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TSA sharing traveler names with ICE, NYT reports
The names of all travellers to the United States are being provided to immigration officials, expanding its use of data sharing to expel people under deportation orders. The previously undisclosed program saw the Transportation Security Administration provide a list multiple times a week to Immigration and Customs Enforcement of travellers who will be coming through airports. From there, ICE could match the list against its database of people subject to deportation and send agents to the airport to detain them. This ramp-up has been pervasive inside the Department of Homeland Security, which houses both ICE and TSA. Historically, ICE has avoided interfering with domestic travel, but the quiet partnership that began in March is just part of how the Trump administration is increasing cooperation and information sharing between agencies as part of the president’s goal to carry out the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history. “The message to those in the country illegally is clear: The only reason you should be flying is to self-deport home,” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said. Before this partnership, TSA did not get involved in domestic criminal or immigration matter
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Trump ban on wind power projects overturned
A federal judge has overturned the Trump administration's ban on new wind projects. On his first day back in office earlier this year, United States President Donald Trump stopped permits for wind projects both on and offshore, which has now been found “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law”. The ruling came from Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, who stated that the change in policy had not been explained or justified reasonably by federal agencies. After the memorandum in January, 17 states, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, sued Trump in May to overturn the president’s ban, arguing that it was “an existential threat to the wind industry". Shares in Danish wind power developer Ørsted and turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems climbed in Copenhagen trading after the announcement, with both companies having faced delays and setbacks to their U.S.-based wind farm projects since the ban.
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Former lawyer for Trump steps down as prosecutor
Alina Habba has resigned as top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, despite the Trump administration's efforts to keep her in the role. Habba, who previously worked as a personal lawyer for President Donald Trump, was found to be serving unlawfully in the role, which is charged with enforcing criminal and civil law at the federal level. Her interim position had expired, and she had not received Senate confirmation, a legal requirement for the role. Despite this, the Trump administration was seeking ways to keep her appointed. In a social media statement on Monday, Habba confirmed that she had stepped down from the role and would now be serving as senior adviser to the administration’s attorney general, Pam Bondi. “But do not mistake compliance for surrender. This decision will not weaken the Justice Department and it will not weaken me,” she wrote. “My fight will now stretch across the country.”
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US Congress aims to pass US$901bn defence bill
United States lawmakers are preparing to pass a US$901 billion defence policy bill by the end of the year, which would codify several of U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders and includes $8 billion more in spending than the White House had called for. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would authorise $400 million in military aid for Ukraine and a 3.8% raise for enlisted troops, though it does not directly allocate funds. “This year’s National Defense Authorization Act helps advance President Trump and Republicans’ Peace Through Strength Agenda by codifying 15 of President Trump’s executive orders, ending woke ideology at the Pentagon, securing the border, revitalising the defence industrial base, and restoring the warrior ethos,” said House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican. Versions of the NDAA were passed by the House and the Senate earlier this year. The newly-released finalised bill must be passed by both chambers again before being signed into law by Trump, with the House planning to consider the bill this week. The bill authorises an annual $400 million in security aid for Ukraine through fiscal 2027, extending current spending levels. Under the NDAA, sanctions on Syri
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Renewed push for ban on lawmaker stock trades in the US
A group of United States politicians are pushing for a ban on lawmakers being able to sell or buy individual stocks. The Congress-based group, spanning both major political parties, has this week launched a campaign to force votes on a bill in the House of Representatives. The bill has more than 100 co-sponsors and is bipartisan. The effort for the votes was launched on Tuesday, local time, by Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna, and for the first step, she will need 218 House of Representatives members to sign her "discharge petition" for releasing the legislation from the control of the House Administration Committee. The next step would be for backers of the bill to demand timely votes on passing the bill, and then sending it to the Senate. Stock trading by lawmakers has been called into question of ethics multiple times in recent years, and this bill would see them no longer allowed to buy or sell individual company stocks and required to divest holdings. Since the 2012 implementation of the disclosure law, Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, millions of dollars worth of trades have still been conducted by lawmakers. “Across the country, from every political background, the American people

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US launches immigration raids in New Orleans
United States Federal immigration agents initiated operations in New Orleans and Minneapolis on Wednesday, just one day after President Donald Trump said he would send National Guard troops to New Orleans and criticised Somali immigrants in Minneapolis. The actions mark the latest escalation in the administration’s nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants in Democrat-led cities. The Department of Homeland Security said the New Orleans operation was designed to arrest immigrants living in the country illegally, focusing on individuals with criminal records who had been released from local custody under policies that restrict cooperation with federal authorities. Federal officials said the operation reflects the administration’s push to reverse local limitations on immigration enforcement. “Sanctuary policies endanger American communities by releasing illegal criminal aliens and forcing DHS law enforcement to risk their lives to remove criminal illegal aliens that should have never been put back on the streets,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “It is asinine that these monsters were released back onto New Orleans streets to COMMIT MORE CRIMES and create more victims. Catahoula Crunch targets include
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US Senators push vote on Venezuela war powers
Lawmakers in the United States have said that they would force a vote on military action against Venezuela if it goes ahead. The group of senators have repeatedly opposed and tried to stop President Donald Trump's aggression against Venezuela, citing concern that military action against the nation would be unnecessary and a mistake. In a statement released yesterday, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Chuck Schumer of New York and Adam Schiff of California and Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky, stood firm and said that if the Trump administration proceeds with military action, they would be filing a resolution to force a congressional vote on war powers. "Unauthorised military action against Venezuela would be a colossal and costly mistake that needlessly risks the lives of our servicemembers," they said. "Should a strike occur, we will call up a War Powers Resolution to force a debate and vote in Congress that would block the use of U.S. forces in hostilities against or within Venezuela," they said.
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Forgive me: Could Trump issue a pre-emptive self-pardon?
While United States presidents have always had the power to pardon whomever they like, with seeming impunity, they’re exposed to the broader court of public opinion, and with President Donald Trump’s popularity waning – plunging to 36% in Gallup’s latest poll – his latest round of pardons may contribute to his numbers continuing to head south. While billionaire ChangPeng Zhao - former CEO of Binance - and Nikola Corporation founder Trevor Milton are among the gallery of rogues pardoned by Trump this year, so too is former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. A convicted drug trafficker, Hernandez was reported to have accepted a $1 million bribe from convicted drug lord, El Chapo Guzman, head of Mexican cartel Sinaloa.Rogue’s gallery of pardoned convictsWhile Trump granted clemency to 238 individuals during his first term as president, that number shot up to around 1,700 after barely a year into his second term in the Oval office. During the first day of his second term (January 20, 2025), Trump issued mass pardons and commutations to almost 1,600 people convicted or charged in connection with the January 6 United States Capitol attack - in which 5 people died and over a hundred police officers were injured. Last
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Trump announces pause on migration following shooting
United States President Donald Trump announced that he will pause migration from “all Third World Countries” in a sharp escalation of his already strict immigration policies. “I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions,” he said in a post to Truth Social. “These goals will be pursued with the aim of achieving a major reduction in illegal and disruptive populations, including those admitted through an unauthorised and illegal Autopen approval process.” These comments come a day after two National Guard members were shot in Washington, DC. An Afghan national has been named as the primary suspect. While he didn’t specify what he meant by third-world countries, the term normally refers to countries with higher poverty rates and economic instability. Trump also said he would terminate “millions” admissions under his predecessor Joe Biden and remove anyone who “is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country”. Following these comments, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Joseph Edlow posted to X that he “directed a full scale, rigorous reexamination of