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Kim Jong-un to meet Moon Jae-in at Korean border for summit

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The heavily guarded Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) divides the two Koreas

Kim Jong-un will on Friday become the first North Korean leader since the war to cross the military demarcation line that divides the Korean peninsula.

He will be meeting South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in, the first such diplomacy in more than a decade.

In newly announced details, South Korea said Mr Moon would meet Mr Kim at the border at 09:30 local time (00:30 GMT).

The historic talks will focus on the North’s recent suggestions it could be willing to give up its nuclear weapons.

But Seoul has warned reaching an agreement on this will be “difficult”, because North Korea’s nuclear and missile technology has advanced so much since the sides last held talks.

The landmark summit is a breakthrough after years of mounting tension on the peninsula. It is the result of months of improving relations between the two Koreas and paves the way to a possible meeting between Mr Kim and US President Donald Trump.

As well as addressing Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, the leaders are expected to discuss a path to peace on the peninsula to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War, as well as a series of economic and social issues.

How the summit will unfold

Mr Moon will personally meet Mr Kim at the border, South Korea’s presidential spokesperson Im Jong-seok told reporters on Thursday.

South Korean honour guards will then escort the leaders to a welcome ceremony at a plaza in Panmunjom, a military compound in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) between the two countries.

Official talks between Mr Moon and Mr Kim will begin at 10:30 local time (01:30 GMT) at the Peace House in Panmunjom.

The pair will break after the first session and will have lunch separately, with the delegation from the North crossing back to their side of the border.

At an afternoon ceremony, Mr Moon and Mr Kim will plant a pine tree using soil and water from both countries, to symbolise “peace and prosperity”.

Following the tree planting, they will walk together in Panmunjom before starting the next round of talks.

The summit will conclude with the leaders signing an agreement and delivering a joint statement.

A banquet will be held on the South side, and they will watch a video called “Spring of One,” before Mr Kim returns home.

Who will attend

Mr Kim will be accompanied by nine officials, including his sister, Kim Yo-jong, who led the North’s delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea earlier this year. Kim Yong-nam, North Korea’s nominal head of state, will also attend.

South Korea’s delegation will be made up of seven officials, including the ministers for defence, foreign affairs and unification.

Dallas police arrest suspect in triple shooting

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Authorities have arrested the man accused of shooting three people, including two police officers, in North Dallas on Tuesday.

Armando Juarez, 29, earlier identified as a person of interest, and an unidentified female were apprehended after a police pursuit that ended near uptown, authorities said.

“We got our man,” Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said at a press briefing.

Rawlings did not take questions, but he did ask for prayers for those who were shot. All three victims were out of surgery.

Emergency dispatchers received a call shortly after 4:12 p.m. to go to a Home Depot, Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall said in a press conference Tuesday night. After the responding officers arrived, a subsequent call for assistance was made after the shooting began.

Two officers were critically wounded, the Dallas Police Department posted on Twitter shortly after the shooting. The civilian who was shot is a loss-prevention officer for Home Depot, Hall said.

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A view of the scene where a police-involved shooting took place, April 24, 2018, in Dallas, Texas.

The officers were transported by the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department to the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. Police didn’t immediately release their names out of respect for their families, Hall said.

Rawlings earlier had described the aftermath of the shooting as a “two-front battle,” referring to the victims’ battles for their lives at the hospital as well as “the battle out in the community” to find the person of interest.

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A view of the scene where a police-involved shooting took place, April 24, 2018, in Dallas, Texas.

“I want to ask each and every one of you for your prayers … for our officers, for their families and for our entire DPD family, because we need you right now,” Hall said. “Our hearts are very heavy.”

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A view of the scene where a police-involved shooting took place, April 24, 2018, in Dallas, Texas.

State, local and federal law enforcement agencies responded to the scene.

In 2016, five Dallas law-enforcement officers were shot and killed and seven more injured after they were ambushed by a 25-year-old former Army reservist named Micah Xavier Johnson, who later died in a standoff with police.

Former Dallas Police Chief and ABC News contributor David Brown said the most recent shooting of two Dallas police officers is “too much to bear for one department in such a short time frame.”

“Once again,” Rawlings said, “it sobers us to realize what officers walk into day in and day out, how quickly they can become victims.”

Dallas Police Department
The Dallas Police Department released this handout in relation to the shooting at a Home Depot in Dallas, Texas, April 24, 2018.

As state dinner hostess, Melania Trump finally seems at ease as first lady

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Would the signature Trump bling break through the looming gray clouds on the night of his administration’s first state dinner? The answer on Tuesday was yes.

On an already symbolic evening that carried the added pressure of being the Trumps’ foray into official diplomatic branding, the first couple managed to pull off the glitzy party in honor of French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, without any major glitches. There were the bigwigs gussied up in black tie, the fine china decorated in gold, the long red carpet, the thoughtful toasts. All in all it was a state dinner, but in and of itself that is something.

Remember back on the campaign trail when then-candidate Trump denounced state dinners altogether? Speaking about “China and others” who allegedly “ripped off” the United States, Trump said that the White House should “forget the state dinners that cost, by the way, a fortune.” Hamburgers, which POTUS unabashedly enjoys, and a conference table were all the pomp and circumstance he needed, so the campaign bombast went, to iron things out.

My, how things have changed. Turns out a little grandeur is good for the gander.

In the lead up to the Trumps’ debut as a diplomatic duo, much was made of Mrs. Trump’s taste, her classiness, her “design background,” her general elegance. The night was basically marketed as Melania’s moment — an opportunity for the first lady, who has appeared reluctant in the role, to show off a little. She tweeted about the “months of preparation” her team had put in and even posted a brief behind-the-scenes video showing the East Wing hard at work. This was her chance to shine. So did she?

[For Melania Trump, fashion diplomacy was defined by a hat]

Melania Trump, a former model, made her grand entrance on the North Portico of the White House wearing haute couture Chanel. The silver frock was hand painted and embroidered with crystals and sequins. The choice was unsurprisingly high fashion (a black Givenchy tuxedo cape and custom-made Hervé Pierre hat also made cameos during this visit) and Mrs. Trump seemed wholly at ease in the part she played Tuesday night.

The president himself made it a point to highlight the first lady’s efforts during his opening toast.

“To America’s absolutely incredible first lady, thank you for making this an evening we will always cherish and remember,” said Trump in a toast that went on to honor America and France’s centuries-long friendship and encouraged the two countries to “work together every day to build a future that is more just, prosperous and free.”

When second lady Karen Pence was asked by the waiting press pool how Mrs. Trump was doing as first lady, Vice President Pence answered for her: “Breathtaking,” he said as the second couple made their way to the State Dining Room, a formal and intimate setting. So it would seem that the first lady earned a solid A-plus for her first diplomatic outing.

[‘She has a design background’: Melania Trump prepares to host first state dinner]

The rest of the 130 or so guests appeared more taken with the French than anything else.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said he planned “to thank the people of France for selling Louisiana to the United States.”

When asked if she spoke French, the president’s elder daughter Ivanka Trump, special adviser to 45, answered, “Oui, un petit peu.” Translation: “Yes, a little bit.”

Instagram’s favorite political spouse Louise Linton, who arrived wearing a Cavalli gown and her husband, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, said she was looking forward to “everything French.”

Earlier in the evening, U.S. Attorney General Jerome Adams struck a more serious note. He said he was excited about chatting about the opioid epidemic with the French president. Okay, at least someone there meant business. Adams’s wife Lacey, though, was less diplomatic: “I wanna see who’s on the guest list.” Don’t we all.

The list was fairly standard for events like these, filled mostly with White House officials, cabinet members, the diplomatic corps and a smattering of surprise faces.

[Complete guest list for the state dinner in honor of French president Emmanuel Macron]

CIA Director Mike Pompeo breezed past the press without answering any questions about his nomination for secretary of state. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards was one of the few Democrats who made the cut. Apple CEO Tim Cook brought along former Obama administration EPA chief and current Apple environmental director Lisa Jackson. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch arrived with his wife, former model Jerry Hall, who said she was looking forward to “seeing the French president.” Managing head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, who is French, was slightly less enthused. “This is my third French dinner,” she said.

The most unexpected (and perhaps joy-filled) moment came when a seemingly unrecognizable couple arrived at the White House. (Don’t worry: their last name wasn’t Salahi.)

“Are we supposed to stop?” asked the man as he conferred with the woman standing next to him. To help jog the press’s memory “in case you guys don’t know who we are,” the pair pulled two giant medals seemingly out of nowhere. Still nothing? Remember the Olympics? In South Korea? Which would have been a “total failure” without President Trump? These two — curler John Shuster and ice hockey player Meghan Duggan — were there and won gold.

So do you guys travel with those everywhere? “Pretty much,” laughed Shuster before eventually heading down a hallway decorated with giant sprays of nearly 1,200 cherry blossom branches to the State Dining Room. Dripping with the first couple’s particular brand of style, which leans heavily toward the ornate, the room was decorated in cream and gold. Tall tapered candles illuminated tables draped with heavy damask-like tablecloths placed with china that included a 24-karat gold engraved pattern introduced by then-first lady Hillary Clinton. Low-set tightly massed centerpieces of sweet peas and white lilacs decorated each table. Menu cards embossed with a gold fleur de lis were a nod to the guests of honor. The effect was understated but with a touch of that recognizable Trump flash.

The three-course meal — “a showcase of the best of America’s cuisines,” according to the East Wing — featured rack of lamb served alongside jambalaya, a traditional Louisiana dish with heavy French influences. The Post’s food critic Tom Sietsema described the main course as “a lovely nod to the American South.” The wine that was paired with dinner all hailed from the West Coast and not from the president’s own winery in central Virginia.

[The state dinner menu: Seasonal and modern, with no Trump wines in sight]

After dinner, the Washington National Opera entertained guests. Another big fan of opera? Jacqueline Kennedy, one of the past first ladies who Mrs. Trump has said she admires (the other being Michelle Obama).

The night was a success for the Trumps as much as for the Macrons — two couples that, according to the French president’s own toast, have disrupted the establishment. “On both sides of the ocean,” Macron said, “some two years ago very few would have bet on us being here together today. But as matter of fact, we share the same determination and the willingness.”

Republicans win closely watched special election in Arizona

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Republicans won a closely watched special election in Arizona Tuesday, turning back a spirited challenge from a first-time Democratic candidate to keep a U.S. House seat in GOP hands.

The Associated Press called the race on the basis of the Republican’s lead in early voting. Debbie Lesko, a former state lawmaker, had the edge over Hiral Tipirneni, a Democratic physician making her first run for office, by 52.9 percent to 47.1 percent.

Cheers erupted at a private home in the western Phoenix suburbs at Lesko’s election watch party, where Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) and around 70 supporters had gathered.

“Here’s to success. Here’s to Republicans winning this year!” a jubilant Lesko told the group in a toast.

Republicans, rattled by the loss last month in a special election for a congressional seat in Pennsylvania, welcomed the results in Arizona as energized Democrats have turned even the most reliable GOP seats competitive. The GOP faces fierce political head winds, the drag of an unpopular president and the retirement of its House leader, Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). The GOP control of the House is in jeopardy in November’s midterm elections.

“Debbie ran a smart campaign and focused in on the issues that voters cared about, like having more take-home pay, fewer regulations and a secure border,” Ryan said. “Her victory proves that Republicans have a positive record to run on this fall, and we need to spend the next seven months aggressively selling our message to the American people.”

Arizona 8th Congressional District special election results View Graphic Arizona 8th special election results

Republicans had been cautiously optimistic about prevailing in the 8th Congressional District where President Trump won by 21 percentage points in 2016 and Trent Franks, who resigned last year, had won by 37 points. Still, the GOP took nothing for granted, with party committees and PACs investing more than $1.1 million in ads and get-out-the-vote efforts, and tapping Trump for robo-calls to voters.

Lesko will replace Franks, who stepped down in December after he reportedly offered to pay a female staff member $5 million to carry his child as a surrogate.

The president made a last-minute appeal for Lesko on Tuesday.

“Arizona, please get out today and vote @DebbieLesko for Congress in #AZ08. Strong on Border, Immigration and Crime. Great on the Military. Time is ticking down – get out and VOTE today. We need Debbie in Congress!” he said via Twitter.

Democrats, who did not invest in the race as heavily as they had in other special elections, said that the numbers represented a promising swing toward their party.

In the days leading up to the special election, Republicans ramped up the rhetoric in hopes of getting their voters to the polls.

On Saturday, Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) told volunteers at Lesko’s canvass launch that national liberals were using the special election to “radicalize” their base and raise money.

“It’s a group from the other side of the country trying to get a bunch of people to give them $25 to build a bigger list for the next election,” Schweikert said. “They basically are the parasite class using our community for their radical politics. We need to crush them.”

In one of Lesko’s final interviews before Tuesday’s vote, she told conservative activist Lloyd Marcus that a victory could hold off the Democrats who had grown more confident after election upsets in Alabama, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

“Some of these radical groups really want to take over our country,” Lesko said. “They use protesters. They lie. They’re deceptive. They want to, in my opinion, destroy the principles that make this country great.”

Strategists for both parties had expected Lesko to win. Republican optimism was based in large part on early voters, who had cast 154,076 ballots by Friday. Nearly half of the returned ballots, 48.5 percent, were cast by Republicans; just 27.7 percent were cast by Democrats. The average age of all district residents is 43; the average early voter was 68 years old.

In the race’s final weeks, Tipirneni argued that crossover voters would keep the race close and give her a shot at an upset. Her campaign focused heavily on Medicare, telling voters that she would strengthen the program by allowing younger Americans to buy into it, and warning that the sort of tax cuts supported by Lesko would put the program at risk.

“In our office, not a day goes by that people don’t come in and say, ‘I’m a Republican, but I’m voting for you,’ ” Tipirneni told a local Fox News affiliate Sunday.

Lesko had the support of a trio of Republican groups that moved to shore up the seat after the upset win by Democrat Conor Lamb in a special election in Pennsylvania on March 13. Together, the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee and Congressional Leadership Fund spent more than $900,000 on the Arizona race, almost all of it dedicated to turning out Republican votes.

In his robo-call, Trump warned that “illegal immigrants will pour right over your border” if Democrats win the House. “Nancy Pelosi wants to send a liberal Democrat to Congress to represent you,” Trump says in the call, referring to the House minority leader. “We can’t have that.”

Read more at PowerPost

Stocks Drop as Treasury Yields Touch 3%

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The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note hit 3% for the first time since 2014 in a vote of confidence for the economic expansion, but warnings from large companies that profits were peaking helped send the Dow industrials to their fifth straight decline.

Investors on Tuesday dealt with two conflicting messages. The rise in bond yields early in the day was a signal that the Federal Reserve might have to raise interest rates more rapidly to respond to economic growth and the prospect of more inflation. That could add fuel…

After Trump Hints VA Nominee Might Drop Out, an Aggressive Show of Support

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“We take very seriously our constitutional duty to thoroughly and carefully vet each nominee sent to the Senate for confirmation,” said Senators Johnny Isakson of Georgia, the committee chairman, and Jon Tester of Montana, its top Democrat, in a joint statement. “We will continue looking into these serious allegations.”

Dr. Jackson, speaking with reporters on Capitol Hill before meeting with a Republican senator Tuesday afternoon, gave no indication that he would withdraw his nomination. He also did not answer questions about the accusations.

But he added, “I’m looking forward to getting it rescheduled and answering everybody’s questions.”

Members of Mr. Tester’s staff said that they had been given several credible accounts of Dr. Jackson being intoxicated during official White House travel. In several cases, they said, he had apparently grabbed his medical bag and was “attempting to assert himself,” to show he was in charge.

On one trip during Barack Obama’s presidency, White House staff needed to reach Dr. Jackson for medical reasons and found him passed out in his hotel room after a night of drinking, Tester aides said. The staff members took the medical supplies they were looking for without waking Dr. Jackson.

“He is the primary attendant of the president, the most powerful man in the world,” Mr. Tester said in an interview late Tuesday. “You don’t know when he is going to need you.”

Mr. Tester said that there was no evidence before the committee that Dr. Jackson had shown up drunk to the White House.

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In response, White House officials described Dr. Jackson’s record as “impeccable,” and they distributed glowing comments that they said Mr. Obama wrote in Dr. Jackson’s annual military performance review.

“Ronny does a great job — genuine enthusiasm, poised under pressure, incredible work ethic and follow through,” Mr. Obama said of Dr. Jackson in 2016, according to information released Tuesday evening by White House officials.

Members of both parties also pushed back on the alcohol accusation. Senator Jerry Moran, Republican of Kansas, said that Dr. Jackson told him on Tuesday that “he has never had a drink while on duty.” Mr. Moran also said that Dr. Jackson did not specifically address other accusations against him.

Brian McKeon, who served as chief of staff for the Obama National Security Council, said he does not recall Dr. Jackson ever drinking to excess. “I am not even sure that I ever saw him in a hotel bar,” Mr. McKeon wrote in an email Tuesday.

Mr. Tester said that the committee had also received credible accusations that Dr. Jackson routinely distributed Ambien, a prescription sleep aid, which is not a narcotic, to White House staff and members of the news media flying on long overseas trips, as well as Provigil, a prescription drug for promoting wakefulness.

Mr. Tester said that he had spoken with John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, about the accusations on Monday. Mr. Kelly, he said, told him that the distribution of sleep aids and wakefulness drugs was “standard operating procedure.” Mr. Tester said he disagreed.

“We have a prescription drug problem in this country, and if we have doctors at the highest levels who are just handing them out like candy, we have a problem,” Mr. Tester said.

In a letter to the president on Tuesday, Mr. Tester and Mr. Isakson requested “any and all communication” between the Defense Department, the White House Military Office and the White House medical unit “regarding allegations or incidents” involving Dr. Jackson date to 2006.

Mr. Tester said the committee had also received reports of a “toxic work environment” in the White House medical unit, which Dr. Jackson has overseen since 2013.

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“That would involve belittling, screaming, verbally abusing the staff to the point where he would explode and the staff would feel they were on eggshells,” Mr. Tester said. He added that several of the people the committee had spoken with still work in the medical unit and are fearful of reprisals.

In 2012, a six-page report by the Navy’s medical inspector general found low morale and “unprofessional behaviors” as Dr. Jackson and his superior, Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman, battled for control of the White House medical office.

Mr. Tester, a moderate Democrat up for re-election this fall, firmly rejected Mr. Trump’s assertion that the accusations had been politically motivated by partisan Democrats in Congress.

“We’ve had 12 appointees come before the committee, and I’ve supported every damn one of them,” he said. “I don’t want to play politics with the V.A.”

Republicans agreed the accusations are serious. Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina and a member of the committee, said, “If the allegations were based in fact, it would be concerning.”

Dr. Jackson, a rear admiral in the Navy, was already expected to face difficult questioning during his testimony before the committee. Last month, Mr. Trump fired his first Veterans Affairs secretary, David J. Shulkin, an experienced hospital administrator and veteran of the department’s medical system, and then chose Dr. Jackson largely out of personal affinity.

As White House physician, Dr. Jackson had undergone intense vetting for a position that gives him unusually close access to the president. But Mr. Trump’s abrupt nomination of his personal doctor to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs pre-empted any review of Dr. Jackson’s qualifications to manage a large bureaucracy. Officials said there was virtually no examination of Dr. Jackson’s policy views before the announcement.

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Before serving as a White House physician, Dr. Jackson had deployed as an emergency medicine physician to Taqaddum, Iraq, during the Iraq war.

Mr. Tester and Mr. Isakson said they would withhold a final judgment until they completed their investigation.

More than a half-dozen former White House officials who served with Dr. Jackson in Mr. Obama’s administration expressed support for him. None said they recalled him ever being drunk or loosely dispensing medications.

“He always seemed to be to be alert, responsive, responsible,” said David Axelrod, who served as Mr. Obama’s senior adviser. “My impressions were positive. My interactions were positive. I never heard any complaints.”

The turmoil around his nomination all but ensures that the Department of Veterans Affairs, the federal government’s second largest, will remain without a permanent leader for at least several weeks at a moment when it was supposed to be adopting systematic changes to its electronic health records system and to programs that allow veterans to seek care from private doctors at government expense.

The Senate received paperwork from the Trump administration formalizing Dr. Jackson’s nomination only last week.

“It has been really careless, maybe even negligent, about the vetting in a number of these nominations,” Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said of the White House.

Asked if he still supported the nominee, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, offered only, “We’re going to wait and see what Senator Isakson and the administration recommend.”

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The White House defended Dr. Jackson’s record in a statement, but did not address the nature of the claims against him.

“Admiral Jackson has been on the front lines of deadly combat and saved the lives of many others in service to this country,” said Hogan Gidley, a deputy White House press secretary. “He’s served as the physician to three presidents — Republican and Democrat — and been praised by them all.”

Lawmakers were already preparing to press Dr. Jackson on his views on the role of private medical care for veterans, instead of the department’s government-run health care system. Senators also planned to challenge his lack of management experience running a large organization — the department employs more than 370,000 people and operates sprawling health and veterans benefits systems.

Before his nomination, Dr. Jackson had garnered little public attention. He took a rare turn in the spotlight in January, when he appeared on national television to announce the results of Mr. Trump’s first physical while in office. At the time, there was speculation over the president’s physical and mental health, and Dr. Jackson offered effusive compliments on both. Mr. Trump was pleased with the performance.

At one point, Dr. Jackson even quipped that given Mr. Trump’s genetics, he might live to 200 years old if he had a healthier diet.


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Federal judge: Trump administration must accept new DACA applications

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A D.C. federal judge has delivered the toughest blow yet to Trump administration efforts to end deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants, ordering the government to continue the Obama-era program and — for the first time since announcing it would end — reopen it to new applicants.

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates on Tuesday called the government’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program “virtually unexplained” and therefore “unlawful.” However, he stayed his ruling for 90 days to give the Department of Homeland Security a chance to provide more solid reasoning for ending the program.

Bates is the third judge to rule against Trump administration attempts to rescind DACA, which provides two-year, renewable work permits and deportation protections for about 690,000 “dreamers,” undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children.

In his decision, Bates said the decision to phase out the program starting in March “was arbitrary and capricious because the Department failed adequately to explain its conclusion that the program was unlawful.”

“Each day that the agency delays is a day that aliens who might otherwise be eligible for initial grants of DACA benefits are exposed to removal because of an unlawful agency action,” Bates wrote.

Federal judges in California and New York have also blocked the administration’s plans on those grounds, and ordered the administration to renew work permits for immigrants enrolled in the program.

But the ruling by Bates, an appointee of President George W. Bush, is far more expansive: If the government does not come up with a better explanation within 90 days, he will rescind the government memo that terminated the program and require Homeland Security to enroll new applicants, as well. Thousands could be eligible to apply.

The cases were brought by the NAACP, Microsoft, Princeton University and a student.

“We are pleased and gratified . . . but we’re not out of the woods yet,” said Bradford Berry, general counsel for the NAACP. “The government still has an opportunity to try to save their rescission of the program.”

Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber added that “While the decision does not fully resolve the uncertainty facing DACA beneficiaries, it unequivocally rejects the rationale the government has offered for ending the program and makes clear that the DHS acted arbitrarily and capriciously.”

Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft, said, “We hope this decision will help provide new incentive for the legislative solution the country and these individuals so clearly deserve. As the business community has come to appreciate, a lasting solution for the country’s dreamers is both an economic imperative and a humanitarian necessity.”

The Trump administration said it is reviewing the decision. In a statement, the Justice Department pointed out that a similar Obama-era program for immigrant parents failed to survive a court challenge, and said ending DACA was part of its efforts to protect the border and enforce the rule of law.

“Today’s order doesn’t change the Department of Justice’s position on the facts: DACA was implemented unilaterally after Congress declined to extend benefits to this same group of illegal aliens,” spokesman Devin O’Malley said in a statement. “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously defend this position.”

A federal judge in Maryland recently ruled in favor of the government in a different DACA case.

The Trump administration says it decided to end DACA because Texas and other states had threatened to sue over it, and the government believed the program would not survive a court challenge. Bates ruled that the government’s “meager legal reasoning” — and the threat of a lawsuit — did not justify terminating the program.

Congress failed to pass legislation this year protecting DACA recipients and other dreamers. Trump had hoped to use the young immigrants as a bargaining chip in the last round of budget negotiations, offering legal residency for them in exchange for money for a border wall and strict new immigration limits.

After negotiations collapsed, he declared DACA “dead.”

His administration this year has renewed more than 55,000 work permits for immigrants enrolled in the program, as the courts required.

The program has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, allowing them to get driver’s licenses, qualify for in-state tuition, buy homes and attend college and graduate school. They must meet educational and residency requirements and cannot have serious criminal records.

Read more:

Federal judge weighs ordering administration to restart DACA

Undocumented and old enough for DACA, but too late to apply

With 3 months left in med school, her career may be slipping away

Remnants of Mexico migrant caravan closer to US border

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MEXICO CITY (AP) The remnants of a caravan of Central American migrants protested in northern Mexico on Monday, even as once again they drew angry tweets from U.S. President Donald Trump.


The mainly Central American migrants are demanding better treatment and many are planning to request asylum, either in the United States or Mexico.


“We are asking the government and migration authorities to respect the right to seek asylum,” said caravan organizer Irineo Mujica. “Those who request asylum shouldn’t be criminalized. It is a right … families shouldn’t be separated or punished.”


The approximately 600 migrants arrived in the northern city of Hermosillo aboard trains over the weekend.






Mujica has said the migrants plan to arrive in Tijuana later this week.


Trump tweeted Monday that “I have instructed the Secretary of Homeland Security not to let these large Caravans of people into our Country.”


“Mexico, whose laws on immigration are very tough, must stop people from going through Mexico and into the U.S. We may make this a condition of the new NAFTA Agreement,” Trump tweeted.


In response, Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs Luis Videgaray tweeted, “It would be unacceptable to condition the NAFTA negotiations on immigration actions that are outside that framework.”


“Mexico decides its own immigration policy in a sovereign manner, and Mexico’s cooperation on immigration matters with the United States occurs because Mexico considers it in its own interest,” Videgaray wrote.


Many of the migrants say they are fleeing gang violence and extortion in Honduras and El Salvador.


The U.S. government “should be more understanding of the women and children in this caravan … and the dangers they face in their countries,” Mujica said.


U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday that he told his offices in border states to “take whatever immediate action to ensure that we have sufficient prosecutors available” and that he may transfer immigration judges to the border. He said caravan members have ignored the Mexican government’s willingness to let them stay in Mexico.


“Let today’s message be clear: Our nation has the most generous immigration system in the world, but this is a deliberate attempt to undermine our laws and overwhelm our system,” Sessions said.


U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Monday that “DHS continues to monitor the remnants of the ‘caravan’ of individuals headed to our Southern border with the apparent intention of entering the United States illegally.”


“If members of the ‘caravan’ enter the country illegally, they will be referred for prosecution for illegal entry in accordance with existing law,” Nielsen said in a statement. “For those seeking asylum, all individuals may be detained while their claims are adjudicated efficiently and expeditiously, and those found not to have a claim will be promptly removed from the United States.”


She said her agency was working with the Justice Department in “taking a number of steps to ensure that all cases and claims are adjudicated promptly – including sending additional USCIS asylum officers, ICE attorneys, DOJ Immigration Judges, and DOJ prosecutors to the Southern border.”


“DHS encourages persons with asylum or other similar claims to seek protections in the first safe country they enter, including Mexico,” the statement said.

‘I thought I was done’: George HW Bush faced death at 20 during WWII

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Just one day after his wife was buried, former president George H.W. Bush contracted an infection that spread to his blood and was hospitalized. On Monday, a family spokesman said Bush is responding to treatments and appears to be recovering.

The 93-year-old’s health has been in decline for years, yet on Saturday, Bush sat front and center at Barbara’s funeral in Houston. Confined to a wheelchair, Bush sat steadfastly as family and friends highlighted his 73-year marriage to the former first lady and her remarkable life.

[George H.W. Bush hospitalized the day after funeral for his wife, Barbara]

Included in those tributes was a brief account of one of the first times George Bush — now America’s oldest living president — faced his own mortality. More than seven decades ago, Bush confronted death not from an intensive care unit or at his dying wife’s bedside, but floating alone in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean.

A high school senior on Dec. 7, 1941, Bush was walking the campus of Phillips Academy Andover when he first heard the news that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. According to Bush biographer and presidential historian Jon Meacham, Bush’s immediate reaction was to serve.

“After Pearl Harbor, it was a different world altogether,” Bush would later recall for Meacham’s biography, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush. “It was a red, white, and blue thing. Your country’s attacked, you’d better get in there and try to help.”

Bush initially decided he wanted to become a pilot — and fast. He briefly considered enlisting in the Royal Air Force in Canada because, as Bush told Meacham, he “could get through much faster.” But Bush was lured by naval service, inspired by the grandeur of the Navy’s power, and its reputation for camaraderie and purpose. A combination of flying and the Navy fit just right.

That winter, Bush was not yet 18 years old. He’d go home for his last Christmas out of uniform. And at a Christmas dance, he’d set his eyes on Barbara.

[‘You were the reason’: Barbara and George Bush’s love story remembered at her funeral]

On June 12, 1942, Bush turned 18 and graduated from Andover. After commencement, he left for Boston to be sworn into the Navy. Nearly one year later, Bush became an officer of the United States Naval Reserve and earned his wings as a naval aviator. Meacham speculates that Bush was likely the Navy’s youngest flying officer just days shy of his 19th birthday. He was assigned to fly torpedo bombers off aircraft carriers in the Pacific theater.

At dawn on Sept. 2, 1944, Bush was slated to fly in a strike over Chichi Jima, a Japanese island about 500 miles from the mainland. The island was a stronghold for communications and supplies for the Japanese, and it was heavily guarded. Bush’s precise target was a radio tower.

At about 7:15 that morning, Bush took off through clear skies along with William G. White, known as “Ted,” and John “Del” Delaney. Just over an hour later, their plane was hit. Meacham wrote that smoke filled the cockpit and flames swallowed the wings. Bush radioed White and Delaney to put on their parachutes.

“My God,” Bush thought to himself, “this thing is going to blow up.”

Choking on the smoke, Bush continued to steer the plane, dropping bombs and hitting the radio tower. He told White and Delaney to parachute out of the plane, then climbed through his open hatch to maneuver out of the cockpit.

“The wind struck him full force, essentially lifting him out the rest of the way and propelling him backward into the tail,” Meacham wrote. “He gashed his head and bruised his eye on the tail as he flew through the sky and the burning plane hurtled toward the sea.”

As Bush floated out of the sky, he saw his plane crash into the water and disappear below. Then he hit the waves, fighting his way back up to the surface and kicking off his shoes to lighten his load.

“His khaki flight suit was soaked and heavy, his head was bleeding, his eyes were burning from the cockpit smoke, and his mouth and throat were raw from the rush of salt water,” Meacham wrote.

Fifty feet away bobbed a life raft that Bush managed to inflate and flop onto. But the wind was carrying him towards Chichi Jima, so Bush began paddling in the opposite direction with his arms. Bush would later learn of horrific war crimes committed against American captives at Chichi Jima, including cannibalism.

[‘We knew the ship was doomed’: USS Indianapolis survivor recalls four days in shark-filled sea]

“For a while there I thought I was done,” Bush told Meacham.

He was alone, vomiting over the side of the life raft and slowly grasping that White and Delaney were gone. Hours passed. He cried and thought of home. Barbara would soon receive a letter from him saying “all was well,” but she had no true way of knowing. The letter was dated before George’s plane had been hit.

Bush thought he was delirious when suddenly, a 311-foot submarine rose from the depths to rescue him.

“Welcome aboard, sir,” greeted a torpedoman second class.

“Happy to be aboard,” replied the future commander in chief.

Read more:

‘One last time’: Barbara Bush had already faced a death more painful than her own

Why Melania Trump, Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton attended Barbara Bush’s funeral

‘Find the joy’: The day Barbara Bush wowed Wellesley’s feminist protesters with a graduation speech

Gen. George Patton’s wife put a Hawaiian curse on his ex-mistress. She was dead within days.