US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that the US doesn’t “need these people in our country” in reference to Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian refugee whose green card was revoked over his involvement with demonstrations last spring at Columbia University in New York City and who remains in ICE custody in Louisiana.

“We don’t need these people in our country, we never should have allowed him in in the first place,” Rubio said Sunday during an interview on CBS.

Rubio was unequivocal in his stance on targeting Khalil, saying that “the bottom line is this, if you are in this country, to promote Hamas, to promote terrorist organizations, to participate in vandalism, to participate in active rebellion and riots on campus, we never would have let you in if we have known that.”

“We don’t want people in our country that are going to be committing crimes and undermining our national security or the public safety. It’s that simple, especially people that are here as guests. That is what a visa is. I don’t know why we’ve gotten it in our head that a visa is some sort of birthright. It is not. It is a visitor into our country, and if you violate the terms of your visitation, you are going to leave. Okay?” Rubio said in the interview.

Rubio emphasized the US government’s increasing efforts to tighten immigration policies, and suggested more arrests were coming.

More on the case: Khalil’s attorneys filed a motion for his release on Friday, arguing Khalil’s First Amendment and due process rights were violated when federal immigration officers took him into custody last week. Lawyers also argued Khalil’s detention is “punitive” and does not have any “‘reasonable relation’ to any legitimate government purpose.”

Ramzi Kassem, an attorney who represents Khalil, said the Palestinian activist “has absolutely no connections to Hamas, whatsoever.”

Personnel from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), accompanied by FBI agents, were turned away from the US Institute for Peace on Friday, the organization said in a statement.

It is the latest instance of staffers from the Elon Musk-backed initiative being rebuffed from entering independent agencies. However, USIP has publicly stressed a desire to cooperate with the Trump administration.

“On the afternoon of Friday, March 14, 2025, several members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), arrived at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) unannounced accompanied by two FBI agents,” USIP Director of Communications Gonzo Gallegos said in a statement Saturday.

“They were met at the door by the Institute’s outside counsel who informed them of USIP’s private and independent status as a non-executive branch agency,” Gallegos said.

“Following that discussion, the DOGE representatives departed,” he said.

CNN has reached out to DOGE and the FBI for comment.

Gallegos noted that his agency “remains committed to the cooperation and comity with the Trump Administration it has exhibited in its work with seven administrations since its founding under President Ronald Reagan.”

“This includes ensuring the responsible use of taxpayer funds, aggressively pursuing its ongoing efforts to modernize and make all aspects of its operations more efficient,” he said.

More on the organization: Congress founded USIP in 1984. According to its website, it conducts research and trainings as well as provides strategic exercises for “U.S. military planners, diplomats, and partners.”

In an executive order issued on February 19 entitled “Commencing the reduction of the federal bureaucracy,” President Donald Trump specifically targeted USIP and several other independent agencies. Shortly thereafter, USIP officials met with DOGE personnel, at the latter’s request.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday the US could initiate bilateral discussions with countries to establish new trade agreements once tariffs are applied to major trading partners.

“We are going to put tariffs on countries reciprocal to what they impose on us — it’s not against Canada, it’s not against Mexico, it’s not against the EU, it’s everybody,” Rubio said during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“And then, from that new baseline of fairness and reciprocity, we will engage, potentially, in bilateral negotiations with countries around the world on new trade arrangements that make sense for both sides,” he added.

The secretary of state said that the Trump administration “is going to set a new status quo, and then we can negotiate something if they want to.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that there are no plans for US ground raids in Yemen following airstrikes this weekend against the Houthis.

“I’ve heard no talk of ground raids. I don’t think there’s a necessity for it right now,” he said during an interview on CBS’ “Face The Nation.“

Rubio said the airstrikes in Yemen are specifically aimed at eliminating the Houthis’ ability to target global shipping and US Navy vessels, calling the mission a favor to the world.

“This is an effort to take away their ability to control global shipping in that part of the world. That’s just not going to happen anymore,” Rubio said.

Rubio noted that the strikes are not only protecting American interests but also safeguarding global trade routes.

“We’re doing the entire world a favor by getting rid of these guys and their ability to strike global shipping.” Rubio said, “and it will continue until that’s carried out.”

In addition, Rubio delivered a strong warning to Iran, suggesting that the Houthis would not have the ability to carry out these attacks without Iranian support.

“This was a message to Iran, don’t keep supporting them, because then you will also be responsible for what they are doing in attacking Navy ships and attacking global shipping,” Rubio said.

President Donald Trump has issued a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century law previously used when the US was at war.

The law has been invoked three times before — most recently as a justification for some internments during World War II.

This time, Trump says he’s targeting Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, declaring that its members “have unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions against the United States.”

Trump repeatedly pointed to the 1798 law on the campaign trail and signaled it would be part of his mass deportation efforts.

Detentions and deportations that occur under the Alien Enemies Act do not go through the immigration court system, which provides immigrants the chance to seek relief and make their case to stay in the country. Experts have noted that the backlogged court system, where cases can take years, could be a significant obstacle to Trump’s mass deportation plans.

The move to invoke the Alien Enemies Act is already facing a legal challenge, and a federal judge has temporarily blocked the administration from conducting deportations under it.

• Here’s a look at some key questions and answers about the Alien Enemies Act.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he plans to speak with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer later on Sunday after the top Democrats in Congress took vastly different positions in recent days on a GOP-led plan to avert a government shutdown.

Jeffries told MSNBC he hasn’t talked to Schumer since Senate Democrats did not block a House Republican bill to extend current government funding levels through September on Friday, noting he was in Houston, Texas, for the funeral of the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, but “I do expect to have a conversation with him at some point later on today.”

“Look Chuck and I disagree as it relates to the approach and outcome relative to what we viewed as a reckless Republican spending bill and efforts try to jam these cuts down the throats of the American people,” he said.

In a tense news conference on Friday, Jeffries responded “next question,” when asked if he had lost confidence in Schumer after he and nine other Senate Democrats voted with Republicans to advance the GOP bill, which all but one House Democrat voted against earlier in the week after Jeffries and his leadership team urged their caucus to stand united in opposing it.

Despite their differing strategies, Jeffries claimed Sunday that “Chuck and I agree on the overwhelming majority of issues moving forward,” pointing to opposing threats to Medicaid as an area where Democrats will mobilize, including with a “day of action” on Tuesday focused on the topic when lawmakers are at home in their districts.

Jeffries also said House and Senate Democrats will come together to oppose the Republicans’ strategy to advance President Donald Trump’s sweeping legislative agenda in the coming weeks.

A sustained US military attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen took out multiple leaders of the group, a top adviser to President Donald Trump said Sunday, warning the militia’s backers in Iran that its own assets could be targeted next.

“This was an overwhelming response that actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out,” US national security adviser Mike Waltz told ABC’s “This Week.”

Trump ordered the attacks on Saturday in response to the Houthi’s targeting of commercial and military vessels transiting the Red Sea maritime corridor.

While the previous administration also struck Houthi targets in Yemen, including underground weapons storage facilities, Waltz described the attack Saturday as more robust.

“The difference here is, one, going after the Houthi leadership and, two, holding Iran responsible. It is Iran that has repeatedly funded, resourced, trained and helped the Houthis target not only US warships, but global commerce, and has helped the Houthis shut down two of the world’s most strategic sea lanes,” he said.

He declined to rule out direct military action on Iran to prevent the country from building a nuclear weapon.

“What the president has repeatedly said is that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. All options are on the table to ensure it does not have one,” he said. “They can either hand it over and give it up in a way that is verifiable, or they can face a whole series of other consequences.”

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pledged the US would carry out “unrelenting” strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen until the group halts its military actions targeting American assets and global shipping routes.

CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo contributed reporting to this post. This post has been updated with additional comments from the defense secretary.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the American people he’s “not worried” about the long term state of the stock market as he addressed possible fears of those who have invested in the markets and are worried about their retirement savings.

“I say that one week does not the market make, as Warren Buffett says, over the short term, the market is a voting machine, over the long term, it’s a weighing machine,” Bessent told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday when asked about last week’s worst week since 2023.

“I’m not worried about the markets over the long term. If we put good tax policy in place, deregulation and energy security, the markets will do great,” he added.

Remember: President Donald Trump’s budding trade war has sent jitters through markets that caused a volatile week on Wall Street, with all three major indexes closing last week in the red, as reported by CNN.

“April 2 is going to be a big day,” Bessent continued, highlighting the upcoming rollout of reciprocal tariffs. The strategy behind these tariffs, according to the secretary, is based on reciprocity—encouraging other nations to lower their own tariff barriers in exchange for the US doing the same.

“April 2 is an important day, but I would also tell everyone to look what happens from April 2 to say, June 30, as the other countries come down too, and President Trump’s created a win-win situation here, either the tariff barriers come down, the US can export more. Trade is fairer,” Bessent said.

President Donald Trump is likely to speak this week with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as discussions intensify on brokering a ceasefire in Ukraine, Trump’s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday.

“I think the two presidents are going to have a really good and positive discussion this week,” Witkoff told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union,” saying later he expected a ceasefire deal to be reached within weeks.

The two leaders’ conversation will follow a late-night meeting last week in Moscow between Witkoff and Putin, which Witkoff described as a “solution-based discussion.” He declined to spell out in detail what conditions Putin is placing on a ceasefire but acknowledged that Russian-held regions within Ukraine will be part of the discussions on ending the war.

Sticking point: The issue of land concessions is among the most sensitive topics in the ongoing peace talks. American officials have said Ukraine will likely need to cede territory for the war to end, and Putin has made it a condition of entering into a ceasefire.

But conceding territory has long been a nonstarter for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and some European leaders have voiced concern about appearing to reward Putin for launching his invasion.

Speaking on Sunday, aides to Trump described ongoing peace talks as productive, but did not say how the matter of territorial concessions would be resolved. Witkoff did say the Russian leader “accepts the philosophy of President Trump” in wanting to see the war end and voiced confidence a pause in fighting could arrive within weeks.

What Trump has said about the talks: In an interview released Friday, Trump said he expected to know “a little bit more” on a possible ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine by Monday. Over the weekend, Trump said meetings in Moscow were “very productive” and that all signs seem to be “very good,” after Witkoff’s meetings in Russia.

This post has been updated with details from Witkoff’s interview on CNN on Sunday. CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo and Sam Waldenberg contributed reporting to this post.

President Donald Trump starts off his second term amid relatively positive feelings about the state of the nation tempered by sharp economic discontent, according to an NBC News poll released Sunday.

Overall, 44% of registered voters say things in the nation are generally headed in the right direction, buoyed by Republicans and higher than at any point since early 2004, according to NBC. But just 18% rate the economy as excellent or good, echoing the kinds of numbers seen in the Great Recession.

Trump’s overall approval rating stands at 47% among registered voters, with 51% disapproving. As NBC notes, Trump’s approval rating is simultaneously an all-time high for his own political career, and well below the “honeymoon” numbers seen for most administrations.

His rating on the economy is slightly lower — 44% approve, with 54% disapproving — the first time he’s scored negatively on that metric as president. A majority, 55%, approve of his handling of border security and immigration, by far his strongest issue tested.

Similarly to the CNN poll released this morning, NBC’s survey also finds views of the Democratic Party sinking to a record low. Just 27% of registered voters in the NBC poll give the party a positive rating, with 55% rating it negatively the lowest showing for Democrats in the network’s polling dating back to 1990. The GOP’s rating in the poll stands at 39% positive and 49% negative.

More about the poll: The NBC News poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters between March 7-11, using a combination of live telephone interviews and online surveys delivered via text message. The margin of error for the full sample is +/- 3.1 percentage points.

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas conveyed frustration from House Democrats, saying Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was “absolutely wrong” to support the funding measure to keep the government open without any concessions from Republicans.

“We had all but one Democrat in the House that voted for this. So that’s 212 Democrats in the House. And then you had the vast majority of senators vote for or vote against it as well. And so the idea that Chuck Schumer is the only one that’s got a brain in the room and the only one that can think through all of the pros and cons is absolutely ridiculous,” she told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

Crockett said she thinks “Senate Democrats have to sit down and take a look and decide whether or not Chuck Schumer is the one to lead in this moment.”

She declined to say whether she would get behind a primary campaign against Schumer from Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

But, she said she did think Americans may be looking for “younger, fresher leadership” in future elections, especially in New York.

Separately, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, who voted against the measure, avoided directly criticizing Schumer but said the caucus needs to ask itself “are we willing to fight?”

“So, Leader Schumer has a very difficult job. I don’t envy the job that he has. And the question is really for the members of his Democratic caucus, are we willing to fight right? I admit that it would take some risk-tolerant behavior in order to effectively stand up to this president,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

This post has been updated with additional details from Sen. Chris Murphy.

Republican senators expressed uneasiness with the economic upheaval due to the trade wars spurred by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs — arguing that Americans need more clarity if they’re going to shoulder part of the financial burden.

Trump imposed sweeping 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imported into the United States Wednesday, causing Canada and the European Union to announce retaliatory measures. Farmers and small businesses have expressed concern about the impacts that tariffs will have on them in many red states.

Here’s what some GOP senators are saying:

• North Dakota GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer said there’s “a little bit of anxiety” in his state amid trade wars with Canada, but expressed confidence that farmers would remain “patient,” at least for now. “It’s a very difficult farm economy right now. So they’re little on edge for the long haul here, they’re probably as concerned about a lack of a farm bill as they are about tariffs right now, willing to give the president some room and hopeful of a better outcome,” he told CNN on Wednesday.
• Utah Sen. John Curtis said on Thursday it’s important to be mindful that tariffs are “disproportionately hard on small businesses,” and that many of his constituents are “trying to navigate it.” He added, “They want to support the president. They want to give him the space that he needs, but it’s also very hard to navigate.”
• Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said he’s “as concerned as the stock market is” when asked about tariffs on Thursday. US stocks slid Thursday and the S&P 500 closed in correction, down more than 10% from its record high in February, as Trump threatened new tariffs on the European Union.

The Trump administration said Sunday that hundreds of individuals were deported from the country after President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a sweeping wartime authority which has been used only three times before, to speed up the deportations of migrants affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

The announcement comes after a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s ability to the Alien Enemies Act on Saturday evening, and ordered any planes in the air carrying some of those migrants to turn back to the US. The judge said the temporary restraining order will remain in effect for 14 days “or until further order of the court.”

The White House touted the deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, with White House press secretary noting in a statement Sunday that at the president’s direction, the Department of Homeland Security had arrested nearly 300 members of Tren de Aragua this weekend.

In a statement earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that “hundreds of violent criminals were sent out of our country” after the president took action on Saturday.

Rubio also thanked El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, for volunteering to imprison the alleged criminals deported from the US and said that Bukele had requested that two leaders of the MS-13 gang, as well as 21 other Salvadorans being held in the US be returned to “face justice in their homeland.”

Bukele posted on X Sunday morning that the members of Tren de Aragua arrived in El Salvador and have been transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center “for a period of one year.”

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Mike Rounds said he thinks the executive branch is following the law as he defended the Trump administration’s use of the sweeping wartime authority.

CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo contributed reporting to this post. This post has been updated with more reactions to the deportations.

he Democratic Party’s favorability rating among Americans stands at a record low, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, fueled in part by dimming views from its own frustrated supporters.

With many in the party saying publicly that their leaders should do more to stand up to President Donald Trump, Democrats and Democratic-aligned independents say, 57% to 42%, that Democrats should mainly work to stop the Republican agenda, rather than working with the GOP majority to get some Democratic ideas into legislation.

The survey was taken March 6-9, days before 10 Democratic senators — including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — voted with Republicans in the chamber to advance a GOP-authored spending bill to avert a government shutdown, much to the chagrin of many other Democratic lawmakers and progressive critics.

The majority’s desire to fight the GOP marks a significant change in the party’s posture from the start of Trump’s first term. A September 2017 poll found a broad 74% majority of Democrats and Democratic leaners saying their party should work with Republicans in an attempt to advance their own priorities, and just 23% advocating for a more combative approach.

A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s ability to use a sweeping wartime authority to quickly deport some migrants whom the US has accused of being affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

The judge also ordered any planes in the air carrying some of those migrants to turn back to the US.

Earlier Saturday, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which gives the president tremendous authority to target and remove undocumented immigrants, to speed up the deportations of migrants. The law is designed to be invoked if the US is at war with another country, or a foreign nation has invaded the US or threatened to do so.

US District Judge James Boasberg had blocked the administration from deporting five individuals who challenged President Donald Trump’s use of the act. Following a hastily scheduled hearing hours later, Boasberg broadened his temporary block on the administration, granting a request from the plaintiffs’ lawyers to certify a provisional class that covers all noncitizens in US custody who would be subject to Trump’s proclamation.

Boasberg, who serves as the chief judge of the federal trial-level court in Washington, DC, agreed that those individuals’ deportations should also be temporarily blocked while the legal challenge proceeds.

“Particularly given the plaintiffs’ information, unrebutted by the government, that flights are actively departing and planning to depart, I do not believe that I’m able to wait any longer,” Boasberg continued. “Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States.”

What happens next: The judge said the temporary restraining order will remain in effect for 14 days “or until further order of the court.” He set another hearing in the case for later this month.

Read more about the ruling and its implications here.

President Donald Trump signed on Saturday the government funding bill after its passage in the Senate on Friday.

The stopgap measure funds the government through September 30.

Trump had endorsed the bill and praised Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to allow it to advance.