Joe Biden has taken a huge step to crack down on illegal migration through the US-Mexico border via a sweeping new package of restrictions put into place with exactly five months to go until election day.
As part of the measures, which came into force at midnight on June 5, migrants caught crossing illegally could be quickly deported or turned back to Mexico - but there will be concessions for unaccompanied children, people who face serious medical or safety threats, and victims of trafficking.
Immigration, like in the UK, is of high priority to Americans - and it's becoming a hotly contested issue between the incumbent Biden and Republican challenger Donald Trump.
Announcing the executive order, the President said: "This action will help us gain control of our border and restore order into the process.
The President promised the ban would remain enforced until migration was "reduced to a level that our system can effectively manage"
Reuters
"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."
But despite the crackdown, Biden still took jabs at his predecessor - and potential successor - Trump.
He slammed the Trump administration's separation of migrant families at the border and took aim at his comments that illegal immigrants in the US were "poisoning the blood of our country."
"I will never demonise immigrants," Biden barbed.
FIVE MONTHS TO NOVEMBER 5 - READ MORE:
Migrants walk near the Rio Bravo river before crossing into the United States with the intention of turning themselves in to Border Patrol agents to request asylum
Reuters
Biden's ban activates when the daily average of border arrests tops 2,500 across a week - and figures are currently higher than that, officials have said.
In April, US border arrests averaged 4,300 per day, according to the most recent government statistics.
But the ban will be paused when arrests drop below an average of 1,500 per day for three weeks.
However, the last time crossings fell to that level was in the early months of the pandemic in July 2020 - when all global travel was at historic lows.
US Border Force officers pictured patrolling a barbed-wire fence on the US-Mexico border
Reuters
Biden made the executive order with exactly five months to go until Americans head to the polls
Reuters
Reacting to the news, some Republicans have slammed Biden for not going far enough, while some of the President's Democratic allies - and the United Nations - have expressed concern.
A spokeswoman for the UN's refugee agency said people fearing persecution should have access to safe territory.
The ban has been in the works for months - but has been put into place with mere weeks to go before a televised tete-a-tete between the 45th and 46th Presidents Trump and Biden.
Biden will be hoping to cast off doubts about his mental acuity and age with a second term in the White House, while Donald Trump is seeking to become just the second Commander-in-Chief to serve two non-consecutive terms in the Oval Office, with Grover Cleveland achieving the same feat in the 19th century.
