Troops Arrive at Southern Border Ahead of Title 42 Expiration Today

Also: Melania Supports Her Husband’s 2024 Presidential Bid

Troops Arrive at Southern Border Ahead of Title 42 Expiration Today
The Washington Examiner reports that 550 active-duty troops have arrived at the US-Mexico border to manage an expected immigrant surge. The deployment follows Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's approval of a plan to send 1,500 active-duty troops to the border ahead of the expiration of Title 42, a rule put in place by then-President Trump due to the pandemic that allowed US immigration officials to expel immigrants more quickly. The service members will not be responsible for apprehending immigrants or law enforcement matters, but rather will provide additional ground detection monitoring capability, warehouse support, and data entry.

More from the Examiner:

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned on Wednesday that border officials are "already seeing high numbers of encounters in certain sectors," which he said is placing "an incredible strain on our personnel, our facilities, and our communities, with whom we partner closely."

In order to process the surge, the State Department plans to open roughly 100 regional processing centers at specific locations and will, in the near future, launch an online platform so people can make appointments for those centers.

There was some chatter that President Biden may extend Title 42, but so far that hasn’t played out. He has until 11:59 p.m. ET tonight and it seems unlikely given the above. Instead, he remarked on Tuesday, “It’s going to be chaotic for a while.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement, “The brutal reality of Biden’s immigration agenda should shock the conscience of every American. His policies allow monstrous gang members, terrorists, human traffickers, drug dealers, and violent criminals into our country and demonstrate that the President is willing to sacrifice American lives for his open-borders agenda. Furthermore, our public services, including overburdened schools, hospitals, and law enforcement, are saddled by the federal government with unsustainable costs as billions of dollars are spent supporting illegal aliens residing in Texas.”

Trump Schools CNN Anchor in New Hampshire Townhall
From The Daily Wire:

After years of calling CNN “fake news” in the face of a torrent of unflattering news coverage, Trump made a return to the network for the first time since the 2016 campaign with the town hall. He said CNN offered “me a deal I couldn’t refuse” in a post to Truth Social before the big event.

Though Trump was introduced Wednesday evening as the Republican 2024 primary frontrunner, the questions he faced for the first 25 minutes looked backward, probing Trump on his “rigged” 2020 election claims, various controversies and legal challenges he faces, and writer E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit accusing Trump of rape. Trump stood his ground on all fronts.

Clips: Trump, Kaitlan Collins clash during CNN town hall (Fox News)