The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether President Trump can broadly bar migrants at the southern border from seeking asylum. The White House sees the policy as critical to its agenda.
Arguments are likely early next year, with a decision due before July. It adds to a crowded immigration docket this term.
Trump's first-day order halts asylum claims until he formally concludes the invasion at the border is over. An appeals court in April upheld a ruling that it broke federal immigration law, but paused that decision so the policy stays in place during the appeal.
Democrats, about to take over the House and Senate, want to curb White House control of federal spending. They aim to stop President Trump from withholding or redirecting money Congress already approved.
They also hope to boost funding for climate, education, health, housing and safety net programs next year, after many of them faced steep cuts.
Democrats also plan to probe budget chief Russell Vought, who is reportedly drafting a plan that could bring more cuts.
Stephen Miller's office has issued a memo telling White House staff not to discuss policy with lobbyists on the grounds without approval.
The move follows claims by Calley Means, a former health adviser who left HHS last month, that Susie Wiles favored corporate donors with well-connected lobbyists. Means named Ballard Partners, where Wiles once worked, and her daughter Katie, a partner at Continental Strategy.
Miller took over as chief of staff last week after Wiles was removed, and the White House has not said what prompted the memo.
ICE says its arrests and removals in the year ending Sept. 30 set a new high for the agency. Homeland Security put deportations at 483,200, up 9% from the previous peak a year earlier.
The release skipped key details, like how many of those removed had criminal records. The total also trails the White House goal of one million deportations a year.
Democrats in Congress, who did well in the recent midterms, have promised close oversight of the agency.
The White House has warned Democrats that planned probes of the Trump administration could veer into criminal conduct. Its counsel raised the point in a letter to Rep. Robert Garcia, the likely next Oversight chair.
Garcia said the president appears to be concealing something and that Democrats won't be cowed. His panel plans to examine how Trump's family has grown wealthier since his return to office.
A U.S. attorney in Texas separately told Sen. Richard Blumenthal to preserve his records. Blumenthal, set to lead a Senate panel in January, said he would not be scared off.
Two people tried to breach White House grounds Monday, and neither was armed, the Secret Service said. One was arrested after driving onto a curb at Lafayette Park.
Last week, a 26-year-old Venezuelan man was arrested near the White House with a stolen truck full of guns. He told agents voices urged him to kill President Trump, and he now faces charges including threatening the president.
A former Metropolitan Police officer now at the University of Virginia says threats against public officials have risen sharply.
The White House has issued a presidential determination exempting wildfire suppression work from water pollution rules at the federal, state and local levels. The exemption covers firefighting by the Forest Service, the Interior Department and other agencies, plus their contractors, including aerial drops of fire retardant.
It does not waive two specific sections of federal water pollution law, and some of these operations are already the subject of a court case in Montana.
The exemption runs for one year, from November 10, 2026 through November 10, 2027.
Trump says his social media offer of the White House press secretary job to UFC boss Dana White was just a joke. He made the offer Saturday, but on Sunday he told reporters on the tarmac that he had only been kidding, though he thinks White likes the idea.
White has reportedly turned the job down. Trump said White is still coming to the White House on Monday for other reasons and will meet him there.
The press secretary post has been empty since Karoline Leavitt left in August.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says Democrats have no plans to work with Stephen Miller once he replaces Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff.
In a Sunday TV interview, Jeffries called Miller the engine behind the mass deportation push and a poor pick. He said Democrats' larger House and Senate majorities will act as a check on him.
Miller is credited with some of the administration's toughest immigration policies, including a travel ban and family separations during Trump's first term. He is also reportedly a key figure in current efforts to end birthright citizenship.
Trump has named Stephen Miller, the architect of his immigration crackdown, as White House chief of staff, and immigrant advocates and California officials are alarmed.
Advocates in Southern California fear more enforcement, but Democrats' midterm gains give the next Congress more ways to rein in the White House.
Rep. Robert Garcia, set to lead the House Oversight Committee, said Trump is escalating, and Sen. Alex Padilla promised oversight and subpoenas. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said her office will keep pushing back.
The US wants to lead in artificial intelligence, yet it increasingly depends on private firms to assess and control powerful systems. A one-page White House accord signed on September 29 by leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Nvidia and xAI sets no federal legal requirements that can be enforced.
Oversight rests on each company's own controls, safety teams, outside audits and board committees, which matters more as AI enters cybersecurity, intelligence and government work.
Trump has tapped Stephen Miller, currently deputy chief of staff, to replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff starting Monday.
Katie Miller, his wife and a conservative podcaster, drew attention after the midterms by suggesting busy mothers were part of the reason Republicans fell short. She later admitted she skipped voting in Virginia, saying the state's voter lists would expose her home address.
Trump described Stephen Miller as politically skilled and said he has been there from the outset. Katie Miller wrote on X that her husband has backed the president for 11 years.
President Trump has signed a proclamation making the Oval Office and Cabinet Room a national monument, aimed at keeping future presidents from making major changes to them. He plans to send the designation to Congress for approval.
Later presidents could still update the decor and make routine security changes, as long as the rooms' historic character is not significantly harmed. Major modifications would need congressional sign-off.
The move came two days after Republicans took heavy losses in the midterms, and Trump's recent remarks have centered largely on White House renovations.
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