Judge blocks Trump immigration policy allowing arrests in churches for some religious groups – live
Judge blocks Trump immigration policy allowing arrests in churches for some religious groups
A federal judge blocked immigration agents from conducting enforcement operations in houses of worship for Quakers and a handful of other religious groups, the Associated Press reports.
US district judge Theodore Chang found that the Trump administration policy could violate their religious freedom and should be blocked while a lawsuit challenging it plays out.
The preliminary injunction from the Maryland-based judge only applies to the plaintiffs, which also include a Georgia-based network of Baptist churches and a Sikh temple in California.
They sued after the Trump administration threw out Department of Homeland Security policies limiting where migrant arrests could happen as Donald Trump seeks to make good on campaign promises to carry out mass deportations.
The policy change said field agents using “common sense” and “discretion” can conduct immigration enforcement operations at houses of worship without a supervisor’s approval.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that the new DHS directive departs from the government’s 30-year-old policy against staging immigration enforcement operations in “protected areas,” or “sensitive locations.”
Five Quaker congregations from Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia sued DHS and its secretary, Kristi Noem, on 27 January less than a week after the new policy was announced.
Many immigrants are afraid to attend religious services while the government enforces the new rule, lawyers for the congregations said in a court filing.
“It’s a fear that people are experiencing across the county,” plaintiffs’ attorney Bradley Girard told the judge during a February hearing. “People are not showing up, and the plaintiffs are suffering as a result.”
Government lawyers claim the plaintiffs are asking the court to interfere with law-enforcement activities based on mere speculation.
“Plaintiffs have provided no evidence indicating that any of their religious organizations have been targeted,” Justice Department attorney Kristina Wolfe told the judge.
More than two dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans have also filed a similar but separate lawsuit in the state of Washington.
Plaintiffs in the Maryland case are represented by the Democracy Forward Foundation, whose lawyers asked the judge to block DHS enforcement of the policy on a nationwide basis.
Key events
*scrambles to change the subject* Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron are now holding a joint news conference following bilateral talks at the White House. Trump said his meeting with Macron was an “important step forward” to achieving a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
I will post a summary here with the main lines once it’s over, but my colleague Léonie Chao-Fong is posting live updates here:
An AI-generated video of Donald Trump licking Elon Musk’s toes briefly played on video screens at a US government office as staff returned to work on Monday.
With a caption emblazoned over it reading “LONG LIVE THE REAL KING”, the fake footage, played on loop for several minutes throughout the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Washington headquarters, according to Marisa Kabas, an independent journalist who posted a video of the incident to social media citing an agency source.
Washington Post journalist Jeff Stein also said on social media that the department’s televisions had been hijacked.
Reuters was unable to establish the provenance of the video.
“Another waste of taxpayer dollars and resources. Appropriate action will be taken for all involved,” department spokesperson Kasey Lovett said in an email.
Just an observation; if you look closely at the fake footage, you can see it features two left feet. Was this deliberate, multi-layered messaging? I mean, equally, if you just want to keep scrolling and try to forget you ever saw this, that’s okay too.
A group of Democratic and Republican US senators will offer a resolution backing Ukraine on Monday, amid fears that Donald Trump could make a deal with Moscow that leaves Kyiv on the sidelines three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
The resolution, seen by Reuters, expresses solidarity with the people of Ukraine, offers condolences for the loss of tens of thousands of its citizens and seeks a role for Kyiv in any ceasefire talks.
The resolution was led by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the foreign relations committee, and Republican Senator Thom Tillis. The two lawmakers visited Ukraine last week, along with Democratic Senator Michael Bennet.
It has at least 12 backers, including such senior Republicans as Mitch McConnell, the party’s former Senate leader; Roger Wicker, chairman of the armed services committee, and Chuck Grassley, chairman of the judiciary committee, as well as Democrats Dick Durbin, a member of the party’s leadership, and Bennet, a Democratic foreign relations committee aide said.
The resolution says:
The Senate emphasizes that Ukraine must be a participant in discussions with the Russian Federation about Ukraine’s future.
The measure does not specifically back Nato membership, but reaffirms US support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and “supports Ukraine’s efforts to integrate into Euro-Atlantic structures”.
In an emailed statement, Shaheen said:
As Vladimir Putin’s illegal and brutal full-scale invasion enters its fourth year, I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan resolution that clearly states our unwavering support for and solidarity with the Ukrainian people and condemns Russia’s aggression.
US supreme court rejects anti-abortion challenges to clinic ‘buffer zones’
Carter Sherman
In a loss for abortion opponents, the US supreme court on Monday declined to take up two cases involving “buffer zone” ordinances, which limit protests around abortion clinics and which anti-abortion activists have spent years trying to dismantle.
The two cases dealt with buffer zone ordinances passed by the cities of Carbondale, Illinois, and Englewood, New Jersey. In filings to the supreme court, which is dominated 6-3 by conservatives, anti-abortion activists argued that these ordinances ran afoul of the first amendment’s guarantees of free speech. They also asked the justices to overturn a 2000 ruling called Hill v Colorado, which upheld a buffer zone law in Colorado.
The justices didn’t explain why they declined to hear arguments in the cases, but the far-right justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would have preferred to take them up. In a dissent outlining his desire to take the Carbondale case, Thomas wrote that he believed Hill “lacks continuing force”, in part due to recent rulings such as Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v Wade and abolished the federal right to abortion.
“I would have taken this opportunity to explicitly overrule Hill,” he wrote. “Following our repudiation in Dobbs, I do not see what is left of Hill. Yet, lower courts continue to feel bound by it. The court today declines an invitation to set the record straight on Hill’s defunct status.”
Here is more detail on our earlier post on Donald Trump’s remarks in defence of Elon Musk’s chaos-inducing demand that federal workers document what they do, from the AP.
Trump voiced support for Musk’s demand that federal employees explain their recent accomplishments by the end of Monday or risk getting fired, an edict that has spawned new litigation and added to turmoil within the government workforce.
“What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?’” Trump said in the Oval Office during a meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron. “And then, if you don’t answer, like, you’re sort of semi-fired or you’re fired, because a lot of people aren’t answering because they don’t even exist.”
The president claimed that Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” has found “hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud” as he suggested that federal paychecks are going to nonexistent employees. He did not present evidence for his claims.
“If people don’t respond, it’s very possible that there is no such person, or they aren’t working,” Trump said.
Apple announced it would invest $500bn in the US over the next four years, including plans to open a manufacturing hub in Texas, accelerate investments in AI, and hire 20,000 people.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement:
We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future.
From doubling our Advanced Manufacturing Fund, to building advanced technology in Texas, we’re thrilled to expand our support for American manufacturing. And we’ll keep working with people and companies across this country to help write an extraordinary new chapter in the history of American innovation.
After meeting with Donald Trump last week, Cook’s moves appear to be intended to dodge the impact of Trump’s tariffs on goods imported from China. “They’re going to build here instead because they don’t want to pay the tariffs,” Trump said in a speech on Friday.
Judge blocks Trump immigration policy allowing arrests in churches for some religious groups
A federal judge blocked immigration agents from conducting enforcement operations in houses of worship for Quakers and a handful of other religious groups, the Associated Press reports.
US district judge Theodore Chang found that the Trump administration policy could violate their religious freedom and should be blocked while a lawsuit challenging it plays out.
The preliminary injunction from the Maryland-based judge only applies to the plaintiffs, which also include a Georgia-based network of Baptist churches and a Sikh temple in California.
They sued after the Trump administration threw out Department of Homeland Security policies limiting where migrant arrests could happen as Donald Trump seeks to make good on campaign promises to carry out mass deportations.
The policy change said field agents using “common sense” and “discretion” can conduct immigration enforcement operations at houses of worship without a supervisor’s approval.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that the new DHS directive departs from the government’s 30-year-old policy against staging immigration enforcement operations in “protected areas,” or “sensitive locations.”
Five Quaker congregations from Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia sued DHS and its secretary, Kristi Noem, on 27 January less than a week after the new policy was announced.
Many immigrants are afraid to attend religious services while the government enforces the new rule, lawyers for the congregations said in a court filing.
“It’s a fear that people are experiencing across the county,” plaintiffs’ attorney Bradley Girard told the judge during a February hearing. “People are not showing up, and the plaintiffs are suffering as a result.”
Government lawyers claim the plaintiffs are asking the court to interfere with law-enforcement activities based on mere speculation.
“Plaintiffs have provided no evidence indicating that any of their religious organizations have been targeted,” Justice Department attorney Kristina Wolfe told the judge.
More than two dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans have also filed a similar but separate lawsuit in the state of Washington.
Plaintiffs in the Maryland case are represented by the Democracy Forward Foundation, whose lawyers asked the judge to block DHS enforcement of the policy on a nationwide basis.
Trump says ‘very close’ to reaching Ukraine mineral deal
Donald Trump said the US and Ukraine are “very close” to coming to terms on a rare earth minerals agreement.
Trump was joined at the White House by France’s president Emmanuel Macron where the two leaders were holding bilateral talks to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
“It looks like we’re getting very close,” Trump told reporters at the start of his meeting with Macron.
He added that Ukrainian president Voloydmyr Zelenskyy could potentially visit Washington this week or next to sign the deal.
Trump, however, did not say whether the emerging deal would include American security guarantees. “Europe is going to make sure nothing happens,” he said.
The US was forced to abstain in a UN General Assembly vote on a resolution it drafted to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine after the 193-member body agreed to amendments proposed by European states.
The amendments made to the US resolution included adding references to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in line with the founding UN Charter and reaffirming the UN’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.
The amended US-drafted resolution won 93 votes in favor, while 73 states abstained and eight voted no, Reuters reports.
The US put forward its text on Friday, pitting it against Ukraine and European allies who spent the past month negotiating with their own resolution.
The General Assembly also adopted the resolution drafted by Ukraine and European countries on Monday with 93 votes in favor, 65 abstentions and 18 no votes.
Joanna Walters
Donald Trump has been speaking with reporters at the White House ahead of his meeting there with French president Emmanuel Macron and has been asked about the mass firings of federal workers by adviser Elon Musk.
He was asked about the notorious email sent by Musk yesterday with a directive to 2.3m federal employees across multiple departments to list their accomplishments in the past week by 11.59pm ET tonight or consider themselves out of a job.
Some departments are pushing back, but Trump just said the email was necessary “to find the workers who are not working.” More on this as soon as it comes through.
Joanna Walters
New FBI Director Kash Patel was sworn in today as acting chief of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), taking the helm of two separate and sprawling Justice Department agencies, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Patel was sworn in at ATF headquarters just days after he became director of the FBI, the person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter told the Associated Press.
It’s not immediately clear if Donald Trump intends to nominate Patel for the ATF post. Justice Department and White House officials didn’t immediately respond.
The ATF is responsible for enforcing the nation’s laws around firearms, explosives and arson. Democrats raised alarm at Patel’s nomination for FBI director over his lack of management experience and incendiary past statements, including calling investigators who scrutinized Trump “government gangsters.”
Today’s move follows US attorney general Pam Bondi’s firing of the bureau’s top lawyer last week. Bondi said Friday in a Fox News interview that she fired chief counsel Pamela Hicks because the agency was “targeting gun owners.” Hicks spent more than 20 years as a Justice Department lawyer.
Joanna Walters
French president Emmanuel Macron has just been greeted by US president Donald Trump at the White House.
The two leaders have a crucial meeting at which Macron is expected to talk turkey with Trump about the vital need to include Ukraine and European leaders in talks to end the war in Ukraine, three years today since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of its smaller neighbor.
Macron is likely to push back on Trump’s talking point from last week, borrowed straight from the Kremlin, that Ukraine “started it” and also talk to him about the NATO alliance. We will be covering the news on this and the press conference due at 2pm ET via our Ukraine/Europe blog and our Washington bureau chief David Smith’s reporting from the scene.
Here’s a friendlier shot:
Interim summary
Another busy day in US politics continues with significant domestic and international drama. There’s a lot of news to come, so stick with this blog and our Ukraine/Europe blog and we’ll bring you all the developments as they happen.
Here’s where things stand in Washington so far:
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The Trump administration said it was placing all but a handful of USAid personnel around the world on paid administrative leave and eliminating about 2,000 of those positions in the US, as the rapid dismantling of the organization appears to move into its final phases.
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Attorneys for federal workers said in a lawsuit that billionaire adviser to Donald Trump, Elon Musk, had violated the law with his weekend demand that employees explain their accomplishments or risk being fired. An updated lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in California and was provided to the Associated Press, is trying to block mass layoffs.
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Ukraine and the US are working productively on an economic deal at the centre of an effort to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Follow this and all related news, on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, live, here. That blog, and the Guardian’s Washington bureau chief, David Smith, will cover the visit to the White House by French president Emmanuel Macron this afternoon.
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Many federal government departments are telling staff not to comply with the Musk directive to list their accomplishments in the past week by 11.59 pm ET tonight. But the US Transportation Department has told workers they should respond to the demand by Donald Trump’s adviser.
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A federal judge has blocked the government downsizing team Doge from accessing sensitive data maintained by the US Education Department and the US Office of Personnel Management. US district judge Deborah Boardman in Greenbelt, Maryland issued the temporary restraining order at the behest of a coalition of labor unions.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration laid off 4% of its staff as part of the government-wide slashing of probationary employees’ jobs. Coincidentally, the agency has pending investigations into deadly crashes involving Tesla cars, the electric vehicle maker owned by Musk.
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As the work of the very busy judiciary continues, in its constitutional role as a co-equal power base and check on the executive branch, a federal judge is set to consider this afternoon a request by the Associated Press (AP) to restore full access for the news agency’s journalists after the Trump administration barred them from certain governmental access for continuing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico in coverage. National media and hundreds of local media outlets rely on the AP.
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The Trump administration has blocked a crucial step in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) process for funding medical research, likely in violation of a federal judge’s temporary restraining order on federal funding freezes.
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Elon Musk’s email demanding all 2.3 million government workers justify their work has caused confusion, with several administration officials telling workers not to reply to the missive. On Saturday the tech billionaire sent an email titled: “What did you do last week?” requesting a bullet-point summary of what they had achieved in their working week.
Robert Tait
Here is more on the appointment of far-right podcaster Dan Bongino as deputy director of the FBI, from my colleague Robert Tait.
Bongino’s appointment as deputy to the newly confirmed director, Kash Patel, marks the first time in the bureau’s 117-year history that the second-in-command post has not been held by one of its senior agents.
It further increased fears – already high following Patel’s confirmation as director – that the administration would attempt to use the bureau to pursue its political enemies.
“Donald Trump just named far-right MAGA podcaster Dan Bongino, a notorious conspiracy theorist who promoted the lie that the 2020 election was ‘stolen,’ to serve as Deputy Director of the FBI. God help us all,” posted the X account Republicans Against Trump.
Nesrine Malik
There is a clear Trump doctrine, writes Nesrine Malik, and those who can’t see it won’t have a say in reshaping the world.
Part of the problem is that people are reluctant to imbue Trump with any sort of coherence. But a Trump doctrine is emerging, most sharply in foreign policy. It has clear features, contours and a sort of unified theory of conflict. First, it is transactional, particularly when it comes to warfare in which the US is playing a role. Nothing has a history or any objective sense of right and wrong. Time starts with Trump, and his role is to end things, ideally while securing some bonus for the US.
That upside is the second feature of the Trump doctrine: financialisation, or the reduction of politics to how much things cost, what is the return and how it can be maximised. Trump sees conflicts and financial assistance that have not produced anything tangible for the US. From the Gaza war, some sort of real estate deal can be salvaged. In Ukraine, a proposal for almost four times the value of US assistance so far in minerals is like the stripping of a distressed company by a new investment manager trying to recoup the funds disbursed by predecessors.
The third feature is the junking of any notions of “soft power” – something that is seen as expensive, with questionable benefits that are abstract and unquantifiable. Soft power might even be a myth altogether, a fiction that flattered previously gullible regimes, giving them some sense of control while others fed off the US’s resources. In Gaza or Ukraine, the US was going through the motions of action without a definitive breakthrough. Where others saw soft power, Trump sees quagmires.
There are now two options for the US’s former close friends and security partners: shed everything, dispense with notions of European solidarity, fast-forward the end of the postwar order, and make peace with defence vulnerability and political subordination. Or embark on a colossal power-mapping exercise. This entails rapid, closely coordinated action on a political, bureaucratic and military level to either replace the US, or at least demonstrate that they constitute a bloc that has some power, agency and agility – and challenge Trump in the only language he understands.
You can read Nesrine’s column here:
