#trump + #immigration

In the summer of 2025, Congressional Republicans passed a reconciliation bill providing $170.7 billion dollars to the Department of Homeland Security for immigration enforcement related activities. According to Office of Management and Budget, of the $75 billion specifically for ICE, $63 billion remains unspent while of the $65 billion for CBP, $37 billion remains unspent.

Or, to put it another way, ICE and CBP, despite receiving no annual appropriations this year, still have $100 billion dollars in funding to spend.

So, obviously, what Congress needs to do this year is appropriate still more money to ICE and CBP (another $70 billion to ICE and CBP together through 2029). Last night, in a 52-47 vote, that’s just what the Senate did.

Judge Leo Sorokin decided those fees violated the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act. Twenty states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the fees. The judge agreed with the states that the fee is a tax, which the president cannot levy on his own. “The tax can only be levied by Congress, and so he crossed the line when he entered into this area of charging $100,000 for a particular type of visa,” Hing said.

The Trump administration has already said they plan to appeal this ruling. The district court is the lowest-level court in the federal system, with the next stop likely to be the court of appeals.

In the meantime, companies are not required to pay the fee.

As for the companies that have already paid the fee, they will likely seek reimbursement from the government. However, any refunds will likely have to wait until the appeals process is completed, which will take some time.

Video from bystanders showed that Pretti had not attacked officers, as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said immediately after the shooting. Critics raised further complaints after Noem and Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller both called Pretti a domestic terrorist before an investigation had concluded.

What happened before and at the moment of the shooting? published at 08:14 08:14 As we've posted earlier, our colleagues at BBC Verify have analysed seven videos showing the moments leading up to and around the shooting. The footage shows an agent pushing someone over, with Pretti standing between them and the agent while filming on his phone. The agent pepper sprays Pretti in the face. Pretti raises his hand defensively and turns away, pockets his phone, and starts to help the woman on the floor as the agent continues spraying. Other agents rush over. They drag Pretti away and several agents wrestle him to the floor. Pretti then tries to crawl away - he’s clearly not holding a gun. An agent in a grey jacket is seen reaching for something from Pretti’s waist. Next to him, another agent draws his gun. The agent in the grey jacket turns away from Pretti, holding what appears to be a pistol. Less than a second later, an agent shoots Pretti. Ten shots are heard in total. For context, after the shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gave the following description of what happened: "An individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted. Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots."

Republican Congressman Thomas Massie has defended the carrying of a gun as a "constitutional right", following the Department of Homeland and Security's claim that Alex Pretti was armed when he was shot dead by federal agents yesterday. "Carrying a firearm is not a death sentence, it’s a Constitutionally protected God-given right," Massie says, criticising an X post from US attorney Bill Essayli, which alludes to Pretti's death. Essayli, in his own post, says there is a "high likelihood" federal officers will "be legally justified" in shooting an armed person who approaches them. Generally, Republicans celebrate the right to possess firearms as enshrined in the US Constitution.