Biden faces mounting pressure to protect immigrants before Trump takes office
CNN
President Joe Biden is facing mounting pressure from Democratic lawmakers and allies to extend protections to immigrants in the United States amid party fears over President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations.
President Joe Biden is facing mounting pressure from Democratic lawmakers and allies to extend protections to immigrants in the United States amid party fears over President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations. Behind the scenes, senior Biden administration officials are wrestling with what, if anything, more can be done to protect certain immigrants residing in the United States, juggling demands from allies and trying to avoid overreaching on an issue that, some political strategists argue, cost Democrats the White House. Immigration dogged Biden for the better part of his administration and was among the top issues for voters in the 2024 presidential election, many of whom disapproved of the president’s handling of the US-Mexico border. That reality is, in part, shaping the discussion internally. “The paradigm has shifted,” a senior administration official told CNN, referring to the political landscape over the last two years. Officials, grappling with the electoral results, are assessing what can be done without inviting fierce backlash. But Democrats, concerned about Trump’s immigration plans, are clamoring for Biden to do more for the immigrant community, as advocates express frustration over the administration pressing forward with strict asylum rules while other actions remain in limbo. “They’re afraid of their own shadow on this issue,” said a Democratic congressional aide.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a political survivor, weathering crisis after crisis since his unlikely ascent two years ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan are well matched, rhetorically forceful opposites. And they have been clashing for more than a decade over an increasingly relevant question of presidential power: How easy should it be for the president to fire the heads of independent agencies?
The Army gynecologist described in a recent lawsuit as a “predator in uniform” is now being held in the Bell County Jail in Texas, “after apparently violating conditions of liberty imposed by his commander,” according to an Army spokesperson.
Brian Walshe on Thursday came face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as he took the stand to testify in Walshe’s murder trial.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use a congressional map that will boost President Donald Trump’s effort to keep Republicans in control of Congress, blocking a lower court decision that found the new boundaries were likely unconstitutional because they were drawn based on race.
The US military carried out a strike Thursday on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board, according to a social media post from US Southern Command.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.
If nothing else, the controversy over the Trump administration’s second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean has surfaced a long-overdue debate about its already legally dubious first strikes.
Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.