Former President Trump announced his plans to carry out ‘the largest domestic deportation operation in American history’ if he is elected to a second term in the White House.

Trump, who leads the 2024 Republican primary field by a massive margin, delivered a speech in Dubuque, Iowa Wednesday evening, blasting President Biden for the ‘nation-wrecking catastrophe on our southern border.’

‘Under my leadership, we had the most secure border in U.S. history. Now, we have the worst border in the history of the world,’ Trump said Wednesday— the same day that more than 4,000 predominantly Venezuelan adult illegal migrants crossed the border into Texas.

Trump, in Iowa, said that if elected, his second term would begin by ‘immediately’ terminating ‘every Open Borders policy of the Biden Administration.’

‘Following the Eisenhower Model, we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,’ Trump said.

The former president said he plans to also ‘invoke the Alien Enemies Act to remove all known or suspected Gang Members, drug dealers, or Cartel Members from the United States’—an effort he says will end the ‘scourge of illegal alien gang violence once and for all.’ 

Trump also said he plans to ‘shift massive portions of federal law enforcement to immigration enforcement,’ including parts of the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

‘I will make clear that we must use any and all resources needed to stop the invasion—including moving thousands of troops currently stationed overseas to our OWN southern border,’ Trump said, stressing that ‘before we defend the borders of foreign countries, we must secure the border of our country.’

Trump went on to say he plans to deploy the U.S. Navy to ‘impose a full Fentanyl Blockade on the waters of our region—boarding and inspecting ships to look for fentanyl and fentanyl precursors.’

Earlier this year, Trump said he would deploy U.S. special forces and other military assets to ‘inflict maximum damage’ on cartels crossing the southern border.

As for Title 42, which ended in May, Trump said he would use the provision to ‘end the child trafficking crisis by returning all trafficked children to their families in their home countries immediately.’

Meanwhile, Trump said he plans to reinstate his 2017-era travel ban. Trump, in 2017, signed an executive order suspending entry into the U.S. for individuals from several mostly Muslim countries: Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Iran. The travel ban was updated later that year to include North Korea and Venezuela. The Trump administration expanded the ban again in January 2020 to include an additional six countries. 

President Biden repealed the order on his first day in office and instructed the State Department to restart visa processing for affected countries in an effort to ‘restore fairness and remedy the harms caused by the bans.’

‘I will bring back the travel ban and expand it even further to keep Radical Islamic Terrorists out of our country,’ Trump said. ‘I will also use existing federal law to deny entry to all communists and Marxists to the United States.’

Trump added: ‘Those who join our country must love our country—and we are going to keep foreign Christian-hating communists, Marxists, and socialists the hell out of America.’

Trump has also said he would designate major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which would sever their access to global financial systems, and ask Congress to pass legislation that would ensure drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the death penalty.

‘2024 is our final battle,’ Trump said. ‘With you at my side, we will demolish the Deep State, we will expel the warmongers from our government, we will drive out the globalists, we will cast out the Communists, Marxists, and Fascists, we will throw off the sick political class that hates our country, we will rout the fake news media, we will defeat Joe Biden, and we will end illegal immigration once and for all.’ 

Trump’s comments come as numbers are again skyrocketing at the border. Officials have made over 45,000 migrant encounters in the last five days alone both at the ports of entry and between them, sources told Fox on Wednesday, with multiple days of over 8,000 illegal immigrant encounters.

Sources also told Fox News that there were around 230,000 migrant encounters in August — Customs and Border Protection has not yet released its official numbers. That 230,000 would be up significantly from over 180,000 in July and 144,000 in June. August’s numbers would mark the highest month in 2023.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: Republican senators, led by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, are raising concerns about a ‘significant threat’ to national security posed by an increase in Chinese nationals at the southern border — who the lawmakers say are being almost entirely released into the U.S. and could have ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

The lawmakers wrote to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas expressing concern about the approximately 18,000 Chinese nationals who have been encountered at the southern border this fiscal year. That’s compared to just over 2,000 in FY 2022, and just 450 in FY 2021.

They note that numbers have continued to increase and that the overwhelming majority are single adults. Lawmakers signed onto the letter include Sens. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

‘July set the record for nationwide encounters with Chinese nationals with just over 6,100. 94.8 percent of Chinese national encounters in FY23 have been single adults,’ they say. ‘This trend poses a significant threat to our national security and warrants immediate attention and action from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).’

They go on to say that ‘it is our understanding that not a single one of these individuals encountered has been detained for any length of time but rather benefited from this administration’s policy of catch and release.’

They note prior concerns, including from Republicans in Congress, that some of those single adults could potentially be tied to the Chinese Communist Party.

They say that there could be among those coming across ‘individuals who could engage in espionage activities or cyber-attacks against our critical infrastructure, government agencies, or private sector entities.’

‘There have been numerous documented instances of Chinese nationals, at the direction of the CCP, engaging in espionage, stealing military and economic secrets,’ they say. They also highlight the role China plays in providing precursors to Mexican drug cartels, which are then used to create fentanyl – which is then transported across the U.S. border.

The lawmakers ask a series of questions to Mayorkas, including how it identifies those from China and any potential ties to the CCP or its Peoples Liberation Army. It also asks how many Chinese nationals have been apprehended, released and deported from the United States, and how many nationals Chinese has refused to repatriate.

Lawmakers also want to know what actions are being taken to address the issue, including discussions with China and Mexico. DHS itself has recently noted the national security threat from China. In its most recent threat assessment, DHS warns China will likely use predatory economic practices, including espionage and market manipulation, against the U.S.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Marshall said that the increased number of single adults coming from China ‘must be a wake-up call within the Biden administration.’

‘We cannot allow the CCP to undermine law and order here on U.S. soil, whether it’s funneling fentanyl into our communities, stealing our intellectual property, setting up CCP spy police stations across the country, infiltrating our public school curriculum, or flying a massive spy balloon through our heartland the Biden Administration has been an abysmal failure when it comes to holding China accountable,’ he said.

The letter comes amid a broader spike in migration at the border. After a relative lull in June, numbers have shot up in July and August and look set to continue in September. Border Patrol facilities have been overwhelmed and have resorted to releases onto the streets in multiple sectors.

Sources have told Fox that there have been multiple days this week of over 8,000 illegal immigrant encounters ad that there are expected to be around 230,000 migrant encounters in August. That 230,000 would be up significantly from over 180,000 in July and 144,000 in June. August’s numbers would mark the highest month in 2023.

Republicans have hammered the administration on the crisis and sought to pass a sweeping border security bill to restart wall construction and limit the use of asylum and parole authorities.

The administration has called on Congress to provide additional funding and to pass an immigration reform bill Democrats introduced in 2021 to fix what it says is a ‘broken’ system.

FIRST ON FOX — Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is set to unveil his plan to ‘declare economic independence from China’ in a preview of his policy speech obtained by Fox News Digital. 

In his address that will be given Thursday in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, Ramaswamy says he will ‘delineate the heretofore-unexamined connection between the rise of ‘stakeholder capitalism’ in the West and China’s use of that trend to achieve economic parity with the U.S. by failing to adopt the constraints that multinational institutions apply to the U.S.’

‘This includes the use of forced data and technology transfers and even pro-CCP U.S. lobbying as a condition for acquiring licenses to do business in China, including but not limited to applying constraints (e.g. emissions caps) in the U.S. while failing to apply such caps in China,’ the preview of his speech read.

Ramaswamy will boast what he calls a ‘pro-trade approach to sensibly decoupling from China’ and knocked conservatives who reject a ‘trade-led agenda’ as ‘unserious.’

‘To declare independence from China abroad, we must first declare independence from the climate change agenda at home,’ the preview read. ‘Electric vehicle agenda worsens dependence on China for rare earth minerals and mineral refining capacity: when U.S. taxpayers subsidize EVs, American taxpayers subsidize the CCP.’

Ramaswamy asserts the climate change agenda ‘has nothing to do with the climate and everything to do with letting China catch up to the U.S.,’ adding that ‘this is something that the Republican Party has missed in entirety.’

The political outsider reiterated his call for semiconductor independence, calling the CHIPS Act that was passed and sign into law by the Biden administration a ‘boondoggle’ and describing it as the ‘Green New Deal in chips-related clothing.’

‘The right answer: more narrowly tailored pro-semiconductor policy in the U.S., but without the excesses and political trinkets of the CHIPS Act — not as a matter of economic protectionism, but as a matter of national security,’ the preview read. ‘Key way to stop this from simply serving as corporate ‘pork’ — simultaneously open trade relationships with South Korea, Japan, and other nations that provide market access for their own semiconductors to the U.S. market to compete with domestically supported U.S. semiconductor manufacturers.

He will highlight the U.S. military’s reliance on China, pointing out how the CCP is a leading producer of ’16’ out of the 35 strategic materials identified as critical by the Department of Defense. 

‘Limiting foreign engagement in other parts of the world (e.g. Ukraine and Middle East) will reopen substantial funds to reinvest in our domestic defense base without the need for expanding the overall U.S. military budget,’ the preview read. ‘Vivek will modernize the Reagan Doctrine to the 21st century — from ‘peace through strength’ to ‘prosperity through peace.”

Ramaswamy will also propose weakening America’s pharmaceutical reliance on China by bolstering trade partnerships with Israel and India and will do the same regarding rare earth minerals with countries like India and Brazil, adding that Chile is ‘the world’s third-greatest lithium reserves’ yet ‘our third-largest lithium partner is China.’

‘We don’t have to ban Chinese imports; we just need to buy from other countries that produce the same things. I call on all American companies to declare lithium independence from China and grow their imports from Chile,’ Ramaswamy will declare according to the preview. 

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

Government funding expires at 11:59:59 pm et on September 30.

And right now, House Republicans, despite holding the majority, can’t pass any spending bills by themselves.

The House has tried for two weeks to get clearance on a procedural vote for the House to even launch debate on a defense spending bill. That’s a measure most Republicans support. In fact House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., says he’s never heard a Republican articulate what’s wrong with the bill.

Republicans passed one of the 12 annual spending bills in July. And now Republicans have practically torpedoed their trial balloon package rolled out over the weekend. That plan would re-up government funding to avoid a shutdown for 31 days and attach language to bolster border security. The House had planned to vote on that bill Thursday. 

It was a bad omen for a potential government shutdown when Republicans blew up their own procedural vote, blocking the House from beginning debate on the defense bill Tuesday.

‘Is this another blow to you,’ yours truly asked McCarthy.

‘You think it’s a blow. I just think it’s another challenge,’ replied McCarthy.

‘Most Speakers are able to get their defense bills onto the floor,’ I countered.

‘You assume it’s over,’ responded McCarthy. ‘I don’t quit.’

McCarthy then warned that he would keep everyone here this weekend to vote.

‘We’re going to vote on appropriations bills, whether they pass them or not,’ said McCarthy.

That is, if they can even bring them to the floor.

The votes have never caramelized for McCarthy in his efforts to get any spending measure up for debate recently.

And therein lies the potential strategy for McCarthy.

It may look like defeat after defeat after defeat for McCarthy. And it is. But McCarthy has long-known where the solution to this impasse lies. The government may shut down. But the only path to keep the government open is a blend of Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate. In fact, an interim spending bill to avert a shutdown could likely clear the Senate with 65 to 70 votes. A similar bill would move through the House with anywhere between 275 to 300-plus votes. For reference, the House approved the bill to suspend the debt ceiling in May with 314 votes. 

But McCarthy can’t pivot just yet to something else. He has to let his own GOP members fight it out among themselves. That’s why he gave a wide berth to the more centrist Republican ‘Main Street’ Caucus and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Penn., the head of the Freedom Caucus, to cut a deal on the interim spending bill over the weekend. But that plan appears dead.

Nothing can pass the House right now. And, ironically, that might be what McCarthy needs.

To wit: McCarthy keeps the House here to vote on rules to bring up various procedural matters or the bills themselves. In the process, McCarthy is building a canon of evidence to show that there are 200-plus Republicans willing to vote yes on something – and a crew of five to 20 who will oppose just about anything.

It’s often a bad idea on Capitol Hill to keep members in Washington over a weekend when there aren’t things to pass or items to vote on. Lawmakers grow cranky and insolent. They sometimes then lash out at leadership for marooning them in Washington with little to show for it. In the case of the Freedom Caucus members, leaders have sometimes wanted to separate them. So tethering lawmakers to Washington with little to do often backfires.

But here, McCarthy may actually want people in Washington. It helps members hash things out and conjure their own ideas to end the standoff. McCarthy has publicly said he prefers to defer to Members. But heretofore, that approach hasn’t worked. 

In addition, it’s about the math.

In the sense that there are about 200 Republicans who fully support McCarthy and five to 20 who aren’t completely on board. There is strength in numbers. The stasis in the House will start to draw the ire of the larger group. They already feel that the most extreme voices in the GOP are dragging the majority around by the nose. So, one could see infighting between McCarthy loyalists and those who oppose him. 

So what happens if the spending measures fail in the coming days? McCarthy will have shown that he was willing to fight and ‘never give up,’ as he often says. But the Speaker warned rank-and-file Republicans for days that unless the House passes something, it will likely get jammed by the Senate.

Since McCarthy can’t get votes to caramelize around any proposal to avoid a shutdown, it’s possible the Senate could cobble together an interim spending bill. That involves a lot of parliamentary mechanics. In fact, it may already be too late for the Senate to assemble a stopgap bill and break two filibusters to avoid a shutdown on October 1. But things are definitely a lot better these days in the Senate than the House. 

If that’s the case, McCarthy can tell his members that he tried and the House weakened its position by never passing a bill of consequence in the spending fight. Therefore, the House must accept whatever the Senate comes up with. 

This inherently weakens McCarthy’s stance. We don’t know if a government shutdown is inevitable. But it’s a near certainty that Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., or someone else will call for a no confidence vote in McCarthy’s leadership.

This is known as a ‘motion to vacate the chair.’ And while I’ve seen a lot of Congressional ‘shows’ over the years, this program has never appeared in my TV Guide.

A ‘motion to vacate’ could happen at any time – although it’s more likely to unfold if and when the House adopts an interim spending bill. A ‘CR’ (short for Continuing Resolution, because it renews all old funding at present levels) appears to be the red line for McCarthy’s opponents. 

Here’s what happens if we get a ‘motion to vacate.’

All it takes is one Member to call for a ‘motion to vacate.’ However, that motion is subject to a SECONDARY motion. McCarthy defenders would probably move to table (set aside) or refer the PRIMARY motion to committee (probably House Rules or Administration). If the SECONDARY motion prevails, the effort to ‘vacate the chair’ is euthanized. There’s no threat to McCarthy.

But if the House DEFEATS the SECONDARY motion, the House then votes on the PRIMARY motion (the motion to vacate). If the House okays the motion to vacate, hold on to your hats.

All legislative traffic on the House floor stops. We are essentially back to January 3, the beginning of the Congress. The House can’t do anything on the floor until it elects a Speaker. Remember that it took 15 rounds in January to pick a Speaker. That process consumed five days and was the longest Speaker’s election since 1859. A potential Speaker’s race at this stage could take longer.

Remember, the winning candidate must receive an outright majority of all Members of the House WHO VOTE. 

That said, the House is in a different situation than it was in January. The House has sworn-in its Members. It has committees. So other activity may continue. But NOTHING on the floor until it picks a Speaker.

Here is the doomsday scenario: 

The government shuts down and the House is forced into an election for Speaker. But then the House struggles to elect a Speaker – EVEN IF IT HAS THE VOTES TO RE-OPEN THE GOVERNMENT.

Sigh.

Keep in mind that if the government shutters, it deems certain workers as ‘essential.’ But things like national parks close. And workers who are on the job aren’t paid. In fact, Congress usually must approve a resolution to provide back-pay to federal workers if they miss a paycheck.

Border Patrol, the Transportation Security Agency and air traffic controllers are required to work – even if they aren’t paid. However, air safety was one of the reasons the government re-opened in 2019 after a 35-day government shutdown which began in late 2018. 

A small group of air traffic controllers decided to stay home – paralyzing travel at major air hubs like Philadelphia, Atlanta, Newark, N.J., and at New York’s La Guardia airport. 

That ‘sickout’ compelled the Trump Administration to relent and re-open the government.

Most lawmakers from both parties now believe the government is cruising toward a shutdown. The question is what are the aftershocks on Capitol Hill and for the Speaker.

Lindsay Powell has won Tuesday’s special election for a seat on the Pennsylvania House following the resignation of Pittsburgh lawmaker Sara Innamorato.Powell’s win in the heavily Democratic district has allowed the party to narrowly regain control of the chamber that was split in a 101-101 partisan tie. Lawmakers are expected to return to the House to consider a budget legislation next week.

Democrats will retain their one-vote majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives after voters in Pittsburgh on Tuesday elected former congressional aide Lindsay Powell.

Powell’s victory gives Democrats a 102-101 majority in the House. Republicans have a 28-22 majority in the Senate, creating a divided Legislature that has kept Democrats from passing priorities such as broadened protections for LGBTQ+ people and gun control measures and Republicans from wins on issues including school vouchers.

The divided Legislature has also meant Republican senators have been unable to take to voters proposed constitutional amendments limiting the governor’s power and implementing voter ID.

Most recently the division has mired the state in a two-month budget stalemate after negotiations soured over education funding, in part because of the voucher debate.

Powell identified affordable and dignified housing, a strong local economy and community assets such as robust recreation centers, libraries and strong infrastructure as top issues. Housing, she said, was a particular concern. People feel displaced by rising costs and seniors want to stay in their homes.

‘I’m grateful. As someone who’s been a lifelong public servant, this is the highest honor of my life, and I am so excited to be able to work on behalf of every single one of us,’ she said in an interview Tuesday night.

Powell, 32, is the director of workforce strategies for InnovatePGH, a public-private partnership aimed at making the city a leading tech hub. She previously worked in Washington, D.C., for U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.

‘I joke, but truly I’ve had the honor of holding every job in government except this one,’ she said previously.

Powell will fill the vacancy left by progressive Democrat Sara Innamorato, who resigned in July to pursue local office in Allegheny County. She defeated Republican Erin Connolly Autenreith in the heavily Democratic district.

Autenreith said in a phone interview Tuesday night that she hopes the Legislature tackles her top priorities — funding for police, improvements in education and increasing jobs in Allegheny County. She hopes to continue working with Republican candidates in her role as Republican committee chair in Shaler.

The House is due back at the Capitol next week to resume work on a long-overdue state budget, though Powell’s victory may not be certified until early October, a spokesperson for the county said.

Majority Leader Rep. Matt Bradford said fellow Democratic lawmakers welcomed Powell to the House and ‘we look forward to continuing our work as the majority to move our commonwealth forward.’

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams had a message for President Biden Tuesday when faced with repeated questions about whether they would meet while the president was in town to address the United Nations General Assembly, as relations between the two Democrats have soured during Big Apple’s worsening migrant crisis. 

‘I’m very public. Everybody knows where I am,’ Adams said during an unrelated press conference Tuesday, which was slated to address the city transportation department’s next phase in its ‘war on rats.’ The mayor stressed that all his meetings would be on his public schedule. ‘You guys know where I am all the time. We release if we’re going to be with the president or not.’ 

‘President Biden’s coming to the city,’ Adams added, ‘I am hoping that he understands this beautiful city that’s the economic engine of the entire country is being saddled with $2 billion that we spent already, $5 billion we’re going to spend in this fiscal crisis, $12 billion in the next two budgetary cycles. New York doesn’t deserve this. The asylum seekers don’t deserve this.’

When pressed on whether Adams would meet with Biden specifically, the mayor continued, ‘So while he’s here, I think that they should really reflect on, New York City has done its part.’

Adams, who once dubbed himself the ‘Biden of Brooklyn,’ said he has not spoken to the president since earlier this year on the migrant crisis or any other issue. After the mayor criticized Biden more harshly in May, Adams was removed from Biden’s re-election team, yet Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul remains a member of the presidential campaign’s team of surrogates. 

‘I spoke to the president earlier this year and shared our concerns of both the governor also communicated with him, and that was the last time we spoke with the president. I have communicated with the White House staffers to talk about the urgency of the moment,’ Adams said Tuesday. ‘You know, we need an emergency declaration, we need to be properly funded, we need a decompression strategy not only in the city but throughout the state. This is just wrong.’ 

Hochul, meanwhile, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, Tuesday that she had met with the president. 

‘Had a very productive conversation with President Biden tonight regarding some of our specific requests for help with the migrant crisis. Also commended him on his leadership at the UN today,’ she wrote. 

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., replied to the governor’s post, writing, ‘If you didn’t tell him to undo his executive orders that created this mess and to secure the border, then it wasn’t productive. Why do you and the Democrats want this crisis to continue?’ 

More than 110,000 migrants have arrived in New York City with over 60,000 still in the city’s care. 

Both Adams and Hochul have urged the Biden administration to grant federal work authorization for migrants, and the governor reportedly is mulling migrant work visas at the state level. Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine has estimated asylum seekers are costing the city $10 million a day. 

Biden, who failed to address the border crisis during his address at the U.N. General Assembly and hosted a reception at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Tuesday, is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Wednesday before departing New York later in the evening. With the U.N. General Assembly in town, Adams has met with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio and Seoul, South Korea Mayor Oh Se-hoon this week. 

Neither Biden nor Adams’ public schedules have listed meetings with each other since the president’s arrival in New York on Monday.

FIRST ON FOX: A coalition of 13 Senate Republicans is warning that a top Biden administration official overseeing aggressive fuel efficiency regulations is illegally serving in the position, nullifying recent actions her agency has taken.

In a letter Wednesday to President Biden, the GOP senators, led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, said National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Acting Administrator Ann Carlson must be immediately removed from her position. Earlier this year, Carlson failed to clear Senate confirmation to permanently lead NHTSA.

‘In circumvention of the Senate’s constitutional responsibility to provide advice and consent on presidential nominations, you appointed Ms. Carlson to lead the agency after her nomination to be NHTSA administrator failed in the face of significant Senate opposition due to her extreme policy views, radical environmentalist record, and lack of vehicle safety experience,’ the letter stated. 

‘Ms. Carlson’s appointment as acting administrator not only violates the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (Vacancies Act) but also renders the agency’s actions while she has held herself out as acting administrator invalid,’ Cruz and the other Republicans added. ‘We urge you to immediately replace Ms. Carlson as acting administrator and name a new nominee as soon as possible.’

In January 2021, the Biden-Harris transition team hired Carlson, then an environmental law professor at UCLA, to serve as NHTSA’s chief counsel. While the position didn’t require Senate confirmation, Carlson has overseen key agency initiatives, like the modification of fuel economy standards, and has served as acting administrator since September.

In February, Biden nominated Carlson to be the administrator of NHTSA, and the White House subsequently transmitted the nomination to the Senate Commerce Committee a month later. However, Carlson’s nomination faced stiff opposition led by Cruz and fellow Commerce Committee Republicans who pointed to her history of environmental activism and desire to transform NHTSA into a climate-focused agency.

On May 30, the White House announced her nomination had been withdrawn. Carlson, though, has continued serving as NHTSA’s acting administrator, and the White House has yet to nominate a replacement, making her the agency’s chief for the foreseeable future.

‘To comply with the law, you should immediately correct your violation of the law by removing Ms. Carlson from her so-called acting administrator position,’ Cruz and the 12 other Republicans wrote to Biden. ‘After doing so, you should nominate a serious and well-qualified person to be NHTSA administrator.’

The letter cited the Federal Vacancies Reform Act that prohibits ‘any person who has been nominated to fill any vacant office from performing that office’s duties in an acting capacity.’ The purpose of the provision, which has been upheld by the Supreme Court, is to prevent the White House from doing an ‘end run around the Senate’s constitutional advice and consent authority,’ the Republicans continued.

They added that Carlson cannot serve as acting administrator under the Vacancies Act both because of her failed nomination and because she did not serve in the position of first assistant to former NHTSA Administrator Steven Cliff for more than 90 days before he resigned in September 2022.

As a result of Carlson improperly leading the agency, the Republicans said actions taken during her tenure are, therefore, invalid.

Notably, in late July, NHTSA proposed its most aggressive ever fuel economy standards that experts warned would substantially increase car prices and force electric vehicle purchases. Carlson said at the time the regulations would help ‘reduce harmful emissions.’

‘These standards run contrary to the law, diminish consumer choice, impose higher costs on American families, and undermine our national and energy security all while benefiting China,’ the letter stated. ‘Because Ms. Carlson cannot legally serve as the acting administrator, these proposed standards are invalid and cannot be ratified by a subsequent Senate-confirmed NHTSA administrator.’

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Cruz noted that Democrats’ policies at the federal and state level pushing electric vehicles have created chaos in the auto industry.

He also argued the ongoing autoworker strikes demonstrate how electric vehicle mandates have harmed the industry. Last week, the United Auto Workers (UAW) unleashed their first-ever simultaneous strike against all three of the largest U.S. automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — over wages, a modified work week and pension benefits.

‘Biden’s EV mandates and subsidies may have been inspired by radical politicians in deep blue states, but they’ve been put into practice by unaccountable bureaucrats like Ann Carlson,’ Cruz told Fox News Digital. ‘With the current strike, it has become increasingly obvious that the left’s full-fledged assault on popular gas-powered cars and trucks is causing chaos in the auto sector — and it’s no wonder workers are concerned about long-term job security.

‘President Biden and Green New Deal absolutists like Ann Carlson own this strike,’ he continued. ‘President Biden’s illegal appointment of Ann Carlson, who was effectively rejected by the Senate due to concerns about her extreme agenda and radical record, will only yield more mandates, higher costs for families and a less vibrant economy.’

Every Republican member of the Senate Commerce Committee signed the letter to Biden Wednesday.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Attorney General Merrick Garland will target the narrative that Democrats benefit from a two-tiered justice system in his opening statement before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

Republicans across the country have pointed to Hunter Biden’s case as a prime example of such a system, contrasting his treatment with that of former President Trump. Excerpts of Garland’s planned remarks obtained by Fox News Digital show the Biden appointee will reject allegations of bias, as well as go on to chide unnamed figures for ‘singling out’ career officials for public criticism.

‘Our job is to uphold the rule of law. That means that we apply the same laws to everyone. There is not one set of laws for the powerful and another for the powerless; one for the rich, another for the poor; one for Democrats, another for Republicans; or different rules, depending upon one’s race or ethnicity or religion,’ Garland plans to say.

‘Our job is to pursue justice, without fear or favor. Our job is not to do what is politically convenient. Our job is not to take orders from the president, from Congress, or from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate. As the President himself has said, and I reaffirm here today: I am not the President’s lawyer. I will also add that I am not Congress’s prosecutor,’ the remarks continue.

‘The Justice Department works for the American people. Our job is to follow the facts and the law, wherever they lead. And that is what we do. All of us at the Justice Department recognize that with this work comes public scrutiny, criticism, and legitimate oversight. These are appropriate and important given the gravity of the matters before the Department. But singling out individual career public servants who are just doing their jobs is dangerous – particularly at a time of increased threats to the safety of public servants and their families. We will not be intimidated. We will do our jobs free from outside interference. And we will not back down from defending our democracy,’ he plans to say.

At Wednesday’s hearing, led by committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, members plan to examine how the Justice Department became ‘politicized and weaponized under the leadership of Attorney General Merrick Garland.’

The committee has been investigating the alleged politicization of the DOJ throughout the Biden administration. Most recently, IRS whistleblowers came to Congress to testify that prosecutorial decisions made throughout the yearslong federal investigation into Hunter Biden have been influenced by politics.

However, Democrats have complained that Republicans are stealing the ‘two-tiered’ terminology from the civil rights movement.

‘Since January 6th, these Republicans and Trump have complained about a two-tier justice system, co-opting the language of the decades-long civil rights movement for Black lives and Black freedom,’ Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., said in a July hearing.

‘There is a two-tier justice system, but it’s not about Democrats versus Republican,’ Frost continued. ‘This language, two-tier justice system, has a real history. It has a real history of Emmitt Till. It has a real history with Breonna Taylor. It has a real history with George Floyd, the Central Park Five.’

Garland is scheduled to testify Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. ET.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

This is the first of a two-part series breaking down the Fox News Power Rankings ahead of the second 2024 GOP presidential debate. Part 2 will be published on Thursday. 

Following an explosive first debate and with one week to go until the second, the Republican presidential candidates are getting more vocal about an important divide within their party.

No one has been clearer than former Vice President Mike Pence, who delivered a speech this month in New Hampshire called ‘populism vs conservatism: Republicans’ time for choosing.’

Pence is picking up on a nearly even split between these philosophies among the highly ranked presidential candidates.

Most Republican primary voters, however, are choosing populist candidates and ideas. And that has important implications for the direction of this race.

What do populism and conservatism mean in this race?

First, let’s build a working definition of ‘populism’ and ‘conservatism.’ The difference between the two shows up when the candidates talk about three themes on the trail:

Foreign policy: The populist candidates say they don’t want America to be the world’s policeman, and are skeptical about sending more resources to support Ukraine. Traditional conservatives say that it’s in the country’s interest to protect allies.Spending & role of government: Populists are reluctant to make big changes to programs like Social Security and Medicare and say they can grow the country without cutting entitlement spending; conservative candidates say the U.S. must do whatever it takes to reduce its deficits and debt.Trust in institutions: Populists express distrust in government institutions, like state election offices and three-letter federal agencies like the FBI, IRS, and CDC. Conservatives share some of this distrust, but do not call for, say, the elimination of the FBI.

The highest ranked candidates don’t always fit neatly into the ‘populist’ or ‘conservative’ columns. 

Based on the definitions above, though, former President Donald Trump and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy sit in the populism corner. Gov. Ron DeSantis straddles the line, but generally leans towards the same philosophy.

Pence, and his South Carolinian competitors Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, are most often found in the traditional conservative camp.

How do Republican voters feel about these issues?

Candidate polling is the clearest indicator that populism is winning among voters. Trump, who ushered in a new wave of populism and remains its standard-bearer, is enjoying a dominant polling lead.

According to the latest national Fox News survey, 60% of GOP primary voters back Trump for the nomination. The only other candidates to receive double digit support are DeSantis, at 13%, and Ramaswamy, at 11%.

Together, support for the populist wing adds up to 84% of the primary voter base.

Haley, Pence, and Scott contribute 11% combined, with the rest going to candidates who polled individually at 2% or less.

According to the same survey, 60% of Republicans say Trump, DeSantis or Ramaswamy is their second choice.

Majorities also support populist positions in all three of the ideological debates mentioned above:

Foreign policy

70% of potential Republican primary voters say ‘we should pay less attention to our problems overseas and concentrate on problems here at home’ (NYT/Siena Poll, July).62% of GOP primary voters say the U.S. is doing ‘too much’ to help Ukraine (WSJ Poll, August).

Spending & role of government

59% of potential Republican primary voters say it’s more important to keep Social Security and Medicare benefits ‘as they are’ than reducing the budget deficit (NYT/Siena Poll, July).

Trust in institutions

86% of Republicans say they do not trust Washington, and 60% of Republicans lack confidence in the FBI (Fox News Poll, June).78% of GOP primary voters say Trump’s actions after the 2020 elections were a ‘legitimate effort to make sure votes were tallied accurately’ (WSJ Poll, August).

This does not make the Republican Party a populist monolith. In all of these results, there is at least double digit support for the alternative position, and sometimes significantly more so.

These are also not the only issues that Republicans care about. Abortion and immigration are also top-tier concerns, and voter groups prioritize all of the major issues differently. 

Clearly, though, populist candidates have the majority of voters on their side, both in the primary, and for the issues that are dividing the party.

What does this mean for the primary?

These rankings place most of the candidates beneath Trump in new tiers or positions. The forecast also anticipates that a candidate from each wing will come in first and second place, but a standard-bearer for the conservative wing has not yet emerged.

Frontrunner

Trump continues to receive support from a majority of Republicans in gold-standard national and state polls, and now also enjoys a wider gap between himself and his next closest competitor than at any other point in the cycle so far.
He remains the clear frontrunner of this race.
 

Challengers

Last time, the Power Rankings called the next tier of candidates underneath Trump the ‘contenders.’ In other words, the candidates who were serious threats to his nomination.

With support for DeSantis falling, and little national or statewide polling that is encouraging for the candidates behind him, nobody clears that bar this time.
 

Instead, the next tier of candidates are the ‘challengers.’ They all have pathways to the nomination, but haven’t distinguished themselves enough from the pack to take on the frontrunner.

DeSantis still leads this group, though by a smaller margin. 

Ramaswamy moves up to third place, on the back of consistent improvements in national polling. The 38-year-old entrepreneur is yet to break out of the single digits in gold-standard statewide polls.

According to voters, Ramaswamy performed best out of any candidate at the first debate. 35% of people who watched or heard about the event said he ‘exceeded expectations’ (WSJ Poll, August).

Haley sits close behind, both in terms of her debate performance and her overall position on the Power Rankings. 27% of voters in the same poll say she exceeded expectations in Milwaukee, leaving candidates beneath her in the dust.

She is making promising gains in national and statewide polls. In her home state, for example, she most recently sat at 18% (Monmouth/WaPo Poll, September). Remember, though, that South Carolina only awards delegates to the winner of their primary.

Scott has dropped two places. The first debate did him no favors, with only 2% of voters saying he exceeded expectations. There are signs that his support in the early states is weakening.

After a fiery performance in the first debate, Pence is still struggling to find his constituency. He may be leading the populism vs conservatism debate, but so far, voters are not listening. He stays in sixth.

Note on second place

The challengers are also grouped into the wings of the party that they generally represent: DeSantis and Ramaswamy in the ‘populist’ wing, and Haley, Scott and Pence in the ‘conservative’ wing.

Each wing offers a very different vision to voters. Therefore, as candidates drop out, their supporters are more likely to support someone like-minded than jump to a different ideology.

As a result, the most likely outcome is that as the field narrows, candidates will remain from both wings of the party. 

This forecast therefore expects that if Trump continues to lead the race, the candidate in second place is most likely to come from the conservative wing.
 

None of the conservative wing candidates have done enough to distinguish themselves from the pack yet, so they can’t be placed higher in the individual rankings. It is also possible, though unlikely, that all of the leading candidates from the conservative wing drop out of the race early.

The second debate airs next Wednesday

Fox Business and Univision will host the second Republican debate next Wednesday, September 27, at 9PM ET, from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.
Your moderators are Fox’s Dana Perino and Stuart Varney, and Univision’s Ilia Calderón.

Live coverage begins at 8PM ET on Fox Business Network and 8:30PM ET on Fox News Channel. The debate will simulcast on both networks, along with Univision, and streaming partner Rumble.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas., will introduce a bill Wednesday to create hefty federal penalties for illegal migrants who evade U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers during motor vehicle pursuits.

The Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act — named after a Border Patrol officer who died in a vehicle crash in Texas last year during pursuit — proposes making failure to yield to a border patrol officer a felony, according to details of the measure shared first with Fox News Digital. The offense could result in a life sentence if an officer is killed during an apprehension under the proposed bill.

It further requires that the Department of Justice report to Congress about how often they are prosecuting illegal aliens for endangering Border Patrol agents, ‘because these agents are risking their lives on a daily basis and yet they’re serving an administration where the political leadership not only doesn’t have their backs but undermine them on a daily basis,’ Cruz told Fox News Digital in an interview.

‘One of the worst consequences of this border crisis is the threat to public safety where traffickers will load a car or truck stacked with illegal immigrants and then engage in high speed chases with Border Patrol agents, or law enforcement, and crash the cars, crash the trucks — and we’re seeing people killed regularly,’ said Cruz, who sits on the immigration and border safety subcommittee.

According to the bill text, obtained first by Fox News Digital, evading Border Patrol officers would become a felony punishable up to two years in prison. If a border patrol agent sustains injuries during a vehicle pursuit of an illegal migrant, the offender may receive a sentence ranging from a minimum of five years to a maximum of 20 years in prison.

In cases where an agent loses their life during the pursuit, the bill prescribes a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, extending to a potential life sentence. Each of these offenses also may carry a fine of up to $250,000.

Cruz said the bill is important because the U.S. is in ‘the middle of the worst illegal immigration crisis our nation’s ever seen.’

The bill is poised to gather momentum in the GOP-led House, with Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Texas, introducing a companion bill to Cruz’s. The level of support among Democrats in the upper chamber, however, remains uncertain.

‘At least today, Senate Democrats have been unwilling to go along with even moderate law enforcement measures to protect life, and to secure the border. And if they continue to vote party lines, you would have to anticipate the Senate Democrats will continue to do so,’ Cruz said. ‘The consequence of that is abundantly clear.’

He added he does ‘not expect any Democrats’ on the Senate Judiciary Committee to support the bill. 

‘That’s a shame because it means that they are prioritizing partisan politics above protecting innocent human life and protecting the communities who were ravaged by their open border policies,’ Cruz said.

On Monday, more than 2,200 migrants were captured on video heading toward Eagle Pass, Texas, overnight in one of the largest border crossings observed by Fox News in the past two years.

After Title 42 public health order was rescinded May 11, the CBP said the U.S. ‘returned to fully enforcing Title 8 immigration authorities to expeditiously process and remove individuals who arrive at the U.S. border unlawfully and do not have a legal basis to stay.’

Although the Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security said border crossings dropped anywhere from 50% to 70% after the expiration of Title 42, over the past several weeks, border crossings have reportedly again begun to surge.

A Border Patrol official said that in Arizona and California, border crossings have surged to as many as 2,000 migrants apprehended daily, NBC News reported.

Subsequently, the CBP has been releasing between 100 to 200 migrants per day onto U.S. streets shortly after they cross the border. The CBP also ‘temporarily’ suspended operations at a port of entry near El Paso, Texas, so that the personnel can assist in processing an influx of migrants who have arrived at the border, the agency said.

There were 20,000 migrants in federal custody as of last month, sources told Fox News.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.