A federal judge on Tuesday blocked an executive order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that banned the transportation of migrants within the state by anyone other than law enforcement, saying the department was likely to prevail on arguments that the Texas ban unconstitutionally interfered with the federal government’s operations and conflicted with U.S. immigration law, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Associated Press: “The number of children traveling alone who were picked up at the Mexican border by U.S. immigration authorities likely hit an all-time high in July, and the number of people who came in families likely reached its second-highest total on record.”

“The sharp increases from June were striking because crossings usually slow during stifling — and sometimes fatal — summer heat.”

“New audio from inside a U.S. government shelter for unaccompanied migrant children in Fort Bliss, Texas, reveals allegations of sexual misconduct by staff toward minors, acknowledgment the children were running low on clean clothes and shoes and a reluctance by officials to make public the scope of the facility’s Covid outbreak,” NBC News reports.

Axios: “About 50,000 migrants who crossed the southern border illegally have now been released in the United States without a court date. Although they are told to report to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office instead, just 13% have shown up so far.”

Reuters: “Biden on Sunday said he remained adamant about the need to create a pathway for U.S. citizenship for so-called Dreamer immigrants, but it ‘remains to be seen’ if that will be part of a $3.5 trillion budget measure.”

Axios: “Senate Democrats are considering including about $10 billion in their $3.5-trillion budget reconciliation package for border security — focused on infrastructure at legal entry points.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Fox News that a Democratic proposal to grant amnesty to undocumented immigrants as part of the infrastructure proposal “is the dumbest idea in the history of the Senate, the history of the White House.”

He added: “It will lead to the breakdown of law and order beyond what you see today.”

“A federal judge in Texas has largely halted an Obama administration initiative that grants work permits and protection from deportation to undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, though he allowed the more than 600,000 young people already in the program to keep their protected status,” the Washington Post reports.

“U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, a Republican appointee, sided with Texas and other states in his ruling that President Barack Obama (D) overstepped his executive authority when he created the program in 2012.”

“A record number of migrants arrived at the southwestern border last month, a slight uptick from May and a sign that the surge this year may extend into the hotter summer months when numbers typically start dropping,” the New York Times reports.

“Top Democrats, with the support of the White House, are planning to tuck a handful of immigration measures into their forthcoming $3.5 trillion spending bill,” Politico reports.

“The tactic — which just months ago seemed like a long shot even to liberals — is now widely seen as President Joe Biden’s best shot at confronting one of Washington’s policy leviathans and delivering on a decades-long party promise,”

Playbook: “The most glaring obstacle here is the Senate rulebook. To pass muster, the immigration reforms would have to significantly impact the federal budget — by generating revenue or deepening the deficit — rather than merely being a side effect. Even raising the minimum wage failed to make the cut under that criterion earlier this year.”

“Democrats are looking to set aside $120 billion for a pathway to citizenship for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, farm workers, essential workers and people with Temporary Protected Status,” CNN reports.

“It’s an untested question whether immigration reform will meet that criteria.”

Said former Senate parliamentarian Alan Frumin: “I understand arguments are made that there are budgetary effects when you change immigration law. But I think there’s probably a strong argument that those effects are secondary.”

“Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration, claiming the president is illegally preventing the construction of a wall on the Texas-Mexico border,” the Texas Tribune reports.

Associated Press: “The new directive, announced Friday, does not bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement from initiating proceedings to deport women who are pregnant, nursing or have given birth within the past year. But they generally would no longer be detained pending the outcome of their cases except under ‘exceptional circumstances,’ the agency said. The practice of detaining pregnant migrants has been condemned as a threat to maternal and fetal health by immigrant and women’s advocacy groups critical of medical care at detention centers.”

“The Trump administration began separating migrant families along a remote stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border months earlier than has been previously reported — part of a little known program coming into view only now as the Biden administration examines government data,” the Washington Post reports.

“Since taking office, the administration has eagerly embraced visa bans as a means to punish bad actors overseas for everything from alleged corruption to human rights abuses. And thanks to steps taken by Congress in recent years, the administration is better able to publicize what previously would have been confidential visa decisions,” Politico reports.

“What makes the visa bans extra potent … is that they can be — and often automatically are — applied to the primary target’s immediate family. As a result, officials hope would-be perpetrators will think twice about making a bad move if a spouse or a child could pay a price.”

House Democrats eliminated funding for a southern border wall and denied extra money for Border Patrol officers in a 2022 spending bill unveiled recently, the Washington Examiner reports.

Politico: “The White House is expected to reopen the U.S.-Mexico border in the coming weeks, and even President Joe Biden’s allies are worried he’s not ready for the logistical and political impact… Immigrant advocates say the move is long overdue. But administration officials and immigration experts expect that lifting the order will result in a spike in the number of migrants arriving at the border — at least in the short term.”

“Even with the phased-in approach, a sharp increase in migrants poses a major challenge for the administration over how to handle their arrival — hold them in detention centers or release them as they await their court proceedings, which can take years given a long backlog of cases. And Republicans plan to highlight any increase in migrants or delays in processing them in campaign ads, mailers and debates in races all over the country.”

“Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas ordered his department’s immigration agencies to ‘immediately’ take steps to ensure that military families may return to the United States,” the Washington Post reports.

“He said the department would also halt pending deportation proceedings against veterans or their immediate relatives who are in the United States, and clear the way for those who are eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship.”