Trump Prepares To Layoff Thousands of Americans But An Administrative Judge Stops Him, for now

  

A vigil outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in March, as the federal agency was bracing for mass layoffs.Credit...Melissa Golden for The New York Times

Where Things Stand

• Layoffs blocked: A federal judge in California called for a two-week pause in the Trump administration’s mass layoff plans, barring two dozen agencies from moving forward with the largest phase of the president’s downsizing efforts, which the judge said was illegal without Congress’s authorization. Read more ›

• U.S.-China talks: Top economic officials from the United States and China met in Geneva on Saturday for high-stakes negotiations that could determine the fate of a global economy that has been jolted by President Trump’s trade war. The meetings, scheduled to continue on Sunday, are the first since Mr. Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese imports to 145 percent and China retaliated with its own levies. Read more ›

• Deportations: Stephen Miller, a top aide to President Trump, told reporters that the administration was considering whether to suspend the right of migrants to challenge their detentions in court before being deported. “The Constitution is clear,” he said outside the White House on Friday, arguing that the right, known as a writ of habeas corpus, “could be suspended in time of invasion.” Read more ›

• India-Pakistan cease-fire: President Trump announced a cease-fire between India and Pakistan in a post on social media, saying the United States had brokered the deal. Follow live updates ›

May 10, 2025, 9:15 a.m. ET2 hours ago

James C. McKinley Jr.

President Trump announced and took credit for a cease-fire between India and Pakistan in a post on social media, claiming the United States had mediated the talks. He congratulated the two countries for “using Common Sense and Great Intelligence.” 

May 10, 2025, 12:07 a.m. ETMay 10, 2025

Hamed Aleaziz

Reporting from Washington

Trump calls for 20,000 extra officers to help with deportation efforts.

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Border Patrol agents processing a group of migrants in Sasabe, Ariz., in February.Credit...Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times

President Trump ordered the Department of Homeland Security on Friday to increase the deportation force of the United States by 20,000 officers, a move that would lead to an enormous expansion of immigration enforcement if realized.

In a provision tucked into a presidential proclamation focused on pushing undocumented immigrants to leave the country voluntarily, Mr. Trump called on the Department of Homeland Security to soon begin “deputizing and contracting with state and local law enforcement officers, former federal officers, officers and personnel within other federal agencies, and other individuals.”

It was unclear how such an effort would be funded, one of several major logistical hurdles to such a large operation. There are now around 6,000 officers focused on deportation efforts at Immigration and Custom Enforcement.

Mr. Trump has pushed to deputize state and local law enforcement officers for immigration enforcement before, and Department of Homeland Security officials have already signed a series of agreements with local law enforcement in the months since took office. Late last month, local law enforcement officials in Florida assisted ICE in an operation that led to the arrest of more than 1,100 migrants across the state.

The Trump administration has spent the past few months attempting to make good on the president’s promise of mass deportations by conducting sweeping raids in major cities, arresting international students and allowing officers more freedom where they make arrests, like in courthouses. But it has still struggled to reach the pace that would be necessary for Mr. Trump’s expansive deportation goals. 

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has turned to pushing for migrants to leave the country on their own accord, a concept known as “self-deportation.” Earlier this week, department officials said they would pay migrants $1,000 and the cost of their travel if they left the country voluntarily and used a government app to do so.

In his proclamation Friday, Mr. Trump repeated that call, labeling it “project homecoming.”

“This proclamation establishes Project Homecoming, which will present illegal aliens with a choice: either leave the United States voluntarily, with the support and financial assistance of the federal government, or remain and face the consequences,” the proclamation read.

Mr. Trump ordered the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department to begin a “nationwide communications campaign” to tell migrants of the self-deportation offer and to warn them that not doing so would lead to stiffer consequences.

Beyond being arrested and deported, the proclamation warned that migrants could face “fines as consistent with applicable law for immigration-related crimes; the garnishment of wages; and the confiscation of savings and personal property, including homes and vehicles.”