Recently released memos from former Vice President Kamala Harris&#8217;s 2024 presidential campaign reveal the Democrat&#8217;s public relations struggles in the waning days of her failed White House bid.
The memos — first reported by Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf in the forthcoming book &#8220;2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Left Lost America&#8221; — were written by Maria Comella, a PR consultant who also <a href="https://www.comella.co/contact" target="_blank" rel="noopener">served as</a> chief strategist for Chris Christie&#8217;s 2024 presidential campaign.
In multiple instances, Comella <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000197-e956-d05a-afb7-ed5645b00000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">urged</a> Harris to &#8220;Call out the Democratic Party for missing the mark on public safety in US cities.&#8221; The memo notes that Harris should demonstrate her willingness to criticize Democrats on top of &#8220;Trump&#8217;s chaos.&#8221;
The memo also urges Harris to appear on Joe Rogan&#8217;s podcast, noting that the host &#8220;will be looking for authenticity and it&#8217;s an opportunity to differentiate in style. Be honest about mistakes. There is a natural leadership contrast with Trump who can never admit when he is wrong.&#8221;
President Donald Trump joined Rogan&#8217;s show in late October, after which Rogan <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/joe-rogan-endorses-trump-for-president" target="_blank" rel="noopener">endorsed.</a> In response, Harris&#8217;s campaign <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/joe-rogan-says-harris-campaign-lied-about-her-failed-appearance-on-his-show-brings-receipts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">complained</a> that Rogan misled them in a malicious attempt to sabotage her presidential run.
Rogan retorted that the Harris campaign &#8220;never agreed to do the show. None of that&#8217;s true … They also said that they sent someone down here to the studio to do a walk-through of the set. That&#8217;s not true.&#8221;
The <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000197-e958-da98-a3b7-f95a2eec0000">memo</a> lists former The View cohost Meredith Vieira and sports podcaster Bill Simmons as alternatives to Rogan. Harris never joined Rogan, Vieira, or Simmons, but did make an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kamala-blasted-for-going-on-explicit-call-her-daddy-podcast-as-americans-are-dying" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appearance</a> on the explicit podcast &#8220;Call Her Daddy.&#8221;
In accompanying memos published in the same book, Harris was urged to distance herself from then-President Joe Biden, who had only recently dropped out of the race.
Referring to the Biden administration&#8217;s disastrous border policies, the <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000197-e958-de82-a7d7-ff5cedae0000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">memo</a> told Harris not to &#8220;waste time defending what has happened. Acknowledge the mistake, define the problem and how we have to act moving forward.&#8221;
&#8220;It turns out it is okay to acknowledge mistakes and failures– particularly if it shows voters where the Vice President is different from President Biden,&#8221; the memo reads.
Harris infamously refused to critique Biden&#8217;s handling of the border in a &#8220;60 Minutes&#8221; interview, during which she was asked <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kamala-repeatedly-refuses-to-say-it-was-a-mistake-to-allow-illegal-aliens-to-flood-into-u-s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">repeatedly</a> about the issue. Instead, she blamed the massive influx of illegal aliens on Congress.
The memos also mention issues with vocal Trump opponents, including former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).
&#8220;In many instances, the voices who are willing to speak out publicly in support of Vice President Harris are imperfect messengers who are viewed with a skeptical eye by the audiences you still need to persuade,&#8221; the memo reads.
The book in which these memos were published also <a href="https://www.politico.com/playbook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">details</a> how Harris was urged to steer away from using the events of Jan. 6th as the crux of her argument in a late October <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kamala-harris-speech-ellipse-donald-trump-2024-election/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speech</a> in Washington, D.C.
Instead, Harris concluded her speech  by saying Trump &#8220;is the person who stood at this very spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election, an election that he knew he lost.&#8221;

VP Kamala Harris

Newly-Released Memos Reveal All The Good PR Advice Kamala Ignored During Her Campaign

2024 Elections

Border Crisis

Donald Trump

January 6

Kamala Harris

On Sunday, Trump border czar Tom Homan condemned Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) for making a taxpayer funded trip to El Salvador to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant who was deported from the United States last month.
Homan redirected a question from ABC&#8217;s &#8220;This Week&#8221; by anchor Jonathan Karl when pressed about Abrego Garcia, who has been imprisoned in El Salvador, his home country. Abrego Garcia&#8217;s legal team has been <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69777799/1/abrego-garcia-v-noem/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fighting</a> the federal government in a high-profile court to secure his return to the United States. Van Hollen, who claims Abrego Garcia is a Maryland “constituent” who endured an &#8220;abduction and unlawful deportation,&#8221; met the man on Thursday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/RealTomHoman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RealTomHoman</a> : &quot;A U.S. senator traveled to El Salvador on taxpayers&#39; dime to meet with a MS-13 gang member &#8230; How many Angel Moms and Dads has he met in the state of Maryland?&quot; <a href="https://t.co/dkpuxWGIMn">pic.twitter.com/dkpuxWGIMn</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1913956139504480315?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Sen. Van Hollen is — obviously got a chance to meet with [Abrego Garcia], but he had to travel to El Salvador to get any information. Is (sic) that concern you at all? I mean, these are people sent by — I mean, in his case, sent by the United States, and not even a U.S. senator could get any information about his whereabouts, or the condition of his incarceration, without actually going down and making the trip to El Salvador himself?&#8221; Karl asked.
&#8220;Well, he obviously knew his whereabouts, because he went there to see him. But you know, what bothers me more than that is a U.S. senator traveled to El Salvador on taxpayer dime to meet with an MS-13 gang member, public safety threat, terrorist. I mean, in the meantime, the day before he traveled, an illegal alien was arrested for murder, was released to the streets rather than honoring an ICE detainer in his very own state,&#8221; Homan retorted.
The Trump administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/facilitate-not-effectuate-wh-responds-to-scotus-ruling-on-mistakenly-deported-salvadoran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accuses</a> Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13, which has been <a href="https://www.state.gov/designation-of-international-cartels/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">designated</a> as a foreign terror organization, and has released <a href="https://www.justice.gov/ag/media/1396906/dl?inline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">documents</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dem-senator-van-hollen-did-not-ask-deported-illegal-immigrant-ms-13" target="_blank" rel="noopener">photo</a> evidence to substantiate the affiliation. Abrego Garcia&#8217;s attorneys <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69777799/1/abrego-garcia-v-noem/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deny</a> the claim.
On CNN, Van Hollen <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dem-senator-van-hollen-did-not-ask-deported-illegal-immigrant-ms-13" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dared</a> the Trump administration to bring up the gang affiliation claim in Abrego Garcia’s ongoing deportation case. The senator also <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1913954303418474622" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conceded</a> during an interview on &#8220;Fox News Sunday&#8221; that his trip to El Salvador was funded by taxpayer dollars.
Homan went on to criticize Van Hollen over the border crisis during President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration.
&#8220;What concerns me is Van Hollen never went to the border the last four years under Joe Biden, when he had a 600% increase in sex trafficking in women and children,&#8221; Homan said. &#8220;You have a record number of known inspected terrorists crossing that border. You had a quarter of a million Americans die from fentanyl overdose because of the open border. You had over 4,000 illegal aliens died making that journey, which is an historic record. What shocks me is he&#8217;s remained silent on the travesty that happened on the southern border. Many people died, thousands of people died. I met with hundreds of Angel moms and dads who buried their children that were murdered by illegal aliens. How many Angel moms and dads has he met in the state of Maryland? That&#8217;s what concerns me.&#8221;
Last week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-calls-surprise-briefing-with-patty-morin-whose-daughter-was-killed-by-illegal-alien?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=White+House+Calls+Surprise+Briefing+With+Patty+Morin%2C+Whose+Daughter+Was+Killed+By+Illegal+Alien" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticized</a> Van Hollen and other Democrats who have rallied in support of Abrego Garcia during a press briefing alongside <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inside-the-briefing-room-an-angel-mom-begs-white-house-media-to-tell-the-truth-about-illegal-crime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Patty Morin</a>, whose daughter, Rachel, 37, was raped and murdered in Maryland two years ago by another illegal immigrant from El Salvador.
“It’s appalling and sad that Senator Van Hollen and the Democrats applauding his trip to El Salvador today are incapable of having any shred of common sense or empathy for their own constituents and our citizens,” Leavitt said.

US Border Czar Tom Homan

Trump Border Czar Tears Into Dem Senator Van Hollen For El Salvador Trip

Congress

El Salvador

Illegal Immigation

Tom Homan

Trump Administration

U.S.

U.S. Senate

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum aimed at blocking illegal immigrants from receiving Social Security benefits, arguing that only legal American citizens should be eligible for benefits.
The move aims to remove monetary incentives for illegal aliens to come to the United States, the White House explained in a fact sheet released Tuesday, noting that Trump has repeatedly promised to take illegal immigrants off Social Security, and that the president signed an executive order in February ordering taxpayer resources not be used to incentivize or support illegal immigration.
Under President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration, more than 2 million illegal immigrants were assigned Social Security numbers in just the 2024 fiscal year, the White House said. The White House argues that the Biden administration&#8217;s actions continue to steal money and important services from American citizens.
The president&#8217;s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/04/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-prevents-illegal-aliens-from-obtaining-social-security-act-benefits/">memorandum</a> directs his administration to make sure that illegal aliens are not receiving funds from any Social Security programs, prioritizing enforcement actions against any grantees or sub-grantees that fail to verify eligibility or stop payments to deceased or ineligible people who are receiving these benefits.
<div id="attachment_908685" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-blocks-illegals-from-receiving-social-security-after-biden-let-2-million-enroll/trump-white-house-8" rel="attachment wp-att-908685"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-908685" class="wp-image-908685 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>(Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)</div>
The Social Security Administration’s Inspector General must investigate the earnings reports for individuals who are 100 or older and have mismatched records, in order to combat identity theft, the memorandum says. Additionally, Trump&#8217;s action expands the Social Security Administration’s fraud prosecutor program to 50 or more U.S. Attorney&#8217;s offices across the United States, and establishes a Medicaid fraud-prosecution program in 15 U.S. Attorney&#8217;s offices.
The administration has already stopped over 1,000 immigrants with ties to terrorist activity or criminal records from receiving Social Security benefits, the White House said. As part of its efforts to remove illegal immigrants from the country, the Trump administration has also launched the CBP Home app, which offers illegals an opportunity to &#8220;self-deport.&#8221;
According to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, the Biden border agenda cost federal and state taxpayers over $16.2 billion. The Federation for American Immigration Reform has calculated that American taxpayers spent at least $182 billion annually covering the costs of 20 million immigrants and their children who entered the country illegally, the White House said. That figure includes $66.4 billion in federal expenses, and $115.6 billion in state and local expenses.

US-President-Donald-Trump-Presents-Commander-in-Chief-Trophy

Trump Blocks Illegals From Receiving Social Security After Biden Let 2 Million Enroll

Social Security

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-VANCE-BORDER

Prison First, Deportation Later: Trump Revives Criminal Penalties For Border Jumpers

Court

Del Rio

Investigation

Judges

Mexico

President Trump

Southern Border

Texas

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas made it clear on Friday that he had absolutely zero interest in discussing the recently-secured state of the United States-Mexico border.
Mayorkas, when confronted at an airport by The Blaze national correspondent Julio Rosas, made every effort instead to beat a hasty retreat rather than answer questions about the fact that the border — which was open by design during his tenure as part of President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration — has been largely secured since the day President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
National Correspondent <a href="https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Julio_Rosas11</a> asked former DHS Secretary Mayorkas about President Trump securing the southern border: <a href="https://t.co/FFr2T8Prkm">pic.twitter.com/FFr2T8Prkm</a>
&mdash; TheBlaze (@theblaze) <a href="https://twitter.com/theblaze/status/1908252766742732861?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Mayorkas seemed approachable enough at first, saying it was &#8220;a pleasure&#8221; and offering a hand to shake as Rosas introduced himself and stated that he was with Blaze media.
&#8220;I just wanted to ask you how it feels to see —&#8221; Rosas had not even gotten his first question out before Mayorkas waved him off, saying, &#8220;Not right now.&#8221;
&#8220;— that the United States has a secure border now that President Trump is in office, as opposed to when you were Secretary of Homeland Security,&#8221; Rosas finished, and Mayorkas kept walking.
Mayorkas kept his mouth shut as Rosas followed up by asking whether he had &#8220;any regrets&#8221; with regard to allowing the border to remain open, especially given the new data that says under Trump&#8217;s DHS, &#8220;border crossings are down 95%.&#8221;
&#8220;Do you regret allowing Tren de Aragua to gain a foothold in the United States?&#8221; Rosas asked, but again, Mayorkas remained silent. &#8220;Do you have anything to say, sir, about your time as Homeland Security Secretary? facilitating an open border?&#8221;
The former DHS chief boarded an escalator, but Rosas met him at the bottom with another question: &#8220;I mean, it was a big issue, sir, that&#8217;s one of the reasons why President Trump won re-election. You don&#8217;t have anything to say about it?&#8221;
Rosas went on to ask whether Mayorkas had regrets about the thousands of migrant children the Biden administration had &#8220;lost track of&#8221; after they came into the United States — and whether he had anything to say about the fact that lax policies under his tenure had actually helped to increase widespread support for the mass deportations Trump promised and had already begun to deliver.
Mayorkas still said nothing, and exited the airport.

Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas Joins White House Daily Press Briefing

WATCH: Biden DHS Sec Bravely … Runs Away When Confronted Over Border He Never Secured

WATCH: Biden DHS Sec. Bravely ... Runs Away When Confronted Over Border He Never Secured

Alejandro Mayorkas

border security

Department of Homeland Security

Illegal Immigration

Nogales border with increased presence of Mexican troops looking for fentanyl and migrants

Trump’s War On Fentanyl Off To A Strong Start

Trump's War On Fentanyl Off To A Strong Start

Drugs

Fentanyl

The Trump administration has reportedly repurposed a mobile application that the Biden administration used as a gateway for migrants to enter the United States and will now use the platform to encourage illegal aliens to self-deport back to their home countries.
Formerly called the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) One app, the app allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants to remotely schedule appointments at points of entry, allowing them to be paroled into the country&#8217;s interior during the Biden administration.
Now, under President Donald Trump, the app will be <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/leave-now-trump-admin-repurposes-controversial-cbp-one-app-encourage-self-deportations">updated to “CBP Home”</a> and will allow migrants to “submit intent to depart” and “verify departure” from the United States. The app will automatically update on the devices that had installed Biden’s version of the platform, allowing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to track them for removal.
&#8220;The Biden Administration exploited the CBP One App to allow more than 1 million aliens to illegally enter the United States,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said. “With the launching of the CBP Home App, we are restoring integrity to our immigration system.”
&#8220;The CBP Home App gives aliens the option to leave now and self-deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream,” Noem added. “If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return.”
Trump shut down the Biden administration’s version of the app on his first day in office while moving to freeze parole applications and allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to cancel the parole statuses of migrants.
The new CBP Home app comes as the Trump administration has launched a series of efforts to deter would-be border crossers and deport illegal aliens currently present in the United States.
Noem announced “a nationwide and international multimillion-dollar ad campaign warning illegal aliens to leave our country NOW or face deportation with the inability to return to the US” last month.
“If you are considering entering America illegally, don’t even think about it. Let me be clear. If you come to our country and you break our laws, we will hunt you down,” the DHS secretary said.
The Trump administration has also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ice-arrests-11000-illegal-aliens-in-first-18-days-of-trump-administration">deported</a> 11,00o illegal aliens in the first 18 days of his second term, while the Department of Defense is working to prepare the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to house <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/united-states-begins-flying-illegal-aliens-to-guantanamo-bay">tens of thousands</a> of criminal illegal alien detainees.

CBP One App

Trump Admin Transforms Biden’s CBP One App: ‘Leave Now And Self Deport’

Apps

Border

Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Kristi Noem

Politics

AUSTIN, Texas – Following Donald Trump&#8217;s inauguration, it took his new administration all of an hour to bring the greatest mass migration border crisis in American history to a shuddering halt, with the first full month of apprehension numbers in February hitting <a href="https://x.com/USBPChief/status/1896009220333375909" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the lowest levels in decades</a>. The great mass migration crisis is, <a href="https://cis.org/Bensman/Greatest-Mass-Migration-Border-Crisis-US-History-Over" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in my estimation</a>, over thanks to a simple combination of Trump’s restoration of lawful detentions, rapid expulsions, interior deportations, and an end to releases. RIP to January 2021 — January 2025.
But before anyone moves on from this funeral, however, a different ceremony is necessary, an autopsy for the high purpose of serious national reflection. One for the pantheon of border security ideas and theories the Democratic Party and its academic, pro-migration think tank allies relentlessly sold the American public for years on end as the only means to save the Republic from the unmitigated mass border migration it started as soon as Joe Biden took office.
Now debunked, disgraced, and shot full of holes by what Trump accomplished in an hour on is first day in office, may all of us bury these pseudo-scientific political theories and ideas forevermore in the dung heap of political scams where they belong, and to salt the Earth around them.
<h3>The Scam ‘Senate Bill’</h3>
In retrospect, Democrats used these untested, yet seemingly plausible immigration policy ideas to distract Americans from what they were really doing, which was dismantling the despised policies that actually worked to keep illegal border crossers at bay.
Start with the most emblematic of these bait-and-switch ideas, the “bipartisan <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-is-a-stunt-senate-rejects-border-security-bill-again" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lankford senate bill</a>.” Democratic Party presidential nominee Kamala Harris relentlessly sold this piece of legislation to the American public as the only possible panacea to control the border. Trump and Republicans had the bill killed, which set the stage for Harris and many Democrats running for office to promise its resurrection as a central plank of the party’s immigration policy platforms.
Harris, Biden himself, and Democratic Party influencers would chant almost in unison, for instance, that the legislation’s provisions would finally give a President the absent necessary authorities to really crack down on illegal immigration. Under the Biden administration enforcement encounters at the Southern border averaged more than 200,000 a month, and more than 7,000 per day. Remember they would cite how it would even provide more Border Patrol agents and CBP officers to seize more fentanyl and blamed Trump for killing the bill to perpetuate the border crisis for political advantage?
<div id="attachment_745779" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-745779" class="size-large wp-image-745779" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/Untitled-design-117-1024x576.jpg" alt="A group of migrants are processed by Border Patrol after crossing the river illegally near the highway on February 4, 2024 outside Eagle Pass, Texas." width="1024" height="576" />(Photo by SERGIO FLORES/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
“I will make sure that it comes to my desk, and I would sign it,” <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/harris-said-shed-sign-the-bipartisan-border-bill-that-trump-stopped-heres-whats-in-it-183310125.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Harris told CNN</a> during a typical August 2024 interview about the desperate need for a big piece of legislation like the Lankford bill.
But here’s what we can all now see on naked obvious display with Trump’s border crossings averaging south of 300 per day, on track for an historically low 8,300 per month (all quickly expelled back into Mexico): No legislation providing extra presidential authorities were then, now or in the future ever needed for a president to substantially reduce illegal immigrant crossings. It was all a big fat lie.
Those <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/border-crossings-plunge-90-to-historic-lows-under-trump-crackdown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lowest numbers</a> in recorded American history are happening because everything that Trump (or Biden) needed to drive them down was already available in the existing Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA), which required authorities to use them to achieve zero illegal entries. By contrast, the envisioned Lankford bill would have statutorily okayed the releases into the country of 5,000 alien border crossers per day – up 1.8 million per year – before a president could, if she or he felt like it, crack down with expulsions.
And all those new Border Patrol agents? Their real purpose was to process those 5,000 per day for release into the country, not to catch and expel.
Now that Trump’s plan is working magic, the whole “we-must-have-legislation” narrative or something called “comprehensive immigration reform” must never be let out of its crypt.
<h3>Digging Up ‘Root Causes’</h3>
You&#8217;ll have to dig a deep hole in the dung heap of tin foil hat ideas to find one of the most pernicious of the Democratic Party’s immigration theories that Trump’s border has now exposed: the so-called “Root Causes Strategy.” The Biden administration appropriated this idea from European progressive liberals <a href="https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/07/29/u-s-strategy-for-addressing-the-root-causes-of-migration-in-central-america/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as its central immigration policy</a> with a <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/fact-sheet-strategy-address-the-root-causes-migration-central-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener">February 2021 Executive Order</a> that claimed this was the best way to control the U.S. southern border. Biden appointed Vice President Harris to oversee the whole stupid thing.
The theory held that fewer citizens of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador would want to emigrate if the United States invested billions in tax and development money to rebuild those troubled Central American sending countries.
During an April 2021 state visit to Central America, the new border czar laid blame for the already surging illegal crossings on “extensive storm damage because of extreme climate.” And kept going.
“We’re looking at drought in a region where agriculture is one of the most traditionally important bases for their economy,” she explained. “We’re looking at what’s happening in terms of food scarcity as a result of that.”
After billions in U.S. foreign aid, it worked about as well as the idea worked for European liberals who first concocted the bizarre notion in the early 1980s. The most cursory glance at Europe’s experience would have shown it failed miserably there, just as it has here. For example, the European Union-funded policy think tank MIGNEX <a href="https://www.mignex.org/publications/throwing-development-money-migration-problem-it-completely-misguided" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reviewed some 10 studies</a> spanning more than a decade where development aid was invested to reduce Europe-bound emigration from poor countries.
“In its current form, development aid does not seem to be big enough to create the underlying changes that effect migration decisions,” the MIGNEX report concluded, in part. “In cases where we do see a deterrent effect of aid on migration, a noticeable impact would require an unrealistic increase in aid.”
Writing for the International Institute of Social Studies in 2007, social scientist Hein de Haas <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2007.00435.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concluded that</a>, “Besides the limited scope and credibility of such policies, empirical and theoretical evidence strongly suggests that economic and human development increases people’s capabilities and aspirations and therefore tends to coincide with an increase rather than a decrease in emigration.”
We now know the Biden administration dangled the root-causes strategy like a shiny bauble over here, while opening the border over there.
America must now strike this idea dead and bury it deep.
<h3>Simple Causes, Simple Solutions</h3>
Trump’s quick border closure now requires that the American public, lawmakers, students of immigration policy and policy practitioners finally and forever accept that starting and stopping mass migration events was never the complex undertaking that Democrats constantly asserted while keeping the southern border wide open. 
Neither the border nor the “immigration system” were ever “broken” like they always claimed in need of drastic “comprehensive immigration reform.”
<div id="attachment_862069" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-862069" class="size-large wp-image-862069" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-2194393473-864x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: Donald Trump is sworn into office by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump holds the Bible in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. (Photo by Julia Demaree Nikhinson - Pool/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-2194393473-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-2194393473-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-2194393473-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/GettyImages-2194393473.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Julia Demaree Nikhinson &#8211; Pool/Getty Images</div>
On Trump&#8217;s inauguration day, supposed emigration-driving climate change, foreign government persecution, gang crime and all the other Democrat-claimed causes of the American border crisis did not – all of a sudden –relent. 
Trump used a few policy tools that past Congresses provided presidents under existing law to address the only real and simple “root cause” of mass migration, which was to dramatically lower the chances that smuggling fee money will buy entry into the United States for a long enough time to pay it back many times over. 
They’re coming in mass when the payoff odds of release-and-stay are high like Biden-Harris mass-release policies made them. They’re staying home when the payoff odds are really low, like Trump just made them with detention, expulsion, and deportation. 
That’s the only idea now proven and left standing for all of America to see and know. The rest of them should be pronounced dead on arrival and then be buried, hopefully forever.
* * *
Todd Bensman is a Senior National Security Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and a two-time <a href="https://www.toddbensman.com/awards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Press Club award winner.</a> He is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and a 23-year veteran newspaper reporter. He is the author of “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Covert-Border-War-Infiltration/dp/1642937258/ref=sr_1_2?crid=BP7S7BH2VBFB&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.O6ZnUZYfSlVsoiHcdjPhFHfMHLUTDwW2ZnKSAJboBbE5kdYf_h7sD08-h6YkTqOaoX3BwNswbUMPbnTbwQYA0OPgQiI3nLoLjosQWsEhFf5KFAPB4F0DTwUsSoJFgmaEF7V1rMQnOPvLvOLapFQ1ESD-D7UVwCNHsSGEs2XzEa9rmO1CLoVV277SrmlPOkJf.15UkCaAoqCyd7hpP16dl7D3_ZWawrd1RcN3D_ZSFo4w&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=todd+bensman&amp;qid=1730314546&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=todd+bensman%2Cstripbooks%2C100&amp;sr=1-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">America’s Covert Border War</a>,” and “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Overrun-Unleashed-Greatest-Border-History-ebook/dp/B0BS1R9LCP?ref_=ast_author_dp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Overrun: How Joe Biden Unleashed the Greatest Border Crisis in U.S. History</a>.”
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

U.S./Mexico border

How Trump’s Suddenly Secure Border Forever Debunks Dem Immigration Theories

Biden Administration

illegal immigrants

Trump Border Czar Tom Homan delivered a fiery speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, praising the administration&#8217;s border security strides and promising an even more aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration.
Homan praised the Trump administration for achieving “the most secure border in my lifetime” and vowed to “open up every avenue of law enforcement” to combat illegal immigration.
In less than a month under these renewed measures, Homan said illegal crossings have dropped “95%” while Immigration and Customs Enforcement has conducted more than “21,000” arrests.
He also criticized sanctuary cities as providing a “sanctuary for criminals” and announced a broader interior crackdown. Homan further declared the administration’s intent to label Mexican cartels as terrorist groups, warning that their collaborators would be assisting a “terrorist organization.”
Homan used much of his remarks to underscore the need for strong cooperation between federal and local agencies. He censured officials who refuse to turn over individuals suspected of crimes to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), portraying them as harboring violent offenders.
“We’re not making this s*** up. We’re enforcing the laws enacted by Congress,” he said, warning all “criminal aliens” would be prosecuted and removed from the country.
<a class="c-link" href="http://dailywire.com/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://dailywire.com/subscribe" data-sk="tooltip_parent">PRESIDENTS’ DAY SALE! 40% Off DailyWire+ Annual Memberships With Code DW40</a>
He singled out certain cities in particular, including Boston, where Homan said criminals had been released back into communities instead of being transferred for deportation proceedings. “I’m coming to Boston,” he declared. “I’m bringing hell with me.”
Homan’s goal in these cities would be to track down offenders who had evaded federal action and ensure that “they’re locked back up.”
In addition to broader enforcement efforts, Homan suggested tapping into resources across multiple federal agencies to bolster arrests and prosecutions in areas with high violent crime. He noted that coordinated initiatives, including assistance from the United States Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, would supplement ICE operations that focus on guns, narcotics, and other serious offenses. By tightening interagency cooperation, Homan said, officials would ensure criminal suspects faced prosecution before deportation.
Homan stressed that moral imperatives and national security interests aligned in enforcing these laws, promising that with government backing, officials would keep the pace until “every criminal alien, every gang member” was apprehended and removed.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Border Czar Tom Homan at CPAC 2025: FULL SPEECH" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gqf69XrQ6TY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

US-POLITICS-CPAC

Trump Border Czar Promises ‘Hell’ For Sanctuary Cities In Fiery CPAC Speech

CPAC

Deportations

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum proposed constitutional reforms to safeguard Mexico’s sovereignty after the Trump administration designated six drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, prompting concerns about potential U.S. military action across the border.
“The Mexican people will not accept under any circumstances interventions, interference or any other act from abroad that could be harmful to the integrity, independence and sovereignty of the nation,” she <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/fearing-trump-cross-border-militarily-pursue-cartels-mexico-moves-reform-constitution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, per Fox News.
Sheinbaum seeks to enshrine current limits on the operations of foreign agents into the constitution and establish harsher penalties for gun trafficking. “What we want to make clear in the face of this designation is that we do not negotiate sovereignty,” she said.
Sheinbaum said Mexico was not consulted when the Trump administration designated the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Historically, terrorist designations against criminal syndicates have sparked debates over national sovereignty and whether such moves could justify extended actions by the U.S. government abroad. In this case, observers have noted that tensions between the two neighbors could escalate if Washington believes it now has broader authority to operate against any cartel activity in Mexican territory.
The new designation, which goes into effect on Thursday, identifies a total of six Mexican organizations in addition to prior targets, widening a list that encompasses Sinaloa, Jalisco, Zetas, Gulf Cartels, Cartel Unidos, and “La Nueva Familia Michoacana.” Other criminal entities — including the Venezuelan group Tren de Aragua and the Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13 — were also named.
While some of these cartels have long been notorious for drug trafficking and violence, the terrorist label opens the door to further U.S. legal action against individuals and networks that aid or abet their operations.
Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, previously signed into law limits on foreign agents in Mexico, requiring approval from the Mexican government for every action taken. Sheinbaum plans to strengthen these rules by cementing them into the Mexican Constitution.
In her announcement, Sheinbaum cited the need to crack down on arms trafficking, an issue Mexican and American experts have linked to the strength of cartels operating within the country. The new proposed reform applies severe penalties to foreigners involved in the assembling, smuggling, and distribution of guns.
Sheinbaum’s party holds majorities in both chambers of Congress and has already passed several constitutional reforms.

MEXICO-US-POLITICS-ARMY

Fearing U.S. Military Action Against Cartels, Mexico Moves To Reinforce Sovereignty Laws

Cartels

Global Politics

World

President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, revealed a statistic on Presidents&#8217; Day that indicates the United States is successfully cracking down on illegal crossings in a way not seen in decades.
&#8220;In the last 24 hours the US Border Patrol has encountered a total of 229 aliens across the entire southwest border. That is down from a high of over 11,000 a day under [President Joe] Biden,&#8221; Homan <a href="https://x.com/RealTomHoman/status/1891483288398975326" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post to X on Monday. &#8220;I started as a Border Patrol Agent in 1984 and I don’t remember the numbers ever being that low. President Trump promised a secure border and he is delivering.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
In the last 24 hours the US Border Patrol has encountered a total of 229 aliens across the entire southwest border. That is down from a high of over 11,000 a day under Biden. I started as a Border Patrol Agent in 1984 and I don’t remember the numbers ever being that low.…
&mdash; Thomas D. Homan (@RealTomHoman) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealTomHoman/status/1891483288398975326?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Journalists, elected officials, and others reacted on X to Homan&#8217;s post.
Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, who has covered the immigration issue over the years, <a href="https://x.com/BillMelugin_/status/1891506905375223998" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>: &#8220;229 across the entire southern border. Just wild. I would have trouble finding any illegal aliens if I went down to the border right now.&#8221;
&#8220;These results are astounding,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1891544351018274925" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott. &#8220;It’s great to have a REAL Border Czar and a President who enforces immigration laws.&#8221;
&#8220;The first time I was in the RGV, I saw almost 300 illegal immigrants in a few hours in one area,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1891501329371017526" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> The Blaze correspondent Julio Rosas, referring to the Rio Grande Valley Sector. &#8220;Then it jumped to over 500 illegals at one time. There is a lot left to do with border security/immigration, but these numbers are a huge victory for the Trump administration.&#8221;
&#8220;For four years, Joe Biden let chaos rule at the border, ignored [GOP governors] who demanded action, and made every excuse under the sun. I’m glad we now have an administration that’s focused on protecting our country,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/BrianKempGA/status/1891528986108272741" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp.
<a href="http://dailywire.com/subscribe">PRESIDENTS’ DAY SALE! 40% Off DailyWire+ Annual Memberships With Code DW40</a>
Columnist Brian Karem, who has a history of being critical of Trump, <a href="https://x.com/BrianKarem/status/1891542467645714488" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>: &#8220;Misleading. How many didn’t you encounter? You don’t know. Also if you were understaffed then of course you’d run into fewer. Also, I checked three different Border Patrol stations in Texas alone. All three reported MORE than that number in the last 24 hours.&#8221;
&#8220;The drastic decrease has as much to do with the tone of the messaging as actual policy. Migrants (rightly) believed they would be rewarded for crossing the border once Biden was elected so they rushed to do it. Now the message is that they will be deported so they aren’t bothering to come. The numbers speak for themselves,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/AGHamilton29/status/1891495823642398801" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> AG Hamilton, a popular conservative commentary account on X. &#8220;This not only limits illegal immigration, saves a lot of taxpayer money, and protects Americans from the impacts of unvetted migration, but also saves a lot of migrants from being taken advantage of by human traffickers.&#8221;
The White House listed Homan&#8217;s announcement in an email highlighting some of Trump&#8217;s accomplishments during the first several weeks of his second administration.
&#8220;In his first month back in office, President Donald J. Trump has taken extraordinary action to usher in a new Golden Age of America – through border security, deregulation, government accountability, and leveling the playing field for American workers, to name a few,&#8221; the White House said. &#8220;The positive effects of President Trump’s policies continue to be felt across the country.&#8221;
Later on Monday, Homan posted more figures to X, these being focused on detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
&#8220;Interior arrests by ICE have increased more than 137% under President Trump,&#8221; Homan <a href="https://x.com/RealTomHoman/status/1891592453897191690" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;Arrests of aliens with criminal convictions have doubled under President Trump. The arrests of illegal alien gang members has also doubled. Our streets and neighborhoods are that much safer under President Trump. We are less than a month in and have more to do.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Interior arrests by ICE have increased more than 137% under President Trump. Arrests of aliens with criminal convictions have doubled under President Trump. The arrests of illegal alien gang members has also doubled. Our streets and neighborhoods are that much safer under…
&mdash; Thomas D. Homan (@RealTomHoman) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealTomHoman/status/1891592453897191690?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Trump’s Border Czar Marks Presidents’ Day With Statistic That Puts Biden Admin To Shame

Illegal border crossings this month fell to levels not seen in decades after President Trump intensified his crackdown, newly revealed federal data show.
Early data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show that only 359 illegal migrants are being processed daily across the southern border, reflecting a 90% decrease from the same period last year, <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/02/13/us-news/illegal-border-crossings-hit-record-lows-could-be-on-track-for-levels-not-seen-for-60-years/">reported</a> the New York Post.
According to internal documents recently shared with the Post, Customs and Border Protection recorded 3,953 illegal migrant encounters through February 11. If that pace holds, total crossings may end up near or below 10,000 for the month, a figure comparable to April 2017, when roughly 11,000 people were taken into custody. That milestone had previously stood out as one of the lowest monthly tallies in recent memory.
“That’s a very, very low number,” said John Gramlich, the associate director at the Pew Research Center, noting that at this time in 2024, officers processed over 4,800 migrants per day.
Mark Krikorian, the executive director at the Center for Immigration Studies, said, “If you kind of break down the numbers … we haven&#8217;t had numbers this low since the 1960s.”
Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland in Terrell County, Texas, likewise called it a “relief,” noting the striking contrast with the high crossings previously seen in cooler months.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement ramped up operations under this crackdown, netting 11,000 arrests of illegal migrants in only 18 days. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks credited stronger leadership under President Trump, saying agents “know how to secure the border,” but needed a commander in chief who would empower them.
Federal agencies have paired policy changes with collaboration from Mexico, which sent 10,000 troops to its northern boundary after the White House threatened a hefty tariff if stronger deterrence measures were not introduced.
Additionally, the administration has ended “catch and release,” restarted deportation flights to Venezuela, and begun transferring certain criminal offenders to Guantanamo Bay.
These steps represent a marked departure from earlier strategies and have been credited by some officials with causing the steep decline in attempts to cross the southern border without authorization.

Trump Holds Campaign Event on U.S.-Mexico Border in Cochise County, Arizona

Border Crossings Plunge 90% To Historic Lows Under Trump Crackdown

Menu