Week in Review

IN THE NEWS 

• President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order launching the “Genesis Mission,” a federal initiative directing agencies to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) across federal scientific research. The initiative includes a new, unified AI platform that will integrate federal supercomputers, datasets, and AI expertise to accelerate scientific discovery. Officials at the U.S. Department of Energy stated that the initiative aims to double national scientific productivity within a decade and strengthen U.S. technological and national security leadership. Critics cautioned that the order could expand executive power, concentrate federal data and resources in select private companies, and weaken oversight of how those partnerships are governed.
• Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., blocked a district court’s order that would have prevented Texas from using its newly redrawn congressional map in the next election cycle. The order preserves the map temporarily while the U.S. Supreme Court considers Texas’s emergency request for broader relief. The district court held that six districts were likely drawn predominantly on the basis of race in violation of the U.S. Constitution, prompting the appeal. Texas argued that the district court wrongly characterized a partisan redistricting effort as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and imposed its restriction after candidate filing had already begun, creating a significant election administration disruption.
• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit allowed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to continue the nationwide expansion of its expedited removal program, partially overturning a lower court order. The program allows immigration officers to deport certain noncitizens without a hearing unless the noncitizen can show a credible fear of persecution or prove two years of continuous presence in the United States. The lower court had concluded that DHS’s program failed to provide individuals a meaningful opportunity to demonstrate their continuous presence. In its order, the D.C. Circuit allowed DHS to reinstate its credible-fear screening procedures but left in place the portion of the lower court’s order that requires DHS to adopt adequate safeguards for assessing continuous presence.
• Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Joseph B. Edlow stated in an internal memo that the agency would halt its review of all permanent residency applications filed by refugees admitted during the Biden Administration. The memo also stated that all individuals admitted as refugees during that period will be reviewed and re-interviewed by USCIS to confirm their eligibility for refugee status. The memo claims that the USCIS derives authority for this action from President Trump’s executive order on the U.S. Refugee Admission Program and also claims the review is necessary because the Biden administration “potentially prioritized expediency, quantity, and admissions over quality interviews, and detailed screening and vetting.”
• A federal judge barred the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from sharing taxpayer addresses with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), finding the pact unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly stated the disclosures deter tax compliance among immigrants and noted an ICE request for nearly 1.3 million records. In addition, Judge Kollar-Kotelly said the IRS failed to justify a break from its prior “strict confidentiality” policy when it agreed to provide ICE with address data. The IRS did not immediately comment.
• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals and that the 353,000 current beneficiaries’ protections will end in February. The agency stated that, after an interagency review, Haiti no longer met the statute’s TPS criteria. DHS instructed Haitian TPS holders without another lawful status to prepare to depart via the U.S. Customs and Border Protection mobile application and described a “self-deportation” process that included a complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 exit bonus, and potential future legal pathways. The move followed a recent DHS notice terminating TPS for Burma (Myanmar).
• A federal judge dismissed two criminal cases brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) against former Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James. Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, sitting on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that the indictments in United States v. James Comey and United States. v. Letitia James could not proceed because the prosecutor who brought the charges was illegally appointed. President Trump appointed Lindsey Halligan as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, after interim U.S. Attorney Erik Seibert resigned following pressure to pursue the indictments against Comey and James. The court dismissed the indictments, but the Justice Department can pursue its claims in a new filing.
• The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) proposed a nonrefundable $18 fee for travelers who arrive at airport checkpoints without an acceptable form of identification—such as a REAL ID or passport—to use an alternative identity-verification program for up to 10 days. Under the program, TSA would use biographic or biometric information to verify identity through Secure Flight, which is the agency’s watch-list prescreening system. Participation is optional and does not guarantee checkpoint entry. Travelers who participate may face added screenings or delays.

WHAT WE’RE READING THIS WEEK

• In a recent Brookings Institution essay, Joseph W. Kane, a fellow at Brookings Metro, argued that regional and local regulators need to work cooperatively to address the water demands of new artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. Kane noted that an aging water infrastructure, a hyper-localized and fragmented water grid, and rapidly increasing cooling needs for datacenters all contribute to the problem. He also explored how regional “water investment and economic development” partnerships have addressed similar issues in Milwaukee, Austin, Texas, and Loudoun County, Virginia. Kane concluded that these case studies show how regional coordination between water regulators and business leaders can help address the water needs of AI technology.
• In a recent report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined the U.S. Coast Guard’s effort to build a new fleet of offshore patrol cutters—a class of medium-sized ships—and found that the military branch authorized construction to begin without first testing and finalizing the designs for the ships and their critical technologies. GAO reported that the shipbuilders began work with incomplete designs, leading to reworks, delays, and potential cost overshoots, including the cancellation of two partially built cutters and a projected five-year delay for the lead ship. GAO also identified outdated cost estimates and unreliable schedules that limited the Coast Guard’s ability to plan effectively for future ships. GAO recommended stabilizing ship designs before further construction, setting cost goals by acquisition stage, and ensuring that operational test results guide future purchasing decisions.
• A new U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the U.S. Department of Defense’s recent budgets for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative for fiscal years 2023 to 2025 show an inconsistent mix of programs because guidance on what to include is unclear. For example, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps counted base-upkeep programs, but the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy did not, and some offices included programs unlikely to be effective within five years despite the initiative’s near-term focus. GAO recommended clarifying what items should be included and ensuring the list tracks Indo-Pacific Command priority requirements that the Defense Department actually funded. The Defense Department agreed with these recommendations.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

• In an essay in The Regulatory Review, Ilya Somin, a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School of George Mason University, argued that President Trump’s reputation as a deregulator should be reconsidered in light of the immigration restrictions pursued during his first term. Somin noted that although the Trump Administration estimates that its deregulatory efforts have saved $570 million per year, this figure does not include the costs of its immigration policies. Somin argued that the direct costs of these regulations and their collateral effects on the economy likely outweigh the Administration’s other deregulatory cost savings. Somin also claimed that such regulations are untenable not only due to their economic burdens but because they subject refugees to oppression, exhibit cruelty towards U.S. citizen children with undocumented parents, and expose innocent Americans to racial profiling and negligent deportation.