Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is breaking from the Washington establishment on foreign aid, promising to stop sending billions of taxpayer dollars to ‘anti-American countries and causes.’ 

In an op-ed for the New York Post published Friday, Haley criticized both Democratic and Republican presidential administrations for how they’ve handled foreign aid, noting that the U.S. spent $46 billion last year aiding countries like Iraq, Pakistan, and even China. 

‘This is not just Joe Biden. It’s been happening for decades under presidents of both parties. Our foreign-aid policies are stuck in the past. They typically operate on autopilot, with no consideration for the conduct of the countries that receive our aid,’ Haley wrote. 

‘The Washington bureaucracy and its defenders in Congress inevitably dig in to save these global giveaways. It will take a determined president to root out these taxpayer rip-offs,’ she said.

NIKKI HALEY SAYS THE DESANTIS ‘PARENTAL RIGHTS IN EDUCATION’ LAW IN FLORIDA DOESN’T GO ‘FAR ENOUGH’ 

Haley specifically called out aid to Iraq and Pakistan, countries where terrorist organizations operate and the governments are not pro-America. 

And, as a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., she slammed the Biden administration for restoring funding to the United Nations Relief and Works agency, which exists to help Palestinian refugees but Haley asserted ‘covers for deeply anti-Semitic propaganda against our ally Israel.’ 

‘American taxpayers still give money to Communist China for ridiculous environment programs, despite the obvious threat China poses to Americans. We give money to Belarus, which is Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s closest ally. We even give money to Communist Cuba — a country our own government has designated as a state sponsor of terrorism,’ Haley wrote.

If elected president, Haley said she would ‘cut every cent in foreign aid for countries that hate us.’ 

‘A strong America doesn’t pay off the bad guys. A proud America doesn’t waste our people’s hard-earned money,’ she continued. ‘And the only leaders who deserve our trust are those who stand up to our enemies and stand beside our friends.’

She insists that she will be such a president. 

Haley declared her candidacy for president two weeks ago, joining former President Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican primary. Trump welcomed her and other would-be challengers into the race, saying, ‘the more the merrier.’ Health care and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is also running for president as a Republican, and many more candidates are texpected to toss their hats into the ring before the year ends. 

Migrant encounters at the southern border have already surpassed the one million mark for Fiscal Year 2023, multiple Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources tell Fox News, marking an unprecedented pace for encounters.

As of Friday, the total migrant encounters at the border were at 1,008,217 for the fiscal year, which began in October. Of those, 87.8% were single adults. Just 328,454 were expelled under Title 42 — the pandemic-era protocol that allows border agents to rapidly expel border crossers.

There were more than 1.7 million encounters overall in FY 2021 and over 2.3 million in FY 2022. The first months of FY 2023 have outpaced those of the prior fiscal year. This time last year, numbers for FY22 through March 1 were 839,819 — well under the 1 million mark.

Meanwhile, there have been 328,454 known ‘gotaways’ — illegal immigrants who have evaded Border Patrol agents but have been detected on another form of surveillance. In FY 2022, there were nearly 600,000 gotaways.

Despite the high number of encounters, the Biden administration has pointed to a sharp drop in numbers from the historic high of 251,000 in December to over 156,000 in January. While that figure is the highest on record for the month of January, officials still linked the drop to a number of measures rolled out by the administration last month — including a humanitarian parole program that allows 30,000 migrants from four nationalities into the U.S. each month.

CBP sources tell Fox that early indications for February’s numbers suggest that encounters are down again and could come in at around or under the 150,000 mark once the numbers are fully counted. Last February there were 166,000 migrant encounters.

However, hitting one million so early has some agents concerned that if numbers pick up again in the spring, as often happens, then it could bring yet more record-breaking numbers. 

‘Agents know leadership throughout the agency and the administration will celebrate two months of lower numbers instead of acknowledging the daunting task of being tasked at the border with yet another historical and preventable situation,’ an agent told Fox News.

The Biden administration this week announced a new rule that would automatically make illegal immigrants who passed through another country without claiming asylum ineligible for asylum in the U.S. That has sparked some pushback from left-wing activists and some Democrats, while immigration hawks have feared the loopholes will make it irrelevant.

The administration has been calling on Congress to pass sweeping immigration reform, including an amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S., and provide additional funding at the border.

‘America’s border problems won’t be fixed until Congress acts. If we won’t pass my comprehensive immigration reform, at least pass my plan to provide the equipment and officers to secure the border. And a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farmworkers, and essential workers,’ Biden said in State of the Union address to Congress.

Republicans held a hearing this week at the border in Yuma, Arizona, and visited El Paso, Texas, as they seek to showcase what they say is a border crisis caused by lax policies by the Biden administration.

Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., told ‘America’s Newsroom’ on Saturday said the trip to Yuma, Arizona, showed her the impacts that the ‘failed policy’ of the administration are having on Americans.

‘We are dealing with a crisis down there and the Biden administration is only exacerbating it and making it worse every single day,’ she said.

A U.S. Navy plane recently flying over the South China Sea reportedly received an ominous radio warning from China before the country scrambled a jet to track the U.S. aircraft.

‘No approaching any more or you will pay full responsibility,’ a voice from a Chinese air force ground station told a U.S. Navy P-8 flying outside of Chinese airspace over the South China Sea, NBC News reported.

Shortly after, a Chinese fighter jet positioned itself about 500 feet from the left wing of the U.S. plane, which continued on its course, for an over an hour before peeling away. 

U.S. military officials say that the encounters are becoming more frequent in the South China Sea as China attempts to position itself as the dominant force in the area and claims control over many of the largely uninhabited islands in the sea.

‘Typically we don’t get a response, sometimes we’ll get nonverbal responses. But overall we’re trying to encourage a safe and professional encounter while we’re both operating in international airspace,’ Capt. Will Toraason, the commander of U.S. Navy surveillance aircraft, told an NBC News reporter who was on the plane at the time.

‘Since I’ve been in the Navy, going on 18, 19 years now, I can tell you there is a dramatic change over that span, specifically the South China Sea,’ Cmdr. Marc Hines said, which is due in part to China building artificial islands and runways in the South China Sea in recent years.

The interaction between the two military superpowers comes weeks after tensions flared over a Chinese surveillance balloon that flew over the United States for several days before being shot down by the United States off the coast of South Carolina.

In a ‘confrontational’ meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China’s Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi about two weeks later, Blinken told his counterpart the balloon incident ‘must never happen again.’

China has publicly criticized the United States over the incident calling the reaction to the balloon ‘hysterical’ and that the decision to shoot it down was an ‘absurd’ violation of international norms. 

House China Select Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher hosted a press event Saturday at a former illegal Chinese Communist Party police station in downtown Manhattan.

‘This innocent-looking building that you see behind me has an unauthorized secret police station linked to the Chinese Communist Party,’ said Gallagher. ‘The nonprofit Safeguard Defenders discovered over 100 of these illegal police stations around the world, including at least two more on United States soil.’

Gallagher was joined by Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., and Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Fla. in an effort to shine a light on the threat the CCP poses to the United States and the need for the Biden administration to act ‘aggressively’ to defend U.S. sovereignty.

Last year, the pan-Asian human rights organization Safeguard Defenders published an investigation called ‘Patrol and Persuade’ that said another 48 Chinese police service stations were operating abroad in addition to the 54 the group had identified in September.

‘It’s rare to find someone who hasn’t experienced at least some low-level form of digital harassment from CCP agents,’ Gallagher said at the Saturday press conference. ‘How have we allowed this to happen on American soil? The answer, in my opinion, is that we have been blind while the CCP has been very cunning.’

He continued, ‘They buy our politicians, multinational organizations, companies and in some cases, law enforcement. They use muscle and threats instead of persuasion. And like the Mafia, they aren’t afraid to make people disappear.’

Reported locations of these illegal police stations span 53 countries, including four U.S.-based stations — two in New York City, one in Los Angeles and one set up by the Nantong Public Security Bureau in an undisclosed location.

Gallagher was joined by Chinese activist Zhuo Fengsuo, who was a student leader hunted by the CCP after participating in the protests that sparked the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

‘This is the first time that the Chinese basic community feel that their grievance is heard by American public,’ Zhuo said after taking the podium.

Zhuo was forced into exile after being named one of the CCP’s most wanted criminals for his participation in the student protests in 1989. He was arrested multiple times, beaten, and tortured by government officials.

‘We want justice,’ Zhuo said. ‘We cannot allow this to happen in America. We cannot allow this to happen. It is the land of the free and the brave. We are here because we believe in freedom. And we will fight for freedom.’

Torres also spoke on the issue, saying, ‘Even though Chair Gallagher and I come from opposing political parties, the unity we are projecting sends a powerful message that the defense of human rights from the abuses of the CCP … is not a Democratic value or a Republican value. It’s an American value.’

‘We are here because we’re Americans who believe in the rule of law and human rights and freedom for every single person, including the Chinese dissidents here in the United States,’ Torres added.

Gallagher announced that the House China Select Committee will be holding a hearing, titled ‘The Chinese Communist Party Threat to America,’ next week to take proactive measures against CCP actions in the U.S.

The committee hopes it will be a bipartisan collaboration.

‘Nobody agrees on 100 percent of everything. I don’t even agree with my own family on 100 percent of everything,’ Gallagher said. ‘But we want to identify what the bipartisan center of gravity is.’

He concluded, ‘We believe — and [House Speaker Kevin McCarthy] believes — that where possible, if Congress can speak with one voice when it comes to standing up against and pushing back against Chinese Communist Party aggression, America is stronger, the world is stronger, the free world is stronger.’

First Lady Jill Biden discussed safe sex, condoms, and dating practices during a youth empowerment event in Nairobi, Kenya.

Biden discussed safe sex, condom use, and birth control on Saturday during the Shujaaz Konnect Festival, which is a youth empowerment event.

‘These are issues that really all people need to talk about and yet, somehow, they don’t, and the consequences of not talking about it are so dire,’ Biden said after discussing safe sex, birth control, and condom use at the event. ‘So I love seeing the young people here.’

One tent at the event had a questionnaire meant to start discussions, which read ‘What would you say if I told you I had a condom in my pocket right now?’

‘And this is the first time they’re meeting?’ Biden said while laughing,

‘I’m surprised you don’t start with like, ‘What’s your biggest achievement?’ rather than, ‘I have a condom in my pocket,’’ Biden added.

The MTV Staying Alive Foundation and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief collaborated to host the event, meant on teaching young Kenyans on how to avoid contracting HIV.

The first lady was in Namibia and Kenya to promote the program, in addition to another program which helps woman as well as young people gain skills that will help them in developing a business.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A delegation of Republican lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee visited the southern border in El Paso, Texas this week, getting a first-hand look at the ongoing crisis at the southern border as part of an effort to inform legislation to deal with the crisis.

The committee held a ‘border bootcamp’ ahead of a hearing in Washington D.C. next week and a hearing at the border next month. Republicans have stressed the need to see the communities affected by the crisis in-person and for lawmakers to know the ins and outs of the matter to help create effective legislation.

Rep. Nick LaLota, R-NY., told Fox News Digital on Saturday that the trip was ‘very informative.’

‘I had been privy to a lot of the statistics and the figures of how the Biden administration has failed us at the border. But being able to see it firsthand and see the hard work of our Border Patrol agents has inspired me a lot now,’ he said in an interview. ‘And as a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, I have a good perspective now on what legislation needs to take place in order to help secure our border.’

Lawmakers witnessed a drug bust while touring a port of entry, toured parts the incomplete border wall, and also took an aerial tour of the border via a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) chopper.

On that flight, they witnessed illegal immigrants who were waiting until the cover of darkness to cross, but the group then ran back south from the border after they saw the helicopter. House Homeland Security chairman Rep. Mark Green said the images his lawmakers captured dispute the narrative from the Biden administration that the border is secure.

‘This is what happens at the border EVERY DAY,’ Green tweeted. ‘Our border is NOT secure.’

The delegation’s trip comes days after Republicans on the Judiciary Committee visited the southern border to hold a hearing in-person in Yuma, Arizona. The Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on March 15 in McAllen, Texas.

Numbers at the border rocketed up shortly after the Biden administration took office and remained high since then. There were over 1.7 million encounters of migrants at the border in FY 21 and more than 2.3 million in FY 22. So far in FY 2023, which began in October, there have been more than a million encounters.

The visits to the border from Republicans — as well as some Democrats — come amid a dispute between the Biden administration and congressional Republicans as to who is to blame for the crisis. The Biden administration has said it is dealing with a hemisphere-wide challenge and is making progress with recently-announced border measures that have led to a drop in numbers at the border over the last month.

The administration has called for Congress to approve more funding for the border and pass a sweeping immigration reform measure that includes a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already in the country. It also recently announced a new asylum rule to make some migrants who have crossed illegally ineligible for asylum.

‘America’s border problems won’t be fixed until Congress acts. If it won’t pass my comprehensive immigration reform, at least pass my plan to provide the equipment and officers to secure the border. And a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farmworkers, and essential workers,’ Biden said in his State of the Union address to Congress.

Republicans have rejected the call for a pathway to citizenship and have continued to place the blame on the Biden administration for rolling back Trump-era policies, narrowing interior enforcement and what they see as a refusal to enforce U.S. immigration law. Lawmakers in the House have promised to hold the administration accountable and have even mulled impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

LaLota told Fox that he met with Border Patrol agents and saw how low their morale was after dealing with a two-year crisis.

‘Their morale is low,’ he said. ‘As a group they’re not getting the support they deserve from the Biden administration and quite honestly that needs to change and needs to change right away.’

He said that while Republicans will likely introduce additional legislation in the coming weeks, it also needs the Biden administration to step up.

‘The committee is going to present a comprehensive bill that does address staffing, that does address technology, that does from a resource perspective do everything that needs to be done at the border,’ he said. ‘But what we can’t do is force Biden to be a leader on this issue. He and Secretary Mayorkas need to find that leadership in and of themselves. That’s the key missing piece here and only he can provide that.’