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Immigration and border security were hot topics in 2024 as the Biden administration continued to tackle the historic migrant crisis at the southern border, migrant crime made headlines across the country, and both topics were top priorities for voters ahead of the November election.

In 2025, those topics are likely to remain key issues. Here are five things to watch in 2025:

BORDER STATE OFFERS TRUMP MASSIVE PLOT OF LAND TO AID MASS DEPORTATION OPERATION

U.S. Border Patrol vehicles take away groups of vulnerable immigrants, including unaccompanied minors who had crossed over from Mexico, in May 2023 in El Paso, Texas.  (John Moore/Getty Images)

Does Trump deliver?

President-elect Trump has promised to launch a historic mass deportation program next year. He has expressed openness to declaring a national emergency and using military assets in order to get it done. His team have already started looking at how to expand detention near major metropolitan areas.

His border czar, Thomas Homan, has promised that national security and public security threats will be the priority, but no illegal immigrant is off the table. The Trump administration increased deportations significantly up until 2019 before COVID-19 hit the U.S., so it is expected to move in that direction again.

Trump may need to rally Congress for additional resources, a task made easier by Republican control of the House and Senate, and will need to overcome potential lawsuits filed against any policies he introduces.

At the congressional level, expect a push for a sweeping bill like H.R.2 — the Republican border bill passed in 2023 that would limit asylum significantly while providing additional resources at the border. 
 

Will Democrats resist?

Officials in multiple Democratic states have already previewed their resistance to the deportation push by the Trump administration. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said recently he was prepared to go to jail over his opposition to Trump’s deportation plan.

Meanwhile, governors in Massachusetts, Illinois and Arizona have all said that they won’t co-operate with deportations. 

Trump officials say they don’t need their assistance, only for them to step aside as federal authorities do their job. But it will be something to watch to see if Democratic officials merely do not assist the administration, or if that turns to active resistance.

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 13, 2024 (ALLISON Robbert/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Mexican co-operation?

Mexico plays a crucial role in securing the U.S.-Mexico border, with lower levels of encounters at the U.S. border often coinciding with crackdowns at Mexico’s southern border. 

That was on display in 2024, as numbers lowered at the border after Biden administration officials met with Mexican officials in December 2023. The two countries had previously come to an agreement by which the U.S. would allow in migrants via parole programs, while Mexico would consequently accept a certain number of non-Mexican returns back from the U.S.

But with President-elect Trump having promised to end those programs, it is unclear to what extent Mexico will continue to co-operate.

Trump has promised to impose a significant 25% tariff on goods from Mexico if it does not halt the flow of illegal immigrants across the border. It’s a similar tactic by which Trump got Mexico to agree to the 2019 expansion of the remain-in-Mexico policy.

But will it work? Will Mexico keep the traffic heading north low, or will it reduce its enforcement? That will be a question answered in 2025.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS
 

What will Congress do?

Congress has struggled to find consensus on border security and immigration, something that has frustrated multiple administrations. President Biden and former President Barack Obama were thwarted in their efforts to get Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, while President-elect Trump struggled to get lawmakers to provide funding for the wall at the southern border.

Now, Republicans hold the House and Senate, but by thin margins. So it is unclear if Trump will ever see a sweeping bill similar to the House Republicans’ border bill that passed the chamber in 2023 come to his desk.

Trump can do a great deal by executive action, but his mass deportation plan will require additional funding from Congress. To what extent Congress acts on those requests could determine how successful that effort, along with additional security at the southern border to stop migrants from entering the U.S. in the first place, will be. 

Legal immigration?

While illegal immigration is in the spotlight after the historic crisis at the southern border, it will likely be a key issue in the next administration, with some keen for additional restrictions on not only the use of humanitarian parole but also visas like the H-1B visa tech worker program and the H-2A agricultural worker program.

Additionally, whether the administration will have another go at trying to re-implement its public charge rule, which limited legal immigrants from receiving green cards if they had been reliant on some forms of welfare and are deemed to be likely to be reliant on welfare if they receive permanent residency. The administration is expected to reduce the numbers coming in via parole, which was expanded significantly under the Biden administration, and is also expected to reduce the annual refugee cap.

President-elect Trump and others in his future administration — including billionaire Elon Musk — have said at times they want more immigration, but only legal immigration.

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“I want a lot of people to come into our country, but I want them to come in legally,” Trump said in October.

 But some in Trump’s base want lower levels of immigration overall, including legal immigration. Which side of the argument wins will become clearer as 2025 rolls on.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – President-elect Donald Trump announced Karoline Leavitt will return to the White House next year as his press secretary, making the 27-year-old the youngest White House press secretary in U.S. history and notching another massive career benchmark. 

Leavitt has been a fierce defender of Trump throughout his hard-fought campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris, which included Democrats and the Harris campaign lobbing attacks at Trump that he is a “fascist” and on par with Nazi Germany dictator Adolf Hitler, two assassination attempts and crisscrossing the nation to rally support for the former president. 

“Karoline Leavitt did a phenomenal job as the National Press Secretary on my Historic Campaign, and I am pleased to announce she will serve as White House Press Secretary,” Trump said in a statement announcing Leavitt as his press secretary this month. 

“Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator. I have the utmost confidence she will excel at the podium, and help deliver our message to the American People as we, Make America Great Again.”

TRUMP PICKS KAROLINE LEAVITT TO SERVE AS WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY

Karoline Leavitt is seen leaving Trump Tower on April 25, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by MEGA/GC Images)

Ahead of her appointment as the youngest press secretary in the nation’s history – unseating President Richard Nixon’s press secretary Ron Ziegler, who was 29 when he took the same position in 1969 – Leavitt had long been in Trump’s orbit and also made her own political mark with a congressional run in 2022. 

TRUMP’S SPEEDY CABINET PICKS SHOW HIS ‘PRIORITY TO PUT AMERICA FIRST,’ TRANSITION TEAM SAYS

Leavitt served in Trump’s first administration as assistant press secretary before working as New York Rep. Elise Stefanik’s communications director following the 2020 election. Leavitt launched a congressional campaign in her home state of New Hampshire during the 2022 cycle, winning her primary, but losing the election to a Democrat. 

Karoline Leavitt, a Republican candidate for the U.S. House, speaks at a press conference held at Esteys Country Store in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on Oct.18, 2022. (Cheryl Senter for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

During her time on the campaign trail for Trump this cycle, Leavitt sparred with liberal media outlets about Trump’s candidacy, fielded media inquiries about the 45th president’s policies and vision for the U.S., served as one of Trump’s top defenders amid legal battles and political landmines lobbed by both the Biden and Harris campaign, and maneuvered an unprecedented campaign cycle that saw President Biden drop out of the running in July amid heightened concerns over his mental acuity and age. 

Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Trump adviser Jason Miller, left, arrive at the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on May 29, 2024. (Photo by Curtis Means / POOL / AFP)

She was among the dozens of Republican elected officials and Trump supporters who joined Trump in Manhattan court over the spring as he faced trial over 34 counts of falsifying business records, which Trump repeatedly slammed as a “sham” case. She also reported that with the job as the campaign’s national press secretary, she became accustomed to Trump’s “sleep schedule” – which has famously only consisted of roughly four or five hours of rest before getting to work – and joined him at rallies across the nation and at the campaign’s headquarters in Florida. 

Leavitt currently serves as the Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman ahead of Jan. 20, when Trump will be sworn in as president. 

Leavitt made national headlines in June, before Biden dropped out of the race, when CNN’s Kasie Hunt cut her microphone off as she argued on air that CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash would be politically biased against Trump while moderating a debate between Biden and the now president-elect. Biden ultimately performed terribly during the debate, which opened the floodgates to traditional Democrat allies calling on him to drop out of the presidential race and pass the torch to a younger generation. 

KAROLINE LEAVITT WANTS DEMS TO ‘LOOK IN THE MIRROR’ AFTER ‘DISGUSTING’ COMMENTS AGAINST TRUMP

“That’s why President Trump is knowingly going into a hostile environment on this very network, on CNN, with debate moderators who have made their opinions about him very well known over the past eight years. And their biased coverage of him,” Leavitt said to Hunt during the interview previewing the debate. 

Upcoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with President-elect Donald Trump.

“So I‘ll just say my colleagues, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, have acquitted themselves as professionals as they have covered campaigns and interviewed candidates from all sides of the aisle. I‘ll also say that if you talk to analysts of previous debates, that if you’re attacking the moderators, you’re usually losing,” Hunt responded.

As Hunt tried to redirect the interview back to previewing the debate, Leavitt said it would take just a few minutes to pull up examples of Tapper’s anti-Trump rhetoric across the years. 

KAROLINE LEAVITT ON SWING STATE DEMOCRATS TOUTING TIES TO TRUMP: THIS IS THE ‘WRITING ON THE WALL’

“Ma’am, I’m going to stop this interview if you’re going to continue to attack my colleagues,” Hunt said, before Leavitt continued that she was “stating facts” about what CNN hosts had previously said about Trump. 

“I’m sorry, guys, we’re going to come back out to the panel,” Hunt said. “Karoline, thank you very much for your time. You are welcome to come back at any point. She is welcome to come back and speak about Donald Trump, and Donald Trump will have equal time to Joe Biden when they both join us later this week in Atlanta for this debate.”

Following the mic getting cut, Leavitt told Fox News Digital at the time that, “CNN cutting off my microphone for bringing up a debate moderator’s history of anti-Trump lies just proves our point that President Trump will not be treated fairly in Thursday’s debate. Yet President Trump is still willing to go into this 3-1 fight to bring his winning message to the American people, and he will win.”

As Leavitt juggled the media, she also spent the first six months in her role as Trump campaign national press secretary while pregnant with her first child. Ahead of Mother’s Day this year, Leavitt touted the importance women and mothers have within the Trump orbit and celebrating that in July, she would welcome her own baby. 

Upcoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in photo with President-elect Donald Trump.

DEMOCRATS ARE THE TRUE THREAT TO DEMOCRACY: KAROLINE LEAVITT

“Joe Biden can’t even define what a ‘woman’ is, and his Administration disrespectfully refers to mothers as ‘birthing people.’ Joe Biden has left working moms and families behind by creating the worst inflation crisis in decades, welcoming millions of illegal immigrants into our country to commit crimes, and allowing violent protests to erupt on college campuses,” Leavitt exclusively told Fox News Digital in May. 

The campaign touted that it employed dozens of moms during the election cycle, including Leavitt and recently-announced White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. He has also hired hundreds of working moms since 2016, including high-profile names such as Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kayleigh McEnany. RNC and Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez and Trump legal spokeswoman Alina Habba are also both mothers of young kids. 

“We have a really welcoming environment for children at the office, the headquarters in West Palm Beach,” Leavitt told the Conservateur in October. “You know, we joke that on Saturdays, it’s bring-your-kid-to-work day.”

Trump 2024 national press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks at a press conference during former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial near Manhattan Criminal Court on May 28, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Months following the article touting the women and moms on the campaign, Democrats came under fire in October after Harris campaign surrogate Mark Cuban said “you never see [Trump] around strong, intelligent women.”

“This is extremely insulting to the thousands of women who work for President Trump, and the tens of millions of women who are voting for him,” Leavitt shot back at Cuban. “These women are mothers, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders, and they are, indeed, strong and intelligent, despite what Mark Cuban and Kamala Harris say.” 

TRUMP’S PICKS SO FAR: HERE’S WHO WILL BE ADVISING THE NEW PRESIDENT

Leavitt gave birth to her son in July and had planned to take maternity leave before a would-be assassin opened fire on Trump and his supporters at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, just days ahead of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Trump was injured on the side of his head, while two other rally-goers were also injured, and local dad and Trump supporter Corey Comperatore was fatally shot. 

Leavitt said the assassination attempt sparked her to jump back into the campaign just days after giving birth. 

“I had just brought my newborn, my three-day-old baby home from the hospital. And I said, ‘I’m going to turn on the television and watch the rally today,’” Leavitt recounted to the Conservateur of watching the tragic and shocking rally on July 13. 

“I looked at my husband and said, ‘Looks like I’m going back to work.’”

She also recounted that following the birth of her son, she received a call from Trump congratulating her before having her chat with former first lady Melania Trump.

“It was incredibly warm and kind,” she said of Trump’s call. “He wanted to check in. He asked me how I was doing.” Trump then passed the phone to his wife, the Conservateur reported. 

Karoline Leavitt is seen leaving Trump Tower on April 25, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by MEGA/GC Images)

“Mrs. Trump and I talked about how wonderful it is to be a mother to a boy. They spoke about their love for Barron, and the president cracked a joke: ‘We have a little boy, but he’s not so little now!’” she said. 

Leavitt predicted Trump would notch a win this cycle, repeatedly pointing to his message of unity and uplifting Americans of all races and creeds, his vow to secure the border and strengthen the economy following spiraling inflation under the Biden-Harris administration. 

Trump was declared the victor in the race late into the evening on Election Day, after sweeping battlegrounds such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. He ultimately secured 312 electoral votes and locked down the popular vote. 

Leavitt celebrated the win as the “Greatest political comeback in HISTORY!” where Trump “defeated the big tech oligarchs who tried to silence him, the weaponized system of justice against him, and the fake news that has lied about him and his supporters for years.”

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Just over a week after his win at the ballot boxes, Trump named Leavitt as his White House press secretary pick. 

“Thank you, President Trump, for believing in me. I am humbled and honored,” she posted to her X account following the announcement.  

“Let’s MAGA!”

In the past couple of years the Texas National Guard and state authorities have placed over 100 miles of razor wire at some of the most critical migrant crossing points along the southern border. The state, which makes up over 60 percent of the U.S. border with Mexico, has spent well over $10 million erecting and maintaining these border barriers as part of its larger multi-billion-dollar border enforcement campaign “Operation Lonestar.”

This week, a federal appeals court ruled against the Biden administration’s attempt to block Texas from continuing to place walls of razor wire – also called concertina or “c-wire” – along the border. This comes after U.S. Border Patrol agents under the Biden administration cut down Texas’ wire on a 26-mile stretch of the border in September 2023.

Earlier this year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, said that “Biden should be thanking Texas, not obstructing our efforts to secure the border.”

“Joe Biden completely abandoned his constitutional duty to secure the border. Texas stepped up in his absence to build the wall, repel illegal crossings, and protect our country,” said Abbott.

HEARTBREAKING VIDEO SHOWS 10-YEAR-OLD MIGRANT LEFT ALONE AT BORDER

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announce the deployment of an inflatable barrier along the Rio Grande River on Thursday, along with a six-bill package he signed to bolster border efforts. (Gov. Greg Abbott’s Office)

But does razor wire really keep migrants from entering the country illegally, and is it worth the cost?

Andrew Arthur, a law and policy expert at the Center for Immigration Studies, says the answer is an emphatic “Yes.”

He pointed to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection that shows illegal migrant encounters in Texas’ five border sectors dropped by nearly two-thirds in January after the state finished placing wire.

Arthur told Fox News Digital that Texas began placing wire fortifications in May 2023 after the COVID-era measure Title 42 expired. Then, after the migrant surge in December, Texas deployed additional guard personnel, state troopers and resources to the border.

“Based on the numbers that we’re looking at here, it is most definitely effective,” he said. 

Members of the U.S.military place razor wire along the U.S.-Mexico border on the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge, Friday, Nov. 2, 2018, in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

INCOMING BORDER CZAR HOMAN ISSUES WARNING IN TEXAS TO DEMS OPPOSING TRUMP DEPORTATIONS: ‘DON’T TEST US’

“What the wire did from my reading of this is it shifted that flow west,” he explained. “And that’s important, because that’s a much longer route. You’re adding hundreds of miles to that smuggling journey.”

While effective, razor wire is not without drawbacks. More than a traditional border wall, wire needs to be constantly monitored. It also requires regular upkeep and additional wire being laid down after old wire is damaged or destroyed.

“It’s a temporary solution, because you’re going to have to replace the concertina wire that they have and, at some point, they’re not going to be able to keep sending wave after wave of troopers, because a lot of those guys are hundreds of miles from their homes, because Texas is a big state,” he explained. “When I was embedded with a trooper down there, he was from Abilene, which is nowhere near the border, and he had been there for six weeks.”

A Texas National Guard soldier stands on patrol near the banks of the Rio Grande on April 2, 2024, in El Paso, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

There are also humanitarian considerations.

Arthur said that by being an effective deterrent, razor wire protects migrants from attempting the dangerous crossing over the Rio Grande.

Meanwhile, Dylan Corbett, who runs an El Paso-based migrant aid and advocacy group called the Hope Border Institute, said that the presence of c-wire along the border has increased migrant injuries and deaths.

Corbett told Fox News Digital that doctors working with the Hope Border Institute have had to treat the wounds of families injured by the wire, as well as “wounds caused by projectiles fired by the National Guard.”  

Venezuelan immigrant Louis Sanchez asks Texas National Guard troops to let his family pass through razor wire after they crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico on September 27, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)

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“In El Paso, nearly our entire border has been fortified by layers of concertina wire, including part of our border with New Mexico,” he explained. “While the numbers of border deaths along the whole border appear to have gone down over the past year, in El Paso they have increased. That increase has been sharp over the past couple years and coincides with the presence of the Guard and the concertina wire, because it is forcing border crossers just to the west of the city, where they die in the desert or crossing the river.”

He called for the federal government to finally step in and “assert its supremacy over managing migration at the border and fix our overall system.”

“More people are dying here than ever before,” he said. “The longer we wait, states will continue to engage in uncoordinated and irresponsible enforcement actions on their own, unnecessarily putting lives at risk and needlessly diverting millions of dollars in taxpayer resources.”  

It’s long been said that Congress is a lot like school.

What’s the first thing they do in school? Take attendance.

That is one thing which they usually don’t do in Congress.

But they might next year.

FAMILIAR FACES, FAMILIAR PLACES: THE LATEST FROM CAPITOL HILL

Figuring out who is present and accounted for and who is out will emerge as one of the most dramatic daily events on Capitol Hill.

It is always about the math on Capitol Hill.

But the 119th Congress will really be about the math.

Every day in the House will hinge on who’s sick. Who has a parent/teacher conference. Whose plane was delayed due to snow. Who is just playing hooky and isn’t reliable. Who was giving a speech downtown, got caught in traffic and just didn’t make it back in time. Whose kid is starring in the school play. Whose aunt died.

President Trump and House Republicans have big plans for their 2025 legislative agenda. But the miniscule size of the GOP majority could temper those expectations on a daily basis.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) speaks during a press conference along with other House Republican leaders at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC, United States on November 19, 2024.  (Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

It will be interesting to see what Republicans can execute.

Republicans will likely begin the new year with a 219-215 majority. So 434 seats. There is one vacancy as former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., resigned. That’s a margin of four seats. But it in reality, it means the GOP majority can only tolerate one Republican defector on each roll call vote without needing help from the other side. One Republican “nay” is 218-216. But two Republican rebels produces a 217-217 tie. By rule, ties lose in the House.

But the beginning of the new Congress on January 3 could represent the Halycon days for the House Republican Conference.

Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Michael Waltz, R-Fla., intend to resign in January to join the Trump Administration. Stefanik is up for United Nations Ambassador and requires confirmation for that post. The President-elect tapped Waltz to serve as National Security Advisor. That position is not subject to Senate confirmation. So the Republican majority will dwindle to 217-215. At that point, Republicans can’t lose any votes to pass their agenda.

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO GAETZ’S STATUS IN THE HOUSE AND THE ETHICS COMMITTEE REPORT

That is a problem for House Republicans who regularly had a squadron of defectors – ranging from keeping the government open to even impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. This could even spell problems for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., returning to the Speaker’s suite. Johnson must win an outright majority of all House members voting when the new Congress convenes on January 3 to become Speaker. He’ll have a bit of a cushion when the new Congress starts. But it won’t be much. House Republicans still suffer from political PTSD after the 15 rounds it took to elect former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., early last year.

Yes. There will be special elections to fill the seats of Gaetz, Stefanik and Waltz. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has already called a special election for the Gaetz seat for April 1.

You can’t make this stuff up.

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) waves on stage on the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 17, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

The other special elections are months away because Stefanik and Waltz haven’t resigned yet. In fact, if Stefanik is confirmed and resigns in late January, it may be May before there’s a special election in her seat – based on New York law and discretion afforded New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D).

The results in special elections sometimes produce “special” results. The usual electorate periodically stays home and the opposite party captures those seats in off-cycle elections. So, even though these are “Republican” seats, there’s no guarantee that Republicans will automatically prevail.

But if things go according to plan, Republicans will have those seats back in a few months, with a comparatively robust 220-215 majority. That means Republicans can lose up to two votes on any major issue.

But there are always absences. Always resignations.

And this isn’t limited to the Republican side of the aisle.

SPRINT TO CONFIRM TRUMP NOMINEES KICKS OFF IN JANUARY

There have long been concerns about the health and attendance of 79-year-old Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. Scott faced criticism earlier this year over a lack of public appearances and interviews.

76-year-old Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., is the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee. Grijalva vowed that this term would be his last after suffering from cancer. The illness sidelined Grijalva for months. He missed more than 300 roll call votes on the floor between February and this fall and did not conduct interviews.

Late Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Tex., Bill Pascrell, D-N.J. and Donald Payne Jr., D-N.J., were all in office when they passed away this year. Late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., died in 2023.

Democrats make a lot of noise right now about the agenda of President-elect Trump. It will be incumbent on Democrats to have full attendance to oppose Republicans and generally make life miserable for the majority. But Democrats can only do that if they show up. All the time.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., conducts his weekly news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on Thursday, May 23, 2024.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Such was the case when House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., had the votes of every House Democrat on each roll call for Speaker in January and October of last year. Only Rep. David Trone, D-Md., missed a couple of votes because he underwent a surgical procedure. But Trone returned to Capitol Hill later that evening to vote.

Rep. Al Green, D-Tex., was hospitalized this past February. But Green came to the Capitol in a wheelchair in February to help torpedo the initial effort to impeach Mayorkas. Republicans had three defectors on their side. Green’s vote fresh from a hospital gurney forced the GOP effort to fail on the floor and try again.

One factor which was a challenge for the GOP was the health of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. Scalise was diagnosed with cancer last year and was out the first part of 2023. Scalise has now recovered. But his absence hamstrung the GOP on big votes like the initial Mayorkas impeachment.

Unfortunately – and inevitably – there will be absences due to health. And God forbid, death. Rarely does a Congress pass without the death of a lawmaker – sometimes unforeseen. Late Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., and two aides died in a traffic accident during the summer of 2022.

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So listen for the attendance bells in the House next year. Check the weather forecast and the flight schedule at Reagan National Airport. Better look at Waze if they’re flying into Dulles. See if the flu or another round of COVID burns through Congress.

Yes. Understanding whether someone is for or against a given bill or amendment is always important in Congress. But what supersedes that is whether they’re actually present.

President Biden on Friday picked up a copy of a book that described Israel as a colonial power in the face of Palestinian resistance despite his repeated support for the Jewish state. 

Biden was spotted by the press leaving Nantucket Bookworks holding a copy of “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017” by Columbia University professor emeritus Rashid Khalidi, the New York Post reported. 

“I do not speak to the Post (or the Times for that matter), so this is not for publication, but my reaction is that this is four years too late,” Khalidi told the Post of Biden holding his book. 

The newspaper noted it did not agree to any terms conditioning Khalidi’s response as off the record or on background.

ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS ARRESTED IN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING

President Biden, left, walks out of Nantucket Bookworks with son Hunter Biden, grandson Beau and daughter-in-law Melissa Cohen Biden in Nantucket, Mass., Friday. Biden holds the book “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine” by Rashid Khalidi.  (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital has reached out to Khalidi and the White House.

The book argues that “the modern history of Palestine can best be understood in these terms: as a colonial war waged against the indigenous population, by a variety of parties, to force them to relinquish their homeland to another people against their will.” 

It was not clear if Biden purchased the book or if it was given to him. 

Khalidi, who is of Palestinian and Lebanese descent, called the first Trump administration a “mouthpiece” for Israel and has criticized Israel over the humanitarian toll in Gaza after Hamas killed about 1,200 people inside Israel Oct. 7, 2023, in addition to kidnapping hostages, including Americans. 

“It’s perfectly unclear, reading the Israeli press, what their political objective is. I mean, ethnic cleansing. That’s not a political objective. They’re doing that. They’re driving the population of the Northern Gaza Strip into the Southern Gaza Strip. But what their political objective is, is, to me, entirely unclear, in the writings of, as far as one can tell, from the Israeli press,” he said on the “Intercepted” podcast in November 2023.

President Biden with his family on Nantucket Island.  (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden has repeatedly declared his support for Israel but has been criticized by Israeli supporters for putting conditions on U.S. aid to the Middle East ally and pausing shipments of heavy munitions to Israel earlier this year.

Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian supporters, who nicknamed Biden “Genocide Joe,” have increasingly criticized him and Netanyahu over civilian casualties in Gaza. Biden has also reportedly criticized his Israeli counterpart behind closed doors, the Post reported. 

The book, published in 2020 before Trump brokered relationships between Israel and five Muslim countries, criticized Trump for moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, which it captured from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day war. 

In the book, Khalidi wrote about Israel’s alleged discriminatory policies against Palestinians.

“Settler-colonial confrontations with indigenous peoples have only ended in one of three ways: with the elimination of full subjugation of the native population, as in North America; with the defeat and expulsion of the colonizer, as in Algeria, which is extremely rare; or with the abandonment of colonial supremacy, in the context of compromise and reconciliation, as in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Ireland,” he wrote.

President Biden holds the book “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine” by Rashid Khalidi as he walks out of Nantucket Bookworks in Nantucket, Mass. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

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He also praised the first intifada by Palestinians against Israel, which occurred from 1987 to 1993 and left more than 2,000 people dead, the Post wrote. 

“The First Intifada was an outstanding example of popular resistance against oppression and can be considered as being the first unmitigated victory for the Palestinians in the long colonial war that began in 1917,” the book says.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries condemned several threats, mostly focused on lawmakers from Connecticut, targeting members of his caucus, just days after numerous threats were made against President-elect Trump’s Cabinet selections.

Jeffries, D-N.Y., confirmed in a statement Friday that several Democrats were targeted with threats ranging from pipe bombs in their mailboxes to “swatting” — or filing a false police report on another person’s behalf that often results in a SWAT team being dispatched.

All of the threatening messages were signed “MAGA,” Jeffries said, adding law enforcement found no ordnance at any of the targeted lawmakers’ homes.

“America is a democracy. Threats of violence against elected officials are unacceptable, unconscionable and have no place in a civilized society. All perpetrators of political violence directed at any party must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” he said. “House Democrats will not be deterred or intimidated from serving the people by violent threats. We have been in close communication with the Sergeant at Arms office and it is imperative that Congress provide maximum protection for all Members and their families moving forward.”

Later Friday, President Biden told reporters on Nantucket, Massachusetts, that his administration is working “hard” with the FBI on the threats to lawmakers and Trump nominees.

TOP DEM: ‘UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRATION’ IS A THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

After Jeffries spoke out, Rep. Seth Magaziner, a Democrat from neighboring Rhode Island, announced on Friday afternoon that his home had been targeted, as well. Magaziner said Providence police responded quickly and no one was harmed.

Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-Conn., had his home targeted by a bomb threat. A spokesperson said it appeared to be part of a “coordinated effort.”

Five other Democrats from the Constitution State received similar threats, including Reps. Joe Courtney, John Larson, Rosa DeLauro, Jahana Hayes and James Himes.

CT DEM SAYS IT’S CLEAR HUNTER BIDEN BROKE THE LAW

“There is no place for political violence in this country, and I hope that we may all continue through the holiday season with peace and civility,” said Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee who replaced Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Prior to that spate of threats, Trump’s U.N. ambassador-designate Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said she was traveling home to her North Country district for Thanksgiving when she was informed of a threat against her home.

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. — Trump’s initial choice for attorney general — also received a threat.

Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y. — Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency — said his home was subjected to a “pro-Palestinian-themed” pipe bomb threat. Zeldin is Jewish.

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Former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., whom the president-elect tapped for Labor secretary, said her Oregon home was targeted, as was that of former San Diego Chargers cornerback Scott Turner, whom Trump named to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Trump nominees including Cantor-Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, America First Policy Institute President Brooke Rollins and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth also received threats.

In a statement, the FBI said it is aware of “numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees, and we are working with our law enforcement partners.”

“We take all potential threats seriously and, as always, encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement,” it said.

Fox News’ Kevin Ward contributed to this report.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has flown to Florida to meet with President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club after Trump threatened to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products.

A person familiar with the matter said Trudeau will have dinner with Trump. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc accompanied Trudeau on the trip. Trudeau’s visit comes days after Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico on the first day of his presidency over failures by both nations to curb the flow of illegal immigrants and illicit drugs from those countries into the United States. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Trump’s representatives. 

MEXICAN PRESIDENT MIGHT BE CHANGING VIEW ON US AS TRUMP WIN SENDS WARNING TO RULING SOCIALISTS 

Justin Trudeau’s plane is allegedly pictured here flying near Palm Beach Airport.  (FOX News)

“Right now a Caravan coming from Mexico, composed of thousands of people, seems to be unstoppable in its quest to come through our currently Open Border,” he wrote Monday on Truth Social. “On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders.”

On Wednesday, Trump spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. He said Sheinbaum agreed to “stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States,” following a productive discussion over the phone. 

Sheinbaum has promised to raise tariffs on U.S. goods if Trump followed through with his threat. 

Trump has previously urged America’s neighbors to the north and south to do more to prevent illegal migration into the U.S. and to combat the flow of illegal drugs, in particular fentanyl. 

Shortly after Trump’s tariff promises, Canadian officials said the country places the “highest priority” on border security.

US President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a meeting at Winfield House, London on Dec. 3, 2019. (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

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“Our relationship today is balanced and mutually beneficial, particularly for American workers,” Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland, and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a joint statement. “Today, Canada buys more from the United States than China, Japan, France, and the U.K. combined. Canada is essential to US domestic energy supply, and last year 60 percent of U.S. crude oil imports originated in Canada.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump transition, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.

Here’s what’s happening…

-op 5 biggest political turkeys ripped by conservatives in 2024

-Connecticut House Democrats report being targeted by bomb threats on Thanksgiving

-Biden thankful for smooth transition of power, urges Trump to ‘rethink’ tariffs on Canada and Mexico

Farm to Table

Several liberal figures called on conservatives and President-elect Donald Trump supporters to give thanks to illegal immigrants on Thanksgiving, suggesting they acknowledge a large portion of migrants were the ones who harvested and packed their entrées enjoyed on Thursday.

“Everyone at the dinner table today, especially MAGA, please give thanks to the undocumented immigrants that picked and packed the food you’re enjoying,” said former Obama Housing & Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.

“They deserve our grace. Happy Thanksgiving,” the former San Antonio mayor added.

Castro’s post was lambasted by respondents, who rhetorically asked which crops were being picked by the migrants flooding New York City and Chicago, while others suggested the characterizations were “racist” assumptions about farmworkers…Read more

Trump Transition

TRANS IN MILITARY?: Trump team dismisses reports he will discharge trans in military: ‘No decisions on this issue have been made’…Read more

COMMON UNDERSTANDING: Trump says Mexico will stop flow of migrants after speaking with Mexican president following tariff threats…Read more

Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, President of Mexico, speaks during  the National Agreement for the Human Right to Water and Sustainability, held at  the Ecological Park of Xochimilco. on November 25, 2024 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Carlos Santiago/ Pixelnews/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

‘RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS’: Trump delivers Thanksgiving message to ‘Radical Left Lunatics’…Read more

Trail Dust

MEDIA SHAKEUP: Inside how podcasters helped make Trump close the deal with young male voters…Read more

STILL HOT: Political betting markets still have plenty of action despite end of election season…Read more

President-elect Donald Trump celebrating beating Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race early Wednesday morning.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Capitol Hill

IOWA RACE: Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks beats Dem challenger in state’s 1st Congressional District…Read more

Across America 

GAME PLAN: New Republican Governors chair, pointing to campaign battles ahead, touts ‘our policies are better’…Read more

CALIFORNIA RACE: Democrat Derek Tran unseats Rep. Michelle Steel in California’s 45th Congressional District…Read more

GIANT CUTS: Top auto giants reporting job, factory cuts amid heightened push into EV market…Read more

BUS RIDE BACK HOME: Texas could bus migrants to directly to ICE for deportation instead of sanctuary cities under proposed plan…Read more

‘HUGE WIN’: Federal court of appeals just ruled that Texas has the right to build the razor wire border wall…Read more

U.S. Border Patrol agents cut an opening through razor wire after immigrant families crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico on September 27, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)

EVACUATION DAY?: What is Evacuation Day? The forgotten holiday that predates Thanksgiving…Read more

CANADIAN ‘EMPIRE’?: New York lawmaker suggests NYS, New England secede to Canada over Trump…Read more

Get the latest updates on the Trump presidential transition, incoming Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

After its Facebook account was indefinitely suspended, the popular American gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson thanked Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech amid what it called ongoing attacks against the First and Second Amendments.

In a Friday post on X, Smith & Wesson announced that it had been indefinitely suspended from Facebook after the platform flagged several of its posts for promoting the sale of weapons.

Founded in 1852 in Norwich, Connecticut, today Smith & Wesson is based in Maryville, Tennessee, and is one of the most recognized gun brands in America, reporting $535.8 million in sales in the 2024 fiscal year.

Smith & Wesson said that “despite our extensive efforts and resources spent on trying to adhere to Facebook’s ever-changing community guidelines on firearms, our account was suspended indefinitely on Friday, November 22nd, 15 years after its original creation.”

ELON MUSK PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR THE SECOND AMENDMENT: ‘TYRANTS’ DISARM THE PEOPLE

FILE – In this Jan. 19, 2016, file photo, handguns are displayed at the Smith & Wesson booth at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas. The Mexican government sued U.S. gun manufacturers and distributors, including some of the biggest names in guns like Smith & Wesson Brands, on Aug. 4, 2021, in U.S. federal court in Boston, arguing that their commercial practices have unleashed tremendous bloodshed in Mexico. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

The manufacturer shared a screenshot of the suspension notice it had received from Facebook in which the platform said several posts dated Nov. 22, 13 and July 18 violated the rules on promoting weapons.

Facebook’s commerce policy prohibits the promotion of buying, selling and trading of weapons, ammunition and explosives. However, according to Facebook’s parent company Meta’s website, there is an exception for legitimate brick-and-mortar and online retailers, though their content is still restricted for minors.

ZUCKERBERG SAYS ‘ESTABLISHMENT’ ASKED FACEBOOK TO CENSOR COVID MISINFO THAT ENDED UP TRUE: ‘UNDERMINES TRUST’ 

Smith & Wesson said that while it would work to reinstate its account, it encouraged its 1.6 million Facebook followers and fans to “seek out platforms” that represent the “shared values” of free speech and the right to bear arms.

“In an era where free speech and the right to bear arms are under constant attack, we want to thank Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech and our constitutional rights guaranteed by the 1st and 2nd Amendments,” said Smith & Wesson.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket on Nov. 19, 2024, in Brownsville, Tx. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

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Musk responded to the post by saying, “[we] believe in the Constitution.” He also pointed out that X had resumed allowing users to post the gun emoji after it was replaced by a water gun by Twitter in 2018. 

The National Association for Gun Rights, which is a Second Amendment advocacy group with over 4.5 million activists, also chimed in, saying, “Thank you for giving us a place to shelter in this storm of Constitution-hating companies.”

In a separate post, the association called X one of the last holdouts for free speech and gun rights.

“It is becoming clear that X is one of the last major bastions of 2A and Firearms content on social media,” said the group, adding, “the noose is slowly tightening everywhere else, seeking to squeeze us out entirely.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Meta for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha is urging NATO leaders to invite Ukraine to join the Western military alliance during a meeting in Brussels next week, according to a letter sent to alliance leaders—reflecting the country’s frenzied push to gain membership in the alliance in the final days of Biden’s presidency. 

The letter, first reviewed by Reuters, comes as Ukraine has re-upped its request for NATO membership to help put an end to Russia’s war, including a recent uptick in attacks on its energy infrastructure. It also comes as the Biden administration has granted Ukraine new permissions to fight back against Russia in their final months in office. 

In the letter, Ukraine’s foreign minister acknowledged his country’s ongoing war with Russia prohibits Kyiv from joining NATO right now. But he argued that an invitation for membership in Brussels would be a powerful show of force—and a major symbolic blow—to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long opposed the idea of their membership in NATO.

“We believe that the invitation should be extended at this stage,” Sybiha said in the letter. “It will become the Allies’ adequate response to Russia’s constant escalation of the war it has unleashed, the latest demonstration of which is the involvement of tens of thousands of North Korean troops and the use of Ukraine as a testing ground for new weapons,” he added.

Also on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used an interview on Sky News to up the public pressure for NATO leaders to extend his country a membership offer.

Speaking Friday to Sky News’s Stuart Ramsay, the Ukrainian president suggested that NATO could extend membership to the territory of Ukraine still under its control to help accelerate the NATO memberhsip process and wind down Russia’s war as quickly as possible.

“If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” he told Ramsay. NATO should “immediately” cover parts of the country that are under Ukrainian authority, he said, stressing that it it something Ukraine needs “very much otherwise he will come back,” in apparent reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

DNC UNION LAUNCHES GOFUNDME TO HELP FORMER STAFFERS HIT BY MASSIVE LAYOFFS AFTER ELECTION LOSSES
 

Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a televised address in Moscow, Russia, June 26, 2023. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via Reuters (Reuters)

Ukraine would face many hurdles in attempting to join NATO, despite assurances from the alliance that it is on an “irreversible path” to membership.

That’s because Ukraine lacks two key requirements for NATO membership: territorial integrity and the absence of ongoing conflict. Currently, Russia controls roughly 20% of Ukrainian territory, Rebekah Koffler, a strategic military intelligence analyst and author of “Putin’s Playbook,” told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday. 

Any country hoping to gain membership “cannot have ongoing conflict because of Article 5,” Koffler said. 

For Russia,”it is a red line for Ukraine to be part of NATO,” Koffler added, since Russian President Vladimir Putin considers Ukraine part of Russia’s strategic security perimeter.

NATO members are also split over the idea of accepting Ukraine. “Those who are against it are concerned about Article 5 obligations: admitting Ukraine into NATO would automatically place the United States and the entire NATO alliance at war with Russia because of the collective defense clause,” Koffler said.

The State Department said Friday that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had spoken by phone to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sybiha to discuss battlefield updates and incoming U.S. security assistance in wake of recent Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. On the call, officials said, Blinken “briefed the Foreign Minister on U.S. goals for sustainable support for Ukraine, to be discussed at upcoming diplomatic engagements with NATO and through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.”

The press release stopped short of detailing any further overtures to Ukraine.

Still, Ukraine’s push for membership comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his administration brace for the many unknowns of a second Trump presidency. Trump has long expressed skepticism of NATO, and suggested as recently as this year that he could end the war between Russian and Ukraine “in a day.”  

TRUMP’S AG PICK HAS ‘HISTORY OF CONSENSUS BUILDING’

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet at Trump Tower in New York City, U.S., September 27, 2024. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo)

While Ukraine’s push for NATO membership is not new, the timeline for leaders to approve their bid has taken on new urgency, as the war nears its third year and as President-elect Trump prepares to take office again.

NATO membership was included as one of the first— and most important—steps in Zelenskyy’s multi-part “victory plan” to help win the war against Russia.

The outline, which his administration published in October, suggested that Ukraine could put an end to the war with Russia as early as 2025, if the country’s requests are granted for more weapons and the continued ability to carry out military operations on Russian soil. 

Any country hoping to gain membership “cannot have ongoing conflict because of Article 5,” Koffler said. 

For Russia,”it is a red line for Ukraine to be part of NATO,” Koffler added, since Russian President Vladimir Putin considers Ukraine part of Russia’s strategic security perimeter.

President Joe Biden, for his part, has used his final weeks in office to authorize new permissions for Ukraine in the ongoing war with Ukraine.

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Earlier this month, the Biden administration granted Ukraine new permission to use U.S.-supplied long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russian teritory. Later, they also signed off on the transfer of anti-personnel mines to bolster Ukrainian army defenses in the east. 

A powerful New York State Democrat made waves when she suggested the Empire State “think outside the box” like President-elect Trump is with his mass-deportation plans and potentially secede to Canada, or at least battle the feds if they try to strip federal funding from the state.

New York Democratic state Sen. Liz Krueger suggested to Politico that if Trump follows through with a reported threat to slash federal funding from “sanctuary” jurisdictions, Albany could return fire against Washington for holding back some or all of the more than $360 billion it annually sends to the Treasury.

“We’re talking a lot of money. We’re talking money we couldn’t possibly replace unless we started sending the feds a lot less money,” the state Senate Finance Committee chairwoman told Politico, noting the feds similarly fund billions in New York Medicaid subsidies.

Krueger was also asked about a recent comment about joining America’s neighbor to the north now that Trump is president-elect.

“If Trump won, yes,” she told City & State NY prior to the election, regarding having her state join neighboring Quebec and Ontario as its own “southern province.”

NEW YORK RIPE FOR TRUMP’S TAKING: NYSGOP CHAIR

New York State Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, speaks at the Women’s Rally in support of presidential candidate John Kerry. (Trish Lease/Getty)

Meanwhile, a top official in the New York Republican Party suggested Friday that Krueger have at it.

“Liz Krueger is a completely unserious person,” said David Laska, communications director for the NYSGOP. “She should feel free to lead the way and expatriate: New Yorkers won’t miss her bloviating,” Laska told Fox News Digital.

On X, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley posted an image of CSA Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendering at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, at the end of the Civil War.

“While perhaps tempting for many, State Sen. Liz Krueger is not the first to ‘think outside the box’,” Turley wrote.

“Apparently, when elections don’t go your way, the solution is to plant the Maple Leaf flag in America,” wrote the conservative X aggregator site Twitchy.

“I’ll treat you to a one-way ticket to Montreal on the climate-friendly Amtrak,” wrote political strategist and former New York Post reporter Candice Giove. Krueger had headlined a Monday climate change demonstration with Democratic Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz.

“Your elitist proposal to leave the U.S. and become a Canadian province is an insult to my uncle, who died for our nation. It’ll be the best $122 spent,” Giove said, posting a screenshot of the latest fare for the national railroad’s “Adirondack” service.

EVACUATION DAY: THE FORGOTTEN THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY THAT ORIGINATED IN NEW YORK WITH GEORGE WASHINGTON

A large Canadian flag. (Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

Krueger had suggested New York’s fellow liberal New England neighbors band together and become the newest Canadian province since icy Nunavut split from the Northwest Territories in 1999.

“I thought I would suggest to Canada that instead of us all trying to illegally cross the border at night without them noticing, which is pretty hard because there’s a lot of us, that they should instead agree to let us be the southeast province, a new province of Canada, and I offered, even though I hadn’t gotten agreement from other states yet, that I thought New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, would combine and be a great new province as the southeast province of Canada,” she said. 

Krueger said she loves the U.S. and that Trump winning a second term is not her fault or that of New York — which ultimately awarded its electors to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Krueger said at the time that “basically everybody” in the northeastern states is a progressive Democrat in the vein of Canadian liberal leadership.

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New York State Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan. (Getty)

Krueger also reportedly received “unofficial responses” from Canadians who characterized the idea as “sellable in Ottawa.”

However, in remarks to Fox News Digital later Friday, Krueger said her secession idea was a “joke, of course.”

“But what is actually deadly serious is the threat from Donald Trump to take away tens of billions of dollars in federal money from New York and other states that didn’t support him in the election,” she said. 

“And those Trump cuts will affect all New Yorkers, whether they voted for him or not. They could impact healthcare coverage for millions of people, thousands of manufacturing jobs, transportation infrastructure that millions of New Yorkers rely on — the list goes on. So, though obviously New York is not going to become part of Canada, we will need to think outside the box to try to protect New Yorkers from Trump’s vindictive and destructive policies.”

Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar”-designate and an upstate New York native himself, told “The Ingraham Angle” this week that people who say they will stand in the way of mass deportation proceedings will fail.

“I’m going to do this job — the men and women of ICE are going to do this job — you’re not going to stop us,” said Homan, who hails from the Fort Drum area.

“If you impede us, there’s going to be consequences,” Homan warned.

During the election, Trump pledged to “save” New York and saw thousands gather for a rally at Madison Square Garden. 

In Manhattan, Reuters reported Trump only won a single voting precinct called Two Bridges — between the Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge — near both Chinatown and the “Five Points” immortalized in Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York.” The area is reportedly 80% Asian American.

Meanwhile, other New York Democrats blamed some within their own party for Harris’ loss instead of lambasting Trump.

Rep. Ritchie Torres of The Bronx recently said Trump can thank the “far left” for his win, suggesting progressives delving into “absurdities” like “from the river to the sea” and “Latinx” alienated many minority voters who would typically vote Democrat.

Several liberal figures called on conservatives and President-elect Donald Trump supporters to give thanks to illegal immigrants on Thanksgiving, suggesting they acknowledge a large portion of migrants were the ones who harvested and packed their entrées enjoyed on Thursday.

“Everyone at the dinner table today, especially MAGA, please give thanks to the undocumented immigrants that picked and packed the food you’re enjoying,” said former Obama Housing & Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.

“They deserve our grace. Happy Thanksgiving,” the former San Antonio mayor added.

Castro’s post was lambasted by respondents, who rhetorically asked which crops were being picked by the migrants flooding New York City and Chicago, while others suggested the characterizations were “racist” assumptions about farmworkers.

Others replied by saying this Thanksgiving they are “thankful for Tom Homan” – Trump’s incoming border czar.

NEARLY 200 GROUPS URGE BIDEN TO RELEASE MIGRANTS, CLOSE HOLDING CENTERS

Former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. (Getty)

Meanwhile, on MSNBC, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., was asked about migrant farmworkers who may not have legal status in the U.S.

Host Jonathan Capehart reported Thanksgiving costs were down 5% over 2023 and that nearly half of farmworkers are noncitizens.

“There’s no indication that Donald Trump would exempt agricultural workers from his calls for mass deportation when he takes office,” Capehart told Garcia. 

“Donald Trump ran a whole campaign centered around denigrating and sometimes outright lying about immigrants… Immigrant labor is a key part of the American economy, and that includes immigrants who pick so much of the food that all of us will eat tomorrow and on Thanksgiving.”

ECONOMY, BORDER, ABORTION DIVIDE BIDEN’S HOMETOWN

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., speaks alongside other Democrats. (Getty)

Garcia said he “completely agrees” with the pundit, adding that team Trump’s rhetoric has been “frankly un-American and shameful and would harm the economy.”

Garcia added that many food service workers also lack legal status and that it would be wrong to ignore their contributions this Thanksgiving.

“So the idea that we’re going to have mass-deport all of these workers that we depend on that our families depend on is absolutely crazy. It’s inhumane, it is un-American,” he said, adding mass deportations of those workers would badly hurt the economy.

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“I think it’s really quite shameful what’s actually happening right now. I hope Americans push back on it, and especially this Thanksgiving, are thinking about all these people that are just asking to be here just so they can work and provide for their families and quite frankly, provide for the country.”

Actor and occasional Trump critic John Fugelsang posted on X that when the Wampanoag Native Americans fed the pilgrims who landed in present-day Massachusetts, “they had no idea they’d just invented a social safety net for undocumented immigrants.”

In that vein, a meme circulated on X depicting a pilgrim accepting a roasted turkey from a Native American with the caption, “Thanksgiving: Celebrating the day Americans fed undocumented immigrants from Europe.”

As President-Elect Donald Trump prepares to assume office in January, his administration has reportedly indicated plans to implement certain policy changes that would affect transgender individuals across various sectors.

But Trump’s campaign spokesperson and to-be White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said Wednesday “no decisions on this issue have been made,” when asked if Trump would discharge transgender military personnel after international reports this week claimed that he would.

“These unnamed sources are speculating and have no idea what they are actually talking about. No policy should ever be deemed official unless it comes directly from President Trump or his authorized spokespeople,” Leavitt told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

SJSU TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL: TIMELINE OF ALLEGATIONS, POLITICAL IMPACT AND A RAGING CULTURE MOVEMENT

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 13, 2024 (ALLISON ROBBERT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

SPARTA Pride, a nonprofit organization advocating for transgender military personnel, told Military.com this week there are approximately 15,000 transgender personnel stationed around the world, including in combat zones.

During Trump’s first term, he announced via Twitter in July 2017 that the U.S. would no longer allow transgender individuals to serve “in any capacity.” Previously, the Obama administration allowed transgender individuals to serve openly in the military and get taxpayer-funded gender-affirming treatments while serving.

Trump cited “tremendous medical costs and disruption” after announcing the roll back of the policy. After legal challenges, a revised policy was implemented in 2018 that only prohibited individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria from serving, unless they had not undergone a sex change and were “stable in their biological sex.”

In January 2019, as legal challenges mounted, the Supreme Court allowed the ban to stand. By the time President Joe Biden took office, he reversed the Trump-era restrictions.

DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER RANTS ABOUT ‘THE WHITE MAN’ DURING HEARING ON THE DISMANTLE DEI ACT

U.S. military personnel walk on the tarmac at the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX) in Seongnam, south of Seoul, on Oct. 18, 2021. (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images) (ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images)

Throughout Trump’s presidential campaign this election cycle, he also indicated certain changes would be made to so-called gender-affirming care for minors, too. 

In a video posted to Truth Social in February 2023, Trump said his plan “to stop the chemical, physical and emotional mutilation of our youth” would involve issuing an executive order directing all federal agencies to halt any programs that support or promote sex changes at any age.

“I will then ask Congress to permanently stop federal taxpayer dollars from being used to promote or pay for these procedures and pass a law prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states,” Trump said in the video.

CALIFORNIA SCHOOL OFFICIAL COMPARED ‘SAVE GIRLS SPORTS’ SHIRT TO SWASTIKA, REBUKED GIRLS WEARING IT: LAWSUIT

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers argued that Assembly Bill 377 “ignores” a 2015 policy created by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) to govern the eligibility of transgender high school athletes in the state. (ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images)

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Trump’s stance on transgender issues also became front and center on the last leg of his campaign when his team aired an ad targeting biological males in womens’ sports. The ad focused on men in women’s sports and Vice President Kamala Harris’ track record of ushering in sex change procedures for incarcerated people in California.

“Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you,” the narrator of Trump’s campaign ad said. Experts say the TV spot had a substantial influence on swing voters.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – President-elect Trump turned to podcasts during the 2024 election cycle, rallying support particularly among young men who have trended to the right in recent years and helped deliver Trump’s massive victory. 

“I want to thank some people real quick,” UFC CEO Dana White declared from the election night podium following Trump’s win, thanking a list of podcasters who spoke with Trump on the campaign trail. “I want to thank the Nelk Boys, Aidan Ross, Theo Von, Boston, Bussin with the Boys, and last but not least, the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan.”

Ahead of President Biden dropping out of the race, and before facing two assassination attempts and pouring hours of work into seven key battleground states and beyond, Trump joined the popular podcast “Full Send,” also known as the “Nelk Boys,” for an interview in March 2022. This interview marked his entrance into the podcast world while appealing to a voting bloc of young men. Trump discussed not only his policies and vision for the U.S., but his family and sports, and he allowed voters to take a peek into his life beyond politics. 

TRUMP SAYS MEDIA IS ‘VITAL’ TO MAKING AMERICA ‘GREAT AGAIN,’ VOWS TO WORK WITH ‘FREE, FAIR AND OPEN’ PRESS

Kid Rock, Dana White and Elon Musk accompany President-elect Trump as he waves during UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The Nelk Boys interview touched on Trump’s golf game, his favorite songs, such as “YMCA” and “Hold on I’m Coming,” to play on the campaign trail, as well as his thoughts on the Biden administration’s handling of COVID and Russia. 

Nelk Boys attend the Los Angeles premiere of Columbia Pictures’ “Bad Boys: Ride Or Die” at the TCL Chinese Theater on May 30, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Sony Pictures)

 “If you put up this whole interview, let’s see what happens when Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and all of them take it down,” Trump quipped during the podcast, only for the interview to later be pulled from YouTube, setting off a firestorm of condemnation from Trump. 

TRUMP VICTORY PROVES IMPORTANCE OF CANDID, LONGFORM PODCASTS AS PLATFORM SHOWED ‘HUMAN SIDE’ OF ONE CANDIDATE

“Whatever happened to free speech in our Country? Incredibly, but not surprisingly, the Big Tech lunatics have taken down my interview with the very popular NELK Boys so that nobody can watch it or in any way listen to it,” the 45th president said in a statement released by his Save America PAC at the time. 

“In the 24 hours that it was up it set every record for them, by many times,” he continued. “Interestingly, on the show I told them this would happen because Big Tech and the Fake News Media fear the truth, they fear criticism about Biden, and above all, they don’t want to talk about the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election, all topics discussed.”

Fast-forward to 2024, Trump again joined the Nelk Boys, and a bevy of other podcasts as he worked to rally support among young men, including joining Joe Rogan, who hosts the most popular podcast in the U.S. with 14.5 million followers on Spotify alone and endorsed Trump just a day ahead of the election. 

Joe Rogan greets President-elect Trump during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

In August of this year, the Nelk Boys debuted Send the Vote on their podcast, which was a massive nonpartisan voter initiative aimed at youth, especially young men. 

“Making a post on Instagram or making a tweet, that’s cool,” Kyle Forgeard, one of the Nelk Boys, said in a promo video back in August, the Wall Street Journal reported. “But every single one of you guys needs to register to vote, and you need to make your voice heard. Don’t be f—ing lazy, get your ballot in the mail, do whatever you got to do, plan around it.”

JOE ROGAN SAYS HARRIS SITDOWN WAS SCRAPPED AFTER CAMPAIGN TOLD HIM SHE ‘ONLY WANTED TO DO AN HOUR’

Armed with about a $20 million budget, Send the Vote placed ad buys targeting 1.1 million inactive, registered male voters between the ages of 18-34 to vote. The ads reached more than 35 million people, Fox News Digital learned, while countless others also saw the ads via the Nelk Boys’ social media accounts.

SendTheVote.com saw more than 2 million visitors, while 210,000 first-time voters who saw the ads and subsequently voted, and 110,000 people who visited the site requested they be reminded to vote. 

TRUMP TALKS COCAINE, BIDEN AND HEALTH CARE IN INTERVIEW WITH COMEDIAN THEO VON

Send the Vote reached more than 140 million people through influencers, nearly 1 million on streamed content, and nearly 7 million people through podcasts specifically, Fox Digital learned. Send the Vote ads were featured on other wildly popular podcasts, including on comedic shows KillTony, Theo Von, Tim Dillon, as well as the sports-oriented podcast “BS with Jake Paul,” as well as viral TikTok celebrity Hailey Welch’s “Talk Tuah” podcast. 

Podcast host Joe Rogan told former President Trump he has gotten so popular with Americans due to the “wild s—” he says. (Screenshots/The Joe Rogan Experience)

Send the Vote launched tailgate events during the Penn State vs. Wisconsin game in October, which appealed to young voters in two top battleground states. Volunteers knocked on frat house doors and held a voter registration concert in Atlanta with pro-Trump rapper Waka Flocka Flame. 

“Too many people in our country felt like their voice didn’t matter and that the barriers to making real change are too big to overcome. The goal of Send the Vote was to tear down those barriers and remind our audience that posting on social media does not count as a vote and they need to physically show up to vote. Sick of how much things cost? Go vote. Tired of unnecessary wars? Go vote – it’s not as difficult as they make it out to be.” – John Shahidi, co-founder of “Full Send” told Fox News Digital. 

Trump leaning into podcasts this election cycle, as opposed to traditional media interviews, paid off among Gen Z men and millennials. The Fox News Voter Survey published earlier this month found that men aged 18-44 supported Trump at 53% compared to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 45%. 

TRUMP APPEARED ON JOE ROGAN’S PODCAST FOR NEARLY THREE HOURS: HERE ARE THE TOP MOMENTS

In addition to the Nelk Boys, and other podcasters who highlighted Trump, Rogan’s endorsement of the 45th president was viewed as a massive success. The former and upcoming president had joined Rogan on his podcast for a three-hour interview ahead of the election. Harris was offered the same interview, but Rogan rejected her campaign’s requests to shorten the interview and move it out of the studio, he previously said. 

Trump attended a UFC fight in New York City following the election, and was seen embracing Rogan in a viral video. 

JIMMY KIMMEL MOCKS THE NELK BOYS FOR TRUMP INTERVIEW, ONE FIRES BACK CALLING LATE NIGHT HOST ‘WASHED UP’

On election night when Trump was projected the winner, the UFC’s Dana White celebrated the podcasters who spotlighted Trump to their audiences, adding that “karma” caught up with Democrats. 

“Nobody deserves this more than him, and nobody deserves this more than his family does,” White said on election night. “This is what happens when the machine comes after you. What you’ve seen over the last several years, this is what it looks like. Couldn’t stop him, he keeps going forward, he doesn’t quit, he’s the most resilient, hard-working man I’ve ever met in my life, his family are incredible people.

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“This is karma, ladies and gentlemen. He deserves this. They deserve it as a family.”

FIRST ON FOX — Gov. Brian Kemp, the new chair of the Republican Governors Association, is aiming to build on the GOP momentum coming out of the 2024 elections as he looks ahead to the next gubernatorial showdowns.

“We’ve had great successes,” the popular GOP governor of Georgia told Fox News Digital as he pointed to President-elect Trump’s 2024 victory as well as Republican gubernatorial, congressional and down-ballot triumphs this month.

Republicans held onto their 27-23 gubernatorial advantage in the 2024 elections, thanks in part to the efforts of the RGA.

HELPING TRUMP GET OFF TO A FAST START A KEY MISSION FOR REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS

Republican presidential nominee former President Trump shakes hands with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp after speaking at a temporary relief shelter as he visits areas impacted by Hurricane Helene, Oct. 4, 2024, in Evans, Ga. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Looking ahead, New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states to hold gubernatorial elections next year, giving them outsized national attention and making them key barometers for the mood of Americans during the start of a new presidential term.

A competitive GOP primary is underway in blue-state New Jersey, where Republicans hope to win a gubernatorial election for the first time in a dozen years.

REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS SAY WITH TRUMP ELECTION, ‘WE’VE GOT A FRIEND IN THE WHITE HOUSE’

And in Virginia, the GOP is rallying around Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears as she aims to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin [Virginia governors can only serve one consecutive four-year term] and make history as the state’s first woman governor and the nation’s first Black female governor.

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (Kristen Zeis/For Washington Post via Getty Images)

“We’re ready to keep working as we move into what will be a tough cycle for us in Virginia, in New Jersey, and then having 36 races in 2026,” Kemp said last week in his first interview after being elected RGA chair at the group’s annual winter meeting, which was held this year at a waterfront resort in Marco Island, Florida.

Kemp emphasized that “my goal is for us to continue to raise enough money to be competitive. The Democrats are outspending us because they have big check writers, but we have a lot of really dedicated donors. We’ll try to continue to build the tent, make sure that we have good candidates and win because our policies are better.”

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THIS POPULAR GOP GOVERNOR AFTER HE LEAVES OFFICE

Kemp said his own comfortable re-election in 2022 and Trump’s victory in battleground Georgia this month in the presidential election “gives us a lot of confidence, a lot of hope, but we also know that the ’26 midterm is going to be tough.” 

Kemp is term-limited and can’t seek another term in office in 2026. The contest to succeed him will be a top gubernatorial election in two years.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (Fox News)

“I’m going to be very engaged, you can rest assured, to making sure that my [successors] are Republican. I have a vested interest in doing that,” Kemp said. “We’ll be working with the Trump administration and a lot of other people to make sure that that’s happening not only in Georgia but in other states around the country, in places like Kansas, where we have a Democratic governor right now, in places like Arizona, where we have a really good shot at winning the governor’s races. So we’re going to be on offense.”

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Georgia will also have a high-profile Senate showdown as Republicans aim to defeat Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff in 2026.

Asked if he’ll be courted by national Republicans to take on Ossoff, Kemp responded, “Well, I may.”

But he quickly pivoted, stressing that “my focus right now, being just elected the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, is on raising money for us to be competitive in 2025 and 2026. I’ve made the commitment to do that, and I’m going to fulfill that commitment. We’ll see what happens down the road with anything else.”

Asked if he’s not ruling out a possible 2026 Senate bid or even a 2028 White House run, the governor said, “I try to keep all doors open in politics.”

The end of the election season does not mean the end of political betting, with many platforms allowing users to place wagers on everything from the 2028 election to who will be confirmed to President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet.

“Some people will be amazed by this, but people are already betting on 2026 and 2028,” Maxim Lott, the founder of ElectionBettingOdds.com, told Fox News Digital. “There’s been about a quarter million dollars bet already.”

The comments come after the 2024 election produced plenty of betting action, with users across multiple platforms wagering over $2 billion on the outcome of the latest race. 

WHAT ARE ELECTION BETTING ODDS? EXPERT EXPLAINS WHY TRUMP IS CURRENT FAVORITE

President-elect Donald Trump, right, welcomes Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage at a Turning Point Action campaign rally at the Gas South Arena on Oct. 23, 2024 in Duluth, Georgia. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

While mega sporting events, such as the Super Bowl and the recent Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight, gives gamblers plenty to wager on after the election, those looking for something political to bet on will still have plenty of options.

One of the most popular topics is who will be the nominees for both major parties in 2028, with ElectionBettingOdds.com showing California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vice President-elect JD Vance being the current leaders for Democrats and Republicans, respectively.

Other names with a significant amount of attention for betters include Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for the Democratic nomination, while Vance is trailed by names like entrepreneur and future head of the new Department of Government Efficiency Vivek Ramaswamy and Donald Trump Jr. on the Republican side.

“The big Democratic governors are favored to be the next nominee,” Lott said, noting that Vance currently holds a sizable lead over other options on the GOP side.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

TRUMP OPENS UP LARGEST BETTING LEAD SINCE DAYS AFTER BIDEN’S DROPOUT

Vance is also the current betting leader on who will win the 2028 presidential election, ElectionBettingOdds.com shows, followed by Newson and Shapiro as the next two likely options.

However, Lott warned it is still too early to tell what the future holds, noting that the markets will start to provide more clarity as more information becomes known over the next few years.

“As the future becomes clearer… as we get closer to 2026, 2028, these odds will change,” Lott said. “So if the Trump administration is doing really well, the economy is booming, inflation is not out of control, wars are ending, Vance’s odds will certainly go up.”

Bettors also are not limited to wagering on elections, with platforms such as Polymarket allowing users to place bets on Trump’s picks to serve in his Cabinet and whether they will be confirmed. Bettors can also place wagers on questions such as if they believe the war in Ukraine will end in Trump’s first 90 days or if there will be a cease-fire in Gaza in 2024.

Vice President-elect JD Vance. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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According to Lott, taking a look at the current betting odds for many scenarios can help inform you about what is going on in the world, even if you do not place bets yourself.

“People often ask… is there any value to this… it’s just gambling. It’s silly,” Lott said. “But actually it’s very useful… if you want to know what’s going to happen in 2028 or if the Trump administration is going to be a success, you could read 100 news articles on it. Some will misinform you. Or, you can just go to the prediction markets and see… is Vance a 20% chance of becoming the next Republican nominee or is he a 90% chance? That tells you a lot.”

Texas could implement a plan to bus migrants directly to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in an effort to get them processed for deportation, according to media reports. 

The move would be a departure from the state’s program, part of Operation Lone Star, that has bussed thousands of migrants to sanctuary cities, a source told the New York Post. It has yet to be approved by Gov. Greg Abbott. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Abbott’s office. 

“We are always going to be involved in border security so long as we’re a border state,” a Texas government source told the newspaper. “We spent a lot of taxpayer money to have the level of deterrent that we have on the border, and we can’t just walk away.”

TRUMP SAYS MEXICO WILL STOP FLOW OF MIGRANTS AFTER SPEAKING WITH MEXICAN PRESIDENT FOLLOWING TARIFF THREATS

Migrants board a city bus to a shelter intake center after traveling on a bus from Del Rio, Texas, to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City on May 13, 2023. (Victor J. Blue)

Abbott has been especially aggressive in combating illegal immigration, bussing migrants to blue cities in an effort to bring attention to the border crisis. Under the proposed plan, buses chartered by Texas from border cities will be taken to federal detention centers to help ICE agents process migrants quickly, the Post reported.

Texas has been in a legal fight with the Biden administration over its efforts to curb illegal immigration. On Wednesday, an appeals court ruled that the state has the right to build a razor wire border wall to deter migrants. 

Officials have also offered land to the incoming Trump administration to build deportation centers to hold illegal immigrant criminals.

LIBERAL NANTUCKET REELS FROM MIGRANT CRIME WAVE AS BIDEN SPENDS THANKSGIVING IN RICH FRIEND’S MANSION

“My office has identified several of our properties and is standing by ready to make this happen on Day One of the Trump presidency,” Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said during a visit to the border Tuesday.

Authorities have also warned of unaccompanied migrant children being caught near the border. On Thursday, a 10-year-old boy from El Salvador told state troopers in Maverick County, Texas, that he had been lost and left behind by a human smuggler. 

The boy was holding a cellphone and crying, Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Chris Olivarez posted on X. The child said his parents were in the U.S. 

APPEALS COURT RULES TEXAS HAS RIGHT TO BUILD RAZOR WIRE BORDER WALL TO DETER ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: ‘HUGE WIN’

On Sunday, troopers encountered an unaccompanied 2-year-old girl from El Salvador holding a piece of paper with a phone number and her name. She told authorities that her parents were also in the U.S. 

That morning, state troopers also encountered a group of 211 illegal immigrants in Maverick County. Among the group were 60 unaccompanied children, ages 2 to 17, and six special interest immigrants from Mali and Angola. 

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“Regardless of political views, it is unacceptable for any child to be exposed to dangerous criminal trafficking networks,” Olivarez wrote at the time. “With a record number of unaccompanied children and hundreds of thousands missing, there is no one ensuring the safety & security of these children except for the men & women who are on the frontlines daily.”

He noted that the “reality is that many children are exploited & trafficked, never to be heard from again.” 

President Biden on Thanksgiving said he was thankful that the transition of power to a second Trump administration has gone smoothly, while urging the incoming commander-in-chief to “rethink” threats to impose steep tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods. 

“I hope that [President-elect Trump] rethinks it. I think it’s a counterproductive thing to do,” Biden told reporters Thursday on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he was spending the holiday with family. “We’re surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Oceans and two allies — Mexico and Canada. The last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships. I think that we got them in a good place.”

Earlier this week, Trump vowed to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada in an effort to get both nations to do more to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and illicit drugs into the U.S. Trump spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo on Wednesday, and both apparently came to an understanding, he said. 

CHINA FREES US PASTOR AFTER NEARLY 20 YEARS OF WRONGFUL DETAINMENT

President Biden shakes hands with Nantucket police officers during a visit to a fire station on Thanksgiving in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on Thursday. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

“She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We also talked about what can be done to stop the massive drug inflow into the United States, and also, U.S. consumption of these drugs. It was a very productive conversation!”

Trump also threatened to impose an additional 10% tariff on China. Biden said Chinese President Xi Jinping “doesn’t want to make a mistake.”

“I am not saying he is our best buddy, but he understands what’s at stake,” he said. 

DONALD TRUMP CALLS ON THE NEW YORK TIMES TO APOLOGIZE FOR ‘GETTING YEARS OF TRUMP COVERAGE WRONG’

President Biden talks to the media during a visit to a Nantucket fire station on Thanksgiving in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on Thursday. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

President Biden also said Thursday that illegal border crossings have been “down considerably” since Trump’s first term in office. Trump heavily campaigned on the border crisis that exploded after Biden took office. 

The president also said he was pleased with the cease-fire deal between Israel and Lebanon and that he was “very, very happy” about China releasing three Americans who were “wrongfully detained” for several years. 

Regarding the transition from his presidency to a second Trump administration, Biden said he wants the process to occur without any hiccups.  

President Biden talks to the media in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on Thursday. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

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“I want to make sure it goes smoothly. And all the talk about what he is going to do and not do, I think that maybe it is a little bit of internal reckoning on his part,” he said. 

Four Connecticut House Democrats say their homes have been targeted by bomb threats on Thanksgiving Day. 

Each of the threats against Reps. Jim Himes, Jahana Hayes, Joe Courtney, and John Larson were determined to be unfounded and come after nearly a dozen of President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees and other appointees were targeted with similar warnings on Tuesday night. 

“This morning, I was notified of a bomb threat targeting my home where I was celebrating Thanksgiving with my family,” Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. “Thankfully, after a swift and thorough response from the United States Capitol Police, the Greenwich Police Department, and the Stamford Police Department, no evidence of a bomb was found.” 

“There is no place for political violence in this country, and I hope that we may all continue through the holiday season with peace and civility,” he added. 

TRUMP CABINET NOMINEES, APPOINTEES TARGETED WITH ‘VIOLENT, UNAMERICAN THREATS’ 

Clockwise from top left, Connecticut Reps. John Larson, Jahana Hayes, Jim Himes and Joe Courtney. (Tom Williams/Roll Call/Kevin Dietsch/Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg/Douglas Healey/Getty Images/Reuters)

Hayes said she was notified by the chief of the Wolcott Police Department shortly before 8 a.m. this morning “that they received a threatening email stating a pipe bomb had been placed in the mailbox at my home.” 

That department and Connecticut State Police then responded to her home and cleared the scene without finding any bomb or explosive materials, according to Hayes. 

“I thank law enforcement for their swift attention to this matter, their actions demonstrate there is no place in our country for political violence,” Hayes also said. 

A spokesperson for Courtney told Fox61 that there was “no evidence found of a bomb” at his property in Vernon. 

“Joe and Audrey extend their utmost gratitude to the law enforcement officers, whose response should signal to perpetrators that these types of threats will not be tolerated,” the spokesperson added. 

MAN CONVICTED FOR DOZENS OF THREATS AGAINST FORMER SPEAKER MCCARTHY OVER CHINESE BALLOONS 

President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees and other top appointees were recently targeted with threats as well. (Allison Robbert/Pool via AP, File)

Larson said in his own statement, “Early this morning, East Hartford Police came to my home in response to a bomb threat. 

“The police determined no bomb was present at the property and the Larson family is safe,” he added. 

The warnings that the Trump Cabinet nominees and other appointees faced “ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting,’” according to Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman and incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. 

Rep. Jim Himes speaks to members of the press after a briefing at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 14. Himes said on Thursday, “There is no place for political violence in this country.” (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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Sources told Fox News Digital that John Ratcliffe, the nominee to be CIA director; Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defense; and Rep. Elise Stefanik, the nominee for UN ambassador, were among those targeted. Brooke Rollins, who Trump has tapped to be secretary of agriculture, and Lee Zeldin, Trump’s nominee to be EPA administrator, separately revealed they were also targeted. 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

President-elect Trump on Thursday wished a happy Thanksgiving to all Americans, including those he called “Radical Left Lunatics,” as he vowed to “Make America Great Again” when he takes office on Jan. 20, 2025.

In the message posted on Trump’s Truth Social account, the president also had some choice words for those on the “radical left.”

“Happy Thanksgiving to all, including to the Radical Left Lunatics who have worked so hard to destroy our Country, but who have miserably failed, and will always fail, because their ideas and policies are so hopelessly bad that the great people of our Nation just gave a landslide victory to those who want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote. “Don’t worry, our Country will soon be respected, productive, fair, and strong, and you will be, more than ever before, proud to be an American!”

Trump later posted a photo of him posing with law enforcement and wished all a happy Thanksgiving.

TRUMP SAYS MEXICO WILL STOP FLOW OF MIGRANTS AFTER SPEAKING WITH MEXICAN PRESIDENT FOLLOWING TARIFF THREATS

Trump wished Americans a happy Thanksgiving on Thursday in posts on his Truth Social account. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

While it was unclear where the president-elect would be spending Thanksgiving this year, he spent his previous Thanksgiving holidays at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, which was commonly referred to as the “Winter White House” during Trump’s first term.

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, was dubbed the “Winter White House” during his first presidential term. (Getty Images, File)

Trump, who declared Mar-a-Lago his primary residence in 2019, has been working with his transition team to select members of his administration’s cabinet since defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

MARK ZUCKERBERG VISITS TRUMP AT MAR-A-LAGO, REPORTEDLY ‘WANTS TO SUPPORT THE NATIONAL RENEWAL’

Fox News Digital learned Wednesday that nearly a dozen of Trump’s Cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration were targeted Tuesday night with “violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” prompting a “swift” law enforcement response. 

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Sources told Fox News Digital that John Ratcliffe, the nominee to be CIA director; Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defense; and Rep. Elise Stefanik, the nominee for UN ambassador, were among those targeted. Brooke Rollins, who Trump has tapped to be secretary of agriculture, and Lee Zeldin, Trump’s nominee to be EPA administrator, separately revealed they were also targeted. 

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.