NC Democrat Wiley Nickel leaving House over redistricting, but is eyeing 2026 challenge to Sen. Tillis
Democratic U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel said Thursday he won’t seek reelection to Congress next year, the result of congressional redistricting by Republican state legislators this fall that’s likely to shift North Carolina’s delegation to the right. And he said he’ll consider a U.S. Senate bid for an election that would be nearly three years away. The decision by the first-term congressman on the day before candidate filing ends for the March primary means three incumbent House Democrats from North Carolina won’t run in 2024. Each of them blamed the reconfigured lines by GOP lawmakers — now the subject of litigation — that they say make it futile for them to run. Democratic Reps. Jeff Jackson of Charlotte and Kathy Manning of Greensboro already said they wouldn’t seek reelection. Nickel’s decision should benefit national Republicans in their efforts to retain a U.S. House majority in 2025. SWING DISTRICT DEMOCRAT COMPLAINS SHE WON’T RUN FOR RE-ELECTION BECAUSE RACE IS ‘RIGGED’ AGAINST HER “Republicans have rigged the system to favor themselves and I don’t have a path to run for re-election in the 13th district. But I’m not giving up and neither should you,” Nickel said in a news release provided by Nickel’s campaign committee and geared to supporters. He planned a formal public announcement later Thursday. The release said Nickel, a lawyer and state senator from Cary before his 2022 victory, would now work next year to help get Democrats elected up and down the ballot, “fight to end partisan gerrymandering, and explore a path forward in the U.S. Senate.” 2026 is the next time a Senate seat is scheduled for North Carolina ballots. GOP Sen. Thom Tillis currently holds that seat. In a text, Nickel said that while he is looking at a Senate bid, he also planned to file paperwork soon with the Federal Election Commission to shift his House campaign committee to a Senate committee. Nickel, 48, said he expected to tour the state in 2024 to talk about gerrymandering. The 2022 elections were conducted under a map for the state’s 14 congressional seats drawn by state judges that resulted in Democrats and Republicans winning seven seats each. One of the seven belongs to Nickel, who narrowly won in the closely competitive Raleigh-area 13th District. But the Republican-dominated General Assembly, emboldened by a state Supreme Court ruling that tossed out previous partisan gerrymandering claims, enacted a map that made it likely for the GOP to win at least 10 of the 14 seats, according to election data. The recalibrated 13th Congressional District is now considered a strongly leaning Republican district and two other districts adjoining the 13th are heavily Democratic and where Democratic incumbents Deborah Ross and Valerie Foushee are seeking reelection. At least 10 Republicans have filed as candidates for the new 13th District, which, while still including parts of Raleigh, wraps around Wake County and stretches north to the Virginia border and south into several rural counties. NC FACES FEDERAL LAWSUIT OVER ALLEGED RACIAL BIAS IN NEWLY DRAWN CONGRESSIONAL MAPS Jackson, the 14th District incumbent, is running instead for state attorney general. Manning, who currently represents the 6th District, said last week that she would change her mind and run again for Congress should litigation alleging the retooled 6th District is an illegal racial gerrymander is successful. Nickel has been particularly vocal about the congressional map, declaring that litigation was needed to strike it down. More than 20 Black and Latino voters sued over the 6th and three other congressional districts earlier this month, but it appears unlikely that any resolution of the lawsuit will occur in time to delay the congressional primary elections. Absentee ballots for the primary start getting mailed to requesters on Jan. 19. Republicans backing U.S. House candidates were pleased with Nickel’s departure. “Wiley Nickel just gave Republicans an early Christmas gift with another pickup in the battle for the House majority,” Delanie Bomar, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a news release.
Law firm that represented Nixon, BP during oil spill prepared university presidents for antisemitism testimony
A well-known international law firm that has been involved in several controversies throughout recent history reportedly helped prepare at least two university officials for their testimony on campus antisemitism to Congress last week. WilmerHale, a prominent Washington D.C., law firm that was formed by a merger in 2004 between Washington-based Wilmer Cutler Pickering and Boston-based Hale and Dorr, prepared the leaders of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania prior to their testimony in the House last week over whether they would discipline students who called for the genocide of Jews, according to a report from the New York Times. The two school’s presidents at the time – Claudine Gay of Harvard and Liz Magill of Penn – prepared separately for the congressional testimony with teams from WilmerHale, according to the outlet, which cited two unidentified individuals familiar with the situation in its report. WilmerHale also had a meeting with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) President Sally Kornbluth, according to one person who spoke with the outlet. HOUSE APPROVES RESOLUTION DEMANDING MIT, HARVARD PRESIDENTS RESIGN AFTER ANTISEMITISM TESTIMONY Known for its work in defending those who face government investigations, the law firm with offices throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia has had an extensive list of high-profile clients who have found themselves tangled up in controversies that captured the public’s attention. The law firm represented former President Richard Nixon amid his duel with Congress over the Watergate tapes, as well as oil titan BP PLC amid investigations by the government into the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Aside from the larger-scale controversies, WilmerHale has experience working with colleges and universities to mitigate certain crises. During last Tuesday’s hearing, lawyers for WilmerHale were present and sat in the front row. Those in attendance included Alyssa DaCunha, who leads congressional investigations and crisis management practices for the firm, and Felicia Ellsworth, who serves as vice-chair of the firm’s litigation and controversy department. Both DaCunha and Ellsworth were involved in preparing Gay and Magill ahead of the hearing, according to the report, which also noted that the “schools each independently hired WilmerHale, and the firm created separate teams to prepare each president.” WilmerHale did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Following the hearing, which included several lawmakers challenging the university presidents about the issue of antisemitism on their respective campuses, Magill, who had served as Penn’s president since July 2022, resigned. Magill’s resignation came after she failed to say during her testimony if calls for the genocide of Jews would violate university policy, a position she faced immense criticism for. One day after the hearing, Magill walked back her comments in a video posted to X, saying, “There was a moment during yesterday’s congressional hearing on antisemitism when I was asked if a call for the genocide of Jewish people on our campus would violate our policies. In that moment, I was focused on our university’s long-standing policies aligned with the U.S. Constitution, which says that speech alone is not punishable.” “I was not focused on, but I should have been, on the irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate,” she added in the December 6 video message. STEFANIK SHREDS HARVARD OVER ‘COMPLETE MORAL FAILURE’ AFTER ALLOWING CLAUDINE GAY TO REMAIN PRESIDENT Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, whose exchange with Magill during the hearing quickly spread across social media, blasted the president’s video, calling it a “pathetic PR clean up attempt.” “This pathetic PR clean up attempt by Penn shockingly took over 24 hours to try to fix the moral depravity of the answers under oath yesterday,” Stefanik wrote in a post on X. “And there was not even an apology. By the way, the questions were asked over and over and over again.” “No statement will fix what the world saw and heard yesterday,” the New York congresswoman added. During the hearing on antisemitism, Magill, Gay and Kornbluth gave what Stefanik later said were “evasive and dismissive” answers when she asked them if calls for the genocide of Jews would violate their institution’s policies on bullying and harassment. “If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment. Yes,” Magill responded, later adding, “It is a context-dependent decision.” “It can be, depending on the context,” Gay responded. Kornbluth responded to the question, saying that it would be considered harassment only if it’s “targeted at individuals, not making public statements” and if it was “pervasive and severe.” In an earlier statement to Fox News Digital, an MIT spokesperson said that “MIT and our president, Sally Kornbluth, reject antisemitism in all its forms,” and pointed to a statement from the school’s governing board. “The MIT Corporation chose Sally to be our president for her outstanding academic leadership, her judgment, her integrity, her moral compass, and her ability to unite our community around MIT’s core values. She has done excellent work in leading our community, including in addressing antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hate, which we reject utterly at MIT. She has our full and unreserved support,” the MIT Corporation wrote. The Harvard Corporation reaffirmed its support for Gay on Tuesday, hours after the resolution was introduced, stating that she is the “right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing.” In a 303-126 vote Wednesday evening, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution calling on the presidents of Harvard and MIT to resign after their testimony to Congress. “President Magill has resigned, and the other Presidents should follow suit,” states the resolution, which required two-thirds to pass. Fox News Digital’s Adam Sabes and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
Turkish MP who suffered heart attack during speech in parliament dies
Hasan Bitmez dies at a hospital in Ankara two days after heart attack during anti-Israel speech. A Turkish opposition legislator who suffered a heart attack and collapsed in parliament during a speech railing against the government’s policy towards Israel has died. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Thursday that Hasan Bitmez, a 54-year-old member of the Islamist Saadet Partisi, or Felicity Party, had died in an Ankara hospital two days after the incident. “You allow ships to go to Israel, and you shamelessly call it trade. … You are Israel’s accomplice,” Bitmez said in his speech targeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Tuesday after placing a poster on the podium reading: “Murderer Israel; collaborator AKP.” “Even if you escape the torment of history, you will not be able to escape the wrath of God,” he said at the end of the 20-minute speech before collapsing at the lectern. Other members of the Grand National Assembly rushed forward to help, and Koca said on Tuesday that Bitmez had been “resuscitated in parliament and transferred within 20 minutes to hospital” where medical equipment had kept him alive. The opposition figure, who was married and a father of one, graduated from Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, worked for Islamic nongovernmental groups and was chairman of the Centre for Islamic Union Research. His speech accused the government of continuing friendly economic relations with Israel during its assault on Gaza, which has killed nearly 19,000 Palestinians. His remarks drew jeers from AK Party members. While Erdogan has worked to improve ties with Israel after a period of frosty relations, he has also railed against the current war between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas, calling Israel a “terror state” and pushing for a ceasefire. In a small ceremony on Thursday on the grounds of the Grand National Assembly, Bitmez’s coffin was draped with a Turkish flag, and a small Palestinian flag was attached as well. Adblock test (Why?)
‘Regime of impunity’: Victims react to Fujimori’s prison release in Peru
He was horrible at math. Loved to play sports. And always seemed to be smiling. When Gisela Ortiz thinks back to her older brother Luis Enrique, she remembers someone who was kind and generous, willing to lend clothes out of his own closet to classmates in need. But when Ortiz was 20, her brother disappeared. She later learned that soldiers had burst into the university residence hall where he was staying and abducted him, along with eight other students. Together with a professor, they were taken into a field and executed, their bodies dumped in a mass grave. Luis Enrique was only 21 years old. Now, more than three decades later, the person Ortiz holds responsible has been released from prison — and Ortiz is among those raising their voices in protest. On December 6, former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was freed, 16 years into a 25-year sentence. In 2009, he had been convicted of ordering massacres between 1991 and 1992 that claimed the lives of 25 people, including Luis Enrique. But critics have said that his record of human rights abuses stretches much further, to include allegations of torture, involuntary sterilisation and forced disappearances. The Inter-American Court had ordered Peruvian authorities to refrain from releasing Fujimori, given the severity of his crimes. “A regime of impunity has been established,” Ortiz said after Fujimori’s release. “Ignoring the ruling of the Inter-American Court really makes us a country that does not respect human rights at the international level, and that is a step that is difficult to reverse.” Families hold up photos of loved ones who disappeared under the presidency of Alberto Fujimori [Jacob Kessler/Al Jazeera] Peru is a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and is legally bound by the decisions of the Inter-American Court. But Fujimori has remained a towering figure in Peru’s conservative politics, with a broad base of popular support. Proponents credit him with stabilising the economy, combatting armed leftist groups and launching infrastructure projects that improved transportation, education and healthcare. The former president was first granted a humanitarian pardon in 2017, though it was later nullified. Peru’s Constitutional Court reinstated the pardon this month, partially on the basis of Fujimori’s advanced age and poor health. Still, César Muñoz, the Americas associate director at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera that Fujimori’s release is an “extremely serious setback” for rule of law, not to mention for those harmed. “It’s a slap in the face to the victims,” Muñoz said. He explained that, according to international law, humanitarian pardons may indeed be granted to human rights abusers, but two conditions must first be met. The first condition requires countries to punish human rights abusers according to a consistent standard, without discrimination or favour. “You cannot have rules that change depending on who the person is,” said Muñoz. The second condition requires that medical professionals render an independent, thorough and impartial determination about the need for a humanitarian release. “Those two elements were not there” in the case of Fujimori’s pardon, Muñoz explained. Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, wearing a face mask, exits a prison on December 6 near Lima, Peru, where his daughter Keiko and Kenji guide him to a waiting car [Courtesy of Elio Riera/Reuters] Following Fujimori’s release, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said it “rejects Peru’s decision” and called for the country “to take effective measures to guarantee the victims’ right to access justice”. Cameras last week captured Fujimori, 85, stepping out of the prison gates and into the arms of his two children, Kenji Fujimori and Keiko Fujimori, both influential politicians. The news left Javier Roca Obregón, also 85, feeling “indignant”. He has long since lost hope of ever seeing his son, Martin Roca Casas, again. “I am 85 years old, and I have no hope,” Obregón told Al Jazeera. “I just want to die soon.” In 1993, Casas was a student at the National University of Callao when he was tortured and detained by Peruvian military forces. His body has never been recovered. Obregón and others believe Casas’s abduction was linked to his student activism. He remembers his son as a beacon of hope for other young people — “an example of overcoming” life’s obstacles. Shortly before he went missing, Casas participated in a march against a tuition increase at his university. When two people started to film the protest, he and other students grabbed the camera and destroyed it — an act Obregón suspects precipitated his kidnapping. “In Peru, the life of a poor person is worth nothing. The poor have no right to justice,” said Obregón, who originally hailed from the small, rural town of Yanama. “Just like a dog, they can kill it and then forget about it. That is what is being repeated.” Javier Roca Obregón, right, and his wife remember their son Martin Roca Casas, who disappeared after being detained by military officials [Jacob Kessler/Al Jazeera] Critics have said Fujimori governed with relative impunity during his term in office, from 1990 to 2000. His presidency oversaw the dissolution of Congress and the suspension of Peru’s constitution, allowing him to consolidate power. Carolina Oyague said it was a “terrible” feeling to see the video of a smiling Fujimori being released to his children. Her older sister Dora, 21, was one of the nine students abducted from the Enrique Guzmán y Valle National University of Education in 1993, alongside Luis Enrique Ortiz. Oyague remembers her sister as “cheerful and creative”, a budding entrepreneur who sold everything from makeup to cakes to pay for her education. It was not until September of this year that parts of Dora’s skeletal remains were recovered and presented to her family. To watch Fujimori walk free only a few months later left Oyague furious. “There’s no mea culpa,” she said. “He doesn’t even have a modicum of remorse.” Fujimori has issued vague apologies in the past but has never taken direct responsibility for the military killings or the other abuses that occurred
How much environmental damage is Israel’s war on Gaza causing?
Israel’s military onslaught has devastated built and natural environments in Gaza. Palestinians continue to suffer in Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza – thousands killed and tens of thousands of others wounded. One of the most intense bombing campaigns since World War II will leave not just a legacy of grief for Gaza’s people, but one of lasting physical damage to the environment. Sanitation and water treatment systems have been destroyed. Thousands of Israeli and Western-supplied bombs pollute the air and ground. The war is leaving a new layer of toxic chemicals in Gaza’s soil, adding to those left behind after the many wars Israel has waged before. Can Gaza recover? Presenter: Adrian Finighan Guests: Nada Majdalani – Palestinian director of EcoPeace Middle East, an organisation that brings together Jordanian, Palestinian, and Israeli environmentalists Marwan Bardawil – Head of Gaza Programme Coordination Unit of the Palestinian Water Authority Hadeel Ikhmais – Director general of the Climate Change Section of the Palestinian Authority’s Environment Quality Authority Adblock test (Why?)
Ken Paxton’s impeachment cost Texas House at least $3.7 million
The bulk of the costs came from bills from Rusty Hardin’s law firm, according to records released this week.
Chicago mayor accused of prioritizing migrants over Black community as vote to recall sanctuary status stalled
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was accused of prioritizing tens of thousands of migrants from the southern border over the Black community and homeless veterans on Thursday, during a special council meeting meant to consider whether residents would be asked to vote on a referendum on Illinois’ largest city’s sanctuary status. The Chicago City Council special meeting began with time for public comment, but councilors ultimately voted to adjourn afterward without considering a resolution “authorizing a referendum question to be submitted to the voters of City of Chicago whether Chicago should continue to keep its designation as a Sanctuary City,” until it moves out of committee. Lauren Lawrence, a woman who described herself as a Chicago native, born and raised in the city, said she witnessed a “transition as if a lot of people are not important here.” “I’m not for the sanctuary city, and the reason why I’m not for the sanctuary city is because people have waited years to come in here legally,” she said. “Not just transported on these buses, dropped off in our neighborhood, raise of crime, almost got hit several times just making it down here today. And this is ludicrous. There should not be two sets of laws.” CHICAGO MAYOR LAUNCHES LAWSUITS AGAINST COMPANIES TRANSPORTING ‘ROGUE BUSES’ OF MIGRANTS TO CITY “Also, the West Side and the South Side Black communities have been earmarked for having funds – never seen it. We’re still waiting those funds to come into those communities,” she continued, taking aim at the new mayor, who just assumed office in May, replacing former Mayor Lori Lighfoot. “Brandon Johnson, many people stood behind you. They feel let down, because the day you came into office, which I believe was May 15, you already had signed an executive order,” Lawrence said Thursday, referencing Johnson’s Day One order establishing a “deputy mayor for immigrant, migrant and refugee rights.” The May 15 order instructs all city department heads to take direction from the new deputy mayor “to ensure the efficacy of Chicago’s status as a welcoming and sanctuary city.” “Now, whether it came from Gov.r Pritzker or whomever that directed you on this, is it fair to these communities that have been waiting for years? You said you on the West side, but you should know what’s going on over there as well,” Lawrence said. “When are you going to have our neighborhoods cleaned up? And when are we going to get the rights that we deserve?” “I’m not against anyone coming in here legally. I want to say that clearly. But for those who have not, they don’t top us. They don’t go before us. We’re not last in line,” she said. Lawrence complained that thousands of dollars were going to those who entered the country illegally, ahead of lawful Chicagoans, including veterans and the homeless. “They need to be taken care of. They need to stop being neglected. Because if we don’t have a voice here, we will have a voice out there,” she said. The council’s decision to adjourn without considering the sanctuary status referendum vote drew condemnation from Alderman Anthony Beale, who demanded to know whether Johnson and councilors were afraid that city voters would tell them “the truth” about funding decisions regarding the migrant influx. “Let me just say that I figured you all had something up your sleeve,” Beale, who represents Chicago’s Ninth Ward, told Johnson and fellow councilors. “What are you scared of? To let the people have a voice? What are you scared of? The truth? Are we scared of the truth here? Are we afraid that the people are going to tell us that we are spending money frivolously in this body? Are we afraid that the people are going to tell us that we are headed in the wrong direction? Are we afraid that the people are going to finally stand up and speak in the city of Chicago, that they’re saying that this ship is headed in the wrong direction? Why are we afraid to let the people speak?” IL ALLOCATES $160 MILLION TO AID MIGRANTS IN CHICAGO DURING WINTER MONTHS “But we are afraid of the truth. Crime is running rampant. Our schools are in trouble. We’re spending hundreds, millions of dollars on people that don’t even pay taxes and live in the city,” Beale continued. “Now I’m all for taking care of people. I get it. I am sympathetic as well. However, I’m more sympathetic for the people in my community that have been paying taxes their entire life, can’t get a furnace, can’t get a roof, can’t get a hot water heater, can’t get a back porch. And my seniors are still starving for resources.” Beale charged: “There’s no conscionable way we should be voting on hundreds of millions of dollars to just, you know, go to Brighton Park, only to have the whole thing blown up.” Earlier this month, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration scrapped plans for a temporary winter camp for migrants at Brighton Park in Chicago, citing the risk of contaminants at the former industrial site. With the coldest weather looming – and despite a partnership with religious leaders to provide temporary housing – hundreds of migrants were still awaiting placement at airports and police stations, and some are still camped on sidewalks outside precinct buildings. As of Thursday morning, more than 25,000 people have arrived in Chicago from the southern border since August 2022, according to data compiled by the City of Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC). The city’s dashboard claims 25,700 people have come via “Texas buses,” as Democrats have blasted Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s migrant busing operation transporting migrants to sanctuary jurisdictions. But the city dashboard only has data for migrants arriving to Chicago “via airplane” as of June 2023, showing 4,252 individuals have arrived by plane to Chicago seeking asylum since then. Besides Abbott, the federal government also relocates migrants from the border across the country. “We need to
Dance company featured in Jill Biden’s Christmas video promotes ‘prison abolition,’ ‘defund the police’ groups
The New York City tap dancing troupe enlisted by first lady Jill Biden for a Christmas video promotes controversial far-left ideologies, including abolishing prisons and defunding the police. The first lady got lit up on Twitter over her Wednesday video featuring Dorrance Dance performing a “playful interpretation of The Nutcracker Suite” in the White House. However, outside the candy-coating, Dorrance Dance promotes controversial policies, including “prison abolition.” FIRST LADY JILL BIDEN BLASTED OVER ‘BIZARRE’ WHITE HOUSE CHRISTMAS VIDEO: ‘UNITED STATES OF BANANAS’ Dorrance Dance’s “take action for justice [and] change” website page pushes readers to join their local Black Lives Matter or Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) chapters while including a quote from SURJ directly below it on their website. “In this moment, we know there are thousands of white people who are looking for direction and a way to show up alongside black communities and communities of color. Welcome,” the quote reads. “You are needed. Here are a few ways to start showing up – not just in words but in action.” The quote was pulled from SURJ’s May 2020 Medium article, “5 Ways White People Can Take Action in Response to White and State-Sanctioned Violence.” On the same page, Dorrance Dance pushes readers to “get involved” in “prison abolition” work while pointing users to far-left organizations, including M4BL – which advocates for defunding the police. Additionally, the organization pushes website users toward the organization Critical Resistance, which “seeks to build an international movement to end the prison industrial complex (PIC) by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe,” as well as INCITE! – a “network of radical feminists of color organizing to end state violence and violence in our homes and communities.” INCITE! also pushes allegations of “genocide” against the Israeli government on their homepage, which reads “free Palestine” at the top and pushes a digital poster for download reading, “feminists of color rise up free Palestine.” Additionally, Dorrance Dance’s “educate yourself” page provides resources for “those who are investigating or have questions about white privilege, systemic racism, white fragility, and anti-racism for the very first time.” Biden’s video of Dorrance Dance was bashed online after it was posted on Wednesday. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the first lady shared the video from the official @FLOTUS account, along with a caption. “A bit of magic, wonder, and joy brought to you by the talented tappers of Dorrance Dance, performing their playful interpretation of The Nutcracker Suite. Enjoy!” the first lady’s post read. But social media observers didn’t seem to be enjoying the musical content. The video was filled with smiling dancers in brightly colored costumes, prancing and tapping all over the White House, but many viewers described the video as nothing remotely close to a Christmas theme. The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment from the first lady on Dorrance Dance’s support of the controversial policies. The White House also did not answer Fox News Digital’s questions on whether the first lady was aware of Dorrance Dance’s support of these policies when she enlisted them for the video or how much the performance potentially cost taxpayers. Dorrance Dance also did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
Conservative groups, ex-border officials demand lawmakers reject ‘unacceptable’ border compromise
FIRST ON FOX: A number of conservative groups and former border officials are urging Republican lawmakers to reject a potential compromise on border funding that falls short of the House signature legislation passed this year — as the clock ticks down on a potential deal. Negotiations are ongoing between Republicans, Democrats and the Biden administration over a $106 billion supplemental spending agreement for the border, Israel and Ukraine. Republicans have demanded policy changes, including asylum limits, to restrict the entry of migrants into the U.S. as part of the deal. Republicans in the House and conservative groups have called for the inclusion of the entirety of H.R. 2 — the House signature legislation passed in the chamber this year which ramps up border security, restarts border wall construction, brings back the Remain-in-Mexico policy and limits the use of asylum and humanitarian parole among other sweeping changes. REPUBLICANS SEE PROGRESS IN BORDER TALKS, BUT UNCLEAR IF DEAL WITHIN REACH AS CRISIS RAGES A Senate working group released a slimmer version of proposals taken in part from H.R. 2, but that was rejected by the White House and Senate Democrats. This week it was reported that the administration was open to a Title 42-type expulsion authority in certain circumstances, expanded expedited removal and a broadening of immigration detention. Those proposals drew optimism from some Senate Republicans, even as some Democrats and immigration activists condemned them. However, the conservatives — who are part of a coalition that previously warned Congress against “watering down” H.R. 2, — say that it falls short of what is required to fix the ongoing crisis at the border which has hit historic highs in terms of migrant encounters. Kevin Roberts, president of Heritage Action, said in a statement to Fox News Digital that “years of backroom deals and weakness from Congress have given us the worst illegal immigration crisis in American history” and that Americans are “sick and tired” of secret negotiations that end in “do-nothing bills.” “The border is in chaos because of Biden’s intentional destruction of the enforcement measures that discouraged illegal immigration. Lawmakers cannot trust this administration with more money and more power to make up the rules as they go. Conservatives have already passed a plan to secure the border. H.R. 2 gets the job done,” he said. “Anything less would be a defeat for the American people and the rule of law.” “Allowing the Biden administration to use a Christmas deadline and false promises of border security to pass billions in foreign funding is unacceptable. Conservative members of Congress shouldn’t take these negotiations seriously—the American people surely do not,” he said. Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center and a former DHS official, dismissed reported claims by the Biden administration that it would deport and detain more. “That’s current law, which they’ve ignored for three years. That’s neither a ‘concession’ nor credible,’ she said. CONSERVATIVE COALITION WARNS GOP LEADERS AGAINST ‘WATERING DOWN’ BORDER MEASURES TO CLINCH SPENDING DEAL Tom Homan, a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a Heritage visiting fellow, called the policies in H.R. 2 a “no-brainer” “Because we proved they worked under the Trump administration and implementing these policies resulted in the most secure border of my lifetime,” he said. “Why would anyone negotiate proven success? Now is the time to be strong and act. “The FBI has publicly stated that the threat stream to this nation is very high. The time for negotiating is over,” Homan said. “We can no longer accept the Democrats delaying action on Israel and Ukraine because continuing an open border national security failure is more important to them.” Former acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Mark Morgan accused Senate Democrats of “negotiating with themselves to water down what they already agreed was the path to success.” “Throwing more money at the crisis and begging the current administration to enforce the laws they have disregarded for three years, without the inclusion of the policy changes contained in H.R. 2, is not a solution – it’s failure. What’s happening at our borders is not about immigration – it’s about our ability to safeguard our nation against a vast set of complex threats pouring across them,” he said. “When did it become acceptable to ‘compromise’ on protecting and defending our borders and our sovereignty?” MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS AGAIN TOP 10K IN SINGLE DAY AS LAWMAKERS EYE NEW BORDER LIMITS Chris Chmielenski, President of the Immigration Accountability Project, said that the proposal “falls short” of addressing the crisis and warned that “any Republican that goes along will join the Biden Administration in owning it.” The only way to end the crisis, he said, is to pass H.R. 2. “Then, and only then, will a loud and clear message be sent around the world that the U.S. border is closed,” he said. Lawmakers are due to leave Washington on Thursday for the holiday break, it is unclear if a deal will be reached before then. Meanwhile, sources confirmed to Fox News this week that encounters breached the 10,000 mark at the southern border in a single day on Tuesday.
Israel bombards Rafah as pressure mounts over civilian death toll in Gaza
At least 26 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on Rafah in southern Gaza, according to Palestinian officials as international calls grow for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Footage from the scene shared online and verified by Al Jazeera on Thursday showed local residents trying to extinguish a fire and rescue survivors as black smoke rises from one of the buildings. Two adjacent homes belonging to the Abu Dhbaa and Ashour families were obliterated in the attack on the city, where tens of thousands of displaced people have sought shelter since a weeklong truce collapsed in early December. Displaced people have been sleeping in makeshift shelters and in the streets after evacuating from the north and from other areas of southern Gaza that had previously been deemed safe by the Israeli army. “It was difficult because of the dust and people’s screams. We went there, and we saw our neighbour who had 10 martyrs,” said Fadel Shabaan, a resident who rushed to the area after the bombing. “This is a safe [refugee] camp. There is nothing here. The children play football in the street,” he told the news agency Reuters. Gaza health authorities said 26 people were killed in the attack. Gaza’s Ministry of Health said on Thursday that at least 179 people had been killed and 303 wounded in Israeli attacks over the past day, bringing the death toll in Gaza since the war began on October 7 to 18,787 with 50,897 injured. Footage verified by Al Jazeera shows relatives mourning by the shrouded bodies of at least 20 people. A member of the Ashour family said she lost her mother, two brothers, their wives and their children. “I have a niece who is still under the rubble,” she said. “We had displaced people. One of them was our cousin who was displaced from the north. Our neighbour and his grandmother who were displaced from Beit Lahiya were killed too.” Another member of the Ashour family said there were more than 50 people inside the four-storey building. “They were people from Beit Lahiya, Jabalia, al-Saftawi and Nuseirat,” she said. “We lost [an] old lady, a five-month pregnant lady, her little boy and her husband, … my brother, his son and his wife.” An Israeli air strike has killed at least 26 people in the southern city of Rafah, where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought shelter in recent days [Mahmud Hams/AFP] Fighting rages across Gaza Two weeks after the truce collapsed, the war has entered an intense phase with fighting now raging across the entire Palestinian enclave and international organisations warning of a worsening of the humanitarian catastrophe there. Israel has brushed off calls for a ceasefire, including a resolution at the UN Security Council blocked by a US veto last week and another that passed overwhelmingly in the General Assembly this week. Despite Israel’s pledges to reduce harm to civilians, it has extended its ground campaign from the north to the south this month, leaving no part of the enclave unscathed. It says it is offering warnings where it can before attacking an area. In the main southern city, Khan Younis, where advancing Israeli forces reached the centre this week, a whole city block was bombed to dust overnight. Although most people had fled after Israeli warnings, neighbours digging in the rubble with a hand shovel afterwards said they believed four people were under the debris. One body had been recovered. In the north, including the ruins of Gaza City, fighting has escalated since Israel announced that its troops had largely completed their military objectives last month. In Jabaliya also in the north, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israeli forces had stormed a hospital, detaining and abusing medical staff and preventing them from treating a group of wounded patients, at least two of whom had died. Twelve children were in the intensive care unit, where the electricity had been cut and there was no milk, ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said. Israel’s military said Palestinian fighters had been operating inside the hospital, 70 of whom had surrendered there “with weapons in hand” and were now undergoing interrogation. Washington has provided diplomatic cover for its ally but expressed increasing alarm over civilian deaths. US President Joe Biden, whose government has provided Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, delivered his sharpest rebuke of the war on Wednesday. He said Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza was eroding its international support. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who arrived in Israel on Thursday, will discuss with the Israelis the need to be more precise with their strikes, spokesperson John Kirby said. Up to 45 percent of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions that Israel has dropped on Gaza since October 7 have been unguided “dumb bombs”, according to a US intelligence assessment reported by CNN. Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, a member of Israel’s security cabinet and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, rejected Biden’s characterisation of Israel’s strikes as indiscriminate. “There is no such thing as ‘dumb bombs’. Some bombs are more accurate. Some bombs are less accurate. What we have is mostly pilots who are precise,” he told Army Radio. “There is no chance that Israel’s air force or other military units fired at targets that were not terror targets.” “[Sullivan] will likely point to the UN General Assembly vote in favour of a ceasefire earlier this week, but we have already heard from Netanyahu and [Israeli Defense Minister Yoav] Gallant that this war will be conducted the way they want,” Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem. Netanyahu promised to carry on the war “until victory, nothing less than that”, and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has said the war would continue “with or without international support”. The United Nations estimated 1.9 million out of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced. The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said on Wednesday that Palestinians in Gaza