President Donald Trump has revoked a Biden-era order allowing transgender people to serve in the military.
After taking the oath of office on Monday, the new president signed an order revoking former President Joe Biden's order known as Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country in Uniform, which was signed in 2021.
On the campaign trail, Trump promised to reinstate the ban on transgender troops he imposed during his first term. In his inauguration speech, he said he would formally recognize that there are only two genders: male and female.
There are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender service members.
The new executive order was part of a rapid-fire succession of moves Trump has taken to undo Biden's policies. In a statement, the White House called out diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the federal government that "has corrupted them by replacing hard work, merit, and equality with a divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy."
The move comes as part of a campaign taken up by Trump and his Defense Department secretary nominee Pete Hegseth to weed out any DEI practices across U.S. forces.
Last week, Trump tapped Matthew Lohmeier to be the Air Force’s next undersecretary. In 2021, Lohmeier, a Space Force lieutenant colonel, was fired after calling out the military’s diversity programs and alleging "Marxism" within its ranks.
Lohmeier has self-published a book, "Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest and the Unmaking of the American Military" and appeared on podcasts claiming the military was being weakened by Marxism, diversity efforts and critical race theory.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chair of the House Armed Services Committee, praised the move, "is already restoring the focus of our military on lethality by putting an end to woke DEI programs."
Monday's actions are part of a wider Republican crackdown on transgenderism within the military. GOP lawmakers successfully included an amendment in their 2025 defense policy bill that bans irreversible transgender care for minors in the military healthcare system.
An order requiring the federal government to only recognize two genders has prohibited the use of taxpayer money for "transgender services" following reports that some inmates were receiving transgender care funded by the government. Medicaid, in some states, currently covers such treatments.
Also, under that order, federal prisons and shelters for migrants and rape victims are to be segregated by biological sex. It would block requirements at government facilities and at workplaces that transgender people be referred to using pronouns that align with their gender. Trump’s team says those requirements violate the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and religion.
The order does not issue a nationwide mandate on which bathrooms transgender people can use or which sports competitions they can participate in, though many states have passed laws in those areas.
The U.S. State Department has adopted a new policy under the Trump administration that effectively blocks U.S. embassies and outposts from flying Pride and Black Lives Matter flags, a report said Tuesday.
The Washington Free Beacon first reported that it obtained a copy of the "One Flag Policy" order, which permits only the American flag to be flown at U.S. facilities at home and abroad, with two notable exceptions: the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) emblem and the Wrongful Detainees Flag.
"Starting immediately, only the United States of America flag is authorized to be flown or displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestic and abroad, and featured in U.S. government content," the memo states, according to the outlet. "The flag of the United States of America united all Americans under the universal principles of justice, liberty, and democracy. These values, which are the bedrock of our great country, are shared by all American citizens, past and present."
Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department for confirmation about the "One Flag Policy," but did not immediately hear back.
The policy comes after the Biden administration courted controversy over the last four years over flying such flags, igniting lengthy debates between Democrats and Republicans.
Former President Joe Biden caught flack for flying the Pride flag outside the White House during a Pride Month celebration in 2023, and in 2021 for a leaked State Department memo that encouraged U.S. embassies to display Black Lives Matter flags on the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder.
The controversies led GOP lawmakers in 2023 to introduce a bill known as the One Flag for All Act, which proposed to make it illegal to fly, drape or display any flag other than the American flag on federal buildings or properties, with limited exceptions.
Pride flags were first flown at U.S. embassies during former President Barack Obama's administration, according to Forbes, prior to being banned by the Trump administration in 2019. The ability was reinstated by the Biden administration in 2021, Forbes reports.
Pride flags were later banned from being flown outside U.S. embassies in March 2024 as part of a $1.2 trillion spending package Biden signed.
President Donald Trump vowed to immediately shake up the State Department upon taking office, with one source familiar with the situation telling Fox News that the new Trump administration will immediately move new officials into key operational roles at the State Department to ensure the department is carrying out the Trump foreign policy agenda from day one.
Trump's Secretary of State nominee, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, was unanimously confirmed to the Cabinet post on Tuesday.
Fox News Digital’s Pilar Arias contributed to this report.
House and Senate leaders left a meeting at the White House on Tuesday with varying levels of optimism about being able to fit their plans for a massive conservative policy overhaul into one bill.
"The reason the president talked about the one big, beautiful bill, and the reason we talk about it as well, is because that's the most efficient and effective way to get it done," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News’ Sean Hannity after the meeting.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters, "We're moving forward with one bill on the House."
"We've had a lot of member briefings, but we've also been talking about this with President Trump," Scalise said. "When you look at what gives us the best path to success – to secure the border, lower energy cost and get stable tax policy instead of a tax increase – all of those things we want to do. One bill's the best path."
However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who has advocated for a two-bill approach, couched expectations when asked about Scalise’s comments.
"I think that discussion is always predicated on what we can get done, and we're obviously all interested in getting to the same destination," Thune told reporters. "There's a lot to do, and part of it is just figuring how to stage it, and what's the best way to get all those results."
One Senate GOP leadership source pushed back on House leaders' suggestions that the outcome of the joint discussion was broad agreement on a one-bill approach. Many Republicans in the upper chamber have maintained that their preference would be two reconciliation bills, even after Trump's meeting with the Senate GOP earlier this month.
Dealing with the debt limit, California wildfire aid and the March 14 government funding deadline were also topics that arose at the Tuesday meeting.
The sit-down comes as congressional Republicans are preparing for a massive conservative policy overhaul through the budget reconciliation process. By lowering the threshold for passage in the Senate from 60 votes to 51, reconciliation allows the party controlling Congress and the White House to pass broad policy changes — provided they deal with budgetary and other fiscal matters.
GOP lawmakers are angling to use reconciliation to pass sweeping measures on border security, government spending, defense, energy and to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts – with several key provisions from that bill expiring at the end of this year.
Advocates of the two-bill approach, which include Thune and the House Freedom Caucus, argue that splitting their priorities into separate pieces of legislation will allow Republicans to score early wins on issues like border security and energy, which generally fuel less division within the GOP, while leaving more time for complex matters like taxes.
Critics of that plan include members of the House Ways & Means Committee, who have warned that the complex political maneuvering needed for reconciliation could put two bills out of reach, given the GOP’s razor-thin margins in Congress.
"The last time we had two was when Newt Gingrich was the speaker. He had a much larger majority. That was 1997. We have a majority of one," committee member Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told reporters this month.
Congress is aiming to get a reconciliation plan on Trump’s desk by spring, Scalise said Tuesday.
The Trump administration is significantly expanding its powers to quickly deport illegal immigrants, one of a number of rapid-fire moves made by the administration to fulfill its promise to launch a mass deportation operation.
A Department of Homeland Security notice, issued Tuesday, removes limits put on the power of expedited removal put in place in March 2022 during the Biden administration. Until the new memo, officials were limited in their use of the power to 100 miles of the border or recent arrivals.
Expedited removal allows for the rapid removal of illegal immigrants who have failed to meet the standard for asylum or have not requested asylum. The new power takes off the 2022 limits, allowing agents to remove those who are unable to prove they have lived in the U.S. for at least two years.
"Presently, immigration officers may apply expedited removal to aliens apprehended anywhere in the United States for up to two years after the alien arrived in the United States, provided that the alien arrived by sea and the other conditions for expedited removal were satisfied," the notice, signed by acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman, said.
"In particular, the full application of expedited removal authority will enable DHS to address more effectively and efficiently the large volume of aliens who are present in the United States unlawfully, without having been admitted or paroled into the United States, and ensure the prompt removal from the United States of those not entitled to enter, remain, or be provided relief or protection from removal," it says.
The memo comes a day after DHS rescinded a Biden-era memo limiting the places in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers could arrest illegal immigrants. Another memo ordered a review of the use of humanitarian parole to admit migrants.
That, in turn, came after a slew of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that declared a national emergency at the border, halted refugee resettlement, ordered a removal process without asylum, ordered border wall reconstruction and deployed the military to the border.
Trump promised a "historic" mass deportation operation, and his border czar, Tom Homan, said on Tuesday that the operation was already underway.
"No, it started [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]. Teams are out there as of today," Homan said on "America’s Newsroom." "We gave them direction to prioritize public safety threats that we're looking for. We've been working up the target list."
Fox News' Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
Congressional Republican leaders met with President Donald Trump on Tuesday, and the president gave some public remarks after the White House summit.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana are expected to address the press as to what was discussed in their first meeting with the new president since he began his second term.
Trump clashed with some congressional Republicans late last year as the federal government was facing a potential shutdown that was ultimately narrowly averted.
Other Republican leaders present at Tuesday’s meeting include House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota and House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain of Michigan.
On the Senate side, Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming and Conference chairs Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia were also part of the discussion.
While Trump had signed a slew of executive orders on his first day in office, he also signaled eagerness to work with congressional Republicans to pass key parts of his agenda through the legislature.
During a press availability following his meeting with Republicans, Trump mentioned the get-together as well as his new executive orders renaming Mt. Denali and the Gulf of Mexico.
He said President William McKinley was worthy of having his name put back on North America’s highest peak, quipping that his fellow Republican was known as the "tariff king" and presided over one of the strongest economies in U.S. history.
Trump claimed the U.S. was "the richest country" in the world between 1870 and 1913. McKinley had just begun his second term when he was assassinated in Buffalo, New York, in 1901.
When asked about pardoning Jan. 6 convicts, Trump agreed it is never right to assault a police officer but suggested the press and the left have not expressed the same concern for those involved in the weekslong conflagrations in Portland, Oregon, and Minneapolis after the death of George Floyd.
Trump also spoke about stripping Secret Service protection from his former advisor John Bolton, calling the Baltimore native a "warmonger" and a "very dumb person."
Later in his presser, Trump announced he would be visiting North Carolina and California in the coming days.
Trump made implicit reference to areas of the Smokie Mountains decimated by Hurricane Helene, claiming Democrats had abandoned the Tarheel State in the wake of the historic storm that affected a large swath of the U.S. and particularly the area from Damascus, Virginia, to Augusta, Georgia.
Trump also appeared to suggest Democrats and Democratic policy failures in the lead-up to the Los Angeles wildfires have left the party "dead, politically" in California.
"What they’ve done is destroyed [Los Angeles]," he said, speaking of sprinklers without water and hydrants without proper water or pressure.
He said California’s leaders either have "a death wish [or] they are stupid, or there’s something else going on."
When he travels to California, he may notably encounter one of his longtime political foes, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who is now the state’s junior senator.
The Washington, D.C., pastor who delivered a liberal sermon during a church service attended by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance is facing fierce backlash from fellow pastors, as well as critics on social media for "weaponizing" the pulpit instead of promoting unity.
"Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde is the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. She's the first woman to hold the position. She was given a great honor today, a chance to unify America around a Christian message at the dawn of a new administration. Instead, she disgraced herself with a lecture you'd hear on CNN or an episode of The View. What an embarrassment," Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk posted to X.
Catholic Vote, a conservative nonprofit, added on X, "Liberal Protestant Pastor Mariann Edgar Budde blindsides Trump and Vance, weaponizing her sermon to attack them in front of their families by saying they should ‘have mercy’ on gay, lesbian, and transgender children. Unbelievable."
Trump and Vance, alongside their respective families, took part in a long presidential tradition of attending the National Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral the day after the inauguration. The National Cathedral, an Episcopal Church, has hosted the prayer service the day after the presidential inauguration since 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn-in.
This year's service, however, took a turn when the bishop of the protestant church warned that gay and transgender children allegedly "fear for their lives" and that Trump should "have mercy," before turning her attention to illegal immigrants living in the U.S.
Trump and Vance appeared visibly annoyed by the comments, as Trump looked off to his side, while Vance shot a look over at Trump.
"In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives," Mariann Edgar Budde claimed in the church service.
"And the people who pick our crops, clean our office buildings, labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat at restaurants and work the night shifts at hospitals, they may not be citizens, or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals," she continued.
Pastor and former NFL star Jack Brewer told Fox News Digital that the sermon is "just the beginning of Democrats' desperate attempts to race bait America back into the pernicious grips of DEI."
"The fact that President Trump demanded that God remain as the foundation of America should have received non-partisan praise from all of our nation's clergy. We are addressing DEI and wokeness in our government and businesses and it’s time to address wokeness in churches as well," he said.
Pastor Rob Pacienza of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida and founder of the Institute for Faith and Culture slammed the comment in a statement to Fox Digital.
"Ironically, the bishop used the pulpit and the service to not only lecture the president but to promote a secular worldview and her woke ideology. Unity can only be achieved through a commitment to biblical truth, not cultural assimilation. Her sermon was indicative of the heresy being taught by mainline denominations. Our nation was founded upon the truth that there is God, and he alone defines good and evil," he said.
Chicago Pastor Corey Brooks added that he "would like to know … why she didn’t ask for the previous administration to have mercy on these trans kids and immigrants."
"This Bishop asked Trump and his administration to have mercy on trans kids and immigrants. What I would like to know is why she didn’t ask for the previous administration to have mercy on these trans kids and immigrants? Where was she when it counted? We have children who are so young that they do not know the ways of this world and yet we are doing irreversible damage to their bodies — damage that many have since regretted. Where was she when Biden opened the borders and allowed millions of people who knew they were breaking the law to cross over," Brooks told Fox News Digital following the sermon.
"We knew a day of reckoning was coming. Yet where was her request for compassion back then. What the previous administration did was not compassion but ideological malpractice. They operated on children out of ideology. They allowed in people from other countries out of ideology. This was not compassion. Our compassion must be for our citizens first and foremost," he added.
Other critics of the remarks slammed Budde on social media for what they described as an attack on Trump and his policies.
The pastor of Kings Church in New York City, David Englehard, added in a comment provided to Fox News Digital that "when compassion divorces itself from truth, it becomes a counterfeit virtue—easily manipulated, shallow, and destructive."
"As Christ warned in John 8:44, the father of lies thrives where truth is discarded, twisting kind intentions into tools of hell. True compassion bows to the authority of law and justice-for his throne is established on Justice; without these, it is not compassion at all, but indulgence in sophistry that serves the enemy of God," Englehard said.
Additionally, country music artist John Rich responded to the sermon by citing scripture. "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Matthew 12:30"
Trump demanded an apology from the pastor in a Truth Social post early Wednesday morning, describing her tone as "nasty."
"The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart. She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people. Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions. It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA. Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!" he posted.
His message followed Budde joining CNN, where she explained that she was speaking directly to Trump in the sermon.
"I was speaking directly to him. I was also, frankly, as you do in every sermon, speaking to everyone who was listening through that one-on-one conversation with the president. Reminding us all that in the people that are frightened in our country, the two groups of people that I mentioned are our fellow human beings, and that they have been portrayed in, all throughout the political campaign, in the harshest of lights that … I wanted to counter as gently as I could with a reminder of their humanity and their and their place in our wider community," she said.
Democrats have named their members to serve on the House Oversight Subcommittee for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and warn they will "fight back" against cuts to critical federal programs.
The newly minted agency, a key promise of President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, is tasked with slashing government waste and providing increased transparency when it comes to government spending. It was created via executive order on Monday.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M. announced on X Tuesday that she will serve as the ranking member.
Stansbury will be joined by Rep. Stephen Lynch, D- Mass., Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, as well as Eleanor Holmes Norton, a non-voting congressional delegate for Washington, D.C., per Politico. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., the ranking member of the full Oversight and Government Reform Committee, will be permitted to sit on the subcommittee in an ex officio capacity, the outlet reports.
Stansbury vowed to "use every tool available to work across the aisle and combat policies that are harmful to Americans."
She said in a video on X that Democrats are "100% in" on DOGE if it operates to improve government efficiency and make federal agencies work better. But if it’s going to be "political theater to do the bidding of President Trump and his billionaire allies," then they are prepared to "fight back."
"I know what good government looks like and am not afraid to fight for it," Stansbury said in a separate statement, per Politico. "At the same time, I am prepared to fight to protect the vital programs, services, and employees that keep our communities safe and the economy running."
Garcia, too, said he will use his position on the oversight subcommittee to "fight back" against the House GOP’s plans to "attack the federal workforce." He said Republicans plan on cutting critical federal programs, including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and give tax cuts to billionaires and the wealthiest corporations.
He took aim at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who is chair of the subcommittee.
"Marjorie Taylor Greene and her extremist allies are helping push a radical agenda in this subcommittee that includes eliminating the Department of Education and programs for seniors and veterans," Garcia said in a statement.
"We’re ready to fight back on day one, call out attempts to slash our social safety net, and make sure we take care of working families and the middle class."
Earlier on Tuesday, Greene announced Republican members selected to serve on the subcommittee; Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas; Rep. William Timmons, S.C.; Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas; Rep. Brian Jack, R-Ga.; Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn.; Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo.; and Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas.
She said they bring a wealth of experience and are dedicated to providing a more efficient, effective and accountable federal government.
"Together, we will strive to eliminate waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement within federal agencies, ensuring that the government operates efficiently and transparently for the American people," Greene said in a statement.
The announcements come amid news that former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is leaving the newly created department.
Ramaswamy, who along with Elon Musk, the world's richest person, was tapped in November by Trump to steer DOGE, is expected to launch a Republican campaign for Ohio governor early next week, according to a Fox News source.
Running for elected office requires him to remain outside of DOGE, based on its structure. GOP Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio is term-limited and cannot seek re-election in 2026.
Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday described the letter former President Biden left him inside the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as "inspirational" and teased reporters that he may release the "very nice" note at some point.
Trump was asked about the letter, which he found inside the Resolute Desk on Monday with a little help from Fox News Senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy, during a press conference announcing a $500 billion investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
"It was a very nice letter," Trump told reporters. "It was a little bit of an inspirational-type letter. Enjoy it, do a good job. Important, very important. How important the job is."
The president added that he appreciated the letter so much that he may release it to the public.
"It was a positive, for him, in writing it," Trump continued. "I appreciated the letter."
Trump found the letter – addressed to "47″ – after Doocy asked if President Biden left him a letter while he was signing a flurry of executive orders in the Oval Office on Monday in front of a gaggle of reporters.
"He may have. Don’t they leave it in the desk? I don’t know," Trump told Doocy before discovering the white envelope. "Thank you, Peter. It could have been years before we found this thing."
Trump had then teased reporters that they should read it together before pulling back the reigns. He said he’d open the letter later Monday night.
The presidential tradition of leaving a letter to their successor began in 1989 when President Ronald Reagan left the White House after two terms in office, with former President George H. W. Bush taking over.
Bush continued the tradition despite losing the White House to former President Bill Clinton after just one term in office. The tradition has carried on to this day through Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Trump and Biden.
Biden, however, was the first president to find himself in the unique position of writing a letter to someone who is both his successor and the predecessor who left him a note four years earlier. Trump became the first president to serve nonconsecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s.
Biden has said Trump left him a "very generous letter," but has so far declined to share the content of what Trump wrote, deeming it private.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump blasted Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, after she directed politically charged remarks towards him during an interfaith service of prayer for the country at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday, the day after Trump's inauguration.
"Let me make one final plea, Mr. President," she said. "In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and [transgender] children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives."
She went on to say that "the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors."
"I ask you to have mercy Mr. President on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here," she said.
Trump trashed Budde and her performance in a post on Truth Social, suggesting that she and her church should apologize to the public.
The president also pointed out that there are illegal immigrants who have entered the country and killed Americans.
"The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart. She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people. Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions. It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA," Trump declared in the post on Wednesday.
"Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!" he asserted.
Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., indicated in a post on X that he is Episcopalian, and objected to Budde's remarks.
"As a conservative Episcopalian who supports President Trump and his agenda, I am profoundly disappointed that Bishop Mariann Budde politicized today’s inaugural Service of Prayer for the Nation. By disregarding President Trump’s appointment of Scott Bessent, a brilliant, openly gay man to serve as Treasury Secretary and Elon Musk, a genius, first generation legal immigrant to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, Bishop Budde’s gratuitous criticisms ring hollow," Barr declared.
"Sadly, the only message Bishop Budde delivered through her unwelcoming and hypocritical words to the President was that the Episcopal Church’s motto of ‘All are Welcome’ apparently doesn’t apply to the majority of Americans who voted for Donald Trump."
FIRST ON FOX: Newly sworn-in Secretary of State Marco Rubio is advising his department to cease refugee resettlement operations and begin ramping up vetting of visas from certain regions in response to executive orders from President Donald Trump.
After officially becoming its next secretary, Rubio directed the Department of State to halt refugee resettlement programs, a senior department source told Fox News Digital.
He also ordered the department to implement enhanced vetting for visa applications from "dangerous regions."
The secretary cited new executive orders signed by Trump after his inauguration Monday.
Among dozens of executive orders, Trump signed one aimed at "Realigning The United States Refugee Admissions Program" and another to "[Protect] the United States From Foreign Terrorists And Other National Security And Public Safety Threats."
The former dictated that the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) be suspended due to its detrimental effect on the country's interests. The latter order calls for increased vetting of all aliens, "to the maximum degree possible," especially those "from regions or nations with identified security risks."
Trump's executive order on refugees further stipulates that "the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security may jointly determine to admit aliens to the United States as refugees on a case-by-case basis, in their discretion, but only so long as they determine that the entry of such aliens as refugees is in the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States."
Rubio was the first Trump Cabinet member confirmed, the Senate voting unanimously to do so Monday night.
He was sworn in Tuesday morning, becoming the 72nd secretary of state.
In remarks at the department Tuesday, Rubio said, "There will be changes, but the changes are not meant to be destructive. They're not meant to be punitive.
"The changes will be because we need to be a 21st century agency that can move by — a cliché that's used by many — at the speed of relevance. But we need to move faster than we ever have, because the world is changing faster than we ever have. And we have to have a view that some say is called ‘look around the corner.’
"But we really need to be thinking about where are we going to be in five, seven, 10 or 15 years. Some of the issues that confront humanity today have no precedent. They have no historic precedent. Some of the challenges we face have no historic precedent. We can compare it to another era, to another time, but they're not the same. Things are moving faster than ever," he explained.
Immigration was a top campaign priority for Trump during the 2024 election.
In his inaugural address Monday, Trump promised, "I will declare a national emergency at our southern border. All illegal entry will immediately be halted. And we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came. We will reinstate my Remain in Mexico policy. I will end the practice of catch and release. And I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country."
A group of racial justice protesters reached a settlement with the federal government in a lawsuit accusing law enforcement agents sent by President Trump of using excessive force to protect a federal courthouse in 2020.
Under the settlement, the federal government must compensate the plaintiffs for the injuries suffered at the hands of federal agents, the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon said Tuesday.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the ACLU of Oregon for details surrounding the specific compensation amounts.
The plaintiffs included three military veterans, a college professor, several Black Lives Matter activists and a man who said agents grabbed him off a street for no reason while he was blocks from the federal courthouse in Portland.
"We are proud to have represented our courageous clients," ACLU of Oregon legal director Kelly Simon said in a news release. "They suffered serious injuries because of federal law enforcement’s unlawful, aggressive actions, and it is just and fair that they are being compensated. Thank you to our clients and all people who stood up for Black lives and against government tyranny. The ACLU of Oregon will stand with you again and again to make sure everyone is treated with justice and fairness by the government."
Thousands of protesters in Portland and across the country took to the streets for months in 2020 in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. The demonstrators at times clashed with police, and militarized federal agents were ordered to Portland to stop the riots.
The lawsuit accused federal agents of exceeding the limits of their authority, making illegal arrests and using tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray when trying to stop the riots. Nearly all the plaintiffs alleged they suffered physical injuries and some were treated at hospitals.
A video showed Navy veteran Christopher David, a plaintiff in the suit, outside the courthouse being struck by an agent with a baton and another dousing him in the face with pepper spray. David suffered two broken bones in his hand during the protest.
The lawsuit alleges that then-Acting Director of Homeland Security Chad Wolf did not have the authority to send more than 100 agents to Portland because he was improperly appointed. Wolf abruptly resigned in 2021 — shortly before Trump was set to leave office — saying he was compelled to leave by "recent events," including court rulings that found his appointment to be unlawful.
A federal investigative report later found that the militarized federal agents did not have the proper training or equipment and that there was no plan for responding to protests without local police assistance.
Local police arrested hundreds of protesters over three months and federal agents arrested nearly 100 more during the height of the demonstrations.
"It shocked the conscience that this level of force was used against veterans, moms, and other nonviolent protesters. The way our own government treated us violated everything we learned in the military," plaintiff and veteran Nichol Denison said in the news release.
This was one of several lawsuits the ACLU of Oregon filed against the federal government on behalf of protesters and other groups, including journalists and legal observers.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., showed frustration with Democrats on Tuesday after a confirmation vote for President Trump's pick for CIA director in John Ratcliffe, who has bipartisan support, was blocked.
Speaking on the Senate floor after the vote was blocked by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Thune said the Senate can remain in session all weekend to confirm Trump's picks if progress continues to be delayed.
"Do we want a vote on these folks on Tuesday or vote on them on Friday, Saturday and Sunday? Because that's what we're going to do. This can be easy or this can be hard," Thune said. "This is about America's national security interests, and we're stalling, so that's not going to happen."
Ratcliffe was approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee by a bipartisan vote of 14 to 3. Because of that, Thune said the vote to confirm him "shouldn't be hard."
"Democrats and Republicans, in a very big bipartisan fashion, agree that he is very qualified for this job," Thune said, adding that he isn't sure what stalling accomplishes.
When blocking the vote, Murphy said many Democrats have "serious concerns" about Ratcliffe's ability to work as CIA director because he "repeatedly politicized intelligence" during his eight months as National Intelligence director in 2020.
"I don't think it's too much to ask to make sure that we have a full, real debate that lasts two days on the Senate floor," Murphy said on Tuesday.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the delay is for "no good reason" and is simply an attempt "to drag out all of these nominations to play procedural games."
Cotton noted that while the Democrats acted in similar fashion in 2017 with Trump's first administration and the Republicans in 2021 with Biden's picks, that this didn't happen during confirmation votes prior to the past two elections.
"We should especially get back to that practice when it is a highly accomplished, well-qualified nominee of integrity, like John Ratcliffe," Cotton said. "Now we're going to spin our wheels for two days. But, as I said, don't make plans for the weekend. Don't have any dinner dates scheduled starting on Thursday night because we're going to get these nominees done the easy, collegial way. Or apparently the hard way."
Only one of Trump's Cabinet nominees has been confirmed thus far, and that was former Florida senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. He was confirmed on Monday by a unanimous vote.
Several nominees have advanced out of committee votes while others still await confirmation hearings.
