FIRST ON FOX: The Congressional DOGE Caucus is planning a meeting with the White House sometime next month, one of the group’s leaders confirmed to Fox News Digital.

“We’re talking with the White House about our next meeting, and they may be hosting us. We’ll see what happens,” Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

“We’re ready to take the reins and continue to push no matter who’s leading [the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)].”

HOW A DOGE REVIEW CAN ACTUALLY IMPROVE THE PROGRAMS THAT FIGHT HIV/AIDS

Bean did not give a date for the meeting but said, “The answer is always, whenever Trump wants to host.”

It’s not immediately clear if President Donald Trump himself will participate, but the meeting would come as Republican lawmakers get ready to consider a roughly $9 billion list of spending cuts proposed by the White House, known as a rescissions package.

It’s expected to include a host of USAID programs, one of Trump’s first targets in his campaign on government efficiency.

A senior House GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital they expected that package to be delivered to Congress next week.

The Congressional DOGE Caucus was founded by Bean alongside Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and House GOP Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore, R-Utah, to coordinate a legislative response to Elon Musk’s work with DOGE.

Musk recently told Tesla investors that he would be stepping back from the federal role beginning next month.

“Starting probably next month, May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly,” Musk said on a first-quarter earnings call.

He added, however, “I’ll have to continue DOGE for, I think, the remainder of the president’s term just to make sure that the waste and fraud that we stop does not come roaring back.”

DOGE SLASHES ‘WASTEFUL’ ‘PROBLEM-SOLVING’ CONTRACT WORTH $50K IN LATEST ROUND OF ELIMINATIONS

A spokesperson for the Congressional DOGE Caucus declined to comment when Fox News Digital reached out for more details on the tentative White House meeting.

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A senior White House official did not say whether Trump would attend the meeting nor whether the rescissions package would be discussed.

“The president is reviewing a wide range of tax cut proposals for inclusion in the reconciliation bill. He is most focused on tax policy that will help create more good-paying jobs in America and delivering the major tax cuts he campaigned on for working and middle-class Americans,” the official said.

President Donald Trump defended the deportation of illegal alien and alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia during a fiery interview with ABC, pointing to a photo he shared on social media clearly showing the notorious gang’s name tattooed across Abrego Garcia’s knuckles. 

Other recent photos of the illegal alien, however, do not appear to show the tattoo, Fox News Digital found. 

“Ask any law or immigration enforcement official who’s been on the ground about Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s tattoos: they’re MS-13,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital Wednesday when asked about other photos appearing not to show “MS13” tattooed on Abrego Garcia’s hand. “An ICE investigation, a local police investigation, and the government of El Salvador have all determined that he is a wife-beating MS-13 terrorist illegal alien who should never have been in the United States. There is no dispute about these facts.”

Trump joined ABC News for an interview in the Oval Office that aired on Trump’s 100th day back in the White House, where he defended that Abrego Garcia had “MS13” scrawled across his hand. 

“On his knuckles he had MS-13,” Trump told ABC in an interview that aired Tuesday, referring to Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador’s notorious high-security prison CECOT in March, before he was moved to another detention center in the country earlier in April. 

“He had some tattoos that were interpreted that way,” ABC’s Terry Moran replied.

“M-S-1-3 — It says M-S-one-three,” Trump continued in the interview. 

VIOLENT MS-13 GANGBANGERS GETTING ‘DESPERATE’; DHS OFFICIAL CREDITS EARLY TRUMP ACTION

“That was Photoshop,” Moran responded while attempting to change the topic of conversation. 

Trump shared a photo to his social media accounts April 18 showing a man’s hand with “MS-13” tattooed across his knuckles above other tattoos, such as a marijuana leaf, smiley face, cross and a depiction of a human skull. 

Trump continued that Moran was doing “such a disservice” by claiming a photo clearly showing “MS-13” tattooed across the hand was “Photoshopped,” arguing Moran was spreading “fake news.”

FEDERAL JUDGE ALLEGES ‘WILLFUL AND BAD FAITH REFUSAL’ TO COMPLY IN ABREGO GARCIA DEPORTATION CASE

“Fair enough, he did have tattoos that can be interpreted that way,” Moran added during the interview. “I’m not an expert on them.” 

Fox News Digital examined two separate photos of Abrego Garcia shared with the media in recent weeks that do not appear to show the MS-13 tattoo. 

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who struck an agreement with the Trump administration to accept thousands of violent gang members illegally living in the U.S. and house them in a high-security prison in the country, shared a photo of Abrego Garcia after his arrival to El Salvador in March that does not appear to show “MS13” tattooed across his hand. 

4 MORE DEMS TRAVEL TO EL SALVADOR TO PUSH FOR ABREGO GARCIA’S RETURN TO US

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the “death camps” & “torture”, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador,” Bukele posted to X April 17, accompanied by photos of Abrego Garcia shaking hands with Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who visited El Salvador in April to protest the Trump administration’s deportation of the man. 

The photo shows other tattoos across Abrego Garcia’s knuckles — including the marijuana leaf, smiley face, cross and human skull tattoos — but does not appear to show “MS13” like in the photo shared by Trump. 

Another photo shared by CASA, an immigration activist group, earlier in April showed a separate photo of Abrego Garcia with his young son that also did not appear to show the tattoo. Fox News Digital reached out to CASA for additional details and comment on the matter, but did not immediately receive a reply Wednesday morning. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Abrego Gacria’s attorney for comment on the photos and reported MS-13 tattoo, but did not immediately receive replies.

Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally from his home country in El Salvador in 2011 and was issued a deportation order in 2019, Fox News Digital previously reported. Trump administration officials acknowledged in court in March that his March 15 deportation had been an administrative error, but have since defended the deportation and argued that El Salvador could release him if the nation chose to do so. 

DEPORTED ILLEGAL ALIEN AND SUSPECTED MS-13 GANG MEMBER TRANSFERRED FROM NOTORIOUS EL SALVADORAN MEGA-PRISON

Abrego Garcia was suspected of partaking in labor/human trafficking, according to a 2022 Homeland Security Investigations report previously obtained by Fox News. The report also stated that “official law enforcement investigations” revealed that Abrego Garcia was a member of the notorious gang MS-13, which Trump has designated as a terror organization.

Abrego Garcia was pulled over by a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper Dec. 1, 2022, after he spotted the car speeding and not remaining in its lane, according to the Homeland Security Investigations report. 

The trooper noticed eight individuals in the car with Abrego Garcia, who said he began driving three days prior from Houston to Temple Hills, Maryland, via St. Louis to “perform construction work,” Fox Digital previously reported. The report states that the trooper suspected the group was involved with a human trafficking incident, as there was no luggage in the vehicle. 

MARYLAND GOVERNOR SAYS HE WON’T TRAVEL TO EL SALVADOR FOR ABREGO GARCIA

New documents further revealed that Abrego Garcia was driving a black 2001 Chevrolet Suburban that he said belonged to his “boss.” The Suburban was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as belonging to Hernandez Reyes, who pleaded guilty to human smuggling after being caught in Mississippi in a car with passengers from Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, Fox Digital previously reported. 

The Homeland Security Investigations report also notes that in October 2019, the Prince Georges County Police Gang Unit identified Abrego Garcia as a member of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang.

DEPORTED ‘MARYLAND MAN’ CHAMPIONED BY DEMS WAS PULLED OVER DRIVING CAR BELONGING TO HUMAN SMUGGLER

Abrego Garcia was also recently revealed to have a record of being a “violent” repeat wife beater, according to court records filed in a Prince George’s County, Maryland, district court by his wife, Jennifer Vasquez.

His wife, however, has since publicly defended him. 

“I find myself pleading with the Trump administration and the Bukele administration to stop playing political games with the life of Kilmar,” she said earlier this month before a federal court judge. “Our family is torn apart during this scary time. Our children miss their dad so much.”

The deportation has been wrapped up in court proceedings since last month, with a Maryland federal judge ordering the Department of justice to “take all available steps to facilitate” his return to the U.S., which was a ruling upheld by an appeals court and the the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The Trump administration, however, contends that “cannot guarantee success in sensitive international negotiations” with El Salvador to secure the release. 

“The United States does not control the sovereign nation of El Salvador, nor can it compel El Salvador to follow a federal judge’s bidding,” Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in the Trump administration’s Supreme Court petition earlier this month, the New York Post reported. 

Fox News’ Stepheny Price, David Spunt and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report. 

Scott Jennings, CNN’s Trump-supporting commentator who has gone viral on social media for his sparring matches with left-leaning guests, responded to reports that he may run for Senate in Kentucky to succeed Sen. Mitch McConnell.

“Man, the internet’s a crazy place. Long way until next May,” Jennings, who formerly advised multiple McConnell campaigns, told Fox News Digital at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday. “I read all this with some amusement, but again, it’s a long way until next year.” 

Fox News Digital reported in February that he is being encouraged to run and the Lexington Herald-Leader reported last Friday that he’s mulling a bid.

Jennings went on to say that he believes “Kentucky has benefited from having Republican senators for a long time” and that he thinks the Senate seat “ought to be in the hands ultimately of somebody who’s going to help Donald Trump execute on the president’s agenda.”

CNN’S JENNINGS SAYS ALL THE ‘CLINTON GUYS FROM THE 90S’ HAVE LEFT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY FOR TRUMP

“And frankly, I think politics is a team sport. The president’s the head of our team and I think eventually he’ll need to weigh in here on who he thinks is the best to help him execute on his agenda,” Jennings added.

At President Donald Trump’s 100-day rally in Michigan on Tuesday night, the president invited Jennings to address the audience.

“We have a man here that I don’t know, but he’s defending me all the time on CNN. And he defends me really well, but he can’t go too far because if he goes too far he’ll get fired,” Trump said.

“I got to get a farm in Michigan, because when you own as many Libs as I do, you gotta get a place to put ‘em all!” Jennings joked.

CNN’S JENNINGS SAYS LEFT ‘IN LOVE WITH THE WORST PEOPLE’ DURING PANEL ABOUT ILLEGAL ALIEN DEPORTED TO EL SALVADOR

Currently, Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., and former Kentucky Attorney General David Cameron are in the race for the seat on the Republican side. There has also been speculation that Kentucky businessman Nate Morris, a close ally of Vice President JD Vance, will hop into the race.

In the Democratic primary, Kentucky House Minority Leader Pamela Stevenson is in the race. Trump won the state by a wide margin in November and it is generally considered a red state, with the notable exception of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN ENTERS RACE FOR MITCH MCCONNELL’S SENATE SEAT, SETTING UP HIGH-STAKES GOP PRIMARY

The 83-year-old McConnell, who has regularly butted heads with the president despite also receiving high praise from Trump, said in February he would not run for re-election after being in the seat since the 1980s. 

As for Jennings, who was initially floated as a potential pick for the White House press secretary role before Karoline Leavitt was chosen, he was formerly a top advisor to McConnell and served in the George W. Bush administration. He has also advised several other campaigns and is the founding partner of RunSwitch, which is advertised as “Kentucky’s largest PR and public affairs firm.”

During the confirmation hearing for Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) nominee Terrance Cole, Sen. Lindsey Graham produced a photo of deported alleged gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia and asked Cole to essentially translate the man’s controversial tattoos.

“Are you familiar with MS-13? Briefly, what are they?” Graham asked.

“They’re a terrorist organization,” Cole replied.

“[They’re involved in] extortion, kidnapping, drugs, intimidation, money laundering…”

‘MARYLAND MAN’ KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA EXPOSED IN POLICE RECORDS AS ‘VIOLENT’ REPEAT WIFE BEATER

Graham then asked whether MS-13 members have “membership cards” or anything similar for the public to identify them, given disputes about what Garcia’s knuckle tattoos really mean.

“Not necessarily the membership cards, but they are well recognized based on tattoos and different [things],” Cole said.

Producing a photo of the tattoos, Graham asked Cole to translate each of them in the fashion of a Rebus puzzle.

“Based on your time and experience and expertise in the DEA, what does that photo or those markings suggest to you?” he asked.

‘NOT A MARYLAND MAN’: GOP BLASTS DEMOCRAT SENATOR FIGHTING FOR RETURN OF SALVADORAN NATIONAL

“Well, they suggest that he’s an MS-13 member – that those are his markings. That’s his brand.”

When asked what the leaf on his first knuckle stood for, Cole said it was marijuana, which starts with “M.” The second finger was a “smiley face,” he said, which starts with “S,” followed by the number “1” and what “looks like a backwards 3, from here.”

“So based on your time as a DEA agent in the field, particularly in Mexico, these tattoos are consistent with MS-13 associations,” Graham asked.

“Yes sir, that’s correct,” Cole replied.

To dispel further criticism, Graham went on to ask if there might be any other organizations that would use that series of symbols.

Cole responded in the negative.

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On Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., was asked by the outlet “The Bulwark” about Democrats’ recent trips to El Salvador to meet with Garcia.

Democratic aides later told the outlet that Jeffries had reportedly discouraged any more visits.

The controversy over Garcia’s tattoos also boiled over during a recent interview between ABC News’ Terry Moran and President Donald Trump.

“Wait a minute, he had ‘MS-13’ on his knuckles,” Trump said, before Moran countered that there were “some tattoos that were interpreted that way.”

A federal judge ordered the release of an anti-Israel protester who helped organize riots and protests at the University of Columbia on Wednesday.

Authorities with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Mohsen Mahdawi, a green card holder, earlier this month in Vermont. U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford ordered his release following a hearing Wednesday morning.

“I’m not afraid of you,” Mahdawi declared in a message to President Donald Trump as he left the courthouse.

According to the court filing, Mahdawi co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia in the fall of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack. He founded the group with Mahmoud Khalil, another pro-Palestinian activist who was detained by federal immigration officials under the Trump administration earlier this year.

‘SAFER WITHOUT HIM’: COLUMBIA STUDENT CLAIMS CLASSMATE ARRESTED BY ICE ‘HATES AMERICA’

Vermont’s two U.S. senators, Bernie Sanders, an independent, and Peter Welch, a Democrat, as well as the state’s sole member of Congress, Rep. Becca Balint, a Democrat, condemned Mahdawi’s arrest on April 14.

COLUMBIA ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTER MAHMOUD KHALIL CAN BE DEPORTED, JUDGE RULES

The three issued a joint statement saying Mahdawi walked into an immigration office for “what was supposed to be the final step in his citizenship process” and was instead “arrested and removed in handcuffs by plainclothes, armed individuals with their faces covered.”

“These individuals refused to provide any information as to where he was being taken or what would happen to him,” the statement alleged.

HOMELAND SECURITY TO SCAN MIGRANTS’ SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS FOR ANTISEMITISM: ‘NO ROOM FOR TERRORIST SYMPATHIZERS’

“This is immoral, inhumane, and illegal,” it continued. “Mr. Mahdawi, a legal resident of the United States, must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention.”

As a student at Columbia, Mahdawi was an outspoken critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and organized campus protests until March 2024. 

According to a court filing, Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. He recently completed coursework at Columbia and was expected to graduate in May before beginning a master’s degree program there in the fall.

Fox News’ Peter Pinedo and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz escalated his war of words with a former Iranian regime official who, as a faculty member at Princeton, was reportedly making Jewish students feel uncomfortable amid global tensions.

“I try not to be in the room with people linked to Iranian terrorists who have murdered dozens of dissidents,” Cruz wrote in response to a lengthy post on X, formerly Twitter, from former Iranian Ambassador to Germany Seyed Hossein Mousavian.

“Your books are unreadable, and the only debate you should be having is with DHS agents, at the end of which you should be deported,” Cruz quipped.

Mousavian was responding to a Fox News Digital story in which Cruz called on Princeton to fire him from his role as a Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist. Mousavian had been a spokesman for Iran during nuclear negotiations in the 2000s.

CRUZ URGES PRINCETON TO TAKE ACTION OVER PROFESSOR ACCUSED OF PRO-IRAN ALLEGIANCES, CITING RISK TO STUDENTS

Mousavian had invited Cruz to publicly debate him so that the American people could judge the facts of the matter.

“If you do not accept this offer, I ask you to read some of the books and articles I have written over my 15 years of academic work at Princeton University,” he wrote.

“You will see that all of them focus on establishing peace between Iran and the United States, introducing a peaceful resolution of Iran’s nuclear crisis based on NPT, avoiding dragging America into another devastating war in the Middle East, promoting peace, stability, and security in the Persian Gulf, and making the Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.”

SCHUMER KICKS OFF PLANNED DEMOCRAT ALL-NIGHTER, RAILING AGAINST TRUMP’S 100 DAYS: HE’S ‘BEING A MOB BOSS’

The ex-Tehran official said he had been arrested by Iran in 2007 and forced out of the country in 2009.

Fox News Digital reached out to Cruz, Mousavian and Princeton University for comment.

Cruz further discussed the matter on his podcast “Verdict,” noting concerns about Mousavian’s influence and the safety of Jewish students.

Mousavian previously expressed support for Hamas and Hezbollah and attended the funeral of terrorist Qassem Soleimani – who had been killed in an attack ordered during President Donald Trump’s first administration.

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In 2023, several top Republicans, including House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky and now-DOGE chairman Aaron Bean of Florida, wrote to Princeton with their concerns about Mousavian’s tenure.

The letter expressed how Mousavian had been the Berlin ambassador during a time when “a German court found [it] served as the headquarters for the planning of the 1992 assassination of four Iranian dissidents” at a Greek restaurant in the capital.

“Did Princeton consult with U.S. government officials regarding the hiring of Mousavian?” they asked.

Fox News Digital’s Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín is continuing to block the government from cutting off funding for legal services for unaccompanied immigrant children.

“This injunction precludes cutting off access to congressionally appropriated funding for its duration,” the court ordered.

The move to grant the motion for a preliminary injunction came after the court had previously granted a temporary restraining order to the same effect.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Wednesday but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

BIDEN-APPOINTED JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN FROM TERMINATING LEGAL AID FOR UNACCOMPANIED MIGRANT CHILDREN

In 2023, then-Vice President Kamala Harris broke a tie vote in the U.S. Senate to confirm then-President Joe Biden’s nomination of Martínez-Olguín to serve as a U.S. district judge for the Northern District of California.

The judge has previously worked as an attorney with the National Immigration Law Center, according to her biography on the court’s website.

“Working at the intersection of immigrant, economic, and racial justice, NILC deploys a multi-pronged strategy to secure lasting, transformational change,” the organization notes on its website.

100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT

The preliminary injunction comes amid a challenge against the government’s move to cut off funding pertaining to legal aid for unaccompanied immigrant children.

Various organizations lodged a legal challenge after the government partially terminated a contract with the Acacia Center for Justice, though Acacia itself is not a plaintiff.

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT TO STOP ENFORCING NEW IMMIGRATION LAW

“Until March 21, 2025, the Acacia Center for Justice (“Acacia”) managed a network of 89 legal services organizations (including Plaintiffs) in 159 offices across the country providing representation to unaccompanied children through funding from HHS and ORR, under a contract between Acacia and DOI (contracting on behalf of HHS and ORR),” a complaint asserted, referring to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement and the Department of Interior.

The Trump administration has been facing a string of legal challenges over a variety of issues during the first 100 days of the president’s second term in office.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in a case involving the nation’s first religious charter schools, and whether it is eligible for state funding despite its religious teachings. 

At issue in the case is a virtual Catholic charter school in Oklahoma, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, and whether the school is eligible to receive public funding because of its religious teachings. Lawyers representing the school have argued that it is operating like a private actor working under a contract with the state, and asked the high court on Wednesday to overturn an earlier decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

During Wednesday’s arguments, lawyers for St. Isidore argued that just because they receive state funding does not mean they are a state actor. They also noted recent Supreme Court precedent, which they said has been in their favor.

This Court has “‘repeatedly’ held that ‘a State violates the Free Exercise Clause when it excludes religious observers from otherwise available public benefits,” James Campbell, attorney for St. Isidore, told the court.

100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT

Justices used oral arguments to press Campbell on how they would treat individuals with different religious backgrounds.

“What would you do with a charter school that doesn’t want to teach evolution, or it doesn’t want to teach history, including the history of slavery, or it doesn’t want to include having children of another faith. In them, as this one does?” Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked Campbell. 

“This one does not say it won’t exclude children of other faiths. But it said, if you want to attend this school, you have to attend mass. You have to accept the teachings of the church with respect to certain principles. So is that something you look at?”

In response, Campbell notes that the school does not require students to affirm its religious beliefs, noting that St. Isidore “allows exceptions for anyone that doesn’t want to attend mass,” and says “point blank” in its handbook that there is no requirement that a student affirm the beliefs of the school.”

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ASKS SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW EL SALVADOR DEPORTATION FLIGHT CASE

The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved St. Isidore’s contract request in June 2023, making them eligible to receive public funds.

But its ability to receive state funds was later blocked by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which ruled that the public funding for the school was in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. 

Oklahoma Attorney General, Gentner Drummond, has argued that the school would be a state actor if it received state funding. “Charter schools no doubt offer important educational innovations, but they bear all the classic indicia of public schools,” Drummond argued in an earlier Supreme Court filing.

If its “charter-school law violates the Free Exercise Clause, then this is one of the most far-reaching free exercise violations in the Nation’s history,” he argued.

The court’s decision here could have wide-ranging ramifications far beyond Oklahoma. More than 40 U.S. states currently authorize charter schools, and the ruling in the case could have ripple effects across the country.

The charter school states outright on its site that it “fully embraces” the teachings of the Catholic Church, “fully incorporates” them “into every aspect” of the curriculum— and that it intends to participate “in the evangelizing mission of the church.” 

This is a breaking news story. Check back soon for updates. Fox News’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: A plane full of Central Asian illegal immigrants is on its way from the U.S. to Uzbekistan at no cost to Americans under a deal brokered between the two governments, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Over 100 unlawful immigrants are flying back to Uzbekistan on Wednesday as part of the agreement, and Uzbekistan is paying for the chartered deportation flight, the first such agreement by a foreign government since President Donald Trump took office. The flight, which took off this morning, had 131 migrants on board. 

People from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan were on board the flight after Uzbekistan’s government agreed to accept nationals from all three countries. 

The deal, which the Trump administration says is a model framework for how it wants other nations to engage with the U.S. on immigration, is the result of months of diplomatic engagement between State Department officials, DHS officials, the White House and the National Security Council with their counterparts from Uzbekistan.

TRUMP ADMIN REVOKES 4K FOREIGN STUDENTS’ VISAS IN FIRST 100 DAYS, NEARLY ALL WITH SERIOUS CRIMINAL RECORDS

The deal “underscores the deep security cooperation between our nations and sets a standard for U.S. alliances,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement.

“We commend Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for his leadership in sending a flight to return 131 illegal aliens back to their home country,” said DHS  Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to work together with Uzbekistan on efforts to enhance our mutual security and uphold the rule of law.”

Uzbekistan, with its more than 37 million people, is a security partner of the U.S. in Central Asia, situated in the neighborhood of Iran, China and Afghanistan. 

NEW DHS PORTAL TO HELP MIGRANTS REGISTER BIOMETRICS TO COMPLY WITH TRUMP ORDER

The arrangement follows a deal brokered by the Trump administration after a showdown with Colombia, by which the South American country agreed to accept its nationals, including those on military planes, after President Gustavo Petro originally rejected two Colombia-bound U.S. military aircraft carrying unlawful migrants. 

It also follows an agreement with El Salvador, by which President Nayib Bukele agreed to receive not only his own nationals but those from Venezuela and potentially other countries that will not take their own citizens back from the U.S. Many of the immigrants are suspected of gang ties and are being held in El Salvador’s notoriously brutal CECOT prison. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested 66,463 illegal immigrants and removed 65,682 of them.

Border encounters dropped to an average of 11,363 per day in February and March, Trump’s first two full months in office, compared to an average of nearly 160,000 during the Biden administration. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would “destroy America” as president – but is a first-rate entrepreneur – says Canadian businessman and star of ABC’s “Shark Tank” Kevin O’Leary.

O’Leary’s comments came over the weekend during the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner in response to questions about a new campaign-style video the far-left progressive lawmaker put out amid speculation she is considering a run for president.

“I think she’s the best marketeer in politics. I buy her T-shirts, I gift them the tax the rich T-shirts – I love them. She makes 82% in margin on them, which, I think, shows you that inside of every socialist, there’s a capitalist trying to get out,” O’Leary said. “Now, would she destroy America? Absolutely. There’s no chance she’ll ever be president. I don’t agree with anything she says, but I love her social media. She’s a crazy chicken.” 

AOC POSITIONING HERSELF TO BE ‘LEADING VOICE’ OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY

“Her district is a wasteland,” O’Leary added. “Why would anybody want her running anything? But I love what she does on T-shirts, so maybe she should start a T-shirt company.”

The “Shark Tank” star’s comments came as Ocasio-Cortez has been criss-crossing the country over the last several weeks, participating in a “Fight Oligarchy” tour alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in protest of President Donald Trump and his policies. The events have drawn large crowds and speculation over whether Ocasio-Cortez is testing the waters for a potential presidential run. 

Meanwhile, last week, Ocasio-Cortez posted a new campaign-style video to her social media accounts, invigorating that speculation even further.

‘WE ARE ONE’: CAMPAIGN SPECULATION GROWS AROUND AOC’S VIDEO  

Prominent pollster Nate Silver suggested earlier this month that Ocasio-Cortez is currently the leading Democrat to pick up the party’s presidential nomination in 2028, selecting her as his top choice in a 2028 election exercise with FiveThirtyEight’s Galen Druke. 

“I think there’s a lot of points in her favor at this very moment,” Druke said, adding, “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has broad appeal across the Democratic Party.”

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A new government relations firm led in part by a former Trump lawyer has launched in Washington, D.C., with the aim of advocating for clients in the crypto and artificial intelligence space that has gained momentum since Trump’s election and inauguration. 

NexusOne Consulting, founded by attorney Jeff Ifrah of Ifrah Law, former Trump administration attorney Jim Trusty and former Trump Commerce Department official Ross Branson, opened its doors this week, marketing itself as a firm “focused on shaping federal policy and regulatory frameworks for clients in the emerging technologies sector, including AI, cryptocurrency and social media.”

Fox News Digital spoke to Ifrah, who outlined what he believed was a gap in the crypto and AI consulting space heading into the next four years of the Trump administration.

“I think primarily before the Trump administration, there wasn’t really a need. It wasn’t like the industry was searching out D.C.-based advocates on a federal level,” Ifrah said. “Shortly after Trump won the election it became kind of clear that these two verticals, AI and crypto, were going to need representation, and they previously hadn’t thought about that.”

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Ifrah explained that his team did not see many firms with the necessary experience in the space and saw a benefit in “starting up a new shop with our kind of relationships and connections in the administration” and “also paired that to a vertical industry we were familiar with you know, for which there wasn’t a lot of competition out there.”

In a press release, Trusty said, “NexusOne was launched to give the crypto, AI, and other emerging tech industries a seat at the table.”

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“We are perfectly positioned to help both the Executive Branch and private industry understand and appreciate each other’s roles and abilities in forging the new economy.”

NexusOne also unveiled members of the company’s advisory board, which includes Bill Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education under President George H.W. Bush, former GOP Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and Andrew Graves, a Wall Street veteran who co-founded a nonprofit fundraising organization with Eric Trump. 

“Headquartered across from the White House, NexusOne is the essential bridge between regulation and innovation,” the company said in the press release. 

Bo Hines, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, told Fox News Digital earlier this month that Trump is aiming to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world,” and that the administration is well on its way to ushering in “the golden age for digital assets.” 

Ifrah told Fox News Digital that many potential clients in the space are looking for a “seat at the table” and he believes NexusOne is the firm to help them do that. 

“Technology is outpacing policy, and that creates both opportunity and risk,” Ifrah said in the press release. “We created NexusOne to ensure that companies at the frontier of innovation have a trusted, connected voice in Washington.”

“There’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape the future of tech policy. We’re here to make sure innovators don’t just react to policy—they influence it.”

The Trump administration has informed Congress that it intends to designate Haitian gangs as foreign terrorist organizations, sources told the Associated Press. 

A notification sent to congressional committees on April 23 says the administration will designate the Haitian gangs Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif as foreign terrorist organizations, the AP reported, citing two people familiar with the message who spoke on condition of anonymity. A third source told the AP that the foreign relations committees in the House and Senate received the notification. 

In February, the Department of Homeland Security canceled an extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) shielding about half a million Haitians from deportation. 

The State Department formally designated eight Latin American organized crime groups as foreign terrorist organizations last month. They are Tren de Aragua (TdA) of Venezuela, Mara Salvatrucha – also known as MS-13 – of El Salvador, and the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel – also known as the “Zeta Killers,” the Gulf Cartel and Northeast Cartel of Mexico and the La Nueva Familia Michoacana and United Cartels, all of Mexico. 

POPULAR CRUISES SUSPEND ISLAND STOP OVER ESCALATING GANG VIOLENCE: WHAT TO KNOW

The administration further categorized TdA as an invading force under the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act as federal authorities ramp up efforts to deport its members.

Tens of thousands of Haitians came to the U.S. under a Biden-era program permitting people from four countries, including Haiti, to stay for two years provided they had a financial sponsor and bought their own plane ticket. The Trump administration terminated that program and is seeking to revoke the status of those admitted under the Biden administration.

Migration from Haiti was under scrutiny in 2024 as the Trump campaign drew attention to massive amounts of Haitian migration under the parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV), when 30,000 migrants were allowed in each month. At that point, if eligible, they could not be removed after their parole expired due to TPS. It affected a number of towns, including Springfield, Ohio, and Charleroi, Pennsylvania.

At a Michigan rally Tuesday celebrating his 100th day back in office, Trump championed the eight designations from last month, vowing his White House would continue deportations.

“We have also designated two bloodthirsty transnational gangs, MS-13 and Tren de Agua, TdA. They’ve been designated the highest level of terrorist and that lets us do a lot of things that you wouldn’t be able to do,” Trump said. “We’ve got to get them out of here before they kill more people. They’ve killed plenty. My administration has increased arrests of known and suspected terrorists by 655%. Is that okay? We tried to get it higher. We tried to get it higher. But the courts are giving us a hard time.” 

“Democrats have vowed mass invasion and mass migration. We are delivering mass deportation, and it’s happening very fast. And the worst of the worst are being sent to a no nonsense prison in El Salvador,” Trump said, referring to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. “Under President Trump, America is a dumping ground for criminals no longer. They’re not even trying to come in. But while we’re fighting to protect Americans, the radical left Democrats who are so bad for this country are fighting to protect TdA.” 

UNITED NATIONS SOUNDS ALARM THAT HAITI IS AT RISK OF COLLAPSING

Viv Ansanm, which means “Living Together,” is a powerful gang coalition that formed in September 2023 and is best known for launching a series of attacks starting in February 2024 across Port-au-Prince and beyond that shuttered Haiti’s main international airport for nearly three months, freed hundreds of inmates from the country’s two biggest prisons and eventually forced former Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign.

The coalition united more than a dozen gangs, including two of Haiti’s biggest ones: G-9 and G-Pèp, which were fierce rivals.

Gangs control at least 85% of Haiti’s capital, with Viv Ansanm attacking once peaceful communities in recent weeks in a bid to control even more territory.

Gran Grif, also known as the Savien gang, forms part of the Viv Ansanm coalition and is led by Luckson Elan, best known as “General Luckson.” It is the biggest gang operating in Haiti’s central Artibonite region with some 100 members.

It was blamed for an attack in the town of Pont-Sondé in October 2024 in which more than 70 people were killed in one of the biggest massacres in Haiti’s recent history.

Gran Grif was also blamed for a recent attack in the Petite Riviere community in which several people were killed, including an 11-year-old child.

Gran Grif was formed after Prophane Victor, an ex-member of Haiti’s Parliament who represented the Petite Riviere community in Artibonite, began arming young men in the region, according to a U.N. report. Victor was arrested in January.

Canada sanctioned him in June 2023, as did the U.S. in September 2024, accusing him of supporting gangs “that have committed serious human rights abuse.”

More than 5,600 people were killed across Haiti last year, with gang violence leaving more than 1 million homeless in the country of nearly 12 million people, according to the U.N.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Former Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver her first major remarks since leaving the White House at the Emerge gala Wednesday in San Francisco — but those who want to virtually stream her speech will have to pay a fee. 

Emerge, a training organization that seeks to prepare Democratic women to run for office, is charging $25 for viewers to gain access to the virtual livestream of the organization’s 20th anniversary gala. Other package options include a $100 fee for young professionals and a $250 general admission ticket. 

A spokesperson for Harris confirmed she would deliver remarks at the Emerge gala and deferred to Emerge when asked about the price of the streaming fee. A spokesperson for Emerge did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

KAMALA HARRIS REVEALS HER TIMETABLE ON HER NEXT POLITICAL STEPS

Harris is expected to issue a harsh rebuke of President Donald Trump in her keynote address and will specifically encourage Americans to resist Trump’s economic agenda, Politico reports.

Other speakers at the gala include Democrat U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and New Mexico state Sen. Cindy Nava. 

Likewise, Deb Haaland, who served as former President Joe Biden’s Interior secretary, will speak at the event. Haaland also previously served as a U.S. representative for New Mexico before heading up the Interior. 

Meanwhile, Harris is eyeing a potential run for California governor in 2026 and is expected to make a final call on a potential run by the end of this summer, Politico reports. 

With the deadline for obtaining a REAL ID just one week away, some who are wary of making the change or who have already done so and now regret their decision may be asking if they can return to alternative forms of ID.

For many across the country, the short answer is yes. Many states will continue to offer non-REAL ID forms of identification that can be obtained the next time someone needs to renew their ID.

However, this comes with the significant caveat that, starting May 7, only REAL ID-compliant forms of identification will be acceptable for federal purposes such as boarding domestic flights or accessing federal facilities.  

It has been 20 years since Congress passed the REAL ID Act, mandating states to implement certain minimum-security standards for issuing IDs. A REAL ID is not a national identification card but rather an ID issued by the state in compliance with certain federal standards.

IS REAL ID REALLY NECESSARY? WHAT AUTHORITIES ARE SAYING

After a series of delays in implementing the law, the Department of Homeland Security under the Trump administration finally set a deadline for all adults wishing to travel by plane or access federal facilities to obtain a REAL ID-compliant identification card by May 7.

The Trump administration argued that the deadline had already been postponed long enough, asserting that travelers had ample time to gather the necessary documents for the more rigorously verified form of identification.

Some critics, however, have claimed that REAL ID presents a risk to citizens’ privacy, while some on the left have claimed the additional documentation to obtain the card presents an undue difficulty for certain demographics, such as the poor or minorities.

Though it will vary from state to state, if someone with a REAL ID has regrets, all they have to do is opt for another form of identification the next time they are due for renewal.

NEED REAL ID IN A HURRY? HERE ARE SOME ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS OUTSIDE THE DMV

However, Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, explained to Fox News Digital that the “difference between the REAL ID version and the kind of noncompliant version is not that big.”

Hankinson explained that to obtain a REAL ID, all that is needed is an extra form of documentation beyond what is normally required for an identification card.

“Let’s say I apply for a regular driver’s license. I need proof of residence. I’ve got a bill from my electricity company and my cable company, and I’ve got my birth certificate. Okay, that’s what I give to get my regular I.D. And then in order to get the REAL ID, I have to add a passport or a social security card,” he said.

With this in mind, for many, the supposed benefits of opting out of REAL ID are likely not worth the drawbacks.

‘WE’RE SIMPLY NOT READY’: REAL ID ROLLOUT COULD TRIGGER NATIONAL HEADACHE, STATE LAWMAKER WARNS

Meanwhile, Hankinson said that the REAL ID’s benefit to national security is significant.

He pointed to the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, in which several of the al Qaeda terrorists involved had obtained valid state licenses, which were accepted for boarding their flights.

“They did the 911 Commission report, and they realized one of many mistakes that had been made and one of many loopholes was that two of the hijackers, at least the two that the crashed the plane at the Pentagon had been able to get a driver’s license in California,” he said. “As a national security issue, you can’t go to other countries and just get a driver’s license with zero ID. I mean, it just doesn’t work that way. So, I think it’s about time we caught up.”  

In response to concerns about security and privacy, Hankinson said the government will have to be held to the highest standards to uphold citizens’ privacy. Still, he compared the risk-reward scenario posed to the nation by REAL ID to nuclear power.  

USAID REPORTEDLY BANKROLLED AL QAEDA TERRORIST’S COLLEGE TUITION, UNEARTHED RECORDS SHOW

“If it’s done right, you can mitigate the risks, and you can have, like France, 75, 80 percent of your power from nuclear power plants,” he said. “If you cut corners, and you put the wrong people in charge and you take risks, then you end up with Chernobyl.”

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All in all, Hankinson said, “I think really this adds a little bit of hassle … but it gives us a lot in exchange.”

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

After President Donald Trump joked about wanting to be the pope, Sen. Lindsey Graham asked for the papal conclave and Catholics to maintain an “open mind” about the idea in apparent jest.

“I was excited to hear that President Trump is open to the idea of being the next Pope. This would truly be a dark horse candidate, but I would ask the papal conclave and Catholic faithful to keep an open mind about this possibility!” the senator wrote on X while sharing video of Trump’s comments.  

“The first Pope-U.S. President combination has many upsides. Watching for white smoke…. Trump MMXXVIII!” Graham added.

TRUMP JOKES HE’D LIKE TO BE POPE, ‘NUMBER 1 CHOICE’ – THEN NAMES A REAL CONTENDER

Fox News Digital reached out to Graham’s office for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Trump jokingly said earlier on Tuesday that his “number one choice” for the new pope would be himself.

CONSERVATIVE BACKLASH ERUPTS AFTER TRUMP’S GRAHAM ENDORSEMENT: ‘I AM NOT WITH TRUMP AT ALL WITH THIS ONE’

He then went on to say he has “no preference,” adding, “we have a cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York, who’s very good.” 

The president appeared to be referring to Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who serves as Archbishop of New York.

CONCLAVE TO PICK NEXT POPE TO BEGIN MAY 7, VATICAN SAYS

Trump has endorsed Graham for re-election, though the move sparked conservative backlash.

Former vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., continued a self-described “listening tour” across the country at a Harvard Kennedy School forum on Monday night, ruling out a 2028 presidential bid and revealing why former Vice President Kamala Harris chose him as her running mate. 

Walz said Harris chose him, in part, because, “I could code talk to White guys watching football, fixing their truck” and “put them at ease.” The Minnesota governor described himself as the “permission structure” for White men from rural America to vote for Democrats. 

“I think I’ll give you pretty good stuff, but I’ll also give you 10% problematic,” Walz added when pushed by moderator Brittany Shepherd, ABC News national political reporter, about why he didn’t take that message to cable news to reach a larger audience. Walz laughed off criticism over inconsistencies in his background on the 2024 campaign trail, describing himself as a “knucklehead.”

Walz told CNN’s Jake Tapper earlier this month that he was considering a third bid for Minnesota governor but was not thinking about running for president in 2028. When asked by Shepherd to explain, Walz said the Democratic Party should run a collective 2028 presidential campaign. 

WALZ ‘VERY PESSIMISTIC’ ON DEMOCRATS RETAKING THE SENATE

“I think we need to collectively run a presidential campaign without a candidate right now that builds all the infrastructure… by the time we get to 2028, we’re ready,” Walz said. 

WHITE HOUSE TORCHES TIM WALZ’S SPEECH ABOUT TRUMP’S ‘GULAGS,’ ‘CHAOS’: ‘HIS LARGEST CITY BURNED TO THE GROUND’

And on what he would have done differently in 2024, Walz said, “We would have won.” Acknowledging that Democrats came up short in November, Walz said the party is “better off doing more” in “every forum,” following criticism that Democrats didn’t prioritize media appearances enough in 2024, whether long-form podcasts or traditional network news shows. 

“There is room for Gavin Newsom’s podcast, and there is room for Bernie Sanders’ rallies,” Walz said, as he described both instances as opportunities for Democrats to reclaim their own narrative.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., long considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate, has invited President Donald Trump’s allies and conservative guests, including Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon, onto his new podcast to show he is open to “criticism and debate without demeaning or dehumanizing one another.” The strategy follows criticism after the 2024 presidential election that Democrats didn’t prioritize new media appearances and unscripted conversations enough. 

Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has been jet-setting across the country on the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour alongside another potential 2028 presidential candidate, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. The self-described Democratic socialists have amassed tens of thousands of supporters to what they say are record-setting rallies for both politicians. 

Walz has been on his own cross-country tour, hosting town halls in Republican-held congressional districts. But the former vice presidential nominee has fallen into familiar missteps from the 2024 campaign trail – on the road and back at home. 

Walz was heckled by veterans at the Minnesota Capitol earlier this month for claims of “stolen valor.” At a town hall in Wisconsin last month, a woman who registered for the event told Fox News Digital she was removed for filming Trump supporters getting kicked out. And during one of his first town hall events, Walz was slammed by Republicans for celebrating Tesla’s stock drop amid a spree of vandalism. 

While the Democrat said he was chosen by the Harris campaign to relate to White men, Walz has been unable to escape the nickname “Tampon Tim,” coined by conservatives for his bill providing free menstrual products to “all menstruating students” in school restrooms grades 4 to 12, including the boys’ room. 

Regardless of the comment or legislation, conservatives find a way to criticize “Tampon Tim,” including when Walz claimed he could fight most Trump supporters earlier this year. 

Further reflecting on the Democrats’ 2024 losses, Walz said the party wins on the issues and “competency,” but “we lose the message, and we lose power.”

“Why have we lost the self-identity that the Democratic Party is for personal freedoms, middle-class folks, for labor folks. How did we lose it, where people didn’t self-identify with that? How did we get to a point where people didn’t feel like this was an important enough election to get out and vote?” Walz asked during his speech Monday. 

Walz’s speech was on the eve of Trump’s first 100-day celebration, and he warned his fellow Democrats, “If you leave a void, Donald Trump will fill it,” and added, “If I ever had 100 days to live, I would spend it in the Trump administration because it’s like a lifetime.”

“It’s been 100 days of destruction. You think we can survive 550 more? That’s the challenge. That’s how long it is until the midterms,” Walz said. 

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday in the case of a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma that is seeking the support of public funds.

St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School would be the nation’s first religious charter school, setting a precedent sure to be capitalized on by other religious institutions. Both the Oklahoma Supreme Court and Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a Republican, have argued funding the school is unconstitutional. 

Oklahoma Gov. Gov. Kevin Stitt, also a Republican, argues the First Amendment allows funding for the school.

For Wednesday’s Supreme Court hearing, the St. Isidore case has been consolidated with the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board, another similar case.

Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., Ted Budd, R-N.C., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the school In the brief, the Republican senators flipped Drummond’s First Amendment argument on the attorney general, arguing Oklahoma violated the First Amendment by denying St. Isidore a charter because it’s a religious school. 

LGBTQ CHRISTIANS CRUSADE AGAINST TRUMP’S RELIGIOUSLY ‘HOSTILE’ POLICIES DURING HOLY WEEK

“It’s no secret that parents want to educate their children in line with their values. And a public good shouldn’t be denied to anyone based on their religion. The outcome of this case will be revolutionary for religious liberty and education freedom, and Oklahoma is at the forefront,” Stitt’s office said in a statement.

100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT

The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved St. Isidore’s contract request in June 2023, allowing them to receive public funds. Lawsuits soon brought the case up to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which ruled against the school last year.

The Supreme Court is now reviewing that ruling by Oklahoma’s highest court, which found that funding the school violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.”

“Charter schools no doubt offer important educational innovations, but they bear all the classic indicia of public schools,” Drummond argued in SCOTUS filing.

Advocates of the school point to the Free Exercise clause, which has been used in recent Supreme Court rulings to defend public funding going to religious institutions. 

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ASKS SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW EL SALVADOR DEPORTATION FLIGHT CASE

“A State need not subsidize private education,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue in 2020. “But once a State decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.”

The amicus brief from GOP lawmakers made a similar argument, claiming the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling was ill-considered.

“Upholding the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act with the included exclusion of religious organizations would set a dangerous precedent, signaling that religious organizations are not welcome in public projects. This would not only violate the First Amendment, but it would also deprive society of the valuable contributions that these organizations make,” the Republican senators wrote. 

Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., said the economic challenge sparked by President Donald Trump’s “chaos and uncertainty” is the biggest issue facing the Peach State, stressing that the president’s uncertain economic policy is impacting how businesses and residents make decisions for the future.

Ossoff, preparing to run for re-election in 2026, potentially against Georgia’s popular Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who has yet to announce if he will join the race. Ossoff is the only Democrat seeking reelection who represents a state that Trump won last year, making him a top target for Republicans hoping to maintain their Senate majority.

“I am more than prepared for any challenger,” Ossoff, 38, told The Associated Press on Saturday while declining to comment on any potential opponents.

Ossoff defeated incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue in a runoff in 2021, helping Democrats flip control of the Senate and hold onto the chamber’s majority for four years during the Biden administration.

SENATOR JOINS GROUP OF FAR-LEFT LAWMAKERS WHO THINK TRUMP HAS — AGAIN — COMMITTED IMPEACHABLE OFFENSES

During his first four years, Ossoff attempted to establish a reputation as a senator working to advance Georgia’s traditional interests, including its farmers and military bases. He says he will attempt to work with Republicans to deliver for Georgia.

The senator, who has recently intensified his criticisms of Trump, warned Saturday that businesses and households in Georgia are struggling to plan for the future because of constant changes in the federal government’s trade and economic moves.

“Businesses are unable to invest with an understanding of what the rules of international trade will be from one hour or week or month to the next,” Ossoff told The Associated Press. “Households are unable to plan their annual budgets because there’s so much chaos and uncertainty in the implementation of federal economic policy.”

“This administration needs to clearly define its economic objectives, and it needs to competently implement its plan, whatever that plan may be,” he continued. “The fact that the White House does not even know what its policy is, and is with such unpredictability and chaos, lurching from one policy to the other, is putting the state’s economy at serious economic risk.”

STACEY ABRAMS CONSIDERS 3RD RUN FOR GEORGIA GOVERNOR DESPITE BACK-TO-BACK DEFEATS

Ossoff also expressed concerns about Trump’s authoritarian and “un-American” executive action since returning to the White House in January, pointing to the president’s attempts to go after his political opponents.

“We have never seen a president try to wield the federal government to crush his critics and political adversaries,” Ossoff said. “That’s something new in American history, and it is, in my view, un-American. And it’s something that should chill us to the bone, no matter our politics, no matter our policy preferences.”

The lawmaker urged Republicans to remember that eventually a Democrat will be president again and “the shoe will be on the other foot.”

“This is about checks and balances,” he said. “This is about whether or not the executive branch is constrained as designed by our Constitution, by judicious legislators who can put their partisanship aside to protect the public interest.”

Ossoff explained that, while Democrats have limited power without control of the White House or either chamber of Congress, a big part of his job at the moment is to inform the people of Georgia that Trump’s policies are not in the state’s best interest.

In addition to his criticism of Trump, Ossoff has cited shortcomings during the Biden administration, particularly when it comes to border security. He was one of 12 Democrats who voted for the Laken Riley Act, named after a Georgia nursing student murdered by Venezuelan migrant Jose Antonio Ibarra.

The law requires illegal migrants accused — even without a conviction — of theft or violent crimes to be detained by the Department of Homeland Security.

“My view is that the American people expect and deserve secure borders,” Ossoff said. “And I think the Biden administration failed in its border policies. The American people expect and deserve for people who enter this country illegally and may pose a threat to public safety or national security to be apprehended by the authorities.”

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“But the American people don’t support and don’t expect federal police raids on elementary schools and hospitals and churches,” he continued, referring to the Trump administration’s controversial immigration enforcement actions. “And [the American people] don’t expect our military installations to become mass prison camps for immigrants and don’t want entire families rounded up with no due process. We just learned yesterday about a two-year-old U.S. citizen — a two-year-old girl — who was deported without due process. Our immigration policy needs to be responsible and serious. It also needs to be humane.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

House Republicans are split over whether they would consider raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans as GOP lawmakers negotiate ways to pay for President Donald Trump’s multitrillion-dollar agenda.

“Personally, I think that that should be on the table if we’re not going to make spending cuts, but I hope we make spending cuts,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital Monday.

On the other side of the debate, Republicans like Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., has said, “I’m a hard no on any [tax hike]. The problem is not that the government does not have enough money. The problem is the government spends too much money.”

Congressional Republicans have begun work in earnest to craft a massive piece of legislation aimed at advancing Trump’s agenda on a broad array of issues — border security, immigration, national defense, domestic energy production, the debt limit and taxes.

WHITE HOUSE QUIETLY FLOATS MILLIONAIRE TAX HIKE PROPOSAL IN CONGRESS AS GOP LEADERS SIGNAL OPPOSITION

The tax portion alone could cost as much as $4.5 trillion over the next 10 years, according to House Republicans’ framework for the bill.

Conservative fiscal hawks have, in return, demanded at least $1.5 trillion in spending cut offsets. And with the deadline to act on the debt limit expected to hit sometime this summer, Republicans are on the clock to reach an agreement between the House and Senate and send it to Trump’s desk. 

A possible increase in taxes on wealthy Americans is just one avenue Republicans are looking at to help pay for Trump’s newer policies that include eliminating taxes on tips, overtime wages and retirees’ Social Security.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., a member of the House’s tax writing panel, the Ways and Means Committee, suggested a small tax increase could be considered.

“There’s potentially some talk about a tax hike on wealthier Americans. I think our goal in this committee, and the president’s goal, has been to provide tax relief for the working and middle class,” she said.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., signaled to Fox News Digital he would be open to it too but acknowledged the risks.

“I’m open-minded to what the president or the treasury secretary may have in mind. And I would want to see some numbers behind it and how it would have an effect on the economy,” Stutzman said. “What I’ve heard from people in the upper tax brackets is, you know, they’re willing to pay more as long as they know that it’s paying the debt down. They don’t want to see it go towards more spending.”

He added, however, that with financial markets still wrestling with reactions to Trump’s tariffs, “raising taxes is probably not a good conversation to have.”

In addition to Trump’s new tax policies, Republicans are seeking to extend his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Many of its provisions expire at the end of this year.

Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, another Ways and Means Committee member, pointed out that failing to pass a bill altogether and allowing TCJA to expire would lead to a tax hike for millions.

“I do not support raising taxes across the board at all. I want to keep those taxes low,” Moran said. “But if we don’t do anything, inaction will bring the largest tax hike in American history. We cannot let that happen.”

SCOOP: PENCE URGES REPUBLICANS TO HOLD THE LINE ON TAX HIKES FOR THE RICH AS TRUMP WEIGHS OPTIONS

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, did not specifically weigh in on tax hikes when asked but said Republicans would fall short of their tax goals if proper spending cuts were not found.

“All I care is that we actually do math with reasonable models based on reasonable assumptions. And so, look, to the extent that my colleagues are unwilling to do the shrinking and reduction of government that is necessary, then we’re going to have to deal with the tax side of things,” he said.

“And that means not being able to get full 10-year [extensions], not being able to get every single tax extension that you want, not getting some of the new tax cuts that we want. So, all those things will end up being on the table if we don’t do our job.”

Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., said, “I don’t support tax hikes. I support spending cuts.”

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., would not share any details of the forthcoming plan when asked about a possible tax hike.

“There’s a lot of things that I’ve been reading in the press that have not been accurate, but I’m not going to say whether it’s accurate or not, and they’ll see the bill whenever we deliver it right before markup,” Smith told Fox News Digital.

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“But what I will say is, is that we will have a tax bill that is pro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-family, pro-small business and pro-workers. And Republicans believe in making sure that Americans keep more of their hard-earned dollars, and you’ll see a tax package that does that.”

He said Americans would likely get to see that plan in a matter of “days, not months.”

When reached for comment on the possibility of tax hikes in Trump’s agenda bill, a senior White House official told Fox News Digital, “The president is reviewing a wide range of tax cut proposals for inclusion in the reconciliation bill. He is most focused on tax policy that will help create more good-paying jobs in America and delivering the major tax cuts he campaigned on for working and middle-class Americans.”

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., said the economic challenge sparked by President Donald Trump’s “chaos and uncertainty” is the biggest issue facing the Peach State, stressing that the president’s uncertain economic policy is impacting how businesses and residents make decisions for the future.

Ossoff, preparing to run for re-election in 2026, potentially against Georgia’s popular Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who has yet to announce if he will join the race. Ossoff is the only Democrat seeking reelection who represents a state that Trump won last year, making him a top target for Republicans hoping to maintain their Senate majority.

“I am more than prepared for any challenger,” Ossoff, 38, told The Associated Press on Saturday while declining to comment on any potential opponents.

Ossoff defeated incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue in a runoff in 2021, helping Democrats flip control of the Senate and hold onto the chamber’s majority for four years during the Biden administration.

SENATOR JOINS GROUP OF FAR-LEFT LAWMAKERS WHO THINK TRUMP HAS — AGAIN — COMMITTED IMPEACHABLE OFFENSES

During his first four years, Ossoff attempted to establish a reputation as a senator working to advance Georgia’s traditional interests, including its farmers and military bases. He says he will attempt to work with Republicans to deliver for Georgia.

The senator, who has recently intensified his criticisms of Trump, warned Saturday that businesses and households in Georgia are struggling to plan for the future because of constant changes in the federal government’s trade and economic moves.

“Businesses are unable to invest with an understanding of what the rules of international trade will be from one hour or week or month to the next,” Ossoff told The Associated Press. “Households are unable to plan their annual budgets because there’s so much chaos and uncertainty in the implementation of federal economic policy.”

“This administration needs to clearly define its economic objectives, and it needs to competently implement its plan, whatever that plan may be,” he continued. “The fact that the White House does not even know what its policy is, and is with such unpredictability and chaos, lurching from one policy to the other, is putting the state’s economy at serious economic risk.”

STACEY ABRAMS CONSIDERS 3RD RUN FOR GEORGIA GOVERNOR DESPITE BACK-TO-BACK DEFEATS

Ossoff also expressed concerns about Trump’s authoritarian and “un-American” executive action since returning to the White House in January, pointing to the president’s attempts to go after his political opponents.

“We have never seen a president try to wield the federal government to crush his critics and political adversaries,” Ossoff said. “That’s something new in American history, and it is, in my view, un-American. And it’s something that should chill us to the bone, no matter our politics, no matter our policy preferences.”

The lawmaker urged Republicans to remember that eventually a Democrat will be president again and “the shoe will be on the other foot.”

“This is about checks and balances,” he said. “This is about whether or not the executive branch is constrained as designed by our Constitution, by judicious legislators who can put their partisanship aside to protect the public interest.”

Ossoff explained that, while Democrats have limited power without control of the White House or either chamber of Congress, a big part of his job at the moment is to inform the people of Georgia that Trump’s policies are not in the state’s best interest.

In addition to his criticism of Trump, Ossoff has cited shortcomings during the Biden administration, particularly when it comes to border security. He was one of 12 Democrats who voted for the Laken Riley Act, named after a Georgia nursing student murdered by Venezuelan migrant Jose Antonio Ibarra.

The law requires illegal migrants accused — even without a conviction — of theft or violent crimes to be detained by the Department of Homeland Security.

“My view is that the American people expect and deserve secure borders,” Ossoff said. “And I think the Biden administration failed in its border policies. The American people expect and deserve for people who enter this country illegally and may pose a threat to public safety or national security to be apprehended by the authorities.”

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“But the American people don’t support and don’t expect federal police raids on elementary schools and hospitals and churches,” he continued, referring to the Trump administration’s controversial immigration enforcement actions. “And [the American people] don’t expect our military installations to become mass prison camps for immigrants and don’t want entire families rounded up with no due process. We just learned yesterday about a two-year-old U.S. citizen — a two-year-old girl — who was deported without due process. Our immigration policy needs to be responsible and serious. It also needs to be humane.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.