A federal judge has sharply rebuked the Trump administration and is evaluating whether officials are in contempt of court for failing to secure the return of a man wrongly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
The US supreme court last week ordered that the Trump administration to facilitate the release and return of Kilmar Ábrego García, a refugee who has legally lived in the US for 25 years.
Meanwhile, immigration authorities reportedly apprehended and deported a 19-year-old Venezuelan, Merwil Gutiérrez, despite agents’ realizing he was not whom they meant to arrest in a targeted operation.
Judge says Trump administration argument ‘not bound in facts’
Xinis, the judge in the Ábrego García case, dismissed the Trump administration’s legal arguments that it was powerless to secure the wrongly deported man’s release and that the word “facilitate” did not necessarily mean they needed to pursue his return.
“Your characterization is not bound in fact,” Xinis said. “I need facts.”
Attorney general quiet on Trump proposal to jail US citizens in El Salvador
The US attorney general Pam Bondi declined on Tuesday to say whether Donald Trump’s suggestion of removing US citizens to El Salvador was legal, in alarming remarks about what experts think is an obviously illegal idea.
Obama backs Harvard as Yale staff support resisting Trump
Barack Obama has come out in support of Harvard after the Trump administration elected to cut $2bn of its federal grants after the Ivy League school rejected what it said was an attempt at “government regulation”. Meanwhile, faculty at Yale – another prominent Ivy League institution – asked its leadership “to resist and legally challenge any unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom and … self-governance”.
Hegseth sued over book bans on race and gender
Twelve students studying in Pentagon schools in the US and around the world are suing the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, over the book bans he has instigated to remove titles on race and gender from their libraries.
Hegseth adviser on leave after Pentagon leaks
One of US defense secretary Pete Hegseth’s leading advisers, Dan Caldwell, was reportedly put on leave and removed from the Pentagon after a department of defense investigation into leaks. Caldwell was escorted out of the Pentagon after being identified during the investigation and subsequently placed on administrative leave for “an unauthorized disclosure”, a source told Reuters.
Trump signs healthcare order including a win for pharma
Donald Trump directed his health department on Tuesday to work with Congress on revamping a law that allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, seeking to introduce a change the pharmaceutical industry has lobbied for.
Trump envoy demands Iran eliminate nuclear program
Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, has announced Iran must totally eliminate its nuclear programme, seeming to reverse the policy he had articulated on Fox News only 12 hours earlier that would have allowed Iran to enrich uranium at a low level for civilian use.
Trump donors could cash in if US succeeds in Greenland land-grab
Some of Donald Trump’s biggest campaign donors and investors, who collectively have hundreds of millions of dollars in financial ties to the US president, are positioned to potentially profit from any American takeover of Greenland, raising even more ethical questions around Trump’s controversial pursuit of the Arctic territory.
What else happened today:
Republican senator Chuck Grassley struggled to control a town hall meeting as constituents erupted in anger over border security policies and the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation practices.
Apple’s main Indian suppliers shipped nearly $2bn worth of iPhones to the US in March, an all-time high, as the US company airlifted devices to bypass Trump’s impending tariffs, customs data shows.
The man accused of setting fire to the Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial mansion was due in court days later on allegations that he assaulted his wife and stepson after trying to take his own life.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 14 April 2025.
