The Trump administration has begun an interagency effort to end what it describes as the "exploitation of housing programs" by illegal aliens.
In a statement published on Monday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it had established the "American Housing Programs for American Citizens" Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The agreement was also signed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The MOU is geared towards ending "the wasteful misappropriation of taxpayer dollars to benefit illegal aliens instead of American citizens," the press release stated.
"As part of this new agreement, HUD will provide a full-time staff member to assist in operations at the Incident Command Center (ICC), establishing an interagency partnership to facilitate data sharing and ensure taxpayer-funded housing programs are not used to harbor or benefit illegal aliens," the release read.
The effort comes a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO) to "ensure taxpayer resources are not used to incentivize or support illegal immigration." The EO, signed on Feb. 19, ordered government departments to identify which federally-funded programs are "providing financial benefits to illegal aliens," and mandated them to "take corrective action."
In a statement about the recent MOU, HUD Secretary Scott Turner referenced the ongoing housing crisis in the U.S. and characterized the issue as "pressing."
"This agreement will leverage resources including technology and personnel to ensure American people are the only priority when it comes to public housing," Turner said. "We will continue to work closely with DHS to maximize our resources and put American citizens first."
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem blasted the Biden administration in her statement, accusing the former president of prioritizing illegal aliens "over our own citizens, including by giving illegal aliens taxpayer-funding housing at the expense of Americans."
"The entire government will work together to identify abuse and exploitation of public benefits and make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally," Noem said. "If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now. The gravy train is over."
FIRST ON FOX: Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is expected to privately meet with Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, two people familiar with the plans told Fox News Digital.
The timing or reason for the meeting is not immediately clear, but it comes as Republicans in Congress map out how to respond to what they see as "activist" judges blocking President Donald Trump's agenda.
The committee is currently scheduled to mark up several pieces of legislation, unrelated to the judicial standoff, on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. ET. Johnson is scheduled to hold his weekly press conference at that time.
It comes as the Trump administration has faced more than a dozen injunctions from various district court judges across the country on a range of policy decisions.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., announced on X Monday that lawmakers would be voting on a bill next week led by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to limit U.S. district court judges' ability to hand down nationwide injunctions.
Fox News Digital was told last week that Trump himself expressed interest in the bill.
Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is expected to hold a hearing on the issue of activist judges early next week.
Several conservative lawmakers have also introduced or threatened resolutions to impeach specific judges blocking Trump's agenda.
Johnson has been known to meet with various factions of the House GOP when trying to push key pieces of legislation, particularly when there are differing opinions on what to do, to ensure all lawmakers who want to express a viewpoint are heard.
But House GOP leaders have also been privately wary of getting behind any of the calls for impeachment, worried it would not be the most effective approach.
Trump, however, has previously signaled interest in impeaching U.S. district court Judge James Boasberg after he issued an emergency order blocking the administration's deportation of suspected Tren de Aragua gang members under the Alien Enemies Act.
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, introduced a resolution to impeach Boasberg for "abuse of power" last week. The legislation gained three new supporters on Monday and now has 19 total co-sponsors.
Some House Republicans expressed hesitation at the idea when asked by Fox News Digital on Monday night, however.
"We shouldn't lower the standard for impeachment, but we should – we meaning Congress – should provide a remedy for district court judges who totally overreach," Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., said.
Another House Republican who declined to be named said they were "totally opposed" to impeachment.
"That's what the appeals process is for," they said.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., contended that the impeachment resolutions sent a necessary message.
"The reason I sponsored Gill's efforts is just – if we don't say anything, the judges are going to be like, ‘Oh, we can do whatever we want.’ So they need to know that we are watching and that there's a group of us that, if that's what it takes, we would support that," Stutzman said.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said Issa's bill was a "start" but said the House Freedom Caucus would have discussions about whether the group wanted to push for impeachment.
Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson's office and the House Judiciary Committee for comment but did not immediately hear back.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a stern warning to those engaged in government fraud at the most recent Cabinet meeting on Monday.
Speaking with President Donald Trump present at the meeting, Bondi thanked Tesla CEO Elon Musk for uncovering "fraud, waste and abuse" through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative.
"A lot of waste and abuse, but there is a tremendous amount of fraud," Bondi began. "And, Elon, thank you for your partnership. Thank you for your team. You have uncovered so much fraud in our government."
Bondi then revealed that an internal task force is involved with bringing those accused of fraud to justice.
"We will prosecute you," the attorney general warned. "We have an internal task force now working with every agency sitting here at this table. And if you've committed fraud, we're coming after you. Thank you, Elon."
Bondi also mentioned that, under Trump's directive, the Department of Justice (DOJ) will begin seeking the death penalty for those convicted of violent crimes.
"All of these horrible violent criminals that you're hearing about around the country, they will face the death penalty federally within our country," Bondi said. "And the drug dealers need to get out of here, because we are coming after you. We're going to have 94 great U.S. attorneys around this country, and everyone will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
The topic of government fraud was mentioned throughout the meeting, with Musk claiming that he found $330 million worth of waste within the Small Business Administration (SBA).
"[We found] a case of fraud and waste with the Small Business Administration, where they were handing out $330 million worth of loans to people under the age of 11," Musk said. "I think the youngest was a nine month year [sic] old who got a $100,000 loan."
"That's a very precocious baby we're talking about here," he joked.
Trump expressed appreciation to both Musk and the rest of the Cabinet for uncovering waste and fraud.
"We've had many fraudulent contracts that were caught by the work that Elon and his people are doing," the president said. "And working with our people, it's been brought to light. The fraud, not just waste and abuse, the fraud has been incredible."
But always eager to find a new bottom, Trump has decided to send Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem south of the border to continue her cosplay parade alongside the prisoners.
Noem is visiting Mexico, Colombia, and El Salvador this week to "underscore the importance of our partner countries to help remove violent criminal illegal aliens from the United States,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement obtained by Bloomberg. She will tour CECOT, the mega-prison in El Salvador now housing the alleged gang members for a cool $6 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem earned the moniker “ICE Barbie” after her widely ridiculed video.
The former South Dakota governor has been working overtime to get the best photo ops possible as she gallivants around the country doing anything other than her actual job. In January, Noem went viral in all the wrong ways for the perfect blowout and impeccable makeup she sported while dressed up as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
Even the usually Trump-friendly tabloid Daily Mail piled on to Noem’s PR stunts and said she was cosplaying as a “Border Patrol cowgirl” while visiting the southern border in February.
But while the unrepentant puppy-killer makes sure the cameras get her best angles, human beings are being held in CECOT, a so-called terrorism confinement center with a history of abuse. These immigrants are being shaved, shackled, dehumanized, and detained far away from their homes.
While Donald Trump and his team are calling this a win and claiming the inmates are all members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang, one woman is crying out for help and insisting her imprisoned brother is innocent.
“He was asking for help. And that help didn’t come from the lips. It came from the soul,” Jare Yamarte Fernandez told the Miami Herald after she recognized her brother Mervin in a video shared on social media.
Adding that her brother has no previous criminal record, she told the outlet, “You know when someone has their soul broken.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem participates in a firefighting drill at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak on March 17 in Kodiak, Alaska.
Over 200 Venezuelans were sent to the maximum security prison without a trial after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, which was last used to send Japanese Americans to internment camps after Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941. He later denied invoking the 1798 law to send the immigrants to El Salvador—but paper doesn’t lie, and his signature was seen on official documents available to the public.
After U.S. District Judge James Boasberg blocked Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, all hell seemed to break loose between the judicial system and Republicans.
The president and his allies in Congress have been calling for Boasberg’s impeachment and disbarment, while the judge refuses to let up on his block. As of Monday afternoon, a federal appeals court was considering the Trump administration’s argument to overturn the initial ruling as they push to ship more undocumented immigrants to other prisons.
"There were plane loads of people. There were no procedures in place to notify people," Judge Patricia Millett said during the hearing. "Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act."
As for Noem, the disconnect in perspective is stark. During a Cabinet meeting Monday, she claimed that the intention of the Trump administration’s ongoing sweeping deportation effort is to “get people out of this country that don’t belong here and take them home.”
But when it came to those who have allegedly committed crimes, Noem turned cold.
“We’re not only getting the worst of the worst out, we’re making sure there are consequences for being here and committing crimes in our communities,” she said.
“If you are thinking about coming to America illegally, don’t do it,” Noem warned. “You are not welcome. America has changed, because we are putting Americans first.”
President Donald Trump has named Susan Monarez as his nominee for the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), calling the candidate "a dedicated public servant."
Monarez, who is currently acting director of the CDC, replaces Trump's original nominee for the role, Dr. David Weldon. The Trump administration never gave an official reason why Weldon's nomination was withdrawn earlier this month, but a source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital that it would have been a "futile effort."
"It became clear that the votes weren't there in the Senate for him to get confirmed," the source explained. "This would have been a futile effort."
In a Truth Social post published on Monday, Trump wrote that Monarez "brings decades of experience championing Innovation, Transparency, and strong Public Health Systems."
"She has a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, and PostDoctoral training in Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine," the president wrote. "Dr. Monarez understands the importance of protecting our children, our communities, and our future."
Trump also claimed that Americans have "lost confidence" in the CDC, citing "political bias and disastrous mismanagement," as reasons why.
"Dr. Monarez will work closely with our GREAT Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy Jr," the president continued. "Together, they will prioritize Accountability, High Standards, and Disease Prevention to finally address the Chronic Disease Epidemic and, MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN!"
According to Monarez's CDC biography, she previously worked at the White House in the Office of Science and Technology Policy and on the National Security Council.
"[She led] efforts to enhance the nation's biomedical innovation capabilities, including combating antimicrobial resistance, expanding the use of wearables to promote patient health, ensuring personal health data privacy, and improving pandemic preparedness," the biography states. "She has also held leadership positions at the Department of Homeland Security and has led numerous international cooperative initiatives to promote bilateral and multilateral health innovation research and development."
Fox News Digital's Rachel Wolf and Julia Johnson contributed to this report.
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.
Here's what's happening…
-US moves to extradite 3 alleged Tren de Aragua members to Chile
-Democrats on possible Biden political reemergence: 'his time has passed'
-New report sounds the alarm on 'staggering' amount of foreign money being poured into U.S. universities
FIRST ON FOX: The House Judiciary Committee is expected to hold a hearing early next week looking into the issue of "activist judges," three people familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital.
It comes as the Trump administration has faced more than a dozen injunctions from various district court judges across the country on a range of policy decisions. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in one of those cases Monday after President Donald Trump called for the impeachment of U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, also confirmed on Fox News' "America's Newsroom" that he intended to hold hearings on "activist judges" opposing the administration. He said he expects a House-wide vote next week on a bill by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to block district judges from issuing nationwide injunctions…Read more
'NONSENSICAL' SPENDING: From 'food justice' to 'useless surveys,' Trump's cabinet reveals 'nonsensical' contracts it has canceled
FREE SPEECH: Biden admin's 'vast censorship enterprise' with help of NGOs slated for key hearing, lawmaker says
CANDID CLOONEY: George Clooney says he dropped support for Biden after seeing him up close, condemns Democratic 'cowardice'
'A HARMLESS VISIT': Greenland PM slams upcoming visit from Usha Vance as 'very aggressive' provocation
IMPEACHMENT OVERTURNED: South Korean PM Han Duck-soo reinstated as acting president after impeachment overturned
FIRST ON FOX: The House Judiciary Committee is expected to hold a hearing early next week looking into the issue of "activist judges," three people familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital.
It comes as the Trump administration has faced more than a dozen injunctions from various district court judges across the country on a range of policy decisions.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, confirmed on Fox News' "America's Newsroom" that he intended to hold such hearings minutes after Fox News Digital reported on the news.
Jordan also said he expects a House-wide vote next week on a bill by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to block district judges from issuing nationwide injunctions.
Two sources told Fox News Digital they expected that vote next week or the week after, but one source stressed that conversations were still ongoing.
That comes as some conservatives push for impeachment as a way to punish judges blocking Trump's agenda.
Some conservatives are pushing impeachment for Boasberg and several other judges they believe exceeded their authority.
The House Republican leadership does not want to deal with impeachment, and it’s unclear if the House would ever have the votes to impeach. Conservatives could try to go over the heads of the GOP brass and put impeachment on the floor by making the resolution privileged. However, Republican leaders could try to euthanize that effort by moving to send the impeachment articles to committee. Thus, the vote is on the motion to send the articles to committee, not on impeachment.
That said, the administration appears to prefer a remedy offered by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. Issa’s bill would limit the scope of rulings by these judges.
Moreover, it’s unclear that the House would ever have the votes to impeach, and even if they did, a Senate trial would end without conviction. It takes 67 votes to convict in an impeachment trial.
FIRST ON FOX: Georgia Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde is formally introducing his articles of impeachment against a Rhode Island judge who previously ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze federal funds.
The articles, first shared with Fox News Digital, charge Chief U.S. District Judge John James McConnell Jr. with abuse of power and conflicts of interest, stating he "knowingly politicized and weaponized his judicial position to advance his own political views and beliefs."
If McConnell is found guilty of such charges, the articles read, he should be removed from office.
McConnell is currently overseeing a lawsuit brought by 22 states and the District of Columbia that challenges the Trump administration's move to withhold federal grant funds. After McConnell ordered the administration to comply with a restraining order, the government appealed to the First Circuit – which refused to stay the orders.
"The American people overwhelmingly voted for President Trump in November, providing a clear mandate to make our federal government more efficient," Clyde told Fox News Digital. "Yet Judge McConnell, who stands to benefit from his own injunction, is attempting to unilaterally obstruct the president’s agenda and defy the will of the American people. Judge McConnell’s actions are corrupt, dangerous, and worthy of impeachment."
Clyde announced plans to draft impeachment articles in early February, after McConnell ordered the Trump administration to reinstate paused federal grants and loans. The articles formalize the charges.
McConnell has also come under fire from Trump supporters and conservatives in recent weeks after a 2021 video resurfaced in which he warned that courts must "stand and enforce the rule of law … against arbitrary and capricious actions by what could be a tyrant or could be whatnot."
The articles cite that video, claiming McConnell "has allowed his personal, political opinions to influence his decisions and rulings," and that he has demonstrated a "bias that would warp his decision" in the federal freeze case.
In a statement, Clyde said "judicial activism" is "the Left’s latest form of lawfare."
"Congress bears the responsibility and the constitutional authority to hold activist judges accountable through impeachment," he continued. "I applaud the work of my colleagues to hold other rogue judges accountable, and I hope we see swift action on this critical matter in the House very soon."
When contacted, the court declined to comment.
Clyde's impeachment resolution follows a similar move by Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, who earlier filed articles of impeachment against U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg. The Washington, D.C.-based federal judge is overseeing a separate case challenging President Donald Trump's use of an 18th-century wartime law to deport Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador who were linked to the violent gang Tren de Aragua.
Gill accuses Boasberg of abusing his power by pausing the deportation order under the 1789 law.
The mounting criticism of lower court judges who have ruled against the Trump administration prompted U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to issue an unusual statement in response this month.
"For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," Roberts said. "The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."
Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Congressional Cowards is a weekly series highlighting the worst Donald Trump defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him—no matter how disgraceful or lawless his actions.
Republicans in the House and Senate were quick to follow Donald Trump's March 18 orders to impeach federal judges who ruled against his illegal actions.
But when pressed about which high crimes and misdemeanors the judges committed to warrant such an extreme measure, Republicans had no good answer.
For example, CNN host Kasie Hunt asked Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio what “high crimes or misdemeanors” these judges committed.
Jordan replied with what can only be described as verbal diarrhea.
“All I’m saying is, if you’re acting in a political fashion and not just following the law, the ruling on the law, and I would argue that frankly just his ruling in and of itself, remember the Constitution is pretty clear, Article II Section I, very first sentence, says the power in the executive branch shall be vested in a president of the United States. The president has the authority,” Jordan said.
Of course Jordan left out that Article III of the Constitution says that judicial power extends to “all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States”—which is what the judges were doing when plaintiffs argued that the Trump administration was violating U.S. laws while carrying out its destructive agenda.
Rep. Brendan Gill of Texas, who filed articles of impeachment against the judge who tried to stop Trump’s illegal deportations of Venezuelan immigrants (an order the Trump administration ignored), was also asked which impeachable offenses the judge committed—and had a terrible response.
“This is for usurping the executive's authority, for demeaning the impartiality of the court by making a politicized ruling, and forcing a constitutional crisis,” Gill said on Newsmax. “That is a high crime and misdemeanor.”
Other Republicans also backed Trump and Musk’s call to impeach judges who rule against the administration.
“America is a Republic, not a dictatorship of the judiciary. It's time to get rid of the political activists masquerading as judges and re-establish proper separation of powers,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida wrote in a post on X. “That's why I'm proud to announce that I will be joining my colleagues in impeaching ALL the activist judges who are unconstitutionally blocking President Trump's agenda.”
And Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said he was going to introduce a law that would ban judges from being able to order nationwide injunctions.
“District Court judges have issued RECORD numbers of national injunctions against the Trump administration - a dramatic abuse of judicial authority. I will introduce legislation to stop this abuse for good,” Hawley said, without acknowledging that maybe it’s because no other administration has ever initiated so many lawless actions that violate the Constitution.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley didn’t explicitly say he supported impeaching the judges, but he made it clear he believes what the judges did was wrong—and will use his powerful committee to go after those judges.
“Another day, another judge unilaterally deciding policy for the whole country. This time to benefit foreign gang members,” Grassley wrote in a post on X. “If the Supreme Court or Congress doesn’t fix, we’re headed towards a constitutional crisis. Senate Judiciary Cmte taking action.”
And it seems that Musk read Grassley’s comment as being supportive of impeachment, because after Trump’s demand to impeach the judges, Musk donated to Grassley and six other Republicans who have supported the effort to boot them, The New York Times reported.
From the Times’ report:
Mr. Musk contributed on Wednesday to Representatives Eli Crane of Arizona, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin and Brandon Gill of Texas. He also donated to Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, according to two of the people briefed on the matter.
“This is a judicial coup,” Musk wrote on X of a court ruling that blocked Trump from banning transgender people from the military. “We need 60 senators to impeach the judges and restore rule of the people.”
Of course, it takes 67 senators to impeach—a fact you’d think Musk, who Trump and Republicans have framed as a genius, would know.
Ultimately, this impeachment effort is futile.
Even if House Republicans somehow succeed in impeaching these judges, there is no way that Democratic senators would vote to convict and remove them in an impeachment trial.
The end result of this ridiculous posturing: making judges fear for their own safety as they receive death threats for their legally sound rulings, thanks to Republicans’ vile rhetoric.
