作者： root

Exclusive: US tax officials consider adding citizenship question to tax forms

2026-05-22T20:53:10.267Z / Reuters

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building is seen in Washington, U.S. September 28, 2020. REUTERS/Erin Scott/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• IRS considers adding citizenship status checkbox to Form 1040 as part of immigration enforcement push
• Move follows legal battle over the IRS illegally sharing confidential taxpayer data with immigration authorities
• Fear among immigrant communities is driving down tax compliance

WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) – The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is debating requiring taxpayers to disclose their citizenship status on next year’s tax forms, ‌according to three people familiar with the situation, as the Trump administration intensifies attempts to link federal agencies to its sprawling immigration enforcement and anti-fraud drive.

IRS officials are considering two versions of Form 1040, the primary paperwork individuals use to report earnings and claim tax benefits, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional reprisals.

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The ​first version contains minor updates to reflect changes in tax laws. The second includes those updates and a check-box labeled: “Check this box if you ​are a non-U.S. citizen or have dual citizenship.”

Representatives from the Treasury Department – the IRS’s parent agency – declined to comment ⁠on Friday.

Immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, are required to file taxes and use the same IRS forms as tax filers with citizenship. Paying taxes has long ​been seen as a key factor for undocumented immigrants to obtain legal status.

“It’s just an effort to once again terrorize people with certain immigration statuses, ​and it’s another step of turning the IRS into an agency that collaborates with immigration authorities rather than being an agency that enforces and administers the tax laws,” said Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, an advocacy and low-income tax assistance organization.

The Treasury Department and the Department of Homeland Security spent much of 2025 ​attempting to collaborate, sharing confidential taxpayer data with immigration officials to assist in the Trump administration’s deportation campaign.

Olson’s organization filed a lawsuit, and a ​federal judge in November blocked the IRS from disclosing that data. The federal government has appealed the ruling.

The IRS in February admitted to the court that it had ‌erroneously shared ⁠the data of more than 42,000 taxpayers with DHS.

Disclosing a taxpayer’s personal information — including a name or address — outside of narrow legal exceptions carries stiff penalties, including jail time. President Donald Trump recently dropped a lawsuit against the IRS seeking $10 billion in damages after a tax agency contractor leaked his tax returns to media outlets. The contractor, Charles Littlejohn, is serving a five-year prison sentence.

In exchange for dropping the suit, the Justice Department created a nearly $1.8 ​billion fund to pay supposed victims ​of “government weaponization.” As part of ⁠the settlement, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an agreement permanently barring the IRS from pursuing tax claims against Trump, his family or his businesses.

The Trump administration has sought to aggressively police government benefits awarded to non-citizens. Federal ​law already prohibits undocumented immigrants from many entitlement programs, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other benefits covering ​education and housing. Non-citizens, ⁠though, pay into those programs through income, payroll and sales taxes.

Tax preparers nationwide reported encountering clients frightened to file taxes in 2025 due to the IRS’s collaboration with immigration enforcement. That fear has fiscal consequences for the U.S. government. The

Yale Budget Lab estimated, opens new tab
lower tax compliance rates among immigrant communities could lead ⁠to a $313 billion ​loss in federal revenue over the next decade.

The IRS is considering other methods of ​determining a taxpayer’s citizenship status. Non-citizens can file taxes using a nine-digit “individual tax identification number” in place of a Social Security number. Tax officials have discussed differentiating codes to denote a ​filer’s immigration status, the people said. The New York Times first reported those deliberations.

Reporting by Jacob Bogage; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Rosalba O’Brien and Nick Zieminski

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DOJ vows to appeal after judge dismisses smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia as ‘vindictive’

2026-05-22T18:10:47-04:00 / Fox News

DOJ spokesperson calls ruling ‘wrong and dangerous’ after judge found prosecution was retaliation for civil lawsuit

By Alexandra Koch , Bill Mears , David Spunt Fox News

Published May 22, 2026 6:10pm EDT

Tennessee authorities release body camera video of traffic stop involving Kilmar Abrego-Garcia

The Tennessee Highway Patrol released body camera video of its 2022 encounter with illegal immigrant Abrego-Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador’s Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT).

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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) vowed to appeal a federal judge’s decision Friday to dismiss human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who initially entered the U.S. illegally and allegedly had suspected ties to MS-13, slamming the ruling as “wrong and dangerous.”

U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. on Friday threw out a two-count indictment in Tennessee against Abrego Garcia, ruling the DOJ’s actions amounted to “vindictive and selective prosecution” in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

Abrego Garcia was facing charges after allegedly conspiring to smuggle roughly 600 illegal immigrants into the U.S. annually, between 2016 and 2025, according to a cooperating witness.

FEDERAL PROSECUTOR ADMITS ‘EXTRAORDINARY’ TIMING IN ABREGO GARCIA SMUGGLING CASE CHARGES

Kilmar Abrego Garcia arrives with his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura and attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg at U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., on Dec. 22, 2025, for a hearing.(Alex Wong/Getty Images, File)

“Another activist judge has placed politics above public safety,” a DOJ spokesperson told Fox News. “The judge’s order is wrong and dangerous, and we will appeal.”

The federal investigation was initially sparked by a November 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee and included suspected ties to the MS-13 gang and human trafficking.

The case became a constitutional standoff after the executive branch deported Abrego Garcia to El Salvador in March 2025 due to an alleged “administrative error.”

[MARYLAND IMMIGRANT WRONGLY DEPORTED TO EL SALVADOR MUST RETURN TO US, SUPREME COURT RULES]

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is seen during a traffic stop by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.(Tennessee Highway Patrol)

Abrego Garcia sued the government, and the judicial branch — ultimately backed by the Supreme Court — unanimously ordered his return be “facilitate[d]” to the U.S.

Crenshaw, an Obama appointee, noted that just days after the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Department of Homeland Security suddenly reopened a closed investigation into Abrego Garcia’s 2022 traffic stop.

[TENNESSEE BODYCAM OF ‘MARYLAND MAN’ TRAFFIC STOP SHOWS TROOPERS’ HANDS TIED DESPITE SMUGGLING CLUES]

This courtroom sketch depicts Kilmar Abrego Garcia sitting in court during his detention hearing on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn.(Diego Fishburn via AP)

Top Justice Department officials, under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, then pushed for an indictment, according to court documents.

In his 32-page memorandum opinion, Crenshaw determined the DOJ’s rapid pivot from closing the case to prosecuting Abrego Garcia was a direct retaliation for his successful civil lawsuit.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., meets with Kilmar Abrego Garcia at an undisclosed location in San Salvador, El Salvador, on April 17, 2025.(Sen. Van Hollen’s Office/Getty Images, File)

Calling it an “abuse of prosecuting power,” the judge concluded “absent Abrego’s successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the Government would not have brought this prosecution.”

As a result of the finding, Crenshaw formally dismissed the indictment and vacated Abrego Garcia’s conditions of release.

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Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who flew to El Salvador in April 2025 to meet with Abrego Garcia after he was deported to the country’s “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) megaprison, hailed Friday’s decision.

“Today, a federal judge made clear what we have long known: the Department of Justice was engaged in a vindictive prosecution against Kilmar Abrego Garcia,” Van Hollen said in a statment. “This decision is a strong repudiation of Trump’s lawless DOJ and a win for the Constitutional rights of everyone in our nation.”

Alexandra Koch is a Fox News Digital journalist who covers breaking news, with a focus on high-impact events that shape national conversation.

She has covered major national crises, including the L.A. wildfires, Potomac and Hudson River aviation disasters, Boulder terror attack, and Texas Hill Country floods.

SpaceX launches more powerful Super Heavy-Starship rocket on test flight

May 22, 2026 / 6:47 PM EDT / CBS News

SpaceX launched a revamped Super Heavy-Starship rocket Friday on a flight to test more powerful engines, enhanced control systems and a host of other upgrades needed to streamline operations and improve safety and reliability.

Once operational, Elon Musk’s company is counting on the mammoth rocket to launch larger Starlink satellites and government and commercial payloads, and eventually propel missions to the moon and even Mars.

The upgraded Super Heavy-Starship blasted off at about 6:30 p.m. EDT from a new, beefed up pad at SpaceX’s Starbase launch site on the Texas Gulf Coast. Launch followed a last-minute scrub Thursday due to a minor glitch with a launch pad system and two weather delays beforer that.

Generating up to 18 million pounds of thrust — twice the liftoff power of NASA’s SLS moon rocket — the 33 methane-burning Raptor engines at the base of the Super Heavy first stage pushed the 407-foot-tall rocket skyward atop a brilliant torrent of blue-white fire.

A SpaceX Super Heavy booster carrying the Starship spacecraft lifts off on a test flight from Starbase, Texas, May 22, 2026. Steve Nesius / REUTERS

It was the first launch of a “version 3” Super Heavy-Starship and the first use of SpaceX’s second Texas launch pad, designed to better withstand the rigors of repeated launches by the world’s most powerful rocket.

Two minutes and 24 seconds after liftoff, now out of the dense lower atmosphere, the Starship upper stage’s six Raptors ignited just before the Super Heavy first stage fell away.

It was programmed to flip around, reverse course and head back toward Starbase for a controlled splashdown in the Gulf, but the rocket had some engine trouble and didn’t reach its target.

“The booster’s primary test objective will be executing a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn and landing burn at an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America,” SpaceX said on its website. “As this is the first flight test of a significantly redesigned vehicle, the booster will not attempt a return to the launch site for catch.”

About a minute and 10 seconds after booster splashdown, the 160-foot-tall Starship upper stage engines were expected to shut down, putting the spacecraft on an arcing sub-orbital trajectory targeting a Raptor-assisted splashdown of its own in the Indian Ocean.

During its coast through space, the flight plan called for the release of 22 Starlink satellite simulators from a Pez-like dispenser, including two with cameras to photograph heat shield tiles during re-entry.

The Super Heavy first stage is powered by 36 Raptor engines burning methane and oxygen. In this shot from an earlier test flight, the Raptors are seen burning in concert to propel a Super Heavy-Starship out of the lower atmosphere. The latest version of the rocket features more powerful engines, capable of generating a combined 18 million pounds of thrust. SpaceX

Overall, the Super Heavy-Starship is equipped with about 50 cameras that will send imagery to the ground via the Starlink satellite system.

The flight plan also called for one of the Raptor engines to be re-ignited in space to test start-up procedures in the space environment. One heat-shield tile was deliberately removed to measure the thermal and structural effects of re-entry on surrounding tiles.

“Finally, the ship will perform experimental actions tested on previous flight tests, including a maneuver to intentionally stress the structural limits of the vehicle’s rear flaps and a dynamic banking maneuver to mimic the trajectory that future missions returning to Starbase will fly,” SpaceX said before launch.

As with earlier test flights, the Starship upper stage is expected to re-enter the atmosphere in a belly first orientation before flipping vertical for a rocket-powered descent to splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This view shows an earlier Starship seconds before the spacecraft hit the water. SpaceX

A milestone on the path to the moon

Version 3 test flights are major milestones for SpaceX as the company works to perfect the first fully reusable rocket for operational use launching government and commercial satellites along with science probes and, eventually, piloted flights to Mars.

The flights also are critical to NASA, which is paying SpaceX to develop a version of the Starship upper stage for use as a lander to carry the agency’s Artemis astronauts to the surface of the moon starting in 2028. Shortly thereafter, NASA plans to begin launching multiple missions per year and to build a base near the moon’s south pole.

In the near term, NASA plans to launch its next Artemis mission in 2027, sending up four astronauts in an Orion capsule atop an SLS rocket to rendezvous in Earth orbit with SpaceX’s lander and an alternative being built by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.

An artist’s impression of SpaceX’s Starship moon lander compared to the squat lunar modules that carried Apollo astronauts to the lunar surface more than 55 years ago. NASA/SpaceX

NASA plans tests with both landers during the Artemis III mission, but the flight will proceed even if only one is available. Both companies must launch a successful unpiloted moon landing mission before the agency will attempt to land astronauts in 2028.

Neither company has yet put a moon lander in space and both face daunting test schedules. With version 3 of its showcase rocket now available, SpaceX is working to transition from sub-orbital test flights to orbital missions while continuing work to perfect the systems that will be needed for moon missions.

A major challenge is the ability to autonomously refuel a Starship lander in Earth orbit before it can head for deep space. The version 3 Starship now features the attachment points and fuel-transfer systems that will be needed for those operations.

SpaceX says the first in a series of orbital refueling tests is planned before the end of the year.

Audit finds over 70% increase in federal immigration arrests in NYC under Trump

May 22, 2026 10:13 PM UTC / Reuters

By Jasper Ward

Demonstrators hold signs during an anti-ICE protest in front of 26 Federal Plaza Immigration Court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S. May 12, 2026. REUTERS/Ryan Murphy/File Photo

• Summary

• More than 5,500 New Yorkers arrested by federal immigration agents over last year
• Audit recommends city prisons discontinue reports to ICE regarding non-citizens

WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) – New York City experienced a more than 70% increase in federal immigration arrests since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House, according to a city audit released on Friday.

The audit, ordered by Mayor Zohran Mamdani soon after he took office this year, found that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 5,567 people in the New York City area between January 20, 2025, when Trump, a Republican, was sworn in as president, and March 10, 2026. Over half of those arrests took place at immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, according to the report.

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That figure, according to the audit, represented a 71% increase over the same number of days at the end of Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which has federal oversight of immigration enforcement and has carried out Trump’s aggressive immigration campaign, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mamdani, a Democrat, ordered the audit as part of efforts to protect immigrant communities.

“New York City is home to immigrants from every corner of the world, and no one should live in fear because of their status,” the mayor said in a statement on Friday.

The audit report included more than two dozen recommendations, among them auditing emails between officials in the city’s Department of Corrections and ICE to identify any improper communications. Also recommended was discontinuing daily reports to ICE regarding the national origin of non-citizens admitted into custody who have qualifying “violent and serious convictions.” According to the report, sharing such information is not required by federal, state or local law.

New York and other Democratic strongholds have laws limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, some arguing local resources should not be used on what is primarily a federal responsibility, and that, as a matter of broader public safety, immigrants should be encouraged to work with law enforcement to report crimes without fearing deportation.

Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; editing by Donna Bryson, Rod Nickel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Way harder than it should be: Why Congress may balk on $1.7B compensation fund

2026-05-22T19:01:29-04:00 / Fox News

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the fund ‘makes everything way harder than it should be’ for Republicans

Chad Pergram By Chad Pergram Fox News

Published May 22, 2026 7:01pm EDT

Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports on division amongst congressional Republicans over a $1.8 billion compensation fund on ‘Special Report.’

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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had never appeared before a congressional panel asking for money to run his department until Tuesday morning.

And even though cabinet secretaries routinely make their budget requests to Congress, it appears that Blanche apparently didn’t even need to ask lawmakers for the most-controversial batch of federal funds in years.

It was already approved. Somehow.

Blanche’s Justice Department announced the creation of a billion compensation fund to pay people who Republicans say are victims of government weaponization. Who gets the money isn’t clear. And what’s murkier still is how the stash of cash came about.

APOLOGIES AND CASH HEADED TO ALLEGED ‘WEAPONIZATION’ VICTIMS IN BILLION-DOLLAR TRUMP SETTLEMENT

President Donald Trump speaks during a Fighting For American Workers event in Suffern, N.Y., on May 22, 2026.(Ryan Murphy/AP)

In short, President Donald Trump sued his own IRS for leaking his tax returns – along with the filings of several hundred other Americans. Then, Blanche’s own Department of Justice announced that the president essentially settled with himself.

“Per the settlement, plaintiffs will receive a formal apology but no monetary payment or damages of any kind. They have agreed, in exchange for the creation of this fund, to drop their pending lawsuit with prejudice, and also withdraw two administrative claims, including for damages resulting from the unlawful raid of Mar-a-Lago and the Russia-collusion hoax,” read the DoJ statement.

The fund is worth $1.776 billion. Get it? 1776.

REPUBLICANS RECOIL AS TRUMP’S BILLION-DOLLAR DOJ ‘SLUSH FUND’ FOR ALLIES THREATENS ICE, BORDER PATROL PLAN

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche spoke during a news conference at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C., on April 7, 2026. He discussed the department’s anti-fraud efforts and announced the creation of a National Fraud Enforcement Division.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

So while the president couldn’t receive money from this fund, his political allies and donors could.

All without congressional input.

“I realize it’s a lot of money,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. “I want to understand where the money comes from. Do we find it in the budget? Do we have to borrow it? There’s just a lot of unanswered questions.”

DAVID MARCUS: HE BARELY SURVIVED BIDEN LAWFARE, AND NOW HE DESERVES TO GET PAID

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., has argued a third budget reconciliation package is unlikely to materialize this year, adding the forthcoming immigration enforcement-focused bill is the “last train leaving the station” ahead of November’s midterm elections.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“What I want to know is how the fund is created and what its purpose is,” said Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan.

“And (I want to know) the legality of creating a fund that Congress hasn’t had anything to say about.”

The government swept up the phone information of multiple Republican lawmakers after the January 6 riot as part of Operation Arctic Frost. That included the records of Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn. He defended the fund.

‘COMPLETE FAILURE’: GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CRISIS THREATENS CAPITOL HILL AS TRUMP PLANS POLICY OVERHAUL

Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., is seen inside the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 4, 2026.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc.)

“What we ought to be talking about is the reasons for the compensation. Weaponization of government that took place under former President Joe Biden was an absolute disgrace,” said Hagerty.

Blanche formerly served as President Trump’s personal legal counsel. Lawmakers argued that Blanche reverted to that role when he created the compensation fund out of the ether.

“Mr. Attorney General, you are acting today like the president’s personal attorney. And that’s the whole problem,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS FACE BRUISING BATTLE TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Sen. Chris Van Hollen questions U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer during a subcommittee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 9, 2025.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“You’re a very gifted lawyer. But from my perspective, you have very little faith to the Constitution and the people of America. And you’re the president’s consigliere,” piled on Sen. Jack Reed D-R.I.

Lawmakers questioned who qualifies for compensation.

“Will individuals who assaulted Capitol Hill police officers be eligible for this fund?” asked Van Hollen.

DEMS DEMAND TRUMP RESUME CASH FLOW AS THEY FINALLY GET LEVERAGE IN RACE TO PREVENT SHUTDOWN

“Anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they are a victim of weaponization,” replied Blanche.

And that’s what concerned bipartisan lawmakers. The compensation conundrum instantly spilled over into a major bill, due to the hit the Senate floor.

Congressional Republicans were trying to pass a bill to finally address funding for ICE and Border Patrol, once and for all. But they planned to bypass a Democratic filibuster using a special process called budget reconciliation.

SENATE GOP LAUNCHES ALL-NIGHT VOTE-A-RAMA TO FUND ICE, BORDER PATROL THROUGH END OF TRUMP’S TERM

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents patrol seen patrolling an airport.(Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

The good thing about reconciliation is that you can pass a bill with 51 yeas and don’t need to clear the filibuster with 60 votes. The bad thing is that the reconciliation process entails what the Senate refers to as a “vote-a-rama.” This is where senators can offer practically any amendment on any subject in a drawn-out process which might consume an entire calendar day.

Republicans freaked out that Democrats would force them to take controversial votes on the compensation fund. And frankly, many Republicans intended to author their own amendments to curb the fund – simultaneously inoculating themselves from blowback.

That political brew was too much for Senate Republicans.

DEMOCRATS’ LAST-MINUTE MOVE TO BLOCK GOP FUNDING PLAN SENDS LAWMAKERS HOME EARLY

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., spoke to reporters after the Senate Republican policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 28, 2026.(Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

They summoned Blanche to Capitol Hill Thursday morning to explain the fund. The meeting didn’t go well. Fox is told that Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., were pointed in their comments to Blanche. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., popped into the Capitol’s Ohio Clock Corridor en route to the meeting. Tillis was in mid-conversation. All anyone could hear Tillis say was “And I’m not voting for it!” as he walked by.

By early afternoon, Republican leaders scrapped the bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and sent everyone home for Memorial Day. It was the biggest legislative rebuke of President Trump’s second term.

“I just don’t know how this puppy dog will work,” said Kennedy. “I think there were six or seven people who are going to vote no.”

SENATE REPUBLICANS RACE TO FUND ICE, CBP WITHOUT DEMOCRATS AS SHUTDOWN DRAGS

Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate GOP leaders are pushing forward with budget reconciliation to fund the final piece of government that had been shut down by Senate Democrats’ opposition to President Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions.(Nathan Posner/Anadolu)

Yet Republicans were practically on the verge of finally ending the ICE and Border Patrol funding impasse.

“The sole reason we are here today is because Democrats refused to fund law enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

The debate over funding for the president’s ballroom wasn’t exactly the foxtrot for Senate Republicans. But the compensation fund converted the reconciliation process into the samba.

CONGRESS MELTS DOWN: MEMBERS UNLEASH PERSONAL ATTACKS AFTER WEEKS OF SHUTDOWN DRAMA

Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., listens during the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing for Secretary of Education nominee Linda McMahon in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Feb. 13, 2025.(Bill Clark/Unknown)

No fancy footwork here. Republicans managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

“There are a lot of questions about it. I have Republican colleagues who have concerns about who can receive funding from that fund,” said Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind.

However Banks noted that “every single Republican who was on the ballot like I was in the ‘24 cycle talked about stopping the weaponization of government.”

HOUSE GOP TENSIONS ERUPT AS REPUBLICANS TURN ON EACH OTHER HEADING INTO YEAR’S END

Sen.-elect Peter Welch, D-Vt., walks through the hallways of the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 15, 2022.(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Democrats watched as Republicans blanched at what Blanche told them.

“I think my Republican colleagues have reached their limit,” said Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt.

Thune said the compensation fund “makes everything way harder than it should be.” He declared that the White House should should have “consulted” with Congressional Republicans about the fund ahead of time. So deadlocked, Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., dismissed everyone until early June.

OUT OF POWER: DEMOCRATS DISORIENTED IN FIGHT AGAINST TRUMP AGENDA

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is mounting a longshot bid to retake Senate control during November’s midterm elections.(Kylie Cooper-Pool/Getty Images)

“Republicans are so divided, so dysfunctional, so disorganized, that they are fleeing Washington. Their majority can’t melt down fast enough,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

However, some of the President’s allies defended the compensation fund.

“I feel comfortable that whose who have been wronged by their government should have some sort of redress,” said Sen. Eric Schmidt, R-Mo.

[image_19]

And even though the president recently steamrolled some GOP foes politically, Republicans blocked him legislatively.

“We should have full review of what we’re funding,” said Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont. “Congress has our obligation.”

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So President Trump may get the personnel he wants in Congress next year as Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., go by the wayside. But securing the policies may need to wait until the president’s preferred candidates are in place in 2027.

That’s why some lawmakers are questioning whether Congress can move any more meaningful legislation the rest of this year. Everything else from here on will be “way harder than it should be.”

Chad Pergram currently serves as Chief Congressional Correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.

新闻人间：文策院争议下林志玲的温柔转身

2026年5月23日 05:00 / 联合早报 林展霆

台湾名模艺人林志玲早前受邀担任台湾文化内容策进院（简称文策院）董事，原定6月底上任，但星期四（5月21日）突然作出“U转”，宣布不接任这个职位。

以温柔淑女形象著称的她，在面簿委婉地写道，自己“始终真诚地希望，能让我们所拥有的美好文化被更多人看见”，当初接下邀请是希望为产业尽一份绵力，却“未曾想到这个称谓的重量，比想象中沉重很多很多”。

林志玲透露，在深思熟虑后，为避免更多非事实的揣测和误解，决定不承接文策院董事一职。

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Trump administration upends green card process, potentially compelling hundreds of thousands to leave US to apply

May 22, 2026 5:53 PM ET / CNN

By Michael Williams

Updated May 22, 2026, 7:13 PM ET

This 2014 photo shows a person from Nicaragua receiving assistance in applying for United States citizenship in Miami.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Summary

• The Trump administration announced a new rule requiring green card applicants to leave the United States during the application process.
• The change could force hundreds of thousands of immigrants to leave their jobs and families while applications are processed.
• The rule marks another effort by the administration to restrict legal immigration alongside its crackdown on illegal immigration.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

The Trump administration will now require people seeking green cards to leave the United States during the application process — a sweeping change that could upend the lives of hundreds of thousands of people seeking the right to legally and permanently live and work in the US.

In a new rule announced Friday, US immigration authorities said green card applicants would have to return to their home countries to apply for permanent visas.

The abrupt policy change stands to affect a large swath of the legal US immigration population, compelling those seeking legal permanent residency to leave the country — separating families, forcing people to leave their jobs and disrupting communities in the process. Applying for a green card is a notoriously arduous process that can take several months to years to complete.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services said the rule provides exemptions for “extraordinary circumstances,” Zach Kahler, a spokesperson for the agency, said in a statement.

“When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the US illegally after being denied residency,” Kahler said.

About 1.4 million people obtained lawful permanent residence in fiscal year 2024, according to public Department of Homeland Security data.

The new rule is likely to face legal challenges. Since being announced Friday, it has already faced a torrent of criticism from attorneys, lawmakers and immigration advocates.

Rep. Delia C. Ramirez, an Illinois Democrat, said on X the policy is “beyond cruel” and called for the dismantling of DHS “piece by piece.”

“Trump just made legal immigration harder — on purpose,” Rep. Greg Stanton, an Arizona Democrat, said on X. “America is able to attract the top researchers, doctors, & engineers because of our worker visa programs.”

“Forcing these immigrants to now leave the U.S. before applying for citizenship will deprive us of their innovation, their tax dollars, & their contributions to our economy,” Stanton said.

David J. Bier, the director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, described the policy as “illogical” in a blog post laying out potential far-reaching and cascading impacts of the rule.

“It will drive talented people to other countries and make America a less competitive place for business,” Bier wrote.

While cracking down on illegal immigration has been a top priority for the Trump administration, the new rule represents just the latest example of how the administration is also attempting to curb legal forms of immigration.

The administration has made efforts to significantly reduce asylum claims; ended the temporary protected status for several countries, which allowed those fleeing natural disasters, wars or other dangerous conditions to live in the US without fear of being deported; halted refugee admissions except for White South Africans; and restricted work and student visas.

Following last year’s shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington, DC, the administration announced it was reexamining all green cards issued to people from 19 countries “of concern.”

However, the alleged perpetrator of that shooting, an Afghan national, applied for asylum — a different process than the green card applications process — in 2021, and it was granted in 2025.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CIA director brought paramilitary leader involved in Maduro capture to Cuba meeting, sources say

2026-05-22T17:49:00-0400 / CBS News

When CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Havana last week for a rare meeting with senior Cuban officials, he brought along one of the operators involved in the U.S. mission to capture then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this year, multiple people familiar with the matter told CBS News.

Venezuela and Cuba were allies before Maduro’s arrest, and the Cuban government has said 32 of its military and police officers were killed in the January operation to extract Maduro.

Ratcliffe made a point of introducing the paramilitary leader to the Cubans as the one who killed their people in Venezuela, several sources said.

The presence of a paramilitary officer who was involved in capturing a key partner of the Cuban government just months earlier may have been intended to send a signal.

The CIA declined to comment.

Ratcliffe’s visit followed months of pressure on Cuba. The administration has threatened steep tariffs on any countries that export oil to the island nation, leading to severe fuel shortages.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the country needs to make fundamental economic and political reforms, and President Trump has floated a “friendly takeover” of the island, which has vexed U.S. administrations since Cuba’s communist movement rose to power in 1959.

blob:https://www.cbsnews.com/7b107b89-5d1a-4512-9ca8-bbb14e55f196

Hours after the Maduro raid, Rubio pointed to Cuba’s ties to Venezuela, telling reporters that Venezuela’s “whole spy agency” was “full of Cubans.”

“If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned, at least a little bit,” he said.

A CIA official said Ratcliffe delivered a message to Cuba that the U.S. is “prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes.”

A meeting between CIA Director John Ratcliffe and senior Cuban officials, including several people with blurred-out faces on Ratcliffe’s side of the table. Central Intelligence Agency

One of the figures that Ratcliffe met with was Raúl Rodriguez Castro, or “Raulito,” the grandson of former Cuban President Raúl Castro, the CIA official told CBS News last week. Less than a week later, an indictment against the 94-year-old elder Castro was unsealed in U.S. federal court, charging him with murder and conspiracy for Cuba’s fatal downing of two planes in 1996.

The meeting between an American spy chief and a member of the Castro family carried the long shadow of a Cold War struggle that helped define relations between Washington and Havana for more than half a century. Cuban officials likely remember the history of covert American efforts to undermine the government of Fidel Castro, particularly after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and the launch of Operation Mongoose, the clandestine campaign overseen by the Kennedy administration to destabilize the island’s communist government.

Relations between the U.S. and Cuba are still impacted by that fraught history. Rubio told reporters Thursday that Cuba “not only has weapons that they’ve acquired from Russia and China over the years, but they also host Russia and Chinese intelligence presence in their country.”

A CIA official said last week Ratcliffe discussed “security issues” with Cuban officials “against the backdrop that Cuba can no longer be a safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere.”

Meanwhile, as tensions rise, the U.S. intelligence community has been exploring how Cuba might respond to American military action, CBS News reported earlier this week. CBS News has also confirmed that Cuba has acquired attack drones.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez said this week Cuba “poses no threat” to the U.S., but he warned of a “bloodbath” if the U.S. military carries out strikes.

Olivia Gazis contributed to this report.

陈婧：被举报的复旦教授

2026年5月23日 05:00 / 联合早报

AI摘要
复旦大学副教授沈奕斐因一次网络直播中的事件被家长举报，引发广泛关注。文章探讨了举报在中国教育界及其他领域一线工作人员的影响，以及在人人可举报的时代，如何平衡个人权益与社会公义，避免滥用举报机制。
本摘要由AI辅助生成，仅供参考

中国高校近来频频成为舆论焦点。围绕上海复旦大学副教授沈奕斐的举报风波，是最新的热搜话题。 （互联网）

中国高校近来频频成为舆论焦点。围绕上海复旦大学副教授沈奕斐的举报风波，是最新的热搜话题。

事件起因是上月底，一名家长在沈奕斐的网络直播间连麦咨询，称小学二年级孩子遭受校园霸凌，老师处理不公，导致孩子有轻生念头。

身为社会学专家的沈奕斐了解后发现，家长认为的“霸凌”，不过是孩子把零食分给同学，但没有获得回赠，两个孩子因此发生推搡。她因此判断，这只是孩童间普通的社交摩擦，并不是霸凌；反倒是家长陷入“受害者逻辑”，令孩子承受压力。

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Exclusive: Democrats demand Rubio explain visa for wanted former Polish official

2026-05-22T20:34:49.222Z / https://www.reuters.com/world/democrats-demand-rubio-explain-visa-wanted-former-polish-official-2026-05-22/

Member of the Law and Justice (PiS) party and former Poland’s Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro reacts after he was detained by police at the Polish TV Republika station’s headquarters to be brought to testify before the Pegasus Investigation Committee, in Warsaw, Poland January 31, 2025. Agencja Wyborcza.pl/Robert Kowalewski/via… Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabRead more

• Summary

• Democratic lawmakers question US visa for wanted Polish former official
• Lawmakers demand Rubio explain if top deputy helped expedite visa
• Polish former minister faces 26 charges
• Ziobro says he’s target of political campaign by government

WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) – Two top U.S. House of Representatives Democrats on Friday asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to explain whether his top deputy helped expedite a visa that allowed a wanted former Polish cabinet minister to flee to the U.S. from Hungary, evading an extradition request from Polish authorities.

If true, “these events and decisions constitute a massive abuse of power and disregard for the legal immigration processes of the United States,” Representatives Gregory Meeks and James Raskin wrote in a letter to Rubio that Reuters reviewed.

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Meeks and Raskin are the senior Democrats on the House foreign relations and judiciary committees respectively.

The granting of the visa represents “an unprecedented level of interference in the domestic politics and judicial systems of two longstanding U.S. treaty allies,” the pair wrote, referring to Poland and Hungary, both of which are NATO members.

Their letter cited a Reuters report published on Monday that Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau directed senior State Department officials to facilitate and expedite a U.S. visa for former Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro.

Ziobro is wanted in Poland on 26 charges, mainly stemming from his alleged misuse of money from a crime victims’ fund. He has denied wrongdoing, saying he is the victim of a politically motivated campaign by Poland’s ruling pro-European Union coalition.

White House directed inquiries to the State Department. “As a general matter, we do not comment on congressional correspondence,” a State Department spokesperson said.

The government of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says it intends to put Ziobro on trial and that prosecutors have prepared an extradition request to the United States.

ZIOBRO SECURED VISA AHEAD OF LIKELY EXTRADITION

Ziobro fled in January to Hungary and received asylum from former Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Warsaw had hoped that Orban’s defeat by pro-EU rival Peter Magyar in an April election would see Ziobro returned to Poland. Magyar had said that he would extradite him on his first day in office.

Instead, Landau directed senior officials in the State Department’s Consular Affairs Bureau in Washington to instruct the U.S. embassy in Budapest to issue a visa for Ziobro, said three sources, one of whom said it was a journalist visa.

Ziobro secured his visa ahead of Magyar’s May 9 swearing-in and, according to Polish prosecutors, traveled to Italy and then to the U.S. on a refugee document as his Polish passport had been invalidated.

In their letter, Meeks and Raskin noted that Ziobro faces up to 25 years in jail if convicted on the charges he faces, including allegations he used some crime victims compensation funds to buy spyware to use against political rivals.

The lawmakers said that giving the visa to Ziobro threatened to “invite a significant diplomatic crisis” with Poland. They demanded that the Trump administration comply with any extradition requests from Warsaw.

They asked that Rubio answer in writing questions about the case and provide an in-person briefing to their committees no later than June 21.

The questions included whether U.S. President Donald Trump or any of his aides were involved in approving Ziobro’s visa and the grounds on which it was granted.

The pair also demanded any documents and communications between Landau, the Bureau of Consular Affairs, the U.S. embassies in Warsaw and Budapest, and any related to any involvement of Tom Rose, the U.S. ambassador to Poland.

Reporting by Jonathan Landay; additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Don Durfee and Nick Zieminski

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