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--:-- John Bickley: The Remain in Mexico immigration policy has been stopped and restarted several times since President Biden took office. Now, its fate will be decided by the Supreme Court. We break down the arguments that were laid out for and against the policy on Tuesday. I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, April 27th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As the crisis at our southern border continues, a federal judge ordered the Biden administration to keep Title 42 in place for now. But here's the real truth. Title 42 is a bandaid on a gunshot wound. It's not actual border security.
--:-- John Bickley: And how do young voters feel about the direction of the country? We look at new polling among young voters and break down what it could mean for upcoming elections. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: The Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday about the Remain in Mexico policy implemented during the Trump presidency. The high court has heard cases over this policy before, but this one could be the most consequential. Here to give us the details is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Charlotte, first, give us some context for this case. So this policy is technically called Migrant Protection Protocols, but like Georgia said, it's known as Remain in Mexico. It started in the Trump era and made it so that certain migrants seeking asylum to the United States had to stay in Mexico while they waited for a hearing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: On his first day in office, President Biden put a temporary stop on the program, but Texas and Missouri sued. In June, the Department of Homeland Security tried to end the program altogether, but a judge ultimately put it back into place. That judge ruled that DHS had to keep the policy. Then the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals basically agreed with the lower court.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Okay, so what are the arguments for and against Remain in Mexico? Well, the main argument against the policy is that it can be a dangerous situation for the migrants waiting in Mexico. The conditions are not always healthy or safe. DHS also says the program puts strain on our relationship with Mexico.
--:-- Georgia Howe: On the other hand, supporters of the policy say it's an effective deterrent for migrants coming to the border seeking asylum. They say the program has been a net benefit since around 70,000 asylum seekers have successfully passed through the program.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Even DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged in October that there was a significant decrease in encounters after the program was implemented. But he ultimately decided that the benefits of the program don't justify the costs.
--:-- John Bickley: Do we have any indication of how the justices might rule on this?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Well, it's always hard to know just what the Supreme Court will do, of course, but they could decide that U.S. law requires DHS to continue implementing the program. This is the argument the district judge essentially gave saying U law says the government has to detain or basically return the migrants. Or the justices could determine that the Biden administration has the ability to get rid of the policy since it was implemented by the previous administration. This is effectively making the case for executive branch authority.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Okay, so we effectively have one administration's authority pitted against the previous administration. Now, there's a lot of pressure here about the ruling on this case, given the numbers at the border.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Exactly. Zooming out the bigger picture here is the massive liability the border is becoming for midterm elections, especially for Democrats in those border states. Recent polling has shown that border security is a key issue for many voters. We can expect that this ruling could have implications for many of those midterm elections, and it could establish the role of the courts in future policies like this too.
--:-- John Bickley: Charlotte, thanks for the reporting.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Thanks for having me on.
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--:-- John Bickley: A federal judge on Monday blocked the Biden administration from scrapping Title 42, the Trump-era public health order allowing border agents to expel illegal immigrants over COVID-19 concerns. Here to discuss the court order and the controversy around the CDC's decision to end Title 42 is Daily Wire's Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So, Tim, the CDC's original announcement that it planned to kill Title 42 was met with bipartisan pushback. Why is that?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hey, Georgia, that's right. The agency announced on April 1st that Title 42 had about two months left on the books before it lapses on May 23rd. Just for some background, progressive legislators have been pressuring the Biden administration to scrap the policy because it blocks many migrants at the border from applying for asylum in the U.S. But a handful of moderate Democrats say the policy is necessary. They say the ending Title 42 would lead to a massive influx of migration that the United States is unprepared for.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So some division among Democrats on this. Right. About six Democrats in the Senate, along with all the Senate Republicans, are in favor of keeping Title 42. Those Democrats include some of the usual moderates, West Virginia's Joe Manchin and both Arizona's Democratic senators, Sinema and Kelly.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But surprisingly, we're also seeing Georgia's Raphael Warnock, New Hampshire's Maggie Hassan, and Nevada's Catherine Cortez Masto, and Montana's John Tester come out against us.
--:-- Tim Pierce: This is a particularly hot topic due to the mounting numbers at the border. So tell us about the ruling on Monday.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So on Monday, a federal judge in Louisiana ruled in favor of a challenge brought by a group of more than 20 states led by Arizona. The state AGs had argued that the Biden administration violated the law in the way it dismantled the order.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Since the president took office, DHS has released over 756,000 migrants into the U.S. For context, that's about the population of Denver. In March alone, over 220,000 migrants crossed the U.S. southern border, a 22-year high. That breaks down to about 7,000 migrants per day. President Biden's own analysts at the Department of Homeland Security estimate that daily average will balloon anywhere from 12 to 18 border crossings per day if the order is lifted.
--:-- Georgia Howe: States like Arizona and Texas say that those numbers simply aren't manageable.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now is there a plan in place if that happens?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said that the federal government is prepared for more migration. He told CBS News last week that the administration has been surging resources to the border for months.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Mayorkas is actually slated to testify before Congress on Thursday, so it will be interesting to see what kind of reception he gets from moderate Democrats who are the most vulnerable on this issue.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We've already seen Republicans come down hard on Biden and Mayorkas over the immigration issue, and that's likely to ramp up as we get closer to midterms.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Just one example, on Monday, 133 GOP lawmakers sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security saying Mayorkas has willingly endangered Americans and has undermined the rule of law. They even questioned Mayorkas' suitability for office.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Texas Congressman Chip Roy visited the border with a group of GOP lawmakers on Monday and said he looked forward to questioning Mayorkas over the border.
--:-- Tim Pierce: It's about the humanity. It's about the people dying from fentanyl poisoning. It's about the people being put in a sex trafficking trade. It's about the ranchers. It's about the people throughout this country getting harmed. Because this administration, led by the president and Secretary Mayorkas, who I look forward to seeing on Thursday, by the way, in the Judiciary Committee, they won't do their job.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, in terms of midterms, how much of a liability is this for the president and or state lawmakers?
--:-- Tim Pierce: It's actually becoming a major issue. And the numbers suggest that voters want more control of the border, not less. According to a morning consult poll from early April, voters disapprove of the president's handling of the border by a margin of 55 to 34. And that's his lowest score on any issue.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So it's not really surprising that moderate Democrats are trying to come out in favor of Title 42.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Right, and getting a handle on the border would really help the president at this point.
--:-- John Bickley: A new poll of prospective American voters finds troubling news for President Biden as young people's approval for the president has plunged. The poll from the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School found that Biden's approval rating among young voters dropped to 41% from the 59% approval at the start of his presidency and a 46% rating just last fall. Here to discuss what caused the drop is Daily Wire senior editor Ash Short.
--:-- Ash Short: Ash, tell us about this poll. Why is the president losing support among young voters?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, the problem for Biden with younger voters appears to be that they expected him to forgive their student loans, since on the campaign trail in 2020, he repeatedly said he supported such a move. Biden never said anything like, as president, I will forgive student debt, but he did voice his support for the wide-scale canceling of student debt and tweeted several times about the issue.
--:-- Ash Short: That included voicing support for a bill introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts that would forgive a minimum of $10,000 of federal student loans per person.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, the poll specifically asked the voters about student loans. What did it find?
--:-- Ash Short: The poll found that 85% of young Americans, those between the ages of 18 and 34, are in favor of some form of government action on student loan debt. But just 38% say that action should be total debt cancellation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So a drop in support for Biden, but still strong support for loan forgiveness.
--:-- Ash Short: Is there good news here for Republicans?
--:-- Georgia Howe: There is some good news for Republicans in the poll, aside from the fact that youth approval of Biden is declining. Harvard found that the composition of the electorate in 2022 looks different than in 2018 the last midterm election. This time around young Democrats who make up 38 percent of voters aged 18 to 29 said they are slightly less likely to vote this year than young Republicans of the same age group, who said they were slightly more likely to vote.
--:-- Ash Short: And what about for Democrats? Was there anything in this poll that was positive for them?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, the poll found that 2022 is on track to match 2018's record-breaking youth turnout. And since younger voters tend to swing Democrat, that might not be good news for the GOP.
--:-- Ash Short: But 2018 was also a midterm election under President Donald Trump, and his approval with young voters was consistently in the 30 to 39 percent range. Former President Barack Obama was much more popular with young voters than Trump or Biden, with approvals consistently over 40 percent and as high as 60 percent.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So how does this poll fit in with the overall view of the political landscape heading into the midterms?
--:-- Ash Short: This poll is yet another indication that Democrats are going to struggle in the upcoming elections. Biden's approval rating among all voters continues to drop, reaching a new low of just 38 percent. But Americans also rate him poorly on nearly every aspect of his job, with just 15 percent saying the economy is in good condition. And more than three times that amount, 47 percent saying it's in poor condition. Forty three percent said they expected the economy to get worse. And 56 percent said they thought a recession was coming in the next year.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Americans also largely disapprove of the way Biden is handling Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But obviously Biden's not on the ticket. So will this really hurt Democrats that badly?
--:-- Ash Short: It'll hurt because voters tend to think of the party as a whole. Midterms typically mean bad news for the party that holds the White House, but Democrats appear to be gearing up for a, to quote President Obama, shellacking. So far, 31 Democrats have said they would either retire or are seeking another office, putting control of the House of Representatives up for grabs.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, there's certainly a lot on the line in November.
--:-- Ash Short: For sure.
--:-- John Bickley: Other stories we're tracking this week. Russia is preparing to shut down gas supplies to any countries that refuse to pay in rubles. Among those saying they won't comply to the terms is Poland, which said Tuesday that they've been informed that Russian gas supplies will be halted this week.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID Tuesday. According to her press secretary, Harris was exhibiting no symptoms and has not been in close contact with the president or the first lady.
--:-- John Bickley: And President Biden is set to issue his first pardons to three individuals, including a former Secret Service agent, and will commute the sentences of 75 others.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission, consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- John Bickley: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you like this podcast, subscribe to our Morning Wire newsletter, available exclusively to Daily Wire members. Get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at dailywire.com slash subscribe. Use code MORNINGWIRE to try a Reader's Pass membership and get your first month for only 99 cents.
