ones that say, oh. we're defending democracy, too much. tammy, great to see you, thank you all of you for joining us, see you next sunday when the next revolution will be next revolution will be todd: it's monday, july 26th. dr. anthony fauci setting off another fire storm as he admits mask mandates are under active consideration, the latest mixed messaging and the backlash, we're live in washington. jillian: a bipartisan infrastructure bill could finally be ready today. but it looks like the deal might already be doomed. the progressive plan standing in the way. griff: and team usa off to a strong start in the tokyo olympics, the powerhouse athletes already bringing home gold medals. "fox & friends first" starts

right now. ♪ put my hands up. ♪ they're playing my song. ♪ the butterflies fly away. ♪ nodding my head like yeah. jillian: good morning. you're watching "fox & friends first" on this monday morning. i'm jillian mele. how you doing, griff jenkins. griff: we were just seeing the olympic torch there live in tokyo. viewership down on the olympics but i have been glued. do you know that on day one of the olympics we had zero medals, no gold, silver or bronze. that's never happened since 1972. 4 # years ago was the -- 49 years ago was the last time we had a zero medal start. jillian: that's truly sad. griff: now we are back with six, tied with china. here we go. team usa, we're on a roll. jillian: you mentioned tv viewership is down. in the u.s., for the opening

day, 33 year low, 16.7 million u.s. viewers. i know you were one of the 16.7, griff. i know you're super stoked about this. i have to be honest with you, i haven't seen a second of it. griff: we have a lot more to talk about. it was a awkward opening ceremony but the games are on and the country will rally around our athletes because they're on fire. jillian: we'll have more on that a little later. in the meantime, two kinds of america, dr. anthony fauci describes the nation divided between vaccinated and unvaccinated american as new cases and hospitalizations surge. griff: lauren blanchard joins us live from washington with more republican governors encouraging vaccinations instead of stricter covid restrictions. >> reporter: dr. fauci says the u.s. is heading in the wrong direction with covid positive cases with less than half of the population fully vaccinated.

>> it's kind of like we have two kinds of america. we have the very vulnerable unvaccinated part and we have the relatively protected vaccinated part. if you are vaccinated, you are in a different category. >> reporter: according to the director of the cdc, more than 80% of the current cases are the highly infectious delta variant. dr. fauci he said to help those who refuse to get the shot, the mask mandate is under consideration. currently the cdc doesn't recommend them for the fully vaccinated. >> this is under consideration in the trenches. we're in a situation with a lot of dynamics of infection so even if you are vaccinated you should wear a mask. >> reporter: the white house chief of staff did tweet they've seen an uptick in vaccinations, 790,000 in a 24-hour period per the cdc. dr. fauci said he depending on

infection rates, it's up to localities to decide the mask rules. starting today in st. louis masks will be required in indoor public places and public transportation. after an emergency meeting in provincetown, massachusetts they'll have an indoor mask mandate. some republican governors like ron de santis in florida have encouraged vaccinations instead of restrictions. alabama's governor is calling out the unvaccinated, saying it's time to start blaming them for the rise in cases. >> i think some people have gotten the false notion that we should see complete elimination of the virus. we're not going toker rads kate covid -- eradicate covid. it's going to be here for decades. >> reporter: dr. fauci did say the virus is in retreat but for only the vaccinated. he hopes that people will see the danger in the delta variant and choose to get the shot as almost all hospitalized cases are the unvaccinated. jillian: lauren blanchard live

for us. griff, just attend of lauren's report you heard dr. marty makary saying that this is going to be here for decades, if not for our lifetime. and what that begs the question, how do you go forward with your life in a normal capacity. because let's be honest, we do have to get back to normal at some point. when you have even those who are vaccinated at this point in some areas of the country now being told the vaccine isn't enough. you need to wear a mask. i think a lot of people are going to struggle with this, griff and that's not going to help with vaccine hesitancy and, look, the vaccine as we know, it's doing its job in keeping people out of the hospital with severe illness. hopefully away from death. and that is the goal of it. so it is doing its job but i just think this isn't going to add to helping those who are hesitant about the vaccine right now. griff: that's right. and what's important to point out is that more than 99% of

recent covid deaths were among the unvaccinated, 97% of new cases among the unvaccinated. but yet there are still politics associated with it from the vaccinations to the masks. nancy pelosi, speaker of the house, talking about reinstating the mask mandate. here's what she had to say. listen. >> if you're asking me, i think that we should mask. but in terms of officially for the house floor, that's up to the capitol physician. griff: really what's got to happen i think, jillian, is politics have got to come out of this. you are seeing more and more republicans, high profile republicans like steve scalise and others saying it's time to get the shot so that we can all come together and enjoy the freedoms that we have, getting out of the mask mandates and other things like that and the mitigation efforts. jillian: as you know, keeping politics in this, that you're not going to hear this administration give any credit to operation warp speed.

someone you will hear that from is sarah sanders, she said this quote about the reason why she decided to get vaccinated. she said i decided to take advantage of president trump's operation warp speed and get vaccinated. if president biden, vice president harris and others on the left truly care about increasing the vaccination rate and saving lives they should admit they were wrong to cast doubt on operation warp speed and give president trump and his team the credit they are due for the development of a safe and effective vaccine in record time. we have had doctors on our air, griff, who say, look, at the beginning of all of this, early last spring when president trump was saying we're going to have a vaccine by the end of the year, a ton of people, even some in his own party were skeptical of that because that has never been seen before. but it happened. and we need to give credit to that. and i just think that's one way you can try and help unite people when it comes to getting the vaccine. griff: and look, this is the

administration's ultimate challenge, how do you get people back to the table and we have learned in recent months shaming them, you cannot shame folks. you've got to invite folks who are skeptical of the vaccine to come back to the table and look at the reality of the rising cases among the unvaccinated. the other thing they've got to do, i think, is be honest about the threat that we are facing and i reported last week, jillian, that in the rio grande valley sector among migrants coming across there is a 900% increase in the sector of detainees coming over compared to the last 14 months. it is on fire. and the first two weeks of july, they had 135 cases, agents and officials down there are absolutely concerned about it and the administration's got to point that out because unless something's done to deal with that, you're going to see another area where the delta variant could be unleashed in an unprecedented way, certainly in the southern states, in places like texas which have a lower

vaccination rate. jillian: people who live in our own country who are hesitant to get the vaccine, you're trying to push that, you can't necessarily ignore what's going on when it comes to covid-19 and the vaccination rate at the southern border, that's for sure. a story, griff, that i know you will keep us updated on. griff: indeed. jillian: in the meantime, let's go to a fox news alert. a deputy is killed and at least one other injured during an hours long standoff in california. the sheriff's deputy was shot as they tried to free hostages. a gunman was holding them inside the home. the suspect was injured and hospitalized after s.w.a.t. teams arrived. two injured people were found inside the home novelty word on their injuries. -- no word on their injuries. the marine veteran left behind two young daughters. griff: two men are shot and killed in washington, d.c. police say a third man went to the hospital with a gunshot

wound and is expected to survive. no arrests have been made. a d.c. resident says he's had enough. >> it's never been like this. never. people are afraid to come out, to go to the grocery store. we need help. griff: meanwhile, chicago seeing another violent weekend of shootings including one that shot out windows at a hospital. police say at least 65 people have been shot since friday. 10 people were killed. jillian: progressive congresswoman cori bush is facing backlash for recently spending over $70,000 on private security while publicly pushing to defund american police forces. fox news host trey gowdy calls her a hypocrite for this. take a listen. >> cori bush tells us she is progressive. the better word might be hypocritical. she wants to defund your police while she has a robust personal

security detail in washington and st. louis and that sends the clear message that her safety is more important than yours. jillian: a recent campaign filing showed that bush's expenses for the detail came between april and june. griff: well, senate lawmakers could finalize their bipartisan infrastructure package today, key word, could, but new roadblocks are already spelling doom for the bill. marianne raferty is here with the details. >> the bipartisan infrastructure deal could be ready to go today and now lawmakers have to figure out how to pay for it. the bill includes $579 billion of new spending with $110 billion for bridges and roads, $73 billion for you power infrastructure and $66 billion for passenger and freight rail. but the plan may have already hit a roadblock. house speaker nancy pelosi says the bill will go nowhere without a reconciliation proposal which would allow dems to pass

additional funding without having to worry about a filibuster. >> i'm enthusiastic about the fact they they will have a bipartisan bill. i hope it will be soon. yes, i stand by. because the fact is is that the president has said that he wants to have a bipartisan bill and we all do but that is not the limitation of the vision of the president. he wants to build back better. >> but republicans are slamming this as just another ploy for democrats to force through their liberal agenda. >> what she has just said is entirely counsel r tear to -- counter to what president biden has committed to and to what the senate is doing which is a two track process. the infrastructure bill has nothing to do with the reckless tax and spend extravaganza she's talking about. >> gina romano is still

optimistic. >> it's unusual and complex. it's what americans want. it's what americans deserve. i hear from business leaders every day, get this passed. we need everyone to have broadband. we need improvements in roads and bridges. you hear the same thing from labor and progressives. yes, it's complicated. no, we're not there yet but it's going to happen. >> meanwhile, president biden says it's still up in the air whether a pathway to citizenship would be in the reconciliation bill. jillian, griff. jillian: lauren blanchard, thank you. marianne, excuse me, thank you. steve hilton is bashing president biden's massive spending saying republicans fooled the country when selling him as centrist. >> the republicans never stop telling us how they're defending our democracy. how is it democracy to run a candidate as a centrist, then after the election turn around and implement a bernie sanders,

elizabeth warren agenda. it is totally dishonest. structurally dishonest. not just a disaster for our economy, for jobs, for opportunity, but for our democracy too. jillian: on top of a possible pathway to citizenship, the democrat only infrastructure bill would provide numerous social infrastructure items like money in pre-k and two years of community college and expanded medicare. griff: to tokyo we go where team usa is racking up historic wins, bringing home modals in tae kwon do and fencing but the men's basketball team looking to france. they'll -- losing to france. they look to bounce back against nigeria tomorrow. katie ladeki battled her way to a silver in the free style and

the men's team taking gold in the free style relay. men's soft ball get a walk-off win. >> back it goes and gone! griff: they'll face japan in the gold medal game tomorrow. team usa trails china in total medal as olympic viewership reaches a 33 year low. it's drawing just 16.7 million watchers here in the u.s. but i'm rooting and i'm glued to it. jillian: i know you are. and social media going crazy at ball delivery before the rugby match opener in tokyo. the machine catapults the ball through a post on the roof. one twitter user writing tiny rugby bus, this is not a drill.

kristin tweeting it is the hero we need in the dark and tiny times. larry posted in part, added to my christmas wish list. i need to pay attention to that a little more because i don't get it. griff: i'll take a tiny bus. i actually missed that part but a lot of things to watch. tune in. all right. time now, just about 16 minutes after the hour. la county's district attorney says police unions are getting in the way of the soft on crime agenda. the next guest says americans are losing faith in the people who are supposed to protect them. jillian: one city is debating a congestion fee to help clear its busy streets but that fee would be based on driver's income which has some calling to pump the brakes. we'll tell you about it. ♪ if you're going my way i want to drive it all night long.

♪ life is a highway

jillian: good morning, welcome back. overnight israel retaliating after arson balloons were launched into the jewish states by terrorist reportedly affiliated with hamas. the israeli defense force launching air strikes at ah ha a

mass military base. the islamic republic reportedly lashing out over delays in negotiations with the israelis over financial aid. they say they will continue to respond to any terror attempts from gaza. griff: today, president biden will address another crisis in the region as he meets with iraq's prime minister at the white house. they will discuss the u.s. pulling troops from the nation, after the prime minister told the associated press, there is no need for any need for foreign combat forces on iraqi soil. in afghanistan, leaders imposed a curfew as security forces try to stop the taliban's advance. the extremist group made rapid gains since the u.s. withdrew. jillian: turning to a fox news alert. a missing granite pass complex firefighter is found safe with no injuries. the individual went missing

yesterday morning, activating a ground and air search. california's dixie fire merged with a smaller fire and destroyed multiple homes in a rural area. the golden state's largest wildfire is 21% contained. and the nation's largest wildfire, the bootleg fire, continues to spread in southern oregon, as officials declared weather warnings in the area. griff: los angeles district attorney, george casscone, and other progressive prosecutors teaming up to discuss pushing back against police unions. jillian: gascone claimed the police groups stifle reform. here to discuss is veteran officers, deon joseph. you are speaking as a private civilian for yourself, not for the police department. i want to make that clear for those joining us now. i want to get you to react to la da gascone's statement. it reads, quote, as we continue

to shift our emphasis from one of punishment and retribution to one of rehabilitation and we start to look at safety in our community through a public health lens, you start de-emphasizing the role of policing. what is your response? >> well, that's uttery ridiculous. you are not making things safer by decarcerating anything. it's having the opposite effect. every time you turn on the channel there's someone casually walking into a business and casually walking out with mounds and mounds of clothing and they don't care anymore. we're seeing violent crime increase. the real systemic failure is not giving community members relief from activity from criminals that prey upon them. what's happening right now, it's a shame, it's a travesty what's happening. griff: you're right about numbers, just startling.

los angeles violence surging. there's a 6.4% increase in motor vehicle theft. but specifically the video we were just showing of these criminals brazenly casually walking out of a t.j. maxx, it keeps happening over of and over. your state, california, has become the shoplifting capital of the world. a sergeant with lapd says it sends a message that criminals are winning, that they can just casually do this. do you agree? >> the bottom line is crime pays now. if i didn't have morals and values, i would think i'm in the wrong profession. we have to get back to the basics. we have to, because what's happening is not just businesses but real victims of crime are suffering. i used to have the busiest cell phone in the city where i work in skid row and now i barely get a call. when i go to the community meetings, the people vent and all get all their frustrations out to me, saying we're getting

robbed and beaten and threatened every day. i'm like why don't you call? because we know your hands are tied and we know if our attacker gets arrested he'll be walking the streets the next day. this what is i hear from citizens. i'm tired of das making unions the scapegoats. it's ridiculous. i am not a union representative. i am not a union director. what i am is a father who has a beautiful wife, who i love with all my heart. i'm a husband who -- i love my wife. i'm a father with three beautiful sons. if something happens to them, heaven forbid, i want to to knoe have a district attorney that will fight for them, not coddle the person who harmed them. jillian: in your opinion, how do we remedy this problem? >> the answer is getting back to basics, don't do the crime if you can't do the time. it's that simple. i'm not against rehabilitating

criminals. i've actually helped house people, parolees, i've given job information to individuals that wanted the help. for those individuals, when you look at their rap sheets, see they've arrested 18 times, 18 felonies, most of them violent, drug sales, that's what you call a career criminal, someone that chose a life path of crime and that's someone that should be kept off the streets by any means necessary. i'm not saying for the rest of their life. if the law says you go to jail for three years, you should do all three years to give the communities relief from the suspect's activity. that's all i'm asking for. i'm not pro punishment, i'm pro keeping people safe and using common sense to of do it. griff: thank you for choosing to serve and to put on that blue uniform, to keep our cities safe and thank you for coming on and sharing your insights. it's an important topic. thank you, deon. jillian: thank you. >> thank you for having me. jillian: of course. still to come, parents are demanding a new york city middle

school bring back its honor's math class, saying the reason for scrapping it doesn't add up. griff: our next guest is one of those parents who said his son had the highest possible state test scores. we'll hear from him, next.

griff: welcome back. a top new york city middle school under fire this morning for scrapping special placement classes. robert wagner middle school said it would permanently end its honors math program for seventh graders after it was cut during the pandemic, allegedly because too many students wanted to enroll. nikos papageorgeyos. son would have qualified for that class. he joins us now. thank you for joining us early. why does this upset you? >> the reason that it upsets me is because wagner used to be a great school and i know that because i have an older son who graduated from the school three

years ago. and it was a great school because it's the biggest middle school in new york city department of education and so with all the resources that it had, it could tailor to all kinds of students. it would take care of the average student but it had a lot of programs for people with special educational needs, both in the top and at the bottom. and basically what they're doing right now, they are taking away the extra classes that actually were serving the kids that were accelerating, they were in the top of class. griff: do they they tell you why they're doing that? >> yes. we had a meeting with the principal a couple weeks ago and the reason they told us was that

it was -- they basically had too much of a good thing. basically, they had too many kids qualifying for the honors program, the sixth and seventh grade honors program. when we asked the principal why don't you expand it then to accommodate more kids, and instead you're canceling it. and we never got a very good answer. so basically when you're taking -- you're getting unreasonable answers for a question, i think something else is going on. griff: so nikos, this seems ridiculous. the school has been blessed with too many smart kids and yet they're ending their opportunity to really advance their education. do you feel like this is going to be damaging to your son? >> of course. of course. but it's not only about my son.

it's about all the kids in the school and i believe many schools in the city, the reason they are good is because of parents. the parents association and all the parents involved over the years have been making sure that they leave the school at a better condition than they found it. and that's basically what's my -- the biggest driver of my effort. but absolutely, will be damaging, because he is more out of his mind. griff: so in the time we've got left here, we reached out by the way to the robert wagner middle school for a statement. they they haven't gotten back to us. you had a meeting the principal but now in the last 30 seconds we've got, what would you like to say to the school? what would you send a message? >> the message would be to reinstate both sixth and seventh

grade math. the parents are here to help them and provide them with additional resource ifs they need to and they need to listen to the 680 people that have signed a petition to bring the program back, plus look at the resolution that the educational council quoted last week for the exact same reason, to bring honors, sixth and seventh grade honors math at wagner back. griff: bring honors math back. thank you for taking time. give our best to your son. we'll follow this story. thank you, sir. >> thank you. good morning. griff: jillian. jillian: now to this, more critics piling onto slam hunter biden's art sales, even a cnn panel. listen. >> i am not an art critic. i don't know anything about art, obviously, this is a problem, an ethical problem, one of optics but also from a practical

perspective. >> this is a huge optics problem. jillian: the cnn's panelists were in agreement that hunter's sales are, quote, obviously a problem for the white house. you heard them say it there. press secretary jen psaki last week defended the practice saying there was no, quote, undue influence because the buyers are anonymous despite reported man's for hunter to meet with potential buyers. joe concha will join us with his thoughts on the panel's discussion in the next hour. the time is 36 minutes after the hour. a new mask mandate takes effect in st. louis county today even for those who are fully vaccinated. griff: two leaders who are challenging the mandate join us live to explain why, next. ♪ and i won't back down. ♪ i won't back down. ♪ hey, baby. ♪

griff: welcome back. get a load of this, some drivers in san francisco might have to pay up if they want to drive through the busiest parts of the city. officials are considering a congestion tax. i said that, congestion tax. there's a team actually studying potential fees. here's a look. drivers who make $100,000 or more would have to pay $6.50 to enter congested areas during peak travel times. people in lower income brackets would get discounts. drivers with disabilities and people who live in the congested areas would also get discounts. the san francisco chronicle

reports that commuters making less than $46,000 would not pay a fee at all. if you're a tourist in the city driving there, who knows. jillian: that's unbelievable. there's so many questions. returning to restrictions as cases of the delta variant begin to surge in st. louis county, a new mask order is back on the table for residents regardless of vaccination status. here to react, two local leaders fighting back against the order, the mayor, jim bolen and councilman, mark harder. thank you for being here, good to see you this morning. >> thank you. >> good morning, jillian. jillian: let's pull up this quote, this is the st. louis officials defending the renewed mask rule and this was from friday. this reads, quote, county health departments are taking this joint step to save lives and make sure hospitals can provide the care residents rely on and protect our children so they they can enjoy a full range of educational opportunities this year.

mark, i'll go to you, considering you're the county councilman. i think some might argue they they thought this was -- what the vaccine was supposed to do was to keep people out of hospitals and keep some of these numbers down. i think a lot of people, yourself included, are having a hard time with this right now. >> we are, jillian. and the past few months we've been pushing vaccines and we've been trying to get everyone in the county at least one shot and we've succeeded in many cases. the county has about a 45% vaccine rate right now. the state of missouri is about 55%. and we've been trying very hard. we've been giving incentives. we've been trying to get people to take the vaccine and i think this new mask order that they're talking about for today is actually counter productive because it's telling people that even with a vaccine, you must

wear a mask. and that's going to be a way of basically turning people against the vaccine and that's counter productive to what we've been trying to do all along. jillian: one more question to you, mark, before i bring in mayor bolen. i'm hearing you talk about the push to get people vaccinated in your area. what do you say to those who say republicans are anti-vaxx? >> i'm not saying that's true. the vaccine's out there and people need to protect themselves in one way or another. whether it's using a mask or vaccine. and -- but what they're trying to propose this week and put into effect today is that everyone is mandatory use of a mask and the people that i represent do not want a mandatory mask. leave it up to their choices. jillian: let's bring in mayor bolen now.

wildwood. mayor, i'm curious, what is your plan for wildwood. >> we're a city of 35,517 residents. i'm fully of confident in -- i have faith in each one of them to make the decisions that they need to make, not only for themselves but for others around them, so that would be the plan. jillian: what message do you think it sends for the future, mayor, if you have people now saying, look, okay, you're vaccinated but it's not enough. you need to now put on a mask again, when this whole time we're told get the vaccine, get the vaccine, get the vaccine and then you're going to get your freedoms back, what does that mean for our lives going forward, for our future? i know there's still a lot we don't know but we have come along way with knowledge of this virus. >> that's a great question. i think what that does in effect is actually discourage people who might be fence sitters that were thinking about getting a vaccine for the benefit of not having to wear a mask and now you're going to have to wear a

mask regardless and i don't think it encourages those to get a vaccine that otherwise would. at the end of the day if the standard is going to be because of an uptick here or there we're going to require a new mask, covid is likely going to be with us m perpetuity. that means residents will be wearing a mask forever. that simply isn't practical or workable. jillian: i know you both are leading this push against the renewed mask man t date taking effect -- mandate taking effect in st. louis county today. keep us updated. we would love to hear from you how this goes. thank you very much for joining us. appreciate your time. >> thank you. jillian: sure. griff. griff: still ahead, governor greg abbott is once again taking matters into his own hands aztecs as sees a record flood of illegal border crossers. tom homan says he's disgusted with the mess that the biden administration is creating at

our border. he's live, next. ♪ mama, i'm so hard to handle now. ♪

show me the olympics. [ "bugler's dream" playing ] ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ griff: turning now to the border crisis, texas governor greg abbott is laying down the law as apprehensions of illegal migrants surpassed the 1 million

milestone last month. >> we're not playing games anymore. i deployed the national guard and the texas department of public safety and we have a new program in place because the biden administration plan is to catch and release. the texas plan is to catch and to jail. we actually had to set up an entire new booking system. we had to get judges involved in the process, magistrates too. which had to open up a former prison that has now 1,000 jail beds that we're starting to fill up. we are arresting people every single day. griff: this new policy on the heels of the re rio grande valley sector chief revealing there were 20,000 apprehensions just last week in just one week. jillian: griff, take a look at this footage captured by fox news shows bus loads of migrants being dropped off at bus stations in mcallen texas, amid reports authorities are struggling to keep up with the backlog of immigrants entering the u.s. griff: here to discuss that,

retired acting i.c.e. director and fox news contributor, tom homan. tom, thank you for getting up this morning. i want to ask you, because we've heard a lot about the rising cases of covid coming across our border, the covid positive detainees in the rgb sector alone is at a 900% increase in the first two weeks of july. they had 135. you can explain to our viewers perhaps better than anyone that we don't test migrants when they are encountered, we test them after they're put in custody. i am concerned, as i suspect you may be as well, that the administration is at risk of unleashing the delta variant in an unprecedented way in this country if they they don't crack down at the border, do you agree. >> i absolutely agree. in the northern border with

canada it's still closed because of covid. the southern border is wide open. i.c.e. already had 7500 positive covid cases run through their system. right now, as we're speaking, they they have nearly 1200 active cases in custody right now that came across that border. so what really scares me is that nearly 300,000 got-aways this year, those who escaped apprehension, how many of them had covid? and we already know the u.s. government on purpose has released hundreds of covid-positive people into the interior by either buying them a bus ticket or plane ticket and releasing them into the interior of the united states. this is simply incompetence at the highest level. at the same time they're talking about americans masking up, talking about door-to-door vaccinations, the u.s. citizens being held accountable for covid but the southwest border is wide open. jillian: we can pull some numbers and people can look for themselves s, because numbers tell a story on their own. you know, to your point, tom,

that you're making about the got-aways and how many covid positive cases there could have been in there, you know, for people who might be watching at home who don't live, don't work, don't travel near the southern border, for people who might think this doesn't affect them, you talk about got-aways and potential covid cases there, you talk about drugs that come across the border. they this is something that should impact every american, shouldn't it? >> yes. because these people that are crossing illegally aren't staying in texas. people need to understand, they're going all over the country. i know for a fact because i was on an airplane from rio grande valley to dallas during my last visit to the rio grande valley and i watched at least 30 family units get on the plane and they had plane tickets going all over the country, boston, new york, chicago, denver. they're heading all over the country. and the data clearly shows that the u.s. government is spreading

them across the government when they release -- the country when they they release them. not only covid. on average, 20% of border apprehensions are actually convicted criminals, they have a criminal history. these people are being released throughout the nation. griff: we heard time and again from border officials that walls work, the first thing that president biden did on inauguration day was end the wall construction. but if you look at the money that's being spent, $2 billion, 1.8 to $2 billion cost per day to suspend wall construction which amounts to $3 million a day, doesn't seem to make sense to me in terms of spending our tax dollars. >> no, if they would have just spent that $2 billion, continuing that wall rather than just flushing it down the toilet, they would have less of an issue at the border. i'm not saying it would stop everybody from coming. the data's clear, walls work. illegal immigration and illegal

drug flow declines. this is the first time in my lifetime that we have an administration that is not securing the border on purpose. everything they have done is about setting the flow. they have not once, not one thing this administration has done to slow the flow. they they haven't taken one enforcement action, one policy decision to stop the flow. they keep offering more and more incentives. griff: why do that do that, tom? >> because this is an open border agenda. the progressive left has -- they've taken control of the white house. they've taken control of the department of homeland security and i.c.e. this is an open border agenda. they want more people to come to the condition tri because the end -- country because the end game is they're future democratic voters and they want an open border. griff: thank you for the insight. jillian: joe concha, congressman carlos jiminez and

sean duffy join us live when "fox & friends first" continues on a monday. ♪ i don't care. ♪ i love it. ♪ i don't care.

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for the best reverse mortgage solutions. call now so you can... retire better jillian: it is monday, july 26th. dr. anthony fauci setting off another firestorm as he admits mask mandates are, quote, under active consideration. the latest mixed messaging and the backlash, we're live in washington. griff: and a bipartisan infrastructure bill could finally be ready today, but it looks like the deal might already be doomed. progressive plan standing in the way. jillian: team usa off to a strong start in the tokyo olympics, the powerhouse athletes already bringing home gold. "fox & friends first" continues right now. ♪ griff: good morning. you're watching "fox & friends