FIRST ON FOX: More than 20 House Republican lawmakers filed amicus brief in support of Texas against a Justice Department lawsuit over its construction of a floating border barrier along the Rio Grande.

The 22 lawmakers, led by Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, filed the brief in response to the Justice Department’s lawsuit which alleges that the floating border barrier is in violation of federal law.

The border barrier was launched last month as part of an effort by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to stop migrants crossing along the Rio Grande. Texas says it is designed to save lives by preventing people from entering the river, but humanitarian groups and the DOJ argue that the barrier poses a safety risk.

‘The State of Texas’s actions violate federal law, raise humanitarian concerns, present serious risks to public safety and the environment, and may interfere with the federal government’s ability to carry out its official duties,’ the DOJ said in a letter to Abbott before the suit was filed.

The DOJ lawsuit argues that the buoy barrier is in violation of the Rivers and Harbors Act, which protects navigable waters from obstructions and outlines authorities for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The lawmakers argue that the federal government’s claim that the Rio Grande is ‘navigable’ is flimsy and based on a finding from 1947. They argue instead that the river has changed substantially since then and therefore cannot be classed as such now.

‘When Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Act it carefully chose language designed to balance its desire to protect our rivers and harbors for commercial navigation with the limitations placed on its authority under the Commerce Clause,’ they say. ‘It did not intend to grant federal agencies unchecked power to regulate every ditch and stream that once upon a time could have carried a boat.’

It calls on the court to make the government produce evidence that the waters it wants to regulate are navigable, arguing that otherwise, that act could turn into a ‘one-way ratchet’ in which federal authority expands but never shrinks. The lawmakers include Reps. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, August Pfluger, R-Texas, Brian Babin, R-Texas and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Arrington said that states ‘do not have to be passive victims of Biden’s border crisis and a failed federal government’ and that the barrier is within Abbott’s power and authority.

‘Biden’s DOJ is stretching far and wide; this time, by using obscure laws and regulations to impede the Governor of Texas from protecting his citizens against the ‘imminent danger’ and ‘invasion’ of drugs and crime pouring into our state by terrorist drug cartels,’ he said. ‘I’m proud to lead this Amicus Brief in support of the Governor as he stands his ground on the firm foundation of the US Constitution and his sovereign right to secure the southern border and keep Texans safe.’

The amicus brief marks the latest twist in the debate over the barrier, which is one of a number of initiatives Texas has taken to secure its border amid a historic migrant crisis on which it has been on the front lines.

Mexico has also complained about the border and tied the death of at least one migrant to the barrier.

‘We reiterate the position of the Government of Mexico that the placement of wire buoys by the Texas authorities is a violation of our sovereignty,’ the foreign ministry said in a statement. ‘We express our concern about the impact on the human rights and personal safety of migrants that these state policies will have, which run counter to the close collaboration between our country and the federal government of the United States.

Texas pushed back, calling Mexico’s claim ‘flat-out wrong’ and said that information indicating the death occurred further upstream.

‘This is a result of the reckless open border policies of President Biden and President López Obrador. In fact, before Texas deployed barriers, the United Nations declared the U.S.-Mexico border the deadliest land crossing in the world,’ an Abbott spokesperson said. ‘If President Biden and President López Obrador truly cared about human life, they would do their jobs and secure the border.’

MANCHESTER, N.H. – EXCLUSIVE: Republican presidential candidate and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took some shots at former President Donald Trump on Wednesday after the latter joked about his weight at a New Hampshire campaign stop.

Speaking with Fox News Digital, Christie dismissed Trump as ‘a child,’ and claimed Trump orchestrated his supposed defense of Christie from an audience member calling the former governor a ‘fat pig.’

‘I know from people who were in the room that they guy never said anything. There was no guy in the audience who yelled out the other name that he called me. He made it up like he always does,’ Christie said. 

‘Look, I’ll make it real easy for Donald Trump. You’re such a big guy, such a tough guy, so full of it. You want me? I’ll be on the stage in Milwaukee two weeks from tonight. I’ll be there waiting for you. You be there, I’ll be there,’ he said, referencing the first Republican presidential debate scheduled for Aug. 23 and hosted by Fox News.

Before allegedly defending Christie against the audience member, Trump mocked his weight during a campaign stump speech in New Hampshire on Tuesday. ‘Christie — he’s eating right now. He can’t be bothered,’ he said as the crowd laughed.

Trump then appeared to jokingly admonish a member of the audience who, according to the former president, called Christie a ‘fat pig.’

‘Sir, please do not call him a fat pig. That’s very disrespectful. Don’t call him — see, I’m trying to be nice,’ Trump said. ‘Don’t call him a fat pig. You can’t do it. You can’t do that. So now, because you’re not allowed to do that, and, therefore, we’re not going to do it, OK? We want to be very civil, right?’

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it has sanctioned three Sinaloa Cartel members involved in the trafficking of illicit fentanyl into the United States — including one gangster dubbed ‘the Anthrax Monkey.’

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced the sanctioning of three men, who are alleged to be involved in the trafficking of fentanyl — which is primarily created in Mexico and smuggled across the U.S. border. It is tied to over 70,000 overdose deaths a year in the U.S.

In a release, the Treasury said that two of the men worked as ‘plaza bosses’ to manage operations in Tijuana, Mexico, and the surrounding areas and were involved in smuggling large quantities of drugs into the U.S. — as well as being involved in kidnappings and executions.

Also designated was Rafael Guadalupe Felix Nunez, who started as a hitman for the cartel and was part of an armed wing known as ‘Los Antrax.’ Felix Nunez would become known as ‘El Changuito Antrax’ or ‘The Anthrax Monkey.’ He escaped from a Mexican prison in 2017 and remains at large and authorities say he has become a powerful and violent carel leader in Manzanillo.

All three men have their property and interests in the U.S. blocked, and U.S. citizens are barred from having any transactions with them.

The White House noted that the latest actions mean that there have been more than 170 sanctions imposed on drug traffickers as part of a broad agenda to tackle the opioid crisis in the U.S.

‘As part of President Biden’s Unity Agenda, we have now sanctioned more than 170 drug traffickers,’ White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Dr. Rahul Gupta said in a statement. ‘A key driver of the overdose epidemic is drug traffickers and their profits. President Biden has made clear: we will crack down on the illicit drug supply chain at every choke point and make drug trafficking more costly at every step of the way.’

‘These sanctions are coordinated closely with the Government of Mexico and will help strengthen our critical efforts to disrupt global drug trafficking, a key part of our strategy to beat the overdose epidemic and save lives. We will continue to work across all of government to hold drug traffickers accountable for killing Americans,’ he said.

‘Today’s action targets key individuals responsible for facilitating the illicit trafficking of deadly drugs, including fentanyl, into the United States, where it wreaks havoc on our communities,’ Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement. ‘Treasury remains committed to leveraging our tools in support of our whole-of-government effort to aggressively target all aspects of the supply chain and starve these criminal groups of the funding they need to operate.

The majority of the sanctions — 76% — are against two cartels, Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation, who are the primary suppliers of the drug into the U.S. Sanctions have increased by 119% over last year’s total, the White House said, and have been made possible through an executive order signed by President Biden that expanded the Treasury’s powers to sanction those involved in the drug trade.

The administration has launched a global coalition to address the threat of fentanyl, including cooperation with countries like Mexico to crack down on smugglers and regulate precursor chemicals. At home, it has been expanding access to drugs to counter overdoses, and seeking additional funding from Congress to support expansion of prevention, treatment and recovery for those addicted — while also expanding the use of technology at the southern land border to detect quantities of the incoming drug.

A new Democratic talking point dismissing a Wednesday House Oversight Committee memo about the Biden family’s foreign business dealings has led to the resurfacing of past texts sent by Hunter Biden suggesting he had to fork over half his salary to his dad, President Biden.

Following the memo’s release, which produced bank records purporting to show that Hunter and his business associates received millions in payments from Russian and Kazakhstani oligarchs when his father was vice president, Democrats pushing back on the investigation have clung to the fact that the records showed no direct payments to Biden.

One former Biden White House official, Kate Berner, took to social media to tout a statement from Politico in its analysis of the memo, which noted that ‘the memo … doesn’t show a direct payment to Joe Biden.’

‘Now might be a good time to remember Hunter Biden has complained about Joe Biden forcing Hunter to give him half his salary,’ Abigail Marone, communications director for Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., tweeted in response to Berner.

Marone included a screenshot of texts Hunter sent to his daughter, Naomi, in 2019 that were recovered from his infamous laptop. 

‘I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family Fro (sic) 30 years. It’s really hard. But don’t worry unlike Pop I won’t make you give me half your salary,’ Hunter wrote. According to The New York Post, who reported on the texts last year, ‘Pop’ is Biden.

The committee’s 19-page memo, which provides screenshots of redacted bank records, says millions in payments came from Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, as well as Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina and Kazakhstani oligarch Kenes Rakishev, and that then-Vice President Biden attended dinners with Baturina, Rakishev and a representative from Burisma.

‘Then-Vice President Biden met — in person, for significant periods of time — with those individuals or their representatives,’ the memo states. ‘Then-Vice President Biden joined approximately 20 phone calls on speakerphone with Hunter Biden’s foreign business associates and attended dinners with foreign oligarchs who paid huge sums of money to Hunter Biden. Joe Biden, ‘the brand,’ was the only product the Bidens sold.’

The ‘Third Bank Records Memorandum’ follows two previous memos from the Republican-led committee tying Biden family members to payments linked to entities in China and Romania. The committee says the foreign payments to the Biden family now add up to over $20 million.

The third bank memo, the result of subpoenas of several banks not belonging to members of the Biden family, specifically discusses three of the many firms founded by Hunter Biden: Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC; Rosemont Seneca Thornton, LLC; and Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC.

The committee provided screenshots of bank records they say demonstrate that Baturina, the widow of former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, wired $3.5 million to Rosemont Seneca Thornton on Feb. 14, 2014. Hunter Biden’s longtime business partner Devon Archer confirmed the payment during his interview last week. 

Then, a total of $2,752,711 was transferred to Rosemont Seneca Bohai, which Hunter co-owned with Archer.

Fox News’ Jessica Chasmar and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

The mayor of Surfside, Florida, apologized during a commission meeting Tuesday, nearly a week after making controversial comments toward one of the commissioners.

Mayor Shlomo Danzinger opened Tuesday’s meeting with remarks about last week’s special commission, saying he found himself grappling with a challenging situation involving one of the commissioners, who was not following the established rules and directions.

‘Maintaining order in our discussion became an arduous task, and in my frustration, I admit, I made a comment which came off as offensive to some people,’ Danzinger said. ‘I deeply regret losing my composure and not choosing my words more carefully.’

During the meeting on Aug. 2, 2023, the commission was discussing changes to the charter, specifically about term limits.

As the discussion took place, Town Commissioner Nelly Velasquez continued to chime in while people were speaking, causing the mayor to snap.

‘Commissioner, please stop interrupting,’ Danzinger told Velasquez, before pausing briefly. ‘OK, does anybody know how to speak Spanish to tell her this? Because I said it like four times.’

The attendees let out an audible gasp as soon as the mayor made his remark. He then picked up the gavel and began banging it.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, I need you to please not interrupt the process here,’ Danzinger said.

Later in the meeting, another item in the charter was discussed, this time about residency.

The mayor sought to enforce the residency requirement of the charter because one of the commissioners was living outside the township.

Velasquez told the mayor the resolution was directed toward her because she sold her house ‘for a very nice amount of money,’ and lived in an apartment.

After selling her house, she said, she entered a lease, so she could finish her term as a commissioner, which expires in 2024.

Velasquez said putting her status as a commissioner up for a vote was ‘discrimination,’ calling the mayor’s actions disgraceful and distasteful.

After going on a rant, Danzinger asked Velasquez to stick to the item on the agenda.

‘Please don’t interrupt me,’ she said.

‘It’s actually my job to maintain…to ensure the discussion up here stays focused,’ the mayor responded. ‘Commissioner, you’ve been talking for six minutes straight. Please get to the point.’

As far as Tuesday’s apology, Danzinger said he never meant for his words to hurt anyone.

‘It is crucial for everyone to understand that my words were never intended to hurt or target any individuals, nationalities or groups,’ he said. ‘Our beloved Florida is a melting pot of cultures and backgrounds, and it’s what makes us truly unique and special.’

Velasquez had a chance to address the mayor’s comments Tuesday, as well.

‘The mayor hasn’t really apologized directly toward me,’ she said, explaining the comment was made to everyone, not her specifically. ‘Thank you for recognizing you made a mistake. I did feel very upset and hurt by his comments, as I am Hispanic and speak perfectly good Spanish and English.’

She said the comments were hurtful and demeaning, adding that she hopes it never happens again.

‘There should be a level of decorum, especially coming from the mayor himself,’ Velasquez said. ‘We need to be able to think before we speak and not have those kinds of outbursts.’

She later walked on a resolution to censure the mayor because of his comments, which was shot down, 3-2.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday admitted during a press conference that the city’s accommodation of migrants ‘is just not sustainable.’ 

The Democratic mayor noted that, under New York City’s current mandate, anyone can arrive ‘from anywhere on the globe’ and ‘we are supposed to feed, cloth [and] house you as long as you want.’ 

‘That is just not sustainable. It’s not realistic. And so because of that, you are finding people coming from all over the globe,’ Adams said, echoing the complaints of border state governors and local officials who have contended with massive numbers of illegal border crossings during Biden’s presidency. ‘That’s not fair to New York City residents.’ 

Many on social media pointed out that his comments seemed to be at odds with past statements he has made, concerning the plight of migrants. 

In October 2021, Mayor Adams said New York City would ‘remain a sanctuary city’ under his administration. 

A year later, Mayor Adams tweeted: ‘There is a reason that Lady Liberty sits outside of NYC’s harbor.’

‘This is a place where we ensure we live up to the expectations of what it is to be an American, an American citizen, or a country that welcomes those fleeing prosecution and persecution,’ he said. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment. 

Mayor Adams has appealed to the Biden administration for help as thousands of migrants from the southern border continue to arrive in New York City seeking temporary care and shelter. The influx of people has pushed the city towards a budgetary crisis, with expenses projected at more than $12 billion by the end of next year. 

‘Our compassion may be limitless, but our resources are not. This is the budgetary reality we are facing if we don’t get the additional support we need,’ Adams said during his address. ‘New Yorkers did not create an international humanitarian crisis. But our city’s residents have been left to deal with this crisis almost entirely on our own.’ 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently dispatched a small team to New York City to help determine how the federal government should respond.

The federal government has so far promised the city $160 million to help — although the city’s budget director, Jacques Jiha, told reporters that the city has yet to receive a ‘single dollar’ of that money. A city spokesperson later clarified that requests for that money have been made, but the delay could be because of routine bureaucratic reasons.

Since the spring of 2022, nearly 100,000 migrants have arrived in New York City seeking shelter. The US-Mexico border has frequently seen record-breaking numbers of illegal crossings since Biden’s inauguration. 

With the city’s shelters near capacity and more migrants arriving, the crisis is unlikely to abate anytime soon. As of Sunday, the city said it was housing more than 82,000 people, including nearly 30,000 children.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul does not dispute the city needs more money, saying ‘it is far more expensive than anyone had imagined.’

She said she expects to ask lawmakers in Albany to provide another $1 billion to help the city, on top of the $1 billion already allocated.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The signing of a Republican Party pledge that all candidates will eventually support the party’s presidential nominee is underway, with White House hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy becoming the first to agree to the language drawn up by the Republican National Committee (RNC).

First reported by the Washington Post and confirmed by Fox News, Ramaswamy, with his signature, became the first candidate to formally qualify for the Aug. 23 Republican debate hosted by Fox in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel made the ‘Beat Biden pledge’ a requirement for her party’s candidates to be able to participate in its official debates, a rule that flies in the face of former President Donald Trump’s previous suggestion he might not support the eventual winner of the Republican nomination.

According to the pledge, candidates must affirm they will only appear in debates sanctioned by the RNC, and, should they fail to sign the pledge or participate in a non-RNC sanctioned debate, they will not be able to participate in any further party sanctioned debates.

‘Additionally, I affirm that if I do not win the 2024 Republican nomination for President of the United States, I will honor the will of the primary voters and support the 2024 Republican presidential nominee in order to save our country and beat Joe Biden,’ the pledge goes on to say.

‘I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination for president of any other party,’ it adds.

In addition to the pledge, candidates must also reach 1% in three national polls, or 1% in two national polls and two state-specific polls from the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada in order to qualify for the debate. The polls must also be recognized by the RNC and must be conducted on or after July 1.

Additionally, to reach the debate stage, candidates must have 40,000 unique donors to their campaign committee (or exploratory committee), with ‘at least 200 unique donors per state or territory in 20+ states and/or territories,’ according to the RNC criteria.

Fox News’ Jessica Loker and Kyle Morris contributed to this report.

Vice President Kamala Harris will oddly hold a ‘grassroots reception’ on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts on behalf of the Biden-Harris re-election campaign, despite the island being a playground for America’s rich and famous.

According to a report by The Vineyard Gazette, the Saturday fundraiser will be hosted by the Biden Victory Fund as well as a number of wealthy individuals, including a bank executive, former Obama official, a political consultant and actor Wendell Pierce.

It’s unclear why the event is described as a ‘grassroots reception’ given its ticket prices ranging from $50 to $10,000, and its seemingly well-connected hosts. The Biden-Harris campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The report said the exact time and location of the event weren’t disclosed on the invitation, but that it was being paid for ‘by the joint fundraising committee authorized by Biden for President, the Democratic National Committee, and several state democratic parties.’

The report also noted a previous campaign-related visit to the island by Harris last August, and that her sister, Maya Lakshmi Harris, owns a home there.

Martha’s Vineyard status as a haven for liberal elites was elevated last September when Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent two planes full of migrants there, sparking outrage from Democrats and members of the liberal media.

Former President Barack Obama also owns a home on the island.

The emotional testimony this week by the families of the 13 U.S. service members killed during President Biden’s chaotic military withdrawal in Afghanistan has cast renewed scrutiny on the president’s past treatment of Gold Star families.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., held a congressional forum Monday with the Gold Star families who said they felt misled and betrayed by their own government.

Several called out Biden and his top Cabinet officials by name, calling on them to resign. A father of one fallen U.S. Marine called on the president to ‘be a grown a– man.’

The Biden administration’s series of missteps during the withdrawal nearly two years ago marked a political turning point for the public’s perception of the president’s competency and ability to lead. His decision faced widespread global backlash after Taliban insurgents retook the country in a matter of days on Aug. 15, 2021, essentially winning the war 20 years after their ouster by U.S.-led forces.

Biden had assured Americans just one month before the collapse that the likelihood of a Taliban takeover was ‘highly unlikely.’

Then on Aug. 26, 2021, during the U.S. military’s mass evacuation at the Kabul airport, suicide bombers killed 183 people, including 13 U.S. service members.

The U.S. military evacuation, which required thousands of additional U.S. troops on the ground and significant cooperation from the Taliban to complete, ended a day ahead of deadline on Aug. 30, 2021, leaving behind hundreds of U.S. citizens and tens of thousands of Afghan allies despite Biden’s promise days earlier to ‘get them all out.’

Critics have demanded that heads roll for the Afghanistan debacle with calls for the firings of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

Despite telling Americans after Afghanistan’s fall that ‘the buck stops with me,’ Biden repeatedly blamed former President Trump and the Afghan military for the country’s swift collapse, and he has declined to fire a single official over the withdrawal.

During Monday’s hearing, Kelly Barnett, mother of Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, addressed the panel first and spoke for nearly 15 minutes, accusing Biden officials of lying to her about her son’s death – and saying she was told that he died immediately only for eyewitnesses to tell her he ‘lived for a little while.’

‘We were told lies, given incomplete reports, incorrect reports, total disrespect,’ Barnett said. ‘I was told to my face he died on impact. That’s not true. The only reason that I know this is because witnesses told me the truth. I was lied to and basically told to shut up.’

Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui’s father, Steve Nikoui, accused Biden of using his Marine son ‘as a pawn so we can meet his Sept. 11th deadline and get the optics he wanted.’

‘My life and that of my family’s has been on pause since the early morning of Aug. 26, 2021,’ the emotional father said. ‘The difference between the minutes of my life before that and the minutes that passed after that day are contrasted drastically.’

Christy Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, held back tears when she described her reaction to Biden officials lauding the evacuation as a success.

‘When our leaders, including the secretary of defense and our commander in chief, called this evacuation a success, as if there should be celebration, it is like a knife in the heart for our families and for the people [who] came back,’ Shamblin said. ‘I live [every] single day knowing that these deaths were preventable. My daughter could be with us today.’

‘I can’t even begin to piece together the words that would convey to you the devastation that her murder has brought to our family,’ she said.

A Defense Department spokesperson’s statement on the Gold Star families’ testimony said, ‘The Department of Defense expresses our deepest condolences to the Gold Star Families who lost loved ones during the tragic bombing at Abbey Gate. We are forever grateful for their service, sacrifice, and committed efforts during the evacuation operations. We also commend the historic and monumental efforts of all our service men and women who served honorably during the withdrawal period from Afghanistan.’

Biden received criticism for his treatment of the Gold Star families immediately following the 2021 attack in Kabul.

Following the attack, Biden met in Dover, Delaware, with the family members of the 13 killed, but several of them later spoke out, accusing the president of repeatedly bringing up his late son, Beau, and saying he routinely checked his watch during the dignified transfer of the deceased’s remains.

Cheyenne McCollum, one of the sisters of Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, said she met with Biden alongside McCollum’s pregnant widow and that the president would not look at the family in the eye and spent the three-minute conversation talking about Beau, who served in Iraq with the U.S. Army and died in 2015 from brain cancer.

‘I was able to stand about 15 seconds of his fake, scripted apology and I had to walk away,’ Cheyenne told ‘Fox & Friends.’

Roice McCollum, another sister, refused to meet with the president but said he showed a ‘total disregard to the loss of our Marine.’

‘You can’t f— up as bad as he did and say you’re sorry,’ Roice told the Washington Post.’This did not need to happen, and every life is on his hands.’

Shana Chappell, the mother of Lance Cpl. Nikoui, wrote a scathing Facebook post that said Biden hijacked their conversation by talking about Beau and that he rolled his eyes when she challenged him.

‘You tried to interrupt me and give me your own sob story and I had to tell you, ‘This isn’t about you so don’t make it about you!’’ Chappell wrote. ‘You then said you just wanted me to know that you know how I feel and I let you know that you don’t know how I feel and you do not have the right to tell me you know how I feel! You then rolled your f— eyes in your head like you were annoyed with me and I let you know that the only reason I was talking to you was out of respect for my son.’

As Biden turned to walk away, the grieving mother said she let him know that ‘my son’s blood was on your hands and you threw your hand up behind you as you walked away from me like you were saying ‘ok whatever!’’

Mark Schmitz, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, said Biden bristled and bluntly responded to his request that he learn the individual stories of the 13 fallen.

‘Initially, I wasn’t going to meet with him,’ Schmitz said. ‘But then I felt I owed it to my son to at least have some words with him about how I felt – and it didn’t go well.’

Biden was also criticized after he was photographed appearing to check his watch during the dignified transfer of remains of the fallen soldiers to American soil.

Darin Hoover, father of Utah Marine Darin Taylor Hoover Jr., said the president looked down at his watch not once but several times as the caskets were being offloaded.

‘That didn’t happen just once. It happened on every single one that came out of that airplane. It happened on every single one of them. They would release the salute, and he would look down at his watch on every last one, all 13, he looked down at his watch,’ Hoover said on Fox News’ ‘Hannity’ in 2021.

‘As a father, seeing that and the disrespect and hearing from his former leaders, one of [Taylor’s] master sergeants said … that this was avoidable – that they left them over there. They had them over there and let them down, and we can’t have that,’ he said. ‘It can’t happen ever again.’

The controversy at the time also resurfaced Biden’s reported past treatment of Gold Star families that predated the Afghanistan withdrawal. 

For instance, Mike Iubelt, the father of the fallen Army Pfc. Tyler Iubelt, told the Washington Examiner in October 2019 that he had a ‘horrible experience’ meeting the now-president in 2016 after his son’s death in Afghanistan a few days earlier. Iubelt said he left their conversation ‘feeling worse’ than before. 

‘He told my daughter-in-law … that she was too pretty for this to happen to her,’ Iubelt recalled. ‘It’s probably a good thing that he was surrounded by Secret Service, probably for both of us, because I’d probably be locked up in jail right now.’

Meanwhile, Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, a Marine who was severely injured during the Afghanistan withdrawal, recently recalled an awkward encounter he had with Biden after he arrived at a hospital for treatment in the United States.

Describing his recovery at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Vargas-Andrews, who lost an arm and leg as a result of the suicide bombing that took place outside the Abbey Gate at Kabul’s airport, said he was greeted by a number of U.S. military officials who were looking to participate in ‘photo ops’ with him – including the president.

Vargas-Andrews said Biden showed up four hours late and tried to shake his hand despite him being immobile.

‘He says, ‘Oh,’ and kind of stands up and then goes over to reach for my fingers … and just like grabs my fingers. Doesn’t greet me or anything, just grabbed my fingers. I was like, ‘OK, that’s weird.”

Vargas-Andrews said the Bidens ‘almost immediately starts talking about how their son served in the military. [He] doesn’t say anything about what happened, just starts talking about how their son served in the military.’

When reached for comment Tuesday, a White House told Fox News Digital that the president and first lady ‘will always honor the sacrifices of the 13 servicemembers who were killed in that attack.’

‘We mourn with them, we remember their loved ones, and we will continue to support these Gold Star families,’ the official said. ‘We are enormously proud of the men and women of our military, our diplomats and the intel community who conducted that withdrawal – they performed bravely and helped evacuate more than 120,000 people in one of the largest airlifts in history.’

‘But more broadly, the President made the tough decision to end the 20-year war in Afghanistan because he was not going to send another generation of troops to fight and die in a conflict that had no end in sight,’ the official added.

Fox News’ Kyle Morris and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

The Biden administration is taking a number of actions in response to what appears to be the beginnings of an increase – as well as a shift – in migrant traffic at the southern border. 

Numbers of overall migrant encounters at the southern border itself went down after the highs seen before the end of Title 42 in early May, confounding some predictions. There were over 200,000 encounters in May and that dropped to around 144,000 in June.

However, as the Biden administration touted that decrease in numbers as a sign that its post-Title 42 strategy is working, numbers have reportedly been increasing. The Washington Post reported last week that initial numbers show a 30% increase in July.

Additionally, there are signs of a shift in traffic from Texas to Arizona. CBS News reported that the Tucson Sector has seen a 134% increase from June, in a region that sees blistering heat and extreme conditions.

A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Saturday that the agency has been working to address ‘large numbers of migrants’ crossing into the desert area near Ajo — a typically desolate and quiet part of the border.

‘The U.S. Border Patrol has surged personnel and transportation resources to respond to the increase in encounters in the area – some of the hottest, most isolated, and dangerous area of the southwest border – where individuals have been callously sent by smuggling organizations to walk for miles, often with little or no water,’ a spokesperson said.

Media outlets had highlighted the station in Ajo, where a chain-linked fence had been put up around an area holding migrants — which some described as a ‘cage.’ CBP stressed that only adults were held there in shade and are monitored, and just until they can be transported to larger better-equipped facilities.

‘Border Patrol has prioritized the quick transporting of noncitizens encountered in this desert environment, which is particularly dangerous during current weather conditions, to USBP facilities where individuals can receive medical care, food and water. USBP has utilized outdoor shaded areas only when necessary and for very short times while they await onward transportation to larger facilities,’ the spokesperson said.

More broadly across the border, there are signs that administration is moving to brace for any increase in migrants. 

The Pentagon announced last week that just 1,100 of the 1,500 active-duty troops are being sent back to home base, and that it had approved an extension of 400 to the end of the month.

The troops had been deployed to help Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with processing ahead of the expected post-Title 42 surge.

Separately, Fox News Digital obtained a DHS memo last week sent internally seeking volunteers to aid with processing. The internal memo sent to staff by acting Deputy Secretary Kristie Canegallo says that while there have been ‘positive trends’ at the border since the end of Title 42 in May, ‘we need to remain vigilant and prepared for evolving trends and future increases in migration.’

‘To support this critical mission, I ask that you consider registering to be part of the DHS Volunteer Force (VF),’ it said. A DHS official said those programs have been ‘incredibly successful,’ and the department is encouraging more of the workforce to participate and that it ensures the agency’s operational readiness means filling critical roles before they are needed.

That memo came as Fox News Digital also reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents are having their numbers increased at the border from 60 to 200 as part of Operation Expanded Impact. Agents are being deployed to key sectors in Texas, Arizona and California. 

A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital then that the numbers of those crossing across the border illegally are still down compared to before Title 42’s May 11 halt.

‘Unlawful border crossings have gone down since our border enforcement plan went into effect and remain well below the levels seen while Title 42 was in effect,’ the spokesperson said. ‘We remain vigilant and expect to see fluctuations, knowing that smugglers continue to use disinformation to prey on vulnerable individuals.’

The agency noted that divisions across the department work collectively and will adjust operations based on a variety of factors. Asylum officers have also increased by 33%, and the agency is now seeking to complete the initial credible fear interview within several days of a claim made by migrants. And it will continue to evaluate operations and work with other governments to address changes in migration flows.