Morning Wire： Title 42 Stays In Place For Now & Japan Boosts Military Spending ｜ 12.28.22
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Summary
November saw a record number of migrant crossings at the southern border, surpassing last year s already soaring numbers by a startling amount. 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 for a few more months.
Transcript
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Hey guys, we won't be releasing an episode of the Matt Wall Show today, but to keep you informed on
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the biggest news of the day, here's today's episode of Morning Wire, another show here at
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The Daily Wire where you get the news you need to know every day in 15 minutes or less. Check it out.
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November saw a record number of migrant crossings at the southern border,
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surpassing last year's already soaring numbers by a startling amount.
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We break down the new numbers and discuss the latest on the border battle and Title 42.
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I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, December 28th,
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and this is Morning Wire. Amid the perennial power struggle over school funding and oversight
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only heightened by the pandemic, recent reports reveal troubling details about mismanagement
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and the failure to protect special needs children. And after decades of strict pacifist policies,
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Japan is significantly ramping up military spending. What's prompting the Asian nation
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to change course? Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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The U.S. Border Patrol has logged a record number of encounters with migrants for the month of
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November. The Biden administration revealed the new numbers on Friday evening before the Christmas
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weekend. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court may have postponed an even more intense rush on the border
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in a ruling this week that'll keep Title 42 in place at least for a few more months. Officials had
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expected illegal migration to double if the policy ended. Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Tim
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Pierce. All right, Tim, I'm almost afraid to ask, but just how bad are these new numbers?
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They're record-setting at over 230,000 encounters. The raw number doesn't show how the border crisis
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has gotten worse in the past year, though. Last month's numbers are way over the previous record
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for November, set last year at over 170,000 encounters. In other words, in a year's time,
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the number of illegal migrants taken into custody or turned away by authorities in the month of November
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shot up by 60,000 encounters. There was also a pretty significant demographic change in the migrants
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that arrived last month versus a year ago. According to the Department of Homeland Security,
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migrants from Mexico and northern Central America still accounted for nearly 60,000 unique encounters
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last month, but that was about 14% fewer than November 2021. In their place, border officials saw a
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significant increase in migrants coming from other countries. Customs and Border Patrol Acting
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Commissioner Troy Miller pointed to Nicaragua and Cuba as examples. Also, an important stat that was
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not reported in the DHS numbers is the number of gotaways at the southern border. According to
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reports, 73,000 more migrants crossed into the United States without being caught by border authorities.
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Now, on Tuesday, the Supreme Court voted to take up a case over Title 42, which left that Trump-era
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border policy in place for at least a few more months. Tell us about that ruling.
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Well, it's given many who are concerned about the border a chance to breathe, for now at least.
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The Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to Title 42's repeal in February. That gives federal and
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state officials at least a few months to prepare if the rule is eventually struck down. The court voted
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five to four to take up the case of 19 Republican-led states against the Biden administration for trying
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to repeal Title 42. The vote was mostly split down ideological lines, except for Justice Neil Gorsuch.
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The conservative judge sided with the progressive bloc and voted to deny the state's appeal.
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In his dissent, he wrote that courts shouldn't uphold administrative edicts designed for one
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emergency only because elected officials have failed to address a different emergency.
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The court's decision will likely come sometime after arguments are heard in February and before
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the court's summer recess, usually in June or July.
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It seems universally acknowledged that rescinding Title 42 will result in a surge at the border.
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What measures are being taken to prepare if that's the case?
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Well, the federal government has at least a few months' breathing room, but its resources are
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already stretched to the limit. It's now mandating that officials and the U.S. air marshals redeploy
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to the border to help out the Border Patrol. Ahead of the SCOTUS ruling, the Border Patrol had set up
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a tent bigger than a football field near El Paso, Texas as a temporary shelter for migrants.
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El Paso is one of the border's hottest spots for illegal entry.
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Texas has also stepped up its involvement. Governor Greg Abbott ordered 400 National Guardsmen
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to El Paso recently. The city of El Paso already can't cope with the number of migrants.
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Many are sleeping on the streets of the city with nowhere to go. Last week, the city paid for buses
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to idle on the streets so homeless migrants had a place to warm up during the night in the freezing
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temperatures. Abbott also continues to bus migrants into sanctuary cities to keep up political
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pressure, as well as relocate migrants from overcrowded facilities on the border. Several buses from
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Texas even dropped off dozens of migrants in front of Vice President Kamala Harris's official D.C.
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And apparently, no end in sight for any of this. Tim, thanks for reporting.
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Coming up, reports reveal an egregious lack of oversight in Seattle's special ed programs.
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Amid heightened scrutiny over public school oversight and district spending, a report
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from earlier this fall revealed shocking levels of abuse at Washington State's special education
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schools. Investigative reports from the Seattle Times and ProPublica uncovered copious evidence
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of physical abuse as well as academic failure in the state-funded schools. Daily Wire investigative
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reporter Maraid Elordi is here with the details for us. So, Maraid, what exactly did this report
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find? Hi, Georgia. Sure. So, this is a stunning deep dive on what appears to be an extremely
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concerning situation at taxpayer-funded special education programs housed in private schools in
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Washington State. The Seattle Times and ProPublica reviewed more than 17,000 pages of documents from
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45 school districts, three police departments, and Washington State's Education Department. What they
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found is that there is an egregious lack of oversight at a set of special ed private schools known as
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non-public agencies. And what specifically is the report alleging is going on?
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Well, some of these schools have otherwise positive reputations, but one school that had multiple
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shocking reports is Northwest School of Innovative Learning, or Northwest Soil, which is also the biggest
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of these schools. In one complaint to state education officials, a therapist claims that a teenage boy with
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severe autism was locked in a schoolroom for hours as he begged to be let out. One local education
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official witnessed a teacher put her foot in a student's face as he lay on the floor and threatened
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to step on him as he pleaded with her. In a particularly disturbing incident, a staffer who
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was previously convicted of assault and drug possession put a student in what a school counselor
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called a chokehold. In that case, the incident was caught on security footage. Former staffers of
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Northwest Soil describe a chaotic and understaffed environment where the adults often resort to restraint
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or isolation to deal with difficult children. Parents reported finding bruises on their children's
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bodies. Meanwhile, students often suffer academically. So far, the state has not addressed the issue and
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the schools continue to maintain multi-million dollar contracts. Now, you mentioned that these schools
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claim that they're underfunded. How much is the state currently spending on these programs?
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So over the last five school years, the state has spent at least $173 million on these schools,
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which have more than 60 campuses and serve about 500 students. We should note that most of the about
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140,000 special education students in Washington state attend their local public schools. But lately,
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the state has been sending more and more students with the most serious disabilities to these separate
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schools. Because of this, state spending on these schools has more than doubled over the last five
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years. Just based on those raw numbers, the per capita spending is about $346,000 per student over five
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years. But the report was careful to note that true per capita spending is hard to calculate because
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the number of students fluctuated over that period. For example, Northwest Soil pulled in at least $38
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million and they accepted hundreds of public school students during that period.
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So how did this go on for so long? Who was responsible for oversight? And was there a clear
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So according to state officials, local school districts are responsible for monitoring these schools.
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That's because they're the ones sending students there. But it's complicated because it's not
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actually the local district's money funding these students. So unfortunately, there may not be much
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incentive for them to stay vigilant about what's going on. As this report shows, it sounds like the
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system resulted in local schools sending their most challenging students off-site on the state's dime
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and not really following up. As of now, it's unclear how many other states operate with this model.
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That was Daily Wire investigative reporter Mairead Elordi.
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With tensions high in East Asia, the Japanese government recently announced plans to double
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Here with the details is Daily Wire's Michael Whitaker. Hey, Michael.
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So for decades, since World War II, Japan has maintained what it calls its self-defense force,
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which is designed to defend and only defend the country. That was possible because the U.S.
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could guarantee wider stability in the region. But now there's a perception that the situation
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Oh, yes, absolutely. China has been building up its navy and air force. In addition to threatening
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Taiwan, they've made aggressive territorial claims in the South China Sea. The Chinese have
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even built artificial islands with air bases to reinforce those claims. North Korea has also
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developed nuclear weapons in recent years and has repeatedly fired missiles over Japanese
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territory. Our troubled withdrawal from Afghanistan last year hasn't helped our image on the world
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stage as a reliable partner. And the Russian invasion of Ukraine has further destabilized the
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world. We have to remember that Russia is massive and also borders Japan, and it has a history of
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collaborating with China and North Korea. Gordon Chang, an expert on foreign policy in East Asia,
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told me that these belligerent nations are beginning to cooperate even more closely.
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China has been the primary backer of North Korea, and North Korea would not be able to maintain its
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weapons programs were it not for China's support. And China and Russia are working very closely
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together. So for instance, tomorrow, China and Russia are going to start their American cooperation
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in 2022. Those joint drills in the East China Sea, which, by the way, are very close to Japan.
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And so they've been working a long time. What we're seeing recently is a pickup in the joint military
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exercises between China and Russia, as well as a move towards interoperability, which is a sign that
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they plan to fight together. Japan's military posture has been shifting in recent years. Former Prime
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Minister Shinzo Abe was a prominent advocate of remilitarization, and this seems to be a culmination
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of that shift. Abe was assassinated earlier this year in a seemingly unrelated incident. While this
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plan would increase Japan's military budget, what the money is being spent on is even more important.
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The plan includes the purchase of American missile systems that could hit key military targets in
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other nations, and represents a pivot towards more offensive capabilities.
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All right, so the growth of military force that could potentially be used on the offense,
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how significant is this buildup? Very. Right now, Japan spends about 1% of its GDP,
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40 billion or so, on its military. The defense plan put out by Tokyo would raise that to 2% by 2027
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and get to $80 billion in military spending. All right, so it's doubling the spending. How does
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that compare to other nations' military budgets? Well, if you recall, 2% of GDP is the magic number
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for NATO's target spending, although most NATO allies haven't met it, which became a favorite talking
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point of former President Trump. Although they have started to increase spending at his urging,
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and we've even seen that process accelerate after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Globally, in 2020, the average country in the world spent 2.4% of their GDP on defense.
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However, China's economy is more than twice as large as Japan's, so they're currently spending
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about $230 billion per year. This year's omnibus bill would raise U.S. defense spending to $858 billion.
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While the proposed budget would be many times smaller than America's or China's,
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it would turn Japan into the third-largest military spender in the world by 2027.
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And certainly a force to be reckoned with. Thanks for talking with us, Michael.
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Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national
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We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
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