Stephen Dinan

Judge blocks Trump’s firing of Biden appointee to MSPB

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the government to restore Cathy A. Harris to her position on the Merit Systems Protection Board, saying it appears President Trump's attempt to fire her was illegal.

February 18, 2025

Smuggling crackdown jacks up cartel prices; up to $30,000 to reach U.S. interior

Mexican migrants, who usually pay the lowest rates, are now regularly shelling out $10,000 apiece, and prices as high as $16,000 are not unusual, according to The Washington Times' database of border smuggling cases.

February 18, 2025

Musk doesn’t run DOGE, White House says

Elon Musk doesn't have independent powers to fire anyone from federal agencies, the Justice Department has told a federal judge, shooting down some of critics' more fantastical theories about the head of President Trump's effort to remake the bureaucracy.

February 18, 2025

Laser from Mexico targets DHS helicopter

Someone on the Mexican side of the border aimed a laser at a Homeland Security helicopter that was patrolling along the boundary this month, the U.S. government said Tuesday.

February 18, 2025

Catch and release is over, DHS says; January saw lowest border numbers since summer of 2020

Homeland Security saw illegal immigration plummet in January, according to new data published Tuesday that showed the border had the lowest level of migrants detected since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

February 18, 2025

Court watchers expect Supreme Court will take up Trump’s firings, birthright citizenship challenge

The first legal challenge to President Trump's aggressive agenda is now heading to the Supreme Court after he asked the justices to remove a lower court order that blocked him from ousting a top government watchdog.

February 18, 2025

Federal agencies give Trump’s Truth Social the cold shoulder

President Trump may own Truth Social, but his own federal agencies have been reluctant to get on it.

February 18, 2025

Time to go: DHS tells illegal immigrants to ‘self-deport and stay out’

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem launched what the department called an international ad campaign on Monday urging illegal immigrants to "self deport and stay out."

February 17, 2025

Trump cleaves through federal workforce with ‘probationary’ firings

President Trump has taken a cleaver to the federal bureaucracy over the last week, sparing almost no part of the government as agencies fired thousands of recently hired employees that his administration says it can do without.

February 16, 2025

Trump DOJ fires 20 Biden immigration judges

The Trump administration has canned 20 "midnight" immigration judges the Biden administration tried to shoehorn onto the courts in its final days, The Washington Times has learned.

February 15, 2025

Justice Department formally asks court to drop charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams

The Justice Department formally asked a federal judge Friday night to drop the criminal case against New York Mayor Eric Adams, moving to close out the controversial prosecution.

February 15, 2025

League of Women Voters wallops Congress for not standing up to Trump

The League of Women Voters demanded Friday that members of Congress do more to stop President Trump, saying they need to "restore stability to the country."

February 14, 2025

Sneaky sneaker heist: Mexican migrants caught stealing piles of Nikes

Federal prosecutors have charged a theft ring comprised largely of illegal immigrants with stealing more than 1,900 pairs of Nike shoes in a train robbery this year.

February 14, 2025

Trump cans thousands of ‘probationary’ federal workers

President Trump's latest move against the federal bureaucracy came this week when the administration moved to fire thousands of recently hired employees still on probationary status.

February 14, 2025

NYC to allow ICE to return to its jail to focus on ‘violent criminals and gangs’

In a major reversal, New York Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday that his city will build a new relationship with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, allowing officers into the city's main jail in an as-yet murky role.

February 13, 2025

Trump’s spending pause exposes extreme reach of federal government

As the battle over President Trump's spending pause plays out in the courts, it's becoming clear just how far Uncle Sam's financial fingers reach in American society.

February 13, 2025

Telework employees claimed extra pay, ducked drug tests

Transportation Department employees were bilking the government for extra pay by claiming to work in high-cost cities but actually teleworking from cheaper locations, according to a new federal investigation released Wednesday.

February 12, 2025

Trump administration sues New York over state’s sanctuary policies: ‘Now you’re next’

Attorney General Pam Bondi sued New York on Wednesday over the state's sanctuary policies, saying they are jeopardizing Americans' safety.

February 12, 2025

DHS claws back $80 million in money NYC used to house migrants

Homeland Security said Wednesday it has recaptured tens of millions of taxpayer dollars it had recently sent to New York City as reimbursement for housing migrants.

February 12, 2025

Venezuelan migrants forced illegal immigrants into prostitution

An illegal immigrant mother and her son ran a sex trafficking operation out of Tennessee, recruiting poor young Venezuelan women, paying to smuggle them into the U.S., and then forcing them into prostitution once here, federal prosecutors said.

February 12, 2025