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(NEW YORK) — Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., has been indicted on 13 counts, including seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York said Wednesday.

The embattled congressman was taken into custody Wednesday morning on Long Island, New York.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

May 10, 3:49 PM EDT
Santos says he won’t resign

Speaking to reporters outside the Long Island federal courthouse following his arraignment, Santos said that he will not resign from Congress as a result of his indictment.

“I’m going to fight my battle,” Santos said. “I’m going to deliver. I’m going to fight the witch hunt. I’m going to take care of clearing my name and I look forward to doing that.”

May 10, 2:46 PM EDT
Santos won’t have to wear ankle monitor

Ryan Harris, a federal prosecutor speaking on behalf of the government, laid out the conditions of Santos’ bond, which defense counsel had agreed to as “something palatable for both of us.”

Among the conditions, Santos can travel within the continental U.S. — but must notify pretrial services before doing so.

He can travel freely within and between New York City, Long Island, and Washington, D.C.

A spokesperson for the Eastern District of New York confirmed that Santos will not be required to wear an ankle monitor.

Santos’ next hearing is scheduled for June 30.

-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin and Lucien Bruggeman

May 10, 2:37 PM EDT
Santos to be released on $500,000 bond

Santos will be released on $500,000 bond now that his arraignment has concluded.

At his arraignment, where he pleaded not guilty, Magistrate Judge Anne Shields read a summary of the charges against Santos and notified him of his rights — to which Santos replied, “Yes, ma’am.”

Santos confirmed that he had read the indictment and had consulted with his attorney.

Before the hearing began, Santos’ attorney, Joe Murray, told a group of reporters that Santos was feeling “good” and was looking forward to the hearing, where he was “finally going to get to address the allegations.”

-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin and Lucien Bruggeman

May 10, 2:28 PM EDT
Santos pleads not guilty

Santos has pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment at the Long Island federal courthouse.

May 10, 1:29 PM EDT
Santos’ attorney arrives at courthouse

Santos’ lawyer, Joe Murray, and congressional aide Vish Burra have entered the Long Island federal courthouse where Santos is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon.

Neither responded to questions from reporters as they made their way inside.

May 10, 12:52 PM EDT
Several House Republicans reiterate calls for Santos to resign

About a dozen GOP members of the House had previously called on Santos to resign or be expelled from Congress in the face of allegations against him, and several of them are reiterating that stance today.

In a statement today, fellow New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, said, “The charges against Rep. Santos are extremely serious and deeply disturbing and as I’ve previously said, he simply doesn’t have the trust of his constituents or colleagues. The sooner he leaves, the sooner his district can be represented by someone who isn’t a liar and fraud.”

Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., told reporters on his way into a conference meeting this morning, “I can’t wait for him to be gone.”

Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Tex., tweeted, “George Santos should be immediately expelled from Congress and a special election initiated at the soonest possible date,” while Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., told reporters, “This has been going on now since we took the majority. Frankly, I would have hoped along the way that Mr. Santos would have done what I believed was the right thing and not force leadership to force his action, but for him to do it on his own.”

The office of Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, says his position remains unchanged from the his Jan. 12 statement which said, in part, “I do not believe George Santos can effectively serve and should resign.”

In other statements released Tuesday night by Santos’ fellow New York Republicans, Rep. Nick LaLota said, “These charges bring us one step closer to never having to talk about this lying loser ever again,” while Rep. Mike Lawler said, “I reiterate my call for George Santos to step down” and Rep. Anthony D’Esposito said, “As a retired NYPD Detective, I am confident the justice system will fully reveal Congressman Santos’ long history of deceit, and I once again call on this serial fraudster to resign from office.”

Other GOP House members from New York who have previously called for Santos to step down include Rep. Nick Langworthy and Rep. Brandon Williams.

Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., told CNN Tuesday night, “I do believe that if a member of Congress is charged with a federal crime they should resign,” and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told CNN, “We should really hold our own accountable and recruit someone who’s going to be better.”

-ABC News’ Lauren Peller, Gabe Ferris, Katherine Faulders and Jay O’Brien

May 10, 11:16 AM EDT
House GOP leadership standing by Santos

House Republican leadership is continuing to stand by Santos following the 13-count indictment. Among the House’s GOP leadership, there have been no calls today for Santos to resign.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy says that Santos, “like every American,” will have his “day in court.”

“He will go through his time in trial and let’s find out how the outcome is,” McCarthy said.

The speaker said that Santos “was never put on committee, so he won’t serve on committee.”

Asked if money laundering, wire fraud, and lying to Congress concerns him, McCarthy responded, “It always concerns me.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, during a press conference this morning, said that the charges were serious — but did not call on Santos to resign.

“There’s a presumption of innocence, but the charges are serious,” Scalise said. “He’ll have to go through the legal process.”

-ABC News’ Gabe Ferris, Lauren Peller and Katherine Faulders

May 10, 10:33 AM EDT
Santos misled House about finances, indictment says

In addition to being charged with defrauding campaign donors and falsely applying for unemployment benefits, the indictment alleges that Santos mislead the House of Representatives about his finances, specifically in to two financial disclosure forms he filed as a candidate.

in May 2020, during his first unsuccessful campaign, Santos overstated one source of income while failing to disclose his investment firm salary, the indictment says.

And in September 2022, while running again, Santos again included falsehoods in his financial disclosure forms, according to the indictment.

Santos lied about earning a $750,000 salary and between $1 million and $5 million in dividends from his company, the Devolder Organization, according to the indictment, and falsely claimed to have a checking account that held between $100,000 and $250,000, and a savings account with deposits of between $1 and $5 million.

“These assertions were false. Santos had not received from the Devolder Organization the reported amounts of salary or dividends,” prosecutors said in the indictment.

May 10, 10:17 AM EDT
Santos to be arraigned this afternoon, could face 20 years

Santos was placed under arrest this morning and will be arraigned on the indictment this afternoon.

He was placed under arrest on a 13-count, 19-page indictment that outlines three main schemes.

If convicted on all counts, he faces up to 20 years in prison — though it’s by no means certain he would serve that much time.

May 10, 10:11 AM EDT
Santos defrauded campaign donors, prosecutors say

Federal prosecutors in Central Islip, New York, accuse Santos of engaging in a “scheme to defraud” his campaign donors.

According to the indictment, Santos solicited donations for his run for office “under the false pretense” that those funds would actually be used for politics.

Instead, prosecutors said Santos spent “thousands of dollars of the solicited funds on personal expenses, including luxury designer clothing and credit card payments.”

Santos is also charged with illegally receiving unemployment benefits during the pandemic even though “he was employed and was not eligible for unemployment benefits,” the indictment said.

Santos is also charged with lying to the House of Representatives on his financial disclosures. Taken together, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said. Santos relied on “repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself.”

May 10, 9:59 AM EDT
Santos received unemployment while working: Docs

Among the accusations in the charging documents are allegations that Santos applied for unemployment benefits during the pandemic, falsely claiming to have been unemployed since March 2020, according to prosecutors.

He collected money from then until April 2021, “when Santos was working and receiving a salary on a near-continuous basis and during his unsuccessful run for Congress,” referring to his first run for the job, which he lost. In total, prosecutors say he collected more than $24,000 in benefits.

He was actually being paid a $120,000 salary as regional director of an investment firm at the time, according to prosecutors.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday continued to pressure House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans to increase the debt limit without tying it to their spending proposal just one day after his meeting with congressional leaders that produced no progress.

“Our economy would fall into recession, and our international reputation would be damaged in the extreme. We shouldn’t even be having this, talking about this situation,” Biden warned, during remarks in New York’s Hudson Valley.

“[I]f we default on our debt, the whole world is in trouble. This is a manufactured crisis. There’s no question about America’s ability to pay its bills. America is the strongest economy in the world and we should be cutting spending and lowering the deficit without a needless crisis in a responsible way,” he added.

Speaking at a community college in Valhalla, New York, Biden defended himself against McCarthy’s repeated criticism that it took more than 90 days for Biden to meet with him again about the debt ceiling. Biden said that the delay was McCarthy’s fault — for not laying out a GOP budget proposal.

“Yesterday, I brought congressional leaders together at the White House to make sure America doesn’t default on its debt and for the first time in our history,” Biden said, “And by the way, I know the speaker keeps saying, ’93 days ago I said to Biden, I want to talk to him.'”

Biden continued: “I said, ‘Fine.’ I said, ‘You put down your budget; I’ll put down mine.’ I laid mine down in detail on the fourth — on the ninth of – of March. He didn’t put down his so-called budget — I don’t know whatever — what’d you call it — his connecting the two items. He didn’t do that until — five days after he did it, I invited him to the White House.”

He again noted that McCarthy is beholden to the more extreme members of Congress.

“They have a speaker who has his job because he yielded to the, quote, ‘MAGA’ element of the party,” he said.

Meanwhile, Biden again praised Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for saying the U.S. won’t default — as Biden did during his remarks late Tuesday.

“I was pleased but not surprised by the Republican leader in the United States Senate, McConnell, who said after the meeting in the White House, and he went to the press, he said, the United States is not going to default,” Biden said. “It never has and it never will.”

“We shouldn’t even be talking about it,” Biden added.

Biden was speaking in a congressional district he won in 2020 but whose House seat a Republican won.

That Republican, Rep. Mike Lawler, decided to attend alongside Biden — a rarity for a Republican congressman when the president visits.

Biden noted Lawler — who he described as being “on the other team – was there.

“Mike is the kind of guy that when I, when I was in the Congress, he was a kind of Republican I was used to deal with, but he’s not one of these MAGA Republicans which I’m going to talk a little bit about,” Biden said. “I don’t want to get them in trouble by saying anything nice about them or negative about them but I, thanks for coming Mike, thanks for being here. This way we used to do it all the time.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security is assigning hundreds of asylum officers to the border to sort through the region’s recent surge in humanitarian needs, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday.

“Short-term solutions” are needed to address the “decades-old problem” of a “broken immigration system,” Mayorkas said in explaining the surge.

“We are clear-eyed about the challenges we are likely to face in the days and weeks ahead. … We are taking this approach within the constraints of a broken immigration system that Congress has not fixed for more than two decades and without the resources we need: personnel, facilities, transportation and others that we have requested of Congress and that we were not given,” he said.

The rising number of migrants crossing the border “places an incredible strain on our personnel, our facilities and our communities with whom we partner closely,” he added.

Asked about reports that Customs and Border Protection is releasing migrants due to capacity issues, Mayorkas said those migrants are still required to meet strict conditions and report back to authorities, adding those releases only occur in limited circumstances.

“Like other administrations, when we release individuals, we release them on conditions — and their compliance with those conditions is absolutely necessary. And if they fail to comply, we will seek to apprehend them and remove them,” he said.

The department is facing one of its greatest tests in the coming days when severe border restrictions — first ordered by the Trump administration — will finally come to an end. With the potential for an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, Border Patrol agents are bracing for the worst.

Standing on the banks of the Rio Grande River, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz told ABC News his agents are prepared but need more help.

“I certainly need more Border Patrol agents out here on the front lines,” Ortiz added. “I need to be able to build an enterprise behind them to process the migrants that we encounter each and every day.”

Ortiz has studied the landscape of the southwest border for decades, marshaling resources across the nearly 2,000-mile borderline. Homeland Security has ramped up its ability to quickly deport migrants while striking deals with Mexico to take on more of the burden. The question now is: Will it dam back the influx of expected migration?

With an order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the Trump administration, Title 42 of the U.S. code has allowed authorities at the border to rapidly expel migrants, citing the desire not to spread COVID-19.

Without the pandemic justification, that practice will end, removing a critical — and controversial — tool from the Border Patrol’s toolbox. The fast-track nature of the expulsions has limited opportunities for migrants to apply for asylum after being suspected of crossing into the U.S. illegally. Those concerns persist as the administration works to replicate the expedited nature of Title 42 expulsions while promising to prosecute those who repeatedly attempt crossing illegally.

“You know, we may not expel you, but we’re going to do everything we can to repatriate you because there’s got to be consequences to our immigration system,” Ortiz said, referring to the formal process of deportation that was the standard before Title 42.

But deportations take time, and under U.S. law, noncitizens have the right to request asylum — a process that can stretch out for months or years. The asylum case backlog reached an all-time high last year of more than 1.5 million, according to researchers at Syracuse University.

The number of migrants arriving in the southwest has remained persistently high despite significant drops since 2022. Last month, Border Patrol made 163,695 apprehensions nationwide, down from a historic peak of 225,100 in May 2022.

But border communities, and the agents protecting them, remain under strain. On a recent trip to the Rio Grande Valley, where the massive river serves as the U.S.-Mexico dividing line, ABC News watched as the U.S. Border Patrol surveilled the region and made arrests. A team from ABC News watched as a mother and her two young daughters were taken into custody after crossing on a raft. Later that morning, a group of three men were taken into custody after being found asleep in dense brush.

Fearing for their safety and privacy, those arrested declined to provide details of their reasons for crossing. But the men expressed relief at the prospect of getting some temporary shelter and water from Border Patrol.

Those from Mexico will have the opportunity to return voluntarily if they cannot meet the standard for lodging asylum claims.

But migrants from other countries — especially those with strained U.S. diplomatic relationships, like Colombia and Venezuela — pose a greater challenge for repatriation. International flights require logistical coordination and tight security measures.

Those challenges prompted the U.S. to strike a deal with Mexico to begin accepting up to 30,000 Haitians, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who don’t qualify for asylum each month. At the same time, the U.S. has rolled out a parole system to allow the same number of migrants from those countries the opportunity to seek asylum or other forms of humanitarian protections.

And now, even tighter asylum restrictions will target those who cross through multiple countries without first applying for legal authorization outside the U.S. Only migrants with “exceptionally compelling circumstances” will be able to challenge the higher bar for asylum eligibility, according to DHS. These exceptions include severe medical emergencies, “extreme,” “imminent,” and “severe” threats of rape, kidnapping torture or human trafficking.

Advocacy groups and thousands of immigrant rights supporters have opposed the restrictions. Pro-immigrant groups have called these requirements an effective ban on asylum given the difficulties many migrants face in navigating legal pathways from outside the U.S. The American Civil Liberties Union called the new rules “unfair, unwise, and illegal” and urged the Biden administration to reverse course after the proposal was announced earlier this year.

“The end of Title 42 should have been a time for the United States to reset and return to the humane asylum system promised by this administration. But instead this administration is recycling yet another anti-asylum Trump ban. We will sue as we did under the Trump administration,” Lee Gelernt, lead counsel on challenges to Title 42 and the Trump administration’s asylum bans, said.

Lawsuits challenging the restrictive policies are expected.

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(NEW YORK) — Texas’ gun laws have long come under scrutiny from gun reform groups and anti-violence activists who argue that too many loopholes put firearms in the wrong hands.

“We seem to be in an endless cycle of gun violence taking the lives of our children and neighbors while our lawmakers do absolutely nothing to prevent it. We do not and should not have to live this way,” Kat Vargas, a volunteer with the Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action, said in a statement following Saturday’s mass shooting at an outlet mall in Allen.

Some Texas leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, and gun rights groups have pushed back against criticism, contending that residents have a right under the Second Amendment to carry a firearm.

“People want the quick solution,” Abbott told reporters Sunday after the shooting. “The long-term solution here is to address the mental health issue.”

Who can buy, carry firearms in Texas?

Texas is one of 25 states in the U.S. that do not require permits or registration for concealed or open carry of firearms.

Restrictions

There are some cases where a Texas resident can be barred from purchasing and carrying a firearm.

Gun access for residents under 18

Aside from some activities, such as hunting and a shooting range with adult supervision, Texas residents under 18 are not allowed to carry or possess a firearm.

Where guns are prohibited in the state

Although Texas is an open carry state, there are some prohibitions when it comes to certain locations.

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