US Senate refuses to push through ICE funding amid row over Trump’s ballroom
A bid to restore funding to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and border patrol has been derailed by disputes over a $1 billion proposal for security measures connected to the White House ballroom and controversial plans linked to former President Donald Trump.
The Senate will not pass the $70 billion legislation before the 1 June deadline set by the US president, Republican senators told reporters on Thursday, as lawmakers depart Washington for the Memorial Day recess.
This development follows backlash from members of Trump’s own party against an attempt to attach funding for his ballroom project to the immigration bill.
The plan caused significant concern among congressional Republicans, who feared diverting taxpayer dollars toward Trump’s “East Wing modernization project” amid rising cost of living issues across the US could alienate voters ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Some Senate Republicans have also voiced apprehension about a plan announced on Monday to compensate Trump allies as part of an agreement in which the president and his sons dropped a $10 billion long-shot lawsuit against the US Internal Revenue Service. Critics argue the plan is essentially a bailout.
Stephen Miller suggests 'innocent' rioters who attacked Capitol police on January 6 are 'owed' more than just $1.776bn by US taxpayers
Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser, took three minutes of questions from reporters on Thursday.
He concluded by defending the $1.776 billion in taxpayer funds the Trump administration set aside this week to compensate people who claim they were wrongly prosecuted by the federal government, apparently including hundreds of violent rioters convicted of attacking police officers during the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The attack was an unsuccessful attempt to keep Trump in office after he lost the 2020 presidential election.
Miller was asked about the significant pushback over the fund from lawmakers on Thursday, reportedly including 25 Republican senators who objected to it during a nearly two-hour meeting with Todd Blanche, Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer now serving as the acting attorney general.
“That’s a good closing question only because it allows me to say this, which is that the- we lived through four years of– more than four years, actually, but I’ll just say four years in this case, of unimaginable weaponization of the federal government against innocent people,” Miller said.
“We’ve had so many lives- it really goes back to, I would say, further, but so many lives destroyed, so many livelihoods ruined, so many people who were deprived of their fundamental rights and freedoms as American citizens. And this settlement is just a small measure of the justice that they are owed,” he continued.
After delivering what appeared to be pre-scripted remarks, Miller abruptly ended the briefing, saying
“anyway, thank you all for your time”and walking away before any follow-up questions could be posed.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has circulated a “Be on the Lookout” (BOLO) alert to law enforcement nationwide, targeting a comedian whose satire of US immigration enforcement went viral.
The subject of the alert was Ben Palmer, a Nashville-based standup comedian and prankster who created a parody anti-immigration tip website. His revealing videos of people who believed they were reporting immigrants to ICE have garnered millions of views on TikTok and YouTube.
The DHS bulletin was issued by the department’s Nashville field office in February, about a week before the Illinois State Police shared the BOLO after a kindergarten teacher reported one of her student’s parents to Palmer’s supposed tip page on spurious grounds, mistakenly thinking she was communicating with the government.
The alert was obtained by the Chicago-based journalism nonprofit Injustice Watch through public records requests. It remains unclear how many other law enforcement agencies nationwide may have received the federal alert, as Injustice Watch continues its investigation in Illinois.
Even in Greenland, the shadow of Jeffrey Epstein looms over Trump's ambitions
As reported by our colleague, hundreds of Greenlanders protested against the opening of a new US consulate in the island’s capital, Nuuk, on Thursday.
Protesters waved Greenlandic flags, held signs reading “USA ASU” (“USA stop it” in the local Inuit language), and shouted “go home,” one day after Donald Trump’s envoy, Louisiana governor Jeff Landry, toured the capital amid persistent protests with chants such as:
“Colonizer go home! You’re not welcome here! This is Indigenous land!”
Amid speculation that Trump has pursued foreign military initiatives partly to divert attention from the controversy surrounding his association with the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, photographs and video of the protest in Nuuk showed Greenlanders linking the US president with Epstein, a friend of nearly two decades.
One pair of signs featured a 1997 photograph of Trump smiling with his hand on Epstein’s shoulder as they posed together at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago beach club.
South Carolina’s new congressional map eliminates Black-majority district, drawing criticism
As South Carolina advances a new congressional map that would eliminate the state’s only majority-Black district, Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California spoke out in a statement.
“We must stand up to this modern day Dred Scott Court,”Khanna said, referring to the 1857 US Supreme Court decision that denied Black Americans citizenship and legal rights.
“They have unleashed a process that will eliminate the only Black-majority district in the state of South Carolina. South Carolina has a Black population of 25% but they would be left with not a single Black majority district or Black political representation in the House,”he added.
Khanna also called for term limits for Supreme Court justices and proposed expanding the Court from nine to thirteen justices.
Recap of the day so far
The US Senate refused to advance ICE funding amid disputes over Trump’s ballroom security costs. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) released a report analyzing why Democrats lost the 2024 presidential election, focusing on key demographics such as Latinos, men, and rural voters, and comparing performance to other Democrats in key state races like North Carolina governor Josh Stein.
Trump defended the $1 billion security funding for his White House ballroom project despite Republican opposition, distinguishing between the ballroom and proposed security improvements.
Trump postponed a signing ceremony for an executive order on artificial intelligence (AI) due to dissatisfaction with parts of the text. The ceremony, which was to include top CEOs at the White House, was canceled just hours before it was scheduled.
Regarding the arrival of a US aircraft carrier in the Caribbean, Trump dismissed suggestions it was meant to intimidate the Cuban government, stating:
“No, not at all.”
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Thursday afternoon:
“Today the American people had a win in the US senate. We stopped them from moving forward on a huge slush fund for ICE to provide billions of your taxpayer dollars for a lawless ICE operation.”
Van Hollen noted that after Democrats expressed concerns about Trump’s $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund, Republicans withdrew votes and left Washington.
Former head of Minnesota non-profit sentenced to nearly 42 years for fraud
A federal judge sentenced Aimee Bock, founder of Feeding Our Future, to nearly 42 years in prison for orchestrating what prosecutors called the largest pandemic fraud scheme in the country.
The sentencing follows a $250 million fraud plot that became a focal point in Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which led to violent demonstrations and the ICE killings of two Americans, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Prosecutors had sought a 50-year sentence, arguing Bock’s crimes—including conspiracy, wire fraud, and bribery—stole millions intended to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic and caused profound damage with lasting consequences nationwide.
“I understand I failed. I failed the public, my family, everyone,”Bock said in federal court.
“Feeding Our Future operated like a cash pipeline, open to anyone willing to submit fraudulent claims and pay kickbacks,”prosecutors stated in court filings.
“The ripple effects of her actions are profound, immeasurable, and will have lasting consequences for both Minnesota and the nation.”
Bock was convicted last year on multiple counts involving conspiracy, wire fraud, and bribery. She had maintained her innocence.
DNC autopsy report critiques 2024 election losses, faces criticism
The DNC autopsy report focuses on key demographics that Vice President Kamala Harris lost, including Latinos, men, and rural voters in many states, and compares her performance to other Democrats in key state races.
The report also analyzes campaign spending and advertising, emphasizing the need to engage new voters rather than only pushing out messages.
Notably, the report does not address the impact of Joe Biden’s age or the US’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza on the Democratic defeat, despite polling indicating these issues were significant.
The 192-page document includes disclaimers stating:
“This document reflects the views of the author, not the DNC. The DNC was not provided with the underlying sourcing, interviews, or supporting data for many of the assertions contained herein and therefore cannot independently verify the claims presented.”
Sections contain qualifiers questioning sourcing, data accuracy, or lack of evidence. One qualifier disputes the author’s account of the January 6 Capitol attack, stating:
“Claim contradicts public reporting.”In fact, five people died within 36 hours of the attack, and four responding police officers died by suicide within seven months.
Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday morning regarding Trump’s 2027 fiscal budget proposal.
When asked about Trump’s proposal to cut $6 billion in NIH research funding, Bhattacharya said:
“Senator, the budget is obviously a major problem for this country. The NIH, my job is to make sure that my colleagues have the resources they need to fund the best biomedical research in this country. And I am really grateful to work with Congress and the administration to make sure that that’s possible.”
The budget hearing occurred amid concerns about the hantavirus. Bhattacharya, also acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stated that hantavirus “is largely contained.”
Progressive grassroots group RootsAction criticized the DNC autopsy report, saying it focuses excessively on ad spending and fundraising without adequately addressing Democratic policy positions or the 2024 election context.
The group noted:
“The word ‘affordability,’ arguably the most important issue in the 2024 election, appears twice in the 129-page report. The report makes no mention whatsoever of Gaza or Israel — neither word even appears in its text.”
RootsAction accused the Democratic Party of distancing itself from the report by questioning its legitimacy instead of taking responsibility after commissioning it.
Republicans also reacted to the report. Mike Marinella, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said:
“Democrats keep stepping on the same rake and seem genuinely surprised when it smacks them in the face. Americans have made it pretty clear they’re tired of radical social experiments and out of touch priorities.”
Supreme Court birthright citizenship decision awaited amid Trump remarks
The Supreme Court’s decision on birthright citizenship, expected but not announced today, has drawn comments from Trump, who claimed the US is the only country with such a policy.
In reality, about 32 countries, mostly in the Western Hemisphere, have birthright citizenship laws similar to the US, and approximately 50 others have variations.
Trump said:
“This was not meant for Chinese billionaires to come in and have their kids here. This was meant for the babies of slaves. You look at the dates, it was right after the Civil War, and you can tell.”
He added that some are misusing birthright citizenship and warned:
“If allowed to stand, it will be a disaster.”Trump predicted the Supreme Court will likely rule against eliminating birthright citizenship.
He also stated:
“Birthright citizen is done by no other country in the world. We are a laughingstock.”
If overturned, hundreds of thousands of children born annually would be denied US citizenship.
Trump says ‘it looks like I’ll be the one’ to intervene in Cuba after Castro indictment
Asked about the US aircraft carrier that arrived in the Caribbean and whether it was intended to intimidate the Cuban government, Trump replied:
“No, not at all.”
He added:
“We’re going to help them along … because I want to help them. Other presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years. It looks like I’ll be the one that does it. We want to open it up to Cuban Americans where they can go back and help.”
The Trump administration’s campaign to oust Cuba’s six-decades-old communist regime escalated with the issuing of indictments against Raul Castro and five others.
Trump postpones AI executive order signing amid concerns
In the Oval Office, Trump promoted the reversal of Joe Biden’s regulations on refrigerators but appeared more enthusiastic about his White House ballroom, Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, and triumphal arch, recently approved by a fine arts commission.
When asked why the AI executive order signing ceremony with tech leaders was abruptly canceled, Trump said:
“Because I didn’t like certain aspects of it, I postponed it.”
He emphasized US leadership in AI:
“We’re leading China, we’re leading everybody, and I don’t want to do anything that’s gonna get in the way of that lead.”
Trump described AI as
“causing tremendous good and it’s also bringing in a lot of jobs, tremendous numbers of jobs. Again, we have more people working right now than we’ve ever had. I really thought that could have been a blocker and I want to make sure that it’s not.”
Trump recently traveled to China with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and other tech leaders. When asked if he discussed AI safeguards with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Trump said:
“I did, I did, I discussed it and he acknowledges how well we’re doing. It’s the two of us, the two countries are fighting for it. Other countries are way behind. Way, way behind. They’re fighting for it, they want it, everybody wants it but they’re way behind. But I didn’t want to do it – I postponed that meeting – it was a signing actually – because I didn’t like what I was seeing.”
