Jimmy Carter, the nation’s 39th president, has died at the age of 100. He served a single term as president, but he also will be remembered for his decades of humanitarian work. 

Those who knew him – opponents and supporters alike – described him as a man of integrity, whatever flaws he may have had as president. 

“When we look at the whole thrust of Jimmy Carter’s life, it’s an amazing American story,” Douglas Brinkley, author of The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter’s Journey Beyond the White House, told Fox News Digital. 

“He grew up with no electricity, went to work in the… Navy. He became President of the United States at the height of the Cold War and won the Nobel Prize for his post-presidency,” Brinkley said. “All the time, his ambitious humanity was aimed at trying to make sure that everybody he came in contact with, had a better, fair shake at life.” 

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A peanut farmer and former one-term governor of Georgia, Carter beat the odds and was elected president in 1977. 

“Nobody thought Carter could procure the Democratic nomination. But Carter had a unique amount of bulldog tenacity [and] gumshoe perseverance,” Brinkley said. 

American politician Jimmy Carter smiles and waves to the auditorium at the close of the 1976 Democratic National Convention, where Carter was confirmed as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, 15th July 1976, Later that year, the former Governor of Georgia won the 1976 United States presidential election.  (Archive Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

His campaign befuddled Democrats, as Carter was deeply religious and ran to the right of his Republican opponent, Gerald Ford, on some social issues. As a Washington outsider, Carter’s agricultural background and accent endeared him to the deep south. 

He took office at a time when Watergate, the Vietnam War, and stagflation had left the country in a sour mood. In Washington, his populist campaign inevitably collided with establishment Democrats who never fully accepted Carter. 

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“He never had a full grip on his own Democratic Party. Ted Kennedy liberals didn’t like Carter, and the Scoop Jackson Cold War hawks didn’t like him,” Brinkley said. “So, he was kind of an island unto himself as president.” 

Carter’s foreign policy wins included brokering Mideast peace by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for nearly two weeks in 1978. At home, Carter partially deregulated the airline, railroad, and trucking industries and established the departments of Education and Energy and the Federal Emergency Manager Agency. 

Jimmy Carter signs Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977 ca. 9 November 1977.  (Hum Images/Universal Images Group)

Carter designated millions of acres in Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges and he appointed a then-record number of women and non-whites to federal posts. He also built on Nixon’s opening with China and pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy. 

Yet, his president was also marked by double-digit inflation, long gasoline lines, and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat. 

FILE: Former President Jimmy Carter addresses the crowd gathered for his 28th annual town hall meeting at Emory University on September 16, 2009, in Atlanta, Georgia.  (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

Carter was also crippled by his – as Brinkley put it – “lack of communication chops.” Oratory, Brinkley said, was not his strong suit. 

In 1979, Carter delivered his famous “Crisis of Confidence” speech in which he lamented that the United States, once a nation “proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God” had descended into “self-indulgence and consumption.”

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“Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning,” Carter said. “We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.” 

Craig Shirley, a Reagan biographer and historian, recalled watching the speech while working for a senator on Capitol Hill. 

“I remember watching it that Sunday night and feeling for the first time in my life, I felt scared as an American. The speech was such a downer. It was so depressing,” Shirley said. “A president is supposed to tell the truth to the American people, but also appeal to the American people’s hopes and aspirations and not their worst feelings or desires.” 

President Jimmy Carter and his Republican challenger, Ronald Reagan, shake hands as they greet one another before their debate on the stage of the Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio. (Getty Images)

Carter ultimately served a single, tumultuous term and was defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980. 

But whatever flaws his presidency may have had, Carter will perhaps be most fondly remembered for the decades he spent post-presidency advocating for democracy, public health, and human rights via The Carter Center. 

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The Center, which Carter opened with his wife, Rosalynn, in 1982, has been a pioneer of election observation, monitoring at least 113 elections in Africa, Latin America, and Asia since 1989. In perhaps its most widely hailed public health effort, the organization recently announced that only 14 human cases of Guinea worm disease were reported in all of 2021, the result of years of public health campaigns to improve access to safe drinking water in Africa. Carter’s work with the Center garnered a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. 

Haitian President Michel Martelly (2L) and former US President Jimmy Carter (C) visit a housing project on November 8, 2011, in Leogane (33 Km in the south of Port-au-Prince) which built by Carter Foundation for 500 families, victims of the last quake on January 12, 2010, in Port-au-Prince.  (THONY BELIZAIRE/AFP via Getty Images)

For his humanitarian work, Shirley argued, Carter will be remembered as “one of the best ex-presidents of the 20th century.” 

“Carter really wasn’t for PR stunts. He really threw himself into his charitable works and did so for many years,” Shirley said. 

“We’re going to remember him kindly. He was a terrific former president with what he did with the Carter Center and the various initiatives around the country. His book writing stands out [as does] his charitable works. So, he goes down in his history as an extraordinarily good, former president.”  

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Unlawful border crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped to a four-year low, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, with 46,610 people stopped between ports of entry in November.

The number of illegal crossings that month marked an 18% decrease from the previous month, and the lowest level since July 2020, the agency said.

“Our enhanced enforcement efforts, combined with executive actions and coordination with Mexico and Central American countries in recent months, are having a sustained, meaningful impact,” said Troy A. Miller, the acting head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Between June and November, the Department of Homeland Security removed more than 240,000 people, according to the agency. In fiscal year 2024, the department also removed more than 700,000 from the country, more than any prior year since 2010.

The numbers represent something of a turnaround for the Biden administration, which faced major political backlash for a surge in illegal crossings earlier in Biden’s term. Trump slammed Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the increases.

Immigration experts attribute the drop in border encounters — people stopped trying to cross in areas between ports of entry — to multiple factors, including what they said is the current administration’s “carrot-and-stick” approach.

Under the Biden administration, officials have encouraged migrants to turn themselves in at ports of entry, launching an app to make appointments as they travel through Mexico. It has also discouraged illegal entries between ports of entry, by making those who attempt to enter the country in that manner ineligible for asylum.

The sharp decrease comes just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump is set to be sworn in, bringing with him an administration that has made cracking down undocumented immigration a top priority. During his campaign, Trump and his top advisors characterized the southern border as out of control and under “invasion,” and promised mass deportations.

In a Time interview, Trump vowed to mobilize the military to help deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

“We have people coming in at levels and at record numbers that we’ve never seen before,” Trump said. “I’ll do what the law allows. And I think in many cases, the sheriffs and law enforcement is going to need help. We’ll also get National Guard. We’ll get National Guard, and we’ll go as far as I’m allowed to go.”

The recent border crossings figures paint a somewhat different picture, however.

Border Patrol agents on the ground have reported a drop in the number of crossings for the last seven months, according to the agency, with a 60% decrease occurring between May and November.

Officials at the Department of Homeland Security have also touted that the number of people processed for removal has doubled in recent months.

The CBP One app allows migrants traveling through Mexico to make appointments at ports of entry, discouraging them from trying to enter the country through deserts in between to avoid U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents, said Michelle Mittelstadt, spokesperson for the Migration Policy Institute.

The administration also issued an order making those who make illegal crossings ineligible for asylum, and encouraged the governments of Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica to increase migration controls in their counties.

“November marked the first time ever that a majority of encounters were migrants arriving at a port of entry rather than being intercepted after crossing the border without authorization — proof that this carrot-and-stick approach was taking effect,” Mittelstadt said.

Despite the decrease in border encounters, the incoming Trump administration has continued to promise an aggressive approach to deportations, and some have threatened sanctuary cities and states with consequences if they stand in the way.

Tom Homan, acting director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the first Trump administration and “border czar” appointee for the second, has called for increased workplace raids.

He told Fox News that cities that refuse to help federal immigration agencies could face criminal charges.

“If you knowingly conceal or harbor an illegal alien from a police officer, it is a felony,” he said.

Marisa Cianciarulo, dean of Irvine’s Western State College of Law and an expert on immigration and refugee law, said recollections of family separations and detentions during the first Trump administration, as well as recent threats of mass deportations, could also be playing a temporary role in discouraging migrants.

“I think we’re seeing a kind of preemptive response to the new administration,” she said. “There’s fear and anxiety, and they’re going to look for other means to support their families.”

Trump’s incoming deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, also sent out letters to a number of California officials, cities and counties, warning them of possible consequences if they interfered with immigration enforcement.

In September, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall) and other members of the House Judiciary Committee held a field hearing in San Diego County on the border crisis, inviting mayors of Santee and Chula Vista, law enforcement officials and residents to provide testimony.

In his opening statement, Issa, whose district includes large portions of San Diego County, said that while there are people who legitimately seek asylum and have worked toward entering the country legally, there are millions who have entered the country illegally.

“It is our goal to restore the rule of law and recognize that we can have legal immigration in our country but only if we can control the border, “ he said.

Issa could not immediately be reached for comment.

At the hearing, Santee Mayor John Minto said that the Biden-Harris administration’s approach to border security and immigration was affecting not only the state but San Diego County, which was at the forefront of the issue. He said that between September 2023 and May 2024, San Diego County received up to 154,000 street releases of migrants, many of whom were placed in trolleys and sent to the eastern region of the county.

“These unofficial figures underscore the unprecedented and grave scale of the region’s border crisis,” he said. “The influx of migrants has drained local resources, including overcrowding at local hospitals, prompting San Diego County officials to respond with a coordinated effort involving federal, state and regional support.”

Minto could not immediately be reached for comment.

Earlier this month, San Diego County passed a new policy that would prevent jail officials from cooperating with immigration officials in any way.

The policy went beyond the state’s current law, which allows local jurisdictions to notify immigration officials when someone convicted of certain violent or sexual felonies is set to be released from jail. Under the new policy, San Diego would not provide release dates to federal officials.

The policy has triggered a standoff between county supervisors and the San Diego County Sheriff, who said she would continue to cooperate with federal immigration officials as state law allowed.

California officials anticipate conflict with the new administration. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has called the letters from Miller’s America First Legal a “scare tactic.” Bonta said the state is preparing for legal challenges.

But Cianciarulo warns that punitive policies on migrants tend to have only temporary impacts. If economic and political factors push people out of their home countries, and they’re lured by the prospect of work in the U.S., migrants will eventually take the risk.

“Regardless of how strict the laws are, how punitive, we still come back to the fact that immigration is an economic reality,” Cianciarulo said. “[Migration] is not an emotional type of decision.”

Ukraine has received its first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the U.S., energy company officials confirmed this week— a positive development for Kyiv as it moves to ramp up its purchases of U.S. supplies and protect against broader supply concerns in the region.

Ukraine’s private energy company, DTEK, confirmed it has received some 100 million cubic meters of U.S. LNG in the shipment, which the U.S. shipped to an LNG regasification terminal in Greece. 

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The news comes after Ukraine’s DTEK inked a supply deal with U.S.-based LNG supplier Venture Global in June.

The DTEK contract is the first significant LNG contract to be struck between Ukraine and the U.S. and will allow Ukraine to purchase an “unspecificed” amount of LNG from Venture Global through 2026. The companies also signed a separate 20-year agreement, in keeping with traditional longer-term LNG supply contracts.

The news comes just hours before Russian gas giant, Gazprom, is slated to halt all piped gas deliveries shipped through Ukrainian pipelines to other European countries, following the expiration of its five-year contract.

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Then-President Donald Trump speaks at the Cameron LNG Export Terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana, in 2019. ( Scott Clause/USA Today)

Ukraine itself does not purchase Russian gas supplies. However, the European Union (EU) remains heavily dependent on imported gas, including from Russia.

Even after the abrupt throttling of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, the EU depends on piped Russian gas for roughly 5% of its total gas imports— sparking fresh fears as to how the bloc might cope in the event of a supply emergency or colder-than-expected winter. 

A Belarusian worker on duty at a gas compressor station of the Yamal-Europe pipeline, southwest of the capital Minsk, Belarus. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File)

In the interim, Ukrainian officials said, they hope the additional U.S. supplies can help fill in the gap and help ease any near-term supply crises in the EU.

“Cargoes like this are not only providing the region with a flexible and secure source of power, but are further eroding Russia’s influence over our energy system,” DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko said in a statement.