Hello from CNN I'm Joe Beck with the five things you need to know for Wednesday

January 3rd. Political divisions over US immigration policy will be on full display today as House Speaker Mike Johnson and other

GOP lawmakers head to the southern border. Republicans have repeatedly criticized President

Joe Biden's

handling of the US-Mexico border,

and some have been holding up aid for Ukraine and Israel

until policy changes are made.

CNN's Ed Lavandera has more from Eagle Pass, Texas.

Eagle Pass has really become the flashpoint of the border migration crisis that we've seen

unfold for months and months now. Lawmakers here will be visiting from the House side.

This as Senate lawmakers, Democrat and Republican, have been negotiating through the holiday break trying to come to terms on the framework

in a possible deal in a border security bill.

Ahead of today's visit, the White House has been highlighting a dramatic drop in the number of people crossing the border this week,

after high-level talks between the US and Mexico over the holidays.

Biden administration officials say Johnson and House Republicans should,

quote, stop playing games and approve the $14 billion in border funding the White House has asked for.

A top Hamas leader has been assassinated in Lebanon, and a U.S. official tells

CNN that it was Israel that carried out the hits. Israel didn't claim

responsibility for the airstrike that killed him, but Hamas's regional

allies have condemned the attack, raising fears of a potential escalation in fighting in the Middle

East.

CNN's Nada Bashir is in Beirut.

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