Democratic states sue Trump over effort to end birthright citizenship; border czar says immigration raids to begin today – live | Trump administration
Democratic-led states and cities sue over Trump attempt to end birthright citizenship
Eighteen Democratic-led states and two cities have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to block his executive order issued yesterday intended to end birthright citizenship for some.
The lawsuit, led by California, Massachusetts and New Jersey, argues that a federal law and the constitution’s 14th amendment grants most children born on US soil citizenship, and asks a court to halt Trump’s executive order.
Here’s California attorney general, Rob Bonta:
The president’s executive order attempting to rescind birthright citizenship is blatantly unconstitutional and quite frankly, un-American. As home of Wong Kim Ark, a San Francisco native who fought – successfully – to have his US citizenship recognized, California condemns the president’s attempts to erase history and ignore 125 years of Supreme Court precedent. We are asking a court to immediately block this order from taking effect and ensure that the rights of American-born children impacted by this order remain in effect while litigation proceeds. The President has overstepped his authority by a mile with this order, and we will hold him accountable.
In his executive order signed yesterday, Trump attempted to confine birthright citizenship only to children with at least one parent that is either a US citizen, or lawful permanent resident. Here’s more:
Key events
Former national security adviser John Bolton says Trump withdrew his Secret Service protection
John Bolton, who served as national security adviser during part of Donald Trump’s first term but has since fallen out with him, says the president has taken away his Secret Service protection.
In a statement on X, Bolton said the agents have protected him from an assassination plot linked to Iran. Here’s what he wrote:
I am disappointed but not surprised that President Trump has decided to terminate the protection previously provided by the United States Secret Service. Notwithstanding my criticisms of President Biden’s national-security policies, he nonetheless made the decision to extend that protection to me in 2021. The Justice Department filed criminal charges against an Iranian Revolutionary Guard official in 2022 for attempting to hire a hit man to target me. That threat remains today, as also demonstrated by the recent arrest of someone trying to arrange for President Trump’s own assassination. The American people can judge for themselves which President made the right call.
Donald Trump’s administration has ordered the termination of the head of the coast guard, citing her mismanagement of border security and embrace of diversity and inclusion initiatives, Fox News reports.
Commandant Linda Lee Fagan’s removal is the latest example of the new president going after top government officials who have fallen short of his expectations on two of the issues he campaigned on. Trump has promised American voters that he will improve border security and deport undocumented immigrants en masse, and also dismantle federal government initiatives intended to diversify the workforce.
A senior homeland security department official told Fox concerns over Fagan’s handling of a sexual assault scandal and various administrative issues also played a role in her dismissal. Here’s more, from their report:
Adm. Linda Lee Fagan, 61, has been terminated by the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Benjamine Huffman, the official said.
Fagan has demonstrated leadership deficiencies, operational failures and an inability to advance the strategic objectives of the Coast Guard.
These include the failure to address border security threats, insufficient leadership in recruitment and retention, mismanagement in acquiring key acquisitions such as icebreakers and helicopters, excessive focus on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and an “erosion of trust” over the mishandling and cover-up of Operation Fouled Anchor, which was the Coast Guard’s internal investigation into sexual assault cases at the Coast Guard Academy.
Fagan is accused of ineffective deployment of Coast Guard assets to support national border security, including in intercepting fentanyl and other illicit substances. She also had insufficient coordination with DHS to prioritize operations along maritime borders.
The DHS official said Fagan had significant failures in recruiting personnel, which worsened issues related to operational readiness. The official added that the lack of innovative strategies to address retention struggles in critical specialties weakened workforce sustainability.
Under her leadership, there were also persistent delays and cost overruns in acquiring essential platforms, including icebreakers and helicopters, that the official said undermined Coast Guard capabilities in the Arctic and other strategic regions. The official further cited inadequate accountability for acquisition failures that were highlighted during President Trump’s first administration.
Fagan also made DEI policies a priority, including at the Coast Guard Academy, which diverted resources and focus from operational essentials.
Joseph Gedeon
New York Representative Elise Stefanik, Donald Trump’s nominee for UN ambassador, expressed support for Israeli claims of biblical rights to the entire West Bank during a tense confirmation hearing exchange.
Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen confronted Stefanik about her agreement of a position that aligns her with the Israeli far-right, including Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir derived from a private conversation ahead of the hearing.
“You told me that, yes, you shared that view,” Van Hollen said during questioning. “Is that your view today?”
“Yes,” Stefanik said.
The hearing remains heavily focused on the UN’s stance on Israel, with this particular exchange a clear example on how Stefanik’s stance might affect US diplomatic efforts during ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, particularly regarding Palestinian self-determination and territorial disputes.
Still, Van Hollen warned that such positions could hamper peace negotiations.
“It’s going to be very difficult to achieve peace if you continue to hold the view that you just expressed,” he said.
Harry Davies
Donald Trump has reinstated an executive order allowing him to impose economic sanctions against the international criminal court (ICC), paving the way for the US to hit the judicial body and its staff with draconian measures.
Among the blizzard of executive orders made on Monday evening, Trump revived an order issued during his presidency that used emergency powers to create a sanctions regime targeting the court.
The powers were used in 2020 to impose asset freezes and travel bans against the ICC’s former chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, and one of her top officials. The order was revoked in April 2021 by Joe Biden.
Trump’s reinstatement of the order comes as the ICC braces itself for a volley of aggressive sanctions by the new US administration in response to arrest warrants it has issued against Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former defence minister.
The Guardian reported on Monday the court is planning for a worst case scenario in which the US imposes sanctions against the institution in addition to measures targeting senior figures including its judges and current chief prosecutor Karim Khan.
SEC launches new ‘crypto taskforce’ as rollback of Biden approach expected
Callum Jones
America’s top markets watchdog, now under Donald Trump’s leadership, wasted no time in announcing a new “crypto taskforce” as the industry cheers on the new administration.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the taskforce will aim to set a “sensible regulatory path” for crypto, claiming the agency “can do better” than its previous approach – widely deemed a crackdown – under Joe Biden.
On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to transform the US into a “bitcoin superpower” and the crypto capital of the world. His election victory triggered a crypto rally that propelled bitcoin to record highs.
The SEC’s crypto task force will be led by Hester Peirce, a commissioner who accused the Biden administration of welcoming the “extinction of new technology” through its regulation of crypto.
The lawsuits argue that the executive order violated the right enshrined in the citizenship clause of the US constitution’s 14th amendment that provides that anyone born in the United States is considered a citizen.
The complaints cite the US supreme court’s 1898 ruling in United States v Wong Kim Ark, a decision holding that children born in the United States to non-citizen parents are entitled to US citizenship.
If allowed to stand, Trump’s order would mean more than 150,000 children born annually in the United States would be denied for the first time the right to citizenship, according to the office of the Massachusetts attorney general, Andrea Joy Campbell.
“President Trump does not have the authority to take away constitutional rights,” she said in a statement.
Fran Lawther
Reuters has a bit more on the birthright citizenship lawsuit:
It follows a pair of similar cases filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, immigrant organizations and an expectant mother in the hours after Trump signed the executive order, marking the first major litigation challenging parts of his agenda since he took office.
“State attorneys general have been preparing for illegal actions like this one, and today’s immediate lawsuit sends a clear message to the Trump administration that we will stand up for our residents and their basic constitutional rights,” the New Jersey attorney general, Matthew Platkin, said in a statement.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuits were all filed in federal courts in Boston or Concord, New Hampshire. More lawsuits by Democratic-led states and advocacy groups challenging other aspects of Trump’s agenda are expected, with cases already on file challenging the Elon Musk-led, ill-defined “department of government efficiency” and an order the Republican signed weakening job protections for civil servants.
Any rulings from judges in Massachusetts and New Hampshire would be reviewed by the Boston-based 1st US circuit court of appeals, whose five active federal judges are all appointees of Democratic presidents, a rarity nationally.
The day so far
It’s Donald Trump’s first full day as president, and his administration is getting to work on making his laundry list of campaign promises a reality. Border czar Tom Homan said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers will begin raids targeting undocumented immigrants today, and a White House spokesperson said Trump would make an unspecified announcement about infrastructure this afternoon. Fox News reports that his administration has already rescinded a Biden-era ban on immigration raids at schools, churches and other sensitive areas, while a former acting Ice director told CNN that Trump’s order to the military to construct detention camps is a sign he is ready to make good on his promise of carrying out mass deportations. Meanwhile, at the Capitol, Republican senators pleaded ignorance of Trump’s blanket pardons to people who attacked the Capitol, or shrugged the decision off entirely.
Here’s what else has happened today:
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Democratic-led cities and states have filed a lawsuit to halt Trump’s executive order signed yesterday that restricts birthright citizenship.
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Federal judge Aileen Cannon has blocked the release to a small group of lawmakers of former special counsel Jack Smith’s report on his aborted prosecution of Trump in the classified documents case.
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Elon Musk will reportedly be given office space in the White House as part of work with the “department of government efficiency”.
Democratic-led states and cities sue over Trump attempt to end birthright citizenship
Eighteen Democratic-led states and two cities have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to block his executive order issued yesterday intended to end birthright citizenship for some.
The lawsuit, led by California, Massachusetts and New Jersey, argues that a federal law and the constitution’s 14th amendment grants most children born on US soil citizenship, and asks a court to halt Trump’s executive order.
Here’s California attorney general, Rob Bonta:
The president’s executive order attempting to rescind birthright citizenship is blatantly unconstitutional and quite frankly, un-American. As home of Wong Kim Ark, a San Francisco native who fought – successfully – to have his US citizenship recognized, California condemns the president’s attempts to erase history and ignore 125 years of Supreme Court precedent. We are asking a court to immediately block this order from taking effect and ensure that the rights of American-born children impacted by this order remain in effect while litigation proceeds. The President has overstepped his authority by a mile with this order, and we will hold him accountable.
In his executive order signed yesterday, Trump attempted to confine birthright citizenship only to children with at least one parent that is either a US citizen, or lawful permanent resident. Here’s more:
Donald Trump and JD Vance, together with their spouses, this morning attended the National Prayer Service, another inauguration custom.
During the service, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, Mariann Edgar Budde, appealed directly to the president to rethink some of his hardline policies, particularly towards immigrants and transgender people.
Here’s what she said:
Let me make one final plea, Mr president. Millions have put their trust in you, and as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God.
In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives. And the people, the people, who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors.
“I ask you to have mercy, Mr President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here,” Budde said.
Neither Trump nor Vance showed much obvious reaction to her words.
In the hours since Donald Trump gave blanket pardons to January 6 rioters, supporters of the detained insurrections gathered outside Washington DC’s jail, and the leaders of two far-right groups implicated in the attack walked free from facilities elsewhere. Here’s the latest on this story, from the Guardian’s Marina Dunbar:
Extremist supporters of Donald Trump who attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 or were involved in planning the insurrection began leaving prison on Tuesday, after the newly installed president issued sweeping pardons shortly after being sworn in on Monday.
The Republican president’s pardon of 1,500 defendants on Monday drew outrage from lawmakers who were endangered in the attack, when thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Congress from certifying his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.
Two of the biggest names of the far right and the most serious offenders tied to the plot, Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys and the former Oath Keeper Steward Rhodes, were both set free on Tuesday.
Rhodes, the former leader of the Oath Keepers militia who had his 18-year prison sentence for seditious conspiracy commuted, was released just after midnight on Tuesday in Cumberland, Maryland. He did not enter the US Capitol during the mob’s breach but was found guilty of plotting to use force against Congress to try to prevent the election certification of Biden’s victory over Trump. He was also accused of helping to stockpile firearms at a hotel in nearby Virginia that could be ferried across the river to Washington DC.
Tarrio was serving a 22-year sentence. He also did not take part in the breach of the Capitol but was convicted of orchestrating the plots to stop the peaceful transfer of power. The two men’s attorneys on Tuesday confirmed their release.
Add newly sworn in secretary of state Marco Rubio to the Republicans dodging questions about Donald Trump’s blanket pardons to January 6 rioters.
As a senator, Rubio spoke out forcefully against the attack, but changed his tone this morning, when asked about the pardons on ABC News:
As a senator, I had an opinion all kinds of domestic matters, but now I’m focused singularly on foreign policy, on how I interact with our allies.
Republican senators shrug off or plead ignorance of January 6 pardons – report
CNN went around the Capitol today, asking Republican senators for their thoughts on Donald Trump’s pardons to just about everyone facing or convicted of criminal charges over the January 6 insurrection.
Those who spoke to the network did not have any particularly strong words of opposition to the president’s decision, even though all were in the Capitol when Trump’s supporters attacked.
Here’s John Thune, the Senate majority leader:
“We’re not looking backwards, we’re looking forward,” he said, while contending the 1,000-plus pardons were not blanket pardons.
“I think they were case by case.” Biden “opened the door” to pardons, Thune argued, saying that the former president engaged in the “most massive use of the pardon power that we’ve seen in history”.
Susan Collins of Maine said she did not know much about the widely reported development:
“I don’t know whether there were pardons given to individuals who assaulted police officers,” she said, “or whether there were pardons given to people who damaged property, who rummaged through desks, who broke windows in the Capitol. I disagree with those pardons if they were given.”
Tommy Tuberville of Alabama managed to be simultaneously enthusiastic and disappointed:
Senator Tommy Tuberville said he was “100%” for “everyone” of the pardons, adding of the rioters in prison that “they’ve been there long enough.”
Pressed by reporters that some of those who were pardoned assaulted police officers, “No, that’s not acceptable. But I didn’t see it,” Tuberville said.
Asked him if he doesn’t believe police officers were beaten, Tuberville said, “I don’t know whether I don’t believe, because I didn’t see it. Now, if I see it, I would believe it, but I didn’t see that video.”
Trump repeals ban on immigration raids at schools, hospitals and churches – report
Donald Trump’s administration has rescinded a memo issued under Joe Biden that curbed immigration enforcement in and around schools, healthcare facilities, churches and facilities providing disaster relief, among other locations, Fox News reports.
The decision comes as Trump administration officials vow to today begin rounding up people in the United States illegally, as part of the new president’s promise to carry out “mass deportations”. Under his administration’s new policies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are now encouraged to use “a healthy dose of common sense” when picking locations to find undocumented people.
Here’s more on the new regulations, from Fox:
The first memo, a draft of which was reviewed by Fox News, rescinds a 2021 memo by Mayorkas, which provided an expanded list of areas that are “protected areas” where ICE could not engage in immigration enforcement. It said the policy was designed to make sure enforcement did not limit “people’s access to essential services or engagement in essential activities.”
Those areas include schools, universities, healthcare facilities, places of worship, “places where children gather,” social service establishments, food banks, religious or civil ceremonies and disaster or emergency response and relief centers.
“In our pursuit of justice, including in the execution of our enforcement responsibilities, we impact people’s lives and advance our country’s well-being in the most fundamental ways. As a result, when conducting an enforcement action, ICE and CBP agents and officers must first examine and consider the impact of where actions might possibly take place, their effect on people, and broader societal interests,” Mayorkas said in a statement at the time.
The memo issued Monday rescinded that guidance and said that common sense should be used instead.
“Going forward, law enforcement officers should continue to use that discretion along with a healthy dose of common sense,” the new memo said. “It is not necessary, however, for the head of the agency to create bright line rules regarding where our immigration laws are permitted to be enforced.”
ICE agents who spoke to Fox News said they believe that rescinding the Mayorkas order is going to free them up to go after more illegal immigrants, because illegal immigrants have until now been able to hide near schools and churches and avoid arrest.
Donald Trump signed a pile of executive orders yesterday that both undid Joe Biden’s policies and took aim at longstanding constitutional rights.
Here’s a look back at what the new president did:
