President Donald Trump continues to take sweeping executive actions in his second term, including an order this week targeting a senior official from his first administration who became one of his critics.
Focus continues on the legal battle regarding Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a migrant who was living in Maryland when he was wrongfully deported by the administration.
Trump signed a memo extending the federal hiring freeze for all federal civilian employees in the executive branch until July 15.
Enacting a federal hiring freeze was one of Trump's first actions on Inauguration Day. According to a fact sheet from the White House about the extension, the memo also clarifies that "once a merit hiring plan has been adopted, any hiring of employees exempt from the freeze shall be consistent with that plan."
Labor union members hold placards on the day of a rally in support of federal workers during a rush hour protest outside the L'Enfant Plaza Metro Station in Washington, Mar. 24, 2025.
Kent Nishimura/Reuters
The fact sheet also says that once the hiring freeze ends, agencies can hire "no more than one employee for every four employees that depart from federal service (with appropriate immigration, law enforcement, and public safety exceptions)."
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
Apr 17, 2025, 6:10 PM EDT
Trump is ‘so happy’ Supreme Court will take up birthright citizenship case
Trump told reporters he was “so happy” that the Supreme Court said it would hear arguments in the birthright citizenship case.
“Well, you’re just telling me that for the first time,” Trump said when a reporter told him of the court’s decision. “I am so happy.”
“I think the case has been so misunderstood. That case, birthright citizenship, is about slavery. If you look at the details of it, the signings of it, everything else, that case is all about slavery,” Trump said, repeating an argument he’s made several times. “And if you view it from that standpoint, people understand it. But for some reason, lawyers don't talk about it. The news doesn't talk about it. That's not about tourists coming in and touching a piece of sand and all of a sudden their citizenship, you know, they're a citizen, that----that is all about slavery.”
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing a proclamation in the Oval Office at the White House, April 17, 2025 in Washington.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
“And even look at the dates on which it was signed. It was right at that era during-- right after the Civil War, and if you look at it that way, the case is an easy case to win And I hope the lawyers talk about birthright citizenship and slavery, because that's what it was all about,” Trump continued.
The Supreme Court said Thursday it would hear expedited oral arguments next month over Trump's emergency request to roll back nationwide injunctions against his executive order to end birthright citizenship.
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow
Apr 17, 2025, 5:23 PM EDT
Trump administration gives no updates on Abrego Garcia status
The Trump administration said in a court filing on Thursday that it will have no updates on its efforts to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
"Given the government’s prior clear and unequivocal notice to the Court, regarding how the government will facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return within the contours of existing law and regulation, there are no further updates,” said Joseph Mazarra, the acting general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security.
The status update was filed hours after a federal court of appeals, issuing a scathing order, denied efforts to appeal the order from Judge Paula Xinis requiring it to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia.
Apr 17, 2025, 5:01 PM EDT
Trump says he has an 'obligation to protect' Second Amendment when asked about FSU shooting
Asked if there were any changes to gun legislation he would want following a mass shooting at Florida State University on Thursday that has left at least two people dead and five others injured, President Donald Trump said that though the shooting is "terrible," he's a "big advocate of the Second Amendment."
President Donald Trump speaks as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, April 17, 2025, in Washington.
Alex Brandon/AP
"These things are terrible, but the gun doesn't do the shooting. The people do," he said. "I have an obligation to protect the Second Amendment."
The president added that he had just heard about the shooting and will have more to say later.