Supreme court allows Trump to resume deporting people to third countries for now while justices weigh policy
The supreme court has allowed the Trump administration to resume deporting people to countries other than their own without offering them the chance to show the harms they may face, bolstering a tool Donald Trump has used for rapid expulsions as part of his immigration crackdown.
The justices granted the DOJ’s request to halt Boston-based US district judge Brian Murphy’s ruling that the Department of Homeland Security’s policy to remove migrants to so-called third countries is unlawful, while the administration appeals the matter to the supreme court. They also agreed to hear arguments in the dispute in December, with a formal ruling on policy to follow.
Its three liberal justices dissented from the decision.
Federal attorneys said the lower-court decision forced the cancellation of a deportation flight carrying about 70 people bound for three countries.
The justices previously allowed the deportation flights, a core Trump administration policy, to temporarily continue when the case came before them last year. In another win for the administration, the supreme court subsequently lifted limits the judge had imposed to protect a group of men from being sent to South Sudan.
More than 25,000 people have been deported to 29 countries under the policy implemented last year, according to a tally by human rights groups, with the vast majority going to Mexico.
The administration has also carried out third-country deportations to politically unstable South Sudan, which the US state department urges Americans to avoid due to the risks of crime, kidnapping and armed conflict, as well as Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, the Central African Republic, and other nations.
Key events
Summary
Closing summary
This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day. Here are the latest developments:
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Donald Trump announced that the heads of the largest US tech and AI companies had signed on to a “morally binding” agreement to put controls on artificial intelligence. Trump did not give further details on the controls, but he suggested that the deal would allow the companies to largely “self-police” their products and technology. Later, Trump signed an executive order calling for “artificial intelligence” to be renamed “super intelligence”.
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Jack Smith faced Senate lawmakers on the judiciary committee for a contentious hearing that saw a number of Republicans accuse the former special prosecutor of perjury, and conducting a political witch-hunt against Trump when he secured two indictments against the president that were later dismissed when he took office.
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A Republican senator blocked a bipartisan bill that would have prevented Donald Trump from demolishing the Kennedy Center without the approval of Congress. Mike Lee, of Utah, objected when the Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley asked the Senate to pass the Protecting Presidential Memorials Act by unanimous consent.
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The supreme court allowed the Trump administration to resume deporting people to countries other than their own without offering them the chance to show the harms they may face, bolstering a tool Trump has used for rapid expulsions as part of his immigration crackdown.
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The US Senate rejected along mostly party lines a Democratic resolution that would have forced the state department to report to Congress on violence in the occupied West Bank, including the killings of nine American citizens by Israeli settlers or security forces over the last few years.
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JD Vance and health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke at the conclusion of the Make America Healthy Again summit in Washington. Several reporters were denied entry to the event.
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Federal prosecutors have charged a Venezuelan delivery driver shot by ICE agents in Texas this month with one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer. Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, 28, was shot by federal immigration officers after a traffic stop in Texas on 20 September. The charge echoes similar claims federal immigration officers have made about immigrants and anti-ICE protesters, including Minnesota mother Renee Good, “weaponizing their vehicles”
A judge has ended the longest-running federal oversight of a police department in history, concluding that monitoring of the Oakland Police Department may end 23 years after it began.
The monitoring began in 2003, after a rookie officer came forward three years earlier to report abuse of power by a group of officers called the Oakland “Riders.” The four officers were charged with using excessive force, falsifying police reports, assaulting people and other crimes in the predominantly Black neigborhood of west Oakland.
“This is the first time in 23 years that OPD has achieved each of the 51 tasks in the (settlement agreement.) No one can say, ‘mission accomplished.’ But I do congratulate the city and OPD for getting this far,” San Francisco judge William Orrick said during a hearing in May.
On Tuesday, Orrick said: “I’m particularly grateful to the men and women of the Oakland Police Department … for achieving substantial compliance,” adding: “May it ever be thus.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen has released a statement in response to the Senate’s vote failing to pass his resolution requiring the state department report on increasing violence in the West Bank:
“The U.S. Government – including this Administration – has said time and again that our number one priority abroad is ensuring the safety and security of American citizens. And yet, as we’ve seen violence rise in the West Bank, nine American citizens have been killed in recent years, and they have received no justice and no accountability. Their families – and the American people – deserve answers on their deaths. But today Republicans denied them that. Meanwhile, the Palestinian people have also borne the toll of this violence day in and day out. They too deserve justice and accountability. But again, Republicans blocked that today. While I was pleased that so many of my Democratic colleagues joined this effort, it’s clear the United States must do more. It is our responsibility to ensure recipients of U.S. taxpayer dollars act in line with our laws and our values – this resolution was an opportunity to shed light on a reality that flies in the face of that principle.”
In an executive order today, Donald Trump called for “artificial intelligence” to be renamed “super intelligence”.
“The terminology used by the Federal Government should reflect the transformative capabilities of these technologies and the limitless opportunities they create for the American people,” the order reads. “Accordingly, the term ‘Super Intelligence’ more appropriately captures the promise, potential, and rapidly advancing capabilities of these technologies.”
The order directs “executive departments and agencies to use the term in “official correspondence, public communications, websites, reports, policy documents, and other non-statutory documents within the executive branch.”
Joseph Gedeon
The US Senate on Tuesday evening rejected along mostly party lines a Democratic resolution that would have forced the state department to report to Congress on violence in the occupied West Bank, including the killings of nine American citizens by Israeli settlers or security forces over the last few years.
The resolution, led by the Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen, would have given the state department 30 days to report to Congress on those deaths and on wider human rights conditions in the territory, including Israel’s detention of Palestinian children.
The resolution failed to advance by a vote of 47 to 51. Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman, a Democrat, joined Republicans in voting against the resolution, while Kentucky Republican Rand Paul voted in favor.
TSA officers will no longer be allowed to sit at airport checkpoints.
The Transportation Security Administration confirmed the decision in a statement: This welcome change reinforces both our security posture and our commitment to hospitality by having these officers on their feet and alert. All officers must meet fitness for duty requirements to be capable of performing their vital national security function.“
The TSA workers’ union, the American Federation of Government Employees TSA Council 100, criticzed the move, saying it showed “disregard for workers’ rights and safety” and that the chairs TSA workers used while checking IDs “serve as basic ergonomic and safety support for officers that stand and walk on hard surfaces all day.”
Legal immigration from 45 Muslim-majority countries fell 96% since 2024, according to a new analysis from the Cato Institute, a libertarian thinktank. The White House’s “Rapid Response” account shared the analysis in a social media post today.
“During his campaign in 2016, President Trump repeatedly proposed an outright ban on Muslims entering the United States. He then claimed that this policy idea morphed into the travel ban to avoid potential constitutional problems,” the report states. “During his 2024 campaign, he said he would bring back an even stricter ban than the one in his first term. He has succeeded.”
Citing state department data, the Cato report states that, “Monthly immigrant visa issuances and permanent lawful refugee admissions fell from 21,096 in December 2024 to 808 in February 2026.”
Last week, CNN reported that the Trump administration plans to accept 17,500 refugees in fiscal year 2027, the vast majority of them white South Africans, citing a copy of the report to Congress. Earlier this year, the administration raised the cap for South African refugees, setting a limit of 17,500 refugees from the country.
“The United States anticipates that Afrikaners from South Africa will fully assimilate into the United States in a manner that preserves taxpayer resources for U.S. citizens and does not anticipate other countries resettling Afrikaners,” the report states.
Victoria Bekiempis
Donald Trump has agreed to stop fighting in court the disbursement of E Jean Carroll’s $5m verdict in her 2023 sexual abuse and defamation civil trial against him, a procedural development as these funds were already distributed to her.
While the decision does not change anything about Carroll’s receipt of the payout, its revelation effectively means that Trump will no longer oppose the monetary outcome he had long fought.
This decision was revealed Tuesday by the United States court of appeals for the second circuit.
Responding to Donald Trump’s announcement that AI CEOs had signed a “morally binding” voluntary agreement today, California representative Ro Khanna said “We are a nation of laws, not pinky promises.”
In a social media post, the California Democrat added, “Trump let Xi walk away without a binding treaty on AI. And now he’s doing free PR for AI CEOs,” referring to the meetings Trump has held with Chinese president Xi Jinping and tech company executives this week.
Donald Trump will begin “a 32-day tour” ahead of the midterm elections. The president said he has been asked to speak at campaign events across the country, including at stops in Texas and Ohio this week.
“Just so you understand, they all want me to go. I’m one person. They all want me to go campaign,” he said.
Pete Hegseth will reportedly announce additional 10% cuts to the number of generals and admirals serving in the military at an address at Quantico scheduled for tomorrow.
The Associated Press reports that Pentagon officials have confirmed the cuts, saying Hegseth will direct all military services to double the 10% reduction that he ordered last spring, for a 20% total decrease to be completed by 1 January.
Hegseth, who heads the department of defense, and Donald Trump have already fired or forced to retire more than two dozen military leaders since January 2025.
Federal prosecutors have charged a Venezuelan delivery driver shot by ICE agents in Texas this month with one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer.
Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, 28, was shot by federal immigration officers after a traffic stop in Texas on 20 September.
As my colleague Emiliano Tahui Gomez reports, Garcés Pérez has spent the past nine days in detention with a bullet lodged in his back, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rapidly removed him from a hospital in Austin where he had been taken on Sunday after the shooting.
In the court filing, federal prosecutors accused Garcés Pérez of striking an officer with his side mirror while trying to drive away. The charge echoes similar claims federal immigration officers have made about immigrans and anti-ICE protesters, including Minnesota mother Renee Good, “weaponizing their vehicles”.
JD Vance and health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are speaking at the conclusion of the Make America Healthy Again summit in Washington.
“We’re never, ever again going to be able to be dominated by public officials who tell us, ‘Trust the experts,” Kennedy said, speaking about the potential of AI chat bots at the beginning of his address, to a round of applause from the crowd.
“If somebody tells you, masks work, trust the experts, AI may tell you otherwise. If somebody tells you social distancing works, trust the experts, AI may correct that. And if somebody tells you that a vaccine will correct transmission and infection, oh you need to take it to protect your grandmother, AI may say, it actually doesn’t do that. So it really has the capacity to dominate us, to free us from medical tyranny.”
Vance and Kennedy spent the majority of the rest of their “fireside chat” discussing unfounded claims that undocumented immigrants are draining federal agencies, including the healthcare sector, of resources. Here’s my colleague Melody Schreiber with more on those claims:
Donald Trump has shared a copy of the document AI executives signed during a White House meeting today on Truth Social.
In a social media post, Trump attached a copy of the one-page document, called the “White House Accord on Super Intelligence,” a term the president favors to artificial intelligence.
Signed by Google’s Sundar Pichai, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI’s Greg Brockman, xAI’s Elon Musk and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, the agreement states “we believe every company is responsible for developing its own technology safely.”
The agreement asks AI companies to commit to four layers of internal controls and audits: 1) “implement robust internal controls”, 2) “empower an internal team” to audit those controls, 3) “partner with an independent external auditor” and 4) “designate an independent committee of the board of directors”.
It adds that “the participating companies will meet regularly to establish standards and best practices”.
The United States has withdrawn from a leading international anti-corruption watchdog.
The Council of Europe said today that the Trump administration has decided to leave the Group of States against Corruption, a European-led anti-corruption monitoring body established in 1999. The United States joined in 2000. Only Russia and Belarus have previously left the group.
The Associated Press reports that a US official confirmed the United States had submitted its withdrawal on Monday.
The news of the United States’ withdrawal comes a week after
“The United States has participated in GRECO since 2000 and has been a valuable contributor to its work and to the exchange of experience and good practice in preventing and combating corruption,” the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe said in a statement. “GRECO remains open to resuming cooperation with the United States in the future in support of shared efforts to prevent corruption, strengthen integrity and uphold the rule of law.”
The decision was announced a week after another European organization, the Organization for Security and Cooperation, reported that the United States has declined to allow its members to observe November’s midterm elections.
Russell Brand, the English comedian who’s awaiting trial next month over multiple allegations of rape and sexual assault, joked about touching agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins while moderating a panel at the Make America Healthy Again summit in Washington today.
After Brand was late arriving to the panel, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Mehmet Oz said Brand had been hugging Rollins.
“She initiated that contact, to be clear,” Brand said.
Brand was slated to moderate a panel on reforming the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services featuring Oz and Chris Klomp, head of the department of health and human services. Klomp, who’s undergoing Senate confirmation hearings to be deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, was replaced on short notice by Dan Brillman, director of Medicaid.
In April, Brand – who is facing charges over allegations made against him by six women – said he had “exploitative” consensual sex with a 16-year-old girl at the height of his fame during an appearance on the YouTube show of the former-Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly.
