Trump news at a glance: US can deport lawful resident for his views in ‘unjust and alarming’ court ruling

At the end of a tumultuous week, a US immigration judge has sided with Trump administration lawyers, ruling that Columbia University graduate and Palestinian organizer Mahmoud Khalil can be deported from the US for his views. The decision came on the same day Trump lawyers were criticized by another judge for defying an order to provide details on how they would return a wrongly deported man to the US. Meanwhile, the US president insisted his tariff war was going “really well” despite mounting fears of recession and Beijing raising its retaliatory tariffs on the US to 125%. Catch up with the key Trump administration stories of the day: Judge rules Mahmoud Khalil can be deported for his views Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and Palestinian organizer, is eligible to be deported from the United States, an immigration judge ruled on Friday during a contentious hearing at a remote court in central Louisiana. The decision sides with the Trump administration’s claim that a short memo written by the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, which stated Khalil’s “beliefs and associations” were counter to foreign policy interests, is sufficient evidence to remove a lawful permanent resident from the United States. The undated memo, the main piece of evidence submitted by the government, contained no allegations of criminal conduct. Supporters of Khalil branded the decision as “unjust as it is alarming”. Read the full story DoJ unable to tell court where wrongly deported man is Lawyers for the Trump administration were unable on Friday to tell a federal court exactly where the Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego García is after he was wrongly deported to El Salvador last month. The judge, Paula Xinis, admonished the government at a heated hearing. “I’m not asking for state secrets,” she said. “All I know is that he’s not here. The government was prohibited from sending him to El Salvador, and now I’m asking a very simple question: where is he?” Read the full story Head of US military base in Greenland fired after JD Vance visit The head of the US military base in Greenland has been fired for criticising Washington’s agenda for the Arctic island after JD Vance visited two weeks ago. Col Susannah Meyers, who had served as commander of the Pituffik space base since July, was removed amid reports she had distanced herself and the base from the US vice-president’s criticism of Denmark and its oversight of the territory. Read the full story Trump insists tariff war going ‘really well’ Donald Trump insisted his trade war with much of the world was “doing really well” despite mounting fears of recession and as Beijing hit back and again hiked tariffs on US exports to China. As the US president said his aggressive tariffs strategy was “moving along quickly”, a closely watched economic survey revealed that US consumer expectations for price rises had soared to a four-decade high. Read the full story Immigration agents try to enter LA elementary schools Immigration officials attempted to enter two Los Angeles elementary schools this week, but were turned away by school administrators. The incident appears to be the Trump administration’s first attempt to enter the city’s public schools since amending regulations to allow immigration agents to enter “sensitive areas” such as schools. The Los Angeles unified school district superintendent, Alberto Carvalho, confirmed that agents from the Department of Homeland Security were seeking five students in first through sixth grades. They were turned away after the schools’ principals asked to see their identification. Los Angeles Unified is a sanctuary district and does not cooperate with federal immigration agencies. Read the full story More law firms make pro bono deals to appease Trump Donald Trump said on Friday that five major law firms reached agreements to together provide his administration $600m in pro bono legal work, among other terms, to avoid executive orders punishing them, a significant capitulation to the president as he attacks the legal profession. The five firms – Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Allen Overy Shearman Sterling, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft – are among the most prestigious and recognized firms in the US. Read the full story Officials told to denounce ‘anti-Christian’ colleagues The state department is ordering staff to report colleagues for instances of “anti-Christian bias” during the Biden administration, part of Donald Trump’s aggressive push to reshape government policy on religious expression in his first months back in office. Read the full story Trump ally snipes at musician for Kennedy Center DEI concerns The Kennedy Center’s interim executive director, Richard Grenell – a staunch ally of Donald Trump – accused a professional musician of “vapidness” after she emailed him over concerns of the now Trump-controlled center’s rollbacks on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Read the full story Law firms scrap DEI mentions from websites Nearly two dozen US law firms have quietly scrubbed references to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from their website and revised descriptions of pro-bono work to more closely align with Donald Trump’s priorities, a Guardian review has found, underscoring the Trump administration’s successful campaign of intimidation against the legal profession. Read the full story Trump weakens US defenses against foreign meddling, says report The Trump administration has weakened tools the US government uses to combat foreign-influence campaigns, even as covert attempts by Saudi Arabia and other “malign actors” to influence American policy are growing in “scope, sophistication, and reach”, according to a new Senate report. Read the full story UK man’s tattoo ‘used by US officials’ to identify alleged gang members A British man was shocked to discover that a photo of his tattoo was included in a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document used to identify alleged members of a notorious Venezuelan criminal gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA). Read the full story What else happened today: The Mississippi library commission has ordered the deletion of two research collections: the race relations database and the gender studies database. The collections were stored in what’s called the Magnolia database, which is used by publicly funded schools, libraries, universities and state agencies in Mississippi. Donald Trump’s executive order imposing sanctions on the international criminal court (ICC) is facing a legal challenge from two US human rights advocates who argue it is “unconstitutional and unlawful”. California’s $59bn agricultural industry is bracing for disruption as Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to spike tensions and trigger economic turmoil with China – one of the state’s biggest buyers. Catching up? Here’s what happened on 10 April 2025.