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AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome
to the "NewsHour."

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President Biden signed
an executive order today
that temporarily blocks

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migrants from seeking asylum
when border encounters
reach a certain number.

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GEOFF BENNETT: The
president used the
announcement to set himself

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apart from his predecessor
and political rival, former
President Donald Trump.

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JOE BIDEN, President of
the United States: I will
never demonize immigrants.

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I'll never refer to
immigrants as poisoning
the blood of a country.

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And, further, I will never
separate children from their
families at the border. I will

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not ban people from this country
because of their religious
beliefs. I will not use the

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U.S. military to go into
the neighborhoods all
across the country to
pull millions of people

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out of their homes and
away from their families,
to put detention camps
while awaiting deportation,

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as my predecessor says
he will do if he occupies
this office again.

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GEOFF BENNETT: Still, the move
is one of the most restrictive

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President Biden has taken
to date to crack down on
the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Our White House
correspondent, Laura
Barron-Lopez, joins us now.

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Laura, it's great to see you.

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So what does this executive
order actually do?

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ:
President Biden said that
he needed to take this
action to secure the border.

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And what it does is that it
uses 212(f) authority, what's
known as 212(f) authority,

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to temporarily suspend entry.
And so what that allows
them to do is to -- asylum

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requests will be shut
down when daily averages
hit 2,500 encounters
between ports of entry.

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Migrants will then be
sent across the border
or to their home country.
And asylum requests

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will only reopen if the average
drops below 1,500 encounters
across a 14-day period.

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And the ACLU has already said,
Geoff, that it plans to file
a legal challenge to this

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executive action. And
so it's headed to the
courts, potentially as
far as the Supreme Court.

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GEOFF BENNETT: And this is
notable, Laura, in part because
President Biden ran for the

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office he now holds
promising to make the asylum
process more humane, as
he put it, for migrants.

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Who does this affect the most?

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: There are
going to be two exceptions
to this ban, which is that it

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will not impact unaccompanied
children and it will not impact
victims of human trafficking.

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But, roughly, according
to April numbers from CBP,

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daily encounters are around
5,900. And under U.S. law,

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migrants have the right
to claim asylum not just
at ports of entry, but
between ports of entry.

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So it's going to impact
potentially hundreds of
thousands of migrants
who have attempted to

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claim asylum between ports
of entry. And immigration
lawyers told me that they're

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fearful that this executive
action is going to force some
families to separate themselves,

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essentially parents
sending their children
across the border alone,
since unaccompanied minors

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are not going to be prohibited
to seek asylum wherever they
claim asylum across the border.

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GEOFF BENNETT: The president
today was flanked by
some border town mayors,

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Democratic governors,
Democratic House members.

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Still, he's getting some
incoming from other Democratic
members of Congress and,

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of course, Republicans in
Congress. Give us a sense
of the reaction so far.

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Republicans like Senator
John Cornyn of Texas
accuse President Biden of

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playing politics with
this executive action.

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SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX):
It is a shell game. It is
a shell game. They are not

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serious about it. This is
a conversion based on the
proximity of the next election

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and sinking poll numbers. And
we think it deserves to be
called out for what it is.

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Now,
it's important to note,

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Geoff, that Senator Cornyn was
one of the Republicans that
voted against that bipartisan

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Senate border deal that
President Biden negotiated
with Republicans,

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with one of the most
conservative Republicans
that there is in the Senate,
Senator James Lankford.

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But President Biden
also received some harsh
criticism from Democrats.

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REP. NANETTE DIAZ BARRAGAN
(D-CA): It's not a time for us
to turn to Trump era policies.

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It's not time to go and use
the tools that Trump used. That
doesn't make this better or

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OK. On the contrary, we
should not be looking
to those policies. It
didn't work under the

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prior administration and
it's not going to work today
under this administration.

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: That's
Congresswoman Nanette Barragan
there. She's the chairwoman

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of the Hispanic Caucus. And
she, along with a number
of other Latino lawmakers,

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were not happy about
this executive action.

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But there were some
Latino lawmakers that were

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present that were at the
White House event today
alongside the president.

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GEOFF BENNETT:
And lastly, Laura,

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the president said he
will have more to say on
this in the coming days.

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Based on your reporting,
what might that entail?

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So,
multiple sources told me,
including some in the room,

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that, when President Biden met
recently with leaders of the
Hispanic Congressional Caucus,

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that they asked Biden to
not implement this executive
order that he did today.

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They asked him to not do
it, but that they said
that, if he had to do it,

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that they wanted him
to accompany it with
other actions that would

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potentially provide relief
for undocumented migrants
currently in the United States.

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And so I'm told that the
White House is considering
some actions that would

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impact undocumented migrants
currently in the U.S. that are
married to U.S. citizens. And

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that could protect some 700,000
to one million undocumented
migrants who are married to U.S.

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citizens. It would give
those spouses protections,
allowing them to potentially
get work permits.

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And that would take away
the fear of deportation
as they go along the
process to get green cards.

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GEOFF BENNETT: Laura
Barron-Lopez, you have been

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ahead of the pack with
this reporting from the
very start. Thanks so much.

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LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.