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FIRST ON FOX: Republican lawmakers cautioned Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about the crime risk involved with Venezuelan illegal immigrants crossing the southern border nearly a year and a half ago but never received a response, Fox News Digital has learned.

In September 2022, Republican Reps. Troy Nehls of Texas, Byron Donalds of Florida, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin wrote to Mayorkas regarding a Homeland Security intelligence report informing U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents to keep an eye out for violent criminals from Venezuela in the migrant caravans marching towards the border.

The group says Mayorkas did not respond to the letter, and now they are again attempting to get answers from the Homeland Security chief as reports emerge showing some of those very migrants have committed severe crimes in the United States. 

“As you know, in September 2022, the Venezuelan regime, under the control of Nicolás Maduro Moros, was reportedly releasing violent prisoners early, including inmates convicted of ‘murder, rape, and extortion,’ and pushing them to join caravans heading to the United States,” the lawmakers wrote in a Thursday letter to Mayorkas. “Since then, we have seen the tragic consequences of allowing Venezuelan nationals into the interior of the United States.”

DUELING BIDEN, TRUMP VISITS TO BESIEGED BORDER COME AMID FRESH SLEW OF VIOLENT CRIMES BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

“Our country is also facing the effects of Venezuelan gangs, posing as asylum seekers, who are turning our cities into war zones,” they wrote. “Specifically, the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, known for torturing victims, has established its presence in New York City. This Venezuelan robbery gang recruits its new members from migrant shelters and off migrant busses, where they have committed more than 60 robberies in New York City, including the aggravated robbery of a woman in her 60s, who was dragged down the sidewalk and slammed into a pole, sustaining injuries.”

The lawmakers pointed to how half a million Venezuelans have entered the country illegally. They further noted reports have indicated “Venezuela is refusing to cooperate with deportation requests after President Biden reimposed some of the economic sanctions it had previously lifted on Venezuela.” 

“If Venezuela does not want these Venezuelans back, it is common sense that we do not want them here,” they wrote. “In addition to answering the questions in our September 2022 letter that were never addressed, we urge you to prevent Venezuelans from entering our interior and immediately deport those you have released, pending immigration proceedings.”

“We cannot continue to apologize to families for the tragic consequences of your disastrous border policies without action,” they continued. “Therefore, we encourage you to initiate a moratorium on all Venezuelan migration until they agree to cooperate with deportation requests.”

WHITE HOUSE CALLS FOR SANCTUARY CITIES TO COOPERATE WITH ICE AMID FUROR OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMES

The letter comes on the heels of reports showing violent crimes committed by Venezuelan migrants. 

An illegal immigrant originally from Venezuela has been charged in connection with the violent murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus on Thursday. Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, the suspect, was released into the U.S. via parole, three ICE and DHS sources told Fox News.

In Virginia, a Venezuelan illegal immigrant was arrested in connection with a sexual assault on a minor. 

In Chicago, four immigrants from Venezuela were recently arrested for allegedly robbing and beating a man on a CTA train in the city.

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And in New York, police are attempting to crack down on the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang mentioned in the letter that law enforcement says is responsible for dozens of robberies. 

DHS did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

The head of the union that represents Border Patrol agents across the country exploded on President Biden during a Thursday press conference, declaring agents were “mad as hell” and “p—-d” over his policies that allowed the situation at the border to deteriorate so badly.

National Border Patrol Council (NBCP) President Brandon Judd appeared alongside former President Donald Trump in Eagle Pass, Texas, which he described as the “epicenter” of the border crisis, as Biden held a dueling event a few hundred miles away in less affected Brownsville, Texas.

“Sir, I want you to know your agents, my agents, they’re mad as hell — absolutely mad that President Biden went to Brownsville, Texas, rather than going to Arizona, rather than going to San Diego, California, rather than coming to Eagle Pass, Texas, which has been the epicenter,” Judd said after Trump invited him to the microphone to speak. 

PROGRESSIVE HOUSE DEMS MADE SECRET ‘HUMAN RIGHTS’ TRIP TO CUBA AMID WORSENING BORDER CRISIS AT HOME

Judd said the trip allowed Trump to see how his policies worked compared to those implemented by the Biden administration, and that he had the clarity on how to expand them should he be elected president in November.

“Your agents … they are pissed. Border patrol agents are upset that we cannot get the proper policy that is necessary to protect human life, to protect American citizens, to protect the people that are crossing the border illegally,” Judd said. “We can’t do that because President Biden’s policies continue to invite people to cross here.” 

“Thank goodness we have a governor like Governor Abbott. Thank goodness we have somebody that’s willing to run for President of the United States, forego everything else he’s been doing to serve the American people. Mr. President, thank you,” he added.

TIM SCOTT RIPS ‘TWO-TIERED STANDARD” BETWEEN TREATMENT OF TRUMP, BIDEN ON BORDER EXECUTIVE ACTION: VIDEO

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

Earlier in the day, the NBCP issued a fiery warning to Biden, telling him to “keep our name out of your mouth,” hours before the president was due to meet with officials at the border and urge passage of a Senate border bill.

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The union also issued a statement earlier this week, calling the visit “too little, too late.”

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

President Biden began his remarks during a Thursday visit to the southern border in Texas by addressing a devastating wildfire in the state’s panhandle and Oklahoma before calling climate change deniers “neanderthals.”

Speaking in the border city of Brownsville, Biden first addressed the ongoing wildfire that has ravaged a portion of Texas and destroyed more than one million acres. 

“I’ve flown over a lot of these wildfires since I’ve been president,” Biden said. “Flown over more land burned to the ground. All the vegetation gone more than the entire state of Maryland in square footage.”

US GRID OPERATORS WARN BIDEN’S POWER PLANT CRACKDOWN COULD TRIGGER ‘SIGNIFICANT POWER SHORTAGES’

“The idea there’s no such thing as climate change. I love that, man,” he added. “I love some of my Neanderthal friends who still think there’s no climate change.”

Biden didn’t mention Republicans, but he has criticized the GOP in the past for disputing global warming. When the National Climate Assessment, which details climate change impacts, was released in November 2023, Biden blasted the party. 

“Anyone who willfully denies the impact of climate change is condemning the American people to a very dangerous future. Impacts are only going to get worse, more frequent, more ferocious and more costly,” he said at the time. “None of this is inevitable.”

TIM SCOTT RIPS ‘TWO-TIERED STANDARD” BETWEEN TREATMENT OF TRUMP, BIDEN ON BORDER EXECUTIVE ACTION: VIDEO

After his brief climate change remarks, he further criticized Congress for failing to pass bipartisan border legislation. 

“This bill was on its way to being passed. Then it was derailed by rank-and-file politics,” he said. “The U.S. needs to reconsider this bill and those senators who oppose it need to set politics aside and pass it on the merits.”

“The majority of Republicans and Democrats in both houses support this legislation until someone came along and said ‘Don’t do that. It’ll benefit the incumbent,'” Biden added. “That’s a hell of a way to do business in America for such a serious problem. 

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He urged former President Trump to “join me” in telling Congress to pass a border security bill. 

Earlier, Biden visited the Rio Grande and received briefings from Homeland Security officials. Meanwhile, Trump also visited the border some 300 miles away from his successor in Eagle Pass, Texas. 

“This is a Joe Biden invasion,” Trump said of the border crisis. 

Republicans are hitting back at the White House after the Biden administration appeared to blame GOP lawmakers for a broken immigration system when asked about Laken Riley’s murder. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made the comments during an interview with CNN host John Berman. 

She was asked to respond to Republican accusations that the Biden administration’s border policies have led to the deaths of Americans, like Riley, at the hands of illegal immigrants. 

Berman highlighted a quote from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO., who said: “these deaths are on [President Biden].” 

GOP LAWMAKERS WARNED MAYORKAS ABOUT CRIME RISK FROM VENEZUELAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS BUT NEVER GOT A RESPONSE

“I want to offer our condolences to the family of Laken, I mean this is a horrific, horrific loss for any family, and obviously, whoever is found guilty, we need to make sure that that happens, and obviously, we don’t want to see anything like that happen again,” Jean-Pierre said, before pivoting to the broader question of the border crisis. 

“But here’s the thing, we have done the work, to make sure we’re dealing with a broken immigration system. The Republicans have gotten in the way. They have gotten in the way. And that’s what we continue to see over and over and over again,” Jean-Pierre said.  

She continued: “And so look, this is a serious matter, that‘s why the president is going to the border. The president was at the border a year ago in El Paso, visiting the border back in January 2023. He put a comprehensive, a comprehensive immigration policy on day one.” 

Jean-Pierre also made similar comments during an earlier press briefing, in which she said Republicans were “getting in the way,” when it came to fixing the border. 

In response, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the “Biden White House blaming anyone else but themselves for the effects of their open border policies is insane.” 

“Under President Biden’s open border policies, American lives have been lost. Laken Riley’s is the latest in that tragic count. At every turn, this administration has refused to hold themselves accountable — blaming everyone and everything but their own policy failures,” Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, said in a statement.  

“With a wave of a pen, President Biden can take action on border security, but he refuses to do so. There is no excuse for the President of the United States to turn his back on communities that are clearly in danger. We need action now.” 

“It’s telling that the White House can’t even admit the truth: an illegal immigrant killed Laken Riley and Joe Biden’s open border is to blame,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO., said in a statement. “It’s time for the White House to take responsibility for their dangerous policies and take action before more Americans are hurt.”

TRUMP SAYS HE SPOKE TO ‘DEVASTATED’ PARENTS OF LAKE RILEY, BLASTS BIDEN FOR BORDER CRISIS ‘LIKE A WAR’

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Laken Riley’s death “was caused by the Biden administration breaking the law.” 

“If I were her family, and this guy actually did it, I would sue the hell out of the federal government because the Biden administration has been breaking the law for over two years now when it comes to [immigration] parole.” 

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, accused Democrats of viewing American deaths as “acceptable collateral damage.”

“They view these murders as just the price we have to pay to advance their open-border agenda,” Cruz tweeted Thursday. 

TEXAS WILL APPEAL RULING TO BLOCK LAW ALLOWING POLICE TO ARREST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, ABBOTT SAYS

Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student, was found murdered on the campus of the University of Georgia earlier this month after going for a run.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan national in the U.S. illegally, was charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call and concealing the death of another in connection to Riley’s death.

This all comes as President Biden and his GOP rival, former President Donald Trump, made dueling trips to the southern border on Thursday, underscoring how central immigration has become in the 2024 presidential race. 

Biden slammed Republicans for a bipartisan border deal that collapsed earlier this month. Meanwhile, Trump continued to dial up his attacks on illegal immigrants, deriding them as “terrorists” and criminals. 

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Trump was in Eagle Pass Thursday, roughly 325 miles northwest of where Biden visited in Brownsville.

Law enforcement agencies, civil defense officials and election administrators have begun meeting in Pennsylvania to coordinate how they will identify and fight election threats with the presidential contest just eight months away in the battleground state, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration said Thursday.

Shapiro created the Pennsylvania Election Threats Task Force, after the state became a magnet for baseless allegations about election fraud and failed lawsuits in an effort to undo Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 victory there and keep then-President Donald Trump in power.

CONSERVATIVES RALLY BEHIND PENNSYLVANIA AMISH FARMER WHO SUFFERED POLICE RAID OVER MILK SALES

It will be led by his top election official, Secretary of State Al Schmidt.

The task force’s mission is to design plans to share information and coordinate in the fight against threats to the election process, voter intimidation and misinformation about voting and elections.

“Pennsylvania is the birthplace of American democracy, and we are working to continue defending Pennsylvanians’ fundamental freedoms and ensure we have a free, fair, safe, secure election this November,” Shapiro said in a statement.

Partners include U.S. attorney’s offices, the state attorney general’s office, county election directors, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the Pennsylvania National Guard.

Pennsylvania is yet again expected to be pivotal in the fall presidential election.

Trump declared his mistrust of Pennsylvania in 2020, saying that ” bad things ” happen in Philadelphia, and it remains in Trump’s crosshairs.

Trump told supporters in December to “guard the vote” and to “go into” Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta to “watch those votes when they come in.”

Shapiro — who as attorney general played a central role in defending Pennsylvania’s 2020 election against Republican efforts in court to overturn it — has said that administration officials were preparing for the election on legal, law enforcement and election administration fronts.

Shapiro’s Department of State is putting more resources into countering election misinformation and is improving the connectivity and processing speed of the state’s digital voter registration database that counties use daily.

PHILADELPHIA ESCAPEE SPOTTED LEAVING HOME STILL WEARING HANDCUFFS IN NEW VIDEO AFTER FLEEING FROM OFFICERS

It created a unit to train county election workers and tried to standardize mail-in ballots to cut down on the garden-variety mistakes by registered voters that nevertheless have spawned countless lawsuits.

The election is likely to be close.

Complicating it is a state law that prohibits counties from processing mail-in ballots before Election Day — raising the specter of another drawn-out count in Pennsylvania like the one in 2020 that gave a window to Trump-inspired conspiracy theories and false claims.

Nearly every other state allows mail-in ballots to be processed before Election Day.

In recent weeks Schmidt — himself a former Philadelphia election official who has told of enduring death threats for defending the city’s 2020 vote-counting against Trump’s lies — has said that a wave of experienced administrators departing county election offices is a threat to elections.

About 70 senior county election officials in the 67 counties have left recently, Schmidt told a Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon on Monday. Inexperience gives rise to mistakes that are seized on to sow doubt about elections, Schmidt said.

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Any mistake, “especially in an environment where any mistake, no matter how innocent, is so easily interpreted as being intentional and malicious and seeking to change the outcome of an election,” Schmidt said.

Special Counsel Jack Smith and attorneys for former President Trump proposed start dates for the trial stemming from the investigation into Trump’s alleged improper retention of classified records. 

The special counsel, in a filing Thursday evening, proposed the trial begin on July 8. The trial was initially set to begin on May 20, ahead of the Kentucky primary on May 21, the Oregon primary on May 25 and New Jersey’s primary June 4.

Trump’s attorneys proposed the trial start on August 12, but in a filing asserted that since he is the leading GOP candidate in the 2024 presidential election, a “fair trial cannot be conducted this year in a manner consistent with the Constitution.”

Smith’s filing comes a day before the next court date in the case, when U.S. District Judge of the Southern District of Florida Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over the case, said she may delay the trial date. 

Should Trump win the GOP nomination, the proposed date would have the trial begin just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. The convention begins July 15-18. 

Meanwhile, Smith’s proposal comes just a day after the Supreme Court announced it would consider whether Trump has presidential immunity from prosecution in his separate federal election interference case. 

That trial was set to begin on March 4 in Washington D.C., but is on hold until the Supreme Court decides on the matter. The decision is expected in mid-June. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

President Biden, in a visit to the southern border on Thursday, renewed his calls for Republicans to back a controversial, but bipartisan, Senate border agreement — as illegal immigration continues to be a major political headache for the administration and he seeks to shift blame to Republicans for the crisis.

“It’s real simple, it’s time to act, it is long past time to act,” Biden said. “It’s time for us to move on this, we can’t wait any longer.”

Biden spoke in Brownsville, Texas, after meeting with Border Patrol, law enforcement and local leaders.

The visit, which coincided with former President Donald Trump’s visit to the border in Eagle Pass, Texas, comes as illegal immigration has become a major 2024 election issue and remains a thorny issue for the administration.

The crisis, now into its third year, has smashed multiple records with more than 2.4 million encounters in FY 23 and over 300,000 in December alone — breaking the record for monthly encounters.

Biden and his administration have sought to shift the blame for the crisis onto the shoulders of Republicans. The administration says that it is working in a broken system that needs significantly more funding and comprehensive immigration reform. It introduced a bill on its first day in office that included a mass amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S., which was immediately rejected by Republicans.

Republicans in the House introduced and passed legislation of their own that would fund more Border Patrol agents, resume wall construction, restart the Remain-in-Mexico policy and severely limit the ability of migrants to claim asylum.

After the White House made a supplemental funding request, including $20 billion for border funding in late 2023, Senate negotiators hashed out a deal that included additional staffing at the border and in asylum offices, an increased $1.4 billion in funding to cities and NGOs receiving migrants, took action to tackle fentanyl smuggling and would limit asylum claims. It would also increase detention beds to 50,000 and provide additional immigration judges.

“Folks, the bipartisan border security bill is a win for the American people and a win for the people of Texas, and it’s fair for those who legitimately have a right to come here,” he said.

“The U.S. Senate need to reconsider this bill and those senators who oppose it need to set politics aside and pass it on the merits, not on whether it’s going to benefit one party or another party,” he said, also calling for Speaker Mike Johnson to put it on the floor in the House.

However, it has failed to gain enough support in the Senate, as conservative lawmakers have warned that a limiting mechanism that only comes into place after an average of 5,000 encounters a day would normalize already-high levels of illegal immigration.

Biden said, however, that it was “the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen.”

Republicans in the House, who have recently impeached DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, say Biden doesn’t need additional congressional action to secure the border and can do so with the tools his administration already has.

Speaking to Fox News Digital ahead of the speech, GOP Whip Tom Emmer dismissed Biden’s trip as a photo op, and called it “another sign of Biden’s incompetence.”

“It’s just going to be another cleaned up photo op. It’s not going to be any actual confrontation of the crisis that this guy created. Time and time again, he proves Joe Biden proves that he cares more about minimizing the political implications of this issue than actually addressing it. So I don’t expect much is going to come out of it, except the American people are going to realize once again that Joe Biden doesn’t really mean business when it comes to the border. 

Emmer said that to solve the crisis, Biden needs to tackle the five issues that were in the House GOP bill: end catch and release, reform parole authority, finish the wall, reform asylum and restore Remain-in-Mexico.

He, like others in the House GOP caucus, was dismissive of the contents of the Senate bill Biden is promoting.

“You’re going to make it law now that he can let in up to 5000 a day before it becomes a shutdown situation? Outrageous. And the fact that anybody even reports it as an option, I think is less than responsible,” he said. “You’ve got to do something in the five areas that the House has already addressed, but the bare minimum is to restore Remain in Mexico.

This is a breaking news story; check back for updates.

It is almost too early to truly understand and divine where the votes might for someone to succeed retiring Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

The reason? The universe and conditions under which Republican senators will vote next fall to pick their new leader haven’t formed yet. Yes, take a look at the three Johns: Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), former Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.). Even someone like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) could be in play. A source tells FOX is interested in the race. 

GOP WON’T TAP MCCONNELL’S SUCCESSOR UNTIL NOVEMBER

But beyond that, we don’t know much.

Here’s why:

We have to first know who wins the presidential election. And if 2024 is anything like 2020, we might not definitively know until week or more after the election. A delay in figuring out the winner could delay the internal secret leadership election which Senate Republicans will take in mid to late November. But the winner of the presidential election will dictate who the GOP wants – especially if former President Trump prevails and has much to say about it.

Ironically, FOX is told that the antipathy between the former President and McConnell was not a major factor in the decision-making of the Kentucky Republican to step down.

MITCH MCCONNELL SENDS ‘SHOCKWAVES’ THROUGH SENATE WITH SURPRISE ANNOUNCEMENT

Another factor: who has control of the Senate – and by how many seats. Keep in mind we didn’t know until January 2021 as to which party would control the Senate in the last Congress.

This is why other figures may emerge. Especially dark horses. 

As I have written before, leadership elections in Congress are not “partisan politics” They are “particle politics.” The person who is propelled into leadership is not always the obvious choice: Think former House Speakers John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Or even current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

WHY ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS’ IMPEACHMENT TRIAL MAY BE ON ‘HIATUS’

FOX is told that some Senate Republicans are tired of what one senior Senate GOP leadership source termed a “weekly MAGA show” by Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), JD Vance (R-Ohio) and others at the weekly Senate Republican Conference meetings. So if former President Trump loses and if the GOP doesn’t have control of the Senate, that could dictate who Republicans pick.

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However, if Republicans prevail with a substantial majority, look at Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) as a possibility. He leads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP’s campaign arm. Daines has made many of the right moves so far in GOP contests. If Republicans win the Senate by a good margin, some members (especially the new ones), might be willing to give Daines a look – if he’s interested. 

The same factor could undercut Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.). It’s not clear if Scott is interested. He ran unsuccessfully against McConnell in the fall of 2022. Scott led the GOP’s campaign efforts in 2022 – and Republicans failed to win the Senate. That could be an albatross for Scott and potentially inhibit him from making another run at leadership.

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

What’s Happening? 

– Trump, Biden give competing speeches at the southern border this afternoon

– House passes week-long funding bill; Senate to vote later

– Trump appeals Illinois judge’s ruling to boot him from ballot

Catch me at the border

President Biden’s visit to the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday reflects his wishful thinking on the issue, arriving at one of the least-trafficked towns on the border.

Biden will visit Brownsville, Texas, which ranks as the 29th-most trafficked town by illegal border-crossers, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

Former President Trump, meanwhile, is set to hold a competing visit to the border, though he will arrive at Eagle Pass, Texas, one of the most heavily-trafficked towns in the country.

Biden’s trip to Texas is an attempt to address his deep unpopularity on the issue, with a recent poll showing just 26% of Americans support his handling of the border.

The White House says Biden will use the visit to renew his calls for Congress to pass a bipartisan border agreement, which would have increased staffing at the border as well as tightening asylum rules, moved to tackle fentanyl smuggling, and increased funding to communities and NGOs receiving migrants. Republicans argued it fell well short of what is necessary.

White House

WELCOMED IN: White House refers to illegal immigrants as ‘newcomers’ …Read more

FOOT IN MOUTH: Kamala Harris praises ‘nonpartisan poll worker,’ immediately backfires when people learn who he really is …Read more

Capitol Hill

KICKING THE CAN: House punts government shutdown deadline to next week …Read more

CRACKS IN THE FOUNDATION: ‘Squad’ member Tlaib reacts to question on voting for Biden at cease-fire presser …Read more

MCCONNELL’S SUCCESSOR: Senate Republicans want next leader to have ‘positive relationship’ with Trump …Read more

‘AMEN TO THIS’: Fetterman shocks critics for defending Boebert’s son with compassionate post after his arrest …Read more

BREAKING NEWS: Sen. John Cornyn declares candidacy for minority leader after McConnell steps down …Read more

‘HASN’T DONE SQUAT’: Vulnerable House Dem who touts her experience blasted after record comes back to haunt her …Read more

GOING NUCLEAR: Progressive Dems vote against bipartisan green energy bill …Read more

‘FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP’: House committee grills Austin for secret hospitalization …Read more

Tales from the Campaign Trail

FIGHTING BACK: Trump campaign appeals Illinois judge’s ruling booting him from primary ballot …Read more

MENTAL FITNESS: Biden ‘must take a cognitive test,’ Trump says after president’s physical …Read more

NEW ENDORSEMENT: Trump-backed Moreno scores another high-profile endorsement in Ohio Senate race …Read more

Across America

‘THIS IS HUGE’: Cache of texts shows back-and-forth over affair with prosecutor Willis hired to go after Trump …Read more

LAW & BORDER: Federal judge blocks Texas law allowing police to arrest illegal border crossers …Read more

ON NOTICE: Union has stern warning for Biden ahead of border visit …Read more

HOT AIR: NY AG hits major beef producer with climate lawsuit …Read more

SOUR MILK?: Conservatives rally behind Pennsylvania Amish farmer who suffered police raid over milk sales …Read more

BREAKING NEWS: WATCH LIVE: Gov. DeSantis signs law with big potential impact on Epstein case …Read more

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Ahead of President Biden’s visit to the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday, the White House debuted a new term for illegal immigrants arriving in the country, calling them “newcomers.” 

Biden will travel to Brownsville, Texas, in an effort to reassure voters who have soured on his handling of the border crisis. Republicans have lambasted the Biden administration for weak enforcement of immigration laws, and a recent poll showed that just 26% of Americans approved of the president’s job on immigration. 

The language the White House used to describe the crisis may not alleviate voters’ concerns. In a fact sheet distributed by the White House press office to advocate for the bipartisan border agreement Biden has endorsed, officials pointed out that the bill includes $1.4 billion “for cities and states who are providing critical services to newcomers.” 

BIDEN’S BORDER VISIT LANDS ON ONE OF THE LEAST TRAFFICKED TOWNS, WHILE TRUMP IS HEADED INTO THE THICK OF IT

The reference to illegal immigrants as “newcomers” — which suggests equal status to migrants who come to the U.S. legally — provoked a swift condemnation from House Republicans.

“The Biden White House is now referring to illegal immigrants as ‘newcomers.’ Joe Biden is not serious about stopping the illegal immigration into the United States. This is a catastrophe by design,” the House GOP conference posted on X. 

White House officials have shot back at their GOP critics several times in recent weeks, asserting that if Republican lawmakers were serious about securing the border, they’d support the bipartisan legislation Biden has endorsed.

7.2M ENTERED US UNDER BIDEN ADMIN, AN AMOUNT GREATER THAN POPULATIONS OF 36 STATES

The border bill negotiated in the Senate would increase Border Patrol staff and tighten asylum rules, expand law enforcement’s authority to tackle fentanyl smuggling and increase funding to cities and states receiving asylum seekers.

Republicans argued the bill would normalize high levels of illegal immigration and do little to stop the flow of people and drugs over the border.

“We have done the work to make sure we’re dealing with a broken immigration system. The Republicans have gotten in the way. They have gotten in the way,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday on CNN.

WHITE HOUSE CALLS FOR SANCTUARY CITIES TO COOPERATE WITH ICE AMID FUROR OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMES

“And so look, this is a serious matter, that‘s why the president is going to the border. The president was at the border a year ago in El Paso, visiting the border back in January 2023. He put a comprehensive, a comprehensive immigration policy on day one,” she added.

Biden’s choice of Brownsville for his border visit is an area that has seen comparatively small numbers of migrant crossings in Texas.

CBP data shows that Brownsville has seen just 46 migrant encounters over the past five days, compared to 2,106 in Eagle Pass. The former averaged 17 migrant encounters per day in February, while the latter averaged 462.

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Brownsville is part of the CBP’s Rio Grande Valley sector, which has seen 87,426 migrant encounters so far in Fiscal Year 2024. The Del Rio sector that encompasses Eagle Pass has seen 182,077 encounters, but even that is far below the busiest sector, which lies around Tucson, Arizona, and has seen 297,380 encounters.

Former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential front-runner, will visit Eagle Pass on Thursday in a competing visit, one of the most heavily trafficked areas in Texas and ground zero for Gov. Greg Abbott’s fight with the Biden administration over enforcing immigration law. 

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Hanna Panreck contributed to this report. 

Former President Trump’s campaign appealed a ruling from an Illinois judge that removed the 2024 presidential candidate from state ballots on Thursday.

The Trump campaign appeal contests Cook County Circuit Judge Tracie Porter ruling that Trump is disqualified from candidacy under the Constitutional ban on “insurrectionists.”

This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.

Ohio Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, who is currently running for re-election touting her record in Congress, has introduced just five bills that have become law during a span of more than four decades she has spent in office, prompting criticism from her GOP opponents. 

Since taking office in 1983 representing Ohio’s 9th Congressional District in Toledo, Kaptur has introduced five bills on her own that have become law, including a joint resolution to designate 1986 as “Save for the U.S.A. Year,” the Veterans’ Home Loan Program Improvements and Property Rehabilitation Act of 1987, and the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Complex Expansion and Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge Expansion Act.

Kaptur, who has co-sponsored hundreds of bills, has only introduced two bills that have become law since 2005, a law dedicating a Toledo courthouse in 2008 and legislation with over 300 co-sponsors authorizing the U.S. Mint to produce coins honoring World War II veterans.

Kaptur, who has labeled herself a “champion for the Midwest in Congress” and made the case that she is focused on “delivering real results” for the people of Northwest Ohio, has made the case that her seniority in Congress is a reason to support her while campaigning over the years.

POLLS SHOW BIDEN FACING ‘ENTHUSIASM GAP’ HEADING INTO 2024 ELECTION SEASON

“Getting things done,” Kaptur said on a podcast recently when she was asked what her “super power” is.

During the tenure of the 117th Congress, which concluded in 2023, Kaptur was ranked by the Center for Effective Lawmaking as the 160th most effective Democrat lawmaker.

Additionally, the amount of federal grants and contracts Kaptur has brought back to her district consistently ranks among the lowest in the state, including in FY 2023 when the roughly $384 million in federal funding that came back to the 9th District was lower than any district in Ohio except for the 16th, which was eliminated at the end of 2023.

“Marcy Kaptur’s four decades in Congress can be summed up as the one guest who was invited to dinner, didn’t bring anything for the table and then overstayed their welcome,”  NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital. 

4TH GEN FARMER BLASTS BIDEN ADMIN FOR SENDING BILLIONS TO UKRAINE AS US FARMERS SUFFER: ‘FACING EXTINCTION’

“Northwest Ohio needs someone who will deliver results – not just mooch off her own constituents like some unwanted guest. It’s time to kick her to the curb.” 

Kaptur is expected to be involved in a tight re-election campaign as she defends her seat in a district former President Trump won by three points in 2020. The Cook Political report ranks the race as a “Lean Democrat” contest that Republicans are targeting as an opportunity to hold and improve on their slim majority in the House.

Three Republicans are facing off in a March 19 primary to determine who will face Kaptur in November. The Republican candidates are J.R. Majewski, who lost to Kaptur in 2022, state Rep. Derek Merrin and former state Rep. Craig Riedel.

All three Republicans running in the primary took issue with Kaptur’s record when contacted for comment by Fox News Digital. 

“When the voters of Northwest Ohio cast their ballot this November, their choice will be clear: continue the ineffective status quo, or elect a real leader who will deliver tangible results,” Merrin told Fox News Digital.

“Marcy Kaptur hasn’t done squat for the four decades she has served in Congress, and I look forward to bringing forth the meaningful change Northwest Ohioans have deserved for years.”  

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In a statement to Fox News Digital, Majewski said he was inspired to run for her seat in part due to Kaptur’s lack of accomplishments in Congress.

“The ineffectiveness of Marcy Kaptur, one of the most biggest backbenchers on Capitol Hill, was what drove me to run for this seat – the people of Ohio’s 9th District need a representative that will fight for them, help repair the issues created by the disastrous Biden Agenda and put the needs of Americans first and I fully plan to deliver,” Majewski said.

Riedel told Fox News Digital that Kaptur is a “failed politician” who “has failed the people of Northwest Ohio.” 

“She votes with Joe Biden 100% of the time,” Riedel added. “I’m not shocked to see that she has only passed 5 pieces of legislation.”

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Kaptur’s campaign and office did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital, but a spokesperson with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) pointed to the tens of millions of dollars Kaptur has brought to the district through appropriations funding and other avenues. 

“Congresswoman Kaptur is a proven champion for working families in Northwest Ohio who literally saved thousands of jobs at Jeep,” DCCC spokesperson Aidan Johnson told Fox News Digital.

“In the last year alone, she has secured almost $14 million for a new battery assembly plant in Toledo, $20 million for new roads and bridges, nearly $11 million for the Napoleon, Defiance, and Western Railway, and more than $16 million for Toledo-area solar companies. Despite all this, Republicans are trying to smear her record because they have nothing of their own to run on.”

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

New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing JBS USA, the world’s largest producer of beef, over the company’s emissions and for “greenwashing” by allegedly misleading the public about its environmental impact.

In an announcement, James noted that beef production has the largest greenhouse gas footprint of any major food commodity and that animal agriculture accounts for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. According to James, JBS USA’s various net-zero pledges for 2030 and 2040 are therefore misleading and “not feasible” given the scope of its worldwide beef production operations.

“As families continue to face the daily impacts of the climate crisis, they are willing to spend more of their hard-earned money on products from brands that are better for the environment,” James said in a statement. “When companies falsely advertise their commitment to sustainability, they are misleading consumers and endangering our planet.”

“JBS USA’s greenwashing exploits the pocketbooks of everyday Americans and the promise of a healthy planet for future generations,” she added. “My office will always ensure that companies do not abuse the environment and the trust of hardworking consumers for profit.”

GOP REP INTRODUCES RESOLUTION CONDEMNING UN FOR CALLING ON AMERICANS TO STOP EATING MEAT

The lawsuit was applauded by state Democrats and national climate advocacy organizations like Earthjustice, Mighty Earth, Friends of the Earth US, Citizens Campaign for the Environment and Stand.earth. 

“JBS repeatedly claims that it will reach net zero by 2040. This claim was found to be misleading and yet JBS continues to assert it,” said Peter Lehner, an attorney at Earthjustice. “While it is critical for every company to reduce its climate change impact, JBS would need to implement enormous operational changes to achieve this goal. However, JBS is doing very little and is not taking anywhere close to the steps that would be required.”

UN CLIMATE SUMMIT SERVING GOURMET BURGERS, BBQ AS IT CALLS FOR AMERICANS TO STOP EATING MEAT

In her announcement and lawsuit, James pointed to several instances in which JBS USA and its executives made pledges to reduce the company’s impact on the environment. She also stated the company – which has a market cap of more than $10 billion and whose North American beef business earns tens of billions of dollars annually – has acknowledged consumers are more interested in sustainable products.

For example, in March 2021, JBS announced a pledge to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 across global operations and including indirect downstream emissions. The company then began a publicity campaign touting the pledge, running a full-page advertisement one month later in the New York Times stating “it’s possible” for meat production to be “part of the climate solution.”

Since then, JBS and its subsidiaries have continued to tout the 2040 pledge and other sustainability goals. The company even presented at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai late last year, announcing additional sustainability initiatives and investments.

TWO DOZEN REPUBLICANS CALL ON BIDEN TO DISAVOW JOHN KERRY’S REMARKS TARGETING FOOD PRODUCTION

“JBS takes its commitment to a more sustainable future for agriculture very seriously,” JBS USA spokesperson Nikki Richardson said in an email to Fox News Digital. “We disagree with the action taken today by the New York Attorney General’s office.”

“JBS will continue to partner with farmers, ranchers and our food system partners around the world to help feed a growing population while using fewer resources and reducing agriculture’s environmental impact,” she continued. “Our belief that American agriculture can help sustainably feed the world is undeterred.”

James’ lawsuit comes as environmental groups and lawmakers worldwide increasingly set their sights on the agriculture industry. The global food system – which includes land-use change, actual agricultural production, packaging and waste management – generates about 18 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, the equivalent of 34% of total worldwide emissions, according to a 2021 study published in the Nature Food journal.

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President Biden’s international climate envoy John Kerry warned last year that decarbonization would be impossible without a concerted effort from the agriculture industry to achieve green goals.

“We can’t get to net-zero, we don’t get this job done unless agriculture is front and center as part of the solution. So all of us understand here the depths of this mission,” Kerry said.

FIRST ON FOX: Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee are pushing the Biden administration to take action over reports that safety net hospitals in at least one state are hitting a breaking point due to a surge of migrants that has left states and cities overwhelmed across the U.S. – with lawmakers warning it could soon spread to other hospitals across the country.

Republicans led by Chairman Jason Smith, in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, cited reports that the main safety net hospital – a hospital that provides care for uninsured patients – in Denver, Colorado, is facing financial pressures and has turned away patients “due to a massive influx of illegal immigrants into that community and the resulting increase in hospital visits and services provided to those individuals.”

CBS News reported that the hospital had about $60 million in uncompensated care in 2020, and that is now up to $136 million, with a quarter coming from non-Denver residents. Officials have said that it is at a “critical point.”

DUELING BIDEN, TRUMP VISITS TO BESIEGED BORDER COME AMID FRESH SLEW OF VIOLENT CRIMES BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS 

The Republicans cited reporting that showed Denver Health is warning it is unable to invest in the buildings and is turning away Denver residents in the area seeking care for mental health and substance abuse.

However, the lawmakers warn that the problem could soon become national. The nation is gripped by a three-year migrant crisis that saw more than 2.4 million migrant encounters in FY23 alone and more than 300,000 in December. A number of states, including those with “sanctuary” policies that forbid or limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), are struggling to deal with the numbers they are seeing and say the numbers are straining services. They have also appealed to the federal government for additional help.

WHITE HOUSE CALLS FOR SANCTUARY CITIES TO COOPERATE WITH ICE AMID FUROR OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMES

“Denver Health’s challenges may soon be mirrored by hospitals in sanctuary cities across the country, imperiling the nation’s health care safety net and threatening health care access for vulnerable patients,” the Republicans say.

The Republicans ask Becerra what actions the department has taken to ensure that hospitals are not turning away patients due to a surge of migrants into the area “as a result of their locations’ sanctuary policies.”

The letter also asks what guidance it has provided to hospitals facing such a surge, and if it will amend Medicare regulations to require hospitals to prepare for such an eventuality. Fox News Digital reached out to HHS for comment on the letter.

7.2M ENTERED US UNDER BIDEN ADMIN, AN AMOUNT GREATER THAN POPULATION OF 36 STATES

The letter comes as both President Biden and former President Donald Trump are heading to the border. Democrats and the administration have blamed Republicans for the current crisis by saying they refuse to pass additional funding and comprehensive reform to fix the crisis — including a recent funding and reform bill that failed to take off in the Senate. Biden is expected to renew calls to pass the bill when he visits the border.

Republicans, however, blame the administration for the crisis and argue that it coincided with an ending of Trump-era policies and more liberal policies, including increased catch-and-release and reduced interior enforcement.

“President Biden’s disastrous border policies are directly responsible for the unprecedented crisis at our southern border, resulting in millions of illegal immigrants flooding American communities and straining our public health infrastructure,” Smith said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

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Smith said he and his colleagues on the committee are “committed to holding the Biden HHS accountable to ensure our health care system is prepared to address the challenges this administration’s border policies have created.”

“Until we return to the Trump-era policies that actually secured the border, the health of our entire nation will continue to suffer the consequences,” he said.

President Biden’s visit to the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday reflects his wishful thinking on the issue, arriving at one of the least-trafficked towns on the border.

Biden will visit Brownsville, Texas, which ranks as the 29th-most trafficked town by illegal border-crossers, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

Former President Trump, meanwhile, is set to hold a competing visit to the border, though he will arrive at Eagle Pass, Texas, one of the most heavily-trafficked towns in the country.

Biden’s trip to Texas is an attempt to address his deep unpopularity on the issue, with a recent poll showing just 26% of Americans support his handling of the border.

7.2M ENTERED US UNDER BIDEN ADMIN, AN AMOUNT GREATER THAN POPULATION OF 36 STATES

CBP data shows that Brownsville has seen just 46 migrant encounters over the past five days, compared to 2,106 in Eagle Pass. The former averaged 17 migrant encounters per day in February, while the latter averaged 462.

WHITE HOUSE CALLS FOR SANCTUARY CITIES TO COOPERATE WITH ICE AMID FUROR OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMES

Brownsville is part of the CBP’s Rio Grande Valley sector, which has seen 87,426 migrant encounters so far in Fiscal Year 2024. The Del Rio sector that encompasses Eagle Pass has seen 182,077 encounters, but even that is far below the busiest sector, which lies around Tucson, Arizona, and has seen 297,380 encounters.

SALVADORAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTED IN CONNECTION TO MARYLAND MURDER OF 2-YEAR-OLD BOY

Eagle Pass has also been the center of an ongoing standoff and court battle between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the administration over border-related issues, including setting up razor-wire and a new anti-illegal immigration law.

The White House says Biden will use the visit to renew his calls for Congress to pass a bipartisan border agreement, which would have increased staffing at the border as well as tightening asylum rules, moved to tackle fentanyl smuggling, and increased funding to communities and NGOs receiving migrants. Republicans argued it fell well short of what is necessary.

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“He will discuss the urgent need to pass the Senate bipartisan border security agreement, the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border in decades,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said aboard Air Force One on Wednesday. “He will reiterate his calls for congressional Republicans to stop playing politics and to provide the funding needed for additional U.S. Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, fentanyl detection technology and more.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin and Adam Shaw contributed to this report

Georgia lawmakers face a key deadline Thursday, the last day for legislation to pass either the House or Senate and advance to the other legislative chamber for consideration this year. Lawmakers on Monday will decide questions including whether to tighten rules on law enforcement cooperation with immigration officials and enact state protections for religious liberties.

Some key proposals have already moved forward, including a constitutional amendment that could allow a statewide vote on legalizing sports betting and a plan to cut income taxes. Proposals that would have curtailed automatic voter registration and limited how private schools could talk to students about gender identity appear unlikely to advance.

Proposals that don’t pass by the end of Thursday could still be resurrected later this year, but it becomes more difficult. Because this is the second year of a two-year session, most measures that don’t pass Thursday will effectively be dead.

GEORGIA BUDGETS $392M TO OVERHAUL CAPITOL, INCLUDING ITS GOLDEN DOME

TO BE DECIDED THURSDAY

IMMIGRATION: House Bill 1105 would require local law enforcement to apply to help federal agents enforce immigration laws and enact criminal penalties for sheriffs who don’t contact federal officials to check prisoners’ immigration status.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY: Proponents say Senate Bill 180 would protect religious liberty from being trampled by state and local governments, while opponents say it’s a license for people and groups to discriminate against LGBTQ+ in the name of religion.

FILM TAX CREDIT: House Bill 1180 would require more use of Georgia-based employees and contractors to get the top 30% income tax credit on film production, and would cap credits eligible to sold to third parties to 2.5% of the state’s annual budget, or about $900 million.

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: Senate Bill 390 bars state and local governments from giving money to the American Library Association. The sponsor says the the group’s ideology is harmful. Valdosta State University could still use private money to maintain accreditation for its library science degree.

SEX EDUCATION: School districts could drop sex education and students would only be enrolled if parents specifically opt in under Senate Bill 532. The measure would ban all sex education in fifth grade and below.

FOREIGN-OWNED FARMLAND: People and companies from certain foreign countries would be barred from buying farmland within 25 miles of any military base under Senate Bill 420 and House Bill 452.

OKEFENOKEE MINING: Georgia would pause future permits allowing an expansion of a mine near the Okefenokee Swamp for three years under House Bill 1338, although opponents who want an outright ban on any expansion say the moratorium would be ineffective.

SCHOOL REPORT CARDS: House Bill 1186 would require state education officials to resume assigning a single 100-point score to describe a school’s academic performance.

SPEEDING TICKET CAMERAS: House Bill 1126 would repeal authorization for automated cameras to issue speeding tickets in school zones.

ADVANCED

SPORTS BETTING: Georgians could get a chance in November to vote on a state constitutional amendment authorizing sports gambling after the Senate passed Senate Resolution 579.

PROPERTY TAXES: Senators want to limit future increases in a home’s taxable value to 3% a year under Senate Bill 349, while House members want to increase the statewide homestead tax exemption from $2,000 to $4,000 under House Bill 1019. School districts could cut property tax rates and still get state aid under House Bill 987.

INCOME TAXES: An already-planned state income tax cut would be accelerated under House Bill 1015, giving the state a flat 5.39% income tax rate retroactive to Jan. 1.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Senate Bill 351 seeks to require social media companies to get parental permission before letting children younger than 16 create accounts. It also bans use of social media using school computers and internet and creates new anti-bullying rules.

CASH BAIL: Senate Bill 63 would require cash bail for 30 additional crimes, including some misdemeanors, and would impose new rules on nonprofit bail funds. It awaits Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature.

ANTISEMITISM: Gov. Brian Kemp in January signed House Bill 30 defining antisemitism for use in hate crimes and antidiscrimination cases. Opponents warn it will be used to censor free speech and equate criticism of Israel to hatred of Jewish people.

GUN TAX BREAKS: Senate Bill 344 would let people buy guns, ammunition and gun safes without paying sales taxes for five days each fall, while House Bill 971 would give a $300 tax credit to people buying gun safes, gun locks or taking firearms safety training.

ELECTIONS: Senate Bill 358 would give the state’s appointed election board the power to investigate Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s handling of elections. Senate Bill 189 would mandate that barcodes can’t be used to count ballots and House Bill 976 would require watermarks on ballots. Senate Bill 355 would ban ranked-choice voting in Georgia.

PROSECUTOR DISCIPLINE: House Bill 881 and Senate Bill 332 would revive a commission with powers to discipline and remove prosecutors, a move Democrats warn is aimed at Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ prosecution of former President Donald Trump.

JUDGE PAY: House Bill 947 would create guidelines to raise and standardize pay for judges.

TRAFFIC CITATIONS: Officers would no longer have to arrest people who refuse to sign traffic tickets under House Bill 1054.

LAWSUIT LIMITS: Senate Bill 426 would be limit ability to sue an insurance company directly after a truck wreck, while House Bill 1114 would seek data for a future push to limit lawsuits.

UNION ORGANIZING: Companies receiving state economic incentives would be barred from recognizing labor unions without a secret ballot election under Senate Bill 362.

HEALTHCARE PERMITTING: Some additional healthcare expansions would be allowed without state permits under House Bill 1339, but that bill wouldn’t go as far as the Senate proposal to remove certificate of need rules.

WATER RIGHTS: House Bill 1172 would alter law about using Georgia’s waterways for boating, fishing and hunting. Proponents say it balances public use and private property rights. Opponents say that measure and Senate Bill 542 would limit access.

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DID NOT ADVANCE

MEDICAID: House leaders had discussed expanding Medicaid to more lower-income adults, but instead want to study the issue.

SCHOOL LIBRARIES: Senate Bill 394 sought to restrict materials depicting sex acts in school libraries while Senate Bill 154 would have subjected K-12 librarians to criminal penalties if they violated state obscenity laws.

GENDER IDENTITY IN SCHOOLS: Senate Bill 88 would have limited how public and private schools could have talked to students about gender identity.

VOTER CHALLENGES: Senate Bill 221 would have stopped Georgia’s system of automatic voter registration and made it easier to challenge whether people are qualified to vote because of residency issues.

President Biden and former President Trump will both head to the southern border on Thursday as the besieged southern border becomes a top political issue — and as the nation is gripped by a wave of stories of violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants.

The violent crime and those arrests, all made in the last two weeks, are in addition to additional migrant chaos in places like New York City — where the city has declared itself overwhelmed by the numbers it is seeing, has been subjected to a number of migrant-related crimes and is now reconsidering its sanctuary city policies.

A Venezuelan illegal immigrant is being charged with the murder of a nursing student out for a jog in Georgia.

WHITE HOUSE CALLS FOR SANCTUARY CITIES TO COOPERATE WITH ICE AMID FUROR OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMES

A Salvadoran illegal immigrant is being charged with murder in the death of a 2-year-old child in Maryland.

A Honduran illegal immigrant is being charged with the rape of a 14-year-old girl at knifepoint in Louisiana.

A Venezuelan illegal immigrant was arrested in connection with a sexual assault on a minor in Virginia

A Honduran illegal immigrant is being charged with multiple counts related to child pornography in Virginia.

These charges come after a record FY 23 that saw over 2.4 million migrant encounters and a December in which encounters soared over the 300,000 mark in history. Recent polling, including one this week by Gallup, shows voters see the large number of illegal immigrants coming into the U.S as a “critical” threat to the country.

Biden, whose administration remains under heavy fire for its handling of the crisis now into its third year, will travel to Brownsville, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley. He will meet with Border Patrol, law enforcement and local leaders.

The White House said he will renew his calls for Congress to pass a bipartisan border agreement, which would have increased staffing at the border as well as tightening asylum rules, moved to tackle fentanyl smuggling and increased funding to communities and NGO’s receiving migrants. 

SALVADORAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTED IN CONNECTION TO MARYLAND MURDER OF 2-YEAR-OLD BOY

“He will discuss the urgent need to pass the Senate bipartisan border security agreement, the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border in decades,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said aboard Air Force one. “He will reiterate his calls for Congressional Republicans to stop playing politics and to provide the funding needed for additional U.S. Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, fentanyl detection technology and more.

Meanwhile, the White House told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that it encourages cooperation with ICE from local law enforcement, including those in “sanctuary” jurisdictions.

“We welcome local law enforcement’s support and cooperation in apprehending and removing individuals who pose a risk to national security or public safety,” a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Wednesday in response to a question about its stance on sanctuary cities. “When a local jurisdiction has information about an individual who could pose a threat to public safety, we want them to share that information with ICE.” 

“Just since May 12, DHS has removed or returned more than 565,000 individuals – the vast majority of whom crossed the Southwest Border. 565,000 removals and returns is more than every full fiscal year since 2013,” they said.

7.2M ENTERED US UNDER BIDEN ADMIN, AN AMOUNT GREATER THAN POPULATION OF 36 STATES

Trump, who has made restoring order to the border one of the main thrusts of his 2024 presidential bid, will be in Eagle Pass, the center of an ongoing stand-off and court battle between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the administration over border-related issues including setting up of razor-wire and a new anti-illegal immigration law.

Trump and Republicans have blamed the Biden administration for the crisis, saying its rollback of Trump-era policies and implementation of “open border” policies have fueled the crisis and allowed the entry of millions of illegal immigrants.

“Joe Biden ignored the southern border and denied that a crisis existed for years – but now, he’s pretending to change his tune when it’s politically convenient,” said RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel in a statement. “There’s no doubt: Biden’s open border policies have led to criminals entering our country, deadly fentanyl in our communities, and an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. No matter how he spins it, every state is a border state under Joe Biden.”

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Trump has promised an aggressive turn away from Biden-era policies and towards greater enforcement. Trump has promised to continue wall construction, a return to the Remain-in-Mexico policy and greater deportations. 

“When I am your President, we will immediately Seal the Border, Stop the Invasion, and on Day One, we will begin the largest deportation operation of illegal CRIMINALS in American History!” Trump said this week on TruthSocial.

FIRST ON FOX – Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis and her former lover Nathan Wade are facing two ethics complaints from a conservative government watchdog group based on their court testimony on allegations they had an ‘improper’ affair.

The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) is requesting that the Georgia state bar open disciplinary proceedings against the Fulton County DA and Wade for violations of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct.

AAF is alleging Wade lied under oath about his relationship with Willis, and alleging that Willis admitted to keeping campaign money for personal use on the witness stand. 

“To ensure that the citizens of Fulton County and the State of Georgia understand that the Bar will not countenance any violation of its ethics by those charged with upholding it, we urge you to revoke Ms. Willis’ license to practice law and permanently bar her from practicing law,” adding the same request in a separate complaint against Wade.

KEY WITNESS IN FANI WILLIS CASE TESTIFIES HE MAY HAVE LIED IN TEXTS ABOUT FRIENDS’ AFFAIR

The complaint against Willis notes that on Feb 15. 2024 she testified before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee and was questioned regarding her reimbursement of Wade and her use of cash with no bank or transaction receipts. Willis was asked where the cash originally came from, to which she replied:

“Cash is fungible. I’ve had cash for years in my house. So for me to tell you the source of where it comes from … when you go to Publix and you buy something and you get fifty dollars and you throw it in there. It’s been my whole life. When I took out a large amount of money during my first campaign, I kept some of the cash of that.”

AAF claims that Willis’ “admission” represents “the admission of a clear violation of Georgia Campaign Finance law.” The portion of that law they say is applicable states that, “Nothing in this Code section shall permit or authorize a candidate to utilize campaign funds for the purpose of making gifts, loans, or investments directly to: (A) The candidate…”

“The statute is unambiguous – and the facts are not in dispute – as Ms. Willis described in her testimony, she placed the money that was intended for her campaign into a “fungible” slush fund with other moneys that she would use for various other purposes, including reimbursing her boyfriend for leisure travel,” the complaint states. 

FANI WILLIS’ TESTIMONY WAS ‘BELLIGERENT’ AND COULD DAMAGE HER CREDIBILITY, FORMER PROSECUTOR SAYS

The complaint also states that her “keeping some of the cash” was a “willful intentional act and denied the citizens of Georgia the ability to exercise effective oversight over her campaign.”

“It is unreasonable to believe that a barred attorney running for public office would not have been aware that the strict reporting guidelines of Georgia campaign finance law existed to protect the public’s right to oversee elections and that she had an obligation to scrupulously abide by them,” the complaint states. 

The complaint against Wade alleges that he lied under oath on more than one occasion. When asked on an interrogatory to “describe each instance in which you have had sexual relations with a person other than your spouse during the course of the marriage,” and he said, “none.”

Wade testified that his marriage “was irretrievably broken in 2015” but that he and his wife agreed to delay a divorce for the sake of their children. 

“First it is simply not credible that Mr. Wade did not know that he had sexual relations with Ms. Willis when he replied to the interrogatories above in his divorce case. Put simply, it is clear Mr. Wade knew that he had had sex with Ms. Willis, and he knew that at the time he was still married, and he simply lied in the interrogatories,” the AAF complaint states. 

FULTON COUNTY DA FANI WILLIS ACCUSED OF LYING ABOUT TIMING OF AFFAIR WITH TRUMP PROSECUTOR

“Whether he was married was not a complicated question. In fact, he was the plaintiff in a divorce case, a case that cannot proceed without the parties being married. As an officer of the court, this is simply unacceptable. It is challenging to think of a more clear-cut example of ‘dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation,’” the complaint says.

The complaint goes on to say that Wade’s “rationale for not answering the interrogatories truthfully under questioning shows a whole lack of understanding of the law that makes him unfit to practice law in the State,” deeming him a risk to future potential clients.

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“The Bar owes the profession and the public a duty to guard the practice from charlatans and incompetents. Any simple reading of Mr. Wade’s testimony quickly reveals that he is so grossly unfamiliar with the simple understanding of a legal concept like marriage that the risk he and his incompetence poses to vulnerable members of the public requires his exclusion from the profession,” it states. 

Willis and Wade did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

The Supreme Court offered divided thoughts and a measure of confusion on Wednesday over whether the federal government can ban so-called bump stocks, a device that increases the firepower of automatic weapons.

The case, Garland v. Cargill, presents whether a “bump stock” device is a “machine gun” as defined by federal law because it is designed and intended for use in converting a rifle into a weapon that fires “automatically more than one shot… by a single function of the trigger.” 

After a 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas that left 60 people dead and 500 more wounded, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) issued an interpretive rule concluding that “bump stocks” are machine guns.

The Trump administration initiated a ban on the devices — reversing earlier regulations — and President Biden’s Justice Department is now defending it in court.

GOP SENATOR INTRODUCES BILL TO DEFEND GUN DEALERS FROM BIDEN’S ‘GUN-GRABBING AGENDA’: ‘EXTREMIST POLICIES’

Michael Cargill, owner of Central Texas Gun Works, sued the government after he was forced to surrender several “bump stocks” under the ATF’s rule. He says the agency overstepped its administrative authority to impose a ban, absent any congressional action.

“It really goes back to… freedom. And it goes back to just the basics of something that my customers and myself legally purchase. The government should not have that power, that authority in an administrative agency… to come back and ban that. You know, something that Congress has not banned. That’s going to be a job that’s reserved for Congress,” Cargill said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

The conservative high court majority has been generally supportive of the Second Amendment in recent years, and several justices suggested the government here overstepped its power.

But the nearly 90 minutes of oral arguments signaled the nine-member bench viewed the case as more about regulatory authority and less about expanded gun rights.

The justices’ questions were focused mainly on exactly how bump stocks work, and their functional effect.  

“I can certainly understand why these items should be made illegal, but we’re dealing with a statute that was enacted in the 1930s, and through many administrations, the government took the position that these bump stocks are not machine guns,” said Justice Neil Gorsuch. “And then you adopted an interpretive rule, not even a legislative rule, saying otherwise that would render between a quarter of a million and a half million people federal felons.”

Justice Samuel Alito called that “disturbing.” 

“These are the kind of weapons that Congress was intending to prohibit because of the damage they cause,” said Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. “It’s really not about the operation of the thing. It’s about what it can achieve, what it’s being used for… The function of this trigger is to cause this kind of damage, 800 rounds a second or whatever.”  

A bump stock is an attachment that replaces a semi-automatic weapon’s standard stock, the part of the long weapon that rests on the shoulder.

TEXAS GUN STORE OWNER SAYS SUPREME COURT SHOULD LIMIT GOVERNMENT ‘POWER’ IN ‘BUMP STOCK’ BAN CASE

As the shooter applies forward thrust on the barrel, the device harnesses the recoil energy so that the trigger will “bump” against the stationary finger, which then allows another round to be fired. The effect is more rapid shots than with a standard stock.

Bump stocks came into circulation early this century, one of a number of devices that can be attached to semi-automatic weapons.

The carnage at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Nevada — where the gunman fired more than a thousand rounds from 14 semi-automatic rifles outfitted with bump stocks — prompted the Trump administration to quickly ban them. 

GUN OWNERS DUNK ON SHAQ FOR SPONSORING FIREARM BUYBACK EVENT IN RED STATE: ‘ABSOLUTELY NOT’

Before that, the ATF for more than a decade had determined the devices did not convert them into machine guns, which have been illegal to own for nearly a century. 

The ATF says more than a half-million bump stocks were in circulation when the federal ban came into effect five years ago, requiring them to be turned in or destroyed. 

The focus of arguments came down to a technical inquiry into how gun triggers are enhanced by the addition of a bump stock. Several on the court admitted watching videos of bump stocks in a simulated environment, as part of the briefs submitted in the case.

Both sides presented radically different ideas of just how these accessories work.

The government told the justices bump stocks allow a gun user to fire “automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.”

Lawyers for the gun dealer argued that despite enhancing the firepower, the effect was still a manual, not an automatic function.

“The entire point of this device is that you exert forward pressure and you have your finger on the trigger, and then a torrent of bullets shoots out,” said Justice Elena Kagan. “So I don’t understand why it’s any different from pushing a button and holding the trigger.”

After attorney Jonathan Mitchell suggested bump stocks might help someone with a medical condition, Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked, “Why would even a person with arthritis, why would Congress think they needed to shoot 400 to 7- or 800 rounds of ammunition under any circumstance?”

But other questions from the bench went back to what legislators have not done on this issue.

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“Intuitively I am entirely sympathetic to your argument, and it seems it’s functioning like a machine gun would,” said Justice Amy Coney Barrett, “but looking at that definition, the question is, why didn’t Congress pass that legislation to cover this more clearly?”

The technical analysis undertaken during arguments was not without its hiccups.

“This is totally confusing,” said Alito at one point. Jackson used the same word on several other occasions.

“Now I’m completely lost,” added Sotomayor at one point.

Cargill, an Army veteran, is being defended in court by the New Civil Liberties Alliance.

“If a federal agency can issue a rule that makes people felons for owning a device the agency had repeatedly and consistently approved as lawful for more than a decade, then everyone’s liberty is truly in jeopardy,” said Mark Chenoweth, the group’s president.

Supporters of the ban say it saves lives.

“Fully automatic firearms — and conversion devices — are already heavily regulated under federal law, with good reason,” said Esther Sanchez-Gomez, litigation director at the Giffords Law Center. “ATF’s classification of bump stocks as machine guns is simply common sense, and in line with congressional intent to regulate workarounds to the machine gun regulations.”

A ruling is due by early summer.