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The mother of a woman allegedly murdered by an illegal immigrant from El Salvador gave emotional testimony to lawmakers Wednesday about the moment she found out about her daughter’s death while testifying that U.S. borders are “not safe.”

Patty Morin, whose daughter Rachel was killed last year in Maryland, testified at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the border crisis.

Police found Rachel’s body stuffed in a culvert and, after a months-long investigation, identified her suspected killer as an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who is also accused of murder in his home country and raping a mother and her 9-year-old daughter in Los Angeles.

“It was such a complete shock to our whole family. It took ten months for them to find this suspected illegal immigrant,” she told lawmakers.

TOP HOUSE COMMITTEE SHREDS BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN ON BORDER CRISIS IN NEW REPORT: ‘ASSAULT ON THE RULE OF LAW’ 

Patty Morin, whose daughter was murdered, testifies during a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing at the U.S. Capitol Sept. 18, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

“An illegal immigrant that was a gotaway from El Salvador had waited for her on the trail. I was told that they grabbed her, dragged her through the woods, raped her, strangled her, murdered her. We were told that her body was blanketed in bruises. And I can tell you from looking at her when I went to the funeral home that it was probably the most graphic thing that I’ve ever seen,” she said.

The hearing, “A Country Without Borders: How Biden-Harris’ Open-Borders Policies Have Undermined Our Safety and Security,” saw lawmakers trade barbs over who was responsible for the crisis at the border, which saw a historic number of migrants hit the border and a number of criminals released into the U.S. as part of that wave.

Ahead of the hearing, Republicans released a report slamming the Biden administration’s policies and blaming it for the crisis and the consequences that followed.

Rachel Morin was dragged off a hiking trail Aug. 5, 2023, and brutally murdered.  (Family handout)

“As we continue to witness Biden and Harris’ resistance to doing anything meaningful about this disaster, we have to ask — why? Why did they let this crisis take place and why have they let it continue,” Chairman Mark Green told the committee.

BIDEN-HARRIS BORDER CRISIS: VICTIMS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIME TESTIFY IN HOUSE HEARING

While Republicans blame the Biden administration for the crisis, the administration and Democrats say it is the fault of Congress for failing to pass broader immigration reforms to fix a “broken” system and provide additional funding. They have pointed, in particular, to a bipartisan Senate bill to provide more funding and limits on asylum entries. Republicans refused to back that bill, saying it would codify high numbers at the border.

With that stalling, President Biden signed an order limiting entries into the U.S. in June. The administration says that has led to a sharp drop in encounters at the border since then.

“While you probably won’t hear it from those on the other side, border encounters are at their lowest level in years since the president’s proclamation on June 4, and encounters along the border and ports of entry have decreased by 55%, with Border Patrol recording the lowest number of border encounters since September 2020,” ranking member Bennie Thompson said.

He also scolded Republicans for not backing the Senate bill.

TRUMP MEETS WITH RACHEL MORIN FAMILY AT BORDER

“At the direction of former President Trump, Republicans blocked the Senate bipartisan border deal, and they are refusing to move necessary border security funding. Republicans don’t want border security solutions. They want a political issue,” he said.

But Morin had a warning for Americans watching the hearing. 

“They say that the borders are safe. We live 1,800 miles away from the southern border. They’re not safe. They’re not safe. If you have a sanctuary city in your state, you’re not safe,” Morin warned.

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Fox News’ Michael Ruiz contributed to this report. 

More than 150 House Democrats voted against a bill that would deport illegal immigrants convicted of a sexual offense or conspiracy to commit such a crime.

The Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act passed the House of Representatives along bipartisan lines on Wednesday. All present Republicans voted for the bill, as did 51 Democratic lawmakers. The measure passed 266 to 158.

Among the Democrats who voted for the bill are Reps. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska; Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez, D-Wash.; Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.; and Hillary Scholten, D-Mich.

Two of the Democrats who voted for it are seeking higher office — Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., is running for Senate, and Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., is running for governor.

In addition to deporting migrants convicted of sex crimes, the legislation would also deem illegal immigrants who admit to domestic violence or sex-related charges — or are convicted of them — to be inadmissible in the U.S.

EX-BORDER CHIEF WARNS OF ‘SIGNIFICANT THREAT’ AS MIGRANT NUMBERS SKYROCKET: ‘ENTIRE SECTORS’ MISSING AGENTS

The House of Representatives passed a bill to deport migrants convicted of sex crimes. (Getty Images)

It’s part of a wider legislative push by the House GOP to spotlight issues stemming from the border crisis, which has for months affected cities and states across the country.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital hours before the vote that she “100%” anticipated Democrats voting against her bill.

“If you vote against it, you’re sexist against women,” Mace declared.

“I mean, truly, because we’re talking about illegals who are here who are committing domestic violence, rape and murder on women and children — they’ve gotta go. They shouldn’t be allowed into our country.”

GERMANY CLAMPS DOWN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AS COUNTRY FORCED TO RETHINK POLICIES AMID VOTER ANGER

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced the bill earlier this year. (Reuters/Mike Segar)

Democrats have panned the bill as xenophobic, however.

“Here we are again, debating another partisan bill that fear mongers about immigrants, instead of working together to fix the immigration system,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said during debate on the bill.

“I probably shouldn’t be too surprised. Scapegoating immigrants and attempting to weaponize the crime of domestic violence is appearing to be a time-honored tradition for Republicans.”

TOP HOUSE COMMITTEE RAMPS UP PRESSURE TO OBTAIN ‘IMPORTANT’ DOCS ON HARRIS’ ROLE IN BORDER CRISIS 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has put a heavy emphasis on the border crisis. (Getty Images)

Despite the wider pushback, however, GOP efforts to highlight the border crisis have gotten modest Democratic support.

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House Republicans previously passed a bill to detain and deport migrants convicted of assaulting law enforcement with the help of 54 Democrats — while 148 lawmakers voted against the measure.

Meanwhile, the GOP-backed Laken Riley Act, named after an Augusta University nursing student who was allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant, netted support from 37 House Democrats.

New video of U.S. troops being shot at overseas contradicts Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim the U.S. does not have troops in an active combat zone, according to Rep. Jim Banks.

The harrowing footage shows a firestorm of bullets and explosives targeting U.S. troops and was taken within the last “few months,” according to the Indiana Republican, who obtained it from a service member. 

The time and place of the footage cannot be divulged due to national security concerns. 

During her debate with former President Trump last week, Harris boasted of the Biden administration’s efforts to get U.S. troops out of war zones like Afghanistan.

MILITARY EXPERTS REJECT HARRIS CLAIM OF ‘NO US SOLDIERS IN COMBAT ZONES’ 

“There is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world, the first time this century,” she claimed. 

U.S. troops stand in formation on Memorial Day 2024 in Iraq, a designated combat zone. (U.S. Army)

“That is just a complete lie,” Banks told Fox News Digital. “This video proves that we have troops being fired on.”

“Without a doubt,” U.S. troops are being fired at regularly, added Banks, an Afghanistan veteran and Armed Services Committee member. 

“We have troops currently in Syria. We still have troops in Iraq. We have troops in the Middle East. The Houthis are using our Navy ships as target practice. We have dangerous threats around the world, and Kamala Harris is trying to score cheap political points and lie to the American people right before the election to say that we don’t have troops in combat zones,” Banks said. 

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Iraq and Syria are designated combat zones, and troops that serve there earn combat pay. The U.S. has about 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria. The Defense Department is in talks about a plan to pull Americans out of Iraq beginning next year.

In an operation last month, U.S. troops and Iraqi forces killed a senior commander with the Islamic State, in addition to several other prominent militants, for a total 14 ISIS operatives. 

U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., arrives for a House Republican members meeting as the conference continues to debate the race for speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol Oct. 19, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Five U.S. troops were wounded in the raid itself and two were injured from falls during the operation. 

The Islamic State group seized territory at the height of its power and declared a caliphate over swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014. It was defeated in Iraq in 2017, but attacks by ISIS sleeper cells across Iraq and Syria have been on the rise over the past few years. 

A soldier from the U.S.-led coalition gestures toward schoolchildren during a joint U.S.- Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces patrol in the countryside of Qamishli in northeastern Syria Feb. 8, 2024. (Reuters/Orhan Qereman)

The Pentagon told Fox News Digital that service members are stationed in various dangerous locations but noted that those deployments are made by the executive branch and not due to wars declared by Congress.

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“An aspect of military service includes serving in locations where hostile actions may occur,” a defense official said. “Those locations are designated by executive order and/or the secretary of defense.

“However, it’s important to note that just because a service member is in one of these locations does not mean they are engaged in war,” the official added. “The U.S. is not currently engaged in a war and does not have troops fighting in active war zones anywhere in the world.”

With fewer than 47 days until the November election, Vice President Harris and former President Trump are tied with likely voters in Pennsylvania, which could be the state to decide the contest on Election Day. 

Trump and Harris each garnered 49% of likely voters in the Keystone State, per a new Marist Poll. 

Furthermore, 90% of likely voters who said they had a candidate preference also reported strongly supporting them. 

GOP SENS CALL ON SCHUMER, DEMS TO TAKE UP BORDER BILLS AS THEY TOUT IMMIGRATION VIGILANCE

A new poll shows former President Trump and Vice President Harris tied in battleground Pennsylvania. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

“Pennsylvania is attracting the most attention of the Rust Belt states from the presidential candidates and with good reason,” said Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. “It’s the biggest prize in the region and the most competitive. Winning Pennsylvania doesn’t guarantee the White House, but it goes a long way.”

In two other so-called “blue wall” states, Michigan and Wisconsin, Harris topped Trump in the survey. 

The vice president is up five points in Michigan, 52% to Trump’s 47%. However, the margin is razor-thin in Wisconsin, where she only beat him by one point, 50% to 49%. 

According to Miringoff, “of the three so-called blue wall states, Michigan is the one where there is a difference between Harris and Trump.”

SECRET SERVICE TOLD LOCALS THEY WOULD ‘TAKE CARE OF’ BUILDING USED BY THOMAS CROOKS TO SHOOT TRUMP

Republican presidential nominee former President Trump laughs while responding to a question from a reporter in Howell, Mich.  (Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

“The Michigan vote is being driven by Trump’s high negatives with Vance certainly providing no help for the GOP ticket,” Miringoff added, referencing the 53% of Michigan likely voters that view Trump unfavorably. 

Inflation was the top issue for most Pennsylvanians by far, with one-third saying so. Despite it being a campaign priority for Democrats across the country, abortion was the fourth most likely to be a top issue for voters, at just 11%. It was beaten by immigration at 15%, and preserving democracy, which garnered 27%. 

The top issue breakdown among Wisconsin voters was similar to that of Pennsylvania, but in Michigan, the issue of preserving Democracy proved to be the most important for the greatest number of voters. 

‘AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE’: SENATE REPUBLICANS CONDEMN PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY’S UN BID TO UNDERMINE ISRAEL

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally in Pittsburgh, Pa. (Getty Images)

At 30%, the most likely Michigan voters cited it as such. Inflation was close behind, at 29%. Immigration followed at 15%, while abortion received 10%. 

In all three states, an at least 20-point gender gap exists between Harris and Trump, with men breaking more often for the former president and women tending to choose Harris. 

GOP DEMANDS TRUMP HAVE ‘SAME LEVEL’ SECRET SERVICE PROTECTION AS BIDEN AFTER 2ND ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

People vote in Madison, Wis., during the 2022 elections. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

While the gap exists for both of them, Trump’s woes with women seem to loom larger than Harris’ issue with men. Trump’s gap is particularly wide with women in Michigan, where Harris leads him by the most. In the state, the distance between Harris and Trump among likely women voters is 15 points. 

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The close polls come as Trump seems to be losing his edge in two critical states, according to the most recent Fox News Power Rankings. Both North Carolina and Georgia, which were once considered Republican strongholds, are now rated toss-ups in the presidential race. 

With these presidential race shifts by Fox News Power Rankings, Harris has taken the overall lead in the forecast for the first time. 

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

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to avert a partial government shutdown failed on Wednesday. 

It was voted down 202 to 220, with two Republicans – Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky. – voting “present.”

At least nine Republicans voted against House GOP leadership’s bill, a six-month extension of the current year’s federal funding levels coupled with a measure to require proof of citizenship in the voter registration process.

Three Democrats voted in support of the measure – Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., and Don Davis, D-N.C.

The bill began hemorrhaging support soon after Johnson rolled it out during a conference call with House Republicans earlier this month – to the frustration of the majority of the House GOP.

CLUB FOR GROWTH POURS $5M INTO TIGHT HOUSE RACES AS GOP BRACES FOR TOUGH ELECTION

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson is pictured in front of the U.S. Capitol. (Getty Images/AP)

A significant number of Republicans object to a stop-gap spending patch called a continuing resolution (CR) on principle – believing it to be an unnecessary extension of government bloat.

National security hawks expressed concern about the impact of a six-month funding extension on military readiness without added funds to keep up with rising costs.

The discord has caused tensions to run high within the House GOP.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a vocal supporter of the bill and author of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, said of fellow Republicans: “I would dare any one of my colleagues who are against this plan, come forward with a better plan that we will actually be able to move, pass, and unite the Republican Party to go beat Democrats.”

“Don’t predict failure and then be the reason why we fail – and that’s what some of my friends are doing, unfortunately,” Roy said on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” program. 

Johnson allies have also pointed out that this plan would be a strong opening salvo in a negotiation with the Democrat-controlled Senate on government funding – the speaker himself has repeatedly said the SAVE Act is worth fighting for.

JOHNSON UNVEILS TRUMP-BACKED HOUSE GOP PLAN TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, SETS UP BATTLE WITH SCHUMER

Rep. Chip Roy is one of the strongest advocates for Johnson’s plan. (Getty Images)

Both Republican and Democratic leaders have conceded a CR is necessary to give congressional negotiators more time past the Oct. 1 deadline to hash out fiscal year 2025’s priorities.

Democrats, however, have called for a “clean” CR free from conservative policy riders. And senior lawmakers in both parties argued that a CR through December is the best course of action to allow Congress to reevaluate after the election.

Johnson has repeatedly insisted he had no “plan B” beyond Wednesday’s vote. He said as much to GOP lawmakers in a closed-door Wednesday morning meeting, two sources told Fox News Digital.

MCCARTHY’S ‘FINAL STRUGGLES’ THREATEN TO HAUNT JOHNSON’S GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN FIGHT

But with his initial plan defeated, Johnson is now caught between two warring Republican factions – one that wants him to leverage a partial government shutdown, and one that is reluctantly conceding that the House GOP could be left with no choice but to pass a “clean” CR into December.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump, who initially backed the six-month CR plus SAVE Act plan, more recently advocated for congressional Republicans to shut down the government if they did not get “absolute assurances on election security.”

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024.  (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

A majority of Republicans, however, are publicly and privately conceding that they would bear the brunt of public anger over a government shutdown weeks before Election Day.

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Vulnerable Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., insisted to reporters on Wednesday morning that “there’s not going to be a shutdown.”

When asked directly about Trump’s insistence, Lawler answered, “I’m not shutting the government down. My colleagues aren’t shutting the government down.”

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Standing in front of a packed arena on New York’s Long Island, former President Donald Trump predicted victory in November in the reliably blue state.

“It hasn’t been done for a long time. But we are going to win New York. And that’s the first time in many, many years that a Republican can honestly say it. And we’re going to do it,” Trump vowed.

“We have to do it. We do it, and the election nationwide is over,” Trump added as he spoke to what his campaign said was a capacity crowd of roughly 16,000 people packed into an arena in Nassau County, a suburban New York City Republican stronghold.

Trump made a similar pledge four years ago before losing his native state to President Biden by over 23 points. And polling strongly suggests that Trump has no serious chance of carrying New York in his 2024 election showdown with Vice President Kamala Harris.

TRUMP TOUTS ‘UNION SUPPORT’ AFTER TEAMSTERS SHOCKING ANNOUNCEMENT

Former President Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, headlines a rally at the Nassau Coliseum, in Uniondale, New York on Sept. 18, 2024 (Fox News – Julia Bonavita )

It’s been 40 years since a Republican nominee has carried New York state in a presidential election. 

You have to go back to President Ronald Reagan, who won the state as part of his landslide re-election victory in 1984.

Trump promised New Yorkers that if he wins back the White House, “I’m going to reduce your taxes, reduce your crime, and reduce your levels of stress.”

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLL SHOWS IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN

And the former president pledged that during a second Trump term, “I will officially make the Ground Zero site at the World Trade Center a national monument protected and maintained by the United States government.”

Wednesday’s rally was Trump’s second large campaign event this year in the Empire State, after drawing a big crowd in the New York City borough of the Bronx in May. 

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speak during a campaign rally in the south Bronx, in New York City, on Thursday, May, 23. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)

While there was some chatter of New York potentially being in play as President Biden’s poll numbers started cratering following his disastrous late-June debate performance against Trump, the conversation was fleeting and quickly dissipated when Harris replaced Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket two months ago.

So why — with less than 50 days to go until Election Day and time becoming a very precious commodity — did Trump hold a campaign rally just outside of New York City?

“Quite clearly, New York is the biggest media hub in the country,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told Fox News on the eve of the rally.

Murtaugh emphasized that “when [Trump] delivers a message there, it’s piped directly into homes in every market in every battleground state. The most valuable commodity we have is President Trump’s time. And that event is making efficient use of it.”

DOES TRUMP OR HARRIS HAVE THE EDGE IN THESE KEY BATTLEGROUNDS?

While Trump is extremely unlikely to carry New York in the White House race, the rally may help Republicans down-ballot, as they try to hold on to their House of Representatives majority in November’s elections.

Several GOP-controlled House seats in New York state are considered vulnerable this year, including one held by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of Long Island. A number of them were at the rally and spoke ahead of Trump. And the former president gave the House Republicans and congressional candidates shoutouts as he addressed the crowd.

D’Esposito, in an interview with Fox News’ Bryan Ilenas, said “it is very clear – perhaps New York is not a battleground state, but what there is – is there’s a battleground right here on Long Island. And when Trump wins on Election Night, he is going to need a House majority and that House majority runs through the Empire State.”

Trump’s rally was his first since this past weekend’s apparent second assassination attempt against the former president, and the 78-year-old GOP nominee insisted that the incidents had “hardened my resolve.”

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“These encounters with death have not broken my will,” he emphasized. “They have really given me a much bigger and stronger mission. They’ve only hardened my resolve to use my time on Earth to make America great again for all Americans, to put America first.”

And Trump said that “God has now spared my life — it must have been God, thank you — not once but twice.”

Fox News’ Jennifer Johnson contributed to this report

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

In an effort to “sow discord and shape the outcome of U.S. elections”, Iranian cyber actors sent messages during the summer to people involved in President Biden’s then re-election campaign containing stolen material from former President Trump’s campaign, U.S. agencies said.

“Iranian malicious cyber actors in late June and early July sent unsolicited emails to individuals then associated with President Biden’s campaign that contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails,” the FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a joint statement on Wednesday. 

The agencies noted that there is currently no information indicating if recipients replied to the messages.

IRAN TRYING TO SABOTAGE TRUMP’S PRESIDNETIAL CAMPAIGN: US INTELLIGENCE

U.S. intelligence officials believe Iran is meddling in the 2024 election. (Getty Images)

The U.S. intelligence agencies also alleged that Iran has continued their election interference since June and has sent stolen Trump campaign material to U.S. media organizations.

“Furthermore, Iranian malicious cyber actors have continued their efforts since June to send stolen, non-public material associated with former President Trump’s campaign to U.S. media organizations,” they said.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei delivers remarks on Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran Nuclear Issue in 2015 between five permanent members of United Nations Security Council, Germany and Iran on February 17, 2021 in Tehran, Iran. (Iranian Leader Press Office / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The agencies said that the continued election interference from Iran is to “stoke discord and undermine confidence in our electoral process.”

“As the lead for threat response, the FBI has been tracking this activity, has been in contact with the victims, and will continue to investigate and gather information in order to pursue and disrupt the threat actors responsible,” they said. “Foreign actors are increasing their election influence activities as we approach November.”

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Iran is not the only foreign adversary accused of meddling with the 2024 presidential election. On July 10, ODNI officials called Russia the “preeminent threat” to the election.

An Arizona sheriff told House lawmakers Wednesday a proposal for a wall on the southern border has a “racist component” to it unless a wall is built on the United States’ border with Canada as well. 

Testifying before the House Committee on Homeland Security on the border crisis, Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway explained how immigrants have a positive economic effect during an inquiry from Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.

“They actually reduce price inflation. You see help wanted signs all over the United States. If you add productivity to the economy, it makes the economy more productive,” Hathaway said. 

Hathaway then addressed calls for a wall on the southern border with Mexico. 

BIDEN-HARRIS BORDER CRISIS: VICTIMS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIME TESTIFY IN HOUSE HEARING

Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway testified before House lawmakers Wednesday.  (House )

“I hate to use the ‘R’ word, but it’s the 800-pound gorilla in the room,” he said. “There’s a xenophobic aspect to this. There was never a proposal to build a wall on the northern border, on the Canadian border. There was never any intent to aggressively enforce Title 42 on the Canadian border.”

Title 42 is a Trump-era policy established during the COVID-19 pandemic that allowed U.S. officials to turn away migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border because of health concerns.

“So, you know there is this kind of racist component to it that we kind of all ignore, but it’s there smoldering in the background,” Hathaway said.

His remarks came as he sat next to the mother of Rachel Morin, who was allegedly killed last year in Maryland by an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.

TOP HOUSE COMMITTEE SHREDS BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN ON BORDER CRISIS IN NEW REPORT: ‘ASSAULT ON THE RULE OF LAW’ 

Patty Morin, whose daughter was killed, testifies during a House Committee on Homeland Security at the U.S. Capitol Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington, D.C.  (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

“An illegal immigrant that was a gotaway from El Salvador had waited for her on the trail. I was told that they grabbed her, dragged her through the woods, raped her, strangled her, murdered her,” Patty Morin told lawmakers. 

“We were told that her body was blanketed in bruises. And I can tell you from looking at her when I went to the funeral home that it was probably the most graphic thing that I’ve ever seen.”

The Biden administration has come under fire from Republicans over its border policies that have allowed record numbers of illegal migrants to enter the U.S. 

Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., scalded Hathaway, questioning him about his knowledge of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

Rachel Morin was dragged off a hiking trail Aug. 5, 2023, and brutally murdered.  (Family handout)

“And you’re a sheriff?” Gimenez asked. “That’s one of the most violent gangs that’s coming out of Venezuela. That’s coming through your town.”

The congressman, an immigrant from Cuba, also took issue with Hathaway’s assertion that supporting a border wall is racist. 

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“I believe that immigration should be legal immigration. I disagree with illegal immigration. Am I a racist?” Gimenez asked before the sheriff doubled down on his border wall argument. 

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced on Wednesday that it won’t endorse either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump in the 2024 White House election.
 

The powerful union decided to stay neutral in a presidential race for the first time in over a quarter-century – despite releasing internal polling of the union’s rank-and-file membership showing majority support for Trump.
 

And the populist former president and his campaign quickly spotlighted the strong support among union workers.
 

“It’s a great honor. They’re not going to endorse the Democrats. That’s a big thing,” Trump told reporters shortly after the Teamsters announcement, during a stop in New York City ahead of holding a rally on nearby Long Island.

DAVID MARCUS: WHY TEAMSTERS MEMBERS THINK TRUMP, NOT HARRIS, IS THE REAL FRIEND OF THE WORKING MAN

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a town hall event at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Mich., Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

In a release titled “Union Workers Support President Donald Trump,” the campaign highlighted the former president’s more than 25-point margin over the vice president in both on-line and phone survey’s of Teamsters members.
 

Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt argued in a statement that “the hardworking members of the Teamsters have been loud and clear — they want President Trump back in the White House! These hardworking men and women are the backbone of America and President Trump will strongly stand up for them when he’s back in the White House.”
 

The powerful union, which has over one million members in the U.S. and is deeply connected to working-class voters in the key Midwestern general election battlegrounds and in other swing states across the country, until now had endorsed the Democratic candidate for president in every election since 1980.
 

And the Teamsters became the only one of the nation’s top ten not to back Harris in the 2024 presidential showdown.
 

Asked if the move by the Teamsters will impact the election, Trump said “I think it will. Yeah, I think so. The Teamsters carry a lot of weight.”

Trump’s support among Teamsters has surged since Harris replaced President Biden at the top of the Democratic Party’s 2024 ticket two months ago, the union’s data indicated. The union’s polling prior to Biden dropping out showed the president was ahead of Trump among members, 44.3% to 36.3%.
 

DNC APPARENTLY SNUBS TEAMSTERS PRESIDENT FOLLOWING HIS HISTORIC RNC SPEECH

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) Leadership Conference, at Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Biden made history as the first president to walk the picket lines with striking workers.
 

In explaining the reasoning for declining to endorse a 2024 presidential candidate on Wednesday, the union said in a statement, “The union’s extensive member polling showed no majority support for Vice President Harris and no universal support among the membership for President Trump.”
 

Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien said that “neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business.”
 

“We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honor our members’ right to strike — but were unable to secure those pledges,” O’Brien added.
 

O’Brien, speaking to reporters on Monday after the union’s executive board meeting with Harris [the board met earlier this year with Trump and separately with Biden], said that the polling of the rank and file members would be an important factor – but not the only factor in whether they would endorse – and if so – whom they would endorse.

UNION LEADER’S PROVOCATIVE RNC SPEECH DRAWS IRE FROM SOME IN ORGANIZED LABOR

General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Sean O’Brien speaks during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

O’Brien noted that any endorsement is “going to come down to the rank and file members, the polling and also the discussion and deliberation of the general executive board.”
He also reiterated his criticism of Trump’s recent comments in an interview with billionaire business mogul Elon Musk – when the former president praised the tech CEO for retaliating against striking workers by firing them – which is illegal.
 

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Asked if Trump’s comments would impact the Teamsters endorsement, O’Brien said “it plays into the decision.”
 

The Harris campaign, in a statement to Fox News after the move by the union not to back either major party presidential nominee, pointed to endorsements from “many Teamsters locals and rank-and-file.”
 

“While Donald Trump says striking workers should be fired, Vice President Harris has literally walked the picket line and stood strong with organized labor for her entire career,” Harris campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said.
 

Hitt added that “the Vice President’s strong union record is why Teamsters locals across the country have already endorsed her – alongside the overwhelming majority of organized labor. As the Vice President told the Teamsters on Monday, when she is elected president, she will look out for the Teamsters rank-and-file no matter what – because they always have been and always will be the people she fights for.”

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

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

Here’s what’s happening…

– Top House committee shreds Biden-Harris admin on border…

– Liberal group claims Harris is lying about moderating on the border…

– Secret Service facing staffing shortage ahead of the election…

San Francisco ‘Values’ on Guns

As San Francisco’s district attorney, Kamala Harris told legal gun owners in her community that authorities could “walk into” their homes to inspect whether they were storing their firearms properly under a new law she helped draft.

“We’re going to require responsible behaviors among everybody in the community, and just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn’t mean that we’re not going to walk into that home and check to see if you’re being responsible and safe in the way you conduct your affairs,” Harris told a group of reporters in May 2007. 

The remarks came during a press conference introducing legislation that Harris helped draft, which sought to impose penalties for gun owners who fail to store their firearms properly at home. 

During the May 2007 press conference discussing the safe-storage bill, Harris said the new measure was about legislating “our values” in an attempt to “encourage certain kinds of behavior.”

“When we create laws, it’s not only about creating an opportunity, if you will, to prosecute someone for committing a crime, but more importantly, when we legislate our values, it’s about trying to encourage certain types of behavior,” Harris said at the time. ….Read more

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) leadership conference, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Trump Assassination Attempts 

THE BUTLER DEBACLE: Secret Service told locals they would ‘take care of’ building Crooks shot Trump from …Read more

400 SHORT: Secret Service facing staffing woes ahead of election …Read more

‘VOCALLY ANTI-TRUMP’: Concerns mount surrounding FBI lead agent investigating Trump assassination attempt …Read more

‘FULL FORCE’: FBI director promises to dedicate entire department’s resources to investigating second Trump assassination attempt …Read more

FBI Director Christopher Wray was questioned on Wednesday about a questionnaire asking FBI employees whether they support Donald Trump. (Chris Kleponis / AFP)

Capitol Hill

ELECTIONEERING: EXCLUSIVE: House Small Business Committee to present SBA with letter proving existence of key document in electioneering case …Read more

‘CRISIS BY DESIGN’: Top House committee report shreds Biden-Harris admin on border …Read more

FIRST INTERVIEW: New House Freedom Caucus chair reveals group’s next ‘big fight’ …Read more

BORDER DEAL?: Cartel gun trafficking at border targeted in new bipartisan House bill …Read more

Reps. Dan Crenshaw and Abigail Spanberger are teaming up on a new bill to crack down on firearms and currency trafficking at the southern border (Getty Images)

Tales from the Trail

MIXED MESSAGES: Harris appears to undercut her own economic plan, says ‘few’ companies engage in price gouging …Read more

BLUE WALL BATTLEGROUNDS: New poll shows one candidate has an edge key states in Harris-Trump showdown …Read more

BATTLEGROUND BRAWL: New poll indicates whether Harris or Trump has the edge in this key battleground state …Read more

‘CODING OVERSIGHT’: Battleground state election database finds 100,000 voters lacked proof of citizenship …Read more

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes looks on during a House Administration Committee hearing in the Longworth House Office Building at the U.S. Capitol on September 11, 2024 in Washington, DC. The hearing examined “American Confidence in Elections” while looking forward to the 2024 Presidential Election in just under two months. (Photo by Bonnie Cash/Getty Images) (Bonnie Cash/Getty Images)

‘KNOW AND TRUST’ HER: Liberal group indicates they think Harris is pretending to moderate her immigration views before election …Read more

STATISTICAL TIE: Trump leads within margin of error in key battleground state …Read more

‘CAREER POLITICIAN’: Vulnerable Dem senator’s claims about ‘fighting’ lobbyists come back to haunt him in new report …Read more

‘TOXIC’ TALK: Watch: Battleground state voters blame Dems’ rhetoric for attempts on Trump’s life …Read more

“Make American Great Again” hats for sale before a town hall event with former US President Donald Trump and Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, not pictured, at Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. Trump is poised to capitalize on the second attempt on his life in recent months, using the shocking development to try to snatch back the political momentum that Vice President Kamala Harris has enjoyed. Photographer: Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Across America

ICEBREAKER: Alaskans on alert as China, Russia war-game offshore …Read more

DIRTY FUEL: Western nations have bought $2B in Russian oil this year despite sanctions …Read more

‘OUR TEAM VS THEIR TEAM’: ‘Trump Train’ trial defendant says convoy participants engaged in free speech …Read more

200% TAX: Trump says he will make Chinese auto imports from Mexico ‘unsellable’ …Read more

AID DELAYED: $6B in Ukraine aid could go wasted if authority to spend it is not extended …Read more

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

More than 100 former Republican officials, mostly those who worked in national security or previously in various GOP presidential administrations, have penned a letter endorsing Vice President Harris and warning about the dangers of a potential second Trump administration.

“We appreciate that many Republicans prefer Donald Trump to Kamala Harris, for a variety of reasons. We recognize and do not disparage their potential concerns,” the letter released Wednesday reads. “But any potential concerns pale in comparison to Donald Trump’s demonstrated chaotic and unethical behavior and disregard for our Republic’s time-tested principles of constitutional governance.”

The signatories insisted in their letter that when it comes to diplomacy, the former president’s “unpredictable nature is not the negotiating virtue he extols.” It added that Trump’s demeanor “invites equally erratic behavior from our adversaries, which irresponsibly threatens reckless and dangerous global consequences.”

The Wednesday letter comes roughly three weeks after more than 200 former GOP officials, including people who worked for former President George W. Bush, the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, also came out in favor of a Harris presidency. The letter also comes shortly after former Vice President Cheney and his daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, both indicated they would be voting for Harris as well.

KAMALA HARRIS: I HAVE THE ENDORSEMENT OF 200 REPUBLICANS

John McCain, left, and Mitt Romney talk at a campaign rally in 2008. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The letter on Wednesday was primarily signed by officials who had previously worked in either one of the Bush administrations or under former President Reagan. However, some former Republican members of Congress, including Illinois’ Adam Kinzinger and Virginia’s Barbara Comstock, also signed the Wednesday letter.

In total, it boasted 111 signatures but did include at least two repeats from the August letter endorsing Harris. Another name appeared to be a third repeat from the August letter, but Fox News Digital could not confirm if it was the same person ahead of publication time. Meanwhile, there were also two signatories on the Wednesday letter who also signed the infamous October 2020 letter from dozens of intelligence community officials asserting that the Hunter Biden laptop story broken by the New York Post was “disinformation pushed by Russia.”

A Trump campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, slammed the Wednesday letter’s signatories, arguing they are “the same people who got our country into endless foreign wars and profited off of them while the American people suffered.”

“President Trump is the only president in the modern era not to get our country into any new wars,” Cheung said.

HARRIS CAMPAIGN ORGANIZES TO TARGET REPUBLICAN VOTERS, TOUTS SUPPORT FROM GOP DISSENTERS

George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush (David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

The letter on Wednesday pointed to several reasons why its signatories are supporting Harris for president. Among them were that Harris has “consistently championed the rule of law, democracy, and our constitutional principles.” The letter also said Harris has “pledged” to ensure the U.S. military will continue to be the most lethal fighting force in the world, and it highlighted her support for NATO, Israel and the bipartisan border security act that failed this year. The letter noted that Harris has pledged she will appoint a Republican to her Cabinet “in order to encourage a diversity of views and restore a measure of bipartisanship and comity to our domestic politics.”

On national security, the letter lauded Harris for what it described as her ability to “engage in orderly national security decision-making.” It added that a Harris presidency would likely be absent “the constant drama and Cabinet turnover of the Trump administration.” 

However, during Harris’ tenure as vice president, she has come under scrutiny for creating a poor office culture and having a nearly 92% staff turnover rate.

HARRIS-WALZ PRESENT CONFUSING FOREIGN POLICY THAT TOUTS SUCCESSES AMID CHAOTIC REALITY

Meanwhile, the letter blasted Trump for cozying up to U.S. adversaries: “Donald Trump’s susceptibility to flattery and manipulation by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, unusual affinity for other authoritarian leaders, contempt for the norms of decent, ethical and lawful behavior, and chaotic national security decision-making are dangerous qualities.”

Then-President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are shown at their second summit meeting on Feb. 28, 2019, in Hanoi, Vietnam. (Vietnam News Agency/Handout/Getty Images)

On Monday, Trump surrogate Tulsi Gabbard praised Trump for the “tough work” he has done engaging with U.S. adversaries, which she insisted was a critical part of successful U.S. diplomacy.

“President Trump did in his last administration what President Obama refused to do, what President Biden refused to do, what Kamala Harris has made clear she refuses to do, which is to go out and do that tough work that a president and commander in chief has to do in diplomacy,” Gabbard said. “Not just hanging out with your friends and your allies and your partners, but actually going out and talking to your adversaries.”

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The Wednesday letter concluded by saying Trump could not be entrusted “to support and defend the Constitution” against foreign and domestic enemies alike. “We believe that Kamala Harris can, and we urge other Americans to join us in supporting her,” the letter said. It also said Trump should never be able to hold political office of any kind in the future.

Currently, the Harris campaign is making a concerted effort to target vulnerable Republican voters, including through paid media and grassroots-driven digital efforts. Harris campaign spokesperson Ian Sams recently told Fox News Digital that Harris “has Republican momentum right now.”

“We are proud of the bipartisan groundswell behind Vice President Harris,” Sams said. “And we will continue working every day to earn the support of Republican voters who want a president like her who still believes in patriotism, freedom, and our Constitution.”

House Republicans are toying with the idea of attaching additional U.S. Secret Service (USSS) funds to a short-term spending patch aimed at avoiding an Oct. 1 partial government shutdown.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is teeing up a vote Wednesday evening on his plan to avert a shutdown, a six-month spending patch called a continuing resolution (CR), which is being paired with a measure to require proof of citizenship for voter registration.

It’s likely to fail, given significant GOP opposition to any kind of CR and Democrats’ opposition to the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.

Multiple House Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital Wednesday signaled they are bracing for a CR with no conservative policies attached, which would only go through December — the position taken by the Senate Democratic majority.

SUSPECTED TRUMP GUNMAN PREVIOUSLY ARRESTED FOR HAVING WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION

Congress has focused scrutiny on the Secret Service amid two failed assassination attempts against former President Trump. (Getty Images)

Several GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital also suggested that pairing some kind of additional funds for USSS could also get widespread support, particularly after the recent assassination attempts against former President Trump, the GOP presidential nominee.

Rep. John Duarte, R-Calif., one of the House GOP’s most vulnerable lawmakers in November’s election, told Fox News Digital he would support such a move if Wednesday’s vote failed.

“We’ve had two attempts on the president in the last month or two, and we know how devastating these assassinations could be to the country. So, if things are so heightened that we have to add more Secret Service funding, it’s important for our democracy that we do it,” Duarte said.

‘AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE’: SENATE REPUBLICANS CONDEMN PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY’S UN BID TO UNDERMINE ISRAEL

When asked about the inevitability of a “clean” December CR without conservative policies, one senior House Republican told Fox News Digital, “I mean, when you look at it, that’s the history.”

The Republican added it was “highly likely” Wednesday’s vote failing would lead to discussions about additional USSS funds in a backup plan “given everything that’s happened.”

The House is voting on Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to avert a government shutdown Wednesday. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Another senior House GOP lawmaker said “there’s appetite to do it” but noted there were logistical questions, like whether additional funding for the USSS could make a difference before the election.

“The issue with it is, so you’ve got the funding, how do you hire that quickly?” the senior lawmaker said. “It’s definitely something we’re working through enough to be mentioned, but I haven’t been to any strategy meetings about it.”

“I think most of us realize that obviously it’s … not like the Senate’s going to take up our package. So they’re going to bounce it back to us with just a three-month CR,” another House Republican said. “If we don’t take it up, I don’t know what the other options are.”

TOP SENATE DEMOCRAT ‘ANGRY’ OVER BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN ‘STONEWALLING’ AFTER TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS

The second GOP lawmaker asserted there was a healthy appetite among House Republicans to add more USSS funding to a short-term spending bill.

“We spent all this time on the floor doing appropriations bills we know aren’t going anywhere in the Senate — an incredible amount of floor time. And that’s what’s going to end up happening,” a third House Republican said of a CR without the SAVE Act.

Other GOP lawmakers, however, insisted that if that was the case, Congress should not entertain requests to couple a CR with emergency USSS funds.

“I’m less worried about budget and more worried about leadership,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital.

U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. testifies at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at the U.S. Capitol July 30, 2024, on the security failures leading to the July 13 attempted assassination of former President Trump. (Chip Somodevilla)

House Appropriations Committee member Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., said, “The Secret Service has a priority problem. I don’t think they have a funding problem.”

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., similarly said USSS’s issues were “organizational” rather than financial.

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“Some of this is just common sense. Like, why hasn’t this White House just said, ‘You know what? Donald Trump is a former president who is now running for president. You can’t treat him like another presidential candidate,’” Donalds said.

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

Meanwhile, the House is also voting on a bipartisan bill Friday that would grant Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris the same level of Secret Service protection as President Biden.

UNIONDALE, NEW YORK – It’s been 40 years since a Republican nominee has carried New York state in a presidential election. 

You have to go back to President Ronald Reagan, who won the state as part of his landslide re-election victory in 1984.

But that’s not stopping former President Trump from holding a rally Wednesday in his native state, which he has no serious chance of carrying in his election faceoff with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump’s rally in Uniondale is in Long Island’s Nassau County, a longtime Republican stronghold in the reliably blue state of New York.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION 

Former President Trump holds a rally at the Nassau Coliseum, in Uniondale, New York, on Sept. 18, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

And it’s Trump’s second large campaign event this year, after drawing a large crowd in the New York City borough of the Bronx in May. 

While there was some chatter of New York potentially being in play as President Biden’s poll numbers started cratering following his disastrous late June debate performance against Trump, the conversation was fleeting and quickly dissipated when Harris replaced Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKING IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE SHOW

So why – with less than 50 days to go until Election Day and time becoming a very precious commodity – is Trump holding a campaign rally just outside of New York City?

Former President Trump speaks during a campaign rally in the South Bronx, in New York City, on May. 23. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)

“Quite clearly, New York is the biggest media hub in the country,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told Fox News.

Murtaugh emphasized that “when he delivers a message there, it’s piped directly into homes in every market in every battleground state. The most valuable commodity we have is President Trump’s time. And that event is making efficient use of it.”

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The rally is Trump’s first since this past weekend’s apparent second failed assassination attempt against the former president.

And a number of people lined up hours ahead of the rally to see the former president said they were attending to “show support” for Trump.

Supporters of Donald Trump line up hours ahead of the former president’s rally at the Nassau Coliseum, on Sept. 18, 2024, in Uniondale, New York  (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

While Trump is extremely unlikely to carry New York in the White House race, the rally may help Republicans down ballot, as they try to hold on to their House of Representatives majority in November’s elections.

Several GOP-controlled House seats in New York state are considered vulnerable this year, including one held by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of Long Island.

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

Vice President Harris appeared to undercut her own economic plan on Wednesday, saying her administration would crack down on companies who price gouge shoppers before admitting “very few” companies engage in price gouging.

Harris delivered the remarks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 47th Annual Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., providing few specific details about the policies she’s running on for president.

At one point, Harris spoke about providing families with the necessary resources so that parents can “raise their children well,” though did not say what resources or how they would be provided.

“I grew up understanding the children of the community are the children of the community, and we should all have a vested interest in ensuring that children can go grow up with the resources that they need to achieve their God-given potential,” Harris said. 

POLICY GROUP SAYS HARRIS’ SMALL BUSINESS BREAK GETS DROWNED OUT BY OTHER HIGHER TAXES

Kamala Harris spoke at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) leadership conference on Wednesday in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Harris said she wants to lower the cost of groceries for families struggling at the kitchen table, vowing to take on big corporations who price gouge their customers. But she appeared to undercut her own policy a few moments later, saying that “very few” corporations price gouge.

Harris provided few specific details about her economic policy. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

“Many of you who have and are coming from states where we’ve seen extreme weather conditions in California, wildfires in other parts of the country, or even in the pandemic where people are desperate because of these kinds of emergencies, desperate for support, and then some, you know, corporation, and it’s very few of them that do this, but then jack up prices to make it more difficult for desperate people to just get by,” Harris said. “We need to take that on.”

TRUMP SAYS HE WILL TAX MEXICAN AUTO IMPORTS BY 200% AND MAKE THEM ‘UNSELLABLE’ IN THE US

Harris’ economic plan proposes raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from the current 21%, after she had previously supported a 35% corporate tax rate during her short-lived presidential campaign in the 2020 cycle. 

While the Harris campaign has described this as a “fiscally responsible way to put money back in the pockets of working people and ensure billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share,” it has drawn scrutiny from some policy groups.

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The Tax Foundation’s analysis estimates that Harris’s overall plan would increase taxes by $4.1 trillion from 2025-2034, while reducing long-term GDP by 2%, reducing wages by 1.2%, and resulting in the loss of 786,000 jobs over that period.

Fox News Digital’s Breck Dumas contributed to this report.

A new poll shows a majority of Americans support the mass deportation of migrants living illegally in the United States.

The latest Scripps News/Ipsos Poll, released Wednesday, found the majority of Republicans and Independents support such a policy, while only a quarter of Democrats agree.

Approximately 54% of all respondents “strongly” or “somewhat” support the idea of mass deportation, according to the poll. 

EX-BORDER CHIEF WARNS OF ‘SIGNIFICANT THREAT’ AS MIGRANT NUMBERS SKYROCKET: ‘ENTIRE SECTORS’ MISSING AGENTS

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan. (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

More granular results indicate a partisan split on the issue, with approximately 86% of Republicans and 58% of independents in favor — compared to just 25% of Democrats.

The poll also demonstrated that immigration remains a prominent political issue for Americans, coming close to the top of respondents’ list of concerns. 

GERMANY CLAMPS DOWN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AS COUNTRY FORCED TO RETHINK POLICIES AMID VOTER ANGER

Inflation was the highest-ranked priority among respondents with 57%, while immigration came in second at 39%.

On the subject of immigration, respondents favored Trump (44%) to Harris (34%) as better able to handle the issue.

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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with the National Association of Black Journalists members at the WHYY studio in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

The poll was conducted between Sept. 13 and Sept. 15 and interviewed 1,027 individuals over the age of 18.

It has a margin of error of +/- 3.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

A new poll conducted entirely after last week’s debate indicates Vice President Kamala Harris holding a three-point edge over former President Donald Trump in the crucial battleground state of Wisconsin.

Harris stands at 48% support among likely voters in Wisconsin, with Trump at 45% in an AARP poll conducted Sept 11-14 and released on Wednesday. The vice president’s three-point margin over the former president is within the poll’s overall sampling error of plus or minus four points.

Democrat-turned-Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – who last month suspended his campaign and backed Trump – stands at 2% support in the poll, with Green Party candidate Jill Stein at 1%. One percent said they would back a different candidate, with 2% undecided.

A Wisconsin judge on Monday denied Kennedy’s request to drop his name from the presidential ballot, ruling that state law requires candidates to remain on the ballot unless they die.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION 

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump speak during their presidential debate on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024 in Philadelphia. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Contributing to Harris’ overall edge is an 11-point advantage among independent voters, as well as an 11-point lead among women voters compared to a 7-point advantage for Trump among men.

The poll also indicated a large geographic divide, with Harris far ahead among urban and suburban voters, while Trump enjoyed a large lead among rural voters.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKING IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE SHOW

The poll’s release also points out that “the educational attainment gap is large, with Trump leading non-college voters by 10-points, but Harris up 24-points among college+ voters.”

When the third party and independent presidential candidates are removed from the questionnaire, the poll indicated Harris at 49% and Trump at 48% in a head-to-head match up, with 3% undecided.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, hold a campaign rally in Milwaukee on Aug. 20, 2024. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

The AARP survey is the fourth straight poll conducted this month in Wisconsin to indicate Harris with a slight edge.

Wisconsin, along with Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada, had razor-thin margins that decided the outcome of the 2020 election between Trump and President Biden. Additionally, these seven states will likely determine whether Harris or Trump wins the 2024 presidential election.

The Badger State, along with Michigan and Pennsylvania, are the three Rust Belt states that make up the Democrats’ so-called “Blue Wall.”

HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN ROCKED AGAIN, WITH 50 DAYS TO GO UNTIL ELECTION 

The party reliably won all three states for a quarter-century before Trump narrowly captured them in the 2016 election to win the White House.

Four years later, in 2020, Biden carried all three states by razor-thin margins to put them back in the Democrats’ column and defeated Trump.

Both the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees have made repeated stops in the state this summer.

Trump was most recently in the state a week and a half ago, with a rally in Mosinee. Harris returns to Wisconsin on Friday for a rally in Madison, the state capital.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump departs a campaign event at the Central Wisconsin Airport on Sept. 7, 2024 in Mosinee, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The running mates are also making plenty of stops in the state, with Republican vice presidential nominee Ohio Sen. JD Vance holding a campaign event in Eau Claire on Tuesday and his Democratic counterpart, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, visiting Superior last weekend.

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Besides the White House battle, Wisconsin is also home to a crucial Senate race that is one of a handful that will likely decide whether Republicans can win back the chamber’s majority.

According to the poll, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin edges Republican challenger Eric Hovde 50% – 47% with 3% undecided.

The new AARP survey in Wisconsin was conducted by the bipartisan polling team of Fabrizio Ward (Republican) & Impact Research (Democrat). The firms interviewed 1,052 likely voters, which included a statewide representative sample of 600 likely voters.

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

EXCLUSIVE: A bipartisan House duo is rolling out a plan on Wednesday to crack down on gun trafficking at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, are leading a bill that would beef up manpower at outbound inspection points at the southern border and require inspections for at least 10% of outbound transport from the U.S. to Mexico.

The Secretary of Homeland Security would then be required to write a report on those inspections and the feasibility of raising the minimum threshold up to 15 or 20%.

TOP HOUSE COMMITTEE DEMANDS INTERNAL DOCS ON HARRIS’ ROLE IN BORDER CRISIS: ‘ABJECT FAILURE’

Reps. Dan Crenshaw and Abigail Spanberger are teaming up on a new bill to crack down on firearms and currency trafficking at the southern border. (Getty Images)

Regarding personnel, the bill would direct Customs and Border Patrol to have at least 500 officers focused on inspecting the flow of goods and people from the U.S. into Mexico, as well as increased Homeland Security Investigations personnel who are specifically focused on currency and firearms smuggling investigations.

On the equipment front, the bipartisan legislation is also seeking to expand resources for southern border inspections, including 50 additional non-intrusive imaging systems, according to a summary previewed by Fox News Digital.

Crenshaw said the illegal flow of currency and firearms at the border “fuel the cartel’s war in Mexico and the fentanyl crisis that is poisoning Americans.”

“As it stands, U.S. Customs and Border Protection do not have the resources to monitor southbound flows — but this bill helps fix that and serves as a good step in taking the fight to the cartels and disrupts their business operations,” he said in a statement.

TRUMP REVEALS NEW PLEDGE AMID HAITIAN REFUGEE CONTROVERSY: ‘I WILL SAVE OUR CITIES’ 

People and vehicles pass over the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry bridge which connects the United States and Mexico on Jan. 19, 2019 in El Paso, Texas. (Getty Images)

Spanberger, invoking her background in criminal justice, said in a statement, “As a former CIA case officer who tracked cartels, I understand how these criminals smuggle firearms and bulk currency across our southern border to move the illicit proceeds that continue to fuel their criminal operations.”

“We must continue working to stem the flow of deadly fentanyl into our communities — and we can do so by working to cut off the steady supply of contraband that props up the drug trade,” she said.

Spanberger is leaving the House at the end of this year to run for governor of Virginia, and Republicans are eyeing her seat in the Washington, D.C., suburbs as a ripe pickup opportunity.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

Her emphasis on border security, with this bill and support for the now-defunct bipartisan Senate border deal, appears to be part of a wider paradigm shift for Democrats as they seek to hold onto the White House and Senate, as well as keep the House, in November.

Vulnerable Democrats in particular have emphasized their support for the border deal, which was eventually killed by an avalanche of GOP opposition, as the migrant crisis continues to burden cities and states around the country.

The bill would require Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to file reports on border inspections to Congress. (AP)

Spanberger and Crenshaw’s bill is called the Enhancing Southbound Inspections to Combat Cartels Act. It has a companion bill in the Senate led by Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and James Langford, R-Okla. — one of the architects of the original Senate border deal.

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Even with bipartisan support, however, it’s not clear the new House bill will see a chamber-wide vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other GOP opponents of the Biden administration have responded to its calls for increased funding at the border with arguments that more money is not a sufficient solution to what they see as fundamentally flawed policies.

Democrats in turn have accused Republicans of using the border crisis as a political football.

As San Francisco’s district attorney, Kamala Harris told legal gun owners in her community that authorities could “walk into” their homes to inspect whether they were storing their firearms properly under a new law she helped draft.

“We’re going to require responsible behaviors among everybody in the community, and just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn’t mean that we’re not going to walk into that home and check to see if you’re being responsible and safe in the way you conduct your affairs,” Harris told a group of reporters in May 2007. 

The remarks came during a press conference introducing legislation that Harris helped draft, which sought to impose penalties for gun owners who fail to store their firearms properly at home. 

The bill, which at the time had just been introduced to the city’s board of supervisors, was ultimately signed into law a few months later by then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. It was bundled with other gun control provisions, including a new requirement for legal gun distributors to submit an inventory to the chief of police every six months, and a ban on possessing guns – even legally – in public housing.

“San Francisco now has the strictest anti-gun laws in the county,” Newsom said when he signed the new laws.

HARRIS SURPRISES SOCIAL MEDIA BY SAYING SHE’S A GUN OWNER

A worker sets up a display of handguns on the floor of the exhibition hall ahead of the National Rifle Association annual meeting at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis on Thursday, April 25, 2019. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

During the May 2007 press conference discussing the safe-storage bill, Harris said the new measure was about legislating “our values” in an attempt to “encourage certain kinds of behavior.”

“When we create laws, it’s not only about creating an opportunity, if you will, to prosecute someone for committing a crime, but more importantly, when we legislate our values, it’s about trying to encourage certain types of behavior,” she said at the time. 

Harris has faced criticism for statements she has made about her “values” heading into November. She told CNN last month they “have not changed,” while simultaneously switching on long-held policies on almost every front. Since becoming the Democratic nominee for president, Harris has tried to paint a more moderate picture of herself in an attempt to distance herself from President Biden and appeal to a wider swath of voters. 

“As she said last night in her interview, her values have not changed. She said that over and over again,” Lora Ries, a border security expert at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital after the CNN interview. “She is telling her base, ‘Look, don’t worry about what the campaign is saying right now. We just have to say that to try and get elected. But my values have not changed.'”

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Meanwhile, progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Harris was dropping far-left policies she previously held “in order to win the election.”

“Her views are not mine, but I do consider her a progressive,” he told NBC’s “Meet The Press” earlier this month. 

Vice President Kamala Harris raised eyebrows when telling CNN’s Dana Bash that her “values haven’t changed” after making complete reversals on far-left positions she held in 2019. (Screenshot/CNN)

During last week’s presidential debate, Harris was asked about her shifting position on mandatory gun buybacks by ABC News moderator Linsey Davis, but she did not directly respond to the question until former President Donald Trump kept probing her about having “a plan to confiscate everybody’s gun.” Harris supported mandatory gun buybacks while running for president in 2019, saying they were “a good idea.”

“This business about taking everyone’s guns away. Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We’re not taking anybody’s guns away. So stop with the continuous lying about this stuff,” Harris said in response to Trump’s criticisms. 

James Singer, a Harris campaign spokesperson, told Fox News Digital that a potential Harris administration would “uphold and defend the law and rights of Americans, including the Second Amendment.”

“The law in question, requiring sensible gun storage in homes, was upheld by Republican appointed judges in the ninth circuit and declined to be reviewed by the Supreme Court,” he added. “As Vice President Harris said on the debate stage, she is a gun owner who supports common-sense safety laws that Donald Trump opposes.”

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Semi-automatic firearms are displayed for sale on a shelf at the McBride Guns Inc. store on Aug. 25, 2023 in Austin, Texas. ( Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Harris has a long history of clashing with the National Rifle Association (NRA), considered by many as the nation’s most powerful gun rights lobbying group. In 2009, the NRA challenged the San Francisco law prohibiting guns from public housing and won. However, the Supreme Court, before its recent shakeup under Trump, refused to hear an appeal from the NRA and other gun rights advocates after the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals rejected their pleas to relax San Francisco’s safe storage law. 

“Law-abiding residents must keep their handguns inoperable or inaccessible precisely when they are needed most for self-defense — in the middle of the night, while the residents are asleep and decidedly not carrying,” attorneys for the NRA and other gun rights advocates said at the time.

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Meanwhile, a ruling written by one of the 9th circuit judges determined the law “does not substantially prevent law-abiding citizens from using firearms to defend themselves in the home.” The judge, appointed during the George W. Bush administration, added that San Francisco had demonstrated the law “serves a significant government interest by reducing the number of gun-related injuries and deaths from having an unlocked handgun in the home.”

Liberal immigration groups are criticizing Vice President Harris’ recent adoption of tougher border policies, but are still supporting her as at least one indicated they believe Harris’ new stance is all for show, Axios reported Wednesday.

Kerri Talbot, executive director of the Immigration Hub, told Axios that she opposes Harris’ current stance on border policy. She called the Harris campaign’s proposal essentially a “Republican bill,” but added that she still supports Harris.

“We all know and trust Harris to make the right decisions when she’s in office. I don’t think this bill will ever come up again, as is,” Talbot told the outlet.

Other liberal immigration groups also say they oppose Harris’ new immigration policies, though they still support her campaign.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

Allies of Vice President Kamala Harris say they hope Harris will revert to her left-wing policies if she wins the election. (Sarah Rice for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Gina Cummings of Oxfam America argued the Harris campaign’s immigration stances “should not be brought to the Senate floor or passed under any current or future administration.”

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif, told Axios that Harris’ bill “contains some of the same tried and failed policies that would actually make the situation worse at the southern border.”

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Nevertheless, Padilla added that Harris “is the only candidate in this race who also values keeping families together and providing a pathway to citizenship for long-term residents. And I’m proud to support her.”

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Left wing groups criticized Harris’ sudden bounce to the right on illegal immigration and other issues. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The southern border and the economy remain the top two issues for voters, and also the two issues where voters consistently say they think former President Trump would do a better job than Harris.

Republicans have blasted Harris for her role as “border czar,” a colloquial title she received in 2021 when Biden tasked her with stemming the flow of illegal immigration by addressing “root causes.”

House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., is now pressing the Biden administration to provide documents on the communications Harris’ office had with border enforcement groups.

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Comer wrote to acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Troy Miller this week, demanding an update on the request.

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer is prying into Harris’ actions as “border czar.” (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“It is important the Committee and the American people understand Vice President Harris’s role as the border czar in the ongoing border crisis,” Comer said in the letter obtained by Fox News Digital.

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“The mass illegal entry and release of illegal aliens into the United States under the Biden-Harris Administration has contributed to murders, sexual assaults, and serious bodily injuries committed against numerous Americans at the hands of illegal aliens. These crimes should have never happened,” the letter continued.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report

Researchers in government and taxpayer-assisted private think tanks have hyped the threat of “far-right extremists” while failing to acknowledge growing threats of left-wing violence, critics say, pointing to the two assassination attempts against former President Trump to demonstrate the danger posed by some on the left.

“I think it goes without saying that violence of any kind is intolerable,” legal fellow at Heritage Foundation Zach Smith told Fox News Digital. “It shouldn’t be tolerated in our country. And while I appreciate some of the left have paid lip service to that ideal, they haven’t followed through with their actions. They haven’t followed through in terms of the resources and the willingness to confront the left-wing extremists that we’ve seen.”

Regarding threats against Donald Trump and his associates, Smith said, “We’ve seen condemnations of violence on the left, that’s good, and that’s appropriate.”

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Trump survives second assassination attempt, this one in Florida. (photo illustration) (Getty)

“And yet we still hear many on the left saying things like, ‘Donald Trump is a threat to democracy,’ that type of heated rhetoric,” Smith said. “Unfortunately, I think it was foreseeable that it would lead to these types of actions against Donald Trump and potentially others who support him, which I think, very tragic. And so, if those on the left want to focus on something, I think certainly ratcheting down the rhetoric would be a good place to start.”

While government organizations have categorized right-wing extremism as a major threat to the political landscape, the second alleged Trump gunman who pointed an assault rifle through a chain-link fence 500 yards away from where Trump was playing golf on Sunday – identified as Ryan Routh – backed Democrat candidates and echoed anti-Trump rhetoric on his social media accounts, saying “Democracy is on the ballot” and “we cannot lose.”

“Look at what’s happening with Antifa in many cities like Portland and Seattle, as you mentioned, the left-wing campus acts of violence, the intimidation of Jewish students that are intolerable, that you would hope would get louder condemnation,” Smith said. “And so there certainly does appear to be this double standard that’s playing out too often today.”

The Justice Department’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) have all published reports condemning right-wing violence and citing a rise in right-wing attacks in the last few years.

The NIJ reported this year that far-right extremists have committed more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist groups since 1990.

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Law enforcement handcuff the failed Trump assassination suspect in Florida. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office)

“A recent threat assessment by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security concluded that domestic violent extremists are an acute threat and highlighted a probability that COVID-19 pandemic-related stressors, long-standing ideological grievances related to immigration, and narratives surrounding electoral fraud will continue to serve as a justification for violent actions,” the report noted. 

Hans A. von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital, “I’m just astonished that they would make that claim.”

“It was radical left-wing movements headed by BLM and Antifa that were engaged in arson riots, violence in cities across America,” he said. “I don’t seem to recall any right-wing groups burning cities over the country, like they are, like they are talking about there.”

“Any fear we should have today, it’s of the extreme left-wing violence that we have seen over the past few years in cities all across the country and now in two assassination attempts on a major candidate of one of the two major political parties, running for president,” von Spakovsky added.

Right-wing extremist terror incidents in the U.S. surged dramatically in recent years, rising from seven incidents in 2005-2007 to 40 in 2020-2022, according to a 2023 ADL report. According to CharityWatch.org, ADL receives a significant portion, up to 24%, of its “cash revenue,” from “government sources.”

“As a nonpartisan organization that fights antisemitism, extremism and all forms of hate, ADL tracks extremism from the far left to the far right,” an ADL spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Our vast resources and backgrounders provide information on individuals, groups and movements from across the ideological spectrum.”

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Sketch depicts Ryan Routh in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. Routh, suspected of attempting to assassinate former President Trump, is facing charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. (Lothar Speer)

For its part, CSIS reported in 2020, “Based on a CSIS data set of terrorist incidents, the most significant threat likely comes from White supremacists, though anarchists and religious extremists inspired by the Islamic State and al Qaeda could present a potential threat as well.”

In an email, a senior CSIS spokesperson said the organization has “built a data set of all terrorist attacks and plots” in the U.S. since 1994. 

While it is a private nonprofit deriving most of its funding from donations and private sources, according to its website, CSIS also “receives funding from U.S. government entities” as well as “international ally and partner governments.”

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Between 2010 and 2021, the Department of Homeland Security also reported 231 domestic terrorism incidents, with 35% being racially- or ethnically-motivated, making them the deadliest, according to the GAO.

“Anti-government or anti-authority motivated violent extremism” was the second most common, according to the GAO, resulting in 15 deaths.