Fast Takes: Dems empty immigration recipe, legal minefield for US mining and more

From the right: Dems’ Empty Immigration Rx“President Joe Biden’s record on border security is so bad that his own party members regard it as toxic,” roar The Washington Examiner’s editors — and his “refusal to enforce the law inside the country was equally reckless.” On his watch, “the illegal population alone grew by 5.6 million,” thanks not least to those “admitted legally on temporary visas who did not leave after their authorization expired.” Yet “Democrats still oppose detaining migrants arrested for illegally crossing the border and returning them to Mexico.” They also have no answer for “the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who enter legally but then illegally overstay their visas” — “other than to grant them citizenship,” which will only invite “millions more to stay.” “Americans deserve immigration laws that mean what they say, and the only way that happens is through enforcement.”Rare-Earths beat: Legal Minefield for US MiningAfter a “one-year consultation period,” it took another three years for the Bureau of Land Management just to grant A1 Lithium “permission to perform an initial look” at its lithium-mining wells, laments National Review’s Eva Terry — and a lawsuit followed “almost immediately,” so three years later, A1 Lithium CEO Bruce Richardson still didn’t know the project’s status.“Mines take 30 years to go from discovery to first production,” yet their material is used for almost everything.

Permitting and lawsuits slow the process; Congress’ Equal Access to Justice Act has made environmental litigation “a lucrative occupation.” That law “definitely needs serious overhaul,” grumbles BLM director Steven Pearce, as it often forces the feds to pay plaintiff attorneys’ fees of as much as “$700 per hour.”Culture critic: Trans Madness in Child Welfare“The Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act is a direct response to the radical transformation of the child welfare...