President Donald Trump began his second term this week with an explosion of actions, spending his first few days in office going full speed on his agenda and reversing the work of his predecessor.
The dizzying march of executive orders, presidential pardons, firings of Biden appointees, calls with foreign leaders, and visits to disaster zones started immediately after the inauguration on Monday, and the breakneck pace did not let up for the rest of the week.
On day one, Trump signed more than three dozen executive orders on the southern border, gender ideology, American energy, the economy, and other issues.
In a flurry of orders on immigration, his signature issue, Trump took several drastic actions.
The president <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/declaring-a-national-emergency-at-the-southern-border-of-the-united-states/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> a national emergency at the southern border, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/clarifying-the-militarys-role-in-protecting-the-territorial-integrity-of-the-united-states/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deployed</a> thousands of troops there, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/securing-our-borders/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ordered</a> construction of the border wall, and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-american-people-against-invasion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ordered</a> Homeland Security to remove illegal migrants and go after the drug cartels, which he <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/designating-cartels-and-other-organizations-as-foreign-terrorist-organizations-and-specially-designated-global-terrorists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">designated</a> as terrorists.
The executive orders also <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/guaranteeing-the-states-protection-against-invasion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blocked</a> all illegal entries including asylum seekers and refugees, shut down the CBP One app, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-united-states-from-foreign-terrorists-and-othernational-security-and-public-safety-threats/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beefed</a> up visa screening, and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-meaning-and-value-of-american-citizenship/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attempted</a> to end birthright citizenship for the children of non-citizens, which is already facing legal challenges.
“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,” Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/us/politics/trump-starts-immigration-crackdown-enlisting-the-military-and-testing-the-law.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in his inaugural remarks after taking the oath of office.
Trump also <a href="https://x.com/JennieSTaer/status/1882071203369865550" target="_blank" rel="noopener">threatened</a> to prosecute officials and strip funding from sanctuary cities and states that refuse to cooperate with his deportations, which have already begun.
Less than 48 hours after Trump was sworn in, ICE had already <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-than-400-illegal-immigrants-arrested-in-first-few-days-of-trump-admin?topStoryPosition=2">arrested</a> more than 460 illegal migrants.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security reinstated the term “illegal alien.”
One of Trump&#8217;s biggest moves of his first day — and week — was granting <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/granting-pardons-and-commutation-of-sentences-for-certain-offenses-relating-to-the-events-at-or-near-the-united-states-capitol-on-january-6-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pardons</a> to nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the January 6 riot at the Capitol.
Most of the defendants received full pardons, while 14 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, most of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy, got their sentences commuted. The Justice Department was directed to dismiss any pending indictments related to the riot.
On Thursday, Trump pardoned 23 pro-life protesters prosecuted by the Biden administration, including a woman in her 70s, and the mother of a two-year-old, both imprisoned.
Relatedly, two more executive orders <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-freedom-of-speech-and-ending-federal-censorship/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ban</a> the weaponization of the federal government against political opponents <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-the-weaponization-of-the-federal-government/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">including</a> censorship of free speech, and they direct investigations into past government misconduct.
Another day one <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">order</a> addresses gender ideology, which became a hot button issue during the election. The order officially recognizes &#8220;sex&#8221; as biological, either &#8220;male&#8221; or &#8220;female.&#8221; The order reverses allowing people to change their gender on passports, bans federal funds from promoting gender ideology or paying for medical gender transitions for prison inmates, and protects women and girls from trans-identifying men in women&#8217;s prisons, rape shelters, and &#8220;intimate spaces.&#8221;
Trump also took an axe to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives with several actions.
In one order he <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scrapped</a> all government DEI programs and put their <a href="https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dace49741569f7585670378b3&amp;id=5bdf3a103b&amp;e=fee98947f0" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Ddace49741569f7585670378b3%26id%3D5bdf3a103b%26e%3Dfee98947f0&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1737839244832000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1WbQvQBcGqiJvTHYWNZY89">staff</a> on leave. Trump also rescinded an executive order from President Lyndon Johnson that mandated affirmative action by government contractors, and in another order he directed the Federal Aviation Administration to stop DEI hiring practices, noting that it is responsible for the safety of nearly 3 million airline passengers every day.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113864692804149616" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> that his first day in office was not over yet.
He was busy firing more than 1,000 presidential appointees from the previous administration, “who are not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again.”
Among those who got the boot from presidential advisory councils was retired Army general Mark Milley, who was fired from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council. Milley has called Trump a fascist and was granted a preemptive pardon by Biden just hours earlier.
“YOU’RE FIRED!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Meanwhile, Trump&#8217;s State Department <a href="https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dace49741569f7585670378b3&amp;id=d7ba5f6af1&amp;e=fee98947f0" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://whitehouse.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Ddace49741569f7585670378b3%26id%3Dd7ba5f6af1%26e%3Dfee98947f0&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1737839244832000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2ponWQ4F1AehM4BjD8BZyK">issued</a> guidance that U.S. embassies should fly only the American flag and not activist flags like the pride and Black Lives Matter flags, both of which flew over government buildings under Biden.
In another spate of executive orders, Trump took action on energy.
He <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/declaring-a-national-energy-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> a national energy emergency, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/putting-america-first-in-international-environmental-agreements/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">withdrew</a> from the Paris climate agreement, revoking any related financial commitments, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-american-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directed</a> the deregulation of domestic energy production <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-alaskas-extraordinary-resource-potential/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">especially</a> in Alaska, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/temporary-withdrawal-of-all-areas-on-the-outer-continental-shelf-from-offshore-wind-leasing-and-review-of-the-federal-governments-leasing-and-permitting-practices-for-wind-projects/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paused</a> all new federal leasing and permitting for wind farms, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-american-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eliminated</a> the electric vehicle mandate, and announced plans to get rid of regulations on products like lightbulbs, water heaters, and washing machines.
On the economy, one order <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/delivering-emergency-price-relief-for-american-families-and-defeating-the-cost-of-living-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aims</a> to deliver emergency price relief to Americans by having executive agencies work to lower the costs of housing and healthcare, eliminate harmful climate policies, and create jobs, &#8220;drawing discouraged workers into the labor force.&#8221; Another order <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/reevaluating-and-realigning-united-states-foreign-aid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pauses</a> assistance to foreign countries for 90 days as they are reviewed. The president also <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/america-first-policy-directive-to-the-secretary-of-state/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directed</a> the Secretary of State to issue guidance on putting America first.
He <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/america-first-trade-policy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> an &#8220;America First&#8221; trade policy that includes exploring an External Revenue Service to collect revenue related to foreign trade.
Several other executive orders took aim at the federal bureaucracy and directed a regulatory <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/regulatory-freeze-pending-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">freeze</a>, a federal hiring <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/hiring-freeze/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">freeze</a> with exceptions for areas like the military, and required federal employees return to in-person work. More orders <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/establishing-and-implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">establish</a> the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/reforming-the-federal-hiring-process-and-restoring-merit-to-government-service/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">encourage</a> federal hiring based on merit, and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-accountability-to-policy-influencing-positions-within-the-federal-workforce/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aim</a> to restore accountability to federal workers who can influence policy.
In one fell swoop, Trump also <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/initial-rescissions-of-harmful-executive-orders-and-actions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revoked</a> nearly 100 of former President Joe Biden&#8217;s executive actions on day one.
The Biden actions involved advancing &#8220;racial equity,&#8221; preventing discrimination over &#8220;gender identity,&#8221; ensuring an &#8220;equitable&#8221; pandemic response, &#8220;restoring science&#8221; to tackle the &#8220;climate crisis,&#8221; immigration enforcement, &#8220;clean energy,&#8221; &#8220;accountable policing,&#8221; establishing an &#8220;African diaspora&#8221; council, withdrawing parts of the U.S. from oil or gas leasing, along with dozens more moves.
Trump also <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/withdrawing-the-united-states-from-the-worldhealth-organization/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">withdrew</a> from the World Health Organization, citing its &#8220;mishandling&#8221; of the pandemic. He called the move a &#8220;big one.&#8221;
In a hotly-anticipated move, the president <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/application-of-protecting-americans-from-foreign-adversary-controlled-applications-act-to-tiktok/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suspended</a> the TikTok ban and expressed hopes to strike a deal with TikTok&#8217;s parent company.
Trump also made several anti-abortion moves during his first few days in office.
He joined every Republican president since Ronald Reagan in restoring the Mexico City Rule, which prohibits federal funding to any overseas nongovernmental organization that performs or promotes abortions. He also restored the Hyde Amendment, which prevents taxpayers from being forced to pay for most abortions.
On Friday, Trump <a href="https://x.com/POTUS/status/1882891449366138893" target="_blank" rel="noopener">addressed</a> the annual March for Life in a video message in which he praised their aim to &#8220;protect every child as a beautiful gift from the hand of our Creator.&#8221; Vice President JD Vance addressed the march in person, his first speech as vice president.
The new administration also <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/01/statement-of-administration-policy-h-r-21-born-alive-abortion-survivors-protection-act/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made</a> a statement &#8220;strongly&#8221; supporting the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which passed the House but was blocked in the Senate this week, and he <a href="https://x.com/sbaprolife/status/1881455332985327982" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shut</a> down the Biden administration&#8217;s pro-abortion government website.
On Thursday, Trump spoke virtually to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and accused the CEO of Bank of America to his face of debanking conservatives, saying, &#8220;what you&#8217;re doing is wrong.&#8221;
He spoke with several foreign leaders, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/5105602-donald-trump-greenland-denmark/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">including</a> a &#8220;fiery&#8221; call with the Danish prime minister about national security concerns around Greenland, a call with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on illegal immigration, and a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who said he wants to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years.
The administration said it has already secured a total of over $1 trillion in new investments in the country.
The president also re-designated Yemen&#8217;s Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization.
Trump also signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/putting-people-over-fish-stopping-radical-environmentalism-to-provide-water-to-southern-california/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">order</a> aimed at &#8220;putting people over fish&#8221; in California, ordering federal agencies to work on routing more water from Northern California to the southern areas damaged by wildfires and stop prioritizing the Delta smelt fish.
Trump declassified files related to the John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations, a move praised by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump&#8217;s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
On technology innovation, Trump issued an executive order aimed at eliminating Biden policies &#8220;harmful&#8221; to America&#8217;s global Artificial Intelligence (AI) dominance. He also set up special groups to focus on science and technology as well as cryptocurrency regulation.
Trump also revoked the taxpayer-funded security details of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, his former national security adviser, John Bolton, and Anthony Fauci, who was the face of Trump&#8217;s White House pandemic task force.
Another order <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/holding-former-government-officials-accountablefor-election-interference-and-improper-disclosure-of-sensitive-governmental-information/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revokes</a> the security clearances of the 51 former intelligence officials who signed a letter discrediting the Hunter Biden laptop story.
He also pardoned two Washington, D.C., police officers convicted in the death of a black man during a police car chase back in 2020.
He <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-the-death-penalty-and-protecting-public-safety/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directed</a> the Attorney General to seek the death penalty for federal crimes involving either the murder of law enforcement or an illegal migrant committing a capital crime.
Trump also directed the Secretary of the Interior to officially <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-names-that-honor-american-greatness/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rename</a> the Gulf of Mexico the &#8220;Gulf of America&#8221; and restored the name &#8220;Mount McKinley&#8221; to the country&#8217;s highest peak after the Obama administration changed it to a Native Alaskan name in 2015.
Other orders addressed smaller issues including withdrawing Biden&#8217;s menthol cigarette ban, getting rid of the Biden administration&#8217;s White House security clearance backlog, recognizing North Carolina&#8217;s Lumbee Tribe, and promoting beautiful civic architecture.
On Friday, Trump turned his attention to disaster zones, flying to North Carolina to view hurricane damage and then California to survey wildfire destruction.
He is set to hold a rally in Nevada on Saturday, saying he wanted to &#8220;thank&#8221; Nevada voters for supporting him.
Meanwhile, Trump&#8217;s Cabinet confirmations are working their way through the Senate. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was the first to be confirmed on Tuesday, and Pete Hegseth was confirmed as Defense Secretary late Friday evening, with Vance casting the tie breaking vote.

President-Elect Donald Trump Meets Prince William In Paris Ahead Of Notre-Dame Reopening

Here’s Everything Trump Did His First Week Back

Here's Everything Trump Did His First Week Back

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Inauguration

Trump Administration

New U.S. passports with the gender-neutral marker &#8220;X&#8221; will be paused after an executive order from President Donald Trump.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/state-department-halts-passport-gender-marker-applications/story?id=118062178" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directed</a> the State Department to freeze passport applications that request &#8220;X&#8221; to be marked for gender. Under the new policy, passports already issued with &#8220;X&#8221; as the gender will still be valid.
The move comes after Trump&#8217;s day one executive <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">order</a> to officially &#8220;recognize two sexes, male and female,&#8221; and defined a woman as an “adult human female.” The order reversed the policy of allowing people to change their sex on passports and personnel records.
Since 2010, Americans have been allowed to change their sex on their passports. Initially, the change required forms showing a physician&#8217;s approval, but in 2021, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken scrapped that requirement. In 2022, he added the “X” gender marker, a change announced on Transgender Day of Visibility.
&#8220;My Administration will defend women’s rights and protect freedom of conscience by using clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male,&#8221; the president&#8217;s order reads.
Trump&#8217;s order also attempts to ban housing men in women’s prisons, as well as taxpayer-funded medical gender transitions for federal prisoners. This move is likely to be challenged in court by liberal opponents. The order aims to protect women’s privacy in migrant shelters and rape shelters.
Federal funds are prohibited from promoting gender ideology under the order, which also includes protections for Americans’ First Amendment rights not to use preferred pronouns in the workplace and public schools.
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Gender ideology became a flashpoint during the election, especially as parents across the country sounded the alarm on child medical gender transitions and controversial lessons around the topic in public schools.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris also attracted negative attention on the issue after the Trump campaign released wildly successful television ads highlighting her support of far-Left policies, including taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for illegal migrants and federal prisoners.
“Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you,” one ad’s narrator said.
Rubio was unanimously confirmed as Secretary of State by the U.S. Senate on Monday, making him the first confirmed Cabinet member of the second Trump administration. He was sworn in on Tuesday.
&#8220;There will be changes,&#8221; Rubio <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/marco-rubio-sworn-secretary-state-discusses-foreign-conflict/story?id=117937809" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at his swearing-in ceremony. &#8220;But the changes are not meant to be destructive. They&#8217;re not meant to be punitive.&#8221;
The State Department must move at the &#8220;speed of relevancy,&#8221; Rubio said.

American Passports

Rubio Halts ‘X’ Gender Markers On Passports After Trump Order

Rubio Halts 'X' Gender Markers On Passports After Trump Order

Gender Identity

Marco Rubio

Passport

Secretary of State

State Department

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President Donald Trump promised on Friday to deliver &#8220;rapid&#8221; solutions and reconstruction for residents in areas of North Carolina that were decimated by Hurricane Helene last fall.
Trump spoke at a press conference after meeting with people in Swannanoa, North Carolina, on Friday, promising to immediately sign an executive order &#8220;slashing all red tape and bureaucratic barriers and permits to ensure the rapid reconstruction of the roads here in western North Carolina.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;re going to go through a permitting process that&#8217;s called no permitting. Just get it done,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;That&#8217;s the way they built them many years ago. I guarantee you that.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
PRESIDENT TRUMP: &quot;I&#39;m pleased to announce that under our leadership, the federal government will be surging housing solutions to this state that go beyond mere temporary hotel stays&#8230; and today, I&#39;ll also be signing an Executive Order slashing ALL RED TAPE&#8230; to ensure the rapid… <a href="https://t.co/imNW7YvQfg">pic.twitter.com/imNW7YvQfg</a>
&mdash; Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1882851034844090843?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The president also slammed the &#8220;ridiculous&#8221; response of the previous administration to the needs of North Carolinians.
&#8220;I&#8217;m pleased to announce that under our leadership, the federal government will be surging housing solutions to this state that go beyond mere temporary hotel stays that ended up being very short-term. The government wouldn&#8217;t do it any longer, which is ridiculous,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We&#8217;ll marshal all available resources to bring back potable water and make your water and infrastructure dramatically more reliable very quickly.&#8221;
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Earlier this month, dozens of Hurricane Helene victims were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dozens-of-north-carolina-hurricane-victims-lose-fema-sponsored-housing-senators-say" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forced to leave</a> the hotels they were staying in when their FEMA-sponsored vouchers expired, according to North Carolina Republican Sens. Ted Budd and Thom Tillis. FEMA told the senators that they were working on a solution for the North Carolina residents who lost their homes. During Trump&#8217;s press conference, he also gave the microphone to victims to share stories of how the hurricane affected them.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
President Trump allows Hurricane Helene victims in North Carolina to tell their heartbreaking stories in front of the nation.
The forgotten men and women of this country are forgotten no more. <a href="https://t.co/ofEDlFfl3X">pic.twitter.com/ofEDlFfl3X</a>
&mdash; Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1882862866728095749?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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More than 70,000 homes were <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-helene-survivors-freezing-temperatures/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">damaged</a> in North Carolina due to the flooding and mudslides caused by Hurricane Helene, forcing thousands of people to live in hotels, trailers, or even tents during the frigid winter months. The visit to western North Carolina marks Trump&#8217;s first trip since being sworn into office on Monday. Trump will also travel to Los Angeles County later on Friday to see the homes and businesses destroyed by the massive fires that broke out earlier this month.

Trump Vows To Cut Red Tape, Surge ‘Housing Solutions’ For Hurricane-Ravaged NC

Trump Vows To Cut Red Tape, Surge 'Housing Solutions' For Hurricane-Ravaged NC

Hurricane Helene

Natural Disaster

North Carolina

Politics

The Senate is preparing for fireworks next week as three of President Donald Trump&#8217;s most debated cabinet nominees will face confirmation hearings on Wednesday and Thursday.
Tulsi Gabbard, the nominee for Director of National Intelligence; Kash Patel, the nominee for FBI Director; and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump&#8217;s choice to lead Health and Human Services, will all face Senate confirmation hearings. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said on Friday morning that he&#8217;s expecting &#8220;the Left and the media to come out hard&#8221; against each of them.
&#8220;Quick update: three heavy-hitters:@Kash_Patel, @TulsiGabbard, and @RobertKennedyJr have their confirmation hearings set for Wed 1/29 &amp; Thurs 1/30. Expect the Left and the media to come out hard, especially when focus shifts off @PeteHegseth. We&#8217;re ready for the fight,&#8221; Mullin <a href="https://x.com/SenMullin/status/1882787437094875384" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on X.
Kennedy will be grilled by the Senate Finance Committee beginning at <a href="https://www.senate.gov/committees/hearings_meetings.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10:00 a.m. ET</a> on Wednesday, while Patel and Gabbard will face hearings on Thursday. Patel will sit before the Judiciary Committee at 9:30 a.m., and Gabbard&#8217;s hearing before the Intelligence Committee will begin a half hour later. Kennedy is scheduled for another hearing at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday before the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The Daily Wire will cover the hearings with a live blog, providing updates on the biggest moments.
Trump&#8217;s nominations of <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5101469-rkf-jr-hhs-bipartisan-opposition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kennedy</a>, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/spin-cycle-everybodys-in-a-panic-over-kash-patel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Patel</a>, and <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/gabbards-views-russia-shaped-part-kremlin-propaganda-outlet/story?id=116430097" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gabbard</a> have already faced pushback from Democrats and the legacy media. The hearings will likely stoke as much — if not more — controversy than those of Trump&#8217;s Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, who faces his confirmation vote on Friday night.
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Democrats have criticized Patel&#8217;s nomination, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0qysxWQ8EE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arguing</a> that he lacks the &#8220;experience, temperament, or judgment&#8221; necessary to run the FBI. Democrats have complained about Kennedy&#8217;s vaccine stances, while some Republicans have urged the Senate to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-mike-pence-org-urges-senators-to-oppose-rfk-jr-confirmation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vote against</a> RFK Jr. over his stance on abortion. Gabbard, meanwhile, has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/16/trump-cabinet-tulsi-gabbard-democratic-reactions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accused</a> by some Democrats of having ties to Russia.
The confirmation process for the new Trump administration has been a bumpy ride. Trump&#8217;s initial pick for attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), faced controversy over a congressional ethics report on his alleged sexual misconduct. Gaetz <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-matt-gaetz-withdraws-name-from-ag-consideration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">withdrew</a> his name from consideration just one week after he was tapped by Trump.
Not all of Trump&#8217;s cabinet picks have faced uphill challenges, however. Both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe quickly sailed through their confirmation process.
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RFK Jr, Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel

‘Ready For The Fight’: Confirmation Hearings Scheduled For Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, RFK Jr.

Confirmation Hearings Scheduled For Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, RFK Jr.

Congress

kash patel

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Senate

Tulsi Gabbard

For those who are fans of DEI, yesterday will go down in infamy. It was, you might say, the DEI Pearl Harbor. At 5:00pm, all DEI offices within the federal government closed down. Employees were put on leave, as the first step towards mass-layoffs. The DEI section of every major federal website went offline. The heads of every DEI office in the federal government were rounded up, chained to giant boulders, and tossed into the sea. That last part didn’t happen, but a man can dream.
Back in reality, however, the Office of Personnel Management sent out a notice to the head of every federal agency, instructing them to ask employees, &#8220;if they know of any efforts to disguise&#8221; DEI programs or personnel in the federal government. Employees have 10 days to disclose any disguised DEI programs or personnel that they&#8217;re aware of. Almost immediately, one of these disguises became pretty apparent. It was visible to anyone who checked out the Leadership page of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Specifically, there was an unusual change to the title of one senior official at the ATF. Here&#8217;s how the bureau’s leadership page looked at the beginning of the week:
<div id="attachment_864589" style="width: 471px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-864589" class="wp-image-864589 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErWcAEkt6P-461x576.jpeg" alt="Screenshot: ATF" width="461" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErWcAEkt6P-461x576.jpeg 461w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErWcAEkt6P-240x300.jpeg 240w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErWcAEkt6P.jpeg 720w" sizes="(max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px" />Screenshot: ATF</div>
As you can see, a woman named &#8220;Lisa T. Boykin&#8221; is listed as the Chief Diversity Officer at the ATF. Why does the ATF need a Chief Diversity Officer? What was this person doing every day? Well, who knows. She was collecting a paycheck, at least. We know that. Now that’s supposed to change. But the only change the ATF actually made was in the meaningless title they gave this person. Sometime in the last 48 hours, the page changed. Here&#8217;s what the ATF&#8217;s Leadership Page looks like now:
<div id="attachment_864591" style="width: 471px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-864591" class="wp-image-864591 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErW0AABmhh-461x576.jpeg" alt="Screenshot: ATF" width="461" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErW0AABmhh-461x576.jpeg 461w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErW0AABmhh-240x300.jpeg 240w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErW0AABmhh.jpeg 720w" sizes="(max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px" />Screenshot: ATF</div>
Now Lisa Boykin is merely a, &#8220;Senior executive.&#8221; She&#8217;s no longer the &#8220;Chief Diversity Officer.&#8221; Overnight, she has been graced with a much more generic, completely inconspicuous title. There was no press release about this. They just changed it. Check back tomorrow and the ATF will probably put fake glasses and a mustache on Lisa Boykin and claim her name is really &#8220;Larry Soykin&#8221; or something. These DEI activists aren&#8217;t completely out of ideas. But very soon, they will be completely out of the federal government — at least, that’s the plan.
As recently as a few months ago, a purge like this seemed very difficult to imagine. And it was particularly hard for people on the Left to imagine. When we filmed &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/am-i-racist">Am I Racist?</a>&#8220;, the DEI activists we spoke to — from Robin DiAngelo on down — were overconfident to the point of absurdity. That&#8217;s one of the reasons we were able to make the film. People always ask how we managed to get the race hustlers and DEI scammers in a room with us. The answer is that we used their own egos and false sense of security against them. They just couldn&#8217;t imagine that anyone would ever challenge them or try to embarrass them. That’s the bubble they were in. And now it’s safe to say that the bubble has been pretty well popped.
<h3><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH&#8217;S &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a></h3>
Now, in fact, their entire industry is crashing down — and not just in the government. The executive orders that Donald Trump has signed are far broader than that. One of the orders, for example, is <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">entitled,</a> &#8220;ENDING ILLEGAL DISCRIMINATION AND RESTORING MERIT-BASED OPPORTUNITY.&#8221;
And this order explicitly applies to DEI in the private sector.
<blockquote>I further order all agencies to enforce our longstanding civil-rights laws and to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities. &#8230; Each agency shall identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations of publicly traded corporations, large non-profit corporations or associations, foundations with assets of 500 million dollars or more, State and local bar and medical associations, and institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars.</blockquote>
In other words, the federal government is gearing up to launch investigations into private-sector entities — whether they&#8217;re a university or a hospital or a corporation — that engage in DEI. According to the order, that includes any organization that employs, &#8220;dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences.&#8221;
The order goes on to revoke an executive order signed by President Lyndon Johnson, which required that federal contractors and the federal government take affirmative action to boost certain candidates based on race, color, religion, and national origin. This has been the law of the land for generations, and no Republican president until now has considered the possibility of ending it. But this time around, the second Trump administration came prepared. It&#8217;s one of the first things they got rid of. 

<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1521-the-matt-walsh-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
And the importance of that decision can&#8217;t be overstated. For decades, the requirement that federal contractors practice affirmative action has forced companies to compare their workforce with the demographic composition of the surrounding community. And then they had to alter their hiring practices to try to find more so-called minority candidates. It&#8217;s led to an enormous amount of fraud and waste and inefficiency — and that&#8217;s not even getting into how unethical and unconstitutional it was.
But that&#8217;s all gone now, at least at the federal level. Trump&#8217;s order forbids the federal government from, “allowing or encouraging federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin.”
Additionally, all federal agencies have to require every grant recipient to, “certify that it does not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws.” Within 120 days, the attorney general will also outline requirements for colleges and universities, concerning their DEI programs.
This is obviously a sweeping order — one that affects hundreds of billions of dollars in government spending. It&#8217;s very bad news for universities like Harvard, and other bastions of Left-wing orthodoxy. It&#8217;s the kind of order that you&#8217;d expect would lead to a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth on the Left. And certainly that is happening to some extent. But there’s been an interesting wrinkle. 
As Chris Rufo <a href="https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1881929726874521740" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> yesterday: &#8220;Tech executives are telling me that Silicon Valley companies will respect President Trump’s ban on discriminatory DEI. Many feel relieved that they don’t have to pretend anymore. &#8216;Resistance here is basically dead.'&#8221;
In other words, according to Rufo’s reporting, these executives were experiencing a kind of Stockholm Syndrome for the past several years. They knew that DEI was destructive for their business. They wanted it to go away. But they felt they had no choice but to endorse it, because on top of the legal requirements, they didn&#8217;t want to upset Left-wing activists and the corporate media. They lacked the spine to stand up for their own business interests. They felt trapped, so they went along with it. This may sound like convenient excuse-making, but it actually sounds very plausible. After all, tech companies care the most about making money. You don’t become a tech billionaire without understanding how to turn a profit. DEI is obviously and self-evidently bad for business because it forces you to hire people who are not qualified for the job. It actually makes perfect sense that these companies would be relieved to be done with it. It’s not an excuse, though. If anything it just makes them look worse. DEI proliferated not because all of these companies believed in it. But because they were all cowards who didn’t have the gumption to speak out, even for the sake of their own economic self-preservation.
It&#8217;s worth asking whether this response applies to the Left more broadly. One of the most fascinating things about Trump&#8217;s full scale assault on gender ideology and DEI in government is the relative lack of Left-wing hysteria over it. Certainly there has been plenty of whining and scolding about it. But there haven&#8217;t been protests in the street or widespread panic. The outrage — from my vantage point — hasn’t quite reached the fever pitch you would have expected. Even the media, from what I can tell, seems to be relatively muted (by their very low standards) in their reaction. Here for example is a decidedly low-energy segment from MSNBC the other day. You&#8217;d think they&#8217;d be up grabbing their pitchforks because of the return of fascism to America. But instead, this is what they came up with:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="00ff" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/86dK2sQfzn4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So they certainly don&#8217;t approve of Trump’s policies. But you wouldn’t call that a hysterical meltdown. The anchor cites that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imLMG7C6oF4">fake McKinsey study</a> about how DEI supposedly improves companies, which we&#8217;ve talked about and debunked many times before. And then the reporter says conservatives want to take us back to colorblind, merit-driven society, as if that&#8217;s a bad thing. But it is, again, a bit low energy. Contrast this with the hysteria in the days after Trump&#8217;s first inauguration, and there&#8217;s really no comparison. Back then, everything Trump did was part of a Russian plot to destroy American democracy. Everything was cause for panic. Everything was a five alarm fire.
This has been the response to pretty much all of Trump&#8217;s executive orders — from his <a href="https://www.cbs42.com/hill-politics/trump-orders-faa-to-terminate-dei-hiring-efforts/">order</a> ending DEI at the FAA, to his order <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTBFEsUfKik&amp;t=1s">declaring</a> that indeed, there are only two genders, and that gender ideology is dead. This is the most far reaching executive assault on Left-wing ideology ever launched by any president. There isn’t a close second. It is truly unprecedented. And yet the Left’s reaction hasn’t matched the moment. Especially by their normal standards of hysteria. Why is that?
The lack of mass protests in the street may be easy enough to explain. It’s very cold. We know that Left-wing activists are very dedicated to their causes, as long as that dedication doesn’t require them to endure even the slightest bit of discomfort. Also you’d probably have to pay the protesters more than their usual rate, given the weather conditions. Maybe it’s more than George Soros is willing to shell out. But that’s not the whole story.
There is also, as we’ve discussed this week, a kind of emotional burnout. The Left has been screaming hysterically about Trump for ten years. It’s just not possible to keep up that level of performative outrage indefinitely. Eventually you lose a bit of steam. On top of that, the Left is in organizational and ideological disarray. They have no clear leader. No clear agenda. No clear political identity. All of that serves to mute the response to these moves by Trump.
But on top of all of those factors, I also have to wonder if at least some on the Left are maybe, to some extent, even if subconsciously, sort of relieved to be done with DEI, gender ideology, and the rest. After all, these things are so absurd on their face that almost no one could have ever really, truly believed in them. Almost no one wants to be in the position of having to defend some crossdressing man who&#8217;s crying because he can&#8217;t disrobe in the women&#8217;s changing room. Almost no one actually thinks it&#8217;s a good idea to prioritize diversity in air traffic control hiring. DEI and gender ideology require a suspension of basic common sense so extreme that few people could ever achieve it. Everyone else was just pretending. We have suffered through an era of American history where millions of people were pretending to believe the most absurd propositions ever put forward. Now that the cultural tide has changed, the pressure to pretend has been greatly lifted. The true believers in DEI and gender ideology now look around to discover that they are without allies. Trans activists and DEI race hustlers were holding all of those people hostage. But the Right’s political and cultural victories have taken away their ammunition. It is hard to keep your hostages in line when they find out that your gun has no bullets. In other words, for some who ostensibly appeared to be “on the Left,” we are their liberators.
That’s just a theory anyway. I believe there’s an element of this, at least for some on the Left. I certainly think it’s the case for business owners and corporate America. But regardless, one thing we know for sure is that this somewhat eerie lull won’t last. The true believers and powers that be on that side of the fence aren’t going to abandon their agenda. They won’t surrender to the Right and call it a day. They’ll regroup and probably come back with something even crazier than DEI and gender ideology. That’s what we can assume, if history is our guide. And it should be.
In the meantime, the fact is that pretty much everyone in this country — including anyone who flies on a plane, who sends a child to college, or applies for a job or a federal contract — is already benefiting from the second Trump administration. This is the swift restoration of sanity that a majority of Americans voted for. Common sense has made a comeback. Team Sanity is winning for the moment. But Team Insanity will be back. And it’s up to us to be ready for them.

Trump Signs Executive Actions Related To Cryptocurrency, AI

Trump Wages All Out War On DEI

Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Federal Government

Matt Walsh

Opinion

President Trump

Just days into the second Trump administration, Republicans in Washington are facing an unexpected and poorly understood headwind to unleashing our economic potential, courtesy of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the leadership of Biden bureaucrats.
Under the <a href="https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-finalizes-personal-financial-data-rights-rule-to-boost-competition-protect-privacy-and-give-families-more-choice-in-financial-services/">CFPB’s Biden-era 1033 Rule</a>, also known as the “Banking Data Exposure Rule,” American banks will soon be compelled to increase the flow of sensitive financial data to banks and businesses worldwide, with insufficient safeguards and proper oversight. The implications are enormous, and the risks cannot be overstated. 
Progressive proponents like Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) might be cheering this misguided rule under the guise of empowering the consumer. But because the rule is so poorly constructed, it will only benefit a minority of well-informed consumers while creating new and potentially life-changing hazards for many Americans and businesses.
The Banking Data Exposure Rule opens a digital Pandora’s Box. By mandating that banks facilitate unprecedented access to consumers&#8217; financial data, the CFPB is creating a hunting ground for malicious cybercriminals and foreign state actors to exploit. This rule places anyone with a checking or savings account — be it an individual, a business, a municipal government, or even a hospital system — at risk of falling victim to sophisticated schemes designed to gain unauthorized access to funds and sensitive data.
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The rule’s design offers bad actors a roadmap for exploitation, making the CFPB a de facto enabler of potential financial harm. Under the 1033 Rule, banks are essentially powerless to ensure their customers are not being duped by bad actors masquerading as legitimate third parties — a key point seemingly missed by the Biden administration and supporters.
Consider the broader implications of a foreign adversary using this framework to infiltrate a utility company’s financial records, hold a hospital’s payroll system hostage, or drain the retirement savings of an unsuspecting senior citizen. The CFPB’s poorly conceived rule could trigger cascading consequences across critical sectors of the U.S. economy, suppressing the nation’s optimism for an economic revival under the Trump administration and Republican-led Congress.
Proponents claim the ends will justify the means by enhancing competitive innovation and streamlining financial services. However, the 1033 Rule presumes that these benefits outweigh the risks to data security and privacy.
The CFPB’s actions undermine the reasonable demands Congress has made of banks to protect sensitive financial data and secure access to accounts. The rule establishes a false dichotomy between safeguarding consumer information and the promise of open banking, stripping consumers of their agency in making this decision. In reality, we can and should demand both security and innovation from our financial institutions.
Worse still, the Banking Data Exposure Rule is an ideologically-driven mandate. CFPB officials are misusing the Dodd-Frank Act to orchestrate a shift to an “open banking” framework that was largely theoretical when the bill was signed into law nearly 15 years ago. Open banking should only proceed with clear congressional authorization — not unelected, newly-unemployed, bureaucrats — following deliberation on the risks and merits of such a fundamental shift in the financial system.
The CFPB’s overreach in this instance sets a dangerous precedent for unchecked regulatory intervention in other critical sectors of the economy. Congress has a responsibility to rein in the CFPB before the 1033 Rule takes effect. Lawmakers should recognize that while open banking policies are worthy of debate, there is no urgency to enact radical changes nor necessity to do so without considerable public debate. It is a mandate ripe for rollback.
Financial innovation should not come at the expense of data security and consumer trust. Instead, we should pursue reforms that achieve both priorities without exposing Americans to unnecessary risks. By cancelling the 1033 Rule, Congress can send a clear message: safeguarding the financial security of the American people is not up for compromise.
The time to act is now. This is a fight for the integrity of our financial system and the protection of American consumers. Congress must ensure that innovation in banking is built on a foundation of trust, security, and proper oversight — not reckless experimentation.
Doug Wheeler is the Director of the George Gibbs Center for Economic Prosperity at The James Madison Institute (JMI), a free market public policy research organization based in Florida.

Fed Meets As Speculation Builds On Possible Rate Cut

This Biden-Era Banking Rule Is A Pandora’s Box Of Financial Risk

Banking

Biden Administration

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Elizabeth Warren

Worcester Public Schools directed bus drivers to not allow students off of the bus if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are waiting at bus stops, a letter reveals.
&#8220;A recent notification has gone out regarding ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) agents potentially being at bus stops,” the letter states. “If you are aware of any agents being at a stop, DO NOT let any student off the bus and contact the transportation office immediately.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NEW: The school district of Massachusetts&#39;s second largest city is directing bus drivers to not let students off at stops where ICE agents are present. <a href="https://t.co/vMlzX7jxUJ">pic.twitter.com/vMlzX7jxUJ</a>
&mdash; Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/1882494606606254434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The letter comes amid Massachusetts leaders — including Democratic Gov. Maura Healey — <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/boston-mayor-doubles-down-on-defying-trump-deportations-as-ma-police-arrest-migrants-for-child-rape" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promising to</a> resist any crackdown on immigration under the new Trump administration in the sanctuary state. Massachusetts has been a focal point of the immigration crisis, with the state providing migrants with shelters in hotels that are often riddled with chaos, violence, rape, and wasteful spending, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-former-migrant-shelter-director-sounds-alarm-recalls-widespread-rape-and-violence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire previously reported</a>.
The district of the second biggest city in Massachusetts <a href="https://www.worcesterschools.org/article/1978850">sent a letter</a> to families reminding them of policies and procedures if immigration officials arrive at schools or places such as bus stops, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/worcester-schools-immigration-ice-agents-bus-stop/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported CBS News</a>.
Superintendent Rachel Monarrez reportedly said her district will not coordinate with ICE and will not allow agents into facilities without a warrant signed by a federal judge.
A Massachusetts Republican Party spokesperson accused the district of “creating fake scenarios to rile up fear” in a statement to The Daily Wire.
“It’s clear that ICE is targeting violent criminals, not children,” Logan Trupiano said. “This political posturing is stoking unnecessary fear and deliberately misrepresenting what is actually happening on the streets.”
The Trump administration withdrew a Biden administration guideline that made “sensitive” areas like schools off-limits for ICE agents.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman said in a Tuesday statement.
A progressive nonprofit is preparing school officials with instructions of how to deal with federal law enforcement officials, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/schools-arent-off-limits-for-ice-raids-trump-dhs-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire reported</a>. The Century Foundation advised principals to meet federal law enforcement at the door and inform them that &#8220;district protocols&#8221; require approval before entry and to call the district’s lawyers.
On Tuesday, Border Czar Tom Homan <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/go-make-arrests-trumps-mass-deportations-are-underway-tom-homan-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said that ICE agents</a> have already started seeking out criminal illegal immigrants for deportation.
“ICE officers throughout the country were told today, ‘Go make arrests of those here illegally that have a public safety threat.’ So they’ve developed target sheets, an operational plan to go out in the field … so they’re out there right now looking for the most serious public safety threats throughout the country,” Homan said.
ICE and Monarrez did not respond to a request for comment.

California Budget Crisis Threatens Basic Services

Massachusetts District Instructs School Bus Drivers To Harbor Illegals From ICE

Illegal Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Massachusetts

The U.S. Coast Guard is &#8220;immediately&#8221; deploying more assets to the nation&#8217;s maritime borders to prevent migrants from illegally entering the U.S.
The move comes after President Donald Trump signed multiple executive orders to clamp down on illegal immigration. Within hours of taking office, Trump also fired Coast Guard Adm. Linda L. Fagan, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/us/politics/admiral-fagan-fired-coast-guard.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">partly</a> for her “failure to address border security threats.&#8221;
In a <a href="https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/4035591/coast-guard-announces-immediate-action-in-support-of-presidential-executive-ord/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> on Tuesday, Coast Guard Acting Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday said the military branch would swiftly act in support of Trump&#8217;s executive orders.
“The U.S. Coast Guard is the world’s premiere maritime law enforcement agency, vital to protecting America’s maritime borders, territorial integrity and sovereignty,&#8221; Lunday said. &#8220;Per the President’s Executive Orders, I have directed my operational commanders to immediately surge assets — cutters, aircraft, boats and deployable specialized forces — to increase Coast Guard presence and focus &#8230;&#8221;
Lunday then listed six &#8220;key areas&#8221; where the Coast Guard will deploy more assets to carry out Trump&#8217;s plans. The statement also acknowledged Trump&#8217;s directive to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on all federal maps and communications.
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According to the Coast Guard, the areas of focus include: &#8220;The southeast U.S. border approaching Florida to deter and prevent a maritime mass migration from Haiti and/or Cuba; The maritime border around Alaska, Hawai’i, the U.S. territories of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands; The maritime border between the Bahamas and south Florida; The southwest maritime border between the U.S. and Mexico in the Pacific; The maritime border between Texas and Mexico in the Gulf of America; and Support to Customs and Border Protection on maritime portions of the southwest U.S. border.&#8221;
&#8220;Together, in coordination with our Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense teammates, we will detect, deter and interdict illegal migration, drug smuggling and other terrorist or hostile activity before it reaches our border,” the statement added.
<a href="https://store.dailywire.com/?srsltid=AfmBOopROeWZY2MrAmxRZMySZ-6kDoJNZdFQY4Wez-S-ac_7h_MADWH7" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-862531 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/INAUG_MERCHBANNER-6-1-1024x391.png" alt="" width="1024" height="391" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/INAUG_MERCHBANNER-6-1-1024x391.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/INAUG_MERCHBANNER-6-1-300x115.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/INAUG_MERCHBANNER-6-1-768x293.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/INAUG_MERCHBANNER-6-1-1536x587.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/INAUG_MERCHBANNER-6-1-2048x782.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
The Coast Guard&#8217;s new emphasis on cracking down on illegal immigration comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have begun carrying out Trump&#8217;s deportation operation. Trump&#8217;s border czar, Tom Homan, told Fox News on Tuesday that ICE officers have been ordered to &#8220;go make arrests&#8221; of illegal immigrants with criminal records.
&#8220;[S]o they’re out there right now looking for the most serious public safety threats throughout the country,&#8221; Homan said.
Among the numerous executive orders signed by Trump on Monday night, the president declared a national emergency at the southern border, reinstated the &#8220;remain in Mexico&#8221; policy, and ended the CBP One app that allowed migrants to set up appointments in the U.S. to claim asylum. Trump also signed an order to end birthright citizenship, a move that has already received <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dem-attorneys-general-sue-trump-over-birthright-citizenship-exec-order" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pushback</a> from 22 states with Democrat attorneys general who argue that it violates the 14th Amendment.
Homan called the executive orders “game-changers,” adding that they would lead to the “most secure border in my lifetime.”

Coast Guard ‘Immediately’ Ramps Up Illegal Immigration Deterrence Following Trump’s Orders

Coast Guard 'Immediately' Ramps Up Illegal Immigration Deterrence Following Trump's Orders

border security

Coast Guard

Immigration

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/trump-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump administration</a> will be placing all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) officials on paid leave by the end of the business day Wednesday, a document from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) says.
The OPM memo, which is being sent to the executive agencies as a result of President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/">executive order</a> “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEl Programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions,” instructs agency heads to tell all DEI employees that they are being placed on leave immediately.
“Send a notification to all employees of DEIA offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices, and programs,” it reads.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Here is the memo that <a href="https://twitter.com/USOPM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USOPM</a> sent to agencies as part of President Trump’s EO: <a href="https://t.co/6UlJqYVSEo">pic.twitter.com/6UlJqYVSEo</a>
— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) <a href="https://twitter.com/weijia/status/1881890551592828947?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
“President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt <a href="https://x.com/yamiche/status/1881897181189214714?s=46&amp;t=o-U3qwC25WnWaylJ0oeG7Q">said</a>. “This is another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds. Promises made, promises kept.”
The memo also instructs agency heads to take down all social media pages associated with their DEIA offices and “send an agency-wide notice to employees informing them of the closure and asking employees if they know of any efforts to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language.”
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Executive agencies are expected to send OPM a list of all “DEIA-related agency contracts” and “DEIA offices,” and to cancel any upcoming DEIA trainings.
OPM also provided agency heads with a template email to send to bureaucrats, which explains that the DEI actions of the previous administration &#8220;divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.&#8221;
The move from the Trump administration is an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/heres-how-the-trump-admin-can-purge-dei-from-americas-military-and-foreign-policy">attempt to undo</a> the Biden administration’s wide-reaching campaign to embed far-Left DEI policies and personnel throughout the executive branch. One <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-harris-administration-pushed-far-left-ideology-with-500-dei-actions-report-finds">study</a> from Do No Harm found that the Democrat administration took at least 500 different actions to embed the ideology within the federal bureaucracy and executive branch.
Under the former president, intelligence officials were invited to have their <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-bidens-intel-community-is-celebrating-pride-month-with-free-trans-flag-manicures-and-filipinx-lectures">nails painted</a> the colors of the transgender flag, left-wing activists in the State Department <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-department-lgbt-racial-equity-envoy-profiles-scrubbed-after-trump-takes-office">traveled the globe</a> pushing Critical Race Theory and transgender ideology, the National Security Agency <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-leaked-nsa-doc-reveals-massive-woke-glossary-pushing-critical-race-theory-gender-ideology-on-govt-employees">warned</a> of “white fragility” and “transmisogyny,” and bureaucrats organized in identity-based employee groups that often doubled as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-race-and-sex-based-affinity-groups-drive-dei-initiatives-throughout-the-federal-government">activist nodes</a>, a series of Daily Wire investigations revealed.
Outside organizations also received lucrative government contracts to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-biden-harris-admin-paid-consultants-millions-to-help-military-implement-race-based-hiring-combat-resistance-to-dei">advance DEI</a>, with the Pentagon hiring a public university to create a discriminatory career pipeline program and a think tank drafting plans to mitigate resistance against the race-based ideology.

Trump Executive Order

Trump Admin To Put All Federal DEI Officials On Leave By End Of Day

Diversity

Executive

State Department Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/marco-rubio" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marco Rubio</a> will institute a review and reapproval system for all official travel conducted by members of the State Department.
The <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/01/21/exclusive-rubio-orders-review-reapproval-process-all-state-department-official-travel/">measure</a> from President Trump’s newly-confirmed Secretary of State is part of a broader attempt to ensure members of the executive branch operate in a manner consistent with the goals of the Trump administration.
Rubio’s new travel approval system may also be used to ensure that State Department officials do not further left-wing political aims while on trips to foreign countries.
Under the Biden administration, State Department officials were sent on international travel in order to push far-Left ideologies to foreign countries, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meet-the-biden-official-making-six-figures-to-travel-the-globe-pushing-transgenderism">a Daily Wire investigation</a> revealed. Jessica Stern, the State Department’s former Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Persons, traveled to at least 22 different countries on all six habitable continents as she spread transgender ideology on the taxpayer dime.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: Meet Jessica Stern — the Biden official paid six figures to travel the globe lobbying for the transgender agenda.
She&#8217;s marched with transgenders in Brazil and cheered as children attend pride parades in Lithuania, but now she&#8217;s afraid that she could be fired by Trump🧵 <a href="https://t.co/s4VOWuNh1Y">pic.twitter.com/s4VOWuNh1Y</a>
— Spencer Lindquist 🇺🇸 (@SpencerLndqst) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpencerLndqst/status/1764766222103544199?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2024</a></blockquote>
Stern marched along a self-proclaimed “transvestite sl*t” in Brazil and celebrated when she saw children at a pride parade she attended in Lithuania.
While in Brazil, Stern talked to civil society organizations about “the importance of <a href="https://x.com/US_SE_LGBTQI/status/1754880310947307621?s=20">excluding gender markers</a> from the national ID system,” as well as “tackling conversion therapy practices, and uniting with Indigenous and Afro-descendant LGBTQI+ persons to end intersecting forms of discrimination.” She also met with Brazil’s Minister of Human Rights, Foreign Affairs, Health, Labor, Justice, and Native People.
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Stern also went on to travel to Stockholm, Sweden, to meet with members of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, and members of Swedish Parliament.
There was also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meet-the-state-department-official-bringing-dei-to-foreign-policy">Desiree Cormier Smith</a>, who served under the Biden administration as the State Department’s Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice and also pushed left-wing ideologies as she embarked on international travel. Both Stern and Cormier Smith appear to have vacated their positions, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-department-lgbt-racial-equity-envoy-profiles-scrubbed-after-trump-takes-office">reported</a> yesterday.
Under Rubio’s directive, Trump administration officials will also be able to review and cancel trips that were scheduled prior to Trump’s return to the presidency.

Marco Rubio Orders Additional Travel Approvals For State Dept Officials

World

New Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr announced Tuesday that he had eliminated diversity, equity, and inclusion programs from the agency in accordance with President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump’</a>s directive to remove DEI practices from the federal government. 
Carr, who was tapped by Trump to lead the agency on Monday, announced that he had slashed several DEI initiatives started by the Biden administration. These programs included removing DEI from the FCC’s Strategic Plan and budget requests. 
“Promoting invidious forms of discrimination runs contrary to the Communications Act and deprives Americans of their rights to fair and equal treatment under the law. It also represents a wasteful expenditure of taxpayer resources,” Carr said. “Nonetheless, the FCC joined other private and public sector institutions in promoting discriminatory DEl policies during the Biden Administration. The FCC did so by embedding DEl in its strategic priorities, budget requests, advisory groups, rulemaking proceedings, and many other components of its official work.”
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Carr’s directive will eliminate the FCC’s DEI advisory group and 2022 equity action plan and remove the promotion of DEI as a component in the FCC’s economic reports and annual performance plans. 
The move comes after Trump issued an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> on Monday to end all government DEI programs and orders.
“The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military,” the order said
The charge will be led by the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the attorney general, and the director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). They will meet with agency and cabinet heads in 60 days to discuss what changes have been made. 
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?_gl=1*1lail3r*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MzIyMDEyNDkuQ2owS0NRaUEwZnU1QmhEUUFSSXNBTVhVQk9JSkM0VnNsMFVreURxYXUxVWVEVWdOdjZkNzR2Y1pEeEZQeHVBcGl2R3BLaTdBMjVzT1p5TWFBdG1nRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*NDUxNDQ0NzYwLjE3MzY3ODI2NDY.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczNjk1NzYwMy4zNDAuMS4xNzM2OTU3NzE2LjYwLjAuMA.." target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?_gl%3D1*1lail3r*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MzIyMDEyNDkuQ2owS0NRaUEwZnU1QmhEUUFSSXNBTVhVQk9JSkM0VnNsMFVreURxYXUxVWVEVWdOdjZkNzR2Y1pEeEZQeHVBcGl2R3BLaTdBMjVzT1p5TWFBdG1nRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*NDUxNDQ0NzYwLjE3MzY3ODI2NDY.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczNjk1NzYwMy4zNDAuMS4xNzM2OTU3NzE2LjYwLjAuMA..&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1737430804505000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2S7KENhvlT7FAUHjrI0iAs">CELEBRATE #47 WITH 47% OFF DAILYWIRE+ MEMBERSHIPS + A FREE $20 GIFT</a>
This will mean cutting &#8220;environmental justice” positions or offices, equity action plans, and any DEI officer positions instituted under Biden. 
In a separate executive order, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-ends-equity-in-federal-hiring-promises-to-only-focus-on-merit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that the government would no longer consider goals like “equity” when hiring but prioritize based on skills, experience, and patriotism.
“Federal hiring should not be based on impermissible factors, such as one’s commitment to illegal racial discrimination under the guise of &#8216;equity,&#8217; or one’s commitment to the invented concept of ‘gender identity’ over sex,” the order adds.  “Inserting such factors into the hiring process subverts the will of the People, puts critical government functions at risk, and risks losing the best-qualified candidates.&#8221;

FCC Officials Testify Before House Energy And Commerce Committee

Federal Agency Eliminates All DEI Programs After Trump’s Executive Order

Joe Biden

Social Issues

American hostage <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pressure-builds-for-biden-to-secure-release-of-american-held-hostage-by-taliban" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ryan Corbett</a>&#8216;s family announced on Tuesday that he was freed by the Taliban, ending his 894-day captivity in Afghanistan.
Corbett was released just hours after President Donald Trump was sworn into office and after the Biden administration ramped up its negotiations with the Taliban in the past month. According to the Taliban, Corbett and one other hostage who wasn&#8217;t named were exchanged for terrorist Khan Muhammad, who was serving a life sentence in California, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/american-held-afghanistan-released-final-hours-biden-administration-rcna188496" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
&#8220;Today, our hearts are filled with overwhelming gratitude and praise to God for sustaining Ryan’s life and bringing him back home after what has been the most challenging and uncertain 894 days of our lives,&#8221; the Corbett family said in a statement shared with The Daily Wire.
The family thanked Trump, former President Joe Biden, incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, incoming Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and former Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens for &#8220;their tireless work and steadfast dedication to bringing Ryan back to us.&#8221;
Muhammed, the terrorist exchanged for Corbett&#8217;s release, was convicted and sentenced on drug and narco-terrorism charges. The <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2008/December/08-crm-1145.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Department of Justice</a> said that Muhammed &#8220;sought to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan using rockets&#8221; and attempted to send heroin to the U.S.
Corbett and his family first moved to Afghanistan in 2010 and started Bloom Afghanistan, an enterprise focused on improving the war-torn country’s private sector. The Corbett family safely evacuated from Afghanistan when the United States withdrew under Biden’s orders in August 2021, and then Ryan returned around five months later. He was captured by the Taliban a year after the Biden administration&#8217;s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
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Corbett&#8217;s wife, Anna, worked tirelessly to secure her husband&#8217;s release. She met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, urged the Biden administration to act, and spoke to numerous news outlets, including <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pressure-builds-for-biden-to-secure-release-of-american-held-hostage-by-taliban" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a>, to raise awareness of Ryan&#8217;s dire situation. Last week, Anna spoke to &#8220;Morning Wire,&#8221; expressing her hope that her husband would be home soon.
In her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wife-of-american-held-hostage-by-taliban-hopes-for-her-husbands-return-under-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with &#8220;Morning Wire,&#8221; Anna told Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley that she recently met with Waltz, Trump&#8217;s National Security Advisor nominee, for &#8220;over an hour,&#8221; which was a sharp contrast to her experience with Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
“I had to beg and work so hard to have a meeting with the current National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, and it took 16 months to meet with him,” Anna said.
As the Corbett family expressed their gratitude for the work of the Trump and Biden teams, they also called for the release of two men still held by the Taliban, American George Glezmann and Afghan journalist Mahmoud Habibi.
&#8220;It was our hope that Ryan, George and Mahmoud would be returned to their families together, and we cannot imagine the pain that our good fortune will bring them,&#8221; the family said. &#8220;We recognize the immense privilege of our family’s reunion today, and pledge to keep praying – and fighting – for George and Mahmoud’s swift release.&#8221;

Ryan and Anna Corbett

‘Overwhelming Gratitude’: American Ryan Corbett Released From Taliban Captivity

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