Our live coverage has ended. Scroll through the posts below to read more about the Trump administration’s changes to asylum claims and his attacks on a group of congresswomen.
Demonstrators blocked traffic in Midtown Manhattan today during a protest calling for the elimination of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
The demonstrators briefly shut down traffic at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue during the “Abolish ICE” protest. Holding signs that read “Abolish ICE” and “Close the camps,” protesters also demanded the closure of detention facilities holding migrant children and families.
At least 48 people were arrested during the protest, an inspector with New York Police Department’s Strategic Response Group told CNN.
Texas Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar blasted a new rule by the Trump administration that would dramatically limit the ability of Central American migrants to claim asylum if they enter the United States by land through Mexico.
She went on to say President Trump is “trying to make immigrants fearful of being in this country, asylum-seekers fearful of seeking asylum.”
Asked about President Trump’s comments earlier in the day which included him accusing her of “speaking about how wonderful al Qaeda is,” Rep. Ilhan Omar refused to comment, saying she “will not dignify it with an answer.”
“It is beyond time to ask muslims to condemn terrorists,” Omar added.
On Monday, Trump said he is angry “when I hear people speaking about how wonderful al Qaeda is.” He emphasized: “That was Omar. How great al Qaeda is.” And he said, “She said you can hold their chest out, you can — ‘When I think of America, huh. When I think of al Qaeda, I can hold my chest out.’”
Omar referred to Trump’s comments as a “ridiculous statement.”
Facts First: Omar has not praised al Qaeda or said she can hold her “chest out” when thinking of al Qaeda. Trump was inaccurately describing remarks she made in 2013 about how one of her college professors acted when he discussed al Qaeda.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, said she was not surprised by President Trump’s racist attacks.
Ocasio-Cortez vowed to stay focused despite the President’s recent attacks.
“We’ll stay focused on our agenda and we won’t get caught slipping. Because all of this is a distraction. It is a distraction from what is most important and from our core values as American citizens,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez argued the president was attacking the four congresswomen because he can’t defend his own policies.
“Weak minds and leaders challenge loyalty to our country in order to avoid challenging and debating the policy,” she said at the press conference.
“He can’t look a child in the face and he can’t look at all Americans and justify why this country is throwing them in cages,” she said. “So instead he tells us that I should go back to the great borough of the Bronx and make it better. And that’s what I’m here to do.”
She also told a story about her dad bringing her to the Capitol reflecting pool as a child and telling her the nation’s capital belongs to everyone.
“I want to tell children across this country is that no matter what the president says, this country belongs to you,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And it belongs to everyone and today that notion, that very notion was challenged.”
Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib described President Trump’s recent tweets and remarks about her and her colleagues as “a continuation of his racist and xenophobic playbook.”
She said she won’t allow the President’s comments to distract her from her work.
After the Democratic congresswomen he attacked repeatedly raised the issue of migrant detention centers at the news conference, Trump tweeted and repeated his claim that the previous administration is responsible for the facilities.
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar accused President Trump of “launching a blatantly racist attack on four duly elected members” of the US House of Representatives, pointing out that they are all women of color.
“This is the agenda of white nationalists. Whether it is happening in chat rooms, or it is happening on national TV, and now it’s reached the White House garden,” Omar said.
She concluded her remarks by calling for Trump’s impeachment.
President Trump is tweeting as the four Democratic congresswomen he attacked are holding a news conference.
Trump said Democrats have been “forced to embrace them,” presumably because of his attacks.
Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley called President Trump’s racist attacks a “disruptive distraction” and urged people not to “take the bait.”
Pressley defiantly said, “We will not be silenced. She also took aim at the President calling him “the occupant of the White House” and saying, “I will always, refer to him as the occupant as he is only occupying space.”
She was joined by Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
The four congresswomen were at the center of Trump’s tweets. On Sunday, the President used racist language to attack progressive Democratic congresswomen, falsely implying they weren’t natural-born American citizens.
Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib and Pressley are natural-born US citizens, while Omar was born in Somalia and immigrated to the US when she was young. Omar became a citizen in 2000 when she was 17 years old, according to the New York Times.
President Trump blasted Democrats again today in a series of tweets, saying, “IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY HERE, YOU CAN LEAVE.”
He went on to say, “It is your choice, and your choice alone. This is about love for America. Certain people HATE our Country….”
Trump’s tweets come a day after he used racist language to attack progressive Democratic congresswomen, falsely implying they weren’t natural-born American citizens
Trump, speaking at a news conference at the White House today, himself denied his attacks on the four women were racist.
Read his tweets:
Mexico rejected the Trump administration’s new asylum regulation that could dramatically limit the ability of Central American migrants to claim asylum, the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement released this afternoon.
In the statement, Mexico reiterated their “respect for human rights of all people, as well as their international commitments regarding asylum and political refuge.”
Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the measure “will not affect Mexican citizens.”
“Mexico will maintain its politics of asylum and refuge as stated in our constitution,” he added.
The statement added the government of Mexico will “remain alert to the implications that this US decision could entail to those seeking asylum from other countries that enter through its southern border. In this sense, special attention will be paid to respect the principle of non-refoulement recognized by the current International Law.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib — one of the four Democratic congresswomen at the center of President Trump’s racist tweets — spoke to CNN on her way into a hearing today.
Here’s what she said:
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley declined to comment prior to a news conference scheduled for 5 p.m. ET.
The four Democratic congresswomen at the center of President Trump’s racist tweets will hold a news conference at 5 p.m. ET today.
The President used racist language to attack progressive Democratic congresswomen, falsely implying they weren’t natural-born American citizens.
The group of Democrats — Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts — are all women of color and have been outspoken about Trump’s immigration policies. Last week, they condemned the conditions of border detention facilities.
At a news conference today, Trump himself denied his attacks on the four women were racist.
Asylum negotiations between Guatemala and the United States have hit a roadblock.
Guatemala’s Constitutional Court issued a temporary injunction that blocks Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales from signing any agreement with President Trump to make Guatemala a safe third country for asylum seekers.
This all comes after a meeting between the two leaders Monday had to be re-scheduled. The two presidents were reported to be getting close to reaching a deal on Guatemala becoming a “safe third country” for asylum seekers, according to multiple US sources familiar with the negotiations.
What it means to be a “safe third country”
Under the agreement, migrants passing through Guatemala would have to apply for asylum there, rather than continuing to the US – this would likely have the effect of preventing and deterring some migrants from applying for asylum in the United States at all.
The United Nations’ refugee agency defines “safe country,” in part, as “being countries in which refugees can enjoy asylum without any danger.”
Before reaching an agreement, the US is working to make sure there are sufficient protections in place for people who would claim asylum in Guatemala, according to an administration official.
Trump has tried to negotiate a deal like this before. At the beginning of June, Trump dropped tariffs on Mexican goods after the two countries came to an agreement about immigration.
Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said they moderated some of the US’ requests, such as entering a safe third country agreement, but instead allowed others such as an expansion to part of the Immigration and Nationality Act that would return asylum seekers to Mexico for the duration of their immigration proceedings.
White House principal deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley just offered a statement to CNN, as the Trump administration is moving to dramatically limit the ability of Central American migrants to claim asylum if they enter the United States by land through Mexico.
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, an ardent ally of President Trump, issued a statement attacking Democrats and defending the President.
Here’s what the Republican lawmaker said:
Some Republican lawmakers have spoken out to condemn President Trump’s racist tweets attacking progressive Democratic congresswomen.
On Sunday, the President used racist language to attack the congresswomen, falsely implying they weren’t natural-born American citizens.
Asked today about the President’s comments, here’s what some Republican lawmakers said:
President Trump said planned immigration raids began this weekend and resulted in the capture of many undocumented immigrants.
Immigrant rights advocates across the United States told CNN they saw few signs over the weekend of the ICE raids that Trump administration officials had warned would begin Sunday.
Trump insisted the raids that did occur were successful.
Trump said he’d spoken to the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and that it was a “very successful day.”
“But you didn’t see a lot of it,” Trump said. “I’m not sure they should be telling you, but it was a lot.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday said that Republican lawmakers “must join” Democrats in “condemning the President’s xenophobic tweets” and urged Democrats to support a resolution put forward by House Democratic lawmakers.
“The House cannot allow the President’s characterization of immigrants to our country to stand. Our Republican colleagues must join us in condemning the President’s xenophobic tweets,” Pelosi wrote in a Dear Colleague letter to House Democrats.
The speaker went on to write:
It’s unclear when they will vote on the resolution.
Former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake responded to President Trump’s tweets attacking progressive Democratic congressman, calling the remarks “vile and offensive.”
The former Arizona lawmaker went on to say that “it is incumbent on Republicans to respond and condemn” Trump’s comments, in which he falsely implied the congresswomen weren’t natural-born American citizens.
