Month: February 2024
Mitch McConnell scoffs at GOP critics after his border deal collapses: ‘They had their shot’
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell brushed off backlash from his GOP critics after support for his bipartisan border deal collapsed on Wednesday.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called for McConnell to resign this week and argued that the border deal was far too weak to be acceptable. McConnell said his detractors are ignoring the reality of politics and compromise.
"I’ve had a small group of persistent critics the whole time I’ve been in this job. They had their shot," McConnell told Politico on Wednesday, referring to an attempt to replace him as leader in 2022.
"The reason we’ve been talking about the border is because they wanted to, the persistent critics," he continued. "You can’t pass a bill without dealing with a Democratic president and a Democratic Senate."
GOP SENATORS RALLY AGAINST BIPARTISAN BORDER DEAL, CITING BIDEN’S POWER TO SUSPEND ‘EMERGENCY’ BILL
When asked on Tuesday specifically about Cruz's call for him to resign, McConnell responded with his typical deadpan humor.
"I think we can all agree that Senator Cruz is not a fan," he told reporters.
MAYORKAS LASHES OUT AT ‘BASELESS’ GOP ALLEGATIONS AHEAD OF KEY IMPEACHMENT VOTE
Cruz is not the only Republican senator speaking out, however. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, campaigned against the border bill and has called for "new leadership" in the party. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., was similarly frustrated.
"I’ve been super unhappy since this started," Johnson told Politico. "Leader McConnell completely blew this."
Cruz said the bill, crafted by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., "codifies" Biden's penchant to allow a porous border and "normalizes" 5,000 illegal migrants per day.
EX-ICE CHIEF SCOFFS AT KATHY HOCHUL'S SUDDEN MIGRANT OUTRAGE
"That works out to 1.8 million a year. That works out to about 6 million illegal immigrants over the three years of Biden.… So the idiotic Republican proposal was let's be for two thirds of the border invasion that Biden has allowed," he told Fox News on Wednesday morning.
The GOP infighting comes as the U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced 1 million border encounters since Oct. 1, the beginning of fiscal year 2024. The CBP reached the 1 million mark faster than any other year.
Appeals Court cuts down every piece of Trump’s immunity claim—with flair
On Tuesday, a federal appeals court ruled that Donald Trump is not immune to prosecution for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. The 57-page ruling takes apart the claims that Trump made one by one, thoroughly dismembering his arguments to conclude that Trump’s declaration of “categorical immunity from criminal liability” is “unsupported by precedent, history or the text and structure of the Constitution.”
As The New York Times notes, the unanimous ruling is unlikely to be the last word on executive immunity, but the appeals court “handed Mr. Trump a significant defeat.” Not least of all in determining that, as far as the court is concerned, it’s very much Mr. Trump.
For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant. But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution.
There’s nothing about this ruling that is going to make Trump happy.
Mother Jones has sifted the ruling for some of the best lines, and that definitive stripping away of Trump’s former title is just one of them. There’s also the section where the court notes that during his second impeachment trial, Trump’s legal representative tried to have it the other way. In 2021, they argued that Trump shouldn’t be impeached because he was out of office and the proper place to deal with this was in court by writing “[w]e have a judicial process” and “an investigative process ... to which no former officeholder is immune.’”
The judges also noted that Trump wasn’t alone in making this argument: Thirty senators, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, also argued that once he left office, Trump was no longer the proper subject of impeachment and was subject to the courts.
But the portion of the ruling most likely to get wide play is one in which the judges point out the pure silliness of what Trump is suggesting.
It would be a striking paradox if the President, who alone is vested with the constitutional duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,” were the sole officer capable of defying those laws with impunity.
This is connected to what others have described as the center of the judges' reasoning: Giving the president the kind of immunity Trump seeks would “collapse our system of separated powers by placing the President beyond the reach of all three Branches.” It would immediately elevate the president to an all-powerful dictator, unbounded by anything Congress or the courts might do.
In addition to declaring that he should have absolute immunity, Trump’s appeal included a backup claim that because he had been impeached and Republicans had voted to save him in the Senate, taking him to court on the same issues would be “double jeopardy.” But the court also swiftly dealt with that assertion, making it clear that impeachment and indictment were unrelated.
The ruling gives Trump until Feb. 12 to file an appeal with the Supreme Court. Otherwise, the district court can once again move forward on charges of election interference. The ruling is so definitive that numerous experts have suggested the Supreme Court might not take up an appeal from Trump.
However, some are suggesting that because special counsel Jack Smith originally tried to convince the Supreme Court to hear the case before it was sent back to the appeals court, this could be an opening for Trump’s attorneys to press the court to take up the case.
Trump has responded to the ruling with numerous repetitions of his assertion that presidents must have a level of immunity that no president has ever enjoyed in real life.
When Trump brought this appeal, legal experts agreed that the issues around presidential immunity were novel and that whatever the court determined it would be making new law. Now a three-judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals has filled in those gaps, and their ruling seems so definitive that they may be the last word on this topic.
Except for Trump. He’ll keep on demanding absolute immunity. Even if he’s doing it from a prison cell.
Campaign ActionFormer Hunter Biden associate Tony Bobulinski to testify behind closed doors part of impeachment inquiry
EXCLUSIVE: Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, is expected to testify behind closed doors on Capitol Hill next week as part of the House impeachment inquiry against President Biden, Fox News Digital has learned.
A source familiar with the planning told Fox News Digital that Bobulinski will appear on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 10 a.m. for his transcribed interview before both the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees.
The source said his interview is expected to last eight hours.
Bobulinski, who worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint-venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC, said he met with Joe Biden in 2017.
Bobulinski, in December, demanded Biden "stop lying" about that meeting and called on him to "correct the record."
"Why is Joe Biden blatantly lying to the American people and the world by claiming that he did not meet with me face to face?" Bobulinski told Fox News Digital in a statement. "He should call his son Hunter and brother Jim as they can remind him of the facts. The American people deserve the truth!"
FLASHBACK: HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS ASSOCIATE'S TEXT MESSAGES INDICATE MEETING WITH JOE BIDEN
He added: "I call on Mr. Biden to stop lying and correct the record."
Bobulinski said he is a "former decorated Naval Officer who was willing to die for this great country and held the highest security clearance issued by the Department of Energy."
Bobulinski worked with Hunter Biden to create the joint venture SinoHawk Holdings with Chinese energy company CEFC.
Despite Biden’s recent denials of involvement with his son’s business dealings, text messages dating back to May 2017 reveal that Biden met with Bobulinski months after he left the vice president's office. Fox News Digital first reported on the text messages and that meeting in October 2020.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Rep. Matt Gaetz wants to force House GOP to take a Trump loyalty test
On Tuesday, Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz and honorary “Florida man” Rep. Elise Stefanik, and 64 House Republicans presented a resolution to declare that Donald Trump “did not engage in insurrection or rebellion” related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Gaetz began the press conference by saying “We are here today to authoritatively express that President Trump did not commit an insurrection,”
More importantly, Gaetz made it clear that he plans to use this as a MAGA purity test. After thanking Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio for filing a companion bill in the Senate, Gaetz said, “And now it's time for members of the House and Senate to show where they stand on this question.” And just like that, Gaetz’s remarks were followed by a series of Republicans praising dear leader Trump and saying how the insurrection on Jan. 6 was a concoction by “leftists.”
“[What] we have seen is mass hysteria caused by you, the reckless leftist media,” said Rep. Andy Biggs. “That's what we've seen.”
Stefanik flanked Gaetz during the press conference, suggesting they’ve patched things up since the two spent October bickering at one another’s expense. Gaetz’s resolution reads in its entirety:
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that former President Donald J. Trump did not engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or give aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
You can flip the paper over if you don’t believe me.
The idea that after hundreds of arrests, convictions, and prison sentences—as well as a congressional investigation that left very little to the imagination about how very much Trump and his allies orchestrated the insurrection—the horrors of Jan. 6 should be forgotten with a single-sentence resolution is almost hallucinogenic! It also signals how Trump and his supporters expect the GOP to fall in line. Those who sign on to Gaetz’s resolution will be on a list that Trump can point to and threaten Republican officials with for however long he lives.
As of now, two names are conspicuously absent from the list of sponsors of the bill: Reps. Jim Jordan and James Comer, both of whom have been doing Trump’s dirty work as chairs of House oversight committees.
Maybe they are too busy not finding evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden to sign on to a bill as ludicrous as this one. But as former Rep. Liz Cheney knows, Jordan will surely sign on to any bill pretending that Jan. 6, 2021, never happened.
Campaign ActionHere are the 3 House Republicans who torpedoed Mayorkas’ impeachment vote
House Republicans were dealt a crushing defeat on Tuesday when a months-long effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the crisis at the southern border failed – with three GOP lawmakers breaking ranks and voting against the measure.
The vote was 214-216. Lawmakers voted on a resolution combining two articles of impeachment that accused Mayorkas of having "refused to comply with Federal immigration laws" and the other of having violated "public trust."
While the House voted mostly along party lines, with Democrats remaining united against the measure, three Republicans voted against it, with another lawmaker switching his vote at the last minute to allow for the resolution to be brought back to the floor.
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO WHY REP. BLAKE MOORE FLIPPED FROM YEA TO NAY ON IMPEACHING MAYORKAS
Those who voted no were Reps. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., Ken Buck, R-Colo., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. The lawmakers said while they disapproved of the job Mayorkas is doing at the southern border, the threshold for impeachment had not been met, and warned it could be used against future Republican administrations.
"Secretary Mayorkas is guilty of maladministration of our immigration laws on a cosmic scale. But we know that’s not grounds for impeachment, because the American Founders specifically rejected it," McClintock said on the House floor. "They didn’t want political disputes to become impeachment because that would shatter the separation of powers that vests the enforcement of the laws with the president, no matter how bad a job he does."
Gallagher said Mayorkas "has faithfully implemented President Biden’s open border policies and helped create the dangerous crisis at the southern border."
"But the proponents of impeachment failed to make the argument as to how his stunning incompetence meets the impeachment threshold Republicans outlined while defending former President Trump," he said in a statement, warning that a lower standard wouldn’t secure the border, "and will set a dangerous new precedent that will be weaponized against future Republican administrations."
HOUSE FAILS TO IMPEACH DHS SECRETARY ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS IN MAJOR BLOW TO GOP
Buck was also critical of Mayorkas but did not believe the standard for impeachment had been met.
"In effect, we are now doing what we rightfully said House Democrats were doing in 2019 and 2021: pushing a partisan impeachment not based on what the Constitution actually states," he said in an op-ed for the Hill.
Meanwhile, Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, technically voted no but switched his vote at the last minute in a procedural move to be able to bring the resolution back to the floor.
The defeat marks a significant blow for House Republicans, who had pushed the impeachment of Mayorkas for over a year, and have accused him of disregarding federal law with "open border policies" that have worsened the ongoing crisis at the southern border.
GOP LAWMAKER ON KEY IMMIGRATION SUBCOMMITTEE SLAMS MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT
Democrats and DHS accused Republicans of running a politically motivated impeachment that had no constitutional basis.
"This baseless impeachment should never have moved forward; it faces bipartisan opposition and legal experts resoundingly say it is unconstitutional," DHS spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said after the vote on Tuesday. "If House Republicans are serious about border security, they should abandon these political games and instead support the bipartisan national security agreement in the Senate to get DHS the enforcement resources we need."
"Secretary Mayorkas remains focused on working across the aisle to promote real solutions at the border and keep our country safe," she said.
Republicans, however, indicated that they would likely vote again on the resolution when Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., returns from cancer treatment.
"While I’m disappointed in the outcome of today’s vote, this is not the end of our efforts to hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable," House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., said in a statement. "I look forward to Leader Scalise’s return."
Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
Jeffries deflects question of personal plea to Al Green on Mayorkas impeachment vote
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to specify whether he made a personal plea for Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) to leave his hospital bed to oppose the ultimately unsuccessful impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
"He made it clear to me that it was important for him to be present to cast a vote against the sham impeachment," Jeffries said at his weekly press conference, in response to a question about a specific ask to Green.
Jeffries also said his party didn't advise House Republicans about their attendance situation. "It's not our responsibility to let House Republicans know which members will or will not be present on the House floor," he said.
The impeachment effort against Mayorkas ultimately failed 214-216, with a handful of GOP nos joining all Democrats. Republicans have vowed to try again once Majority Leader Steve Scalise returns from cancer treatments.
Republican Party suffers the most humiliating 24 hours in recent memory
Every party loses an election now and then. Both parties have spent whole decades on the outs, railing from the sidelines while their opponents controlled the agenda. However, it’s hard to think of a 24-hour period where any party has suffered so many self-inflicted disasters as the Republican Party experienced on Tuesday.
This beautiful run of disintegrating dignitas began on Monday evening when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke out to explain why the border security deal that had been negotiated over months was exactly what was needed to address “a humanitarian and security crisis of historic proportions.” Then he went behind closed doors three hours later to kill the bill on orders from Donald Trump.
The morning opened to chaos. Sen. James Lankford, who had been McConnell’s chief negotiator on the bill, explained how it felt to be run over by a bus. McConnell, who once completely dictated the actions of Republicans in the Senate, was revealed as a sad puppet. The remaining Republicans were left stumbling over themselves, trying to justify sabotaging the best deal they’re ever going to get.
In hours Republicans took the issue at the heart of their 2024 campaign and turned it into an anchor that President Joe Biden will hang around their necks.
And their day only went downhill from there.
After a morning spent scrambling to create a reason for their actions that went beyond simple fear of Trump, Republicans got some troubling news about their golden ruler. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia took Trump to task with a 57-page decision that shredded any delusions about “absolute immunity.”
For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant. But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution.
The unanimous decision was extensive and authoritative enough that experts are suggesting the Supreme Court might not consider Trump’s appeal, assuming Trump’s crack legal team manages to meet the short filing deadline provided by the appellate court.
But that was far from the end. Over on the House side of the Capitol, Republicans had cooked up the ridiculous impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for not being tougher on the border. Despite having just shot down a bill to get tougher on the border, they were determined to plunge blindly ahead under untested Speaker Mike Johnson.
Once again, Republicans learned that just because Nancy Pelosi made running a House vote look easy, that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
The reason Republicans were so eager to hold the vote on Tuesday evening was because they knew that Democratic Rep. Al Green was in the hospital after undergoing emergency abdominal surgery on Friday. Republicans hoped to take advantage of Green’s absence to give them a buffer against any Republican defections from their unjustified and patently ridiculous impeachment.
But with the vote already underway, Green appeared in a wheelchair to cast the decisive vote, putting the motion into a 215-215 tie. Johnson was forced to flip his vote to preserve the issue for a re-vote at a later date, resulting in a stunning and deeply embarrassing loss for the Republicans.
And the night still wasn’t over.
Earlier in the week, Republicans had prepared a stand-alone aid package for Israel in hopes that they could avoid having to vote on the Ukraine assistance and border security bill they had demanded for months. Johnson tried to push the Israel assistance package through using an accelerated procedure that required two-thirds of the votes.
Proving once again that counting is considered higher math for this Republican team, that bill also failed, falling over 30 votes short.
Republicans have suggested that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who missed the Tuesday night vote while undergoing cancer treatment, will be back on Wednesday so they can call a do-over. However, there is disagreement on this point.
But if there is one thing this Republican-led House knows how to do, it’s hold one humiliating vote after another. So they will probably make it happen someday.
But even after these two disastrous votes, the day still wasn’t over.
Soon after Johnson finally gaveled an end to fruitless efforts in the House, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel announced that she was stepping down. McDaniel has been under heavy pressure from Trump for failing to keep the RNC coffers filled with cash.
McDaniel is the niece of Sen. Mitt Romney, but she stopped using her family name at Trump’s request. Now he has essentially fired her. As usual, Trump’s idea of loyalty is strictly one-way.
Republicans are rolling into the new day with absolutely nothing to show for surrendering everything to Trump. The best bill they could have hoped to negotiate is gone, they didn’t get their sham impeachment, they didn’t get their Israel-without-Ukraine funding package, and the chair of the party is packing up to leave. Meanwhile, Trump is entering the day with a much greater chance that he will face criminal proceedings before the election.
There aren’t a lot of New York Times headlines that bear repeating, but this one works:

And it’s only Wednesday.
Campaign ActionSchumer presses forward with Ukraine Plan B as GOP leaders reel
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to push ahead with a new foreign aid plan Wednesday, putting new pressure on the two top Republicans on Capitol Hill — both of whom are facing fresh questions about their leadership after a series of high-profile flops this week.
Schumer's move comes after a Senate border security plan, negotiated over the course of months in a bid to unlock aid to Ukraine and Israel, collapsed just days after its release. According to a Senate Democratic aide briefed on his plans, Schumer will call a vote to open debate on a standalone aid bill if a procedural vote on the border plan fails as expected Wednesday.
The move threatens to again expose a divide inside the GOP between traditionalist defense hawks who firmly support Ukraine aid and a more isolationist wing aligned with former President Donald Trump.
Caught in the middle are Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who are both reeling from embarrassing setbacks.
House Republicans on Tuesday failed to muster the necessary votes for the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas or a $17.6 billion aid package for Israel, once again putting a spotlight on Johnson’s inability to shepherd his slim majority.
Meanwhile, the border deal's collapse in the Senate has McConnell's critics — and, privately, even some of his allies — casting new doubt on the veteran leader’s once formidable ability to corral his diverse conference.
A lion in winter?
An outspoken proponent of Ukraine aid, McConnell embraced a push last year to link tough new border policies to the foreign-aid supplemental, thus buying conservative support. He deputized conservative Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) to cut a deal.
But the deal Lankford cinched was torn to tatters in the span of 48 hours thanks to opposition from Trump, McConnell’s political nemesis. Most GOP senators — including some of McConnell’s closest allies — are expected to vote today against even debating it.
If it fails as expected, McConnell will be faced with a new challenge: Schumer's plan is to quickly move to launch debate on a foreign aid bill that omits the border agreement.
McConnell has indicated he is likely to back such a package, viewing it as essential to backstop the Ukrainians in their fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s force. But it is in serious question whether he can manage — or will even try — to bring the rest of his conference along.
The backdrop is stark: McConnell’s longtime critics have been emboldened by the border deal's collapse. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) called it a “betrayal” and is demanding new leadership. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) posted a meme mocking McConnell, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has explicitly called for McConnell to step down.
“It’s not James Lankford’s fault. It’s Mitch McConnell’s fault,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said. Added Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.): “These were real tactical errors that he's made — and, you know, I think his public opinion polls show it.”
McConnell fired back in an exclusive interview with POLITICO. He argues that his critics “had their shot” to vote him out as leader a year ago and failed. He blamed them for the party’s confounding, boomeranging strategy over the border. And he argued that solving the problems they identified requires working with Democrats.
“The reason we’ve been talking about the border is because they wanted to, the persistent critics,” McConnell said. “You can’t pass a bill without dealing with a Democratic president and a Democratic Senate.”
McConnell, of course, has outflanked and outlasted his critics for years, and he retains the confidence of most Senate Republicans, who can’t oust him mid-term even if they want to.
Still, one senior GOP aide who admires the longtime leader said the crescendo in whispers is unmistakable: “Can Mitch continue doing this?”
“He’s been an incredibly consequential and strategic leader, always thinking about where the conference needs to be and looking around the corners,” this person said. “None of that’s happening. It’s not the same.”
The collapse of the border deal and the reaction from his critics on the MAGA right have made obvious that there is no tenable way for McConnell to remain leader if Trump is elected. And even with Trump as GOP nominee, it will be exceedingly difficult.
“That’s oil and water,” Johnson said. “That wouldn’t work very well.”
Johnson's bad day
Johnson, meanwhile, pushed forward Tuesday with the impeachment vote in the face of numerous red flags, expressing confidence throughout the day yesterday that he had the votes to oust Mayorkas.
But those assurances evaporated as Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) — a respected former Marine officer and committee chair — made good on threats to oppose the articles, joining Reps. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) and Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), who have long argued that policy differences aren’t grounds for impeachment.
Johnson and the rest of the GOP leadership team, meanwhile, didn’t have a firm grasp on their whip count. They appeared to assume that Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) — who’d been in the ER for surgery yesterday — wouldn’t show. But in a dramatic moment, he was wheeled into the chamber wearing scrubs to cast the decisive vote.
That spurred a last-gasp effort to strongarm Gallagher into changing his vote, with fellow Republicans warning the Wisconsin Republican of serious blowback from the base. It didn’t work.
Tuesday's vote isn’t the end of the Mayorkas impeachment saga: Republicans say they’ll try again when they have full attendance. Even so, it was a high-profile setback for the new speaker that was compounded by the decision to immediately press forward with a vote on the Israel aid bill, which failed to garner the necessary two-thirds margin under suspension of the rules, 250-180.
Holding a failed vote in this case might have been politically defensible, to highlight Democrats’ opposition to the Israel funding. But that message got lost amid the botched impeachment narrative.
The problems for Johnson might only snowball from here. The Mayorkas vote is casting serious doubt on any effort to impeach President Joe Biden, which has been a top priority for the House GOP's MAGA wing. And, in about two weeks, Johnson will have to start muscling government funding bills across the floor — which is sure to exacerbate tensions with right-wingers.
Johnson, who emerged as speaker after the hard right revolted against predecessor Kevin McCarthy, has benefited in his first three months on the job from the sense that there’s no one else in the House GOP who could do any better than he has.
But if he has any more days like Tuesday, that idea might change fast.
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CBP migrant encounters already exceed 1 million since October
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has tracked over 1 million migrant encounters since Oct. 1st, when fiscal year 2024 began, a CBP source told Fox News Digital on Wednesday, the earliest this mark has ever been reached.
The number is roughly 100,000 encounters higher than the same period last year, when the U.S. saw 908,000 encounters. This is the earliest the U.S. has ever reached the 1 million encounter mark, according to the CBP source.
The U.S. is also tracking a higher number of Chinese migrants crossing the border. Chinese illegal immigrants made up the fastest-growing group of border crossers last year, and fiscal year 2024 is on track to shatter that record.
The CBP encountered over 37,000 Chinese migrants last year, but they have already encountered nearly 20,000 since October. The CBP source says they have encountered roughly 150 Chinese migrants per day this fiscal year.
GOP SENATORS RALLY AGAINST BIPARTISAN BORDER DEAL, CITING BIDEN’S POWER TO SUSPEND ‘EMERGENCY’ BILL
The news comes just after a bipartisan immigration bill crashed and burned in Congress this week.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and other critics of the bill argued that it would "normalize" 5,000 border encounters each day.
MAYORKAS LASHES OUT AT ‘BASELESS’ GOP ALLEGATIONS AHEAD OF KEY IMPEACHMENT VOTE
"That works out to 1.8 million a year. That works out to about 6 million illegal immigrants over the three years of Biden…. So the idiotic Republican proposal was let's be for two thirds of the border invasion that Biden has allowed," Cruz told Fox News on Tuesday.
The House of Representatives also failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a vote on Tuesday.
The House voted mostly along party lines, but Republicans suffered a number of defections that torpedoed the 216-214 vote. Four Republicans ultimately voted no: Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., Ken Buck, R-Colo., Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Blake Moore, R-Utah, who switched his vote at the last minute in a procedural move to be able to bring the resolution back to the floor.
GOP LAWMAKER ON KEY IMMIGRATION SUBCOMMITTEE SLAMS MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT
Lawmakers voted on a resolution combining two articles of impeachment that accused Mayorkas of having "refused to comply with Federal immigration laws" and the other of having violated "public trust." A Cabinet secretary has not been impeached since 1876, when Secretary of War William Belknap was impeached.
Border crossings have set several records in recent months. December saw 302,000 migrant encounters alone, the highest total for a single month ever recorded. It was also the first time a monthly total had exceeded 300,000.
Fox News' Adam Shaw and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report