The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | March 20th, 2024: Chaotic Courts Complicate Texas Border Crackdown & US Braces For Haitian Migrant Surge

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:     Texas has been left in a state of confusion over a controversial immigration law after U.S. courts changed the legal status of the measure three times over just two days. As Haiti continues to descend into anarchy, we’ll discuss preparations in the U.S. to brace for a potential surge in migration from the troubled Caribbean nation. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.  Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Let's get briefed. First, Texas has been left in a state of confusion, well, frankly, the entire country is in a state of confusion, over a controversial immigration law after U.S. courts changed the legal status of the measure three times over just the past 48 hours. Also, as Haiti continues to descend into anarchy, we'll discuss preparations in the U.S. to brace for a potential surge in migration from the troubled Caribbean nation. But first, our afternoon spotlight. As we noted this morning, news can change fast, and for the second time, in less than 24 hours, U.S. courts have changed the status of a controversial new immigration law that was set to take effect this week in Texas. On this morning's PDB, we noted that following a U.S.

Supreme Court decision on Monday to place an indefinite block on the law, the judge, the judge, Justices reversed that decision on Tuesday evening, saying they will not interfere and they'll leave any additional legal challenges to the lower courts. Well, that briefly meant that the Texas law could take effect immediately. Just hours later, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stepped in and placed another hold on the law as they considered challenges from the Biden administration and civil rights groups beginning on Wednesday. As we've previously discussed, the controversial law would grant Texas authorities the power to arrest and deport individuals found illegally entering or re-entering the U.S., and that's an authority previously reserved only for federal agents.

Critics have argued that it's a gross overreach by Texas that profoundly alters the relationship between the federal government and the states. They also cite fears that the law risks encouraging racial profiling. Well, the litigation of the law has gotten completely confusing at this point. A federal judge in Austin initially blocked Texas from implementing the law back in February. However, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a subsequent stay of the ruling in early March. Are you following all over this? That sent the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court, which after issuing several pauses on implementation, upheld the Fifth Circuit Court's ruling on Tuesday. Now, we're not finished. In the unusual move, the Fifth Circuit Court voted two to one on Tuesday night.

to reverse their previous ruling, once again leaving the Texas law in the state of legal limbo as the court hears additional arguments. Are you confused yet? Yeah, it's about as confusing as really the U.S. immigration policy is at this point. With the whiplash-inducing court decisions this week, it's anybody's guess how much longer litigation over this particular Texas immigration law will take. It's just one in a number of legal cases between the Biden administration and officials in Texas, who are locked in a bitter fight over how to address the current border crisis. It's an interesting look for the White House. The Biden administration is dealing with record low poll numbers on their handling of the border,

and yet they are also actively doing everything they can to prevent the state of Texas from securing the border, so they're essentially doubling down saying, you see these low poll numbers. Oh, you haven't seen anything yet. As the fight drags on, Texas Governor Greg Abbott continues to fight. find support from fellow Republican governors across the country. As we've previously covered on the PDB, Republican governors have been stepping into the fray, offering their own state law enforcement forces to Texas and other border states to help reinforce barriers and aid in apprehensions. In February, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced he's sending as many as a thousand Florida

National Guard and State Guard members to Texas. He was followed by Governor Kristy Noem of South Dakota, who will deploy 60 South Dakota National Guard members to Texas beginning in the spring. And most recently, Texas Governor Bill Lee said he'll deploy two waves of National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border, consisting of 50 National Guard members. Well, on Wednesday, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced she would be joining the effort in Texas as well. Sanders will be deploying roughly 40 Arkansas National Guard members to the Texas border, and they'll stay to assist Texas authorities, reportedly through the end of May. Sanders had harsh words for President Biden saying he, quote,

opened our southern border to an invasion of illegal immigrants, drugs, and human trafficking, end quote. Despite an antagonistic federal government, Governor Abbott continues to move forward with Operation Lone Star, and that's his state initiative aimed at securing the state's border in the absence of meaningful action from the Biden administration. Abbott maintains a Texas has the constitutional right to defend itself and that their decisions supersede any existing federal statutes. Coming up after the break, we'll discuss the latest from Haiti as the U.S. braces for a potential mass migration surge from the troubled Caribbean nation. I'll be right back.

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Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. I want to return to our coverage of the situation in Haiti, and more specifically, the potential for a mass migration to U.S. shores should the turmoil in the country continue. As we reported last week, the Department of Defense was alerted to a potential, quote, maritime mass migration from Haiti. According to a report on CBS News,

that has yet to transpire, but preparations are already underway in the event that it does. A group of Florida Republicans, led by Congressman Matt Gates, is asking President Biden to deploy naval vessels to stave off an anticipated mass migration of alien, on route to or arriving off the coast of the United States. The lawmakers went on to ask that the U.S. government repatriate the aliens, preferably to

Port-Aprince Haiti, to limit the burden on American taxpayers. Florida Governor Rondisantis has already deployed additional resources to ward off the potential migration. Last week, he announced the state was deploying more than 200 additional state law enforcement officers and about 50 National Guard members to South Florida. Florida and the Keys, along with more than a dozen aircraft and ships. As of right now, U.S. policy is to repatriate most migrants intercepted at sea and block them from setting foot on American shores. Some of those intercepted migrants will likely be returned to Haiti, while others could end up at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay. Remember that spot? One U.S. official told

CBS News that the naval base has been surveyed and could be used to set up additional structures, such as tents to house migrants in the event of an influx in boat arrivals. As for the situation on Haiti itself, the U.S. continues to insist on an international intervention to restore security in Haiti. However, the commander of U.S. Southern Command, General Laura Richardson, who runs operations in the Caribbean and Latin America, she hasn't ruled out the deployment of U.S. troops should the need arise. During an event on Tuesday, General Richardson said, quote, we are prepared if called upon by our State Department and Department of Defense, end quote. Now, frankly, it would seem very unlikely that the U.S. would end up with boots on the ground in Haiti,

given that the Haitian government thus far has resisted calls for a U.N. peacekeeping force reportedly to be led by Kenya, saying that Haiti will not allow outside forces to impose themselves on their internal matters. and the Kenyan leadership for its part has indicated that they wouldn't be willing to deploy until there's a transitional government in place in Haiti. So for now, it's down to the Haitian police to attempt to restore order and get the criminal gang violence under control. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday, 20 March. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com

and be sure to check out our new premium membership at pdbpremium.com. It's 100% ad-free, same great taste, just less filling. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion-dollar swings. There's a money-side to every story. Get the money side of the story.

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