The American Civil Liberties Union has threatened to sue President Biden over his new executive order to temporarily shut down the U.S.-Mexico border and suspend protections for asylum seekers. ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said, “It was illegal when Trump did it, and it is no less illegal now.” The ACLU warned Biden’s executive order will put thousands of lives at risk. Biden announced the new policy at the White House Tuesday.

President Joe Biden: “This action will help us gain control of our border and restore order into the process. This ban will remain in place until the number of people trying to enter illegally is reduced to a level that our system can effectively manage.”

Biden made the announcement just weeks before his first debate with Donald Trump. Under the new measures, which went into effect just after midnight, the border would be closed whenever the daily average of asylum requests surpasses 2,500. It would remain closed until after the daily average falls to 1,500.

In Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, migrants seeking asylum in the United States criticized Biden’s move. This is Fausto Valenzuela from Ecuador.

Fausto Valenzuela: “I hope Biden puts his hand on his heart and revokes what he has in mind of closing the borders. I hope he opens his heart to all migrants we see in the world attempting to cross into the United States.”

In India, final results from the world’s largest-ever election show Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have secured a third term in office, but, in a shocking development, his Hindu nationalist BJP party has lost its outright parliamentary majority. The BJP won 240 seats in the Indian Parliament, down from over 300 in the last election. The BJP will now have to align with smaller parties to form a government to keep Modi in power. The opposition coalition known as INDIA exceeded all expectations by winning 232 seats. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said, “That is a huge message to Mr. Narendra Modi.”

Israel has killed at least 75 Palestinians in Gaza over the past 24 hours as Israeli forces attack the Bureij and al-Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza. Israeli strikes also killed eight Palestinian police officers in Deir al-Balah on Tuesday. One Palestinian official accused Israel of deliberately killing police officers in an effort to spread chaos in Gaza.

During an interview with Time magazine, President Biden was asked if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was prolonging the war for his own political self-preservation. Biden responded by saying, “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”

A U.S. Army officer who resigned to protest the Biden administration’s Gaza policies has spoken publicly for the first time. In an interview with CBS News, Major Harrison Mann, who worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency, criticized Israel’s war on Gaza.

Harrison Mann: “They were dropping 6,000 bombs a day. They were burning through munitions.”

Jim Axelrod: “Exhausting their supply.”

Harrison Mann: “You know, it was very easy to link our support, which I was part of, to the killing in Gaza.”

Jim Axelrod: “What bothered this intelligence officer specializing in the Middle East the most, his view that the Israelis were targeting Palestinian civilians indiscriminately and that U.S. weapons made it possible. — Were the Israelis using American weapons against civilians in Gaza?”

Harrison Mann: “I can say almost certainly yes.”

Jim Axelrod: “But were they doing so intentionally?”

Harrison Mann: “I don’t know how you kill 35,000 civilians by accident.”

In news from Washington, the Republican-led House has voted to sanction International Criminal Court officials for seeking arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The bill calls for sanctions against anyone involved in ICC investigations of Americans or U.S. allies that are not ICC members. The final vote was 247 to 155, with 42 Democrats joining Republicans. The bill heads to the Senate, where it is not expected to pass.

The New York Times is reporting the Israeli government has been running a secret online campaign to influence and target U.S. lawmakers and the public to generate more support for its war on Gaza. The Times reports Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs allocated $2 million for the operation, which has been carried out by an Israeli marketing firm called Stoic. Last week, the social media company Meta shut down hundreds of fake accounts set up by STOIC. The Times reports the campaign focused in part on Black Democratic lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock. The covert operation also created fake accounts on the platform X and set up three fake English-language news sites.

Human Rights Watch has condemned Israel for repeatedly firing incendiary white phosphorus shells into southern Lebanon over the past eight months. The group has verified white phosphorus attacks on 17 municipalities, including five towns where the shells struck populated residential areas. Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health says the attacks have injured at least 173 people.

In election news, Congressmember Andy Kim has won New Jersey’s closely watched Democratic Senate primary. Kim won 75% of the vote. Progressive think tank director Patricia Campos-Medina placed second with 16%, and the longtime activist Larry Hamm won 9%. On the Republican side, Curtis Bashaw defeated Christine Serrano Glassner, who had been endorsed by Trump.

The New Jersey Senate seat is currently held by Democrat Robert Menendez, who is currently on trial for corruption centered on bribes tied to the Egyptian and Qatari governments. Last week, Senator Menendez filed papers to run for reelection as an independent. Menendez’s son, Democratic Congressmember Rob Menendez, won his primary House race.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden won the New Jersey Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday, but nearly 9% of voters chose “uncommitted.” In many areas of New Jersey, the ballot line read, “Uncommitted: Justice for Palestine, Permanent Ceasefire Now.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday and decried what he called the “unprecedented and unfounded” attacks against the Department of Justice. Republican lawmakers are threatening to hold Garland in contempt for refusing to turn over audio recordings of President Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur. A transcript of the interview has already been made public. Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee grilled Garland about that case, as well as the criminal prosecutions of Donald Trump. Garland defended the agency’s actions.

Attorney General Merrick Garland: “I will not be intimidated, and the Justice Department will not be intimidated. We will continue to do our jobs free from political influence, and we will not back down from defending democracy.”

Ukraine has reportedly attacked Russian soil for the first time using a U.S.-made artillery system. This comes just days after the Biden administration gave Ukraine the green light to carry out such attacks despite warnings from Russia.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is criticizing Biden for deciding not to attend an upcoming peace summit in Switzerland. Vice President Kamala Harris will attend instead. Biden, however, is expected to meet with Zelensky this week in Normandy, France, and again at the G7 summit in Italy.

In the Mexican state of Michoacán, the mayor of Cotija was killed in an ambush Monday. Yolanda Sánchez Figueroa was walking home when she and her bodyguards were shot by assailants in a van. Sánchez’s murder came shortly after Claudia Sheinbaum made history as the first woman to be elected president in Mexico’s history. This year’s election campaign was one of the most violent in Mexico. Gender violence was a central issue.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the International Committee of the Red Cross has suspended food distributions to people displaced by conflict as fighting between the Congolese army and M23 fighters intensifies. Vi olence has been spreading to Kanyabayonga, a town in the eastern DRC, where tens of thousands of people have fled, seeking shelter. About 7 million people have been internally displaced, with humanitarian aid groups describing this as one of the world’s largest displacement crises.

In election news, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has filed felony charges against Trump campaign attorney Kenneth Chesebro and two other men for their role in attempting to overthrow the 2020 election by appointing fake electors to the Electoral College. Cheseboro is also facing criminal charges in Georgia.

Opening arguments were heard Tuesday in the federal gun trial of Hunter Biden, who is the first child of a sitting president to ever face a criminal trial. Hunter Biden is accused of illegally purchasing a gun at a time when he was using drugs. On Tuesday, prosecutors played audio recordings of Hunter Biden reading the audio book of his memoir about his struggle with an addiction to crack cocaine. Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said Biden did not “knowingly” lie about his drug use when filling out forms to purchase the gun.