WH advisor: Admin “actively looking at” suspending due process for migrants – National & International News – FRI 9May2025

 

Trump advisor: WH “actively looking at” suspending due process for migrants.

Menendez Bros’ resentencing hearing set for next week after damaging risk assessment.

Trump’s growing frustration with Netanyahu may signal shift in US-Israel relations.

 

 

White House advisor says admin “actively looking at” suspending due process for migrants 

For the past few months, the Trump administration has been embroiled in several court battles over its attempts to deport undocumented migrants while skirting around their rights to due process. Top White House advisor Stephen Miller, the chief architect of many of Trump’s immigration policies, believes he has a way around that – a declaration that the US is being invaded.

Miller told reporters today that the “privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended at a time of invasion. So I would say that’s an action we’re actively looking at”. He added, “a lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not”.

In March, Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), began rapidly detaining and deporting migrants, apparently in hopes of doing so before a judge could weigh in. This resulted in hundreds of migrants being deported to El Salvador, were they are held in a notorious supermax prison known as CECOT. This included at least one man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the Department of Justice admitted had been detained and deported “in error”.

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Related: Foreign student released after being detained by ICE for writing pro-Palestine Op-Ed.

 

Menendez Bros’ resentencing hearing set for next week after damaging risk assessment 

Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were famously convicted of the 1989 murders of their parents Kitty and Jose, will have a long-awaited day in court next week. This hearing will be another step forward in determining whether the two brothers, now in their 50s, will have their life sentences reduced after 35 years in prison. 

Last year, following a swell of public support and sympathy for the brothers, the Los Angeles District Attorney recommended resentencing. However, the DA’s office has now changed its position and withdrawn its support for the brothers’ petition, which could have potentially seen them released. 

The brothers have gained public sympathy after claiming that their father Jose sexually abused both of them as children for years. In addition, a former singer of the ’80s boy band Menudo claimed he had also been assaulted by Jose, who was a record company executive.

“Moderate” risk

In a chaotic hearing last month, prosecutors argued that the judge should consider the results of a comprehensive risk assessment (CRA) performed on the brothers in his decision about whether to resentence them. The 90-day CRA was ordered as part of a separate clemency bid by the brothers. The assessment was to determine what risk the brothers might pose to the public should they be released. 

Today, DA Nathan Hochman revealed in court that the CRA found both brothers to be at “moderate” risk of committing violence if released into the public. 

Hochman offered excerpts from the assessment, which found that elder brother Lyle had “narcissistic and antisocial” tendencies, and that Erik remains vulnerable to the influence of others and is unable or unwilling to self-monitor. Hochman also noted that both brothers had been caught with smuggled devices, after Hochman’s predecessor had recommended they be resentenced.

 

Trump’s growing frustration with Netanyahu may signal shift in US-Israel relations

In recent weeks, there have been several signs of a shift in the US relationship with the government of Israel. Actions by President Trump and other White House officials have signaled growing impatience with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, particularly over his refusal to agree to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage exchange with Hamas. Recent developments include.

• Reports that Trump is refusing to speak to Netanyahu because he believes Netanyahu is trying to manipulate him
• Trump’s approval earlier this week of a ceasefire deal with Yemen’s Houthis. The deal made no demand that Yemen stop attacking Israeli shipping in the Red Sea, nor their intentions to continue firing missiles at Israel, in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. This announcement caught Israeli officials completely off guard, just days after a Houthi missile struck near Israel’s main airport.
•  Progress in talks between the US and Iran to restore the Iran nuclear deal, over Netanyahu’s vehement objections. 
• Trump’s decision not to visit Israel during his trip to the Middle East this week, despite Israel’s requests. Trump will instead be visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE
• Today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced he was also canceling a trip to Israel, planned for Monday, after a request from Trump.

WH officials press Israel: sign ceasefire or you’re on your own

An unnamed US official told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Israel must sign a ceasefire deal with Hamas before Trump’s visit to the Middle East next week or find itself isolated. 

During his visit to Saudi Arabia, Trump plans to strike major deals with the kingdom, potentially to include providing US tech to kick start a Saudi nuclear program for power generation. The US previously set Saudi normalization with Israel as a prerequisite for such a deal. Trump has now dropped that requirement.

Trump’s special diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff also recently told a group of Israeli hostage family members that Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip were endangering hostages. Earlier this week, Trump announced that three more hostages had been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel resumed bombing in early March. Israel’s government had not previously disclosed this publicly, although they have since acknowledged that they have had “concerns” about the status of these hostages. 

Witkoff also told the hostage families: “Until now, the hostages have paid the price for the war not ending. Today the price will be much heavier for Israel, and not just for the hostages. President Trump is determined to move forward toward a significant deal with Saudi Arabia, even without Israeli involvement.” He added that, “If Israel doesn’t come to its senses, the price of missing out will be higher than ever before”. 

How isolated will Israel be?

Since the beginning of March, when Israel unilaterally withdrew from a ceasefire agreement endorsed by Trump, Israel has imposed a total blockade on Gaza. No food, no water, no medical supplies or any other aid have entered the Strip during that time. International organizations have accused Israel of using starvation of Gaza’s 2 million inhabitants as a weapon of war.

Earlier this week, Israel’s security cabinet, led by Netanyahu, approved a plan to intensify their attacks on Gaza, threatening to flatten and reoccupy the Strip. Israeli officials warned that if Hamas did not capitulate and accept a very one-sided deal by the time Trump left the Middle East, Israel would resume a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza. In hindsight, it now appears that this threat was made out of fear that Trump was losing patience with Israel’s insistence on continuing the war. 

While Trump has amply signaled his displeasure, it is not clear how far he is willing to go. The US remains Israel’s largest supplier of weapons, including the bombs and bullets it is using in Gaza. Despite US diplomatic pressure, it is unlikely that Netanyahu will cease his campaign against Gaza, because retaining his grip on power depends on continuing it. It remains to be seen whether Trump is willing to use his biggest bargaining chip (US military support) to humble Netanyahu.