Biden moves to protect undocumented spouses and children from deportation – live | US immigration

Good morning, US politics blog readers. Weeks after implementing new rules to limit the flow of asylum seekers across the southern border, Joe Biden today is set to announce a policy that will allow some undocumented spouses and children of US citizens to reside permanently in the country. The president’s move comes as polls show immigration is one of the top issues on voters’ minds ahead of the November election, and after he faced a backlash to the tighter asylum rules from advocates who argued they were no different from the hardline policies implemented under Donald Trump.

Biden’s re-election campaign argues the new rules are a marked contrast from the hardline policies Trump championed as president, when his administration separated migrant families at the US-Mexico border. “Joe Biden Is Fighting To Keep Families Together. Donald Trump Tears Families Apart,” read a press release from the campaign sent to reporters this morning. Biden is set to discuss immigration at a White House event scheduled for 2.45pm ET that will celebrate the 12th anniversary of Daca, a program that shields undocumented people brought to the US as children from deportation.

Here’s what else is going on today:

• Senate Democrats will attempt to pass legislation to ban “bump stocks”, the firearm modification that allows rapid fire, and which the supreme court’s conservatives allowed to re on the market last week. The GOP is expected to block the measure.

• Trump will hold a rally at 4pm in Racine, Wisconsin, a state he probably must win to capture the White House in November.

• Oklahoma and Virginia are holding primaries today. In the latter state, rightwing congressman Bob Good is fighting for his seat against John McGuire, a challenger who received Trump’s endorsement in retaliation for Good backing Ron DeSantis in the GOP’s presidential primary.