Trump is set to start his fundraising tour in California, where he is expected to boost campaign funds after a pretty successful post-guilty verdict period in which his campaign raised nearly $53 million in just 24 hours after Thursday’s conviction. In May, his campaign confirmed raising $141 million, which is a huge step towards catching up with Biden’s campaign which has been leading the fundraising race for months. Trump is now focused on campaigning and gaining support from mega-donors, who are expected to further boost his presidential efforts.
The illegal immigration issue
Illegal immigration has emerged as the main presidential race topic, prompting Biden to finally take action to combat people illegally entering the country. On Tuesday, President Biden unveiled plans to enact immediate and significant restrictions on migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border as the White House tries to neutralize immigration as a political liability ahead of the November elections. This decision, labeled by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson as a “too little, too late” effort by President Biden, drew a lot of negative comments from the public, especially from Republican senators who openly attacked the president for not taking steps to address the migrant crisis for more than three years.
Attacks against President Biden
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Biden’s executive order is a joke. Even Texas Rep. Greg Casar criticized Biden’s plan, saying that the plan will not actually reduce illegal crossings. The order will take effect when the seven-day average of daily border encounters between ports of entry exceeds 2,500, meaning it will take effect immediately. The last time average daily encounters fell below 2,500 was in the first month of the Biden presidency.
Trump campaign attacking Biden
Before the announcement was even made, Donald Trump’s campaign, who is likely to be the Republican nominee again, strongly opposed President Biden’s decision labeling as “radical” executive action toward migrant amnesty. They argued that the administration’s extreme step to grant amnesty to migrants is not really about making the southern border more secure. Instead, they claim it is designed to speed up the release of illegal migrants.
“Let’s be clear — Joe Biden’s Executive Order is for amnesty, not border security,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, which was followed up by a second campaign statement and a Trump-Republican National Committee press call on Biden’s “mass amnesty.”
“After importing more than 15 million illegal aliens into our country and releasing countless criminal migrants who have brutally raped and murdered our citizens, this new order will facilitate the release of more illegals as quickly as possible,” Trump’s campaign added.
What are others saying
The policy, considered a letdown by progressives, was initially mentioned in January. At that time, Biden mentioned that his administration was looking into ways to “shut down” the border. On Tuesday, he declared that he would block migrants from applying for asylum at entry ports if the number of daily crossings hits 2,500. Texas Representative Jodey Arrington believes this action indicates that Biden has unnecessarily delayed using his authority to address illegal immigration.
“We now know he has the authority. He’s admitting it,” he said to NOTUS.
“He’s trying to desperately show the American people that he wants to address the issue that he himself created,” Speaker Johnson said on Sunday two days before Biden announced the executive order. “We documented 64 specific actions that President Biden and Secretary [Alejandro Mayorkas] at [the Department of Homeland Security] took over … the course of three and a half years, beginning on the first day that President Biden [took office], to open the border. They did it intentionally; it’s had catastrophic effects upon our country that we’ll be living with for decades to come.”
The details
Once implemented, this order will lead to the quick deportation of migrants who reach the border and do not claim they fear returning to their countries. This could happen within days or even hours. These migrants might also face penalties like being banned from re-entering the U.S. for five years or facing criminal charges.
On the other hand, migrants who do express fear or a desire to seek asylum will undergo a screening by a U.S. asylum officer, held to a stricter standard than before. If they meet the criteria during this screening, they can apply for more restricted forms of humanitarian relief, such as protections under the U.N. Convention Against Torture.
