The Latest: House Republicans grinding through Trump’s tax breaks bill

A federal judge ruled late Tuesday that U.S. officials must retain custody and control of migrants apparently removed to South Sudan in case he orders their removals were unlawful. Attorneys for immigrants said the Trump administration appears to have begun deporting people from Myanmar and Vietnam to South Sudan — despite a court order restricting removals to other countries.

House Republicans are pushing to vote on their multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks package as soon as Wednesday, grinding out last-minute deal-making to shore up wavering GOP support and deliver on Trump’s top legislative priority.

And Trump will host South Africa’s leader at the White House on Wednesday for a meeting that might be tense after Trump accused the country’s government of allowing a “genocide” to take place against minority white farmers.

Here’s the latest:

Trump selects concept for $175 billion ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system

Trump has announced the concept he wants for his future Golden Dome missile defense program — a multilayered, $175 billion system that for the first time will put U.S. weapons in space.

Speaking Tuesday from the Oval Office, Trump said he expects the system will be “fully operational before the end of my term,” which ends in 2029, and have the capability of intercepting missiles “even if they are launched from space.”

It’s likelier that the complex system may have some initial capability by that point, a U.S. official familiar with the program said.

Golden Dome is envisioned to include ground- and space-based capabilities that are able to detect and stop missiles at all four major stages of a potential attack: detecting and destroying them before a launch, intercepting them in their earliest stage of flight, stopping them midcourse in the air, or halting them in the final minutes as they descend toward a target.

▶ Read more about the “Golden Dome”

House GOP grinds ahead with Trump’s big tax cuts bill, but new report says it will add to deficit

House Republicans are pushing to vote on their multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks package as soon as Wednesday, grinding out last-minute deal-making to shore up wavering GOP support and deliver on Trump’s top legislative priority.

Trump himself had instructed the Republican majority to quit arguing and get it done, his own political influence on the line. But GOP leaders worked late into the night to convince skeptical Republicans who have problems on several fronts, including worries that it will pile onto the nation’s $36 trillion debt.

A fresh analysis from the Congressional Budget Office said the tax provisions would increase the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion over the decade, while the changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other services would tally $1 trillion in reduced spending. The lowest-income households in the U.S. would see their resources drop, while the highest ones would see a boost, the CBO said.

Republicans hunkered down at the Capitol through the night for one last committee hearing processing changes to the package. Democrats immediately motioned to adjourn, but the vote failed on party lines.

▶ Read more about the upcoming vote

US must keep control of migrants sent to South Sudan in case removals were unlawful, judge rules

A federal judge has ruled that U.S. officials must retain custody and control of migrants who were apparently removed to South Sudan in case he orders their removals were unlawful.

U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts issued the ruling late Tuesday after an emergency hearing, after attorneys for immigrants said the Trump administration appears to have begun deporting people from Myanmar and Vietnam to South Sudan — despite a court order restricting removals to other countries.

Murphy said the government must “maintain custody and control of class members currently being removed to South Sudan or to any other third country, to ensure the practical feasibility of return if the Court finds that such removals were unlawful.”

While Murphy left the details to the government’s discretion, he said he expects the migrants “will be treated humanely.”

▶ Read more about the judge’s ruling

The revival of an old program delegates Trump immigration enforcement to local police

As part of the Trump administration’s push to carry out mass deportations, the agency responsible for immigration enforcement has aggressively revived and expanded a decades-old program that delegates immigration enforcement powers to state and local law enforcement agencies.

Under the 287(g) program led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, police officers can interrogate immigrants in their custody and detain them for potential deportation.

Since President Donald Trump took office in January, ICE has rapidly expanded the number of signed agreements it has with law enforcement agencies across the country.

The reason is clear. Those agreements vastly beef up the number of immigration enforcement staff available to ICE, which has about 6,000 deportation officers, as they aim to meet Trump’s goal of deporting as many of the roughly 11 million people in the country illegally as they can.

▶ Read more about what these agreements are and what critics say about them

As many as a dozen migrants may have been deported to Africa, according to lawyers

Immigration authorities appear to have begun deporting migrants from Myanmar and Vietnam to South Sudan, attorneys for the migrants said in court documents filed Tuesday.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return messages seeking comment. An immigration official in Texas confirmed via email that at least one man from Myanmar had been flown to South Sudan Tuesday morning, according to court documents.

A woman also reported to attorneys that her husband from Vietnam and up to 10 other people were flown to Africa.

Those removals would violate a court order from a judge in Massachusetts requiring that people have a chance to challenge removals to countries other than their homelands, attorneys from the National Immigration Litigation Alliance wrote.

They asked Judge Brian E. Murphy for an emergency order to prevent such removals. He previously said deportations to Libya would violate his ruling.

After Trump’s visit to the Capitol, some Republicans still oppose big bill

Speaker Mike Johnson says Trump’s “one, big, beautiful, bill will require one, big, beautiful vote”, but holdouts remain.

The chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, said they’re still “a long ways away” from agreement. And other key Republicans said they were still a no vote.

Johnson headed to the Senate to update Republicans there on the path ahead.