Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday visited the southern border, declaring a "new era of determination" as the Trump administration doubles down on its efforts to secure the border and stop illegal immigration.
"Because of President Donald Trump, this is a new era at the southern border, a new era of determination, a new era of cooperation. And at the Defense Department, we are proud to be a part of it," Hegseth told reporters at a press conference in El Paso, Texas after Hegseth had toured the border.
Hegseth emphasized that, rather than focusing on foreign territory, the administration wanted to focus first on U.S. sovereignty.
"Guys and gals of my generation have spent decades in foreign countries guarding other people's borders. It's about time we secure our own border," he said.
Trump deployed the U.S. military to the border on his first day in office, with over 1,500 troops joining forces already there. It’s part of a blitz that has correlated with a sharp drop in encounters at the southern border.
Hegseth said the men and women dispatched to the border are excited to be there.
"They're motivated to be here because they're defending their friends, their family, their communities, their church, their schools, their loved ones from an invasion of people whose intentions we don't know," he said. "We are going to get control of this border."
Hegseth’s visit to the southern border is the latest migration-focused trip by a Trump Cabinet official.
His trip comes after DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was at the southern border in Del Rio, Texas on Saturday. She said she was there to see "firsthand what’s happening and how we can best support our Border Patrol agents."
"Under President[Trump] the days of open borders are over," she said.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had a migration-packed first week in office, left Saturday for his first overseas trip to Latin America.
His visit includes trips to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. He is expected to return Thursday, and issues including migration, drug trafficking and gang violence are expected to be at the top of his agenda.
Hegseth spoke alongside border czar Tom Homan, who said what was occurring with the use of the military and other government agencies to facilitate security and deportations is a "game changer."
"We will finally succeed and have an operational control of our southern border with this president in charge," he said.
The U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments will establish a sovereign wealth fund in accordance with a new executive order President Donald Trump signed on Monday.
The sovereign wealth fund, a state-owned investment fund with various financial assets like stocks and bonds, could foot the bill for purchasing TikTok, according to Trump.
"We're going to be doing something perhaps with TikTok, and perhaps not," Trump told reporters Monday. "If we make the right deal, we'll do it. Otherwise, we won't."
"But we could put that as an example in the fund," Trump said. "And we have a lot of other things that we could put in the fund. And I think in a short period of time we'd have one of the biggest funds."
Countries like Norway and Saudi Arabia utilize sovereign wealth funds, as do multiple U.S. states.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said the sovereign wealth fund would be created within the next 12 months.
"I think it’s going to create value and be of great strategic importance," Bessent told reporters Monday.
Bessent and Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick are instructed to devise a plan in the next 90 days for the creation of the fund, according to the White House. The proposal will include recommendations on funding mechanisms, investment strategies, fund structure and a governance model.
More details on the sovereign wealth fund were not immediately available, and it's unclear whether Congress will sign off on it.
However, Trump signaled on the campaign trail in 2024 that he was interested in a sovereign wealth fund, using revenue from tariffs to pour into the wealth fund and then use that money to pay for projects like highways, airports and medical research.
Additionally, Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., introduced legislation in September 2024 called the American Sovereign Wealth Fund Exploration Act to research ways to create a sovereign wealth fund in the U.S.
Meanwhile, Trump has weighed in a few times on the future of TikTok in recent weeks and said that he's spoken with multiple parties who are interested in purchasing the app.
Although TikTok briefly went offline for U.S. users in January after the Supreme Court upheld a ban on the social media platform, Trump signed an executive order just hours after his inauguration on Jan. 20 delaying a ban on TikTok for 75 days.
The Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling on the TikTok ban cited national security concerns, specifically due to the "relationship with a foreign adversary" and the app’s data collection practices.
But Trump said in the executive order delaying the ban that he has "the unique constitutional responsibility for the national security of the United States, the conduct of foreign policy, and other vital executive functions."
"To fulfill those responsibilities, I intend to consult with my advisors, including the heads of relevant departments and agencies on the national security concerns posed by TikTok, and to pursue a resolution that protects national security while saving a platform used by 170 million Americans," Trump said in the executive order. "My Administration must also review sensitive intelligence related to those concerns and evaluate the sufficiency of mitigation measures TikTok has taken to date."
The Associated Press and Fox News’ Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.
FIRST ON FOX— The Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent’s Association (FBIAA) sent a letter to House and Senate leaders Monday raising "urgent concerns" over recent actions taken by acting DOJ and FBI personnel, which they say threatens careers of thousands of employees and risks disrupting the bureau's essential work.
The FBIAA, a voluntary professional association representing more than 14,000 active and retired FBI special agents, cited in particular the order from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to terminate the entire FBI senior leadership team, and the assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office, as well as the order for bureau employees to compile lists of all current and former personnel who worked on investigations related to January 6, 2021, and a Hamas-related case.
The lists, the group said, "will be used to determine whether those individuals should face additional personnel actions."
"Put simply, Special Agents who risk their lives protecting this country from criminals and terrorists are now being placed on lists and having their careers jeopardized for carrying out the orders they were given by their superiors in the FBI," the group said, saying the actions both lack "transparency and due process," and "are creating dangerous distractions, imperiling ongoing investigations, and undermining the Bureau’s ability to work with state, local, and international partners to make America safe again."
This is a breaking news story. Check back soon for updates.
The U.S. Agency for International Development’s fate is hanging in the balance as the second Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is working on an apparent overhaul of the agency.
A review of USAID’s recent history shows that it repeatedly has been accused of financial mismanagement and corruption long before Donald Trump's second administration, Fox News Digital found.
Tech billionaire and DOGE Chair Elon Musk has been on a warpath against USAID — which is an independent U.S. agency that was established under the Kennedy administration to administer economic aid to foreign nations — as he leads DOGE’s mission of cutting government fat and overspending at the federal level.
Musk announced in an audio-only message on X overnight on Sunday that "we’re in the process" of "shutting down USAID" and that Trump reportedly agreed to shutter the agency.
"With regard to the USAID stuff, I went over [it] with him in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down," he said. "I actually checked with him a few times [and] said, ‘Are you sure?’"
He added that Trump responded, "Yes."
As of Monday morning, hundreds of USAID employees reported they were locked out of the agency’s computer system and that its headquarters in Washington, D.C., was closed on Monday.
On X, Musk has railed against the organization as rife with "marxists" and is operating as a "criminal organization."
"USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die," Musk posted to X on Sunday.
"USAID was a viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America," he said in another message.
Trump repeatedly proposed slashing the nation’s foreign aid budget for USAID and the State Department during his first administration, including proposing in his first year in office to slash the budgets by 37%, which Congress rejected.
"With $20 trillion in debt, the government must learn to tighten its belt," Trump said back in 2017 while advocating for the cuts.
His rebuke of foreign aid stretches back even further to his 2016 presidential run, outlining in his famed candidacy speech next to the golden elevator at Trump Tower that the nation must "stop sending foreign aid to countries that hate us."
"It is necessary that we invest in our infrastructure, stop sending foreign aid to countries that hate us and use that money to rebuild our tunnels, roads, bridges and schools — and nobody can do that better than me," he said in his 2015 speech announcing his candidacy for president.
Fox News Digital looked back at the controversies USAID has faced in recent years, finding a bevy of allegations, including that the agency reportedly helped fund terrorist organizations and Chinese groups, and that its watchdog allegedly omitted negative findings from publicly published reports.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment regarding the following USAID allegations in light of DOGE’s targeting of the agency, but did not immediately receive a reply.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., sent a blistering letter to Biden-era USAID administrator Samantha Power in October 2024, sounding the alarm on the "likely misuse of more than one billion dollars in U.S. humanitarian aid sent to Gaza since October 2023," Fox Digital reported at the time.
"As I predicted would happen from the outset, credible reporting indicates that Hamas terrorists have diverted this aid; indisputable evidence demonstrates that the aid was always at high risk of diversion," he continued, pointing to U.S. aid that was delivered to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), whichhe said has apparent ties to Hamas.
Trump ended funding to UNRWA in 2018, when his first administration described the UN agency as an "irredeemably flawed operation."
Cotton pinned blame on the Biden-Harris administration for the "likely misuse," seething that "in all likelihood," the "administration has prolonged the Gaza war, allowed aid to flow to Israel’s enemies, and misused taxpayer funds."
"Your agency announced approximately $336 million in additional humanitarian funding for Gaza, Judea, and Samaria. On the same day, the United Nations acknowledged that Fateh al-Sharif, a Hamas leader in Lebanon killed in an Israeli airstrike, was employed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. UNRWA, a major USAID partner before October 7, remains a chief conduit for UN humanitarian assistance in Gaza despite extensive evidence of its ties to Hamas," he continued.
USAID pushed back on the claims in comment to Fox Digital at the time, saying it does not fund UNRWA. President Joe Biden halted U.S. funding to UNWRA in March of 2024 for one year.
"USAID does not provide any funding to UNRWA, nor did we do so prior to October 7, 2023," the spokesperson said in October 2024. "In addition to extensive risk mitigation procedures, USAID works closely with the Government of Israel to assist with the coordination of and discuss potential risks to all humanitarian assistance entering Gaza. USAID has not received evidence from the Government of Israel, our partners, or other sources to support the claims in Senator Cotton’s letter."
Cotton’s office responded to the statement: "Administrator Power and USAID do not have an adequate vetting process to ensure that American taxpayer dollars do not end up with terrorists. If a terrorist front organization like UNRWA is the only 'distribution system' in Gaza, Power should reconsider sending aid there in the first place. Our tax dollars should not fund a group that has assisted in the kidnapping and murder of Americans."
A Syrian national named Mahmoud Al Hafyan, 53, was charged in November 2024 for allegedly diverting more than $9 million in U.S.-funded humanitarian aid to terrorist groups, including the Al-Nusrah Front. The Al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, is a designated terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaeda, according to the State Department.
USAID’s office of the inspector general outlined in its press release on Al Hafyan’s 12-count indictment that the U.S. had awarded $122 million to the Syrian national’s NGO between 2015 and 2019. The funds were intended for food kits to bolster citizens amid Syria’s bloody civil war. He is accused, however, of directing the food kits to the Al-Nusrah Front, as well as selling them on the black market, according to the press release.
"This defendant not only defrauded the U.S. government, but he also gave the humanitarian aid he stole to a foreign terrorist organization," said U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said at the time. "While this foreign terrorist organization fought with the cruel al-Assad regime, the people who were supposed to receive the aid suffered. This office has a history of pursuing criminals around the globe, no matter how many years it takes, and will do all it can to ensure that Mahmoud Al Hafyan is held accountable for these crimes."
Samantha Power — the Biden administration’s USAID administrator and former U.S. ambassador to the UN under former President Barack Obama’s tenure — was discovered to have repeatedly met with left-wing groups such as George Soros' Open Society Foundations while serving as the foreign aid agency’s administrator, Fox Digital reported in 2023.
Power met with George Soros' Open Society Foundations at least two times and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at least five times, Fox Digital reported. She also held meetings with other powerful groups, such as the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, according to 700 pages of internal calendar entries that stretched back to 2021 and were obtained by Fox News Digital in 2023.
USAID brushed off Power’s string of meetings with powerful left-wing groups as part of her official role and USAID’s mission to fight a spate of global issues ranging from poverty to education.
"Administrator Power meets with a wide variety of officials and sectors to discuss USAID's mission to reduce extreme poverty, fight child malnutrition, spur economic growth, expand educational opportunities around the world, and build resilient global health systems," a USAID spokesperson told Fox News Digital in 2023. "Working with philanthropies and the private sector to catalyze resources to tackle these complex global challenges is important to improving the quality of life for people around the world."
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report in 2023 finding that both USAID and the National Institutes of Health directed taxpayer funds to American universities and a nonprofit organization before the money found its way to Chinese groups, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The report found that between 2014 and 2021, U.S. taxpayer funds were redirected to entities including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Wuhan University and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, which is part of the Chinese Communist Party. The three groups each received more than $2 million combined from the U.S. government "through seven subawards," according to the GAO report.
"The selected entities are government institutions or laboratories in China that conduct work on infectious diseases, including pandemic viruses, and have had actions taken by federal agencies to address safety or security concerns," the report states. "All three selected Chinese entities received funds."
In January, the CIA under the second Trump administration released an updated assessment on the origins of COVID-19, favoring the theory that the contagious disease was due to a lab leak. The CIA previously had maintained that it did not have sufficient evidence to conclude whether COVID originated in a lab or a "wet market" in Wuhan, China.
Eight auditors and employees for the USAID inspector general’s office sounded the alarm to the Washington Post in 2014 that negative findings surrounding the agency’s work were removed from final reports and audits.
In the wake of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, for example, USAID established NGO-led, pro-democracy programs in the nation, though the NGO workers were not registered to work in the country, the Washington Post reported in 2014. Egypt arrested 43 NGO workers, including 16 Americans, for operating illegally in the country, with USAID quietly paying Egypt $4.6 million to bail out the Americans, according to the report.
When auditors questioned the bail payment to the Egyptian government in a draft IG report, the findings were not included in the final report that was made publicly available just months later. Instead, the 21-page draft report was whittled down to a nine-page report. The auditors and employees who spoke to the outlet reported that negative comments were removed from various audits between 2011 and 2013.
"The office is a watchdog not doing its job," a retired audit supervisor at the inspector general’s office told the outlet. "It’s just easier for upper management to go along to get along. The message is: ‘Don’t make waves, don’t report any problems.’"
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday that he is now the acting director of USAID.
"USAID is not functioning. It has to be aligned with U.S. policy. It needs to be aligned with the national interest of the U.S.," he told reporters while in El Salvador. "They're not a global charity. These are taxpayer dollars. People are asking simple questions. What are they doing with the money? We are spending taxpayers money. We owe the taxpayers assurances that it furthers our national interest."
"I am the acting director," he confirmed when asked if he is now in charge. "Our goal was to allow our foreign aid with the national interest. It has been 20 or 30 years. They have tried to reform it. That will not continue."
Rubio became the Trump administration’s first confirmed cabinet member on Jan. 20. Days after his confirmation, the State Department announced a pause on all U.S. foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department and USAID out of an effort to ensure current American policies reflect Trump's administration's priorities.
"Consistent with President Trump’s Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid, Secretary [Marco] Rubio has paused all U.S. foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for review," the statement read. "He is initiating a review of all foreign assistance programs to ensure they are efficient and consistent with U.S. foreign policy under the America First agenda. President Trump stated clearly that the United States is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return for the American people."
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman, Benjamin Weinthal and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
Amid scrutiny over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s pledge to transfer his financial interest in vaccine lawsuits to his family, legal experts have criticized the move but note that Kennedy's approach is not significantly different from actions taken by other public officials in the past.
During Kennedy's confirmation hearings last week, the potential next secretary of Health and Human Services was probed over his financial stake in personal-injury lawsuits tied to vaccines, in particular his ties to a suit against pharmaceutical company Merck and its Gardasil cervical cancer vaccine. While Kennedy would not initially commit to letting go of his stake against Merck, he reversed course in a written response to lawmakers' questions following a hearing, noting he would amend his pledge and "will divest my interest in any such litigation via an assignment to my non-dependent, adult son."
While some legal experts have argued the move does not go far enough to quash potential conflicts for Kennedy, others say this approach is akin to that taken by several other public officials who have found themselves in a similar situation. Meanwhile, one legal expert suggested to Fox News Digital that the pass from Kennedy to his son "is more than sufficient to meet any ethical concerns."
"That may comply with ordinary conflict of interest issues," Jim Copland, director of legal policy at the Manhattan Institute, said. "I just don't think the head of the Department of Health and Human Services has any business being involved in any way with litigation against Merck."
Fellow Manhattan Institute legal expert Ilya Shapiro said he is unsure whether Kennedy's move will suffice in avoiding any real conflict, but added that he did recognize "it's not unusual in light of past examples."
Both Democrats and Republicans have used family to shield themselves from ethics complaints related to their personal business dealings, with former President Joe Biden being a recent and notable example after a multi-year probe into his family business dealings that found both his son and brother were engaged in risky business relationships with foreign entities, such as China. Biden has repeatedly denied his involvement in those business dealings.
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi similarly sought to defend her family's business dealings after it was revealed her husband was making money investing in companies that had business in front of his wife. In response to questions from reporters about whether she agreed with efforts to ban federal lawmakers' spouses from trading in stocks, Pelosi replied that "they should be able to participate in that."
Other notable figures who have used their families to shield their personal business dealings include President Donald Trump, who handed over control of his Trump Organization business empire to his sons, and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose investor husband, Richard Blum, managed investments through his firm Blum Capital Partners that often intersected with his wife's work while she was in Congress.
"It is my opinion that RFK, Jr.’s plan to pass on any financial stake in possible vaccine injuries to his son is more than sufficient to meet any ethical concerns," Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital. "This is particularly true because of the limitations imposed by federal law on any claims made against vaccine manufacturers that severely limit possible compensation for anyone claiming a vaccine was somehow defective."
Spakovsky posited that the federal government's National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which prohibits civil litigation against drugmakers and instead directs the federal government to administer any vaccine-injury payments, serves to buffer the impact Kennedy could potentially have on vaccine-related injury payments.
"RFK would have no authority whatsoever [over this program]," he said. "The point is that all of this is so disconnected from RFK, Jr.’s potential Cabinet position if he is confirmed, that anyone who says this is a ‘serious’ ethics problem is wrong."
Copland, who agreed with Spakovsky that the vaccine compensation program diminishes much of Kennedy's advantage, said RFK Jr. could still benefit in an indirect manner.
"I think it's a more concerning conflict of interest than just saying, ‘Oh, you own a lot of equity interest in some company that may incidentally benefit you know,’" Copland said. "I mean, if you had a Defense Department secretary who was a CEO of a major military contractor, and then he passes that off to his son, I think you'd still have a concern about that due to the obvious conflict of interest there, which is different than a sort of ordinary, 'Oh, I own a company, and it's going to, incidentally, benefit from the government.'"
Fox News legal analyst Andy McCarthy was more critical of Kennedy's decision to pass off his financial interests to his son, noting that the fact he is "struggling to come up with a scheme to retain his stake, rather than doing the obvious right thing by abandoning it, underscores that this is a real conflict of interest."
"The comparison to family asset transfers in other contexts is inapposite and, in any event, misses the point," McCarthy said. "Whatever one thinks of President Trump’s arrangements regarding his family business, voters knew about that business and elected him anyway – and the president is not in a position to recuse himself from executive decision-making based on conflicts of interest. By contrast, Kennedy wasn’t elected by anyone."
McCarthy added that after years "of justifiably complaining that President Biden was corruptly enriched by payments… made to his son and brother," he finds it hard to believe "that Republicans can turn a blind eye to a financial stake, which would create a significant conflict of interest for RFK Jr. as HHS secretary, on the pretext that he plans to transfer the stake to his son."
New York Attorney General Letitia James warned hospitals on Monday not to follow President Donald Trump's directive to prohibit sex-change procedures for minors, arguing that doing so would violate state law.
Trump's executive order (EO), which was signed last week, was titled "Protecting Children From Chemical And Surgical Mutilation." Its aim is to restrict "chemical and surgical" sex-change procedures for minors.
"Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions," the EO states. "This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation’s history, and it must end."
The declaration goes on to state that the U.S. "will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another."
In the letter, James argued that refusing to provide gender-affirming treatment would violate anti-discrimination laws in the Empire State.
"Regardless of the availability of federal funding, we write to further remind you of your obligations to comply with New York State laws," she said.
In an email obtained by the Associated Press, the spokesperson for the Greater New York Hospital Association said that his organization was consulting with hospitals about the EO.
"We are collaboratively working through every aspect of the EO to determine its legal and clinical implications," spokesperson Brian Conway wrote. "That work is ongoing."
In a recent interview, Fox News Channel senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel explained that the main treatments that will be discouraged under the EO include puberty blockers and sex reassignment surgery for minors.
"Puberty blockers, the main one is Lupron, which we use for prostate cancer, enough said," Siegel said. "I mean, it interferes with bone growth, it can potentially interfere with fertility if it's combined with hormones and it can interfere with thinking and cognition. I don't believe that we can say the puberty blockers with hormones don't have long-term side effects, they do."
"Surgery, we're talking about mastectomies, we're talking about upper and lower surgeries. I think that that's something that's not reversible and it should never be done on children," the doctor added. "Proponents of this will say, 'Well the longer you wait, the more the child suffers.' I think that there's conflicting research on that. I'm not convinced of that."
Siegel also stressed the importance of mental health treatment for teens and warned about the gravity of the decision to undergo sex-change procedures, which could be irreversible.
"You have a child, they're having gender confusion. Did they get enough mental health counseling?" Siegel said. "Did they get a chance to develop? Are they being pressured politically by somebody in society, their parents? And then, most importantly, is the intervention leading to something that's not reversible?"
New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidates during the Garden State’s first primary debate of the year vowed to help illegal immigrants avoid President Trump’s ICE raids.
Five out of six candidates raised their hands when debate moderator Joey Fox, of the New Jersey Globe, asked the Democrats on stage if they "believe that one of the goals of the next governor should be protecting immigrants in New Jersey, even those who are here illegally."
Candidates vowed to stand up to Trump, committed to comprehensive immigration reform, and vowed to prioritize humanity in the deportation process.
However, candidates were less certain when discussing the Laken Riley Act, the first bill Trump signed into law during his second term. It mandates detaining illegal immigrants who are accused of committing dangerous crimes.
"If you are a murderer, a criminal, a rapist, if you're breaking into people's homes in the middle of the night with a gun while the kids are sleeping, and you're undocumented, you shouldn't be here. You shouldn't be in the state, you shouldn't be in this country." said Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who voted in support of the Laken Riley Act in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Despite Gottheimer’s support for the act, he was careful to distinguish "innocent undocumented people" from those who commit violent crimes. "When I'm governor, I'm going to use the full force of the state to stop" Trump from rounding up "innocent undocumented people" at restaurants, churches and schools, the congressman clarified.
The Trump administration doesn’t recognize such a distinction. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last Tuesday that anyone in the United States illegally is considered a criminal.
"They illegally broke our nation’s laws, and, therefore, they are criminals, as far as this administration goes," Leavitt said in a now viral moment. "I know the last administration didn’t see it that way, so it’s a big culture shift in our nation to view someone who breaks our immigration laws as a criminal. But that’s exactly what they are."
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop didn’t share Gottheimer’s support for the Laken Riley Act, calling it "dangerous."
"The Laken Riley Act served to undermine the authority of the attorney general here in New Jersey," Fulop said. "It is a very dangerous piece of legislation as it relates to autonomy of the governor and the attorney general here, and it should not have been supported."
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a vocal opponent of the ICE raids authorized in his city during Trump’s first week in office, took opposition to the bill a step further.
"You can't say you support immigrants in New Jersey but vote for the Laken Riley Act," Baraka said. "We need to stop having this conversation about people being murderers and killers and rapists and criminals. We know that's a lie. There is no crime wave of immigrants in New Jersey."
Baraka went as far as to say Trump’s political agenda is rooted in "White supremacy and racism."
"It’s interesting that we keep saying that people are here illegally when we keep moving the goalpost," Baraka said. "If we take away all of the pathways that people become documented citizens of the United States and then say they're illegal, it’s a problem. We cannot risk the Fourth and 14th Amendment to push this political agenda that Donald Trump has really based in White supremacy and racism."
Former New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney said New Jersey should stand up to Trump’s deportations, emphasizing the lack of legal search warrants in these ICE raids. However, Sweeney agreed that someone with a criminal record who enters the United States or "someone that breaks the law in this country shouldn't be in this country," calling it a "privilege."
"With Donald Trump, we all should stand and oppose what Donald Trump's doing. He's breaking the law. He's doing it illegally. He's doing it without legal search warrants. It’s horrible what he's doing." Sweeney said.
New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller echoed Sweeney’s distaste for Trump’s inhumane deportations, telling New Jerseyans they should be scared.
"They're coming for all of us, and that should scare every single one of us. That's unacceptable. That’s what we stand up and fight back against," Spiller said.
Despite taking a hard line against President Trump, the Democratic candidates recognized immigration reform as a necessity.
"I think that what's missing in the conversation so many times is basic humanity," Sherrill said. "We desperately need comprehensive immigration reform. We need to make sure people have a pathway to citizenship who are here, who are working hard, who are paying taxes, DACA recipients, TPS recipients. We also need better border security. We need to know what's coming across our border."
The bill’s sponsors said in a statement that the measure would address what they called "one of the biggest magnets for illegal immigration," which they believe poses a weakness to national security.
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) estimates there are 33,000 births to tourist women in the U.S. annually. CIS further estimates that there are hundreds of thousands more births to illegal aliens or aliens present on temporary visas.
"It is long overdue for the United States to change its policy on birthright citizenship because it is being abused in so many ways," Graham said in the Friday statement.
He pointed to the practice of birth tourism, which he said was enabling "wealthy individuals from China and other nations to come to the United States simply to have a child who will be an American citizen."
"When you look at the magnets that draw people to America, birthright citizenship is one of the largest," said Graham. "I also appreciate President Trump’s executive order to address birthright citizenship. It is time for the United States to align itself with the rest of the world and restrict this practice once and for all."
Currently, standard practice in the U.S. is to grant automatic citizenship to all children born on U.S. soil. This has been the practice only since the 1960s and is based on what some believe is a flawed interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which reads that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
The Birthright Citizenship Act of 2025 would clarify that to meet the "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" clause, a person born in the U.S. must have at least one parent who is a citizen, national, legal permanent resident, or legal alien serving in the U.S. military on active duty.
The law clarifies that it would not affect the citizenship of anyone born before the law’s passage and would only restrict the citizenship of those born in the U.S. after.
This comes after Trump signed an executive order titled "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship" on his first day in office. The order, which has since been temporarily blocked by a court ruling, directed government agencies to refrain from issuing any documents recognizing the citizenship of any children born in the U.S. to illegal and temporary migrants.
Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital that he believes "if this issue gets to the Supreme Court, and it is highly likely that it will, if the court applies the actual text of the amendment and looks at its legislative history — what the sponsors of the bill said at the time — and follows its own precedents in the three cases that looked at this issue, then they will rule in Trump’s favor. This bill would simply clarify what we already know about the amendment and its intent."
"The most important point here is that this bill is not trying to amend the 14th Amendment," he said. "It is simply explaining what the terms of the 14th Amendment mean."
"I think it is important for Congress to reemphasize what it said when it first sponsored and passed the 14th Amendment: that the phrase ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the U.S. would not apply to the child of an alien who is illegally in the U.S. and is, when born, a citizen of the country of the child’s parents, and therefore not subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S.," he went on. "The current statute, 8 USC 1401, simply repeats the language of the 14th Amendment. It has been totally misinterpreted in recent decades by those who mistakenly say the amendment and the federal law only require birth in the U.S."
Echoing the language used in Trump’s order, Britt said that "the promise of American citizenship should not incentivize illegal migration, but that’s exactly what has happened for far too long."
"It’s time to fix this," said Britt. "Senator Lindsey Graham’s and my Birthright Citizenship Act would codify President Trump’s commonsense stance and end the abuse of birthright citizenship that I do not believe is consistent with the original meaning of the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause. This will protect our nation’s sovereignty, disincentivize illegal migration, and ensure America’s citizenship practices are stronger and better aligned with peer countries around the globe."
This comes after House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Brian Babin, R-Texas, introduced a bill on Jan. 21 to similarly clarify that the 14th Amendment does not include children of those who are in the country illegally or on a temporary basis.
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
Here's what's happening…
-Trump admin deporting illegal immigrants convicted of a crime is wildly popular among New York voters: poll
-Trump administrations say tariffs are crucial to combating 'drug war'
-Army saw spike in deadly aviation accidents in year before DC plane crash disaster
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) staffers were told in an email that its Washington headquarters would be closed to staffers Monday, two sources confirmed to Fox News Digital.
Some staffers reported getting locked out of the USAID computer systems overnight, according to The Associated Press. People who remained in the system got emails stating that "at the direction of Agency leadership" the headquarters facility "will be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, Feb. 3."
Elon Musk, who is spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort, had said during an X spaces conversation that President Donald Trump agreed that USAID, which distributes humanitarian, development and security assistance across the world, should be shut down…Read more
NO MORE PROTECTION: Trump admin ends deportation protections for massive number of Venezuelans amid illegal immigration crackdown…Read more
NARCOTICS CRACKDOWN: Counter-drug sea drones utilized by Navy as Trump ramps up military resources at the border…Read more
NEW MISSION: Biden policies spurred Trump's 'quick and drastic' moves to bolster border security, expert says…Read more
TARIFF PAUSE: Mexico agrees to deploy 10,000 troops to US border in exchange for tariff pause…Read more
FUNDING VEHICLE: Biden admin repeatedly used USAID to push abortion in Africa…Read more
RUBIO IN CHARGE: Secretary of State Rubio confirms he's acting administrator of USAID…Read more
RECORD HAUL: Record breaking haul for Senate Republican campaign committee…Read more
WORKING THE PHONE: RFK Jr. spent weekend talking to key senator who could make or break his confirmation…Read more
THE WRIGHT VOTE: Senate to hold confirmation vote on Trump's pick to lead the energy department…Read more
'TERRIBLE IDEA': Dems claim Trump tariff could 'drive up' costs despite deflecting blame from Biden's inflation…Read more
TARGET LIST: Trump-aligned group putting pressure on Republican senators in push to confirm RFK Jr….Read more
DOGE HOUSE: GOP hardliners rally around Trump, Musk rollbacks to key government agency…Read more
RUNNING THE CLOCK: GOP rebels' fury over spending cuts may force Trump budget bill to miss key deadline…Read more
'HALLOWEEN PARTY': Social media roasts Noem over unique style choices…Read more
'AMERICA FIRST': Largest steel producer in US announces support of Trump tariffs…Read more
MANPOWER BOOST: Texas National Guard deputized to make immigration arrests…Read more
'GOOD LUCK': New Jersey governor houses migrant at his house, tells feds 'good luck' trying to get her…Read more
BATTLE OF THE AGs: Republican state AGs back Trump birthright citizenship order in court filing: 'Taxpayers are on the hook'…Read more
NO SANCTUARY SCHOOLS?: Oklahoma superintendent hits back over CNN clash over ICE raids, rejects ‘sanctuary schools’…Read more
CURING THE 'WOKE VIRUS': DEI office closures at universities pile up after another state orders end to ‘woke virus’…Read more
Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
The Trump administration is revamping agency websites to be rid of climate change-filled content, amid a widespread rebranding of federal departments from content deemed as not aligning with President Donald Trump's agenda.
Since taking office two weeks ago, Trump has ordered federal departments to remove particular content from their websites, including mentions of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and "gender ideology."
A Fox News Digital review found that climate change pages on both the Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) websites appear to be down and are not currently functioning. When accessed, the pages are blank with only the statement, "You are not authorized to access this page."
The scrub comes after it was reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ordered officials to review references to climate change on their websites.
Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not list climate change on the drop bar of its "environmental topics." Climate and climate change are still referenced on some parts of the website, but they are linked or mentioned on the homepage.
The scrubbing comes after the Trump administration put a short pause on most federal government websites on Friday evening in an effort to eliminate DEI, Fox News Digital previously reported.
The move mirrors a similar rebranding of government websites during Trump's first term, where he also removed references to climate change or climate change effects from several federal departments online pages.
Trump targeted the Biden administration's green energy agenda in his first slew of executive orders, withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, getting rid of the electric vehicle (EV) mandate, and doing away with its climate emissions target.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House, USDA and EPA for comment.
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
A nonprofit voter engagement group founded by high-profile Georgia perennial candidate Stacey Abrams reportedly suffered dozens of layoffs two weeks after facing a six-figure state ethics fine for campaign finance violations.
Scores of workers at the New Georgia Project (NGP) have been laid off since Dec. 27, with a dozen more being pink-slipped at the end of January, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
The group describes itself as a "nonpartisan effort to register, civically engage, and build power with the New Georgia Majority… the growing population of Black, brown, young and other historically marginalized voters."
It received attention for helping Democrats flip Georgia in 2020 – when Republicans lost both the presidency and its two Senate seats within three months’ time.
NGP could not be reached by phone and did not respond to a comment request through its contact form.
However, a GoFundMe for affected employees set up by NGP policy director Stephanie Ali described the layoffs and said those subject to the latest round had only three days' notice.
The GoFundMe description said the NGP "has stated these reductions in force (RIFs) are due to economic downturns, reductions in fundraising in an ‘off’ election year, and other contributing factors."
Last month, the state ethics commission found both the organization and its political action fund unlawfully performed work for Abrams’ 2018 gubernatorial bid while failing to report donations and expenditures.
The Georgia Ethics Commission probed the groups and discovered more than $7 million combined was raised for Abrams – a former state House minority leader from Atlanta – and others that cycle.
It administered a Peach State record $300,000 fine via a settlement that involved admission of 16 examples of illegal activity, according to Atlanta News First.
The panel also found that the groups stepped out of legal bounds in connection to a 2019 voter referendum aimed at expanding transit services in Gwinnett County, Georgia's second-most populous county after Fulton, which includes Atlanta.
Abrams founded the NGP in 2014, but told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she left the group in 2017 when she decided to run against now-Gov. Brian Kemp.
"The setbacks at NGP are disappointing, and my thoughts are with those laid off," she told the paper’s "Politically Georgia" vertical. "Regardless of [NGP’s] structure, I will never stop believing in the mission of ensuring every Georgian can make their voice heard."
After Abrams’ departure, Ebenezer Baptist Church Rev. Raphael Warnock led the group until 2019. Fox News Digital reached out to the now-Democratic U.S. senator for his reaction.
Cody Hall, a senior advisor to Kemp, told Fox News Digital he wondered: "What did Stacey Abrams know and when did she know it?"
"Abrams founded NGP, her people ran it for years, and we're all supposed to believe she knew nothing? Give us a break," Hall said.
"Everything we said for the last 10 years about Abrams and her organization was true."
When asked for comment, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones slammed Abrams for using "activists in the mainstream media to try to pull the wool over Georgians’ eyes."
The likely future candidate for higher office added Abrams was "embarrassed" by Kemp two cycles in a row and is "embarrassed again" that her group’s "illegal grift is being exposed."
"The people of Georgia are good judges of character, and the liberal national media are not. Stacey Abrams will go down as one of the biggest frauds in the history of Georgia politics, but I have no doubt the media will learn nothing from this," Jones said.
"We as Georgia Republicans must stay ready to defeat whoever the next Marxist grifter is in 2026."
Georgia's Republican Senate President John F. Kennedy called the NGP news "the tip of the iceberg" for Abrams.
"How many more millions will she fleece from donors to enrich herself or skirt campaign finance rules until the spigot turns off?"
Georgia Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II, a Democrat, declined comment.
According to Atlanta’s FOX affiliate, NGP helped 55,000 Georgians register to vote, more than 80% of whom were Black and 40% were ages 18-25.
FIRST ON FOX: Republican Sens. Tim Scott and Bernie Moreno rolled out a measure to provide President Donald Trump with tools to sanction bad actors "fueling" illegal immigration, Fox News Digital has learned.
Scott, R-S.C., and Moreno, R-Ohio, rolled out the Stop Madness Act on Monday, which they said would give the president the power to place economic sanctions on foreign entities facilitating illegal immigration into the United States.
Specifically, the bill would ensure the president can impose sanctions on foreign governments that refuse to accept the return of their citizens who have unlawfully entered the U.S. — denying them access to the U.S. financial system.
The bill also would sanction individuals and entities that knowingly facilitate unlawful immigration, including human smuggling networks and financial institutions that enable their operations.
It would also authorize Trump to invoke his authorities under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to block assets and restrict transactions related to sanctioned individuals and entities.
The bill also would mandate a report from the president on actions taken pursuant to the bill, providing transparency to Congress for further legislative action.
"If a foreign entity shows resistance to repatriation or enables illegal immigration to the United States, they should be met with the full force of our economic and national security tools," Scott told Fox News Digital on Monday. "The American people gave President Trump — and Congress — a mandate to crack down on illegal immigration, and this bill will ensure the president has important tools to hold accountable countries and criminal organizations who refuse to comply with our immigration laws."
Scott added: "I’m proud to lead this important effort to help protect the safety of Americans."
Moreno told Fox News Digital that the bill will give the president "all the authority he needs to apply maximum pressure against corrupt individuals within foreign governments who refuse to allow the US to secure our borders."
"Socialist dictators like Gustavo Petro are going to learn they have two options with President Trump when it comes to migrant reparations: the easy way and the hard way," Moreno told Fox News Digital.
House Republicans’ plan for a massive conservative policy overhaul via the budget reconciliation process is expected to miss a key deadline this week, throwing a wrench in the GOP’s ambitious schedule for swiftly enacting President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., previously told reporters that House Republicans were aiming to advance their bill out of committee this week.
But Republican hardliners on the House Budget Committee balked at GOP leaders’ initial proposal for spending cuts late last week, multiple people told Fox News Digital, pushing for a steeper starting point in negotiations with the Senate.
"The budget resolution is almost certainly not going to move through committee this week," one Budget Committee source told Fox News Digital. "Frankly, what was put forward by leadership at the retreat was so far off the mark – literally increasing deficits even further."
A senior House GOP aide said it was "extremely unlikely" for the resolution to pass through committee this week.
Meanwhile, the national debt continues to climb past the $36 trillion mark, with the U.S. deficit currently running over $710 billion for this fiscal year.
House Republicans huddled at Trump National Doral golf course and resort for three days last week, where committee chairs detailed possible avenues to pursue spending cuts.
Senate and House Republicans hope to use their majorities to pass a broad range of Trump’s agenda items through reconciliation. By lowering the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to 51, it will allow Republicans to bypass Democrats and enact sweeping policy changes – provided they are linked to the budget and other fiscal matters.
But to do that, the House Budget Committee will need to pass a budget resolution that will include specific instructions for various other committees under policies of their jurisdiction.
Conservatives have demanded that the final product of the process be deficit-neutral, if not deficit-reducing – something Johnson promised last week.
Johnson said the guidelines for spending cuts would be a "floor" rather than a "ceiling," giving lawmakers more flexibility to find more savings.
But Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a House Freedom Caucus member who sits on the budget panel, argued that those cuts likely will not extend much past their stated "floors."
"I guess they want to get the resolution out. I do, too. I want to get it out of committee, have an up or down vote. But if you set that floor too low, that's all that’s going to be achieved," Norman said. "I have no confidence that they would exceed whatever level we put in there."
Norman said leaders’ initial offer amounted to roughly $300 billion as a floor for spending cuts, but that it also included $325 billion in new spending, but "does not include interest."
The Budget Committee source who spoke with Fox News Digital said the offer was raised to roughly $900 billion in spending cuts with roughly $300 billion in new spending on border security and defense.
The source said it was "building in the right direction" but still "woefully inadequate."
Norman suggested he wanted the starting point raised to $2 to $3 trillion.
"Anything less than that is really sending the signal that we're just not serious about it," he said.
Norman is one of several Freedom Caucus members on the House Budget Committee who could potentially tank the bill, considering it’s virtually unlikely to get Democratic support.
But steeper spending cuts could also risk rankling Republicans in districts that depend on whatever funding goes on the chopping block.
Democrats have used Republicans’ pursuit of deep spending cuts as a cudgel, accusing them of wanting to gut Social Security and Medicare. GOP leaders have denied eyeing those benefits.
Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., another Freedom Caucus member on the budget panel, said he was optimistic but that there were "a lot of conversations about starting the process from the most conservative position possible."
"The Senate is not as interested in fiscal responsibility, so we recognize the need to set parameters for authorizing committees that encourage that… from the beginning," Cline said.
Johnson said he wanted the bill through committee this week for a goal of passing an initial House version by the end of February.
Congressional leaders hope to have passed a reconciliation bill by May.
The speaker said on "Fox & Friends" Monday morning of reconciliation talks, "Republicans are working right now to negotiate what that looks like. We don't want to blow a hole in the deficit by extending the Trump-era tax cuts, for example, but we're definitely going to get that extended. So we got to find those savings."
Unmanned sea drones are on the prowl to interdict drug smugglers in America's waters as part of a new Navy operation.
The operation will test the Navy’s use of maritime drones, in its early stages, and apply lessons learned to missions all across the globe.
Dubbed Operation Southern Spear, the Navy’s 4th Fleet will use "a heterogeneous mix of Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) to support the detection and monitoring of illicit trafficking while learning lessons for other theaters," a news release said on Monday.
As President Donald Trump shuts down the U.S. southern and northern borders, smugglers are expected to look for alternative routes to carry out their illegal trafficking business. Human and drug trafficking cartels have increasingly turned to the nation’s maritime borders to smuggle weapons, narcotics and people into the country.
According to recent data, more illicit drugs were seized at sea by Customs and Border Patrol’s Air and Marine Operation (AMO) in 2023 – 304,000 pounds – than by land – 241,000 pounds.
Southern Spear will operate as part of Joint Task Force South – a Defense Department task force made up of Navy, Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection, as well as 20 partner countries focused on counter-narcotics and maritime security in the Carribean, Central and South America.
Included in the operation are 20 high-endurance Saildrone Voyager unmanned surface vehicles, equipped with a newly upgraded sensor suite, according to the press release. The vehicles are 10 meters long and can surveil thousands of square miles of water per day to look for smugglers.
The drones have already sailed the Persian Gulf under the Navy’s Hybrid Fleet Campaign and Project 33 and as part of Operation Windward Stack, operated by the 4th Fleet throughout 2024. They offer a 95% detection rate and are contractor owned and operated. This means that SailDrone operates the surveillance platform while the Defense Department purchases the data.
"As land borders become more secure, traffickers will exploit maritime pathways more than ever. We're honored to serve, providing autonomous around-the-clock maritime surveillance to help stop smugglers before they reach our shores," said Tom Alexander, Saildrone VP of government relations.
Already, nearly 90% of cocaine is trafficked at sea, according to the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS). Cartels look to exploit gaps in surveillance coverage that the new mission will look to plug with maritime drones.
Utilizing U.S. military might to disrupt the flow of human and drug trafficking at the southern border has been a top priority for Trump.
Upon taking office, the president immediately sent an additional 1,500 troops and additional assets to the border. Over the weekend, the U.S. secured an agreement with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who will send 10,000 Mexican troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in exchange for a one-month delay in Trump’s threat of 25% tariffs on goods flowing in from Mexico.
West Virginia University became the latest college to shutter its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) office, as a wave of state and federal leaders urged an end to what critics call a paradigm of reverse-discrimination.
As of Monday, the Morgantown school’s DEI division webpage was still active, advertising an "interactive social justice experience" called the "Tunnel of Awareness" later this month.
It also invited students to take an "Implicit Bias Test," take part in a "Yappy Hour" with therapy dogs, and join WVU Vice President Meshea Poore in discussions on how to "live, learn and work together with care and respect for each other" on campus.
The Mountaineers' DEI office will be replaced with an ADA and Title IX-centric Division of Campus Engagement and Compliance.
The closure of the department came pursuant to GOP Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s executive order declaring DEI practices to be in conflict with the Mountain State and U.S. Constitutions.
"No [entity] under authority of the governor or ... receiving state funds shall utilize ...resources [to DEI positions, activities procedures or mandatory training]," part of the order read.
The Republican governor’s order preceded President Donald Trump’s similar federal order by a few days, as the latter’s inauguration fell one week later.
Morrisey said the "woke virus" needs to be "eradicated" in schools and that he is "a believer… that God looks at us [and] the rule of law looks at us as equals."
"We don't want special preferences unlawfully benefiting one group of another race, color, age, ethnicity. We have to make sure that we're taking steps to treat everyone the same under the law."
Morrisey thanked WVU for taking the necessary steps to close its DEI office, remarking that too often there is public pressure to "do the wrong thing."
April Kaull, executive director of communications for WVU, said Monday the new office is not a rebranding but a "shift in focus that will align with the governor’s directive."
"The new West Virginia University Division of Campus Engagement and Compliance is positioned to carry out its core mission and to serve all within our university community. It will focus on ensuring the university adheres to federal and state guidance and fulfilling the needs of our campus community, including compliance with Title IX and the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is its primary focus," Kaull said.
In December, another big football school — Michigan — dismantled its DEI apparatus and said it would no longer "solicit diversity statements as part of faculty hiring, promotion and tenure."
The nonaccredited University of Austin in Texas nixed any iteration of DEI in 2024 as well, with an official saying the college will promote freedom of speech and merit-based admissions.
"They talk about safe spaces. We want to create an environment that's safe for ideas to be explored and where there's not risks to the student for taking positions as they explore," UATX Vice President Michael Shires said at the time.
At least six other states — Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas and Utah — have banned or limited DEI teachings or initiatives within application processes.
Meanwhile, an official for Mount Holyoke College in Northampton, Massachusetts, said she hoped higher education will not capitulate to Trump’s vision in this regard, and that such executive orders are ripe for legal challenge.
"I don’t believe that the value of saying we live in a multiracial democracy is wrong," President Danielle Holley said in part to the AP.
Northeastern University in Boston changed the name of its DEI office to "Belonging in Northeastern" in what it called a "reimagined approach."
In New Brunswick, New Jersey, a professor at Rutgers University had to cancel an upcoming session geared toward internships for students from HBCUs after a contractor informed her federal funding for the conference was put on-hold.
Last week, Missouri State University in Springfield announced an end to its DEI programs — a move administrators said was supported by its Board of Governors.
College President Richard Williams said the school "values diverse thought and actions and support[s] all our students faculty and staff."
But, Williams added that leaders in Jefferson City had outlined new requirements because nearly two-fifths of MSU’s budget is earmarked from state funding.
Fox News Digital’s Jamie Joseph and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Much of President Donald Trump’s immigration and border security agenda has been driven by the actions of former President Joe Biden, causing Trump to take even more steps during his second term in the White House.
"What Biden did, I’d say, is the primary cause of the open borders and the millions he led in, including the bad actors who came along with them," Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation's Border Security and Immigration Center, told Fox News Digital. "It requires quick and drastic steps to stop the flow and find those people and get them out of the country."
The comments come as Trump has unleashed a slew of new orders related to immigration and border security during his first two weeks in office, introducing new ideas such as seeking to end birthright citizenship.
According to Ries, many of Trump’s early actions on immigration were aimed at returning to the policies of his first administration. Others, Ries said, were a direct reaction to policies implemented during the previous administration.
"Ending mass parole, ending the CBP mobile one application," Ries used as an example, two policies implemented under Biden that Trump quickly ended upon reentering the White House.
But Ries also argued that Trump has taken a more aggressive approach to the issue than he did when entering office in 2017, noting that some of the orders were not tried in 2017 or are a reaction to a Biden policy.
"Suspending the U.S. refugee admissions program, birthright citizenship… creating a Homeland Security task force in all 50 states for intel and logistics," Ries listed as examples of new ideas brought by Trump in his second term in office.
Ries also noted that Trump took the step of requiring all aliens to register, something allowed under current immigration statutes that will likely help with enforcement.
"We have no idea who is all here, how many people… so requiring them to register with DHS is a smart move," Ries said.
Yet there is still more work for Trump to do as he continues his push for reform, Ries argued, including pausing funds for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from the Department of Health and Human Services and the State Department.
Ries also mentioned that Trump could still work to clear the backlog of immigration cases at the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, where over 13 million combined cases are pending.
"Getting those down to a manageable level year after year, and I had proposed in a report I put out in December that if the backlog gets too high, pausing intake of applications until the backlog gets down to a manageable level."
"Then the other still needed is more on the unaccompanied alien children front. I think he could declare an emergency regarding the missing children and the sex trafficking," Ries added. "Working to find those kids, but also pursuing the first part of the law that says it should be the policy to return children back to their home country versus bringing them in and giving them immigration benefits."
But Ries also noted there are limitations to what Trump can do through executive action, arguing that Congress will need to "step in" on some issues.
"Congress needs to very quickly, drastically fund increased resources for ICE to continue detaining… ICE needs at least 100,000 beds," Ries said. "Congress also needs to close all the loopholes that the Biden administration exploited if we want long-term integrity around this. Otherwise, the next Democrat president will issue executive orders to undo all this."
Oklahoma State School Superintendent Ryan Walters pushed back after a clash on CNN over his openness to allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers into schools – with Walters doubling down and rejecting "sanctuary schools."
Walters had told local media that he would not rule out allowing federal agents into schools to remove illegal immigrants, amid an ongoing deportation operation since President Donald Trump took office.
The Trump administration has lifted a Biden-era "sensitive places" mandate, which prevented agents from entering schools amid concerns that illegal immigrants could use such places to hide from enforcement. It has sparked pushback from some local officials.
However, Walters, in an interview with Fox News Digital, said that such moves could be necessary to avoid family separation.
"Are the Democrats and now the left-wing media the party of family separation? If you have adults that are going to be deported from this country, do you not want the Trump administration to know where their kids are, where they're enrolled in school, so that if the family is to be deported, they're actually deported together?" he asked.
It led to a furious back-and-forth with CNN host Brianna Keilar, who asked him if it would be traumatic for kids.
"Do you think it would be traumatic for students to witness a raid in their school and students forcibly removed from their school? Do you think that would be traumatic?"
Walters answered, "I think what would be traumatic is if you didn‘t give President Trump the information necessary to keep families together. So what you would prefer is to just deport the parents and have the kids have no idea what happened to their parents? What we‘re—"
"That’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking you….That’s not at all what I’m asking, superintendent," Keilar interrupted again.
Many members of the media have also taken issue with a recent rule change by the Oklahoma State Board of Education, titled "Enhancing Enrollment Transparency," which requires each school district to report the number of students enrolled in schools who are unable to provide proof of citizenship or legal status. According to the rule, the new policy is designed to "provide greater transparency" and to "support the needs" of the schools and students.
"We're saying we want to see your driver's license, we want to see which country you came from, if you've come into the country illegally. I think that is a very commonsense requirement that we're putting out there. We want to make sure that we're asking for this information so that we can accurately use resources and personnel in the state to educate our children," Walters explained. "I think that our taxpayers or our citizens understand that. And the left tries to gaslight the American people into acting like this is some kind of absurd ask."
Speaking to Fox Digital, Walters stood by his stance, noting Trump’s victory at the voting booth in November.
"We're talking about families, we're talking about adults, the adults are in the country illegally. And we're trying to make sure the Trump administration has the information to move forward with the most aggressive deportation policy in our nation's history that the American people clearly support," he said.
"The president won an overwhelming victory with his election. He won every swing state. He won every county in Oklahoma. So you look at this and you say: ‘CNN, left wing media, Democrats, you don't want to have the real conversation because it requires you to admit you created this problem.’ Now the adults are in charge trying to fix it by shutting down the border, deporting illegal immigrants," he said.
Walters also pointed to the impact of illegal immigration on schools in Oklahoma, including the necessary diversion of resources.
"While the left continues to go out and defend and champion the cause of illegal immigrant criminals, we're looking at the American citizen, Oklahomans, and we're sitting here saying, ‘listen, what about the kid that's over a year behind in reading who we've now put in a tutoring program? They're getting caught back up, now all of a sudden, all the tutors have to be diverted because of illegal immigrants that have flocked to their city and flocked to their hometown,’" he said.
"Outlets like CNN and other left-wing outlets refuse to talk about the compassion for the victims’ families who have been targeted by the crimes committed by illegal immigrants. They refuse to talk about compassion when it's your students of American citizens that have fallen behind in school, are working to get caught back up and yet, all of their resources are being moved at the last minute. They refuse to talk about compassion when you see the deaths caused by fentanyl, that oftentimes what a student tries it for the first time and they drop dead," he said. "Americans are tired of it."
He also pointed to the flow of drugs and criminals into the U.S. via the porous southern border.
"And we know that over 99% of that fentanyl has come across the border. So the left, they can cry their crocodile tears. It's complete phony outrage that they act like that," he said. "They have compassion for illegal immigrants. They have no compassion for the American citizens, for the American people, for the American worker. And Americans are tired of it."
Walters also said that other states should be following Oklahoma’s example and backing the deportation and border security effort by the Trump administration.
"This country is a law and order country. We cannot continue to allow criminal activity, we cannot continue to allow sanctuary schools," he said. "Listen, you don't get to…harbor any other criminals in a school system. We should not be allowing illegal immigrants to enroll in our schools, work in our schools, and not get that information for the president, for the entire country," he said.
"Americans want to see an America First policy. They've got that in President Trump," he added. "They will see that here in Oklahoma with our schools. We will put our students first. We will put American citizens first. And we will continue to work with President Trump and his team as they are doing a tremendous job in not only getting our schools back on track but getting our country back on track by bringing law and order back."
Fox News' Lindsay Kornick and Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.
Wednesday’s deadly collision between an American Airlines flight and a military helicopter outside Washington, D.C., followed the Army’s highest rate of flight mishaps in more than a decade.
Army aviation saw 17 class A mishaps, accidents that killed someone or caused more than $2.5 million worth of damage during fiscal year 2024. Fifteen of those were during flights, and two were ground aircraft mishaps.
That followed nine flight and one aircraft ground incidents in 2023 and four flight and four ground mishaps in 2022.
"FY24 will be a year that Army Aviation looks back on in hopes of never repeating," stated a dismal Army report, released just before the deadly collision near Reagan National Airport that killed 67 people.
Fiscal year 2024 saw the most class A mishaps per 100,000 flight hours since 2007. Nine soldiers and one civilian died in flight mishaps, while one contractor died in an aircraft ground accident, according to the report.
The 1.9 class A mishaps per 100,000 was nearly four times the rate of 2022, 0.5 per 100,000.
In an average year, Army aviation mishaps kill six crew members.
There were 66 class A-C mishaps, meaning aviation incidents where over $60,000 worth of damage was incurred or personnel were injured enough to miss work.
READ THE ARMY REPORT BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE
The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter involved in the Washington, D.C.-area crash is not the force’s most accident-prone aircraft; it was only involved in one of the 2024 major incidents, while nine such incidents involved AH-64 Apaches.
Last week’s crash was the first class A mishap for fiscal year 2025.
The Navy had 11 Class A aviation mishaps in FY 2024, and the Marine Corps had six. Five Marines died in a CH-53E Super Stallion crash last February. The Air Force, which has more aviators than any other branch, had 20 class A mishaps in FY 2024.
The Army attributed the spike in incidents to an "ineffective safety culture."
Its aviation review called for more recording and reviewing of flight footage with superiors after it found that the average flight experience is down 300 hours per aviator from 2013. While crew experience was not cited in every incident, the Army deemed it "a hazard that must be considered."
"While it’s understandable to have concerns about "big brother" monitoring, the primary goal of flight data analysis is to improve safety, not to punish or scrutinize individual pilots," the Army’s Combat Readiness Center said in the report.
After more than a dozen aviators died in the first half of fiscal year 2023, the Army conducted an aviation-wide stand down in April 2023, temporarily grounding all regular missions and training to assess safety issues.
However, the accidents continued. In April 2024, the Army executed a safety "stand up" with training on new safety protocols and procedures. After the stand up, the class A mishap rate for the remainder of FY 2024 dropped to 0.86 per 100,000 flight hours.
Last week Army secretary nominee Daniel Driscoll promised senators he would emphasize a "culture of safety" after the deadly crash, which he said "seems to be preventable."
"There are appropriate times to take risk and there are inappropriate times to take risk," he said. "I don’t know the details around this one, but after doing it, if confirmed, and working with this committee to figure out the facts, I think we might need to look at where is an appropriate time to take training risk, and it may not be near an airport like Reagan."
The Black Hawk, carrying three Army pilots, was conducting an "annual proficiency training flight" when it collided with a commercial regional jet from Wichita, Kansas, as it was on the descent to land at Reagan, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The Army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that he is now the acting director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Rubio told this to reporters while taking questions from the press in El Salvador.
"USAID is not functioning. It has to be aligned with US policy. It needs to be aligned with the national interest of the US," he said. "They're not a global charity these are taxpayer dollars. People are asking simple questions. What are they doing with the money? We are spending taxpayers money. We owe the taxpayers assurances that it furthers our national interest."
"I am the acting director," he confirmed when asked if he is now in charge. "Our goal was to allow our foreign aid with the national interest. It has been 20 or 30 years. They have tried to reform it. That will not continue."
USAID staffers were instructed earlier Monday to stay out of the agency’s Washington headquarters after Elon Musk announced President Donald Trump had agreed with him to shut the agency. Thousands of USAID employees already had been laid off and programs shut down.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
FIRST ON FOX: Republican attorneys general from 18 states are pushing back against lawsuits filed by Democrat AGs and legal groups nationwide challenging the Trump administration’s executive order on birthright citizenship through an amicus brief filing set to be filed Monday, Fox News Digital has learned.
"If someone comes on a tourist visa to have an anchor baby, they are not under that original meaning of the United States Constitution," Iowa AG Brenna Bird told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday. Bird is the lead AG leading an amicus brief filing in support of the executive order on Monday.
"Oftentimes, when this has happened. It's the taxpayers that are paying for the health care through Medicaid or through hospitals, paying for care for someone to have a child, or the state child health insurance system as well," Bird said. "Each state has a system that helps kids without insurance, and so the taxpayers are on the hook here for all the costs."
Bird's amicus brief comes in response to 18 Democrat-led states who launched their own lawsuit, claiming the order is unconstitutional and "unprecedented."
"The President has no authority to rewrite or nullify a constitutional amendment or duly enacted statute. Nor is he empowered by any other source of law to limit who receives United States citizenship at birth," the lawsuit reads.
Attorneys general from California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and others signed on to the suit, along with the city and county of San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration the same day he signed the order "on behalf of organizations with members whose babies born on U.S. soil will be denied citizenship under the order." The ACLU also claimed the order is unconstitutional and against congressional intent and Supreme Court precedent.
Bird's brief – signed by Republican AGs from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming – focuses on several arguments.
The first part of the 13-page brief claims that President Donald Trump's executive order complies with the "original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment." The second portion claims Trump's order "reduces harm to the states."
The brief states that the "Plaintiffs’ erroneous Citizenship Clause interpretation will continue the powerful incentive for citizens of foreign countries to give birth on American soil, even if they must illegally enter this country to do so."
"The lure of American citizenship motivates pregnant women to travel to America to give birth," the brief reads. "Some women, desperate to give birth in the United States, cross the border the day they deliver their baby."
A border hospital administrator described witnessing pregnant women arriving at the hospital in active labor, still wet and shivering from crossing the river, determined to give birth in the U.S., the brief, which will be filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, says.
Trump's order, titled the "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship" states that "the privilege of United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States" when the individual's parents are illegal immigrants living in the U.S. or if their presence is lawful but temporary. It was among the first orders he signed after taking office in early January.
"President Trump is restoring the meaning and value of American citizenship, and also making sure that if someone is breaking the law, they won't be rewarded for that by getting citizenship," Bird said. "And so it's following the Constitution and making sure that we're upholding our immigration laws."
Fox News Digital's Haley-Chi-Sing contributed to this report.
