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(The Center Square) – Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol continue to move through their to-do list. The latest was a slate of bills focusing on public safety.
The Assembly on recently approved:
● K9 Riggs Act – Increases penalties for causing injury to law enforcement animals. The bill is named after Kenosha County Sheriff Department K9 Riggs, who was shot by a criminal. Riggs survived and is now in retirement.
● Prosecution Reform – Requires approval from the court before prosecutors can dismiss serious charges.
● Parental Notification – Ensures parents are promptly notified of sexual misconduct in school.
● Criminal Case Database – Creates a new database of crimes in Wisconsin.
● Reckless Driving Crackdown – Allows for the impoundment of vehicles used in reckless driving offenses.
● Parole Revocation – Revokes extended supervision, parole, or probation if a person is charged with a new crime.
● Child Trafficking Penalties – Imposes life imprisonment for the crime of trafficking multiple children and requires restitution be paid to the victims.
● Theft Crimes – Increases the penalties for certain retail theft crimes.
● School Resource Officers – Ensures officers are put back into Milwaukee Schools.
“Cracking down on crime shouldn’t be a partisan issue, but in Madison, it has increasingly become so,” Assembly Majority Leader Tyler August said after Thursday’s votes.
Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, authored the K9 Riggs Act, which was named after a Kenoha police dog who was shot and wounded by a suspect back in 2021.
“Riggs’s heroism united the community, galvanizing support for local law enforcement just a year after rioters in Kenosha protested against them,” Nedweski added. “These dogs are not only invaluable members of the department; they are also family to their partners.”
But not every lawmaker was on board with the Republicans' public safety slate.
Milwaukee Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee, called the legislation "misleading and misguided."
“Once again, the Wisconsin legislature was forced to spend our time and resources considering badly written, badly conceived bills that will harm people and waste public resources," Clancy said in a statement. "It’s wildly irresponsible to even consider increasing penalties and interfering with the very few tools of leniency we have with a prison system holding 5,000 more people than intended. But here we are."
The slate of legislation will head to the Senate.
U.S. Rep. Riley Moore, R-WV, filed a bill on Friday to ban Chinese nationals from receiving student visas.
“Every year we allow nearly 300,000 Chinese nationals to come to the U.S. on student visas. We’ve literally invited the CCP to spy on our military, steal our intellectual property, and threaten national security. Just last year, the FBI charged five Chinese nationals here on student visas after they were caught photographing joint US-Taiwan live fire military exercises. This cannot continue,” he said.
Moore’s Stop Chinese Communist Prying by Vindicating Intellectual Safeguards in Academia Act (Stop CCP VISAs Act) has several cosponsors. The bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit the admission of Chinese nationals as nonimmigrant students, according to the bill language.
He points to the FBI last year charging five Chinese nationals who were in the U.S. on student visas at the University of Michigan after they were caught photographing joint US-Taiwan live fire military exercises at Camp Grayling in August 2023 claiming they were members of the media.
He also points to a Chinese student attending the University of Minnesota who was sentenced to six months in prison last October for taking drone photographs of naval shipbuilding operations at Newport News Shipbuilding in Norfolk, Virginia. Moore also points to a former Illinois Institute of Technology graduate who was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2023 for spying for the Chinese government, acting as an agent of China’s Ministry of State Security and making a material false statement to the U.S. Army when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve.
“Congress needs to end China’s exploitation of our student visa program. It’s time we turn off the spigot and immediately ban all student visas going to Chinese nationals,” he said.
These are but a handful of examples. More than 60 Chinese Communist Party-related cases of espionage and acts of transnational repression were reported in 20 states under the Biden administration, according to a U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security report, The Center Square reported. That’s in addition to 224 reported incidents of Chinese espionage directed at the U.S. between 2000 and 2023, according to the report. Examples include transmission of sensitive military information to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), theft of U.S. trade secrets to benefit the PRC, transnational repression schemes to target PRC dissidents and obstruction of justice.
Other examples include a Department of Justice case from last December involving a Chinese national and lawful permanent resident of California who was arrested for flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base and taking photographs. He was arrested for violating national defense airspace prior to boarding a flight to China.
Another DOJ case related to a Chinese national illegally living in the U.S. who was arrested for allegedly shipping weapons and ammunition to North Korea, The Center Square reported.
Another involved a PRC spy arrested in California who worked for a state lawmaker and Chinese operatives arrested in Guam near a U.S. military installation on the same day as a live ballistic missile interception test, The Center Square reported.
Outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray’s parting warning to Americans was that China remains one of the greatest threats to U.S. national security, a warning he consistently issued.
“The greatest long-term threat facing our country, in my view, is represented by the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese government, which I consider to be the defining threat of our generation,” he said, The Center Square reported.
The DOJ says it opens new cases to counter PRC intelligence operations roughly every 12 hours. Of the espionage cases it's prosecuted since 2018, it says 80% allege the PRC would benefit; 60% of trade secret theft cases are linked to China.
It also lists examples of indictments of Chinese nationals conspiring to and committing economic espionage and theft of trade secrets going back to 2018 under the Trump administration.
PRC threats increased as the greatest number of Chinese nationals illegally entered the U.S. in recorded history under the Biden administration – more than 176,000 nationwide, The Center Square first reported.
Illegal border crossings dropped to their lowest level for the month of February in recorded history, according to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
In February, 28,654 encounters and apprehensions of illegal border crossers were reported nationwide – a roughly 90% drop from the number reported in previous Februarys under the Biden administration.
In February 2024, 256,071 were reported compared to 213,911 in February 2023 and 250,404 in February 2022.
At the southwest border, 11,709 illegal border crossers were encountered or apprehended last month, significantly down from 189,913 in February 2024; 156,630 inl 2023; and 166,010 in 2022.
At the northern border, 4,098 illegal border crossers were encountered or apprehended last month, down from 14,653 in February 2024; from 13,052 in February 2023; and 7,822 in 2022.
The majority apprehended were single adults, followed by individuals claiming to be in a family unit, and unaccompanied minors.
Nationwide, Border Patrol apprehensions between ports of entry averaged roughly 330 a day in February, the lowest nationwide average apprehensions in CBP history.
At the southwest border, apprehensions plunged to fewer than 300 a day. Border Patrol agents apprehended 8,347 illegal border crossers between ports of entry, CBP said, representing a 94% decrease from February 2024.
CBP Office of Field Operations agents encountered 3,362 inadmissible illegal foreign nationals at ports of entry along the southwest border last month, a 93% drop from February 2024, according to the data.
The reason for the drop, CBP says, is because President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem “have sent a clear message: if you cross the border illegally, you will be deported without an opportunity to try another day, or in a few hours. As a result, CBP encounters with illegal aliens have decreased dramatically.”
Illegal border crossings also dropped after U.S. military troops were deployed to the southwest border and active patrols increased.
Contrary to former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who created a CBP One mobile app to fast-track inadmissible illegal foreign nationals into the U.S., the Trump administration launched a new mobile app to help facilitate departures.
The new CBP Home mobile app allows unlawfully present foreign nationals or those with revoked parole to voluntarily notify the federal government of their plan to leave the U.S. The app was designed to help them comply with an executive order Trump issued, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” CBP says, to ensure “an orderly process for aliens to communicate their departure plans.”
Additionally, in the first week of March, CBP began taking down soft-sided facilities used to process illegal border crossers into the U.S. under the Biden administration. Doing so is saving taxpayers between $5 million and $30 million a month per facility.
“CBP no longer has a need for them as illegal aliens are being quickly removed,” CBP acting director Pete Flores said. CBP has “full capability to manage the detention of apprehended aliens in its permanent facilities.”
CBP plans to close three SSFs in Texas – Donna, North Eagle Pass and Laredo; and two in Arizona: Yuma and Tucson. SSFs in San Diego, Calif., and El Paso, Texas, currently remain open.
Manpower and other resources that had been diverted to SSFs are being redirected to other priorities “to speed CBP’s progress in gaining operational control over the southwest border,” Flores said.
Additionally, agents who were pulled from their regular duties or stations in other areas of the country who were assigned to the SSFs are returning to their primary enforcement duties, CBP said.
The University of Virginia has shuttered its diversity, equity, and inclusion office as it along with other schools across the nation respond to the Trump administration’s termination of what he says are illegal DEI practices.
“The University's Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Community Partnerships is hereby dissolved,” the University of Virginia Board of Visitors’ resolution obtained by The Center Square reads.
The resolution said that UVA’s move is following the Department of Education’s Dear Colleague letter. The letter stated that race-based decisions in education are illegal, and if schools don’t comply they may face loss of federal funding.
Schools across the nation have been responding both to the Dear Colleague letter and Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order entitled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing,” along with other orders.
Trump’s order calls for the “termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”
A University of Virginia spokesman told The Center Square that, “in accordance with the [board’s] resolution, the administration will review the functions of the [DEI] office, and all personnel and programs that are permissible under state and federal law will be transferred within the University, within 30 days.”
“We will provide additional information as those efforts proceed,” the spokesman said.
Ohio State University also announced the closing of its Office of Diversity and Inclusion, The Center Square previously reported.
When reached again, assistant vice president for media and public relations Benjamin Johnson told The Center Square that OSU’s “review is ongoing” and that there are no new updates.
The University of Cincinnati told of its plan to evaluate its DEI programs and remove DEI-related material from its websites in a message from President Neville Pinto to the UC Community.
UC did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
East Carolina University no longer requires DEI-related graduation requirements, according to WITN. When asked multiple times for comment, ECU did not respond.
The University of Michigan, the University of Washington, the University of California, and Cornell previously told The Center Square they were evaluating, reviewing, or monitoring the executive order.
Of the four schools, only U-M and UW responded when asked for any updates on their responses.
U-M referred The Center Square to the school’s federal order response update page. According to the webpage, U-M is still monitoring federal activity.
UW spokesman Victor Balta told The Center Square the school received notification of an investigation into dozens of universities from the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, with UW being one of the schools.
The investigation concerns schools that are still making race-based decisions or are in partnership with organizations that make them, according to an Education Department news release.
“We are reviewing [the department’s notification] carefully,” Balta said.
“We will, of course, cooperate with any investigation and provide factual information and responses,” Balta said. “We have no further comment at this time.”
The University of Arizona is also assessing federal updates and previously removed the phrase “committed to diversity and inclusion” from its land acknowledgment as well as took down some DEI-related webpages, The Center Square reported.
Similarly, Columbia removed DEI language from parts of its website and took down some DEI-related web pages, The Center Square reported.
Columbia previously referred The Center Square to a “University statements page for latest updates and public statements on ongoing issues,” when reached for comment. The page does not mention Trump’s January 20 DEI executive order.
Columbia did not respond when reached again in regards to any updates concerning its response to the executive order.
Brown University referred The Center Square to a message saying the school is evaluating “all federal activity related to higher education.”
Both Slippery Rock University and Pennsylvania Western University, California referred The Center Square to Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), of which they are both members.
“We are working with our legal counsel to monitor executive orders and additional guidance that may – or may not – impact our universities,” PASSHE director of media relations Kevin Hensil told The Center Square.
“That process is still in the early stages, and we will follow the law,” Hensil said.
Michigan State University and University of Washington School of Medicine each previously told The Center Square they intend to continue their normal operations – which would evidently include those involving DEI – when asked for their responses.
Case Western Reserve, UC Irvine School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, and NYU each previously told The Center Square they had no comment regarding their respective responses to the order, with UC Irvine SOM saying it may have more information “as we learn more.” None of the schools provided updates to their responses when requested.
The following schools have not yet provided comment after repeated requests concerning their individual responses to the executive order:
HarvardStanfordDukeYalePennNorthwestern UniversityThe University of ChicagoBoston UniversityEmory UniversityMayo Clinic School of MedicineUC San DiegoIndiana UniversityThe University of PittsburghCommunity College of Allegheny CountyUniversity of FloridaFlorida State University
