The Latest: US authorities appear to have begun deporting migrants to South Sudan, attorneys say

Immigration authorities appear to have begun deporting migrants from Myanmar and Vietnam to South Sudan despite a court order on removals to third countries, attorneys for the migrants said Tuesday.

Up to a dozen people from several countries may have been deported to Africa, immigration rights lawyers told a judge. The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Also Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced concepts for a “Golden Dome” missile defense program that he said would cost $175 billion to complete over the course of three years. The concept is inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome.

And the president tried to seal the deal on his “big, beautiful bill” by using the power of political persuasion in a closed-door meeting to unify divided House Republicans. The multitrillion-dollar package has been at risk of collapsing ahead of planned votes this week.

Here's the latest:

Venezuela frees US Air Force veteran considered wrongfully detained

Joseph St. Clair was handed over to Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, according to a statement from the family and a post by Grenell on the social platform X. The family said St. Clair, who served four tours in Afghanistan, was detained in November.

“This news came suddenly, and we are still processing it, but we are overwhelmed with joy and gratitude,” St. Clair’s parents, Scott and Patti, said in a statement.

Scott St. Clair told The Associated Press earlier this month that his son, a language specialist, had traveled to South America to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Joe St. Clair is back in America,” Grenell posted on X along with photos of him with St. Clair.

Grenell added, without providing details, that he met Venezuelan officials “in a neutral country” Tuesday “to negotiate an America First strategy.”

Trump names pick for ambassador to Romania

The president said in a post on his Truth Social platform that he will nominate lobbyist and former Senate staffer Darryl Nirenberg.

Nirenberg is a former counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In 2021 he ran unsuccessfully for city council in Alexandria, Virginia.

Trump and Vance meet with pope’s brother

The president and vice president met at the White House on Tuesday with the brother of Pope Leo XIV, according to a photo posted on the social platform X by an aide.

Leo’s brother, Louis Prevost, is a self-described “MAGA-type.” He and his wife, Deborah, appeared in the photo with Trump and Vance in the Oval Office.

Prevost and his wife joined the Vance-led U.S. delegation on its visit to the Vatican over the weekend and Monday for the pope’s inaugural mass.

Justice Department investigates Chicago’s hiring practices after mayor touts Black hires

The announcement of the civil rights probe came a day after Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson made a speech at a church in which he praised the number of Black people in top positions in his administration. It garnered attention on social media including calls from conservatives and others to investigate.

The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division shared its investigation notice Monday, citing Johnson’s comments as the trigger for a pattern or practice investigation into whether the city has habitually violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race.

“Considering these remarks, I have authorized an investigation to determine whether the City of Chicago is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination as set forth above,” said the letter, signed by Assistant Attorney General for Harmeet K. Dhillon.

The investigation fits with the Trump administration’s larger realignment of how federal agencies view and fight discrimination. It’s also part of a larger remaking of the department’s civil rights division, which saw a wave of departures as the administration outlined its priorities.

▶ Read more about the probe

The revival of an old program delegates Trump immigration enforcement to local police

As part of the Trump administration’s push to carry out mass deportations, the agency responsible for immigration enforcement has aggressively revived and expanded a decades-old program that delegates immigration enforcement powers to state and local law enforcement agencies.

Under the 287(g) program led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, police officers can interrogate immigrants in their custody and detain them for potential deportation.

Since President Donald Trump took office in January, ICE has rapidly expanded the number of signed agreements it has with law enforcement agencies across the country.

The reason is clear. Those agreements vastly beef up the number of immigration enforcement staff available to ICE, which has about 6,000 deportation officers, as they aim to meet Trump’s goal of deporting as many of the roughly 11 million people in the country illegally as they can.

▶ Read more about what these agreements are and what critics say about them

Trump, after blaming Biden for the border, now blames former president’s aides

The president said in a post on his Truth Social media network that “Biden was not for Open Borders,” and “it wasn’t his idea.” Instead he blamed the influx of people crossing the U.S-Mexico border on “the people that knew he was cognitively impaired.”

Trump has long attacked Biden’s mental sharpness while castigating his policies. His new post appearing to shift blame to Biden’s former aides comes after Tuesday’s release of the book “Original Sin,” by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, which reports that aides shielded the public from the extent of Biden’s decline.

Trump called it “TREASON at the Highest Level” and said “something very severe should happen” to the unnamed people.

Senate will try to block California vehicle standards that would phase out gas-powered cars

Lawmakers will try to bar the state from from enforcing a series of vehicle emissions standards that are tougher than the federal government’s, including first-in-the-nation rules phasing out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.

Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Tuesday that the Senate will begin to consider three House-passed resolutions that would roll back the standards. Final votes could come as soon as this week.

His announcement came despite significant pushback from Democrats, questions from some Republicans and the advice of the Senate Parliamentarian, who has sided with the U.S. Government Accountability Office in saying California’s policies are not subject to the review mechanism used by the House.

California for decades has been given the authority to adopt vehicle emissions standards that are stricter than the federal government’s. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced plans in 2020 to ban the sale of all new gas-powered vehicles within 15 years.

Republicans have argued that the state’s rules effectively dictate standards for the whole country. Around a dozen states have followed California’s lead.

▶ Read more about the Senate and California’s emissions standards

As many as a dozen migrants may have been deported to Africa, according to lawyers

The immigration rights attorneys told a judge that the deportations involve people from several countries.

An immigration official in Texas confirmed via email that at least one man from Myanmar had been flown to South Sudan Tuesday morning, according to court documents.

A woman also reported to attorneys that her husband from Vietnam and up to 10 other people were flown to Africa.

Those removals would violate a court order from a judge in Massachusetts requiring that people have a chance to challenge removals to countries other than their homelands, attorneys from the National Immigration Litigation Alliance wrote.

They asked Judge Brian E. Murphy for an emergency order to prevent such removals. He previously said deportations to Libya would violate his ruling.

Hegseth orders new review of Afghanistan withdrawal

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered another review of the military’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed American troops and Afghans.

President Trump and Hegseth have repeatedly criticized the Biden administration over the withdrawal. Hegseth said Tuesday that it was “disastrous and embarrassing” and the new review will interview witnesses, analyze decision-making and “get the truth.”

There have already been multiple reviews by the Pentagon, U.S. Central Command, the State Department and Congress, involving hundreds of interviews and studies of videos, photographs and other data. It’s unclear what specific new information the review is seeking.

The Abbey Gate bombing during the final days of the Afghanistan withdrawal killed 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans and wounded scores more. It triggered widespread debate and congressional criticism.

US immigration authorities appear to have begun deporting migrants to South Sudan, attorneys say

Immigration authorities appear to have begun deporting migrants from Myanmar and Vietnam to South Sudan, attorneys for the migrants said in court documents filed Tuesday.

Those removals would violate a court order against deporting people to countries other than their homelands without an opportunity to file court challenges, they argued.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Rubio says US is encouraging but not threatening Israel over humanitarian aid to Gaza

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers that the administration is not following the lead of European countries that have imposed sanctions against Israel for the dearth of assistance reaching needy and vulnerable Palestinians.

However, he said, U.S. officials have stressed in discussions with Israeli officials that aid is urgently needed for civilians in Gaza who are suffering from the ongoing military operation against Hamas.

“We’re not prepared to respond the way these countries have, but we are prepared to say, as we have and I think the Israelis in their statements today acknowledged, have engaged with our Israeli partners over the weekend in the last few days about the need to resume humanitarian aid,” Rubio said. “We anticipate that those flows will increase over the next few days and weeks, it’s important that that be achieved.”

The U.S. is backing a private foundation to take over aid distribution, but it is not yet operating. So in the meantime, Rubio said, it would be best for U.N. agencies and existing operations to deliver the aid.

Trump says he’ll talk to Putin ‘at the right time’ about space-based nukes

The president said that at some point he will discuss with Russian leader Vladimir Putin the issue of Moscow developing a space-based nuclear weapon.

“We haven’t discussed it, but at the right time, we will,” Trump said in the Oval Office.

Trump announces ‘Golden Dome’ architecture

The president announced the concept he wants for his missile defense program, inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome. He said it is expected to be built over three years at a cost $175 billion.

Trump, seated with a poster next to him showing the continental U.S. painted gold and with artistic depictions of missile interceptions, said, “It is a great day for America.”

He said the system will be entirely made in the U.S.

Trump also announced that Gen. Michael Guetlein, who currently serves as the vice chief of space operations, will be responsible for overseeing the program’s progress.

Trump says military commanders told him they ‘love the idea’ of the ‘Golden Dome’ program

The president was asked whether military commanders asked for the system, and he replied, “I suggested it, and they all said, ‘We love the idea, sir.’”

Warnings from some Republicans on foreign aid cuts

Some Republican lawmakers on the Appropriations Committee are raising concerns to Rubio about the Trump administration’s cuts. That includes Sen. Mitchell McConnell, the former Senate leader.

The U.S. is being outmaneuvered by its rivals internationally, in the wake of the elimination of thousands of aid programs, McConnell said.

“The basic functions that soft power provides are extremely important,” McConnell told Rubio. “You get a whole lot of friends for not much money.”

Rubio says he shut down USAID programs, not Musk

The secretary of state's comments came after Democratic lawmakers pressed him on a February tweet by Elon Musk, who bragged he had spent the past weekend “feeding USAID into a wood chipper.”

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency played a central role in gutting USAID programs, often leaving USAID staffers and others uncertain who it was ordering program terminations as Musk and the administration disabled the agency.

“I did,” Rubio told lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Researchers sue over federal government cutting off research funding for LGBTQ+ health

A group of health researchers and organizations that represent them are suing the National Institutes of Health over cutting off federal research funding aimed at LGBTQ+ health.

Tuesday’s filing in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, is one of more than 30 so far challenging the Trump administration on funding decisions. It’s also one of more than a dozen that deal with LGBTQ+ issues.

The groups say the grants have helped address a history of hostility and bigotry in health research. They contend that more than $800 million worth of LGBTQ+-related research grants were terminated because the NIH took the research off its list of priorities.

How much money is the Middle East investing in the US? Trump’s estimates keep going up by trillions of dollars

It’s hard to know just how much money Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates plan to invest in the United States after President Donald Trump went to those countries last week. The figure has gone from $2 trillion last week to potentially $7 trillion as of Tuesday, but now new details have been provided on the math.

THURSDAY: With his Mideast trip still under way, Trump told reporters on Air Force One: “We just took in $4 trillion.”

FRIDAY: A White House statement said Trump’s “first official trip was a huge success, locking in over $2 trillion in great deals.”

MONDAY: “We brought back about $5.1 trillion,” Trump said in remarks to the Kennedy Center’s leadership. “That’s not bad. And, it’s being credited as one of the, maybe, the most successful visit that anybody’s ever made to any place. There’s never been anything like this.”

TUESDAY: “They’re spending $5.1 trillion, probably it’s going to be $7 trillion by the time we stop,” Trump said before a U.S. Capitol meeting with Republican House members.

The White House did not respond to a request to explain the sources of Trump’s escalating claims.

After Trump’s visit to the Capitol, some Republicans still oppose big bill

Speaker Mike Johnson says Trump’s “one, big, beautiful, bill will require one, big, beautiful vote”, but holdouts remain.

The chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, said they’re still “a long ways away” from agreement. And other key Republicans said they were still a no vote.

Johnson headed to the Senate to update Republicans there on the path ahead.

Trump has a sweet tooth: His favorite candies are pink Starbursts and Tootsie Rolls

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared that detail about the president under questioning from a group of children whose parents are journalists who report on the White House.

Leavitt held a mock briefing for the youngsters as part of the White House’s observance of Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day.

Asked how much candy Trump eats every day, Leavitt said, “a good amount.”

She said he likes pink Starbursts and Tootsie Rolls.

Hegseth directs Air Force to plan to modify jet from Qatar

Newly confirmed Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told senators at a hearing about the defense secretary’s directive to develop the plans for the $400 million Boeing 747 Qatar has gifted to the U.S.

The service will consider the security upgrades that will be required for the jet, which is currently in San Antonio, to operate as the president’s plane. Meink said “significant modifications” would be necessary to overhaul it.

Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth asked the service to ensure this latest replacement jet would not further delay the overhaul of two other 747s that Boeing is converting to replace the current aging Air Force One.

Rubio says US pursuing ‘voluntary’ resettlement of Gaza civilians in other countries

The secretary of state acknowledged Tuesday that the Trump administration was approaching foreign governments about taking mass numbers of civilians from Gaza, but said any such displacement of Gaza’s people would be “voluntary.”

“There’s no deportation,” Rubio told lawmakers of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“We’ve asked countries preliminarily whether they will be open to accepting people not as a permanent solution, but as a bridge to reconstruction” in Gaza, Rubio said, adding he was not aware of Libya being among the countries approached by the U.S.

Democrat Sen. Jeff Merkley sharply disagreed, calling it a “strategy of forced migration.”

Trump ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense announcement expected

President Trump is expected to announce the concept he wants for his future Golden Dome missile defense program.

It would cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and take years to make a reality.

Golden Dome for the first time will put U.S. weapons in space, which could be fired to destroy an incoming missile during flight.

Pentagon planners have been developing options for the system, which a U.S. official described as medium, high and extra high choices based on their cost.

The administration picked the high version, with an initial cost ranging between $30 billion and $100 billion, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail plans that have not been made public.

The White House and the Pentagon didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Melania Trump decorates a wooden American flag during kids’ day at the White House

The first lady joined a few dozen children whose parents work in the Executive Office of the President in decorating wooden American flags.

She used a glue stick to attach two silver glittery stars to her red, white and blue flag after she sat down at one of two tables in the Jaqueline Kennedy Garden on the South Lawn.

She admired their work and was heard telling several children their creations were “beautiful.”

The event is part of the White House’s observance of Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day.

President Donald Trump is having his own event later Tuesday. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt will also answer questions at a mock press briefing for children whose parents are White House journalists.

Rubio denies knowing anything about Trump family deals with foreigners

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy grilled Rubio on the point Tuesday, asking if he worried that Trump’s upcoming dinner with buyers of a Trump meme coin would be “contravening national security interests” by giving foreign buyers direct access to him.

Rubio denied any knowledge of any profiting by Trump from the deals he and his family have made with foreign officials and others abroad.

And he claimed not to know about the widely reported dinner, which Trump interests have promoted on social media.

“I don’t keep the president’s social schedule,” Rubio said. “It’s not on my phone. It’s not in my pocket.”

IRS Commissioner nominee grilled about Trump’s comments on Harvard’s tax-exempt status

“This is about more than Harvard, it’s a threat to anyone who poses a threat to the president,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked Billy Long. “Can the president of the United States legally tell the IRS to revoke a taxpayers’ tax exempt status?”

Trump has said he wants Harvard University and other non-profit organizations to lose their tax-exempt status.

“I’m gonna follow the law,” the former Missouri congressman said. “I’d have to go to the lawyers.”

“What do you understand this law to be saying?” the Massachusetts Democrat asked.

Long responded that he would not be able to answer.

After the back and forth, Warren said “you shouldn’t be within a thousand miles of the directorship of the IRS.”

Trump’s new prosecutor drops case against Newark mayor, charges NJ congresswoman instead

Federal prosecutors accuse Rep. LaMonica McIver of pushing and grabbing officers while attempting to block the arrest of Mayor Ras Baraka outside an immigration detention facility on May 9.

Interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced on social media that she dismissed a trespassing charge against the mayor and is charging the congresswoman instead.

The complaint unsealed Tuesday charges McIver with two counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding agents for Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

McIver accused the agents of escalating the situation and denounced the charge as a “purely political” effort to deter legislative oversight.

Said Trump Tuesday: “She was shoving federal agents. She was out of control. The days of that crap are over in this country. We’re going to have law and order.”

▶ Read more about the federal charges against the Democratic representative

Annual COVID-19 shots for healthy younger adults and children will no longer be routinely approved

Top officials for the Food and Drug Administration laid out the major new policy shift on Tuesday.

They say yearly updates to COVID shots will remain available to adults 65 and older as well as children and younger adults with at least one health problem that puts them at higher risk. They say this could include between 100 million and 200 million adults.

But the FDA framework published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine urges companies conduct large, lengthy studies before tweaked vaccines can be approved for healthier people.

The change raises questions about people who may still want the shots but don’t clearly fall into one of the categories.

“Is the pharmacist going to determine if you’re in a high-risk group?” asked Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “The only thing that can come of this will make vaccines less insurable and less available.”

▶ Read more about the FDA’s COVID vaccine policy changes

Qatari leader defends 747 gift

The country’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, said the potential donation of a new Air Force One plane is “a normal thing that happens between allies.”

He made the remarks at a Bloomberg conference in Doha, rejecting allegations that providing the jet would function as a bribe.

The prime minister said it’s being done “in full transparency, and very legally, and it’s part of the cooperation that we’ve always been doing together for decades.”

Trump has been eager to replace the current Air Force One planes, which are nearly 40 years old, and he’s been frustrated that it’s taken Boeing too long to build new ones.

“Why wouldn’t I accept a gift?” Trump recently told Sean Hannity on Fox News. “We’re giving to everyone else.”

Secretary of State says Syria’s interim government could be ‘weeks’ from collapse

Rubio stressed the importance of U.S. engagement with Syria, saying Tuesday that otherwise, he fears the interim government there could be weeks or months “away from a potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions.”

In this photo released by the Saudi Royal Palace, President Donald Trump, centre, looks to Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, right, shake hands with Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Bandar Aljaloud/Saudi Royal Palace via AP)

Rubio’s comments addressed Trump’s pledge to lift sanctions on Syria’s new transitional government, which is led by a former militant chief who led the overthrow of the country’s longtime oppressive leader late last year.

Lawmakers scrutinize Trump administration’s massive foreign policy changes

Senate Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Jim Risch opened Tuesday’s hearing with praise for the Trump changes and spending cuts. He welcomed what he called the administration’s promising nuclear talks with Iran.

Risch also noted what he jokingly called “modest disagreement” with Democratic lawmakers, who are using Tuesday’s hearing to confront Rubio about Trump administration moves they say are weakening U.S. influence globally.

Elon Musk says he’ll reduce political donations

The richest person in the world said Tuesday that he’ll be spending less on political campaigns.

“I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” Musk said via videoconference during a Bloomberg forum in Doha.

Asked why, he responded, “I think I’ve done enough.”

Musk’s decision could be a challenge for Republicans ahead of next year’s midterm elections. He spent at least $250 million supporting Trump in the presidential campaign.

IRS nominee gets confirmation hearing amid agency upheaval

Former Rep. Billy Long, who sponsored legislation that called to abolish the Internal Revenue Service, gets his confirmation hearing to lead the agency before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday. The IRS has been churning through acting commissioners as it awaits the installation of a permanent leader. Expected questions include:

“Bottom line, the American people have the right to know whether the future IRS commissioner is a crook,” Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden said in his opening statement.

Authors condemn Trump’s firing of the Librarian of Congress

Seven former National Ambassadors of Young People’s Literature, including such prize-winning authors as Jacqueline Woodson, Kate DiCamillo and Jason Reynolds, are condemning the Trump administration’s firing of Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.

The librarian’s responsibilities include appointing the ambassador, a position the Library of Congress established in 2008 “to raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature.”

“Her wisdom and vision, along with her unfailing ability to work impartially with all constituents, are unparalleled,” reads Tuesday’s statement, with endorsers also including Jon Scieszka, Katherine Paterson, Gene Luen Yang and Meg Medina. “Dr. Hayden’s dismissal is deeply disturbing and should alarm all Americans.”