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New York To Declare State Of Emergency Due To Nurses Quitting, Getting Fired Over Vaccine Mandate

The mandate is set to take effect this week

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who assumed the job after Andrew Cuomo’s resignation, announced that she is prepared to declare a state of emergency if the state’s vaccine mandate results in an unmanageable shortage of healthcare workers. The mandate, which pertains to all New York healthcare workers, is set to take effect this week.

“I am monitoring the staffing situation closely, and we have a plan to increase our health care workforce and help alleviate the burdens on our hospitals and other health care facilities,” Hochul said. Declaring a state of emergency would allow the state to bring in health care workers from other states or countries, as well as those who’ve either recently graduated or previously worked in the industry, according to Hochul. The state is also planning to train national guard personnel in order to deal with the expected staffing shortages.

In a last minute effort to coerce healthcare workers to get vaccinated, Hochul announced that the state is taking measures to ensure that workers who are fired over refusing the vaccine will not be eligible for unemployment benefits. “We are still in a battle against COVID to protect our loved ones, and we need to fight with every tool at our disposal,” Hochul said. “I am monitoring the staffing situation closely, and we have a plan to increase our health care workforce and help alleviate the burdens on our hospitals and other health care facilities. I commend all of the health care workers who have stepped up to get themselves vaccinated, and I urge all remaining health care workers who are unvaccinated to do so now so they can continue providing care.”

Last week, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order that will allow health care workers to claim religious exemptions to the vaccine through approval from their employer. These exemptions are not guaranteed, however. More legal challenges to the state’s mandate are expected, though Hochul has said that her administration will be doing everything possible to uphold the mandate.

Staffing shortages are already beginning to take a toll on New York’s hospitals that are supposedly overwhelmed with COVID patients. Lewis County General Hospital in Lowville, NY recently stopped delivering babies after multiple nurses in the maternal unit resigned. The hospital is expecting more staffing shortages as the mandate is set to take effect. Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse recently announced that they would be scaling back to 13 operating rooms in service, down from a full capacity of 35 rooms. The state is also expecting staffing shortages in schools as a mandate in the education sector looms.

Biden’s Legislative Agenda to Kill 5.3 Million Jobs, Generates $4.5 Trillion Debt

President Biden’s big government legislative agenda will kill 5.3 million jobs and generate $4.5 trillion in debt, according to a Monday study by the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

The study also suggests the United States’ gross domestic product (GDP) will be reduced by $3.7 trillion, nearly the cost of the massive $3.5 trillion reconciliation package.

Biden’s legislative agenda will additionally cost American families a combined $1.2 trillion in reduced income via tax increases to pay for the costly package, the study reveals.

The study also broke down the costs of Biden’s social welfare spending by state, analyzing Texas, Arizona, and West Virginia.

Arizona, where Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) resides and who is opposed to much of Biden’s massive tax and spending, will absorb $97 billion of the cost and the destruction of 115,000 jobs.

West Virginia will absorb $24 billion of the cost and the destruction of 29,000 jobs. Those costs are set to effect the state of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who has also suggested he is opposed to the expense and a few radical left provisions of the reconciliation package.

Texas will absorb for more than both states combined. The lone star state will be saddled with $394 billion in cost and 467,000 jobs lost.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s study summarizes the following impacts of the tax and spend agenda:

  • Top marginal income tax rates with federal, state, and local taxes are over 65%.
  • Corporate tax rate up by a quarter to 26.5% for third highest combined rate of 30.9% in OECD.
  • Marginal tax rate increase of 13 percentage points on some households.
  • Capital gains tax rate up by 25%.
  • Marginal income tax rate on some small businesses raised by 24%.
  • Multiple severe marriage penalties are imposed.
  • Effective tax rate on large estates before state and local taxes is 61.1%.
  • Taxes raised on tobacco and vapor products, primarily used by those earning less than $400,000.
  • International taxes on businesses raised by over 20%.
  • $6.89 tax raised per barrel on imported petroleum and increase tax with inflation.
  • Capital gains tax rate increased, unrealized gains taxed at death, death tax increased, and step-up basis eliminated.
  • Cap on SALT deduction removed.
  • Redistributing $6.2 trillion in government spending slows growth.

The following is the impact from the legislation on families, according to the study:

  • National Debt increase is an extra $35,439 in debt on each American household.
  • Jeopardizes family farms and businesses when original owner dies.
  • Marriage penalty on small business owners as high as $130,200 annually.
  • Median family’s income drops by $12,000.
  • Removing cap on SALT deduction: Middle class family receives just $15 while wealthy Democrat donors in blue states receive $150,000.

The impact on business is as follows, the study details:

  • Lost investment of $663 billion.
  • Taxing unrealized capital gains yields 43.4% less revenue than expected.
  • Corporate tax rate hikes reduce wage growth by 23.1% for employees.
  • International tax rate hikes reduce full-time employment by 12,000 jobs.
  • U.S. tax competitiveness would fall from 21st to 30th.

The Biggest Federal Reserve Scandal

Following revelations that Federal Reserve officials made trades in financial assets while the Fed was taking extraordinary efforts to “stimulate” the economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell ordered a review of the Fed’s ethics rules. While these trades appear problematic, they pale in comparison to the biggest Fed scandal — the Fed’s impoverishment of ordinary Americans, enrichment of the elites, and facilitation of government debt and deficits.

The depression induced by coronavirus, though really caused by so-called public health actions government took in response, was the official reason for the Fed’s increased asset purchases last year. However, the Fed actually started ramping up its money creating activities in September of 2019, when it began pouring billions a day into the repo markets, which banks use to make short-term loans to each other, in order to keep repo market interest rates low.

Coronavirus was just a convenient excuse for the Fed to do more of what it was already doing. Now, the Fed is using the limited reopening as a scapegoat for rising prices. Of course, anyone who understands Austrian economics understands that rising prices are a symptom, not a cause, of inflation. Inflation is the very act of money creation by the Fed.

Rising prices that diminish the average American’s standard of living are not the only result of the Fed’s manipulation of the money supply. The manipulation distorts economic signals, producing results including booms, bubbles, and busts.

Inflation has always benefited the well-connected elites who receive the Fed’s newly created money before the new money causes widespread price increases. The true motivation behind Fed policies was revealed by former Fed official Andrew Huszar in 2013. Huszar, writing for the Wall Street Journal, confirmed that quantitative easing kept stock prices high, instead of helping Americans struggling with the aftereffects of the 2008 meltdown.

Other beneficiaries of the Fed are big-spending politicians. The Federal Reserve’s purchase of federal debt instruments keeps the federal government’s debt servicing costs manageable. This is why, despite Chairman Powell’s recent suggestion that the Fed will soon begin “tapering” its purchases of Treasuries, the Fed is unlikely to significantly reduce its purchase of Treasuries or allow interest rates to significantly increase.

Powell is also unlikely to upset President Biden and Biden’s congressional allies as long as progressives are urging Biden not to reappoint Powell. Progressives want to replace Powell with someone more committed to fighting climate change and systemic racism, two boogeymen routinely bought out as excuses for vast expansions in government spending and power.

Another major scandal involving the Fed is Congress’ refusal to pass the Audit the Fed bill and let the American people know the truth about the Fed’s operations. Audit the Fed authorizes a Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit of the Fed’s dealing with foreign governments and central banks, the Fed’s discount window operations, reserves of member banks, securities credit, interest on deposits, and open market transactions. Audit the Fed would finally reveal the truth about the Fed’s operations.

A limited audit authorized by the Dodd-Frank Act found that between 2007 and 2010, the Federal Reserve committed over 16 trillion dollars to foreign central banks and politically influential private companies. Imagine what a full audit would find. It is time to end the scandal of allowing a secretive central bank to have so much power over the economy and our liberty. It is time to audit, and end, the Fed.

‘Things Happen Through God’: Trump Opens Up About 2024 Plans

The MAGA crowds are not dwindling and this weekend in Georgia, former President Donald Trump drew another big audience. His faithful followers are urging him to run again in 2024.

In an exclusive interview with CBN News, the subject was brought up with President Trump, but with a twist, asking him what will make him not run in 2024? 

“I guess a bad call from a doctor or something, right?” Trump says. “You get that call and say, ‘sir, how you doing? Come on down here and see us because we got a bad report, right?’… so things happen through God, they happen, but I feel so good and I hate what’s happening to our country.” 

The Pro-Life Trump vs. the Pro-Abortion Biden

Donald Trump has a long list of concerns about the Biden administration. After being called the most pro-life president ever, Trump says he’s seen the exact opposite approach from this Catholic president. 

“If you look at his policies, and if you look at what he’s doing to religion, and organized religion, if you look at what’s going on, I don’t know how the Catholic Church can be supportive of him,” Trump tells CBN News. 

Biden’s Border Crisis

Biden’s support among Independent Voters has seen a drop as well. That’s mainly due to the southern border situation, and Trump puts the blame squarely on the current president.

“All he had to do is, go to the beach, just relax Joe, just go to the beach,” the former president says. “We had it the best ever in the history of that border, the southern border, and now it’s the worst in history and it’s probably the worst border, anywhere in the world if you think of it because no border has ever been like what’s happening at our border. It’s the destruction from inside of our country.” 

Trump’s Legal Battles
 
Trump’s critics accuse him of unconventional toxicity and lies, saying he’s responsible for damaging the country too. The January 6th congressional committee wants to see all documents and correspondences he had on that day in January. Biden’s White House is set to reject the traditions of executive privilege and release those records. 

“It’s a disgrace what’s going on,” says Trump. “This is just another continuation of really you can call it the greatest witch hunt in history and a disgrace.” When asked specifically whether he will sue in court to keep the records sealed, he responded, “I’ll do whatever is necessary.” 

Trump Is Pro-Vaccine but Anti-Mandates 

He’ll also do whatever is necessary to let everyone know that it was his administration that delivered a COVID vaccine to the country in record time. 

But what about these mandates that have become so controversial? Does he believe they are discriminatory against the unvaccinated in this country? 

“Since I left, I think people just don’t trust the Biden administration or Biden,” President Trump tells CBN News. “Since I left, now you have the mandate fight and that’s a big fight by the way. You have to allow people their freedoms.” 

Should He Have Fired Fauci?

Speaking of trust, the former president didn’t trust Dr. Anthony Fauci much so it begs the question. Does he regret not firing him during his time as president? 

“He was there for like, 40 years or something, he was a part of the furniture,” Trump says. “But if you think about it, I really did pretty much the opposite of whatever he said… frankly, you can’t win that one. If I would have done it, I would have taken heat. If I didn’t do it. I would have. You know, it’s the same story. I did what I wanted to do, and I made the correct decisions.” 

Now the country waits for Donald Trump’s decision to see if he’s ready to give the presidency another shot. 

Homicides up 30 percent in largest increase on record, FBI says

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2020 was published Monday, showing homicides increased nearly 30 percent last year from 2019.

This data marks the first time in four years that the estimated number of violent crimes in the U.S. increased from the previous year, the FBI said in a statement.

Violent crime increased by 5 percent from 2019 to 2020, according to the FBI, while overall crime was down 6 percent during the same time period.

“In 2020, there were an estimated 1,277,696 violent crimes,” the agency said. “When compared with the estimates from 2019, the estimated number of robbery offenses fell 9.3 percent and the estimated volume of rape (revised definition) offenses decreased 12.0 percent.”

The 2020 jump in homicides, however, marked the “largest single-year increase” the FBI has reported since it began collecting the data in the 1960s, according to CNN.

There were 21,570 reported homicides last year.

The homicide rate per 100,000 people was 6.5 in 2020, still well below when murder rates peaked around 9.8 per 100,000 in the early 1990s, according to the FBI’s data

More offenders and victims involved in violent crimes were between ages 20 and 29 than any other age group, the data showed. 

The information is considered far from comprehensive as submitting data for the report is optional. About 85 percent of agencies that were eligible to participate in the report submitted data, according to the FBI. Some of the cities that did not submit data included New York, Chicago and New Orleans, CNN reported.

The FBI’s report also estimated that nationwide law enforcement agencies made about 7.6 million arrests last year.

‘Suddenly I Cannot Train, I Cannot Play’: Tennis Pro, 34, Ends Season After Covid Vaccine Left Him With ‘Violent Pain’

Tennis pro Jeremy Chardy, 34, says he may never play the sport again after Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine reportedly left him suffering major bouts of pain.

Speaking to Agence-France Presse, the French 2020 olympian explained he began experiencing violently painful, debilitating health effects immediately after taking the vaccine.

“Since I had my vaccine (between the Olympics and the US Open), I have had a problem, I’ve had a series of struggles. Suddenly, I cannot train, I cannot play,” the former top 30 player revealed last week.

“Chardy said he was suffering from movement-limiting pain,” reports TennisMajors.com, with RT.com detailing he described “violent, near-paralyzing pains across his body since taking the jab.”

Chardy, World Number 73, also complained there’s too little research into side effects of the rushed experimental vaccine, and is worried he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to return to playing.

“I don’t know what to do,” the Davis cup winner said. “The problem is that we have no hindsight on the vaccine. There are people who had similar [side-effects], but the durations [of the issues] were really different.”

In quotes obtained by RT.com, Chardy admitted he regrets taking the vaccine:

“In my head, it’s difficult because I do not know how long it will last. For the moment, my season is stopped and I do not know when I will resume.

“It’s frustrating because I started the year really well, I was playing really well. And then I went to the Games, where I felt great too.

“And now my season is at a standstill and I do not know when I will resume. It is especially frustrating that I do not have ten years to play… suddenly, now I regret having had the vaccine, but I could not know [what the consequences would be].”

Chardy says the pain has left him feeling he could retire as early as next year.

“I’m 35 in February, so right now I might be a little bit negative – but it’s the first time that I have thought that next season might be my last… it’s difficult because I was having fun and I wanted to play longer.

In the meantime, the tennis pro says he’ll take time to make sure he’s okay and plans to take care of himself before returning to the court.

“Now I have been to see two doctors, I have done some tests so I know what I have and the most important thing is to take care of myself,” said Chardy.

“I even prefer to take more time to take care of myself and be sure that, in the future, I will not have any problem, rather than trying to get back on the court as quickly as possible and finding myself still having health problems,” he said.

NY Times issues major correction after claiming Border Patrol agents used horse reins ‘to strike’ migrants

The New York Times issued a significant correction Friday on a story involving mounted Border Patrol agents allegedly whipping Haitian migrants in Del Rio, Texas.

What are the details?

The New York Times published a story Friday centering on President Joe Biden’s remarks about the controversy. Earlier in the day, Biden promised that Border Patrol agents involved in the incident would “pay” for their actions.

“It’s outrageous,” Biden said. “I promise you, those people will pay. There will be an investigation, underway now, and there will be consequences. There will be consequences.”

In describing the actions of the Border Patrol agents, the New York Times embellished what Border Patrol agents had actually done. In fact, the so-called “newspaper of record” claimed that mounted agents had struck Haitian migrants.

“The images of agents on horseback chasing, & in some cases using the reins of their horses to strike at running migrants,” the paper reported.

However, that was not true. More importantly, the photographer who snapped the infamous images of the skirmish between Border Patrol and the Haitian migrants had already said, before the Times published its storythat he did not witness the alleged abuse of Haitian migrants.

What did the Times do?

The Times edited its story and published a correction. The correction admits that the Times “overstated” what had occurred in Del Rio.

In fact, the correction admits what was already known at the time the story was published: There was no evidence that Border Patrol agents had struck migrants.

“An earlier version of this article overstated what is known about the behavior of some Border Patrol agents on horseback,” the correction stated. “While the agents waved their reins while pushing migrants back into the Rio Grande, The Times has not seen conclusive evidence that migrants were struck with the reins.”

The paragraph in question now syas that Border Patrol agents were “waving their reins.”

Images of Border Patrol agents on horseback waving their reins while pushing migrants back into the Rio Grande have prompted a torrent of criticism from Democrats and civil rights groups who have accused Mr. Biden of continuing some of the most aggressive approaches to immigration put in place by President Donald J. Trump.

Anything else?

Not only did the photographer debunk the false narrative about the mounted Border Patrol agents, but an Associated Press journalist who recorded the incident released video that she took of the skirmish.

The video showed that Border Patrol agents did not strike or abuse the migrants.

Massive Liberal Celeb Sees the Light: ‘Trump Was Right About Clinton & Russia!’

Apparently, federal charges against a lawyer linked to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign for allegedly lying to the FBI have convinced one of the entertainment industry’s most politically active leftists to conclude Trump-Russia collusion narrative was engineered by the Democrats.

In a video posted to YouTube on Thursday, outspoken English comedian Russell Brand said he was “flabbergasted” by a federal grand jury’s indictment of Michael Sussman. The indictment was part of special counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the Russia “collusion” inquiry, according to The Hill.

According to the indictment, Sussman met with an FBI official in September 2016 to tip him off about a connection between then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Russia’s Alfa Bank. The bureau could never substantiate the connection.

In the indictment, prosecutors say Sussman didn’t disclose that his law firm, the Democrat-linked Perkins Coie, was working for Hillary Clinton’s campaign when he talked with FBI General Counsel James Baker roughly a month and a half before the election.

“Sussman’s false statement misled the FBI General Counsel and other FBI personnel concerning the political nature of his work and deprived the FBI of information that might have permitted it more fully to assess and uncover the origins of the relevant data and technical analysis, including the identities and motivations of Sussman’s clients,” the indictment stated.

In a news release, the special counsel’s office said Sussman’s “false representation led the General Counsel to understand that Sussmann was providing information as a good citizen rather than a paid advocate or political operative. In fact, Sussmann assembled and conveyed the allegations to the FBI on behalf of at least two clients, including a U.S. technology executive and the Clinton Presidential Campaign.”

The news release also stated that Sussman had provided information about the Alfa Bank theory to the media.

This was all enough to alarm Brand. During his Thursday video — titled “So…Trump was RIGHT About Clinton & Russia Collusion!!” — the comedian and actor said he thought the indictment was “serious evidence that it was the Clinton campaign and Hillary Clinton acolytes” behind the narrative.

“It seems like years ago that we were hearing that Trump was colluding with Russia, that he wouldn’t have won the election without Russia, that his whole presidency was kind of a Putin plot,” said Brand, star of “Get Him to the Greek.”

“Well, now there’s serious evidence that it was the Clinton campaign and Hillary Clinton acolytes that were directly involved in the generation of what has proven to be conspiracy — untrue!

“Think about how much media you watched. Me, a person who I think, broadly speaking, is from the left — a liberal, certainly not a Trump-supporting Republican, with respect to those of you who are — I find myself in awe, gobsmacked, flabbergasted and startled by these revelations.”

Brand also noted that “we have to recollect just how prevalent this story was. Every late-night talk-show, all over the news, it was just — you were bombarded with it.”

Brand said he wanted to believe that the Democratic Party is the party of “inclusivity, and diversity and truth and social justice and all great, positive ideas.” But now he’s not so sure.

“What my concern is becoming is that these are totemic issues pushed to the forefront to mask ordinary, regular corruption like the Russiagate thing, the Hunter Biden laptop, all of that stuff.”

Brand admitted he wasn’t paying much attention to the Russia “collusion” narrative as it unfolded in 2016, but noted that it was “seen as a defining issue,” and “still, in 2020, it was something that was being talked about.”

“And it was like, being sort of in a way discussed as if it was just an absolute fact. To discover that this was propaganda, a construct, a confection by the Democratic Party — who, of course, are now in government — is kind of beyond disappointing, because you begin to question and query what other things may not be true,” he said.

“Once you recognize that people create certain truths in order to meet certain ends and aims, the idea that you might be able to trust their integrity obviously dissolves.”

None of what Brand was talking about — or what was disclosed in Sussman’s indictment — was necessarily news for conservatives. It’s long been known the FBI’s investigation of Trump-Russia “collusion” was predicated on a dossier that was nothing more than a piece of opposition research by the Hillary Clinton campaign.

The allegation that the Alfa Bank tip was provided to the FBI by someone connected to the Clinton campaign, who supposedly lied to the bureau about his connection to said campaign, might be new — but it’s similarly unsurprising.

The only surprise here is that Russell Brand, vocal liberal though he may be, was willing to acknowledge how rotten this all seems.

That said, we welcome Brand to the reality party, late to it though he may be.

While we don’t expect to welcome many more celebrities here, it’s a sign that that one of the most cherished fictions the left holds about the Trump presidency — that he was little more than the Muscovite Candidate, propped up by Vladimir Putin and his election-meddling — is crumbling for good.

Joe Rogan predicts Trump run, says he’s ‘probably gonna win’ against ‘decaying’ Biden; Harris would lose ‘just as badly’

(BizPacReview) Influential podcaster Joe Rogan says that Donald Trump is the likely next U.S. president in a potential rematch with “decaying” President Joe Biden. VP Kamala Harris doesn’t stand much of a chance against Trump either if she becomes the Democrat nominee, according to Rogan.

Trump’s name came up during Rogan’s longform interview with Amanda Knox, the American woman whose murder conviction in Italy was overturned by that country’s supreme court in 2015. The Knox case supposedly inspired Stillwater, the new Matt Damon movie.

At one point in the interview, Knox reportedly referred to media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, who served, several non-consecutive terms as prime minister,  as the “Donald Trump of Italy,” adding that he was in office for a “ridiculously long time.”

“That’s probably what Trump wanted, too,” Rogan chimed in.

“Is [Trump] trying again?” Knox wondered.

“Oh yeah,” the generally liberal Rogan responded. “He’s gonna 100 percent try. He’s probably gonna win.”

Watch:

“How is Joe Biden gonna win? How is it possible that he’s gonna beat anybody?” the MMA commentator and stand-up comedian continued. “After you’ve seen him speak, after you’ve seen the decay and the decline, how is it possible?”

“Not very inspiring,” Knox agreed.

“They’ve done a terrible job: The Democrats f—ed up royally by making that guy the president,” Rogan insisted.

“Like you have Donald Trump or a man who’s got something seriously wrong, right? He’s a guy who’s had multiple aneurysms, had actual brain surgery and is 78 years old and is experiencing some sort of pretty radical cognitive decline and is in some way controlled by the other people in the party whether it is Nancy Pelosi or whoever else,” former Bernie Sanders supporter Rogan added.

“He keeps saying things like ‘They tell me not to answer questions’ or ‘They tell me not to’ … hey motherf—er, you’re the president!” Rogan quipped.

When Knox inquired whether the Democrats would replace Biden with Harris as their 2024 standard-bearer, the Spotify podcaster with a huge audience claimed that “She would lose just as badly. She is the most hated vice president according to polls — the least liked, I should say, vice president in 50 years.”

Rogan recalled how former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard assailed Harris’ track record as a prosecutor during a Democrat presidential primary debate.

With dismal polling numbers, Harris dropped out of the contest even before the Iowa Caucuses occurred.

Knox acknowledged that she “wasn’t very excited about [Harris] given her history with wrongful convictions.”

In June, Rogan claimed that “everybody knows [Biden is] out of his mind. He’s just barely hanging in there.”

Earlier this month, Rogan, 54, apparently confounded the vaccines-or-nothing consensus by quickly bouncing back from a COVID infection using alternative therapeutics.

In that context, he is supposedly even considering suing CNN over alleged false reporting about his use of the drug Ivermectin.

In April 2021, the free-speech advocate who says he is pro-vaccine, and believes that the injection is safe, prompted angst among the social media cohort for advising young, healthy people against getting the jab, which he subsequently walked back.

A critic of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Rogan has also called out public health authorities for failing to encourage people to exercise and clean up their diet to strengthen their immune system given that obesity is a primary risk factor for COVID hospitalizations.

The podcast has also offered refunds to anyone who bought tickets to his New York City stand-up appearance at Madison Square Garden. “I don’t want to force them to get vaccinated to see a f—ng stupid, comedy show,” he said in reference to the mandatory vaccine passport regime now in effect for indoor venues in the Big Apple.

Rogan has previously declared that vaccine passports bring the country “one step closer to dictatorship.”

Mexican Illegal Alien Arrested For Allegedly Starting Multiple California Wildfires That Threatened Endangered Species

“The accused arsonist, an 18-year-old male Mexican national, was arrested for illegal entry into the United States, and transported to the El Centro Sector Processing Center (CPC)”

An 18-year-old Mexican national who entered the U.S. illegally  has been arrested in connection with a series of arsons in the Jacumba Wilderness Region in California. The suspect was caught at the scene of a previous fire, attempting to start a new one.

“Border Patrol agents apprehended an undocumented individual accused of starting fires in the Jacumba Wilderness region Saturday afternoon,” a press release from the Bureau of U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated. “The incident occurred at approximately 2:15 p.m., when El Centro Station Dispatch notified agents working in the field of a fire in the Jacumba Wilderness Region. Agents responded to the given location and at approximately 2:50 p.m., they located an unknown individual in the vicinity of the reported fire, attempting to start another fire. Agents attempted to extinguish the second fire but had little success.”

“El Centro Station notified the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of the situation,’ the statement continued. “BLM stated that they would provide assistance by dispatching a fixed wing aircraft with firefighting capabilities to the location of the fires. BLM responded to the area with an engine, a hand crew, and helicopter in addition to the fixed-wing aircraft. The combined resources and firefighting efforts were able to control the fires. The next day, at approximately 9:30 a.m. Sunday morning, the fires had been successfully extinguished.”

“The accused arsonist, an 18-year-old male Mexican national, was arrested for illegal entry into the United States, and transported to the El Centro Sector Processing Center (CPC),” the statement noted. “BLM interviewed the individual at the CPC and will be investigating the fires as arson. U.S. Border Patrol will process this individual accordingly.”

“Our environment and natural places are national interests that all Americans hold dear,” said Chief Patrol Agent Gregory K. Bovino. “I would like to thank our partners at Bureau of Land Management as they work tirelessly to conserve and protect the fragile Jacumba Mountains Wilderness area; the location where this undocumented migrant purposefully set fire to endangered Big Horn Sheep habitat.”