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What We’re Covering Today

• Immigration: A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday found that the Trump administration’s policy of summarily deporting immigrants to nations other than their home countries is unlawful. The judge stayed his ruling for 15 days to allow the administration to appeal, but it was nonetheless a repudiation of an aggressive deportation policy that sent immigrants to countries where they have no ties, including Eswatini, Rwanda, and Ghana.

• Surgeon General: Dr. Casey Means, the wellness influencer and entrepreneur nominated by President Trump for surgeon general, dodged questions on whether she believed vaccines cause autism at her Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday. She also deflected questions about birth control, her finance,s and other topics while making the case that the country was suffering from an epidemic of chronic diseases.

• State of the Union: Mr. Trump used much of his State of the Union address on Tuesday to berate Democrats, offering few new policy proposals while portraying the country as “winning” under his leadership. In the Democrats’ formal rebuttal, Gov. Abigail Spanberger accused Mr. Trump of lying about the economy, while other Democrats boycotted the speech.  

The third-country deportations ruling repudiates a key Homeland Security Department policy.

A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday found that the Trump administration’s policy of summarily deporting immigrants to so-called third countries — nations other than their countries of origin — is unlawful.

In an 81-page ruling, Judge Brian E. Murphy of the Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts wrote that the government must first try to deport detained immigrants to their home countries — or to countries designated by an immigration judge when the immigrants were ordered removed from the country. After that process, immigration detainees must be given “meaningful notice” before being deported to another country, to allow them the opportunity to raise any fears they have that they might be persecuted or tortured there.

Senate Democrats block D.H.S. funding bill because it has no new curbs on immigration enforcement.

Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a spending bill to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, insisting that any such measure must include new curbs on immigration enforcement that Republicans have so far rejected.

The 50-to-45 vote all but ensured that federal funding for the department would remain halted for a second week as the stalemate between Democrats and Republicans over new restrictions on immigration agents stretches on. The legislation, which would fund the agency through September, contained modest guardrails that fell well short of Democrats’ demands. It stalled anew after failing to draw the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster, with nearly all Democrats opposed, just hours before President Trump was set to address Congress. 

The nominee for surgeon general sidesteps questions about vaccines at a Senate hearing.

Dr. Casey Means, President Trump’s nominee for surgeon general, told senators on Wednesday that “anti-vaccine rhetoric has never been part of my message,” as she deflected questions about birth control, pesticides, vaccines and her finances.

Testifying before the Senate Health Committee, Dr. Means, a wellness influencer, author and leader in Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, said Americans were suffering from an epidemic of chronic diseases linked to ultraprocessed foods, chemical exposures, and the stressed, sedentary nature of modern life.

Over more than two hours before the Senate health committee, Dr. Casey Means laid out a bleak picture of health in the United States, tying rising rates of chronic diseases to the foods Americans eat, how little we move, the medications we take and the toxic chemicals around us. While Means called for a “great national healing” during her confirmation hearing for surgeon general, she repeatedly dodged questions on vaccines, including from Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a Republican who is a doctor and a proponent of vaccines.

Means said that she believed vaccines were life-saving and important but also that parents and patients should have autonomy and rely on thorough discussions with their doctors. She also faced numerous questions about the supplements and wellness products she has previously promoted in her newsletter.

The Senate’s confirmation hearing for Dr. Casey Means, President Trump’s nominee for surgeon general, has ended. Dr. Casey Means did not answer directly when Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Lousiana, asked if universal hepatitis B vaccination was an important goal. She said the vaccine was life-saving but that parents should have “autonomy.” She said children should be immunized “at some point in their youth.” Cassidy, a medical doctor and liver specialist, has previously spoken out strongly in support of the vaccine.Dr. Means said she had “significant concerns” about pesticides like glyphosate, and called for them to be studied more robustly. She has previously called moving away from industrial agriculture practices that use toxic pesticides the single most important strategy for solving health and environmental issues. She has also called the use of pesticides a “slow-motion extinction event.”Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, pressed Means about past comments she had made on the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns. Means said the vaccine was “effective” and “very important,” but that parents should make a shared decision with doctors.

Democrats counter Trump after his combative State of the Union speech.

President Trump used much of his nearly two-hour State of the Union address on Tuesday night to berate and taunt Democrats, who responded by accusing the president of lying about the economy and ignoring voters’ concerns.

In his remarks, Mr. Trump introduced few new policies and instead appeared to relish the theatrics of the moment. He attacked Democrats as “crazy” for not standing for or applauding his priorities, especially on crime, immigration and the economy.

Ilhan Omar condemns arrest of her guest at State of the Union.

Representative Ilhan Omar on Wednesday condemned the arrest of a guest she brought to the State of the Union, saying that being charged with a crime for standing up in the gallery during the president’s address “sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy.”

Aliya Rahman, a U.S. citizen who was dragged from her vehicle after an ICE agent shattered its window during President Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, attended the president’s speech on Tuesday night at the invitation of Ms. Omar. As Mr. Trump was speaking, Ms. Rahman was seen being escorted from the gallery above the House floor by Capitol Police officers. She could be heard shouting for someone to call Ms. Omar, and that all she had done was stand up.

Trump’s speech gets a mixed reaction around the world.

President Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday has prompted a variety of reactions in the global news media.

Canada’s public broadcaster called it a “relatively focused” speech by the president’s standards, with “one angry detour” about immigration. The British Broadcasting Corporation said it was “made-for-the-cameras” moment, while The Guardian deemed it Mr. Trump’s “most inconsequential” address yet. The South China Morning Post noticed he did not mention Beijing.

Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, released a statement condemning the arrest of one of her guests at last night’s State of the Union speech: Aliya Rahman, a U.S. citizen who had been dragged from her car after an ICE agent shattered her car’s window during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. In an interview with “Democracy Now,” Rahman said that the sergeant of arms told her she was arrested because she had stood up during the speech.

Rahman “stood up silently in the gallery during the president’s speech for a short period of time, part of which other guests were also standing,” Omar said. “For that, she was forcibly removed, despite warning officers about her injured shoulders and ultimately charged with ‘Unlawful Conduct.’”

“The heavy-handed response to a peaceful guest sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy,” Omar said, calling for a full explanation.

President Trump insulted and criticized Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, two Muslim Democrats who heckled him during his State of the Union address, suggesting in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday that that America “should send them back from where they came.”

Trump has a history of making such nativist attacks, which lawmakers have long criticized as deploying racist tropes, against both women, left-leaning lawmakers, who were the first two Muslim women ever elected to Congress. Tlaib, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, was born in Detroit. Omar, a frequent target of the president, is from Somalia. Both are American citizens.

Seven voters react to Trump’s address.

During President Trump’s State of the Union address, many medals were given out. There was taunting of Democrats, a few of whom shouted right back.

But in a midterm election year, with his polls numbers slipping, Mr. Trump spent much of the speech trying to make the case that his second term was “a turnaround for the ages.”

Vance says Trump administration will withhold over $250 million in Medicaid funds from Minnesota.

Trump administration officials announced on Wednesday that the federal government would withhold $259 million in Medicaid funds to Minnesota, the latest effort by the federal government to pull funding from Democratic-led states as President Trump rails against a major welfare fraud scandal there.

Federal judges have blocked most of the Trump administration’s efforts to claw back funds from states like Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois and Colorado. The states have decried the cuts as politically motivated, adding that they would harm hundreds of thousands of people. The Trump administration has pointed to allegations of fraud to justify the cuts.

Patel ousts F.B.I. personnel tied to the inquiry into Trump’s retention of classified records.

About 10 F.B.I. employees, some veteran agents, were dismissed this week for their work on the investigation into President Trump’s retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his residence in Florida, according to five people with knowledge of the move.

The firings are part of a rolling barrage of retribution aimed at those who worked on the two federal prosecutions of Mr. Trump after his first term in office. They came hours after Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, told Reuters that as part of the documents inquiry, the bureau had subpoenaed phone metadata for himself and Susie Wiles, currently the White House chief of staff.

A federal prosecutor found to be in civil contempt of court by a judge in Minnesota is now appealing that ruling, according to court filings. Matthew Isihara, a military judge advocate on temporary assignment to the Justice Department, was found in contempt by Judge Laura M. Provinzino last week after D.H.S. released an immigration detainee hundreds of miles away from home, and without his identification papers, contrary to the judge’s order. Because his papers were returned promptly by FedEx after the contempt ruling, Isihara was able to avoid a $500-a-day fine, but the legal dispute over his conduct will now continue. The notice filed Wednesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit says Isihara is appealing “in his individual capacity,” and is signed by Daniel N. Rosen, the district’s U.S. attorney. The appeal comes as dozens of judges across the country threaten to hold administration lawyers in contempt for ignoring their orders and missing filing deadlines in cases where immigrants are challenging the legality of their detention. 

About 10 F.B.I. employees, some of them veteran agents, have been dismissed in connection with their work on the federal investigation into President Trump’s improper retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his residence and resort in Florida, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. The dismissals came on the same day Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, told Reuters that the F.B.I. had subpoenaed phone metadata for himself and Susie Wiles, currently the White House chief of staff, when they were private citizens in 2022 and 2023 as part of the documents investigation.

Vice President JD Vance announced that the Trump administration would withhold $259 million in Medicaid funds to Minnesota, the latest effort by the federal government to pull funding from Democratic states. Federal judges have blocked most of those actions, including two pots of funds of more than $10 billion distributed by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Like the previous safety net cuts, administration officials justified the withheld funds by pointing to a major welfare fraud scandal that has rocked Minnesota. President Trump has alleged, without evidence, that similar large fraud schemes are playing out elsewhere in Minnesota and other Democratic states. The president has also, improbably, claimed that there is so much fraud that he would be able to balance the federal budget once he eliminated such waste — a mathematically impossible feat, given the amount of funding involved compared with the size of the deficit.

The Senate voted along party lines to fill the seat of an air safety official ousted by Trump.

The Senate on Wednesday voted along party lines to confirm John DeLeeuw to the National Transportation Safety Board, filling an opening that President Trump created when he fired the board’s vice chair, who is suing to get his job back.

The debate over the selection of Mr. DeLeeuw, a longtime aviator and executive for American Airlines, did not center on his qualifications. The 50-to-45 vote, in which all Republicans voted to confirm, served as more of a referendum on whether Mr. Trump has power to fire Senate-confirmed federal officials — a question being considered by the Supreme Court.

Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, said Wednesday that he would most likely force a vote next week on a measure to curb President Trump’s power to order an attack on Iran. “The president made no real case last night as to why we should be in a war with Iran,” Kaine said on Capitol Hill. “We should not send our sons and daughters into another war in the Middle East.”

Kaine conceded that the Republican majority could kill the bill, as they did with a similar resolution on Venezuela last month. But with the president ordering a build up of U.S. military force in the region, he said he intended to make sure “everybody is going to be on the record.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said he spoke with Trump over the phone on Wednesday, along with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, about the peace talks set to take place in Geneva on Thursday. Zelensky said he thanked Trump for a program that allows European allies to buy U.S. air defense missiles for Ukraine, which Trump touted during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. “This winter has been the most difficult one for Ukraine, but the missiles for air defense systems that we purchase from the U.S. are helping us get through all these challenges and protect lives,” Zelensky said in a statement. Vice President JD Vance told Fox News on Wednesday that Iran should take President Trump’s threats to use military action “seriously,” saying the president had shown a “willingness” to use force if diplomatic efforts fail to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. His comment echoed President Trump’s State of the Union address, in which he said that his “preference” was to take the path of diplomacy but did not explain why he had amassed the largest amount of military firepower in the Middle East since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. Negotiators for both the United States and Iran are set to hold indirect talks in Geneva on the United States imposed new sanctions on Wednesday on more than 30 entities, individuals, and vessels that it said were linked to Iran’s weapons procurement networks and the shadow fleet surreptitiously transporting Iranian oil to foreign markets. The Treasury Department will continue to apply “maximum pressure on Iran to target the regime’s weapons capabilities and support for terrorism,” Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico said on Wednesday that she had an eight-minute phone call with President Trump on Monday after a military operation in the state of Jalisco during which the cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, was killed. The kiling unleashed retaliatory violence by the cartel in several states.

She said that Trump asked what was happening in Mexico. “I told him how the operation had gone, that we had received intelligence support from the U.S. government, that the coordination was going very well, and that was it,” Sheinbaum said. This contrasts with Trump’s remarks on Tuesday night during his State of the Union address, when he appeared to take credit for the operation.

To deal with rising electric bills, Trump says tech companies will pay.

In a nod to voter frustration over rising electricity prices, President Trump on Tuesday said he was negotiating pledges from major tech companies to pay a greater share of the energy costs associated with new data centers.

Silicon Valley is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to build power-hungry data centers for artificial intelligence as demand for electricity is increasing across the United States. That has led to widespread fears that the A.I. boom could cause utility bills to spike for ordinary households.

The United States sent a group of F-22 Raptor jets to Israel on Tuesday, a U.S. official and a person familiar with the deployment said. The move continued the U.S. military buildup in the Middle East and came two days before the next round of negotiations with Iran about its nuclear program was expected.

Flight tracking data and videos show what appears to be the first known deployment of this type of aircraft, one of the most advanced U.S. fighter jets, during the escalating tensions with Iran. Videos and photos captured by plane spotters show a dozen F-22s taking off from their temporary station in Britain.

The Latest on the Trump Administration

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• State of the Union: In the longest such address in U.S. history, President Trump cast Democrats as villains and insisted he had overseen a “turnaround for the ages,” even as voters lost confidence in his handling of the economy. Gov. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia gave the Democratic rebuttal. Here are six takeaways from the night.

• Surgeon General Nominee: Dr. Casey Means told senators in her confirmation hearing that “anti-vaccine rhetoric has never been part of my message,” as she deflected questions about birth control, pesticides, vaccines, and her finances.

• Bureau of Land Management: An unusual coalition of hunters, veterans, and environmental activists is opposing Steve Pearce, Trump’s choice to lead the

• bureau, citing concerns about actions he had taken as a lawmaker to try to sell public lands to private interests.

• Mideast Military Buildup: The United States sent a group of F-22 Raptor jets to Israel, a U.S. official and a person familiar with the deployment said, a continuation buildup of forces in the region that came two days before another round of negotiations with Iran.

• Kash Patel: The F.B.I. director’s trip to Italy — culminating in a celebratory beer swig with the U.S. hockey team at the Milan Olympics — included several hours of work meetings, a handful of meet-and-greets, hours of downtime, private meals, and “cultural activities,” according to an internal schedule obtained by The Times. The taxpayer-funded visit reignited the firestorm over use of government resources.

• Homeland Security Funding: Senate Democrats blocked a spending bill to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, insisting that any such measure must include new curbs on immigration enforcement that Republicans have so far rejected. The vote all but ensured that federal funding for the department would remain halted for a second week.

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A group of Middle Eastern and Asian migrants deported by the U.S. government at a shelter in Panama last year. Credit…Nathalia Angarita for The New York Times

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