The Trump administration’s border czar Tom Homan announced on X Tuesday evening that not a single person detained at the border in June was released into the country. Last month’s border numbers are in, and they are a massive win for President Donald Trump and the rule of law. BREAKING: June border numbers are inFor the second month in a row, NOT A SINGLE migrant was released into the U.S.ZERO.This is exactly what I voted for! pic.twitter.com/xwehZXFJJC— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 1, 2025 That goes alongside a dramatic decline in total border encounters since Trump took office. “Total Border Patrol encounters for the entire month of June 2025 was 6,070,” Homan wrote. “That is less than a single day under Biden. As a matter of fact, the total number of encounters is less than half of a single day under Biden on many days.” THE TRUMP EFFECT – Total Border Patrol encounters for the entire month of June 2025 was 6,070. That is less than a single day under Biden. As a matter of fact, the total number of encounters is less than half of a single day under Bidenon many days. Also, none of the 6,070 were…— Thomas D. Homan (@RealTomHoman) July 1, 2025 According to CBS News, June’s numbers represent the lowest monthly apprehensions at the border ever recorded by Customs and Border Protection. The previous record was set just a few months ago, in March, when there were only 7,200 border apprehensions. It’s hard to overstate what an astounding turnaround there has been at the border under Trump compared to President Joe Biden. Fox New correspondent Bill Melugin compared the June numbers of the last four years. Border Patrol encounters of illegal aliens at the southern border during the month of June:June 2024: 130,415June 2023: 144,556June 2022: 207,834June 2025: 6,070— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) July 1, 2025 The border crisis began the day Biden took office and was extinguished as soon as Trump returned. The stark numbers only highlight the effect of executive will in dealing with this issue. Whatever “root causes” were creating the explosion of illegal immigrants to come to America, the previous administration clearly did nothing to stop them. They opened the door and let in as many illegal aliens as fast as they could while only pretending to prioritize border security when the situation got out of hand and became a political problem. It’s remarkable looking back at the bogus immigration bill promoted by the Biden administration in February 2024 as a reasonable compromise. A section of the bill ordered that the border be shut down after 5,000 border crossings in seven consecutive days or 8,500 in one day. It was set to be in place for three years. Think about that. Serious border security would only flip on if roughly the same number of people came in per day for an entire week as came in during an entire month in June. The answer to this problem wasn’t additional legislation—that seemed more like an excuse to shovel more money at Ukraine and make the Biden policies official rather than fix the border. The answer was a change in who was running the executive branch from an administration that recklessly allowed illegal aliens to flood the country to one that’s been dedicated to enforcing the laws on the books. At the border, the dramatic shift in rhetoric and policy coming out of the White House created a massive turnaround. The bigger headache for the administration is undoing the damage already done by Biden and company. Trump has committed to mass deportations, a massive challenge given that the Biden administration allowed millions of asylum seekers into the country and Democrat-controlled sanctuary cities and states are doing their best to impede Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Assaults on ICE agents have risen by 700% according to the Department of Homeland Security. Our heroic ICE law enforcement officers are facing a nearly 700% increase in assaults against them.If you obstruct or assault our law enforcement, this administration will hunt you down and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. pic.twitter.com/VeeoeyP1Ze— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) July 2, 2025 So, the deeper problem is far from being solved. And the Left continues to do everything it can to stop the enforcement of immigration laws. But it’s hard to deny that the Trump administration has at least delivered on the promise to seal the border and regain control of America’s national sovereignty. The post Zero Illegal Aliens Were Let Into US in June appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Attention, all parents and college students worried about the ever-rising cost of college tuition. The Department of Justice has finally—after three decades—started enforcing the federal law that prohibits states from offering in-state tuition to illegal aliens unless they also offer in-state tuition to everyone else—including all citizen students from out of state.  The law they’re enforcing has existed since 1996, when Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. Buried inside that huge law was Section 505, codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1623, which prohibits state colleges and universities from providing in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens “on the basis of residence within the State” unless the same in-state rates are offered to all citizens of the United States. In English, that means that states that offer in-state tuition to illegal aliens also have to offer in-state tuition to everyone. That means you! Section 505 is still the law of the land—as we wrote back in 2011. But the problem is that the law did not include a private right of action, meaning everyday individuals could not sue and win. Only the U.S. government, through the Department of Justice, could sue states and universities to enforce the plain language of the law.  So, the law sat like a Caryatid for over three decades, staring out into space, standing tall, but supporting nothing except higher tuition costs for American citizens who have been subsidizing the tuition of illegal aliens.    That was true until recently. Earlier this month, we wrote about how under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi, the DOJ successfully sued Texas for offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens while charging non-Texan American students higher rates. Texas waved the white flag immediately and settled the case by entering into a consent decree to correct the illegal practice. High off its easy win, the department has embarked on a state-by-state crusade, filing complaints against Kentucky on June 17 and Minnesota on June 25 for the same blatant violation of federal law. Both states offer in-state tuition to illegal aliens while demanding higher out-of-state tuition from American citizens who reside elsewhere. These price differences aren’t trivial. According to one figure, the average cost of in-state tuition and fees at a public four-year college in Kentucky is $11,299. That’s only 3.71 percent higher than the national average for a public college. But the average cost of out-of-state tuition and fees at a public four-year college in Kentucky is $26,640, more than twice as much. Let’s look at Minnesota. According to the same source, Gov. Tim Walz’s favorite constituents—illegal aliens who attend a four-year public college—only pay in-state tuition and fees of $12,873. An out-of-state American citizen dreaming of college in the Gopher State can expect more than double that price: an average of $26,719. Think about it this way: an illegal alien from Mexico or Somalia living in Minnesota gets a better deal at a Minnesota state four-year college than a straight-A student from Michigan or Wisconsin, unless, of course, the out-of-state student gets a scholarship or a tuition discount.  How is that fair? It’s not. Where We Want Bondi to Go Next While the recent lawsuits against Minnesota and Kentucky are a great start, other states are also actively violating federal law by offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens while not offering the same to out-of-state students. The scofflaws are Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Nebraska, New Mexico, Kansas, Illinois, Florida, Colorado, Virginia, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. All these should be addressed—but here are Heritage’s top three picks for the DOJ to target next. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s state makes the short list of states the DOJ should haul into court. Maryland’s universities have favored illegal aliens since 2011, when the state passed a law allowing them to pay in-state tuition for community colleges. The Maryland DREAM Act, enacted in 2012, spells out the requirements for in-state tuition for illegals. Here are just a few of the requirements: Attend a Maryland public or private high school for at least one year; or Graduate from a Maryland high school or receive a Maryland high school diploma or equivalent diploma, like a GED; or File Maryland income tax returns for the last three years. Regardless of these Maryland-specific requirements, the act still violates federal laws because Maryland does not give in-state tuition to residents of other states.    Annual in-state tuition and fees for a public four-year university in Maryland average $10,041. The price for a Virginia citizen resident—who can easily drive across the Potomac River to get to Maryland—is a whopping $26,721.   For many families, the difference between tuition of $10k per year versus $26k per year is the difference between attending college and not attending college.  How many illegal aliens are enrolled in higher education in Maryland? A stunning 11,675. If every illegal alien student enrolled in a public college of higher education in the state of Maryland pays in-state tuition (which they don’t, as many get tuition breaks on top of in-state tuition), then the taxpayers of Maryland and the out-of-state students pick up the slack, which amounts to roughly $194,739,000.  In a state that faces a $3 billion budget gap and spends almost $6 billion on higher education, that’s a significant subsidy.     Colorado This rocky mountain state, as beautiful as it is, has some ugly numbers when it comes to giving tuition benefits to illegal aliens in violation of Section 505.    The Centennial State advertises a somewhat reasonable average in-state tuition of $9,798 for four-year public colleges. Expensive, yes, but justifiable in exchange for the scenic views and the University of Colorado system. The picturesque mountains get a bit harder to justify at $32,476, the average annual price for out-of-state students. Colorado has tweaked their state law with respect to how a resident illegal alien can qualify for in-state tuition. The latest revision to Colorado’s law came in 2022 with the passage of HB22-1155, which “remove[d] several barriers that prevented thousands of undocumented high school students from qualifying for in-state tuition rates and in-state financial aid.” Under the new law, a resident illegal alien qualifies for in-state tuition and in-state financial aid if: He attended a Colorado high school for at least a year, or Graduated from a Colorado high school. The student is not timebound as to when he or she must attend college, but he or she must be physically present in Colorado for one year before attending. How those strictures are verified or enforced is anyone’s guess.  The new law means that a California student whose family moved to Colorado the day after his high school graduation will pay 231 percent more than an illegal alien from El Salvador or Mexico who graduated from a Colorado high school after sneaking into the country.    Illinois Home of the Windy City, deep blue Illinois and its governor JB Pritzker are next on our DOJ lawsuit list.   With annual average tuition and fees at a four-year public college at $14,921, Illinoisans take a bigger hit than in-state applicants in other states looking to stay local. The state has the sixth most expensive public school tuition rate in the country.  But anyone else in the nation wanting to go to the Prairie State for college also better start saving early, as the out-of-state tuition and fees for a four-year public college average $30,027 a year.   Illinois’s higher education system actively educates 27,672 illegal alien students. With a difference of about $15k between in- and out-of-state tuition, this population costs the state a whopping $418,013,232. Let’s put these numbers into perspective.  In 1911, it cost $250,000 to build Wrigley Field. Adjusting for inflation, this would be the equivalent to about $7.85 million in 2024. You could build 53 Wrigley Fields, rent out the stadiums on opening day, buy everyone in the stadiums a hot dog, and still have money left over with the amount the state subsidizes illegal aliens yearly via in-state college tuition.  In 2003, Illinois Public Act 093-0007 gave eligible illegal alien students access to in-state tuition. Signed by Pritzker last August, the newest legislation made some changes to existing law, but for all intents and purposes, it remains just as illegal. Both make it impossible for anyone other than an in-state citizen or an illegal alien to receive discounted tuition. The number of requirements imposed on in-state individuals to qualify for in-state tuition doesn’t matter. The only way a state law that offers in-state tuition for resident illegal aliens can comply with Section 505 is if the law offers in-state tuition rates for all students from any state.    Section 505 is Not Anti-Immigrant Let’s make one thing clear. Section 505 is not anti-immigration—nor is it designed by the alt-right to keep the illegal aliens in our country hopelessly uneducated. The statute does not prohibit universities from offering in-state tuition to illegal aliens. If a state wants to do that at its public colleges and universities, it is free to do so. Section 505 only mandates that when billing for tuition, states treat out-of-state U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents the same as illegal aliens.    States that offer in-state tuition (or make financial aid or scholarships available) to illegal aliens take finite resources away from other students, both in-state and out-of-state. That forces the state’s taxpayers—and the parents of U.S. citizen students from other states—to cover the difference. Every family who has sent a child to college knows what it feels like to pay for tuition. As costs go up and up, seemingly for no reason, families are understandably frustrated. And when the reason is that they’re subsidizing the college education of illegal aliens, this goes from frustrating to infuriating. The DOJ’s lawsuits are a step in the right direction to enforce existing federal law and hopefully bring a touch of sanity to the college tuition racket.  That’s a matter of fundamental fairness to American citizens. It’s about time! The post After Lone Star Success, DOJ Sues Kentucky, Minnesota Over In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens appeared first on The Daily Signal.

“Taiwan is, of course, a country,” proclaimed the island’s President Lai Ching-te on June 22. In his first of a series of 10 lectures, Lai reaffirmed that Taiwan’s sovereignty derives from its 23 million people, earning him a swift rebuke from Beijing. True to form, Beijing resorted to calling Lai’s speech “a ‘Taiwan independence’ declaration that blatantly incited cross-strait confrontation.” Given the precedent set in recent years, it was no surprise China sent 132 aircraft to operate around Taiwan in the week following Lai’s speech, with 99 of the aircraft crossing Taiwan’s median line. This isn’t an isolated, one-time event. It is one of the many instances in the last few years of China increasing its military activity around Taiwan. This summer is no exception, and Beijing is turning up the heat even more. So far, China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army, has been unwavering in its bullying of Taiwan, despite the commencement of President Donald Trump’s second term. As of April 2025, Chinese activity around Taiwan increased by 30% compared to the previous year. Since 2021 The Heritage Foundation has been analyzing People’s Liberation Army operations near Taiwan. Especially the most provocative act of sending military aircraft across the median line—the de facto midpoint between China and Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait. In the Western Pacific, summertime is peak military exercise and activity season. Historically, there has been a bell curve uptick in China’s military activity in the summer months. Yearly activity has steadily increased since 2021, with 2022 being a big year in cross-strait escalations, following then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. China has since sustained an increased number of aircraft around Taiwan and normalized the previously extremely rare Taiwan Strait median line crossings. In the summer of 2022, the Chinese military flew an average of 11 aircraft near Taiwan per day, with most of the aircraft on average crossing the median line. In the summer of 2023, average aircraft activity increased to 13 aircraft per day, with an average of four crossing the median line. In a considerable jump, the summer of 2024 saw an average of 17 aircraft per day flying near Taiwan and 12 crossing the median line. Given this upward trend of the last several summers, it is likely that People’s Liberation Army activity will be higher this year than it was in past summers. It is already on track to do so. The first month of summer 2025 has already outpaced summer 2024. From May 15-June 15, China had 359 median line crossing incidents, compared to 288 crossings in the same period last year. Earlier in the year, in the first few days of April, China conducted a large-scale joint exercise called Strait Thunder 2025A. The exercise saw the highest number of aircraft (76) and People’s Liberation Army Navy vessels (43) operating around Taiwan this year so far. China’s military activities are, of course, not limited to the air and waters around Taiwan. It has been busy across the Pacific. China deployed two of its aircraft carriers on a joint deployment from June 7-22, breaking past the second island chain with aircraft carriers for the first time. It was during this exercise period, on June 20, that the highest number of Chinese aircraft crossed the median line this year, at 46 aircraft. The current 30-day average is 16.5 aircraft per day, and the 10-day running average medial line crossings is 13 per day.  Another important Chinese Communist Party summer activity is the annual Beidaihe conclave meeting, an exclusive gathering of top party officials in August. This year, as in past, General Secretary Xi Jinping will likely begin to set the contours of the party’s next five-year plan proposal, for 2026-2030—a critical time to resource the next phase of intimidation and military pressure on Taiwan. As China characteristically ramps up military activity this summer, Taiwan’s resolve will be tested. Taipei announced that July will be its “National Unity Month,” coinciding with an annual military exercise, Han Kuang. This whole-of-society defense exercises will run from July 9-18, double the time compared to last year, and the largest mobilization of reservists to date. Despite the violence unfolding in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, it is the machinations of the Chinese Communist Party in the Indo-Pacific that presents the greatest danger to U.S. interests. China’s increased willingness to flex its military muscle has America’s Pacific partners anxious and allies looking to bolster their security cooperation with the U.S. If the U.S. doesn’t signal strength and resolve, China may read that as an opportunity to dangerously escalate tensions. The post Turning Up the Heat: China Continues Its Years Long Military Pressure Campaign Around Taiwan appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Politics—the concept, not the American spectator sport—comes from ancient Greek word politiká, or “affairs of the cities,” and is defined as “a set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups.” One group that will need to work together over the next several months is the Republican ticket for Virginia’s next governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general. Yet just a little over a month ago, many Republicans were unsure that a unified ticket would actually happen. >>> Sign up for our Virginia email newsletter Political insiders expressed concern over the media coverage of scandalous photographs that were allegedly posted on the internet by lieutenant governor nominee John Reid. The allegations, which Reid has repeatedly denied, garnered nationwide coverage, and many thought the incident would create an unhealable rift in the party. But Tuesday night, the Republican ticket came together publicly for its first rally in Northern Virginia along with the backing of Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The team projected a message of unity at a packed venue that drew hundreds of supporters. The Daily Signal had the opportunity to speak to Reid in depth before the rally. One thing is for sure, after rally upon rally of standing room-only crowds, the former Gov. George Allen aide has proved that he learned well from his former boss how to focus on the positives ahead. Listen to our interview: The post John Reid Talks About Uniting the Virginia Republican Ticket for November appeared first on The Daily Signal.

What last week’s resignation of University of Virginia President Jim Ryan wasn’t was an assault on academia and the independence of America’s universities as the media and Democrat elected officials are claiming. What it is, is a serious opportunity to talk about federalism and real academic independence. First, the details. The U.S. Department of Justice was investigating allegations made by UVA alumni that Mr. Jefferson’s University had not, in fact, complied with the U.S. Department of Education directive to eliminate all diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in accordance with President Donald Trump’s executive order banning such policies. Noncompliance meant risking Department of Education and other federal funding. According to the university’s finance page, that funding is 12.1% of its budget. It appears that U.S. Assistant Attorney General (and UVA alum who went to law school with Ryan) Harmeet Dhillon had found sufficient proof that the school had not complied and offered the university board a choice: Ryan or the money. If you ask Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., it was “driven by a very, very disturbing agenda and a direct attack on public education, and when you’re attacking UVA, who’s next?” His colleague, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., went on the Sunday talk show circuit and proclaimed, “This is the most outrageous action this crowd has taken on education.” Nice copy, but it wasn’t. In its unanimous ruling in the case Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services just last month, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court that “Title VII prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” Simply put, you cannot use racial preferences when hiring or providing benefits, which is what DEI programs do. In a recent Daily Signal Podcast (“Racism Rebranded”), Helen Raleigh dissected how a DEI campaign is keeping qualified Asian American students with outstanding grades from being admitted to Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Spots are instead reserved for students who might not be as qualified but who are “more preferred” racial minorities in the DEI hierarchy. How far we’ve fallen from Dr. King’s dream and from the words of his final speech, which extolled us to “live up to the words you wrote down on paper,” a reference to the Declaration of Independence and its language of equality. This week, we mark the official beginning of the United States’ 250th anniversary, and Thomas Jefferson’s words that he “wrote down on paper” still demand our attention: “That all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.” But the most important part of that document may be the words that are too often forgotten: “That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” That is what just happened last week at the university that Jefferson would “father” a quarter of a century after writing the Declaration of Independence: Government by the governed was securing equal rights for all. But no media outlet seems to have covered the story in that way. So, the popular question in and around academic circles regarding the UVA story boils down to, “What gives the federal government the authority to make such demands of UVA?” Certainly, the U.S. Constitution does not have a section explaining how the Department of Education is supposed to work, because education was never conceived of as something you would need the federal government to run. However, starting in 1932, when Congress passed the Emergency Relief and Construction Act to provide $300 million in “loans” to the states (and thence to cities and counties) for relief from the looming Great Depression, the precedent was set. Each of those “loans” and all the outright grants that followed from the federal government came with strings attached. That process is still in play as school funding comes with conditions such as what a school’s curriculum should include, how many police officers should be on patrol at any one time, that schools can’t allow men to compete in women’s-only sports or use their locker rooms, and much more. UVA was trying to exist independently from the federal government telling it how it should operate and how its students should, as Jefferson put it when explaining his plan to start the university, “drink from the cup of knowledge.” If the university is truly interested in a more independent model, perhaps it ought to call those in the administration at Hillsdale College—a college which steadfastly refuses to take anything even remotely associated with federal funding—and ask them how they do it. The post Media Gets It Wrong on UVA President’s Resignation appeared first on The Daily Signal.