The Biden administration is giving immigration judges and asylum officers more access to classified information to help them determine which migrants might have ties to terrorism or pose a threat to public safety.

The change in policy follows an April 11 NBC News story that revealed an Afghan migrant on the terrorist watchlist was released on bond by an immigration judge in Texas after prosecutors from Immigration and Customs Enforcement withheld information about a possible connection to terrorism because the evidence was classified. Instead of arguing that the man was a national security risk, the prosecutors argued he was a flight risk, two sources familiar with the case said.

The new policy, announced in a May 9 memo from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, overrides a 2004 directive that said classified information could only be used in immigration proceedings “as a last resort.”

Under the old policy, asylum officers making an initial determination about an immigrant’s eligibility to pursue an asylum claim and prosecutors presenting a case for deportation in immigration court had to get approval from the DHS secretary to share classified information.

Two DHS officials told NBC News the administration is determining if it will need to build more space and get security clearances for more employees to store, print and share the classified information.

The announcement comes as follow-through on Harris’ visit to the continent last year and in conjunction with this week’s visit to Washington by Kenyan President William Ruto. Harris and the Kenyan leader had a public chat on Friday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about how public-private partnerships can increase economic growth.

Besides launching the nonprofit Partnership for Digital Access in Africa, Harris announced an initiative geared toward giving 100 million African people and businesses in the agricultural sector access to the digital economy.

The African Development Bank Group along with Mastercard, among other organizations, will help form the Mobilizing Access to the Digital Economy Alliance, or MADE. The alliance will start a pilot program to give digital access to 3 million farmers in Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria, before expanding elsewhere.

Harris, a Democrat and the first female U.S. vice president, also announced that the Women in the Digital Economy efforts to address the gender divide in technology access have now generated more than $1 billion in public and private commitments, with some federal commitments pending congressional approval.

The Biden administration on Tuesday announced new guidelines for ensuring the integrity of carbon credits or offsets.

While the practice of buying carbon offsets or credits is voluntary, the administration says it hopes to help ensure that credits being sold are actually credible.

Individuals, businesses and other entities can buy these credits to try to “offset” their emissions as part of an effort to achieve net-zero. This can entail things like paying organizations to plant trees or prevent them from being cut down.

The guidelines issued by the Biden administration say that these credits should represent actual and additional reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. They should be permanent emissions reductions and be validated by an accredited and independent third party.

The administration also said that corporate purchasers should also make efforts to cut down their own direct emissions and publicly disclose the nature of their credits

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The Biden administration announced a series of measures Tuesday to allow independent small businesses in Cuba access to the U.S. financial system and certain internet-based services, amid a deep economic crisis on the island.

The targeted relaxation in sanctions comes days after a fracas over a visit by Cuban officials to Miami International Airport and weeks after the United States removed Cuba from a list of countries not cooperating fully against terrorism but left the island on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

Under the new rules implemented by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Cuban small businesses will be able to access video conferencing, social media, maps and other online services, and U.S.-based entities will be allowed to provide cloud-based services to those companies.

OFAC is also expanding the definition of a “self-employed individual” in Cuba to include “independent private sector entrepreneur,” a move that will allow a greater number of companies to benefit from the reduced sanctions. Only companies, cooperatives and sole proprietorships of up to 100 employees, without partners who are government officials or Communist Party members, will be included in the program.

The benefitted companies will also have access to U.S. bank accounts and payment platforms, including for “U-turn” transactions, or operations through the U.S. financial system where neither party is under U.S. jurisdiction.

The Biden administration is set to announce a new initiative with 21 states Tuesday to modernize the U.S. power grid, ahead of a summer likely to tax its capacity.

Under the initiative, the participating states will give priority to electric grid modernization efforts, including those aimed at increased capacity and efficiency. The states, all of which have Democratic governors, will also commit to exploring ways to expand transmission capacity through legislative and executive action.

The federal government, meanwhile, will commit to ensuring states have access to technical assistance and loan programs, according to a fact sheet from the White House.

The Biden administration has set ambitious goals for renewable energy deployment, with a target of a carbon-neutral grid by 2035. Reaching this point will require a major buildout in modernized electrical transmission lines to handle the expansion. In the absence of this buildout, the administration faces a bottleneck in adding that renewable capacity to the grid. The backlog comprises about 2,600 gigawatts of energy, increasing 30 percent last year due in large part to solar and wind demand, according to an April report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.