Trump administration appeals to Supreme Court to allow $783 million research-funding cuts to  NIH

LINDSAY WHITEHURST

Thu, July 24, 2025 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to cut hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of research funding in its push to roll back federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

The Justice Department argued a federal judge in Massachusetts was wrong to block the National Institutes of Health from making $783 million worth of cuts to align with President Donald Trump’s priorities.

U.S. District Judge William Young found that the abrupt cancellations ignored long-held government rules and standards.

Young, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, also said the cuts amounted to “racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community.”

“I’ve never seen government racial discrimination like this,” Young said at a hearing last month. An appeals court left the ruling in place.

The ruling came in lawsuits filed by 16 attorneys general, public-health advocacy groups and some affected scientists. His decision addressed only a fraction of the hundreds of NIH research projects that have been cut.

The Trump administration’s appeal also takes aim at nearly two dozen cases over funding.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer pointed to a 5-4 decision on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket from April that allowed cuts to teacher training programs to go forward, one of multiple recent victories for the president at the nation's highest court. The order shows that district judges shouldn’t be hearing those cases at all, but rather sending them to federal claims court, he argued.

“Those decisions reflect quintessential policy judgments on hotly contested issues that should not be subject to judicial second-guessing. It is hardly irrational for agencies to recognize—as members of this Court have done—that paeans to 'diversity' often conceal invidious racial discrimination,” he wrote.

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Trump administration asks the Supreme Court to let it cut NIH grants

FILE - A healthcare worker prepares a shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in La Paz, Bolivia, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Juan Karita, File)

Melissa Quinn
Thu, July 24, 2025 at 3:50 PM MDT

Washington — The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to give it the green light to cancel hundreds of grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health because they were tied to issues like gender identity and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the high court to halt a lower court decision that ordered the NIH to reinstate the grants and required the Trump administration to continue paying out roughly $783 million in awards. The administration had decided that the grants did not align with its policy objectives.

The grants were canceled in response to executive orders signed by Mr. Trump soon after he returned to the White House that directed federal agencies to terminate awards and contracts that were related to diversity, equity and inclusion — or DEI — and gender identity research activities and programs.

NIH began ending the grants that it said did not match the administration's policy priorities in February, and in April, 16 states, as well as research and advocacy groups, a union and researchers filed lawsuits challenging the cancellations.

The plaintiffs asked the federal district court in Massachusetts to block NIH from terminating any grants and order the agency to restore any awards that had already been axed.

The district court last month ruled in favor of the research entities after holding a bench trial in the cases, finding that NIH engaged in "no reasoned decision-making" in the rollout of the grant terminations. U.S. District Judge William Young, appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, tossed out the challenged directives.

The Trump administration asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit to pause the district court's decision, which it declined to do.

In the emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, Sauer said its request for relief gives it a chance to "stop errant district courts from continuing to disregard" its decisions.

Sauer pointed to an April order from the Supreme Court that cleared the way for the Department of Education to cancel millions of dollars in grants that it said funded programs that involve DEI initiatives. The high court said in that order that the Trump administration was likely to succeed in showing that the federal district court that oversaw that case lacked jurisdiction to order the payment of money under a federal law governing the agency rulemaking process.

Stunning amount Trump’s Scotland trip will cost taxpayers – largely to promote his golf courses there: report

“It’s as if the White House were almost an arm of the Trump Organization.”

James Liddell
Fri, July 25, 2025 


Donald Trump’s five-day golf trip to Scotland is expected to cost U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars, according to a new report.

The president departed Joint Base Andrews in Maryland aboard Air Force One on Friday morning, hoping to leave behind the MAGA firestorm around his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

After an estimated 43 golf trips in the first six months of his second term, Trump’s Scottish visit for the opening of a new course, being billed as “the greatest 36 holes” in the sport, is expected to cost about $9.7 million, according to an analysis by HuffPost.

Those estimates are based on a Government Accountability Office report detailing the costs of Trump’s 2017 trips to his country club in Palm Beach, Florida. Costs were not adjusted for inflation, meaning they could be substantially higher in today’s terms.

This trip will mark the president’s fifth international trip since beginning his second term in January.

Donald Trump’s trip is expected to cost the taxpayer millions of dollars, a new report states (PA)

Designated by the White House as a “work trip,” Trump is expected to visit his Turnberry and Menie golf courses, as well as open the new MacLeod Course at Trump International Golf Links near Aberdeen, dedicated to his mother.

He is also expected to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to discuss trade and Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney.

Expenses factored into the upcoming trip include Secret Service overtime, the hourly operating cost of Air Force One for its 3,000-mile transatlantic journey, and the transportation of Marine One helicopters and motorcade vehicles aboard C-17 aircraft.

According to the GAO report, the hourly operating cost to run Air Force One is just over $273,000, meaning the total for flights to and from Scotland alone would be around $3.8 million.

Marine One helicopters cost between $16,700 and nearly $20,000 per hour to operate, according to Pentagon data for fiscal year 2022.

Estimates also include the need for a second aircraft for Trump aides who would not travel domestically. HuffPost has based its forecast on a modified Boeing 757 being used, which is much cheaper to run than Air Force One, a Boeing 747

According to previous reporting by the news outlet’s analysts, Trump’s golfing trip bill for his first term, including taxpayer-funded travel and security, totaled $151.5 million, and a total of 293 days at his own resorts.

Trump waved as he boarded Air Force One on Friday, as he departed for Scotland, at Joint Base Andrews (Reuters)

“We’re at a point where the Trump administration is so intertwined with the Trump business that he doesn’t seem to see much of a difference,” Jordan Libowitz, vice president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told ABC News.

“It’s as if the White House were almost an arm of the Trump Organization.”

A Trump spokesperson called the report of the Scotland trip expense “deeply pathetic and transparent” and cited Joe Biden’s frequent trips to his beach house in addition to his unrelated use of an autopen to sign orders, before saying, “While in Scotland, the president will meet with Prime Minister Starmer to refine the historic trade deal that expanded markets for American farmers and workers and strengthen our treasured relationship with the United Kingdom.”

Trump’s visit is expected to demand a major police operation, which is expected to cost Scottish taxpayers millions of pounds, as protests are planned throughout the weekend.

During the president’s four-day trip to Scotland in 2018, the BBC reported that more than 5,000 police officers were deployed, with the U.K. Treasury contributing about £5 million ($6.8 million) to help cover the costs incurred by the Scottish police force.

Trump at his Turnberry Golf Course in South Ayrshire in 2023 (AFP/Getty)

A decade ago, Trump frequently and venomously blasted then-President Barack Obama for leaving the White House for the golf course.

“I don’t have time for that,” he said at a campaign rally in 2015. “I love golf. I think it’s one of the greats, but I don’t have time.”

Trump went on to play about 260 rounds of golf during his first term, according to estimates by The Washington Post, and declared himself the “best golfer of all the rich people.”

This term, the president’s expensive golf trips have not gone unnoticed.

At the House’s Delivering on Government Efficiency March, Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett criticized the Trump administration for what she called hypocrisy in its government spending.

“If we are gonna talk about efficiency,” she began, taking a jab at Trump’s government slashing force, the Department of Government Efficiency. “Let’s talk about the fact that, as of March 30, Trump’s golfing has cost us approximately $26 million.”

Trump Arrives to Protests and Mockery in Country That Hates Him: ‘Twinned With Epstein Island’

Leigh Kimmins
Fri, July 25, 2025

DAILY BEAST

Steve Welsh - PA Images / PA Images via Getty Images


President Donald Trump will get no warm welcome in his mother’s homeland.

The president will land at Prestwick Airport, near Glasgow, Scotland, on Friday evening and immediately head to his golf resort at Turnberry, South Ayrshire, in the southwest of the country. He will then visit his other course in Aberdeen, in the northeast, before debuting a new 18-hole course bearing the name of his Scottish mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump.

Anti-Trump protests and marches are scheduled to take place throughout the weekend, with events planned in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and at his golf courses. The Stop Trump Coalition has planned marches that will kick off simultaneously in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

A coalition of trade unions, disability advocates, climate activists, pro-Palestinian and Ukrainian solidarity groups, as well as American diaspora organizations, is also coordinating several days of events.

The political campaign group Everyone Hates Elon has already set the tone by sabotaging Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire by placing a placard under its sign, claiming that it is “twinned with Epstein Island.”

Protesters placed a sign reading

The group also claimed responsibility for sticking a photograph of Trump and the disgraced financier on a bus stop near the U.S. embassy in London.

Even locals in his mother’s birthplace in the Outer Hebrides appear rankled by his impending visit.

“Trump is running scared from the Epstein files,” one local said on X, adding a warning, “Running to Scotland won’t help him. We’re ready - and waiting.”

Seven out of 10 Scots have ill feelings towards the U.S. commander-in-chief, according to the latest Ipsos poll.

Seven in 10 Scotts hold a negative view of President Donald Trump. / Leon Neal / Getty Images

“The Scottish public hold a broadly unfavorable opinion of Donald Trump,” Emily Gray, managing director of Ipsos Scotland, said after the figures were released in March.



Stunning amount Trump’s Scotland trip will cost taxpayers – largely to promote his golf courses there: report
The Independent

One young man from Glasgow, interviewed by Scottish publication The National ahead of Trump’s visit, worded it slightly differently.

“You’re a p---k, man,” he said, using a derogatory term for a rude man. “Tyranny and authoritarianism just isn’t welcome in our country.”

The front page of Scottish newspaper

“I hate Donald Trump,” another person said Thursday on the streets of Glasgow, according to The National. “Get him out. Why is he coming? Why are we allowing him?

“I heard he’s got a chronic illness. And I hope it takes him out soon! Please!” she added.

The White House described the visit as a “private trip,” though Trump is set for a Monday meet with the U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

President Donald Trump at the house in Tong, on the Isle of Lewis, where his mother was brought up before she emigrated to the United States. / Andrew Milligan - PA Images / PA Images via Getty Images

Trump will meet with politicians who have previously scorned him.

Greeting the president as he steps off Air Force One will be Scotland’s secretary of state, Ian Murray, who once backed a motion accusing Trump of “misogyny, racism, and xenophobia.”

Trump: Horrible migrant invasion is killing Europe

Benedict Smith
Fri, July 25, 2025 

THE TELEGRAPH

Donald Trump speaks to the media as he arrives at Glasgow Prestwick Airport - AP

President Donald Trump told Britain to “get its act together” on illegal migration after he landed in Scotland for a four-day visit.

The US president claimed that a “horrible invasion” was taking place and had to “stop”, shortly after touching down on Air Force One at Glasgow Airport.

He said: “You better get your act together or you’re not going to have Europe anymore.

“You’ve got to stop this horrible invasion that is happening to Europe, many countries in Europe.

“Some leaders have not let it happen, and they’re not getting the proper credit... I could name them to you right now, but I’m not going to embarrass the other ones. But stop, this immigration is killing Europe.”



Mr Trump, who made a border clampdown a key plank of his second term, said: “Last month we had nobody entering our country.”

Sir Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure to tackle illegal migration with more than 22,000 small boats heading across the English Channel this year as of mid-July, up roughly 50 per cent on 2024 levels.

Police have raised concerns of a “summer of unrest” in the UK after protests erupted outside a hotel in Essex used to house asylum seekers this week.

In London, a ring of steel has been put up around a four-star hotel in London’s Canary Wharf put on standby for a surplus of migrants arriving from the Channel.

Mr Trump will visit his golf courses and meet with Sir Keir and Ursula von der Leyen during his time in the UK.

Mr Trump waved when departing Air Force One - Evelyn Hockstein

The White House played down the significance of the meeting with Sir Keir, saying the two leaders are unlikely to announce any major policy breakthroughs

Despite seemingly taking a swipe at Sir Keir over his migration policies, Mr Trump later praised the Prime Minister for the trade deal the two leaders struck in May.

“I like your Prime Minister – slightly more liberal than I am, as you probably heard, but he’s a good man,” the president told reporters in Glasgow.

“He got a trade deal done, and you know, they’ve been working on this deal for 12 years. He got it done. It’s a good deal. It’s a good deal for the UK.”

Mr Trump said there will not be a re-negotiation but a “celebration” of the trade deal

Mr Trump and Sir Keir will meet on Monday - Andrew Harnik

Mr Trump said he would likely meet with Sir Keir tomorrow evening, calling him a “very successful man” who was “doing a good job”.

The meeting between Mr Trump and Sir Keir is being framed by officials as a relationship building opportunity ahead of Mr Trump’s official state visit in September.

Sir Keir and Mr Trump have developed a warm rapport and Mr Trump’s meeting with Sir Keir is “a recognition of the relationship that the US has with the UK,” Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, previously told The Telegraph.

“And, you know, I think he (Trump) genuinely likes him as a person. That’s why they get along.”

Ms Von Der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, confirmed she would be meeting with Mr Trump just hours after he said there was “a 50-50 chance, maybe less” of the EU and US reaching a trade agreement.

Disruption expected during visit

Protesters are expected to stage demonstrations against Mr Trump on his trip at both of his golf courses in Scotland.

However, the visit will be a welcome break for the president, who has been dogged by allegations that the White House is suppressing information in the so-called Epstein files.

Before leaving Washington DC, Mr Trump opened the door to a possible pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, who legal experts believe could give favourable testimony to help draw attention away from him and onto other associates of the financier.

He told reporters: “I’m allowed to do it, but it’s something I haven’t thought about.”

Mr Trump’s motorcade flanked by police - James Chapelard

Campaign groups in Scotland have vowed to welcome Mr Trump with a “festival of resistance” and make their voices heard on issues from climate change to the Israel-Hamas war.

Cllr Gavin Scott, an independent councillor for Girvan and South Carrick, said the police had gone above and beyond with security measures to deter potential disruption.

He told The Telegraph: “A local resident likened the high fencing and sniper tower surrounding the golf course to an American prison, finding the view quite disturbing and intimidating with a large armed police presence.”

On Tuesday, protesters sabotaged a sign at Mr Trump’s golf course in Aberdeenshire with a placard that claimed the luxury resort was “twinned with Epstein Island”.

In March, Palestine Action covered the resort’s white buildings in red paint. In April, Greenpeace created a sand portrait of Mr Trump on the beach by the course beside a message reading: “Time to fight the billionaire takeover.”

EU pact could stop 'hostile' states using migrants for politics, rights agency says

The EU migration pact could help member states prevent "hostile actors" from using migrants and refugees to put pressure on them, the bloc's rights agency said on Wednesday.


Issued on: 23/07/2025 - RFI

Airport signage showing passengers the route to the Schengen gates seen in Henri Coanda International Airport near Bucharest, Romania, on 28 March 2024. 

via REUTERS - Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea

Some countries outside the European Union have repeatedly funnelled migrants and refugees to the bloc's external borders to put pressure on the EU, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) said in a paper on the topic.

The EU migration pact is due to come into force in mid-2026 and would allow countries to return rejected asylum applicants more quickly, the FRA said.

"The effective and speedy implementation of return procedures in full respect of applicable safeguards may discourage the instrumentalisation of migrants and refugees," the FRA paper noted.

It said that EU countries could impose sanctions on "hostile" states or restrict the visas of people from those countries as part of a raft of measures to discourage the practice.

EU migration reform raises prospect of controversial return hubs

Poland, for instance, has accused Belarus and Russia of flying in or bussing people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Ethiopia and other nations to their borders with the EU member state before trying to direct them across.

Polish border guard officers patrol along the border fence at the Polish-Belarusian border in Polowce-Pieszczatka, Poland, on 21 July 2025, during a visit of the Polish Interior Minister and his German counterpart. AFP - WOJTEK RADWANSKI

Rights groups have subsequently accused Warsaw of unlawfully, and sometimes violently, forcing people back across its borders.

In 2023 and 2024, almost 60 people died along the EU land border with Belarus, many from hypothermia while stranded there, according to the FRA.

The new pact will allow EU members to prioritise the processing of asylum claims by those subject to this sort of instrumentalisation, deploying additional staff to help, the FRA added.

"Instead of punishing migrants and refugees who are being used and abused for political gains, EU countries need to direct their measures towards the hostile actors," FRA director Sirpa Rautio said.

EU moves to loosen restrictions on sending asylum seekers to third countries

"Some of the current responses to instrumentalisation may undermine the protection of fundamental rights at the EU's borders, including the right to asylum," she added.

In its paper, the FRA said that "certain rights, such as the prohibition of torture or sending people back to where their lives and freedom are at risk, are absolute".

"They cannot be limited under any circumstances," the group said.

(AFP)

Wordpress.comselforganizedseminar.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/hardt_negri_multitude.pdf

multitude - war and

Multitude: war and democracy in the Age of Empire /. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. p. cm. Sequel to: Empire. Includes index. ISBN 1-59420-024-6. 1 ...

Radicalphilosophyarchive.comwww.radicalphilosophyarchive.com/issue-files/rp120_dialogue_empiremultitude_negri_zolo.pdf

Empire and the multitude - Radical Philosophy Archive

If for no other reason Empire deserves, in my view, the international success it is enjoying. Antonio Negri Thank you. The fact remains that now, alongside ...

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EMPIRE - Monoskop

Empire / Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. p. cm. Includes ... missions of Empire will be constituent assemblies of the multitude, social ...

 

 Exclusive: ‘A more vulnerable nation’: FEMA memos lay out risks of plan to cut $1B in disaster and security grants

Gabe Cohen, CNN
Fri, July 25, 2025


A sign marks the location of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters building on June 20, 2025, in Washington, DC. - J. David Ake/Getty Images

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has proposed cutting nearly $1 billion in grant funding that communities and first responders nationwide use to better prepare for disasters and to bolster security for possible terror or cyberattacks.

The proposed cuts, which still require approval from the White House budget office and Congress, would zero out funding for more than half of FEMA’s emergency management and homeland security grant programs, according to internal memos and two FEMA officials familiar with the plans.

This comes amid an overhaul of the disaster relief agency at the hands of the Trump administration, which seeks to drastically shrink FEMA’s footprint and shift more responsibility for disaster preparedness, response and recovery onto states. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, has looked at slashing grant funding as part of that effort.

In one memo signed by acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson, the cuts are described as a way to “focus on appropriate spending for the Agency’s core mission in emergency management.”

But the memos – signed by Richardson and approved by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem – also acknowledge in stark terms the potential risks of eliminating the programs.

The loss of one program that helps communities plan and train for disasters would “leave state and local governments more vulnerable to catastrophic incidents,” one memo states. Ending another that bolsters transportation infrastructure and terrorism protections would “contradict the administration’s commitment to a safer and more secure country,” the memo says.

Terminating the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) – the largest FEMA program on the chopping block, providing more than $500 million to prepare major cities for catastrophic emergencies – would create “a less secure nation, especially at the border and in some of the nation’s most targeted cities, including Miami, Washington DC, and Dallas,” the memo states.

The agency also plans to eliminate funding for the Next Generation Warning System initiative, which is designed to modernize and improve the nation’s public alert and warning capabilities for severe storms and other emergencies, after pausing the program earlier this year.

According to the memo, FEMA staff had suggested that instead of terminating the program, the money could be allocated “to high-risk flooding areas including Texas and New Mexico.” But Richardson signed off on eliminating it earlier this month.

Among the other impacts from the potential cuts, as outlined by FEMA, would be “undertrained firefighters,” “poor wildfire readiness,” more risk at “120 critical United States ports” and less homeland security training for cities hosting World Cup games. Axing another program “could increase the risk of terror attacks on passenger rail,” the memo says, and cutting off a violence and terrorism prevention program “results in a more vulnerable nation.”

DHS said the memos referenced in this story are “cherry-picked,” but acknowledged the department is looking to cut “unaccountable programs.”

“Secretary Noem and this Administration are focused on ending waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government - and FEMA is no exception,” a DHS spokesman said in a statement to CNN. “For years, taxpayer dollars have flowed to bloated grants, political pet projects, and groups with questionable ties. That ends now.”

This comes after FEMA shut down the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, halting more than $600 million intended to help communities prepare for natural disasters, prompting 20 states to sue the agency.

Due to the ongoing litigation, the memos state, FEMA will address the future of the BRIC program at a later date.

The cuts to disaster and security grants could have wide-ranging consequences for communities that depend on these funds. The National League of Cities, an advocacy group representing cities, towns and villages across the US, “strongly opposes” the proposed cuts, according to a statement provided to CNN by a spokesperson.

“Reducing or eliminating these programs would severely undermine the preparedness of our first responders and compromise the ability of local governments to effectively ensure the core capabilities necessary for prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery efforts,” the NLC spokesperson wrote.
FEMA’S deadline to get funds out the door

Congress allocated a total of more than $4 billion this fiscal year for FEMA to support these national preparedness programs, which state and local governments, emergency management agencies, and fire and police departments depend on for essential staffing, equipment, and training.

But in recent months, the disaster relief agency, at the direction of DHS, has largely halted the selection of new grant recipients so it could review the programs.

That has left emergency managers across the country waiting for FEMA to issue Notices of Funding Opportunities, or NOFOs, which allow local jurisdictions and organizations to apply for grants and are now more than two months behind schedule.

“We’ve been ghosted by FEMA,” a North Carolina official recently told CNN, expressing frustration over the lack of guidance on whether states can expect funding in the coming months.

Now federal and state emergency managers are increasingly concerned that large portions of this year’s funds will go unspent, as the funding streams expire unless allocated by the end of September.

FEMA chief grilled on funding concerns

At a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Richardson told concerned lawmakers, “We’re getting the NOFOs out the door as we speak.” The acting FEMA chief did not mention the looming cuts he had authorized in the memo he signed days before the hearing, though he criticized the agency’s grant programs.

“A lot of the grants sound good, and then you dig into them, and they’re not so good,” Richardson said, citing resilience projects “used for things like bike paths and shade at bus stops.”

During Wednesday’s hearing, Rep. Dina Titus, a Nevada Democrat, pressed Richardson about the status of UASI funding, emphasizing its importance for protecting Las Vegas from potential terror threats.

Richardson responded: “What I can commit to is that we’ve been doing due diligence on all of the grants.” He did not mention the program’s potential termination.

Responding to CNN’s new reporting Thursday, Titus said the plan to cut UASI is “deeply irresponsible and endangers our public safety.”

“These grants played a significant role in the response to the Harvest Festival shootings and are critical to protecting the public in all major cities and at big events such as the Super Bowl, Formula One races, and golf tournaments,” Titus said in a statement to CNN.

“I implore Secretary Noem to administer these public safety grants as Congress directed and ensure that our first responders and emergency personnel have the tools they need to address future threats in our communities.”

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US states to get $608 million from FEMA to build migrant detention centers

Fri, July 25, 2025


FILE PHOTO: An aerial view of "Alligator Alcatraz" ICE detention center in Ochopee
By Courtney Rozen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Federal Emergency Management Agency is preparing to send $608 million to states to construct immigrant detention centers as part of the Trump administration's push to expand capacity to hold migrants.

FEMA is starting a “detention support grant program” to cover the cost of states building temporary facilities, according to an agency announcement. States have until August 8 to apply for the funds, according to the post.

The Trump administration has been encouraging states to build their own facilities to detain migrants. This program provides a way for the administration to help states pay for it.

The funds will be distributed by FEMA in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to the post.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said on Friday morning the state would apply for FEMA reimbursement to pay for its new immigrant detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” DHS officials said this summer the facility will cost an estimated $450 million annually.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said DHS will tap FEMA’s $650-million shelter and services program to fund Florida’s facility. Congress during the Biden administration directed DHS to distribute the money to state and local governments to cover the cost of sheltering migrants. Nonprofits were also eligible. The funding stream was separate from money Congress set aside for FEMA to cover disaster relief."Secretary Noem has been very clear that the funding for Alligator Alcatraz can be a blueprint for other states and local governments to assist with detention," a FEMA spokesperson said.

FEMA declined to answer a question from Reuters about whether other states would receive money for detention facilities.

(Reporting by Courtney Rozen; additional reporting by Ted Hesson; editing by Rod Nickel and Nick Zieminski)

Fema announces funds for states to detain undocumented migrants

Kayla Epstein - BBC News
Fri, July 25, 2025 a

Fema headquarters in Washington, DC [Getty Images]


The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) has announced more than $600m (£446m) in funding for states and local entities to detain undocumented migrants while they await transfer to federal facilities.

The new grant comes as the Trump administration seeks to carry out mass deportations and redefine the disaster relief agency's mission and structure.

Fema says the programme will relieve overcrowding at short-term holding facilities and increase detention capacity in local and state facilities.

The agency had previously administered a shelter and services programme that helped states and cities support non-citizen migrants released by the Department of Homeland Security, its parent agency.

That programme was terminated, however, and the new grant for detentions appeared to be a new iteration of those funds, William Turner, Connecticut's state emergency management director, told the BBC.

Applicants have until 8 August to apply for the new grant.

Fema frequently publishes funding opportunities for states, cities, and local communities to pay for emergency training, preparedness, and equipment.

But this new grant comes as the Trump administration turns to states for assistance in carrying out its mass deportation policies.

Some states like Florida, led by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, have assisted the White House in carrying out its goal. Florida now runs a detention facility known as "Alligator Alcatraz" with the capacity to house up to 2,000 people, according to state officials.

The state converted an all-but-abandoned airport in Florida's Everglades for the purpose. Critics have challenged the alleged inhumane conditions inside the facility its location would lead to environmental harm.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said "Alligator Alcatraz" will cost about $450m to operate and that funds would come from FEMA's prior shelter and services programme.

During a visit this month, President Donald Trump said the detention centre was "surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland and the only way out is, really, deportation".

At a press conference on Friday, DeSantis said the Trump administration had called on states to assist with the mass deportations and cast the Florida facility as a model.

"I would reiterate that call, I think it will make a difference," DeSantis said.

He said deportation flights have begun to depart from that detention facility and that "hundreds" of other detainees on the site in the Everglades have been processed for deportation.

Fema has undergone a transformation during the Trump administration, as the president and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have floated the idea of shuttering the agency and transferring its responsibilities to individual states.

Top emergency management officials have departed the agency along with hundreds of staff who left amid the Trump administration's effort to drastically reduce the federal workforce.

Washington State alleges Trump administration unlawfully revoked $4M grant to shelter migrants

Shawn Garrett
Fri, July 25, 2025 

The Washington Attorney General’s Office filed a federal lawsuit Friday challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s termination of a $4 million grant aimed at helping shelter newly arrived noncitizen migrants.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, accuses DHS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of unlawfully revoking Washington’s award from the federal Shelter and Services Program (SSP), which Congress created to help states and communities cover the cost of supporting migrants released from federal immigration custody.

According to the complaint, FEMA had awarded Washington $4,039,516 in September 2024 to reimburse local governments and nonprofits for shelter, food, medical care, and related services for migrants released by DHS

The funds were also meant to expand service capacity, including for organizations like Mary’s Place, Public Health–Seattle & King County, and the City of Tukwila, all of which had already been providing emergency aid to hundreds of migrants daily.

But after President Donald Trump returned to office and signed an executive order in January 2025 targeting what he called “sanctuary jurisdictions,” the lawsuit alleges DHS abruptly withdrew the funds.

FEMA reduced Washington’s grant balance to zero in February without explanation and then officially terminated the award on April 1, citing a new DHS policy that aid to migrants “is not consistent with DHS’s current priorities.”

Washington officials say the move bypassed Congress’s intent and violated constitutional limits on executive power.

The state argues the grant was lawfully approved to support migrants who had already been released from DHS custody—many of whom arrived in Washington with no money or housing and little access to federal support.

According to the complaint, more than 45,000 such migrants settled in the state between 2022 and 2024.

The lawsuit seeks to have the grant reinstated, arguing that DHS’s actions violate the separation of powers, the Spending Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act.

It also alleges the administration failed to provide evidence for its claim that Washington’s use of the funds was unlawful.

As of Friday, FEMA has not responded to Washington’s formal objection to the grant’s termination.

Trump’s birthright citizenship restrictions blocked by judge in third ruling since Supreme Court decision

Stephanie Weaver
Fri, July 25, 2025 at 3:22 PM MDT


The Brief

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented or temporary residents.


The ruling marks the third nationwide injunction against the order, citing the 14th Amendment and constitutional protections for U.S.-born children.

The legal battle is expected to return to the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON - A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from ending birthright citizenship for the children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally – the third court ruling blocking the birthright order nationwide since a key Supreme Court decision in June.


U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, joining another district court as well as an appellate panel of judges, found that a nationwide injunction granted to more than a dozen states remains in force under an exception to the Supreme Court ruling. That decision restricted the power of lower-court judges to issue nationwide injunctions.

Lawyers for the government had argued Sorokin should narrow the reach of his earlier ruling granting a preliminary injunction, arguing it should be "tailored to the States’ purported financial injuries."

What they're saying

"The record does not support a finding that any narrower option would feasibly and adequately protect the plaintiffs from the injuries they have shown they are likely to suffer," Sorokin wrote.

Sorokin acknowledged his order would not be the last word on birthright citizenship. Trump and his administration "are entitled to pursue their interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, and no doubt the Supreme Court will ultimately settle the question," Sorokin wrote. "But in the meantime, for purposes of this lawsuit at this juncture, the Executive Order is unconstitutional."

People hold a sign as they participate in a protest outside the US Supreme Court over President Donald Trump's move to end birthright citizenship on March 13. (Credit: Drew ANGERER / AFP via Getty Images)

What is birthright citizenship and what did Trump try to do?

The backstory

Trump’s executive order sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to noncitizen parents. This right, known as birthright citizenship, is based on the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which declares that all people born or naturalized in the country are citizens.

Trump had long criticized the policy as a "magnet" for illegal immigration and argued he could end it via executive authority. Legal scholars widely rejected that claim, saying only Congress—or a constitutional amendment—could change that right.

What's next

The case is likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices may be asked to resolve both the constitutional question and whether lower courts can continue issuing sweeping nationwide blocks.


At least nine other lawsuits challenging Trump’s order have been filed in different states. The Supreme Court’s eventual decision could redefine the scope of presidential power over immigration and how courts handle constitutional protections.

The Source

This story was reported from Los Angeles. The Associated Press, previous FOX Local reporting contributed.

Video showing migrant worker moved by forklift prompts action from South Korea's president

HYUNG-JIN KIM
Thu, July 24, 2025 


South Korean President Lee Jae Myung attends a Cabinet Council meeting at the presidential office in South Korea, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (Yonhap via AP)


SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president ordered officials to find ways to prevent the mistreatment of migrant workers after a video showing a Sri Lankan worker being moved by a forklift while tied up at a South Korean factory sparked public outrage.

“After watching the video, I couldn't believe my eyes,” President Lee Jae Myung wrote Thursday in a Facebook post. “That was an intolerable violation and clear human rights infringement of a minority person.”

Lee also condemned the treatment of the worker during a Cabinet Council meeting and expressed concerns about South Korea’s international image. He ordered government ministries to investigate the working conditions of migrant workers and other minorities in South Korea and find realistic steps to end any abuse

Lee and other officials didn't say the Sri Lankan worker was treated that way because he is a migrant worker. But the Labor Ministry said it views the incident as evidence that migrant workers in South Korea suffer poor treatment at some worksites, a view held by experts and activists.

South Korean human rights activists on Wednesday released the video filmed at a brick factory in the southwestern city of Naju in late February. They said it was filmed and provided by a fellow Sri Lankan worker. The video was being shared among rights groups before being made public.

The video shows a forklift driver, who has been identified as South Korean, lifting another worker who is bound with plastic wrap and tied to bricks. The driver moves him around the factory yard in the vehicle while the sound of laughter from another person can be heard.

The 31-year-old worker suffered the mistreatment for about five minutes as a punishment imposed by the South Korean forklift driver, who wasn’t happy with his brick wrapping skills, according to Mun Gil Ju, one of the local activists involved in the video's release.

The worker told reporters in a televised interview broadcast Thursday that he suffered stress and mental anguish as a result of the incident. The YTN television network, which broadcast the interview, blurred his face and didn't provide his name.

YTN also showed the unidentified head of the factory saying “we absolutely feel sorry for” the incident.

Naju city officials said the factory manager told them he had been informed the event was organized as a prank. But Mun said “binding a person with plastic wrap" cannot be downplayed as a prank.

About 20 activists rallied in front of Naju's city hall on Thursday, demanding that authorities punish those responsible. In an editorial Friday, the local Kukmin Ilbo newspaper called the treatment of the man “a shameful" incident indicative of how migrant workers are treated in South Korea.

The factory has about 24 workers, including seven from East Timor and Sri Lanka along with South Koreans. The Sri Lankan man still works for the factory, according to Naju officials

The Labor Ministry said in a statement Thursday that it will launch an investigation into the factory and its treatment of foreign workers.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants, mostly from Southeast Asia and China, take low-paying or dangerous work at factories, farms, construction sites and other places in South Korea.

In 2024, South Korea's National Human Rights Commission said that deaths from workplace accidents among migrant workers jumped from 7% to 12.2% from 2010 to 2019, calling it “a disturbing upward trend.” A 2024 research report commissioned by the agency also said that migrant workers were more than three times likely to die in industrial accidents than their South Korean counterparts.

Trump’s Big Trade Deal With Japan Is Already Falling Apart

Robert McCoy
Fri, July 25, 2025 at 1:48 PM MDT 2 min read

“I just signed the largest trade deal in history, I think maybe the largest deal in history, with Japan,” Trump boasted Tuesday. But a new report from The Financial Times demonstrates that U.S. and Japanese officials don’t see eye to eye on what exactly the countries agreed upon.

According to Trump and his administration, in return for a reduction in tariffs, Japan would invest $550 billion in certain U.S. sectors and give the United States 90 percent of the profits.

But Japanese officials say profit sharing under the agreement isn’t so set in stone: A Friday slideshow presentation in Japan’s Cabinet Office, contra the White House, said profit distribution would be “based on the degree of contribution and risk taken by each party,” per The Financial Times.

The FT also reports conflicting messages between Washington and Tokyo as to whether that $550 billion commitment is, as team Trump sees it, a guarantee or, as Japan’s negotiator Ryosei Akazawa sees it, an upper limit and not “a target or commitment.”

Mireya Solís, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told The Financial Times that the deal contains “nothing inspiring,” as “both sides made promises that we can’t be sure will be kept” and “there are no guarantees on what the actual level of investments from Japan will be.”

The inconsistent interpretations of the deal could possibly be owing to the fact that it was hastily pulled together over the course of an hour and 10 minutes between Trump and Akazawa on Tuesday, according to the FT, which cited “officials familiar with the U.S.-Japan talks.” And, moreover, “Japanese officials said there was no written agreement with Washington—and no legally binding one would be drawn up.”

Some are thus beginning to wonder whether Trump’s avowed “largest deal in history” even technically counts as a deal at all. Brad Setser, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote on X: “If something like this is not ‘papered’ it isn’t really a deal.”

Trump tariffs weigh on Brazil chemical exporters, spark order cancellations

Fri, July 25, 2025 
By Ana Mano

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Chemical products companies in Brazil, which exported $2.4 billion to the U.S. last year, face a slew of contract cancellations as President Donald Trump has threatened a new 50% tariff on the South American nation's exports from August 1.

Since Trump's announcement, export orders have been canceled for certain resins and compounds used to make fertilizers, which Brazil supplies to the U.S. agriculture sector, Andre Cordeiro, head of Brazilian chemical lobby Abiquim, said on Friday.

"Fundamentally, these decisions are being made because the bet is that he will actually apply the tariff," Cordeiro said.

One company in Brazil had all its contracts for exports to the U.S. canceled, Cordeiro said, adding that other businesses have seen some of their contracts canceled. There are also cases where sellers had secured export financing for the order, which was later revoked.

He declined to name the affected exporters.

Losses associated with the tariffs go beyond direct exports, as almost every industry uses chemicals in manufacturing processes, from oil to steel, from machinery to production of agricultural commodities, he said.

"No one produces coffee, even grains, without some kind of chemical product in the process."

Cordeiro added that chemical companies are losing export business and also local sales to clients that export goods into the U.S. market.

Brazilian plywood exporters, for example, use chemicals for bonding and themselves have faced U.S. order cancellations, he said. Orange juice makers, which sent 42% of their exports to the U.S. last year, also use chemical preservatives.

Brazilian companies like Braskem have operations in the U.S. and could be affected.

Dow Chemical (DOW), which has 10 plants in Brazil and sizeable exports of silicon metal for processing in the U.S., is also at risk.

Braskem and Dow did not immediately comment.

Exxon Mobil (XOM), which declined to comment, operates in Brazil and serves clients in various industries.

Tariffs are unjustified because Brazil's chemical sector runs a $7.9 billion trade deficit with the U.S., Abiquim said.

(Reporting by Ana Mano; Editing by David Gregorio)