President Donald Trump scored major victories in two Supreme Court decisions issued Thursday that will allow him to ramp up his ongoing crackdown on the border and illegal immigration. The high court ruled that the federal government could turn away migrants seeking asylum at ports of entry, rejecting arguments that federal law requires officials to process every migrant who arrives at the border seeking asylum. In a separate ruling, the court opened the door for the Trump administration to proceed with its plans to terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 350,000 Haitian immigrants and 6,000 Syrians from deportation. The court’s two 6-3 decisions were made along ideological lines. In its decision on TPS, the court rejected claims that the Trump administration’s decisions with regards to Haitians specifically were based on racial animus. “Citing statements made by President Trump and former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, one set of respondents advances an equal protection claim that Haiti’s TPS designation was terminated because of the racial makeup of that country’s population,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion. “But, ironically, one of respondents’ other arguments undermines the equal protection claim by offering a strong, race-neutral explanation for Haiti’s termination: namely, that the current administration, which has terminated every TPS designation that has come up for renewal, simply opposes the TPS program, at least as it has been implemented in the past,” Alito added. Both groups, who have been shielded from deportation for over a decade, now “have to leave” the United States since they will lose their legal status, Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, told The Daily Wire. Many of the Haitian and Syrian nationals have yet to receive deportation orders and will likely remain in the United States until they are formally ordered removed by an immigration judge. Former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) New York Field Office Deputy Director Scott Mechkowski said they’re not all yet targets of Trump’s mass deportation effort and that the process will take time. “The cases get worked the way every other case gets worked, by priority, starting with criminal records and prior removal orders,” Mechkowski said. Since Trump’s second term commenced, the president has sought to end TPS for 13 of the 17 countries with such protections. Only four — El Salvador, Lebanon, Sudan, and Ukraine — remain covered by the program, NPR reported. White House border czar Tom Homan celebrated the ruling, saying the protections were abused. “I’ve been doing this since 1984. TPS has never been temporary. That’s why the whole statute exists: temporarily give people protection while their country’s in turmoil or after they suffer a hurricane. The problem is no administration has had the guts to actually follow that statute,” Homan said. In the court’s ruling on the border, federal authorities will be able to turn back asylum seekers who are in Mexico and don’t actually set foot on American soil. “The consequences of this are if the administration closes the border … folks who are kept from crossing the line cannot make any claims that they’ve got a right to be in the United States,” von Spakovsky said. “It literally means stepping over the border line between the two countries. If you are one foot across the U.S. border, you’ve arrived in the U.S.,” he added. Traditionally, federal officers at the border screened migrants and generally allowed those who expressed a fear of persecution into the country for further processing. Even if the fear claim was rejected during an initial interview with an asylum officer, the migrant could choose to have their case heard in an immigration court. “In ordinary speech, no one would say that a person ‘arrives in’ a place — for example, a house, a city, or a country — before the person enters that place,” Alito wrote in the majority opinion. The Center for Immigration Studies’ Andrew “Art” Arthur, a former immigration judge, said the ruling “reaffirms the fact that we don’t have to let everybody in,” adding, “We do have the ability to actively keep them out.” In response to an overwhelming influx of migrant crossings in 2016, the Obama administration began employing the practice of rejecting asylum seekers at the border through the process, which is known as “metering.” Lower courts eventually blocked the practice before Trump revived it, according to NPR.

Members of a historic female-only society are being warned they could violate human rights law if they vote to exclude “transgender” males from their ranks. Members of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) are voting on a resolution that would amend the group’s bylaws to clarify that only natural-born women can join the female-only society at its national meeting this week in Washington, D.C. “The proposed resolution would blatantly violate the D.C. Human Rights Law,” states a legal analysis addressed to voting members from the DAR Executive Committee. “Refusing admission to transgender women facially discriminates against them based on gender identity.” Gender identity is a term transgender activists use to describe a person’s feelings about their sex. The DAR’s headquarters are in Washington, D.C. DAR allows men who believe they are women to join the historic female-only society, which prompted local chapters to put forward the resolution clarifying that only natural-born women could join the society. “The term ‘woman’ shall be understood to clearly mean a woman who was born female, and therefore, individuals who were born male shall not be eligible for membership; transgender women shall not be eligible for membership,” the proposed resolution states, according to a document reviewed by The Daily Wire. The Daily Wire obtained an internal memo and legal analysis of the resolution distributed by the organization’s Executive Committee to voting members of DAR. The memo was dated June 19 — days before members would vote to decide if DAR’s future will remain exclusively female. The Executive Committee wrote it felt an “obligation” to provide educational information on the proposed resolution, warning it would “prohibit transgender women from joining the DAR,” according to the memo. “At the 135th Continental Congress, voting members will consider a resolution submitted by a group of DAR chapters to prohibit transgender women from joining the DAR,” states the memo. “The National Board of Management has an obligation to ensure that members voting on consequential matters have access to information necessary to fully exercise that responsibility.” The DAR Executive Committee called upon Professor Samuel Bagenstos, a professor of law at the University of Michigan with a history of involvement in LGBTQ+ litigation, to provide members with legal analysis of the “risks this resolution would create” for DAR. “I worked on many regulations and initiatives involving the rights of transgender individuals,” Bagenstos wrote in his legal analysis. Bagenstos served in the Biden administration from January 2021 to December 2024. He served as General Counsel to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from June 2022 to December 2024, as it made radical moves to push transgenderism onto children. Bagenstos notes in his biography that he drafted and issued major rules on issues such as “the treatment of LGBTQ+ kids in the foster care system.” The Executive Committee told DAR members informed decision-making is “best served when voting members have access to relevant information and expert analysis” and that Bagenstos’ legal analysis of the resolution was being distributed “in full and without modification,” according to the internal memo. The legal analysis from Bagenstos strongly suggested DAR will face harsh consequences if it adopts the position that men cannot be women. “I have reviewed the proposed resolution that would introduce a requirement to bar transgender women from admission to membership in the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. In my legal opinion, implementing the proposed resolution would expose the National Society to significant risk of being found in violation of the District of Columbia Human Rights Law,” Bagenstos wrote in the opening paragraph of the legal analysis. “If found in violation, the National Society could be required to pay damages to those excluded from membership. More significantly, it would likely lose both its D.C. tax exemption and any licenses or permits to operate Constitution Hall.” The three page legal analysis provided by Bagenstos concluded with a strong message to members that the adoption of the female-only resolution would “very likely” have dire financial consequences for the organization. “The proposed resolution would very likely expose the National Society to liability for damages and injunctive relief—as well as the revocation of business licenses and tax-exempt status–under D.C. law,” wrote Bagenstos. Bagenstos did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment. Founded in 1890, the DAR aimed to give women the same opportunities as men to “promote Historic Preservation, Education, and Patriotism” in the United States. Throughout its more than 130-year history, DAR has welcomed over a million members, supported American efforts in three major wars, and continues to serve active-duty military members and veterans, as described on its website. The Daughters of the American Revolution did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment.

Alligator Alcatraz, the detention facility in Florida’s remote Everglades that became a centerpiece of President Trump’s deportation campaign, is shutting down. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the facility’s closure in a Thursday press conference with White House Border Czar Tom Homan, insisting the detention space is no longer necessary.  “I said from the beginning that this was an emergency solution that would be temporary, that once DHS had the wherewithal to be able to handle these illegal aliens, particularly the criminal illegal aliens, that they would be able to do so, and we would still help,” DeSantis said. “In terms of us managing this facility, the minute that’s no longer needed, then we obviously would break down the facility.”  The detention center, built by Gov. DeSantis’ administration in a matter of days, opened in July 2025. Located in a remote stretch of the Everglades surrounded by alligator-filled wetlands and other wildlife, the facility became a key component of President Trump’s effort to deport what he called the “worst of the worst.” “There is no question this mission has made the state of Florida safer,” said DeSantis, noting that nearly 21,000 people were deported through the facility.  Since its opening, the detention center has become a flashpoint for leftist activists, who claimed migrants were being held in inhumane conditions. Those activists initially secured a court order to shut down the facility, but an appeals court later reversed the ruling. According to the Department of Homeland Security, some of the detainees at Alligator Alcatraz included the following:  Abelardo Ocampo, an illegal from Mexico, was convicted of attempted homicide/second-degree murder and possession of a weapon with intent to harm.   Eraldo Ariel Perez Perez, an illegal from Guatemala, was convicted of sexual battery of a victim (12 years or older), physically helpless to resist. Efrain Mez-Choc, another illegal from Guatemala, was convicted of engaging in sex with a child and two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child 12-16 years old.  Gersain Lerma Lasprilla, an illegal from Colombia, was convicted in his home country for the manufacture and trafficking of firearms and ammunition.   Thallys Roberto Cassimiro DeSouza, an illegal from Brazil, convicted of robbery.  Simeon De La Cruz Paredes, an illegal from the Dominican Republic, was convicted of smuggling aliens. Diego Puentes, an illegal from Guatemala, convicted of second-degree murder.  “It has helped remove many, many dangerous people from the street and get them out of not only the state of Florida, but the United States of America,” DeSantis said. “We stood this up, we surged critical resources, we built critical infrastructure, we were able to manage very complex operations, and we were able to efficiently execute the mission when called upon.” Detainees who remained when the facility closed were transferred to other federal detention centers. Thursday’s announcement came hours after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority handed the Trump administration two major immigration victories, siding with the administration in a pair of closely watched cases involving asylum policy and deportation protections. In a 6-3 ruling, the court held that the Trump administration can move forward with ending Temporary Protected Status for roughly 350,000 Haitian immigrants and 6,000 Syrians currently living in the United States.  The president’s signature ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ turbocharged funding for border security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Last month, the Republican-led Congress funded ICE through the end of Trump’s second term over Democratic objections.  “The most secure border in the history of this nation was achieved under President Trump. Record numbers of arrests and deportations,” Homan said during a press conference. “Over 1 million departures since he’d been in the Oval Office. No president’s done that.”

This piece is part of MI x DW, a collaboration that brings Daily Wire readers exclusive commentary and research from the Manhattan Institute’s world-class team of scholars. Today, Manhattan Institute Director of Research Judge Glock explains why a tidal wave of tax hikes are coming to blue cities, and warns lawmakers to prepare for the fight. *** Chicago homeowners have long faced high property taxes, but even by the city’s standards recent tax increases are shocking. According to a new report from the Cook County Treasurer, the median residential tax bill increased 17% last year, the largest increase in 30 years. In some poor areas of the city, homeowners’ taxes doubled, increasing by around $2,000. The Treasurer said the main reason for these hikes is a “dramatic” decline in commercial property values and taxes in Chicago’s downtown, the Loop. Chicago is not alone. For decades, America’s central cities have relied on a cornucopia of tax dollars from downtown office buildings to subsidize generous services. But the work-from-home revolution devastated the downtown office market. While some have worried the office decline will cause an urban “doom loop” of ever-more stretched budgets, it appears cities are just shifting the tax burden onto homeowners. Cities should consider how much more their residents can take. In the largest American cities, commercial property taxes constitute about a third of all property taxes, which overall remain the largest source of city revenue. In some places, like Boston, commercial property can bring in about half of all property taxes. Unfortunately, commercial property tax assessments have been dropping fast, most especially for downtown office buildings. In Minneapolis, assessed commercial values are down nearly $1 billion since last year. The drop was driven by downtown offices, whose assessments are now 45% lower than before the pandemic. Washington, D.C.’s total commercial assessments, in which downtown offices are particularly prominent, dropped by $8 billion, or about 8%, last year. City tax assessments are probably lagging the real decline in office values. Tax assessors tend to smooth values year-to-year to prevent sudden jumps or drops, but they are especially slow to adjust to drops in value. Sometimes assessors exclude “distressed” or foreclosure sales when trying to measure comparable properties. After the pandemic, these distressed sales have become far more common. In some places tax reassessments only occur every 3 years. As late as 2022, most cities’ assessors claimed that commercial property values were increasing. Some argue that office vacancy rates don’t show such a bad situation for downtown offices, but vacancy is a lagging indicator too. Office vacancy, meaning available office space that is not leased, was 17% before the coronavirus pandemic and since then has only ticked up to 21%. But many technically leased offices are ghostly silent. The keycard company Kastle finds the proportion of workers actually in the office is about 55% the rate before the pandemic. When more leases come due, companies will shrink their footprint and vacancies will rise. Market sales of downtown offices show clear evidence of distress. Some downtown buildings are selling for a tenth of their pre-pandemic level, while others sell for as little as a dollar. A recent American Economic Review paper estimated that the pandemic and the work-from-home trend destroyed more than $550 billion in office value just up to 2023. For perspective, the whole U.S. office market is only worth about $1.8 trillion. Click here for more Manhattan Institute content. Once assessed values, vacancies, and tax rates fully reflect changes in the office market, the effects on urban homeowners could be disastrous. Boston’s rates for a typical single-family home went up 13% this year, or $780, after a 10% increase the previous year. The Boston Policy Institute expects a $1.7 billion property tax shortfall that would likely shift to residents over five years. In Minneapolis, commercial property taxes have already dropped from 30% of taxes in 2023 to 25% this year, with homeowners bearing almost all the difference. While property tax revolts are generally associated with red states and conservative voters, the coming tax hit to left-leaning cities could inspire its own revolt. America saw a comparable urban tax revolt after a shift in the tax burden from commercial properties to homeowners in the 1960s and ‘70s. In those years, many states and cities began tax “modernization” campaigns, which tried to make tax assessments match the market value of different types of property. It turned out that homeowners had been getting breaks from their assessors. After modernization, their rates exploded, leading to a wave of tax resistance. Most research indicates that cities’ budgets can survive a big drop in downtown property values. If cities engaged in a reasonable amount of spending restraint, they could come out of the work-from-home revolution in a stronger fiscal position than before. But it appears cities just want to shift ever more of the tax burden onto their residents. They should instead consider whether homeowners can survive that shift, and for how long they will put up with it. Judge Glock is the director of research at the Manhattan Institute and the author of “The Dead Pledge: The Origins of the Mortgage Market and Federal Bailouts, 1913-1939.”

Radical leftist Senate candidate Graham Platner said that the real “reason” conservatives care about men in women’s sports is that billionaires are afraid of a wealth tax. He claimed that social concerns, such as the transgender sports issue, are manufactured by billionaire donors to distract voters from economic issues. He suggested that the well-funded campaign against him is strictly a result of his proposed tax increases.  “They want us arguing about trans kids in sports so we don’t ask about why the hospital closed. That’s the point,” Platner said. “And the reason I know that’s the point is that entire campaign was funded by one billionaire who lives in Illinois. He was afraid that if they don’t get to use bigotry to drive people out to the polls in November, they might lose, and his taxes are going to go up. And he’s right. They sure as hell are.”    Platner was referring to billionaire Richard Uihlein, a prominent GOP megadonor, who financed a ballot referendum in Maine that sought to protect girls and women in sports.  Platner has been at the center of many controversies throughout his campaign. He once sported a Nazi tattoo, has had an account on a messaging app that’s been called a child predator “paradise,” and has made misogynistic comments dismissive of rape. He has launched an insurgent campaign against sitting Republican Sen. Susan Collins, focused primarily on far-Left economics and staunch anti-Israel stances. Collins has consistently ranked as the most bipartisan senator in Congress. Platner has been a vocal supporter of a wealth tax. When Elon Musk became the first person to reach a net worth of over $1 trillion, Platner called on voters to make sure he was the “last” trillionaire.  The argument that social issues are a distraction from class warfare is a familiar socialist claim. The Democratic Socialists of America, an extremist Left-wing group of which Platner is a former member, states that “culture wars are intended to pit workers against each other to empower a Right-wing government.”  Platner is leading Collins in the most recent polls.