Texas Gov refuses to remove barriers in the Rio Grande, igniting standoff with White House

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up!

Good morning!

Do you want to live forever? Ok, maybe not forever, but… how about a couple decades longer?

Researchers from Harvard and the US Department of Veterans Affairs analyzed the lifestyle habits of more than 700,000 people between the ages of 40 to 90.

Here are the 8 major (but not altogether surprising) factors they linked to longer, healthier live: getting enough exercise, following a healthy diet, managing stress, having strong social ties, getting enough sleep, and avoiding smoking, binge drinking, and opioid addiction.

Let’s get going…

Mosheh, Jill, & Courtney

🎙The Mo News Podcast: Talking about protests in Israel, the history of IVF and Jason Aldean’s controversial new music video.

Listen Now

🗞 PRESIDENT BIDEN SUES TEXAS

The U.S. Justice Department filed suit on Monday against the State of Texas over its installation floating buoys — meant to stop migrants from swimming from Mexico across the Rio Grande .

WHAT HAPPENED?
The Justice Department filed suit against Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) on Monday for not complying with its deadline to remove the floating barrier. Instead, Texas’ Republican Governor Greg Abbott defended the legality of the buoys, directly defying threats from the Biden Administration.

What the White House is saying: The barriers violate federal water laws, pose humanitarian risks, and impede law enforcement from apprehending migrants. The Biden administration has also been hearing from the Mexican government, which says the floating barrier violates international treaties.

What Texas is saying: ”Texas will see you in court, Mr. President.” In a letter to President Biden and top administration officials yesterday, Governor Abbott literally said, bring it on — arguing Texas is using its "constitutional authority" to combat undocumented border crossings.

❝
“Your finger points in the wrong direction. Neither of us wants to see another death in the Rio Grande River. Yet your open-border policies encourage migrants to risk their lives by crossing illegally through the water, instead of safely and legally at a port of entry."
Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) in a Letter to Biden Administration

GEOGRAPHY LESSON
The Rio Grande River serves as the border between the United States and Mexico for 1,254 of the 1,950 miles that make up the southern border. It’s the fifth longest river in North America, beginning all the way in Colorado and ending in the Gulf of Mexico.

FROM BUSES TO BUOYS
The river barriers were assembled earlier this month by Texas as part of the state's Operation Lone Star initiative to curb illegal border crossings — the same initiative that deployed buses to offload thousands of migrants who crossed into Texas to Democrat-run cities like New York and Chicago. But the state’s policies are catching some serious heat.

Last week, a Texas state trooper made some pretty alarming allegations about the way Texas is directing officials to handle the influx of migrants. He detailed reports of migrants being cut by razor wire, being denied water in scorching heat, and even being pushed back into the Rio Grande.
Texas officials and the Justice Department are investigating the allegations.
Texas has denied all accusations of withholding water from migrants or pushing them in the river.

BORDER CROSSINGS REACH RECORD LOW
In a matter of weeks, there has been a dramatic decrease in encounters along the southern border to levels not seen since February 2021.

By the numbers:

In June, border Patrol apprehensions of migrants who entered the U.S. illegally was 144,607 — the lowest level in two years, since Biden’s first full month as president.
The Biden Admin says border encounters have dropped a staggering 70% since Title 42 ended on May 11
Since May 12, arrests of migrants crossing the border illegally have declined to an average of 3,400 per day, down from more than 10,000 a day in the days leading up to the policy’s expiration.
At the same time, border crossings are still way up from pre-COVID levels.

✔︎Mo News Reality Check: Texas has been bearing the brunt of a years-long border crisis that neither the Trump nor Biden administrations have been able to solve. It launched Operation Lone Star to address the gaps in border security and stop the flow of illegal drugs, including fentanyl, coming into the U.S. via the southern border. But, two years and billions of dollars later, there’s little indication Operation Lone Star has made much of a dent.

The legal fight represents the first time that the Justice Department has directly challenged Gov. Abbott over his effort to unilaterally enforce immigration laws, sending thousands of National Guard troops and state police officers to block migrants from crossing into Texas.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨 NATION

📌 Carlee Russell, the Alabama woman who claimed she was abducted, officially admits it was a hoax (ABC)

📌 Potential UPS strike: Where talks stand and how it could impact you (NBC)

📌 Longest-running southern California newspaper closes after 168 years (THE GUARDIAN)

📌 Detailed college admissions data shows how elite universities prefer the richest students, even among those with similar test scores (NEW YORK TIMES)

📌 Watch the stunning moment a desperate Texas father smashes his car's windshield to rescue his baby amid 100F+ (FOX NEWS)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 Protests intensify across Israel government votes to limit some Supreme Court powers (NEW YORK TIMES)

📌 The U.S. is weighing a potential deal with China on fentanyl – in order to do so, Beijing is demanding the U.S. lift restrictions on a police institute said to have facilitated human-rights abuses (WALL STREET JOURNAL)

📌 A Swedish court on Monday fined climate activist Greta Thunberg for disobeying police during an environmental protest at an oil facility last month (AP)

💵 BUSINESS & TECH

📌 TikTok takes on Spotify, Apple Music as it expands into music streaming (CNBC)

📌Twitter officially renamed “X” (VERGE)

📌 Aritzia made employees rate each other's appearances, discriminated against Black salespeople, and fostered a culture of fear, some ex-staffers say (BUSINESS INSIDER)

📌 Schools sue social-media platforms over alleged harms to students (WALL STREET JOURNAL)

🎥 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 So long, Montecito: Meghan and Harry are considering moving to Malibu (YAHOO! ENTERTAINMENT)

📌 Yes, parents are hiring $4,000 sorority consultants to help their daughters dress and impress during recruitment (WALL STREET JOURNAL)

📌 At 16, American teen Casey Phair becomes youngest player to make World Cup debut (YAHOO! SPORTS)

📌 Another lawsuit filed against Northwestern University by former QB in growing football hazing scandal (ESPN)

Have you joined Mo News Premium yet? It includes more interviews, behind-the-scenes content and your news questions answered!

Sign up now for access to our members-only podcast and private Instagram account, and to support independent journalism!

Join Now

🗓 ON THIS DAY: JULY 25

1814: British troops stop the invasion of Canada by US forces in the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, near Niagara Falls. The US made three failed attempts to invade Canada during the War of 1812.

1965: At the Newport (Rhode Island) Folk Festival, Bob Dylan replaces his acoustic guitar with an electric one. The move prompted booing—even as he performed “Like A Rolling Stone”— as the crowd was unprepared for the singer’s new artistic direction.
1980: It’s in the Hole! ’Caddyshack’ premiered in theaters.
2000: A Concorde supersonic commercial airplane — Air France flight 4590 — crashed outside Paris, killing all 109 people on board and four others on the ground. All Concorde operations three years later.

Did you enjoy the Mo Newsletter?
Subscribe now!