BLOGONITY

The measles outbreak in rural West Texas has grown to 90 cases across seven counties, the state health department posted online Friday, and 16 people are hospitalized.  In neighboring eastern New Mexico, the measles case count is up to nine, though state public health officials said Thursday there’s still no evidence this outbreak is connected to the one in Texas.  The West Texas cases are concentrated in eight counties in West Texas.   Texas state health department data shows that most of the cases are among people younger than 18. Twenty-six cases are in kids younger than 4 and 51 are in kids 5-17 years old. Ten adults have measles, and three cases are pending an age determination. The Ector County Health Department told the Odessa American its case was in a child too young to be vaccinated.  State health officials have said this outbreak is Texas’ largest in nearly 30 years. Health department spokeswoman Lara Anton said last week that cases have been concentrated in a “close-knit, undervaccinated” Mennonite community — especially among families who attend small private religious schools or are homeschooled.  In New Mexico, all of the cases are in Lea County, which borders Gaines County in Texas. The state health department has said people may have been exposed at a grocery store, an elementary school, a church, hospital and a pharmacy in Hobbs, New Mexico.  Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours. Up to 9 out of 10 people who are susceptible will get the virus if exposed, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Most kids will recover from the measles if they get it, but infection can lead to dangerous complications like pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.  The vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella is safe and highly effective in preventing measles infection and severe cases of the disease.  The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old. The vaccine series is required for kids before entering kindergarten in public schools nationwide.  Before the vaccine was introduced in 1963, the U.S. saw some 3 million to 4 million cases per year. Now, it’s usually fewer than 200 in a normal year.  There is no link between the vaccine and autism, despite a now-discredited study and health … “Nearly 100 cases of measles reported in Texas, New Mexico” →

WASHINGTON — Moves by U.S. President Donald Trump to potentially gut programs aimed at supporting election security are not sitting well with key state election officials, who are now asking the Trump administration to reconsider. The National Association of Secretaries of State sent a letter Friday to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem warning that changes to the department’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency could endanger future elections. “Information technology systems related to election administration have long been targeted by sophisticated cyber threat actors including nation-state and cybercriminal groups,” according to the letter, signed by NASS president, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon and NASS president-elect, Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson. “CISA’s prioritized services help election entities defend against these national security threats,” they added. NASS is a bipartisan group that represents chief election officials from nearly 40 U.S. states. Simon is a Democrat. Watson is a Republican. The letter says that while U.S. elections “firmly remain a state and local responsibility,” several initiatives from CISA have provided valuable services and allowed for the sharing of critical information for states that choose to participate. It lists cybersecurity services, physical security assessments, information through the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), classified and unclassified intelligence briefings and on-the-ground incident response services as among the programs that NASS members would like to continue. VOA has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security about the letter but has not received a response. CISA was formally created in 2018, charged with protecting the country’s critical infrastructure. It has also served as a lead agency on election security. DHS officials announced a review of the agency earlier this month citing what they described as a need for CISA “to refocus on its mission.” “The agency is undertaking an evaluation of how it has executed its election security mission with a particular focus on any work related to mis-, dis-, and mal-information,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. According to DHS, as of mid-February, more than 130 CISA employees had been placed on administrative leave. NASS expressed hope some of the election related programs can be preserved, offering to meet with DHS officials, including Noem. “[We] respect your authority to reassess existing priorities, structures, staffing, and missions,” the NASS letter said. “We favor continuity of the core resources above and welcome the opportunity as Chief Election Officials to discuss any potential changes or impacts to … “US states push back against possible election security changes” →

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said Friday that he expected Ukraine to accept and sign a proposed deal that would include U.S. investments in its mineral assets to help recoup some U.S. defense funding. The Trump administration had proposed the rare earth mineral deal as part of the larger negotiation toward ending the war in Ukraine. Mike Waltz’s comments followed reports that the Trump administration presented Kyiv with a revised version of a minerals agreement after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected the initial proposal. Speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) outside Washington, Waltz said: “Well, look, here’s the bottom line: President Zelenskyy is going to sign that deal. And you will see that in the very short term. And that is good for Ukraine.” Those comments came following a sharp exchange between Trump and Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian president, responding to Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine started its war with Russia, said the U.S. president was living in a Russian-influenced “disinformation space.” Trump countered on his Truth Social platform, calling Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections.” On Friday, Trump referenced his indirect exchanges with Zelenskyy while speaking to a gathering of the Republican State Governors Association at the White House. The president described having “very good talks with [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin,” and “not such good talks with Ukraine.” He mentioned how Ukraine talks “tough” but does not have a lot of bargaining chips. Trump sent Keith Kellogg, his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, to Kyiv for meetings with Zelenskyy on Thursday. Comments following that meeting indicated the relationship had been smoothed over. On his X social media account, Zelenskyy had nothing but positive things to say. “My meeting with General Kellogg was one that restores hope, and we need strong agreements with the U.S. — agreements that will truly work,” Zelenskyy said. “I have instructed my team to work quickly and very sensibly.” “We all need peace — Ukraine, Europe, America and the entire world,” Zelenskyy added. Kellogg, from his X account, reposted Zelenskyy’s comments, and stated, “Extensive and positive discussions with [Zelenskyy], the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war, and his talented national security team.” Much of the tension this past week involved talks on Ukraine between a U.S. delegation led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia. No Ukrainian or European representatives were present. Rubio later noted … “White House official expects Ukraine to accept mineral deal “ →

A tearful executive at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service told staffers on Thursday that about 6,000 employees would be fired, a person familiar with the matter said, in a move that would eliminate roughly 6% of the agency’s workforce in the midst of the busy tax-filing season. The cuts are part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping downsizing effort that has targeted bank regulators, forest workers, rocket scientists and tens of thousands of other government employees. The effort is being led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, Trump’s biggest campaign donor. Musk was on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, when Argentine President Javier Milei, known for wielding a chain saw to illustrate his drastic policies slashing government spending, handed him one. “This is the chain saw for bureaucracy,” said Musk, holding the power tool aloft as a stage prop to symbolize the drastic slashing of government jobs. Labor unions have sued to try to stop the mass firings, under which tens of thousands of federal workers have been told they no longer have a job, but a federal judge in Washington on Thursday ruled that they can continue for now. Christy Armstrong, IRS director of talent acquisition, teared up as she told employees on a phone call that about 6,000 of their colleagues would be laid off and encouraged them to support each other, a worker who was on the call said. “She was pretty emotional,” the worker said. The layoffs are expected to total 6,700, according to a person familiar with the matter, and largely target workers at the agency hired as part of an expansion under Democratic President Joe Biden, who had sought to expand enforcement efforts on wealthy taxpayers. Republicans have opposed the expansion, arguing that it would lead to harassment of ordinary Americans. The tax agency now employs roughly 100,000 people, compared with 80,000 before Biden took office in 2021. Independent budget analysts had estimated that the staff expansion under Biden would work to boost government revenue and help narrow trillion-dollar budget deficits. “This will ensure that the IRS is not going after the wealthy and is only an agency that’s really focused on the low income,” said University of Pittsburgh tax law professor, Philip Hackney, a former IRS lawyer. “It’s a travesty.” Those fired include revenue agents, customer-service workers, specialists who hear appeals of tax disputes, and IT workers, and impact … “US tax agency fires 6,000 amid federal government downsizing” →

SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA — A group of families and children hailing from Uzbekistan, China, Afghanistan, Russia and more countries climbed down the stairs of an airplane in Costa Rica’s capital Thursday, the first flight of deportees from other nations Costa Rica agreed to hold in detention facilities for the Trump administration while it organized the return back to their countries. The flight of 135 deportees, half of them minors, added Costa Rica to a growing list of Latin American nations to serve as a stopover for migrants as U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to step up deportations. While Costa Rica joins Panama in holding deportees from mostly Asian origin until their repatriation can be arranged or they can seek protection somewhere, Honduras on Thursday also facilitated a handoff of deportees between the U.S. and Venezuela from a flight coming from Guantanamo Bay. The migrants arriving in Costa Rica will be bused to a rural holding facility near the Panama border, where they will be detained up to six weeks and be flown back to their countries of origin, said Omer Badilla, Costa Rica’s deputy minister of the interior and police. The U.S. government will cover the costs. The arrangement is part of a deal the Trump administration struck with Costa Rica during U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit earlier this month. It comes as Trump has pressured countries across the region to help facilitate deportations at times under the threat of steep tariffs or sanctions. Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves told reporters Wednesday that his country is helping its “economically powerful brother from the north.” Similar agreements have been reached with other Latin American nations, but the concept of using third countries as deportation layovers has drawn strong criticism from human rights advocates. Beyond the conditions of their detention in Costa Rica, concerns revolve around international protections for asylum seekers and whether these deportees will be appropriately screened before being returned to their countries or sent to yet another country. Panama this week became the first such country to accept 299 deportees from other nations, with the government holding them in hotel rooms guarded by police. About one-third of those who refused to voluntarily return to their countries were sent to a remote camp in Darien province bordering Colombia on Wednesday. The rest were awaiting commercial flights back home. “We’ve thrown out the possibility of a hotel, precisely … “Costa Rica and Honduras join Panama as stopovers for foreign deportees” →

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korean officials have asked the Trump administration to exclude their country from U.S. plans to impose aggressive tariffs on trade partners, emphasizing that Seoul is already applying low duties on American products under the free trade agreement between the two nations. South Korea’s government on Friday said Deputy Trade Minister Park Jong-won made the request while traveling to Washington this week for meetings with unspecified officials from the White House, the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The South Korean Trade Ministry didn’t say what Park heard from the Americans. Park cited how South Korean companies were contributing to the U.S. economy through large-scale business investments and noted that the country was already imposing low duties on free trade partners such as the United States. He called for South Korea to be excluded from U.S. plans to establish reciprocal tariffs with trade partners and raise duties for imported steel and aluminum, the ministry said. South Korea’s top economic think tank this month slashed its growth forecast for the country’s economy for the second time since November, expressing concern about the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s expanding tariffs and other measures aimed at resetting global trade. The state-run Korea Development Institute projected the national economy to grow by 1.6% in 2025, which was 0.4 percentage points lower than its previous estimate. The group’s economists assessed that Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs won’t likely have a major impact on South Korea’s economy, as those products account for less than 1% of its exports to the U.S. However, they expressed concern that possible increases in U.S. duties for semiconductors and cars would hurt the country’s trade-dependent economy more. South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, on Friday called a meeting with trade and foreign policy officials to discuss the potential impact of Trump’s trade measures, including reciprocal tariffs and possible product-specific duties for semiconductors, cars and pharmaceuticals. Choi, who is also South Korea’s finance minister, instructed officials to examine how other major economies, including the European Union, Japan and China, are responding to Trump’s trade policies, and try harder to effectively communicate South Korea’s position to U.S. officials. South Korea’s trade surplus with the U.S. reached $55.7 billion in 2024. According to the South Korean trade ministry, the country’s tariff rates on U.S. manufacturing imports is around zero percent.  …

The U.S. government flew 177 Venezuelan migrants from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras on Thursday, from where they are set to be transferred on to Venezuela, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security said. Earlier on Thursday, the Honduran government said about 170 Venezuelan migrants were set to arrive in the Central American nation from the United States, before being transported immediately back to Venezuela. The transfer of the migrants would take place at Soto Cano, a joint U.S.-Honduras military air base, the Honduran government said. Venezuela requested the repatriation of the citizens who it said were unjustly taken to Guantanamo naval base, Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said in a statement posted on Telegram, adding they would be flown from Honduras by Venezuelan airline Conviasa. The arrival in Venezuela is expected Thursday evening local time. Lawyers representing at least half a dozen of the deportees said they learned about the deportations on Thursday afternoon. The deportations come after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last week seeking access to dozens of migrants flown to the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying they were being denied the right to an attorney. The deportees included 126 people with criminal charges or convictions, 80 of whom were allegedly affiliated with Tren de Aragua, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said, adding that 51 had no criminal record. There are no migrant detainees left at Guantanamo after Thursday’s deportations, the spokesperson said. The U.S. has designated Tren de Aragua a global terrorist organization along with other organized crime groups, as President Donald Trump steps up immigration enforcement against alleged gang members in the United States.  …

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump this week signed an executive order intended to expand the White House’s authority over various independent regulatory agencies that Congress set up to be shielded from direct White House control, including the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. The order, signed Tuesday, would require independent agencies to submit proposed regulations to the White House for review. The order also would require agencies to consult with the White House on their “policies and priorities” and “strategic plans.” “These regulatory agencies currently exercise substantial executive authority without sufficient accountability to the President, and through him, to the American people,” the order said. The executive order, titled “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies,” is expected to face challenges in court, according to legal experts. The move came as the president has worked to consolidate power within the executive branch, including by removing more than a dozen inspectors general who provided oversight at various government agencies. In addition to the FCC, agencies that would be affected by the new order include the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The FCC does not directly regulate major news networks, but it does evaluate the actions of broadcasting stations around the U.S. that hold FCC licenses to use public airwaves. Former FCC chairs told VOA that the move would be a significant change for the FCC. “It makes an independent agency that was created to be independent like an agency in the executive branch,” said Tom Wheeler, who served as FCC chairman under former President Barack Obama. Reed Hundt, who served as FCC chairman under former President Bill Clinton, agreed that the order would mark a departure from the agency’s nearly 100-year history. “For 90 years, the governmental idea was that the president should not be regulating the media,” Hundt told VOA. Harold Furchtgott-Roth, a Republican who served as an FCC commissioner under Clinton, told VOA that the order “would have a major effect on rulemaking” at the FCC. He added that other areas, like enforcement, might not be affected. Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez told VOA that she was concerned by the order. “Our informed decision-making is meant to be consistent with our technical expertise, not subject to political pressure,” Gomez told VOA in an emailed statement. Gomez added that Congress already provides oversight over the FCC. “Efforts to expand executive influence on the FCC will only further diminish our standing as … “Trump order challenges independence of FCC, other agencies” →

WASHINGTON — PRC is out. China is in. That is among the significant modifications to the U.S. State Department’s online fact sheet on China, which drops the country’s official name, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), in favor of just China. Former President Joe Biden’s administration routinely referenced the Beijing government with the PRC abbreviation. Since former President Richard Nixon began the process to normalize relations with Beijing — which would end recognition of the government in Taipei, officially known as the Republic of China, on Jan. 1, 1979 — the United States has maintained diplomatic ties with the communist-run government on the mainland, while reducing the relationship with Taiwan to unofficial but friendly.  “Taipei should take solace in the fact that the change in the term [from PRC to China] does not represent a policy change in the United States. The fact of the matter is that the U.S. still has its ‘One China’ policy, and under that policy, it maintains diplomatic relations with Beijing and robust unofficial relations with Taipei,” Russell Hsiao, Global Taiwan Institute executive director, told VOA. “Since 1979, Washington has recognized the government in Beijing of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, so the change in term is essentially a different way of presenting the same set of facts, all of which haven’t changed,” Hsiao said. China considers Taiwan a rogue province. Nationalist forces, backed by the United States and commanded by Chiang Kai-shek, fled the mainland for Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to the communist forces led by Mao Zedong. Chiang became Taiwan’s relatively benign dictator until his death in 1975. Mao ruled over the mainland as a rigid authoritarian until his death a year after Chiang died. Washington continues to provide Taipei with weapons and has left the question ambiguous as to whether the United States would use its military to defend the island if Taiwan were to be attacked. The Taiwan Relations Act commits the United States to help Taiwan defend itself, but the final decision on military intervention would rest with the president and Congress. Language changes last week by the State Department eliminated a reference to Washington not supporting Taiwan independence, but left intact was content noting that the United States opposes “unilateral changes to the status quo” by either side of the Taiwan Strait. A significant change to the State Department’s … “US State Department tweaks online fact sheet on China” →

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s makeover of the United States’ national security and law enforcement agencies took a major step forward Thursday, with Senate lawmakers voting 51-49 to confirm Kash Patel as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The vote puts Patel at the helm of the country’s premier law enforcement agency, where he has promised to lead an overhaul of the bureau at a time when critics of President Donald Trump have accused the administration of leading a purge to end the bureau’s tradition of independence and align the bureau with Trump’s priorities. Two Republicans — Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski — voted with Democrats against Patel’s confirmation. But support from the rest of the Senate Republican delegation gave Patel a slim victory, with many hailing the new FBI director as an agent of change. “The FBI has lost trust among the American people in recent years. Much of that stems from a perception that politics has infected the FBI’s important work,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, ahead of Thursday’s vote. “We need all law enforcement working together and focused on the real threats facing our country,” Thune said. “I look forward to working with Mr. Patel to restore the integrity of the FBI and get it focused on its critical mission.” Other Republicans have echoed similar sentiments. “The FBI has been infected by political bias and weaponized against the American people,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley before advancing Patel’s nomination to the full Senate earlier this month, noting “Mr. Patel knows it, Mr. Patel exposed it, and Mr. Patel was targeted.” “The American people are sick and tired of two tiers of access, two tiers of treatment, and two tiers of justice,” said Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, also speaking earlier this month on the need for Patel to head the FBI. Patel is a former public defender and federal prosecutor who previously served as a Trump national security adviser and at the Pentagon. In a statement announcing Patel’s nomination in November, Trump praised him as having “played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability and the Constitution.” Democrats, however, have repeatedly questioned Patel’s qualifications and integrity, accusing him of describing some of the prosecuted, Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rioters as “political prisoners,” and of calling for the prosecution of Trump opponents. And … “Trump loyalist Kash Patel takes helm of FBI” →

U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell announced on Thursday, his 83rd birthday, that he will not seek reelection when his current term ends next year. First elected in 1984, McConnell made the announcement from the Senate floor. “Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate. Every day in between, I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here,” he said. “Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.” McConnell, a former Republican Majority Leader, will retire as the longest-serving Senate leader from any party. He has led the Republicans since 2007 both as majority and minority leader before giving up the position to Senator John Thune last year. McConnell’s storied political career saw him guide the Senate chamber through a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul, presidential impeachment trials and fierce political fights. In what may be a lasting feature of his legacy, McConnell aggressively sought to outfit federal courts with more conservative justices. His final years as head of the Senate Republicans saw repeated political clashes with an increasingly populist party under the leadership of President Donald Trump. In recent years, McConnell had a series of health scares, including two separate incidents in which he froze while talking to reporters. He blamed those incidents on a previous concussion. In his comments Thursday, McConnell said he decided last year that he would not run for reelection. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that “strong Ukraine-U.S. relations benefit the entire world,” an apparent attempt to calm tensions with Washington after he and U.S. President Donald Trump traded barbs this week over efforts to end Russia’s three-year war on Ukraine. Zelenskyy said in Kyiv he had a “productive meeting” with Trump envoy Keith Kellogg on the “battlefield situation, how to return our prisoners of war and effective security guarantees” for Ukraine if the war is ended. Earlier in the week, Zelenskyy had complained that Ukraine was excluded from high-level talks in Saudi Arabia between the top U.S. and Russian diplomats as they discussed setting up negotiations about how to end the war and contended that Trump was living in a Russian-influenced “disinformation space.” Meanwhile, Trump called Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections” and claimed falsely that Ukraine started the war three years ago next week, even though Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated it. Kellogg said he went to Kyiv to listen to Zelenskyy’s views and would report back to Trump. The Trump administration has proposed that part of the settlement of war would involve the U.S. investing in Ukrainian mining operations. The U.S. would gain access to rare earth minerals it needs for the manufacture of American technology products and recoup some of the money for the tens of billions of dollars’ worth of munitions it has sent to Ukraine to fight Russian forces while also boosting the war-ravaged Ukrainian economy. Zelenskyy so far has balked at the proposition for what he sees as lack of adequate security for Ukraine if the war is ended. In Washington, Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, told reporters, “We’re going to continue to have discussions about where that deal is going again. We have an obligation to the taxpayer. I think this is an opportunity. The president thinks this is an opportunity for Ukraine. “Going forward, there can be, in my view, nothing better for Ukraine’s future and for their security than to have the United States invested in their prosperity long term,” Waltz said. “And then a key piece of this has also been security guarantees. Look, the reality that we’re talking about here is, is it in Ukraine’s interest? Is it in Europe’s interest? It certainly isn’t in Russia’s interest or in the American people’s interest, for this war to grind on forever and ever and ever. “Understand, this war … “Zelenskyy: Strong Ukraine relations with US ‘benefit entire world’” →

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA — U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order aimed at ending federal benefits for people in the country illegally, the White House said Wednesday, his latest in a blizzard of moves to crack down on immigration. The White House said the order seeks to end “all taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens,” but it was not clear which benefits will be targeted. People in the country illegally generally do not qualify except for emergency medical care. Children are entitled to a free K-12 public education regardless of immigration status under a 1982 Supreme Court ruling. The order notes that a 1996 welfare overhaul denies most public benefits to people in the country illegally but says that law has been gradually undermined. “Over the last 4 years, in particular, the prior administration repeatedly undercut the goals of that law, resulting in the improper expenditure of significant taxpayer resources.” Trump’s words appear directed at former President Joe Biden’s extensive use of parole authority to allow people in the country temporarily, including more than 900,000 through an online appointment app called CBP One used at border crossings with Mexico and more than 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who flew to the United States at their own expense with a financial sponsor. Trump immediately ended both programs. Biden also granted parole to nearly 300,000 people from Ukraine and Afghanistan. People granted parole for at least a year are considered “qualified noncitizens,” making them eligible for some income-based benefits, but only after five years. They include Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides coverage to children in families that earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Some states have shortened the five-year wait. Trump’s order appears to have other targets, some already subjects of earlier edicts and Justice Department lawsuits. It directs all departments and agencies to identify federal benefit spending that is inconsistent with the 1996 welfare law. It also seeks to ensure that state and local governments are not using federal funds for policies that support “sanctuary” policies or encourage illegal immigration. Trump signed 10 executive orders on immigration on his first day in office. They included ending automatic citizenship for people born in the United States and asylum at the southern border. The birthright citizenship order has been temporarily halted in court. …