Title 42, the Trump-era policy  used to manage the border crisis by allowing the swift expulsion of illegal migrants from the U.S., reached its expiration date Thursday.

In anticipation of that expiration, tens of thousands of migrants began journeying through Mexico in hopes of finding asylum in the United States. 

The unfolding crisis is quickly turning into one of the largest migrant surges America’s southern border has ever seen.

On Tuesday, President Biden said he anticipated the crisis at the border will be ‘chaotic for a while.’

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded about 10,000 migrant encounters daily in the days leading up to Title 42’s expiration, but this number is expected to increase. 

The chief of Border Patrol released a memo that revealed agents would begin releasing migrants into America without a court date if the border becomes overwhelmed.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

The Biden administration touted conservation programs funded by bipartisan legislation passed in 2020, but it failed to mention that they are largely fueled by federal fossil fuel drilling revenues.

In a joint announcement Thursday, the Department of the Interior and Agriculture Department praised the Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) and Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), both of which were earmarked in the Great American Outdoors Act. The agencies said the programs would enable them to spend $2.8 billion on various conservation initiatives in fiscal year 2024.

‘The Great American Outdoors Act allows us to increase outdoor recreation opportunities, improve infrastructure on our public lands, invest in the U.S. economy, and honor our commitment to Tribal communities,’ Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.

‘Funding made possible through the Great American Outdoors Act’s Legacy Restoration Fund allows us to enhance equitable access for recreators, create job opportunities, advance community well-being and improve rural and urban economies,’ Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack added.

The Great American Outdoors Act — which former President Donald Trump signed in August 2020 after it passed with veto-proof majorities in the Senate and House — earmarks $1.9 billion per year to the LRF for deferred public lands maintenance and another $900 million per year to the LWCF for various conservation and recreation programs.

Both programs, and others included in the law, are funded by various forms of energy development on federal lands and waters. And the vast majority of that funding is specifically derived from fossil fuels, mainly oil, natural gas and coal development.

According to Office of Natural Resources Revenue data, for example, about 90% of the $9.6 billion in federal energy revenue that has been generated during the current fiscal year has derived from fossil fuel royalties. The remainder has come from other commodities, such as geothermal, mineral resources and wind development, which have accounted for 0.05% of federal energy revenue.

‘All of the funding for the Great American Outdoors Act comes from energy development on federal lands and offshore waters,’ Hannah Downey, policy director at the Property and Environment Research Center, testified during a congressional hearing last year. ‘Indeed, federal energy revenues have long provided significant funding for conservation and recreation on public lands.’

However, the Biden administration’s announcement Thursday didn’t mention the source of the conservation programs it touted. And the administration, led by the Department of the Interior, has repeatedly attempted to decrease the amount of land and waters leased for fossil fuel production, potentially curbing the government’s future energy revenue.

The Department of the Interior has only held a handful of onshore fossil fuel lease sales since President Biden took office, and it only held those auctions after a federal judge issued an injunction that blocked the president’s moratorium on new drilling. The agency has also failed to hold any offshore lease sales that weren’t otherwise legally mandated, and it proposed a plan to block all such leasing through 2028.

LWCF funding could alone decline by up to $420 million a year if the Department of the Interior restricts future offshore oil and gas leasing, according to a 2022 report from the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) and the American Petroleum Institute.

‘America’s conservation and outdoor recreation legacy is one that is reinforced by a healthy offshore oil and gas industry, a predominant source of funding for conservation programs across all 50 states,’ NOIA President Erik Milito said after the Great American Outdoors Act was passed in 2020. 

‘The funding for the GAOA is earmarked from energy activities on federal lands, and it is now even more important to protect Gulf of Mexico energy production, as without it, billions of dollars of funding for beloved conservation and recreation programs, such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund, will disappear,’ he continued.

A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior said Thursday that the agency would continue to implement the law.

‘The department will continue to obey the law, including implementation of the Great American Outdoors Act and Inflation Reduction Act,’ Interior spokesperson Melissa Schwartz told Fox News Digital.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday slammed Rockland County Executive Ed Day as ‘racist’ and ‘antisemitic’ after the official issued a restraining order blocking the Democratic mayor from sending busloads of asylum seekers. 

Adams tried to distance himself from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, telling reporters that New York City was footing the bill and only taking volunteers. He stressed that his office has been in communication with Rockland and Orange county officials — an assertion the counties have challenged.  

‘When you look at the County Exec [Ed] Day, I mean this guy has a record of being antisemitic, you know, his racist comments,’ Adams said, without providing examples. ‘You know, his thoughts and how he responded to this, it shows a lack of leadership.’

Adams’ office pointed Fox News Digital to past reports which portrayed Day’s remarks as pitting voters against a bloc of Hasidic and Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities.

Day shot back at Adams, telling Fox News Digital, ‘the mayor can call me every name in the book to deflect the reality of this clear disregard for our laws. And maybe he can explain his own documented ‘racist comments.’ 

Day was referring to comments Adams, a former police officer, made before he became mayor, in which called White cops ‘crackers.’ Adams later apologized for those remarks. 

Adams’ Thursday comments came as his plan to move several hundred asylum seekers to hotels in New York’s Orange and Rockland counties moved forward.  

Leaders in Orange and Rockland counties have pushed back against Adams’ plan to send over 300 migrants to Rockland County’s Armoni Inn & Suites hotel in Orangeburg, and Orange County’s The Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh, the latter of which saw migrants arrive on Thursday.

Rockland County successfully obtained a temporary restraining order from a state Supreme Court judge on Tuesday, after arguing that the move violated local zoning regulations.

Adams said Thursday the city would not be deterred by legal challenges. 

‘You can’t use the court to deny people to move around the State of New York,’ Adams said. ‘We’re going to challenge all of the legal obstacles that are attempting to be placed in our way because it would set a bad precedent if someone was saying in the State of New York that you are not allowed to come here.’ 

Fox News’ Michael Lee contributed to this report. 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation to prohibit vaccine and mask mandates on Thursday.

DeSantis’ announced his four new ‘Prescribe Freedom’ bills during an event in Destin. Senate Bill 252 prohibits workplaces, government agencies and schools from requiring COVID-19 vaccination or masks.

The governor began his speech by referencing the intense criticism that Florida faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘Everything we were doing in Florida, we were getting attacked. We were getting attacked by bureaucrats like Fauci. We were being attacked by the political left. We were being attacked by corporate media. And we were even attacked by some Republicans,’ DeSantis said.

‘I mean, that’s just kind of the way it goes. But we stuck to our guns because we believe that we are doing the right thing for the state,’ he added.

The legislation also formally denounces World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations in Florida. It also protects alternative COVID-19 treatments. 

‘You should have the right to try these [alternative COVID-19 treatments] under the supervision of your physician, and that is protected in the state of Florida,’ DeSantis said.

Another component of the legislation is Senate Bill 1387, which bans gain-of-function research. DeSantis said gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, was likely to blame for the pandemic.

‘What we know is there was gain-of-function research being conducted at Wuhan, and that very likely led to the emergence of COVID-19. And yet there really isn’t effective regulation,’ the governor said.

Senate Bill 1580 also ensures freedom of speech and whistleblower protections for physicians. 

‘We want our physicians practicing evidence based medicine. We don’t want it to just defer to authority or to just follow the herd,’ DeSantis explained. ‘So that is now law in the state of Florida.’

DeSantis’ remarks come nearly a week after the WHO announced that the COVID-19 pandemic was no longer a global emergency.

But despite the announcement, WHO officials still warn that the pandemic is technically not over. Countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East have reported some spikes in COVID-19 cases.

EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump said CNN ‘did the right thing’ by hosting him for a town hall Wednesday night, saying he ‘got the word out to millions of people that would generally not hear’ his point of view on a number of campaign issues.

Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, participated in a CNN town hall Wednesday night, hosted by Kaitlan Collins. The network has been facing criticism for giving the former president a platform.

‘I was happy to do it,’ Trump told Fox News Digital. ‘I got the word out to millions of people that would generally not hear this point of view concerning things such as the border, inflation, the economy, energy independence, the Afghanistan catastrophe and more.’

‘CNN is taking a lot of heat,’ Trump said.

‘I think CNN did the right thing by putting me on—all you have to do is look at their fantastic ratings,’ Trump said.

He added: ‘It was an honor to do it.’ 

Fox News Digital reported Thursday that CNN was facing a ‘a fury of criticism’ from its own employees for airing the town hall. 

‘It’s hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN,’ media reporter Oliver Darcy wrote in the network’s ‘Reliable Sources’ newsletter. ‘It felt like 2016 all over again.’ 

Not all of the network’s staffers were upset by the event. 

‘We live in a democratic republic and Trump is the frontrunner for the GOP nomination,’ a staffer told Fox News Digital. ‘It’s not the media’s job to silence a politician they don’t like. The format was messy, but voters need to hear from both of the frontrunners, Trump and Biden. And by the way, Trump did what his base wanted but his performance last night was radioactive to moderates and undecideds.’

CNN has defended the decision to air the town hall. 

‘Kaitlan Collins exemplified what it means to be a world-class journalist. She asked tough, fair and revealing questions,’ a network spokesperson said. 

‘She followed up and fact-checked President Trump in real time to arm voters with crucial information about his positions as he enters the 2024 election as the Republican frontrunner,’ the spokesperson continued. ‘That is CNN’s role and responsibility: to get answers and hold the powerful to account.’ 

CNN CEO Chris Licht also defended the decision on Thursday morning in a call with staffers, according to former CNN media reporter Brian Stelter. 

Stelter, who founded the ‘Reliable Sources’ newsletter and was fired by Licht last year, tweeted tidbits from the call. 

‘You do not have to like the former president’s answers, but you can’t say that we didn’t get them,’ Licht said, according to Stelter. ‘While we all may have been uncomfortable hearing people clapping, that was also an important part of the story… America was served very well by what we did last night.’

Fox News’ Brian Flood, David Rutz and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report. 

The New Hampshire Senate rejected a marijuana legalization bill Thursday, leaving it the only state in New England that makes smoking pot recreationally a crime.

Republicans, who control the Senate, led the effort to dismiss the bill on a 14-10 vote.

Though several bipartisan bills in support of legalization have cleared the House in recent years, the Senate has blocked them. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu said earlier this year that he didn’t expect new legislation to reach his desk with teen drug use and overdoses on the rise.

Republican Senate President Jeb Bradley said the time isn’t right to legalize marijuana, as the state combats a drug addiction and overdose crisis.

‘Recreationalizing marijuana at this critical juncture would send a confusing message, potentially exacerbating the already perilous drug landscape and placing more lives at risk,’ he said in a written statement.

House Democratic Leader Matt Wilhelm said the push to legalize marijuana has strong support in New Hampshire. He said regulating the drug could also help protect public health.

‘Every day that New Hampshire remains an island of prohibition, more voluntary tax revenue from our residents flows to surrounding states to fund programs and services benefitting their residents,’ Wilhelm said in a press release.

The bill, which had been approved by the House, would have put the state’s Liquor Commission in charge of regulating marijuana, with a 12.5% tax levied at the cultivation level.

Most of the tax revenue would have gone toward reducing the state’s pension liability and the state’s education trust fund, with some set aside for substance abuse prevention programs and police training.

Opponents have focused on the impact of the drug crisis on families, individuals and communities, and noted strong opposition from the law enforcement community.

Frank Knaack, policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, faulted those senators who opposed the initiative.

‘These lawmakers are willing to ignore the will of their own constituents and are okay with continuing to needlessly ensnare over a thousand people — disproportionately Black people — in New Hampshire’s criminal justice system every year,’ he said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3-2 along partisan lines on Tuesday to recommend that the full Senate reject the bill. The committee also made similar recommendations on bills that would allow homegrown cannabis for therapeutic purposes and would lower penalties on some drug violations.