Thursday, April 11, 2024

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1/ Biden is reportedly considering an executive order to limit the number of asylum-seekers who can cross the southern border. After the bipartisan Senate bill collapsed earlier this year, the Biden administration is studying whether Biden has the use authority in Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which gives the president the ability to block entry of certain immigrants if it would be “detrimental” to U.S. national interests. “We’re examining whether or not I have that power,” Biden said. “There’s no guarantee that I have that power all by myself without legislation. And some have suggested I should just go ahead and try it. And if I get shut down by the court, I get shut down by the court. But we’re trying to work that, work through that right now.” (Axios / Bloomberg)

2/ The Biden administration finalized a rule to close the “gun show loophole,” requiring people who sell firearms online and at gun shows to conduct background checks on customers. The new rule is estimated to impact more than 20,000 people engaged in unlicensed firearms sales. (Bloomberg / CNN)

3/ Biden will expand the boundaries of two national monuments in California: the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. Biden set a goal of conserving 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. He has designated five new national monuments this term. (Washington Post)

4/ The top U.S. humanitarian aid official said famine is occurring in northern Gaza. Samantha Power, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, cited an assessment from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which stated that the “latest evidence confirms that Famine is imminent in the northern governorates of the Gaza Strip and projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May 2024.” Power said the USAID “believe that assessment is credible.” The IPC classifies food shortages as a famine when at least 20% of households face an extreme lack of food, when at least 30% of children suffer from acute malnutrition, and when at least two adults or four children for every 10,000 people die each day from starvation or disease linked to malnutrition. Power said the rate of malnutrition among children in northern Gaza prior to Oct. 7 was “almost zero” but it now stands at one in three. (New York Times / CNN / Axios)

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