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Union Budget 2024: FM Nirmala Sitharaman to present budget today; what to expect

Sitharaman’s Budget Speech is scheduled to begin at 11:00 am. Before the budget, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) held a crucial meeting on Monday, during which sources said they discussed floor management and a plan to refute the opposition’s narrative.

Union Budget 2024: When and where to watch FM Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech live today

The budget speech is expected to shine a light on infrastructure development, the upliftment of social welfare schemes, and the measures for economic growth.

House Dems insist primary is ‘open’ despite rushing to coronate Kamala Harris

House Democrats are insisting that anyone is free to jump into their 2024 presidential primary — but suggest challenging Vice President Kamala Harris is a futile effort. “The convention delegates can vote for whomever they choose once they’re released. That means anybody who wants to can and should offer themselves — Vice President Harris has offered herself. So far, the only other person who speculated that he might do it is former Democratic, now independent, Senator Manchin, and then he took it back, so it’s open,” Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., told Fox News Digital. When asked if another Democrat jumping into the race just weeks before their nominating convention would hurt the party’s momentum, Kildee answered, “No, I don’t think so. I think she’ll more than likely be a first-ballot nominee, for good reason.” Ex-House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., was blunter in his assessment of the situation. BIDEN ENDS BID FOR SECOND TERM IN WHITE HOUSE AS HE DROPS OUT OF HIS 2024 REMATCH WITH TRUMP “Woah woah woah woah woah woah. I thought Kamala Harris was on the ballot,” he told a reporter who asked if he had concerns about the lack of a primary. “I thought Kamala Harris was on the ballot to be the president if the president couldn’t serve. She was on the ballot. It was Biden-Harris.” Harris confirmed she would seek the presidency on Sunday after President Biden made the bombshell announcement that he’s dropping out of the race. Biden has endorsed her, along with a host of Democratic leaders, including former President Clinton and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Pelosi said when asked if she supported an open process, “Anybody can run. They can run.” More than 150 House Democrats have endorsed her as of Monday, according to multiple counts. But with the rush to get behind Harris, Republicans have accused Democrats of staging a coup to replace an 81-year-old candidate who was trailing former President Trump in the polls. TRUMP SAYS BIDEN ‘IS NOT FIT TO SERVE’: ‘WHO IS GOING TO BE RUNNING THE COUNTRY FOR THE NEXT 5 MONTHS?’ Several House Democrats who spoke with Fox News Digital, however, said anyone was free to jump into the race but denied a challenger would derail Harris’ and Democrats’ momentum. “You’re seeing Democrats coalesce around Vice President Harris. I have endorsed her. Ultimately, in order to have a primary, you have to have a challenger. No one is challenging her,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla. “And so right now it is an open process, right? You’ve seen potential people come out who could run and they’re endorsing her. And so that is the open process that’s happening.” When asked if he would advise potential challengers to stay out, he said, “I’m not discouraging anything but these people, right, folks at a high level, governors, senators…they’re not saying they’re gonna throw their hat in the ring, they’re endorsing Vice President Harris because they also think she’s the best person for the job. So it’s tough to say ‘We want to process’ when right now you don’t even have a challenger.” The top Democrats on the Education and Homeland Security Committees, Reps. Bobby Scott, D-Va., and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., both insisted the primary was open but agreed Harris would most likely be the nominee after the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in August. Scott said, “It is open, but nobody’s running. And frankly, I don’t see much point, I mean, you’ve got about 150 members of the Democratic caucus already endorsed, delegations…The delegates are Biden-Harris delegates. Where are they going to go?” KAMALA HARRIS’ PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN RAISES NEARLY $50 MILLION SINCE BIDEN ENDORSEMENT Thompson said her likely victory “cements her strength” among Democrats even if she does face a challenger. “If you had an open primary, I’m not sure who’s…left to compete with her,” said Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., pointing out the significant number of Democrats endorsing her in just 24 hours since she took up Biden’s mantle. Harris has indeed scored support from a wide array of House Democratic factions, including the Congressional Black Caucus and Progressive Caucus. But some lawmakers who have been critical of the Biden administration — like Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., have been notably silent. Biden announced he was dropping out of the presidential race after mounting pressure from fellow Democrats who were worried he was not mentally or physically fit to campaign again, and that such debates were a distraction from the left’s overall campaign against Trump.

JD Vance calls for 25th Amendment to be invoked after Biden exits presidential campaign

During his second rally of the day, vice presidential nominee JD Vance once again called on Democrats to invoke the 25th Amendment following President Biden’s announcement on Monday that he was exiting the presidential race. “Can anybody just admit that if Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he ain’t fit to serve as President of the United States either?” Vance asked the crowd. “And if Kamala Harris is too blind or too corrupt to admit to the American people that Joe Biden should have never been in there, she’s not fit to serve, either. We got to get them both out of there.”  Vance continued, adding that he was just as shocked as everyone else to find out Biden had dropped out of the race. “My wife told me that Joe Biden had decided to withdraw from the presidential race. Now, see, you guys are excited about that. I don’t know, I was looking forward to debating Kamala Harris actually,” Vance said. “I was promised a debate with Kamala Harris, and that’s what I plan to get.” JD VANCE RALLIES VOTERS IN HIS HOMETOWN HOURS AFTER BIDEN EXITS PRESIDENTIAL RACE Vance argued that making Harris the presidential nominee is dangerous as she is even worse than Biden. “Now, history will remember Joe Biden as not just a quitter, which he is, but one of the worst presidents of the United States of America. But my friends, Kamala Harris is a million times worse, and everybody knows it,” Vance explained. “She signed up for every single one of Joe Biden’s failures, and she lied about his mental capacity to serve as president. Our country has been saddled for three and a half years with a president who cannot do the job. And that is all because Kamala Harris and the rest of the Democrats lied about his ability to be our president. I think we ought to kick them all out come November and replace him with some people who care about this country,” Vance said.  Vance added more points about Harris and her failure to secure the border. JD VANCE CALLS ON DEMOCRATS TO INVOKE 25TH AMENDMENT: IF BIDEN ‘CAN’T RUN…HE CAN’T SERVE’ “Harris is actually even more extreme than Biden, even though that’s hard to believe. She wants to totally decriminalize illegal immigration. She supported abolishing ICE and wanted to defund the police. Even Joe Biden never went so far as to say he wanted to defund the police,” Vance said. “There is simply no way that you can sit here and say the policies of Joe Biden have worked, which is to say that we got to kick Kamala Harris out of the Oval Office. Don’t give her a chance,” Vance urged. Vance, once again, called what is happening to the Democratic Party a threat to democracy. VANCE HITS CAMPAIGN TRAIL AS HARRIS TEAM SCRAMBLES TO CONSOLIDATE DEM SUPPORT “Democrats are the ones who want to throw out 14 million ballots and not elect Kamala Harris, but select Kamala Harris with a bunch of billionaires and Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi making the decision instead of Democrat voters. It’s disgraceful. And that’s the threat to American democracy, that corruption and that broken process,” Vance said. Vance offered the crowd an open invitation to the Republican Party where their vote would matter and be heard. “If you are a Democrat primary voter, they don’t give a damn about you because they don’t give a damn who you voted for. If you are a Democrat and you look at this corrupt process, I invite you to the Republican Party. We want to make America great again. We believe in elections. We believe in persuading voters, not lying to them for three and a half years and then doing a switcheroo,” Vance said.

Dozens killed as Palestinians flee Israel’s new offensive on Khan Younis

At least 70 Palestinians have been killed and more than 200 wounded in Israel’s latest assault on the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza as Palestinians fleeing Israeli tank shelling and air strikes have described the situation as “doomsday”. “Due to the Israeli occupation’s attacks and massacres in Khan Yunis governorate from the early hours of this morning until now, 70 people have been martyred and more than 200 wounded,” Gaza’s Ministry of Health said in a statement on Monday, adding that the dead included women and children. Residents of the densely built-up area of southern Gaza said the tanks advanced for more than 2km (1.2 miles) into Bani Suheila on the eastern edge of Khan Younis, forcing residents to flee under fire. Israel’s third assault on the southern city began shortly after Palestinians were ordered to leave the area, which has been designated as “safe zone”, giving little time for people to find safety. Palestinians were killed by Israeli tank salvoes in Bani Suheila and other towns just east of Khan Younis, and the area was also bombarded by air, according to medics. “It is like doomsday,” one resident who identified himself only as Abu Khaled told the news agency Reuters via a chat app. “People are fleeing under fire. Many are dead and wounded on the roads.” The Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis has been overwhelmed with patients, and the wounded are being treated on the floor. Medics at the medical facility said the situation was “out of control”. Palestinians flee the eastern part of Khan Younis after they were ordered by the Israeli army to evacuate [Hatem Khaled/Reuters] Palestinians displaced Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military ordered Palestinians in al-Mawasi, which is located along the Gaza coast between the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, to leave. Israel justified its new operation there, saying Palestinian fighters have been using the area to launch attacks on Israeli forces. In a statement, it urged people to relocate from eastern Khan Younis to the west of the “adjusted humanitarian area of al-Mawasi”. However, many Palestinians are hesitant to join the swelling tent camps in al-Mawasi, declared a humanitarian zone in May, after a recent attack on the area killed at least 92 people and wounded more than 300, according to figures from the Health Ministry. That attack caused global outrage. Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in Central Gaza, said the situation is “deteriorating in the eastern areas of Khan Younis city”, where the population “has returned to live in the remnants of their destroyed houses – and, again, the military has announced that they are starting a new incursion”. “But that happened in a very short period of time, and they started to bombard residential houses. People were inside. Later, the military started to drop leaflets [to order an evacuation] in the eastern areas of Khan Younis,” he said. Some families fled on donkey carts and others on foot, carrying mattresses and other belongings. Palestinians, the United Nations and international relief agencies have said there is no safe place left in Gaza. A relative of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli strike at Nasser Medical Complex [Hatem Khaled/Reuters] Hospitals overwhelmed The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said two of its clinics located in eastern Khan Younis had been knocked out of operation because of the new Israeli offensive. At Nasser Medical Complex, some people stood outside the morgue to bid farewell to dead relatives. “We are tired. We are tired in Gaza. Every day our children are martyred – every day, every moment,” Ahmed Sammour, who lost several relatives in bombings of eastern Khan Younis, told Reuters. “No one told us to evacuate. They brought four floors crashing down on civilians, … and the bodies they could reach, they brought to the refrigerator [morgue],” Sammour added. Palestinian children flee the eastern part of Khan Younis [Hatem Khaled/Reuters] Hamas denounced the attack, stating that it would not deter Palestinians from remaining “steadfast in their land”. “We call upon the international community and the United Nations to urgently intervene to stop the systematic Zionist killing of our people, who are facing a genocide,” the group said in a statement on its Telegram channel. At least 39,006 people have been killed and 89,818 injured since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October. The death toll in Israel from Hamas-led attacks on October 7 is estimated at 1,139, and dozens of people are still being held captive in Gaza. Adblock test (Why?)

Kamala Harris hails Joe Biden’s legacy in first speech since he quit race

Kamala Harris, the vice president of the United States, has praised her boss, President Joe Biden, a day after he dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed her as his successor. “Joe Biden’s legacy of accomplishment over the last three years is unmatched in modern history,” Harris said on Monday in her first public appearance since the 81-year-old US leader abruptly announced his withdrawal from the November polls a day earlier. “In one term, he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who have two terms in office,” Harris said at a White House event to honour college athletes, where she was filling in for Biden, who is recovering at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after testing positive for COVID-19 last week. In her statement, however, Harris, 59, did not specifically refer to her new status as the leading Democratic candidate to replace Biden as the party’s presidential nominee. Meanwhile, virtually all of the prominent Democrats who had been seen as potential challengers to Harris have lined up behind her, including Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House of Representatives and one of the longest-serving and best known Democrats. Pelosi, who remains influential since stepping down as speaker in 2022, played a leading role in persuading Biden to end his campaign amid concerns over his mental acuity and ability to beat Republican Donald Trump or to serve another four years. “With love and gratitude, I salute President Biden for always believing in the possibilities of America and giving people the opportunity to reach their fulfillment,” Pelosi, 84, said in a statement on Monday. “We must unify and charge forward to resoundingly defeat Donald Trump and enthusiastically elect Kamala Harris as the next President of the United States.” Biden and Harris have been working together since 2020. As the US president solidified his lead in that year’s election, he promised he would select a woman as his running mate. The selection of Harris was seen as an effort to appeal to Black voters and energise the party’s base. On Sunday, while declaring he was abandoning his re-election campaign, Biden wrote on X that his endorsement of Harris has been “the best decision” he has made. Campaign officials and allies have already made hundreds of calls on Harris’s behalf, urging delegates to next month’s Democratic Party convention to join in nominating her for president in the November 5 election against Trump. The new party nominee will be chosen at the convention in Chicago next month when more than 4,000 party officials and activists will gather to vote. Harris could, however, still face challengers seeking the Democratic nomination in the coming days. Rebekah Caruthers, vice president of the Fair Elections Center, told Al Jazeera Harris has a solid record when it comes to winning elections. “She has been on the ballot many times, with being a district attorney, California attorney general. She herself ran for president during the 2020 cycle,” Caruthers said. “One thing that the Harris campaign has been putting out: Each time Kamala Harris is on the ballot, she wins her election.” But some Democrats were concerned about a Harris candidacy, in part because of the weight of a long history of racial and gender discrimination in the US, which has not elected a woman president in its nearly 250-year history. “We should all prepare for the onslaught of attacks that would face any historic candidate,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told reporters. “Misogyny in our politics is far from over. Racism in our politics – especially confronting Donald Trump as a an opponent – is far, far from over.” Adblock test (Why?)

Biden’s legacy is Gaza genocide, Palestinian rights advocates say

Democratic politicians and commentators in the United States have heaped praise on President Joe Biden since he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race on Sunday. Representative Maxine Waters, for instance, called Biden a “kind and decent man”. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, extolled his “vision, values and leadership”. But while political leaders showered Biden with compliments, bombs continued to rain down on Gaza, killing dozens and sparking another wave of mass displacement in Khan Younis. For many Palestinian rights advocates, the carnage and abuses in Gaza will define Biden’s place in the history books, as the US remains steadfast in its support of Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory. “He’ll be remembered for the hundreds of thousands killed, injured and displaced in Gaza,” said Abed Ayoub, the executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). “There is no way around it. ‘Genocide Joe’ is what he’s going to be remembered as.” Thank you, President Biden! I am one of your greatest supporters and I was willing to stay with you through the Democratic Party nomination. However, you have decided to step down and you have endorsed your Vice President Kamala Harris. You are a kind and decent man who is… — Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) July 21, 2024 Since Israel’s war on Gaza started on October 7, Biden has offered the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unconditional military and diplomatic support. Only once did Biden withhold a shipment of bombs to Israel over humanitarian concerns — and even then, he released part of that cargo a couple months later, amid pressure from Netanyahu. Israel’s war, meanwhile, has killed nearly 39,000 Palestinians, displaced hundreds of thousands, fuelled a man-made hunger crisis and destroyed large parts of the territory. United Nations experts and other observers have warned of a “risk of genocide” in Gaza. Ayoub told Al Jazeera that, despite Biden’s domestic achievements, the president will rank among the worst in US history due to his unconditional support for Israel. The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) echoed that comment. “Nothing will erase the fact that Biden’s legacy is — and always will be — genocide,” the group said in a statement. Netanyahu ‘bear hug’ The US president has been a stalwart supporter of Israel throughout his decades-long political career. He frequently calls himself a Zionist and argues that Jews across the world would not be safe without Israel. He put that worldview into policy during his presidency, as he pushed on with Former President Donald Trump’s pro-Israel doctrine. Biden kept the US embassy in Jerusalem and refused to reverse the Trump-era decision to recognise Israel’s claims to the occupied Golan Heights in Syria. He also aggressively pursued formal ties between Israel and Arab states, a goal Trump advanced with the 2020 Abraham Accords. That push for normalisation, however, came without progress towards the recognition of an independent Palestinian state or the dismantling of systemic anti-Palestinian discrimination. The outbreak of the war in Gaza further underscored Biden’s pro-Israel policies. Weeks after the conflict started, Biden travelled to Israel and publicly embraced Netanyahu in what many critics have described as a “bear hug”. That sign of friendliness was widely understood to be an endorsement of Netanyahu’s response in Gaza, after the Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7. Even early in the conflict, human rights groups accused Israel of horrific violations rising to the level of genocide — a push to destroy the Palestinian people. Within the first week alone, the Israeli military said it had unleashed 2,000 strikes across Gaza — a strip of land roughly the size of Las Vegas. Biden has since authorised continuous arms transfers and more than $14bn in additional aid to sustain Israel’s Gaza offensive. Moreover, his administration has vetoed three United Nations Security Council proposals that would have called for a ceasefire. Hatem Abudayyeh, the chair of the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), said Biden will be remembered above all for enabling Israel’s “crimes against humanity”. “He could’ve turned the tap of money and weapons off in October, but he allowed this genocide to happen. He is complicit, and that’s what will be written on his tombstone,” Abudayyeh told Al Jazeera. Biden and Palestinians Following his entry into politics in 1970, Biden quickly rose from local to national prominence, mounting a successful dark-horse campaign to represent Delaware in the US Senate in 1972. After nearly four decades in Congress, he became vice president under Barack Obama, and in 2021, he won the presidency himself. The president does not hail from a political dynasty, and he is not an exceptional orator. His success in politics is often credited to his interpersonal skills and ability to project empathy. That sense of compassion, however, never extended to Palestinians, activists say. “For nine and a half months, President Biden has funded and armed the brutal Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, making the US government directly complicit in the killing of at least 39,000 people, including over 15,000 children,” Jewish Voice for Peace Action said in a statement on Sunday. “Americans have watched in horror and outrage as Biden sent the Israeli government the weapons it used to wipe out entire generations of Palestinian families, to destroy hospitals, bakeries, schools, mosques, churches, universities, refugee camps, homes and Gaza’s entire health care system and electricity and water grids.” Beyond policy, Biden’s rhetoric at times seemed dismissive of Israeli atrocities and Palestinian suffering. “I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” the US president said in October. But that stance caused Biden troubles both domestically and abroad. Even before Biden delivered a disastrous debate performance on June 27, the 81-year-old had started to trail his Republican rival Trump in public opinion polls. Parts of the Democratic base — including young people, progressives, Arabs and Muslims — voiced frustration and anger with his support for Israel.

Texas GOP leaders paint Harris as a disaster on border security

Everything wrong with border security is the fault of the Democratic vice president, these Republicans say.

Can Harris use Biden’s campaign funds? And is she eligible to appear on general election ballot?

President Biden’s decision to stand down from re-election yesterday is unprecedented in its timing. No presidential candidate has ever announced that they were not seeking another term this close to Election Day. The decision has made Vice President Harris the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic Party nomination. Today’s Fox News Power Rankings explains how Harris’ elevation could reshape the race and what comes next in Democrats’ nominating process. This guide provides answers to two more burning questions about the move. First, how Harris is likely able to use Biden’s existing campaign funds; second, why she can appear on all 50 states’ general election ballots. FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: IS KAMALA HARRIS UNBURDENED BY WHAT HAS BEEN? Harris has received endorsements from the vast majority of Democratic Party leaders and luminaries. While the party has not yet formally nominated a candidate and this cycle has been unpredictable, this guide will presume that she is the Democrat presidential nominee. The existing “Team Biden-Harris” campaign had $240 million cash on hand at the end of June, and that money is critical to Harris’ election bid. Harris is likely to be able to use it. The figure above is one number, but it is calculated by taking the Biden-Harris campaign committee’s cash as well as that of the Democratic National Committee, the state parties, joint fundraising committees and allied political action committees (PACs). Only the Biden-Harris campaign committee part of the overall number is even in question, since the DNC, state parties and other groups listed above are their own entities. According to FEC filings, the Biden-Harris campaign committee had just under $96 million in cash on hand at the end of June. As for that $96 million, Harris is likely to be able to use all of that, too. An analysis of FEC rules indicates that since Harris was running with Biden, she would have access to those specific funds. Shanna Ports, senior legal counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, told the Wall Street Journal that “she would maintain access to all the funds in the committee and could use them to advance her presidential candidacy.” That is not a guarantee, and anti-Harris groups may litigate the issue. The Republican chair of the FEC has referenced a rule that general election funds in that figure are subject to refund unless they are appropriately reassigned or redistributed.   Even if Harris couldn’t inherit the funds directly, precedent suggests that Biden’s committee could transfer money to the Democratic National Committee. That would put Democrats in as strong a position as if the money went directly to Harris. Another clear option would be to transfer the funds to a super PAC, though that is less financially efficient. Super PACs cannot coordinate with a campaign, and they are often subject to higher advertising rates. No deadlines have passed that would prevent or “lock out” Harris from appearing on a general election ballot in any of the 50 states. Remember, Democrats had not yet formally nominated Biden – the Democratic National Convention is scheduled for next month. Until yesterday, he was merely the “presumptive nominee.” (Republicans made former President Trump their formal nominee at the Republican National Convention last week.) WHAT COMES NEXT FOR DEMOCRATS AFTER BIDEN’S CAMPAIGN SUSPENSION? This means there is no need for a “change” or “swap” on general election ballots. The party just needs to nominate a candidate before any general election ballot access deadlines.  That understanding of ballot access rules is supported by local elections officials. One senior official in the Republican-run battleground state of Georgia said on Monday, “Biden dropping out will not impact Georgia ballots. As the Democrats haven’t had a convention, there is no “nominee” to replace.” Democrats have consistently viewed Ohio as the first ballot access deadline on Aug. 7 (there is disagreement over whether the deadline is that early following legislative changes; for the purposes of this analysis, it only matters that Democrats consider the deadline Aug. 7). As long as the party has a formal nominee by that date, or is persuaded that the Ohio deadline is later, then Harris is set to appear on every state ballot.

Fearing Trump victory, new migrant caravan sets off towards US border

A caravan of hundreds of migrants is heading to the U.S. border, reportedly in an effort to make it to the besieged border before the November elections — due to their concerns that former President Trump would shut it down. The caravan, with hundreds of migrants from dozens of countries, left from Mexico’s southern border and headed north on Sunday. It was the same day President Biden announced he would not seek re-election. The Associated Press reported that some in the group said they wanted to make it to the border before November, getting in ahead of a possible Trump victory.  PANAMA PRESIDENT DISMISSES THIS KEY ISSUE AS A ‘UNITED STATES PROBLEM’ “We are running the risk that permits (to cross the border) might be blocked,” said Miguel Salazar, a migrant from El Salvador, told the outlet. Specifically, he talked about the granting of appointments to be paroled into the U.S. via the CBP One app. The app was expanded for such a purpose under the Biden administration, which currently allows 1,000 migrants a day in using the app. Trump is expected to stop that program if elected. Many such caravans break up long before they reach the U.S. border, with migrants going their own way and sometimes arriving at the border independently.  The U.S. saw record numbers of encounters in FY 2023 and 2022. Recently, numbers have dropped sharply by more than 50%, which the White House has put down to new restrictions put into place by President Biden in June. BORDER SECURITY, ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION TOP AGENDA AT GOP CONVENTION: ‘MASS DEPORTATION NOW!’  The administration has repeated its calls for additional funding and reforms from Congress to fix what it says is a “broken” immigration system. “While the president’s action has led to significant results, it is clear that the only lasting solution to the challenges we are seeing on our border — the solution that would deliver additional authorities, resources and personnel that we need to secure our border — is through congressional action,” a White House official said this month. BORDER WALL GAP LEFT OPEN AFTER BIDEN STOPPED CONSTRUCTION FRUSTRATES AGENTS: ‘IT’S A BEACON’  However, Republicans have blamed the historic border crisis on the Biden administration, accusing it of rolling back successful Trump-era policies and adopting an “open border” strategy — a claim the Biden administration has denied. The Republican National Convention last week featured a number of high-profile calls for additional border security and extra enforcement. Attendees were seen wielding signs saying “Mass Deportations Now!” “The invasion at our southern border, we will stop it and we will stop it quickly,” Trump said in his speech to the convention. Meanwhile, a recent poll showed the number of Americans who want lower levels of immigration is the highest it has been since 2001. The Associated Press contributed to this report.