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Associated Press
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
President Donald Trump waves after speaking at the opening of the Great American State Fair on the National Mall, Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The Supreme Court voted 6-3 on Thursday to allow the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disaster in Haiti and Syria, exposing hundreds of thousands more people to potential deportation.
The Department of Homeland Security can now end temporary protected status, a program that protects a total of 1.3 million people from 17 countries.
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The Supreme Court also voted 6-3 to clear the way for the Trump administration to potentially revive an immigration policy once used to turn back migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. The court overturned a lower court order blocking the practice that limited the number of people who could apply for asylum each day.
Heres’ the latest:
Reflecting Pool liner was cut with a sharp knife or razor, National Park Service says
A liner along the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was cut with a sharp knife or razor this month, causing damage to the foam sealant installed as part of a $16 million rehabilitation project, a top official at the National Park Service says.
The agency reported the June 9 incident to U.S. Park Police, said Frank Lands, deputy director of operations for the park service. Lands made the statement in a court document filed late Wednesday as part of a lawsuit filed by a nonprofit organization to halt the Trump administration’s work on the project.
The police report indicates damage to the pool, “including a caulk over the foam sealant that was cut with a sharp knife or razor and destruction of delaminating surface material,″ Lands said. About 70 fence post tops also were thrown into the pool, he said.
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‘Alligator Alcatraz’ immigration detention center in Florida is officially closed, governor says
The immigration center built in the Florida swamps known as “Alligator Alcatraz” is closing after nearly a year of holding thousands of immigrant detainees, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday.
DeSantis said the center was always supposed to be temporary and now federal officials have enough ability to handle detention and deportation in more permanent facilities.
Officials announced a temporary closure of the facility earlier in June, saying hurricane season made it unsafe to keep the detainees in the Florida Everglades. All the of people kept at the isolated airstrip had been sent to other facilities.
Immigration advocates said the tents were never safe or humane to hold people. Detainees at the facility have talked about their difficulty accessing lawyers, and have described poor physical conditions, including worms in the food, toilets that don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects everywhere.
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Homeland Security touts TPS win at Supreme Court
The top legal official at Homeland Security praised the Supreme Court’s decision on temporary protected status.
“The Court vindicates DHS yet again,” said James Percival, the department’s general counsel in a statement on X.
“The T in TPS stands for TEMPORARY, yet many of these designations became de facto amnesty. This is a win for the rule of law and common sense,” Percival said.
DHS secretary says the department is reevaluating warehouses purchased for ICE detention
Markwayne Mullin says his department is reevaluating the eleven warehouses his predecessor purchased to use as immigration detention facilities.
Mullin says some just “probably won’t work” and suggested a lack of “due diligence” when it came to purchasing the warehouses. They were purchased under Mullin’s predecessor, Kristi Noem.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement received huge pushback around the country after the purchases became known.
When Mullin came into office, he paused any new purchases and federal officials have been looking at ways to offload some of them.
Federal judge halts Trump’s election executive order seeking to create a federal voter list
The executive order also sought to limit who can receive a mail ballot.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, sided with a coalition of nearly two dozen states that challenged the Republican president’s order in granting a summary judgment. Her ruling applies to this year’s midterm election cycle.
Plaintiffs argued in two lawsuits, both filed in federal court in Boston, that Trump’s order should be found unconstitutional because the states and Congress, not the president, have the power to set election rules. The judge agreed, noting in her ruling that the provisions of Trump’s order “unconstitutionally violate the separation of powers.”
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Supreme Court allows Trump administration to end legal protections for Haitians and Syrians
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disaster in Haiti and Syria, exposing hundreds of thousands more people to potential deportation.
The decision overturns lower court orders and allows the Department of Homeland Security to swiftly end temporary protected status, a program that protects a total of 1.3 million people from 17 countries.
The Trump administration argued judges can’t second-guess immigration officials’ decisions about the protections, which were intended to be temporary.
Immigration attorneys said the countries remain unsafe to return, and the administration ended them in an unlawfully hasty process tinged by racial animus. During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump amplified false rumors that Haitian immigrants were abducting and eating dogs and cats.
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Supreme Court clears way for the Trump administration to revive a restrictive immigration policy
The policy was once used to turn back migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The justices overturned a lower court order blocking the practice that limited the number of people who could apply for asylum each day under the Obama administration and during Trump’s first term.
Advocates said the tactic created a humanitarian crisis as thousands of people settled in unsafe makeshift shelters to await their turn. The Trump administration said it was necessary to deal with an increase of asylum seekers at the border.
The policy isn’t in place now, though authorities have imposed other restrictions on asylum seekers.
The administration argues that metering is a critical tool that’s been used by presidents of both parties and should stay available.
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Trump’s showdown with Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy
President Trump was attending a private lunch Wednesday with the Senate GOP when he wondered aloud how anyone could have voted for a war powers resolution a day earlier that sought to block further U.S. military action against Iran.
Cassidy, one of the four Republicans who backed the measure, was ready with an answer.
“I stood and said, ‘You have not told the American people what’s going on,’” Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, recounted to reporters afterward. “This is supposed to last four weeks. It’s lasted four months. Our original objectives have not been achieved.”
Things deteriorated from there.
When Cassidy told Trump he would continue voting for war powers resolutions until there’s a congressional briefing on developments in Iran, the senator recalled that Trump “did not particularly care for my comments” and “raised his voice.”
Trump repeatedly told Cassidy to sit down, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private meeting. At one point, the president called the senator a “lunatic,” the person said.
Cassidy acknowledged losing his temper, which he said was “not appropriate.”
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— Steven Sloan and Lisa Mascaro
Oil tankers use new route through Strait of Hormuz despite Iranian threats
Several tankers made their way out of the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday using a new route promoted by a U.N. maritime agency. Iran has threatened vessels using the path, which runs along the coast of Oman.
The opening of an alternative passage through the vital waterway would relieve pressure on the world economy and remove Iran’s main source of leverage in ongoing talks about the interim deal signed last week with the United States.
Traffic through the strait has increased but is still well below prewar levels. Oil on Thursday briefly dipped below its last prewar price of just under $73 a barrel, a sign that the market believes the situation is improving.
The two sides are still debating terms of the deal — from getting ships through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf to the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
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Key inflation gauge jumps to 3-year high in latest sign of affordability challenges
The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge rose to a new three-year high in May as gas prices peaked, a sign rising costs could pose political problems for President Trump as midterm elections near.
The Commerce Department said Thursday that consumer prices rose 4.1% in May from a year earlier, the largest annual increase since April 2023. On a monthly basis, inflation was 0.4% last month, matching April’s increase and down from 0.7% in March.
The increase was largely driven by more expensive gas, as well as pricier semiconductors and other computer equipment that are in high demand for the AI buildout. Rising prices have caused the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve to keep their key rate unchanged this year, a reversal from January when they had penciled in two cuts. Some economists forecast the central bank could lift rates this year instead.
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Lawmakers demand answers as turmoil over Reflecting Pool repair continues
Congressional Democrats called for investigations Wednesday into renovations at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, as the ongoing drama over the president’s problem-plagued, $16 million rehabilitation project continued to roil the capital.
Lawmakers in the House and Senate demanded answers about the saga that’s been highlighted in the news cycle for weeks, even as the White House has repeatedly blamed — without evidence — unidentified vandals for peeling paint and other problems. Six people have been arrested, President Donald Trump said, without providing details, and a local wildlife nonprofit conducted necropsies on dead ducks found near the Reflecting Pool. The president has said the pool may need to be drained once again for additional repairs.
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, challenged the Trump administration over no-bid contracts for work on the Reflecting Pool, saying they were awarded to vendors with previous relationships to Trump.
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Senate Republicans reject war powers resolution after Trump berates them at Capitol meeting
Senate Republicans who were berated by President Donald Trump over opposition to his war in Iran held a late-night vote Wednesday to try to appease him, rejecting a war powers resolution a day after a similar measure passed.
Trump harangued GOP senators face-to-face earlier in the day for allowing a vote to block his war in Iran on Tuesday, further escalating a feud that has diverted GOP efforts to focus on election-year affordability issues and brought much of the chamber’s business to a halt. He exchanged particularly harsh words with Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of four Republicans who had voted with Democrats on the measure.
Hours later, though, Cassidy was invited to receive a personal briefing on the war at the White House from Vice President JD Vance and envoy Steve Witkoff. Cassidy then returned to the Capitol to vote against a separate but nearly identical war powers resolution.
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Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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