10 bold moves red states can make to end the illegal immigration surge
Do we not already have enough criminals in this country? When will we finally reach the point where we say “no more” to repeat offenders, including drunk drivers, sex offenders, drug traffickers, and gangbangers from other countries? The time has come for states — especially those led by Republicans — to take a firm and unified stand. Holding a special session right before the election, as early voting begins, offers the perfect opportunity to bring this issue to the forefront.
We could fill pages daily with stories about repeat violent criminal aliens committing horrific rapes, murders, and DUI homicides, taking the lives of Americans in their prime through entirely avoidable crimes. We are also beginning to see the effects of bringing in millions of migrants, particularly in small towns like Springfield, Ohio, Charleroi, Pennsylvania, and Sylacauga, Alabama. Time and again, we hear this is a federal issue and that states lack the power to combat or deter this invasion. Not so. It’s time for Republican governors and legislatures to step up and address this issue once and for all.
States must stand firm and refuse to recognize any amnesty Joe Biden and Kamala Harris attempt to grant in the final months of their administration.
With the November election approaching, every Republican governor should convene a special legislative session aimed at deterring illegal aliens from entering red states. Here are 10 strategies:
Declare an invasion: The session should start by passing a resolution that acknowledges the state is facing an invasion and invokes powers under the Constitution’s compact clause. Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 allows states to engage in defensive actions if “actually invaded” or facing “imminent danger” that requires immediate response. After four years of inaction from the federal government, states can’t wait any longer. Criminal aliens, transnational gangs, fentanyl trafficking, human trafficking, and the strain on public services pose an undeniable danger. While states don’t need to wage war, they can use their authority over internal order, policing, and public health to restrict, deter, and, when possible, encourage illegal aliens to deport themselves voluntarily.
Declare a public health emergency: Large numbers of illegal aliens are arriving from countries with diseases not common in the United States, including Haiti, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We all remember the extent to which states exercised police powers over public health during the pandemic, shutting down churches, businesses, and even restricting breathing to prevent disease spread. States even imposed travel bans on residents of other states. If they could do that, they can certainly apply similar restrictions to foreign invaders who are gathering en masse under chaotic conditions and creating a public health threat. We’ve already seen outbreaks in migrant shelters. What happened to the public health concerns that overrode natural rights in 2020?
Incarcerate or expel criminal aliens: Stories of illegal aliens with records of drunk driving, drug and weapons charges, and robbery committing additional serious crimes appear daily across every state. GOP governors should adopt a clear policy: The first crime an illegal alien commits in a state should be his last.
In a letter to a GOP congressman, ICE revealed that its non-detained docket includes 7.6 million aliens, among them individuals with 662,566 total criminal convictions or charges. This group includes aliens convicted of more than 13,000 homicides, 15,811 sexual assaults (plus 9,461 convicted of other sex offenses), 851 kidnappings, nearly 3,400 weapon offenses, over 2,000 robberies, 56,533 dangerous drug convictions, 14,301 burglaries, and 62,231 assaults.
Many of the most serious offenders are currently in state or local prisons, but others remain free on the streets. This is especially true for "low-level" offenders, such as roughly 130,000 traffic offenders, 70,000 drug offenders, 31,000 charged or convicted of larceny, 17,000 weapons offenders, and 17,500 burglars. The federal government has not removed these people, including 1.3 million who already have final removal orders. This is where states must step in.
Each legislature should impose significant sentencing enhancements for those who commit any crime after entering the United States illegally. For aliens arrested for minor crimes that don’t require incarceration for justice, states should offer a diversion program. This program could provide a suspended sentence in exchange for self-repatriation. States could even cover the cost of a plane ticket and grant leniency, as long as the person doesn’t return to the state.
This approach combines incentives and consequences to encourage self-repatriation without risking accusations of states actively engaging in deportation. Federal law implicitly supports the idea of self-removal during or outside a criminal trial under either federal or state law.
Outlaw illegal presence in states: The above approach would target criminal aliens caught committing additional offenses. To deter all illegal aliens, states need to make illegal presence itself a crime. Oklahoma’s House Bill 4156, passed last session, aimed to do just that, though a federal judge has currently enjoined it. As a contingency, states should strengthen penalties and enforcement of related crimes involving illegal immigrants, such as trespassing, criminal vagrancy, identity theft, tax fraud, human trafficking, and harboring illegal aliens.
States should leverage enhanced sentences to encourage self-repatriation, avoiding judicial interference. State agencies should rigorously investigate identity theft by cross-referencing welfare benefits, driver’s licenses, and employment records for duplicates. Additionally, individuals arrested for offenses tied to transnational gangs like MS-13 or Tren de Aragua should face even harsher sentencing enhancements.
Beef up employment enforcement: If illegal aliens cannot get jobs, they will not come. That’s the bottom line. Right now, only six southeastern states and Arizona require universal E-Verify, and even these states often fail to enforce the law vigorously. Additionally, many employers use labor brokers, who officially hire these workers on behalf of local companies, to sidestep regulations. States must start prosecuting these labor brokers for human trafficking and evading state laws against employing illegal workers. Eliminating job opportunities will significantly reduce illegal immigration.
Reject Biden’s amnesty: Joe Biden continues to offer various forms of quasi-legal status to illegal aliens through unlawful parole programs or by expanding Temporary Protected Status. States must stand firm and refuse to recognize any amnesty Joe Biden and Kamala Harris attempt to grant in the final months of their administration. For state purposes, they should treat those individuals as illegal aliens.
Bar illegal aliens from public schools: It’s unfair for American children and parents to see their schools overwhelmed by illegal immigrants with different cultures and languages, who may pose security risks. This issue has even reached small, rural districts facing a surge in such enrollments. The right to K-12 education for illegal immigrants stems from the activist court ruling 42 years ago in Plyler v. Doe, which applied the equal protection clause to illegal aliens. The current Supreme Court might rule differently. At the very least, states should bar all prospective illegal immigrants or those who can't prove they arrived before 2021.
Or states could require a state-issued photo ID (rather than just a utility bill) to prove residency in a school district, applying the same standard to all residents, similar to voter ID requirements in many red states. Since most red states, except Utah, don’t issue photo IDs to illegal immigrants, those individuals would be ineligible to register for school under a residency verification law applied equally to everyone.
States should also require disclosure of immigration status during interactions like motor vehicle registrations, business license applications, welfare benefits, financial transactions, and arrests. State agencies should maintain a database of this information, including names, addresses, and Social Security numbers, for informational purposes. Florida has already implemented such a policy in hospitals and has reported a decline in illegal immigrants using those services. States could share this information with ICE, enabling federal action if a future administration takes a tougher stance on immigration.
Use zoning laws to limit town transformations: Small towns like Springfield, Ohio, Charleroi, Pennsylvania, Colony Ridge, Texas, and Sylacauga, Alabama, have faced rapid changes due to an influx of immigrants. While some claim that small towns have no power to stop this, a reporter on my podcast noted that Charleroi’s transformation stemmed from local business interests buying homes on Main Street and converting them into de facto “labor barracks.”
Local governments can use zoning laws to ban multi-unit dwellings and other living arrangements that attract illegal immigration. Although localities can’t make immigration law, they can use housing, transportation, and criminal vagrancy ordinances to discourage settlement in their areas.
End the 'unaccompanied minor' scam: Hundreds of thousands of volatile and violent teens enter our communities under humanitarian statutes, aided by sponsors who often lack legal status themselves. States should require sponsors of unaccompanied alien children to register with state child welfare departments, which must verify any claimed family relationship. This step would deter bad actors from perpetuating child trafficking and immigration status manipulation.
Revoke licenses of nonprofits aiding illegal immigration: A Florida Grand Jury found that several federally funded NGOs provide illegal immigrants with cash cards, cell phones, and even “safari-style guide maps,” aiding the invasion. States should criminalize activities that facilitate illegal immigration, similar to the unenforced federal law that makes it illegal to encourage or induce unlawful entry into the United States. States should also revoke business licenses and state recognition of NGOs that violate these laws.
Republicans at the national level have given up key leverage points in addressing this issue. States where Republicans control the executive and legislative branches need to act now.
Blaze News original: One heartbeat away — who will Trump tap for VP?
Who will former President Donald Trump select as his running mate?
While the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee has not yet announced a pick, some reports earlier this month suggested figures being vetted included North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.
"Anyone claiming to know who or when President Trump will choose his VP is lying, unless the person is named Donald J. Trump," Brian Hughes of the Trump campaign has noted, according to reports.
President Joe Biden is currently the oldest president in U.S. history, but if Trump wins the 2024 election and completes the full term, he would become the oldest person ever to serve as president.
'But given Trump's endorsements lately, it's unlikely that he will suddenly shift to the right when it comes to his running mate.'
Blaze Media's Daniel Horowitz told Blaze News that Trump is so well-known that his vice presidential pick won't change voters' minds about him.
But Horowitz said the choice of running mate does matter for conservatives because of the chance "that the vice presidential candidate could become president," and because if Trump loses the 2024 contest, the person who was chosen "as his running mate will instantaneously have the inside track on a leadership role in the party and the movement going forward."
Horowitz said that Vance "most closely represents the values of" Trump's "core supporters. But given Trump's endorsements lately, it's unlikely that he will suddenly shift to the right when it comes to his running mate."
Vance, who authored the book "Hillbilly Elegy," entered office last year.
Before Trump won the 2016 presidential election, Vance described himself as a "never Trump guy," saying, "I never liked him."
But Vance now says he was wrong about Trump, stating that while he did not think Trump would be a good president, Trump was a "great president."
The senator has a 93% session score from Heritage Action.
"Unfortunately, most of the names being bandied about as his top prospects, such as Doug Burgum and Tim Scott, represent the antithesis of why Trump was elevated to prominence to begin with. They embody the old GOP," Horowitz said.
Scott, who has served in the Senate since 2013, launched a GOP presidential primary bid last year only to later drop out.
The senator has an 88% session score from Heritage Action.
'No thank you.'
Burgum, who has served as North Dakota governor since late 2016, also launched a Republican presidential primary run last year before later dropping it.
But during his short-lived White House bid, he made the unorthodox move of offering people a $20 gift card if they donated $1 to his campaign.
"Struggling under Biden's economy? Let us help. Donate $1 and we'll send you a $20 gift card in the mail. That's a pretty good deal!" Burgum tweeted.
The peculiar tactic likely helped Burgum meet the unique donor thresholds required to take part in Republican presidential primary debates last year, because he made it into the first two debates.
In 2021, Burgum vetoed a bill that would have barred public schools from knowingly allowing males to participate on female sports teams. But then in 2023, Burgum signed a bill stipulating that school sports meant for females may not be open to male students.
"If Doug Burgum is the pick, you have an uninspired selection who has an unrealistic view on green issues, excuses ESG and has ties to big government globalists like Bill Gates. No thank you," Keith Malinak of BlazeTV's "Pat Gray Unleashed" told Blaze News in a statement.
"My hope is that Trump picks Byron Donalds. Donalds clearly has a love for America, respects the US Constitution and can beautifully deliver a liberty minded message to an audience hungry to hear it articulated," he stated.
Donalds, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2021, announced a House speakership bid last year after Kevin McCarthy had been ousted from the role. Ultimately, House Republicans tapped Rep. Mike Johnson (La.) for the role.
While Donalds has a 100% session score from Heritage Action, Stefanik has a score of just 58%.
Stefanik was tapped for the role of House Republican Conference Chair after the House GOP booted Liz Cheney from that post in 2021.
Trump has issued a ringing endorsement of Stefanik, calling her "SMART, STRONG, and TOUGH."
'Conservatives have nowhere else to go, and Trump is certainly behaving as if he knows that.''
Cotton has a 46% session score from Heritage Action, while Rubio has a 67%.
Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, served as HUD secretary during Trump's White House tenure.
Last month, Trump declared on Truth Social that former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley was not being considered for vice president, stating, "Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the V.P. slot, but I wish her well!"
"The dominant hiring trend for Trump has been strong and attractive women, and beta males — Trump likes to be the only rooster in the hen house. There have been a few exceptions to this, but by and large this is the trend. Given that, I have been predicting for months he would pick Tulsi Gabbard to further the (correct) narrative the Democrat Party has gone insane," BlazeTV host Steve Deace told Blaze News in a statement.
Then-Rep. Gabbard mounted a Democratic presidential primary bid in 2019 but ultimately dropped out and backed Joe Biden in 2020.
In 2022, the former Democratic lawmaker declared that she was ditching the Democratic Party, which she said is "under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers who are driven by cowardly wokeness."
She has indicated that she would accept the role of Trump's running mate if he were to offer it to her.
"As for what conservatives should think, I don't think they should think anything or have any expectations," Deace said in his statement to Blaze News. "Trump is king and can do what he wants. Conservatives have nowhere else to go, and Trump is certainly behaving as if he knows that."
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Trump endorses House Freedom Caucus chair Bob Good's GOP primary opponent
Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Virginia state Sen. John McGuire, a candidate who is challenging House Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Bob Good in the Republican congressional primary for Virginia's 5th Congressional District.
"Bob Good is BAD FOR VIRGINIA, AND BAD FOR THE USA. He turned his back on our incredible movement, and was constantly attacking and fighting me until recently, when he gave a warm and 'loving' Endorsement - But really, it was too late. The damage had been done! I just want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and the person that can most help me do that is Navy Seal and highly respected State Legislator, John McGuire, a true American Hero," Trump declared in a Truth Social post. "John McGuire has my Complete and Total Endorsement!"
'We were told that Trump had to endorse every liberal incumbent ... due to unity. But somehow that doesn't extend to the top conservative incumbents.'
Last year, Good endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president before the Sunshine State governor announced his Republican presidential primary bid.
"I am unequivocally endorsing and encouraging Governor DeSantis to run for president," Good said in a statement released last year by Never Back Down. "If Governor DeSantis runs for president, he will win."
DeSantis dropped out of the GOP presidential primary and endorsed Trump on January 21.
That same day, Good endorsed Trump.
"It is my privilege to provide my complete and total endorsement for Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United States," Good said in a tweet.
— (@)
GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who recently pursued an ultimately unsuccessful bid to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson from the speakership, hailed Trump's move to endorse McGuire over incumbent Rep. Good.
"I'm very pleased with Pres Trump's endorsement of great patriot John McGuire and denouncement of back stabbing traitor Bob Good!" Greene declared in a post on X.
Blaze Media's Daniel Horowitz said in a statement to Blaze News, "It's interesting how Trump told us we all need to get behind Johnson, despite him sharing the gavel with Hakeem Jeffries, under the guise of unity headed into the election. We were told that Trump had to endorse every liberal incumbent, including swamp creatures like Mike Simpson and James Baird due to unity. But somehow that doesn't extend to the top conservative incumbents. Suddenly, unity is not an issue. How can you drain the swamp if you plug up the drain?"
COVID tyrant didn't want the unvaccinated in public, now says vaccines are 'debatable'
As the news finally begins to catch up with the “anti-vaxxers” of 2024, public figures who at one time shamed those unwilling to take the vaccines are now pretending to support them.
In a podcast with Andrew Cuomo, former Commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department Leana Wen did just this. Wen claimed that vaccines, masks, and natural immunity “are actually not controversial, but they’re more debatable.”
“For a long time, it was taboo to bring it up for fear that you might be called an anti-vaxxer, and so I think that public trust has been eroded,” she said.
Not so long ago, Wen was telling Chris Cuomo on CNN a much different story. Cuomo has also now renounced his prior views on COVID and life-saving drugs like ivermectin — claiming he now takes it regularly himself.
“We need to start looking at the choice to remain unvaccinated the same as we look at driving while intoxicated, that you have the option to not get vaccinated if you want, but then you can’t go out in public,” Wen told Cuomo.
Steve Deace is not only not buying it, but he’s far from amused.
“I want to literally see everybody in those videos just put on trial for their lives,” Deace says. “First of all, is it a good idea to turn a woman whose highest professional accomplishment was overseeing one of the worst serial killers in human history and turning her into a public health expert?”
But why are these public figures suddenly coming forward?
“Because they’re not afraid of that. They can gaslight you because the people have spoken and said, ‘No, we’re not going to hold you accountable.’ So, that’s why we’re getting any of this whatsoever from these people. Any amount false or otherwise contrition, that’s why we’re getting it,” Aaron explains.
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Chris Cuomo says he's now regularly taking ivermectin after unapologetically shaming those who said it worked
Disgraced former CNN talking head Chris Cuomo recently revealed that the very life-saving drug he helped smear during the pandemic now courses through his veins.
Background
Ivermectin, an inexpensive anti-parasitic drug with anti-inflammatory properties, was approved for use in humans in 1987 and has since been one of the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States. For discovering some of the ways it could be used to save human lives and stave off blindness, William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015.
"[If] ivermectin is what those of us who have looked at the evidence think it is ... the debate about the vaccines would be over by definition," said Bret Weinstein.
This life-saving and prize-worthy generic medicine underwent a sudden rebrand during the pandemic after various scientists and doctors realized it could be used as a cheap and effective way to treat COVID-19 infections. Among the various indications that the drug worked was a June 2020 study in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Antiviral Research, which showed that ivermectin inhibited the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in cell cultures.
Evolutionary biologist Bret Weinstein told Tucker Carlson in July 2021, "[If] ivermectin is what those of us who have looked at the evidence think it is ... the debate about the vaccines would be over by definition."
The mainstream media, the Food and Drug Administration, and various so-called experts — all apparently captive to the idea that the only way to treat COVID-19 was with expensive, novel vaccines produced by the pharmaceutical giants that routinely advertise on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC — smeared the drug and those who dared prescribe it, suggesting that ivermectin was nothing more than a poisonous "horse de-worming drug."
Months into this campaign, the FDA warned in March 2021 that taking the drug could "cause serious harm," then in August leaned into the horse de-wormer smear, tweeting, "You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Serious y'all. Stop It."
The FDA was later sued over its misleading claims and ultimately settled in March. Per the terms of the settlement, the agency agreed to remove its anti-ivermectin propaganda from social media. However, the damage was already done.
Daniel Horowitz, the host of "Conservative Review with Daniel Horowitz" on the Blaze Podcast Network and author of "Rise of the Fourth Reich: Confronting COVID Fascism with a New Nuremberg Trial So This Never Happens Again," told Blaze News, "Words cannot fully capture the degree of human suffering from the war on alternative treatments at a time when the medical establishment had zero answers for patients — including those already vaccinated — with blood oxygen levels dropping. The war on ivermectin and similar drugs was so demonic that they would find every way possible to deny prescriptions and then filling them even at the pharmacies."
"It was so bad that doctors would tell families their patients were as good as dead, and that it was now time to pull the plug, but [would] still go to court to block their ability to use ivermectin as a last try," continued Horowitz. "I'm still haunted by nightmares of hundreds of sick people reaching out to me, desperate for treatment and access to the heroic doctors I was privileged to know."
Cuomo climbs aboard the bandwagon
Around the time the anti-ivermectin campaign was ramping up, Chris Cuomo still had a job at CNN, having not yet been canned over his role in disgraced former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo's sex scandal. Cuomo willingly partook in the horse de-wormer smear.
In one instance, Cuomo joined Don Lemon — who CNN later also ended up firing — in blasting people who considered taking ivermectin.
"People are getting, injecting drugs for animals and horses — oh my God," said Don Lemon.
"And people telling them to," Cuomo chimed in. "What person — you know you talk about like cancel culture and who to shame. Ivermectin. A de-wormer. Really? ... They need to be called out and shamed, brother."
— (@)
'Nauseating' about-face
Cuomo, now with NewsNation, recently appeared on Patrick Bet-David's podcast where he was lightly grilled over his pandemic-era punditry. Bet-David showed Cuomo a viral video of a July 2021 CNN segment in which he berated Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) for refusing to take or push the COVID-19 experimental vaccine on the American public.
Bet-David asked Cuomo, "What's changed from that conversation with you and Byron to where you are today?"
"Well, a lot has changed and a lot needs to change that hasn't," replied Cuomo, adding he would not apologize.
"It was never personal. I believe as a leader, at that time, you had a duty to be thorough in what you were putting out there as opposed to just playing politics, ok. This was never as simple as vaccine good, vaccine bad. Politics made it that," said Cuomo, who is suffering from long-term health effects he resists attributing to the vaccines. "And it put us in a toxic environment."
"Do I now believe that we have data to support the fact that there are thousands of people who have adverse effects, that are not getting attention let alone treatment? Yes, and I fault government for that," continued Cuomo. "I do not fault myself for telling people at the time what the government was giving us as best practices."
Deeper into the podcast, Cuomo made a major admission.
"I'll tell you something else that's going to get you a lot of hits. I am taking a ... regular dose, you know whatever, of ivermectin. Ivermectin was a boogeyman early on in COVID," said Cuomo. "That was wrong. We were given bad information about ivermectin. The real question is, 'Why?'"
"Everyone is going to say, 'Joe Rogan was right.' No, Joe Rogan was saying — yeah, we was right, but that's not what matters. What matters is the entire clinical community knew that ivermectin couldn't hurt you. They knew it, Patrick. I know they knew it. How do I know it?" continued the former CNN host. "Because now I am doing nothing but talking to these clinicians who at the time were overwhelmed by COVID, and they weren't saying anything, not that they were hiding anything. But it's cheap, it's not owned by anybody, and it's used as anti-microbial, anti-viral in all these different ways and has been for a long time."
"My doctor ... was using it during COVID on her family and on her patients and it was working for them," added Cuomo. "So, they were wrong to play scared on that. Didn't know that at the time. Know it now. Admit it now. Reporting on it now."
Horowitz told Blaze News, "For Cuomo to suddenly acknowledge he knew all along ivermectin worked while joining the COVID genocide bandwagon when it was actually needed is nauseating."
\ud83d\udc40 Chris Cuomo Says He Does Not Apologize for Shaming People Who Didn't Take the Vaccine, Reveals He Is Taking Ivermectin Now \n\n"My doctors say I have 'Long COVID'. I have the symptoms, they showed me my blood work. It scared the bejesus out of me to see this glowing micro-clot\u2026— (@)
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Did We Learn ANYTHING from 2022 (or 2020 or 2018)?