What's happening? Immigrants are massing on America's southern border.
Why? President Joe Biden is rolling back Title 42. The pandemic-era rule, which made it easier to expel immigrants encountered at the border, expires at midnight on May 11.
What are they saying? "We are not prepared," Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I., Ariz.) said on Sunday. "The Biden administration had two years to prepare for this and did not do so, and [Arizona] is going to bear the brunt, and migrants will be in crisis."
"We anticipate that we may experience increased levels of arrivals at our southern border in the coming weeks," Biden's homeland security chief, Alejandro Mayorkas, wrote in a staff-wide memo last month. "This will strain our workforce, our communities, and our entire system."
What is Biden doing about it? The president is attending a pair of fundraisers in Manhattan on Wednesday evening, just as Title 42 is set to expire. He is reportedly hoping to raise as much as $3 million for his reelection campaign.
Seriously? Yes.
Who are hosting the fundraisers? The first fundraiser is being hosted by former Blackstone executive Hamilton "Tony" James at the Fifth Avenue duplex he purchased for $25 million in 2011. Tickets start at $25,000 a head.
The multi-billionaire private equity tycoon raised $2 million for Biden's presidential campaign in 2020. Earlier this year, Biden rewarded the financier with a coveted spot on the President's Intelligence Advisory Board. James also raised millions of dollars for former president Barack Obama, who won reelection in 2012 by attacking private equity firms.
Greek shipping magnate George Logothetis will host the second fundraiser at his $12.5 million mansion on the Upper East Side. He raised money for Obama as well and was rewarded with an invite to the White House state dinner for then-Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2015.
Who else is going? Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is expected to tag along.
What about Kamala? No way. Biden's team is still trying (and failing) to boost her abysmal approval ratings.
She's not very likable, is she? No, she is not.