In recent weeks, the Biden Border Crisis has reached levels previously thought to be unimaginable: 

• On a single day in December 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection experienced over 12,600 migrant encounters. 

While much of the media has been focused on the widespread problems experienced by voters in Maricopa County, Arizona, an election administration disaster has been simultaneously unfolding in Harris County, Texas. The problems began on Election Day, with extensive issues across the county which includes the city of Houston:

Tuesday’s election was marred with issues in Harris County that included delayed openings, malfunctioning equipment, and 23 polling sites that ran out of paper ballots, some of which were never replenished.

On Tuesday, a U.S. District Court judge blocked guidance that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.  This guidance would have required all hospitals to perform abortions in circumstances that violate state laws. Fox News explained:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday hailed a federal judge’s decision to temporarily block the Biden administration from forcing hospitals to provide abortions services if the mother’s health or life was at risk. 

With the Midterm Elections only a few months away, the nation's attention is starting to focus on the Department of Justice (DOJ) and what role the DOJ might play in this election to help Democrats.  Just over a year ago, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced his intention to double the number of lawyers working in the Voting Section of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, which is charged with enforcing voting laws.  With a couple of well-publicized exceptions (e.g., Georgia, Texas, and Arizona), so far the DOJ has been relatively quiet.  Is this the calm before the storm?

This is all beginning to look a little familiar.  After the RNLA highlighted two different ballot trafficking rings in Arizona and in Philadelphia earlier this month––both of which led to guilty pleas by the perpetrators–– another was recently uncovered by law enforcement in Texas.  On Friday, June 17, one woman in Texas pleaded guilty to 26 felony counts of voter fraud following the discovery of a ballot trafficking scheme she was operating.  

Voter fraud is real, and it's a real threat. That's why I have a whole Unit devoted to stopping it. My office's commitment to election integrity ensures Texas has the safest elections in the country. Here's one of our successful recent cases: https://t.co/Uu0rzxDUPp

— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) June 17, 2022

For years, the GOP has criticized Harris County, Texas elections for policies that undermine confidence in the system and promote incompetence. This week, their criticism was proven justified. After calls for her resignation, Harris County Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria announced that she would leave her post in July after massive failures during a recent election led to thousands of ballots not being counted properly:

Late Saturday, election officials in Harris County said that an "oversight" led to 10,000 ballots not being counted. Those votes — 6,000 Democratic and 4,000 Republican — would be added to the final tallies on Tuesday. Longoria was also criticized for a slow count that took 30 hours to complete.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in two challenges to Texas' newest abortion law in Whole Women's Health v. Jackson and United States v. Texas.

The law at issue, Senate Bill 8, effectively bans most abortions from taking place once a fetal heartbeat is detected. Only two months ago, the Supreme Court declined to grant an injunction to suspend the law, with Roberts siding with the liberal Justices. The law has remained in effect since.

Another election reform bill is headed to the desk of a Republican governor. On Tuesday, the Texas Legislature approved SB 1 after Democrats attempted to block the legislation by fleeing the state in July. The New York Post reported:

The Texas Senate voted 18-13 along party lines to pass the measure after the House voted 80-41 to approve it.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court denied the Biden Administration's request to block a Texas federal court's order to reinstate the Trump-era "Remain in Mexico" policy. The Court explained:

Biden's Border Crisis has reached an all-time high. To add to the chaos, Axios reported earlier this week that the Biden Administration has released 50,000 people who crossed the southern border illegally without giving them a court date. Unsurprisingly, only 13% of them have reported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office like they were directed to.