain why after spending three years insisting the border was secure, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre took to the podium again yesterday, saying, “Our immigration system is broken. It has been for some decades.” (It seemed pretty fixed before the Biden administration started issuing dozens of executive orders to open up the floodgates.)

Chinese Helping Illegals Get Across the Border

As if the Biden administration wasn’t doing enough to facilitate the flow of illegals into our country, the Daily Caller News Foundation reports the Chinese are lending a helping hand.

A social media site run by a Chinese government agent “provides illegal immigrants with resources to get into the U.S. and evade border authorities,” the DCNF investigation revealed. The American Self-Guided Tour Channel on Telegram is both a forum for Chinese-language illegals and a hub for detailing specific routes into the U.S.

By the end of May, 24,376 Chinese nationals had been encountered at the southwest border in FY2024, with the flow continuing to this day. That’s about 7000% more than 2021. “Some migrants are almost certainly members of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA),” China expert Gordon Change wrote, “These military-linked migrants, despite their affiliations, have been released into America,”

Meanwhile, according to a new House Judiciary Committee report, the Department of Health and Human Services has allowed more than 400,000 illegal minors, mostly males, to be placed around the country with no government oversight.

And in New York, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador is now in police custody, accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at knifepoint.

In February 2022, a U.S. judge ordered Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi, 25, to leave the country. He and his son had crossed illegally in June 2021. According to the New York Post, Inga-Landi had been deemed “inadmissible,” and yet he was released by the Biden administration. And then he simply ignored the immigration judge’s order.

Now a 13-year-old has been raped.

Glass Houses

The Biden campaign is going all in on the “Donald Trump is a convicted felon” theme, dropping $50 million on a new ad campaign going after Trump’s assorted legal troubles.

WATCH:

Donald Trump is only out for himself. I'm fighting for the American people.

Check out our new ad.pic.twitter.com/pXahFXh5uk

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 17, 2024

But two new stories beg the question whether Biden should be throwing stones. First, Just the News reports the FBI knew in 2016 that Hunter Biden had nearly signed a $120 million deal in Lichtenstein funded by Ukrainian oligarch Nykola Zlochevsky, head of the Burisma energy company while his father was Obama’s point man for Ukraine. Zlochevsky’s aide said Hunter had to be part of the deal to give it “credibility.” (Because nothing says “credibility” like a crackhead with no experience in the energy industry. But being the son of the U.S. vice president? Maybe we can find a spot.)

Second, the U.S. House Oversight Committee announced Tuesday it has questions for the Securities and Exchange Commission. Seems Hunter was subpoenaed in connection with a tribal bond scheme entangling several of his business associates in 2016.

Hunter’s lawyer responded to the subpoena by pointing out his father was vice president, and that it would be “unfair” to him if Hunter’s involvement were to become the subject of media attention. Less than a month later, the SEC filed charges against the seven associates, with no mention of, or charges against, Hunter Biden.

🚨 HUNTER PLAYED THE DAD CARD IN SEC INVESTIGATION 🚨

In 2016, Hunter Biden was subpoenaed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for information in its investigation of a tribal bond scheme in which several individuals were charged with violating federal securities… pic.twitter.com/nSVyLECF64

— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) June 18, 2024

New York Court Rejects Trump Gag Order Appeal

Meanwhile, the New York Court of Appeals declined to hear Donald Trump’s appeal of the gag order placed on him by the judge in his recent hush-money case, saying it didn’t raise “substantial” constitutional issues. Trump argued the gag order was stifling his free speech during the 2024 presidential campaign.

The Trump campaign vowed to continue the legal fight, saying, “The election-interfering gag order violates the First Amendment rights of President Trump and all American voters, who have a fundamental right to hear his message.”

They Force Our Hand

The media continues going all out to defend Joe Biden over videos that appear to show him freezing on stage (again). Now comes a fact-check from The Associated Press. They cite a Jimmy Kimmel spokesperson who says Biden didn’t freeze at the end of the Hollywood fundraiser. People were shouting at him from the front row and “President Biden was trying to hear them. It’s as simple as that.” As for Obama grabbing his wrist and leading Biden off the stage, a source who helped organize the event told the AP that Obama was just being “chummy.”

Fine. Great. Even though those sources have every motive in the world to protect Biden, you do you, Associated Press. But the Big Guy isn’t helping your cause.

Have you seen this one yet?

Is Biden okay? pic.twitter.com/vrKECVNKEB

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 17, 2024

Is he mimicking reporters?

Meanwhile, after his DACA event and a fundraiser in Virginia Tuesday, Biden hightailed it back to his house in Rehoboth Beach.

Update: Booted from Nathan’s 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, Joey Chestnut Signs for Labor Day Faceoff

Call it the Ultimate Frankfurter Faceoff. One day after being banned from the Nathan’s 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest due to an endorsement deal with another brand, champion extraordinaire Joey Chestnut announced he’ll be competing in another hot dog-eating event against Japanese champ Takeru Kobayashi. Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef will air live on Netflix.

Chestnut has won the Nathan’s contest 16 times, but Kobayashi is no slouch. He doubled the world record in 2001 and owned the Nathan’s contest until Chestnut arrived on the scene in 2007. Kobayashi had just announced his retirement for health reasons, but the prospect of facing Chestnut again was too tasty to pass up.

“Retiring for me will only happen after I take him down one more time,” Kobayashi said. “This rivalry has been brewing a long time. Competing against Joey live on Netflix means fans all over the world can watch me knock him out.”

Along the Stream

Anthony Sadar shares his scientific expertise with the fascinating expose, “Climate Change Information Is Sanitized for Your Protection.”

At 7 a.m. Eastern time, Stream contributor Timothy Furnish, fresh off the DL, offers “Aliens and Allosaurs and Elves? — Oh My!”

 

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.