International
Trump gives update on his mass deportations plan
Trump gives update on his mass deportations plan
President-elect Donald Trump told NBC News on Thursday that strengthening the U.S. border would be among his top priorities when he assumes office in January, describing his goal as making it “strong and powerful.”
Addressing his campaign pledge for mass deportations, Trump emphasized that his administration would have “no choice” but to pursue them.
Trump expressed that his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris grants him a mandate “to bring common sense” to the nation’s policies.
“We obviously have to make the border strong and powerful and, and we have to — at the same time, we want people to come into our country,” he stated. “And you know, I’m not somebody that says, ‘No, you can’t come in.’ We want people to come in.”
Throughout his campaign, Trump repeatedly pledged to carry out what he called the “largest deportation effort in American history.” When questioned about the potential cost, he responded, “It’s not a question of a price tag. It’s not — really, we have no choice. When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here. There is no price tag.”
Although the exact number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. remains unclear, acting ICE Director Patrick J. Lechleitner noted in July that a large-scale deportation effort would present considerable logistical and financial challenges. Two former officials from Trump’s previous administration, who were involved in immigration, remarked that implementing the plan would require coordination across several federal agencies, including the Justice Department and the Pentagon.
Trump’s victory featured unprecedented support from Latino voters—a demographic Democrats aimed to capture by highlighting Trump’s past rhetoric on immigration and a controversial joke made by a pro-Trump comedian regarding Puerto Rico.
READ ALSO:
- How Primate Ayodele’s Trump prediction missed the mark
- I’m not gay – Desmond Elliot refutes allegations
- Nine things about new sect operating in northern Nigeria, more deadly than Boko Haram
During Thursday’s phone interview, Trump partially attributed his electoral success to his immigration message, saying, “They want to have borders, and they like people coming in, but they have to come in with love for the country. They have to come in legally.”
He also highlighted the broad coalition he attracted, citing increased support among Latino voters, young voters, women, and Asian American voters compared to 2020.
“I started to see realignment could happen because the Democrats are not in line with the thinking of the country,” the president-elect remarked. “You can’t have defund the police, these kind of things. They don’t want to give up and they don’t work, and the people understand that.”
Trump also reflected on recent conversations with Harris and President Joe Biden since the election.
“Very nice calls, very respectful both ways,” Trump said, recounting the exchanges and adding that Harris “talked about transition, and she said she’d like it to be smooth as can be, which I agree with, of course.”
In her concession speech at Howard University on Wednesday, Harris stated that she assured Trump, “We will help him and his team with their transition and that we will engage in a peaceful transfer of power.”
In his own remarks from the White House on Thursday morning, Biden urged Americans to “accept the choice the country made” in re-electing Trump.
Trump mentioned that he and Biden agreed to meet for lunch “very shortly.”
He also disclosed that he has spoken with “probably” 70 world leaders since Wednesday morning, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing it as “a very good talk.”
Additionally, Trump mentioned speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy but withheld specifics about their conversation.
While he has not yet spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump remarked, “I think we’ll speak.”
Throughout the campaign, Trump committed to ending Russia’s war with Ukraine if elected, suggesting in September he would broker a “good for both sides.”
Trump gives update on his mass deportations plan
International
Trump invokes Alien Enemies Act, deports over 200 gang members
Trump invokes Alien Enemies Act, deports over 200 gang members
US President Donald Trump issued a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, accusing Tren de Aragua of “perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion of predatory incursion against the territory of the United States.”
He announced that members of the gang will be deported for engaging in “irregular warfare” against the United States. The Alien Enemies Act was last used during WWII to imprison Japanese-American civilians.
On Saturday evening, US District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, DC, issued a 14-day freeze to deportations covered by Trump’s proclamation, pending more legal arguments.
After lawyers informed him that planes carrying deportees had already taken off, Judge Boasberg issued a verbal order for the planes to return, according to US media, though this command was not included in his written ruling.
According to Reuters, the written notice was filed in the court docket at 19:25 EDT on Saturday (00:25 GMT on Sunday), but it is unknown when the flights carrying the alleged gang members left the United States.
In a court filing on Sunday, Department of Justice lawyers stated that the order did not apply since the deportees “had already been removed from United States territory”.
The Justice Department has appealed the judge’s decision.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which was participating in the case against the Trump administration, stated that the court order may have been breached.
READ ALSO:
- Newcastle stun Liverpool to secure Carabao Cup victory
- 1,319 died of Diphtheria in Nigeria, says NCDC
- TUC backs NYSC member for criticising Tinubu administration
The case presents constitutional issues because, under the US system of checks and balances, government entities are expected to follow a federal judge’s decision.
Venezuela denounced Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, claiming it “unjustly criminalises Venezuelan migration” and “evokes the darkest episodes in the history of humanity, from slavery to the horror of Nazi concentration camps.”
Rights organisations blasted Trump, accusing him of utilising a 227-year-old legislation to sidestep due process.
Amnesty International USA commented on X that the deportations were “yet another example of the Trump administration’s racist targeting” of Venezuelans “based on sweeping claims of gang affiliation”.
Bukele, a Trump ally, stated that the detainees were promptly taken to El Salvador’s renowned mega-jail, the Terrorism Confinement Centre (Cecot).
The Salvadoran president stated that they will be imprisoned there “for a period of one year,” which might be “renewable.”
El Salvador’s Cecot jail is part of Bukele’s efforts to combat organised crime in the country.
Human rights groups have accused the newly built maximum-security institution, which can accommodate up to 40,000 people, of mistreating inmates.
The agreement between the United States and El Salvador is an indication of improved diplomatic relations.
El Salvador was the second country Rubio visited as the US’s top diplomat.
During that trip in February, Bukele made an initial offer to accept US deportees, claiming it would help finance the enormous Cecot facility.
The newest deportations during Trump’s second term are part of the president’s long-standing campaign against illegal immigration in the United States.
In January, Trump signed an executive order designating Tren de Aragua and MS-13 as foreign terrorist organisations.
He won over voters during the campaign, in part, by threatening to carry out the greatest deportation operation in US history.
While illegal border crossings have dropped to their lowest levels in decades since Trump took office, the Republican president has allegedly been upset by the slow pace of deportations thus far.
Trump invokes Alien Enemies Act, deports over 200 gang members
International
Peace deal must bar Ukraine from Nato, Russian official says
Peace deal must bar Ukraine from Nato, Russian official says
Russia will seek guarantees that Nato will exclude Ukraine from membership and that Ukraine will remain neutral in any peace deal, a Russian deputy foreign minister said.
“We will demand that ironclad security guarantees become part of this agreement,” Alexander Grushko told Russian media outlet Izvestia.
“Part of these guarantees should be the neutral status of Ukraine, the refusal of Nato countries to accept it into the alliance,” he said.
It comes as US President Donald Trump has said he will speak to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, as talks continue over a possible ceasefire in the three-year war in Ukraine.
Speaking on Air Force One on Sunday evening, Trump said: “A lot of work’s been done over the weekend. We want to see if we can bring that war to an end.”
“We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants,” Trump said when asked about concessions.
Trump added that he was already discussing “dividing up certain assets” between Russia and Ukraine.
READ ALSO:
- TikTok star, Murja Kunya arrested over naira abuse
- Woman steals lover’s N15m’ in bitcoins, phones in Lagos
- Police, Army in joint operation neutralise notorious kidnapper, Honor, in Nasarawa
The US and Ukraine have agreed to propose a 30-day ceasefire to Russia.
While Putin said that he supported a ceasefire, he also set out a list of tough conditions for achieving peace.
One of the areas of contention is Russia’s western Kursk region, where Ukraine launched a military incursion last August and captured some territory.
Putin has claimed Russia is fully back in control of Kursk, and said Ukrainian troops there “have been isolated”.
He has also raised numerous questions about how a ceasefire could be monitored and policed along the frontline in the east.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Putin of trying to “sabotage” diplomatic efforts to secure an immediate ceasefire.
US envoy Steve Witkoff, who met with Putin on Thursday in Moscow, earlier declined to answer a question on how Russian-occupied land in Ukraine could be addressed in a potential deal, during an interview with CNN. Russia currently controls around a fifth of Ukraine.
During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to end the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022, on “day one” of a new administration.
Less than a month after he was inaugurated, Trump had call with Putin that reportedly spanned 90 minutes about immediately starting negotiations on ending the war.
Peace deal must bar Ukraine from Nato, Russian official says
BBC
International
US strikes in Yemen kill 31 as Trump vows to end Huthi attacks
US strikes in Yemen kill 31 as Trump vows to end Huthi attacks
The first US strikes against Yemen’s Huthis since Donald Trump took office killed 31 people, the rebels said Sunday, with the US president warning “hell will rain down upon” the Iran-backed group if it did not stop attacking shipping.
The Huthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, said children were among those killed.
An AFP photographer in the rebel-held capital Sanaa heard explosions and saw plumes of smoke rising.
Attacks on Sanaa, as well as on areas in Saada, Al-Bayda and Radaa, killed at least 31 people and wounded 101, “most of whom were children and women”, Huthi health ministry spokesperson Anis Al-Asbahi said.
Footage on Huthi media showed children and a woman among those being treated in a hospital emergency room, including a dazed girl with blackened legs wrapped in bandages.
Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force” to end the Huthi attacks, which the rebels say are in solidarity with Palestinians amid the Gaza war.
“To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.
Trump also issued a stern warning to the group’s main backer.
“To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!” he said.
READ ALSO:
- Corps member alleges threats over viral video criticising Tinubu gov’t
- Navy seizes 13,800 litres of petrol, 71 bags of foreign rice in Lagos
- Nigerian govt planning to arrest me – Natasha
“Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
The Huthis vowed the strikes “will not pass without response”, while Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi condemned the deaths and said Washington had “no authority” to dictate Tehran’s foreign policy.
The Huthi Ansarullah website slammed what it called Washington’s “criminal brutality”.
US Central Command, which posted videos of fighter jets taking off and a bomb demolishing a compound, said “precision strikes” were launched to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation”.
- ‘Escalation with escalation’ –
“Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the Huthi political bureau said.
The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.
They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Huthis had “attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023”.
The campaign put a major strain on the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies to take a costly detour around southern Africa.
The Palestinian group Hamas, which has praised the Huthi support, lashed out at the US strikes, branding them “a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability”.
Iran “strongly condemned the brutal air strikes” in a statement, denouncing them as a “gross violation of the principles of the UN Charter”.
The head of the country’s Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, said: “Iran will not wage war, but if anyone threatens, it will give appropriate, decisive and conclusive responses.
- ‘Political dialogue’ –
The United States has launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets.
After halting their attacks when a ceasefire took effect in Gaza in January, the Huthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifted its blockade of aid to the devastated Palestinian territory.
Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on merchant shipping.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration reclassified the Huthis as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, banning any US interaction with it.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Moscow is close to Tehran.
“Continued Huthi attacks on US military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated,” Rubio told Lavrov, according to the State Department.
Russia’s foreign ministry said that “Lavrov stressed the need for an immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue… (to) prevent further bloodshed”.
The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened.
The war devastated the already impoverished nation.
US strikes in Yemen kill 31 as Trump vows to end Huthi attacks
-
Opinion3 days agoNasir El-Rufai’s scorched-earth one-man opposition, By Farooq Kperogi
-
Entertainment19 hours agoVIDEO: Asake reconciles with father, promises to purchase house, cover medical bills
-
Education1 day agoRomanian university offers fully funded scholarships to non-EU and non-EEA students for 2025
-
Politics3 days ago10 ex-Buhari’s ministers to dump APC for SDP
-
metro2 days agoObasa: Tinubu’s Abuja meeting fails to calm Lagos Assembly impasse as crisis deepens
-
metro2 days agoNatasha: Senate President Akpabio considers stepping down
-
metro2 days agoWhy we supported Tinubu despite Chicago University issues — El-Rufai
-
metro1 day agoEx-England star John Fashanu sues police for £100k after arrest in Nigeria