Chicago mayor calls DOGE ‘an act of war,’ compares second Trump term to Third Reich
Chicago Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson laid into DOGE and President Donald Trump’s economic policies during his weekly press availability, drawing parallels between the Third Reich in Germany and the mogul’s second term. Johnson said the Windy City is the most “pro-worker” city in the U.S. but faces “hostility” from Washington: “The fact that the President of the United States of America is cutting off food supply and medicine to working people and families across this country — that is an act of war,” Johnson fumed. “And we’re going to need leaders who are prepared and willing to stand up for working people because this battle has reached our front doors all across America where people are struggling and suffering. And in order to alleviate that pain and discomfort, it’s going to require bold leadership. We can’t tippy toe.” PROPOSED CHICAGO POLICE RESOURCE CUTS COULD LAND CITY IN COURT, TOP OFFICIALS WARN Addressing a reporter who had asked how to work with the Trump administration for the benefit of the city from such an adversarial position, Johnson cited Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s State of the State address in February, which referenced how it “took the Nazi’s one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a Constitutional Republic.” “Governor Pritzker… offered up a warning,” Johnson said. “You have a president that is cutting off medicine and food, a president that is working to erase culture. I mean, you can’t make this up. He’s doing it in plain sight.” Pritzker had compared the rise of former German Chancellor Adolf Hitler to Trump’s popularity — in that the eventual national-socialist dictator was seen as the answer to “inflation and [the public] looking for someone to blame.” CHICAGO DEMOCRAT GOES OFF ON CITY’S HANDLING OF MIGRANT CRISIS In his remarks, Johnson noted how people have wondered how Germany could have descended into Nazism and anti-Semitism so quickly and dreadfully – saying that Trump is “carry[ing] out the playbook that was done against an entire people-group.” “He’s doing it right here in this country, against working people, erasing Black folks from museums and the history and the culture — So, when you ask how we balance that. You have to fight it and resist it with everything that’s in you.” “The President of the United States of America is capturing the hopes and aspirations of working people and holding us hostage as he works to implement and annihilate democracy,” he said, returning to comment on lawsuits the city has joined to halt DOGE-type efforts. Chicago is party to a lawsuit filed by several municipalities, including Baltimore, Santa Clara, and the county that encompasses Houston, which seeks to stop DOGE’s slashing of the federal bureaucracy. “Congress created these federal agencies. It funded them. But the president is trying to fire all these people and gut these agencies that Congress created,” Chicago Deputy Corporation Counsel Steve Kane told the city’s ABC affiliate, calling the situation unconstitutional. DOGE-driven cuts affecting the Windy City have included the Energy Department’s 2025 Small Business Expo originally pinned for June. The cut came as part of billions in spending reductions for cabinet agencies, and other closures of clean-energy-centric operations have affected the city, according to reports. Earlier in May, Chicago hired Ernst & Young – an international consulting firm – to find ways to bridge its own budget gaps, according to Bloomberg. The Trump administration has threatened to withhold funding from sanctuary cities, a definition within which Chicago falls. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP While city-specific data was not immediately available for DOGE-related cuts, the Trump administration saw the Department of Health & Human Services cut their regional office in Illinois, which served 28,000 low-income families. Efforts to consolidate federal real estate and office space affected America’s third-largest city as well: The Federal Transit Administration, SEC, Labor Relations Authority and Civil Corps of Engineers all saw their offices there shut down. A federally-owned art collection in Chicago also sees some of its staffing on the chopping block, according to Axios. Fox News’ Remy Numa and Patrick McGovern contributed to this report.
Trump State Dept announces new student-visa vetting will be ongoing process, not one-time check
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce indicated Thursday that the increased scrutiny the Trump administration is placing on foreign student visas will not be a “one-time” check, but rather a process that lasts the entire time foreign students remain studying in the country. Bruce was peppered with questions at a Thursday press briefing about the Trump administration’s plans for increased vetting for foreign students. The briefing came amid news that the Trump administration has paused new student visa appointments at embassies across the globe. The Trump administration also indicated this week it would begin “aggressively” revoking the visas of Chinese students that pose national security threats, and has plans to implement expanded social media vetting for foreign student visas. “Everyone who’s here on a visa has to recognize – certainly it is what they’ve seen over the last few months – that America takes their visa seriously, that vetting is not a one-time process – it’s continuing,” Bruce said in response to questions about what the new scrutiny and vetting will entail. “When things, if things happen, if you get arrested, if there’s some kind of an issue, it’s probably going to be seen at some point,” Bruce added. STATE DEPARTMENT NOW SCRUTINIZING ALL VISA HOLDERS ASSOCIATED WITH HARVARD “There’s an interest in making sure that those who are here from China on a visa understand that we are taking our national security seriously,” she continued. “And, if everything’s fine, terrific. But, that will be a vetting that certainly continues and is important.” Citing national security concerns, Bruce did not reveal many details about what the new scrutiny on foreign students will look like. However, she did tell reporters that the student visa interviews will likely resume “sooner-than-later,” once a formalized process has been agreed upon. Bruce framed the new student visa scrutiny as part of President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda aimed at reducing alleged political indoctrination on campuses and ensuring that American students can receive the highest quality education possible without interference. TRUMP ACCUSES HARVARD OF BEING ‘VERY SLOW’ TO TURN OVER FOREIGN STUDENT INFO “There’s a reason why people come here – it’s because of what the country represents. Yes, the excellence of our schools. And we want to keep it that way,” Bruce told reporters Thursday. “We want parents who send their children, whether they be from a different country or America – to an American university – that they can recognize their child when that child returns home … making sure that everyone who does want to send their child to a school in this country can do so knowing that they’re going to be safe, they’re going to be able to get into a building and not held hostage in a library because it’s been occupied, or that they’re going to be able to actually learn things that you’re paying that kind of money for.”
Flashback: Top five wildest moments from Elon Musk’s DOGE tenure as it comes to an end
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced his departure from DOGE on social media Wednesday after five months of viral moments and cuts that sparked both praise and controversy nationwide. Fox News Digital compiled five of the top memorable moments from that span. As Musk’s efforts to cut government waste resulted in outrage from Democrats and violent protests at Tesla dealerships across the country, along with a dip in Tesla’s stock price, President Donald Trump announced he was going to purchase a Tesla and met with Musk outside the White House to look at options. “I’m going to buy a brand-new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American,” Trump announced. WHAT’S NEXT FOR DOGE AFTER ELON MUSK’S DEPARTURE? ‘ONLY JUST BEGUN’ “To Republicans, Conservatives, and all great Americans, Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for,” Trump said on Truth Social. Trump and Musk were photographed examining different Tesla models and sitting inside them. Musk got in on the passenger side and joked about “giving the Secret Service a heart attack” as they talked about how to start a vehicle that can reach 60 miles per hour in a few seconds. “That’s beautiful, this is a different panel . . . everything’s computer!” Trump remarked, in a comment that went viral on social media. “That’s beautiful! Wow!” Trump told reporters that he would write a check for the car he chose, which retails for roughly $80,000, and leave it at the White House, so his staff could drive it. The president also said he hopes his purchase will boost Tesla, which was struggling with sagging sales and declining stock prices at the time. One of the most notable DOGE revelations as it scoured the government for waste, fraud, and abuse was Musk’s announcement in February that his agency was looking into a limestone mine in Pennsylvania where he said federal employee retirements are processed manually using a system that could take months. “We’re like, well, what? Why is that? Well, because all the retirement paperwork is manual on paper,” Musk said. “It’s manually calculated and written down on a piece of paper. Then it goes down to mine and like, what do you mean, a mine?” DOGE wrote on X that an old limestone mine in Boyers, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, is where about 700 workers operate more than 230 feet underground to process about 10,000 federal retirement applications per month. The applications are processed by hand using paper, and are stored in manila envelopes and cardboard boxes, DOGE said. The Washington Post described the facility as a “sinkhole of bureaucracy” in a 2014 article. At the time, the report said the total spending on the retirement system was $55.8 million. “And then the speed, the limiting factor is the speed at which the mine shaft elevator can move, determines how many people can retire from the federal government,” Musk said. “And the elevator breaks down and sometimes, and then you can’t, nobody can retire. Doesn’t that sound crazy?” ‘BUREAUCRATIC AND WASTEFUL’: DOGE SNIFFS OUT EYE-POPPING SPENDING ON BIDEN DEI EFFORTS IN KEY AGENCY Musk’s 4-year-old son, Æ A-12, also known as “Lil X,” was often seen accompanying his father for visits to the White House and Capitol Hill in recent months, often going viral on social media. In February, Lil X made headlines after attending an Oval Office meeting and mimicking his father while he spoke, at one point sitting on Musk’s shoulders and putting his fingers in the former DOGE chief’s ears, and holding onto the Resolute Desk. “This is X, and he’s a great guy. High IQ,” a chuckling Trump said, adding that the boy is a “high-IQ individual.” In March, heartwarming photographs of Trump walking to the president’s helicopter, Marine One, with Elon Musk’s son went viral on social media, with internet users doting over the joyful moment. Musk sat down with “Special Report” executive editor Bret Baier for a revealing behind-the-scenes interview with members of his team earlier in March and offered previously unseen glimpses into the work being done. Musk, along with DOGE members Steve Davis, Joe Gebbia, Aram Moghaddassi, Brad Smith, Anthony Armstrong, Tom Krause and Tyler Hassen, illustrated key efforts of the department to achieve Trump’s goal. Davis brought up federal credit cards, which he labeled a “mundane” but “illustrative” example of DOGE’s work. TOP 5 MOST OUTRAGEOUS WAYS THE GOVERNMENT HAS WASTED YOUR TAXES, AS UNCOVERED BY ELON MUSK’S DOGE “There are in the federal government around 4.6 million credit cards for around 2.3 to 2.4 million employees. This doesn’t make sense. So one of the things all of the teams have worked on is we’ve worked for the agencies and said, ‘Do you need all of these credit cards? Are they being used? Can you tell us physically where they are?’” Davis explained. “Clearly there should not be more credit cards than there are people,” Musk responded. The eight-man group also discussed DOGE’s work relating to the federal workforce, financial management, government infrastructure, computer systems, Social Security and more. “They may characterize it as shooting from the hip, but it is anything but that,” Musk said, noting that the agency’s approach to cuts is to “measure twice, if not thrice, and cut once.” Earlier this month, Musk and his team gave a second revealing interview to “Jesse Watters Primetime,” outlining examples of waste they had discovered in government. As the team shared cases of wasteful spending from top departments to smaller agencies, Watters asked how the findings made Musk and the DOGE members feel. “Unfortunately, like the 100th time you’ve heard it, it’s hard not to get a little numb, and
Hawley urges DOJ probe of Chinese trucking company
FIRST ON FOX – Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., asked the Justice Department on Thursday to investigate a Chinese-owned self-driving trucking company, one of the largest in the U.S., citing allegations that it had shared proprietary data and other sensitive technology with state-linked entities in Beijing. The letter, sent to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital, asks the Justice Department to open a formal investigation into the autonomous truck company TuSimple Holdings, a Chinese-owned company and one of the largest self-driving truck companies in the U.S. In it, Hawley cites recent reporting from the Wall Street Journal that alleges that TuSimple “systematically shared proprietary data, source code, and autonomous driving technologies” with Chinese state-linked entities— what he described as “blatant disregard” of the 2022 national security agreement with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS. “These reports also revealed communications from TuSimple personnel inside China requesting the shipment of sensitive Nvidia AI chips and detailed records showing ‘deep and longstanding ties’ with Chinese military-affiliated manufacturers,” Hawley said. TRUMP NOMINATES FORMER DEFENSE ATTORNEY EMIL BOVE FOR FEDERAL APPEALS COURT VACANCY He noted that to date, TuSimple “has not faced serious consequences” for sharing American intellectual property with China, despite having continued to share data with China after signing a national security agreement with the U.S. government in 2022, which was enforced by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. “If the reports about TuSimple are accurate, they represent not just a violation of export law, but a breach of national trust and a direct threat to American technological leadership,” Hawley said. TRUMP ADMIN WORKING TO FLY BACK GUATEMALAN MIGRANT ERRONEOUSLY DEPORTED FROM US “The American people deserve to know how and why a supposedly U.S.-based company was allowed to serve as a conduit for the transfer of sensitive innovations to the Chinese Communist Party,” he added. The letter asks Bondi and the Justice Department to take certain steps to investigate the company’s actions, as alleged by the recent reports – including investigating whether TuSimple provided protected information to any Chinese-based entities, and what activities were covered by the company’s national security agreement with CFIUS, struck more than two years ago. Hawley also asked Bondi what actions, if any, DOJ has taken to date to ensure that Bot Auto—a new Texas-based self-driving vehicle company staffed by many former TuSimple employees, “is not engaging in similar behavior.” According to the Wall Street Journal report, TuSimple’s actions helped shape new Commerce Department regulations, which blocked the sale of internet-linked cars and different components with links to China. According to the report, a CFIUS investigation determined TuSimple’s tech sharing did not violate the official national security agreement— but the company was fined for other infractions, and ultimately paid out a $6 million settlement. The letter comes as Hawley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, has emerged as one of the Senate’s more vocal critics of the Chinese Communist Party, especially as it relates to the conduct of certain U.S. companies, and the sharing of certain intellectual property.
The one thing Texas won’t do to save its water supply
Texas property owners can use nearly as much water under their land as they want. That’s unlikely to change even as the state approaches a crisis.
Trump administration sets new goal of 3,000 illegal immigrant arrests daily
The Trump administration has a new goal of 3,000 arrests of illegal immigrants daily, which was publicly confirmed by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day,” Miller told “Hannity” on Wednesday night, saying the number is going to keep getting bumped higher over time. His response comes after an Axios report that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Miller were said to be backing the 3,000 daily figure in a meeting last week at ICE headquarters. ICE TOUTS RECORD-BREAKING IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT DURING TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS On “America’s Newsroom” on Thursday morning, border czar Tom Homan reaffirmed his statement, saying that officials are “asking for an increase” in arrests. “We’ve gotta increase these arrests and removals,” Homan said. “The numbers are good, but I’m not satisfied. I haven’t been satisfied all year long,” noting that there’s a major “public safety” risk with hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants still in the country from the Biden administration and earlier. For those that do not already have rap sheets, DHS is encouraging them to self-deport with a covered commercial flight and an $1,000 stipend for exiting. TRUMP NABS 30K ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, 1,100 GANG MEMBERS IN 100 DAYS: ‘CRIME WILL GO DOWN,’ EX-FBI AGENT SAYS During Trump’s first 100 days, ICE arrested 66,463 illegal immigrants, and more than 65,000 illegal immigrants were deported. Of that figure, more than 17,000 had criminal convictions or charges for crimes such as driving under the influence, assault, or “weapon offenses,” according to ICE. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE The agency deported 17,200 people in April, which is roughly 4,000 higher than the year prior, when former President Joe Biden was in office, according to NBC News. “Under Secretary Noem, we are delivering on President Trump and the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTS SKYROCKET UNDER TRUMP ICE COMPARED TO BIDEN LEVELS LAST YEAR: ‘WORST OF THE WORST’ The goal increases as the administration pushes Congress to pass the reconciliation bill, which has just been passed by the House. The bill is expected to ramp up funding to get 10,000 more ICE agents and tens of thousands more beds for detention facilities. “This bill will add infrastructure and technology to make our gains on the borders permanent. It puts more boots on the ground to target cartel activity, alien smuggling, child trafficking and drug smuggling. It will provide the needed funds and manpower to increase the great work of ICE on our deportation operations nationwide,” Homan said of the bill after its House passage, according to the White House.
Less than half of DOGE-terminated contracts can be publicly tracked, only about a quarter of grants: watchdog
With Elon Musk’s departure from the agency, there’s debate roiling over how effective the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE), has been in its mission. In a report released just two days prior to Musk stepping down, financial watchdog Open The Books published a report finding it is likely impossible for the average American taxpayer to track the savings associated with the contracts and grants that were terminated by the DOGE team. According to Open The Books’ analysis, which mined all the data published on DOGE’s official website, the average American taxpayer would likely only be able to confirm 42% of contracts and 27% of grants through an independent review of public federal spending databases. “This doesn’t mean these targets aren’t real, it simply means it’s very hard for taxpayers who want to see additional savings to find proof and evidence of savings,” Open The Books points out in its analysis, shared in a report the group released Tuesday. ‘BUREAUCRATIC AND WASTEFUL’: DOGE SNIFFS OUT EYE-POPPING SPENDING ON BIDEN DEI EFFORTS IN KEY AGENCY “Because taxpayers don’t have access to real-time transparency and a real-time look at the Treasury Payment System, it’s still too difficult for even a highly motivated Joe Taxpayer to confirm the savings claims DOGE is making,” the analysis, released ahead of Elon Musk stepping down from running the agency, continued. “It’s also far too easy for critics to sew [sic] doubt and confusion.” DOGE says on its website that the group’s work up to this point has provided the American taxpayer with $175 billion in “estimated” savings from the elimination of contracts, grants and leases, as well as through renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion and other mechanisms. However, DOGE’s estimated savings have been contested by watchdog groups and budget experts. Such critics have posited that the inclusion of already canceled contracts, double-counting or misrepresentation of contract values, and the unaccounted cost burden that could be imposed on the government when it has to re-hire folks down the line, or revamp its productivity, due to DOGE cuts, have led to inflated savings estimates. Nate Malkus, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, has accused DOGE of “overestimating contracts by a factor of two,” according to CBS News. ELON MUSK ‘DISAPPOINTED’ BY TRUMP’S SPENDING BILL, SAYS IT UNDERMINES WHAT DOGE IS DOING But White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital that DOGE has produced “historic savings” for the American people. “DOGE is working at record speed to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, producing historic savings for the American people,” Fields said. “The DOGE Wall of Receipts provides the latest and most accurate information following a thorough assessment, which takes time. Updates to the DOGE savings page will continue to be made promptly, and departments and agencies will keep highlighting the massive savings DOGE is achieving.” “DOGE and Elon Musk have done the country an incredible service by identifying savings targets,” added Open The Books CEO John Hart. “Having worked on the last major deficit commission with the late Senator Tom Coburn, we would have been elated to have had Musk in our corner. Now it’s up to Congress to not only turn DOGE’s recommendations into durable savings but to go beyond DOGE’s scope and truly tackle our long-term debt and deficit crisis.” Open The Books highlighted two “common sense” standards to help establish an “intellectually honest” approach to understanding the true impact of government cuts, such as those being recommended by DOGE. The first is the “durable standard,” which asks whether a proposed cut can be easily reversed. OBAMA-NOMINATED JUDGE ALLOWS LAWSUIT TARGETING MUSK’S ROLE WITH DOGE TO PROCEED, DROPS CLAIMS AGAINST TRUMP “Describing something as ‘durable’ does not mean it is permanent or irreversible; it simply means it is hard to reverse,” the Open The Books’ analysis stated. “The most durable budget cut in our constitutional system would be passed by Congress, signed into law by the president and be clearly constitutional, or unassailable in a court challenge. Budget cuts become less durable when they lack any of these three elements.” The second is called a “duty standard,” which illuminates the power behind certain cuts based on who is trying to impose them. “In our constitutional system, the founders gave the job of budget savings to three branches but primarily to Congress,” Open The Books points out. “DOGE’s job is to identify, not enact, savings targets. It’s up to Congress to do the heavy lifting. And We the People have a responsibility to be informed and hold our elected officials accountable.” WHITE HOUSE SENDING $9.4B DOGE CUTS PACKAGE TO CONGRESS NEXT WEEK Open The Books ultimately concluded that due to various limitations associated with publicly available data on government spending and revenue, in particular a lack of real-time access to the government’s Treasury Payment System, it is still too difficult for even the most motivated average American citizen to either confirm, or deny, the savings claimed by DOGE. Elon Musk officially stepped down from his role as DOGE chief Thursday evening, as his position of “special government employee” in the Trump administration was limited by law to a few months. Amid the transition, Musk criticized Republicans’ spending bill that was passed ahead of Memorial Day in the House, indicating he was “disappointed” it would increase the federal deficit. “I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk told CBS News in an interview that will air in full on June 1.
Labor Dept. to suspend Job Corps centers it says put students in danger, cost taxpayers $1.7B
EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Labor is suspending operations of Job Corps centers across the nation after revelations that the program, which costs taxpayers more than $1.7 billion per year, is no longer achieving its intended outcomes and is putting students in danger. Job Corps originally was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education and community. But Trump administration officials told Fox News Digital that an “in-depth fiscal analysis and a startling number of serious incident reports reveal the program is not helping students achieve intended outcomes or keeping them safe.” NEW REPORT EXPOSES HOW GOVERNMENT PROGRAM WITH EYE-POPPING BUDGET IS FAILING VULNERABLE STUDENTS The decision to suspend the program comes after the Job Corps transparency report was compiled and released in April, finding that the average graduation rate for the program was just 32%. The average total cost per graduate ranges from $155,600 to $187,653, the report states. The average cost of a four-year college in the United States is $153,080, according to the Department of Labor. Additionally, once those students move through the program, the study found that they are largely being hired in minimum wage positions, with participants earning $16,695 annually on average after they leave the program. Currently, there are approximately fewer than 25,000 students enrolled in the Job Corps program, and that participants’ safety is “often at risk.” Officials said there were 14,913 serious incident reports filed in 2023. In 2023, 373 instances of inappropriate sexual behavior and sexual assaults were reported; 1,764 acts of violence were reported; 1,167 breaches of safety or security were reported; 2,702 instances of drug use were reported; and 1,808 hospital visits for students were reported. Trump administration officials told Fox News Digital that the Department of Labor is beginning a phased pause in operations at contractor operated Job Corp centers nationwide, initiating an orderly transition for students, staff and local communities. Currently, there are 123 Job Corps centers across the United States. 99 of the centers are run by contractors administered by the Department of Labor. An official said that those contracts will be terminated to pause operations. The remaining 24 centers are run by USDA and will not be impacted by the suspension. The pause of operations at all contractor-operated Job Corps centers will occur by June 30. During the transition, the Department of Labor will collaborate with state and local workforce partners to assist current students in advancing their training and connecting them with education and employment opportunities. Once the phased suspension occurs, students will be connected to other resources and will be registered within the American Job Center closest to their home and the Labor Exchange system in their home states. DOGE SLASHES ‘WASTEFUL’ ‘PROBLEM-SOLVING’ CONTRACT WORTH $50K IN LATEST ROUND OF ELIMINATIONS “Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,” Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told Fox News Digital. “However, a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis reveal the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve.” Chavez-DeRemer added: “We remain committed to ensuring all participants are supported through this transition and connected with the resources they need to succeed as we evaluate the program’s possibilities.” The Jobs Corps cost taxpayers $1.7 billion during fiscal year 2025. The program began in 1964 as part of former President Lyndon B. Johnson’s war on poverty under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. The program was intended to give young people from low-income backgrounds a chance to gain academic, vocational, and social skills in a residential setting. For program year 2024, Job Corps was operating at a $140 million deficit, requiring centers to be paused to save approximately $119 million to reach the end of this program year. It is projected by DOL officials that in program year 2025, the deficit would grow to $213 million. “The program has been in a financial crisis for years, creating constant uncertainty for participants and administrators,” a DOL official told Fox News Digital. The official stressed, though, that the Department of Labor is “not eliminating Job Corps,” and stressed that only Congress has that authority. In December 2024, the Biden administration’s Department of Labor instituted a similar pause in operations at two of the Job Corps centers, amid concerns of issues and rising program costs. Officials said that, at this point, the Job Corps program is financially underwater, and the funds appropriated by Congress for the year will not cover the costs of operations for the remaining program year. Officials said the pause will allow the department to reassess program alignment with the Trump administration’s “workforce priorities, proposed budget framework, and overall vision for building a modern and effective workforce development program for America’s youth.”
Leadership shake-up coming at ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, sources say
There will soon be a leadership shake-up within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Department of Homeland Security, Fox News has learned. The changes include the retirement of Kenneth Genalo, who currently serves as acting executive associate director of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), sources at the White House and ICE told Fox News. The sources also say that Robert Hammer, executive associate director of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is being reassigned. Current deputy special agent in charge Derek Gordon is expected to take over as acting HSI director. The role changes are only part of a “massive realignment” within ICE, the sources told Fox News. ICE and HSI have not responded to requests for comment. TEXAS BILL REQUIRING SHERIFFS TO COLLABORATE WITH ICE GIVEN INITIAL APPROVAL BY STATE HOUSE Word of the changes comes just days after White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller reportedly lashed out at top immigration officials at a May 21 meeting in ICE headquarters, Axios reported Wednesday. HOUSE GOP TARGETS ANOTHER DEM OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF BLOCKING ICE AMID DELANEY HALL FALLOUT Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reportedly demanded that ICE start arresting 3,000 people per day as part of the illegal immigration and deportation crackdown. This week, ICE officers also launched a nationwide initiative to begin arresting illegal immigrants at their immigration and asylum hearings. The effort targets illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. fewer than two years. The DHS strategy is to drop their immigration case, arrest the migrant, then place them into expedited deportation proceedings. The initiative requires the DHS to drop the cases because migrants cannot be put forward for expedited removal if they have a pending case.
Sen Ron Johnson suggests he may not run for re-election in 2028
GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin indicated that he does not want to run for a fourth Senate term, but he isn’t ruling it out. Johnson, who is serving his third six-year Senate term, said during remarks at a Wednesday event hosted by the Milwaukee Press Club and WisPolitics.com that he learned from his run for a second term that “you can’t say … never.” In a 2022 Wall Street Journal piece, Johnson explained his about-face on seeking another term. US OFFICIALS DELAYED WARNING PUBLIC ABOUT HEART INFLAMMATION RISK FROM COVID SHOT: REPORT “During the 2016 campaign, I said it would be my last campaign and final term. That was my strong preference and my wife’s. We both looked forward to a normal private life,” he said. “I believe America is in peril. Much as I’d like to ease into a quiet retirement, I don’t feel I should.” The senator, who has been vocal in objecting to the Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act that most in the House GOP voted to pass last week, said during his remarks on Wednesday that he would like to place America on a “sustainable course” and return home. ELON MUSK CRITICISM OF TRUMP TAX BILL FRUSTRATES SOME REPUBLICANS: ‘NO PLACE IN CONGRESS’ “I don’t covet the position,” he said. But while he’s not slamming the door on the possibility of running for Senate again, he flatly ruled out the prospect of a presidential bid. SUCCEEDING TRUMP: 6 REPUBLICAN POTENTIAL PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS TO KEEP YOUR EYES ON IN 2028 CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “No, God, what an awful job,” he said when asked whether he’d ever run for the presidency. He said he wouldn’t want to make the decisions that a commander in chief must make.