At least six public elementary schools in New York City will use their gymnasiums to temporarily house migrants who flooded into the city from the southern border, according to a report.

The six schools set to host migrants are all in Brooklyn, the New York Post reported Monday. Adult migrants began to arrive on Sunday at the PS 188 gym in Coney Island, the report said, and at least five more are preparing to do the same: PS 17, PS 18, PS 132, PS 172 and PS 189.

MS 577, a middle prep school, will also host migrants in the gym it shares with PS 17. The two schools placed cots in the gym Monday in preparation to host busloads of migrants as early as Tuesday, according to the report. Parents claimed the school will be locked down with no recess or physical education because the gym is adjacent to the outdoor playground.

‘These kids just came through COVID, and now they’re being locked inside the classroom,’ Virginia Vu, a PTA member and parent at MS 577, told The Post. ‘To bus people to our school and expect the community to absorb them is just insane.’

The wave of migrants hosted by schools in the city comes less than one week after the expiration of the Title 42 policy that allowed border agents to turn away migrants at the border in order to prevent the spread of COVID.

Damaris Fernandez, a parent of students at MS 577 and PS 17, said the housing for migrants is a security issue.

‘Parents have to sign in and provide ID when they go into school — now there’s migrants in the playground,’ Fernandez told The Post. ‘My phone has been going crazy with angry parents. Nobody agrees with what’s happened.’

Gabriela Vizhnay, a parent of a student at PS 172, said she ‘almost cried’ when she heard the gym would host migrants.

‘These elementary kids are being sacrificed over something that can be done somewhere else,’ Vizhnay told The Post. ‘You’re sacrificing kids. The future of this county.’

The New York City Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FIRST ON FOX: The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) has made their ‘top political priority’ fighting Democrat-affiliated groups targeting state legislatures’ GOP majorities.

An RSLC memo exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital revealed the committee is making their ‘top political priority’ for the 2023-2024 election cycle defending ‘our majorities against an overwhelming amount of outside spending from Democrat affiliated groups.’

‘A mere 33 seats are standing in the way of Democrats taking back eight legislative chambers across five states, to take control of a majority of state legislatures in the country,’ the memo reads.

‘National Democrats are targeting all of them and have already asked for an additional $10 million while they continue to rapidly outpace Republicans with financial resources and investment,’ the memo continued.

The memo noted that in 2022, ‘state Republicans defied the odds by facing down an onslaught in national liberal spending and an incredibly challenging political environment to still preserve their hold on an overwhelming majority of state legislatures throughout the country.’

Additionally, the RSLC pointed out the 35 seat net gain in state legislatures and the expansion of GOP power ‘power in numerous states, gaining supermajorities in both chambers of the Florida Legislature, the Iowa Senate, the North Carolina Senate, the Wisconsin Senate, the South Carolina House, and the Montana Senate.’

‘We also broke out of the superminority in both chambers in Oregon as well as making gains in the New York Assembly,’ the memo read. ‘Additionally, we picked up seats in liberal strongholds like Maine, New Mexico, and Hawaii.’

‘In 2023, we have already seen state Democrats switch parties and join Republican-led legislatures in Louisiana and North Carolina, giving Republicans a veto-proof supermajority in the Louisiana House and North Carolina House, bringing our total number of Republican supermajorities up to 25 nationwide,’ it continued.

The RSLC wrote that the 2022 cycle taught them Republicans need ‘an abundance of resources to catch up to the spending levels by Democrats’ and organizations like ‘the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the States Project, and Majority Forward’ that are spending hundreds of millions of dollars.

The RSLC also noted the ‘need to target low propensity voters early and often by implementing an effective absentee ballot/early voting (AB/EV) political program’ and that the maintaining of GOP-controlled legislatures is ‘becoming increasingly harder,’ necessitating the defense of the state chambers outside of election years.

‘While the U.S House, U.S. Senate, and the White House have changed hands a total of seven times since 2010, the one constant for the conservative movement has been state legislative power. We have gotten used to having a strong backstop in the states, but our complacency has us trending in the wrong direction and is putting Republicans at risk of no longer controlling a majority of state legislative chambers for the first time since 2010.’

In 2023, the RSLC will focus on maintaining the Virginia state House majority while trying to flip the state Senate, as well as defend the seats gained in New Jersey in the last election alongside the supermajorities in Louisiana and the Mississippi.

The RSLC is also looking to nab a supermajority in the Mississippi state House.

For 2024, the RSLC has put six states on their list of preliminary defense: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New Hampshire, Texas, and the Pennsylvania Senate.

The RSLC is looking to use increased outreach to low-propensity GOP voters to flip three states’ legislatures, as well, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.

Additionally, the RSLC has put seven liberal stronghold states in their sights to make meaningful gains in after the party’s performance in the areas in 2022: Illinois, Maine, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington.

‘Heading into a pivotal election cycle with Joe Biden on the top of the ticket, Democrats will be taking nothing for granted up-and-down the ballot,’ the memo reads. ‘This list remains a preliminary target list and is subject to change throughout the course of the election cycle because we are not taking anything for granted as a 50-state organization.’

‘The Democrats have already proven that they’re willing to implement an earlier strategy and invest larger sums of money at the state level than ever before, so we must be prepared to take action anywhere, anytime,’ the memo continues. ‘While Republicans will be focused on retaking control of the White House, it is our duty to stop the Democrats from taking a majority of legislative chambers across the country.’

‘We are the cornerstone of the conservative movement, and with your continued partnership and support we will be able to defend our majorities and expand the map for state Republicans,’ it concludes.

United States Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz on Monday disclosed approximate figures for apprehensions and ‘gotaways’ at the southern border following last week’s expiration of Title 42. 

Tweeting early Monday morning, Ortiz said that in the past 72 hours, three agents had been assaulted, 14,752 people had been apprehended, and approximately 4,316 ‘gotaways’ had been reported. 

Ortiz also disclosed that agents had seized 4 lbs. of marijuana, one pound of cocaine, nearly $60,000, in addition to encountering five sex offenders and one wanted felon. 

Immigration restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic — referred to as Title 42 — expired at midnight Thursday and new U.S. enforcement measures went into effect Friday.

In the days since, the number of migrants encountered at the southern border has fallen 50% compared with the 10,000-plus encountered each day for the three days leading up to the end of Title 42. 

Still U.S. officials are cautioning that it’s too early to draw firm conclusions. 

‘We are closely watching what’s happening,’ Blas Nunez-Neto, assistant secretary for border and immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security, said. ‘We are confident that the plan that we have developed across the U.S. government to address these flows will work over time.’ 

Nunez-Neto credited the U.S. planning as well as enforcement measures Mexico and Guatemala have carried out in recent days along their own southern borders. He said the number of migrants in U.S. custody also has fallen ‘significantly’ since last week but is still high.

Title 42 allowed U.S. officials to quickly expel migrants without letting them seek asylum, but it also carried no consequences for those who entered the country and were expelled. In the leadup to the end of Title 42, the U.S. introduced tough enforcement measures to discourage people from arriving at the border, encouraging them instead to use one of the pathways the U.S. has created to facilitate migration.

Many migrants, worried about these tough enforcement measures, came before Title 42 expired.

The U.S., meanwhile, is in litigation about whether it can release migrants without what’s called a ‘notice to appear.’ Usually, migrants who are released into the United States — as opposed to those held in custody or immediately expelled — get a ‘notice to appear,’ which includes a court date and some type of monitoring with immigration officials. But it can take up to two hours to process a single person for this, potentially choking Border Patrol holding facilities when they’re at capacity.

Since 2021 the U.S. has often released migrants from custody with instructions to report to an immigration office in 60 days. It’s a process that takes only 20 minutes, but it’s come under attack by those who say it doesn’t offer enough oversight. On Friday, a Florida court temporarily put an end to the process. The administration is appealing that decision. 

On Monday, the judge, in a preliminary injunction, narrowed the order so it only applies to migrants who say they plan to stay in Florida until their court hearings.

In court filings last week, U.S. authorities said they cannot confidently estimate how many people will cross the border. Matthew Hudak, deputy Border Patrol chief, said authorities predict arrests will spike to between 12,000 and 14,000 a day. 

Fox News’ Bill Melugin on Monday challeneged White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre for denying that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was ‘encouraging or allowing mass release of migrants.’ 

He noted that on Thursday alone, more than 6,000 migrants were released without a court date and the Biden administration was arguing in federal court that it needs these releases. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The FBI and Justice Department jumped to investigate former President Trump’s campaign despite a lack of sound evidence, a ‘notable departure’ from the way it resisted efforts to investigate claims against Hillary Clinton’s campaign, according to Special Counsel John Durham’s final report on the probe into alleged election collusion between Trump and Russia.

Durham’s long awaited report from his investigation into FBI’s ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ probe was delivered to Congress on Monday and revealed that FBI and DOJ ‘failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law’ when it launched the Trump-Russia investigation.

Durham’s report also highlighted that the Trump investigation was ‘markedly different’ from the government’s level of interest in Clinton’s campaign.

Durham’s report said the FBI briefed Clinton staffers on information of possible threats aimed at the Clinton campaign, but ignored intelligence it received from ‘a trusted foreign source pointing to a Clinton campaign plan to vilify Trump by tying him to Vladimir Putin so as to divert attention from her own concerns relating to her use of a private email server.’

‘The speed and manner in which the FBI opened and investigated Crossfire Hurricane during the presidential election season based on raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence also reflected a noticeable departure from how it approached prior matters involving possible attempted foreign election interference plans aimed at the Clinton campaign,’ the report said.

‘[I]n the eighteen months leading up to the 2016 election, the FBI was required to deal with a number of proposed investigations that had the potential of affecting the election,’ the report said. In each of those instances – including those related to Clinton – the FBI moved with ‘considerable caution.’

‘In one such matter… FBI Headquarters and Department officials required defensive briefings to be provided to Clinton and other officials or candidates who appeared to be the targets of foreign interference,’ the report said.

‘In another, the FBI elected to end an investigation after one of its longtime and valuable CHSs [confidential human sources] went beyond what was authorized and made an improper and possibly illegal financial contribution to the Clinton campaign on behalf of a foreign entity as a precursor to a much larger donation being contemplated,’ it said.

‘And in a third, the Clinton Foundation matter, both senior FBI and Department officials placed restrictions on how those matters were to be handled such that essentially no investigative activities occurred for months leading up to the election,’ the report said.

‘Unlike the FBI’s opening of a full investigation of unknown members of the Trump campaign based on raw, uncorroborated information, in this separate matter involving a purported Clinton campaign plan, the FBI never opened any type of inquiry, issued any taskings, employed any analytical personnel, or produced any analytical products in connection with the information,’ it found.

‘This lack of action was despite the fact that the significance of the Clinton plan intelligence was such as to have prompted the Director of the CIA to brief the President, Vice President, Attorney General, Director of the FBI, and other senior government officials about its content within days of its receipt,’ the report said.

The FBI reacted to the report Monday in a statement: ‘The conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham examined was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time. Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented. This report reinforces the importance of ensuring the FBI continues to do its work with the rigor, objectivity, and professionalism the American people deserve and rightly expect.’

A Hernando County, Florida, fifth grade teacher is under investigation by the school district and state Department of Education after showing a Disney movie with an openly gay character.

Jenna Barbee is a first-year teacher at Winding Waters K-8 who is being investigated by the Hernando County School District and Florida Department of Education for showing the Disney movie ‘Strange World’ to her fifth-grade students.

The movie features a character named Ethan Clade who happens to be gay and is played by an openly gay comedian named Jaboukie Young-White.

But Barbee did not show the students the movie because it had a gay character. In fact, she claimed on a TikTok video, and during a school board meeting on May 9 that she showed the movie to her students because they were learning about earth and ecosystems.

Barbee said in her TikTok video that school board member Shannon Rodriguez’s daughter is in her class. The daughter told her mother about the movie she and her peers watched in class, which resulted in the school board member reporting Barbee to the Florida Department of Education, Barbee claimed.

The issue is controversial because Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education Act into law in 2022, which restricts discussions on topics like sexual and gender identity in classrooms. The act has been inaccurately referred to as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law.

Barbee said it was her understanding she needed to have signed permission slips to show PG movies in her class, which she claimed to have required.

Rodriguez spoke about the issue during a school board meeting, saying the principal did not approve the movie, nor did any of the administrators, which she claims must approve all movies that are shown.

Barbee, though, took Rodriguez’s actions as an attack.

On May 9, Barbee spoke during the public portion of the school board meeting, oftentimes taking shots at Rodriguez for not addressing the issue as a parent of a student in her classroom, but instead as a school board member.

‘The word indoctrination is thrown around a lot right now, but it seems that those who are using it are using it as a defense tactic for their own fear-based belief without understanding the true meaning of the word,’ Barbee said. ‘The craziest thing about this is the abuse of power she is allowed to use and that nothing is being done about it.’

Rodriguez did not immediately respond to inquiries about the matter.

During the school board meeting, she said it was her job, as a parent, to teach her child about the ‘birds and the bees’ in relationships, and to determine at what age to teach those lessons.

‘I want to embark on those conversations by not following policy and procedure,’ Rodriguez said. ‘Ms. Barbee stripped me of my right as a parent to have those conversations prematurely.’

The Biden administration cleared a large West Virginia-to-Virginia natural gas pipeline project to be constructed through federal forest land, a key step in approving it to resume construction.

The Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service issued a record of decision Monday afternoon, allowing the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project to cut through a 3.5-mile stretch of the Jefferson National Forest (JNF) along the West Virginia-Virginia border. The determination clears the way for the project — which is 94% complete, but has been mired in a lengthy permitting process for years — to finish construction.

‘Under the proposed action, the Forest Service would amend the JNF Forest Plan as necessary to allow for the MVP to cross the JNF and concur in a decision by the [Bureau of Land Management] to grant a [right of way permit] and a [temporary use permit] under the [Mineral Leasing Act],’ Agriculture Under Secretary Homer Wilkes wrote in the decision.

While the decision allows MVP developer Equitrans Midstream, a Pennsylvania-based natural gas transmission company, to construct the pipeline in the 3.5-mile stretch through the JNF, the Forest Service is requiring it to obtain any outstanding federal and state permits before beginning on construction. 

The project is awaiting a record of decision from the Bureau of Land Management and authorization from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. And the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s recent permitting decision in favor of the pipeline is being challenged in federal court while a permit issued by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection was struck down by a federal court in April.

The Forest Service’s determination Monday, meanwhile, comes after the agency’s two previous approvals for the pipeline to cut through the JNF were rejected by a federal judge in 2018 and 2022, respectively. Environmentalists have adamantly opposed the project, arguing it would destroy sensitive land and ecosystems.

‘The Forest Service’s preferred alternative to allow MVP to rip through the Jefferson National Forest grossly underestimates the lasting environmental harms from the project, ignores the overwhelming public opposition to sacrificing this treasured land and shirks the agency’s responsibility to steward forests,’ Jessica Sims, a field coordinator for environmental group Appalachian Voice, said Monday. 

‘We maintain that the Mountain Valley Pipeline cannot be built through the Jefferson National Forest without lasting damage to sensitive forests, habitats and waters,’ Sims added. ‘Amending a forest plan 11 times to accommodate a ruinous project on federal land is unacceptable.’

The approval also comes as Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration over its energy and climate policies. Manchin has been a vocal proponent of the project, arguing it would create 2,500 construction jobs, $40 million in new tax revenue for his home state, $10 million in new tax revenue for Virginia and up to $250 million in royalties for West Virginia landowners.

Overall, the 303.5-mile pipeline would transport about two billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from West Virginia to consumers in the Mid- and South Atlantic. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm penned a letter last month to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission members, arguing that the project would help boost reliable energy for Americans.

Equitrans announced last year that it expected the pipeline to go into service during the second half of 2023. Federal regulators gave the company until 2026 to complete the project.

The Forest Service didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, along with a number of his fellow Republicans, launched a flurry of criticism at the FBI following Monday’s release of Special Counsel John Durham’s report on the origin’s of the Trump-Russia investigation.

‘The Durham Report confirmed what we already knew: weaponized federal agencies manufactured a false conspiracy theory about Trump-Russia collusion. It reminds us of the need to clean house at these agencies, as they’ve never been held accountable for this egregious abuse of power,’ DeSantis wrote on Twitter.

He was joined by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who simply wrote, ‘Defund and dismantle the FBI,’ and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who wrote, ‘These liars worked hand-in-hand to interfere in our election. They MUST be held to account.’

Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called the report ‘a scathing indictment of the FBI,’ and repeated his calls for the agency to be shut down. 

‘Enough is enough. Root out the corruption & shut down the FBI. This is achievable. At the local level, we have police & prosecutors. At the federal level, we have U.S. marshals & the DOJ. An intermediary bureaucracy is rife with risk for politicized corruption & it’s been happening since J. Edgar Hoover in the 60s,’ he wrote.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote that the FBI’s actions according to the Durham report ‘can’t be dismissed as mere carelessness or even a severe example of garden-variety misconduct,’ and described its reported actions ‘corrupt and as subversive of the Constitution as it gets.’

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a statement that ‘the baseless and politically motivated Russia collusion lie robbed the American people of three years and tens of millions in taxpayer dollars,’ and that FBI and DOJ officials ‘at best, consciously avoided their duty of due diligence, and at worst, knowingly and willingly participated in one of the dirtiest smears in American history.’

He added that the FBI ‘allowed itself to be hijacked and weaponized by political actors to target a political rival during a presidential election and administration.’ 

‘Where does President [Donald Trump] go for his apology??? What about all of the other lives ruined by Witch-Hunt #1?’ Trump campaign advisor Jason Miller tweeted. 

House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote that he had reached out to the DOJ to have Durham testify before the committee next week.

‘Where are the Democrat voices on the Durham report? They need to get loud on this. If it’s only Republicans who care when a Republican is targeted then we’re in a world of hurt as a country,’ former U.N. Ambassador and presidential candidate Nikki Haley wrote.

Durham’s report was released Monday afternoon after his years-long investigation into the origins of the FBI’s original investigation, known as ‘Crossfire Hurricane.’ That investigation looked into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election, and his report spanned more than 300 pages.

‘Based on the review of Crossfire Hurricane and related intelligence activities, we conclude that the Department and the FBI failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report,’ the report said.

Durham added that his investigation also revealed that ‘senior FBI personnel displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor towards the information that they received, especially information received from politically-affiliated persons and entities.’ 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has nominated Michael Noriega, a 45-year-old immigration lawyer and public defender from Fanwood, for a seat on the state’s Supreme Court.If confirmed, Noriega will officially succeed retired Justice Barry Albin, whose seat has been temporarily filled by Appellate Court Judge Jack Sabatino since July.Republican State Sen. Jon Bramnick, a partner at Noriega’s law firm, praised him as ‘an attorney of immense integrity.’

Gov. Phil Murphy has nominated Michael Noriega to be the next justice on the state Supreme Court, who if confirmed would be the first former public defender to sit on New Jersey’s top court.

Noriega, 45, of Fanwood, is a longtime immigration lawyer and criminal defense attorney. He would replace Barry Albin, who retired last July after 19 years on the bench. Since that time, Appellate Court Judge Jack Sabatino has been temporarily filling that seat.

The Democratic governor announced his choice Monday. The nomination will first be considered by the state Senate Judiciary Committee and, if they approve, the full senate would then hold a confirmation vote.

Noriega is a partner with the Scotch Plains-based law firm of Bramnick, Rodriguez, Grabas, Arnold and Mangan. The firm’s principals include state Sen. Jon Bramnick, a Republican from Union County who called Noriega ‘an attorney of immense integrity.’

The son of Peruvian immigrants, Noriega was born in Weehawken and was raised in Union City. He graduated from Rutgers University and received his law degree from Seton Hall, where he has also served as an adjunct law professor. He was an assistant deputy public defender in Essex County from 2003 to 2008.

Noriega and his wife, Melissa, a school psychologist, are the parents of four daughters.

The Biden administration may halt plans to move U.S. Space Command’s headquarters from Colorado to Alabama over the latter’s restrictive abortion laws. 

Multiple U.S. officials, including at least one in defense, told NBC News that the White House may be laying the groundwork to halt those plans because of ‘abortion politics.’ 

Just days before leaving office and following an intense lobbying battle, then-President Trump announced that the U.S. Space Command would be headquartered in Huntsville, Ala. 

The move from its current headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs was expected to take several years and cost more than $1 billion. 

A review by Biden Defense Department’s inspector general found the relocation ‘lawful’ and ‘reasonable.’ 

The Biden administration later requested a ‘review of the review’ over concerns that the relocation could mean a protracted delay in settling the Space Command in a new location. The review also came after Alabama implemented a law that outlawed abortion at any stage of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest. 

In March, the administration signaled it was ready to reverse Trump’s decision and keep the Space Command’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, where it has been for decades. 

The White House has not said Alabama’s abortion law was a factor in its ongoing review of the decision to move Space Command’s headquarters. 

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

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

The FBI responded Monday to the scathing report by Special Counsel John Durham that found the Department of Justice and FBI ‘failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law’ when it launched the Trump-Russia investigation. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the agency touted what it said were ‘dozens of corrective actions’ already implemented as a result of the Durham investigation.

‘The conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham examined was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time. Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented,’ the FBI said. 

‘This report reinforces the importance of ensuring the FBI continues to do its work with the rigor, objectivity, and professionalism the American people deserve and rightly expect,’ it added.

Fox obtained Durham’s report Monday afternoon after his years-long investigation into the origins of the FBI’s original investigation, known as ‘Crossfire Hurricane.’ That investigation looked into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Durham gave his final report to the Justice Department, which released it Monday afternoon. The report spans more than 300 pages.

‘Based on the review of Crossfire Hurricane and related intelligence activities, we conclude that the Department and the FBI failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report,’ the report said.

Durham said his investigation also revealed that ‘senior FBI personnel displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor towards the information that they received, especially information received from politically-affiliated persons and entities.’

‘This information in part triggered and sustained Crossfire Hurricane and contributed to the subsequent need for Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation,’ the report said. ‘In particular, there was significant reliance on investigative leads provided or funded (directly or indirectly) by Trump’s political opponents.’

‘The Department did not adequately examine or question these materials and the motivations of those providing them, even when at about the same time the Director of the FBI and others learned of significant and potentially contrary intelligence,’ the report said.