U.S. Customs and Border Control has reported the number of border crossings between the U.S. and Mexico in March were the “lowest in history.”

The report highlighted, “U.S. Border Patrol’s apprehensions along the southwest border for the entire month of March 2025 were lower than the first two days of March 2024.”

The contrast in apprehensions from illegal border crossing attempts under the Trump administration compared to the previous year is startling. “March is the second consecutive month in which U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) averaged the lowest daily nationwide apprehensions in history at approximately 264 per day in March. This is 20% lower than the 330 daily nationwide average apprehensions in February and 94% lower than 4,488 per day average from March 2024.”

The headline of a Wall Street Journal report on Saturday makes the point, “Border Crossings Grind to Halt as Trump’s Tough Policies Take Hold.”

The Journal reported one man it interviewed had hoped to be approved for legal immigration but he felt that opportunity is at least for now, not an option. “The door is closed,” he said. The Venezuelan added, “There’s no more hope for entering legally as long as Donald Trump is there, and anyone telling you otherwise is lying.”

The Journal reported that many would-be immigrants who thought they might have been able to gain entry to the U.S. are now stuck in Mexico. Many are turning around to return to their home country.

.S. State Department carries information on its website about how people are able to legally cross U.S. borders and properly gain legal status to be in America, including “special immigrant categories.” 

Jim Mishler ✉

Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.

As the Trump administration attempts to choke off exports of strategically important computer chips to China, experts say the effort might well backfire, fueling innovation at Chinese firms that could help them seize the world semiconductor market.

“What’s actually happening is that the US government right now is handing China a big win as it tries to get their own chip business going,” said Jack Gold, principal analyst at J.Gold associates.

“Once they’re competitive,” he told AFP, “they’ll start selling around the world and people will buy their chips.”

When that happens, he added, it will be difficult for US chip makers to reclaim lost market share.

Silicon Valley semiconductor star Nvidia and its US rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) expect big financial hits from new US licensing requirements for semiconductors exported to China, they notified regulators this week.

Nvidia expects the new rules to cost it $5.5 billion, while AMD forecast it could sap as much as $800 million from the company’s bottom line, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Administration officials told Nvidia it must obtain licenses to export its H20 chips to China because of concerns they may be used in supercomputers there, the company said.

The United States had already restricted exports to China, the world’s biggest buyer of chips, of Nvidia’s most sophisticated graphics processing units (GPUs), designed to power top-end artificial intelligence models.

Nvidia essentially developed the H20 chip for the Chinese market, aiming to maximize performance while meeting previous US export rules, but the new licensing requirements pose a roadblock, according to Gold.

For AMD, the new US export control measure applies to its MI308 GPUs, which are designed for high-performance applications like gaming and artificial intelligence, it said in a filing.

When that happens, he added, it will be difficult for US chip makers to reclaim lost market share.

Silicon Valley semiconductor star Nvidia and its US rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) expect big financial hits from new US licensing requirements for semiconductors exported to China, they notified regulators this week.

Nvidia expects the new rules to cost it $5.5 billion, while AMD forecast it could sap as much as $800 million from the company’s bottom line, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Administration officials told Nvidia it must obtain licenses to export its H20 chips to China because of concerns they may be used in supercomputers there, the company said.

The United States had already restricted exports to China, the world’s biggest buyer of chips, of Nvidia’s most sophisticated graphics processing units (GPUs), designed to power top-end artificial intelligence models.

Nvidia essentially developed the H20 chip for the Chinese market, aiming to maximize performance while meeting previous US export rules, but the new licensing requirements pose a roadblock, according to Gold.

For AMD, the new US export control measure applies to its MI308 GPUs, which are designed for high-performance applications like gaming and artificial intelligence, it said in a filing.

Newsmax Money/AFP

Noel S. Williams

DOGE is remarkably transparent, including inviting suggestions from the public on how to save.  Here are several:

Student Financial Aid. Cut off federal financial aid to students with a gender studies major. Federal aid should be directed towards STEM students, those in vocational studies (nursing, etc.) and trades (electricians, plumbers, etc.).  No aid should be proffered for some of the soft, snowflake-type studies like sociology and whatnot.  Not that we want to completely cease civics curricula, but that’s partly what ChatGPT is for, or better yet, Musk’s A.I. instantiation known as Grok.

In addition to saving money, that would probably be less biased.  It would also lessen the impact of loony leftist lecturers who intellectually abuse their immature wards.  Why should federal financial aid support injudicious and imprudent students with little experience, who, upon graduation, don’t do much for society other than foment social-activist strife?

Foreign Aid.  Excepting acts of nature like typhoons and earthquakes, provide no recurring foreign aid to countries that harbor a trade surplus with us, put up barriers, and manipulate their currency.

Legal Aliens.  At least they’re better than illegal aliens, but what’s the deal with permanent legal residents (AKA Green Card holders)?  Really, no one should be here permanently unless he becomes a citizen.  Green Card applicants must demonstrate their ability to support themselves, and not rely on public assistance.  One can extrapolate from this that citizenship is a concrete requirement for any public assistance.

If a legal alien has worked here long enough to become eligible for Social Security, he has also been here long enough to learn proper English (now our official language) and unrevised history.  That is, even an ignoramus will have been here long enough to pass the citizenship test — no excuses (but we might be lenient for those who at least tried).

If, after all that time partaking of America’s bounty, they haven’t committed their sole allegiance to the United States (and renounced that of their place of birth), then no slurping at the public trough.  Hasta la vista.

Tree Equity.  DOGE is effectively eviscerating wasteful (in more ways than one) DIE programs, but let’s not forget about other forms of contrived equity — tree and road.

Departments within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service that implement so-called tree equity (and anyone else involved) must be uprooted.  We love trees, and forest-bathing can soothe the soul, but bureaucrats imposing their biased notions of tree equity on the environment is unnatural.  If, for example, someone in the asphalt jungle is sweating too much, then show some initiative — instead of desecrating infrastructure with graffiti, plant some foliage.

Many cities offer tree-planting programs, including Seattle, Wash., where residents participate in nurturing leafy communities.  The Forest Service should expunge tree equity from their collective consciousness; they should remain focused on forest management and fire control.

Road Equity.  Under that weird Pete Buttigieg guy, the Department of Transportation issued the National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS), which emphasizes a Safe System approach.  The DOT’s strategy “seeks a better understanding of the intersection of equity and roadway safety, and a comprehensive approach to incorporating equity into all of the Department’s efforts to achieve zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries.”  That’s a dead-end street.  Less convoluted equity; more safety, please.

Congressional Travel and Per Diem.  Who is paying for the socialist comrades (Bernie and AOC) to foment class warfare across the nation?

AOC is a very ineffective congresswoman; her district resembles “Third World” disarray.  Yet she has the unconscionable gall to travel the country while denouncing the “oligarchy” that heretofore helped Dems and leftist causes.  The committees she pretends to serve on are unrelated to her socialist wanderlust.  In the grand savings scheme, it may be a pittance, but the message will reverberate loud and clear: Forbid travel and per diem expenses to public servants that are unrelated to their public portfolios or outside their constituency.

Federal Judges.  On a related matter, how about punishing federal judges whose decisions are overturned due to their activism?  SCOTUS reverses plenty of lower-court decisions.  Since the overturned judges may have no shame, shouldn’t there be a “price” to pay in instances where their decision was blatantly political rather than judicial?  Judicial reversal rates should be a factor in determining their pay scale pending their impeachment.

United Nations.  The head of DOGE thinks the U.S. should withdraw from the U.N.  That would potentially save us billions of dollars.  Of course, we’ll still remain the world’s leader, engaged wherever our national interests demand attention, but if anything, the U.N. not only is ineffective, but often undermines our interests.

In addition to “tariffs,” one of President Trump’s frequent utterances is “they’re ripping us off.”  That’s exactly what the U.N. is doing to America in some of the world’s most valuable real estate regions, including its proximity to Trump World Tower.  After evicting the ungrateful U.N. ambassadors, and forbidding tyrants and terrorists from visiting, we could repurpose the U.N. headquarters for something that’s actually useful.

Per President Trump, America won’t be the world’s piggy bank anymore.  Neither should it be the piggy bank for internal anti-American causes veiled in innocuous-sounding terms like “equity” that really impose leftist inequities on those who took initiative, often against the odds, and dared to succeed.

American Thinker

Here’s a beautiful song/video celebrating our resurrection in Christ, as well as being a moving tribute to martyrs.

“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.” (I Corinthians 15:20)

Yesterday, Karoline Leavitt brought in a mother whose daughter was brutally murdered at the hands of a migrant who crossed the border under the Biden administration It was a dare to the press corps to see if they would cover the case of the grieving mother.

Here was her appearance:

It worked. The press was forced to cover her story:

So great, right? Well, not so fast. Here is how David Sanger at the New York Times covered the story — mostly as a publicity stunt or a way to deflect from the Trump admin potentially being held in contempt:

Just hours after a federal judge threatened a contempt-of-court investigation over the Trump administration’s deportation flights, the White House sought to freeze the legal debate by reminding Americans of a heartbreaking case of a mother killed by an unauthorized immigrant

Sanger goes on with what looks more like an op-ed than a news story:

White House officials called a special briefing on Wednesday in the press room to bring Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, who was killed while jogging on a trail in Maryland in 2023, to the podium. She recounted in detail how her daughter, a 37-year-old mother of five, was seized, raped and bashed in the head with rocks and ultimately strangled. Members of her family also appeared at the Republican National Convention last July.

An immigrant from El Salvador, Victor Martinez-Hernandez, was convicted in the case this week.

The story was a tragic one, and it has fueled Mr. Trump’s arguments about dangers posed by migrants and a debate about capital punishment. Nonetheless, the invitation of Ms. Morin seemed a somewhat transparent effort to suspend the arguments about whether the administration could lawfully send migrants to El Salvador with no due process, and whether it can defy the orders of district judges who order the flights halted.

And then we get the typical blather, “Statistics show…”:

Statistics show that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes on American soil than American citizens, and Mr. Trump’s claims of a wave of violent crime committed by immigrants have not been supported by police or court data. But it is a popular talking point among Mr. Trump’s base of supporters, and he often brought out family members of victims during his presidential campaign.

If even one woman, one child, one girl is brutally murdered or assaulted by migrants who crossed the border illegally (aka, already broke the law, which makes them criminals already), under the watch of the United States government who did NOTHING to protect them, or even warn them, with the media pretending there is no problem, you bet the public has a right to be upset.

On the Left, they need constant fuel to drive their ideology, their religion. Kilmar Abrego Garcia gives them that. He can be accused of beating his wife, even, and it won’t matter to them, just as whatever George Floyd was guilty of didn’t matter. Just as transgender sex offenders don’t matter. Identity is all.

But it does go against the general public’s opinions, as this poll proves:

Chris Cillizza understands and is begging the Democrats not to make this their biggest story:

Sorry, Chris. This story is here to stay. It fills up the Left with everything they need to keep fighting for what they believe in. They believe in open borders AND universal healthcare. They believe in no biological difference between men and women. They believe in abortion as easy and common as getting your ears pierced. They believe in sending every last dollar to Ukraine. It is what it is.

SASHA STONE

Baltimore’s public school district is going on a hiring spree while student enrollment plummets and test scores remain in the basement.

Baltimore City Public Schools inflated its number of employees by nearly 19% over the six years between 2018 and last year, according to Maryland State Department of Education data analyzed by Fox 45’s Project Baltimore, an investigative initiative on the city’s floundering schools.

The school district hired 1,714 more staffers while the number of students plummeted by 4,781 or 6%, the data show.

It wasn’t mostly teachers the district hired, either.

Over those six years, the district hired 992 more teachers, about a 15% increase, but it also hired 721 non-teaching staff such as administrators, a 28% increase, the analysis found.

Last school year, the Baltimore City school district had 10,874 employees for 75,811 students, about 6.9 students per staffer.

“This pattern reveals that the government school system has become more of a jobs program for adults than an education initiative for kids,” school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis told The Daily Wire.

DeAngelis noted that 40% of Baltimore high schools had zero students score proficient on the 2023 state math exam.

Meanwhile, Baltimore’s public school superintendent makes $479,672 a year, more than the president of the United States, DeAngelis pointed out.

“These failure factories don’t give a damn about the kids,” DeAngelis said. “These overpaid administrators are leeches that extract funding away from the classroom and the kids they’re supposed to serve. Baltimore needs real accountability from the bottom-up with school choice. Families must be able to vote with their feet to schools that work best for their kids. Only then will the school system cater to the needs of children and their families as opposed to the other way around.”

School choice critics often complain that failing inner city public schools are under-funded and simply need more resources to help low-income children thrive academically.

However, Baltimore spends far more per pupil than other large city school districts whose students perform better.

Baltimore City spends $18,272 tax dollars per student, according to last year’s census, Fox 45 reported.

Meanwhile, Albuquerque, New Mexico’s, school district spends $12,964 per pupil and the Austin, Texas, district spends $12,492. Both outperform Baltimore students in every category, such as 4th and 8th grade math and reading, on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, called the “Nation’s Report Card.”

“City Schools has made targeted investments in hiring qualified staff — from classroom teachers and counselors to literacy coaches and early childhood educators,” the district said in a statement. “We know that students thrive when they are supported by caring adults, and when schools are fully staffed and resourced. There is more work to do, but make no mistake — progress is happening, and our students deserve recognition for it.”

Mairead Elordi

Karl Rove is a serious Trump hater. I have Rove fatigue.

Rove argued in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal that “voters made crystal clear” what they wanted from the new administration — lower prices and a better economy.

Trump promised to reduce inflation, but instead, he started a trade war, Rove stated.

Currently, they are going down.

He doesn’t realize Trump has been telling us this would happen with tariffs before he was elected.

Rove then said, “His policies will almost certainly continue to be a mixture of deliberately planned, well-executed ideas and those concocted on the fly,” the former deputy White House chief of staff under President George W. Bush stated. “The former includes his undoing of the Biden administration’s excessive regulatory rules and red tape. The latter: the Department of Government Efficiency and removing fluoride from drinking water.”

Basically, Rove doesn’t like anything Trump is doing.

Rove also criticized Trump’s extensive use of executive orders rather than legislation.

Congress hasn’t done anything. Trump has possibly only a year-and-half to fulfill his agenda. Rove wants it all to continue on as it has with debt increasing at existentially dangerous rates.

“And there’s something shocking about this White House to an old-school politico like me: It doesn’t spend much time drawing attention to the president’s successes. Rather than patiently explaining his actions and why they’re good for Americans, the president and his advisers move from one thing to another, seemingly at random,” he adds.

The former Bush advisor said, “There’s way too much retribution. Most of the president’s revenge attempts will end badly for him.”

It’s not revenge to demand justice for obviously criminal and unethical acts. It is not retribution, it’s accountability.

Fortunately, for us, Karl Rove is always wrong.

M. DOWLING, INDEPENDENT SENTINEL

For Christians, Easter is ultimately about the empty tomb and its promise of resurrection. But before the resurrection, there was the cross, which was widely views as a symbol of a terrifying system of imperial tyranny, a frequent instrument for executions during the Roman empire. Setting aside the miracles and the metaphysics, Easter offers an anti-tyrannical political message. The Easter narrative warns against the dangers of greed, complicity and despotic power. It condemns the collusion of sycophants and the callous brutality of the mob. The story of Jesus’ execution exposes an entire system of unjust imperial rule over a subjugated people.

One of the villains of Easter is Judas, a money-grubbing thief who betrayed Jesus to the authorities. Another villain is Herod Antipas, who was also responsible for beheading John the Baptist. But it was Pontius Pilate, the authoritarian Roman ruler of Judaea, who conducted the trial of Jesus and was legally responsible for his crucifixion. That trial involved a bizarre ritual in which the mob was asked who it wanted to save. The mob cried out for Jesus to be crucified, while calling for the release of Barabbas, an insurrectionist. All of this teaches a lesson about the need for a rules-based system of justice. Such a system would outlaw cruel punishments, such as scourging and crucifixion. It would prevent authoritarian rulers from consolidating the power to convict and punish. It would not defer to the stupid passions of the mob, nor would it depend upon the greed of paid informants. In general, it would avoid the excesses of swift imperial justice in favor of due process and the rule of law. Such a system would be similar to that which is found in our own beleaguered constitutional system. The American Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, speech and the press, along with the right to assemble and petition. It prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, requires due process of law and stipulates that those accused of crimes should be able to confront the witnesses against them. It also prohibits excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishments.

This means that if a Jesus-like figure were to appear on the American scene, he would be free to preach and lead a movement, even if it infuriated religious and legal authorities. His followers would be free to protest, write and criticize the policies of the church and the state. And if this figure or his followers were accused of crimes, they would have basic rights that protect them against arbitrary detention. In our system, prisoners cannot be mocked or manhandled, or cruelly killed. None of this was true in ancient Roman Judaea. The Roman authorities ruled with an iron fist. Crucifixion was intended to send a message to rebels and rabble-rousers. And while some of the locals may have thought that they could play along with imperial power, the Romans eventually destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. They also rounded up and killed Peter and Paul, and other Christians. The American founders understood the dangers of imperial power run amok. In 1775, John Adams claimed that a republic was “a government of laws, and not of men.” He further said, “An empire is a despotism, and an emperor a despot, bound by no law or limitation, but his own will.” Soon enough, in 1776, the Americans broke with England, claiming that the king had become tyrannical and despotic. The arbitrary and authoritarian application of the power to punish was viewed as a sure sign of tyranny. Among the complaints against King George listed in the Declaration of Independence are depriving people of “the benefits of trial by jury,” and “transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses.” Unfortunately, our own government is now transporting people to foreign countries without due process. We are also threatening to occupy Greenland and annex Canada. Easter provides a cautionary tale for the present moment. It reminds us of the need for due process and the rule of law, and about the dangers of imperial excess. The Easter narrative also calls for sympathy for the victims of unjust power. If it seems that we are more Roman than Christian these days, it can help to recall that the hero of Easter is Jesus and not Pontius Pilate.

ANDREW FIALA/FRESNO BEE

by Taylor Delandro – 04/18/25 2:58 PM ET

A growing political divide is emerging among Americans under 30, as more young voters are shifting toward the Republican Party, according to a recent poll. If the trend continues, it could significantly reshape the future of U.S. politics.

While younger voters have traditionally leaned Democratic, Generation Z played a crucial role in reelecting President Trump last November.

A new Yale Youth Poll, affiliated with the Yale Institution for Social and Political Studies, found that voters aged 18 to 21 now favor Republicans by 11.7 points, challenging the common perception of Gen Z as “uniformly progressive.”

Among Republicans, Vice President Vance emerged as the most popular figure, with a net favorability rating of +65 overall and +54 among Republican voters under 30, according to the poll. More than 53 percent of Republicans — 50 percent under 30 — said they would support Vance in the 2028 GOP primary.

On the Democratic side, former Vice President Harris led with 27.5 percent of the party’s voters saying they would support her “if the 2028 primary were held today.” She also held a strong +60 favorability rating.

However, attracting voters won’t be plain sailing for Republicans. A recent CNN poll found that 56 percent of respondents disapprove of the way Trump has handled the economy since returning to office, while 44 percent say they approve, and 1 percent say they don’t have an opinion on the matter.

“Politicians often promise things to young voters and reach out to young voters, but they can’t do that if they don’t have an understanding of what young voters believe and where young voters are,” said Jack Dozier, deputy director for the Yale Youth Poll. “That’s why polls like this are really important because they provide insight — albeit imperfect insight, but insight nonetheless — into what young voters believe.” 

The Yale Youth Spring 2025 poll surveyed 4,100 voters from April 1 to April 3, including an oversample of 2,204 voters aged 18 to 29. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.

It covered a broad range of issues, from foreign policy to gender identity, with three themes standing out: views on protest rights, universities’ roles in politics, and taxing wealthy university endowments.Tags 2028

Nexstar Media

White House senior counterterrorism official Sebastian Gorka told Newsmax on Good Friday that faith in God is a cornerstone of American values and acceptance of “objective truth.”

Gorka told the “The Chris Salcedo Show,” “We celebrate in just a few days the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And if you deny his existence, if you deny the existence of God, you deny the existence of objective truth.

“And that’s where we arrive at a point where you can believe anything. You can believe that men can be women. You can believe that open borders are good for the country.”

White House senior counterterrorism official Sebastian Gorka told Newsmax on Good Friday that faith in God is a cornerstone of American values and acceptance of “objective truth.”

Gorka said many detrimental aspects of life in America would change when more people accept and believe in the teachings of Christ. The opposite of that, he said, means more trouble.

“And you can be on the side of illegal aliens who beat their wives and their girlfriends, who are members of MS-13, and who have twice been declared by a U.S. court to be illegal aliens and are actually members of a foreign terrorist organization and go and sit down and have margaritas with them. So all of these things are connected.”

Gorka told host Chris Salcedo that many people in America still have not grasped the connection between faith, safety, and security.

“If you deny God, evil doesn’t exist, does it, Chris? And you can sit down and sip margaritas with somebody who’s got the tattoos for MS-13 on his knuckles.”

Gorka said his work in the Trump administration is focused on removing politics from counterterrorism policies, “smiting” jihadists around the globe, and helping to remove dangerous criminal alien terrorists from U.S. soil.

Jim Mishler ✉

Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.  NEWSMAX