(The Center Square) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests surged by 367% in Georgia this year, with 4,500 illegal aliens arrested in the state between January 20 and July 31, compared to the  963 made under the Biden administration during the same time period in 2021, the Department of Homeland Security says.

Director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies Jessica Vaughan told The Center Square that ”the big increase in ICE arrests in Georgia, particularly the arrests of criminal aliens, should have a noticeable effect on public safety, assuming that ICE is able to promptly process and remove them.”

The Center for Immigration Studies is an “independent, non-partisan, non-profit, research organization,” according to its website.

Vaughan said that “removing so many criminal aliens from the community will mean safer streets, safer playgrounds, and safer businesses for everyone.”

Vaughan told The Center Square that “the increase in ICE activity is noticed by other illegal aliens in the community, and many of them are realizing that even if they have not committed other crimes, they may be discovered and arrested, so they are deciding to go home on their own.

“This will open up job opportunities for Americans in Georgia, and relieve the cost to Georgia taxpayers of providing welfare benefits, health care, and education for illegal migrants and their families,” Vaughan said.

“The brunt of the problems from the border crisis under the Biden administration policies was borne by local communities, so now these communities can start to recover,” Vaughan said.

“We are stuck with American criminals, but those criminals who are here in defiance of our laws should be removed so they will not victimize more people,” Vaughan said.

According to a Department of Homeland Security news release, some of the “worst of the worst” arrested in Georgia include noncitizens who have been convicted of trafficking drugs, statutory rape, a hit-and-run, sexual battery against minors, and child molestation.

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the news release: “Biden’s open border [policies] allowed Laken Riley’s killer to be in the country and gave him the opportunity [to] brutally murder the young Georgia nursing student.”

“President Trump promised to put Americans first and remove violent criminals from our country and that’s exactly what we are doing,” McLaughlin said.

“Thanks to his and Secretary [Kristi]  Noem’s leadership, ICE is once again empowered to remove the worst of the worst – including murderers, pedophiles, gang members, drug traffickers, and terrorists,” McLaughlin said.

Vaughan told The Center Square that “the accelerated pace of interior enforcement is a benefit to the entire country.”

“Illegal migrants who are security threats are being taken off the streets, illegal workers are being sent home, and communities will see some fiscal relief from the need to provide services and schooling to so many new arrivals,” Vaughan said.

(The Center Square) – North Carolina’s primary driving route through the Outer Banks on Friday morning remained closed on Ocracoke Island and Hatteras Island.

N.C. 12 was washed over by water and sand from the ocean following the pass of Hurricane Erin. The closure on Ocracoke Island is between the Northern Ferry Terminal and the National Park Service Pony Pens; on Hatteras Island, it is between the Marc Basnight Bridge and Hatteras Village.

In addition to sand removal, pavement damage would determine how long sections of N.C. 12 are to remain closed.

In the 5 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center, Erin was in the first stages of post-tropical transition about 425 miles south-southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and about 700 miles north of Bermuda. Maximum sustained winds were 90 mph, and the movement had increased to 22 mph.

Hurricane force winds of 74 mph or greater were up to 125 miles from the center of the storm, and tropical storm force winds of 39 mph or greater had grown to 370 miles from the center. A gust of 56 mph was reported on Bermuda at Wade International Airport.

No coastal watches or warnings were in effect on the Atlantic Seaboard.

(The Center Square) – The Texas House passed a relief package for Texas Hill Country victims but it was not without controversy.

While House Democrats claimed their priority was flood relief in the first special session, they left the state for 17 days and missed voting on the flood relief package in the last session. More than 50 Democrats absconded to prevent a quorum from being reached, effectively blocking all legislation and killing the session.

After a second special session was called, a quorum was met and the House passed the congressional redistricting bill Democrats had left Austin in protest over. Next, the Texas House passed a package of six bills to provide relief and implement a series of reforms in response to the July 4 Hill Country flood disaster.

The package includes HB 1, to require safety measures for youth camps; SB 2, to strengthen disaster preparedness and emergency management response across multiple agencies; HB 3, to create the Texas Interoperability Council to develop a statewide strategic plan and implement an integrated emergency communication infrastructure; SB 5, to allocate funding for disaster relief, early warning systems, enhanced weather predictability, and interoperability infrastructure; HB 20, to create protections related to charitable solicitations fraud; and HB 22, to allocate funding for local governments to implement early warning systems and interoperability improvements.

After the package passed, House Speaker Dustin Burrows said the Texas legislature examined “the systems and processes in need of improvement so we are better prepared for all future emergencies.”

State Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Waxahachie, voted against four of the six bills, saying “government solutions can often be worse than the problems they’re intended to solve.” He also opposed amendments added by Democrats. He voted for HB20 and HB5 and voted against the rest, often as the sole lone no vote.

HB1 “started out as a good bill that I intended to support. However, Democrats were allowed to amend the bill on the floor in a way that may harm or shut down countless camps where safety has not been an issue, nor is likely to be at risk from life threatening floods,” Harrison said.

He also said House Democrats who shut down the entire legislative process shouldn’t have been allowed to make amendments.

“It is indefensible that after breaking quorum for weeks House leadership rewarded them today by allowing them to ruin what started out as a good, reasonable bill,” he said.

The bill passed by a vote of 135-1, according to the unofficial vote tally. Harrison was the lone no vote. 

Three bills, SB 2, HB 3 and HB 22 “unnecessarily grow government,” which Harrison opposes, causing him to vote against the bills.

SB 2 creates “new occupational licenses when Texas already has more occupation regulations than any other state,” including every single Democrat state in the country, he said. The bill “usurps voters by allowing their locally elected officials to be removed from office too easily, and creates new red tape that I believe will make it harder to find volunteers in future emergencies.” Everyone voted for the bill except for Harrison and Republican Reps. Lowe, Money and Olcott.

HB 3 creates “an entirely new government entity with significant and unchecked authorities without necessary transparency and safeguards, and delegates too much new power to the Governor and executive branch bureaucrats,” he says. Everyone voted for the bill except for Harrison.

HB 22 expands “an existing corporate welfare fund that has nothing to do with emergency response and should be abolished (not given more authority to spend tax dollars arbitrarily),” he says. It also “increases the likelihood of increased spending and taxes in future budgets” to continue funding it. Everyone voted for the bill except for Harrison.

The Texas Senate is expected to pass the bills, which Gov. Greg Abbott says he will sign into law.