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EXCLUSIVE: Biden failed to stop China’s toxic nicotine invasion — and your kids paid the price, expert warns

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EXCLUSIVE: Chinese-made nicotine and electronic cigarette products illegally flooded U.S. markets under former President Joe Biden, endangering both adults and children and posing an «urgent threat to U.S. sovereignty, public health, and law enforcement capacity,» according to nicotine awareness activist and former GOP senator Richard Burr.

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In an interview with Fox News Digital, Burr, who is chair of the Coalition for Smarter Regulation of Nicotine, said that even as the Biden administration cracked down on «reputable» companies like Juul, it took no action to control the flow of off-brand competitor products, most of which were manufactured and exported to the U.S. by Chinese companies through the open borders.

«There was not a policy in the Biden administration to enforce the law at the border. And that’s where the growth really came from,» he explained, adding, «They not only didn’t speak out against them, but they didn’t make any attempt, any attempt, at enforcement.»

According to Burr, Biden’s director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), Brian King, bears special blame for overseeing an agency so crippled by inaction that, Burr said, «most of the products that are on the marketplace today not only are illegal, they have never even attempted to go through an application process at the FDA.»

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However, a spokesperson for King vehemently denied Burr’s assertions, telling Fox News Digital that «the claim that there was no attempt at enforcement is not consistent with the facts.»

KAMALA HARRIS BACK IN NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT AS JAMES COMER FLOATS SUBPOENA IN BIDEN ‘COVER-UP’ PROBE

Chinese-made nicotine and electronic cigarette products illegally flooded U.S. markets under former President Joe Biden, endangering both adults and children and posing an «urgent threat to U.S. sovereignty, public health, and law enforcement capacity,» according to nicotine awareness activist and former GOP senator Richard Burr. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images and iStock)

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Burr said that currently approximately 85% of vapor and e-cigarette products sold in the U.S. are either illicit or unauthorized due to the Biden FDA’s failure to enforce the law.

Now, Burr is urging the Trump administration to be proactive in fixing the Chinese nicotine problem unleashed on Americans under Biden.

Burr sent a letter to Trump’s FDA commissioner, Martin Makary, as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, urging them to take urgent action to «restore order» to the marketplace by reforming the government’s review process of nicotine and e-cigarette products and then fully enforcing against the entities responsible for growing the illicit market.

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In his letter, Burr describes the U.S. as being «in the midst of a crisis created by the free flow of illegal nicotine products into the U.S. marketplace, the majority of which are supplied by Chinese companies that are knowingly breaking U.S. laws.»

‘WAS THE PRESIDENT UP FOR THE JOB?’ STEVE RICCHETTI DEFENDS BIDEN’S FITNESS AS GOP SEEKS ANSWERS

Border patrol vehicle

A Border Patrol vehicle sits near border walls separating Tijuana, Mexico, from the United States, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

«During the Biden Administration, illicit Chinese vaping products, without any regulatory oversight or consumer protections, began flooding our market,» Burr wrote. «Produced overseas without meeting FDA safety standards or common tobacco product manufacturing practices, these illicit vapor products are deliberately avoiding compliance with the law, and many are intentionally marketed to underage users with youth-appealing features, for example, Gummy Bear flavors and gaming device screens.»

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Burr further said that manufacturers of illicit vaping products often use fraudulent shipping declarations and misclassified tariff codes to evade U.S. customs and trade laws.

«President Trump has rightfully warned that counterfeit pharmaceutical products, often linked to the People’s Republic of China, threaten the security and safety of Americans,» he wrote. «The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the opportunity to address a similar crisis in the nicotine market by advancing a modern and common-sense approach to regulating nicotine products and effectively enforcing the Tobacco Control Act (TCA) to restore order to the marketplace.»

To this end, Burr urged the FDA to «advance a comprehensive, effective regulatory framework,» which he said consists of streamlining the FDA’s approval process for less harmful smoke-free nicotine products, providing clear regulations to the industry and enforcing the law against companies selling illicit products, providing adult smokers with accurate information on the benefits of switching from cigarettes to FDA-authorized, smoke-free products and using regulation and oversight to drive down underage use.

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INSIDE THE BIDEN COVER-UP PROBE: 8 AIDES QUESTIONED, MORE ON THE WAY

RFK Jr.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a news conference on the Autism report by the CDC at the Hubert Humphrey Building Auditorium in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Speaking with Fox News Digital, Burr said that both Kennedy and President Donald Trump «have embraced a healthier America that our kids should be eating healthier, should be actively involved, and we should make sure that anything that’s detrimental to their ability to grow and to grow up healthy should be constricted significantly.»

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«This is at the heart of that,» he said.

In response, a spokesperson speaking on behalf of King told Fox News Digital that «the claim that there was no attempt at enforcement is not consistent with the facts.»

They listed 30 different enforcement actions the agency took under King’s tenure in 2023 and 2024, ranging from sending warning letters to potential violators to denying marketing requests to manufacturers not in compliance. 

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«Within the past few years, the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products took many first-time compliance and enforcement actions, including setting up a joint interagency task force and conducting multiple targeted enforcement operations against illegally imported e-cigarettes in coordination with US Customs and Border Protection. This was in addition to other first of their kind actions across the supply chain focused on unauthorized products from non-US manufacturers, including monthly retailer blitzes against Elf Bar and other unauthorized disposable e-cigarette brands used by youth,» they said. 

«The FDA and other agencies should build on these efforts and take comprehensive enforcement action against illegal e-cigarettes, particularly those popular among youth,» said the spokesperson. 

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DNC members rally around pro-DEI resolution: ‘These are American values’

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MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is reaffirming its support for diversity, equity, and inclusion, better known to millions of Americans by its acronym, DEI.

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The DNC’s Resolutions Committee, meeting on Tuesday during the second day of the national party’s annual summer meeting, unanimously passed a resolution affirming what it highlighted as the «American Values’ of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The approval of the resolution, which will face a vote by the full 400-plus DNC membership on Wednesday, comes amid relentless conservative backlash against DEI programs in recent years.

DNC CHAIR DEMANDS DEMOCRATS ‘STOP BRINGING A PENCIL TO A KNIFE FIGHT’

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The Democratic National Committee’s Resolutions Committee meets at the DNC’s summer meeting, in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 26, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

During the 2024 election cycle, now-President Donald Trump and Republicans repeatedly criticized Democrats for their longstanding support for DEI efforts and transgender rights, turning the Democrats’ stance into a political liability.

Republicans spent tens of millions on ads last year bashing transgender women in female sports. A commercial targeting then-Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee last summer and autumn, argued that «Kamala is for they/them, Donald Trump is for you.»

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DEMOCRATS DIVIDED: TENSIONS FLARE OVER WAR IN GAZA 

Following last year’s election setbacks, when Democrats lost control of the White House and Senate and failed to win back the House majority, some in the party have second-guessed their support for DEI and transgender rights.

Trump, in the opening months of his second term in the White House, has signed several executive orders taking aim at transgender and DEI policies implemented by then-President Joe Biden and by major universities and corporations.

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President Donald Trump has signed executive orders that take aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts implemented by former President Joe Biden as well as by major corporations and universities.

President Donald Trump has signed executive orders that take aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts implemented by former President Joe Biden as well as by major corporations and universities. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

But DNC committee member Bill Owen of Tennessee, who spoke in support of the resolution in front of the panel, took aim at Republicans as he praised DEI values.

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«These are American values. This is what America was built on,» Owen said. «And to my Republican friends and fellow citizens…who profess to be active Christians, I remind them that D.E.I.is the very foundation of the Christian church. I get a little emotional on this, but Jesus loves little children. All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white.»

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at DNC summer meeting

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting, on Aug. 25, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

«This week’s DNC meeting has proven once again just how disconnected Democrats are from the values and priorities of everyday Americans,» RNC communications director Zach Parkinson told Fox News Digital. «The DNC reaffirmed their party’s support for radical, racist DEI ideology and insulted Christians across the country by saying DEI is ‘the very foundation’ of Christianity. It’s no wonder Democrats’ approval rating is in the toilet.»

The vote by the Resolutions Committee on the DEI resolution came a day after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate on the Democrats’ 2024 national ticket, said in an address at the DNC summer meeting that «we’re proud to be a diverse party. We are proud of the diversity of this country. We’re not shying away from diversity as a strength and equity as a goal and inclusion being the air we breathe. That’s what we should be doing.»

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DEI efforts have been aimed at fostering fair treatment and full participation for all people, particularly those who have faced discrimination or underrepresentation.

But Trump, upon returning to the White House at the beginning of this year, called DEI efforts «illegal and immoral discrimination programs» and «public waste.»

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Reform UK proposes deporting 600,000 asylum seekers in sweeping new immigration crackdown

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Reform UK said it’s prepared to deport 600,000 asylum seekers from Britain to prevent «civil disorder.»

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Party leader Nigel Farage said the plan includes withdrawing Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), repealing the Human Rights Act, and scrapping international treaties that block forced deportations, Reuters reported.

The ECHR, a cornerstone of U.K. human rights law, has repeatedly been used to halt deportations of migrants deemed to be in the country illegally, the BBC reported.

TRUMP PRAISES STARMER ON TURNING AROUND MIGRANT BOATS: ‘FANTASTIC THING’

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British Reform Party leader Nigel Farage poses in front of a mock departures board during a Tuesday press conference in a hangar at Oxford Airport in Kidlington, England. (Joanna Chan/AP )

«We are not far away from major civil disorder,» Farage told a press conference. «It is an invasion, as these young men illegally break into our country.»

Dubbed Operation Restoring Justice, the plan is the «only way» to stop small boats crossing the English Channel, Farage said, adding that migrants intercepted at sea should be detained and deported.

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«If we do that, the boats will stop coming in days because there will be no incentive,» he claimed.

Labour Party Chairwoman Ellie Reeves criticized the announcement, saying it lacked detail.

«Today, we got none of those things, nor a single answer to the practical, financial, or ethical questions about how their plan would work,» she said.

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FARAGE SLAMS SECRET AFGHAN REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT TO UK, CLAIMS SEX OFFENDERS AMONG ARRIVALS

British Reform party leader Nigel Farage speaks about mass migration.

British Reform Party leader Nigel Farage shows the Operation Restoring Justice program during a press conference in a hangar at Oxford Airport in Kidlington, England. (Joanna Chan/AP)

The announcement followed weeks of small protests over mass migration and crimes committed by some asylum seekers.

Britain received a record 108,100 asylum applications in 2024, many from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Bangladesh.

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Polling shows immigration has overtaken the economy as voters’ top concern. Reform UK, despite holding only four seats in Parliament, is leading in surveys of voting intentions, Reuters reported.

British Reform party leader Nigel Farage at a podium speaking about mass migration.

British Reform Party leader Nigel Farage addresses journalists during a press conference in a hangar at Oxford Airport in Kidlington, England, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (Joanna Chan/AP)

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Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook dismissed the proposals as «a series of gimmicks» that would not work. Reform’s opponents and several charities said the plan would amount to Britain abandoning its human rights commitments.

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Policías enmascarados en los pasillos judiciales: el miedo se apodera de los migrantes en Estados Unidos

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Asistir a una cita en el tribunal de migraciones de Nueva York se ha convertido en una ruleta rusa para muchos inmigrantes, que se debaten entre acudir para proseguir con su proceso migratorio o caer en la ilegalidad.

Agentes del ICE y de la patrulla de fronteras con caras cubiertas y algunos armados con pistola y dotados de varios pares de esposas flanquean el pasillo cuando entran a la cita con el juez, el mismo pasillo por el que deben salir sin saber si volverán a casa.

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Hasta hace poco, solían detener a hombres solos que acudían sin abogado a su cita en la corte, pero en las últimas semanas han empezado a separar familias, según han comprobado periodistas de la AFP.

La venezolana María, nombre ficticio, dice sentir “miedo, angustia, temor porque uno no sabe lo que va a pasar”. “Vinimos de tan lejos y son muchos sacrificios para que en un dos por tres te devuelvan para atrás”, dice a la AFP después de firmar personalmente los documentos para la audiencia sobre el asilo que ella y sus dos hijos van a solicitar.

La creciente presión desde la Casa Blanca para aumentar el número de detenciones diarias ha llevado al Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) a realizar redadas en lugares de trabajo, en tribunales y a detener menores, pese a estar protegidos, muchos, por el estatus especial de inmigrante menor de edad (SIJS).

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Solo en Nueva York, habrían sido detenidos medio centenar de menores de 18 años, la mayoría de Ecuador, en lo que va de año, según el diario The New York Times. Solicitado por la AFP, el ICE no ofreció cifras.

En lo que va de año, el ICE ha detenido a 59.000 personas, un récord, según el American Immigration Council (AIC). Foto EFE

A diferencia del primer mandato de Donald Trump (2017-2021), cuando la política era separar en la frontera a familias como arma de disuasión -todavía hay más de un millar de menores sin haber sido reunidos con sus padres-, ahora se recurre “a un mecanismo diferente”, dice Michelle Ortiz, directora del servicio legal para la infancia del International Rescue Commitee (IRC).

“Las familias están siendo detenidas juntas por el ICE, que pone a los adultos en detención y a los niños a nuestro cuidado”, explica. Ahora “ocurre de otra forma”. Y todo puede cambiar a medida que la “situación se vuelve más caótica”, advierte.

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Menores representados por su organización tienen “órdenes de deportación y estamos esperando a ver cómo la administración Trump facilitará estas deportaciones”.

“Tratamos el equipaje en el aeropuerto mejor, con más sensibilidad y más cuidado que a estas familias”, lamenta.

En lo que va de año, el ICE ha detenido a 59.000 personas, un récord, según el American Immigration Council (AIC). De ellos solo el 30% tiene algún antecedente penal aunque la mayoría de los registros no “representan ninguna amenaza”.

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Agentes federales detienen a un hombre fuera de las audiencias de la corte de inmigración en el Edificio Federal Jacob K. Javits en Nueva York. Foto EFEAgentes federales detienen a un hombre fuera de las audiencias de la corte de inmigración en el Edificio Federal Jacob K. Javits en Nueva York. Foto EFE

Entre los detenidos hay personas con estatus legal, beneficiarios de DACA (el programa de protección de los jóvenes que llegaron cuando eran niños), solicitantes de asilo y residentes que esperan sus citas con inmigración.

“Esta administración Trump es mucho más agresiva. Lo que estamos viendo no es solo un gran impulso para detener y deportar a las poblaciones indocumentadas, sino también para despojar a las personas de las protecciones legales que ya han obtenido y, para otras, hacerles imposible obtener la protección legal a la que tienen derecho”, dice Ortiz.

A la falta de “garantías procesales básicas”, se suma el cada vez más complicado “acceso a las vías de defensa” para los detenidos y sus difíciles condiciones de detención, denuncia Nayna Gupta, directora de política de AIC, que señala que al menos 10 personas han muerto bajo custodia del ICE.

Hace dos semanas, un juez de Nueva York ordenó al ICE que proporcione a los migrantes detenidos en salas del tribunal migratorio un trato humanitario. A ello se suma el recorte de fondos para las organizaciones defensoras de los migrantes, dice Ortiz. Su organización tiene asegurada la financiación federal solo cada tres meses.

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Con un presupuesto adicional de 45.000 millones de dólares para construir nuevos centros de detención, -un 308% más que hasta ahora- el ICE podrá detener al menos a 125.000 personas, tantos como el sistema federal de prisiones, advierte Gupta.

La agresiva política antiimigración del gobierno de Trump puede estar empezando a dar sus frutos. En junio de este año, había cerca de 1,5 millones menos de extranjeros en el país que en enero, según datos del Pew Research Center.

En mayo, la Patrulla Fronteriza informó que solo 8.725 extranjeros sin documentos fueron interceptados a lo largo de la frontera suroeste, un 93% menos que un año antes.

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