Trump targets federal DEI employees and defends Jan. 6 pardons: Highlights

Immigration raids that were expected to target major sanctuary cities immediately after Trump’s inauguration had largely failed to materialize as of tonight.

But after Trump signed a raft of executive orders relating to border security on his first day in office, the administration began laying the groundwork for further immigration actions.

The Department of Homeland Security said today it was ending a policy that restricted Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ ability to arrest undocumented people at or near so-called sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals.

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A handful of Republican senators pushed back today against Trump’s decision to issue pardons to roughly 1,500 criminal defendants and commute the sentences of more than a dozen others in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Some of the GOP senators specifically criticized the pardons for those convicted of committing violence against police officers, while others declined to defend Trump’s move.

“I’m disappointed to see that,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, adding that she is thinking about the hundreds of police officers who defended the Capitol that day. “And I do fear the message that is sent to these great men and women that stood by us.”

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Trump's suspension of U.S. refugee resettlement is a "step backward" for the United States, the International Rescue Committee said today.

"America has a proud tradition of welcoming those who are persecuted or otherwise in danger," David Miliband, the New York-based group's president and chief executive, said in a statement. "The refugee resettlement program is a proven, orderly, cost-effective way of offering life-saving protection to some of the most vulnerable people in the world."

The group urged the White House to grant case-by-case exemptions permitted by the executive order that Trump signed yesterday and to carry out a prompt, evidence-based assessment so the program may be resumed.

The suspension could affect tens of thousands of extensively vetted refugees around the world, including Afghans who supported the United States in its war against the Taliban and who have been waiting for resettlement since U.S.-led forces withdrew in 2021.

The Trump administration is ordering all federal employees in diversity, equity and inclusion roles be placed on paid leave by tomorrow evening, according to a new memo from the Office of Personnel Management.

The memo issued today to heads of departments and agencies sets a deadline of no later than 5 p.m. ET tomorrow to inform the employees that they will be put on paid administrative leave as the agencies prepare to close all DEI-related offices and programs and to remove all websites and social media accounts for such offices.

Trump signed an executive order yesterday ending “radical and wasteful” diversity, equity and inclusion programs in federal agencies, with DEI offices and programs being ordered to shut down.

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After his win in the presidential election, Trump told Time magazine that he was still considering pardoning his supporters who were involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, but he was particularly eyeing those who were charged with “non-violent” crimes.

“I’m going to do case-by-case, and if they were non-violent, I think they’ve been greatly punished,” he said.

Instead, on his first day in office, Trump went far broader, issuing pardons for most of the more than 1,500 people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6 attack. His actions have paved the way for the releases of numerous people found guilty of violent attacks.

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Trump signed an executive order tonight taking aim at hiring practices at the Federal Aviation Administration a day after he issued a flurry of orders that included going after federal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The order signed tonight would rescind DEI initiatives "in favor of hiring, promoting, and otherwise treating employees on the basis of individual capability, competence, achievement, and dedication."

The order cited part of the FAA website that sought to recruit pilots with disabilities and claimed that DEI initiatives penalized "hard-working Americans who want to serve in the FAA but are unable to do so, as they lack a requisite disability or skin color."

A woman who destroyed a window at the Capitol with an ice ax and a giant cardboard tube was released from the D.C. Jail today. Rachel Powell — known in Jan. 6 circles as “Pink hat lady” or “Bullhorn lady” — was among the handful of people who have been released from the jail after Trump pardoned them last night.

Her message to Trump: “Thank you, ’cause he’s put my family back together again. Without him, I wouldn’t be out right now.” Her message to her family: “I’ll be home soon.”

Powell, who received a personalized hat from Trump last year, used a bullhorn to instruct rioters how to “take” the Capitol, urging them to “coordinate together if you’re going to take the building.” She also destroyed a window at the Capitol with an ice axe she took to the Capitol, along with a large cardboard tube.

Federal prosecutors called Powell a “leading participant in the most violent insurrection to occur at the U.S. Capitol in over 200 years” during her trial. She was sentenced to more than four years in prison and served just over a year.

As Trump’s health care agenda for a second term takes shape, it’s becoming clear that many Biden-era policies won’t make the cut.

Yesterday, Trump signed a sweeping order aimed in part at reversing several Biden administration executive orders on health care, including efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs for people on Medicare and Medicaid, enhancing the Affordable Care Act and increasing protections for Medicaid enrollees. The so-called initial rescissions order, according to the Trump White House, is aimed at Biden policies that it says are “deeply unpopular” and “radical.”

The moves, experts say, are likely to be inconsequential to many people in terms of what they pay in out-of-pocket health care costs.

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Trump said he was considering imposing a 10% tariff on Chinese goods imports over China’s role in the international flow of precursor chemicals for the deadly opioid fentanyl, a move likely to increase trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies.

“We’re talking about a tariff of 10% on China based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada,” from where it enters the United States, he told reporters at the White House after he made an announcement about AI investment.