Trump 2nd term updates: Trump excludes low-value shipments from looming tariffs

The amendment exempts imports valued at less than $800 from Canada and Mexico.

ByKevin Shalvey, Alexandra Hutzler, Emily Chang, Ivan Pereira, William Mansell, Sarah Beth Hensley, Jon Haworth, and Nadine El-Bawab
Last Updated: March 2, 2025, 11:08 PM EST

President Donald Trump’s efforts to reshape the federal government to his liking suffered a loss in court when a federal judge blocked his administration from firing the head of a federal watchdog agency without cause, likely triggering a lengthy appeal that could end at the Supreme Court.

U.S. District Justice Amy Berman Jackson determined the move was unlawful and issued a permanent injunction that reinstated special counsel Hampton Dellinger to his position.

Meanwhile, the Social Security Administration said it will cut 7,000 jobs and six of its 10 regional centers as part of the president’s downsizing of the federal workforce.

And Trump’s physician announced the president will have his annual physical next month, days after reporters raised questions about a bruise they saw on the back of his hand.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing:
Feb 25, 2025, 6:28 AM EST

CBP has lowest single migrant apprehension day in 15 years

The Department of Homeland Security is touting they have had the lowest migrant apprehension day in 15 years.

On Saturday, Secretary Kristi Noem said CBP encountered only 200 migrants as apprehensions at the border have trended lower in January and into February.

The Department of Homeland Security logo is seen during a news conference in Washington, Feb. 25, 2015.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP, FILE

“President Trump and Secretary Noem have sent a clear message to illegal aliens: do not come to our country. You will not be allowed in. And if you get in, we will hunt you down and deport you," read a statement from a senior DHS spokesperson. "That message has been received. This weekend, we saw the single lowest apprehensions at the southern border in more than 15 years. This is yet another sign the President Trump’s commonsense immigration and border security policies are working.”

Feb 25, 2025, 12:14 AM EST

Midnight deadline passes for federal workers' OPM email response

As confusion surrounding Elon Musk's order for federal workers to detail their accomplishments via email remains, the initial midnight on Monday deadline has now passed.


Elon Musk listens to President Donald Trump speak in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Feb. 11, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

While the Office of Personnel Management said Monday that responding to the email is "voluntary," Elon Musk and President Donald Trump have said that not responding to the email could lead to termination.

The effects of the order on the federal workforce remain to be seen.

Feb 24, 2025, 11:56 PM EST

Migrants can no longer fly with CBP One app, except for deportation: TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced Monday it is discontinuing the use of the CBP One app and will bar undocumented immigrants from using it to fly unless they’re traveling for "deportation or movement between detention facilities."

Migrants are loaded onto an airplane for a deportation flight, Jan. 23, 2025.
Robert Cano/U.S. Customs and Border Protection

TSA officers previously used the app to verify a person’s identity by examining photographs and other biographic information that are in the Department of Homeland Security’s system.

ABC News has reached out to TSA and DHS for clarification on what documentation recently arrived migrants who have no form of valid ID will be allowed to use.

-ABC News' Armando Tonatiuh Torres-García

Feb 24, 2025, 10:52 PM EST

OPM shares new guidance to federal workers regarding Musk email

The Office of Personnel Management on Monday evening issued new written guidance on Elon Musk's email order, just a few hours ahead of the initial midnight deadline for workers to reply.

The new direction appears to give agency leaders the ability to exempt personnel from responding as well as take "appropriate actions" on non-responses.

A view shows the logo of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), after probationary staff at the OPM were fired in a conference call and given less than an hour to leave the building, outside OPM in Washington, D.C., Feb. 13, 2025.
Tierney L. Cross/Reuters

"Agencies should review responses and evaluate nonresponses, considering such factors as whether the employee was on excused leave on Monday, February 24, 2025 or had access to email on that date," the memo reads.

"Furthermore, agencies should consider any appropriate actions regarding employees who fail to respond to activity/accomplishment requests. It is agency leadership’s decision as to what actions are taken," the memo adds.

-ABC News' Ben Siegel

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