The Trump administration’s legal battles continued this week following the president’s push to control Harvard University and deport hundreds of thousands of people living in the U.S., including a man mistakenly sent to El Salvador.
Here’s our recap of major developments:
Trump targets Harvard
The Trump administration continued its campaign against Harvard University on Wednesday, threatening the university’s funding, ability to host international students and its tax-exempt status.
- The Trump administration has already cut some $2.2 billion in Harvard grants and $60 million in contracts after the university on Monday refused to cave in to government demands made in the name of fighting antisemitism.
- Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds.”
- Both the national and Harvard chapter of the American Association of University Professors sued the Trump administration last Friday, alleging First Amendment violations.
Appeals court rules for mistakenly deported man
The Trump administration must work to bring home a man deported to a notorious Salvadorian prison due to an “administrative error,” a federal appeals court said Thursday.
- The administration resisted an earlier court order requiring it to do so, instead continuing to portray Kilmar Armando Ábrego García as dangerous.
Context: The administration has not walked back its earlier admission that Ábrego García, a Salvadorian national living in Maryland legally, was mistakenly deported.
- Still, it contends without evidence, that he is an “MS-13 gang member ” and “not a sympathetic figure.”
- When Homeland Security publicized a temporary protective order his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, filed against him in 2021, she defended him, saying Thursday the order “is not a justification” for ICE “abducting him.”
- Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) successfully met with Ábrego García Thursday and said at a press conference the next day he had been moved from the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) to a detention center in El Salvador’s Santa Ana.
Go deeper: Supreme Court “perfectly clear” on returning deported Maryland man: Appeals court
Deportations could land government in contempt
A judge warned Wednesday that “probable cause exists” to hold the government in contempt for deporting people the administration has deemed Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.
- Defying U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s order, the president invoked an 18th-century wartime authority last month to justify deporting some 250 migrants it accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
- Boasberg called the move “willful disregard” in a memorandum opinion on Wednesday.
- It’s far from the only case that brings Trump administration officials before a judge in what many argue has been a presidency fought in court.
Other court actions involving the Trump administration:
- An appeals court denied the Trump administration’s attempt to overturn a court decision to block a ban on transgender troops Friday. Go deeper.
- The Supreme Court will hear arguments next month on Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship, the court said Thursday. Go deeper.
- A federal agency referred New York Attorney General Letitia James for criminal prosecution Tuesday, alleging mortgage fraud. Go deeper.
- The Justice Department sued Maine on Wednesday for allowing trans athletes in girls’ sports. Go deeper.
- A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking a Biden-era migration program for people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Go deeper.
Trump and DOGE push ahead with terminations
- Trump fired two of three board members of the National Credit Union Administration on Wednesday. Go deeper.
- He said Thursday that Fed chair Jerome Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough” after Powell criticized the president’s tariffs. Go deeper.
- The Trump administration removed Gary Shapley as acting IRS commissioner, multiple outlets reported Friday. Go deeper.
- Trump is expected to announce Friday his administration is revamping “Schedule F,” making it easier to cut federal workers. Go deeper.
Trump prioritizes Social Security rule already law
Trump signed a memorandum on Tuesday to curtail alleged Social Security fraud, despite lacking evidence of widespread impropriety.
- White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the memorandum aims to restrict undocumented immigrants from receiving Social Security retirement benefits, which they are already legally barred from doing, Axios’ Jason Lalljee writes.
Trump envoy meets in secret with Israeli officials
Two senior Israeli officials held a secret meeting in Paris on Friday with White House envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss the ongoing U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations, sources told Axios’ Barak Ravid.
- The meeting, which included strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer and Mossad chief David Barnea, was kept low profile and took place just before the second round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks scheduled for Saturday in Rome.
Go deeper: Trump envoy quietly met Israeli officials ahead of Iran nuclear talks
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect details of Van Hollen’s press conference and the latest news on Trump’s attempted ban on transgender troops.