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The mayor of a major US city said Friday immigration officers raided a seafood business, detaining undocumented migrants alongside an American citizen as President Donald Trump pressed actions against undocumented people and deployed troops to the Mexican border.Trump has pledged a crackdown on migrants with the White House reporting that agents arrested 538 undocumented people on Thursday, with hundreds removed from the country on military aircraft.Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said that a US Army veteran was among those detained in an overnight raid on Ocean Seafood Depot that marked a resumption of workplace raids, suspended under former president Joe Biden.”Some ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents raided a business in our city without a warrant,” Baraka told a briefing, adding that a military veteran who held US citizenship was questioned during the operation.”The problem with this is that none of these people were rapists or murderers or criminals — the problem is that ICE went in without a warrant.”Newark, New Jersey, like other major cities including New York, is a sanctuary city meaning local officials and law enforcement do not typically cooperate with federal immigration agents as a matter of policy.Trump has threatened to curb federal funding for cities that uphold sanctuary policies.Immigration enforcement agents used raids on businesses and workplaces during Trump’s first term, with the newly-inaugurated president vowing to resume them, and to conduct operations at schools, churches and hospitals — also off-limits under Biden.”They caught three guys… everybody is afraid, I don’t know if this is normal. They were from Ecuador I think,” a witness to the Newark raid who declined to be named told NBC News.Last year under Biden there were 270,000 deportations in total, which was a 10-year high alongside 113,400 arrests.On his first day in office, Trump signed orders declaring a “national emergency” at the southern border and announced the deployment of more troops to the area, vowing to deport “criminal aliens.”Active service troops began arriving on the US-Mexico border Friday, images showed, with soldiers working to build structures and barracks.There are an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States, according to the Office of Homeland Security Statistics.Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, said “people are scared.””We knew this was going to happen, and what we learned from folks that stayed behind was that ICE walked in like it was their empire’s own conquered land,” she said.”They were heavily armed, there was no prior announcement. They were blocking off entrances and exits.”

Sales of previously owned US homes slipped to their weakest level in about three decades last year on the back of high housing prices and mortgage rates, according to industry data released Friday.Existing home sales came in at 4.06 million on an annual basis in 2024, the lowest level since 1995, said the National Association of Realtors (NAR).The weakness came despite population and job growth over the past three decades, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said on a call with reporters.But he pointed to affordability issues with elevated home prices, alongside higher mortgage rates and a lack of inventory to explain the trend.In December, however, existing home sales rose by 2.2 percent from November, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.2 million, the NAR said.This was its strongest pace since February 2024 — and in line with analysts’ expectations.”Home sales in the final months of the year showed solid recovery despite elevated mortgage rates,” said Yun in a statement.While sales during the winter months are typically softer than in the spring and summer, “momentum is rising with sales climbing year-over-year for three straight months,” Yun added.”Job and wage gains, along with increased inventory, are positively impacting the market,” he said.From a year ago, existing home sales were up 9.3 percent in December — the largest year-on-year gain since June 2021 — the NAR said.Meanwhile, the median sales price jumped by 6.0 percent from a year ago, to $404,400 last month.The growth in sales came despite the popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging nearly 6.9 percent as of December 26, according to Freddie Mac data.”The prospects for this year look better, but not by much as the triple threat of high mortgage rates, high home prices and low supply will continue,” said economist Robert Frick with the Navy Federal Credit Union.Even with builders poised to add more homes, they will be constrained with interest rates still elevated.And homebuyers, Frick said, will likely face mortgage rates between 6.5 and 7.0 percent.Economist Oliver Allen of Pantheon Macroeconomics expects the fourth quarter’s home sales increase “will unwind in the first quarter” of 2025, given a rebound in mortgage rates recently.Carl Weinberg and Mary Chen of High Frequency Economics expect home sales data will not weigh on the US central bank’s upcoming interest rate decision.The Federal Reserve is cutting rates in slow motion and the housing market has been weak for a while, they said.”The Fed will not start rushing its next rate cut to boost a single sector,” they added.The Fed’s rate-setting committee is set to meet next week.

US President Donald Trump made his first trip Friday since returning to power, heading to fire-scorched California and hurricane-hit North Carolina as a row blazed over disaster funding.The visit came as the White House said that deportation flights on military aircraft had begun, launching Trump’s promised operation to expel “millions” of undocumented migrants.On his fifth day of his whirlwind return to office, Republican Trump headed for Los Angeles amid continuing attacks on its Democratic leaders over their handling of devastating wildfires.Leaving the White House with First Lady Melania Trump, he repeated his false claims that rain-starved California could solve its water problems by simply opening a valve in the north of the state.Trump told reporters he was going to “take a look at a fire that could have been put out if they let the water flow, but they didn’t let the water flow, and they still haven’t for whatever reason.”He suggested yanking federal disaster support for America’s second largest city — a liberal bastion — after the fires that have killed some two dozen people and caused billions of dollars in damage.Trump has also slung insults at California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom — branding him an “idiot” — and baselessly claimed that California authorities diverted water supplies to save a kind of small fish called a smelt.Officials say Trump will meet firefighters and those affected by the blazes.- ‘Get it fixed’ -Trump also sought to score political points on North Carolina, accusing Democratic predecessor Joe Biden of failing to help it recover from floods caused by Hurricane Helene last year that killed more than 100 people in the state. He said the situation there was a “horrible thing the way that’s been allowed to fester, and we’re going to get it fixed up.”North Carolina resident and Republican supporter Christy Edwards said that “Trump can change everything.”People were still living in camper vans with their families following the disaster, said the 55-year-old retired teacher living an hour away from the hard-hit city of Asheville.”We’re hoping by Trump coming we’ll help get more resources,” she told AFP by phone.Trump has floated ending federal disaster relief in general and leaving states to fend for themselves, accusing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of turning its back on victims.”FEMA has not done their job for the last four years,” Trump said on Fox News. “I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems.”- Deportation flights -The White House is meanwhile keeping the focus of Trump’s second term on migration, trumpeting the arrest of 538 arrests on Wednesday.Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration had deported “hundreds” of migrants on military aircraft — a departure from the normal use of civilian planes.”The largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway,” Leavitt said on X.By comparison, under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden there were a total of 270,000 deportations in 2024 — a 10-year record — and 113,400 arrests, making an average of 310 per day.Trump repeatedly accused Biden of failing to crack down on an “invasion” of migrants illegally crossing the southern border with Mexico.On his first day in office, Trump signed orders declaring a “national emergency” at the southern border and announced the deployment of 1,500 troops to the area.The Democratic mayor of the city of Newark, New Jersey, Ras Baraka said on Thursday that agents raided a local business and detained undocumented migrants “without producing a warrant.””Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized,” Baraka said in a statement.There are an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States, according to the Office of Homeland Security Statistics.On the international front, Trump told Fox News he would “rather not” impose tariffs on China despite repeated vows to hit America’s biggest economic rival with hefty import levies.Trump also said he would seek to rekindle his diplomatic relationship with Kim Jong Un, calling the North Korean leader he has met three times a “smart guy.”

Bob Dylan’s rich legacy of more than 50 albums is a counterpoint to “narcissistic” modern music focused on “me, me, me”, the director of the recently released biopic about the singer told AFP.James Mangold, in Paris ahead of the release of “A Complete Unknown” in French cinemas, said that delving into Dylan’s early career in the 1960s involved immersing himself in a different, simpler world.”It was really clear making the movie, that not just Bob’s music, but that time in music was different,” the director of “Indiana Jones 5” and “Le Mans ’66” said.”And I feel like most music now is so narcissistically about me, me, me.”‘You hurt me’. ‘I feel blah, blah, blah’. ‘You betrayed me’. ‘That’s not nice what you did to me’,” he said, reeling off the familiar modern themes of pop music from Taylor Swift to Beyonce.”Music was about more than just me, me, me (in Dylan’s era). It was about the world. It was about the mysteries of the world. And I miss that.”- ‘Loneliness of genius’ -“A Complete Unknown”, starring Timothee Chalamet, has been well received by critics and received eight Oscar nominations on Thursday, including for best picture and best director.Mangold said it was intended as a study in “the loneliness of genius” and the difficulties of celebrity for Dylan. “A great artist, but maybe not great at being famous”, he suggested.”He described the feeling of being Bob Dylan in 1962 or 1963 as being a lonely feeling, in very specific ways: the loneliness of riding to your concert in a car, the loneliness of being on stage alone with your guitar,” said Mangold.Where many people viewed Dylan’s behaviour as arrogant and concluded he was an “asshole”, “what if he isn’t an asshole? What if it’s loneliness?” Mangold asked.Dylan recorded a remarkable 300 songs in just his first three years in the music business.The writer of “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Desolation Row” is adored by fans for his music and literary style.He received the 2016 Nobel literature prize “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”, according to the committee.”I don’t know how I got to write those songs. Those early songs were almost magically written,” he told the CBS channel in 2004.

Hundreds of migrants in the United States were arrested Thursday and others flown out of the country on military aircraft as the White House said President Donald Trump’s promised deportation operation had started.The crackdown came as Trump prepared to head on Friday to California and North Carolina, where natural disasters have turned into political footballs, in his first trip since his return to office.And on another whirlwind day in his first week as president, Trump told Fox News he would “rather not” impose tariffs on China despite repeated vows to hit America’s biggest economic rival with hefty import levies.The Republican also said he would seek to rekindle his diplomatic relationship with Kim Jong Un, calling the North Korean leader he has met three times a “smart guy.”White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s administration on Thursday “arrested 538 illegal immigrant criminals,” adding “hundreds” were deported by military aircraft.”The largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway,” she said in a post on social media platform X.Trump promised a crackdown on illegal immigration during the election campaign and began his second term with a flurry of executive actions aimed at overhauling entry to the United States.UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in Geneva on Friday that, while countries “are entitled to exercise their jurisdiction along their international borders,” they must remember that “the right to seek asylum is a universally recognised human right.”On his first day in office, Trump signed orders declaring a “national emergency” at the southern border and announced the deployment of more troops to the area, vowing to deport “criminal aliens.”There are an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States, according to the Office of Homeland Security Statistics.The Democratic mayor of the city of Newark, New Jersey, Ras Baraka, said in a statement on Thursday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “raided a local establishment… detaining undocumented residents as well as citizens, without producing a warrant”.Baraka said one of those detained during the raid was a US military veteran.ICE announced “538 arrests” and “373 detainers lodged” in an “enforcement update” on X.ICE lodges detainers for non-citizens who have been arrested on criminal charges and who the agency believes can be deported under the law in order to keep them in custody. – LA fires -On his fourth full day back in office, Trump is due to visit fire-wrecked Los Angeles, where he will be able to see widespread damage tallied to cost billions of dollars.Many are worried the mercurial leader will yank the federal support the city needs to get back on its feet.Trump has suggested that aid to Democrat-led California following the deadly wildfires could be made conditional, as he pumps out false claims about water management and fish.”I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” Trump said this week, emphasizing his false claim that there is a valve in northern California that can be turned to release billions of gallons of water in the rain-starved state.Officials say Trump will meet firefighters and those affected by the blazes that have killed more than two dozen people in Los Angeles, the second-biggest US city.Trump has bitterly criticized Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom as an “idiot” and has repeatedly made baseless claims that the western state had water issues because it diverted supplies to save a small fish called a smelt.The president has also floated ending federal disaster relief in general and leaving states to fend for themselves, accusing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of turning its back on victims.”FEMA has not done their job for the last four years,” Trump said on Fox News. “I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems.”- ‘Change everything’ -Trump on Friday will also visit North Carolina, which is still recovering after floods caused by Hurricane Helene last year killed more than 100 people in the state. “Trump can change everything,” said Christy Edwards, a 55-year-old retired teacher and Republican supporter living an hour away from the hard-hit city of Asheville.People were still living in camper vans with their families following the disaster, she told AFP.”Our state has done very little. So we’re hoping by Trump coming we’ll help get more resources,” she said.On the international front, Trump said in a Fox News interview aired Thursday that he could make a deal with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Taiwan and trade.”We have one very big power over China, and that’s tariffs, and they don’t want them, and I’d rather not have to use it. But it’s a tremendous power over China,” he said.Asked during the same interview if he would “reach out” to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again, Trump replied: “I will, yeah. He liked me.”The Republican had a rare diplomatic relationship with the reclusive Kim during his first administration from 2017 to 2021, not only meeting with him but saying the two “fell in love.”Trump also ordered on Thursday the release of documents on the 1960s assassinations of president John F. Kennedy, his younger brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.JFK’s murder still fuels conspiracy theories more than 60 years after his death.

As fire-wrecked Los Angeles braces for a visit by President Donald Trump, many are worrying the mercurial Republican will yank the federal support the city needs to get back on its feet.Trump is due in the shell-shocked city for a few hours on Friday afternoon, where he will be able to see for himself the devastation wrought by the deadly fires — damage whose repair will cost billions of dollars.Former president Joe Biden was quick to pledge whatever was needed to deal with the disaster in the waning days of his administration.But almost as soon as the fires erupted, Trump began sticking the boot in, lashing out at California Governor Gavin Newsom, and resurrecting an earlier hobbyhorse about water supplies.”I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” Trump said this week, emphasizing his false belief that there is a valve in northern California that can be turned to release billions of gallons (liters) of water in the rain-starved state.- Funding needed – Threats to withhold federal funds are worrisome to some of those who lost everything in the fires.”I just can’t fathom that the government is going to let so many people (suffer)… that they’re not going to help them,” Sebastian Harrison told AFP.This 59-year-old former actor lost his Malibu home in the blaze. He was not insured, unable to afford premiums that topped $40,000 a year.Without government money, getting his life back on track might prove almost impossible, he fears.In Altadena, a modest city further inland, as in the upscale Pacific Palisades, thousands of ruined buildings need to be cleared. Federal cash granted by Biden for 180 days is intended to cover this.But local authorities fret the White House’s new inhabitant might not honor that check.”Everybody’s rushing to make sure the funds get here before Trump gets in office,” a local official told AFP last week, on condition of anonymity.But, the person said, the demography of the disaster — which affected some very wealthy people as well as those of more modest means — gives hope that Trump won’t be able to abandon the region.”Trump may think of Altadena as a bunch of low-life Democrats, but Pacific Palisades is a different story,” the source said.”That’s the first zip code where he and other Republicans go to when they want to raise money in Los Angeles.”- “Principle of unity” – Pacific Palisades and the parts of Malibu it abuts are considerably less left-leaning than other parts of Los Angeles.While the area has its share of Hollywood liberals, it also has property developers, businesspeople and other Republicans.Among those who lost their homes was Mel Gibson, who Trump has just appointed to an ill-defined role as ambassador to Hollywood.The new president’s visit to Los Angeles looks set to include a meeting with the state’s governor — whom Trump delights in calling Gavin “Newscum.”There is no love lost between the two men, but Newsom has taken a more conciliatory approach in recent weeks.”Historically, federal disaster aid has been provided without conditions, recognizing that political calculations or regional divides should not encumber relief efforts,” he wrote in a letter last week to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.”This principle of unity is at the heart of our nation’s resilience.”But if the federal government cannot be cajoled into stumping up the funds needed for recovery and reconstruction, California says it is prepared to use the courts.The state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, said he found it “disheartening” that Trump and his allies were seeking to politicize tragedy.”We have every expectation that federal action will be taken to support California and the hardworking Californians whose lives and livelihoods are at risk,” he told AFP.”We have been preparing for the Trump administration for months, and we will not hesitate to act if we believe the president is violating the law.”

Helicopter pilot Tim Thomas has fought dozens of wildfires all over the world, but nothing prepared him for the scale and the challenge of the devastating blazes that ripped through Los Angeles.”I’ve never seen anything the scale that we saw the first night,” he told AFP.Fires erupted almost simultaneously in two separate neighborhoods during a furious windstorm on January 7.Whole streets were engulfed as hurricane-force gusts flung fireballs from house to house.Forecasters had been warning of extreme fire risk for days because of punishing dryness and winds up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour, saying any small fire would quickly spread.Extra resources were positioned all over the at-risk region, which extended for miles around the sprawling metropolis.But the fires, when they came, were overwhelming, defeating the hundreds of firefighters on the ground.Only an air assault would stop them.- Transfixed -A terrifying 24 hours after the first smoke blackened the air, winds dropped just enough for helicopters to take to the skies.”It was some of the most turbulent wind I’ve seen,” said helicopter coordinator John Williamson.Under the careful eye of experienced operators like Williamson, each pilot took turns in an elaborate airborne ballet.The life-saving airshow they put on for nearly two weeks became a defining feature of the fires, watched with awe and gratitude by a terrified region.Television viewers were transfixed by the incredible skills of helicopter pilots loading up hundreds of gallons (liters) of water into the bellies of their aircraft while hovering over a reservoir, then dumping it with pinpoint accuracy on a wall of flames.The sight of huge jet planes swooping over a fire line and unleashing a trail of bright red retardant thrilled and relieved those whose homes were threatened.But while they might have made it look easy, the pilots say the reality was far from it, with strong winds and unfamiliar terrain a constant challenge.”There were definitely some uneasy moments going over the mountains where the crew was looking for me to see if I’m comfortable,” said Thomas.”There’s definitely some times where the aircraft’s 23,000 pound (11.5 tons), and you’re getting rocked around, thrown around in the air.”- ‘Takes your breath away’ -Paul Karpus, who has overseen operations at an airbase in Camarillo, 45 miles (70 kilometers) west of Los Angeles, said the opening days of the firefight were like nothing he has experienced in 23 years.”Every season, you say, I’ve seen it all… And then you’re surprised,” he told AFP.”Seeing the amount of devastation for the first time, when the sun was coming up, and the amount of structures lost, it takes your breath away.”Aerial teams operated 24 hours, pulling long shifts that left them exhausted and fraught.”On a scale of one to 10, this one was a 10, stress-wise,” said Karpus.- ‘Nerve-racking’ -Williamson, whose job is to sit next to the pilot, guiding him to his designated zone and monitoring dozens of radio messages, said the complexity of the operation was a challenge.”The first three nights, really was pretty nerve-racking,” he said.Zach Boyce, who ran daytime operations said the sheer volume of aircraft in a tight space made things tricky.”We’re coordinating a lot of helicopters in a very tight area, and then we introduce fixed wing operations and air tankers and air attack… and everything becomes super compressed,” he said.More than two weeks after the fires erupted, killing more than two dozen people and reducing 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) to ash, the biggest blazes are under control.But the value of the aerial firefighters continues to be seen, with a fast-moving fire that erupted on Wednesday corralled by the time night fell after an airborne assault.For the people of Los Angeles, the men and women who have fought this battle are second to none.”We should never stop thanking them,” Los Angeles-based talk show host Jimmy Kimmel said.”Real superheroes.”

On a snow-blanketed field in Virginia, a handful of workers were silent but for the groan of a chainsaw chopping through bamboo — a delicacy for their furry clients down the road in the US capital of Washington.The team, bundled up for the cold, then stuffed up to 700 bamboo stalks into a pickup truck to be driven 70 miles (110 kilometres) to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo to feed, among others, its newly arrived pandas.Bao Li, a male, and female Qing Bao, landed in the United States from China in October as part of a decade-long breeding and research agreement.Public visitors are this week finally allowed to see the pair at the free-entry zoo and more likely than not, the pandas will be snacking on bamboo harvested at this hilly farm.But satisfying these bears — who can spend up to 16 hours a day feeding on up to 100 pounds (45 kilos) of bamboo — is no easy feat.Their appetites are so ravenous because pandas’ digestive systems are designed to process meat yet they have evolved to be almost entirely dependent on bamboo, which is of little nutritional value.”Bamboo harvest is probably one of the most rigorous things that we do,” said Mike Maslanka, head of nutrition for the zoo, his hands plunged into pockets to guard against the 10 degree Fahrenheit (minus 12 degree Celsius) temperatures at the site in the Shenandoah Valley.Trudging through ankle-deep snow, three young men chopped down scores of bamboo stems — some reaching 20 feet high — and began piling them up.After harvesting, the bamboo must pass quality control, where leafless stems are cast aside and only the greenest ones make it to the zoo’s bamboo fanatics, which also include Asian elephants and gorillas.- Picky eaters -The pandas add to the already high demands, with Maslanka saying the bamboo farm team is now operating four days a week, up from three days last year.It also means learning the new arrivals’ eating habits. Qing Bao is proving a “little bit more finicky in terms of palate,” said Maslanka, who wore a black beanie emblazoned with a panda, while Bao Li is “OK with just about anything that we offer.”Maslanka added that this was a common thread among pandas, whose reputation as picky eaters has prompted deep discussion — and confusion — about their feeding habits. “We’ve tried to pin it down to species or age or location or soil type, slope, elevation. We can’t, there’s no rhyme or reason,” he said.”We’ll offer this bamboo to them tomorrow and they won’t like it. We’ll offer it to them the next day, they’ll think it’s the best thing ever,” added Maslanka, who has over 15 years of experience with the Smithsonian National Zoo.This makes it a delicate task ensuring the bamboo is up to the pandas’ standards.Before being served to the bears, Maslanka said the bamboo is placed into an air-conditioned shed which is cooled to around 55 degrees Fahrenheit and equipped with misters to keep the stems moist.The Washington pandas are among just a few that remain in the United States, including a pair that arrived at San Diego’s zoo last summer.Their presence is part of the so-called panda diplomacy carried out by Beijing, in which its black-and-white bears are sent across the globe as soft-power diplomats.Thanks to conservation efforts, the giant panda was downgraded last year from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the global list of species at risk of extinction.

A federal judge  blocked Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship in the United States on Thursday as liberal states scored their first victory against the new president’s hardline agenda.The ruling imposes a 14-day stay on the enforcement of one of the most controversial executive orders Trump signed in the hours after he was sworn into office for a second term.”This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” US District Judge John Coughenour was reported as saying during the hearing in Washington state.”I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is,” said Coughenour, who was appointed by a Republican president, Ronald Reagan.Trump told reporters his administration would “obviously” appeal the ruling, while the Department of Justice said it would defend the executive order, which a spokesman said “correctly interprets” the US Constitution.”We look forward to presenting a full merits argument to the court and to the American people, who are desperate to see our nation’s laws enforced,” the spokesman said.Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the US Constitution under the 14th Amendment which decrees that anyone born on US soil is a citizen.It says, in part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”Trump’s order was premised on the idea that anyone in the United States illegally, or on a visa, was not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country, and therefore excluded from this category.An incredulous Coughenour chided Justice Department attorney Brett Shumate over his assertion that Trump’s order was constitutional.”Frankly, I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar could state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order,” Coughenour said. “It just boggles my mind.”- ‘On a whim’ -The ruling comes after a flurry of lawsuits filed by 22 states, two cities and numerous civil rights groups.It was hailed by states that took part in the legal actions.”No president can change the constitution on a whim and today’s decision affirms that,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said.The ruling is “the first of many wins to come as my office fights instances of executive overreach and any illegal actions the new administration may take.”Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said Trump’s order was “un-American.””Birthright citizenship makes clear that citizenship cannot be conditioned on one’s race, ethnicity or where their parents came from,” he said after the ruling.”It’s the law of our nation, recognized by generations of jurists, lawmakers and presidents, until President Trump’s illegal action.”Ted Lieu, a congressman from California said the matter was clear.”Birthright citizenship is as American as apple pie,” he wrote on social media.”If you’re born in America, you’re a citizen.”The legal challenge was no surprise, and Trump had acknowledged it was likely when he signed the order.He has repeatedly — and wrongly — asserted that the United States is the only country in the world with birthright citizenship; in fact more than 30 others also have it, including Canada and Mexico.Trump’s opponents have argued that the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 as the United States sought to knit itself back together after the Civil War, has been settled law for over a century.They have cited an 1898 US Supreme Court ruling in the case of a San Francisco-born Chinese American man named Wong Kim Ark.Wong was denied entry back into the United States after visiting relatives in China on the grounds that he was not a citizen.The court affirmed that children born in the United States, including those born to immigrants, could not be denied citizenship. 

When Donald Trump was inaugurated in 2017, opponents marched in pink knitted “pussy hats” while protesters abroad plastered streets with images of the new US president as “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader.Spool forward eight years — after his entanglements with the law, two impeachments and divisive pardons of violent criminals — and the vibe among the anti-Trump resistance movement isn’t so much “A New Hope” as its darker sequel, “The Empire Strikes Back.”Although there has been sporadic protest, the United States has seen almost none of the mass mobilization that made opposition to Trump in 2017 the largest social movement in a half-century.Even in Congress, Democrats have been more inclined in recent weeks to talk about “working with” Trump — noting his popular vote victory — rather than going after the Republican at every opportunity. “Resistance alone is a failed strategy. If it worked, Trump wouldn’t be president,” said political consultant Andrew Koneschusky, a former press secretary to Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “Democrats ran a campaign of resistance last cycle and it barely made a dent.”Trump, 78, sparked outrage after winning a tight 2016 election despite disparaging Mexicans, boasting about groping women on the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape and facing numerous sexual misconduct allegations.Democrats see as much to worry about this time around, and yet analysts have noted a palpable lack of the anger that came with his first term.- ‘The new Resistance’ -There has been some limited action by Democratic leaders in California to counter Trumpism, mainly behind-the-scenes strategy sessions, and “The People’s March” in Washington last weekend was reasonably well attended.But it was tiny compared to the 500,000-strong 2017 “Women’s March.” Even liberal Hollywood seems cowed, with the political spotlight moving away from the music and movie stars who backed Kamala Harris in 2024 to the Tinseltown legends like Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson who have joined Trump’s team.Koneschusky suggested that opposition was shifting to a more focused approach that targets specific aspects of Trump’s populist “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) agenda, in the courts as much as in news studios.”The Resistance hasn’t vanished — it has evolved. It has moved from the streets to the courts. Well-crafted legal challenges have replaced protests and public displays of opposition,” he told AFP.He pointed to more than 20 Democratic states suing to block Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship and civil society groups like the ACLU girding for a variety of legal fights. “The lawsuit, rather than the protest, is the new Resistance,” he said.Veteran political strategist Mike Fahey added that those who organized against Trump in 2024, only to see him win anyway, have hit a wall, and that exhaustion rather than apathy is paralyzing opposition.But he agreed that much of the opposition was simply less performative than in the past — and not necessarily less effective.- ‘The guts to fight’ -“Instead of relying on the sorts of large, dramatic demonstrations that characterized the early weeks of Trump’s presidency, these organizations have begun to stage far more sophisticated and less visible public events to work their will,” he said.While Trump’s victory last November was painful for Democrats, many believe that presenting Trump as an avatar of all society’s ills — or shrieking that every tweet was a threat to democracy — was counter-productive.Peter Loge, the director of George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs, said smart opponents were tuning out the noise coming from Trump’s Truth Social feed to focus instead on specific policy impacts. “One way to think about it is like an amusement park or nightclub. When the lights are flashing and the noise is blaring it’s easy to get caught in the show,” he told AFP.”Smoke machines, disco balls and laugh tracks drive attention and resources, but ultimately it is about how people live their daily lives — and that’s policy.”Some groups that opposed Trump first time around reject the idea that his narrow popular vote victory gave him a broad mandate, pointing out that more people voted against him than for him in November.”Democrats can’t afford to cower behind half measures or excuses,” said Ezra Levin, the co-executive director of progressive lobby group Indivisible.”If they don’t have the guts to fight this now, when it’s all on the line, they’ll be handing Trump and MAGA Republicans exactly what they want: a propaganda victory that will embolden their assault on our freedoms.”