IMMIGRATION

CNN - President Donald Trump is dispatching around 1,500 troops to the US-Mexico border to follow through on a promise to crack down on illegal immigration. The move comes just days after the Trump administration asked the military to be prepared to deploy up to 10,000 active duty troops immediately, setting off a scramble inside the Pentagon. In an Oval Office interview on Wednesday, Trump also told Fox News he "might have to" cut funding to so-called sanctuary cities if they do not comply with his immigration orders. Meanwhile, the House voted on Wednesday to pass the Laken Riley Act, a GOP-led bill to require detention of undocumented migrants charged with certain crimes, handing an early legislative win to Trump and congressional Republicans.

AP News - The House on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that requires the detainment of unauthorized immigrants accused of theft and violent crimes, marking the first legislation that President Donald Trump can sign as Congress swiftly moved in line with his plans to crack down on illegal immigration. Read more.

The Department of Homeland Security has estimated the Laken Riley Act would cost $26.9 billion in the first year to implement, including an increase of 110,000 ICE detention beds. Most Democrats criticized the lack of funding in the bill as proof that it is a piecemeal approach that would do little to fix problems in the immigration system. Others raised concerns the bill would strip due process rights for migrants, including minors or recipients of the Deferred Action for Unaccompanied Arrivals program. 

 MSN -  President Donald Trump is preparing to send around 10,000 troops to the southern border, and Border Patrol agents have been directed to deny entry to asylum seekers if they “traveled through a country with a communicable disease,” according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection briefing document obtained by The Washington Post. The order does not list any specific disease, essentially closing the border to anyone attempting to exercise the right to seek humanitarian refuge under U.S. law.

 CNN - Thousands of additional active duty US troops are being ordered to the southern US border with Mexico, just two days after President Donald Trump mandated that the US military step up its presence there, according to officials familiar with the matter.

There are already roughly 2,200 active duty forces at the border as part of Joint Task Force-North, US Northern Command’s border mission based out of El Paso, Texas. They help support US Customs and Border Protection’s work there, performing mostly logistical and bureaucratic tasks like data entry, detection and monitoring, and vehicle maintenance.