Trump officials plan to resettle 1,000 Afrikaners while blocking other refugees
The Trump administration is ramping up its resettlement of White South Africans while simultaneously moving to bar entry for refugees from countries that fall under the president's travel ban, according to a document reviewed by The Washington Post and a court filing.
Officials are moving to block refugees that a federal judge had ordered the administration to allow in after President Donald Trump ground the refugee resettlement program to a halt, according to a Justice Department record submitted in a court proceeding. About two-thirds of the 160 refugees that were expected to be permitted to enter are being blocked, a major refugee aid group said. Those refugees had been scheduled to travel to the U.S. within two weeks of Trump's executive order on Jan. 20 halting all refugee admissions.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
22 minutes ago
- Politico
‘Obliteration' or not, House Republicans argue Iran strikes were a diplomatic win
House Republicans have a new message about U.S. airstrikes on Iran: It matters less about how much damage was done, and more that it succeeded in bringing a badly weakened Tehran back to the negotiating table. Several GOP lawmakers hammered that message Friday morning as they left a classified briefing by some of President Donald Trump's top military and intelligence officials on last weekend's surprise U.S. airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities. It marked a small but notable pivot for supporters of Trump's policy agenda who have struggled in recent days to back up his repeated claims that Iran's nuclear program has been 'obliterated.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in the briefing that the objective of the strikes was to bring Iran to the negotiating table, according to two attendees. Iran and Israel reached a ceasefire Monday and Trump said Wednesday that new talks with Iran are planned for next week. While many GOP senators who received a similar briefing Thursday were left dancing around Trump's maximalist portrayal of the strikes' long-term impact, House leadership on Friday made a concerted effort to frame the success of the mission as hinging on more than just damage assessments. 'I think the greatest evidence that we have of the effectiveness of this mission was that Iran came immediately and was willing to engage in a ceasefire agreement that would have been unthinkable just a few weeks back,' Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after the briefing. Johnson, like other Republicans, also insisted the strike resulted in a 'substantial setback' for Iran's nuclear program. The readout for lawmakers came days after the leak of a preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency assessment suggesting U.S. airstrikes only set back Iran's nuclear program by a few months. That set off a scramble by Trump, Rubio, Defense Secretary Hegseth and other senior Cabinet officials to push out new intelligence combating the DIA report, which the Pentagon intelligence agency said was a preliminary and low-confidence assessment. Hegseth has said the FBI and Pentagon are probing the leak. Several Republicans exiting the briefing — and at least one of the briefers inside the closed-door meeting — suggested that the exact description of the damage was immaterial. Iran had received a harsh message that any attempt to build a nuclear weapon would be met with force.'Regardless of whether you believe the leaked assessment — which was a 'low-confidence' assessment — the U.S. was able to go in there without any resistance and strike whatever it wanted to,' said House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) 'So even if you believe that worst case scenario and we need to go back in there, we can.' Rep. Darell Issa (R-Calif.), a House Foreign Affairs Committee member, added that the strikes instilled in Iran that there was a 'price to pay for continuing to enrich [uranium] beyond the 60 percent threshold.' But some Democrats emerged from the briefing with lingering questions about how effective the attack was at halting Iran's nuclear ambitions — and preventing a future conflict from reigniting. 'I'm walking out of this thinking we still don't know,' said Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. 'The contradictions within the intelligence have still not been resolved.' 'We've got a cornucopia of adjectives ranging from 'obliterated' to 'destroyed' to 'set back',' said top Intelligence Committee Democrat Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.). 'The question is, did we significantly set back that program? And we still don't have a good answer to that question.' Himes also cast doubt on the idea that the strikes had paved the way for a diplomatic breakthrough acceptable to Israel, given that they had been 'browbeaten' by the U.S. into the ceasefire. 'If you're the Israelis and you suspect that we didn't get it all, or that there's not going to be a negotiation, you've got a tough conversation with the president of the United States,' Himes said. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) suggested that Trump's declaration of the strikes' success early on may have been bravado — because Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine said at a news briefing just after the strikes that the full damage assessment would take time. 'You don't have to read classified material to know he overstated,' Quigley said. 'It's dangerous to overstate, because you need to know what the risks are, because you've got to face the risk — the risk that exists, not what you want the risk to be.' The two classified sessions featured the same cadre of briefers: Hegseth, Rubio, Caine and CIA director John Ratcliffe. For the second time in two days, that meant Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was noticeably missing from the conversation. Gabbard has been sidelined amid Israel's conflict with Iran and has reportedly clashed with Trump. Asked about the absence of the notional top spy in the U.S. intelligence community, Himes described it as 'very peculiar.' Still, some Republicans downplayed the significance. 'I'm not sure that's really meaningful. I think we got the information that we needed to get from the people most directly involved,' said Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), an Intelligence Committee member. Both Thursday and Friday's sessions also came after days of complaints from lawmakers that they weren't kept in the loop about the weekend's surprise attack on Iranian nuclear sites at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz. The mission involved seven B-2 stealth aircraft and a guided missile submarine, and marked the first combat use ever of the 30,000-pound GBU-57 bunker busting bomb, with 14 dropped on the Fordo facility and other sites. But many Democrats argue the strikes, which Congress didn't vote to authorize, amounted to an unconstitutional overreach by Trump. House and Senate Democrats are now pushing war powers legislation that would prohibit Trump from taking further military action against Iran without congressional approval. The Senate plans to vote Friday evening on Sen. Tim Kaine's (D-Va.) resolution to rein in Trump's war powers on Iran, but that measure is almost certain to fail unless Republicans break ranks with the administration. Libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) filed his own war powers resolution and criticized Trump's decision to strike Iran as unconstitutional — which made him a target for Trump — but stood down from forcing a vote after Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire. Progressives and top national security Democrats, though, are still pushing for a vote in the coming weeks.
CBS News
24 minutes ago
- CBS News
Trump says he's "terminating all discussions on trade with Canada, effective immediately"
Fed Chair testifies that tariffs could drive up inflation, which is why rates were held steady President Trump says he's "terminating all discussions on trade with Canada, effective immediately," after Canada announced a digital services tax on large foreign and domestic technology companies. Posting on Truth Social Friday afternoon, the president said the U.S. will let Canada know what their tariff rate will be in the next week. The trade talks blowup comes only a week after the president met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the Group of Seven economic summit in Alberta. "We have just been informed that Canada, a very difficult Country to TRADE with, including the fact that they have charged our Farmers as much as 400% Tariffs, for years, on Dairy Products, has just announced that they are putting a Digital Services Tax on our American Technology Companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on our Country," the president wrote. They are obviously copying the European Union, which has done the same thing, and is currently under discussion with us, also. Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately." The post came shortly after Mr. Trump told reporters in a press conference at the White House that he will soon be sending letters to countries with whom trade talks aren't going well, and tell them what their tariff rate is. Canada is one of the United States' biggest trading partners. The U.S. has imposed tariffs on most imports from Canada, and Canada has hit back with tariffs on U.S. exports to Canada.
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Senate is putting Trump's big bill back on track but hurdles remain
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans appeared Friday to push President Donald Trump's big bill back on track after a flurry of last-minute revisions, including deep cuts to food stamps, but there's still a long way to go ahead of expected weekend votes. Trump himself gave Congress some breathing room as senators race to meet his Fourth of July deadline. "It's not the end all,' Trump declared during a press conference at the White House. As the party in majority power, Republicans are grinding through a punch-list of still-unsettled issues as they try to push the package to passage over unified Democratic opposition. Republicans are relying on steep cuts to health care, food stamps and green energy investments to help pay for $3.8 trillion in tax breaks, their top priority. Any one of the roadblocks could doom the sprawling package. The proposed Medicaid cuts, in particular, have raised stark concerns among some GOP senators worried that millions in their states will lose access to the health care program. At the same time, a tentative deal between the White House and House GOP lawmakers from New York and other high-tax districts over the size of a state and local tax deduction, called SALT, needs broader agreement. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who sent his lawmakers home for the weekend with plans to be on call to return swiftly to Washington, said they are 'very close' to finishing up. 'We would still like to meet that July 4th, self-imposed deadline,' said Johnson, R-La. Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have stayed close to the White House throughout the process of drafting the big package, which they stress is needed to avoid a massive tax hike at the end of the year when current tax rates expire. The GOP leadership is relying on Trump to pressure holdout lawmakers to push it to passage. The speaker made the walk across the Capitol to join Senate Republicans for lunch, where they were also expected to meet with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over the emerging SALT deal. 'Perfect cannot be the enemy of good,' Bessent said in remarks at the Faith and Freedom Conference in Washington. 'Getting this passed is the single most important thing we can do this year.' The White House and House Republicans have narrowed on a plan to keep the SALT provision on the House-passed terms of a $40,000 cap on deductions — but for five years, instead of 10. The SALT deduction has been a key holdup as lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states negotiate. They want to quadruple what's now a $10,000 cap. Senate Republicans argued that it's too generous, costing hundreds of billions of dollars for the benefit of a few lawmakers' home regions. With their narrow majorities in the House and Senate, they need almost every lawmaker on board with the package to ensure passage. One GOP holdout, Rep. Nick LaLota of New York, says he can't support the compromise. But other provisions were being shored up after a series of setbacks when the Senate parliamentarian advised they would not pass the chamber's strict 'Byrd Rule' that largely bars policy matters from inclusion in budget bills, unless they can pass the 60-vote threshold that GOP leaders want to avoid. The Republican proposal to shift the costs of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, has been accepted by the Senate parliamentarian. Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said provisions to make certain immigrants ineligible for food aid were also accepted. 'This paves the way for important reforms that improve efficiency and management of SNAP,' he said. But the panel's top Democrat, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, said her party will 'keep fighting these proposals that raise grocery costs and take food away from millions of people, including seniors, children, and veterans.' The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said some 10.9 million more people will go without health care and at least 3 million fewer would qualify for food aid under the House-passed bill. CBO has not yet publicly assessed the Senate draft, which has proposed steeper reductions. The top income earners would see about a $12,000 tax cut under the House-passed bill, while the poorest Americans would see a $1,600 tax hike, the CBO said. The parliamentarian also accepted a revised proposal from the Senate Banking Committee to cut, rather than gut, the funding structure for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The entity was set up in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, but Trump has downsized the bureau and its staff. Still, a range of GOP provisions have been found to be out of compliance with Senate rules — including shielding gun silencers from taxes and creating a national school voucher program. __ Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Joey Cappelletti, Fatima Hussein, Seung Min Kim and Chris Megerian contributed to this report. Lisa Mascaro, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
