From Gaza to ICE raids, why is US firm Palantir under scrutiny?
From anti-immigration raids, Gaza kill lists and lucrative government contracts, US data firm Palantir has been under increasing scrutiny. Soraya Lennie breaks it down.
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Eight migrants in United States custody have lost a last-ditch attempt to avoid deportation to South Sudan, a country facing ongoing criticism for human rights abuses. On Friday, Judge Brian Murphy of Boston denied the eleventh-hour appeal, which has been the subject of a flurry of legal activity throughout the day. The appeal argued that repeated efforts under President Donald Trump to deport the men to South Sudan was 'impermissibly punitive'. It pointed out that the US Constitution bars 'cruel and unusual punishment'. In the past, the US Department of State has accused South Sudan of 'extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, torture and cases of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment'. It advises no American citizen to travel there due to an ongoing armed conflict. But the US Supreme Court has twice ruled that the Trump administration could indeed deport the men to countries outside of their homelands. Its latest decision was issued on Thursday. The US Department of Justice indicated that the eight men were set to be flown to South Sudan by 7pm US Eastern Time (23:00 GMT) on Friday. They hailed from countries like Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Sudan and Vietnam. The last-ditch appeal was filed on Thursday night, shortly after the Supreme Court rendered its decision. Initially, the case was assigned to US District Judge Randolph Moss in Washington, DC, who signalled he was sympathetic to the deportees' request. He briefly ordered the deportation to be paused until 4:30pm Eastern Time (20:30 GMT), but ultimately, he decided to transfer the case back to Murphy, the judge whose decisions helped precipitate the Supreme Court's rulings. Murphy had previously issued injunctions against the deportations to South Sudan, leading to successful appeals from the Trump administration. The eight men, meanwhile, had been held at a military base in Djibouti while the courts decided their fate. Before he transferred the case back to Murphy, however, Judge Moss said it was possible the deportees could prove their case that the Trump administration intended to subject them to abuse. 'It seems to me almost self-evident that the United States government cannot take human beings and send them to circumstances in which their physical wellbeing is at risk simply either to punish them or send a signal to others,' Moss said during the hearing. Lawyers for the Trump administration, meanwhile, argued that the deportation's continued delay would strain relations with countries willing to accept migrants from other countries. Murphy, who denied Friday's request, had previously ruled in favour of the deportees, issuing an injunction against their removal to South Sudan and saying they had a right to contest the deportation based on fears for their safety. The Supreme Court first lifted the injunction on June 23 and clarified its ruling again on Thursday, giving a subtle rebuke to Judge Murphy. The Trump administration has been pushing for rapid removals as part of its campaign of mass deportation, one of President Trump's signature priorities. Opponents have accused the administration of steamrolling the human rights of undocumented people in order to achieve its aims, including the right to due process under the law. But the Trump administration has framed undocumented migration as an 'invasion' that constitutes a national security crisis, and it argued that its strong-armed efforts are needed to expel criminals. The eight migrants slated to be sent to South Sudan, it said, were 'barbaric, violent criminal illegal aliens'. It added that they had been found guilty of crimes, including first-degree murder, robbery and sexual assault. 'These sickos will be in South Sudan by Independence Day,' Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a news release on Thursday.
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Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has signed his signature tax and spending bill, capping a months-long push to codify his top policy priorities into law. The sweeping bill has prompted controversy among both Democrats and members of Trump's own Republican Party for its deep cuts to social safety programmes and the hefty sum its tax cuts and spending are expected to add to the national debt. Recent polls have also shown tanking public support for the legislation – which Trump calls the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' – as many of its provisions come to light. Still, Trump on Friday took nothing short of a victory lap, hosting a White House signing ceremony aligned with the Independence Day celebrations in Washington, DC. The address began with a flyover from a B-2 Spirit bomber, the same jet used in US strikes on Iran last month. 'The last two weeks, there has never been anything like it as far as winning, winning, winning,' Trump said from the White House balcony. 'I want to tell you that I've never seen people so happy in our country, because so many different groups of people are being taken care of.' He also took a moment to revisit his victory in the 2024 election and reiterate his belief that voters gave him an ironclad mandate to carry out his policy agenda. He signed the bill flanked by Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson and Representative Steve Scalise. 'The American people gave us a historic mandate in November,' Trump said. 'This is a triumph of democracy on the birthday of democracy.' Opponents, meanwhile, used the occasion to again condemn the bill, with the top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, again saying that the sweeping legislation is 'betraying' US citizens. 'This bill isn't freedom. This bill isn't independence. This bill is betrayal,' Schumer wrote on the social media platform X. A months-long journey The legislation represents the most substantial salvo yet in Trump's policy blitz, in which he has mostly relied on more presidential orders than on congressional action. The passage of his mega-bill underscores the president's deep hold on the Republican Party, which has largely been remade in his likeness since his first term from 2017 to 2021. The party currently controls both chambers of Congress. The 'One Big Beautiful Bill' is set to add an estimated $3.3 trillion to the national debt, an increase that might once have been considered a sacrilege for the party's fiscal hawks. It also tightens eligibility for the low-income healthcare programme Medicaid and the food assistance programme SNAP, in a move that could hurt Republicans facing tough re-election campaigns. Still, in the end, only three Republicans in the Senate and two in the House were willing to break from Trump, in both cases leaving opponents just short of the votes needed to scuttle the bill. For their part, Democrats were unified in their opposition. In a last-ditch and largely symbolic effort on Thursday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries embarked on a record-breaking speech to delay any voting on the bill. Over the next eight hours and 45 minutes, Jeffries condemned Republicans for rushing to meet Trump's July 4 deadline, accusing them of fast-tracking a bill that many conservatives had publicly voiced discomfort towards. 'We don't work for Donald Trump. We work for the American people,' he said at one point. 'That's why we're right here now, on the floor of the House of Representatives, standing up for the American people.' He maintained Republicans would be punished at the ballot box over the bill during the midterm elections in 2026. A wide-ranging bill The legislation covers a range of issues, from immigration to tax reforms. For example, it extends sweeping tax cuts passed in 2017 during Trump's first term, amounting to a total of $4.5 trillion in tax reductions. It also allows taxpayers to deduct income earned from tips and overtime, as well as interest paid on loans for buying cars made in the US, while raising exemptions on estate taxes. It also extends a child tax credit. The administration has hailed the cuts as a victory for working-class Americans, although several analyses have found that wealthier taxpayers are most likely to benefit. Gains for lower-income taxpayers are likely to be offset by healthcare and food assistance cuts, according to Yale University's Budget Lab. All told, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, about 11.8 million more Americans will be uninsured over the next 10 years due to the Medicaid cuts, with another 4.2 million to lose health insurance due to cuts to pandemic-era subsidies. The legislation also peels back green energy and electric vehicle tax incentives, part of Trump's wider push to pivot away from clean energy and towards the influential fossil fuel industry. It allocates $170bn for immigration and border enforcement funding, in what the American Immigration Council calls the 'largest investment in detention and deportation in US history'. Nonpartisan analysts have said the increase in the national debt from the spending has the potential to slow economic growth, raise borrowing costs and crowd out other government spending in the years ahead. But on Friday, Trump dismissed the criticism. 'They [Democrats] have developed a standard line: 'We can't let them get away with it. It's dangerous. Everybody's going to die,'' Trump said. 'It's actually just the opposite. Everybody's going to live.' 'After this kicks in, our country is going to be a rocket ship, economically.'
