Ezra Levant outlines Rebel News’ 2024 editorial focus, targeting Canada’s illegal Emergencies Act use against protesters, including the "Coots" trials and $13K fine for his book The Libranos. He critiques Trudeau’s open-border policies, exposing fraudulent entries exceeding 1M annually and links to organized crime. Censorship bills like C-11 and C-18 aim to silence dissent, while Texas reporters Alexa Lavoie and Lincoln Jay investigate migrant crossings near Eagle Pass, documenting smuggling and potential federal clashes. The episode warns of manipulated narratives and security risks, suggesting border chaos could spread northward if unchecked. [Automatically generated summary]
Number one, I'm going to give you our strategic editorial plan for 2024, the kind of stories you'll expect to see from us over the next year.
And we'll go live to Texas, where my friends Lincoln Jay and Alexa Lavois are covering the open border showdown.
Joe Biden is opening the border.
The governor of Texas is trying to close it.
We'll get the latest from our friends in the field.
But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.
That's what we call the video version of the podcast.
Just go to rebelnewsplus.com, click subscribe.
It's eight bucks a month.
It's not a lot of money to you, but boy, that's a lot of money to us because it adds up.
And if enough people subscribe for eight bucks a month, well, we can make our payroll because you know, we don't take a dime from Trudeau.
All right, here's today's show.
Tonight, what's the editorial plan for Rebel News in 2024?
It's January 31st, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.
Well, as a blessing and a curse, We live in an era of lots of news, too much news, maybe.
And 2024 is shaping up to be a very interesting year.
First of all, there are echoes from the trucker convoy that are reverberating around.
I mean, look at the enormous court case last week, the federal court describing the Invocation of the Emergencies Act as illegal, unintelligible, unconstitutional, unreasonable.
Just a stunning rebuke of the government, Justin Trudeau, and former Justice Minister David LeMetti in particular.
That's incredible.
And now you're going to see a lot of lawsuits starting by people who were illegally denied access to their bank account.
Those are hundreds of people right there.
You're also going to finally see the trial of various men arrested in Coots at the border blockade there.
As you know, Rebel News is representing a number of Coots protesters who are charged, the so-called Coots 3 in particular.
There's also the Couts 4 who are charged with much more serious crimes, including conspiracy to commit murder.
Rebel News is not crowdfunding their defense, but we will report on them nonetheless, and their trial is coming this spring.
I think it's going to be an interesting change in that those who were the hunters will become the hunted and vice versa.
I refer again to David LeMetti, who thought he would just delete his records by deleting his Twitter account as he slinks off to the private sector.
No, we sued him, and it looks like we're going to win that one.
Of course, one of the most important things emanating from the Trucker Convoy is the trial of Tamara Leach herself.
And I'm very proud that the Democracy Fund is crowdfunding her legal assistance.
And Rebel News published her autobiography.
So there's a lot of things happening from the Trucker Convoy still to this day.
We're involved with a lot of things as journalists, but as activists too.
Let me switch gears to what I think is another series of news items we're going to be covering in 2024.
You might recall about a year or so ago, I talked about the imminent passage of a censorship bill called C-11 and how that was the gateway for other censorship bills, C-18, the so-called Online Harms Act, C-36, and of course the QCJO journalism license.
That's five things that Trudeau is putting forward to censor, regulate, and restrict news coverage.
Some of them are truly shocking.
Just a reminder, he's Stephen Gilbo, when he was Heritage Minister, describing that one of the purposes of these bills, including the Online Harms Act, which they say they will reintroduce, is to stop criticism of politicians.
He really said that.
Take a look.
We've seen too many examples of public officials retreating from public service due to the hateful online content targeted towards themselves or even their families.
And one of the proposed solutions to criticizing politicians is what he calls the nuclear option, just outright deleting a website in the whole country.
That's what they do in North Korea.
That's what he's talking about, the nuclear option.
Take a look.
Envision having blocking orders.
I mean, that's maybe.
It's not, you know, it would likely be a last resolve nuclear bomb in a toolbox of mechanism for regulation.
That's never been retracted or refuted or withdrawn.
That is their plan, and they are moving forward with it.
Rebel News is in litigation, especially on the journalism license file.
I'll tell you more about that another day.
Of course, my own book, The Libranos, which is now, what, five years ago I published it.
It's still in litigation.
The book, or rather, the book's cover and title have been deemed illegal as an ad, and I've had to pay a $13,000 fine.
We're going to appeal that.
I'm a little bit worried about our chances on that, though.
And you may recall that a week or so ago, I was in the United Kingdom covering the case of Tommy Robinson, who in an astonishing perversion of justice, some left-wing activists said, cops, he makes me tense.
Can you ban him from the city of London?
Foreign Quarrels in Canada00:03:40
And they did.
It's an extraordinary case.
And I think it's important that Rebel News cover it because the British press is atrocious.
So that's a bundle of issues called censorship and regulation of free thought.
We're going to cover that.
There's another issue that I think is emerging as perhaps the key issue in 2024.
And we've been talking about it for years.
I've been talking about it for more than a decade.
It's namely immigration.
Until about five minutes ago, if you even mentioned immigration, you were immediately denounced as racist, even though polls consistently showed Canadians thought immigration numbers were too high.
But these days, it seems like you can actually carefully talk about it again.
The fancy people have given us permission by talking about themselves.
The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, even the Liberal Party says they're going to dial back those numbers.
I'll believe it when I see it.
In fact, they just tripled the numbers.
As you know, we now have more than 1 million people migrating to Canada every year.
We have an astonishing, I think the numbers are around a million foreign students registered at our universities and colleges.
No wonder it's hard for Canadians to get into school.
There's a million foreigners ahead of them in line.
And of course, a lot of those are fraudulent.
They're sort of diploma mills.
It's really just a backdoor for people to get in this country.
That's true, though.
That, it seems, you can talk about, and we will be part of that discussion.
It's one of the reasons why we sent two reporters, Alexa Lavois and Lincoln Jay, down to Texas this week, because just like in Canada, they're following the full World Economic Forum open borders approach there too.
The difference is in the United States, state governors, like the governor of Texas, has decided to defend his border.
There's a related issue with immigration, and that's bringing foreign quarrels to Canada.
The most obvious for the last three or four months has been the extremist pro-Hamas hate marches throughout Canada and actual anti-Semitic crimes, assaults, vandalisms, shootings, and even a fire bombing.
That shootout in Edmonton, which was clearly terrorist-motivated.
The shooter himself recorded a video saying he was doing it for Gaza genocide.
The media is doing their best to tamp these down.
I don't know if you recall, but there have been street riots, including Eritreans battling with clubs and sticks.
Of course, there's other factors on not necessarily the streets of Canada, but elsewhere.
Chinese espionage by the Chinese Communist Party and not just espionage, but influence operations, including in the heart of the Liberal government, are very live.
I think that Trudeau gets into a mess with every one of these.
He's too chummy with the Iranian dictators.
I don't know why that is.
I think most Persians in Canada are hostile to the Ayatollahs, not Trudeau.
He's their best friend.
And then, of course, there's the Tamil Tigers.
There's so many things that Justin Trudeau contorts Canadian policy.
And in every case, it's answered by the same explanation.
He's appealing to their diaspora politics here in Canada.
That's not how it should be in Canada.
It's not how it was in Canada.
But that's Trudeau's recipe for success.
With unlimited immigration from places that are culturally very different from Canada comes crime.
Of course, some crime is homegrown, but there are some crimes that are very specifically foreign in nature.
Automobile crime, high-end autos just stolen, put on a ship, and sent to Africa or the Middle East.
Home invasion crimes, too.
Look at this astonishing video from a shopping center in Oshawa.
I don't recall seeing this sort of thing in Canada until very recently.
Why Are Men Playing With Trudeau?00:02:19
you take a look.
That's an acute violent crime, but there's another sort of slow burn crime scene that is now just accepted as normal throughout Canada.
I'm talking about what Premier Danielle Smith calls gang-run drug camps.
That's what she calls these homeless camps.
I mean, not just in big cities like Vancouver and Toronto, but even in smaller centers like Kelowna.
It's just astonishing.
Another file that Rebel News has almost to ourselves is the transgender madness.
Did you see David Menzies' latest?
Just absolute craziness.
Some girls' volleyball where five of the players were trans and the actual girls weren't even really allowed to play.
Here's a clip of it.
If you missed it, you really should check it out.
How are you?
I'm just over here.
Who are you, ma'am?
You're not allowed over here.
Why?
Hey, don't touch me.
You touched me.
You ran into me.
You ran into me.
We got it on camera, ma'am.
All secure.
Okay.
Why are you allowing men to play with biological females?
Sir, why are you taking away a spot from a real woman?
Look at this, folks.
Hey, excuse me.
Don't touch me, sir.
Don't touch me.
Don't touch me.
What's wrong with you?
Why are men playing with Trudeau?
Why are men playing with women?
Are you a misogynist?
Can you please leave?
Why are you aiding and abetting the attack on women's sports?
Do you think it's right that a biological man should play against women?
So, folks, look at this.
Just like in Fergus, there are people aiding and abetting these gender-bending grifters.
I mean, and some of them are women, if you can imagine this.
And again, they bump into us and say that we're assaulting them.
And I just find this an absolutely egregious state of affairs.
The game was spectacular for all the wrong reasons.
Namely, the male players excelled, as you would expect, in serving and spiking.
You know, it's so weird, this whole story.
And David has his quirky sense of humor and his style.
So he's a fit for the weird story.
I say that in a nice way.
Donald Trump's Border Strategy00:15:38
But why is it almost only David Menzies?
I mean, anyone who's involved in women's sports sees this phenomenon.
Anyone who goes into bathrooms now sees the all-gender, transgender, third-gender bathrooms.
When you fill out any form, you'll have male, female, or other, or neither, or won't say.
You see the, they, them, g jour.
Why is it almost only David Menzies who's covering it in this country?
There's one or two others, but really, like on the sports file, everyone knows about it.
Anyone who has a kid in sports sees it with their eyes.
Why aren't other journalists reporting on it?
That's one of the files we'll be following in 2024.
Another one, and it may be the biggest one of all, and it touches on some of the issues I've mentioned so far, is the U.S. election.
I mentioned that when I was in Davos for the World Economic Forum, the two names that seemed to be on everyone's lips were, in second place, Elon Musk, and in first place, Donald Trump.
And it's almost like all the European elites have decided they will save America from itself if they have to.
And Elon Musk is one of the things in their way because he supports a free Twitter and free speech.
And of course, censorship of misinformation was going to be their big plan to get Trump this time around.
That is going to be an election for all the marbles.
I mean, everything is at hand, from America's economy to America's border to wars and rumors of wars.
I believe Donald Trump was right when he said these wars would not have happened on his watch.
And if he were president again, they would be over in 24 hours.
I truly believe that.
And I actually think liberals and Democrats believe that too.
Do you just for a second, do you doubt that if Donald Trump were president, that some of this chaos around the world would have, you don't have to like Donald Trump to say no.
Those other countries, other leaders would be too afraid of him.
Iran would be too afraid of him.
And if they tried anything, well, remember, Donald Trump took out Suleimani, who was the very, very, like the number two guy in Iran that was Trump sending a message to Iran.
Don't you try things.
If Trump were president right now, what he would be doing to Iran or Hezbollah or Hamas, he actually wouldn't even have to do it.
He would just say he was going to do it and those entities would fall into line.
Do you doubt that?
You know it's true.
In fact, those are the very characteristics that liberals say they hate about Trump when it's directed at them.
His insults, his brash talk, his impulsiveness, his aggression.
But those are all the things that help keep the peace during his tenure as president, don't you think?
So those are eight ideas that I believe are going to be the big focus of rebel news.
Of course, the thing is, when it comes to predicting the news, you can't predict it.
That's why it's called news.
And we never know what's going to happen that we don't know.
But I think that Rebel News, I mean, we're based in Canada.
Our heart is in Canada.
It's where almost all our staff are.
But we also do have viewers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and of course, in Australia, where we have a great team with Avi Yamini as our chief correspondent.
But like I say, you will find similar themes.
All the issues I mentioned, from transgender insanity to censorship to open borders immigration, it's in all the other countries I've just listed.
And telling the other side of the story is fascinating.
Canadians are interested from time to time in stories around the world.
And I think citizen journalism in the field where possible is the way.
And every once in a while, stopping to make a difference by getting involved with a campaign, maybe crowdfunding a lawyer or a billboard ad.
And I have learned one thing in our almost nine years.
We're coming up on our nine-year anniversary.
Did you know that?
Just two weeks or, yeah, two weeks' time, we'll be nine years old at Rebel News.
One thing I've learned is that I know in my bones that we can be right even when the entire world tells us we're wrong.
That's something I learned during the lockdowns and the pandemic when we often stood alone with the people.
As for my own plans for 2024, I'm going to be in the studio for some of it, but I like being in the field.
I like going out to cover stories as I do, including some of the court cases I mentioned.
I like going to Rebel News events.
I do also have duties as the president of Rebel News.
I have to run things too.
It'll be pulling me in all directions as always.
For example, we'll be taking a week at the Rebel News Cruise.
If you haven't signed up, there's still time.
Go to RebelNewsCruise.com.
So there's a lot of stuff to do.
There won't be any rest, but I think we're making a difference.
I hope you think so too.
Well, stay with us.
After the break, we'll go to Texas, where Alexa Lavoie and Lincoln Jay are on the scene for the open borders crisis down there.
Rebel News covers a lot of things in Canada, but sometimes we cover news around the world, partly because it's interesting, but mainly because there's a theme that links that coverage to here back home.
For example, we're interested in freedom of speech around the world.
We're interested in multiculturalism and the lack of integration of certain migrants.
And we're also interested in the threat of open borders.
We've been covering that at Wroxham Road, where tens of thousands of people from the United States who are not American citizens, but who are foreigners, often ordered deported from America, has simply walked across into Quebec.
Well, now there is a massive gaping hole in the U.S. border between Texas and Mexico, and literally millions, not even hundreds of thousands, but millions of people just walk across.
Many of them are from Mexico and other Latin American countries who seek economic benefit, but many of them are not.
They just know it's an entryway into the country.
Here's a terrifying video I saw on Twitter the other day.
Someone who was not from Latin America, someone who appeared to be Middle Eastern, who was asked who he was and said, oh, you'll find out who I am.
Take a look at this.
By the way, if you are smart enough, you would know who I am.
But you are really not smart enough to know who I am.
But soon you're going to know who I am.
Very easy.
Very easy.
The entitlement.
The entitlement.
No, believe me, I'm much better than that.
The entitlement, guys.
My point is lots of people who want to get into the United States for nefarious purposes are coming through those open borders.
Some of it may be organized crime.
Much of it may, God forbid, be terrorism.
So we have sent two investigative reporters down to Eagle Pass, Texas, and they join me now via Skype live from what looks like the border, Alex Lavoisi and Lincoln J. How are you guys?
It looks like you found yourself a border fence.
And if I see that right, that looks like a kind of military vehicle.
Could you tell me where you are, how you got there, and how long you're going to be there, and what your plans are.
I'd like to talk about that with you guys to see what kind of coverage we can expect from you over the next few days.
We arrived last night from San Antonio.
We drove for about two hours and a half.
It was quiet something to drive.
We didn't expect to see as much there, like just like showing in front of your car, a little bit dangerous, but we are here.
Now we are at the Mexican border.
Behind us is Quexas Nacional.
It's the Texas National Guard.
So that's not an American military vehicle or a federal border patrol.
You're saying that is part of the Texas National Guard.
Am I hearing you correctly?
Yes.
Yes, that's the Texas National Guard behind us.
They speak pretty openly to us and identified us because we weren't sure who exactly they were.
We wanted to be specific, and it is the Texas National Guard there.
And pretty open.
I don't know if you'd get that same kind of open communication in Canada with that type of personnel.
But yes, it's Texas National Guard behind us.
There's you can see razor wire all along the border fence behind us.
So we're going to see what lies ahead in the next couple of days.
There is the river, the Rio Grande River, that are splitting the Mexican side and the Texas side.
And behind the fence, there is a park.
And over the river, like along the river, there is razor wire that's been installed by the Texas government.
And it's since then, legal battle between Greg Abbott and the Biden administration started.
Right, because, of course, borders are traditionally a federal responsibility.
That's certainly how they are here in Canada.
And traditionally, that's how it is in the United States.
Everyone knows that Donald Trump, one of his signature promises that I think is fair to say was not kept, was building the border wall.
But Joe Biden isn't even pretending.
And I think what's incredible is a letter that the Texas governor sent to Joe Biden where he basically says, This is a crisis.
You're not doing your job.
The Texas Constitution allows us to protect our state.
That supersedes any federal law.
And he basically said we are going to defend our borders because the federal government is failing or refusing to do so.
And in the last week, since he had that letter, an enormous number of other U.S. states have said we're with Texas.
And they've actually, if I understand correctly, sent paramilitary or military or even police vehicles to help the wall.
If Joe Biden federalizes our National Guard, that would be the biggest political blunder that it could make.
And that's why I think he will not do it.
That said, of course, I am prepared in the event that they do make such a blunder to make sure that Texas will be able to continue to secure our border.
Can you envision a scenario in which you would put armed state employees on the border instead of the National Guard of Texas?
We do have other armed state employees on the border as we speak right this minute.
And that's the Texas Department of Public Safety, as well as other law enforcement officers, as well as National Guard from other states.
And you can be assured there will be more National Guard from other states and more law enforcement officers within the state of Texas and other states.
And Tucker, I just signed a law, a new law in the state of Texas that will go into effect on March the 5th that authorizes any law enforcement officer in the state of Texas to be able to arrest anybody coming across the border illegally.
Tell me, have you seen any other?
You mentioned that's a Texas National Guard vehicle behind you.
Have you seen any Floridians or any other states that said we stand with Texas and we're actually going to send help?
Have you detected any of that?
We haven't seen any out-of-state personnel yet.
The only other personnel that we've seen that we've been able to identify other than the Texas National Guard that's behind us is a state trooper, so a Texas state trooper.
But like I said, we literally just got here this morning, and it seems that the area that we're in right now, it's Shelby Park.
So this is like the notorious area for the illegal migrants to cross, one of the busiest sections along the southern border.
But now it seems that this area has become a little bit hot.
There's a lot of media, a lot of personnel, Texas National Guard.
So this area, in a sense, is very highly watched now.
So we're hearing different things like people are crossing down more towards down that way, different parts where they're still crossing.
And we're seeing some footage online of people still making the cross.
It seems that this area behind us has been kind of shut down.
The park is shut down.
But this area was extremely busy.
In December, in one night alone or in one day, they had reportedly approximately 10,000 illegal migrants cross.
So that just shows you the scale of the amount of people.
It seems like the word got out and people are flooding through.
You know, I know that.
Biden doesn't care about that.
He likes the stress on Texas, which is a Republican-led state.
Demographically, he likes that.
But Texas has done something very strategic.
They have flown and bused many of these migrants to Democrat-run places like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, places that have boasted about being, quote, sanctuary cities.
For example, Philadelphia, here's a clip of their mayor with some happy dance when they declared Philadelphia a sanctuary city.
Take a look at this goofiness.
A sanctuary city.
Well, that clip shows someone who knows he's just making a PR statement, but he never thought in a million years he would have to pony up.
And I think the brilliant strategy of Texas was to take a fraction of the problem.
Like you say, 10,000 people in one night.
That's normal for Texas, but that has stressed out New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, L.A., all these Democrat cities.
What's the public mood of Americans in Texas?
Put aside the migrants themselves for a moment.
Do they feel like America is being overrun?
In a way, it's like the end of the Roman Empire.
Barbarians just streaming across the border.
That's how it looks to me.
How do the locals feel about what's been going on and about Texas's attempt to fight back?
Well, I would say that most of the people agree that there is a problem that is getting out of it.
Some of them feel kind of not sad because some of them say that I can understand their struggle, but we struggle also here.
We have our own resources that is giving away.
So most of the people that we did talk to, they agree that there is a problem, that something needs to be done, but most of them, they don't know what needs to be done.
And a lot of them agree that under Donald Trump, the situation at the border was way better handled than under Biden administration.
Yeah, we have a video coming out where we spoke to people in San Antonio, which I guess is one of the bigger cities that's located close to the border here.
Like Alexa said earlier, it's about two and a half hour drive from here.
And in that city, it seemed like everybody that we spoke to clearly understood that there is a big problem going on at the border with people crossing.
And like Alexa said, some of them have sympathy.
Some of them just don't want any crossings.
And pretty much all of them realize that America itself has many, many issues right now and that they should probably be putting Americans first before illegal migrants that are crossing.
There's homeless people in San Antonio that we spoke to that they just don't understand why people coming here from other countries are getting essentially better treatment than they are.
Congress, get your act together and fix it.
This is a situation that's gone on for years and years and years.
We need to defend our borders against people who want to cause this harm.
Organizers and Smuggling Operations00:14:36
Need legal immigration, but illegal immigration kind of muddies the water.
We're gonna have to pay for it eventually.
I feel like what Ab is doing is the right thing in a sense.
Now, Let's say you speak English and you speak French, and I understand you speak Spanish as well.
I wonder if you'll have a chance to use that to talk to some of the migrants themselves.
Now, like I say, not all of them are from Latin America.
A terrifying trend is that people from Africa, from the Middle East, from China, see that there's this big, stupid, open border and they can't believe their luck.
And so they're flooding in.
I mean, it's really an international, it's like an airport, international arrivals, people from every place.
But I imagine that the bulk are still from Latin America.
Have you had a chance to encounter any of those migrants?
And if so, what kind of things do you think you would ask them in Español?
So, so far, since we arrived late last night, and that right now, as Lincoln was mentioning, this is a hot point.
So, there is no much crossing anymore.
So, we are going to drive and head the other side where Lincoln was talking about, because apparently it's where the migrants are crossing.
Of course, I'm going to try to engage in conversation with them.
First of all, I really want to know which country they are coming from, and also what is the main reason why they are coming into the U.S. Is it politically?
Is it economic?
Is it because they have family?
We want to know a little bit more about people who are crossing into the U.S. because people need to remember the people who are crossing here, some of them will probably end up at the Canadian border and they will cross illegally.
We will have the same problem that is coming up.
We know that we always have the same problem than the U.S., but a little bit further.
We are about five years behind the U.S.
So, if we are not reporting on this important story, but we will end up with this kind of story at our border.
Another question that pops into my mind is: what are these people going to do when they get here?
Because, like I said, Americans, Canadians, they're struggling enough to put a roof over their head, to pay rent, to pay for groceries.
How are these people going to come here and get work and basically pay for themselves to survive here?
So, it's very interesting, and we'll see what awaits us.
And it's really interesting also to learn about all the journey, their journey all the way up to this border.
Did they pay someone?
Did they cross the Darien Gap, the dangerous Darien Gap?
And what pushed them to come all the way here?
Is it because they know they will have a better life or maybe they will have like services, more accessible services?
I think there is a lot, lots to uncover here.
Can you guys keep an eye out for NGOs or other organizers?
And the reason I say that is to have tens of thousands, sometimes 10,000 in a single day of people coming to the border, they need a map, they need directions, they need instructions.
Where do you cross?
What supplies do you bring for the journey?
What do you say when you're accosted by immigration police?
Where do you go?
Like, it's not organic.
There are people organizing it.
And I remember a few years ago when our mission specialist, David the Menzoid Menzies, went down to what was called a Mexican caravan.
We saw that there were organizers, just there were trucks.
Like, for example, who's paying for the trucks?
Who's renting the trucks?
That's one of the things we observed when David went down for the caravan.
That's what they called it back then.
It would be extremely interesting.
It would be interesting, all these things you're talking about.
Talking to locals, talking to the National Guard, talking to some feds if there are some, talking to the migrants themselves.
But I think perhaps the most important and most interesting single thing you could do is if you were able to spot who's the organizer.
And is it a coyote, as they sometimes call these smugglers?
Is it like organized crime?
Or is it organized politics?
Is it, for example, a George Soros-funded mass migration charity?
And I know that sounds astonishing, but that's one of his major goals is mass migration.
If you could spot people who are directing or instructing or helping, that would be, I think, perhaps the single most interesting thing you could report.
Remember also, like when I was talking with Michael Young, there was at the Darien Gap where thousands of migrants are crossing over.
There were UNICEF ten.
So we know that there is organization that are working.
They are providing maps.
They are providing other supplies to them to cross over.
So we will also maybe try to go to the Mexican side and have a look there and have an observation what we can find there.
Now, you look like you're all alone.
Like, if I didn't know it, I would say you're, you know, there's not a soul for miles around.
Maybe there's someone in the truck behind you.
Have you seen, like I hear a vehicle now in the background.
Have you seen other journalists?
Are there politicians?
Are there activists?
I mean, I understand there's a convoy coming.
I'm a little nervous about that because it seems a little bit like, you know, I mean, there's protesters and there's a lot of legitimate protests and legitimate opposition to this.
But I'm worried that, you know, these clever, tricky activists on the other side might try and, I don't know, be agents, provocateurs in some way.
It just felt like if you have a lot of grassroots guys coming to the border, I'm worried there might be sort of like that Ray Epps of January 6th.
Remember him, he was exhorting people to storm the Congress.
Here's a clip of Ray Epps.
Tomorrow, we need to go into the Capitol.
Into the Capitol.
No!
Peace moving!
Zed!
Zen!
Zed!
Zen!
Yeah, I'm just worried that there's a ton of good people who are appalled by this open border, but then there's also some tricksters there trying to tempt good Americans into some sort of bad behavior that could then change the narrative.
Because right now, the political narrative, I think, is devastating to Joe Biden.
I think most Americans, not just Republicans, but independents, say, what are you doing with this open border?
I think the regime wants to change the subject to some rogue act on the right or something.
Have you seen others?
Have you seen protesters?
Have you seen politicians?
What have you seen on the ground?
I know you've only been there since last night, so maybe this question is premature.
But have you seen other people?
We saw some Americans coming from other places that were just curious to see what's going on at the border.
We saw also like some journalists, a couple of them.
But so far, no politician and no activist and no protester.
But we keep an eye open to see what's going on in the next few days because we know that the convoy will arrive.
I know they are coming to Eagle Pass, but Eagle Pass is a really, pretty big city.
We were not expecting that.
So we don't know yet where they will stop.
And we will see.
Yeah, there's a little bit of action, I'd say, right where we are now.
I think this is like the known spot, Shelby Park, where a lot of the media is coming.
So like right now, I can see down that way, like there's some, looks like vlogger type people sort of recording with the phone.
We saw some mainstream media here.
Not sure exactly what outlet they were from, but this area that we're in right now, although it is relatively quiet, there's still a bit of movement with some people walking around, but not too many locals walking around here.
It seems like everyone that's here is here for a purpose, whether they're working as personnel or documenting what's happening.
How long are you guys going to be down there?
We are supposed to leave on Sunday, February 4th.
All right, so you got three, probably three full days, maybe four days down there.
I think that's enough time to get a feeling for things, maybe meet some local officials.
Last I saw in Eagle Pass itself on the streets, it was like a mass, you know, I won't even use the word homeless because they're migrants, but they are also houseless or homeless.
I don't know.
I think there's a lot of different angles.
And I think if you guys really, you know, get up early and get going, and who knows, maybe even at night.
I would imagine a lot of the people smuggling happens at night.
I think you guys should really ring out everything you can.
We've set up a special website.
Is it TexasBorderReports.com?
Is that the special website for all your stuff?
Yes, correct.
All right.
Well, I look forward to it.
You mentioned you have the drone.
You mentioned you've already done some videos.
I look forward to seeing those.
Now, you guys flew economy class down from Canada to Texas.
You're staying in an economical Airbnb.
I imagine you're eating fast food on the go.
You don't have time for anything else.
I don't know what the budget of this journey is.
I'm going to guess without checking by the time the two flights, the Airbnb, the food, the gas, the car rental are added up.
I just don't think this trip's going to cost us less than $5,000.
I just don't know how it could.
So for viewers who think it's important, not just for us to cover the news, but also to, as Alexa mentioned, there's that pipeline of people coming into America.
This is how it worked at Wroxham Road.
Like, it's not like upstate New York naturally has a ton of people fleeing.
Of course not.
They weren't New Yorkers.
They weren't Americans.
They were people who managed to get their feet on American soil in some way.
And many of them had been ordered out of America, ordered, deported.
But ahead of the law, they knew that if they could make their way to upstate New York and walk across Wroxham Road, that Canada being the stupidest of the governments in the region, you could stay forever.
So tens of thousands of people crossed from America into Canada.
And I'm worried that if you've got literally millions of people flooding into Texas from Mexico, even if only 1% of those people make their way to the Canadian border, that is still thousands and thousands of unvetted, unqualified, untested lawbreakers coming into Canada.
And I think that your facility in French and Spanish will be very useful.
I fear that there's also people speaking Arabic, Persian, and various African languages too.
I think it is an absolutely open wound.
And I'm glad you guys are there.
Last thoughts.
Is there anything in particular you're looking forward to?
Or is there something, a particular shot or a particular story you're trying to find?
Of course, we are really, really interested to see some migrants crossing and talking to them.
But I would love to be able to speak with some politician, Republican politician to know a little bit their thought about what's going on.
Talking a little bit about also like the heat around the legal battle between the Biden administration and Greg Abbott.
Maybe Michael, you have something else?
Yeah, I think just the most important part for me is just documenting exactly what's going on here, trying to give the viewers a real feel for what it's like on the ground.
Obviously, not everyone can make it out here.
It's far for a lot of people.
So our objective, I think, is to really just give people an eye on the ground that they wouldn't be able to see otherwise.
Basically, just get as many perspectives from locals and as many angles as we can to see what's really going on down here from a first-time perspective.
Let's see.
Also, talking to the resident that lives next, where millions of migrants are crossing every year, just to know a little bit, like, are they concerned about their safety?
Do something attend to them.
We want to really feel what it is to live here at the Texas border with Mexico, where cartel, with drug dealers, with human smuggling people are doing here.
So I think they have really another good angle on what is going on.
Yeah, I can only imagine people who live near their backyards.
I imagine they're terrified to go out in their yard.
Speaking of which, I want you guys to be careful.
Obviously, you're in the daylight.
There's a National Guard truck just 100 feet away from you.
You're in no danger now.
But especially if you go out at night and if you come into contact with some of these organizers, some of them may be dopey NGOs, but others may be organized crime, drug dealers.
So I want you guys to be safe.
And there's no story that's worth risking your safety for.
I would say here's some things that are interesting.
If you find the organizers, whether they're NGOs or those so-called coyotes, that's interesting.
If you find people who are not from Latin America, but rather sneaking in who seem to be from a different nationality, especially if it's a place where terrorism is rampant, that's interesting.
If you find some feds who are there to take down the barbed wire, because remember, there's this dueling battle right now.
You've got Texas, the Texas National Guard, and other Republican-oriented states trying to put up a border.
And you've got the Biden administration insanely going to the Supreme Court for the right to tear down borders.
If you can spot any of those feds, I'd love you to film them taking down the border.
Border Battles Reporting00:02:38
And if they would talk to you at all, that would be amazing.
When the protest comes, keep an eye peeled for fake agent provocateurs.
I know that's hard, but just be skeptical.
If you can find the Ray Epps of the world there, do that.
And listen, follow the facts wherever they lead.
I think there's a lot of amazing stories down there.
I want you guys to work hard.
You can sleep when you come back to Canada.
I want you to be there early.
I want you to do nighttime work if you can.
It sounds like you got the drone in effect.
That's great.
Interview everyone.
Even interview the media.
Are there mainstream media that are finally there?
What's their angle?
What took them so long?
Are they independent media?
I think there's just, I think ask every possible question.
There's no such thing as a dumb question.
Odds are, if it's on your mind, it's on our viewers' mind too.
Anyway, I'm excited for you.
I'm sort of jealous that I'm not down there with you.
Rebel News is always in the field.
I think this story is relevant to the world, but it is relevant to Canada, especially that U.S. to Canada refugee pipeline that Trudeau has established.
So good luck, you guys.
Stay safe.
It looks gorgeous, by the way.
And I'm sure you'll show us some of that natural beauty in your shots.
And for all our viewers who think this is an exciting story and want to support it, our economy class travel, please help us at TexasBorderReports.com.
Good luck, you guys.
Thanks, Alexa.
All right.
There you have it.
Alexa Lavoie and Lincoln Jay, two of our in-the-field Rebel News reporters.
That's our specialty.
I'm sure they'll have fascinating reports.
I tell you, I wish I could be down there in Texas covering that.
It just looks so gorgeous down there, doesn't it?
I mean, they didn't pan around, but I look forward to watching the videos.
I'm glad when I asked them, did you bring the drone?
Of course they brought the drone.
They didn't need me to remind them, but I'm glad they did.
I look forward to seeing it.
And I think, especially when you're dealing with a mass human invasion, having a drone will give you a bird's eye view that you wouldn't be able to capture on the ground.
I like Alexa and Lincoln.
They've done great journalism.
They were 23 days straight.
They worked during the trucker convoy.
It was just incredible two years ago.
And they've done some excellent investigative journalism in other places too.
For example, we sent them to Maui after the wildfires to find out what the heck was going on.