DEPORTATIONS: The White House is digging in on its refusal to bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, viewing the controversial fight as a political winner that keeps the focus on an issue of strength for Trump. Democrats and civil rights groups have been in an uproar about the removal of Abrego Garcia, who the Trump administration acknowledged in a court filing had been sent to a notorious El Salvador prison by mistake.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) on Tuesday traveled to El Salvador in the hopes of releasing Abrego Garcia, but he said officials in the Central American country denied his request to meet with the Maryland resident. Speaking in San Salvador, Van Hollen said the country's vice president, Félix Ulloa, told him that Abrego Garcia remained in custody only because the Trump administration was paying to keep him there.
The White House's tone toward the Abrego Garcia case has solidified this week, as officials have plainly stated he will not return to live in the United States. They have argued he entered the country illegally from El Salvador and therefore would be sent back to his home country one way or another. The administration describes him as a violent gang member, in contrast with a court record and denials from his family.
"The rule of thumb here is, whenever [the administration is] leaning in on immigration they're winning, or they want to change the message," said one Trump ally.
On Wednesday, the White House doubled down, calling a previously unscheduled press briefing where they invited Patty Morin, the mother of a Maryland woman who was killed by a man from El Salvador. The man entered the country illegally and had no connection to Abrego Garcia.
"Why should we allow violent criminals that have no conscience at all to murder our mothers, our sisters, our daughters?" Morin said. "We are American citizens. We need to protect our families, our borders, our children."
▪ The Hill: Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) has requested a congressional delegation to visit the Salvadoran prison where the Trump administration has sent numerous deportees.
▪ The Wall Street Journal: El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele plans to double the size of the maximum-security prison where his government is holding U.S. deportees.
▪ NPR: "Homegrowns are next": Trump embraces the idea of deporting and jailing U.S. citizens abroad.
COURT PUSHBACK: U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Wednesday found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt for willfully disobeying his order to immediately halt deportations and turn around any airborne planes. The judge's order gives the administration a final opportunity to come into compliance but says he otherwise will take steps to identify the specific people who flouted his March 15 ruling, which was later lifted by the Supreme Court, and refer them for prosecution.
The order is a blow to a Trump administration that has dug in on its claims it has no obligation to return any of the men swiftly deported to a Salvadoran prison after Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which has been used only three previous times, all during wars.
"It appeared that the Government had transferred members of the Plaintiff class into El Salvador's custody hours after this Court's injunction prohibited their deportation under the Proclamation. Worse, boasts by Defendants intimated that they had defied the Court's Order deliberately and gleefully," Boasberg wrote. "The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders — especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it."
▪ The Hill: A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze funds under Biden-era laws authorizing massive investments in climate-friendly projects.
▪ Axios: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. contradicted one of his own agencies' autism studies on Tuesday, suggesting at a press conference that "environmental factors" including drugs, not improved screening, were causing a spike in confirmed cases.
▪ The Washington Post: The Trump administration is seeking to deeply slash budgets for federal health programs, a roughly one-third cut in discretionary spending by the Department of Health and Human Services.
▪ The Hill: Trump has sought shortcuts in the otherwise lengthy regulatory process via executive order — which legal scholars are describing as a power grab.
HIGHER EDUCATION: The administration on Wednesday moved to revoke Harvard University's tax-exempt status, continuing the president's tug-of-war with the school. The directive is a significant escalation of Trump's feud with Ivy League institutions and other nonprofit groups the White House views as "woke."
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday announced the cancelation of more than $2.7 million in grants to Harvard University amid tensions between the school and the Trump administration. The administration on Wednesday also threatened to withdraw Harvard from the federal program that administers student visas if it does not comply with a records request by the end of the month.
▪ CNN: Can the president revoke a university's tax-exempt status?
▪ Bloomberg Law: Trump's threat to yank Harvard's tax-exempt status fuels concerns that the president may use the IRS to target perceived adversaries.
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