--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Host (John Bickley): This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two-factor authentication, strong passwords, and a VPN, you try to be in control of how your info is protected. But many other places also have it, and they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com slash podcast for 40% off. Terms apply.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Over 200 people were arrested over the weekend as anti-Israel protests spread onto campuses across the country. But while some colleges cracked down, others called off the police. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. Georgia Howe is on maternity leave, so joining us this week as guest co-host is Mary Margaret Olehan, a senior reporter at The Daily Signal. It's great to have you on.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olehan: It's great to be here.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): It's Monday, April 29th, and this is Morning Wire. A growing trend of state laws are taking aim at illegal immigration as the migrant crisis expands well beyond the border states. We can't even take care of the people that we have here in our state that are born here in this state and born here in this country. And though illegal border crossings are at record highs, criminal prosecution for them are at record lows. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- [Theme music transitions to a new segment]
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Hey guys, it's Lian. Or should I say, 大家好,我是 Lian. You see, I've been brushing up on my Chinese with Babbel. Babbel is designed by real people for real conversations. All of Babbel's tips and tools for learning a new language are approachable, accessible, rooted in real-life situations, and delivered with conversation-based teaching. For a limited time, get 55% off your Babbel subscription at babbel.com slash wire, spelled B-A-B-B-E-L dot com slash wire. Rules and restrictions may apply.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Campus crackdowns occurred at several colleges across the country over the weekend, as police took down encampments at some schools while they remain in place at others. While Columbia University, the epicenter of the nationwide protest, decided it will not invite the NYPD to once again remove the so-called Gaza encampment, several other universities, including Yale, have made the opposite call. Here to discuss how all this is playing out is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus. Hey, Dave. So first of all, what are some of the schools that did clamp down and how did that go?
--:-- David Marcus: Morning, John. There were over 200 arrests this weekend at schools such as Arizona State, Indiana University, and Washington University in St. Louis. There were instances of protesters having to be physically carried away, as well as some mild altercations that required the police to tackle or take down protesters. It really highlights the point that different colleges have been handling this in very different ways. And we will see in coming days whether those that took a more aggressive approach to shutting down encampments, such as ASU, where even fraternity brothers actually showed up to help take down some of the tents. If they've solved this problem or if protesters come back, as they did at Columbia, after the NYPD initially shut its encampment down.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Speaking of Columbia, where the protests saw visits from high-profile congressional Democrats, the university has announced that it will not ask the NYPD to clear the encampment. How was that decision reached, and where does it leave the occupation?
--:-- David Marcus: Well, it leaves the occupation in place, at least for now. There were negotiations going on between protesters and the university and the powers that be said in their statement that quote We called on the NYPD to clear an encampment once adding that quote to bring back the NYPD at this time would be counterproductive further inflaming what is happening on campus, end quote. They left open the possibility of institutional punishment such as suspension, but for now, it sure looks like Columbia caved.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Yeah. Meanwhile, that's not the case at Yale. According to Professor Nicholas Christakis, 40 were arrested there after hundreds of students were asked to disperse. What was his take on all this?
--:-- David Marcus: So Christakis, listeners might recall, was at the center of a famous shouting match in 2015 as Yale students protested what they considered to be racist Halloween costumes. He said he was against the arrests, but that if these protesters want to make their civil disobedience compelling, they should be willing to suffer punishment for violating the law because they believe their cause is important enough to warrant it. Without consequences, the whole civil disobedience paradigm falls apart. Meanwhile, student protesters are already demanding amnesty for arrests or suspensions during the protests, which would mean there would be even fewer consequences.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): As we've touched on before, critics of the protesters say in the end that this is about the universities actually enforcing their own policies about hateful and disruptive behavior on campus in a way that's even-handed. The glaring issue for many is that these administrators are not treating these left-wing protesters the same way they treat those on the right.
--:-- David Marcus: Yeah. Finally, one place where protesters aren't likely to find much amnesty is in Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis has really blasted the encampments and promised a firm response in his state. Is there a regional as well as an institutional aspect to all this?
--:-- David Marcus: I think there is, frankly. I hear some of that audio from DeSantis. Right now in higher education, particularly in those schools up there, the inmates run the asylum. The students do this stuff knowing there's not going to be any repercussions. The minute there's repercussions, you will start to see a change in behavior. So, yeah, you hear that and recognize that DeSantis has brought in people like Christopher Rufo to crack down on wokeness or DEI in Florida State Colleges. And it may be that institutions of higher learning are starting to chart two separate paths. And there does seem to be a relationship between the progressive ideology at colleges like Columbia and the permissiveness regarding aggressive protesting.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Yeah, they are indeed. Dave, thanks for joining us.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): That's As the border crisis continues, a growing number of red states are using local law enforcement to take more aggressive action on illegal immigration. Here to discuss the growing trend and how the White House is responding is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips. So, Cabot, several states are cracking down on immigration. What can you tell us about this trend?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah so historically speaking enforcement of immigration laws has been left up to the federal government but we now seeing more and more states taking matters into their own hands amid an ongoing flood of illegal immigration Since President Biden took office federal data shows that 7 million migrants have crossed the southern border illegally That is more than the population of 36 states and is equal to about 2% of the entire U.S. population. Now, keep in mind, that does not include those who made it across the border undetected, so the true number is even higher. Just for some more context here, March was the 37th month in a row where the number of illegal crossings exceeded the highest month ever recorded under President Trump. So while the White House has been unwilling to admit that there is a border crisis, there's just no denying at this point that the Biden administration has overseen the single largest influx of illegal immigration in our country's history.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): The numbers really make that clear. So what sort of action are we seeing from state governments in response?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, in the early years of this crisis, we saw border states in particular, like Texas, enact legislation to address the crisis on their own. But this year, millions of illegal immigrants have spread throughout the country, really straining cities and states that have traditionally been more insulated from the impacts. And that has led to a flurry of states passing new laws, allowing local law enforcement to now arrest and ultimately prosecute illegal immigrants settling there. Last week, for example, the Oklahoma state legislature fast tracked a bill that makes impermissible occupation a crime and imposes up to two years in prison for those in the state illegally. Under that law, those arrested would have 72 hours to leave the state permanently. If they refused to do so, they would face felony charges.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): So quite a bit of action from Republican lawmakers who have claimed that the White House has really forced their hand here by not enforcing the border. So for their part, Democrats say the new laws will unfairly target Hispanic residents and lead to racial profiling. Remember, though, the Biden administration is already challenging similar laws like this that were passed by Republicans in Texas last year. it is likely that they'll mount similar legal efforts against the latest batch of legislation. But the optics of opposing stronger immigration laws amid a historic border crisis are not great. Certainly not.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So can you walk us through the shifting sentiment among voters on this topic? So President Biden has accused Republicans of embracing extreme positions on immigration, which he has routinely labeled as xenophobic. But there's just no doubt right now that Americans are increasingly shifting to the right when it comes to illegal immigration. According to the latest Associated Press polling, for example, nearly 70% of voters disapprove of Biden's handling of immigration, while just 20% of independents say he's doing a good job. At the same time, 48% of Americans say they worry about illegal immigration a, quote, great deal. That is the highest mark on record. And according to a new poll from Axios, 68% of Americans say illegal immigration causes major problems in communities. Well, get this, half of all Americans now support mass deportations of illegal immigrants. That number includes 42% of Democrats and even 45% of Latinos. And it's worth noting, those findings mirror another poll this year from Signal, which found that 65% of voters now support deporting those called entering the country illegally.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): So we've seen the tangible effects of the border crisis, and now it seems we're starting to see the political ones. Right, and across the country. Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): As millions of illegal immigrants pour into the country, Joe Biden claims that he needs Congress to give him new powers to close the border. But new data shows that Biden has declined to use basic powers he already has. Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak crunched the numbers and found that the number of people criminally prosecuted for illegally crossing the border is only 4 of what it used to be He joins us now Hey Luke So I looking at this remarkable chart you produced where the line basically goes straight down overnight and then stays there. What am I seeing here?
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Hey, John. Well, that drop-off was actually in April 2020 when the immigration courts closed down due to the coronavirus pandemic. What's shocking is that long after everything else in the country has returned to normal, criminal prosecutions for boarding crossings basically never resumed. So they closed down for the second half of 2020, and then Biden takes office in January 2021, and they basically never come back.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Right. So there are a lot of different metrics to measure the immigration crisis, and most of them are literally off the charts at this point. But this is a pretty important one that's never really talked about. Essentially, most of the time you hear numbers, they're talking about a backlog in cases that could lead to civil deportation proceedings. But that doesn't even attempt to do what's ordinarily done when the law is broken, which is punish the suspect in criminal court. So the current status is, if we catch you, we may or may not say go back home, but there's almost no risk of anything worse happening.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Correct. In 2018 alone, the DOJ charged 84,000 people with illegal entry, which is a misdemeanor. The total number in all three years of the Biden presidency combined is 11,000. even in cases where somebody has already been deported and then they illegally come back. The Biden administration rarely involves criminal courts, despite that being a felony. The number of people charged with illegal reentry, that felony criminal charge, is less than half of what it used to be.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): I spoke with Gene Hamilton, a DOJ official during the Trump administration, who said it's no irony that prosecutions have gone down despite crossings going on. He said the Biden administration has removed a deterrent by treating illegal immigration like a, quote, traffic ticket, because everybody knows there's really no risk. It's like if the punishment for getting caught robbing a bank was you just have to give the money back. It makes sense to just keep trying to rob the bank.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Yeah, that would make sense to me. So these two lines on the chart, both plunging down, are misdemeanor entry and felony re-entry. Right. And that second category in particular are the kind of people who are often wreaking havoc on our communities. The U.S. Sentencing Commission said in 2022 that 98% of people charged with this crime were men. Their average age was 39, and many have extensive criminal histories. 99% are sentenced to prison for a year, but only, of course, if they're actually charged.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Now, this chart effectively contrasts Biden with Trump, who was, of course, very focused on border security. Is this just kind of status quo for what we should expect with a Democrat president on prosecutions? No, not historically. And that's what surprised me most about this. This isn't some reversion to the mean. In the past, every president enforced criminal law against lawbreakers at the border, like everywhere else. Trump ramped up misdemeanor prosecutions of first-time border crossers, but he never actually even surpassed Obama when it came to felony prosecutions for those re-enterers. Then what happens is Biden comes into office and immediately implements a policy that was far more radical than anything Obama ever did. Every year of the Biden administration, there's been fewer prosecutions than even the lowest year under Obama.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Well, a really dramatic drop, to say the least, here.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Luke, thanks for the good work.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Thanks, John.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): That was Daily Wire investigative reporter, Luke Rosiak. And before we sign off today, Mary Margaret, it's fun to have you back here at Daily Wire. This was your first guest hosting spot for Morning Wire. What'd you think?
--:-- Mary Margaret Olehan: I think it's so much fun. I genuinely listen to Morning Wire every single day. So it's an honor to be here. Look, before we sign off, I'll also go ahead and tease now that we're planning to have a full interview with Mary Margaret this week about her new book on detransitioners. So look for that later in the week. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.
--:-- [Theme music starts playing]
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.
