Trump tours migrant detention site ‘Alligator Alcatraz' in Florida Everglades
Donald Trump toured 'Alligator Alcatraz', a new temporary detention facility set in the middle of Florida wetlands for thousands of undocumented migrants to be held before deportation.
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Al Jazeera
5 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Trump says Powell should resign ‘immediately' in latest attack on Fed chair
United States President Donald Trump has repeated his call for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to step down, the latest in a series of attacks that have raised concern about the independence of the US central bank. Trump made the call for Powell to 'resign immediately' on Wednesday after his administration's top housing regulator urged the US Congress to launch an investigation into the central banker. Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said in a post on X that Powell should be investigated for his 'political bias' and 'deceptive testimony' about renovations at the Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, DC. In a Truth Social post responding to Pulte's comments, Trump said 'Too Late' – a nickname used to lambast Powell for not lowering rates faster – should resign. Trump's latest broadside comes days after he sent Powell a letter demanding that the central banker lower the benchmark interest rate, which is currently set at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, by 'a lot'. The US president has repeatedly criticised Powell for not backing faster rate cuts, arguing that the central banker's cautious stance is holding back economic growth and that concerns about inflation are overblown. Lower interest rates reduce the cost of borrowing for businesses and consumers, helping boost economic growth. But rate cuts also have the effect of increasing inflation, which central banks typically wish to keep low, and Trump's sweeping tariffs are generally expected to put upward pressure on prices. On Tuesday, Powell told a panel discussion at the European Central Bank Forum in Portugal that the central bank had taken a wait-and-see approach to rate cuts in order to gauge the impact of Trump's tariffs, many of which are in limbo ahead of a July 9 deadline. 'In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs, and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs,' Powell said. 'We didn't overreact. In fact, we didn't react at all; we're simply taking some time.' Trump has repeatedly demanded that Powell, whose term does not expire until May 2026, step down or be removed since coming into office in January. Last week, Trump told reporters that he would 'love' for Powell to step down 'if he wanted to'. In April, Trump said that Powell's 'termination cannot come fast enough,' before backing off his threat after stocks and the US dollar dipped sharply. Under US federal law, the US president is only permitted to fire the Fed chair 'for cause', a provision widely interpreted to mean specific misconduct, not policy decisions. In May, the US Supreme Court reaffirmed precedent limiting the president's ability to remove the top central banker in a ruling that singled out the Federal Reserve as having a distinct status compared with other independent agencies. Trump earlier on Tuesday told reporters that he had 'two or three' choices in mind to succeed Powell without elaborating on who is under consideration.
Al Jazeera
5 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Judge blocks Trump's ban on asylum at the southern US border
A federal court has ruled that President Donald Trump overstepped his authority by barring asylum claims at the southern border of the United States, as part of his broader immigration crackdown. On Wednesday, US District Judge Randolph Moss warned that Trump's actions threatened to create a 'presidentially decreed, alternative immigration system' separate from the laws established by Congress. The country had previously enshrined the right to asylum in its laws. But on January 20, upon taking office for a second term, President Trump issued a proclamation invoking the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). 'This authority,' Trump wrote, 'necessarily includes the right to deny the physical entry of aliens into the United States and impose restrictions on access to portions of the immigration system.' But Judge Moss, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, pushed back on that assertion in his 128-page decision (PDF). 'Nothing in the INA or the Constitution grants the President or his delegees the sweeping authority asserted in the Proclamation,' Moss wrote. He emphasised that the president had no power to 'replace the comprehensive rules and procedures' in US immigration law with an 'extra-statutory, extraregulatory regime'. Asylum is the process by which individuals request protection on foreign soil when they fear persecution or harm. While asylum applications face a high bar for acceptance, successful applicants are allowed to remain in the country. But Trump has framed immigration across the US's southern border with Mexico as an 'invasion' led by foreign powers. He has used that rationale to justify the use of emergency powers to suspend rights like asylum. Judge Moss, however, ruled that suspending asylum could result in significant harms to those facing persecution. 'A substantial possibility exists that continued implementation of the Proclamation during the pendency of an appeal will effectively deprive tens of thousands of individuals of the lawful processes to which they are entitled,' Moss wrote. Nevertheless, he gave the Trump administration a 14-day window to appeal. The administration is expected to do so. 'A local district court judge has no authority to stop President Trump and the United States from securing our border from the flood of aliens trying to enter illegally,' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in response to Wednesday's ruling. 'We expect to be vindicated on appeal.' In court filings, the administration had also argued that it alone had the right to determine whether or not the US was facing invasion. 'The determination that the United States is facing an invasion is an unreviewable political question,' government lawyers wrote. Judge Moss expressed sympathy with another administration argument that the asylum processing system had simply become swamped with applications. 'The Court recognizes that the Executive Branch faces enormous challenges in preventing and deterring unlawful entry into the United States and in adjudicating the overwhelming backlog of asylum claims of those who have entered the country,' he wrote. But, he concluded, US laws did not award President Trump 'the unilateral authority to limit the rights of aliens present in the United States to apply for asylum'. The ruling comes as the result of a class-action complaint filed by immigrant rights groups, including the Florence Project, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and RAICES. The American Civil Liberties Union applauded Wednesday's decision as an important step in protecting Congress's powers to pass laws – and protecting immigrants' rights. 'The president cannot wipe away laws passed by Congress simply by claiming that asylum seekers are invaders,' ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said to US media.
Qatar Tribune
9 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Hamas says studying new Gaza ceasefire proposals
Agencies Gaza The Palestinian group Hamas says it is studying new proposals for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, but insisted it is seeking an agreement that would bring an end to Israel's war. Hamas said in a statement on Wednesday that it had received proposals from the mediators and is holding talks with them to 'bridge gaps' to return to the negotiating table and try to reach a ceasefire agreement. The group said it was aiming for an agreement that would end the Gaza war and ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave. The announcement comes a day after United States President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed to a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. Trump has been increasing pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire and an agreement for the group to release the Israeli captives held in Gaza. Trump said the 60-day period would be used to work towards ending the war – something Israel says it will not accept until Hamas is defeated. Trump is due to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week. But Hamas's announcement, which emphasised its demand that the war end, raised questions about whether the latest offer could materialise into an actual pause in fighting. Israeli officials have warned that the country's military will escalate its operations in Gaza if ceasefire negotiations do not advance soon, according to the US-based Axios news outlet. 'We'll do to Gaza City and the central camps what we did to Rafah. Everything will turn to dust,' the outlet quoted a senior Israeli official as saying. 'It's not our preferred option, but if there's no movement towards a hostage deal, we won't have any other choice.' Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said any opportunity to free captives held in Gaza should not be missed, adding that there is a lot of support, both in the cabinet and within the public at large, for the US-backed proposal. The proposal, though, has not been publicly backed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said Palestinians mistrust Trump and have been disappointed several times by mooted ceasefires that have failed to materialise. 'There are headlines that are talking about a potential agreement and an end to the genocide, but what we're seeing on the ground, the reality tells a different story. An average of 100 to 120 Palestinians are killed every single day,' he said. In Gaza, Israeli forces killed at least 78 people on Wednesday, according to Palestinian health authorities. Hospital officials said four children and seven women were among the dead.
