Trump expected to invoke Alien Enemies Act to speed up deportations – report
Donald Trump may as soon as tomorrow invoke an obscure federal law to speed up the deportations of certain groups of immigrants, CNN reports.
The president first proposed using the law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, during his campaign last year. The law allows for summary deportation of non-citizens from a foreign country with which the US is at war, and is part of his pledge to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Since taking office in January, Trump has made strictly enforcing immigration law a priority, which resulted in more immigration arrests last month than in any other for the past seven years:
Key events
Republican congressman Thomas Massie told Fox News Donald Trump’s attacks have helped him rake in campaign cash.
Massie agrees with Trump on many issues, but nonetheless attracted the president’s ire for refusing to back a measure to fund the government through September, which the House passed on Tuesday. Here’s what he told Fox about how that benefited his campaign operation:
“In less than three days, I’ve received $261,000 through 3,203 individual donations, without sending an email, a text, or a phone call. It’s a fundraising record for me and it’s boosted my current cash on hand north of $1.1 million,” Massie said in a statement.
After Trump took a swing at Massie in a Truth Social post on Monday night, the congressman responded in a tweet on Tuesday by soliciting campaign donations.
“I’ve drawn opponents in my last three primaries who knew they couldn’t run to the right of me, so they ran to the Trump of me,” Massie said in his statement to Fox News Digital on Thursday.
“Overwhelmingly, in each instance, voters in Kentucky rejected them because I have a decade of consistently putting America and my constituents first. None of my opponents received more than 20% of the vote, but that’s because we ran excellent campaigns with the resources needed to win. For instance, my allies and I spent $2,000,000 in my 2020 primary when Trump attacked me for opposing the COVID bailouts. That’s why I’m taking this threat seriously and asking for grassroots donations on X,” Massie noted.
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent ran into reporters at the White House today, who wanted to know if he thought Donald Trump’s escalating tariff barrage was a good idea.
The levies on imports from major US trading partners and allies have caused stock market volatility and prompted fears a recession is coming. Bessent shrugged off those concerns, and said the biggest threat to the economy is a government shutdown that he blames on Democrats.
“I’m not concerned about the short term,” Bessent said, adding, “We want to protect the American worker [and] a lot of these trade deals haven’t been fair.”
“But I can tell you what’s not good for the economy is this government shutdown. I don’t know what Democrats are thinking here, because they’re going to own it, and to the extent that it hurts confidence, it hurts the American people,” Bessent said.
His comments came after Senate Democrats yesterday vowed to oppose a bill to fund the government through September, prompting a standoff ahead of a Friday at midnight deadline to prevent a shutdown:
Pete Buttigieg has publicly announced his decision not to seek Michigan’s Senate seat next year, which will leave him free to run for president in 2028.
In an essay on his Substack, the former transportation secretary doesn’t mention another bid for the White House, but it’s the subtext to his piece:
Though an adopted and relatively new Michigander, it wasn’t long before I was approached about potentially running for office here. Next year will bring elections for the Governor’s office and for one of our state’s seats in the U.S. Senate. I thought seriously about both, especially after being encouraged by some of the leaders in Michigan whom I most respect, as well as by people I’ve encountered when I’m picking up groceries, catching a flight, or at the mall with my family. I’ve had long conversations with neighbors, advisors, friends, elected officials, and with Chasten about whether to run. I reflected on what I could offer in light of the exceptionally high standards of leadership and service set by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Senator Debbie Stabenow, and Senator Gary Peters. I considered what I could bring to the race compared to other likely candidates, and what running and serving would mean compared to other ways I could make a difference in the years ahead.
I care deeply about the outcome of both races, but I have decided against competing in either. My party has a deep and talented bench here in Michigan, and I am certain that we will nominate an outstanding candidate for each office. Here in Michigan and around the country, I remain enthusiastic about helping candidates who share our values – and who understand that in this moment, leadership means not only opposing today’s cruel chaos, but also presenting a vision of a better alternative.
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 laid the legal groundwork for the detention of immigrants from Japan, Italy, Germany and other countries the United States was at war with during the first and second world wars, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
More on its historic usage:
The Alien Enemies Act has been invoked three times, each time during a major conflict: the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. In World Wars I and II, the law was a key authority behind detentions, expulsions, and restrictions targeting German, Austro-Hungarian, Japanese, and Italian immigrants based solely on their ancestry. The law is best known for its role in Japanese internment, a shameful part of U.S. history for which Congress, presidents, and the courts have apologized.
For a variety of reasons, the Brennan Center considers the law discriminatory, and expects that Trump’s invocation of it will draw legal challenges:
The Fifth Amendment protects U.S. citizens and immigrants against discrimination and rights violations perpetrated by the federal government. The courts typically strike down policies that discriminate based on a suspect classification, such as race or ancestry, and policies that infringe on fundamental rights.
The Alien Enemies Act discriminates against immigrants based on their country of citizenship and, more broadly, based on their ancestry. The breadth of the law’s discrimination is apparent on the face of the law and from its history. By its text, the Alien Enemies Act covers not only the citizens of a foreign belligerent but also the “natives” — or individuals who were born in the enemy state but renounced their citizenship and no longer owe allegiance to that state. The law’s application to “natives” clarifies the law’s focus on birth heritage and its conflation of ancestry with disloyalty in wartime. In the decades following World War II, when Congress and the executive branch apologized for Japanese, German, and Italian internment, they recognized that immigrants had been targeted, regulated, and interned under the Alien Enemies Act based on their ancestry.
The Alien Enemies Act also runs afoul of the right to be free from indefinite civil detention, as recognized by the Supreme Court in its 2001 Zadvydas v. Davis opinion. Wartime detentions are necessarily indefinite, as states do not negotiate the length of their hostilities at the outset of a conflict. During World War II, some immigrants were interned for more than 10 years, even though they were civilians and were not charged with any unlawful activity.
Trump expected to invoke Alien Enemies Act to speed up deportations – report
Donald Trump may as soon as tomorrow invoke an obscure federal law to speed up the deportations of certain groups of immigrants, CNN reports.
The president first proposed using the law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, during his campaign last year. The law allows for summary deportation of non-citizens from a foreign country with which the US is at war, and is part of his pledge to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Since taking office in January, Trump has made strictly enforcing immigration law a priority, which resulted in more immigration arrests last month than in any other for the past seven years:
US military drawing up options for ‘reclaiming’ Panama canal – report
The US military is looking for ways to make good on Donald Trump’s promise to take back control of the Panama canal, ranging from increasing its troop numbers in the country to seizing it by force, NBC News reports.
Taking over the canal was a surprise foreign policy plank that Trump announced after winning the presidency in November. Here’s more on what the US military is considering, from NBC:
During a joint address to Congress last week, Trump said, “to further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal.” Since then, administration officials have not said what “reclaiming” means.
U.S. Southern Command is developing potential plans that vary from partnering more closely with the Panamanian military to the less likely option of U.S. troops seizing the Panama Canal by force, the officials said. Whether military force is used, the officials added, depends on how much the Panamanian military agrees to partner with the U.S.
The Trump administration’s goal is to increase the U.S. military presence in Panama to diminish China’s influence there, particularly access to the canal, the officials said.
Both Panama and China deny there is any foreign interference in the 50-mile canal, whose neutrality is enshrined in Panama’s Constitution. Chinese officials have accused the U.S. of using “coercion” to pressure Panamanian officials to block Chinese aid projects.
The New York Times reports that the White House opted to withdraw Dave Weldon’s nomination to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because it did not think he had the votes to be confirmed in the Senate.
While Weldon has a history of embracing conspiracy theories surrounding vaccines, he told the Times in a recent interview: “I believe in vaccination.”
Here’s more:
He had repeatedly questioned the safety of the measles vaccine and criticized the C.D.C. for not doing enough to prove that vaccines are safe.
While in Congress, Dr. Weldon pushed to move the vaccine safety office away from C.D.C. control, saying the agency had a conflict of interest because it also purchases and promotes vaccines. He is also a staunch opponent of abortion.
…
Like Mr. Kennedy, he had questioned the need to immunize children against hepatitis B, describing it as primarily a sexually transmitted disease afflicting adults.
He also argued that abstinence is the most effective way to curb sexually transmitted infections. Cases have soared in recent years and only began to show signs of a possible downturn in 2023.
In an interview with The New York Times in late November, Dr. Weldon said that he had worked “to get the mercury out of the childhood vaccines,” but described himself as a supporter of vaccination.
Both his adult children are fully immunized, he said. As a doctor in coastal Florida, he prescribes thousands of doses of flu and other vaccines to his patients.
“I’ve been described as anti-vaccine,” Dr. Weldon said, but added: “I give shots. I believe in vaccination.”
White House withdraws nomination of vaccine skeptic to lead CDC – report
The White House had pulled the nomination of Dave Weldon, a former congressman and vaccine skeptic, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Washington Post reports.
Weldon was to have his confirmation hearing today before the Senate health committee, but that has now been cancelled.
During his time representing a Florida district in the House from 1995 to 2009, Weldon promoted baseless conspiracy theories that vaccines are linked to autism, despite research debunking such claims.
Meanwhile, an official tasked with implementing Donald Trump’s government downsizing effort appears to be posting on Instagram during work hours, the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:
The chief spokesperson for the agency overseeing mass firings as Donald Trump and Elon Musk slash the federal workforce used her office to record fashion influencer videos even as thousands of workers were losing their jobs.
McLaurine Pinover, communications director at the US office of personnel management (OPM), posted several Instagram videos during business hours in which she posed in different outfits, CNN reported.
One video was posted on 13 February, the day OPM reportedly directed several agencies to lay off thousands of employees with probationary status, including about 20 people on Pinover’s own team.
Pinover has issued numerous statements backing moves to fire federal workers, including describing a controversial directive for all workers to list five things they achieve each week as “a commitment to an efficient and accountable federal workforce”.
We are expecting to find out more today about Donald Trump’s plans for large-scale cuts to the federal government, as departments have a Thursday deadline to outline their plans for a second wave of layoffs and downsizing.
From Reuters, here’s more about what they have been asked to do, and what we know about the potential options already:
With Musk at his side, Trump signed an executive order on February 11 directing all agencies to “promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force,” using a legal term commonly referred to as RIF to denote mass layoffs.
An OPM memo said plans should include “a significant reduction” of full-time staff, cuts to real estate, a smaller budget, and the elimination of functions not mandated by law.
A handful of agencies have telegraphed how many employees they plan to cut in the second phase of layoffs. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is aiming to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the U.S. Department of Education, which said on Tuesday it would lay off nearly half its 4,000-strong staff.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. government agency that provides weather forecasts, is planning to layoff more than 1,000 workers.
Several agencies have also offered employees lump-sum payments to voluntarily retire early, a move that could help the agencies avoid the legal complications inherent in the RIF process, which unions have vowed to fight in court.
Pete Buttigieg not expected to run for Michigan Senate seat, clearing the way for potential presidential bid – report
Pete Buttigieg, a former transportation secretary and Democratic presidential contender, will not run for Michigan’s Senate seat next year, a decision that would allow him to instead seek the White House in 2028, Politico reports.
A former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Buttigieg’s fortunes rose in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, then his selection by Joe Biden to handle transportation policy during his administration.
Buttigieg recently moved to Michigan, whose Democratic senator Gary Peters announced he will not seek re-election next year, setting the stage for what is expected to be a hot contest to replace him in a state Trump carried in November.
Here’s more from Politico on why Buttigieg has opted out of that race:
His decision was framed by several allies and people in his inner circle as putting him in the strongest possible position to seek the presidency, and based on a belief it would be exceedingly difficult to run successive campaigns in 2026 and 2028.
The former Transportation secretary acknowledged recently he had been “looking” at a Senate campaign, including meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to discuss the possibility.
Democrats are scrambling to hold onto the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Gary Peters in a crucial swing state. Republicans see it as a top pickup opportunity after coming close to flipping the state’s other Senate seat last cycle.
Buttigieg, who ran for president in 2020, moved to Traverse City, Michigan, with his young family, after four years of working in former President Joe Biden’s Cabinet. The workload of Cabinet-related travel — and the prospect of starting a campaign soon after — weighed in his calculus, people close to him said.
Before opting out of a Senate run, Buttigieg also ruled out a run for Michigan governor. Polling indicated that had he run, he would’ve started in a dominant position in a primary.
“The hardest decision in politics is to pass on a race you have a very good chance to win,” said David Axelrod, the longtime Democratic operative who helped lead Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, and a mentor to Buttigieg who spoke with him Wednesday. “Pete was an A-list recruit and would have been a formidable candidate for the Senate had he chosen to run. But had he won in ’26, it would almost certainly have taken him out of the conversation for ’28. This certainly keeps that option open. Beyond that, I have a sense that he wanted to spend more time with his family, and with people in communities like his, where the conversations and concerns are so different than the ones you hear in the echo chamber of Washington.”
For all his bluster, Donald Trump’s tariff-heavy approach to economic policy is not impressing Americans.
A CNN survey conducted by SSRS finds voters are more negative on his handling of the economy than they have ever been, which is striking, considering he presided over the worst economic collapse in decades in his first term (though also an extraordinary government intervention).
Here’s more, from CNN:
As markets slide and investors worry in response to Trump’s trade policies, a 56% majority of the public disapproves of his handling of the economy, worse than at any point during his first term in office. By contrast, the 51% who now say they approve of his work on immigration – headlined by stricter enforcement efforts – is 7 points higher than at any point during his first term.
Americans are closely divided over Trump’s performance so far in handling the federal budget and managing the federal government – 48% approve on each, with about half disapproving – while giving him lower ratings for his work on health care policy (43%), foreign affairs (42%) and tariffs (39%).
Trump’s overall job approval rating currently stands at 45%, with 54% disapproving, in line with the numbers he saw in March 2017 and matching his highest ratings for his first term in office. Overall, 35% of Americans say things in the country are going well, a rise from 29% in January, reflecting a surge in positive sentiment within the GOP. His ratings remain highly polarized, with Republicans roughly 10 times as likely as Democrats to approve of his job performance.
Trump threatens 200% retaliatory tariffs on European wines, alcohols
Donald Trump is starting off his morning by doing something he’s done quite often, which is threaten tariffs on major US trading partners.
The latest salvo is aimed at the European Union and their alcoholic beverage industry, particularly France and its world-renowned vineyards. Trump says he’ll put tariffs on what the bloc exports to the United States, after the EU yesterday imposed their own levies on American whiskey in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel.
The escalatory tit-for-tat is why these things are referred to as trade wars. Here’s what Trump wrote, on Truth Social:
The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States, has just put a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky. If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES. This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.
