The White House says that President Joe Biden will formally call on Congress to "take action" in keeping "weapons of war" off of streets and "keep guns out of the hands of criminals and people who have serious mental illness."

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made the comments aboard Air Force One to the press as the president traveled to Buffalo, New York on Tuesday to visit the area of a mass shooting there at a supermarket called Tops Market.

As the Associated Press reported, the shooter, Payton Gendron, was described as a quiet, socially awkward student. He once reportedly threatened a murder-suicide while at school and was put under a mental evaluation, then released later the next day when investigators are said to have stopped looking into the matter as serious.

Gendron is accused of shooting and killing 10 people at the Buffalo supermarket. Most of the victims were said to be in their 50s or older. Investigators described the attack as  “racially motivated violent extremism.”

“It is my sincere hope that this individual, this white supremacist who just perpetrated a hate crime on an innocent community, will spend the rest of his days behind bars. And heaven help him in the next world as well,” said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Gendron shot 11 Black people and two white people before he surrendered to police.

President Joe Biden's top science adviser Eric Lander resigned late on Monday after the White House confirmed that an internal investigation found credible evidence that he mistreated his staff.

It marks the first Cabinet-level departure of the Biden administration. Press secretary Jen Psaki said President Biden accepted Dr. Lander's resignation Monday with "gratitude for his work" on the pandemic, the Cancer Moonshot, climate change "and other key priorities."

The White House rebuked Lander over his treatment of his staff, but initially signaled he would be allowed to remain on the job, despite Biden's Inauguration Day assertion that he would fire anyone, "on the spot," who shows disrespect to others.

Lander apologized late last week after he was accused of addressing White House Office of Science and Technology Policy staff in a "demeaning way." Dr. Lander sent an email to OSTP staff late on Friday apologizing for his conduct after a White House investigation uncovered evidence he violated the White House policy for respect in the workplace.

As Politico first reported, the message to staff said, “I am deeply sorry for my conduct. I especially want to apologize to those of you who I treated poorly or were present at the time.”

Lander was over around 140 people and according to an investigation, 14 current and former staffers in the Office of Science and Technology Policy reported similar aspects of a toxic work environment, Axios reported.

An internal review in 2021, after a workplace complaint was filed, showed evidence that Lander treated staff disrespectfully and bullied them. A White House review of the issue was able to find evidence that Dr. Lander violated "Safe and Respectful Workplace Policy." The Biden administration gave Lander counseling.

On Jan 20, 2021, newly-elected President Joe Biden said, standing before his appointees remotely, "If you're ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot. On the spot. No ifs, ands or buts. Everybody is entitled to be treated with decency and dignity."

As Axios noted, while there were multiple complaints from women regarding Lander's behavior towards staff, a White House investigation did not find evidence credible evidence of gender-based discrimination, an OSTP spokesperson said.

The White House said Monday that it still has no plans to extend a pause on student loan payments that has been in effect since the start of the pandemic.

When asked Monday if the Biden Administration has any plans to extend the moratorium on loan payments, press secretary Jen Psaki said that a "smooth transition back into repayment is a high priority for the administration."

"The Department of Education is already communicating with borrowers to help them return to repayment on Feb. 1 and has secured contract extensions with loan servicers. So, we are preparing for a range of steps here," Psaki said.

She added that the White House is monitoring the impact that the omicron variant could have on the economy and added the administration would release more information on their plans in the weeks ahead.

In August, the White House extended the pause on student loan payments through January 2022. At the time, the Biden Administration noted that it would be the final time it would extend the moratorium.

The Trump Administration put a moratorium on student loan payments at the start of the pandemic. Since then, borrowers have not been required to make monthly payments on their loans.

According to Scripps political reporter Joe St. George, an estimated $110 billion is believed to be in the hands of Americans and not the federal government as a result of the no-payment pandemic policy.

Evacuation flights from Kabul are back on — just a day after a suicide bombing killed 13 American service members and dozens of Afghans. 

But for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Afghans, the window for getting airlifted to safety is quickly closing. 

"It is not possible for our family to make it to the airport, and now the situation is really scary," said former interpreter Hadi Zalmay.

As days are becoming just hours away from the deadline for the United States withdrawal, Afghan interpreters told Newsy they are feeling increasingly hopeless.  

Another former interpreter, Abdul, said, "Today I tried all of the airport gates and all of the gates were closed and the main road was blocked."

Even those brave enough to try another trip to the airport face a grim reality. 

"The Taliban are beating us," Abdul said. "They are not letting us inside the airport."

The threat level remains high. President Biden's national security team warned him on Friday that another terror attack in Kabul is likely. 

"The threat is ongoing and it is active," said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. "Our troops are in danger and that continues to be the case every day that they are there."

The White House said Friday that over 12,000 people had been airlifted over the previous 24 hours — despite the attacks.  

Sources confirmed to Newsy that some evacuees are now being escorted in by bus or helicopter because of continued terrorism threats.    

But for Afghan allies left behind, it all feels unfair. 

"Who are these people in the buses? Who are they, where are they going? We don't have any information," Abdul said. "Please. Help us, please."

The U.S. says coalition forces have evacuated more than 100,000 people since Aug. 14 in one of the largest airlift operations ever.   

But rights groups estimate that twice as many Afghans who may be eligible for expedited American visas remain in Afghanistan.   

"I don't know what happens to our case or what will happen to us, to our future, our life, to our kids," Zalmay said. 

Outside of Kabul, thousands of Afghans have been fleeing by land to Pakistan and Iran these past couple of weeks. 

The United Nations says up to half a million people could flee in a "worst-case scenario" in the coming months. 

This story was originally reported by Ben Schamisso on Newsy.com.

Though President Joe Biden campaigned on the promise of making America a more welcoming place for immigrants, press secretary Jen Psaki issued a warning to Central Americans who are considering coming north to the United States.

"This is not the time to come to the United States," Psaki said during a briefing on Tuesday. "We need the time to put in place an immigration process where people can be treated humanely."

Psaki said the Biden administration is "trying to repair the damage and the horrific actions of the prior administration" when it comes to immigration, particularly when it comes to reuniting children separated from their families.

However, she added that it would take time for the administration to implement changes to immigration policy.

"We want to put into place an immigration process here that is humane, that is moral, that considers applications for refugees, that considers applications for people to come into this country at the border in a way that treats people as human beings. That's going to take some time," Psaki said. "It's not going to happen overnight."

Some of that work will resume later on Tuesday, as Biden plans to sign three executive orders on immigration.

The first will set up a task force — headed by Biden's nominee for Homeland Security Director, Alejandro Mayorkas — that aims to reunite immigrant children who were separated from their parents at the border under a Trump-era policy.

The second executive order will call for an investigation into causes of migration and will call for an end to a Trump-era policy that forced asylum seekers who entered through the U.S.'s southern border to remain in Mexico.

The third and final order will establish a task force on "New Americans" that will aim to promote immigrant integration and inclusion in the immigration systems.

The executive order signings will take place later in the day on Tuesday, following the pending confirmation of Biden's nominee for Director of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayoras.

The White House briefing comes a day after Biden met with Republican lawmakers, who proposed a counteroffer to Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package. The slimmed-down Republican package totaled about $600 billion.

Psaki called Biden's meeting with Republicans "civil" and "constructive" but said a large gap remains in COVID-19 negotiations. She added that Biden does not plan to lower the price tag of his proposed bill.

Psaki's briefing took place just moments after Biden concluded a call with the Democratic Senate caucus regarding COVID-19 stimulus funding.

WASHINGTON —

White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to provide a specific date for when the media will get access to Border Patrol facilities temporarily holding thousands of migrant children seeking to live in the United States, but said Sunday the Biden administration was committed to transparency and "we're working to get that done as soon as we can."

More than 16,000 unaccompanied children were in government custody as of Thursday, including about 5,000 in substandard Customs and Border Protection facilities.

Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been calling on the administration to open the facilities to the cameras, asserting that the current policy is designed to keep the public from "fully realizing" what is happening at the border.

Republican officials are also blaming the Biden administration for actions they say are leading more people from Central America to seek entry into the United States. "It's not a crisis, it's a complete loss of sovereignty down there," Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said.

Graham recently visited the border and said he saw a facility designed to hold 80 children with about 1,000 in it. He called on the administration to turn away every unaccompanied minor after testing them for "human trafficking abuses."

"If you don't, we'll have 150,000 a month by this summer," Graham said Sunday.

U.S. authorities reported encounters with more than 100,000 migrants on the southern border in February, the highest since a four-month streak in 2019.

Encounters have averaged about 5,000 people per day throughout March, which would be about a 50% increase over February if those figures hold for the entire month.

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said the surge was cyclical.

"They're not the result of one administration's policies or another administration's policies. They're the result of, for example, weather disasters in the region. They're the result of people fleeing poverty and violence," Bedingfield said. "So we saw spikes in 2014. We saw them in 2019 when the Trump administration had perhaps the cruelest imaginable policies in place, family separation to try to deter people from coming, and they still came."

The Biden administration continued to emphasize on the Sunday talk shows that the U.S.-Mexico border "remains closed" and that the majority of adults are being turned away. But Psaki said the administration was not going to force children to go back on a treacherous journey.

"They are fleeing challenging economic circumstances, hurricanes, prosecution in some scenarios," she said. "It does not mean that they get to stay in the United States. It means their cases are adjudicated and we want to treat them humanely, make sure they are in a safe place while their cases are adjudicated. That's what we're talking about here."

Former President Donald Trump expanded and fortified border walls while championing "zero tolerance" policies that made it more difficult to seek U.S. asylum and led to some immigrant parents being separated from their children.

Under federal law, children arriving at the border without parents should be transferred within three days from U.S. Border Patrol custody to long-term facilities run by the U.S. Health and Human Services until they can be released to family members or sponsors.

Psaki said the administration is committed to transparency and providing access to those temporary Border Patrol facilities as soon as it can.

"We are mindful of the fact that we are in the middle of a pandemic. We want to keep these kids safe, keep the staff safe," Psaki said.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called on the president to let the media accompany him to a temporary detention facility in Dallas on Monday.

"I again urge you to stop denying reality, confront the consequences of your policies, and allow the media access to these facilities," Cruz wrote in a letter.

Psaki and Graham spoke on "Fox News Sunday," while Bedingfield was interviewed on ABC's "This Week."

As with a lot of things, there will be some compromise when it comes to the next infrastructure bill and President Joe Biden said he's open and willing to negotiate. 

During his meeting with GOP lawmakers earlier this month, he told them to offer a counter proposal. They did that Thursday.

Republicans say the president's plan goes beyond what is considered infrastructure.

Their $568 billion plan addresses more traditional infrastructure, including roads and bridges, drinking and wastewater, and public transit.

"This is the largest infrastructure investment that Republicans have come forward with," Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said. "This is a robust package when we look at where we're focusing our infrastructure needs."

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the White House looks forward to reviewing the proposal.

She also said we should expect the president to meet with Republican lawmakers after his address to Congress next week. 

This story was originally published by Lauren Stephenson at Newsy.

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