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United States President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the Black History Month Reception at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.
Border bill fails in Senate: the jockeying intensifies
President Joe Biden is blaming Donald Trump for killing a Senate bill on Ukraine support and border security on Wednesday.
The bill would have delivered billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine and Israel along with stricter border security – including asylum restrictions, a major stated goal for the GOP.
The bill looked like it might have enough bipartisan support to pass until Trump weighed in to trash it. In the end, only four Republicans voted “yes”.
The bill would have been a win for Biden at a time when the Trump-led GOP are keen to amplify their message that President Biden is neglecting the border to a “constitutionally violating” degree.
Biden is trying to flip the script by blaming Trump for the demise of the border deal, aid to Ukraine, support for Israel, and relief for Gaza – all at once.
Four Democrats also voted against the bill, including majority leader Chuck Schumer, who, after seeing GOP support evaporate, cast a “no” vote as a tactical move allowing him to quickly call for a vote on the foreign aid portion alone. Doing so forces the GOP to decide whether to block Ukraine and Israel's aid twice in one day.
Texas Governor Gregg Abbott speaks during a news conference near the International Bridge between Mexico and the U.S
Texas takes immigration into its own hands
Critics argue that the law could lead to racial profiling and wrongful arrests of US citizens and legal immigrants. Legal experts are questioning the law's constitutionality, as immigration laws can only be enforced by the federal government. Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union has already vowed that they will see Gov. Abbott in court.
The law's supporters, however, argue that it is necessary due to perceived inadequacies in federal immigration enforcement. They believe the law will help protect Texans and deter illegal immigration.
Showdown looms: Whatever the stance, it is likely to trigger a high-stakes legal and political clash between the Texas government, civil rights groups, and the Biden administration. It also raises significant questions about the future balance of power between state and federal authorities in immigration enforcement at the southern border.United States Senator Ron Johnson (Republican of Wisconsin)
Will Democrats and Republicans head for the border?
But there is now more talk in Washington of a legislative compromise that Dems would accept and Republicans would cheer in the form of policies that make it tougher for asylum-seekers to enter the US.
Why might the Dems give way? They want more money from Republicans to help Ukraine repel Russia, and concessions on border policy might help. Dems also worry that another border crisis will undermine their 2024 election chances by boosting Republican turnout and diverting attention from other issues – like abortion rights – where Democrats hold a stronger political hand.
What’s the Republican calculation? Winning Dem concessions to tighten the border is a political victory, but an election-year border crisis on Biden’s watch might be more valuable.
We’ll be watching to see how heavyweights in each party play their respective political hands.
Migrants gather near the border wall
Biden is (re)building the wall
No, you haven’t gone back in time to 2016. Yes, the US government is building a wall along the southern border.
The Biden administration announced this week that it will bypass environmental laws to fast-track 20 miles of barrier construction in the Rio Grande Valley – where 245,000 border arrests were made over the last year.
President Joe Biden, who campaigned on stopping Donald Trump’s border wall, is being called a hypocrite by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. In a press conference on Thursday, he told reporters the decision was not a policy reversal, and while he does not believe border walls are effective, the money Congress allocated to barrier construction under Trump in 2019 could not be allocated elsewhere.
But if the money has been allocated since 2019, why restart construction now? Biden is facing pressure from his party to get illegal immigration under control. Democratic leaders from New York to Illinois fear it could strengthen Republicans' tough-on-crime platforms and cost them suburban and moderate voters.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has criticized Biden’s inaction, convinced the president to authorize work visas for nearly 500,000 Venezuelans to ease the strain on his city’s resources. Adams is currently on a tour of Latin America to dissuade would-be asylum-seekers from coming to the Big Apple.
Democrats will be trying hard not to lose gains in the state’s increasingly liberal cities and suburbs, particularly among Hispanic voters who are increasingly voting for the GOP. In Starr County, which is 95% Hispanic and construction on the wall is about to resume, voters shifted to the right by 55 points in 2020 compared to 2016.
Constructing a 20-mile barrier will neither win back these voters nor fix the country’s migrant crisis. But Biden’s decision underscores that border policy is a complex issue with decisive consequences in the 2024 election.
Mexican authorities and firefighters remove injured migrants, mostly Venezuelans, from inside the National Migration Institute (INM) building during a fire, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico March 27, 2023.
Hard Numbers: Deadly Mexican fire, ZAUKUS, terror in the Sahel, Luke Skywalker saves Ukraine
38: Migrants fearing deportation set an immigration detention center ablaze in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, killing 38 asylum-seekers and critically injuring dozens. The blaze was one of the deadliest incidents ever for Mexico's immigration system, which is accused of mistreating migrants as it struggles to accommodate the rising number of asylum-seekers arriving at the U.S-Mexico border.
4: New Zealand may become the 4th country to join the US, UK, and Australia in the AUKUS alliance – or shall we say ZAUKUS? While less concerned with the non-nuclear pillar of the alliance – the part Wellington may join – China has already signaled its opposition to AUKUS’S potential to disrupt the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.
2,000: The number of terrorism victims has increased by 2,000% in the Sahel region of Africa over the past 15 years, according to the 2023 Global Terrorism Index. More than 20,000 civilians have been killed by terrorism in the region since 2007 – a concern for local governments and European leaders faced with increased migration as a result of the violence.
14 million: Luke Skywalker has joined the fight. Mark Hamill, who played Skywalker, is the new voice of Ukraine's aerial bombardment Air Alert app. The app has been downloaded over 14 million times, and now Ukrainian users will hear the Jedi Knight warn them when to find shelter – before sending them on their way (when the danger has passed) with the iconic phrase: “May the force be with you.”
Migrants use their phones to access the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in a shelter near the US-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico February 24, 2023.
Hard Numbers: Glitchy US border app, Japanese no-show canned, Paris stinks, Argentina’s inflation hits triple digits
2.5: A new US government app meant to speed the processing of asylum-seekers and other migrants arriving from Mexico has a rating of just 2.5 stars on Google play. Small wonder, given that the app is reportedly glitchy, difficult to use, and creates opportunities for scammers to prey on migrants and their families.
7: WFH FTW? Not in Japan’s parliament. After failing to show up to work a single time in seven months, Japanese MP Yoshikazu Higashitani was expelled from parliament on Tuesday. Higashitani, a YouTube star who specializes in celebrity gossip under the name GaaSyy, was elected last July as a member of a party whose only issue is to reform Japan’s public broadcast system.
5,600:Paris le Pew! Some 5,600 tons of stinking, uncollected trash have piled up in the City of Light, the result of an ongoing strike by public sanitation workers opposed to the government’s controversial plan to raise the pension age.
100: Argentina’s annual inflation rate has hit 100%, cracking triple digits for the first time since way back in 1991, when, to put things in proper perspective, Maradona was still with Napoli. The country’s soaring prices are a major concern for voters ahead of what is sure to be a super-contentious election this fall.Visitors walk past an image of President Xi Jinping holding a ballot ahead of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing.
What We’re Watching: China’s party congress, US-Mexico migrant deal
China's party is having a party
China's ruling Communist Party kicks off its 20th Congress on Sunday. By far the most-followed event in Chinese politics, the CCP will give itself, as always, a (glowing) report card and lay out how it'll govern China until 2027. All eyes will be on Xi Jinping, a shoo-in to get a precedent-shattering third term as CCP secretary-general, paving the way for him to become China’s leader for life. What's more, Xi is also expected to adopt the symbolic title of “Helmsman,” putting him at the same level as Mao Zedong. Perhaps even more importantly, by the end of next week, we'll know the composition of Politburo's elite Standing Committee, whose seven members — including Xi himself — have the final say on major political, economic, and social issues. If the bulk of them are Xi loyalists instead of technocrats, that'll be a signal that he prioritizes political control over the structural reforms China needs to fix its big problems. Finally, keep an eye out for the order in which the seven men step onto the stage of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. If none of them is in his mid-50s and stands close to Xi, that’ll mean he hasn’t picked a successor yet.
Biden to Venezuelans: Steer clear of Mexico border
Under a new US-Mexico agreement, undocumented Venezuelan asylum-seekers who are caught crossing into the US from Mexico will be sent back across the border. At the same time, however, Washington will now grant temporary residence and emigration flights to 24,000 Venezuelans who have applied for asylum from their home country and have a sponsor in the US. Since 2018, six million have fled political repression and economic collapse in Venezuela, making it one of the world’s worst refugee crises. Many of them have undertaken dangerous journeys on foot through Colombia, Central America, and Mexico. Until now, Washington has allowed Venezuelans to remain in the US while their asylum cases were reviewed. But with record numbers of undocumented migrants arriving at the US southern border, and midterms fast approaching, the White House is utilizing the controversial Trump-era Title 42 provision that allows officials to swiftly expel migrants who arrive without papers.This article comes to you from the Signal newsletter team of GZERO Media. Sign up today.
The Graphic Truth: Bracing for a surge at the US-Mexico border
The Biden administration is preparing to lift Title 42, a Trump-era immigration rule that allows the US to immediately turn away asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border because of the public health crisis. Since it was first enforced in March 2020, the measure has been used to expel around 1.7 million people, accounting for more than 50% of those who crossed the border illegally in 2021. Authorities are bracing for up to 18,000 border crossings per day when the Biden administration lifts the public health order on May 23. We take a look at encounters between border patrol agents and migrants at the southern US border from 2019 to 2022.