Morning Wire - Texas Census Battle Begins & Net Migration Negative | 8.5.25

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Texas Democrats flee the state to stonewall redistricting, immigration trends toward net zero for the year, and RFK Jr. continues to shake up vaccine policy. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. - - - Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 - - - Today's Sponsors: Balance of Nature - Go to https://balanceofnature.com and use promo code WIRE for 35% off your first order as a preferred customer PLUS get a free bottle of Fiber and Spice. NetSuite - Download the free e-book “Navigating Global Trade: 3 Insights for Leaders” at https://NetSuite.com/MORNINGWIRE - - - Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacy morning wire,morning wire podcast,the morning wire podcast,Georgia Howe,John Bickley,daily wire podcast,podcast,news podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Texas Democrats flee the state amid a redistricting battle that could determine who controls Congress. I believe they have forfeited their seats in the state legislature because they're not doing the job they were elected to do. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley. It's Tuesday, August 5th, and this is Morning Wire. The Trump administration is on its way to a massive milestone, net negative migration for the first time in half a century. And as you know, in last month, zero people came into a country illegally zero. And Robert Kennedy Jr. bans the use of a mercury-based preservative in vaccines. It's therefore inexcusable that these agencies allowed neurotoxic mercury to be injected into Americans for so long. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

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What I appreciate most is how convenient they are. No bags, no mess, no measuring, just cleaning. quality ingredients I can take anywhere. Plus, everything is vegan, kosher, and gluten-free, and they back it all up with independent third-party lab testing. I can rest easy knowing I'm investing in myself and my health. Head over to Balance of Nature.com and use promo code Wire for 35% off your first order as a preferred customer, plus get a free bottle of that fiber and spice. That's Balanceofnature.com promo code wire. The redistricting battle exploded in Texas this week as Republicans look to gain a few more

seats in the U.S. House. Daily Wire reporter, Tim Tim Pierce is here to talk about the redistricting efforts ahead of the midterm elections. So Tim, where is this redistricting happening? Yeah, there are a handful of states, but Texas is the big one. And this one has sparked a huge fight from Texas Democrats, dozens of whom fled the state over the weekend in a long-shot bid to kill or at least delay a new district map. They had to flee because otherwise Texas authorities could have rounded them up and forced them to the state capital to vote on this.

Governor Greg Abbott appeared on Fox News yesterday morning and threatened to have those Democrats charged with felonies. The reports are these legislators have been both, they sought money and they offered money to skip the vote, to leave the legislature, to take a legislative act. That would be bribery. Based upon comments made by legislators themselves, they face a possibility of facing bribery charges, which is a second-degree felony in the state of Texas. Abbott gave them until the start of the legislative session yesterday to come back,

a deadline the rogue Democrats ignored. Republicans in the State House were ready. They immediately passed a motion directing law enforcement to bring the Democrats back to arrest them even if necessary. Of course, that order can't be enforced out of state. Democratic State Congressman Gene Wu, who chairs the Democratic Caucus in the Texas State House, gave a press conference from Illinois alongside Governor Pritzker. We're not here to play political games. We're here to demand, to demand.

to demand an end to this corrupt process. They refuse because their loyalty and fealty with Donald Trump overrides all other interests. Abbott has also said that he thinks these Democrats, not only could face felony bribery charges, but he thinks that they could lose their house seats as well. But expect all of this to be challenged in court if it makes it that far.

Now, how are Democrats responding outside of Texas? Democratic governors have said, that they will counter Texas's efforts by redrawing districts in their own states. But it's more difficult in democratic states. That's because districts have already been gerrymandered to maximize Democrat seats. Take a look at Illinois' map, for example.

It's full of strange S-curves, and the state's 13th district in particular is just a thin line that stretches across half the state. But they're not giving up. Here's New York Governor Kathy Hokel. If Republicans are willing to rewrite these rules to give themselves an advantage, then they're leaving us no choice.

We must do the same. That's why I'm exploring with our leaders. Every option to redraw our state congressional lines as soon as possible. The problem in New York, though, is that the last time Democrats tried to gerrymander the state, the map was shot down on the courts. They were still able to pass a less radical version later in 2024, but that still took two swing districts and made them favor Democrats. There's also another problem with many Democrat-led states.

Their redistricting decisions are made by commissions, independent of the state government. That's a problem in California, and Governor Gavin Newsom and other state leaders are trying to figure out a way to work around the commission or get rid of it entirely. But even then, California's map heavily favors Democrats. They hold 43 of the state's 52 seats already. Now, where else are Republicans trying to redistrict to get more seats? GOP-controlled Ohio must redraw its map ahead of midterms by law. Missouri is also another state that Republicans are looking at to gain another seat or two. And Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is looking at redistricting as well. But perhaps more importantly, DeSantis wants the 2020 census redone.

He believes that would have a huge impact on moving seats from blue states to red states. Here's DeSantis last week. They should do it and count people that are legally allowed to be here. How many seats would California lose if you only counted lawful people, law citizens? They would lose a lot of seats because they're a sanctuary state. That is ultimately going to be resolved by the U.S. Supreme court because I do think the Trump administration is going to put in for a census that is not going to count foreign nationals that is just going to count a U.S. citizens. And that's really the way that I think that's what the founding fathers intended. The bottom line is that if the GOP is able to

succeed with redistricting and a new census, it's hard to imagine that Republicans don't keep control of the House during the midterms. Well, that would be a big win for President Trump. Tim, thanks for reporting. Good to be on. It's an interesting time for business, with tariff and trade policies shifting constantly, supply chains, fueling the squeeze, and cash flows tighter than ever. If your business can't adapt in real time to these rapidly changing conditions, you're going to find yourself in a world of hurt. NetSuite by Oracle gives you the total visibility you need across everything from global

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Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips is here to break it all down for us, A Cabot. So walk us through these numbers, and we'll talk about the significance of them afterwards. What are we looking at here? Yeah, just a stunning turnaround taking place here regarding immigration. It's no secret we saw a historic influx of immigration. both legal and especially illegal under President Biden. We'll never know the true number as an untold number of illegal immigrants

came across the border undetected, but based on the rough estimates, anywhere from 16 to 25 million people came into the U.S. from 2020 to 24. That means at the very least, one in every 17 people living in America right now came here in the last four years. Could be closer to one in every 15, though. For context, last year,

84% of the U.S. population growth came from, immigration as opposed to new births here in the country. President Trump campaigned on a promise to reverse that trend, and since taking office, he has done just that, making border security his top priority, and the numbers prove it. Yeah, right, some really head-turning statistics. Now, what are we looking at? We're six months in. How does it look? So net migration, both legal and illegal, has fallen at a rapid, historic pace. Border crossings are down nearly 95% since Trump took office and month after month, we've seen a record low for attempted border crossing. So that's playing a major factor here. Beyond that are the deportations. The DHS says they've removed more than a

quarter million illegal immigrants in the last six months. That is well below their target goal of one million a year, but still a major increase compared to Biden. The Trump administration is also offering flight stipends and other incentives for those looking to self-deport. Again, it's unclear just how many people have taken those offers, but the estimates are anywhere from the tens of thousands to even the hundreds of thousands. And then there is legal migration, which is also on the decline as Trump has slashed work permits,

visas, and other avenues of legal entry. Put all of that together, and the United States is set to see more people emigrate out of the country than into it. That would be the first year of negative net migration

in at least five decades. Could be the first year ever. We don't have reliable records prior to the 60s. So what are the implications of this? What are the impacts this could have on the country? Well, really, it depends on who you ask.

Pro-immigration advocates on the left say that negative migration is going to stoke inflation, it's going to drive decreased tax revenue and lead to labor shortages. Supporters of the crackdown, though, say the first step to fixing our immigration system is first cutting off the flow, dealing with those who are here illegally, and then deciding who we're going to allow in moving forward. They argue that less immigration will open up more jobs for Americans and force many employers to raise wages, given that they can no longer rely on off-the-books migrant labor. To that point, a White House spokesman noted that one in 10 young Americans are neither employed or in school, and that, quote, there is no shortage of American

minds and hands to grow our labor force. And it's worth noting, since March, the foreign-born workforce has declined by more than a million people in the U.S. And as we've discussed, all net job growth under Trump has taken place among native-born Americans. Right. You mentioned that stat yesterday, a very significant development there. Now, shifting gears to the state level, there are some state-level immigration actions that are taking place. What's happening there? Yeah, under pressure from the Trump administration, Republicans in a number of states are working to roll back education benefits for illegal immigrants students. At the moment, 24 states offer in-state tuition rates for illegal immigrants, but now there's a GOP-led push to make them pay out of state or even international

rates instead. That would double the cost. In June, for example, with the help of the DOJ, Texas removed their so-called Dream Act, which for 24 years had given legal students in state benefits. Similar efforts are now underway in Kentucky and Minnesota. The Trump DOJ, says in-state tuition is meant to benefit American citizens, not those living here illegally. So Texas is coming up once again today. Gavin, thanks so much for reporting. Absolutely. RFK Jr. has made a number of vaccine-related moves in the past few weeks, including removing

a mercury-based ingredient from U.S. vaccines. Here with more as Daily Wire reporter, Amanda Presto Giacomo. So Amanda, what exactly did Kennedy order regarding vaccines and why? Yeah, so Kennedy ordered the removal of thimerosol from all flu vaccines distributed in the U.S. Now, those were the last remaining U.S. vaccines with that mercury-based ingredients. Thimerosol has been somewhat controversial. It's been faced out of most European vaccines, and Kennedy has repeatedly called it a neurotoxin. Now, RFK made this decision based on a recommendation from ASIP. That's a CDC vaccine panel that Kennedy gutted back in June, and he filled with

his own appointees. The panel recommended that children, pregnant women, and adults should receive only a single dose thymarisol-free flu shot. When he adopted that recommendation, Kennedy said that our most vulnerable populations shouldn't be exposed to mercury when it's avoidable. Here's RFK just a few days ago on this issue. A 2017 study by CDC links miscarriage to flu vaccines and found that the odds of having a miscarriage within 28 days were 7.7 times greater than women who did not receive a flu shot during pregnancy. Another study published that same year in the Journal of the American Medical Association found an elevated risk of autism spectrum disorders in children whose mothers had received a first trimester flu shot. We should also note that ASIP, that vaccine panel,

it's again sparking some outrage from the mainstream media. And this time, it's because Kennedy is not allowing personnel from some major medical groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians and the American Medical Association to sit in and add their input during ASIP meetings. Kennedy, though, he stands by that and he says that's actually a feature of some of these reforms. A statement from HHS put it this way. Under the old ASIP, outside pressure to align with vaccine orthodoxy limited asking the hard questions. The old ASIP members were plagued with conflicts of interest, influence, and bias. The department said that experts will continue to be included,

But that's going to be based on relevant experience and expertise, not because of what organization they belong to. Now, there's also been some talk that Kennedy is eyeing reforms to better protect Americans who've been injured by vaccines. What's the latest there? Yeah, so Kennedy really wants to overhaul the vaccine injury compensation program. That's a federal program that's designed to compensate people who say they've been injured by vaccines.

It's sometimes referred to as vaccine courts. Kennedy thinks that this system is biased against Americans who are claiming these injuries. He says the cases are often slow-walked and the statute of limitations can really hurt people who develop or maybe piece together and injury years later. Also, this is key. Kennedy wants to expand the program to include potential injuries from COVID vaccines. Currently, those injuries are designated to a different program that critics say has too many conflicts of interest. Here's RFK, discussing these coming reforms. What we're going to try to do is to make sure that the parents who do get injured get compensation that they get it very quickly and they get it without the kind of adversarial

impediments that have now been erected over the past 40 years. Kennedy has also said that schools are effectively forcing parents to have their children get every vaccine even once they might be medically advised against getting or had passed bad experiences with. Now to that point about vaccine mandates in schools, Kennedy wants religious and medical exemptions in every state. Meanwhile, medical organizations that Kennedy has a lot of friction with, like the AMA and AAP and a lot of others, they've called for every state to ban religious exemptions. The AAP actually just recently renewed those calls. Well, that's chilling. Amanda, thanks for reporting. You're welcome. Thanks for waking up with us. And if you're watching on YouTube,

don't forget to like and subscribe. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know.