W. Virginia, South Dakota, Arkansas Join ICE in Crackdown plus House Probe Deepens on AutoPen

Summary

Summary of "W. Virginia, South Dakota, Arkansas Join ICE in Crackdown plus House Probe Deepens on AutoPen"
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Release Date: August 14, 2025

Hosted by Ben Ferguson

---

Introduction

In this episode of The 47 Morning Update, host Ben Ferguson delves into two major stories shaping the political and social landscape of America. The first focuses on the collaboration between three states and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to intensify immigration enforcement. The second examines the ongoing House Oversight Committee investigation into former President Joe Biden's cognitive abilities and the controversial use of the auto pen, featuring insights from political commentator Newt Gingrich.

---

1. Expanded ICE Enforcement in West Virginia, South Dakota, and Arkansas

Overview: Ben Ferguson begins by highlighting a significant development in immigration enforcement, where three states—West Virginia, South Dakota, and Arkansas—have entered into new agreements with ICE to bolster immigration crackdown efforts. These agreements represent a strategic move to enhance law enforcement partnerships at the state level, especially during Congress's traditional August recess.

Key Points:

• West Virginia's Agreement:

  • Governor Patrick Morsay announced a comprehensive ICE collaboration under Section 287G of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
  • Collaboration Includes: West Virginia State Police, Corrections and Rehabilitation Division, and the National Guard.
  • Authority Granted: Officers can interrogate suspected undocumented immigrants, process immigration violations, conduct warrantless arrests for flight risks, serve immigration warrants, collect evidence, and issue immigration detainers.
  • Implication: Undocumented immigrants face heightened scrutiny and potential removal from West Virginia.

• South Dakota's Operation Prairie Thunder:

  • Governor [Name Unspecified] initiated "Operation Prairie Thunder," a public safety initiative.
  • Support Provided By: South Dakota Highway Patrol and the National Guard.
  • Roles: Arrest support, processing administrative tasks, and transportation of detainees approved by ICE.
  • Outcome: Enhanced capability to identify and deport undocumented individuals within the state.

• Arkansas's Defense Against Criminal Illegals Act:

  • Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former White House press secretary, signed the act to increase penalties for undocumented immigrants convicted of violent crimes.
  • Authority Granted: Sheriffs can apply for the 287G authority to serve immigration warrants on those already in custody.
  • Additional Measures: Arkansas State Police empowered to stop individuals in public, inquire about immigration status, and arrest suspected undocumented immigrants.
  • Training Requirements: Mandatory 40-hour online courses covering immigration law, civil rights, cross-cultural issues, and responsible enforcement practices.

ICE's 287G Program:

• Definition: A program that allows state and local law enforcement officers, after receiving training from ICE, to perform specific immigration enforcement duties under federal supervision.
• Expansion: As of August 13, ICE has executed 897 agreements across 40 states, marking a substantial increase from approximately 135 to over 700 agreements in early 2025.
• Administration's Strategy: Emphasizes state-led initiatives without direct White House intervention, portraying these actions as grassroots efforts to enhance public safety.

Notable Quote: Ben Ferguson explains the administration's strategic silence on the agreements:

"The President clearly is playing chess on the issue. In fact, the White House has had no public statement or reaction regarding these specific agreements with West Virginia, South Dakota and Arkansas, mainly because they want this to be clearly seen as state-led, that these governors are opting in."
[04:30]

Implications:

• Political Dynamics: The move showcases the Trump administration's focus on state partnerships to advance immigration enforcement without centralized political debate.
• Civil Rights Concerns: While Democrats criticize the agreements as potential risks to civil rights and accusations of racial profiling, Ferguson contends that these programs are solely focused on law enforcement without inherent biases.

---

2. House Oversight Committee's Probe into Biden's Cognitive Decline and Auto Pen Usage

Overview: Despite Congress being on its August recess, the House Oversight Committee continues its investigation into former President Joe Biden's cognitive health and the legitimacy of his administration's decisions, particularly focusing on the use of the auto pen—a mechanism allowing the president to sign bills without physically doing so.

Key Points:

• Investigation Focus:

  • Alleged cover-up of Biden's cognitive decline during his presidency.
  • Examination of whether Biden was mentally competent to make executive decisions.
  • Scrutiny of the auto pen's usage and its implications on the legitimacy of signed legislation.

• Committee Leadership:

  • Chairman James Comer leads the investigation, emphasizing the need to uncover the truth behind Biden's decision-making abilities and the authenticity of his presidential actions.

• Historical Context and Comparisons:

  • Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, discusses the significance of the auto pen in comparison to its traditional use.
  • Mark Levin, political commentator, engages with Gingrich on the potential abuses and procedural issues related to the auto pen.

Notable Quotes:

1. Newt Gingrich on the Auto Pen and Biden's Competence:

   "I don't think any reasonable person thinks that after some point in 2023, Joe Biden clearly was incompetent as defined by the 25th amendment... These are people who willfully cheated the American people and allowed a phony presidency in which I'm guessing, Dr. Jill was the most important. She became, in effect, the acting president, United States."
   [13:00]

2. Mark Levin on the Auto Pen's Significance:

   "Is it really asking a president too much to sign the damn bills or to be present when the bills are signed? I mean, if he's having difficulty doing that, doesn't that kind of prove the point?"
   [12:46]

Discussion Highlights:

• Auto Pen Abuse Concerns: Gingrich asserts that improper use of the auto pen undermines the rule of law and the constitutional requirements for presidential signatory actions.

• Historical Respect for the Signature Process: Levin references the meticulous attention the Founding Fathers placed on the president's role in signing legislation, emphasizing that deviations from this protocol raise red flags about the administration's integrity.

• Potential Constitutional Violations: The dialogue suggests that Biden's reliance on the auto pen may reflect a deeper issue of executive overreach and possible neglect of presidential duties, warranting further legislative scrutiny.

Implications:

• Legislative Reforms: Gingrich advocates for Congress and President Trump to establish stricter rules governing the signing of bills to prevent future abuses of executive authority.

• Constitutional Accountability: The investigation seeks to hold former administration officials accountable for any misconduct related to the handling of presidential duties and the transparency of executive actions.

---

Conclusion

Ben Ferguson's episode of The 47 Morning Update provides listeners with an in-depth analysis of significant developments in immigration enforcement and the political ramifications of former President Biden's supposed cognitive decline. By highlighting the strategic state partnerships with ICE and delving into the contentious use of the auto pen, Ferguson underscores the ongoing power struggles and legislative battles that continue to shape the nation's policy and governance.

Listeners are encouraged to stay informed and ahead of the news by subscribing to The 47 Morning Update for daily insights and exclusive commentary on the issues that matter most.

---

End of Summary

Transcript

[iHeart Podcast]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Ben Ferguson]

We're gonna fight crime. That's a good thing. Already they're saying he's a dictator. The place is going to hell and we've got to stop it. So instead of saying he's a dictator, they should say we're gonna join him and make Washington safe.

[Newt Gingrich]

But.

[Ben Ferguson]

They say he's a dictator and then they end up getting mugged.

You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.

Good Thursday morning. So nice to have you with us. 47 Morning Update. And we've got two very big stories for you this morning. First up, not one, not two, but now three states have signed a new agreement with ICE for expanded immigration enforcement operations. This starting with West Virginia's governor announcing this wide ranging ICE agreement enlisting police, corrections and the National Guard.

And what's interesting about all this is.

The President, the White House are being very quiet about it. I'm going to explain why. Also, while Congress is on its traditional August recess, it doesn't mean that important work is not being done in D.C.

In fact, the House Oversight Committee is still investigating the alleged cover up of former President Joe Biden's massive cognitive decline and trying to find the answer to the question who was actually running the country and what was their name and did anyone ever vote for them? Well, that is exactly what's happening in D.C. right now. And I'm going to give the latest on the investigation.

[Clay Travis]

But first, let me tell you about Crock Market Coffee. If you drink coffee like I do, I drink it every day. I want a great cup of coffee. Well, my good friends Clay Travis and Buck Sexton decide to start a company that only did small batch premium coffee. Small batch roasted coffee is just another level of incredible, amazing smooth coffee that if you've never tried it before, you've got to do it because every cup is premium. It's not average, it's not even good. It's amazing coffee. Crockett Coffee, they do this in small batches and there's no need to give your money to the woke liberal coffee brands that are out there because my.

[Ben Ferguson]

Good friends, that's part of the reason.

[Clay Travis]

Why they started this company. They are sick and tired of giving their money to companies that hate our values. And they said, hey, we can do this and do it better than anybody else. Now at Crockett Coffee, you can choose between fresh ground or whole bean or K cups. You choose. And if you're interested in mushroom coffee and the positive benefits of come with enjoying that each day, Crockett Coffee is now producing that as well. They've got dark roasts, mild roast, a light roast, even a decaf version and a mushroom organic blend. You choose what you like and I'm going to save you money to try Crockett Coffee right now. You can go online to crockettcoffee.com use my name Ben. You're going to get 20% off your first order and then you're going to be hooked. That's crockettcoffee.com Use my name Ben as your promo code. 20% off. Something else I love love about Crockett Coffee is not just the amazing coffee you get, but a portion of your purchase will go to support Tunnel to Towers foundation because the good people at Crockett Coffee also pledge to never forget. So go to crockettcoffee.com use my name Ben, get 20 off your first order and get the best cup of coffee you've ever had each and every day.

[Ben Ferguson]

It's the 47 Morning Update and it starts right now.

Story number one, it is Democrats biggest.

Fear law and order returning state by and states now working with the Trump administration and ICE officials. Specifically, we now have three states that have signed a new agreement with ICE for, quote, expanded immigration enforcement operations. These three states include West Virginia, South Dakota and Arkansas, all signing the agreements with the Department of Homeland Security's US Immigration Customs Enforcement to specifically, they say, ramp up immigration enforcement within their jurisdictions. West Virginia was the first one. The governor there, Patrick Morsay, announced a robust collaboration under section 287G of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This agreement enlists the West Virginia State Police, Corrections and Rehabilitation Division and the National Guard to assist ICE in immigration enforcement. Translation, if you're an illegal immigrant, you don't want to be in West Virginia right now. Now, under this task force structure, officers can, quote, interrogate anyone suspected of being an undocumented immigrant. Number two, process immigration violations for individuals already arrested for other offenses three, conduct warrantless arrests if an individual is seen and suspected to be a flight risk pending a warrant four, serve immigration warrants, administer oaths, collect fingerprints and gather evidence and five, issue immigration detainers and hold individuals in correctional facilities before transferring them to ICE cussy under federal supervision. You look at what has happened in South Dakota. The governor there, as part of his, quote, operation Prairie Thunder, a public safety initiative, will now have the South Dakota Highway Patrol support ICE with arrests, announcing it today. The National Guard assists with the processing and administrative tasks as well. And the Department of Corrections will help transport Detainees identify undocumented individuals within state.

Prisons and parole them into ICE custody.

You then move to Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former White House press secretary under Donald Trump, signing the Defense Against Criminal Illegals act, which definitively increases penalties for undocumented immigrants convicted of violent crimes. Again saying to illegal immigrants, you don't want to be in Arkansas. It also with this new agreement, allows sheriffs to apply for the 287 authority to serve immigration warrants on those already in custody. And Sarah Huckabee center is announcing this enables the Arkansas State Police to stop individuals in public, inquire about immigration status and potentially arrest suspected undocumented immigrants. Now, if you think they're doing this light hearted, you're wrong. For example, in Arkansas, there is training required, a 40 hour online course covering scope, immigration law, civil rights, cross cultural issues, as well as liability, doing this in a responsible way. Now, you may be asking, what is ICE 287G program? Well, let me explain to you the broader context of how this is being used by the Trump administration. The program enables state and local officers after ICE provided training to carry out certain immigration enforcement duties under ICE supervision. That is why there's a collaboration here and why they are having to sign on to the program. Now, as of August 13, ICE has executed 897 agreements across 40 states, including various models such as jail enforcement, warrant service and task force operations. The Trump administration has significantly accelerated these partnerships, growing from around 135 to over 700 agreements in early 2025 alone. Of course, the left is going insane warning that this surge is a risk to quote, civil rights Community Trust and invites, they say racial profiling, even though none of these programs have anything to do with that. Now, you also may be asking yourself, why am I not quoting the president right now when I'm telling you about this initiative? Well, the president clearly is playing chess on the issue. In fact, the White House has had no public statement or reaction regarding these specific agreements with West Virginia, South Dakota and Arkansas, mainly because they want this to be clearly seen as state led, that these governors are opting in. And that is exactly why the administration is being so successful in getting this done with so many different agreements. Because they're not grandstanding, they're just trying to fight crime. And it's clearly working.

Now, story number two, it is the traditional August recess. It's happening right now in Washington, D.C. congress is back in their districts, in theory tending to business of listening to the constituents. That doesn't mean there isn't Anything going on with the House auto pin probe? In fact, it's uncovering a lot about the Biden White House even as Congress is on their traditional recess. The House Oversight Committee, I've been told today, is still investigating the alleged cover up of former President Joe Biden's decline. The former president insisting he was responsible for, quote, all decisions that came out of the White House during his time in office. And former staff members claim they saw no obvious signs of a cognitive decline. Well, the House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer discussing the committee's investigation to whether the Biden administration covered up the cognitive deterioration of the former president.

Now, there's also been the question of precedent. What is the auto pin like in the past? And can you compare how other government officials use the auto pin in contrast to how it was being used when Joe Biden was in office? Clearly, that would help tremendously in the investigation. Well, former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich sat down with my good friend Mark Levin, and he was asked about the auto pen when he was a Speaker of the House signing legislation and how big of a deal it was to use the auto pin. How seriously was the auto pin taken and how much was it also protected from abuse? I want you to hear what Newt Gingrich had to say to Levin.

[Mark Levin]

Luke Gingrich, question. When you were speaker of the House, I bet you took this signature requirement very seriously. I bet you took the requirement that a president actually be present when a bill is signed very, very seriously. I know there's a lot of formalities to the fact when certain bills are brought, they're brought in a special way. They're handed to somebody specifically. There's a whole process set up. Did you ever think you'd see the day where we're raising serious questions about a former president, whether he signed these bills or if he was present when the bills were signed?

[Newt Gingrich]

Well, put it that way, sure. Look, these people are corrupt, irresponsible and happy to exploit the nation for their own gain. So given those kind of people, who knows what they might do? I think it does raise, as you have brilliantly done in this show today, it raises a very big question about whether or not these laws are, in fact, laws. Remember, the founding fathers understood that you had to have a pretty strict series of rules or the whole system breaks down into a kind of corruption which undermines the rule of law. The rule of law requires rules. And one of those rules is that the president signs bills. Now he can direct an auto pen for things that are, you know, Ceremonial Christmas cards, for example. But the president ought to be signing these things. And when you learn that Biden was signing thousands of commutations in the last few days of his administration, you know, he didn't have a clue what was going on. You know, we have no idea what the deals were, why those people were given commutations, or if in fact they were legal. So I do think there's a profound question here, and probably the Congress and President Trump should really write some more restrictive rules about what it takes to get a bill to actually be a law.

[Mark Levin]

It's interesting, Newt Gingrich, when I went back and looked at Madison's notes and looked at some of the other essays and comments on that, they spent a lot of time on this. They spent a lot of time on this signature issue. They remembered the statute of frauds from the 1600s. It was very important to them. And back then, it was, this guy's the president. You know, we didn't have this massive bureaucracy. He's going to sign these laws. We in Congress, we're going to spend our time doing all this and send it to him. We're concerned that somebody might hijack it, somebody might sign it. And there's also this presentment requirement that he needs to be present. I mean, let me ask you, is it really asking a president too much to sign the damn bills or to be present when the bills are signed? I mean, if he's having difficulty doing that, doesn't that kind of prove the point?

[Newt Gingrich]

Well, look, I don't think any reasonable person thinks that after some point in 2023, Joe Biden clearly was incompetent as defined by the 25th amendment. As you walked us through, I mean, when you read the amendment and you read the discussion around the amendment, it's very clear Biden clearly was incompetent. Sometime, I can't say any given date, but sometime in 23, it should have been obvious to every person who was dealing with him that he was no longer competent to be president. And I agree with you. Every one of these Cabinet officers and Vice President Harris failed their constitutional duty. And they should, frankly, be stuck with that, that these are people who willfully cheated the American people and allowed a phony presidency in Which I'm guessing, Dr. Jill was the most important. She became, in effect, the acting president, United States.

[Ben Ferguson]

You listen to the claim there by Newt Gingrich that he says Joe Biden effectively became the de facto President of the United States of America. She was not elected by anyone, which goes back to exactly why this investigation is happening and why the House Oversight Committee is still investigating the alleged cover up of former President Joe Biden's decline even while much of Congress is out of town.

Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. And for more in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast and we will see you back here tomorrow.

[iHeart Podcast]

This is an iHeart podcast.