Federal judge orders ICE to reinstate legal status of 133 foreign students
A federal judge in Georgia has ordered the Trump administration to reinstate the legal statuses of 133 international students by 5 p.m. Tuesday after their F-1 student visas were suddenly terminated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security (DHS). The students, many of whom are in good academic standing and close to graduation, had their records terminated on Homeland Security’s SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) and they allege this was done without prior notice, proper explanation or an opportunity to respond. SEVIS is a database Homeland Security uses to monitor non-immigrant students. U.S. District Court Judge Victoria Calvert, a Biden appointee, granted temporary restraining orders on behalf of the plaintiffs and ordered ICE and DHS to reinstate student statuses retroactively to March 31, 2025. INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS SUE OVER TRUMP ADMIN REVOKING VISAS “Plaintiffs are likely to show that Defendants’ termination of the SEVIS registration exceeds the bounds of statutory and regulatory authority and is therefore unlawful,” Calvert wrote. The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU and other groups in the Northern District of Georgia with Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting Director of ICE Todd Lyons listed as defendants in the case. The Department of Justice responses to the lawsuit are currently sealed in the court docket. The plaintiffs argue that the SERVIS terminations were used as a coercive tool rather than a lawful enforcement action and that many of the students have no criminal records and were given short notice to leave the U.S. despite maintaining valid student visas. Furthermore, several of the students are enrolled in STEM programs or work placements, suggesting they are high-achieving international students. “DHS’s act of unlawfully terminating SEVIS records appears to be designed to coerce students, including each plaintiff, into abandoning their studies and ‘self-deporting’ despite not violating their status,” the plaintiffs wrote. TRUMP COLLEGE CRACKDOWN: LIST OF STUDENTS DETAINED AMID ANTISEMITISM ON CAMPUSES The government argues that the revocations were valid under existing laws and regulations, particularly when students were flagged during criminal record checks or had their visas revoked. They cited grounds for deportability, even when there had been no arrest or conviction. The judge also rejected the government’s claim that granting relief to these students would affect the executive’s “control over immigration.” Calvert found that the terminations exceeded legal authority and likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Fifth Amendment. Furthermore, the judge found that the plaintiffs had demonstrated a substantial threat of irreparable harm, including loss of legal status, education, employment and mental distress, and that the balance of harms and public interest favored the students. The decision was welcomed by Akiva Freidlin, the senior staff attorney at the ACLU-Georgia. “The Constitution protects everyone on American soil, so the Trump administration cannot ignore due process to unjustifiably threaten students with the loss of immigration status, and arrest and deportation,” Friedlin said in a statement. READ THE ORDER BELOW. APP USERS, CLICK HERE. “We believe this ruling shows the students are likely to prevail on their claims and we are pleased the court ordered the government to halt its unlawful actions while the lawsuit continues.” The case will now be heard for a preliminary injunction, potentially offering longer-term relief, on Thursday, April 24.
House Dems demand ‘proof of life’ of Abrego Garcia after being denied meeting in El Salvador
House Democrats who traveled to El Salvador to seek the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia have written to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding “daily proof of life” after being denied a meeting with the Salvadoran national who was deported from Maryland. Reps. Robert Garcia of California, Maxwell Frost of Florida, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and Maxine Dexter of Oregon flew to El Salvador Monday following a visit to the country by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., last week. “We had a meeting this morning with the embassy here in El Salvador and from what we have heard there is no reason for me to believe that our administration, the Trump administration, is doing anything to facilitate his safe return home,” Ansari said. “Since we were not able to get the answers we need today from the embassy, we have written a letter, just as of 30 minutes ago, to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, demanding daily proof of life for Mr. Abrego Garcia, demanding he sees – he has access to counsel, and of course, finally, demanding his safe return home,” she added. “And we will not stop until this is complete.” REPUBLICAN SENATOR SAYS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DEPORTING KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA WAS A ‘SCREW-UP’ Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old immigrant who crossed the border illegally, settled in Maryland and obtained protected legal status, was deported to El Salvador last month. Officials acknowledged in court his deportation was an administrative error, although now some top Trump officials say he was correctly removed and contend he’s a member of the notorious MS-13 gang. Frost said Monday that the traveling Democrats “formally requested” to meet with Abrego Garcia but “we were told at our meeting that the government here has denied our request to see him because this is not an official trip.” READ THE DEMOCRATIC LETTER – APP USERS, CLICK HERE: “We are also worried about our own constituents; we represent people across the entire nation,” Frost told reporters in El Salvador. “We are getting hundreds and hundreds of calls – people saying ‘Go to El Salvador, do something, do something about the fact that president of the United States in the Oval Office is talking about sending U.S. citizens here to El Salvador to the prison here.’” ABREGO GARCIA TRANSFERRED FROM NOTORIOUS EL SALVADORAN MEGA-PRISON “We don’t want to wait until things get worse. We are here to build off of the work of Sen. Van Hollen, who heroically came down here and showed his family and the world for the first time since he was taken down here, that he is alive, that he was alive and he was well at that time,” he added. “What we want to know is where is he at now? What is his condition now? His family deserves to know, the people deserve to know.” Abrego Garcia’s wife Jennifer Vasquez, a U.S. citizen, released a statement Monday saying “we’re deeply grateful to the members of Congress and advocates for justice now on the ground in El Salvador, building on the leadership of Senator Van Hollen.” “Their presence sends a powerful message: the fight to bring Kilmar home isn’t over,” she said. Fox News’ Greg Wehner and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
Trump froze funding for Harvard. Money to these universities may also be on the chopping block
The Trump administration is feuding with elite educational institutions, announcing mid-April it would cut off more than $2.2 billion in funding to Harvard University, and this week threatening cuts to another $1 billion of its federal grants and funding. Harvard, in return, is now suing the administration over the funding freeze, which it calls “unlawful and beyond the government’s authority.” The White House responded that Harvard’s “gravy train of federal assistance” is coming to an end. But Harvard isn’t the only school the Trump administration is fighting. Other institutions are facing similar circumstances – starting with New York City’s Columbia University. The Trump administration unveiled plans in March to freeze roughly $400 million in funding for Columbia, prompting the university to enact changes, including expelling and suspending several students involved in protests and demonstrations on campus in support of Palestinians. Additionally, Columbia complied with several other demands from the Trump administration to place additional oversight over the Middle Eastern studies department and ban masks that conceal an individual’s identity. TRUMP ADMIN SLASHES OVER $2.2B IN FUNDING TO HARVARD AFTER SCHOOL DEFIES DEMANDS Still, acting president Claire Shipman issued a statement April 18, providing updates on the university’s work with the Trump administration’s Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, while also claiming that Columbia would push back against efforts that would “require us to relinquish our independence and autonomy as an educational institution.” The Trump administration also announced earlier in April that it would halt more than $1 billion in funding for Cornell University and approximately $790 million for Northwestern University amid investigations into alleged civil rights violations. “These developments are deeply disturbing,” Northwestern University said in an April 10 statement. “They impact the critical research we perform every day, the lives of those who do it and those who benefit from it. They also cut to the core of what makes Northwestern one of the world’s greatest universities.” “This situation is changing rapidly, but we are working quickly and deliberately to gather facts to help us understand and respond to this emerging crisis,” Northwestern said. Roughly $510 million in funds for Brown University could also be on the chopping block, a White House official told the Associated Press April 3, due to allegations of antisemitism at the school. The University of Pennsylvania also faced a freeze on approximately $175 million in federal funding, due to the school’s transgender student athlete Lia Thomas, a biological male who identifies as transgender and competes in women’s events. The funding pause stemmed from when the school “infamously permitted a male to compete on its women’s swimming team,” the Daily Pennsylvanian reported that the White House said. HARVARD WON’T COMPLY WITH TRUMP ADMIN’S DEMANDS AMID THREATS OF CUTTING FEDERAL FUNDING After Harvard refused to comply with a series of requests from the Trump administration to reform various practices on campus, the administration revealed April 18 that it would freeze more than $2 billion in federal funding for the institution. Harvard University President Alan M. Garber said in a statement that the Trump administration tacked on additional requests that go beyond addressing antisemitism on campus, and the institution would not comply because the demands were unconstitutional. Specifically, Garber said the new requests “direct governmental regulation of the ‘intellectual conditions’ at Harvard,” including auditing viewpoints of student, faculty and staff members on campus, and eliminating all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, offices and initiatives at Harvard. “It makes clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner,” Garber wrote. “We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement.” The Trump administration stood up the Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism in February, which aims to eradicate bias on campuses that have experienced incidents targeting Jewish students since October 2023. “It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support,” the task force said in a statement. The Associated Press and Fox News’ Stepheny Price contributed to this report.
Pontiffs and presidents: White House-Vatican relationship stretches a century, including fighting communism
The Vatican and White House have for decades kept a close relationship, with various popes and presidents meeting in the nation’s capital and in Vatican City across the years. Pope Francis died on Easter Monday at the age of 88, following years of health issues, including chronic lung disease. Francis was the head of the Roman Catholic Church from 2013 until his death, and had met with three U.S. presidents across his tenure. Francis’ last high-profile meeting with a U.S. leader was held just hours before his death, when Vice President JD Vance traveled to Italy for the Easter holiday and met with the pope on the most holy day for Christians. “I know you’ve not been feeling great, but it’s good see you in better health,” Vance told the pontiff Sunday. FAITH LEADERS REFLECT ON POPE FRANCIS’ DEATH, PAPACY AND LASTING LEGACY: ‘MADE HIS MARK’ “I pray for you every day,” Vance said. “God bless you.” Following Francis’ death, Fox News Digital took a look back on high-profile meetings and friendships the Vatican and White House have forged across the years. Amid the Cold War in 1982 – just years before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 – President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II met at the Vatican. PHOTO GALLERY: POPE FRANCIS THROUGH THE YEARS The meeting marked the first time a president and pope met alone behind closed doors, a 1982 article detailing the visit reported, and came roughly a year after both had survived assassination attempts just weeks apart in 1981. The meeting marked the beginning of the pair’s close friendship as they worked to defeat the growing threat of communism on the world stage. Two years later, the pair met again in Fairbanks, Alaska, where they delivered messages of peace in a world on the edge as tensions between the communist Eastern Bloc and the capitalist Western Bloc flared. “In a violent world, Your Holiness, you have been a minister of peace and love. Your words, your prayers, your example have made you – for those who suffer oppression or the violence of war – a source of solace, inspiration, and hope,” Reagan said. “For this historic ministry the American people are grateful to you, and we wish you every encouragement in your journeys for peace and understanding in the world.” The two world leaders’ friendship was rooted in their disgust of communism, socialism and atheism that had gripped the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The pope and the Reagan administration worked closely to promote the Solidarity labor movement in Poland, John Paul II’s home country, which encouraged citizens to reject communism in the satellite state of the USSR, the Associated Press previously reported. The Vatican has denied a formal alliance with the U.S. during the promotion of the Solidarity labor movement, but has said in more recent years that Pope John Paul II and Reagan shared a common goal of fighting totalitarianism, the Associated Press reported in 2004. REAGAN, JOHN PAUL II UNITED IN PURPOSE In 1989, Poland became the first country in the Eastern bloc to hold semi-free elections, which resulted in a resounding win for the Solidarity movement and led to the dissolution of the communist government in Poland. The win had a domino effect on other nations as 1989 became known as the year communism fell, including the destruction of the Berlin Wall later that year and the eventual end to the Soviet Union in 1991. “Pope John Paul II and President Reagan worked together to bring an end to atheistic Soviet communism,” former Republican Gov. Scott Walker wrote in a 2020 Washington Times op-ed of Reagan and Pope John Paul II. “The two had a divine plan to stop the Soviet empire that was engaged in a war on religion and individual liberties. The work of a pope and a president helped bring about the collapse of communism and yielded more freedom and opportunity for people all over the world.” Democrat Woodrow Wilson in 1919 became the first U.S. president to meet with a pontiff, opening the doors to normalizing an open line of communication between Washington and Vatican City. Wilson was traveling in Europe following the end of World War I and “called upon his Holiness Pope Benedict XV,” according to an article published in America, a Catholic magazine, that year. VANCE WAS ONE OF POPE FRANCIS’ LAST VISITORS “The President’s arrival was announced by the Master of the Chamber to the Pope, who awaited Mr. Wilson in the Throne Room,” the magazine reported at the time. “The President was admitted immediately to the presence of the Holy Father, who welcomed him most cordially. They spent about a half hour together. It is not, of course, officially known what were the subjects which they discussed.” The meeting, which came at a time of ongoing anti-Catholic sentiment stemming from the influx of Catholic immigrants at the turn of the century, set the standard for presidents forging relationships with the Vatican – though such meetings did not become normalized until decades later. Presidents meeting with the pope did not become common until 1959, when President Dwight Eisenhower visited Pope John XXIII while on a tour of various countries, including Italy, Office of the Historian documents show. The second meeting between a pope and president set a new tradition. Every president since Eisenhower has met with the current pope, totaling 32 meetings both in the U.S. and in Vatican City since 1959, Fox Digital found. It wasn’t until 1979, during President Jimmy Carter’s administration, that the pontiff traveled to Washington and joined the president for a meeting at the White House. Pope John Paul II was invited to the White House amid his first papal pilgrimage to the United States in 1979, when he was well-received by U.S. Catholics and nicknamed “John Paul, Superstar” by Time magazine due to the lage crowds he drew amid his visits to Boston, New York and Denver. POPE
Trump issues full-throated endorsement of Sen. Steve Daines: ‘HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!’
President Donald Trump endorsed Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., calling the lawmaker “a Great Man, and TREMENDOUS Senator” in a post on Truth Social. “I love Montana, won every one of my Races there by a landslide, and would only recommend the best to represent you in the Senate!” the president declared. “Senator Steve Daines, of the Great State of Montana, has my Complete and Total Endorsement — HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!” TRUMP CAN USE TARIFFS AS ‘IMPORTANT LEVERAGE,’ SAYS SEN. STEVE DAINES Daines served as National Republican Senatorial Committee chair prior to current chair, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. “As Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Steve worked tirelessly with me in the last Election to help elect smart, tough, and sincere America First Patriots. In the Senate, Steve is fighting hard to Grow the Economy, Cut Taxes, Secure the Border, Stop Migrant Crime, Support our Military/Vets, Unleash American Energy Dominance, Restore PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment,” Trump declared in his post. NRSC CHAIR REVEALS HOW MANY GOP SENATE SEATS HE’S GUNNING FOR DURING 2026 MIDTERMS Daines, who has served in the Senate since 2015, thanked Trump for the endorsement. “I’m honored to have your support as we fight to protect Montana values, secure our border, cut taxes, and Make America Great Again! Together, we’ll deliver results for our state and nation,” Daines noted in a tweet. Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., also backed Daines for re-election. US SENATOR BLASTS PRESIDENT OF MEXICO, SAYS TOXIC SEWAGE DUMP THREATENS ‘NATIONAL SECURITY’ CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Steve Daines is a champion for the America First agenda and hardworking Montanans. Working with President Trump, he helped deliver our Republican Senate majority and is fighting to cut taxes, secure the border, unleash American energy, and lower costs for families in The Treasure State,” Sheehy said in a post on X. “I’m proud to join @realDonaldTrump in endorsing my friend @SteveDaines so he can keep fighting for Montana,” the senator noted.
Trump Energy chief recounts evolution of US environs over 55 ‘Earth Days’: ‘A handily energized society works’
EXCLUSIVE: In honor of Earth Day, Energy Secretary Chris Wright released a video retelling his own experiences growing up in a much dirtier world in Denver, and watching wildlife and greenery return to the mountains as he grew older, and how the effects of smarter energy were at the forefront of that continuing change: Wright was a young kid in Denver when the first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, on Belmont Plateau in West Philadelphia. But, while the green movement was getting its roots in industrial Pennsylvania, Colorado was dealing with similar air quality struggles in its capital city. “We couldn’t see the mountains from my house one out of three, one out of four days, air quality, lung issues were quite common,” Wright says in the video, obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital. ENERGY CHIEF ENVISIONS US NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE, RESTORING PIT PRODUCTION, LOCALIZING NUKE POWER “Since then, Denver has exploded in population and economic activity, but the air’s gotten dramatically cleaner. That’s technology and wealth at work.” Wright said the six explicitly-named pollutants in the Clean Air Act — carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ground-level ozone and particulate matter — have all dropped by about three-quarters in the past 55 years. In that time, he said, “economies have expanded, population has grown, travel and leisure have sprung up all around the world.” “But yet, in wealthy societies, we’ve made cleaner air, cleaner water, and a return of large wildlife,” Wright added. ENERGY CHIEF SLASHES RED TAPE THAT LED TO 60% COST INFLATION, BURDENED WORK IN CRITICAL LABS As a natural outdoorsman growing up in the Rocky Mountain State, Wright rarely saw large wildlife while adventuring out as a kid. But, when he returns home, it’s not uncommon for him to see moose, mountain lions or bears — a development he ascribes to the difference Earth Day and responsible energy development have had on the country. “The return of wildlife, the cleaning up air, the cleaning of our water are truly something to celebrate, and they’ve been driven by wealth and by increasing energy available in societies,” he said. “Are we done yet? Heck no.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP He lamented that in much of the world, people are unable to enjoy clean and reliable energy or water, particularly in impoverished countries. Wright said that while Westerners use stoves or grills, 2 billion people worldwide still rely on animal dung, wood or incinerated waste to cook — which in turn creates indoor air pollution that kills 2 million people per year, per the WHO. “So of course we’ve got progress to be made,” Wright said. “But let’s keep our eyes on the big picture: healthy humans, long opportunity-rich lives, clean air, clean water, and thriving ecosystems. Wealth and a handily energized society are the key to achieving those goals.”
Dem senator hosts businesses concerned ‘enormous uncertainty’ of tariffs could kill crucial tourism industry
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., hosted his latest in a series of roundtables with small businesses around the Green Mountain State, and the attendees said the Trump administration’s tariff actions will hurt their operations directly and damage the state’s key tourism industry. “These tariffs are a self-inflicted wound,” Welch, who also co-sponsored a bipartisan bill to repeal them, told Fox News Digital on Monday. “And they’re already raising prices for businesses, farmers and working families across rural America. Everyone will be affected by President Trump’s trade war, it doesn’t matter what your political point of view is or where you live.” The latter appeared to be the tenor at Welch’s latest roundtable in Stowe, near the Quebec border. OPINION: WHAT FINANCIAL MARKETS ARE SCREAMING ABOUT TRUMP’S TARIFFS “I think I speak for all of us when I say we don’t know how they’re going to affect us,” said Jen Kimmich, who runs Alchemist Brewery. “What we do know is that these tariffs are happening. We do know prices are going to go up, but we don’t know how much.” Kimmich shared an example of how intertwined her brewery is with global manufacturing. Her aluminum is produced in the U.S., but the manufacturer sources some recycled metal from Brazil, metal that then transits through Canada to be made into sheets before crossing back into Vermont. Alchemist raised its prices by 5% and absorbed another 10% hit, Kimmich told Welch. TRUMP’S TARIFF 2-STEP Her brewery’s specialty malt, she said, is exempted for now because it is a food product from the United Kingdom. The brewery, like the other businesses represented collectively, said the sudden decrease in visitors from across the northern border has hurt the tourism industry as well as stores where Canadians might regularly shop in Vermont. “At every single level, these tariffs make no economic sense,” she said. “The tariffs are unfair, and they’re already creating enormous uncertainty. I’m working to help Vermont maintain the strength of its small businesses.” Christa Bowdish, proprietor of the Old Stagecoach Inn, said in a statement that 95% of her business is via tourism and the rest from locals. “Of that 95%, typically 15% are Canadian. We were all excited about having a banner ski season, and it was good, but it wasn’t amazing,” she said, adding that while January’s figures were up, skiing in February was down and the trend has continued. At the same time, Bowdish said web traffic from Canada has been falling, which she suspects is tied to the tariff situation. Bowdish also shared with Welch a letter from a Canadian tourist who canceled their trip because of American political rhetoric toward Canada. “This is long-lasting damage to a relationship, and emotional damage takes time to heal. While people aren’t visiting Vermont, they’ll be finding new places to visit, making new memories, building new family traditions, and we will not recapture all of that,” the innkeeper told Welch. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Power Play Sports owner Caleb Magoon added, “The big challenge for me is going to be supply chain issues. At my two stores, because we’re general sporting goods stores, I work with over 100 vendors who are making products literally across the globe, from Dubai to China to right down the road in Waterbury.” Meanwhile, representatives of ski and snowsports businesses expressed uncertainty about how the tariffs would affect them, since many do not open their doors for the year until November. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for a response to the senator’s and business owners’ concerns.
State of War: How Trump is fighting a 9-front battle
President Trump is fighting a war with many battlefields. It’s a nine-front crusade, although I could easily double that number. If there’s a common thread here, it’s the president taking on elite institutions that he has long resented or reviled. That’s why his first three months seem stuck on hyperspeed – critics would say chaos – because he’s broken with the traditional model of tackling one or two issues at a time. Voters gave him a second term to shake things up. It’s the first Trump term on steroids. EDUCATION DEPT. TO RESUME COLLECTIONS ON DEFAULTED FEDERAL STUDENT LOANS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2020 The president is surrounded by loyalists who encourage his flood-the-zone approach, unlike some of the more traditional figures (Rex Tillerson, Jim Mattis, Gary Cohn) who tried to restrain him the last time he lived in the White House. One advantage is that he uses Truth Social as a weapon, unloading on those who displease him. And yet he still finds time to abolish rules limiting shower pressure, call for the abolition of pennies, and come out against changing clocks (though his stance on daylight savings is unclear) – all matters that affect people’s daily lives. Here, in no particular order, are Donald Trump’s nine battlegrounds: 1. TOP PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES Although Trump himself went to the Wharton School, he is constantly attacking Columbia and other top Ivy colleges. Harvard, where he has frozen more than $2 billion in federal funding and another $7 billion is at risk, is fighting back. Plus, the IRS is looking at revoking the university’s tax-exempt status. The White House now admits that the letter a Trump official transmitted to Harvard was “unauthorized” and should not have been sent. Harvard officials were stunned because they thought they were in the process of negotiating a settlement with the administration. 2. LAW FIRMS One giant law firm after another, under pressure from Trump, has caved and reached settlements with the White House. This involves agreeing to provide up to $100 million or even $125 million in pro bono services on matters important to the administration. The alternative is an executive order pulling its members’ security clearances, making it impossible to serve their corporate clients without access to secret data. A few firms have fought back, and some attorneys have resigned in protest, but most are volunteering to settle. 3. MEDIA President Trump has sued CBS, NBC and Gannett. He won a $16-million lawsuit against ABC–approved by Disney–after George Stephanopoulos repeatedly called him a rapist when he was actually held liable for sexual abuse. Even if the suits go nowhere, journalists and news outlets have to hire lawyers and go through an ordeal. MARK ZUCKERBERG ON THE STAND: ‘CRAZY,’ ‘SCARY’ IDEAS LED HIM TO BUY INSTAGRAM AND WHATSAPP Trump has long used the press as a foil, but now he ridicules the likes of CNN’s Kaitlan Collins when she tries to ask questions. He refused to take a question from an NBC reporter, saying the network has no credibility. And yet Trump provides an absolutely stunning degree of access. He takes questions virtually every day and has taken over the press pool (with the AP still excluded). The coverage is overwhelmingly anti-Trump–sometimes that’s self-inflicted–but that also boosts clicks and ratings. It’s a love-hate relationship. 4. FEDERAL RESERVE The markets nose-dived again yesterday as Trump stepped up his personal assault on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in an obvious attempt to pressure him into resigning. Powell’s job is to worry about inflation, not to goose the economy because the president wants him to cut interest rates. The entire tariff war has spooked Wall Street and alienated such allies as Canada (the 51st State???), Mexico and the European Union. He repeatedly promised a tariff war during the campaign, but no one expected tariffs of this magnitude, even against China, which has retaliated. Now Trump says he’ll even work out a deal with China. The 90-day pause briefly seemed to stabilize things, but whether the president can strike deals with 90 countries in 90 days remains to be seen. 5. COURTS Donald Trump has a long history of attacking judges and prosecutors. Now he is going up to the line, and perhaps crossing it, when it comes to challenging court rulings, even with a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court. The other day, the president deflected questions about the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, telling reporters to speak to the lawyers. The next day, he unloaded at length on Abrego Garcia, saying he’s a violent man who deserves to be in prison and criticizing Chris Van Hollen’s trip to visit him in a carefully staged photo op. Abrego Garcia may well be a gang member, but a previous court ruling had found he should not be sent to El Salvador. Politically, this is a winning issue for Trump. But when SCOTUS ruled 9-0 that he should “facilitate” Garcia’s return, Trump pretty much ignored it. TRUMP SAYS HE’S ‘NOT HAPPY’ WITH FED CHIEF JEROME POWELL In a separate case, the Supreme Court, 7-2, ordered Trump not to move a second wave of Venezuelan migrants from where they are being held. This time, the administration agreed to follow the ruling. 6. FORMER AIDES The president is going after two of his appointees from the first term. He has ordered an investigation of his former cybersecurity chief, Chris Krebs, for “falsely and baselessly” denying that the 2020 election was rigged. He called Krebs a “significant bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his government authority,” meaning Krebs found what every other probe, including one by Attorney General Bill Barr, found–no evidence of significant fraud. Trump also ordered a probe of Miles Taylor, better known as “Anonymous,” for the New York Times op-ed he wrote ripping the president. Taylor, a former Homeland Security official, “wrote a book under the pseudonym ‘Anonymous,’ making outrageous claims both about your administration and about others in it,” the president was told in a memo. So he too
Judge temporarily blocks NYC Mayor Adams’ plan to allow ICE agents in Rikers Island jail complex
A New York judge has ordered Mayor Eric Adams to temporarily halt a program to have immigration agents operate in the city’s infamous Rikers Island jail. Judge Mary Rosado has barred the city from “taking any steps toward negotiating, signing, or implementing any Memorandum of Understanding with the federal government” before an April 25 hearing in a lawsuit challenging the plan. NJ GOVERNOR ACCUSED OF HARBORING VIOLENT ILLEGAL CRIMINALS, DOJ LAUNCHES PROBE The lawsuit against Adams came from the Democratic-controlled New York City Council, which seeks to bar Adams from cooperating with the Trump administration on combating illegal immigration. The suit focuses on Adams’ recent executive order that allows federal immigration authorities to operate an office on Rikers Island to help carry out criminal investigations into drug trafficking, organized violence and migrant gang activity plaguing the city. In the suit, the city council accuses Adams of engaging in an illegal “quid pro quo” with the Trump administration by allowing ICE into the city prison in exchange for having the federal corruption charges against him dropped. The suit claims that Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent, prioritized his own political goals over the city’s “prized sanctuary laws,” calling the executive order “the poisoned fruit of Mayor Adams’s deal with the Trump Administration.” BORDER CROSSINGS HIT RECORD LOW IN MARCH THANKS TO ‘VIGILANT’ WORK OF AGENTS: REPORT Fox News Digital has reached out to the mayor’s office. Adams previously announced he would deputize his first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro, to handle all decision-making on the return of ICE to Rikers Island in order to “ensure there was never even the appearance of any conflict.” Mastro said last week that discussions with the federal government over the plan were ongoing. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP ICE previously had a presence at Rikers, but the agency was banned from the jail complex in 2014 under New York City’s sanctuary laws limiting cooperation with immigration enforcement. Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Trump will attend Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome despite contentious past: ‘Look forward to being there!’
President Trump indicated Monday – following news of Pope Francis’s death – that he and first lady Melania Trump will be attending the Pope’s funeral at the Vatican, despite the president’s somewhat contentious history with the late leader of the Catholic Church. Traditionally, papal funerals take place four to six days following their death, so Francis’s funeral is expected to take place before the end of the month. Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni told reporters that the General Congregation of Cardinals will occur Tuesday morning, during which an exact date for the funeral should be decided. “Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday afternoon. “We look forward to being there!” POPE FRANCIS’ FUNERAL WILL BE SIMPLIFIED VERSION OF PAST PAPAL FUNERALS, PER HIS CHANGE OF PAPAL FUNERAL RITES Trump’s announcement that he would be traveling to Rome for the ceremony followed a separate announcement he made earlier in the day indicating that he had ordered all American flags on government grounds, including military installments and embassies abroad, to fly at half-staff until sunset Monday. Trump’s relationship with Pope Francis over the years was one marked by ideological differences and – at times – tension. Amid Trump’s first run for office, Pope Francis criticized one of Trump’s signature campaign promises of building a wall along the southern border, calling the move “not Christian” in 2016. POPE FRANCIS AND US PRESIDENTS: A LOOK BACK AT HIS LEGACY WITH THE NATION’S LEADERS “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” Francis told reporters during a mid-flight interview on his way to Mexico in 2016, according to a translation from the Associated Press. Trump, meanwhile, shot back at the pontiff’s remarks, arguing it was “disgraceful” for the Pope, or any religious leader for that matter, to question another person’s faith. “If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’s ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened,” Trump said in a statement released by his team following the Pope’s criticism. “ISIS would have been eradicated unlike what is happening now with our all talk, no action politicians.” TRUMP, WORLD LEADERS REACT TO DEATH OF POPE FRANCIS During Francis’s life he also took aim at increasing nationalistic sentiments around the world, criticism that implicitly targeted Trump’s “America First” agenda. Francis was also a believer in climate change posing a major problem for society, something Trump also differed with him on. In both Trump’s first and second terms, he has pulled the U.S. out of the international Paris Climate Accords, which is an international initiative aimed at mitigating global warming. Trump, who considers himself a Christian but is not a Catholic, only met with Francis once during his first term. By contrast, Joe Biden, who is a confirmed Catholic, met with Francis in-person on multiple occasions throughout his single-term presidency. Trump’s Vice President J.D. Vance, a Catholic himself, was notably one of the Pope’s last visitors, seeing him on Easter Sunday – one day before Francis passed. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.