Illegal crossings at the Southern border hit another historic benchmark, with more migrants crossing last month than any month before.

The same time, we have record-low, ice-deportation. Record numbers coming across, record few being removed.

How are border states dealing with the influx of migrants?

I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bikley. It's Tuesday, January second, and this is Morning Wire. Conflict in the Red Sea ramps up as the US sinks two huthy rebel boats attempting to hijack merchant ships.

We're going to.

Put the forces we.

Need in the region to protect those.

Interests, and we're going to act in.

Self-defense going forward.

What are the US and other countries doing to stop the continued attacks?

The Biden DOJ announced that it will not pursue charges related to political donations and bribes against Democrat mega donors by Sam Bankman-Fried, prompting accusations of a cover-up.

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Last month saw the highest number of illegal immigrant encounters at the Southern border in history, exacerbating a border crisis that's strained cities nationwide.

Here with more on the situation is DailyWire's Senior Editor, Cabot Phillips. Hey, Cabot. It seems like records are being broken at the border nearly every month now, and states are starting to take more aggressive action. First, tell us about these historic numbers.

Yeah, it is easy to grow numb to the magnitude of this crisis when you hear about records being broken month after month. But the numbers bear repeating. According to new federal data, last month alone saw more than 276,000 legal immigrant encounters at the Southern border. Not only is that the highest mark in American history, breaking the previous record set back in September, but it also feels to take into account the tens of thousands maybe even more, who got through the Southern border undetected. For context, this December represents a 262 % increase in border crossings compared to the same month in 2020.

Yeah, these numbers are almost hard to comprehend.

They really are. So to put it into more perspective, since October, we've now seen at least 760,000 legal entries at the border. That is the equivalent to the populations of Miami and Pittsburgh combined in just three months' time. And get this, in the fall of 2023, more peopleall crossed our border illegally than were born in the United States over that same time frame. All to all federal data reports 3.2 million legal entries in the year 2023. Again, these numbers can be hard to wrap your head around. So picture the entire populations of Wyoming, Vermont, Delaware, and Rhode Island crossing the southern border in one year, and that's what happened last year. So regardless of the messaging we're hearing from lawmakers in Washington, this crisis is simply unprecedented and only.

Getting worse. Yeah. Now we've talked about how some states, particularly Texas, are beginning to take matters into their own hands. What's the latest on those efforts?

Well, Texas has allocated billions of dollars towards the crisis, fortifying vulnerable portions of the border with new construction and manpower. And just before Christmas, Governor Greg Abit signed to the law a first of its kind immigration measure that takes effect this coming March. The law will allow law enforcement in the state to arrest migrants for crossing the border illegally and then give local judges the power to deport them. If they refuse the court's order to leave, they'll face misdemeanor charges of illegal entry and then felony charges if they're arrested again. Here's Abit addressing that law at a signing event from the border.

The only thing we are doing by this law is.

Making sure.

That our law enforcement have the tools they need to.

Actually take action.

Against those who are actually coming across the border illegally. Biden's deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself.

Now, in response, the Biden administration announced Thursday that they would sue Texas if the state enforced the law, which they are expected to do. They said in the letter to Governor Abit that he was, quote, intruding into a field that is occupied by the federal government. For his part, Abit has vowed to fight that lawsuit all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. While immigration advocates argue the law is inhumane and will lead to police profiling. Supporters say the purpose of law enforcement is to enforce the law and that illegal immigration is, by definition, illegal. Regardless, a long legal battle is almost certainly ahead of us on.

That front. Yeah, it certainly is. Now, before we go, let's get to California, which just enacted a very different law pertaining to illegal immigration, correct?

Right. Starting this week, California will become the first state in the country to offer taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal immigrants. Prior to this year, illegal immigrant children could obtain state-funded healthcare under the law, but now their parents will be included as well. That means that at least 700,000 people living in the state illegally will now be given full coverage moving forward. Democrats in the state, including Governor Gavin Newsom, celebrated the development, saying healthcare is human right. While Republicans pointed to the state's $68 billion deficit this coming year and said the move would only incentivize more illegal immigration.

Certainly dramatic contrast between states like California and Texas.

Cabit, thanks for reporting. Anytime.

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Us helicopters sunk three huthie boats over the weekend as their crews attempted to hijack a merchant vessel. Although no civilians were harmed, the attack has renewed concerns about merchant safety as a US-led coalition polices the region.

Daily Wire reporter Tim pierce is here to talk about the growing unrest in the Middle East. Hi, Tim. So a significant escalation here. What happened over the weekend?

Hey, John. The merchant ship at the center of all this was a container ship operated by the shipping giant Maresk. The saga started on Saturday night. It issued a distress call after a missile struck its deck. Two US Navy vessels in the area responded to the call and shot down several more rockets from Huthie rebels. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident. The container ship issued another distress call at about 6:30 the next morning after its security forces traded small arms fire with four hoothie boats. Us helicopters responded, and after taking fire from rebels, sunk three of the four boats. The fourth escaped. No shipping crew or US personnel were harmed either day. But after the attack, Mayur said it would pause shipping through the Red Sea to reassess the security situation. The company had recently lifted a weeklong suspension of its Red Sea routes because of US promises to protect trade through the area. But those promises don't seem to have been enough to stop hootie attacks.

Right, this is a part of Operation Prosperity Guardian that was announced a few weeks ago and we reported on it. And it's attempting to reopen Red Sea shipping. How is the operation going?

Obviously, the hootie attacks haven't stopped, and US military officials don't expect them to either. So the safety of merchant ships depends on the US Coalition's ability to intercept Huthi boats and missiles. Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper told the Associated Press over the weekend that despite the attacks, 1,200 merchant ships had crossed through the Red Sea since Operation Prosperity Guardian was announced a few weeks ago. But according to reports, the US may be struggling to recruit allies to join its operation. The Pentagon has said about 20 other nations have agreed to cooperate in the mission, but Reuters reports that many of those 20 haven't been named publicly. Of those that have, there are a few cases, such as Italy and Spain, where the member countries seem to distance themselves from the operation. So President Biden may be having trouble projecting the United Front he had.

Hoped for. Yeah, sounds like it. Now this is coming amid ongoing conflicts in the region. What do we know about the threat to US troops and interests in other parts of the Middle East?

Since Hamas's October seventh attack on Israel, Iranian-backed militias have launched dozens of rocket attacks against Israel and US forces throughout the Middle East. In response, the US and Israel have struck targets in Iraq and Syria, such as fuel and arms depots of Iran's proxies. Those attacks have sparked some blowback from Arab governments. Iraq accused the United States of committing a clear hostile act after a strike, reportedly killed one and wounded 18. It's worth noting that a main objective of the Biden administration has been to keep the conflict between Israel and Hamas from spreading. But that doesn't seem to be going all that well. As Israel pressures Hamas, many other Iran-backed are growing more aggressive against Israel, such as the Huthis in Yemen and Hezboah to Israel's north in Lebanon. The Biden administration has been pretty restrained in its response to attacks mid all this, but as the conflicts escalate, some are saying targeted strikes aren't enough. The former Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, recently called for the US and Israel to target Iran directly through sanctions and sabotage for the attacks by its proxies. Meanwhile, the public messaging coming from the Iranian regime continues to aggressively target Israel and in.

The US. Obviously, a very unstable situation. Tim, thanks for the update.

Thanks for having me.

The Biden Department of Justice announced over the weekend that it does not plan to prosecute disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for unlawful political donations and bribery of foreign officials. The DOJ's decision not to bring charges have sparked accusations of a political cover-up.

Here to discuss is daily wire reporter Amanda Prestojakimo. Amanda, the DOJ was going to go after bankman-freeed for these apparent illicit campaign donations, but now they're not going to. What was the reasoning for that?

The DOJ is saying that it's acting out of the public interest here, and basically that it doesn't need to pursue these charges because bankman-freeed, or SPF, as he's widely known, was already found guilty of other fraud charges back in November. Us attorney Damian Williams said in a legal filing that much of the evidence that would be offered in this second trial was already offered in the first trial and can be considered by the court during SPF's sentencing, and that's scheduled for March. But some quick background that's important. Spf was found guilty in that first trial on all seven counts that he was charged with, and that included wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit those crimes. Notably, though, prosecutors were unable to go after the crypto CEO for fraud charges relating to unlawful campaign contributions. That was because the extradition agreement with the Bahamas to arrest SPF did not include such counts.

What are the specific charges that they're choosing not to pursue now?

Unlawful campaign contributions and bribery of foreign officials are the main ones. Specifically, when it comes to foreign bribes, this was actually brought up in the first trial, though most of it was struck from the record because it didn't relate to the charges at hand. Caroline Allison, SPF's on-and-off again girlfriend who ran his hedge fund, Alameda research, she testified in court that SPF paid around $100 million in bribes to Chinese officials. She said that the alleged bribes were paid in 2021 to try to unlock two cryptocurrency trading accounts owned by Alameda.

Now, what reaction are we seeing from this DOJ decision not to go after these additional charges?

There's been a lot of anger and accusations that the DOJ is acting politically here. Critics say the DOJ is trying to protect politicians by not exposing those involved in apparent bribery schemes. It's widely known that SPF was a major donor to Democrats in 2022. In fact, he was the third largest donor, and we're talking about tens of millions of dollars, over 40 million in just 2022. Spf was also one of the largest donors to Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign with a $5.2 million donation. This was all very public. Here's SPF actually seeming to brag to Bloomberg News about funding politicians.

If I pulled out my phone here and just looked at my last 10 text.

Messages, about half of.

Them are going to.

Be.

Asure that she's asking for contributions.

Spf has claimed that he's donated to Republicans too through untraceable methods. That's harder to pin down, but there were multimillion dollar donations given to groups that are linked to Mitch McConnell, a Republican leader, and Chuck Schumer, a Democrat leader, for example.

What prison sentence is he looking at?

He's facing up to 110 years behind bars and is expected to face a decades-long sentence. That is going to be determined by Manhattan-based federal judge, Louis Kaplan. Sentencing is set for March 28th.

Well, a lot of high-profile people were caught up in this. Probably glad to have it wrap up. Amanda, thanks for reporting. You're welcome. Thank you.

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