This is a temporary pause in a freeze to ensure that all of the money going out from Washington DC is in line with the president's agenda. President Trump's attempt to freeze trillions in federal funding is foiled by a judge for now. Why did the judge block the order and which programs are affected? I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Hal. It's Wednesday, January 29th, and this is Morning Wire.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem starts off her tenure with a bang and betting with ICE agents on deportation raids. And religious nonprofits come under a harsh spotlight for their assistance in illegal immigration. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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Head over to their site now for 20% off your purchase with code dailywire. Trump shook up Washington Tuesday when his administration froze all federal financial assistance programs, though a federal judge swooped in to temporarily block the order.
Here to break down the sweeping funding freeze is Daily Wire Deputy Managing Editor Tim Rice-A-Tim. So a rather dramatic move yesterday from Trump's new administration and then this judge's order right before it was going to be enacted. Walk us through what's going on here. Yeah, John, the Office of Management and Budget released a memo freezing all federal grants and loans which shake out to around $3 trillion a year.
The memo notes that government officials have a duty to, quote, align federal spending in action with the will of the American people as expressed through presidential priorities. Agencies have until February 10 to submit a detailed breakdown of impacted programs to OMB, which will then determine whether or not there are good use of federal funds.
The quick timeline for the review and the memos somewhat cloudy language made it a bit more controversial than say the Department of Government efficiency or the federal hiring freeze. Democrats have tried to frame the freeze in the most dire possible terms. Chuck Schumer even said it will mean missed payrolls and rent payments and everything in between chaos for everything from universities to nonprofit charities and more. Right. A lot of hand ringing over this from Democrats. Is that fair? Is Schumer's framing of this? Correct.
Well, the White House says no. They say that things won't be that bad and that the whole review process could take as little as a day if agencies determine their programs match the administration's priorities. In her first briefing yesterday, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt repeatedly made clear that direct federal assistance will not be cut off.
social security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits, assistance that is going directly to individuals will not be impacted by this pause. And I want to make that very clear to any Americans who are watching at home who may be a little bit confused about some of the media reporting. This administration, if you are receiving individual assistance from the federal government, you will still continue to receive that. However,
It is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars." This follows pretty clearly from Trump's campaign promises and the policy changes he's enacted so far. And the president's talked about this before, as Russell vote Trump's pick to lead OMB noted during his confirmation hearing.
It is the law of the land. As you know, the president has run on that issue. He believes it's unconstitutional for 200 years. Presidents had the ability to spend less than an appropriation if they could do it for less. And we have seen the extent to which this law has contributed to waste, fraud, and abuse. But now we have this order from the judge blocking the freeze for now. Where do things stand with this order at this point?
Well, a federal district judge blocked the freeze late Tuesday afternoon, but the order only applies to grants that are already open and doesn't say anything about the legality of the freeze. It just gives the court more time to consider it, which it's set to do in a Monday hearing. And we'll be sure to follow up on that then. Now we had another major move from Trump on Tuesday that will be diving deeper into in the coming days. He signed an executive order on transgender procedures on minors. Tell us about that order.
Yeah, this was another significant move and on an issue that the Daily Wire has been very involved in investigating over the past few years. Trump's order aims to bar so-called gender transitions for minors, specifically for anyone under 19 years old. The order makes clear that the federal government is against these transition procedures and that it supports state laws barring them.
It reads, it is the policy of the United States that it will not fund sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called transition of a child from one sex to another. It adds that it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures. So a major win for those who have been fighting to protect children from these often permanent procedures. As we've documented on this show, the transgender medical industry has ballooned in recent years and become massively lucrative.
This order is designed to support those states that are pushing back against that industry and cut funding to anything promoting it. Now, before you go, we have a big confirmation hearing today. Who's on deck? Right. That'll be Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. This is the first of two days of hearing scheduled for RFK, and we're expecting some fireworks. Indeed. And we'll be having more on that tomorrow from Cabot. Meanwhile, a reminder that Daily Wire will be streaming that hearing live. Tim, thanks for reporting.
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Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about Gnomes' start at Homeland Security hate temps. So what can you tell us about this ice raid in New York? They busted illegal aliens with charges for murder, kidnapping, assault, and burglary. The secretary released images of the arrests herself. And then a few hours later, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt highlighted some of the violent criminals that ICE deportation efforts have targeted so far.
On January 23rd, ICE San Francisco arrested a citizen of Mexico unlawfully present in the United States who has been convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child aged 14 years or younger. ICE Saint Paul has arrested a citizen of Honduras who was convicted of fourth degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
So once again, the administration is hammering the public messaging around deportation, right? And it's also getting some pushback now from Democratic leaders of sanctuary city jurisdictions. What can you tell us about that? Things are definitely heating up. House Republicans on Monday actually called the mayors of several major cities to testify in Congress next month on anti-immigration enforcement policies.
Letters were sent to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams. But some of them don't appear to be backing down. Here's Chicago's mayor comparing ICE operations to terrorism. The whole point of that level of intimidation is to have that type of impact. That's what terror does. It works to disrupt the way of life. We literally have acts of terror that are being promulgated from the federal government.
And here's Boston's mayor defending her sanctuary city policies. What we know here at the local level is that we are not participating in the federal government's actions. We cannot overrule what they do, just as they cannot overrule or step into what is within our domain here at the local level. And within our domain, we're very clear in schools, in interactions with public safety officials, in community centers. We don't ask about immigration status.
In New York City, local law enforcement actually worked with ICE on the round of raids that Secretary Nome was a part of. Adams, of course, has gotten friendlier with Trump in recent months, and so though he's a Democrat, he may turn out to be closer to Republicans on this than some of his colleagues. Right, an interesting development there. What about the border? We've seen some concerning reports about Mexican drug cartels that we documented yesterday. What's going on there now?
Yeah, well, as we reported yesterday, there was a firefight on Monday between Border Patrol agents in Texas and suspected cartel members. We're learning now that incident may be a part of a trend of more violence along the border. The U.S. Consulate in Mexico on Tuesday warned Americans against traveling to the state of Tamalipas, Mexico. That's across the border from McAllen, Texas. The State Department put its highest travel warning a level four over the area. It warned of gun battles, kidnapping, and even IEDs present in a Mexican town just over the border.
And this after a couple law enforcement officials told the Washington Examiner yesterday that Mexican drug cartels have been given a green light to fire a U.S. federal law enforcement. Things appear to be escalating quickly along the southern border. Tim, thanks so much for joining us. Good to be on.
I think that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over a hundred million dollars to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Are they actually worried about their bottom line? We're going to enforce immigration law. We're going to protect the American people.
That was Vice President J.D. Vance firing back at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops after they released a statement condemning President Trump's immigration orders. The exchange has resulted in renewed scrutiny of how religious nonprofits facilitate illegal immigration.
Here with more is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham. So Megan, a lot of buzz about this exchange in particular. We had some sharp words from the vice president for the USCCB right there. What sparked that exchange? Well, so last Wednesday, USCCB president, Archbishop Timothy Brolio.
said that some of Trump's immigration orders, quoting, are deeply troubling and will have negative consequences. And then on Thursday, he also addressed Trump's decision to rescind a policy Biden had enacted at the end of 2021 that required ICE agents to get special permission to apprehend criminal aliens in a church, a school, a hospital, or other areas that are deemed sensitive. The Archbishop called that action contrary to the common good.
So that prompted CBS's face the nation to ask Vance on Sunday about those remarks during his first sit down interview in office. And well, you heard his fiery response. Right? So about that response, how much validity is there to Vance's claim that the USCCB is only worried about their government funding?
Well, you know, we can't read their hearts, of course, but there's definitely no question that Catholic Charities, which is the name of the immigration NGO affiliated with the Bishop's Conference, has received billions in taxpayer money over the years to resettle refugees and asylum seekers.
And if you look at all of the streams of funding, it can be hard to nail down a specific figure related only to immigration. But in 2010, for example, the New York Times pegged Catholic charities total in government grants at nearly 2.9 billion annually, which then accounted for about 62% of its annual revenue. And we can also look at Protestant groups for recent figures.
World Relief, for example, is the immigration NGO affiliated with the National Association of Evangelicals. According to its most recent IRS filings, it received well over $126 million in 2022 alone to resettle refugees. So really a huge sum. By contrast, that same year, they only took in 33 million in private donations.
So you can see that they really do rely on that government funding. Trump's immigration orders have now frozen all of that money. So some people though will defend these groups. They're arguing that they're just facilitating legal immigration, not illegal. Is that fair to say?
Well, you know, it's a tricky subject first because essentially these charities also help people who came into the US illegally then gain legal status by claiming asylum and it can take years for an asylum claim to be adjudicated. So in the meantime, these groups argue that the immigrants are technically legal even though they broke the law to enter the country and their asylum claims are most often denied.
Plus, groups like the Heritage Foundation have conducted studies, geofencing cell signals, and they claim that groups like Catholic Charities do appear to have helped illegal immigrants come across the border and move into the interior of the United States.
And then right after that, bands interview a video from Catholic Charities Leaked. In it, one of their lawyers coaches illegal immigrants on how to avoid arrest and deportation. If you are undocumented and immigration officers come to your workplace, be aware of the following.
First, do not panic and do not run away. If you are asked where you were born or how you enter the United States, you may simply refuse to answer or remain silent. Now that prompted Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchit to call for Catholic Charities to be defunded. Well, and there is the further context that a lot of these orgs are tax exempt. Megan, thanks for reporting. Anytime.
Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.