Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego unveiled a border security and immigration reform plan that was immediately endorsed by several House Democrats. 

Gallego, the son of Mexican and Colombian immigrants, offered a “five-pillar” framework he said expresses his commitment to securing the southern border.

“We don’t have to choose between border security and immigration reform,” Gallego said.

“We can and should do both.”

STABLECOIN BILL, INITIALLY BIPARTISAN, HITS SNAG AS DEMS SPLINTER

“Americans deserve the right to feel safe knowing their border is secure, but for decades, Congress has tried and failed to take action because politics got in the way. It’s time to push forward and enact a plan that works,” Gallego said.

Typically seen as a Republican issue, Gallego’s border security plan combines GOP priorities like staffing-up the Border Patrol, with Democrats’ favored “pathway to citizenship” for select migrants, in part for economic benefit.

Gallego’s plan also outlines asylum process reform by “expedit[ing]” people’s passage through the system and also seeking to enforce that other countries do their “fair share” to resettle asylum seekers and combat cartel violence and economic instability in their home areas.

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It increases the annual green card quota and increases the use of e-Verify, an application that verifies an employee’s legal status when it comes to working in the U.S.

In terms of asylum case reform, Gallego seeks to hire additional officers to process claims and afford them more jurisdiction in deciding the outcome of applicants’ cases.

“I commend Sen. Gallego for this pragmatic and much-needed framework,” said Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, a supporter of the plan.

“More Democrats need to move to the middle on this issue and embrace this type of approach,” he said.

“As a border-district congressman, I know it’s past time we reform our asylum system, stop the flow of dangerous drugs by investing in our Border Patrol officers, develop legal pathways, tackle the root causes of irregular migration, and ensure South Texas, and communities all along the border – can safely thrive.”

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In the north, Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., also lent his support to the plan.

“Sen. Gallego is a serious Democratic leader, and I applaud him for offering a balanced immigration policy that secures our borders, fixes the broken asylum system, grows our economy, and treats immigrants with dignity,” Suozzi told Fox News Digital.

“We can achieve these goals without pandering to the far left’s impractical demands or the far right’s mean-spirited extremism.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Gallego’s plan.

A U.S. appeals court will review the Trump administration’s bid to avoid returning a 20-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker who was deported to El Salvador earlier this year, keeping him in Salvadoran custody for now. 

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed last week to take up Trump’s appeal – staying through May 15 a lower court’s ruling that required the Trump administration to immediately return him to U.S. soil.

The appeals court also ordered plaintiffs in the case to submit their response to the court before noon on Monday. The Trump administration will have through 9 a.m. Tuesday to respond.

At issue is the case of Daniel Lozano-Camargo, a 20-year-old Venezuelan national previously referred to in court documents as “Cristian,” who was deported to El Salvador in March in the Trump administration’s early wave of Alien Enemies Act removals.

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS RETURN OF DEPORTED MIGRANT TO US, REJECTING TRUMP REQUEST

U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee, ruled in April that his deportation violated an agreement the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) struck in 2024 with Lozano-Camargo and a group of young asylum seekers who had entered the U.S. as unaccompanied children.

Under that agreement, DHS agreed not to deport the migrants in question until their requests for asylum could be fully adjudicated in U.S. court. Last month, Gallagher said Lozano-Camargo’s deportation was a “breach of contract,” since his asylum case had not yet been heard, and ordered the U.S. government to facilitate his release.

She reiterated that decision in court last week, rejecting a new filing from the Justice Department that said it had determined Lozano-Camargo was eligible for removal under the law, citing his earlier arrest and conviction for cocaine possession in Houston this year. 

Justice Department officials claimed in earlier court documents that Lozano-Camargo was a member of a “violent terrorist gang” but have not linked him to Tren de Aragua. Portions of their most recent court filing have been redacted. 

Gallagher had specifically ordered the Trump administration to make a “good faith request to the government of El Salvador” to “release Cristian, [or Lozano-Camargo], to U.S. custody for transport back to the United States to await the adjudication of his asylum application on the merits by USCIS,” which it had not done.

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Gallagher emphasized in court last week that her decision has nothing to do with the strength of his asylum request, and is based solely on due process protections.

“I don’t think that this is a case about whether or not Cristian is going to eventually get asylum,” she told lawyers for the Trump administration.

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“Process is important. We don’t skip to the end and say, ‘We all know how this is going to end so we’ll just skip that part,'” she said. “Whether he ultimately receives asylum is not the issue. The issue is – and has always been – one of process.”

Still, Gallagher agreed to stay her ruling for 48 hours, giving the administration time to appeal it to the higher court, which it did. 

The Department of Homeland Security issued subpoenas to the government of California on Monday seeking records related to alleged disbursements of federal funds to illegal immigrants.

ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations [HSI] office in Los Angeles filed the subpoenas this week, targeting the state’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants [CAPI]. 

According to the program’s website, CAPI is intended to provide monthly cash benefits to aged, blind, and disabled non-citizens who are ineligible for federal Supplemental Security Income, but the White House claims it provides benefits to illegal immigrants who cannot access social security benefits.

DHS Sec. Kristi Noem criticized California politicians in a statement, saying, “Radical left politicians in California prioritize illegal aliens over our own citizens, including by giving illegal aliens access to cash benefits. The Trump Administration is working together to identify abuse and exploitation of public benefits and make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally.”

She added, “If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now. The gravy train is over. While this subpoena focuses only on Los Angeles County – it is just the beginning.”

TRUMP GOES TOE-TO-TOE WITH SANCTUARY CITIES OVER DEPORTATION AS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN SET TO BEGIN

HSI’s subpoenas seeks records including the name and date of birth of CAPI applicants dating back to 2021, as well as copies of applications, the immigration status of those applicants and other documents relating to the program.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

ICE ARRESTS MORE THAN 530 MIGRANTS IN ONE DAY AMID TRUMP’S CRACKDOWN

The investigation comes more than a month after a separate study found that California is funneling billions of federal taxpayer dollars into paying for illegal immigrants. The Economic Policy Innovation Center [EPIC] report drew a line between California’s Medicaid provider taxes and what, on paper, appears to be nearly $4 billion in state funding going toward illegal immigrants’ healthcare and other initiatives.

But that funding is actually coming from the federal government, according to EPIC, via reimbursements to California.

“The state of California, colluding with insurance companies who cover Medicaid beneficiaries, has created one of the most outrageous ones yet, a money laundering scheme that results in California obtaining more than $19 billion in federal money without any state contribution over the period from April 2023 through December 2026,” EPIC’s report says.

The paper continued that those funds were “used to implement major expansions in the Medicaid program to fund illegal immigrants and long-term care (LTC) for the wealthy.”

A spokesperson for California’s Department of Healthcare Services pushed back on EPIC’s report, arguing it is “misleading” and urging people to visit a link on their website “for accurate information on this topic.”

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

A Democratic National Committee (DNC) vice chairman fired up a crowd outside Philadelphia on Saturday after calling President Donald Trump a “punk” and accusing his administration of modern-day book burning for adjusting content on government websites.

“There is a strategy of authoritarians and would-be dictators and punks like Donald Trump,” Malcolm Kenyatta said at a town hall in Levittown that was officially targeting swing-district Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.

As part of that “strategy,” Kenyatta said, “one of the first things they go after is history.”

“We know that before, they used to take the books, put them in a little pile and burn them. Now they try to delete stuff off of our federal websites. But the effect is the same. They want us to forget what we are made of,” he went on, in a clip circulated by the left-leaning outlet “The Keystone.”

OBAMA SLAMS PRO-TRUMP MEN AT PHILADELPHIA RALLY WHILE SPRINGSTEEN WARNS GOP NOMINEE IS ‘AN AMERICAN TYRANT’

Since taking office, Trump has overseen agencies that have altered or removed content relating to DEI, climate change and gender ideology.

“Donald Trump is not the first bully or would-be authoritarian that Americans have taken on. We know it here in Pennsylvania. We don’t have a good relationship with kings,” he said, as Penn’s Woods was founded by Quakers and other religious exiles fed up with European authoritarians. “I’m not bowing to a king.”

Kenyatta is also the state representative for the Temple University area of North Philadelphia, and the first openly gay person of color to serve in Harrisburg.

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He added that “people like Fitzpatrick” lack the “guts” to stand up to Trump.

At another recent appearance in Berks County – which includes Reading and Hamburg – Kenyatta railed against the arrest of Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka at an ICE detention facility there.

“He was peacefully protesting and speaking up for his constituents and his neighbors. He wasn’t inciting an insurrection… because if he was doing that, they might have offered him a position in the Cabinet,” Kenyatta said.

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Kenyatta notably finished third in the 2022 Pennsylvania Senate primary won by Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and unsuccessfully ran for auditor general in 2024 against GOP incumbent Timothy DeFoor.

White House spokesperson Harrison Fields responded Monday, telling Fox News Digital that Kenyatta is a “no-name state representative who was trounced in the Pennsylvania Senate primary due to his radical and unserious positions.”

“The prominence the Democrat Party affords him reflects the party’s disarray and desire to satisfy its radical base,” Fields said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Fitzpatrick for comment.

President Donald Trump will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week to advance a flurry of high-stakes negotiations, but his trip comes as cracks seem to have appeared in his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On the agenda are reviving hostage talks with Israel and Hamas, exploring an off-ramp for the Russia-Ukraine war and potentially a civil nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, even if the kingdom refuses to normalize ties with Israel.

However, an apparent chill between Trump and Netanyahu has grabbed the attention of Middle East watchers.

Yanir Cozin, a correspondent for Israeli Army Radio, claimed this week that Trump had “cut contact” with the Israeli leader. That report has not been independently confirmed, but it aligns with an emerging perception in Israeli political circles that the Trump-Netanyahu axis may be fraying.

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“There’s always a method to the president’s madness, so to speak,” said Scott Feltman, executive vice president of the One Israel Fund. “There is a prevailing thought that [Trump] very much wants Israel to stand on its own two feet… To some extent, he may be giving the prime minister a little bit of tough love.”

Sources told Reuters Trump is prepared to move forward with a civil nuclear deal with Riyadh even if Saudi Arabia holds off on normalizing relations with Israel – a dramatic shift from both his first administration and Biden’s, which had tied such deals to broader normalization goals.

For Israel, that shift may be unsettling. Riyadh has long insisted on the creation of a Palestinian state as a precondition for full ties with Israel, an outcome Netanyahu has rejected.

Over the weekend, it was revealed Trump was in talks with Doha officials about a potential deal for Qatar to loan the U.S. a jet to replace Air Force One. Israeli supporters have long been skeptical of Qatar, claiming it has ties to Hamas. 

Meanwhile, frustration in Jerusalem grew this week when the U.S. reached a ceasefire agreement with Yemen’s Houthi militants. The deal, brokered without Israeli input, required the Houthis to halt attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes but made no mention of their assaults on Israel.

“Trump, to a large extent, basically threw Israel under the bus,” said Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and regional analyst. “I think the Israeli government is puzzled, embarrassed … particularly in the context of the Houthis.”

Netanyahu made clear Israel would not rely on the U.S. to handle the Houthi threat. “Israel will defend itself by its own forces,” he said Thursday, with Defense Minister Israel Katz echoing that position.

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Despite the rhetoric, the U.S. continues to support Israel’s defenses. On Friday, a U.S. THAAD missile system intercepted rockets fired toward Israel by Houthi forces.

“The United States isn’t required to get permission from Israel to make some type of arrangement that would get the Houthis from firing on our ships,” U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee told Israel’s Channel 12 this week. 

However, Huckabee shot down any report of tensions between the two world leaders. 

“It’s reckless & irresponsible for press to allege that @POTUS and @IsraeliPM are not getting along,” Huckabee said in a post on X. “Bibi has spent more time with @realDonaldTrump than I have in past 3 months & I’m his ambassador! The relationship between US & Israel remains STRONG!”

“Israel has had no better friend in its history than President Trump. We continue to work closely with our ally Israel to ensure remaining hostages in Gaza are freed, Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon, and to strengthen regional security in the Middle East,” National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt told Fox News Digital in response to the reports of tensions. 

Other experts caution against reading too much into the friction.

“The Israelis never had any false impressions that the U.S. was striking the Houthis to defend Israel,” said Gregg Roman of the Middle East Forum. “It was to protect global commerce… And it’s not like the U.S. has abandoned Israel.”

Roman also downplayed tensions over the potential Saudi nuclear deal. “I think a safer Saudi Arabia, at the end of the day, will lead to a safer Israel.”

Adding to the regional uncertainty is Netanyahu’s silence on Iran. While his government has tallied recent gains against Iranian proxies – Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime – he has so far refrained from weighing in publicly on nuclear negotiations with Tehran.

Still, Netanyahu says he remains in close contact with the Trump team about Iran. “I said to President Trump that I hope that this is what the negotiators will do,” he recently told reporters. “We’re in close contact with the United States. But I said one way or the other—Iran will not have nuclear weapons.”

Trump “is not scheduled to visit Israel on this trip, and I actually think that that might very well be a good thing, because he may find that he hears from the Sunni states that they’re just as upset about the path that is taking place right now with negotiations with Iran,” said Feltman. “They have just as much to lose from a nuclear Iranian regime.”

House and Senate Republicans have been working for months on a sweeping piece of legislation addressing a litany of President Donald Trump‘s agenda items.

Such a bill is possible via the budget reconciliation process, which allows the party controlling Congress and the White House to pass broad policy overhauls while totally sidelining the minority. It lowers the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, lining it up with the House’s simple majority rules.

However, one of the caveats is that the measures tucked into the bill must deal with taxes, spending or the national debt. One key person gets the final say over what is relevant to that sphere – the Senate parliamentarian. 

The parliamentarian, who heads the Senate’s parliamentarian office, is a nonpartisan, unelected role appointed by the Senate majority leader. It does not have a fixed term.

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The person’s role is to advise the Senate and its staff on the chamber’s rules and precedent. The normally low-profile role has been thrust into the spotlight several times in congressional history, however, particularly surrounding reconciliation.

“At the end of the day, it really is a judgment call. And sometimes you’re making a judgment call where you’re relying on similar situations or maybe analogous situations where we dealt with reconciliation in the past, maybe other times you’re dealing with a completely novel issue, and you’re having to figure it out,” one former senior Senate aide described to Fox News Digital.

“Or maybe, and this happens a lot, people are trying get things through, debating or citing past provisions of previous reconciliation bills…saying ‘Hey, this provision is very similar, and this got through.’”

The Senate parliamentarian leads the “Byrd bath,” a key part of the reconciliation process where the legislation is carefully examined, and any measures found not relevant to the contours of reconciliation are stripped out.

Notably, progressive Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., called for the firing of the Senate parliamentarian in 2021 when she forced Senate Democrats to scuttle their $15 per hour minimum wage effort from their reconciliation bill at the time.

That same parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, who was appointed by the late former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is still serving today and has largely garnered bipartisan respect for her handling of the role.

MacDonough, appointed in 2012, is the first woman in the job. She was a part of the parliamentarian’s office before that and briefly served as an attorney in the Department of Justice, according to NPR.

“I would say that this particular parliamentarian sees herself more as, almost an administrative law judge, and I think that she has generally viewed some of the things that the Senate has been allowed to get away with in reconciliation as a departure from precedent,” said Paul Winfree, president of the Economic Policy Innovation Center and a former Senate Budget Committee staffer himself, told Fox News Digital.

“I think that she has more of a ‘small-c’ conservative approach to what is allowable. At the same time, a lot of what is considered to be allowable under reconciliation is dependent on estimates that are produced by the Congressional Budget Office or the joint tax committee.”

When asked if any of the current public reconciliation plans could face issues with the parliamentarian, both people who spoke with Fox News Digital floated an accounting maneuver that would largely obscure the cost of permanently extending Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

That scoring method, known as current policy baseline, would zero out the cost of extending the 2017 tax cuts by measuring it as an extension of the current economic conditions, rather than factoring in how much less the government is taking in via tax revenues with the cuts in effect.

Senate Republicans have signaled they believe they have the legal basis for moving forward with that calculation, however, without the parliamentarian’s say.

“We think the law is very clear, and ultimately the budget committee chairman makes that determination,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters last month.

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The Senate GOP aide who spoke with Fox News Digital said, “If that were to have fallen out or just, you didn’t know what was going to happen, that would just affect so many provisions in the bill.”

“Because all of a sudden, you know, all these things start scoring [as an increase to the deficit]…and things become more problematic with your instructions,” the former aide said.

Winfree, however, said Republicans have appeared to be mindful overall with how they have written the text so far.

“They’ve actually been pretty conservative in how they’ve approached the language,” he said.

He said it was “possible some of the immigration provisions could get a second look,” but that even then, he believed it would “ultimately be okay.”

Republican leaders have said they hope to have a bill on Trump’s desk by Fourth of July.

Fox News Digital reached out to the current Senate Majority Leader’s office for comment.

President Donald Trump defended the U.S. preparing to accept a jumbo jet gift from Qatar’s royal family to serve as a temporary Air Force One as Boeing fails to roll out a new Air Force One fleet in a timely manner. 

“We’re very disappointed that it’s taking Boeing so long to build a new Air Force One,” Trump said from a press conference on drug prices Monday morning. “You know, we have an Air Force One that’s 40 years old. And if you take a look at that, compared to the new plane of the equivalent, you know, stature at the time, it’s not even the same ballgame.” 

“When I first came in, I signed an order to get (the new Air Force One fleet) built,” he continued. “I took it over from the Obama administration, they had originally agreed. I got the price down much lower. And then, when the election didn’t exactly work out the way that it should have, a lot of work was not done on the plane because a lot of people didn’t know they made change orders. That was so stupid, so ridiculous. And it ended up being a total mess, a real mess.” 

Reports spread Sunday morning that the Trump administration was expected to accept a $400 million Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from Qatar’s royal family. ABC News reported that Trump would use the jet until the end of his term, when it would be given to his presidential library. 

QATAR OFFERS TRUMP JUMBO JET TO SERVE AS AIR FORCE ONE

Trump confirmed Sunday evening on Truth Social that the Department of Defense would receive the 747 as a gift, while railing against Democrats as “world class losers” for criticizing the gift.  

“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump wrote. “Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA.”

He continued in the press conference Monday that when he returned to office this year, his administration informed him construction on two new Air Force Ones was “way behind” on the schedule for completion. 

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“If we can get a 747 as a contribution to our Defense Department to use during a couple of years while they’re building the other ones. I think that was a very nice gesture. Now, I could be a stupid person to say, ‘Oh, no, we don’t want a free plane.’ We give free things, we’ll take one, two, and it helps us out. Because again, we’re talking about we have a 40-year-old aircraft. The money we spend, the maintenance we spend on those planes to keep them tippy-top is astronomical,” he added, calling the gift a “great gesture from Qatar.” 

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also brushed off concern over the Qatari royal family donating a Boeing jumbo jet to the U.S. Department of Defense, arguing Monday there will be no quid pro quo arrangement and that the donation is under legal review to ensure full compliance with the law. 

“The Qatari Government has graciously offered to donate a plane to the Department of Defense,” Leavitt said on “Fox & Friends” Monday morning. “The legal details of that are still being worked out. But of course, any donation to this government is always done in full compliance with the law, and we commit ourselves to the utmost transparency, and we will continue to do that.”

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When asked if the administration was worried that accepting the gift could lead to a quid pro quo situation where Qatar expects something in return, Leavitt shot down such a narrative. 

“Absolutely not because they know President Trump, and they know he only works with the interests of the American public in mind,” Leavitt responded. 

Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., wrote to the Government Accountability Office on Sunday calling for an ethics investigation into the gift, claiming it would be the single most expensive gift ever received by a U.S. president. 

“I am writing to express alarm over reports that President Donald Trump is poised to accept a luxury aircraft — a Boeing 747-8 — from the government of Qatar,” Torres wrote. “The plane, so opulent it has been described as a ‘palace in the sky,’ is set to be made available to President Trump for official use as Air Force One and then for private use once he leaves office.” 

“This ‘flying grift’ is merely the latest chapter in a tawdry tale of presidential profiteering unprecedented in American history,” Torres added.

Presidents have for decades circumvented the Emoluments Clause — which prohibits federal elected officials from accepting gifts from foreign governments or monarchs — by classifying gifts they receive while in office as gifts to the office of the president. Those gifts are then cataloged and stored as part of their presidential libraries after leaving office. 

While presidents maintain some level of access to the items in their libraries, they do not own them directly and must purchase them from the federal government in order to secure private ownership.

Leavitt said in comment to Fox Digital Monday morning that all gifts received by a foreign government would be above board and in compliance with the law. 

HOUSE DEMOCRAT CALLS FOR ‘IMMEDIATE’ ETHICS PROBE OF QATARI PLANE GIFT TO TRUMP

“Any gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws,” Leavitt said. “President Trump’s Administration is committed to full transparency.” 

Trump is headed to the Middle East and is expected to meet with leaders in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. A Trump administration official confirmed to Fox News Digital that the plane will not be presented to the president nor accepted by Trump during his trip abroad. 

The current Air Force One fleet includes two aging planes, both of which are more than 30 years old and have been eyed for replacement since at least the Obama administration. 

Trump railed against a government deal with Boeing to build a new fleet of Air Force Ones ahead of his first administration, posting to social media in December 2016 that the “costs are out of control, more than $4 billion” to build the two aircraft.

Trump in 2018 awarded Boeing a $3.9 billion fixed-price agreement to manufacture two new jets. The construction of the jets, however, is not expected to be completed until 2029. 

“Boeing is proud to build the next generation of Air Force One, providing American Presidents with a flying White House at outstanding value to taxpayers. President Trump negotiated a good deal on behalf of the American people,” Boeing said in 2018 after ironing out a deal with Trump for the creation of the new fleet. 

“The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Department of Defense, but the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made,” Qatari embassy official Ali Al-Ansari told ABC News Sunday. 

When not in office as president, Trump has traveled in his private Boeing 757 jet, dubbed Trump Force One. That jet is famously emblazoned with Trump’s last name and was frequently seen in the backdrop of campaign rallies.

FIRST ON FOX – Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border have plummeted 93% under President Donald Trump’s administration, according to new data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection released Monday.

The CBP says it averaged 279 apprehensions per day at the southern border in April, compared to 4,297 apprehensions in April 2024. The total apprehensions for April this year landed at 8,383, compared to last year’s 129,000.

CBP officials also noted that just five illegal aliens were temporarily released into the U.S. during April, compared to 68,000 during the same month last year.

“For the first time in years, more agents are back in the field – patrolling territories that CBP didn’t have the bandwidth or manpower to oversee just six months ago,” said Pete Flores, acting commissioner of CBP. “But thanks to this administration’s dramatic shift in security posture at our border, we are now seeing operational control becoming a reality – and it’s only just beginning.”

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The CBP also noted that drug seizures rose 15% from March to April. Officials say they seized some 758 pounds of fentanyl crossing the border last month.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

The report shows the Trump administration’s continued progress on controlling the border since March. The CBP recorded the lowest southwest border crossings in history in March, with fewer apprehensions in the entire month than there were in the first two days of the month in 2024 under the Biden administration.

Border Patrol apprehended a total of 7,181 illegal aliens attempting to cross the southern border between ports of entry in March. This constitutes a 14% decrease from February, when Border Patrol apprehended 8,346 aliens, and more dramatically, a 95% decrease from the 137,473 aliens apprehended under the Biden administration in the same period in 2024.

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“Aliens are receiving the Trump administration’s message: if you cross the border illegally, you will be deported,” CBP said in its latest report.

Fox News’ Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump declared Monday that the U.S. “will no longer tolerate profiteering and price gouging from Big Pharma” as he signed an executive order implementing what his administration is calling “most favored nations drug pricing.” 

“The principle is simple – whatever the lowest price paid for a drug in other developed countries, that is the price that Americans will pay,” Trump said at the White House. “Some prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices will be reduced almost immediately by 50 to 80 to 90%.” 

Trump said that “starting today, the United States will no longer subsidize the healthcare of foreign countries, which is what we were doing. We’re subsidizing others’ healthcare, the countries where they paid a small fraction of what for the same drug that what we pay many, many times more for and will no longer tolerate profiteering and price gouging from Big Pharma.” 

“Even though the United States is home to only 4% of the world’s population, pharmaceutical companies make more than two thirds of their profits in America. So think of that with 4% of the population, the pharmaceutical companies make most of their money. Most of their profits from America. That’s not a good thing,” Trump continued.  

TRUMP SAYS HE WILL SLASH DRUG PRICES WITH EXECUTIVE ORDER

“I think, by the way, pharmaceutical – I have great respect for these companies and for the people that run them. I really do, and I think they did one of the greatest jobs in history for their company, convincing people for many years that this was a fair system. Nobody really understood why, but I figured it out. For years, pharmaceutical and drug companies have said that research and development costs were what they are, and for no reason whatsoever, they had to be borne by America alone,” Trump said. “Not anymore, they don’t.” 

The White House said the executive order “directs the U.S. Trade Representative and Secretary of Commerce to take action to ensure foreign countries are not engaged in practices that purposefully and unfairly undercut market prices and drive price hikes in the United States.

“The Order instructs the Administration to communicate price targets to pharmaceutical manufacturers to establish that America, the largest purchaser and funder of prescription drugs in the world, gets the best deal,” the White House said.

“The Secretary of Health and Human Services will establish a mechanism through which American patients can buy their drugs directly from manufacturers who sell to Americans at a ‘Most-Favored-Nation’ price, bypassing middlemen,” the White House added. “If drug manufacturers fail to offer most-favored-nation pricing, the Order directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) propose rules that impose most-favored-nation pricing; and (2) take other aggressive measures to significantly reduce the cost of prescription drugs to the American consumer and end anticompetitive practices.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, said alongside Trump, “I never thought that this would happen in my lifetime.”

“I have a couple of kids who are Democrats, are big Bernie Sanders fans. And when I told them that this was going to happen, they had tears in their eyes. Because they thought, this is never going to happen,” he said. “And we finally have a president who is willing to stand up for the American people.” 

MAHA CAUCUS MEMBER PLEDGES HEARINGS INTO ‘CORRUPTION’ OF A PUBLIC HEALTH SECTOR ‘CAPTURED BY BIG PHARMA’

Trump said earlier this morning that drug prices would be “cut by 59%.” 

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) trade group opposes the order, saying, “This Foreign First Pricing scheme is a bad deal for American patients.” 

“Importing foreign prices will cut billions of dollars from Medicare with no guarantee that it helps patients or improves their access to medicines,” the group’s president, Stephen Ubl, said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “It will jeopardize the hundreds of billions our member companies are planning to invest in America, making us more reliant on China for innovative medicines.” 

“To lower costs for Americans, we need to address the real reasons U.S. patients are paying more for their medicines. We are the only country in the world that lets PBMs, insurers and hospitals take 50% of every dollar spent on medicines,” Ubl also said. “In fact, hospital markups in 340B and the rebates and fees paid to middlemen in the U.S. often exceed the total cost of medicines oversees. Giving more of this money to patients will lower their medicine costs and reduce the gap with European prices.” 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.  

FIRST ON FOX: Ohio freshman GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno has introduced legislation that would increase the criminal penalties for harming a police officer after a sheriff’s deputy was killed in the line of duty in Cincinnati, Ohio, earlier this month.

Moreno’s Larry Henderson Act, being introduced this week, would update existing law stating that anyone who forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, impedes, intimidates, or interferes with any law enforcement officer engaged in official duties be required to face one to eight years in prison, depending on the severity.

Moreno’s bill would up that mandatory minimum to 20 years. 

The bill also “establishes federal jurisdiction over these crimes as exclusive and preemptive, superseding state or local prosecution for federal officers.”

COP KILLER DIES AFTER ‘BOTCHED’ FIRING SQUAD EXECUTION; WITNESS IN THE ROOM REVEALS HOW IT HAPPENED

“Enough is enough,” Moreno told Fox News Digital in a statement.

“Anyone who assaults one of our men or women in blue needs to face severe consequences, period. Deputy Larry Henderson should be alive today, and that’s why I’m introducing legislation – in his honor – to protect our law enforcement officers.”

POLICE GROUP SLAMS GOFUNDME FOR OHIO FATHER ACCUSED OF KILLING DEPUTY LARRY HENDERSON

The bill is named after Hamilton County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Deputy Larry Henderson, who was killed when he was struck by a car while directing traffic near the University of Cincinnati during a graduation ceremony.

Authorities have charged Rodney Hinton with attempted murder and say he intentionally struck Henderson shortly after Hinton’s 18-year-old son was shot and killed by officers after allegedly fleeing in a stolen car while armed, according to prosecutors.

Ohio Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) President Jay McDonald said in a statement that Ryan’s father, Rodney Hinton Jr., “intentionally murdered a retired deputy who was working special duty at a graduation just because he was a police officer.”

Henderson was a 33-year officer with the HCSO and had served in multiple specialized units since 1991, including the dive team, HCPA SWAT, FBI Task Force Officer and the HCSO Bomb Unit.

“In Deputy Henderson’s early tenure as a Sheriff’s Deputy, I recognized his talent for teaching and presentation,” Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey said in a statement after Henderson’s death.

“Larry began his journey as a Sheriff’s Office trainer early in his career. He developed an expertise and became an excellent trainer. Subsequently, he trained divisions of the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office that included hundreds of deputy sheriffs. His ability to relate to and touch officers’ lives was extraordinary. We will continue to honor Larry’s life of service.”

Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this report

China has agreed to “open itself up to American business” following trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing Saturday, according to President Donald Trump.

The arrangement arguably was the most significant development stemming from the trade negotiations, Trump told reporters Monday at the White House. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent launched trade negotiations with China in Geneva Saturday, resulting in a deal that would temporarily ease up on tariffs for 90 days.  

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. 

As the Alien Enemies Act continues to be a focal point of the immigration debate in the early days of President Donald Trump’s second term, Republican attorney Mehek Cooke told Fox News Digital about why the White House is making use of the 1798 law.

Some federal judges have disagreed with the Trump administration’s decision to use the act to send suspected MS-13 and Tren De Aragua gang members outside the United States, including to El Salvador’s CECOT prison. Trump designated those two groups as foreign terrorist organizations shortly after taking office.

“Under this act, it allows us to detain, apprehend, and deport alien enemies,” Cooke said.

BOASBERG GRILLS DOJ OVER REMARKS FROM TRUMP AND NOEM, FLOATS MOVING MIGRANTS TO GITMO IN ACTION-PACKED HEARING

“This immediately allowed under the Alien Enemies Act for President Trump and his administration to accelerate deportations of individuals from Venezuela and gang members,” she later added.

Earlier last week, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg asked the Justice Department about public comments Trump and other Cabinet officials made about deportation proceedings under the Alien Enemies Act and floated the idea of moving some migrants to Guantánamo Bay.

During the hearing, Boasberg specifically pressed Justice Department lawyers about statements made by Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about CECOT, the maximum-security prison in El Salvador where the U.S. has deported hundreds of migrants, and the White House’s ability to secure someone’s release.

KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA’S LAWYERS ASK FOR MORE TRUMP ADMIN OFFICIALS TO TESTIFY, POSSIBLY FROM WHITE HOUSE

Cooke noted that the debate over due process has to do with the perspective of who gets those rights in the U.S.

“I think today, when we talk about due process, people have to understand there’s American citizens that deserve due process under our Constitution,” she said.

“There’s illegal aliens that are in our country that we have given a sliding scale of due process. And then there are terrorists that deserve very little process, as we’re expediting their removal. Our immigration judges and our courts don’t have enough time to stand there with every single individual that’s a Tren de Aragua member and bicker back and forth,” Cooke continued.

DEPORTATION FLIGHTS TO LIBYA WOULD VIOLATE COURT ORDER WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE, FEDERAL JUDGE SAYS

The Republican attorney said that from her perspective, many federal judges are questioning the president’s ability to actually decide what is considered an alien enemy.

“What’s happening today is courts through judicial activism are actually challenging that. So what they’re saying is that the president can’t designate somebody an alien enemy. They can’t designate Tren de Aragua an alien enemy. And more importantly, courts are pushing and saying that these individuals that are illegal terrorists in our country deserve due process,” Cooke explained.

Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

A proposal to give illegal immigrants $1,000 to self-deport is drawing a somewhat mixed reaction from Republicans in the House of Representatives.

No GOP lawmakers opposed the idea, but some had questions about its feasibility. Others, however, emphatically backed the proposal as a cost-effective and humane way to achieve the Trump administration’s deportation goals.

“It’s a smart, compassionate, and cost-effective way to tackle immigration issues,” Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital. “Instead of costly detentions and deportations, this plan offers financial help and safe travel for people to return home. It’s a win-win, fair to those involved and saves American taxpayers millions.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., conceded it “will help get the [deportation] numbers up” but argued it would likely largely affect people who wanted to leave the country anyway.

SCOOP: REPUBLICANS DISCUSS DEFUNDING ‘BIG ABORTION’ LIKE PLANNED PARENTHOOD IN TRUMP AGENDA BILL

“We’re not gonna lose any gangbangers like that or any criminals, I think people that are trying to figure out a way to get back,” Burchett said. 

He added as another point, “Where will the money come from? Again, any money we spend now we’re just borrowing, so that’s a concern.” 

President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said earlier this week that it would soon begin giving $1,000 stipends and travel aid to illegal immigrants who self-deport.

DHS said it was far cheaper than the cost of arresting someone and detaining them while their deportations are processed – an average cost of $17,000 according to the department.

“I think it is pathetic that we’re in a position where we have to pay for people and pay for their flights and remove them and then give them money,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital.

“But at the end of the day, everything is a calculation, at this point, on how you remove people and get sanity in our system. So I’m going to give the administration a lot of deference on that.”

Roy summarized his sentiments: “I don’t love it, but I also don’t love the situation we’re in.”

Reps. Mike Flood, R-Neb., and Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., both noted the argument of cost-effectiveness.

“I mean, the message it sends to me is he’s looking at every option to reduce and deport, to deport people that are here illegally, and my sense is they feel this can work, and it may be a lot cheaper in the long run if we can make it happen,” Flood said.

Clyde told Fox News Digital, “If it costs less to send them home that way, I think that’s a very creative option for the president.”

BROWN UNIVERSITY IN GOP CROSSHAIRS AFTER STUDENT’S DOGE-LIKE EMAIL KICKS OFF FRENZY

“I think what we’ll probably find is it costs us a whole lot more than $1,000 to go arrest them, put them in detention, and then physically deport them,” Clyde said.

But others, like Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., just wanted to know that studies were being done on the plan’s potency.

“Do we have any studies on the efficiency?” he posed. “Also, how do you stop any type of scamming of the system – come across, go back, come across? It should be done by the math.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and DHS for comment.

Global stock markets are soaring in the wake of the trade truce between the U.S. and China.

The agreement, announced early Monday, implements a 90-day cooling-off period between the world’s two largest economic superpowers, bringing a temporary end to their tariff war that last month triggered a massive financial market sell-off. 

U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, which were jacked to 145% last month as President Donald Trump hiked tariffs on countries around the world, will be scaled down to 30%, with Beijing lowering its tariffs from a retaliatory 125% to just 10%.

“We both have an interest in balanced trade, the U.S. will continue moving towards that,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after talks with Chinese officials in Switzerland.

WHAT’S IN THE TRADE TRUCE WITH CHINA

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in an appearance on “Fox and Friends,” said the agreement was “an extraordinary step in the right direction,” and a White House press release described it as “a historic trade win for the United States.”

While the initial agreement brought instant relief to the stock markets, for a president aiming to pass a sweeping agenda through Congress and hold onto his congressional majorities in next year’s midterm elections, it is the potential political payoff that may be of upmost importance.

The truce with China follows days after an initial trade deal with the United Kingdom – which is the first since Trump implemented tariffs last month. The president touted that the agreement with London would be “the first of many.”

“It’s a positive first step,” veteran Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams told Fox News.

COMMERCE SECRETARY SAYS MORE DEALS TO COME FOLLOWING US-UK TRADE AGREEMENT: ‘GOING TO DRIVE OUR ECONOMY’

Trump’s approval ratings have been sliding since he returned to power in the White House nearly four months ago and are now underwater in most national polling.

Most, but not all, of the most recent national public opinion surveys indicate Trump’s approval ratings in negative territory, which is a deterioration from the president’s poll position when he started his second tour of duty in the White House in late January.

Fueling the drop in Trump’s poll numbers are increased concerns by Americans over the economy and inflation, which were pressing issues that kept former President Joe Biden‘s approval ratings well below water for most of his presidency.  

Trump stood at 44% approval and 55% disapproval in the most recent Fox News national poll, which was conducted April 18-21.

Additionally, getting past the top lines, the president’s approval registered at 38% on the economy and just 33% on inflation and tariffs.

Front and center is Trump’s blockbuster tariff announcement in early April, which sparked a trade war with some of the nation’s top trading partners and triggered a massive sell-off in the financial markets and increased concerns about a recession.

POLL POSITION: WHERE TRUMP STANDS 15 WEEKS INTO HIS SECOND PRESIDENCY

In discussing his tariffs soon after he announced them on what he called “Liberation Day,” the president touted that “these countries are calling us up, kissing my a–.”

“They are dying to make a deal. ‘Please, please, sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything. I’ll do anything, sir!’” Trump claimed.

A month later, Trump finally has a chance to show tangible results.

The president touted, “NO INFLATION!!! LOVE, DJT” in a social media post Monday morning.

“President Trump has argued that his agenda requires time for an adjustment and deal making. He’ll be given a period of time to execute deals to prove that his plans are working and the first major trade deal with a nation like the UK is at least a sign that some of the work has been going on behind the scenes thus and is starting to bear fruit,” Williams said last week, following the announcement of the deal with the United Kingdom.

Williams added that the president will “have to back it up with more, but it is a positive first step for him in securing other deals.”

Two Senate Republicans are calling for immediate corrective action at the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), accusing agency officials of substantial misconduct, mismanagement, abuse of power and potential criminal misconduct after supervisory staff allegedly disregarded federal directives and standards in order to inflate their salaries. 

What’s more, instead of being disciplined, the supervisory agents who allegedly turned a blind eye to the misconduct – and in some cases allegedly retaliated against whistleblowers trying to expose it – were promoted under the Biden administration, the senators say.

“As a result of ATF’s illegal conduct, ATF staff assigned to these positions performed administrative work but unlawfully received enhanced law enforcement pay and benefits to which they were not entitled, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars,” Iowa’s Republican senators, Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, wrote in a letter transmitted Friday to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and ATF acting Director Daniel Driscoll. 

ARMY SECRETARY DAN DRISCOLL TO LEAD ATF, REPLACING FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL

In their letter, the senators cited two internal investigations from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which concluded in 2020 and ultimately suspended the ATF’s classification authority, and the ATF Internal Affairs Division (IAD), which was completed in early 2024. Despite the suspension from OPM in 2020, which was lifted in 2023, ATF officials disregarded OPM directives and continued to re-classify agency employees improperly, according to the senators.

In their letter, Grassley and Ernst singled out two supervisory agents, Lisa Boykin and Ralph Bittelari, who they say the IAD audit shows not only allowed the continuance of this misclassification scheme – despite knowing it violated OPM directives and standards – but also retaliated against whistleblowers trying to expose it. 

Furthermore, the senators claim, Boykin and Bittelari were promoted before President Joe Biden left office and continue to work at the ATF under President Donald Trump.

In one instance, according to the senators, Bittelari and Boykin decided to move forward with the relocation of an ATF law enforcement officer in Phoenix to an administrative position at ATF headquarters in Washington, D.C., despite OPM identifying the position as misclassified. The IAD report allegedly shows Bittelari initially agreed to rescind the job offer, but following a subsequent conversation with Boykin decided to move forward with the unauthorized relocation anyway.

SENATOR WARNS OF ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL’ JUDICIAL OVERREACH AHEAD OF SCOTUS SHOWDOWN

Furthermore, the senators alleged in their letter that the IAD report shows Bittelari attempted to hide the “unlawful assignment” by submitting the promotion directly to payroll for processing.

During another instance when Bittelari sought to improperly classify a position description for the chief of ATF’s Workforce Wellness and Services Division (WWSD) as law enforcement, the senators said a human resources classification specialist was threatened with insubordination after recusing herself from the matter and sending an email notifying staff it was a violation of OPM directives and standards. 

The senator’s letter also highlighted Boykin’s “troubling lack of candor” regarding the installation of the chief of WWSD. According to the senators, Boykin told IAD investigators she was unsure if the chief of WWSD had been installed prior to the position description ever being adequately approved. However, the senators said, Boykin’s emails showed the individual attended meetings and functions with Boykin as WWSD chief prior to receiving approval, and a draft position description was created jointly by the pair weeks before the official WWSD chief position description was approved.   

“The findings in the IAD report present clear evidence that corrective action must be taken for, at minimum, Ms. Boykin’s and Mr. Bittelari’s gross misconduct,” the senators wrote. “Yet, the Biden ATF and DOJ leadership not only failed to hold Boykin or Bittelari accountable for their gross misconduct, but legally protected whistleblower disclosures provided to our offices show these career DOJ bureaucrats were promoted after the conclusion of the IAD investigation that harshly criticized their actions.”

The senators point out in their letter that Boykin was promoted to chief diversity officer under Biden, but in January 2025 her title was switched to “Senior Executive.” Meanwhile, the senators also pointed out Bittelari was promoted to senior advisor at the Justice Department’s Justice Management Division (JMD), and later acting deputy director of human resources within JMD.

ATF ACCUSED OF ‘CIRCUMVENTING’ TRUMP ORDER TO PLACE DEI STAFF ON PAID LEAVE

“In closing, the findings in the IAD and OPM audit reports further substantiate the claims whistleblowers made to our offices that senior ATF bureaucrats, Ms. Boykin and Mr. Bittelari, engaged in gross and substantial waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct at the expense of taxpayers in furtherance of ATF’s illegal misclassification scheme, retaliated against whistleblowers for exposing it, and then were promoted for it,” stated Grassley and Ernst’s letter to Bondi and Driscoll. 

“Their complete disregard for the law despite being ‘fully aware of the potential consequences’ show Boykin and Bittelari should not have leadership positions at the Justice Department or its components.”

In addition to calling for corrective action, Grassley and Ernst requested that no later than May 23 the Justice Department submit a response on how it plans to address the issues laid out in the IAD report and their letter. 

The Justice Department declined to comment for this article, while the ATF did not respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiries.

House Republicans released a sweeping plan late on Sunday to curb who gets Medicaid coverage and roll back former President Joe Biden’s electric vehicle (EV) mandate, among other measures.

The Energy & Commerce Committee, which has broad jurisdiction, including over federal health programs, telecommunications and energy, was tasked with finding at least $880 billion in spending cuts to pay for other priorities in President Donald Trump‘s “big, beautiful bill.”

Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., told House Republicans on a lawmaker-only call on Sunday night that the panel had found “north of $900 billion” in savings, however – a significant victory for House GOP leaders who weathered attacks from Democrats about significant cuts to welfare programs like Medicaid.

However, Republicans largely avoided the deep cuts to Medicaid that were sought by some fiscal hawks in the House GOP Conference, a win for moderate Republicans who were more politically vulnerable to Democratic attacks over the issue.

ANTI-ABORTION PROVIDER MEASURE IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ COULD SPARK HOUSE GOP REBELLION

The legislation would put a new 80-hour-per-week work requirement on certain able-bodied adults receiving Medicaid, aged 19 through 64.

It would also put guardrails on states spending funds on their expanded Medicaid populations. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) allowed states to expand Medicaid coverage to adults who make up to 138% of the poverty level.

More specifically, states that provide Medicaid coverage to illegal immigrants could see their federal Medicaid reimbursement dollars diminished, putting more of that cost on the state itself.

The bill would also require states with expanded Medicaid populations to perform eligibility checks every six months to ensure the system is not being abused.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS RELEASE TAX PLAN FOR TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

Guthrie told House Republicans on a Sunday night call that the legislation was “ending” the former Biden administration’s EV mandate. He said $105 billion in savings could be found in ending the mandate to have EVs account for two-thirds of all new car sales by 2032.

Other savings are found in rescinding unspent funds in a variety of Biden green energy tax programs established via the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

It is not a full repeal of the IRA, however, as some conservatives had been pushing Republicans to do.

That had been another point of contention ahead of the bill’s release, with GOP lawmakers who have businesses in their districts that have benefited from the green energy subsidies pushing back on significant cuts.

On the other end of the energy divide, the bill would also boost Trump’s non-green energy goals by establishing a fast-tracked natural gas permitting route. The permit applicant would be required to pay $10 million or 1% of the project’s cost to be on the expedited track.

There is also a victory for social conservatives in a measure that would make certain large abortion providers ineligible for Medicaid funding. That measure was pushed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., himself, and was backed by anti-abortion groups like Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. 

However, it could run into opposition from moderate Republicans – Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., called the provision “problematic” and warned colleagues they were “running into a hornet’s nest” on the matter in the Sunday night call.

The legislation does provide exceptions for places that provide abortions in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is at stake. It’s not necessarily clear, however, if providing voluntary abortions would disqualify those locations.

The Energy & Commerce Committee’s legislation accounts for the bulk of Republicans’ $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion spending cuts they are hoping to find in the budget reconciliation process.

House Republicans currently have a razor-thin three-vote margin, meaning they can afford to have little dissent and still pass anything without Democratic support. They are hoping to do just that, with virtually no Democrats currently on board with Trump’s massive Republican policy overhaul.

The budget-reconciliation process lowers the Senate’s passage threshold from 60 votes to 51, lining up the House’s own simple majority threshold.

Reconciliation allows the party in power to effectively skirt the minority and pass broad pieces of legislation – provided they address taxes, spending or the national debt.

Trump wants Republicans to use the maneuver to tackle his priorities on the border, immigration, taxes, defense, energy and raising the debt ceiling.

To do that, several committees of jurisdiction are working on their specific portions of the bill, which will then be put together in a massive vehicle to pass the House and Senate.

GOP leaders hope to have that final bill on Trump’s desk by Fourth of July.

President Donald Trump‘s 17th week back in the Oval Office will see him focus on his visit to the Middle East, which will mark the first major overseas trip of his second term. 

“President Trump will return to [the Middle East to] re-emphasize his continued vision for a proud, prosperous and successful Middle East where the United States and Middle Eastern nations are in cooperative relationships and where extremism is defeated in place of commerce and cultural exchanges,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday. 

“This trip ultimately highlights how we stand on the brink of the golden age for both America and the Middle East, united by a shared vision of stability, opportunity and mutual respect, the president greatly looks forward to visiting with our brave men and women in uniform at our U.S. air base in Qatar throughout this trip.”

Trump is slated to depart Washington, D.C., on Monday for visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The president disclosed last week, when Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited the White House, that he would be making “a very, very big announcement” ahead of his departure for the Middle East, but has not shared additional details. 

TRUMP AND CHINA CLOSE IN ON TRADE DEAL AFTER PRODUCTIVE TALKS, BESSENT SAYS

“We’re going to have a very, very big announcement to make, like as big as it gets,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. “And I won’t tell you on what… and it’s very positive.”

“It is really, really positive. And that announcement will be made either Thursday or Friday or Monday before we leave,” Trump added. “But it’ll be one of the most important announcements that have been made in many years about a certain subject, very important subject. So you’ll all be here.” 

ISRAEL SAYS TRUMP’S MIDDLE EAST VISIT IS THE ‘WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY’ FOR HOSTAGE DEAL

Trump’s four-day trip abroad comes amid continuing war between Israel and Hamas, ongoing U.S.-Iran negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, and reported plans to broaden his first administration’s Abraham Accords, which normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab League nations such as the United Arab Emirates. 

“Eight years ago, President Trump’s first trip was to this same region of the world, where he introduced his bold peace-through-strength foreign policy strategy. On that trip, the president laid out his goal of eradicating terrorism and extremism in the region, which he successfully accomplished over the course of his administration with the total defeat of ISIS and the historic signing of the Abraham Accords,” Leavitt told the media on Friday.

TRUMP TEASES ‘VERY, VERY BIG ANNOUNCEMENT’ AHEAD OF MIDDLE EAST TRIP, CARNEY SAYS HE’S ‘ON EDGE OF MY SEAT’

Under his first administration, Trump made his maiden voyage as president in 2017 to Saudi Arabia and Israel, before also traveling to Europe. The trip to the Middle East this week is billed as Trump’s first major overseas travel as president, though Trump also visited Rome late last month for Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican. 

As Trump prepares to depart for the Middle East, administration officials spent the weekend in Geneva negotiating with Chinese counterparts to iron out a potential trade agreement. 

Early Monday morning, the U.S. and China released a joint statement revealing that “the United States and China will each lower tariffs by 115% while retaining an additional 10% tariff,” according to the White House. 

The U.S. imposed tariffs as high as 145% on Chinese goods earlier this year as the president looks to bring parity to the nation’s chronic trade deficit with foreign countries.

The tariffs on China followed Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” trade announcement, when he unveiled his reciprocal tariff plan on dozens of nations, including China. He paused all the reciprocal tariffs except on China later that month as countries requested to make trade deals. China, meanwhile, imposed their own tariffs on the U.S., including a 125% duty tax on U.S. goods. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with Chinese trade officials in Switzerland this weekend, where Trump said “great progress” was made between the two countries. 

“Many things discussed, much agreed to. A total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner. We want to see, for the good of both China and the U.S., an opening up of China to American business. GREAT PROGRESS MADE!!!” he posted on Truth Social on Saturday.

TRUMP SAYS 80% TARIFF ON CHINA ‘SEEMS RIGHT’ AHEAD OF WEEKEND TALKS WITH BEIJING

Bessent added on Sunday that the leaders from both countries held “productive” talks, before revealing early Monday that tariffs imposed on both countries would be reduced for a 90-day period. 

PIVOTAL TRADE TALKS WITH BEIJING LOOM AS TRUMP SWEARS IN NEW US AMBASSADOR TO CHINA: ‘WHAT TIMING’ 

The Trump administration is slated to begin welcoming White Afrikaners from South Africa to the U.S. this week as they face “unjust racial discrimination” in their home country, according to the administration. 

“What’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters Friday. “This is persecution based on a protected characteristic – in this case, race. This is race-based persecution.”

Trump signed an executive order in February that cut U.S. funds to the South African government as well as an offer to Afrikaners allowing them to move to the U.S. under refugee status. 

TRUMP TO BRING WHITE AFRIKANERS TO US AS REFUGEES FROM SOUTH AFRICA, IN WAKE OF EXPROPRIATION LEGISLATION

Trump signed the EO targeting South Africa after the country enacted a law allowing the government “to seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation” and the country taking “aggressive positions toward the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel.”

“The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take appropriate steps, consistent with law, to prioritize humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program, for Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination,” Trump’s order said. 

“Such plan shall be submitted to the President through the Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor,” he said.

Trump is expected to return from his trip to the Middle East on Friday, May 16. 

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As of Sunday, Trump has signed 147 executive orders since his inauguration in January, including a whopping 143 within his first 100 days as president, dwarfing the number of EOs signed by his predecessors stretching back to at least President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and Brie Stimson contributed to this report.