(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden’s executive action on asylum, which was rolled out three weeks ago, has decreased encounters along the border by 40%, the Biden administration said.
The executive action established a rule to turn away migrants who are claiming asylum between ports of entry after there have been seven consecutive days of more than 2,500 encounters along the southern border.
The restrictions on asylum claims would remain in place for an additional 14 days once daily encounters at the border fall to a seven-day average of 1,500 or less.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Texas Civil Rights Project and other civil rights organizations filed a federal complaint challenging the rule, saying it puts vulnerable migrants at risk.
The administration claims the new rule is having an impact, but said the rule is “no substitute” for the bipartisan border bill which failed to advance in the Senate in May.
The daily average of encounters along the border are 2,400 a day — not enough to lift the asylum restrictions but trending downward, the administration said.
The numbers come as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will be along the southwest border on Wednesday, touring operations.
Since the executive action was implemented, DHS has removed and returned more than 24,000 individuals to more than 20 countries, including by operating more than 100 international repatriation flights.
Kevin Hart is adding more context to a clip that was previously shared on social media. In it, he’s at a club with Latto and Usher, but he appears to be tired.
“That moment was a real moment. Both of them are amazing people,” Kevin says in an interview with Complex. “Usher’s a really close friend of mine, and he told me we were going to a little lounge atmosphere, which is my vibe. I don’t mind. But we ended up being at what I would consider to be a club.”
Though he makes it clear he has “nothing against the club,” he says he “was ready to take my a** home.”
“My fear is just looking like the old guy in the club. I never want people to look up and go, ‘Why is he here?’ That to me, that’s aggressive. ‘Oh God, you see Kevin over there in the corner? Why is he here? It’s 21, 22 night. Why did he come?’” Kevin says. “Bumping into my kids’ friends from school, that’s just aggressive. I don’t need those problems. I’ll take my a** home and be happy.”
Anderson .Paak is bringing a taste of Malibu to the rest of the U.S., and we’re not talking about the city. He’s set to embark on a 14-date tour in the fall that will support his second studio album, released back in 2016. Fans can expect to hear the whole album played in full, and see performances from special guests Maurice Brown and GAWD.
The tour kicks off on Sept. 18 in Bend, Oregon, and comes to a close on Oct. 13 in Atlanta. Other cities on the trek include LA, Las Vegas, Chicago, Philadelphia and Columbia, Maryland.
Tickets for the Malibu shows go on sale to the public on Friday at 9 a.m. local time via andersonpaak.com, with presales starting as early as Wednesday at 9 a.m. local time.
— A Boogie wit Da Hoodie has earned his first-ever Diamond certification with “Drowning” featuring Kodak Black, which has successfully sold 10 million copies. He was presented with a plaque during his sold-out hometown show at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Monday. He brought 50 Cent, Fabolous, Cash Cobain, Mary J. Blige and more artists onstage to perform.
— Ready, Set, Love! Gunna is considering adding a few love songs to his new album. “I might do this love album,” he told Spotify’s A Day In The Life. “Not all love songs but just a pocket of songs that’s more intimate,” Gunna clarified. “I think that’s going to be the next album for me.”
–Speaking of albums, Metro Boomin may release just one more on streaming services. He explained why via a shared tweet that read, “A fan needs to stream an artist’s music 20 times a day for a whole year for that artist to make $25 from a fan.”
— Toni Braxton has added more dates to her Love & Laughter tour with Cedric the Entertainer. The six new dates at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas are: Aug. 9 and Aug. 10, Oct. 18 and Oct. 19, and Dec. 20 and Dec. 21. Tickets for the added shows will go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT.
— Rapper Julio Foolio, born Charles Jones, has died at age 26. WTVG reports he was killed in a shooting Sunday in Tampa, Florida, where he’d gone to celebrate his birthday. A law firm representing Julio says he was ambushed following his involvement in an accident that took place in his hotel’s parking lot. He was known for his song “Voo Doo.”
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump — who has made harsh opposition to immigration a defining message of the GOP — last week pitched what would be one of the most significant expansions of U.S. immigration in decades.
Speaking on a podcast hosted by tech businessmen, Trump announced his support for giving a green card to every noncitizen graduate of a U.S. college (“staple a green card to every diploma,” said the former president).
Hours later, following outrage from some anti-immigration Republicans, he issued a clarification. A statement from a spokesperson given on Friday to ABC News said that the proposed program would involve an “aggressive vetting process,” and that “this would only apply to the most thoroughly vetted college graduates who would never undercut American wages or workers.”
Whether or not they become a major part of his messaging, Trump’s recent comments offer a glimpse of what appeared to be in contrast to how he talks about immigration on the campaign trail — for example, calling for the mass deportation of migrants in the country illegally.ahead of a hotly-contested presidential election where it will be a top issue — and a high-stakes first debate this Thursday.
ABC News spoke to conservative experts and immigration policy insiders to discuss how a potential shift in tone on immigration could play with voters.
“It runs against type, in many ways,” said Whit Ayres, a long-time Republican political strategist. “In some senses, it’s a ‘Nixon goes to China’ kind of phenomenon, where the guy who has been the most critical of immigration offers an opportunity for immigrants who are most likely to create jobs and grow our economy to stay in America.”
For key independent voters, Ayres believes, more vocal support for high-skill immigration could offer a needed complement to the fiery anti-immigrant rhetoric that Trump has long made his calling card.
“It could make swing voters and suburban voters take another look at the way he’s approaching the immigration issue,” Ayres said, “and make it seem more rational than emotional.”
Daniel Di Martino, an economist who studies immigration and a fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, also noted that the stance appeals to business leaders looking to hire high-skilled immigrants.
“The audience here is corporations and businesses — not voters, necessarily,” said Di Martino.
Trump announced the position on green cards during an appearance on a podcast hosted by several businessmen from the tech industry, which relies disproportionately on high-skilled worker visas. In recent weeks, Trump has made overtures to Silicon Valley, looking to draw support from a group that has tended to side with Democrats.
As several interviews with conservative immigration advocates and policymakers made clear, though, Trump’s position isn’t without its critics.
“My first-rip reaction was roll-backward shock,” said one senior official who served in the Department of Homeland Security during the Trump administration. “This is so outrageously unthought-through it’s amazing.”
If all foreign students were to receive a green card on graduation, the official objected, “you’re not buying an education — you’re buying citizenship.”
“It’s a terrible idea,” concurred Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies and an avowed immigration restrictionist. “But it doesn’t surprise me coming from President Trump, because he’s never been a restrictionist.”
“He subscribes to the standard Republican mantra, ‘illegal good, legal bad,'” Krikorian added.
Another former Trump immigration official — former acting director of ICE Tom Homan — was more approving.
“If we’re going to immigrate, let’s immigrate some highly-skilled workers,” Homan said, noting that he believes Trump’s comments on the podcast referred back to proposals from early in his administration.
In 2017, the former president issued an executive order commissioning a review of the H1-B high-skill visa program and backed legislation that would have substantially reduced the number of green cards granted each year, saying that it would “prioritize immigrants based on the skills they bring to our Nation.”
Before his election as president, in 2015, Trump tweeted language similar to his comments on the podcast last week, writing that “When foreigners attend our great colleges & want to stay in the U.S., they should not be thrown out of our country.” But weeks before the 2020 election, the Trump administration would go on to modestly restrict the H1-B program.
Despite opposition from some conservatives, experts interviewed by ABC News agreed that Trump did not risk losing support from opponents of immigration among his base.
“What are those people going to do? Vote for Joe Biden?” asked Ayres. “They’re not going to vote for Donald Trump, because he wants to have high-skilled immigrants in the country? Really?”
“He has got so much credibility on these issues, he can actually take a position that seems slightly at variance with what he said in the past on immigration and get away with it,” Ayres added.
“Nobody’s going to stop voting for him because of what he said,” echoed Di Martino. “If anything, that can only earn him more votes.”
(NEW YORK) — The judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial in Manhattan agreed to partially lift a gag order on the former president Tuesday, granting Trump the ability to speak freely about witnesses in the case and the jury that found him guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
“Circumstances have now changed,” Judge Juan Merchan wrote Tuesday. “The trial portion of these proceedings ended when the verdict was rendered, and the jury discharged.”
Trump last month was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
During the trial, Trump and his attorneys repeatedly bemoaned a stipulation in the judge’s limited gag order that prevented him from publicly responding to commentary about the case from witnesses in the proceedings, most notably Daniels and Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen.
Merchan restricted what Trump could say publicly about them and others involved in the case out of concern for the integrity of the trial.
The judge’s ruling Tuesday left in place the portion of the gag order protecting members of the court staff, District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s staff, and their families.
“Until sentence is imposed, all individuals covered by Paragraph (b)” — referring to members of the court staff, the district attorney’s staff and their families — “must continue to perform their lawful duties free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm,” Merchan wrote in the ruling.
And although he struck the portion of the gag order pertaining to jurors, Merchan wrote that it would be his “strong preference” to extend those protections because there remains “ample evidence to justify continued concern for the jurors.”
An earlier prohibition on releasing personal information about jurors will remain in effect.
Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in the case on July 11.
