White House pressures ICE to pick up pace of migrant arrests, sources say
CNN
In the first weeks of the new Trump administration, the White House has boasted about the arrests of thousands of undocumented immigrants. But behind the scenes, senior officials have expressed frustration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in tense calls for not meeting its marks, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.
In the first weeks of the new Trump administration, the White House has boasted about the arrests of thousands of undocumented immigrants. But behind the scenes, senior officials have expressed frustration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in tense calls for not meeting its marks, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions. “They’re treading water. They’re way behind,” a Trump administration official told CNN, referring to ICE. The calls have included White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, border czar Tom Homan, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, along with various federal agencies involved in the enforcement effort. “It’s not pretty,” the official said of the calls. President Donald Trump kicked off his second term in office with an ambitious immigration agenda, promising to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and seal off the US southern border. Since then, Trump administration officials have swiftly moved to strip temporary protections for migrants and delegate more authority to federal and state partners. More than 8,000 people have been arrested by federal immigration authorities since Trump’s inauguration. Administration officials haven’t shared exactly how many undocumented immigrants they’re aiming to arrest this year, but daily apprehensions have already surpassed last year’s daily average under President Joe Biden. Trump administration officials are weighing a slate of new immigration measures, including borrowing ideas from Texas like adding buoys in the Rio Grande and assessing more military bases to hold migrants. They are also discussing plans to send migrants from Africa to another country, akin to El Salvador’s agreement to take migrants from other countries, according to two sources familiar with the planning.
Employees in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights have been told they are being placed on paid administrative leave as the agency executes the Trump administration’s executive order to wipe out all program offices it deems as tied to diversity, equity and inclusion, multiple sources told CNN.
A US-contracted surveillance plane crashed in the Philippines on Thursday morning, killing all four personnel on board, including one US military service member, according to US Indo-Pacific Command.
President Donald Trump is expected to sign a pair of executive orders Thursday afternoon, one targeting the International Criminal Court and a second on “anti-Christian bias,” a White House official tells CNN.
The Trump administration
A California utility said Thursday its equipment likely sparked a wildfire in Los Angeles that broke out the same day as two massive blazes in the area killed at least 29 people and destroyed thousands of homes.
The Trump administration sued officials in Illinois, Chicago and Cook County on Thursday over policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement authorities, accusing them of obstructing its immigration crackdown.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has spent recent days alongside several Trump administration Cabinet officials – making them official.
Four days after Donald Trump’s inauguration, Elon Musk’s top lieutenants at the Treasury Department asked its acting secretary, a career civil servant, to immediately shut off all USAID payments using the department’s own ultra-sensitive payment processing system.
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Security for the Super Bowl in New Orleans will feature more boots on the ground, more tech and more intelligence – spearheaded by a federal official who grew up 40 miles from where kickoff will take place.
The Trump administration’s rapid moves to dismantle the US Agency for International Development have left thousands of workers scrambling to figure out what comes next and scores of those posted in dangerous hotspots around the world afraid for their safety.
President Donald Trump’s bid to remake the federal government is already affecting some vulnerable populations in the United States, according to nonprofits and health care providers who are grappling with delays in federal funding, new rules and changed guidance.
President Trump is seeking to end birthright citizenship in the United States. What is it, which other countries apply the policy and who would be affected by the order?