Tuesday, March 18 | By Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch |
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| ▪ White House ramps up migration fight ▪ Dems off-balance ahead of GOP budget strategy ▪ Mayor: D.C. finances hinge on House GOP ▪ Trump shows his Ukraine cards to Putin |
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©️ The Associated Press | AP Photo |
White House escalates fight over deportations
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President Trump and his advisers are ratcheting up their fight over his immigration policy, seeking to muscle past court orders aimed at pumping the brakes. They expect the president's efforts to secure borders to wind up in the conservative-majority Supreme Court, the sooner the better. And they're willing to challenge the judiciary to secure what Trump and many Americans say they want: fewer immigrants who lack legal status and less crime. Conservatives who support the president cheer his efforts to circumnavigate lower courts. Democrats and legal institutionalists, however, argue that Trump's unprecedented approach to statutes and the Constitution further politicize the judiciary and risks pushing the nation into a destructive clash. White House immigration czar Tom Homan on Monday told Fox News he did not care what District Court Judge James Boasberg ruled, adding, "We're not stopping." The administration maintains it correctly bypassed a court order to return two planeloads of migrants to the U.S. because the aircraft technically were by then over international waters. Boasberg, who ordered the administration on Saturday to turn planes carrying deported migrants back to the U.S. in accordance with immigration law and due process, asked the administration during a Monday hearing to provide a timeline of when deportation flights took off from the United States for El Salvador. A Justice Department lawyer, citing national security, declined to answer while asserting that the president possesses broad authority to remove the immigrants from the United States under a little-known wartime law. Boasberg instructed the government to provide more information by noon today. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday the administration has questions about Boasberg's initial verbal order and a subsequent written order. "All of the planes subject to the written order of this judge departed U.S. soil, U.S. territory before the judge's written order," she said. "There's actually questions about whether a verbal order carries the same weight as a written order, and our lawyers are determined to ask and answer those questions in court," she told reporters. COURTING A CLASH: Justice Department officials late Monday urged Boasberg to cancel his hearing because the government did not plan to provide additional information about the deportation flights. The department also sent a letter to the appeals court above Boasberg, who was first appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by former President Obama, seeking his removal from the proceedings. A Texas GOP lawmaker called for Boasberg's impeachment. And Trump adviser Elon Musk turned to his social platform X on Sunday to agree that proposed impeachment articles against the judge were "necessary." The Hill's Niall Stanage in The Memo reports that the administration's reliance on the Alien Enemies Act while sidestepping Boasberg's order presents big questions about a clash between the president and the judiciary. "The vast majority of Americans and the vast majority of Republicans, when they were asked, including last month, agree that presidents should follow court orders. And so we believe this is a real crisis point," said Skye Perryman, a lawyer with national legal organization Democracy Forward, which, alongside the American Civil Liberties Union, sued the Trump administration over its use of the Alien Enemies Act. "The Trump administration is seeking to circumvent the process that we have in our country in order to just expand power and do something with no process at all," Perryman told NPR. "That's highly concerning. We've not ever been in this situation in the country." "This is headed to the Supreme Court. And we're going to win," a senior White House official told Axios, which reported that White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller "orchestrated" a weekend process in tandem with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to deport Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador while anticipating potential court intervention. ▪ The Hill: Green card holders are rattled by the case of Mahmoud Khalil, who was recently arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation tied to Columbia University campus protests last year. He's being held in Louisiana and is accused of being a Hamas "sympathizer." |
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Smart Take
with Blake Burman |
| NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are heading back to Earth, after a weeklong test flight turned into a nine-month mission aboard the International Space Station. The astronauts left Earth on the Boeing Starliner, but after it encountered problems, SpaceX jumped in to help. So, what could the future hold? "It's a case of where you could have private industry and NASA coexist and support each other, as SpaceX is supporting NASA," former NASA astronaut José Hernández told me. "I think we need both private industry and government involved in space, because it creates this healthy balance of competition." Who's to second guess an astronaut here? |
Burman hosts "The Hill" weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation. |
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- Trump, following through on one of his campaign promises, said he will today release 80,000 pages of unredacted files about the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who served on the bipartisan House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, told The Hill during an interview that Trump's threat to nullify former President Biden's preemptive pardons of lawmakers Trump views as foes amounts to "political noise."
- Harvard University this fall plans to launch an income cap that can make tuition free for more students as a way to bolster diversity.
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©️ The Associated Press | J. Scott Applewhite |
FUNDING FIGHT 2.0: After last week's bitter culmination of the fiscal 2025 funding battle that took the threat of a shutdown off the table through September, Congress is already gearing up for the next funding fight. Frustrated Democrats in both chambers told The Hill's Mike Lillis and Aris Folley they're hoping to use the divisive experience to guide future tactics in their ongoing effort to block the GOP agenda from becoming law. How they do it, though, remains a work in progress. "The obvious question is, how do you avoid this same situation happening again? I don't have the answer to that question," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a senior appropriator, told The Hill on Friday. "Maybe this is a one of one," he said, but he also said that Democrats "have to make sure that we aren't cut out of negotiations in the future, obviously, that'll be a topic we'll have to discuss." DEMS IN DISARRAY: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) postponed his planned book tour this week because of security concerns and backlash following his decision to vote with Republicans to enact the stopgap spending bill to stave off a government shutdown. Local chapters of Indivisible, a progressive group created after Trump first won the 2016 election, had planned protests around events for the book tour. On Capitol Hill, The Hill's Alexander Bolton and Folley report that Schumer's leadership position is safe for now, but the loss of trust among many in his party raises questions about how much longer the 74-year-old will stay in the role. One big concern following last week's chaotic funding battle is the impact on Schumer's relationship with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). Meanwhile, progressives are vowing to run primary challenges against Democrats who do not do enough to stand up to Trump and the GOP, an effort that is intensifying after Schumer's decision. The party's left flank is increasingly frustrated with the current leadership of the party, writes The Hill's Amie Parnes, and with the messaging coming from Democrats in general. And the spending bill has spurred talk among progressives that a new crop of leaders should emerge. "I've always believed that competition and primaries are healthy," said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). "No one is entitled to their seat. Voters want change and are fed up with the old guard in American politics. I expect many new-generation leaders to run for the House and Senate in 2026 and 2028. Democracy depends on renewal." ▪ Politico: Schumer is doing damage control. It isn't going great. ▪ The New York Times's "The Daily": The weekend that Democrats went to war against each other. ▪ Forward: Schumer: Antisemitism on the left "much harder to grapple with" than antisemitism on the right. |
- The House will meet for a pro forma session at noon.
- The Senate will hold a pro forma session at 12:15 p.m.
- The president will sign executive orders at 3:30 p.m.
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©️ The Associated Press | Jacquelyn Martin |
CAPITAL BUDGET: The government in Washington, D.C., must wait for the House to return next week to legislatively rectify a more than $1 billion hit to its budget. The reduction, enacted because of a provision in the House GOP's six-month stopgap spending bill, was legislatively fixed by the Senate last week, but the lower chamber still needs to approve it. A remedy was co-sponsored by Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine). "Reducing D.C.'s local funding expenditures will not result in a dollar of federal savings," Collins said. The district is worried about major repercussions and uncertainty as the city waits for House action. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) said Monday that she and local leaders are urging lawmakers to protect D.C. funds but planning what to do if they choose not to. "The best option is for the House to fix this, and we're going to stay focused on the House fixing it," Bowser said during a news conference. "We have initiated contingency planning to address potential fiscal shortfalls." ▪ The Hill: Trump on Monday said he's "disappointed" with what he saw while touring the Kennedy Center for the first time after naming himself chair of the performing arts institution as part of an unprecedented overhaul. ▪ The Washington Post: Trump has a plan to remake the economy. But he's not explaining it very well. ▪ The New York Times: Trump's approach to tariffs has unsettled many corporate leaders who believed he would use the levies as a negotiating tool — not a means to an end. STARLINK: Musk's satellite internet service Starlink, operated by SpaceX, is now accessible across the White House campus. It is the latest installation of the Wi-Fi network across the government since Musk joined the administration as an unpaid adviser to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — raising questions about conflicts of interest. |
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©️ The Associated Press | U.S. Navy |
HOUTHIS: The U.S. carried out airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on Monday. The strikes come as Washington increases pressure on the Iran-aligned group and expands the biggest U.S. military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office in January. Responding to the Houthi movement's threats to international shipping, the U.S. launched a new wave of airstrikes on Saturday. At least 53 people have been killed and 98 injured. In response, the Houthis twice attempted to attack the USS Harry S. Truman. Both attempts were unsuccessful. ▪ The Washington Post: The Pentagon said the operation targeting the Houthis is open-ended. ▪ The Hill: Trump on Monday said that further attacks or retaliation by the Houthis would be considered an attack by Iran and it would face "dire" consequences. GAZA CEASEFIRE: Israel launched air attacks on Gaza overnight, stopping short of a ground invasion but threatening a fragile, two-month ceasefire. The strikes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which health officials said killed more than 320 people, followed weeks of fruitless negotiations. The attack could resume a war that has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed the military to take "strong action" against Hamas in response to the group's refusal to release hostages held there and rejection of ceasefire proposals. UKRAINE: Trump will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin today to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Washington is seeking Moscow's support for a 30-day ceasefire proposal to end the three-year invasion. "We're doing pretty well, I think, with Russia," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening. "See if we have something to announce maybe Tuesday." Trump noted that land and power plants are part of the conversation with Russia, mentioning an effort focused on "dividing up certain assets." In recent weeks, U.S. officials have met with Russian officials to discuss the end of the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky then came to Washington to meet with Trump, but the White House conversation ended with shouting. Zelensky has since sought to repair ties, and the U.S. and Ukraine have agreed to a 30-day ceasefire plan. Russia has not yet publicly said if it will accept the deal, but special envoy Steve Witkoff said his discussions were "positive." The Hill: Nearly half of American voters think Trump favors Russia over Ukraine, according to a poll taken as his administration tries to broker a deal between the countries to end their war. |
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- Putin doesn't actually want peace, by Mikhail Zygar, guest essayist, The New York Times.
- Trump's third-term tease is a lame-duck hedge, by Chris Stirewalt, political editor, The Hill.
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©️ The Associated Press | Charlie Riedel |
And finally … 🏀 NCAA basketball bracket time is nigh as the 2025 tournament begins today. NCAA men's and women's tournament teams have been decided, and the annual March Madness scramble has begun ahead of the Final Four in San Antonio, Texas. After the first four games today and Wednesday (televised from Dayton, Ohio, on truTV), the first round of the NCAA Tournament kicks off Thursday and Friday. It will be two days of games starting at lunchtime on the East Coast and going late in the West for a full day of hoops. USA Today: Here's what the experts predict. 🤷 Quick! Print and fill out a bracket before tonight's play. |
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