President Donald Trump signed an executive orderordering the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to expand detention facilities for migrants at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay. The US military base in Cuba is used to house prisoners from the US war on terror.
The base already has a migrant facility that houses Haitians and Cubans detained at sea, but its expansion would create space for up to 30,000 migrants and signals an expanded role for the Pentagon in Trump's plans to crack down on illegal migration.
It comes after Trump on Wednesday signed the bipartisan Laken Riley Act as the first legislative act of his administration.
The law states that people who are in the United States illegally and are charged with theft and violent crimes would have to be detained and possibly deported before conviction.
Trump, who won back the White House by tapping into public anger over illegal immigration, has made the promised crackdown the centerpiece of his political career and is now suggesting that the new law could be just the beginning.
At the bill signing ceremony, Trump said: "Let's send them to Guantanamo."
Trump targets critical race theory
President Trump also ...mandates that American schools.., to stop teaching what it considers "critical race theory" and other materials dealing with race and sexuality or risk losing federal money.
A separate plan calls for aggressive action to combat anti-Semitism on college campuses, promising to prosecute perpetrators and revoke visas of foreign students found to be "Hamas sympathizers."
Both plans were outlined in executive orders signed by Trump on Wednesday. The measures seek to fulfill some of the Republican president's major campaign promises on education, though it's unclear how much authority he has to implement them.
His order regarding K-12 schools declares that federal money cannot be used to "indoctrinate" children, including "radical gender ideology and critical race theory." It states that civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination based on gender and race will be used to enforce the order, and calls critical race theory "inherently racist policy." Trump takes aim at critical race theory
Trump also ordered the Minister of Educationto develop a strategy to "end indoctrination in K-12 education" within 90 days. He appointed a billionaire professional wrestling mogul as the head of education Lina McMahon, but its hearing in the Senate has not yet been scheduled.
During his campaign, Trump said he would sign an order "on day one" to cut federal money to schools that promote critical race theory or other "inappropriate" content.
The federal government provides billions of dollars to schools each year, although the vast majority of their money comes from state and local sources.
White House rescinds memorandum freezing federal grants
It comes after the Trump administration's White House rescinded a previous memorandum that froze spending on federal grants and loans following widespread confusion and legal challenges.
The memorandum, which was released Monday night, has caused concern across the country as the White House has struggled to explain what will and will not be subject to the funding suspension.
The freeze was set to go into effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday, but was blocked by a federal judge until at least Monday after an emergency hearing requested by nonprofit groups that receive federal grants. Another lawsuit by Democratic state attorneys general is also pending.
Administration officials said the announcement of the halt on loans and grants was necessary to conduct a review to ensure that spending is in line with Trump's recent review of executive orders.
Agencies were ordered to answer a series of "yes" or "no" questions for each federal program by February 7, with questions including "does this program support gender ideology?" and "does this program support abortion in any way?"
But the vaguely worded memo, combined with incomplete responses from the White House throughout the day, left lawmakers, state officials and ordinary Americans scrambling to figure out which programs would be affected by the pause. Even a temporary lapse in funding could cause layoffs or delays in public services.
euronews/ gnews - RoZ
ILLUSTRATIVE PHOTO - pixabay
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