ICE detains then releases student; US and Ukraine sign deal; cuts to Medicaid unpopular; Judge rules Trump unlawfully deported immigrants; Waltz fired and hired.

As some Republicans voiced their concerns about Trump’s battle with the judiciary (especially the ham-handed arrest of a county judge who helped an undocumented immigrant out of her courthouse when ICE arrived to arrest him), there seems to be some letup. After ICE detained a Columbia University student who held a green card (at what was supposed to be a naturalization interview, of all things) because he was a Palestinian activist, a US District Court judge ordered his release—and ICE complied. The judge denied a stay of the release pending appeal, saying further detention would have a chilling effect on First Amendment rights. This is the first time a foreign student arrested by the Trump administration to be deported has been released by ICE.

The US and Ukraine finally signed a minerals deal, setting up an investment fund that will allow the US to contribute money and military supplies to Ukraine in the future and collect a percentage of profits from Ukraine’s mineral extractions down the road. It specifically allowed for Ukraine’s admission to the European Union, requiring changes to the agreement if that becomes necessary for that goal. This looks like a step in the direction of a harder line against Putin’s war against Ukraine.

With all the talk about cutting federal expenditures and the likely need to include Medicaid cuts in that mix, surveys show that Medicaid cuts are deeply unpopular as the graph below shows:

And in a return to the craziness of Trump’s first term, Trump ousted Mike Waltz from his role as national security adviser over concerns about his use of a group chat to discuss with family, well, national security matters. But shortly thereafter, Trump announced that his nominee for ambassador to the UN was—Mike Waltz. Apparently, nothing important happens at the UN.