Democrats are calling out the Biden administration’s handling of the souther border, as lawmakers brace for the crisis to go from bad to worse with the coming end of the Trump-era Title 42 policy. 

The May 11 expiration of Title 42, the COVID-era policy that allows the speedy expulsion of illegal immigrants from the U.S., is raising concern from representatives on both sides of the aisle, as several states already face thousands of migrant encounters daily.

Several Democratic lawmakers in border state Arizona accused the Biden administration of unpreparedness, as their state gears up for the influx of migrants seeking asylum in America.

‘The Biden administration had two years to prepare for the end of Title 42 and did not do so, and our state is going to bear the brunt,’ Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., said during an interview with CBS on Sunday.

Sen. Mark Kelly, R-Ariz., told 12News in April that he does ‘not have a high level of confidence’ in the Biden administration’s current plan for after Title 42.

‘On May 11, we expect higher levels of migrants, and I made it clear to them [Biden administration] that it is unacceptable to be releasing people into the streets and communities across Arizona,’ the Democrat shared ahead of pandemic-era policy’s end.

‘The numbers need to match the resources, if they don’t, Border Patrol could find themselves in a position where they are just being overwhelmed by the numbers,’ the senator said.

Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who launched a 2024 campaign for Sinema’s Senate seat, also warned in a letter to the administration that communities ‘are simply unequipped to handle the surge of migrants.’

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, also joined ‘Fox News Sunday’ to discuss the crisis facing his state.

‘You’ve gotta have repercussions. If you don’t have repercussions at the border, people will see the border as a speed bump,’ Cuellar told Fox News’ Shannon Bream on Sunday. ‘The administration needs to go to the center – and I’ve asked them to go to the center. And I think some of the policies that they’re about to implement brings them to the center. In my opinion, a little bit too late.’

Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan., issued a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calling for a bipartisan plan to combat the multitude of migrants expected to be encountered at the southern border in the coming days.

‘As the president has decided to lift the [Title 42] order this week, we now face a doubling of illegal crossings at our southern border by some estimates, exacerbating the current humanitarian and refugee crisis,’ the congresswoman wrote. ‘While you have presented a list of ways you plan to address the surge of migration, some of which I agree with, we still have not reached a comprehensive, long-term plan with bipartisan support.’

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources reported about 8,000 migrant encounters a day border-wide in the first days of May, but the Department of Homeland Security is anticipating up to 14,000 migrant encounters daily after the expiration of Tite 42.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revealed the federal government under President Biden has run a near-$1 trillion federal deficit in the ‘first seven months of fiscal year 2023.’

CBO’s report dropped on Monday, giving lawmakers insight into the current state of the federal deficit.

The nonpartisan agency found that in the first seven months of FY2023 alone, the federal government has racked up $928,000,000,000.

‘The federal budget deficit was $928 billion in the first seven months of fiscal year 2023, the Congressional Budget Office estimates—$568 billion more than the shortfall recorded during the same period last year,’ CBO wrote on Monday.

‘Revenues were 10 percent lower and outlays were 8 percent higher from October through April than they were during the same period in fiscal year 2022,’ the agency continued.

CBO wrote that shifts ‘in the timing of certain payments affect that comparison.’

‘Outlays this fiscal year were reduced by the shifting of certain payments—totaling $63 billion—from October 1, 2022 (the first day of fiscal year 2023), into fiscal year 2022 because October 1 fell on a weekend,’ the agency wrote.

‘Also, outlays in the first seven months of fiscal year 2022 were $65 billion higher than they otherwise would have been because several federal payments that were due on May 1, 2022, a Sunday, were paid in April 2022. If not for those timing shifts, the deficit in the first seven months of fiscal year 2023 would have been $991 billion, compared with a $295 billion shortfall during the same period in 2022—an increase of $696 billion.’

The high spending numbers come as Biden enters into his 2024 re-election campaign.

The economy will likely be a major factor in 2024 as Biden will likely have to face questions on high inflation and other economic issues facing his presidency. A new ABC News/Washington Post survey found that 54% of American adults believe Trump did a ‘better job’ handling the economy during his administration, compared to 36% who said Biden is handling the economy better.

Last month, Biden received a ‘bottomless Pinocchios’ rating from the Washington Post for repeatedly touting ‘misleading’ claims on the deficit.

Earlier this week, Biden told a group union workers that in his first two years in office, he ‘lowered the deficit by a record $1.7 trillion,’ a claim Kessler gave ‘three Pinocchios’ in September.

‘Yet he keeps saying it over and over,’ Kessler wrote Friday. ‘By our count, at least 30 times since June he’s taken credit for reducing the budget deficit by $1.7 trillion.’

Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Jessica Chasmar contributed reporting.

New results from a U.S. Census Bureau simulation suggests a significant number of noncitizens were missed in the 2020 census, a national head count during which the Trump administration tried but failed to prevent people in the country illegally from being tallied.

A simulated head count by the statistical agency utilized 31 types of administrative records from government agencies and third-party sources to produce estimates of the U.S. population on April 1, 2020 that could be compared to the survey-like responses used in the last official tally of every U.S. resident. The simulation was an experiment which doesn’t change the results of the once-a-decade count of every U.S. resident that helps determine political power and the distribution of $1.5 trillion in federal funding in the U.S.

Almost a fifth of noncitizens found in the administrative records had addresses that couldn’t be matched in the 2020 census, suggesting that ‘a significant fraction of noncitizens’ were missed, according to the U.S. Census Bureau report released Friday. By comparison, that same figure was 5.4% for citizens.

Using administrative records from government agencies that have records on immigration, welfare programs, motor vehicle registrations and other data, the test tallied 2.3% more people than in the actual census in 2020 that produced a head count of 331 million U.S. residents, primarily because the simulation captured more noncitizens residing in the U.S., the report said.

The simulation was a test to see how good a job administrative records perform in counting historically undercounted groups like racial and ethnic minorities, renters and young children. Its results actually bumped up the numbers for Hispanic and Black residents, two groups who were undercounted in the 2020 census, respectively, by 8.3 million people and 2.8 million people, the report said.

The administrative records census produced estimates of 11.6 million people in the U.S. with an unknown legal status.

Opponents have said Trump administration policies in 2019 and 2020 created a chilling effect which likely deterred immigrants, Hispanics and others from participating in the 2020 census.

In 2019, the Trump administration attempted to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census questionnaire, but the U.S. Supreme Court blocked it. In the middle of the 2020 census, President Donald Trump directed the Census Bureau to exclude people in the country illegally from numbers used for divvying up congressional seats among the states. An influential GOP adviser had advocated excluding them from the apportionment process in order to favor Republicans and non-Hispanic Whites. Trump’s memo was rescinded when President Joe Biden arrived at the White House in January 2021, before the census figures were released.

Using administrative records produced lower population estimates in rural areas, mainly because of the more common use of post office boxes and rural route addresses rather than physical addresses, according to the simulation results. Counts from administrative records also were lower than the 2020 census figures for people between ages 65 and 74, Asians and people who identified as being two or more races. Among the reasons is that these populations were more likely to be double counted in the 2020 census.

Along with noncitizens, Blacks and Hispanics, the administrative records produced higher counts for males, working-age adults, children under age 15 and non-Hispanic Whites.

At the state level, Minnesota and several other Midwestern states had the highest match rates between a person identified in an administrative record and a 2020 census record, while Hawaii had the lowest. Minnesota also had the highest rate of residents who answered the census questionnaire on their own without needing prompting from a census taker visiting their home.

Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has signed into law a bill protecting schoolteachers and state employees who choose to ignore transgender pronouns used by students and colleagues.The law also requires teachers to inform legal guardians of students’ transgender identification, and requires bathrooms be used according to biological sex absent parental approval.The law ‘largely codifies existing practices while reaffirming the First Amendment right to free speech,’ Burgum said, commending it for ‘balancing the rights and interests of students, parents and teachers.’

North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum has signed a bill into law that allows public school teachers and state government employees to ignore the pronouns their transgender students and colleagues use, the governor’s office announced Monday.

The new law also requires teachers to tell a parent or legal guardian if the student identifies as transgender. It also prohibits transgender students from using the bathroom of their choice without prior approval from a parent or guardian.

It is effective immediately.

Burgum said in a statement that the new law ‘largely codifies existing practices while reaffirming the First Amendment right to free speech … balancing the rights and interests of students, parents and teachers.’

Opponents countered that the state’s Republican leaders are violating the constitutional rights of students and teachers by compelling the speech of adults and potentially exposing children to dangerous repercussions if an abusive parent doesn’t approve.

‘Mandatory outing of a student’s trans identity violates their privacy rights at school – particularly for trans youth who cannot be safe at home. And creating a supportive working and learning environment also requires treating people with dignity and respect, including – at a minimum – calling them by the name and pronouns they want to use. These are both unlawful and discriminatory practices,’ said Cody Schuler, advocacy manager of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Dakota.

Supporters have said the measure boosts parental rights and brings peace of mind to teachers. Others said the governor should have done more to limit trans rights.

It’s only the latest measure restricting trans rights that Burgum signed after they were passed by North Dakota’s House and Senate with veto-proof majorities, part of a larger push by Republican officials nationwide to roll back the rights of their LGBTQ+ constituents.

Other new North Dakota laws prohibit transgender girls and women from joining female sports teams, from K-12 through college. They criminalize health care providers who give sex changes to minors. And they limit transgender children and adults in accessing the bathrooms, locker rooms and showers of their choice, from schools to state-run colleges and correctional facilities.

At least 21 states have restricted or banned female transgender athletes’ participation in female sports, and at least 14 states have restricted or banned sex changes for minors. Additionally, at least eight states have enacted laws preventing transgender people from using the restrooms associated with their gender identities.

Republican leaders on Senate and House committees with oversight of federal energy policies are requesting a watchdog investigation into the Biden administration’s depletion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

The lawmakers – House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member John Barrasso, R-Wyo. – requested in a letter Monday that the Government Accountability Office probe the Department of Energy (DOE). They argue that the agency’s heavy reliance on the SPR has undermined U.S. energy security.

‘DOE’s mismanagement of the SPR has undermined America’s energy security, leaving the nation more vulnerable to energy supply disruptions, and increasing the ability for OPEC and Russia to use energy as a geopolitical weapon,’ McMorris Rodgers and Barrasso wrote in the letter to Gene Dodaro, the GAO’s comptroller.

‘DOE has failed to establish long-term plans for the optimal size, configuration, maintenance, and operational capabilities of the reserve,’ they added. ‘We are concerned that the rapid depletion of the SPR may have caused structural damage to the SPR’s pipelines and caverns, compromising its ability to meet its energy security mission in the event of a true energy supply disruption.’

They noted that the SPR, which consists of four storage facilities in Texas and Louisiana, is made up of a system of wells, pipelines and pumps that use water and brine to control oil flows. The lawmakers expressed concern that the repeated drawdown of oil stocks from the system could ultimately erode the SPR’s physical integrity.

Overall, in three separate releases, President Joe Biden has ordered the DOE to release a total of about 260 million barrels of oil stored in the SPR since taking office to combat record fuel prices hitting American consumers.

The SPR, which has a capacity of about 714 million barrels, has fallen from about 638 million barrels to 362 million barrels, its lowest level since October 1983, since Biden took office.

‘DOE also recently created new rules, without Congressional authorization, for ‘fixed-price’ purchases of crude oil, rather than conventional purchase contracts,’ McMorris Rodgers and Barrasso continued in the letter Monday.

‘The failure of DOE to secure contracts to purchase oil under the new ‘fixed-price’ bidding scheme raises serious questions about DOE’s replenishment strategy and the ability of the SPR to protect the American consumers and the economy in times of emergency,’ the letter stated.

The White House unveiled a plan last year to refill SPR stocks by buying back oil at between $67 to $72 per barrel, a plan it said would amount to purchasing oil at a discount. However, DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm suggested in March that it could take years to refill the emergency reserve to its previous level.

The Government Accountability Office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing on Monday that the U.S. has averaged more than one mass shooting per day since the start of 2023, before later saying the country averages one per week.

At the top of the White House press briefing on Monday, Jean-Pierre told reporters that May 8 is the 128th day of 2023, and yesterday, the U.S. had its 201st mass shooting of the year.

‘That means we are averaging more than one a day, more than 200 mass shootings in 128 days,’ she said, adding that more than 14,000 people died this year from gun violence. ‘This is a crisis. It is a crisis that the Republicans in Congress are refusing to address. We are talking about the number one killer of kids in America, and Republicans in Congress are saying there is nothing that we can do about it.’

Mass shootings are taking place in schools, shopping centers, churches, movie theaters, grocery stores, temples and other communal areas, interrupting everyday lives, the press secretary explained.

These public spaces come under attack from ‘weapons of war,’ that Jean-Pierre said have ‘no place on our streets.’

She then pointed the attention to Congress, saying it must address the crisis.

On Sunday, President Biden asked Congress to send him a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, ending immunity for manufacturers, requiring safe storage of guns and enacting universal background checks, according to Jean-Pierre.

‘It’s just common sense, and it’s what the American people, majority of the American people, want when we have 200 mass shootings in less than 130 days, more than one a day. This is a crisis. Congress must do something about it now.’

A little bit later, though, Jean-Pierre said the shootings are averaging much less.

‘It is frustrating, and I’m sure you all are frustrated, too, to talk about this over and over again,’ Jean-Pierre told reporters. ‘…averaging out one mass shooting a week? That’s not ok.’

Earlier numbers presented by the press secretary were much more accurate, and what she said later during the press conference was likely a slip up.

Still, Jean-Pierre said Biden has taken two dozen executive actions in two years on gun legislation, including the bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

‘This is a president that has taken action,’ she said. ‘Where’s Congress’s responsibility on this? Where’s their responsibility on this? We need legislation.’