Trump administration will pay immigrants in U.S. illegally $1,000 to self-deport

‘Self-deportation is the best, safest, and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,’ Homeland Security secretary says

Trump claims Catholics 'loved' AI image of him as the Pope

The Department of Homeland Security revealed on Monday that it would pay $1,000 to immigrants who choose to leave the country.

Referring to it as “travel assistance,” the effort is part of a larger push to make immigrants leave the country of their own accord instead of waiting for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin deportation proceedings.

The department argued that the policy would be a good deal for U.S. taxpayers, as the average cost of the detention and deportation of an immigrant is more than $17,000.

“If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest, and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a press release.

The system uses the app CBP Home, where migrants can register their upcoming travel out of the country.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has said he will impose “100 percent tariffs” on foreign films in order to boost the Hollywood film industry, which he argued is “dying” while insisting that movies made overseas pose a “national security threat.”

“The movie industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” he wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.

Key Points

• Donald Trump threatens 100% tariffs on foreign films: ‘The movie industry in America is dying’
• Trump orders reopening and expansion of notorious Alcatraz prison
• President's Alcatraz proposal is ‘not a serious one,’ says Nancy Pelosi
• Trump bemoans ‘radicalized judges’ holding up deportation push
• President says he will not pursue a third term and plans to lower tariffs on China ‘at some point’

[5 May 2025 18:00 · Gustaf Kilander]

WATCH: Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy attacked by bird again

[5 May 2025 18:07 · Gustaf Kilander]

Live: President Trump announces NFL draft is coming to Washington DC in 2027

[5 May 2025 18:20 · Gustaf Kilander]

Guatemalan mom detained by ICE moments after giving birth is reunited with her U.S. citizen newborn

Alex Woodward writes:

A pregnant Guatemalan woman wandered the Arizona desert alone for two days before she was detained by immigration authorities. She was immediately taken to the hospital, where she gave birth, and federal authorities waited outside her room to detain her.

The woman, identified by her attorney as Erika, gave birth to a six-pound girl on April 30. She named her Emily.

She gave birth “under supervision,” according to a spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security, and she was swiftly transferred to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, separated from her newborn, drawing outrage from immigrants’ advocacy groups and state and local officials.

[5 May 2025 18:40 · Gustaf Kilander]

Producer: Freelancers could be jobless if Trump applies non-US films tariff

Hannah Roberts writes:

Freelancers in the UK film industry could end up jobless if Donald Trump applies a 100% tariff to non-US movies, a producer has warned.

The US president announced on Sunday that he has authorised government departments to impose the tariff “on any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in foreign lands”.

Industry figures have warned the plans “could deal a knock-out blow” to the UK film sector.

Kirsty Bell, chief executive of production company Goldfinch, said the entertainment industry is in decline “across the whole of the Western world” but said tariffs are not the answer.

[5 May 2025 18:49 · Gustaf Kilander]

Trump announces that 2027 NFL draft is coming to D.C.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser are attending a White House event with Trump to announce that the 2027 NFL draft is coming to the nation’s capital.

[5 May 2025 19:00 · Gustaf Kilander]

Trump asked about Nord Stream sabotage

Trump was asked about who sabotaged the Nord Stream pipeline in September 2022.

“I think a lot of people know who blew it up,” said Trump, without being specific.

[5 May 2025 19:00 · Gustaf Kilander]

Trump wants states to take over control of National Park system as he proposed $1 billion cut to its budget

Julia Musto writes:

The Trump administration wants states to take over the management of America’s national parks – something never before proposed by a U.S. president.

In its budget request for the fiscal year 2026, which is also proposing billions in crippling cuts to space, health, education, and other areas, the White House argued that the The National Park Service’s responsibilities “include a large number of sites that are not ‘national parks,’ in the traditionally understood sense, many of which receive small numbers of mostly local visitors, and are better categorized and managed as state-level parks.”

[5 May 2025 19:04 · Gustaf Kilander]

Trump blames 'fake news' when asked about outrage surrounding image showing president as pope

A reporter told Trump that some Catholics aren’t happy about the AI-generated image showing Trump as the pope.

“You mean they can’t take a joke? You mean the fake news. The Catholics loved it,” Trump claimed.

The New York State Catholic Conference responded to the image on May 3, saying, “There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President. We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.”

[5 May 2025 19:20 · Gustaf Kilander]

How Alcatraz became America's most notorious prison

Ed White writes:

President Donald Trump wants to turn Alcatraz, a popular U.S. tourist destination, into a federal prison again, more than 60 years after the California island fortress was shut down as too costly.

Trump says Alcatraz, now part of the National Park Service, suddenly is needed to house America’s “most ruthless and violent” criminals. It's where the government sent notorious gangsters Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly as well as lesser-known men who were considered too dangerous to lock up elsewhere.

[5 May 2025 19:40 · Gustaf Kilander]

Is Trump trying to force Fox News to replace its top media host with a MAGA sycophant?

Justin Baragona writes:

Over the course of his first few months back in the White House, Donald Trump has made no secret of his irritation with Fox News personalities and other key cogs of Rupert Murdoch’s conservative media empire that he believes aren’t showing him the proper amount of loyalty and obsequiousness.

With the president’s poll numbers cratering amid a spate of self-imposed crises and accusations of authoritarianism, Trump has increasingly lashed out at Murdoch world for allowing some form of criticism against him to seep through Fox and News Corp’s pages and airwaves.

And in one specific case this week, it appears that the president is urging one Fox News host to “retire” so he can be replaced with a more servile and sycophantic commentator who recently wrote a book about how Trump had the “greatest comeback ever.” Notably, that same MAGA pundit has been pushed by Trump confidant Sean Hannity to take over the network’s weekly media show for years now.