Morning Wire XX
[0] November saw a record number of migrant crossings at the southern border, surpassing last year's already soaring numbers by a startling amount.
[1] We break down the new numbers and discuss the latest on the border battle and Title 42.
[2] I'm Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe.
[3] It's Wednesday, December 28th, and this is Morning Wire.
[4] Amid the perennial power struggle over school funding and oversight, only heightened by the pandemic, recent reports revealed, troubling details about mismanagement and the failure to protect special needs children.
[5] And after decades of strict pacifist policies, Japan is significantly ramping up military spending.
[6] What's prompting the Asian nation to change course?
[7] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[8] Stay tuned.
[9] We have the news you need to know.
[10] Hey guys, producer Brandon here.
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[15] The U .S. Border Patrol has logged a record number of encounters with migrants for the month of November.
[16] The Biden administration revealed the new numbers on Friday evening before the Christmas weekend.
[17] Meanwhile, the Supreme Court may have postponed an even more intense rush on the border in a ruling this week that'll keep Title 42 in place at least for a few more months.
[18] Officials had expected illegal migration to double if the policy ended.
[19] Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
[20] All right, Tim, I'm almost afraid to ask, but just how bad are these new numbers?
[21] Their record setting at over 230 ,000 encounters.
[22] The raw number doesn't show how the border crisis has gotten worse in the past year, though.
[23] Last month's numbers are way over the previous record for November, set last year at over 170 ,000 encounters.
[24] In other words, in a year's time, the number of illegal migrants taken into custody or turned away by authorities in the month of November, shot up by 60 ,000 encounters.
[25] There was also a pretty significant demographic change in the migrants that arrived last month versus a year ago.
[26] According to the Department of Homeland Security, migrants from Mexico and northern Central America still accounted for nearly 60 ,000 unique encounters last month, but that was about 14 % fewer than November 2021.
[27] In their place, border officials saw a significant increase in migrants coming from other countries.
[28] Customs and Border Patrol acting commissioner Troy Miller pointed to Nicaragua and Cuba as examples.
[29] Also an important stat that was not reported in the DHS numbers is the number of gotaways at the southern border.
[30] According to reports, 73 ,000 more migrants crossed into the United States without being caught by border authorities.
[31] Now on Tuesday, the Supreme Court voted to take up a case over Title 42, which left that Trump -era border policy in place for at least a few more months.
[32] Tell us about that ruling.
[33] Well, it's given many who are concerned about the border a chance to breathe, for now at least.
[34] The Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to Title 42's repeal in February.
[35] That gives federal and state officials at least a few months to prepare if the rule is eventually struck down.
[36] The court voted five to four to take up the case of 19 Republican -led states against the Biden administration for trying to repeal Title 42.
[37] The vote was mostly split down ideological lines, except for Justice Neil Gorsuch.
[38] The conservative judge cited with the progressive bloc and vote, voted to deny the state's appeal.
[39] In his dissent, he wrote that courts shouldn't uphold administrative edicts designed for one emergency only because elected officials have failed to address a different emergency.
[40] The court's decision will likely come sometime after arguments are heard in February and before the court's summer recess, usually in June or July.
[41] It seems universally acknowledged that rescinding Title 42 will result in a surge at the border.
[42] What measures are being taken to prepare if that's the case?
[43] Well, the federal government has at least a few months breathing room, but its resources are already stretched to the limit.
[44] It's now mandating that officials in the U .S. air marshals redeploy to the border to help out the Border Patrol.
[45] Ahead of the SCOTUS ruling, the Border Patrol had set up a tent bigger than a football field near El Paso, Texas, as a temporary shelter for migrants.
[46] El Paso is one of the border's hottest spots for illegal entry.
[47] Texas has also stepped up its involvement.
[48] Governor Greg Abbott ordered 400 National Guardsmen to El Paso recently.
[49] The city of El Paso already can't cope with a number of migrants.
[50] Many are sleeping on the streets of the city with nowhere to go.
[51] Last week, the city paid for buses to idle on the street so homeless migrants had a place to warm up during the night in the freezing temperatures.
[52] Abbott also continues to bus migrants into sanctuary cities to keep up political pressure, as well as relocate migrants from overcrowded facilities on the border.
[53] Several buses from Texas even dropped off dozens of migrants in front of Vice President Kamala Harris's official D .C. residents on Christmas Eve.
[54] And apparently no end in sight for any of this.
[55] Tim, thanks for reporting.
[56] Thanks for having me. That was DailyWire's Tim Pierce.
[57] Coming up, reports reveal an egregious lack of oversight in Seattle's special ed programs.
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[63] Amid heightened scrutiny over public school oversight and district spending, a report from earlier this fall revealed shocking levels of abuse at Washington State's special education schools.
[64] Investigative reports from the Seattle Times and ProPublica uncovered copious evidence of physical abuse as well as academic failure in the state -funded schools.
[65] Daily Wire investigative reporter, Marade Allardy, is here with the details for us.
[66] So, Marade, what exactly did this report find?
[67] Hi, Georgia.
[68] Sure.
[69] So this is a stunning deep dive on what appears to be an extremely concerning situation at taxpayer -funded special education programs housed in private schools in Washington State.
[70] The Seattle Times and ProPublica reviewed more than 17 ,000 pages of documents from 45 school districts, three police departments, and Washington State's education department.
[71] What they found is that there is an egregious lack of oversight at a set of special ed private schools known as non -public agencies.
[72] And what specifically is the report alleging is going on?
[73] Well, some of these schools have otherwise positive reputations, but one school that had multiple shocking reports is Northwest School of Innovative Learning, or Northwest Soil, which is also the biggest of these schools.
[74] In one complaint to state education officials, a therapist claims that a teenage boy with severe autism was locked in a schoolroom for hours as he begged to be let out.
[75] One local education official witnessed a teacher put her foot in a student's face as he lay on the floor and threatened to step on him as he pleaded with her.
[76] In a particularly disturbing incident, a staffer who was previously convicted of assault and drug possession put a student in what a school counselor called a chokehold.
[77] In that case, the incident was caught on security footage.
[78] Former staffers of Northwest Soil describe a chaotic and understaffed environment where the adults often resort to restraint or isolation to deal with difficult children.
[79] Parents reported finding bruises on their children's bodies.
[80] Meanwhile, students often suffer academically.
[81] So far, the state has not addressed the issue, and the schools continue to maintain multi -million dollar contracts.
[82] Now, you mentioned that these schools claim that they're underfunded.
[83] How much is the state currently spending on these programs?
[84] So over the last five school years, the state has spent at least $173 million on these.
[85] schools, which have more than 60 campuses and serve about 500 students.
[86] We should note that most of the about 140 ,000 special education students in Washington State attend their local public schools, but lately the state has been sending more and more students with the most serious disabilities to these separate schools.
[87] Because of this, state spending on these schools has more than doubled over the last five years.
[88] Just based on those raw numbers, the per capita spending is about $346 ,000 per student over five years, but the report was careful to note that true per capita spending is hard to calculate because the number of students fluctuated over that period.
[89] For example, Northwest Soil pulled in at least $38 million and they accepted hundreds of public school students during that period.
[90] So how did this go on for so long?
[91] Who was responsible for oversight and was there a clear structure for oversight?
[92] So according to state officials, local school districts are responsible.
[93] responsible for monitoring these schools.
[94] That's because they're the ones sending students there.
[95] But it's complicated because it's not actually the local district's money funding these students.
[96] So unfortunately, there may not be much incentive for them to stay vigilant about what's going on.
[97] As this report shows, it sounds like the system resulted in local schools sending their most challenging students off -site on the state's dime and not really following up.
[98] As of now, it's unclear how many other states operate with this model.
[99] Well, Marade, thanks so much for reporting.
[100] Thanks, Georgia.
[101] That was Daily Wire investigative reporter, Marade Allorty.
[102] With tensions high in East Asia, the Japanese government recently announced plans to double its military budget over the next five years.
[103] Here with the details is Daily Wire's Michael Whitaker.
[104] Hey, Michael.
[105] Hey, John.
[106] So for decades since World War II, Japan has maintained what it calls its self -defense force, which is designed to defend and only defend the country.
[107] That was possible because the U .S. could guarantee wider stability in the region.
[108] but now there's a perception that the situation has changed, correct?
[109] Oh, yes, absolutely.
[110] China has been building up its Navy and Air Force.
[111] In addition to threatening Taiwan, they've made aggressive territorial claims in the South China Sea.
[112] The Chinese have even built artificial islands with air bases to reinforce those claims.
[113] North Korea has also developed nuclear weapons in recent years and has repeatedly fired missiles over Japanese territory.
[114] Our troubled withdrawal from Afghanistan last year hasn't helped our image on the world stage as a reliable partner, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has further destabilized the world.
[115] We have to remember that Russia is massive and also borders Japan, and it has a history of collaborating with China and North Korea.
[116] Gordon Chang, an expert on foreign policy in East Asia, told me that these belligerent nations are beginning to cooperate even more closely.
[117] China has been the primary backer of North Korea, and North Korea would not be able to maintain its weapons programs where it not for China's support, and China and Russia are working very closely together.
[118] So, for instance, tomorrow, China and Russia are going to start their American Operation 2022, those joint drills in the East China Sea, which, by the way, are very close to Japan.
[119] And so they've been working in a long time.
[120] What we're seeing recently is a pickup in the joint military exercises between China and Russia, as well as a move towards interoperability, which is a sign that they plan to fight together.
[121] Japan's military posture has been shifting in recent years.
[122] Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was a prominent advocate of remilitarization, and this seems to be a culmination of that shift.
[123] Abe was assassinated earlier this year in a seemingly unrelated incident.
[124] While this plan would increase Japan's military budget, what the money is being spent on is even more important.
[125] The plan includes the purchase of American missile systems that could hit key military targets in other nations, and represents a pivot towards more offensive capabilities.
[126] All right, so the growth of military force that could potentially be used on the offense.
[127] How significant is this buildup?
[128] Very.
[129] Right now, Japan spends about 1 % of its GDP, 40 billion or so, on its military.
[130] The defense plan put up by Tokyo would raise that to 2 % by 2027 and get to 80 billion in military spending.
[131] All right, so it's doubling the spending.
[132] How does that compare to other nations' military budgets?
[133] Well, if you recall, 2 % of GDP is the magic number for NATO's target spending, although most NATO allies haven't met it, which became a favorite talking point of former President Trump, although they have started to increase spending at his urging, and we've even seen that process accelerate after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
[134] Globally, in 2020, the average country in the world spent 2 .4 % of their GDP on defense.
[135] However, China's economy is more than twice as large as Japan's, so they're currently spending about $230 billion per year.
[136] This year's omnibus bill would raise U .S. defense spending to $8 .58 billion.
[137] While the proposed budget would be many times smaller than Americas or China's, It would turn Japan into the third largest military spender in the world by 2027.
[138] And certainly I have forced to be reckoned with.
[139] Thanks for talking with us, Michael.
[140] Thanks for having me. That was DailyWire's Michael Whitaker.
[141] Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
[142] We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation.
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[144] Well, that's all the time we've got this morning.
[145] Thanks for waking up with us.
[146] We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
[147] Will the lack of a red wave during the midterms lead to more reckless spending by a more emboldened administration?
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