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Rep. Tony Gonzales defends conditions at Texas detention center with measles outbreak

February 8, 2026 / 4:57 PM EST / CBS News

Rep. Tony Gonzales said Sunday that the Texas immigration detention center in which 5-year-old Liam Ramos was detained is “nicer than some elementary schools” amid reports of a measles outbreak and criticism of the conditions from immigration activists.

“The facility in Dilley, I’ve visited there many times,” Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “I’ve visited dozens of facilities. It is a nice facility. It’s a detention facility for people that are in the country illegally that are about to be deported but it is a nice facility. Nicer than some elementary schools.”

Gonzales did not elaborate on the conditions of the detention center, which is located in Dilley, Texas, but called it “nice.” The Dilley facility is the only immigration detention center in the country that holds children and families, and immigration activists have described the conditions as unsafe, according to the Texas Tribune. CBS News has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on this.

In February, DHS announced that it had halted “all movement” at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center after two inmates had had “active measles infections.”

Gonzales argued that Ramos, who along with his parents entered the United States using the now-defunct CBP One app, would not “qualify for asylum.”

“It breaks my heart,” Gonzales said of the detention of Ramos. “I have a five-year-old at home. I also think, what about that five-year-old U.S. citizen?”

In January, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Ramos and his father during the Trump administration’s “Operation Metro Surge,” which has targeted undocumented immigrants in the Minneapolis area, the latest of its immigration crackdowns across the country. Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, were released from custody and returned to Minneapolis. The operation has resulted in the deaths of two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Gregory Bovino, the commander-at-large of the Border Patrol who led the operation, has since left Minneapolis.

The Texas Republican said feeling “compassionate” is not a barrier to enforcing immigration laws in a “humane way.”

“And I think that’s the secret sauce that the administration and Congress must do,” Gonzales said. “Let’s enforce our laws, but let’s do it in a humane way.”

President Trump’s immigration policy, which promised mass deportations, is facing backlash with Democratic candidates making sweeping gains in elections, including in Texas. Texas Democrat Taylor Rehmet and Louisiana Democrat Chasity Verret Martinez defeated their Republican opponents in special state elections in the most recent races, and both in districts that President Trump won by double digits.

“Very early on, I mentioned, ‘Hey, if we go down this route as a party, we’re not going to be successful,’” Gonzales said. “And we’re seeing some of that with some of these special elections that are happening.”

The administration’s approach to immigration has faced criticism. A recent CBS News poll shows that while 50% of the public support Mr. Trump’s immigration goals, only 37% approve the methods he is using to conduct deportation operations.

“If you go into a jail and you go cell by cell, that makes a lot more sense to American people than going house by house, going, ‘are you American, a citizen or not?,’” Gonzales said as he urged the administration to “shift” how it is communicating with the public.

As funding for the Department of Homeland Security is set to expire on Friday, Democrats in Congress are demanding several revisions to the agency and how ICE and CBP administer immigration operations. Among them are judicial warrant requirements to enter homes, mandatory body cameras, and displaying IDs.

Gonzales said Congress needs to “work it through.” He said that he thinks body cameras “make a lot of sense,” but requiring a judicial warrant by judges who “all over the country go beyond their level of authority” to “roadblock” immigration enforcement operations and not keep communities safe.

“Administrative warrants work,” Gonzales said. “I want to give law enforcement every tool they need to go out and apprehend these convicted criminals that are loose in our community. To me, that makes a lot of sense. Why you would want to shackle your own law enforcement from keeping our community safe makes no sense to me.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/rep-tony-gonzales-says-administrative-warrants-work-amid-calls-for-reform-for-ice-procedure/

Trump plans to keep Democratic governors out of traditionally bipartisan White House meeting – The Washington Post

February 8, 2026 at 3:58 p.m. EST Today at 3:58 p.m. EST / The Washington Post

The White House did not explain why Democrats were not invited to the meeting. In addition, at least two Democrats were uninvited to a dinner, according to their offices.

President Donald Trump on Jan. 30. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

By Mariana Alfaro

President Donald Trump plans to keep Democrats out of a traditionally bipartisan White House gathering of governors typically held as part of the National Governors Association’s annual Washington summit, the organization said.

Don Henley reflects on the Eagles’ “miraculous run,” Glenn Frey, and their last chapter

February 8, 2026 / 10:20 AM EST / CBS News

The nighttime lights of Las Vegas can hide the stars, but sometimes you can still find them under one dazzling roof.

One of the greatest bands on Earth — the Eagles — are in residence at the state-of-the-art Las Vegas Sphere, led by the band’s co-founder Don Henley, along with longtime guitarist Joe Walsh and country star Vince Gill.

And whenever the Eagles perform here, they sell the place out.

The Eagles’ “miraculous run”

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“I guess we’re kind of a staple,” Henley said. “Our first record came out in ’72. Fifty-three years of playing for people. So it’s… you know, it’s been a miraculous run.”

And it got even more miraculous last month, when one of those Eagles albums from the 1970s — “Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975)” — was certified quadruple diamond, the first to sell more than 40 million copies, cementing its place as the best-selling album of all time.

“‘Greatest Hits’ is kind of a misnomer. It should just be called their best songs because every song on that album was not a great hit. You know? There are a couple of songs on that album that didn’t break the top 30. But they’re good songs. Desperado, for example, was never released as a single. Not by us, nor by Linda Ronstadt,” Henley said.

Henley adds that the album wasn’t really their idea; it was basically pushed on them by the record company. But the band “didn’t have any way to stop them,” Henley joked.

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“We complained. Oh, yeah. It’s documented,” he laughed.

Legacy of late bandmate Glenn Frey

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Henley said writing Desperado with his late bandmate Glenn Frey was the first time the pair collaborated as songwriting partners. He added that they clicked instantly, and Frey quickly earned the nickname “the lone arranger.”

“Because he was so good at arranging songs,” Henley explained.

Frey died 10 years ago at age 67, but his legacy is larger than life.

Before the show, fans can take a literal walk down memory lane at a place called the Eagles’ Third Encore— an almost life-sized model of the key places in the band’s history, including a mock-up of L.A.’s Troubadour nightclub, which includes a real working bar.

But Henley’s pre-show routine isn’t quite the same as it used to be. Instead of taking a shot of tequila, he’s doing crunches as a warm-up.

“I don’t do voice exercises because they don’t help. I sing from my core, so keeping my abdomen in shape makes me sing better,” he said, adding with a laugh, “I don’t have a six-pack or anything, but there’s one under there somewhere.”

Deacon Frey fills in for his late father

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One of the emotional highlights of the show is the moment where Frey’s son, Deacon, takes the stage in his father’s spot, often with his father’s guitar, and sings his father’s songs.

“I burst with pride. I almost got tears in my eyes the other night when he was filling in for Joe,” Henley said.

Henley said he wasn’t sure performing without Frey was feasible, but the band agreed to continue only if Deacon could join them.

A father of three himself, Henley has always had a rich life outside the band, and he recently co-produced a PBS documentary with filmmaker Ken Burns about Henry David Thoreau.

“There are so many parallels to what he was seeing during his time and what we’re seeing now. As Mark Twain said, ‘History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.’ And I think that’s what’s happening now,” Henley said.

What’s next?

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The Eagles are keeping the music alive with a few more live shows this summer and an extended run in Las Vegas into April, featuring cutting-edge technology that didn’t exist when they first started making music.

“The sound system is like nothing on the planet. There are about 167,000 speakers in that dome,” Henley said of the Sphere.

The Eagles’ tour is called “The Long Goodbye,” but Henley says this time he means it.

“You know, I think this year will probably be it. I’ve said things like that before, but I feel like we’re getting toward the end. And that will be fine, too,” Henley said.

After more than 50 years of playing, Henley says he has to psych himself up to perform the Eagles’ classics each night.

“After a while, you learn to make friends with the songs,” he says. “It’s not about us. It’s about what they mean to the people we’re playing them for. You have to play every night with your heart in it.” Henley adds, “Music is medicine. And people need some medicine right now.”

U.K.’s prime minister’s top aide resigns over Peter Mandelson’s appointment to ambassador to U.S.despite Epstein ties

February 8, 2026 / 11:03 AM EST / CBS/AP

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff resigned Sunday over the furor surrounding the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the U.K. ambassador to the U.S. despite his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Morgan McSweeney said he took responsibility for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson, 72, to Britain’s most important diplomatic post in 2024.

“The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself,” McSweeney said in a statement. “When asked, I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, with Britain’s former ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, in February 2025 in Washington. Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP

Starmer is facing a political storm and questions about his judgment after newly published documents, part of a huge trove of Epstein files made public in the United States, suggested that Mandelson sent market-sensitive information to the convicted sex offender when he was the U.K. government’s business secretary during the 2008 financial crisis.

The prime minister apologized last week for “having believed Mandelson’s lies.” He said “none of us knew the depth of the darkness” of the relationship between Mandelson and Epstein when the former was vetted for the diplomat job.

“Mandelson betrayed our country, our Parliament and my party … he lied repeatedly to my team when asked about his relationship with Epstein before and during his tenure as ambassador. I regret appointing him,” Starmer told lawmakers last week.

Starmer’s government has promised to release its own emails and other documentation related to Mandelson’s appointment, which it says will show that Mandelson misled officials.

A number of lawmakers have called for Starmer to resign.

“Keir Starmer has to take responsibility for his own terrible decisions,” said Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservative Party.

Mandelson, a former Cabinet minister, ambassador and elder statesman of the governing Labour Party, has not been arrested or charged.

The Metropolitan Police is now investigating and officers searched Mandelson’s London home and another property linked to him on Friday. Police said the investigation is complex and will require “a significant amount of further evidence gathering and analysis.”

Starmer had fired Mandelson in September from his ambassadorial job over earlier revelations about his Epstein ties. But critics say the emails recently published by the U.S. Justice Department have brought serious concerns about Starmer’s judgment to the fore. They argue that he should have known better than to appoint Mandelson in the first place.

The new revelations include documents suggesting Mandelson shared sensitive government information with Epstein after the 2008 global financial crisis. They also include records of payments totaling $75,000 in 2003 and 2004 from Epstein to accounts linked to Mandelson or his husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva.

Aside from his association with Epstein, Mandelson previously had to resign twice from senior government posts because of scandals over money or ethics.

© 2026 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Transcript: David Becker on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Feb. 8, 2026

2026-02-08T13:02:27-0500 / CBS News

February 8, 2026 / 1:02 PM EST / CBS News

The following is the transcript of the interview with David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research and a CBS News election law contributor, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Feb. 8, 2026.

*

MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by David Becker. He is the Executive Director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research and a CBS News election law contributor. Always good to have you here, David.

DAVID BECKER: Great to be back with you, Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to pick up on a few things that have come up in the program. Senator Warner voiced what some Democrats are concerned about, arguing that President Trump is laying the groundwork to undermine the upcoming election or interfere in it in some way. And, in fact, during the program the President is tweeting about American elections being rig– rigged, stolen and a laughing stock all around the world. What do you think of these statements here? Are both parties undermining confidence in our election? What do election officials that you speak to feel and think right now?

DAVID BECKER: Yeah, it’s very hard to predict where this is going. —

MARGARET BRENNAN: — Yeah. —

DAVID BECKER: — But we can look at what’s happened already. The President has signed an unprecedented executive order regarding elections trying to dictate policy to the states. That’s now been enjoined, blocked by three different federal courts. His Department of Justice is seeking highly sensitive data on hundreds of millions of American voters, is suing 24 states and D.C. Two federal courts just in the past few weeks have blocked that. The remainder are still to be heard. The cyber security apparatus that Senator Warner talked about, that had been built up under the first Trump administration to assist election officials, has been dismantled. So when I talk to election officials, they’re very concerned about this. I think it’s safe to say this is unprecedented. We have never seen a president try to exert executive authority over elections in the states like we have. And of course this is contrary to the Constitution, which specifically grants states the authority to run elections under Article 1, Section 4, the elections clause. Congress can also act, and if Congress does, of course, those laws will be followed. But both parties have tried to pass sweeping bills in the last five or six years and have failed.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So the Constitution, as you just point out, states it is the states —

DAVID BECKER: — Right. —

MARGARET BRENNAN: — who are going to run these elections. But the President — I want to play what he said so the public hears it — he has at least three times in the past week said he wants the Republican Party to nationalize voting and take over voting procedures in 15 states. Take a listen.

(Begin VT)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Take a look at Detroit, take a look at Pennsylvania, take a look at Philadelphia, you go take a look at Atlanta, look at some of the places that — horrible corruption on elections. And the federal government should not allow that. The federal government should get involved. These are agents of the federal government to count the votes. If they can’t count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over.

REPORTER: But the Constitution —

(End VT)

MARGARET BRENNAN: So what would prevent the president from doing something you just told us is unconstitutional?

DAVID BECKER: Well, the President might try to act and that’s why it’s so hard to predict exactly what’s going to happen, but the courts have been very firm on holding the limits of executive power under the Constitution. There was just a court decision a couple of days ago from the state of Oregon, a district court there, that denied DOJ access to this highly sensitive voter data that they were seeking from Oregon. And specifically said, again, that the Constitution is clear. The founders carved out elections specially to say the federal government can only act if Congress acts. The states have the authority and they expressly excluded the executive from that at all. They were very concerned about the excesses of an executive, a president, who would seek to consolidate more power than the Constitution granted by seizing the mechanisms of elections.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So two other things I want to run through with you. The White House took down that video that we were just discussing with Congressman Gonzalez. The focus has been on the racist portion of it, which was widely condemned. The video leading up to it that Congressman Gonzalez defended was about election software and security. In that, when you listen to it, you hear descriptions of problems with technology and things that the speaker says were anomalies, like in 2025 key states stopped counting at a certain time. Can you fact check some of this for us?

DAVID BECKER: Yeah, this is a very common methodology for those that are spreading lies about the elections, defying, just throw everything against the wall and see what sticks. And the rest of that video, in addition to the ending, was also troubling because it was a lot of disinformation, just blatantly false. We have paper ballots in the United States. 98% of all Americans vote on paper ballots. The only exclusion is the state of Louisiana, which is moving to paper ballots. That means those paper ballots can be checked against whatever the machines tally, and they are checked. Famously, in Georgia, those paper ballots in 2020 were counted three times, three different ways, once entirely by hand. Over five million ballots counted by hand in five days with observation from both campaign and observers. There’s no way to get around the fact that this is the, 2020 was the most scrutinized election in American history. And every time when courts reviewed it, when people who lied about the election were taken to court, the work of election officials withstood that scrutiny. It’s really remarkable. We’re — not only are our elections not rigged, they’re as transparent and verifiable and as secure as they’ve ever been, no matter whether you like the outcome or not. And we’re seeing disinformation being spread, in this case, by the President of the United States, targeted at his own supporters, at others who might not like the outcome of elections. And, unfortunately, some are believing it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, it’s unusual because the president won the election and Republicans won the last election. So when he is saying now that suddenly the system is broken, it seemed to work when it elected him, but it didn’t work when he lost in 2020. That, that is what is contradictory in sort of just the common sense version.

DAVID BECKER: That’s exactly right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But on the facts of it, you’re saying this has actually been verified time and time again. But those ballots you just talked about from Fulton County, we have body camera footage of these FBI agents going and taking the ballots. Why would the FBI now be taking the ballots? Why was the Director of National Intelligence there and what would they do with these ballots?

DAVID BECKER: This is a great question, and it still has not been answered. First of all, there was no crime committed in 2020. Those ballots have been counted and reviewed so many times. We know exactly what happened in Georgia in 2020. Joe Biden won that state by a relatively narrow margin of 11,779 votes. In 2024, Donald Trump won that state. Democrats didn’t somehow have the magical ability, while out of the White House, to steal an election in 2020 and then forget to use that power in 2024 when they had the White House. So we know exactly what happened. If there was a true, honest review of those ballots, it will confirm exactly what the result was, just as when the cyber ninjas reviewed the Maricopa County ballots in Arizona. They found the same exact outcome. As for the Director of National Intelligence being in Fulton County, there is no viable reason to have a high level political appointee during the execution of a search warrant. That search warrant is — has many defects, as the body cam footage showed. There was a defect in the address when they first showed up. They had to go back and get a corrected search warrant. And there’s also this, this issue of the statute of limitations. There’s a five year statute of limitations under federal law for any of the crimes that they mentioned in the warrant. There were two specific statutes. That five year statute has expired by any measure, and so I’m not sure why a magistrate signed off on it. We’re not sure why the DNI was in Fulton County inside a local election warehouse. We’ve heard shifting explanations. First, the Deputy Attorney General said she happened to be in Atlanta. I don’t know that that’s particularly credible. —

MARGARET BRENNAN: — Yeah. —

DAVID BECKER: — And then the President —

MARGARET BRENNAN: — Right. —

DAVID BECKER: — Then we heard the President directed her and then Attorney General Bondi directed her. We have no idea what actually happened.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we checked and at least nine top Trump administration officials, by CBS criteria, raised doubt about the validity or integrity of the 2020 election. That count does not include the President of the United States himself. David Becker, thank you. —

DAVID BECKER: — Thank you Margaret. —

MARGARET BRENNAN: — We’ll be back in a moment.

DNI whistleblower complaint includes details about intercept of call between foreign nationals discussing person close to Trump, sources say

February 8, 2026 / 1:10 PM EST / CBS News

Washington — A whistleblower complaint containing allegations related to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard includes highly-classified details about a National Security Agency intercept of a call between two foreign nationals who discussed a person close to President Trump, a senior U.S. intelligence official and an attorney for the whistleblower confirmed to CBS News.

Last week, intelligence community Inspector General Christopher Fox shared the highly classified whistleblower complaint, which was filed in May, with top congressional leaders. The move came shortly after a report in The Wall Street Journal about the complaint’s existence, following months of delay that has prompted questions about whether political considerations held up action and sidestepped oversight of a complaint involving the nation’s top intelligence official. Fox said the delay was due to a number of factors, including classification complexities, the 43-day government shutdown beginning in October and Senate confirmations at ODNI.

In the complaint, which contains information so sensitive it has been held in a safe, an intelligence community employee alleged that a highly classified intelligence report was restricted for political purposes, according to a letter sent by Fox to congressional leadership, and that an intelligence agency’s legal office failed to report a potential crime to the Justice Department for political purposes.

Analysts could not determine whether the conversation in the call between two foreign nationals was gossip or deliberate misinformation, according to the intelligence official. Information about the intercept was shared by Gabbard with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.

Andrew Bakaj, the whistleblower’s attorney, said his client alleges Gabbard bypassed normal National Security Agency distribution by delivering a paper copy to Wiles and directing the agency to route classified details only to herself rather than in a more widely disseminated report.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At the time the complaint was submitted, acting intelligence community watchdog Tamara Johnson, a career official who served in the role during the Biden administration, concluded one allegation contained in the complaint was not credible and said she could not assess the second. Fox, the current intelligence community inspector general and a former Gabbard aide who was confirmed to the role last fall, said the complaint was

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/sen-mark-warner-says-he-does-not-think-tulsi-gabbard-is-competent-for-her-position/

Iran’s top diplomat says nation’s power lies in defying pressure: ‘No to the great powers’

US continues its military buildup in the Middle East

By Ashley Carnahan
Fox News

Published February 8, 2026 1:45pm EST

Iran is prepared to pursue diplomacy while remaining ready to defend itself if challenged, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday, arguing that Tehran’s strength lies in its ability to stand firm against pressure.

“We are a man of diplomacy, we are also a man of war; not in the sense that we seek war, but … we are ready to fight so that no one dares to fight us,” he said, according to Press TV, Iran’s state-run English-language broadcaster.

Araghchi made the remarks in Tehran at the National Congress on the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Policy, two days after Iran and the United States held nuclear talks in Oman.

Fox News previously reported that negotiations between Iranian and U.S. officials in Muscat, the capital, were held face-to-face, marking the first such meetings since U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in June.

IRAN PUSHES FOR FRIDAY NUCLEAR TALKS IN OMAN AMID RISING TENSIONS WITH US FORCES: SOURCE

Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Hamad Al Busaidi meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi ahead of U.S.-Iran talks in Muscat, Oman, on Feb. 6, 2026.(Oman Foreign Ministry/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Iran’s Foreign Ministry described the talks as “intensive and lengthy” in a post on X, saying the meetings allowed both sides to present their positions and concerns.

“It was a good start, but its [continuation depends on consultations] in our respective capitals and deciding on how to proceed,” the government account said.

It added there was broad agreement on continuing the negotiations, though decisions on timing, format and the next round will be made following consultations in the two capitals, with Oman continuing to serve as the intermediary.

US MILITARY SHOOTS DOWN IRANIAN DRONE APPROACHING USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN ARABIAN SEA, OFFICIAL SAYS

Araghchi said Sunday that Iran views its nuclear program as a legitimate right and is seeking recognition of that position through negotiations.

“I believe the secret of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s power lies in its ability to stand against bullying, domination and pressures from others,” he said, according to Press TV.

“They fear our atomic bomb, while we are not pursuing an atomic bomb. Our atomic bomb is the power to say no to the great powers,” the top diplomat added. “The secret of the Islamic Republic’s power is to say no to the powers.”

A map created by Fox News shows U.S. naval vessels are positioned across key waterways in the Middle East, from the eastern Mediterranean to the Arabian Sea, as part of an expanded American military presence in the region.(Fox News / USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker)

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President Donald Trump has expanded the U.S. military presence in the Middle East, deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and the USS Michael Murphy, a guided-missile destroyer.

Other U.S. naval assets, including the USS Bulkeley, USS Roosevelt, USS Delbert D. Black, USS McFaul, USS Mitscher, USS Spruance and USS Frank E. Petersen Jr., are positioned across key waterways surrounding Iran, from the eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea to the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea.

Ashley Carnahan is a writer at Fox News Digital.

Transcript: Rep. Tony Gonzales on

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The single crushing problem American cattle ranchers wish Trump would fix instead

Ranchers argue the real problem isn’t about supply, it’s the corporate titans controlling America’s meat industry

By Amanda Macias
Fox News

Published February 8, 2026 11:28am EST

R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard joins ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s plan to import beef from Argentina as U.S. ranchers face rising bankruptcies and a shrinking domestic market.

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President Donald Trump’s beef import plan aims to cut prices, but cattle ranchers say it misses what’s crushing them most — the power of meat packers.

“Meat packers have created a system where they win no matter what — at the cost of everyone else,” said Will Harris, a fourth-generation cattleman and owner of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia.

Harris, who plans to hand off the operation to his children, said his farm handles every step of production, from raising cattle to processing and selling beef, giving him a clear view of how prices are set.

[AMERICA’S SMALLEST CATTLE HERD IN 70 YEARS MEANS REBUILDING WILL TAKE YEARS AND BEEF PRICES COULD STAY HIGH]

Sixth-generation cattle rancher Mark Kirkpatrick feeds heifers on the Stoker-Kirkpatrick Ranch in Post, Texas.(Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

At the center of that pricing power sit the “Big Four” — Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef — anchoring the U.S. beef supply chain from pasture to plate.

Together, the packing titans process about 85% of the grain-fattened cattle that become steaks, roasts and other supermarket cuts.

“The U.S. beef market is so highly concentrated that a small number of dominant packers control processing, distribution and pricing. This allows them to pay ranchers less for cattle while charging consumers more at the store. When cheap imported beef enters the system, it allows packers to increase their margins,” Harris told Fox News Digital.

It’s a concern echoed deep into cattle country.

Texas cattle rancher Cole Bolton said he sees the same problem in the Lone Star State.

[IN TEXAS CATTLE COUNTRY, ONE RANCHER WELCOMES TRUMP’S FOCUS ON DECADES OF THIN MARGINS]

Cattle rancher Cole Bolton and his wife in Texas.(Courtesy of Cole Bolton)

“What the real issue is, is the price differential between the big four packers and what they’re paying us for the product,” said Bolton, the owner of K&C Cattle Company.

Those margins, Bolton said, have been squeezed for decades. “Ranchers have dealt with such thin margins of profitability for the last 20 years.”

While ranchers like Bolton and Harris say Trump’s temporary expansion of U.S. beef imports from Argentina may help ease prices in the short term, both warn it is no substitute for rebuilding domestic production.

“Imports should be a bridge, not a long-term replacement,” Harris said. “We must rebuild the American cattle herd, protect American farmers and ensure transparency, so consumers understand where their beef comes from. Long-term affordability depends on a healthy, resilient domestic cattle industry — not permanent dependence on foreign beef.”

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Brad Randel rounds up some of his Black Angus cattle to sell at auction on Sept. 12, 2022, in McCook, Nebraska.(Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

Years of drought, high feed costs and an aging ranching population have thinned herds, leaving the U.S. cattle supply at its lowest level in more than 70 years.

“I think it’s going to take a while to fix this crisis that we’re in with the cattle shortage. My message to consumers is simple: Folks, be patient. We’ve got to build back our herds,” Bolton told Fox News Digital.

He noted that the cattle industry, over the last five years, has weathered one setback after another, from market turmoil to extreme weather conditions.

Amanda covers the intersection of business and politics for Fox News Digital.