NationalWatch

Voters are increasingly worried about border security, and candidates on the campaign trail are listening to these concerns.

A common question that voters raised at many campaign stops throughout Iowa was: “How do you plan on closing the southern border?”

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have pledged that securing the border would be the No. 1 priority if elected to the White House.

At a town hall on Sunday in Altoona, Iowa, Haley fed her stump speech to Iowans, revealing how she feels about the current U.S.-Mexico border.

FOX NEWS POLL: MAJORITIES SUPPORT MEASURES TO STRENGTHEN BORDER SECURITY AS ISSUE INCREASES IN IMPORTANCE

“I truly have run out of things to say about the border. This is a dereliction of duty. It’s horrific to see what’s happening on the southern border and the northern border,” said Haley. “Securing the border is job No. 1, priority No. 1.”

The same day, one hour east of Haley, DeSantis gave a similar message on his border stance to a room full of voters in Oskaloosa, Iowa.

“We’re pretty busy on day one because there’s a lot that we need to do. One, we’re going to declare the border to be a national emergency,” said DeSantis.

Voters continue to mention the border as a top priority. A new Fox News poll shows that 8 in 10 voters are calling immigration/border security either an emergency or a major problem.

Donna Cox of Cleveland says securing the border is the top issue she cares about when deciding who to vote for in the GOP primary.

EX-ICE CHIEF THOMAS HOMAN EYES ‘HISTORIC’ DEPORTATION IF TRUMP’S REELECTED: ‘NO ONE’S OFF THE TABLE’

“My No. 1 priority in this next election is border security. It’s not just Latin America that’s coming across. It’s the Middle East. It’s China. I think that we’re a ticking time bomb,” said Cox.

When asked about the current situation at the southern border, she described it as “chaotic, uncontrolled, open, free-for-all, dangerous.”

“David” of Oskaloosa agreed. He called on the government to stop the flow of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The worst it’s ever been, the border is wide open. It’s a train wreck,” he said.

Iowa voters have just under one month to weigh their options for Republican candidates ahead of the first-in-the-nation caucus. The latest NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll showed DeSantis at 19% and Haley at 16% in Iowa. Both are trailing far behind front-runner former President Trump, who sits comfortably at 51% in the poll.

During a press conference in Corydon, Iowa, DeSantis said that the effects of the southern border crisis are felt in every state.

“Even in a rural community far away from the southern border, you’re seeing the effects of that, not just in terms of the narcotics and the drugs but also in terms of some of the problems that flow from that,” said DeSantis.

During a sheriff’s ride-along with Fox News, the Sunshine State governor talked about these effects. Wayne County Sheriff’s Deputy Garrett Abel led the ride-along and drove by one of many drug houses in Iowa that he has busted, sparking conversations about drug abuse in the country.

“For young people with drugs now, if there’s fentanyl laced [in] these drugs, I mean, it can be all she wrote,” said DeSantis during the ride-along. “They can get poisoned to death just on one use of drugs. The stakes are a lot higher than they were in the past.”

TOP CONSERVATIVES JOINING DESANTIS ON IOWA CAMPAIGN TRAIL AHEAD OF CAUCUSES: ‘WILL GET THE JOB DONE’

John Heckelsmiller from Ottumwa, Iowa, said he sees the ramifications of the southern border first-hand in Iowa.

“We’ve got influx of migrants in Ottumwa, and it’s evident everywhere you go that there’s people coming into this country that maybe shouldn’t be here because they didn’t enter legally,” said Heckelsmiller.

When asked by reporters for a specific timeline for building a border wall as president, DeSantis stated his plan to do so but didn’t provide specifics.

“My job is to get it done and I will get it done, and it has not gotten done, and we will do it, and we’ll start on day one and we won’t stop until it’s done,” he said.

Cox says that while she supports DeSantis, it’s important to her that whoever ends up in the White House addresses border security.

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“Day one, anybody who takes this office has to attack the border,” said Cox.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, made a personal TikTok account just months after sharing “serious” national security and privacy concerns about the Chinese-owned platform.

The electorally vulnerable Democrat launched his TikTok account on Saturday, but in March, he suggested that the platform could potentially jeopardize the privacy of Ohioans.

“We must protect Ohioans’ personal information from the Chinese Communist Party,” Brown told WTOL 11 when asked about his stance on the platform. “I have serious concerns with this company’s ties to the Chinese government and will continue to work with members of both parties to look at how we can best protect Ohioans’ privacy and our national security.”

Despite acknowledging the company’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and a potential privacy threat to its users, the senator encouraged Twitter (the platform now named X) users to “follow along with me” on his new social media page.

HARRIS DODGES MULTIPLE QUESTIONS ON TIKTOK REGULATION, BRINGS UP RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

“This is Sherrod Brown. I’m now on TikTok. I look forward to getting to know all of you,” Brown said in a clip posted to then-Twitter before talking about standing up to “special interest groups.”

EXCLUSIVE: JEWISH EMPLOYEES AT TIKTOK SHARE DETAILS OF HOSTILE, ANTISEMITIC WORK ENVIRONMENT

The three-term U.S. senator already posted several videos to his TikTok page since its launch, including one campaign-related clip of Brown filing a petition for reelection.

When asked whether he still has “serious concerns” about the platform, Brown’s team made no mention of the TikTok account.

“Sherrod has a strong record holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable and will continue working with both parties to protect Ohioans’ privacy and our national security,” Rachel Petri, campaign manager of Friends of Sherrod Brown, told Fox News Digital.

Brown is running for a fourth term in a state won by former President Trump in both 2016 and 2020 in one of the Democrats’ most vulnerable races of the 2024 cycle as they seek to hold or expand their slim Senate majority.

Members of Congress have supported a ban on TikTok amid growing concerns over its ties to the CCP, with some states enforcing bans on the use of the app on government devices.

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In March, the House Energy and Commerce Committee grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew over the platform’s ties to the CCP and allegations that the data of American users is compromised by China and being used to spy on American account holders.

BETTENDORF, Iowa – EXCLUSIVE – Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa charges that former President Trump is “misleading” voters in her state.

“It’s misleading and it’s not fair to Iowans,” the governor said Monday night in an interview with Fox News Digital while referring to an ad the Trump campaign is running in the Hawkeye State that spotlights years-old clips of Reynolds praising the former president.

Reynolds endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the race for the White House last month, and the two teamed up again in Bettendorf, Iowa, with four weeks to go until the state’s caucuses kick off the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

While Reynolds supported Trump during his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, their relationship soured this past summer when the former president blasted Reynolds for staying neutral in the Republican nomination race – following a long-standing tradition of Iowa governors.

DESANTIS TURNS UP THE VOLUME ON TRUMP 

“He was upset with me because I was going to stay neutral at the beginning of the campaign for the first-in-the-nation caucus, which I did for seven months,” Reynolds said in her Fox News interview and in comments to the crowd minutes earlier.

Trump’s attacks on Reynolds intensified after she endorsed DeSantis.

“It’s not going to make any difference, because the only endorsement that matters is the Trump endorsement,” the former president claimed at a campaign event in Ankeny, Iowa, earlier this month.

Reynolds noted that after she backed DeSantis, Trump said her “endorsement didn’t mean anything” and called it “worthless,” adding that she was “the worst governor in the country.”

DESANTIS STOPS IN ALL 99 OF IOWA’S COUNTIES — BUT WILL IT HELP HIM CLOSE THE GAP WITH TRUMP? 

“That’s on one hand, and now we look at another hand – he’s using me in a commercial that dates back to 2016 and again [is] misleading Iowans as if I was endorsing him and going back and forth,” the governor added. “In 2016 and 2020 I supported President Trump. I endorsed him. I helped him in the state of Iowa. It’s a different day. It’s a different time.”

Pointing to Hawkeye State voters, Reynolds said “it’s OK for Iowans to say ‘thank you for what you did’ and move on. We need somebody that can win. We need somebody that can follow through on what they said they were going to do.”

Asked for a response, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung asked Fox News, “is she saying that she lied to voters all those years?”

Trump remains the commanding front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination as he makes his third straight White House run.

He made history earlier this year as the first former or current president to be indicted for a crime with his four indictments, including in federal court in Washington, D.C., and in Fulton County court in Georgia on charges he tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The former president’s legal difficulties have only boosted his support among Republican primary voters.

TRUMP HOLDS A MASSIVE LEAD IN THE POLLS WITH FIVE WEEKS TO GO UNTIL THE IOWA CAUCUSES 

Trump holds an extremely formidable double-digit lead over DeSantis and the rest of the remaining field of 2024 nomination rivals in the latest polls in Iowa, but Reynolds remains optimistic.

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Asked about the polls, she told Fox News “it can change.”

“The energy, the momentum, is with [DeSantis]. Iowans break late. So we’ve got a lot of time left,” she emphasized. “We’re going work hard to get him across the finish line.”

Fox News’ Clare O’Connor contributed to this report

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Andy Barr is endorsing former President Trump, telling Fox News Digital that Americans “must rally behind” him to ensure “strong leadership both at home and abroad.” 

Barr, R-Ky., told Fox News Digital on Monday about his endorsement.

“I can not sit idly by while Joe Biden and his disastrous policies continue to erode what makes America the greatest country in the world,” Barr said. “Since Biden took office, we have seen record-high illegal immigration at the Southern Border, 40-year high inflation, and threateningly weak foreign policy that has invited aggression from our adversaries.”

TRUMP PICKS UP MORE SENATE GOP ENDORSEMENTS

However, Barr said, “despite all of this, Democrats and the ‘mainstream media’ are doing everything they can to ensure Joe Biden remains president.”

“Donald Trump is the only candidate who can defeat Joe Biden and reinstate an America First agenda,” he said.

TRUMP HOLDS MASSIVE LEAD IN IOWA 5 WEEKS FROM CAUCUSES THAT KICK OFF GOP RACE: POLL 

Barr, reflecting on the Trump administration, said Americans “paid less at the pump and the grocery store.”

“American families’ incomes rose, and their small businesses flourished,” he said, adding that none of those developments were “coincidences.”

“They were a direct product of Trump’s low-tax, pro-economic growth policies,” he told Fox News Digital, saying Biden’s policies have “resulted in the opposite.” 

“As Kentuckians and Americans, we must rally behind a leader who understands the importance of strong leadership, both at home and abroad,” he said. “That is why, to protect our country and ensure prosperity, I am endorsing Donald J. Trump for President of the United States.” 

FOX NEWS POLL: TRUMP’S LEAD IN GOP PRIMARY WIDENS

Trump is dominating the 2024 Republican primary field. A new Fox News poll released over the weekend also showed that if the election were held today, Trump would beat President Biden by four points in a head-to-head match-up. 

Meanwhile, a source close to Barr told Fox News Digital that should a Senate seat become open for 2026, the congressman could be “a serious contender.”

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“Barr is a prolific fundraiser and a skilled legislator who would be a formidable ally for the America First agenda in the Senate,” the source told Fox News Digital.

That source said Barr’s early endorsement of Trump “could preview a closer working relationship” between Barr and Trump in the coming years.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

A group of anti-Israel protesters descended on the home of Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., over the weekend blowing car horns and screaming as they sought to punish him for what they claimed was his “silence” on the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza amid Israel’s war with Hamas.

“This is my home at 3 AM,” Thanedar wrote in a post on X, including a video that showed cars lined in the street outside his home, an individual waving a cloth-like material, and others screaming through megaphones. The video appeared to be posted by a supporter of the protesters.

“You are complicit in the bombing of Gaza… Your silence is violence. Your silence is abhorrent, and we will not let you sleep!” one protester can be heard screaming.

NEW POLL REVEALS AMERICA’S LEAST FAVORITE LEADER IN CONGRESS WITH SHOCKING SINGLE-DIGIT APPROVAL

“There will be a price to pay,” the protester added before becoming largely inaudible.

Another protester in the video is shown holding a sign that read, “20,000 GAZANS DEAD! WAKE THE F–K UP SHRI!!!”

Thanedar has taken staunchly supportive approach to Israel following the horrific attack perpetrated by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, and even ended his relationship with the Democratic Socialists of America over its response to the deaths of more than 1,200 people on that day.

FORMER TRUMP ADVISER KELLYANNE CONWAY LEADS CHARGE TO OVERHAUL GOP ABORTION STRATEGY, END DEMS’ 2024 ADVANTAGE

“After the brutal terrorist attacks on Israel, which included the indiscriminate murder, rape, and kidnapping of innocent men, women, and children, I can no longer associate with an organization unwilling to call out terrorism in all forms,” Thanedar posted on X at the time.

He has also expressed his strong support for Israel on his campaign website, including vowing to “defend Israel’s right to exist and to thrive.”

“In this time of great international uncertainty, it is now more important than ever before to reaffirm as a people, and as a nation, our unequivocal support for the state of Israel, the lone Democracy in the Middle East and one of our closest, and strongest, allies across the globe,” he wrote.

BIDEN SCRAMBLES TO WIN OVER SWING STATE BLACK VOTERS AS SUPPORT FROM THE TRADITIONALLY BLUE BLOC FALTERS

Earlier this month, Thanedar condemned what he said was the hacking of his X account that resulted in the posting of a now-deleted antisemitic message.

“I can no longer stay silent on the genocide taking place in Palestine. Israel has paid off politicians for far too long. I know this means I’ll lose AIPAC financial support but I don’t need it. We need to come together to #FreePalestine from the terrorist state of Israel,” the post read.

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After deleting the post, Thanedar posted a message supportive of Israel, including that funding for the nation “should not be contingent on specific conditions.”

Former President Donald Trump is leading President Biden among young voters by a 13-point margin, according to the latest Fox News Poll.

Forty-one percent of respondents under 30 said they’d vote for Trump, 77, in the 2024 general election while 28% said they’d vote for Biden, 81. Those under 45 years old also favored Trump, with 41% saying they’d vote for Trump versus 31% who’d cast their vote for Biden.

Trump is also more popular among women voters at 41% to 34% for Biden, according to the poll, which interviewed 1,007 registered voters randomly selected between Dec. 10 and Dec. 13.

FOX NEWS POLL: TRUMP’S LEAD IN GOP PRIMARY WIDENS

The polling results come as the Trump campaign is targeting young voters and widening its support among GOP voters. On Saturday, Trump made a stop at the University of New Hampshire and railed against Biden’s economy and the migrant crisis at the southern border.

According to a USA Today report that interviewed Republican and Democrat college students outside the rally, some young voters agreed that Biden’s handling of the economy and foreign affairs were critical issues heading into the 2024 election.

Trump keeps gaining ground in the Republican presidential nomination contest as fewer than one third of GOP primary voters now back all his rivals combined, the survey also found.

Trump’s support stands at 69% in the primary race. That’s up seven points since November and 26 points since February.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis receives 12% support (down 1 point since November), former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley gets 9% (-1), businessman Vivek Ramaswamy at 5% (-2), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 2% (-1) and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson with 1% (steady).

TRUMP GETS OVATION, HIGH-GIVES FANS UPON UFC 296 ARRIVAL FOR ‘BIGGEST FAN’ COLBY COVINGTON’S FIGHT

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In hypothetical general election matchups against Biden, Haley is ahead by six points, Trump is up by four (though neither advantage is statistically significant) while DeSantis and Biden are tied. As recently as August, Biden was narrowly ahead of all three of them.

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The Fox News Poll, conducted under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for all registered voters, and plus or minus 4.5 points for Democrat primary voters and 5 points for Republican primary voters.

Fox News’ Dana Blanton contributed to this report.

A new Monmouth University poll released Monday has revealed Americans’ least favorite leader in Congress, but all maintain underwater approval ratings.

According to the poll, just 6% of adults say they approve of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s, R-Ky., job performance, with a whopping 60% saying they disapprove. 34% had no opinion.

McConnell was the only congressional leader with a net negative approval rating from within his own party, and fell far behind his Democrat and Republican colleagues on how they are viewed by the American public. Just 10% of Republicans said they approved of McConnell’s job performance, with 41% disapproving and 49% having no opinion.

BIDEN APPROVAL RATING SINKS TO ALL-TIME LOW IN NEW NATIONAL POLL

McConnell’s approval rating was down from 12% in July, with 50% disapproving and 37% having no opinion.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., received a 21% approval rating, with 41% saying they disapproved and 38% having no opinion. Within his own party, however, Schumer received a 48% approval rating, compared to 18% who disapproved and 34% who had no opinion.

FORMER TRUMP ADVISER KELLYANNE CONWAY LEADS CHARGE TO OVERHAUL GOP ABORTION STRATEGY, END DEMS’ 2024 ADVANTAGE

On the House side, 17% said they approved of Speaker Mike Johnson’s, R-La., job performance with 31% disapproving and 51% with no opinion.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., fared slightly better with a 21% approval rating, 22% disapproving and 56% having no opinion.

Overall, just 17% said they approved of Congress’ job performance, and 77% said they disapproved.

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Fox News Digital has reached out to McConnell’s office for comment.

Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. 

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What’s happening:

-U.S. Capitol Police investigate Senate sex tape

-Ashley Biden issued a tax lien for unpaid taxes in 2015

-Nikki Haley media blitzes Iowa and New Hampshire

Fender Bender

The driver of a car that smashed into a parked SUV that was part of President Biden’s motorcade near his campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, has been charged with DUI, police said Monday morning.

The crash happened Sunday evening when the sedan hit a U.S. Secret Service vehicle being used to close off intersections as Biden was walking from the campaign office to his waiting armored SUV. 

After the crash, a visibly stunned Biden was ushered into his waiting vehicle, where First Lady Jill Biden was already seated, before being driven swiftly back to their home without further incident. Neither the president nor the first lady were harmed. 

White House

BIDEN TAXES: Ashley Biden issued a tax lien for unpaid taxes, court docs show …Read more

Capitol Hill

SENATE SEX TAPE: US Capitol Police ‘taking it seriously,’ source says …Read more

GET ‘TOUGHER’: Hispanic House Democrat calls for Biden to crack down on border crisis …Read more

NO DEAL: Border security provisions unlikely to advance in the Senate this week …Read more

AI ARMS RACE: Top Republican warns US rivals are advancing in AI, quantum computing …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

NEW GENERATION: Haley spotlights need for ‘new conservative president’ in ad blitz in Iowa and New Hampshire …Read more

‘STRONG LEADERSHIP’: Trump lands endorsement from GOP Rep. Andy Barr …Read more

Across America

‘EXTREMELY DISTURBING’: CCP-tied group quietly dropping millions of dollars into US-based climate initiatives …Read more

HONORING ‘AMERICAN HERO’: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor lying in repose at Supreme Court …Read more

SUSPENDED: Florida GOP takes action against chairman, demands resignation amid rape allegation …Read more

‘FIND REAL SOLUTIONS’: Newsom’s mayoral 10-year pledge to end homelessness in San Fran turns 20 …Read more

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Only one-third of Americans gave President Biden a thumbs up on the job he is doing in the White House, according to a new national public opinion survey.

The president stands at 34% approval in a Monmouth University poll released on Monday, with 61% giving Biden a thumbs down on his job performance.

The president’s approval is at an all-time low in Monmouth polling since Biden took over the White House nearly three years ago.

Americans questioned in the survey gave the president particularly low marks for his handling of immigration (26%) and inflation (28%).

HEAD HERE TO CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING

“The Biden administration keeps touting their infrastructure investments and a host of positive economic indicators. Those data points may be factual, but most Americans are still smarting from higher prices caused by post-pandemic inflation. This seems to be what’s driving public opinion,” Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, highlighted. “There is political danger in pushing a message that basically tells people their take on their own situation is wrong.”

Murray spotlighted that “there is certainly an element of partisanship in how people frame their own financial situation, which is based in part on who occupies the White House. But even a good chunk of Biden’s Democratic base wish he’d start paying more attention to their top priorities than he is now.”

THESE SIX BATTLEGROUND STATES COULD COST BIDEN THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2024

The approval rating is a key indicator of a president’s performance, clout and popularity and is a closely watched metric, especially when an incumbent in the White House seeks a second term. The 81-year-old Biden is running for re-election in 2024.

The release of the Monmouth poll comes two weeks after the president stood at 37% approval – an all-time low – in a Wall Street Journal survey. However, a new Fox News national poll released on Sunday indicated Biden’s approval rating at 43%.

Biden’s approval rating hovered in the low to mid 50s during his first six months in the White House. However, the president’s numbers started sagging in August 2021 in the wake of Biden’s much-criticized handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan and following a surge in COVID-19 cases that summer, mainly among unvaccinated people.

BIDEN REPORTEDLY UPSET BY SINKING POLL NUMBERS

The plunge in the president’s approval was also fueled by soaring inflation – which started spiking in the summer of 2021 and remains to date a major pocketbook concern with Americans – and the surge of migrants trying to cross into the U.S. along the southern border with Mexico. 

Biden stands far below where his three most recent two-term predecessors – former Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama – stood at this point in their presidencies, as they successfully ran for re-election. The only recent president whose approval ratings were nearly as negative as Biden’s current numbers was his most recent predecessor, former President Trump, who was defeated by Biden in the 2020 election.

Biden once held the upper hand over Trump in 2024 rematch surveys, but Trump began enjoying an advantage over his successor in the White House in most polls starting in October.

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On Sunday, as he was leaving his re-election campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, the president was asked by reporters why he was down to Trump in the latest surveys.

“You’re reading the wrong polls,” Biden replied.

The Monmouth University poll was conducted Nov. 30-Dec 4, with 803 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

A House Democrat in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) is breaking from the group to call for “tougher” border security measures after the ongoing migrant crisis forced U.S. officials to suspend railway operations between Texas and Mexico in two cities.

The statement by Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, whose district is anchored in Laredo, stands in stark contrast with the CHC’s position on the current border negotiations between Republicans and the White House. 

Cuellar said rail operations were being stopped in Eagle Pass and El Paso on Monday morning so Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) could “redirect personnel to process migrants.”

“The crisis at our border is seriously affecting legitimate trade,” Cuellar wrote the evening prior. “This year alone, vehicle and rail operations have been suspended at multiple ports of entry due to an overwhelming number of migrants, worsening delays for truck drivers transporting goods and costing our economy millions.”

THOUSANDS OF MIGRANTS WAIT A FEW HOURS FROM EAGLE PASS, TEXAS TO CATCH TRAINS HEADED FOR SOUTHERN BORDER

He finished, “Our border communities desperately need more federal resources, and we need tougher measures at the border. We must secure the border now.”

CBP accused smugglers of using freight trains to bring people into the U.S. illegally in a statement on Sunday night announcing the planned closures for Monday at 8 a.m. local time.

MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS HIT DAILY RECORD AT SOUTHERN BORDER, AS WASHINGTON STRUGGLES TO AGREE ON SOLUTIONS 

“CBP is continuing to surge all available resources to safely process migrants in response to increased levels of migrant encounters at the Southwest Border, fueled by smugglers peddling disinformation to prey on vulnerable individuals,” the statement said.

“After observing a recent resurgence of smuggling organizations moving migrants through Mexico via freight trains, CBP is taking additional actions to surge personnel and address this concerning development, including in partnership with Mexican authorities.”

It comes amid intense negotiations between Republicans and Democrats in both the White House and Senate over President Biden’s $110 billion supplemental aid package for Israel, Ukraine and other causes. 

5,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS RELEASED EVERY DAY INTO US, ADMIN OFFICIALS PRIVATELY TELL LAWMAKERS

Republicans have made clear they would not consider Biden’s request unless it was tied to stricter border security and asylum measures.

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The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which is all-Democrat, released a statement last week urging Biden to show restraint in what he is willing to commit to in managing the border crisis.

“We are deeply concerned that the President would consider advancing Trump-era immigration policies that Democrats fought so hard against – and that he himself campaigned against – in exchange for aid to our allies that Republicans already support,” they said. “Caving to demands for these permanent damaging policy changes as a ‘price to be paid’ for an unrelated one-time spending package would send a dangerous precedent.”

Christian Ziegler, the chair of the Republican Party of Florida, was suspended during an emergency meeting Sunday and demanded to resign. 

The moves add to calls by Gov. Ron DeSantis and other politicians for him to step down while police investigate a rape accusation against him.

Ziegler is accused of raping a woman with whom he and his wife, Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, had a prior consensual sexual relationship, according to police records.

“Ziegler on soap box trying to defend himself, not working,” Lee County GOP Chairman Michael Thomason posted to the social media platform X. Thomason posted a series of tweets during the closed-door meeting, with the final being a picture of a document titled “motion to suspend authority.”

SCHOOL BOARD VOTES TO OUST ‘MOMS FOR LIBERTY’ CO-FOUNDER AMID FLORIDA GOP SEX SCANDAL

The party’s executive committee will hold a second vote in the future on whether to remove Ziegler permanently.

The Sarasota Police Department is investigating an incident that was reported on Oct. 4, but allegedly occurred inside a woman’s home on Oct. 2. Police documents say the Zieglers and the woman had planned a sexual encounter that day, but Bridget Ziegler was unable to make it. The accuser says Christian Ziegler arrived anyway and assaulted her.

While Bridget Ziegler is not accused of any crime, the accusation against her husband has caused turmoil for her. The Sarasota School Board member was asked to resign following a vote on Tuesday. She refused, according to the Associated Press. 

FLORIDA GOP CHAIRMAN CHRISTIAN ZIEGLER CLAIMS INNOCENCE, WILL NOT RESIGN OVER RAPE ALLEGATION

Christian Ziegler has denied the rape allegation, and said the encounter with the woman was consensual.  

Sarasota police did not immediately respond to a request for an update on the investigation, including whether Christian Ziegler has been charged with a crime. As of Dec. 13, he had not. 

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In addition to DeSantis, Republican Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and Florida’s Republican House and Senate leaders have all called for Christian Ziegler’s resignation. 

The Florida Democratic Party called on Christian Ziegler to step down in November. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX – Nikki Haley takes aim at President Biden for being “too old” and indirectly targets former President Trump over the “chaos and drama of the past” as she calls for a “new generation” of leadership in the latest spot of her massive early state ad blitz.

“I’ll just say it. Biden’s too old, and Congress is the most exclusive nursing home in America,” the former South Carolina governor who later served as ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration argues at the top of her commercial, which was shared first with Fox News on Monday.

Haley declared her candidacy for the White House in early February, but didn’t launch her first TV ads until the beginning of this month. The new spot is the third commercial in her ongoing $10 million ad blitz in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states to vote in the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

“We have to leave behind the chaos and drama of the past with a new generation and a new conservative president,” Haley said to the camera in the spot, swiping at the former president without mentioning his name.

HALEY’S MOMENTUM IN THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL RACE APPEARS TO BE PAYING OFF

Haley highlighted the need for a new generation of conservative leadership when she formally launched her presidential campaign in her hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, ten months ago.

She also reiterated her calls for mental competency tests for politicians age 75 and older – something she first did days into her White House bid.

DESANTIS TURNS UP THE HEAT ON TRUMP AND HALEY 

Haley is 51 years old, a full generation younger than 81-year-old Biden and 77-year-old Trump.

Trump remains the commanding front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in his third straight White House bid.

He made history earlier this year as the first former or current president to be indicted for a crime with his four indictments, including in federal court in Washington, D.C., and in Fulton County court in Georgia on charges he tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

WHERE TRUMP, DESANTIS, HALEY AND THE REST OF GOP 2024 FIELD STAND IN NEW FOX NEWS POLL

The indictments have only boosted Trump’s standing in GOP presidential nomination polls. He holds a massive 57-point lead over the rest of the remaining field of Republican rivals for the nomination in the latest Fox News national poll, which was released on Sunday. Trump’s margin jumped by seven points from the previous Fox News poll conducted a month ago.

Haley has enjoyed plenty of momentum in the polls in recent months, thanks in part to well-received performances in the first three GOP presidential primary debates. She leapfrogged Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for second place in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary and second overall contest in the Republican nominating calendar. 

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She also aims to make a fight of it in Iowa, where the polls indicate DeSantis is a distant second behind Trump.

Iowa’s Jan. 15 caucuses are followed eight days later by New Hampshire’s Jan. 23 primary. Haley landed the endorsement of New Hampshire’s popular Republican Gov. Chris Sununu last week.

A couple of weeks ago, she was endorsed by Americans for Prosperity Action, the political wing of the influential and deep-pocketed fiscally conservative network founded by the billionaire Koch Brothers. AFP Action has pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars and mobilize its formidable grassroots operation to boost Haley and help push the Republican Party past Trump.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

FIRST ON FOX: Ashley Biden, President Biden’s daughter, owes $5,000 in income taxes beginning in 2015, according to a recent tax lien docket first obtained by Fox News Digital.

Liens are legal claims imposed by the government on a property or assets to secure unpaid taxes after repeated attempts to collect. 

On Dec. 1, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue in Philadelphia County notified Biden that the “amount of such unpaid tax, interest, additions or penalties is a lien in favor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania upon the taxpayer’s property – real, personal, or both – as the case may be,” according to the notice.

The period start date listed on the lien begins Jan. 1, 2015 – when Joe Biden was vice president in the Obama administration – and ends Jan. 1, 2021, days before he was sworn in as president. 

MAN, WOMAN PLEAD GUILTY TO STEALING ASHLEY BIDEN DIARY, SELLING IT TO PROJECT VERITAS

Ashley Biden and her attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

“The scale is not anything like Hunter, but… Joe is constantly talking about how wealthy and connected people do not pay their fair share and can’t afford to pay more, and it just so happens that both of his living children did not pay their taxes,” Garrett Ziegler, the founder of nonprofit Marco Polo and former President Trump aide, told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday. 

“This is just another example of the Bidens being careless,” he said. “Like, you’d think that they would show a little bit more prudence when you’re the first when you’re the American first family to make sure you don’t have any tax liens on you, especially going into an election year.”

Ziegler founded the website BidenLaptopMedia.com, which contains nearly 10,000 photos from Hunter’s infamous laptop between 2008 and 2019. Ziegler said his team found Ashley’s lien while conducting a routine search in the Philadelphia County courthouse system. 

When Ziegler published the findings on the laptop, he told Fox Digital at the time, “We’re not Republican activists.”

“None of us are registered Republicans,” he continued. “In fact, I loved and still love Trump precisely because he wasn’t a standard Republican. So this is not a hit job. We’re going to keep all the photos that paint the Bidens in a good light and keep all the photos that paint the Bidens in a bad light. The American people can judge for themselves what they think about their first family through this.”

TOP WHITE HOUSE AIDE WORKED AT LAW FIRM HEAVILY INVOLVED WITH CORPORATE ENTITIES TIED TO HUNTER, BIDEN FAMILY

Born on June 8, 1981, Ashley Biden is the youngest of Joe Biden’s children and the only child with Jill Biden. Ashley has primarily focused on social work, activism and philanthropy throughout her career. She works for the Delaware Center for Justice, focusing on criminal justice reform, according to her Linkedin.

Ashley worked as a social worker in the Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families from 2007 to 2012. She received her master’s degree in social work from University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice in 2010.

In 2017, while working at the Delaware Center for Justice – a nonprofit criminal justice reform organization – she launched a charitable fashion brand Livelihood. In 2019, she left her job at the Delaware Center for Justice to help her dad’s presidential campaign.

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HUNTER BIDEN FACES BACKLASH AFTER DEFYING SUBPOENA WITH PRESS CONFERENCE ‘STUNT’: ‘HOLD HIM IN CONTEMPT!’

In March, she was reportedly applying for a doctorate in clinical social work at the University of Pennsylvania to study the neurobiology of trauma and plans to develop her own curriculum. 

Last summer, two Florida residents pleaded guilty in federal court in New York City to stealing the diary and other possessions of Ashley and selling them to the conservative watchdog group Project Veritas during the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment. 

Former President Trump, the GOP’s current 2024 presidential frontrunner, said soaring inflation and conflicts in Ukraine and Israel “wouldn’t have happened” on his watch, blasting Democrat President Biden during a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Saturday as the two head to a likely 2024 rematch. 

The former president referenced an interview given by Hungarian Prime Minister Vikor Orban, in which Orban touted Trump’s foreign policy.

“”He did not initiate a new war and… it would have been the greatest thing. Our world would have been a very different place right now,” Trump quoted Orban as saying.

“He said it would have been very different. And there was no way that Russia – and he’s right there – there’s no way that Russia would have invaded Ukraine. It would not be possible for Russians to do that if President Trump were president, it wouldn’t have happened. And guess what? It didn’t happen. And you know what else wouldn’t have happened? The attack on Israel wouldn’t have happened and inflation wouldn’t have happened.” 

Trump also told the crowd that Biden puts America last when it comes to global interests. 

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“These people are crazy. Crooked Joe puts China first. He puts Asia first, Ukraine first, illegal aliens first, environmental maniacs first. He puts everyone first, but he puts America last,” Trump said. “He puts New Hampshire last. He puts our workers last. He puts our farmers last. He puts everything that’s good. He puts it last. And I put New Hampshire first and I put America first.” 

The remarks come as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown – two top U.S. military leaders – are traveling to Tel Aviv to advise the Israeli government on how to transition from major combat operations against Hamas in Gaza to a more limited campaign and prevent a wider regional war. 

Iranian-backed militants on Saturday launched a wave of attack drones against ships in the Red Sea and said they would continue until Israel’s “aggression” ends.

One of the American warships assigned to the Ford carrier strike group, the destroyer USS Carney, “successfully engaged” 14 one-way attack drones launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. Britain reported that a Royal Navy destroyer downed another drone that was targeting commercial ships.

Trump on Saturday further placed blame on Biden for worsening tensions in the Middle East. 

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“Iran was broke under the Trump administration. They didn’t have the money to fund Hamas, Hezbollah and all of the other instruments of terror. They had no money. They were totally broke. But those sanctions were lifted by a corrupt Biden administration. And now Iran is a rich country with over $200 billion. And another 6 billion for hostages and 10 billion for dollars from electricity from Iraq, all compliments of the incompetent Biden administration. Iran has so much money, they don’t know what to do with it. And China with Taiwan is next.” 

His appearance in Durham was part of a swing taking the former president through early nominating states as he cites his wide polling lead over a dwindling field of GOP hopefuls. They are trying to block his political comeback as Trump navigates multiple indictments and looks ahead to a potential rematch with Biden, who won against Trump in 2020.

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The New Hampshire primary is Jan. 23, eight days after the Iowa caucuses begin the nominating process on Jan. 15. Nevada and South Carolina come next in the early stages, before Super Tuesday on March 5, when the highest cumulative number of delegates are up for grabs on any single day on the election calendar. 

The Trump campaign sees a path for him to secure the nomination before the Super Tuesday polls open.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley responded on Sunday to pressure to love or hate former President Trump, claiming that typical voters care more about issues.

Coming off a key endorsement by New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, Haley slammed the media’s preoccupation with Trump. 

“You guys are exhausting. You’re exhausting in your obsession with him. The thing is, normal people aren’t obsessed with Trump like you guys are,” Haley said of the media during a sit-down interview with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl that aired on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “The normal people care about the fact that they can’t afford things. They feel like their freedoms are being taken away. They think government is too big. I know you all want to talk about every single word he says and every single tweet he does.”

“That’s exactly why we need a new generational leader,” Haley, who was Trump’s U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, continued. “Because people don’t want to hear about every word a person says or every tweet. They want to know how you fought for them that day, and they want to know how their life is going to be different. And life would be a whole lot different if the media would stop this obsession with Trump.” 

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Haley’s remarks came after Karl pressed her on Trump campaigning on the idea of “retribution,” which Sununu argued distracts the media and voters from Trump’s record. 

“He does everything he can not to talk about issues. He almost acts like he wasn’t there. He doesn’t want to talk about building the wall and securing the southern border because he didn’t do it,” Sununu, interviewed alongside Haley, said of Trump. “He doesn’t want to talk about fiscal responsibility because he made a hard promise that he would do it in that debate, ‘I’m going to be known as the most fiscally responsible president this country’s ever seen’. He said he balanced the budget. Yeah, didn’t even try to balance the budget. And you know, the thing that for someone in New Hampshire where, you know, it’s not about big government, we love the idea that he was going to drain the swamp. That was an amazing opportunity. Didn’t even try. I mean, literally didn’t even try. So if he talks about those issues, he has to kind of own those failures. So he’s always going to talk about retribution and just kind of try to spur something up.”

DESANTIS ARGUES TRUMP ‘WILL SAY IT’S STOLEN, NO MATTER WHAT’ IF FORMER PRESIDENT LOSES IN IOWA OR NH

Earlier in the interview, Haley also addressed pressure from those who wished she would take a strong stance regarding Trump.

“Anti-Trumpers want me to hate him, pro-Trumpers want me to love him, but this is where I stand. There are things I agree with the president on. I had a good working relationship with him. There are things I don’t agree – I don’t agree with the fact that, yes, we had a good economy while he was there, but he put us $8 trillion in debt that our kids are never going to forgive us for. I don’t agree with how he handles national security. He focused on trade with China, but he did nothing about the fentanyl flow. He did nothing about the fact that fentanyl has killed so many of our Americans.”

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Positioning herself for the GOP endorsement, Haley said Trump “was the right president at the right time,” but stressed, “the world is on fire and chaos follows him, and we can’t have a country in chaos for four more years, so we won’t survive it.” 

A top Republican strategist for a PAC supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign announced he is resigning from the organization just weeks before the Iowa caucus.

“I am resigning my position effective immediately,” veteran GOP strategist Jeff Roe said in a statement posted to X late Saturday. “Governor DeSantis has been an exceptional governor and I hope he will be the 47th President of the United States. I wish the Governor, First Lady, and their entire team the best through the rest of the campaign.”

Roe’s departure comes amid a string of exits from Never Back Down, the main PAC supporting the Florida governor’s White House bid, coming just two weeks after the organization fired three top officials, including its chief executive officer. According to reporting from Politico, the PAC’s board chairman and also its president left the organization around the same time.

DESANTIS ARGUES TRUMP ‘WILL SAY IT’S STOLEN, NO MATTER WHAT’ IF FORMER PRESIDENT LOSES IN IOWA OR NH

The turmoil at the PAC was the subject of a Washington Post report Saturday, which detailed the sudden rash of departures and infighting that has plagued the organization as the Iowa caucus quickly approaches.

Included in the report was a statement from Never Back Down chairman Scott Wagner, who blamed the recent firings on “mismanagement and conduct issues, including numerous unauthorized leaks containing false information.”

“Senior officials were terminated,” Wagner told the Washington Post. “We don’t have time to indulge false narratives from those with ulterior motives.”

But a lawyer for the fired employees accused Wagner of making a “categorically false” statement, leading to a revised statement with a different tone.

DESANTIS STOPS IN ALL 99 OF IOWA’S COUNTIES — BUT WILL IT HELP HIM CLOSE THE GAP WITH TRUMP?

“Following some opinions regarding mismanagement and conduct issues, including some who believed there appeared to be numerous unauthorized leaks containing false information, NBD and some senior officials parted ways,” Wagner told the Washington Post.

“I cannot in good conscience stay affiliated with Never Back Down given the statements in the Washington Post today,” Roe said in his statement. “They are not true and an unwanted distraction at a critical time for Governor DeSantis.”

DeSantis entered the race with a $269 million war chest, according to the report, with $82.5 million coming through Never Back Down in an unprecedented new campaign strategy. The PAC has largely been responsible for funding most of the Florida governer’s advertising and field operations, while also paying for much of the candidate’s campaign travel.

According to the Washington Post report, Roe’s departure will not leave the PAC without experienced campaign veterans, with longtime DeSantis ally Phil Cox stepping into a senior adviser role while others are elevated to heightened roles.

Meanwhile, Roe expressed that he is “proud of the team” that was built at Never Back Down and the “incredible work and integrity of every devoted professional within the organization.”

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“This is a team of political warriors and their grind and dedication over the last nine months has helped put Governor Ron DeSantis in a strong position,” Roe said.

The DeSantis campaign and Never Back Down did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: Former Trump White House adviser Kellyanne Conway is leading the charge to overhaul her party’s abortion strategy heading into the 2024 elections.

The top Republican strategist spoke with Fox News Digital after meeting with a number of GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week to discuss what she argues is the need to promote contraception and reach a consensus on the abortion issue lest Democrats continue to use it as a “turnout intensifier” in November.

“I think pro-lifers have to be very mindful to speak about two people being involved in an abortion — the baby and the mother. So, I’m urging opinion leaders and office holders and all their decision makers, as well as candidates, to speak with conviction and compassion. That’s the piece that’s missing,” Conway said when asked about the meetings.

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“The overwhelming data in contraception polling is meant to work in tandem with, not in lieu of, the pro-life abortion messaging,” she said, referring to polling showing widespread support for contraceptives across the country.

Conway’s effort to move Republicans toward a “winning” strategy comes as more states have held abortion-related ballot initiatives after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year and as Democrats continue to claim GOP lawmakers and candidates want to ban abortion. 

Strategists and operatives from both parties argue the issue has driven more voter turnout for Democrats in state and local elections across the country, evidenced by better margins for the Democratic position in those initiatives and other coinciding races.

SUPREME COURT AGREES TO DECIDE ON ABORTION PILL ACCESS, APPROVAL PROCESS

Conway says such ballot initiatives haven’t gone in Republicans’ favor because the left has pushed such measures under the guise of “reproductive freedom for all,” combined with the lack of exceptions for rape, incest and protecting the life of the mother in efforts to limit, or ban, abortion.

“To speak with conviction and compassion, to reflect consensus, to move hearts and minds, means that if you want to discuss a 15-week national minimum standard, then you are reflecting consensus,” she said, citing statistics that show a strong majority of Americans fall within the range that there should be no abortion at all and no abortions past 15 weeks.

“When you do that, you get up to 71% of America, and that reflects consensus. But it also shows conviction and compassion, because in 15 weeks, a woman knows she’s pregnant and the baby can feel pain,” she added.

TOP TAKEAWAYS FROM ELECTION DAY 2023 AND WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT THE 2024 SHOWDOWNS

Conway argued that if Republicans could reach such a consensus, they would be “smoking out” Democrats who have “radical, extreme, out-of-step, out-of-sync positions on abortion, anyone, anytime, anywhere, anyhow.” 

She added, however, that it was a “mistake” to say all Democrats support abortion until the moment of birth, citing focus groups and polling that show the consensus across the country is against partial birth abortion and late-term abortion, especially after looking at the science showing babies can feel pain at “roughly 15 weeks.”

“They’re against taxpayer-funded abortion. They’re against sex selection abortion when a woman can learn she’s pregnant in the morning, learn the sex of the baby by noon and schedule an abortion for that afternoon. Now, people will say that’s not true because they don’t want it to be true. That is true. What I just said to you is a fact,” Conway said.

Conway also suggested a consensus, along with scientific understanding, could “move the hearts and minds” of Democrats supporting late-term abortion and shift their view.

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“When you give these shock-the-conscious anecdotes, and you couple that with warm-the-heart information, then you have a more winning message,” she said. “Pro-lifers should not be ostriches, they should be peacocks. They should not bury their head in the sand. They should be very proud that they’re on the right side of science and medicine and morality and common sense and consensus opinion.”

Despite that, Conway said she fully expects Democrats to continue claiming Republicans support banning abortion and contraception throughout the 2024 election cycle, but that, with her strategy, the GOP could get ahead of that messaging.

“We’re getting ahead of that by showing that this is a winning issue to say that you believe that women, and yes, men, but women, who can legally access contraceptive measures are able to do that now,” she said. “It is a losing formula to cede to the Democrats the women’s vote, women’s health, choice, women’s health care. And so we’re expanding what that means, and we are smoking out the Democrats.

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“When they say, ‘We’re for women, and we’re for women’s health,’ what they really mean is abortion. It’s all a euphemism for abortion. And if you don’t believe me, believe them. They cannot even condemn Hamas’ rape of women, beheading and baking babies and raping women. And the reason they’re not interested in that is because they’re interested in one thing — abortion.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tom Homan wants to unfreeze the agency and help launch a massive and “historic” deportation program if former President Trump returns to the White House in 2025

Homan promised no illegal immigrant would be “off the table” for enforcement.

Homan was honored during the Obama administration for his role leading ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), which arrests and removes illegal immigrants. A Washington Post article at the time said Homan “deports people. And he’s really good at it.” 

Homan, a former New York police officer and Border Patrol agent, calls that article a “badge of honor” and has it framed in his office.

ICE DEPORTATIONS REMAINED WELL BELOW TRUMP-ERA LEVELS IN FY2022 AMID HISTORIC BORDER CRISIS

Homan went on to lead ICE during the Trump administration between 2017 and 2018 as it was given the green light and arrests skyrocketed. Since the Biden administration took over, deportations have plummeted from a high of 267,258 in fiscal year 2019 to 72,177 in fiscal 2022.

Homan has fiercely defended the agency’s conduct under his watch against left-wing attacks, getting into viral spats with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash, during congressional hearings. He is also president and CEO of Border911, a nonprofit that aims to educate Americans on “the facts of a non-secure border.”

But Homan, also a Fox News contributor, could soon be back in government. Trump is the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, is leading several polls in a head-to-head with Biden and is promising to launch a full-throated effort to secure the border, end the Biden-era border crisis and deport millions of illegal immigrants if re-elected.

Trump in September promised the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history” if he’s back in the White House, and The New York Times recently reported that Trump met with Homan after announcing his campaign. Homan has repeatedly said he’d take the chance to be part of the administration. And he says removing those with a final order of removal from a federal immigration judge would be a priority.

“People say, ‘How are you going to remove millions?’ The answer is: One at a time,” he told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “No one’s off the table. If you’re in the country illegally in violation of immigration law, you are a target.

“It’s going to have to result in a historic — the biggest ever — deportation operation in the history of this country. That’s what happens. When you’ve got historic illegal immigration, well, that means you’ve got a historic removal program. It’s just that’s just the way it is. If we’re going to enforce our laws, that’s the way it is.”

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Homan stressed that ICE would continue to prioritize the most serious offenders as it has done during the Trump and Biden administrations and that operations wouldn’t involve indiscriminate “sweeps,” but targeted enforcement operations planned in advance, targeting specific criminal illegal immigrants. But those operations can also result in collateral arrests of other illegal immigrants.

“We’re not going to turn a blind eye to them if they’re in the country illegally. We take them into custody. That’s our job. So, it isn’t like we walk through a neighborhood looking for people who look different from us. These are targeted enforcement operations.”

In terms of logistics, he said the agency would need a lot more detention beds to detain people, more ICE agents to make the arrests, more technical support for those creating the targeted operations and more contractors to search databases. He also said there needs to be legislation that would make someone ineligible for future immigration benefits if someone ignored a judge’s removal order.

“That way, they’re not hiding out waiting for the next amnesty. They’re not hiding out waiting for someone to sponsor them for a visa,” he said. 

He also said sanctuary cities — jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with ICE detainers — need to be “held accountable.”

Any such enforcement moves will likely produce massive opposition from left-wing activist groups and Democratic lawmakers who opposed similar moves in the Trump administration. But Homan argues that if people believe in due process of the asylum system then that includes the carrying out of deportations when they are found not to have valid asylum claims.

“Part of due process is executing the final decision of the court,” he said. 

“No one’s going to argue if they say, ‘OK, you’re awarded asylum, now you can come in.’ But they have a fit when they’re ordered removed,” he said. “So, all of a sudden, we’re supposed to forget about the due process? Look, if the court orders aren’t going to mean anything, what the hell are we doing? We might as well take the Border Patrol off the border and shut down the immigration courts because, obviously, there’s no enforcement of our immigration law.”

As for the scope of the task ahead, Homan is realistic about the likelihood of deportation of the millions of illegal immigrants who have entered the U.S. during the Biden era on top of the already existing illegal immigrant population.

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“I’m not fooling myself into thinking we can remove 20 million people. But, you know, we’re going to give it one hell of a shot and remove as many as we can,” he said.

Homan argued the enforcement of immigration law was not only just but the key to ending the border crisis by ending the primary pull factor drawing people to the border.

“The numbers are not going to stop until these countries start seeing plane loads of people coming home because they were ordered removed, and we removed them.”

Several high-profile hearings have taken place in the Senate hearing room where an alleged congressional staffer reportedly filmed a sex tape.

The U.S. Capitol Police told Fox News they were aware of an amateur pornographic video published by the Daily Caller on Friday, which shows someone identified as a congressional staffer, engaging in sex with another man in Hart Senate Office Building room 216.

The Daily Caller report states the video was leaked after being “shared in a private group for gay men in politics.” The men’s identities haven’t been confirmed. 

Social media posts claimed the alleged staffer worked for Sen. Ben Cardin’s office. Hours after the story broke, Cardin’s office announced that a legislative aide had been dismissed but did not address reports linking a member of his staff to the sex tape. 

NSFW: CAPITOL HILL ROCKED BY SEX TAPE SCANDAL FEATURING FAMOUS SENATE HEARING ROOM

“We will have no further comment on this personnel matter,” his office wrote in a statement.

According to the Daily Caller, the explicit video was recorded in Hart 216. Here’s a look at some of the high-profile events that have taken place in that same hearing room:

SENATE SEX TAPE: CONGRESSIONAL STAFFER ALLEGEDLY SEEN IN LEAKED VIDEO COULD FACE CHARGES, LEGAL EXPERT SAYS

Brett Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearings

Now-Supreme Court Associate Justice Bret Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings were held in Hart 216, which took place from September 4-7, 2018.

Samuel Alito Confirmation Hearings

Now-Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito’s confirmation hearings took place in Hart 216 from January 9-13, 2006.

Sonia Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings

Now-Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings were held from July 13-16, 2009 in Hart 216.

Amy Coney Barrett Confirmation Hearings

Now-Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearings took place in Hart 216 from Oct 12-15, 2020.

John Roberts Confirmation Hearings

Now-Chief Justice John Roberts’ confirmation hearings were held in Hart 216 from September 12-15, 2005.

Neil Gorsuch Confirmation Hearings

Now-Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings were held from March 20-23, 2017 in Hart 216.

Ketanji Brown Jackson Confirmation Hearings

Now-Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings were held in Hart 216 from March 21 to 24, 2022.

Elena Kagan Confirmation Hearings

Now-Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings took place in Hart 216 from June 28-July 1, 2010.

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9/11 Commission

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, known as the 9/11 Commission, held several hearings in Hart 216.

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Former FBI Director James Comey Hearing

Former FBI Director James Comey appeared in a hearing inside Hart 216 on June 8, 2017, to discuss his interactions with former President Trump.

John Kerry Confirmation Hearing

Former Secretary of State John Kerry’s confirmation hearings were held in Hart 216 on January 24, 2013.

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., introduced a resolution expressing that “regular journalistic activities” are protected by the First Amendment and that the U.S. government should end its prosecution against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is accused of publishing classified U.S. military documents.

The bipartisan resolution introduced Wednesday was co-sponsored by Reps. James McGovern, D-Mass.; Thomas Massie, R-Ky.; Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.; Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla.; Eric Bulsison, R-Mo.; Jeff Duncan, R-S.C.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Clay Higgins, D-La.

“Whereas regular journalistic activities, including the obtainment and publication of information, are protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States,” the resolution reads.

Assange is facing 17 charges for allegedly receiving, possessing and communicating classified information to the public under the Espionage Act and one charge alleging a conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. The charges were brought by the Trump administration in connection with the 2010 publication of cables U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning leaked to Wikileaks detailing war crimes committed by the U.S. government in the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp, Iraq and Afghanistan. The materials also exposed instances of the CIA engaging in torture and rendition.

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Wikileaks’ “Collateral Murder” video showing the U.S. military gunning down civilians in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists, was also published 13 years ago.

The resolution cites that Assange, an Australian citizen, was charged by the U.S. government for the alleged conspiracy to commit computer intrusion on accusations he helped Manning access Defense Department computers without authorization even though Manning “already had access to the mentioned computer, that the purported breaching of the Defense Department computers was impossible, and that there was no proof Mr. Assange had any contact with” Manning.

“Whereas, in 2010, WikiLeaks, a media organization established by Julian Assange, published a cache of hundreds of thousands of pieces of information including Guantánamo Bay detainee assessment briefs, State Department cables, rules of engagement files, and other United States military reports,” the resolution said. “Whereas the disclosure of this information promoted public transparency through the exposure of the hiring of child prostitutes by Defense Department contractors, friendly fire incidents, human rights abuses, civilian killings, and United States use of psychological warfare.”

Assange has been held at London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison since he was removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy on April 11, 2019, for breaching bail conditions. He had sought asylum at the embassy since 2012 to avoid being sent to Sweden over allegations he raped two women because Sweden would not provide assurances it would protect him from extradition to the U.S. The investigations into the sexual assault allegations were eventually dropped.

If he is extradited to the U.S. after exhausting all his legal appeals, Assange would face trial in Alexandria, Virginia, and could be sentenced to up to 175 years in an American maximum-security prison.

The resolution comes after multiple other bipartisan efforts this year by lawmakers in the U.S. and Assange’s home country of Australia demanding the U.S. drop the charges and end its extradition requests.

AUSTRALIAN DELEGATION MEETS WITH US OFFICIALS, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO DEMAND JULIAN ASSANGE’S FREEDOM

Last month, more than a dozen U.S. lawmakers signed a letter spearheaded by McGovern and Massie that was sent to President Biden urging him to end the prosecution against Assange. In September, a delegation of Australian lawmakers visited Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. officials and advocate for Assange’s freedom. And on the four-year anniversary of Assange’s arrest in April, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., led a letter to the Justice Department signed by some House members demanding it drop the charges.

In 2020, a similar resolution was introduced by Massie and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who was a Democrat while in office, that defended the free press and called for the charges against Assange to be dropped. Massie has also previously sponsored bipartisan legislation to reform the Espionage Act and protect whistleblowers and journalists.

No publisher had been charged under the Espionage Act until Assange, which many press freedom advocates describe as a dangerous precedent intended to criminalize journalism. U.S. prosecutors and critics of Assange have argued WikiLeaks’ publication of classified material put the lives of U.S. allies at risk, but there is no evidence that publishing the documents put anyone in danger.

“Whereas the successful prosecution of Mr. Assange under the Espionage Act would set a precedent allowing the United States to prosecute and imprison journalists for First Amendment protected activities, including the obtainment and publication of information, something that occurs on a regular basis,” Wednesday’s resolution said. “Whereas First Amendment freedom of the press is essential to promote public transparency and is a crucial safeguard for our Republic.”

“Whereas numerous human rights, press freedom, and privacy rights advocates and organizations have disclosed their sincere and steadfast support for Mr. Assange,” the resolution added.

AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER SAYS GOVERNMENT STANDS FIRM AGAINST US PROSECUTION OF JULIAN ASSANGE

Additionally, the editors and publishers of these U.S. and European outlets that worked with Assange on the publication of excerpts from more than 250,000 documents he obtained in the Cablegate leak — The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El País  — wrote an open letter last year calling for the U.S. to drop the charges against Assange.

The Obama administration decided not to indict Assange in 2013 over WikiLeaks’ publishing the classified cables in 2010 because it would have had to also indict journalists from major news outlets who published the same materials. Former President Obama also commuted Manning’s 35-year sentence for violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses to seven years in January 2017, and Manning, who had been imprisoned since 2010, was released later that year.

But Former President Trump’s Justice Department later moved to indict Assange under the Espionage Act, and the Biden administration has continued to pursue his prosecution.

During the Trump administration, the CIA allegedly had plans to kill Assange over the publication of sensitive agency hacking tools known as “Vault 7,” which the agency said represented “the largest data loss in CIA history,” Yahoo reported in 2021. The agency was accused of having discussions “at the highest levels” of the administration about plans to assassinate Assange in London and followed orders from then-CIA director Mike Pompeo to draw up kill “sketches” and “options.”

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The CIA also had advanced plans to kidnap and rendition Assange and had made a political decision to charge him, according to the report.

WikiLeaks also published internal communications in 2016 between the Democratic National Committee and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign that revealed the DNC’s attempts to boost Clinton in that year’s Democratic primary.

Gosar’s resolution expresses that “regular journalistic activities, including the obtainment and publication of information are protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States,” that “First Amendment freedom of the press promotes public transparency and is crucial for the American Republic,” that the “Federal Government ought to drop all charges against and attempts to extradite Julian Assange” and that the “Federal Government allow Julian Assange to return home to his native Australia if he so desires.”