South Dakota
Executive order limiting asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border to be signed by Biden • South Dakota Searchlight
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Tuesday that will allow him to partly suspend asylum requests at the U.S.-Mexico border when daily unauthorized crossings reach a threshold of 2,500 migrants.
“We do expect the authority would be in effect immediately,” a senior administration official said on a Tuesday call with reporters previewing the executive order. It would not be permanent and only applies to the southern border, including the southwest land border and southern coastal borders.
The White House has been dealing with the largest number of migrant encounters at the southern border in 20 years. In addition, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has made it a top issue for voters. Biden’s move marks his most drastic crackdown on immigration during his administration.
The order makes three changes to asylum law under Title 8 of the Immigration and Nationality Act when that threshold of 2,500 migrants is reached, a senior administration official said. The first is that a noncitizen who crosses the border without authorization will be ineligible for asylum.
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The second is any noncitizen who crosses the border while the order is in effect and is processed for removal will only be referred to a credible fear interview with an asylum officer “if they manifest or express a fear of return to their country or country of removal, a fear of persecution or torture, or an intention to apply for asylum,” a senior administration official said.
And the third is raising the standard for credible fear interviews to a “reasonable probability of persecution or torture standard,” which is “a new, substantially higher standard than is currently being applied at the border,” a senior administration official said.
“Taken together, these measures will significantly increase the speed and the scope of consequences for those who cross unlawfully or without authorization and allow the departments to more quickly remove individuals who do not establish a legal basis to remain in the United States,” a senior administration official said.
The order, versions of which were reported ahead of the White House announcement, drew criticism from both parties.
Republicans like U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana called it a “weak executive order,” while progressive Democrats slammed it as a partial ban on asylum.
A senior administration official argued that the executive order is different from the Trump administration’s immigration policies because the order will “only apply during times of high encounters.”
Biden, who campaigned in 2020 on protecting asylum law, is relying on the same presidential authority — Section 212(f) of the Immigration Nationality Act — that the Trump administration used to justify several immigration-related restrictions, such as the travel ban from predominantly Muslim countries.
The Biden order would also allow border officials to return certain individuals who cross the border without authorization back to Mexico – nationals from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela.
There will be exemptions for lawful permanent residents, unaccompanied minors, people with an “acute medical emergency” or an extreme threat to life or safety, and for victims of human trafficking, a senior administration official said.
A senior administration official said this temporary order would go away when there are seven consecutive days when daily encounters are less than 1,500 migrants between ports of entry. Once that is established, the order expires in 14 calendar days.
The Biden administration has considered moving forward with the executive order after an immigration deal the White House and Senate brokered earlier this year fell apart after Trump came out against it. Republicans quickly fell in line. Among other things, that deal would have given Biden the authority to shut down any asylum requests once encounters reached 5,000 people in a week or 8,500 in a day.
A senior administration official said the 2,500 threshold was chosen to be similar to the deal stuck in the Senate.
“To Joe Biden, the safety of American families should always come first,” senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a memo.
“That’s why today, the President is announcing new historic executive actions to bar migrants who cross our Southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum. Because of President Biden’s leadership, law enforcement will gain new capabilities that congressional Republicans cannot block.”
Thune slams Biden move as political
South Dakota Republican John Thune, the second-ranking Republican in the chamber, spoke Tuesday on the Senate floor in anticipation of Biden’s action and described it as late and politically motivated.
Thune said “it’s taking the fear of losing an election to motivate the president to take action on a national security crisis that has raged for more than three years.”
“And it raises serious concerns about how long the president’s interest in border security will last. If he wins another term, will he still care about the border?” Thune said. “Or does it take an election to keep him motivated about his national security responsibilities?
— South Dakota Searchlight
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – A squishy stress toy that’s been sitting on store shelves for years is suddenly becoming one of the hottest items in South Dakota, thanks to the power of social media.
NeeDoh, a line of sensory squeeze toys made by Schylling, has exploded in popularity on TikTok, where videos of people squeezing, stretching, and collecting the colorful toys have racked up millions of views. The viral attention is now translating into real-world demand, with retailers across the country struggling to keep them in stock.
At Child’s Play Toys in Sioux Falls, owner Nancy Savage recently announced a new shipment during a Facebook Live video.
Within hours, both Sioux Falls locations had sold out.
“So I’ve been in business, this November will be 17 years, and I have never seen anything like this,” Savage said. “It is the craziest thing.”
The frenzy isn’t limited to Sioux Falls.
At Black Hills Rally & Gold in Sturgis, manager Madison Bestgen said the store ordered what they believed would be enough inventory to last through the summer.
Instead, the shipment disappeared in less than two days.
“We made an order that we thought was going to get us all the way to the end of summer, and then when we got it in at the end of February, it lasted like a day and a half,” Bestgen said. “At that moment, we were like, ‘Oh yeah, this has blown up. This is something bigger than we thought.’”
The toys themselves aren’t new.
Both stores have carried NeeDoh products for nearly a decade and have built a steady customer base among children and adults alike.
But that changed once the product gained traction online.
“We had them out for people to play with, we’ve shown them to people, people with arthritis, we’ve sold them to so many adults, but all of a sudden, it went viral,” Savage said.
The surge in popularity has become a textbook example of what retailers call the “TikTok Effect,” where a single viral trend can transform an ordinary product into a sensation.
“It can change anything overnight into something absolutely wild,” Bestgen said.
The demand has been so intense that customers are traveling significant distances in search of the toys.
“We have people coming from everywhere,” Bestgen said. “We have people from Rapid City, Spearfish, Gillette, even, that are driving just because they want these NeeDohs.”
Savage has seen similar enthusiasm in Sioux Falls, especially when she goes live on Facebook to tell everyone.
“This is kind of a funny one, but at one of the salons downtown, somebody was getting their nails done, and the light popped up, and both the nail tech and the person getting their nails done ran down to pick up NeeDoh,” she said with a laugh.
NeeDoh’s popularity has also sparked a treasure-hunt mentality among collectors as stores wait for new shipments to arrive.
Savage believes that’s creating something positive beyond the sales numbers.
“It’s a fun, fairly inexpensive summer activity for people to go on a NeeDoh hunt and go around town looking for NeeDoh,” she said. “I think that is building community.”
Whether it’s the stress relief, the satisfying squish, or simply the influence of social media, retailers say the craze shows no signs of slowing down.
More information on Black Hills Rally & Gold Inc. can be found here.
More information on Child’s Play Toys can be found here, and the upcoming drop on Savage’s Facebook live can be found here.
Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
It’s an annual tradition, a sensation of the summertime – the Oahe Days Music & Arts Festival, a weekend-long congregation of vendors, crafters, makers and entertainers, ushering in the season with food and fun.
“It’s a huge event, an entire weekend completely free, everything is completely free – granted, you know, we have the carnival, we have a full slate of activities, (but) there’s something for everyone,” John Sterling, Vice President of the Oahe Days Music & Arts Festival, told the Capital Journal. “We have a magician going right now, earlier she was doing balloon animals, there was a canine show, they were doing canine stunts.”
Iain Woessner
Oahe Days consists of shows, food, the carnival section and a diverse collection of vendor tents, selling everything from knives and kitchenware to fresh-baked bread, vintage antique pottery, jewelry, stones and crystals, artwork to spices.
The air rings with peals of laughter as children race from magic shows to ferris wheels and adults indulge in fried food, funnel cakes, gyros and barbecue. In a town where families remain the cornerstone of community culture, Oahe Days is evident in its focus on family-friendly-fun.
“I think this is a fantastic community event and it brings out children, families and everybody and I think this is critical to the future of Pierre and Central South Dakota,” Kevin Larsen of Pierre/Fort Pierre Kiwanis said. “This is really one of those community activities that has sustained for many years and I’d like to encourage more volunteers. That’s what makes this event a success, the volunteers.”
The event relies on volunteers to help in the unsung and unseen logistics of something on this scale, and the organizers of Oahe Days echoed the need for the community to continue to invest time and money to keep the beloved event alive.
Iain Woessner
“There is a call for volunteers,” Julie Diedrich, President of the Oahe Days Music & Arts Festival, said. “If you are a local business and you want to contribute to making this a free event, we’re always open to donations and (regarding volunteers), it can be a little or just volunteering throughout the weekend.”
It’s not just in the official elements that the community works to keep Oahe Days going – beloved events are organized and integrated into the Festival by members of the community themselves, demonstrating the collaborative spirit of the event. This is best exemplified by the Soggy Bottom Race, a cardboard boat race that had once been held every year before going on an extended hiatus, only to have been revived last year by locals who missed it.
“I think that Oahe Days is such a good event, it brings everybody down here, and I used to participate in the cardboard boat race myself, I always had a ton of fun building the boats and it’s super fun. We thought it was something that had been missing,” Blake Severyn with the Independent Insurance Agents of South Dakota, told the Capital Journal.
The Soggy Bottom Race serves nonprofits in the area as well, with entry fees going to a different organization each year, this year supporting Soterra. Boats are judged both on the skill of their crews in navigating the river as they race to the other shore and also on their craftsmanship, with each cardboard boat boasting a unique and fun design.
Of course, half the fun is wondering which of the colorful cardboard crafts will actually prove seaworthy.
“Some of them won’t make it more than six feet and some of them will make it all the way,” Severyn said.
The spirit fueling Oahe Days, from its concerts to its competitions, is one of local pride.
“This is our event, it is the event of the summer in Pierre, it kicks off summer officially and it’s what people look forward to year after year,” Sterling said.
Iain Woessner is the editor of the Capital Journal in Pierre, South Dakota. Iain can be reached by calling 605-307-5502, ext. 5012, or emailing Iain.woessner@capjournal.com.
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