White House warns Texas immigration law will ‘sow chaos and confusion at our southern border’ – as it happened

The White House expressed outrage after Donald Trump said in an interview that Jews who vote for Democrats “hate” Israel and their religion, with a spokesman for Joe Biden decrying Trump’s “vile and unhinged antisemitic rhetoric”, and the Democratic National Committee saying the former president “should be ashamed of himself”. Meanwhile, the leaders of Congress announced a government funding deal to avert a partial shutdown that would have begun this coming weekend, though it still needs to be approved by lawmakers. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was “deeply concerned” about reports of an imminent famine in northern Gaza, while again calling on Republican House speaker Mike Johnson to allow a vote on aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.

Here’s what else happened today:

• The supreme court allowed a Texas law granting police powers to arrest people suspected of crossing the border illegally to go into effect, drawing objections from the White House.

• Peter Navarro, a former Trump White House adviser, reported to federal prison to begin serving a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress, but not without railing against his conviction one last time.

• Republican senator Lindsey Graham took up a proposal, championed by Trump, to turn Ukraine aid into a loan. The White House declined to comment.

• It’s primary day in five states, with most of the drama occurring in down-ballot elections.

• The Biden campaign launched an effort to win the support of Latino voters in the November elections.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blasted Texas’s SB4 immigration law, saying in a statement that allowing state police to arrest people suspected of entering the country illegally will upend border security:

We fundamentally disagree with the Supreme Court’s order allowing Texas’ harmful and unconstitutional law to go into effect. S.B. 4 will not only make communities in Texas less safe, it will also burden law enforcement, and sow chaos and confusion at our southern border. S.B. 4 is just another example of Republican officials politicizing the border while blocking real solutions. We remained focused on delivering the significant policy changes and resources we need to secure the border – that is why we continue to call on Congressional Republicans to pass the bipartisan border security agreement, the toughest and fairest set of border reforms in decades.

Some thoughts on the implications of the supreme court allowing Texas’s SB4 to go into effect and give police the power to arrest people suspected of crossing the border illegally, from Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council:

However, the law is still being litigated at the appeals level, and depending on how that plays out, Reichlin-Melnick predicts the supreme court may have to weigh in on it again soon:

In a dissent, liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor writes that allowing the Texas immigration law to go into effect “invites further chaos and crisis in immigration enforcement”.

“Texas passed a law that directly regulates the entry and removal of noncitizens and explicitly instructs its state courts to disregard any ongoing federal immigration proceedings. That law upends the federal-state balance of power that has existed for over a century, in which the National Government has had exclusive authority over entry and removal of noncitizen,” writes Sotomayor, who is joined by fellow liberal justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“Texas can now immediately enforce its own law imposing criminal liability on thousands of noncitizens and requiring their removal to Mexico. This law will disrupt sensitive foreign relations, frustrate the protection of individuals fleeing persecution, hamper active federal enforcement efforts, undermine federal agencies’ ability to detect and monitor imminent security threats, and deter noncitizens from reporting abuse or trafficking.”

Texas’s Republican governor Greg Abbott called the supreme court’s decision a “positive development”, but notes it is still being challenged at the appeals court level:

The Texas law allowing police to arrest suspected undocumented border crossers comes amid a wider confrontation with the Biden administration over border security. Here’s more on that, and the supreme court’s decision to allow the law to go into effect, from Reuters:

The US supreme court on Tuesday declined to block a Republican-backed Texas law allowing state law enforcement authorities to arrest people suspected of crossing the US-Mexico border illegally, rejecting a request by President Joe Biden’s administration.

The administration had asked the justices to freeze a judicial order allowing the Texas law to take effect while the US government’s challenge to the statute proceeds in the lower courts. The administration has argued that the law violates the US constitution and federal law by interfering with the US government’s power to regulate immigration.

Governor Greg Abbott last December signed the law, known as SB 4, authorizing Texas law enforcement officers to arrest people suspected of entering the United States illegally, giving local officers powers long delegated to the US government.

Abbott said the law was needed due to Biden’s failure to enforce federal laws criminalizing illegal entry or re-entry, telling a press conference on 18 December that “Biden’s deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself.“

The supreme court has allowed a law passed by Texas’s Republican-dominated state government that gives police the power to arrest people suspected of crossing the border illegally to go into effect.

The court’s six conservative justices turned down an appeal from the Biden administration, which wanted the law blocked while it challenged it in lower courts. The court’s three liberals dissented.

The measure had been on hold due to a stay authorized by conservative justice Samuel Alito, who was among the group that allowed it to go into effect. Alito extended it yesterday:

19 Mar 202414.02 EDT

Joanna Walters

An Arizona lawmaker announced on Monday on the state senate floor that she plans to have an abortion after learning that her pregnancy is not viable, the Associated Press writes.

State senator Eva Burch, a registered nurse known for her reproductive rights activism, was surrounded by fellow Democratic senators as she made the announcement, the Arizona Republic reported and the AP brings us via news wire.

Burch said that she found out a few weeks ago that “against all odds”, she was pregnant. The mother of two living children from west Mesa who is running for re-election said she has had “a rough journey” with fertility. She experienced her first miscarriage 13 years ago, was pregnant many times and terminated a nonviable pregnancy as she campaigned for her senate seat two years ago, she said.

Now, Burch said that her current pregnancy was not progressing and not viable and she had made an appointment to terminate.

I don’t think people should have to justify their abortions. But I’m choosing to talk about why I made this decision because I want us to be able to have meaningful conversations about the reality of how the work that we do in this body impacts people in the real world.”

Burch said the state’s laws have “interfered” with her decision. Arizona law required an “invasive” transvaginal ultrasound that her doctor didn’t order and she was then read “factually false” information about alternatives that was required by law, she said.

I’m a perfect example of why this relationship should be between patients and providers,” not state lawmakers,” Burch said.

Burch called on the legislature to pass laws that make sure every Arizonan has the opportunity to make decisions that are right for them. She also said she hoped voters have a chance to weigh in on the topic of abortion rights on the November ballot.

19 Mar 202413.39 EDT

Joanna Walters

Joe Biden is onboard Air Force One en route to Nevada and expects to touch down shortly in Reno, for a campaign event, then head on to Las Vegas and, later, Arizona and its state capital, Phoenix.

The US president and his vice-president, Kamala Harris, are today launching a special push to retain and win over teetering Hispanic voters who might be leaning towards the Republicans.

Donald Trump was ahead of Biden in a recent New York Times/Siena College poll of Latino voters by six points. Many respond to Trump’s conservative economic message and hardline approach to migration and future immigration.

Biden and Harris have devised the “Latinos con Biden/Harris” [Latinos with Biden/Harris] campaign. Harris has posted about it on X/Twitter, with Biden reposting/tweeting. There’s a clip of her on a bilingual radio show in Phoenix, Arizona, and giving speeches and making statements, talking up the US as a nation of immigrants.

“Generation after generation, immigrants have made our nation stronger,” she said. There’s also a clip of her saying the US immigration system has been “broken for years”, which in the fourth year of the Biden administration is a tough message to push, despite intransigence in Congress and unprecedented forces driving migration, from extremism to the climate crisis.

The White House expressed outrage after Donald Trump said in an interview that Jews who vote for Democrats “hate” Israel and their religion, with a spokesman for Joe Biden decrying Trump’s “vile and unhinged antisemitic rhetoric”, and the Democratic National Committee saying the former president “should be ashamed of himself”. Meanwhile, in Congress, the top Democrats and Republicans announced a government funding deal to avert a partial shutdown that would have begun this coming weekend, though it still needs to be approved by lawmakers. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was “deeply concerned” about reports of an imminent famine in northern Gaza, while again calling on Republican House speaker Mike Johnson to allow a vote on aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.

Here’s what else has happened today so far:

• Peter Navarro, a former Trump White House adviser, reported to federal prison to begin serving a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress, but not without railing against his conviction one last time.

• Republican senator Lindsey Graham took up a proposal, championed by Trump, to turn Ukraine aid into a loan. The White House declined to comment.

• It’s primary day in five states, with most of the drama occurring in down-ballot elections.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was also asked if the Biden administration had looked into making its aid to Ukraine a loan, as Donald Trump has proposed.

She didn’t answer the question, only restating their position that Republican House speaker Mike Johnson must allow a vote on legislation approved by the Senate to provide military assistance to Ukraine along with Taiwan and Israel.

“To give Ukraine what they need is to get that national [security] supplemental passed,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.

“We know for a fact that there are multiple Republican congressional members in the House who have said that they would vote for it if it goes to the floor. We know where Democrats are on this,” she continued. “The speaker has to put it to the floor and not … let politics get in the way.”

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre just told reporters that the White House is “deeply concerned” over aid groups’ warning that famine in northern Gaza is imminent.

“We certainly are deeply concerned about the report yesterday … about the imminent famine in Gaza,” Jean-Pierre said. “As the report makes clear, despite ongoing and tireless efforts, including by this administration, the amount of aid reaching people in Gaza, and particularly those most in need, remains insufficient. “So, we have been clear that there is more that needs to be done and this report is a stark and devastating reminder of this.”

The United States has been airdropping food and other aid into the enclave, and Joe Biden announced earlier this month that the US military would build a floating pier to allow deliveries by sea.

“Everyone needs to do more,” said Jean-Pierre, who called on Israel “to provide sustained and unimpeded for assistance to enter both northern and southern Gaza.”