NationalWatch

While nearly two dozen states are suing to stop President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, some legal experts, such as Hans von Spakovsky with the Heritage Foundation, say the order is perfectly legal under the 14th Amendment and should be upheld by the courts.

“I strongly believe that Donald Trump is correct, that we need to enforce the 14th Amendment as it was originally intended,” Spakovsky told Fox News Digital. “No doubt there will be lawsuits against it, it’ll get to the U.S. Supreme Court, and if the court follows the actual legislative intent and history, they will uphold what Donald Trump has done.”

As Trump has moved quickly to clamp down on illegal immigration, his most controversial move yet was to issue an executive order ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants.

The order titled the “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” states that “the privilege of United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States” when that person’s parents are either unlawfully present in the U.S. or when the parents’ presence is lawful but temporary.

TRUMP ADMIN HITS BACK AS ACLU LAUNCHES LAWSUIT ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP: ‘READY TO FACE THEM’

Migrants in Brooklyn; President Trump (Getty Images)

Twenty-two Democrat-led states and the ACLU are suing to stop the order, arguing that it violates the 14th Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

The lawsuit argues that “the President has no authority to rewrite or nullify a constitutional amendment or duly enacted statute. Nor is he empowered by any other source of law to limit who receives United States citizenship at birth.”

However, Spakovsky, who is a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and an authority on civil rights and immigration, told Fox News Digital that the 14th Amendment was never meant to include the children of individuals in the country illegally or temporarily and that this broad interpretation has led to widespread “birth tourism” and abuse.

He said the key phrase often overlooked today is “subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” which necessitates the immigrants’ loyalties be to the U.S., not to some foreign power.

TRUMP’S HOUSE GOP ALLIES PUSH BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BILL AFTER PROGRESSIVE FURY AT PRESIDENTIAL ORDER

A man plays with a child while waiting with other migrants from Venezuela near a bus station after being released from U.S. Border Patrol custody in El Paso, Texas, Sept. 13, 2022. (REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez)

“The 14th Amendment has two key clauses in it. One, you have to be born in the United States, but you also have to be subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. All those who push birthright citizenship just point to that first phrase and ignore the second,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of research on this. I’ve looked at the original passage of the 14th Amendment and what that phrase meant subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. According to the original sponsors of the 14th Amendment in Congress was that you owed your political allegiance to the United States and not a foreign government.” 

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“That means that children born of aliens who are in this country, and it doesn’t matter whether they’re here legally, illegally, as diplomats; if their parents are foreign citizens when they are born they are citizens of their parents’ native land, they owe their political allegiance to and are subject to the jurisdiction of those native lands, not the United States. So, they are not citizens of the U.S.,” he said.

According to Spakovsky, the 14th Amendment, which was ratified after the Civil War to acknowledge citizenship for former slaves and their descendants, was not used to confer birthright citizenship to illegal aliens until more than 100 years after it was adopted by Congress. 

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP EXECUTIVE ORDER FACES LEGAL CHALLENGES FROM 22 STATES

President Donald Trump participates in a ceremony commemorating the 200th mile of border wall at the international border with Mexico in San Luis, Ariz., on June 23, 2020. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

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As Democrats and left-wing groups prepare to launch a legal war with the Trump administration over the order, Spakovsky said he is confident the Supreme Court will rule in Trump’s favor.

“The problem with birthright citizenship is it gives rights as an American citizen to individuals who have absolutely no loyalty to and no connection to the U.S. government, our culture, our society,” he said. “The Supreme Court should uphold it because the original meaning of the 14th Amendment is clearly not recognizing birthright citizenship.”

It’s the second week of the second Trump presidency, and Mike Pence has some concerns. 

Coming off a trip to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, the former vice president is more convinced than ever of the need for the U.S. to stand strong against China and bolster Taiwan’s defenses. 

“There seems to be this suggestion on both sides of a certain thawing in relations, which in principle I welcome, but not compromising on principles,” he told a small group of reporters at the Advancing American Freedom office in Washington, D.C. 

And in the new Trump 2.0, Pence is convinced that his brand of neoconservatism is not dead, at least not yet. 

“There have been voices of isolationism that have been emerging in our party of late,” he said. “I’m not yet convinced that they represent the president’s views.” 

The former vice president does not believe the 2024 election was a referendum on interventionist policy. 

TRUMP’S ‘BLACKLIST’: PRESIDENT-ELECT DESCRIBES THE TYPE OF PEOPLE HE DOESN’T WANT TO HIRE

It’s the second week of the Trump presidency, and Mike Pence has some concerns. (Siavosh Hosseini/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“I don’t think people were voting for isolationism in 2024.”

But Pence refused to endorse President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. Pence and Trump fell out after the January 6th Capitol riot, and Trump, in turn, recently suggested that he wouldn’t hire anyone who had worked for his former second-in-command.

“There are loud voices, both inside and outside the administration that are calling on America to pull back from, whether it be Eastern Europe, the Asia Pacific, and even some are calling for us to pull back on our longstanding support for Israel,” Pence went on.

“One of the things we want to be, Advancing American Freedom and whatever remains of my bully pulpit, is to be an anchor to windward for traditional conservatism within the Republican Party.”

In Hong Kong, Pence stood in front of 2,000 people and called for authorities to release Jimmy Lai, an imprisoned media mogul and pro-democracy activist, to the audible gasps of the crowd. 

Back at home, he’s calling on Trump to “reconsider” the U.S.-Nippon Steel merger that Biden stopped.

He is also worried his former boss does not fully grasp the dangers of TikTok, after Trump’s newfound embrace of the video-sharing platform where he enjoys 15 million followers. He signed an executive order this week giving TikTok another 75 days in operation after Congress passed a law last year forcing them to divest from Chinese-owned ByteDance or face a ban in the U.S. 

“I am concerned that the administration doesn’t fully appreciate the issues that animated the need for divestment,” said Pence. 

“People that are in their 20s and 30s today could be in the Senate – in the House in 10 years. The fact that the Chinese Communist Party is collecting data on Americans, whatever their age or experience is, is not something to be dismissed.”

The former vice president said that China is trying to infiltrate public opinion in Taiwan ahead of a possible invasion to try to take over the island. 

“The CCP thinks the principal value of TikTok is the ability to impact public opinion at a critical moment,” he said. “When I met with leadership in Taiwan, on TikTok they said, in effect, they’re dealing with an onslaught of social media propaganda coming out of China into Taiwan, trying to set the stage for whatever action, economic, political or hard power may be coming their way.” 

It was the first Trump administration that made tough-on-China policies go mainstream, according to Pence. 

TRUMP’S LATEST HIRES AND FIRES RANKLE IRAN HAWKS AS NEW PRESIDENT SUGGESTS NUCLEAR DEAL

“I am convinced that our administration changed the national consensus on China,” he said. “I would point out that President Biden never undid the $250 billion in tariffs that we imposed.”

Pence said he is also worried about Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman-turned Republican whom Trump has nominated to be his director of national intelligence. 

She has “at times over the last two years, been an apologist for Putin. And, you know, has a history of being critical of the use of American power,” said Pence.

“I think, if memory serves, she actually criticized when we took out [top Iranian general] Qassem Soleimani.”

Trump suggested that he might want to sit down with Iran and work on a new nuclear deal on Thursday. But Pence said he trusts the new administration, particularly officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Michael Waltz, not to get taken for a ride by Iran. 

Pence and Trump shake hands at Jimmy Carter’s funeral. (Getty Images)

“The first order of business is to go back to isolating around economically, and diplomatically, and making it clear that different from the Iran nuclear deal there, there would have to be a sea change in any policy regarding nuclear weapons or the state of Israel.”

“I trust that the administration will be very cautious in any of those interactions.”  

Pence’s group has already come out with a campaign in opposition to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Pence is pictured at Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

To do that, the former vice president said he would be anything but retired from public life. He plans to continue to advocate for increasing defense spending – 5% of GDP is his current goal – and to use his voice to convince elected officials to stand strong with America’s friends and boost deterrent measures to prevent a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. 

The U.S. has a longstanding policy of ambiguity when it comes to whether it would actually stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the ground with Taiwan if China were to invade. Even in private life, Pence isn’t ready to say whether that would be the right move. 

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“There’s an old saying, ‘Never say what you’ll never do,'” he said. 

“We ought to have one hand extended in friendship in exchange, and the other hand resting comfortably on the holster of the arsenal of democracy.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., noted that a Boy Scout proposed a policy of not taxing workers younger than age 18.

The congressman from the Bluegrass State listed several reasons why he loves the idea.

“A 15 yr old Boy Scout working on his merit badge just sent me this idea: No taxes on workers under 18 yrs old. I love it because: 1. They need experience to pick a college major 2. They need to develop a work ethic 3. The economy needs more workers 4. They don’t get to vote,” Massie wrote in a post on X.

MASSIE AND OTHER REPUBLICANS PUSH ‘NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY ACT’ TO PROTECT AMERICANS’ GUN RIGHTS

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is seen outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, December 18, 2024 (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Someone responded to the lawmaker, suggesting that youths “don’t make enough money for the most part and get it back when they file taxes. It is a good lesson on how to file taxes and gives them a chance to get a return,” the person opined.

Massie replied, “Sounds like conditioning to be sheeple. Hard pass.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., indicated that high minimum wages box young people out of the job market.

REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS PUSH TO ABOLISH ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL’ ATF

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., speaks with reporters as she leaves the U.S. Capitol for the weekend on May 17, 2024 in Washington, D.C. ( Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“So many of our youth have lost the opportunity to enter the workforce due to high minimum wage requirements. High taxes, insurance, and paid leave requirements are a few of many issues as well. Small business owners are unable to invest in first-time workers or provide them with skills training for their future,” she tweeted.

“Great points!” Massie replied.

He has previously suggested that the U.S. should nix the federal income tax entirely.

MASSIE DROPS COLORFUL ANALOGY OPPOSING FOREIGN AID, MOCKS SPEAKER JOHNSON WITH AI-GENERATED IMAGE

Left: Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Monday, July 22, 2024; Center: Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is seen outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024; Right: Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, attends the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Left: Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Center: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Right: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“The federal income tax was unconstitutional for most of our [country’s] existence. The founders of this country would have never agreed to it. We should repeal it,” he tweeted in February 2024.

Massie has also spoken out against foreign aid.

“My position of ‘no foreign aid’ might sound extreme to some, but it’s far more extreme to force future generations of Americans into indentured servitude to our foreign creditors,” he noted in a 2023 post.

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order to reinstate service members booted from the military for declining to get COVID-19 vaccine jabs, according to the White House.

Those reinstated will be returned to their prior rank, and be provided back pay and benefits.

The White House fact sheet indicates that just 43 of the over 8,000 service members discharged over their COVID-19 vaccination status opted to return to the military.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated

U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., said she does not believe conditions should be placed on federal support for wildfires sweeping through Southern California, after President Donald Trump suggested he wanted wildfire aid to be conditional.

The district Chu represents includes Altadena and northern Pasadena, which have been impacted by the deadly Eaton Fire.

“There have never been conditions laid on disaster aid in the history of America,” Chu told Inside California Politics.

“I know that I have voted for disaster aid in red states and for blue states, she continued. “I’ve never considered whether they were Republican or Democrat. And let me say, wildfires have no political affiliations. They don’t have a political party.”

TRUMP MEETS WITH CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS, FIRE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS TO SEE LA WILDFIRE DAMAGE FIRST HAND

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif. during an Eaton Fire press conference on January 9, 2025, at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California. (Getty Images)

This comes after Trump said on Friday that two conditions must be met in California before the federal government offers disaster relief. He said he wants lawmakers to approve voter identification legislation and that water needs to be allowed to flow across the state.

“I want to see two things in Los Angeles. Voter ID, so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and throughout the state,” Trump told reporters in North Carolina as he was touring hurricane recovery efforts in that state. “Those are the two things. After that, I will be the greatest president that California has ever seen.”

Trump visited Los Angeles later on Friday to view damage from the wildfires and meet with local officials and residents.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tour a fire-affected area in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on January 24, 2025. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Chu said she wants Trump to tell the working-class victims of her district that they would only see aid to address the devastation if there are conditions.

“I want him to see how these everyday Americans are being terribly devastated and also I want him to hear from their voices,” Chu said. “I want him to look, in fact, in the victim’s eyes and say that he wouldn’t provide aid unless there were conditions.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, responded to Trump’s comments about conditional aid. The governor’s office said several other states — including some won by Trump — do not generally require identification at the voting polls and that California residents must provide identification when they register to vote. Newsom’s office also said the state pumps as much water as it could under policies from Trump’s first-term.

LOS ANGELES AGENCY REVEALS ESTIMATED ECONOMIC IMPACT OF DEADLY WILDFIRES AS INFERNOS STILL RAGE

A view of homes destroyed by the Eaton Fire on January 9, 2025, in Altadena, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

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“Conditioning aid for American citizens is wrong,” Newsom’s office said on X.

Republicans in Congress have suggested tying wildfire aid to a debt ceiling increase or changes to California’s fire-mitigation policies, but Democrats have argued against placing conditions on federal assistance to Southern California.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio paused all U.S. foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to allow the Trump administration to review if the money puts “America First.”

On Sunday, the State Department released a statement about falling in step with President Donald Trump’s executive order to reevaluate and realign foreign aid from the U.S.

“Consistent with President Trump’s Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid, Secretary [Marco] Rubio has paused all U.S. foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for review,” the statement read. “He is initiating a review of all foreign assistance programs to ensure they are efficient and consistent with U.S. foreign policy under the America First agenda. President Trump stated clearly that the United States is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return for the American people.”

The statement continued, saying the review and alignment of foreign assistance on behalf of taxpayers is a “moral imperative,” adding that Rubio is proud to protect America’s investment “with a deliberate and judicious review” of how the money is spent on aiding foreign countries overseas.

AFTER RAUCOUS FIRST WEEK IN OFFICE, DONALD TRUMP TO KEEP HIS FOOT ON THE GAS

The front of the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID) headquarters building is seen on September 15, 2014, in Washington, DC.

“The implementation of this Executive Order and the Secretary’s direction furthers that mission,” the statement read. “As Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said, ‘Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?’”

The announcement comes after the Trump administration ordered staffers with USAID to stop providing foreign aid worldwide or face “disciplinary action” for not complying.

Reuters reported that the Trump administration sent a sharply-worded memo to more than 10,000 staff members at USAID on Saturday, offering a “stop-work” directive from Friday that put a freeze on U.S. foreign aid around the world.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION NEEDS MORE PLANES TO CARRY OUT DEPORTATIONS: REPORT

President Donald Trump wants all foriegn aid to put  “America First.” (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The wire service reviewed the memo and said it laid out expectations for the workforce on how to achieve Trump’s goals to put “America First.”

“We have a responsibility to support the President in achieving his vision,” Ken Jackson, assistant to the administrator for management and resources wrote in the internal memo, titled “Message and Expectation to the Workforce.”

“The President has given us a tremendous opportunity to transform the way we approach foreign assistance for decades to come,” the memo added. Reuters reported that it confirmed the authenticity of the memo with several sources.

SPEAKER JOHNSON INVITES TRUMP TO ADDRESS CONGRESS AMID BUSY FIRST 100-DAY SPRINT

Secretary of State Marco Rubio paused all U.S. foreign assistance funded by or through the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump ordered a 90-day pause in foreign aid just hours after taking office, to review if the funding was in line with his foreign policy priorities.

On Friday, the State Department issued a pause on aid worldwide.

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The U.S. is the largest donor of aid globally. During fiscal year 2023, the U.S. dispersed $72 billion in assistance. It also provided 42% of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations in 2024.

Fox News Digital has reached out to USAID for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., weighed in on President Donald Trump’s ongoing tariff feud with Colombian President Gustavo Petro – but not every social media user bought her comments.

The spat between Trump and Petro began when the Colombian leader refused to accept two deportation flights over the weekend, prompting Trump to unleash retaliatory measures. Both world leaders threatening to raise tariffs on imported products by 25% to 50%, and Trump ordered a travel ban and visa revocations for all Colombian government officials.

“I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of Illegal Criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This order was given by Colombia’s Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular amongst his people.”

“Petro’s denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States, so I have directed my Administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures.”

COLOMBIAN LEADER QUICKLY CAVES AFTER TRUMP THREATS, OFFERS PRESIDENTIAL PLANE FOR DEPORTATION FLIGHTS

AOC gave her take on the Trump-Petro feud in an X post on Sunday. (Reuters)

In an X post on Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez insisted that American consumers are the only party that pay tariffs.

“To ‘punish’ Colombia, Trump is about to make every American pay even more for coffee,” the New York congresswoman said in a post. “Remember: WE pay the tariffs, not Colombia.”

“Trump is all about making inflation WORSE for working class Americans, not better,” she added. “He’s lining the pockets of himself and the billionaire class.”

Petro appeared to be a fan of AOC’s post, reposting it on his own X account.

While tariffs do have the potential to inflate prices, the importer, which is the company or entity bringing the goods into the U.S., will pay the actual tariff to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

But inflated prices are not guaranteed – sometimes, tariffs can reduce the world price of an object as suppliers rush to retain access to the large U.S. market. It is possible that coffee suppliers in different countries, such as Vietnam and Brazil – which produce more coffee than Colombia – would lower or maintain their prices.

BILLIONAIRES COZY UP TO TRUMP WITH SEVEN FIGURE INAUGURAL DONATIONS AFTER PAST FEUDS WITH PRESIDENT

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., slammed Trump for threatening Colombia’s president with tariffs.  ( Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet racked up over 47,000 likes from supporters as of 8 p.m., but received scorn from Trump supporters and tariff advocates.

“World record. 35 minutes and the tweet already aged like hot milk,” the social media account Catturd wrote, referencing Petro’s immediate offer to transport Colombian migrants on his presidential plane.

“Who wants to tell her that there are other countries that export coffee, not just Columbia,” California State Assembly Bill Essayli wrote. 

Conservative commentator John Cardillo echoed Essayli’s sentiment, suggesting that the South American country “should take their illegal aliens back.”

“Plenty of other nations grow coffee beans,” Cardillo wrote on X. “We can buy the coffee from them.”

Activist Adam Lowisz responded to Ocasio-Cortez by insisting that the Democratic politician “doesn’t understand how tariffs work.”

“Coffee from Colombia will increase in price, so we will purchase coffee from suppliers in other countries who do take back their illegals,” the conservative X user wrote. “Businesses will hesitate to invest in Colombia any further if they continue to be bad actors.”

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Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro offered up his own presidential plane for deportation flights after Trump threatened the country with tariffs and more. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)

Fox News Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s office for additional comment.

Fox News Digital’s Kyle Schmidbauer contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump put the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under review on Sunday after signing an executive order aimed at “drastically” improving the agency’s efficacy, priorities and competence.

Trump’s executive order establishes the FEMA Review Council, which will be composed of no more than 20 members and co-chaired by the secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense.

The council is being formed after FEMA’s response to Hurricane Helene and other recent disasters showed the need to improve “efficacy, priorities, and competence, including evaluating whether FEMA’s bureaucracy in disaster response” hinders its ability to respond successfully.

“Despite obligating nearly $30 billion in disaster aid each of the past three years, FEMA has managed to leave vulnerable Americans without the resources or support they need when they need it most,” the executive order reads. “There are serious concerns of political bias in FEMA. Indeed, at least one former FEMA responder has stated that FEMA managers directed her to avoid homes of individuals supporting the campaign of Donald J. Trump for President.”

‘FEMA IS NOT GOOD:’ TRUMP ANNOUNCES AGENCY OVERHAUL DURING VISIT TO NORTH CAROLINA

A drone view shows a Walgreens in Asheville, North Carolina, damaged by Hurricane Helene on Sept. 29, 2024. (Reuters/Marco Bello)

Trump also said FEMA has lost mission focus, diverting limited resources and staff to support missions outside its scope and authority. The president particularly highlighted that FEMA has spent over a billion dollars welcoming illegal immigrants.

“Americans deserve an immediate, effective, and impartial response to and recovery from disasters,” the order continued. “FEMA therefore requires a full-scale review, by individuals highly experienced at effective disaster response and recovery, who shall recommend to the President improvements or structural changes to promote the national interest and enable national resilience.”

TRUMP SAYS NEWSOM IS TO ‘BLAME’ FOR ‘APOCALYPTIC’ WILDFIRES

President Donald Trump has shared plans to overhaul FEMA after stating he thinks the agency is “not good.” (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Trump announced Friday that he plans to overhaul FEMA as North Carolina is still recovering from Hurricane Helene more than 120 days after the storm devastated the state.

“I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA,” Trump told reporters in North Carolina on Friday morning. “I think, frankly, FEMA is not good.”

FAST-MOVING HUGHES FIRE ERUPTS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY AS CALIFORNIA OFFICIALS ORDER EVACUATIONS

A van floats in floodwaters near the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 28, 2024, in Asheville, North Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Trump promised his administration would step in and assist North Carolina to fix the damage quickly, vowing to “do a good job” for the state. 

The president also said he would like to see the states assume more responsibility when disaster strikes, arguing those familiar with the state are better equipped to provide disaster response and relief. 

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So far, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers claim that only half of the debris recovery from Hurricane Helene is complete. Additionally, thousands of families in North Carolina remain in hotels that FEMA is footing the bill for through its Transitional Housing Assistance program. 

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy contributed to this report.

Border Czar Tom Homan warned that daily deportation numbers are set to rise in the coming weeks as President Trump’s administration begins to expand its operations.

Homan made the comment during a Sunday appearance on ABC News’ “This Week” with host Martha Raddatz. The border chief says the administration is currently only targeting violent illegal aliens, but that will soon change.

“You’re going to see the numbers steadily increase, the number of arrests nationwide as we open up the aperture,” Homan said. “Right now, it’s concentrating on public safety threats, national security threats. That’s a smaller population. So we’re going to do this on a priority basis. That’s President Trump’s promise. But as that aperture opens, there’ll be more arrests nationwide.”

“When you talk about the aperture opening, the estimates of those who have been convicted or arrested in the past are 700,000 to over a million. So after you do that, then you go after everybody who is there illegally?” Raddatz asked.

TRUMP DHS REPEALS KEY MAYORKAS MEMO LIMITING ICE AGENTS, ORDERS PAROLE REVIEW

Tom Homan speaks with Fox News. (Fox News)

“If you’re in the country illegally, you’re on the table because it’s not OK to, you know, violate the laws of this country. You got to remember, every time you enter this country illegally, you violated a crime under Title Eight, the United States Code 1325, it’s a crime,” Homan responded.

TRUMP DHS REPEALS KEY MAYORKAS MEMO LIMITING ICE AGENTS, ORDERS PAROLE REVIEW

“So if you’re in a country illegally, you got a problem. And that’s why I’m hoping those who are in the country illegally, who have not been ordered removed by the federal judge, should leave,” he added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt released this image Friday, writing on X that “deportation flights have begun.” A Mississippi lawmaker is proposing paying bounty hunters to help deport illegal immigrants. (White House)

The statement comes after Homan warned sanctuary cities across the U.S. that their policies will not prevent deportations, and will instead endanger communities, federal agents and illegal aliens.

‘NATIONAL EMERGENCY’: TRUMP DECLARES AMBITIOUS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN IN INAUGURAL ADDRESS

Sanctuary cities are defined by a policy of not turning over illegal aliens to federal authorities when they are arrested. The aliens are then often released back into the community.

Homan urged officials in sanctuary cities to help with the effort on “Fox & Friends” last week. “Work with us, because you’ve forced us into the community.”

He continued, “Here’s what’s going to happen. We’ll find the bad guy, but when we find him, he’s going to be with others, others that may not be a criminal priority. But guess what? If they’re in the United States illegally, they’re going to be arrested, too.”

President Donald Trump vowed mass deportations of illegal aliens. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

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“I want to save lives. A secure border saves lives,” Homan said. “When President Trump locks this border down, less women and children will be sex trafficked in this country, less aliens would die making that journey. Under President Biden, we’ve had a record number of people die crossing that border [and a] 600% increase in sex trafficking.”

Fox News confirmed Sunday that Tom Holman is in Chicago with acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to observe and support the immigration process in the city.

Fox News’ Matthew Finn contributed to this report.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., warned that congressional Republicans must expedite funding for President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan to continue his mass deportation plan, or else they could “own another attack on this country.” 

Graham made appearances on NBC and CNN Sunday shows advocating for two separate bills – a $100 billion border package, and a second $200 billion bill centered on “national security.” 

As deliberations in both chambers continue, Graham cautioned Republicans against taking too long to reach a consensus. He said Homan needs immediate funding to further execute his mass deportation strategy, including to increase the number of detention beds from 41,000 to approximately 150,000, to hire more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, finish the border wall and secure new technology. 

HOMAN WARNS DAILY MIGRANT ARRESTS WILL ‘STEADILY INCREASE’ AS TRUMP ADMIN TARGETS NONVIOLENT ILLEGAL ALIENS

Sen. Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, speaks during a confirmation hearing for Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) nominee, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“This whole debate in the Republican Party, do you need one bill or two right now? Right now, Tom Homan needs more money to hire ICE agents. He needs more money to finish the wall to increase bed space,” Graham told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “He doesn’t have the tools necessary to carry out this plan that President Trump gave him until Congress appropriates more money.” 

Graham argued that the tax debate could wait until the end of the year, but Congress cannot delay funding for the border given the national security implications.

“So to my Republican colleagues, we’ve hit a wall here. We’re not building a wall. We’ve hit a wall,” Graham told CNN. “We need to appropriate money to Tom Homan so he can do what President Trump promised. And if we delay that – the taxes expire in December, we got plenty of time to deal with that – I worry that we’re going to own another attack on our country. I worry that we’re delaying this plan that President Trump ran on if the Congress doesn’t give his administration, Tom Homan, the money to do the plan that he promised, that President Trump promised. We need to come together quickly on this, in my view.” 

Tom Homan speaks during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

TRUMP DHS REPEALS KEY MAYORKAS MEMO LIMITING ICE AGENTS, ORDERS PAROLE REVIEW

“We need more money for Tom Homan. I’m for deporting illegal immigrants here who are criminals. Most people are. The public’s with him. But if you don’t get new money into the system, Tom Homan can’t do his job,” Graham added. “We need more bed space. We need to finish the wall. But I think the signature issue for Donald Trump was to get a handle on illegal immigration, and he’s off to a good start. We just need to help him in Congress.” 

In an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Graham doubted that Homan was interested in deporting close to the approximately 11 million people in the U.S. illegally. As host Kristen Welker noted, Trump has signaled potentially being interested in cutting a deal related to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for people who were brought into the United States illegally as minors.

Graham said the Trump administration’s focus with deportations appeared to remain on criminal illegal immigrants. He cited how there are about 1.4 million illegal immigrants “who’ve had their case fully adjudicated, and they’re still here,” and there are “about 680,000 convicted of serious crimes.” 

Graham said Homan needs more congressional funding to hire ICE agents. (Getty Images)

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“Here’s the question for the Republican Party. We talk about doing this, but we don’t have the resources. We haven’t given the Trump team the resources. Tom Homan, the border czar, said yesterday, ‘without money from Congress, I can’t do this’,” Graham said, adding: “Give Tom the tools he needs to execute a mass deportation strategy to deal with a mass illegal immigration problem created by Biden,” Graham told NBC. “Without new money, he cannot do this.” 

Following a torrid first week in office, President Donald Trump does not have a very busy public schedule on Monday. That does not mean there won’t be plenty of action. The 47th president is known to spring major actions and announcements without much notice.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION NEEDS MORE PLANES TO CARRY OUT DEPORTATIONS: REPORT

President Donald Trump speaks to the media after signing executive orders in the Oval Office on Jan. 23, 2025. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

The president starts off the week by attending a House GOP Conference meeting at Trump National Doral Miami at a time to be determined. The GOP January retreat is an opportunity for Republicans to game-plan their approach to implementing their shared agenda with President Trump. Major policy initiatives that are likely to be addressed are the president’s sweeping border security and ongoing deportation initiatives, increasing domestic energy production and advancing a new tax plan.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told Politico that he expects to have a “blueprint” for a massive reconciliation package in place after the retreat. The House Budget Committee, which is tasked with writing the instructions on the bill, is set to meet next week.

Johnson sent a letter to the president to address a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025. In the letter, Johnson wrote, “Your administration and the 119th Congress working together have the chance to make these next four years some of the most consequential in our nation’s history.”

He went on to write, “To that end, it is my distinct honor and great privilege to invite you to address a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, in the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives, to share your America First vision for our legislative future. I eagerly await your response.”

SPEAKER JOHNSON INVITES TRUMP TO ADDRESS CONGRESS AMID BUSY FIRST 100-DAY SPRINT

House Speaker Mike Johnson shakes hands with President-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 13, 2024. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Another event that is key to an early Trump priority will be a hearing at the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation titled “Fees and Foreign Influence: Examining the Panama Canal and Its Impact on U.S. Trade and National Security.” The committee is headed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

In his inaugural address, Trump said, “China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”

Newly confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to visit Panama this week. According to the State Department, the trip will include visits to the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador.

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Confirmation hearings continue in the Senate this week with Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Kelly Loeffler and Kash Patel all appearing.

Continued immigration and deportation activities are expected to continue with border czar Tom Homan and the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, traveling to Chicago on Sunday to witness the stepped-up enforcement actions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Department of Defense (DoD) is the latest agency that is disbanding all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs following President Donald Trump’s executive order terminating all federal DEI programs.

“The President’s guidance (lawful orders) is clear: No more DEI at Dept. of Defense,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in a post on X.

In a handwritten note shared along with the post on X, Hegseth wrote: “The Pentagon will comply, immediately. No exceptions, name-changes, or delays.”

Hegseth added that “those who do not comply will no longer work here.” 

WHITE HOUSE OPM ORDERS ALL DEI OFFICES TO BEGIN CLOSING BY END OF DAY WEDNESDAY

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., echoed Hegseth, writing: “The best way to stop discriminating against people on the basis of race or gender is to stop discriminating against people on the basis of race or gender,” Kennedy wrote in a post on X. “Let DEI die.” 

Hegseth, 44, was sworn in on Saturday morning after he secured his confirmation to lead the Pentagon on Friday after weeks of intense political drama surrounding his nomination and public scrutiny into his personal life. 

“All praise and glory to God. His will be done and we’re grateful to be here,” Hegseth said after taking the oath of office, surrounded by his wife and children.

Hegseth is a former Minnesota National Guard officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and a former Fox News host. 

Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, announced he is ending all DEI programs and policies at the Pentagon. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed up by Elon Musk, reported that approximately $420 million in current/impending contracts, mainly focused on DEI initiatives, had also been canceled. 

On Inauguration Day, Trump signed an executive order that forced all DEI offices to close and placed all government workers in those offices on paid leave.

TRUMP’S FEDERAL DEI PURGE PUTS HUNDREDS ON LEAVE, NIXES $420M IN CONTRACTS

Pete Hegseth is surrounded by his wife and his seven children as he is sworn in as the new Secretary of Defense by Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington, DC, on Jan. 25, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Charles Ezell sent a memo to heads and acting heads of departments and agencies directing them that by the end of business on Jan. 22, they were to inform all agency employees of the DEI shutdown. In addition, they were instructed to tell workers directly involved in DEI to take down all DEI-related websites and social media accounts, cancel any related contracts or training, and ask employees to report any efforts to disguise DEI programs by using coded or imprecise language.

The memo also directed the heads of agencies and departments that by noon on Jan. 23, they were to provide OPM with lists of all DEI offices, employees, and related contracts in effect as of Nov. 5, 2024.

By Friday, Jan. 24, at 5 p.m., agency heads were required to submit to OPM a written plan for executing a reduction-in-force action regarding DEI employees and a list of all contract descriptions or personnel position descriptions that were changed since Nov. 5, 2024, to obscure their connection to DEI programs.

The president also signed an order making it “the official policy of the U.S. government to only recognize two genders: male and female.”

3 IN 10 VOTERS THINK ENDING DEI PROGRAMS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, POLL SHOWS, AS FEDERAL DEADLINE LOOMS

President Trump targeted gender identity and diversity in executive orders. (Getty Images/AP)

Trump issued two other executive actions targeting DEI — an executive order to end discrimination in the workplace and higher education through race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of DEI and a memo to eliminate a Biden administration policy that prioritized DEI hiring at the Federal Aviation Administration.

In his executive order, Trump wrote that he sought to protect Americans from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. He said these civil-rights protections “serve as a bedrock supporting equality of opportunity for all Americans” and that he “has a solemn duty to ensure that these laws are enforced for the benefit of all Americans.”

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“Yet today, roughly 60 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, critical and influential institutions of American society, including the Federal Government, major corporations, financial institutions, the medical industry, large commercial airlines, law enforcement agencies, and institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) or ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation,” the order reads.

It adds that these “illegal DEI and DEIA policies also threaten the safety of American men, women, and children across the Nation by diminishing the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination when selecting people for jobs and services in key sectors of American society, including all levels of government, and the medical, aviation, and law-enforcement communities.

Prior to Trump’s order, the FBI closed its DEI office in December. 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman, Brie Stimson, Michael Dorgan and Landon Mion contributed to this report. 

Stepheny Price is writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com

Colombian President Gustavo Petro offered his presidential plane to repatriate migrants coming back from the U.S. on Sunday in response to stern warnings made by President Donald Trump.

In a statement translated from Spanish, the Colombian government said that the plane will help facilitate a “dignified return.”

“The Government of Colombia, under the direction of President Gustavo Petro, has arranged the presidential plane to facilitate the dignified return of the compatriots who were going to arrive in the country today in the morning, coming from deportation flights,” the translated statement read.

“This measure responds to the Government’s commitment to guarantee decent conditions.”

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President Donald Trump issued stark warnings to Colombian President Gustavo Petro over the weekend. (Getty Images)

The move came after Trump hit the South American country with retaliatory measures in response to Petro’s refusal to accept deportation flights. 

This weekend, American officials sent two flights of Colombian illegal aliens as part of Trump’s ongoing deportation program. Petro rejected the flights, writing that the U.S. cannot “treat Colombian migrants as criminals.”

“I deny the entry of American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory,” Petro said. “The United States must establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them.”

BILLIONAIRES COZY UP TO TRUMP WITH SEVEN FIGURE INAUGURAL DONATIONS AFTER PAST FEUDS WITH PRESIDENT

Colombian President Gustavo Petro speaks at the International Workers’ Day march in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

In response, Trump unleashed a slew of punishments, including ordering a 25% tariff on all goods coming into the U.S. from Colombia.

The tariff would rise to 50% after one week, Trump said. The president also ordered a travel ban and visa revocations for all Colombian government officials, plus “allies and supporters.”

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Former President Donald Trump headlines a Republican National Committee spring donor retreat, in Palm Beach, Florida on May 4, 2024  (Donald Trump 2024 campaign)

“These measures are just the beginning. We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!” Trump warned.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

The Trump administration rolled out a social media thread on Sunday highlighting the “worst criminals” arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since President Donald Trump was sworn in as the nation’s 47th president last week. 

“Under President Trump’s leadership, ICE agents are working tirelessly to protect our communities. From illegal alien child rapists to gang members and individuals with suspected ties to ISIS, here are some of the worst criminals arrested,” the White House X thread reads. 

The post shows nine different illegal immigrants who have already been convicted of vicious crimes, such as child rape, or have alleged links to gangs and terrorist organizations and other serious crimes. The nine illegal immigrants highlighted in the thread include their photos, as well as short biographies explaining their crimes. 

“MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN: Edgar De La Cruz-Manzo, a convicted child rapist and Mexican national, was arrested by ICE Seattle on January 25, 2025,” one post reads. 

ICE ARRESTS 3 TREN DE ARAGUA GANG MEMBERS IN MASS DEPORTATION PUSH

Compilation photo of illegal immigrants arrested by ICE under Trump administration. (White House )

Another explains: “MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN: A Mexican national wanted for murder with an active INTERPOL Red Notice was arrested by ICE Los Angeles on January 24, 2025.”

“MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN: A Jordanian national with suspected ties to ISIS was arrested by ICE Buffalo/Rouses Point on January 24, 2025,” another post reads. 

TRUMP’S ICE NABS CHILD SEX OFFENDERS AMONG 530+ ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CAUGHT IN SINGLE DAY

Trump’s 2024 campaign prominently focused on the immigration crisis under the Biden administration, vowing to deport illegal immigrants, including those with long rap sheets in other nations, cartel members and others with alleged ties to terrorism. 

Less than a week back in the Oval Office, Trump touted that he is keeping his campaign promises with a series of directives and policies to secure the border. 

President Donald Trump speaks about the economy during an event at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

BORDER ENCOUNTERS DROP SHARPLY AS TRUMP LAUNCHES CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION 

“Within hours of taking the oath of office, I declared a national emergency at our southern border. I sent active duty troops on the border to help repel the invasion. Tom Homan is leading the charge. You know that. We like Tom Homan. Doing a great job. We immediately halted all illegal entry and began sending every border trespasser and violator back to the places from which they came. I signed an order that will designate the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. It’s a big deal, it’s a big deal. Biden didn’t want to do that,” he said from Las Vegas during a rally on Saturday. “Biden didn’t know he was alive. He didn’t want to do it.”

A senior GOP strategist, who spoke to Fox Digital about efforts to secure the border and remove dangerous illegal immigrants, remarked that the Biden administration could have done the same, but “did nothing about it.”

INDIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST SHERIFF FOR DEFYING FEDS ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

“The most absurd part of all of this is that it’s clear the Biden administration knew EXACTLY where these pedophiles, murderers, and rapists were and did nothing about it,” the strategist said. “President Trump was given a mandate to execute his America First agenda and that starts with restoring the rule of law, securing our borders, and punishing known criminals.”

Other illegal immigrants arrested by ICE include a convicted sex offender from Ethiopia who was arrested in New Orleans on Friday; a Brazilian national convicted of vehicular manslaughter who was arrested by ICE Boston; and a Honduran national arrested by ICE Seattle who was found with cocaine, fentanyl and a gun. 

A group of migrants attempting to enter the U.S. illegally rush a border wall on March 21, 2024, knocking down a Texas National Guardsmen before being halted. (James Breeden for New York Post/Mega)

Law enforcement agencies stretching from ICE, to the DEA and U.S. Marshals, have been on an arresting blitz since Trump’s first day in office on Jan. 20. The Trump administration deputized thousands of federal agents on Thursday evening to aid agencies such as ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection in efforts to arrest illegal immigrants. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reported that on Thursday alone, law enforcement nationwide arrested more than 500 illegal immigrants, and deported hundreds of others. 

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“The Trump Administration arrested 538 illegal immigrant criminals including a suspected terrorist, four members of the Tren de Aragua gang, and several illegals convicted of sex crimes against minors,” she posted to X last week. 

“The Trump Administration also deported hundreds of illegal immigrant criminals via military aircraft. The largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway. Promises made. Promises kept,” Leavitt added. 

President Donald Trump pushed back on Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Sunday after Petro’s regime refused to allow U.S. deportation flights to land in his country.

The U.S. had sent two flights of Colombian illegal aliens from the U.S. this weekend as part of Trump’s burgeoning deportation program. Petro argued on X that the U.S. cannot “treat Colombian migrants as criminals,” leading to backlash from Trump.

“I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of Illegal Criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia. This order was given by Colombia’s Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular amongst his people,” Trump wrote on social media.

“Petro’s denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States, so I have directed my Administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures,” Trump continued.

TRUMP DHS REPEALS KEY MAYORKAS MEMO LIMITING ICE AGENTS, ORDERS PAROLE REVIEW

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump’s says he has ordered a 25% tariff on all goods coming into the U.S. from Colombia, a tariff that will rise to 50% after one week. He also ordered a travel ban and Visa revocations for all Colombian government officials, including their “allies and supporters.”

He also ordered enhanced Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspections of “all Colombian nationals and cargo.”

BILLIONAIRES COZY UP TO TRUMP WITH SEVEN FIGURE INAUGURAL DONATIONS AFTER PAST FEUDS WITH PRESIDENT
 
“These measures are just the beginning. We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!” Trump warned.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro is facing Trump’s ire after refusing to accept Colombian migrants. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

A senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital that the orders were a “clear message” that countries have “an obligation to accept repatriation flights.”

Petro has yet to respond directly to Trump’s retaliation on Sunday. He initially condemned the migrant flights, however.

“The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals. I deny the entry of American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory. The United States must establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them,” Petro wrote.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt released this image Friday, writing on X that “deportation flights have begun.” A Mississippi lawmaker is proposing paying bounty hunters to help deport illegal immigrants.  (White House)

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Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, has warned that the administration’s deportation program is just getting started. Officials are currently targeting illegal aliens who have committed violent crimes, but Homan says everyone who has entered the country illegally will soon be “on the table.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday announced the release of a U.S. citizen who had been imprisoned in Belarus as controversy looms over the Eastern European nation’s ongoing election. 

Crediting President Donald Trump’s leadership, Rubio said in a post on X that “Belarus just unilaterally released an innocent American, ANASTASSIA Nuhfer, who was taken under JOE BIDEN!” 

Rubio added that Christopher Smith, State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Eastern Europe and Policy and Regional Affairs, “from our team did a great job on this.”  

“PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH,” Rubio, who served 14 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before he was sworn in as Trump’s new Secretary of State last week, wrote. 

RUBIO DEMANDS ANSWERS WITH 2 MORE AMERICANS REPORTEDLY HELD BY TALIBAN

Marco Rubio during his swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.  (Oliver Contreras/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

No further information was immediately released about Nuhfer or her release, as some social media users marveled about not knowing an American had been jailed in Belarus during former President Joe Biden’s administration. 

Meanwhile, Belarus is holding its national election on Sunday. President Alexander Lukashenko, a loyalist of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, only faces token opposition and is expected to get another term on top of his three decades in power. 

Lukashenko’s more consequential opponents, many of whom are imprisoned or exiled abroad by his unrelenting crackdown on dissent and free speech, are calling the election a sham – much like the last one in 2020 that triggered months of protests that were unprecedented in the history of the country of 9 million people.

The crackdown saw more than 65,000 arrests, with thousands beaten, bringing condemnation and sanctions from the West, according to the Associated Press. 

The country holds nearly 1,300 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, founder of the Viasna Human Rights Center.

Since July, Lukashenko has pardoned more than 250 people. At the same time, authorities have sought to uproot dissent by arresting hundreds more in raids targeting relatives and friends of political prisoners.

Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko, center, visits the Minsk Automobile Plant in Minsk, Belarus, on Jan. 21, 2025.  (Belarus’ Presidential Press Service via AP, File)

Authorities detained 188 people last month alone, Viasna said. Activists and those who donated money to opposition groups have been summoned by police and forced to sign papers saying they were warned against participating in unsanctioned demonstrations, rights advocates said, according to the AP.

HAMAS RELEASES 4 FEMALE HOSTAGES AS PART OF ISRAEL CEASEFIRE DEAL

Opposition leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled Belarus under government pressure after challenging the president in 2020, told the AP that Sunday’s election was “a senseless farce, a Lukashenko ritual.”

Voters should cross off everyone on the ballot, she said, and world leaders shouldn’t recognize the result from a country “where all independent media and opposition parties have been destroyed and prisons are filled by political prisoners.”

“The repressions have become even more brutal as this vote without choice has approached, but Lukashenko acts as though hundreds of thousands of people are still standing outside his palace,” she said.

The European Parliament urged the European Union to reject the election outcome. EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas called the vote “a blatant affront to democracy.”

Belarus’ exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya pauses as she speaks during a press conference, on the day of Belarus’ presidential election, before the start of the “March of the Belarusians” in Warsaw, Poland, on Jan. 26, 2025. (Agencja Wyborcza.pl/Robert Kowalewski via REUTERS )

Shortly after voting in Minsk on Sunday, Lukashenko told journalists that he did not seek recognition or approval from the EU.

“The main thing for me is that Belarusians recognize these elections and that they end peacefully, as they began,” he said.

Media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders filed a complaint against Lukashenko with the International Criminal Court over his crackdown on free speech that saw 397 journalists arrested since 2020. It said that 43 are in prison.

Two years after the demise of the Soviet Union, Lukashenko took office in 1994 and has earned the nickname of “Europe’s Last Dictator.” His iron-fisted rule had been cemented through subsidies and political support from Russia, a close ally. 

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He let Moscow use his territory to invade Ukraine in 2022, and even hosts some of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons, but he still campaigned with the slogan “Peace and security,” arguing he has saved Belarus from being drawn into war.

“It’s better to have a dictatorship like in Belarus than a democracy like Ukraine,” Lukashenko said. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump floated moving nearly 90,000 IRS agents hired under the Biden administration to the border to patrol the area while armed with guns. 

“On day one, I immediately halted the hiring of any new IRS agents. They hired, or tried to hire, 88,000 new workers to go after you. And we’re in the process of developing a plan to either terminate all of them or maybe we’ll move them to the border. And I think we’re going to move them to the border,” Trump said during a rally at Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday evening. 

“Where they’re allowed to carry guns, you know, they’re so strong on guns, but these people are allowed to carry guns, so we’ll probably move them to the border,” he continued. Certain special IRS agents are permitted to carry firearms as part of their duties, according to IRS Code, 26 U.S. Code § 7608. 

Trump joined supporters in Las Vegas this weekend after touring destruction in North Carolina left by Hurricane Helene in September, as well as California, where he toured Los Angeles and met with local leaders about the wildfires that have ripped through the area this month. 

TRUMP VOWS TO DELIVER ON ‘NO TAX ON TIPS’ CAMPAIGN PROMISE DURING LAS VEGAS SPEECH: ‘100% YOURS’

President Donald Trump speaks about the economy during an event at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/John Locher)

While floating moving the thousands of IRS agents to the border, Trump also suggested ending income tax across the board, saying his plans on tariffs could fill the financial gaps. 

“How about just no tax,” he said to cheers, while he chuckled. “You could do that. You know if the tariffs work out like I think, a thing like that could happen, if you want to know the truth.” 

‘FLOODING THE ZONE’ TRUMP HITS WARP SPEED IN FIRST WEEK BACK IN OFFICE

“Years ago, 1870 to 1913, we didn’t have an income tax. We had, what we had is tariffs, where foreign countries came in and they stole our jobs, they stole our companies, they stole our product. They ripped us off. And, you know, they used to do numbers. And then we went to tariff, a tariff system. And the tariff system made so much money. It was when we were the richest from 1870 to 1930. Then we came in with the – brilliantly came in – with an income tax,” he continued, explaining the Great Depression rocked the U.S. shortly after moving away from the tariff system of the 1800s and early 1900s.

Immigrants try to pass over razor wire after crossing the border into El Paso, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Democrats in 2022 approved $80 billion in funding for the IRS, including to hire roughly 87,000 new agents across a 10-year period as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law that year. 

IRS BANNED FROM BUYING GUNS, AMMO WITH TAXPAYER FUNDS UNDER NEW BILL FROM SEN. ERNST

Trump’s Vegas speech focused on taxes, hearkening back to his June campaign rally in the state when he first announced he would eliminate taxes on tips.

President Donald Trump departs after speaking about the economy during an event at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/John Locher)

“Any worker who relies on tips [as] income, your tips will be 100% yours,” Trump said on Saturday in the city that is run by service workers at flashy hotels and casinos and restaurants. 

IRS documents (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

DEMOCRATS HIRE ARMY OF AGENTS AT IRS TO SQUEEZE HONEST TAXPAYERS FOR GREEN NEW DEAL

Trump also touted that a handful of his campaign promises are already unfolding into real results, including withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO) and dismantling some federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices.

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“We got rid of the woke crap,” Trump said Saturday. “A lot of crap… you know, these people were petrified of it. I’ll tell you, these companies, they run these big companies, they were petrified of it.”

Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margolis contributed to this report. 

Ceasefire disputes between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah are threatening to derail deals Sunday as arguments break out over several key details.

Israel accused Hamas of changing the order of hostages it planned to release. As a result, Israeli forces blocked thousands of Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza.

Israeli forces also announced Friday that they will not fully withdraw from southern Lebanon as the ceasefire requires until the Lebanese government fully implements its own responsibilities. According to the agreement, both groups were expected to make withdrawals by Sunday.

“IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon fired warning shots to remove threats in a number of areas where suspects were identified approaching the troops,” the IDF wrote in a Sunday statement. 

HAMAS RELEASES 4 FEMALE HOSTAGES AS PART OF ISRAEL CEASEFIRE

The ceasefire agreement between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah remains fragile as disagreements rise over details.

“Additionally, a number of suspects in proximity to IDF troops that posed an imminent threat to the troops were apprehended and are currently being questioned at the scene.”

BITTERSWEET REJOICING AS FIRST HOSTAGES RETURN TO ISRAEL AFTER 471 DAYS IN CAPTIVITY

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) expressed concern over the situation in a statement on X, saying Lebanese civilians had been attempting to return to their homes that were still occupied by Israeli forces.

“The IDF must avoid firing at civilians within Lebanese territory. Further violence risks undermining the fragile security situation in the area and prospects for stability ushered in by the cessation of hostilities and the formation of a Government in Lebanon,” UNIFIL wrote.

The disputes come just after President Donald Trump called for Egypt and Jordan to accept refugees from Gaza to “clean out” the region.

Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, three Israeli hostages who were held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, return to Israel as part of a ceasefire deal with Hamas on Jan. 19, 2025. (REUTERS/Amir Cohen)

“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.'”

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Trump said he applauded Jordan for accepting Palestinian refugees but that he told the king: “I’d love for you to take on more, because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.”

When a new president moves into the White House, they have free rein to redecorate as they see fit. 

As President Donald Trump participated in inaugural ceremonies on Monday, dozens of staffers worked furiously at the White House to move former President Biden’s personal items out and Trump’s in. 

Some of the decor seen in the Oval Office belongs to the president – such as the family photos both Biden and Trump displayed behind the Resolute Desk. But other items, like portraits of former presidents, the tables, chairs and curios belong to the White House Collection and are selected by the president to be featured during their term.

The look of the Oval Office, from the carpet to curtains and artwork on the walls, is entirely the president’s choice. Here’s a look at what Trump has kept and what he’s ditched from his predecessor:

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Kept: The Resolute Desk

Executive Orders regarding trade lay on the Resolute desk in the Oval Office of the White House on March 31, 2017, in Washington, D.C.  (Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)

All but three U.S. presidents since 1880 – LBJ, Nixon and Ford – have used the famous desk that was gifted to President Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria that year. Trump used it in his first term, as did Biden, and Trump was pictured signing a flurry of executive actions at the desk on his first day in office on Monday.

Removed: President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s portrait

President Joe Biden sits underneath a portrait of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt while meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office at the White House on Sept. 1, 2021, in Washington, D.C. This was the two leaders’ first face-to-face meeting and the first by a Ukrainian leader in more than four years.  (Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)

When Biden assumed office, he hung a large portrait of progressive hero FDR over the fireplace, which became the focus of the room. Biden’s intent was to honor Roosevelt, who guided the nation through the Great Depression and World War II, as the U.S. faced another crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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Trump has removed the portrait and replaced it with one of President George Washington, which hung in the Oval Office during Trump’s first term, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

Kept: Bust of Martin Luther King Jr. 

 A sculpted bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., adorns a table for an early preview of the redesigned Oval Office awaiting President Joseph Biden at the White House in Washington, DC. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

A bust of civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr. displayed by both Trump and Biden will remain in the Oval Office for Trump’s second term, according to the Journal.

Swapped: Family photos

President Donald Trump after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thurs., Jan. 23, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A collection of Trump family photos now sits on a small table behind the Resolute desk. Among them is a picture of the president’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, and a portrait of his father, Fred Trump. Also displayed are a photo of Trump’s eldest three children in formal evening wear; a photo of Trump with his daughter Ivanka when she was a girl; and a photo of Trump with first lady Melania Trump when their son Barron was a baby. 

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Biden family photos were previously arranged on this table, including one of his adult children, Beau, Hunter and Ashley Biden. 

Kept: Benjamin Franklin portrait

Natalie Harp, an aide to U.S. President Donald Trump, and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung (R) listen as President Trump signs a series of executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 23, 2025, in Washington, D.C. A portrait of Benjamin Franklin hangs on the wall in the background. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

A portrait of Benjamin Franklin that Biden added to the Oval Office to signify his focus on science will remain there during Trump’s term, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Removed: Robert F. Kennedy bust

Robert F. Kennedy Bust behind President Joe Biden during a meeting with Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday April 15, 2024 (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Trump has swapped out a bust of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that Biden placed near the fireplace in favor of a sculpture of President Andrew Jackson called, “The Bronco Buster,” by Frederic Remington. The Jackson sculpture also featured in the Oval Office during Trump’s first term, according to the Journal.

Returned: Winston Churchill bust

British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) and President Donald Trump meet beside a bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 27, 2017 in Washington, D.C. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

A bust of Winston Churchill that Biden had removed is back at Trump’s direction. The bronze bust by British American artist Jacob Epstein has been the focus of past controversy. Then-London Mayor Boris Johnson had claimed that President Obama removed the bust upon taking office in 2009 – but the White House refuted that claim in 2012, observing that the bust had been placed just outside the Oval Office in the White House’s Treaty Room. 

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Returned: Andrew Jackson portrait

President Donald Trump speaks to the media after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C, on Jan. 23, 2025. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

A new painting of President Andrew Jackson provided by the White House art collection features prominently in Trump’s Oval Office, according to WSJ. Trump has long admired the nation’s seventh president, a populist and disruptive figure whose election Trump once said “shook the establishment like an earthquake” – not unlike his own victories.

Returned: U.S. military flags

President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., US, on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Flags representing different branches of the U.S. military are seen in the background.  (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Trump is one again prominently featuring flags representing each branch of the armed services in the Oval Office.

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s executive order terminating all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs has already sidelined 395 government bureaucrats, a senior administration official told Fox News Digital. 

Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed up by Elon Musk, wrote on X Friday that approximately $420 million in current/impending contracts, mainly focused on DEI initiatives, had also been canceled. 

After Trump signed the order on the day of his inauguration, the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) notified heads of agencies and departments that they must begin taking steps to close all DEI offices by the end of the day Wednesday, and place government workers in those offices on paid leave. It is not yet clear when or if they will be terminated.

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President Trump’s executive order terminating all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government has left 395 workers on paid leave, a senior administration official told Fox News Digital on Saturday. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management Charles Ezell sent a memo to heads and acting heads of departments and agencies on Tuesday evening directing them that by the end of business on Jan. 22, they were to inform all agency employees of the DEI shutdown. In addition, they were instructed to tell workers directly involved in DEI they were being placed on paid leave immediately, take down all DEI-related websites and social media accounts, cancel any related contracts or training, and ask employees to report any efforts to disguise DEI programs by using coded or imprecise language.

The memo also directed the heads of agencies and departments that by noon on Jan. 23, they were to provide OPM with lists of all DEI offices, employees, and related contracts in effect as of Nov. 5, 2024.

By Friday, Jan. 24, at 5 p.m., agency heads were required to submit to OPM a written plan for executing a reduction-in-force action regarding DEI employees and a list of all contract descriptions or personnel position descriptions that were changed since Nov. 5, 2024, to obscure their connection to DEI programs.

After Trump signed the order on the day of his inauguration, the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) notified heads of agencies and departments that they must begin taking steps to close all DEI offices by the end of the day on Wednesday, and place government workers in those offices on paid leave. (Fox News Digital-Hannah Grossman)

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The executive order was among dozens Trump signed on his first day in office, including the government only recognizing two genders and withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. 

He also issued two other executive actions on Tuesday targeting DEI – an executive order to end discrimination in the workplace and higher education through race and sex-based preferences under the guise of DEI and a memo to eliminate a Biden administration policy that prioritized DEI hiring at the Federal Aviation Administration.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said it had canceled around $420 million in DEI-related contracts this week. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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Trump’s Monday executive order rescinded President Joe Biden’s one on promoting diversity initiatives, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” which he signed on his first day in office. 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Landon Mion contributed to this report.