Simon Hankinson
Heritage Foundation
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Past articles by Simon:
Biden’s “Busy” Border Visit Brings Back a Whole Lot of Nothing
For a few days last week, President Joe Biden belatedly and halfheartedly turned his attention to the southern border. He announced a magical new “legal pathway” to enter the country without a visa, visited an eerily empty El Paso, Texas, and attended a summit in Mexico City with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts. → Read More
A Legal Immigrant’s Lament: Biden’s “Parole” Scheme Makes “Patsies” of Those Who Abide by Law
One thing I have in common with journalist Andrew Sullivan is that we both chose to go through the lengthy process to become American citizens. As he recently told Washington Post reporter Nick Miroff, the current insanity at the border makes legal immigrants like us “look like patsies.” When a staunch liberal, a reporter from The Post, and a Heritage Foundation research fellow all agree on… → Read More
Diplomacy in Drag?
Who would have thought we’d need a bill “To Ban U.S. Government From Funding Drag Queen Shows In Foreign Countries”? Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) did, and with good reason. At a time when inflation has forced belt-tightening in households across America, the State Department has seen fit to give a cultural center in Ecuador $20,600 to host “drag theater performances,”… → Read More
Biden’s Abuse of Power at the Border
Shortly before his trip to El Paso, President Joe Biden announced his plan to address the border crisis. Anyone still hoping—two years into Biden's term—that the president would outline an effective solution to the current flood of illegal aliens and drugs had to be disappointed. → Read More
The 6 Biggest Lies From Mayorkas and DHS About Team Biden’s Post-Title 42 Plans
A "tissue of lies" is defined by The Free Dictionary as "a number of false statements made to deliberately hide the truth." Under this definition should be a copy of the Department of Homeland Security’s "Update on Southwest Border Security and Preparedness Ahead of Court-Ordered Lifting of Title 42." → Read More
Air Safety Falls Victim to Biden’s Immigration Disaster
On Wednesday, Dec. 21, 1988, Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York exploded over Scotland. A bomb, planted by Libyan terrorists, killed all 270 people aboard. Two days later, I boarded flight 103, one of maybe 30 passengers. Hardly a word was spoken for the entire trip. None of us wanted to fly, but I was a broke student and wanted to be home for Christmas. This is like yesterday to me.… → Read More
Federal Fealty to Wokeness Weakens American Power
The Biden administration has imposed an unprecedented dogma on federal employees, from Delta Force to the Department of Transportation. They can refuse only at cost to their careers. This must stop. → Read More
Brittney Griner Trade Shows Who the Real Suckers at the Table Are
There’s an old joke among poker players: if you can’t find the sucker at the table, it’s you. While it’s wonderful to see an American civilian released from an unjustly long sentence in a foreign land, it must be said that the Biden administration just revealed who was the sucker in its negotiations to release Brittney Griner from the Russian gulag. → Read More
Republicans Shouldn’t Fall for Lame-Duck Session Fool-Me-Twice Immigration Bill
If Sam Bankman-Fried offers a new cryptocurrency investment scheme, are you in? Not likely. I’d rather trust the ghost of Bernie Madoff with my money. Once bitten, twice shy. That’s why conservatives don’t trust the immigration “compromise” proposals being discussed on Capitol Hill in the lame-duck session of Congress just weeks before control of the House switches (barely) into Republican hands. → Read More
The Afghan Adjustment Act Would Not Facilitate Safe or Orderly U.S. Entry of Afghan Allies
The Issue The proposed Afghan Adjustment Act (AAA) seeks to ease adjustment of status for Afghans who are already in the U.S., bring more in from Afghanistan and third countries, and create an additional visa/legalization channel for “at-risk” Afghans. Yet, the AAA would complicate the ongoing effort to integrate the more than 80,000 Afghans brought to the U.S. by Operation Allies Welcome and… → Read More
Chris Magnus’ Opus: A Record-Setting Disaster for the Head of Border Protection
Chris Magnus was forced to resign as head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Nov. 12. He was unprepared for the job, never had the support of the workforce, and cared more about internal “social justice” than executing CBP’s mission. Not surprisingly, he utterly failed to secure the U.S. border in his tenure of almost a year. → Read More
Let’s Use Real Words To Convey the Truth on Immigration—And Matters of Public Policy
“Unlawfully present noncitizens” is how our Department of Homeland Security (DHS) describes illegal (a synonym for unlawful) aliens (the legal term for noncitizens). → Read More
As Border Crisis Continues, Where Should Migrants Go?
“Where should officials who are overwhelmed by the number of migrants coming into their cities and into their shelters … send the migrants?” The Daily Caller’s Diana Glebova asked White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre this question and got a classic runaround. But this is not a “gotcha” question. It’s a policy matter of national importance sparked by the Biden administration’s decision to… → Read More
With Immigration, Biden Tries “Open Windows” Theory
Rudy Giuliani’s reputation has suffered recently, but 30 years ago, he was “America’s mayor,” the New York crusader who beat back crime by operationalizing James Wilson and George Kelling’s “broken windows theory.” The idea is that taking minor crime seriously sends a message of intolerance for lawbreaking more generally. People shape up. → Read More
A Venezuelan Man of Mystery Helps Tell Story of America’s Open Border
Meet Luis Antunez, your new neighbor from (probably) Venezuela. He’s a 40-year-old trader from Tucupita. Or a policeman from Puerto Carreno, or a criminal from Caracas. We may never know for sure. I found Antunez’s ID card the week before last on the banks of the Rio Grande here in Eagle Pass while visiting border communities with Daily Signal reporter Virginia Allen and our guide, Frank Lopez… → Read More
Here Are Three Takeaways From My Trip to Biden’s Open Southern Border
I recently returned from a trip to the southern border. In Eagle Pass, Del Rio, and San Antonio, Texas, we spoke to sheriffs, local officials, ranchers and people who had illegally entered the United States through what is effectively an open border. I left with the distinct impression that things will get worse before they get better. Here are three key takeaways: First, Homeland Security… → Read More
Could Diplomat Charles Dickens Imene Oliha Really Get Away With Rape?
When New York City police arrested South Sudanese diplomat Charles Dickens Imene Oliha after a woman accused him of rape, it raised the question: What exactly is “diplomatic immunity”? Mr. Oliha allegedly propositioned the woman while she was walking her dog and then, when she refused, forced himself into her apartment and sexually assaulted her. NYPD’s Special Victims Unit arrested Mr. Oliha… → Read More
Fentanyl: Too Dangerous to Trust Moscow With, but You Can Score Some in Middle School
The Commerce Department announced last week that from now on, the chemicals needed to make fentanyl can only be exported to Russia with a license. The Commerce Department considers them “potentially useful for Russia’s chemical and biological weapons production capabilities.” → Read More
The Administration Needs to Increase Visa Sanctions on Russia
At the end of August, European Union (EU) foreign ministers discussed a ban on tourist travel for Russian citizens. Supporters of a blanket ban included the Czech Republic (which holds the rotating EU presidency until December) and countries bordering Russia—Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Germany and France did not support a ban out of concern, among other reasons, that it… → Read More
Robbing Pavel to Pay Pedro: The Biden White House’s New Refugee Plan
The Biden administration recently sent Congress a proposal to admit a total of 125,000 refugees in the fiscal year that begins next month. If recent years are any guide, though, President Joe Biden won’t get anywhere near that target. In fiscal year 2021, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program let in only 11,411 refugees out of an authorized ceiling of 62,500, and in fiscal year 2022, which ends… → Read More