Nearly Half of Americans Struggling Because of Higher Prices in Poll

Grocery Shopping

Nearly half of Americans report that the recent spike in inflation is making it harder to make ends meet, according to a new poll.

Monmouth University released a poll Wednesday showing 46% of Americans are “currently struggling to remain where they are financially.”

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CBP: More than 241,000 Illegal Entries in May, 2.2 Million in Fiscal Year

Illegal Immigrants

More than 241,000 people were apprehended after illegally entering the U.S. in May, according to newly released data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

May’s numbers push the total number of apprehensions and encounters of illegal border crossers to more than 2.2 million in the first eight months of fiscal 2024.

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South Carolina Agency Changes Name and Doubles Down on Mission

Alan Wilson

A partially federally funded South Carolina Agency is changing its name as it doubles down on its enforcement of crimes targeting the state’s vulnerable adult population.

South Carolina’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is changing its name to the Vulnerable Adults and Medicaid Provider Fraud Unit. State officials said the agency experienced a 30% increase in reports from law enforcement thanks to an outreach effort targeting local agencies over the past two years.

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Industry Groups Sue over Biden Regulation Requiring Electric School Buses, Trucks

Rich Moskowitz, AFPM General Counsel

A coalition of industry groups have filed a lawsuit challenging a Biden administration rule.

A dozen groups joined together to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for the Biden administration’s new rule, finalized earlier this year, which requires model 2027 trucks to meet strict emissions standards that critics say are meant to push out diesel and gas vehicles and to replace them with electric vehicles.

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Biden Announces Widespread Amnesty Plan for Illegal Immigrants

President Joe Biden announced a new plan on Tuesday that will fast track a path to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals who’ve been living in the country illegally for more than 10 years and married a U.S. citizen. He also expanded protections for DACA recipients, according to several reports.

In a statement issued by the White House, the president blamed Republicans in Congress for not securing the border and fixing the “broken immigration system.”

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Supreme Court Ruling Upholds Immigration Law and Deportation Process

Justice Samuel Alito

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law established by Congress requiring the deportation of foreign nationals who illegally enter the country. 

The court ruled on three consolidated cases in Campos-Chaves v Garland that were on appeal in the Fifth and Ninth circuits, where the appellate courts issued conflicting rulings.

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Airline Industry Continues to Grapple with Safety Concerns

Boeing 737

Various aviation and airline executives and experts spoke Wednesday on safety in the industry at an event hosted by POLITICO.

Speakers included Bob Jordan, CEO of Southwest Airlines, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kans. and Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Michael Whitaker and other executives from the airline industry. 

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Voters Lack Confidence Kamala Harris can Become President

Kamala Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris has a fight on her hands if she wants to inherit the Democratic presidential mantle after President Joe Biden’s time is over, according to a new poll.

The Politico/Morning Consult poll shows that voters have serious doubts about Harris’ electability.

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Inspector General: Vetting of Asylum Seekers Is Inadequate

DHS employee

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security must improve the screening and vetting process of noncitizens claiming asylum who are being released into the country, the department’s inspector general says in a new report.

The Office of the Inspector General evaluated the screening process being implemented by two DHS agencies: U.S. Customs and Border Protection screening foreign nationals arriving at land ports of entry and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) screening asylum seekers. The OIG audited the effectiveness of the technology, procedures, and other processes used to screen and vet asylum seekers. It concluded they “were not fully effective to screen and vet noncitizens applying for admission into the United States or asylum seekers whose asylum applications were pending for an extended period.”

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CBO: U.S. Budget Deficit at $1.7 Trillion over Past Year

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office this week revealed the magnitude of the federal deficit, growing to $1.7 trillion in one year, as the national public debt reached $34.7 trillion for the first time in U.S. history.

On Monday alone, the national public debt grew by $37 billion. By Tuesday, it surpassed $34.7 trillion overall.

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