A U.S. Border Patrol agent who was killed in Vermont during a traffic stop near the Canadian border was a military veteran who worked security duty at the Pentagon during the time of the Sept. 11 attacks, his family said.
President Trump upended the nation’s wind industry on his first day in office, pausing new offshore leases and ordering a review of all existing offshore wind projects that critics say threaten to raise energy prices, harm endangered whale species and blight scenic coastal areas.
The president said he will impose tariffs Feb. 1 on products from Canada, Mexico and China, which together account for more than a third of U.S. trade
The remaining guardrails of democracy are holding strong—for now. Democrats have wasted no time challenging Donald Trump’s attempt to thwart birthright citizenship during his signing of ominous executive orders on his first day in office.
A group of Democratic attorneys general announced Tuesday that it would legally challenge Trump’s birthright citizenship ban, asserting it as unconstitutional.
The group cited the 14th Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
The group included attorneys general of Arizona, Washington, Illinois, New Mexico, New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Michigan, Colorado, Delaware, Nevada, Hawaii, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Vermont, Wisconsin, and North Carolina, along with the District of Columbia and San Francisco.
The group cites that it brings this action “to protect their states, localities, and residents from the President’s flagrantly unlawful attempt to strip hundreds of thousands of American-born children of their citizenship based on their parentage.”
Since 2018, Trump has been pushing to end birthright citizenship through executive order. But even an executive order can’t overrule the Constitution, and Congress can’t pass nor implement an unconstitutional bill. Rather, a constitutional amendment, which requires 38 of the 50 states to ratify, is needed to amend the Constitution.
“President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship is a direct attack on the Constitution and the fundamental rights it guarantees to every child born on American soil,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said. “The Fourteenth Amendment is clear: citizenship is not a privilege to be granted or revoked by political whim—it is a right enshrined in the very fabric of our nation. We will not stand by as this administration attempts.”
“On day one, President Trump moved to use executive power to effectively amend the Constitution in an unprecedented, but not unexpected manner,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. “With the exception of indigenous peoples and the descendants of enslaved peoples, the United States is a nation of descendants of immigrants, many of whom risked their lives for the promise of a better life. The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that no matter your family’s country of origin, if you are born here, this is your home, this is your country.”
“I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and this executive order is plainly unconstitutional. Babies born here in Vermont have a constitutional right to be embraced as Vermonters and Americans,” Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark said.
Meanwhile, just hours into his presidency, Trump was hit with numerous lawsuits from groups like American Civil Liberties Union, Public Citizen, and State Democracy Defenders Fund for his unconstitutional executive order and for the Department of Government Efficiency’s violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 .
It’s unclear whether Trump’s ban on birthright citizenship will reach the Supreme Court. But if it does, some legal experts seem to think that the conservative-leaning court would strike it down.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Wednesday that increased costs from looming tariffs could be worth it if they protect national security.
Russell Vought, President Trump’s nominee to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), testifies Wednesday before the Senate Budget Committee for his confirmation hearing.
Vought was acting OMB director for the final two years of Trump first administration. His nomination appears headed for a party-line vote, with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) issuing a scathing statement Tuesday night after meeting with Vought.
“Russell Vought’s vision isn’t just reckless,” he wrote on X . “It is downright catastrophic to the economic security of American families.”
Vought’s hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. EST.
Watch live in the video player above.
The acting commandant of the Coast Guard has ordered operational commanders to surge forces to the southern border immediately as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
An Episcopal bishop urged him to show compassion toward immigrants. Trump called her “not compelling or smart.”
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Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Wednesday they released the crew of the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle carrier seized in November 2023 at the start of their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war.