space missions. >> three falcon 9 payloads, to the moon and mars as well. >> great breakdown of the spacecraft, you can see the individual components of the rocket, the side boosters, and they returned to earth and safely touched down and the last trip to space for x37b lasted just over 900 days, we have to wait and see how long this mission will last. anita. >> anita: yeah, exciting stuff. dana marie mcnickol, thank you very much. >> i want to have been very clear, the borders are not open. >> the border is not open. >> people come to the border and try to get in without the

necessary legal basis to do so, they will be sent away. >> bryan: biden administration closing out 2023 with a record breaking surge at the southern border. cbp sources tell fox there have been more than 276,000 migrant encounters since december 1st. that's equivalent to the entire city of buffalo, new york, or reno, nevada, and there's no signs of stopping as we head into a new year. hello, hello, everyone, the last hour of "america reports" of 2023. >> anita: hard to believe we made it, it is friday. anita vogel in los angeles. john and sandra are off. iran national with ties to terrorism was arrested by border patrol after he was caught crossing illegally right near niagara falls. >> bryan: according to ice, his

second attempt trying to enter from canada, authorities sending him back to canada where he is a permanent resident and wanted for assault charges. >> anita: meanwhile, sanctuary cities far from the border like new york, chicago and denver, they are just struggling to care for thousands of migrants crammed into shelters and hotels. the same democratic mayors pleading for the administration to step in. >> local municipalities are not structured to carry the weight of a crisis like this. >> every hotel room filled with migrants, it's unsustainable. >> every agency and delivery of service in my city is going to be drastically impacted of the actions of picking up the tab of $5 billion this fiscal year. >> anita: former border patrol chief is standing by. >> bryan: fox team coverage on

how the crisis is taking the toll on small businesses, but william is live in los angeles. what is the administration's game plan going forward? >> well, critics will tell you that the numbers suggest they don't have one that works, anyway, but you know, i think about this, as four problems, not one. why do people leave, the root cause. what are the choke points in transit, mexico. the policies at the border, how do we handle asylum, and after apprehension, do we detain, deport or release. each one of those offers an opportunity to reduce illegal immigration. if there's a will, money and political consensus to actually do it. >> neither the u.s. nor mexico really has the capability to manage that flow of people, particularly when it's 10,000 people perhaps appearing at the border every day. >> now, texas is trying, yesterday, how, the administration promised to sue should the state implement a law

allowing police to arrest, jail and prosecute and deport migrants to enter texas illegally. this week president biden did agree to keep mexican imports flowing north in exchange for troops on the mexican southern border, though yesterday you can see they made no attempt to stop this group. mexico also wants the u.s. to invest more in central america, critics say the u.s. taxpayers are already getting shortchanged. >> we are writing blank checks to these countries. our financial aid has to come with strings attached to it. >> the pipeline is full, the latest a caravan of migrants from 24 countries. most will enter south america to panama, they will board busses to avoid the dangerous darian gap. >> we have taken a lot of risks,

no food, no place to sleep, no money, they should solve it for us. >> they say biden's inaction left it no choice and will appeal to the supreme court to stop illegal immigration in the state. and to the mayors, the border will tell you they don't have the facilities to take care of this surge either. back to you. >> bryan: why we are seeing the mass releases the way we are seeing them. william, thank you. >> anita: illegal crossings continue to overwhelm the southern border and that's causing the migrant crisis to worsen in cities across the u.s. some say new york city's migrant shelters are hurting their bottom line. lydia hu at the roosevelt hotel in new york city. what else are they saying? >> hi there, anita. they say they have been suffering since this hotel was converted into a migrant shelter

about seven months ago. we are in the heart of midtown manhattan along the up scale street of madison avenue. not an area where businesses usually struggle but you can see on this block occupied by the now shelter, boarded up businesses, signs advertising retail space for rent that's available, landlords are trying to find new tenants to occupy the space. half the retailers on the block appear to have vacated. also talked to a coffee shop owner who says since the migrant shelter have opened his sales from plummeted 20, 25% as foot traffic has dwindled. here in new york city, over the past two weeks, 7,000 migrants have arrived and now more than 68,000 of them in the care of new york city and the numbers are only expected to climb as we expect more border crossings to happen in the coming weeks. we spent a lot of time talking about the impact to the city taxpayer and the slashes in the

new york city budget, another example of the impact and the cause of the migrant crisis to new york city real estate and the small businesses here bearing the brunt. back to you. >> anita: no kidding, five years ago you could not imagine so many vacancies on madison avenue, it's just unbelieve abl. >> bryan: ron, thanks for being here, happy new year. i believe you are the only person to have the two roles. >> as a border patrol agent, that's correct, thanks for inviting me. >> bryan: 760,000 migrant encounters since october 1st, that is a population -- bigger than the population size of seattle, that is the most migrant encounters we have ever seen in the first quarter of the fiscal year. we just had the most ever in a month, 276,000 migrant

encounters and yet the white house, karine jean-pierre, is saying that the border situation is not unusual, despite the fact that we are seeing records shattered after records shattered. what do you make of the latest numbers and the white house response to all of this? >> well, with, welcome to borders under joe biden. month over month, day after day, record numbers of people coming into the united states, 760,000 not counting what's happening now in december, december is going to clock into the books as the highest number one month encounter ever seen in the history of the record keeping. and it's gotten worse from the day one of this presidency until today because they took what was working as it relates to policy and the remain in mexico program, which is a legal pathway, it's a legal way for the dhs front line to control

that border. those tools were taken away from the border patrol in the front line and this is the result of it, and what your reporting just showed, denver, los angeles, chicago, new york, and every other city in the united states is suffering the brunt of these terrible policy choices that this administration has made. >> you have a ton of pressure on this administration, republicans and now you have cities that have been complaining about this now for months, especially here in new york city yet it seems as though in this latest negotiation between mexico and the united states we don't really know yet what mexico has promised to deliver. we have promised to leave our ports of entry open, we have had some of encampments on the border that have been taken away or cleared out by the mexican military, yet that caravan is still making its way up to the border. what would you be demanding of the mexican government and what do you make of this situation, this negotiation where it seems

like president obrador has the upper hand here. >> well, that's the thing, right. they have the advantage in the discussion that occurred yesterday. but overall, our relationship with them, which needs to be productive, they are our neighbor. we want a strong ally in mexico, good leadership on both sides of the border, we want to solve the problem together. when the administration comes forward and asks mexico for anything, especially control the flow, why would they help us, bryan. our own policy is encouraging this. 60% or more of everyone who crosses illegally, a federal crime, against immigration law, 60% are released into the united states. that going to encourage and has encouraged thousands more to come. why would mexico put their own front line at risk. why would obrador put his party's future at risk on behalf of the federal government of the

united states and biden board policy that encourages this behavior, and makes cartels rich while our economy falters. we have to make it into their interest like the previous administration did. president trump ultimately after threatening said he was going to close the border said he was going to tariff goods across the border. and mexico reacted i have never seen in my 33 year career, that's what needs to be done. people in the white house need to grow up and get a spine and tell mexico, if you want more trade, tourism and travel into the country, if you want to make things safer, reduce the fentanyl and contraband out of the country, but the administration has to have the will and fortitude, sovereignty and borders matter in this country and for good reason. we have see what the effect is

with the largely open border on the southwest border with mexico. >> bryan: well, ron, thank you for being here, former acting director of ice and cbp. happy new year. and a lot made of the joint communique between mexico and the biden administration that came out that talked about regularizing the situation of long-term documented hispanic migrants and folks and republicans are wondering is it the time to talk about that right now, given the fact we are seeing the crisis. >> anita: and you have a lot of the migrants coming into the country and getting court dates 5 to 10 years out. in the meantime, they disappear into the country and nobody is able to keep track of them. it's a big problem. we used to have the program called catch and release, where you know, you were able to control that a little better, but you know, bryan, we'll see what happens in the new year. >> bryan: 3 million cases in the backlog for immigration, more

than the population of chicago. it's just -- it's daunting. >> anita: yeah, it is. astounding. all right. >> everyone ok? anyone missing? >> anita: look at that. a rogue wave injuring at least eight people on ventura, california beach front. communities up and down the coast are threatened by high surf and major flooding now. we'll bring you the latest on the wicked weather situation. >> reactions from both sides after maine's decision to bar former president trump from its primary ballot. jason chaffetz joins us to discuss next.

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> outside of blind partisans

most sane and sober and objective voters see these tactics for what they are, attack on democracy while claiming to be defending democracy. >> bryan: maine secretary of state disqualified former president trump from the state's 2024 primary ballot. that move comes just more than a week after colorado supreme court also barred trump from the ballot. that ruling is now on hold and the trump team is vowing to file suit with an appeal in maine as well. fox news contributor and former utah congressman jason chaffetz is here to discuss, but first, fox business's grady trimble. how is this decision different than what we saw in colorado. >> one key difference, bryan, the maine secretary of state unilaterally made the decision to remove former president trump from the primary ballot and in

doing so, what she says, i don't reach the conclusion likely, i'm mindful no secretary of state has done this, and mindful that no candidate has engaged in insurrection. she suspended her ruling until the state court rule on the case, republicans, including those running against the former president in the primary are slamming her decision. >> that turns on its head every notion of constitutional due process that this country has always abided by for over 200 years. it opens up pandora's box. >> i'm concerned they will not allow this man to get anywhere near the start line of the election let alone the finish line. this is not how we should want to win. >> more than a dozen states are

looking at lawsuits to bar president trump from the ballot. he is back on the ballot in colorado as the state gop appeals the colorado supreme court decision to the u.s. supreme court. >> it's absolutely hypocrisy but i also think it's an act of desperation. i think they are afraid that donald trump is going to win against joe biden so by hook or by crook doing whatever they can to stop him. >> because so many states are dealing with these lawsuits and because decisions so far are at odds with each other, it will likely come down to the supreme court to settle it. bryan. >> bryan: grady trimble live in washington, thank you. >> anita: let's bring in jason chaffetz, fox news contributor and author of "the puppeteers," great to see you. seems like a page out of your book, this secretary of state is single handedly controlling who

people in maine can and cannot vote for based on her opinion of what happened on january 6th. what are your thoughts there? >> her conclusion that president donald trump was involved and engaged in insurrection is factually not there. it's just her opinion. that's not good enough for the american people. he was never charged with that crime, he was certainly never convicted of that crime, and to deny the american people the ability, particularly the obviously there in the state of maine, to be able to vote for a candidate for president, perhaps and probably most likely be the republican nominee, to deny his ability to be on the ballot is just sounds like banana republic somewhere where you take your opposition and just don't even allow votes to happen. that's what they do in china and russia, but not here in the united states. the audacity that she would do this needs to be swatted down and very quickly.

>> anita: yeah, lots of mixed opinions from both sides of the aisle, even on cnn, senior legal analyst had this to say. >> look at the hearing, they based the ruling on one fact witness, documents, youtube clips, news reports, things that would never pass the bar in normal court. she's not a lawyer, by the way. >> anita: they had a series of meetings, hearings around the state before she went ahead and made this decision and even though president biden won maine in 2020, as you know, and political reports, maine has become a battleground state. trump has picked up electoral votes there before, so is her decision alienating those republican voters and others in the state from selecting the candidate of their choice? i mean, i heard you talking to ron desantis before and he said this is opening up pandora's

box. do you agree, how do you think history will judge this moment? >> oh, i think it will be viewed as a clown show. look, this totally negates and gets rid of any sort of due process to summarily just dismiss on her opinion and youtube clips is absurd. we are a constitutional republic, we need free and fair elections and let the people decide. the fundamental point that they are missing is the government works for the people. the people don't work for the government and she does not get to just make this decision all by herself. the point is the people of maine get to vote for who they want to, particularly in a primary, and in colorado, write-in ballots would be denied as well, is just -- i mean, it's just absurd. the point that we are talking

about this -- and i'm tired of all these democrats giving us lectures about how bad donald trump would be in office. you know, all these lectures about how he would destroy democracy. well, who is destroying democracy? it's the democrats that are coming out and denying a person to even be on the ballot to even go through the process. >> anita: but you know, jason, it's not just maine and colorado. put up the map, it's more than a dozen other states, i think 13 states considering removing donald trump from the ballot. you know, we are going to see what the supreme court has to say about this. president trump's legal team is expected to launch that appeal most likely next week. i want to know, what are you looking for for the supreme court to say how are you looking for them to craft an opinion on this? what language are you looking for? >> we need to do it -- first of all, we need it to be shift because we have the first caucus just over two weeks from now, and i want them to be definitive so puts all of this to rest so we can actually get on and have a vibrant debate in this

country. >> anita: all right. well, we'll see what happens. could come down next week. jason, thank you for your thoughts today and happy new year to you. >> happy new year. >> bryan: the suspect accused of stabbing two teenage sisters at grand central on christmas day strikes yet again, accused of attacking another detainee in prison. charges he's facing, plus this. pro-palestinian protestors flooding lower manhattan yesterday, shutting down the entrance to the world trade center, the nypd now preparing for the potential of more protests during the new year's eve ball drop. our panel is here next. my a1c was up here; now, it's down with rybelsus®. his a1c?

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>> anita: the man police say stabbed two teen tourists at grand central station now accused of stabbing an inmate in jail. he has extensive criminal history, including two recent arrest in recent months. they call it an indictment of the justice system and the progressive policies that release criminals back on to the streets. nate, how are lawmakers reacting to this one? >> certainly a lot of criticism regarding new york laws. steven hutcherson, a lot of trouble for him this week, accused of stabbing an inmate in the face days after police say he stabbed two teenage sisters while reportedly yelling he wanted all white people dead. hutcherson is facing charges of assault and attempted murder, 16-year-old girl suffered a

collapsed lung. she and her 14-year-old sister are recovering after going to the hospital, and hutcherson's newest victim also went to the hospital after being stabbed in the face and head multiple times yesterday morning at rikers island. hutcherson has been arrested over a dozen times, including twice recently. he was not locked up before the christmas day attack according to the bronx d.a. office, because three cases were resolved via pleas, 15 days in jail, and one case, a sentence of conditional discharge. just last month, police arrest hutcherson for assault and harassment, mike lawler says the laws are flawed. >> new york does not have a dangerousness standard, they are not allowed to hold people in jail based on the threat they pose to the public. if they did, this man never would have been released.

he threatened to shoot someone just a few weeks ago because they "were working for a white person." >> according to the nypd, overall crime is down in new york city compared to last year but felony assaults like what hutcherson are accused of are up 6%. back to you, anita. >> anita: arrested more than a dozen times and never went to jail. seems unbelievable. nate foy, thank you for the live report. good to see you. >> bryan: police here in new york city are ramping up security this new year's eve. briefing the press on preparations ahead of the big day on sunday. city officials are concerned anti-israel protestors will try to interrupt the new year's ball drop in times square. just yesterday, hundreds of pro-palestinian protestors swarmed lower manhattan, bring in our panel, richard and

kaylee. thank you both for being here. start off with mayor eric adams talking about the out of control protests recently. listen. >> i don't believe that people should be able to just take over our streets and march in our streets. i don't believe people should be able to take over our bridges. i just don't believe you can run a city this complex where people can just, you know, just do whatever they want. you can't embolden those people who are watching what's playing out in new york city. people come from all over the country. >> bryan: a "new york post" op-ed says this is no longer just exercising their free speech, they are attacking civil life. i want to start off with you, richard. what do you make of the protest and do you think the city needs to crack down harder? >> look, both you and i have been in times square during new year's eve and what we know to

be true, they do everything in their power to ensure that times square is by far the safest place in the united states of america for a new year's eve celebration and i don't think that's going to change under mayor eric adams. what you saw in the press clip is just that, him saying we'll do everything in our power to ensure we keep folks safe as they celebrate the new year's eve holiday, and a clearly bright line between freedom of speech and disrupting the lives of everyday new yorkers, and further, everyday americans. >> bryan: thanksgiving day parade, other parades, blocking people to the airport, the fact they need to face charges, charges that could screw them up for the rest of their lives. what do you make of that? >> well, i agree that we do, and i would just say that one of the concerns that mayor adams has expressed is that new york police officials actually are incapable of holding these protestors to account in the

same way they used to be able to, as a result of a september legal settlement that changes the way the nypd is allowed to respond to protests. so as part of that settlement, they cannot deploy as many officers without approval from three different branches of government, and cannot mass arrest protestors, so that does raise a legitimate safety concern whether nypd is going to be able to contain the threats and also raises a larger cultural issue, we have encouraged people over the past several years, actually since 2020, to participate in this culture of lawlessness where it is attracting people to the protests who are not interested in anti-israel advocacy, not really interested in the politics of the movement. they are looking to disrupt the lives of onlookers, looking to terr terrorize people and we have

told them you can do so without fear of consequence. that's a massive problem and needs to be addressed moving forward. >> latest fox news poll shows 48% of democrats support israelis but a third support palestinians. 76% of republicans support israelis in this war. that poll and then you had representative rashida tlaib who called benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister, a genocidal maniac and said every member of congress who meets with this murderer is supporting a war criminal. what do you make of tlaib's comments and where the democratic party stands on this issue. the poll shows a majority of americans disapprove the way biden is handling this. >> you have to zoom out a bit, and the waters around the conflict are murky. most americans will tell you they believe israel has a right to defend itself and also don't like the idea that a majority --

20,000 people, 20,000 civilians, many of them children, are dead in the gaza and i think you see not only the united states people saying this, all across europe, whether it's the united kingdom, whether it's france, whether it's germany, even the president of the united states here saying hey, netanyahu, you need to do a little to say what is the next chapter here, how do you rebuild gaza after you have blown it to smithereens. if you talk to israelis who live in israel they will also too tell you that they believe the focus has gone away from getting the hostages back and it's more so focused on destroying hamas and in the process killing thousands of gaza citizens. >> bryan: kaylee, your take for what it means for democrats in 2024 with tlaib's comments and biden's disapproval numbers. >> i think democrats remain largely unified behind israel.

i think tlaib represents a fringe on the left, not even the opinion of the american public. but joe biden has a choice to make. either stand behind israel as he has or cave to the left as he has done for the past several years. >> bryan: and see what happens on new year's eve as well. richard and kaylee, thanks again. >> good to see you, bryan. happy new year. >> anita: we are seeing brand-new video of a hamas, massive hamas tunnel network located by the idf under the northern gaza strip. the idf says the tunnels were used by senior hamas leadership and had electricity, ventilation, and resting rooms or sleeping rooms. the israeli military destroyed the tunnels after an investigation. [explosion]

>> anita: the idf says the tunnels were built in a way that made it possible for hamas fighters to remain underground for very long periods of time. >> [bleep], oh my god. what the [bleep] >> bryan: have you seen this? gigantic waves sweeping people in california. clerer krer. with the freestyle libre 2 system know your glucose level and where it's headed without fingersticks. manage your diabetes with more confidence and lower your a1c. it's covered by medicare for those who qualify. ask your doctor about the freestyle libre 2 system.

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>> bryan: a powerful wave in california crashed into a crowd, sending eight people to the hospital. storms along the coast are the cause of the dangerous waves.

flooding streets and causing evacuations in multiple towns. jonathan hunt is in the neighborhood of pacific palisades. how are conditions right now? >> jonathan: surf is up for sure, bryan, and plenty of surfers out here, look at this point. pretty famous break just south of malibu here. these guys obviously, they know what they are doing when it comes to high surf. so they are just out enjoying the conditions. some of those who just come to look at the waves, though, are not quite so sensible about what they are doing. that's exactly what happened up in ventura where this group of geniuses walked right up to the waves despite warnings not to, and this is what happened as a result. a huge wave crashing over beach barriers, sweeping the legs from underneath several people as others ran for their lives. and those lucky enough or sensible enough to have stayed in their trucks driving out of

the area as quickly as they could. luckily no one was seriously hurt, but eight people were taken to the hospital. lesson learned, maybe. certainly the ventura fire department felt compelled to restate the blindingly obvious saying once again "for your safety please avoid the area near the ocean as it can be quite dangerous." up and down the california coast there has been flooding from the san francisco area to san diego and there may be more to come. the waves could be usually large in several places throughout the weekend. listen here. >> mother nature can be very dangerous. she's very beautiful, however, she's also unexpected at times, so please be aware of where you are at and always have an escape route for any situation you put yourself into. >> so the message remains the same, bryan. if you want to actually make it to 2024, heed the warnings be

sensible, like we are, 15, 20 feet above the waves rather than walking up to them. it's common sense. let's hope everyone has a safe and happy new year, especially you, bryan. >> bryan: you know who is a genius, you are, my friend. jonathan hunt live in california. happy new year. anita. >> anita: well, we are about an hour away now from the final close on wall street after a year of high inflation and interest rates, what can we look forward to in 2024? hopefully something good. we are going to ask former trump adviser steve moore, he's up next. to duckduckgo on all your devie

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>> anita: all right, welcome back. a look at the dow now, stocks down just a bit, about 30 in the final trading session of 2023. it's been a tumultuous year for the u.s. economy but analysts say there is a light at the end of the tunnel, predicting inflation will be normal in 2024. will that be the case in the new year. steve moore, freedom works economist and fox news contributor. steve, good to see you. thanks for coming in today. it has been gloom and doom

throughout the last year but hearing inflation is coming down ever so slightly. when are the folks at home going to see it and how will they see it? >> good to be with you. the first two years of the biden economy, terrible. inflation from 2 to 9%, big problems with the massive increase in debt spending. 2023, the year that we are just ending, has been a better year, no question about it. inflation has come down, anita, from 9%, now down to about 3.5% inflation, it's still too high but better than where we are. i think it's important for people to realize that despite all of our problems, the united states economy is still the alpha male of the global economy. we are doing better than most other countries are, so that's something to be proud of, and boy, 2024, just hard to make a prediction about where things are going, what will the fed do with interest rates, that's a

question all the people on wall street are asking and i don't think anyone has a good answer to that right now. >> anita: i think people are hoping for cut in interest rates because you know, that affects everything, right, from your home mortgage to your credit cards, affects so many people across the country and when you look at the u.s. economy compared to other nations around the world, ours still looks pretty good. take a look at the major market averages for the past year. let's pop that up on the screen, so there you go. dow jones industrial average, s & p 500, the nasdaq. when you look at the dow return for the year, 13.7, it's a heck of a lot better than any bank. so interpret the rest of the numbers if you will. >> well, a couple of observations there. yeah, it was a good year for wall street, no question about it and pretty good year for 401(k) plans. but that comes on top of 2022, when those numbers were almost exactly the same except

negative, not positive, so we are kind of back where we started from. if you look at that nasdaq number, i think you had a 40% increase in the nasdaq, guess what's really driving those technology stocks. it's what's called the magnificent 7. it's apple, amazon, microsoft, tesla, and those seven companies that have carried the market. half the returns are due to those companies. thank god they are american companies because they have helped retirement funds, it's election year, anything can happen. my major concern is debt, in terms of the federal debt and debt in terms of personal finance debt. you know 33.7 trillion national debt, we have never been that high. the other one is credit card debt is over a trillion dollars now. can consumers keep spending like

that and flashing out the credit card and not having the money to repay it. >> anita: that's a scary thing. one quick tip for people in the new year, quick tip for solid financial advice. >> investing in the new york stock market, compound in interest, always bet on america. >> anita: see if you can get an alphabet stock, they are expensive. good if you can get them. thanks for the advice. >> bryan: a new study reveals the big apple is not the best place to ring in the new year. where you should go to bid farewell to 2023. that's next. ♪♪

>> all right. listen to this. the mascot at last night's pop tart bowl capturing headlines for be-the first edible mascot. the treat was lowered in a toaster after kansas' big win. the winning team chowed down. kansas state's quarterback and coach got first dibs on the strawberry flavored pastry. >> you think they had a meeting and said it would be a good idea to eat our mascot alive? >> yeah, that would go over with my daughter. i'm not sure everybody loves a pom tart.

>> that is crazy. america is the greatest country. there's your proof. >> a million people are headed to times square to see the ball drop. new york city is not the number 1 place to celebrate. orlando is one of the best places and san diego is second and then new york city. new orleans is the most expensive place to welcome in 2024. a surprising list, times square is a nightmare. it's worth it only if they made the show more grandiose. i don't think it's worth ten hours in the cold. >> yeah, some people love it. you have to love that sort of thing. >> you have to do it once. >> i like to watch it on tv. that's me. >> any plans? stay in l.a.? >> i'm staying in l.a., going to bed early. that does it for us, brian. >> happy new year. >> i'm anita vogel. >> take care. >> thanks, brian and anita.