Trump Administration Continues Hardline Shift with Cuts, Deportation Deals, and Power Plays
Budget Plan Slashes Domestic Programs as Trump Targets Harvard, Public Broadcasting, and the Intelligence Community in a Week of Sweeping Moves.
The second half of Week 15 in President Trump’s second term brought sweeping developments in immigration policy, institutional restructuring, and deep federal budget cuts. A federal judge permanently blocked the administration from deporting Venezuelan immigrants in Texas under the Alien Enemies Act—an escalation of Trump’s immigration policies previously reported by The Introspective. Meanwhile, administration officials entered talks with Libya and Rwanda to accept deported immigrants, including those with criminal records.
Amid the ongoing fallout from the “Signalgate” scandal, Trump nominated National Security Advisor Mike Waltz as U.N. ambassador. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was tapped as interim national security advisor while continuing to serve in his current role. In a continued backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, Harvard University disbanded its DEI office, rebranding it as “Community and Campus Life.” The move follows a Trump administration lawsuit threatening to withhold federal funds. Trump has since announced plans to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
That same day, the Department of Justice (DOJ) ended a civil rights-era school desegregation order in Louisiana, intensifying national debate over civil rights enforcement. As part of Trump’s broader effort to shrink the federal government, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is preparing to cut more than 1,200 jobs. The administration has also proposed $163 billion in discretionary spending cuts—targeting education, housing, and medical research—while requesting a Pentagon budget exceeding $1 trillion.
The Education Department slashed over $1 billion in grants aimed at improving school safety and student mental health in the wake of mass shootings, affecting districts nationwide as more than six school shootings have occurred this year. Meanwhile, Trump signed an executive order to eliminate federal funding for NPR and PBS, further reshaping the country’s public media landscape.
Immigration Policy Expansion
As anti-immigrant sentiment continues to rise, a federal judge in Texas permanently blocked the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act—a 1798 law that allows the president to arrest and deport noncitizens during times of war. This ruling comes as previous reports from The Introspective detailed instances in which Trump officials ignored court orders halting deportations.
“Neither the court nor the parties question that the executive branch can direct the detention and removal of aliens who engage in criminal activity in the United States,” wrote U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., adding that “the president’s invocation of the AEA through the proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms.”
President Trump previously attempted to invoke the 18th-century law in March, sparking backlash and drawing comparisons to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, along with German and Italian Americans.
“By invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil,” Trump declared during his second inaugural address in January.
“As commander in chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions.”
At the same time, administration officials have discussed the possibility of deporting immigrants with criminal records to Libya and Rwanda. This comes amid ongoing controversy over deportations to El Salvador, including the case of Kilmar Abrego Gracia, a legal Maryland resident who was recently deported.
“I say this unapologetically: we are actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a CNN interview.
“We are working with other countries to say, ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries — will you do that as a favor to us?’ And the further away from America, the better, so they can’t come back across the border.”
These discussions come on the heels of a 2024 United Nations report documenting human rights abuses in Libya, including allegations of forced labor, rape, torture, and beatings, as reported by CNN.
Government Shifts, DEI, and Civil Rights
Amid continued backlash from the “Signalgate” scandal, President Trump announced that National Security Adviser Mike Waltz would serve as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security adviser while remaining in his current role.
“From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and as my National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“In the interim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as national security adviser, while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”
Waltz expressed his gratitude for the nomination in an X post.
“I’m deeply honored to continue my service to President Trump and our great nation,” he wrote.
Waltz faced controversy over the “Signalgate” scandal, after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was accidentally added to a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal. The chat included Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Waltz, and involved discussions about military strikes on the Houthi group in Yemen. The Introspective reported that those strikes killed more than 50 people, including women and children.
Meanwhile, tensions continue between the Trump administration and higher education institutions over diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Harvard University announced it had disbanded its DEI office, renaming it the Office of Community and Campus Life. The decision came after Harvard filed a lawsuit in response to threats from the president to withhold federal funding over the university’s DEI initiatives.
“We must sharpen our focus on fostering connections across difference, creating spaces for dialogue, and cultivating a culture of belonging—not as an abstract ideal, but as a lived experience for all,” said Sherri Ann Charleston, Harvard’s chief community and campus life officer, in a press release.
“To capture this emphasis and this mission, our office will become Community and Campus Life, effective immediately.”
Despite the name change, Trump again took to Truth Social, threatening to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard's tax-exempt status. It's what they deserve!” he wrote.
Harvard University President Alan Garber pushed back, citing legal concerns.
“If the government goes through with a plan to revoke our tax-exempt status, it would... be highly illegal, unless there is some reasoning that we have not been exposed to that would justify this dramatic move,” Garber told The Wall Street Journal.
“Obviously, that would be severely impaired if we were to lose our tax-exempt status.”
Simultaneously, the Department of Justice ended a civil rights-era school desegregation order in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, claiming the order was a “federal wrong” and suggesting others could soon follow.
“No longer will the Plaquemines Parish School Board have to devote precious local resources over an integration issue that ended two generations ago,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, in a press release.
“This is a prime example of neglect by past administrations, and we’re now getting America refocused on our bright future.”
In a report by the Associated Press, Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said Louisiana “got its act together decades ago,” adding that ending the order corrects a historical wrong.
“It’s past time to acknowledge how far we have come,” he said.
However, civil rights advocates warned that many schools in the district remain deeply segregated.
“It probably means the opposite—that the school district remains segregated. And in fact, most of these districts are now more segregated today than they were in 1954,” said Jonathan Smith, chief of staff and general counsel for the National Center for Youth Law.
Budget Cuts, Federal Downsizing, and Media Tensions
Amid President Trump’s ongoing initiative to downsize the federal government, administration officials proposed a $163 billion cut to the federal budget, slashing spending on education, housing and medical research. The plan increases the budget for homeland security by up to 65% and seeks a Pentagon budget exceeding $1 trillion.
“For decades, the biggest complaint about the federal budget was wasteful spending and bloated bureaucracy. But over the last four years, government spending aggressively turned against the American people, and trillions of our dollars were used to fund cultural Marxism, radical Green New Scams, and even our own invasion,” said Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in a press release.
“At this critical moment, we need a historic budget — one that ends the funding of our decline, puts Americans first, and delivers unprecedented support to our military and homeland security. The president’s budget does all of that.”
The proposal calls for a $50 billion cut to the State Department as it absorbs the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Cuts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Department of Housing and Urban Development, and NASA are also included in the plan.
The Department of Education announced the end of a $1 billion grant program aimed at improving school safety and student mental health in the wake of mass shootings — a move that has sparked concern as gun violence remains a national issue.
“These grants are intended to improve American students' mental health by funding additional mental health professionals in schools and on campuses,” said Madison Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications, in a statement to ABC News.
“Instead, under the deeply flawed priorities of the Biden administration, grant recipients used the funding to implement race-based actions like recruiting quotas in ways that have nothing to do with mental health and could hurt the very students the grants are supposed to help.”
According to Education Week, there have been six school shootings in 2025 so far, resulting in two deaths and 10 injuries. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said revoking the grants is a “direct attack” on children.
“They may not have agreed on everything, but Congress secured $1 billion in bipartisan mental health grants to help kids better understand themselves and the world around them. The benefits were obvious,” Weingarten said in a statement.
“Now, with the stroke of a pen, that halting progress has been wiped away, even as the president and his allies insist that improving mental health is the only way to fix the gun violence epidemic.”
Amid further cuts, the CIA plans to lay off more than 1,200 employees as mass firings continue across the federal government. CIA Director John Ratcliffe has pledged to reallocate more resources toward countering China, as tensions between the two countries escalate.
“Director Ratcliffe is moving swiftly to ensure the CIA workforce is responsive to the administration’s national security priorities,” said a CIA spokesperson in a statement obtained by The Washington Post.
“These moves are part of a holistic strategy to infuse the agency with renewed energy, provide opportunities for rising leaders to emerge, and better position CIA to deliver on its mission.”
Further scrutiny followed after President Trump signed an executive order to defund NPR and PBS, two of the nation’s major public broadcasters, claiming that the outlets are biased. The order directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to end federal funding.
“Neither entity presents a fair, accurate or unbiased portrayal of current events to tax-paying citizens,” the order stated.
“The CPB board shall cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and shall decline to provide future funding.”
PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger condemned the order as “unlawful.”
“The president’s blatantly unlawful executive order, issued in the middle of the night, threatens our ability to serve the American public with educational programming, as we have for the past 50-plus years,” said Kerger.
“We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans.”
NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said the network would challenge the order “using all means available.”
“We will vigorously defend our right to provide essential news, information and life-saving services to the American public,” Maher said in a press release.
The CPB — which is already in a legal battle with the Trump administration — issued a statement reminding the president that the agency is independent.
“Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government,” said Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the CPB.
Both NPR and PBS receive more than $500 million in funding, with NPR stating that just 1% of its budget comes from the federal government. PBS receives 15% of its funding from CPB.