Trump ‘border czar’ tells ABC military planes will deport migrants every day
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(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration is planning to use military aircraft every day to help carry out what President Donald Trump and his “border czar,” Tom Homan, have promised will be the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, Homan told ABC News.
In an interview with ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz, Homan said that only days after Trump took office, the U.S. government for the first time ever used military aircraft to transport migrants back to their home country, and it will now be a daily occurrence.
According to U.S. officials, the U.S. military on Thursday flew more than 150 migrants to Guatemala on two separate flights. But Homan made clear that the military flights are just one part of a much broader plan.
He claimed that – unlike under the Biden administration – Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are now free to arrest any of the estimated more than 11 million immigrants in the country without legal status, not just those identified as priorities for deportation for being convicted criminals or other public safety threats.
Watch more of Martha Raddatz’ interview with Tom Homan Sunday on ABC’s ‘This Week’
“If you’re in the country illegally, you’re on the table because it’s not okay to, you know, violate the laws of this country,” he said.
Homan said that while the Trump administration’s enforcement actions are currently prioritizing public safety and national security threats, they’re going to “open up the aperture” in the weeks and months ahead.
“As that aperture opens, there’ll be more arrests nationwide,” he said.
Homan also offered another possible solution for “those who are in the country illegally”: They “should leave” on their own, he said.
Early in the Biden administration, then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued guidance to immigration enforcement officers discouraging them from “spending resources to remove those who do not pose a threat” and noting that many undocumented immigrants inside the country “have been here for generations and contributed to our country’s well-being,” as he put it in a statement at the time.
Homan, however, noted that the nation’s immigration laws were passed by Congress to be enforced, and said immigrants without legal status are violating those laws.
More of Homan’s interview with Raddatz will air Sunday on “This Week.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is hosting French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House on Monday, with Russia and Ukraine set to be atop the agenda as the world marks three years since Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
Trump and Macron participated in a call with other G7 leaders before a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office. After they will hold a news conference in the East Room, where they can expect to be peppered with questions about the status of peace talks.
Macron convened European leaders for emergency meetings on Ukraine in Paris last week, as top U.S. officials held talks with Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia without Ukraine and Europe.
Following those meetings, Macron said France and its partners agreed Ukraine must always be involved and its rights respected in negotiations and that security concerns of Europeans must be taken into account.
“Following discussions over the past few days with European colleagues and allies, we are committed to ensuring that peace returns to Ukraine in a just, solid, and lasting manner, and that the security of Europeans is strengthened through all upcoming negotiations,” Macron posted on X on Sunday ahead of his trip to Washington.
The Trump administration’s increased pressure on Ukraine to resolve the conflict, with Trump calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” and falsely blaming Ukraine for Russia’s ongoing assault. Trump escalated his criticism last week, when he said Ukraine has “no cards” to play as negotiations unfold.
Meanwhile, Trump said he’s had “good talks” with Putin. Trump has not appeared to make any demands of Russia as negotiations unfold, while he’s ruled out NATO membership and a return to Ukraine’s 2014 borders.
The posture marks a seismic shift in U.S. foreign policy, and comes as the Trump administration brandishes an “America First” agenda that could upend traditional transatlantic alliances.
Vice President JD Vance caused a stir when he took an aggressive tone toward Europe’s leadership on immigration, free speech and more as he spoke at the Munich Security Conference. Vance told U.S. allies the greatest threat to Europe was “within” and not Russia or China.
Vance doubled down on those themes in his speech at CPAC last week. Asked there about the future of U.S. alliances on the continent, Vance said they would continue to have “important” partnerships with Europe.
“But I really do think the strength of those alliances is going to depend on whether we take our societies in the right direction … That friendship is based on shared values,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — Kristi Noem, South Dakota’s firebrand Republican governor, faces a grilling Friday at her confirmation hearing to be secretary of homeland security.
Noem, the daughter of a farmer and a former representative from South Dakota, will be questioned before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
She first came on the national scene during the pandemic and gained notoriety when she did not shut down businesses and schools in the state — instead keeping it open and even hosting a Fourth of July fireworks show at Mt. Rushmore.
“We didn’t mandate anything,” Noem said at the Republican National Convention in July 2024. “We never ordered a single business or church to close. I never even defined what an essential business was, because I don’t believe that the government has the authority to tell you that your business isn’t essential.”
During her last state budget address in December, Noem touted what she called progress on the state economy, education and public safety.
Noem was one of the Republican governors to send National Guardsmen to the southern border to help the Texas National Guard.
If confirmed, border security will be a main concern as Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would fall under her purview at the Department of Homeland Security.
“I have increased resources to combat the horror of human trafficking,” she said in December. “And when President Trump secures the southern border, we’ll cut off the primary pipeline for human trafficking into our country.”
In an interview on Newsmax shortly after President-elect Trump’s election victory she said the “number one priority” will be the border.
“We’ve got to secure our country, and we’ve got to get the murderers and terrorists and rapists out of this country, and make America safe again. That’s really what his goal is. And I’m just so proud of him that he’s working so hard at it immediately,” she said.
A one-time potential vice-presidential prospect, Noem would oversee 22 agencies with more than 260,000 employees — on issues ranging from the border to federal disaster management to the Secret Service.
Earlier this year, she was embroiled in a series of controversies, including drawing scrutiny and a lawsuit over her social media endorsement of a dental work she received from a practice in Texas.
She was also criticized for writing in her new memoir about how she shot and killed her 14-month-old dog “Cricket” after she said it demonstrated an “aggressive personality, and she was forced to admit what she called “errors” in her book, including claiming she once met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. That description was removed from the book, according to the publisher.
Trump defended and praised her amid the controversies last year, saying she’s gone through “rough” days but that he likes her “a lot.”
(WASHINGTON) — When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is sworn in as the nation’s next health secretary Thursday, his first order of business will be to investigate America’s problem with chronic illnesses.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that President Donald Trump will sign an executive order creating a “Make America Health Again” commission and direct Kennedy “to investigate this chronic crisis plaguing our country and the minds and the bodies of the American people.”
What that will mean exactly remains to be seen. But here are three things to watch for as Kennedy takes the helm, based on what he and Trump have said in the past:
More study on food dyes or other food additives?
MAHA has easily emerged as a deeply popular slogan by Kennedy as much of America struggles with obesity and chronic diseases. The question though is how to do that in a way that won’t weigh down the federal budget or trigger an avalanche of legal challenges from the food and drug industry.
One possible avenue for Kennedy could be to call for additional safety studies of certain ingredients used by manufacturers, including food dyes.
Last month, the Food and Drug Administration revoked its authorization of one type of red food dye. “Red Dye No. 3” is known to cause cancer in laboratory animals but was allowed to be used by manufacturers for years because scientists didn’t believe it raised cancer risk in humans at the level typically consumed. The FDA, under President Joe Biden, acted after longtime pressure by consumer advocates.
But a different type, Red Dye No. 40, remains on the market and hasn’t been studied by the FDA in more than 20 years. FDA and health officials say there is no evidence though that it’s harmful, and food manufacturers say they need to be able to rely on ingredients generally recognized as safe.
Still, health advocates argue more can be done to look at the health impacts and or do the kind of post-market monitoring of food more common in Europe.
All of those efforts though will take significant federal resources and rely on a workforce that Trump has promised to cut.
Rewriting discrimination rules for hospitals, doctors and insurers to exclude transgender protections
Kennedy hasn’t personally focused much on the question of transgender rights. But eliminating federal rules at Health and Human Services that President Barack Obama and Joe Biden pushed to protect transgender Americans is a major priority for Trump and the conservative party.
Federal law prohibits sexual discrimination, but it’s up to the executive branch to spell out specific rules that schools, insurers and hospitals must follow if they want to retain access to federal aid.
Obama triggered a fierce legal fight in his second term when he issued federal regulations aimed at protecting transgender people from discrimination in schools and medical settings. Under rules written by Obama’s Health aand Human Services Department, doctors and hospitals were told couldn’t decline care for a person because of their gender identity. Insurance companies also were specifically prohibited from offering different benefits to certain groups, including transgender individuals and people with HIV.
Trump quickly dropped Obama’s rules in his first term, writing new rules that granted exceptions for medical providers on discrimination rules if they cited religious objections.
President Joe Biden tried to resurrect Obama’s initial rules but was swiftly challenged in court by Republican states, tossing the issue back to Trump. It’ll now be up to HHS under Kennedy, if he’s confirmed, to decide what those federal rules should say.
Making it easier for parents to send unvaccinated kids to public schools
School vaccine requirements are up to the states, and currently all 50 states have laws requiring certain vaccines for students to attend public schools.
But HHS sets the recommendations for childhood vaccines followed by schools, while the Education Department provides vital grant money to schools used to teach low-income or children with disabilities.
On the campaign trail, Trump threatened to revoke spending for schools that mandate vaccines currently recommended by public health experts and HHS.
“I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate,” Trump declared last year.
Such a move could have big implications for public health. According to the nonpartisan KFF, routine vaccination rates for kindergarten children is on the decline while exemptions are on the rise, including non-religious exemptions.
While running for president before aligning with Trump, Kennedy rejected the numerous studies finding that childhood vaccines are safe, including several studies that debunked a myth that vaccines cause autism. During his Senate confirmation, Kennedy insisted he doesn’t oppose vaccines but wants more study.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican doctor from Louisiana, said he was concerned by Kennedy’s past in “undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments.” Facing a Republican primary next year, Cassidy decided to back Trump’s pick after getting Kennedy to agree the two would work together closely.
“Ultimately, restoring trust in our public health institution is too important, and I think Mr. Kennedy can help get that done,” Cassidy said.
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart, Molly Nagle and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
