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Constitutional standoff, Houthi escalation and deadly storms

 
Today's LEGAL story

White House ignores judicial deportation blocks

What happened
The Trump administration said yesterday it had deported dozens of Venezuelans to El Salvador on Saturday under an executive proclamation President Donald Trump quietly signed Friday, claiming wartime powers under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to summarily expel alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The deportations appeared to defy an order from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg. Another federal judge said yesterday that immigration officials in Boston had apparently "willfully" deported Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese kidney transplant specialist at Brown University with a valid H-1B visa, despite his order blocking her expulsion. 

Who said what
Boasberg told government lawyers at 6:47 p.m. on Saturday that any airplanes with people being deported under the 1798 law must "immediately" return to the U.S, even if that meant "turning around the plane." The Alien Enemies Act has only been invoked three times, most recently in World War II to inter Japanese Americans.

According to flight tracking sites and video posted by El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, three flights carrying 261 immigrants landed in San Salvador more than five hours after Boasberg's restraining order, and one left Texas 10 minutes after it was filed. "Oopsie, too late," Bukele said yesterday on X, with a laughing emoji. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reposted the comment. The video showed the deportees transported to a notorious prison.

Boasberg's written order, filed at 7:26 p.m., "didn't explicitly mention planes that were already in the air," The Wall Street Journal said. "Typically lawyers view orders issued orally by judges as carrying full legal weight," but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt "appeared to point to" that omission Sunday. The White House "did not 'refuse to comply' with a court order," she said.

Legal analysts yesterday were "stitching together the timeline" to determine "how close the Trump administration is to open defiance of the Constitution's system of checks and balances," The New York Times said. "We wanted them on the ground first, before a judge could get the case, but this is how it worked out," a White House official told Axios. Two officials said the White House ignored Boasberg's order after lawyers decided it did not apply because the planes were out of U.S. airspace. 

What next?
Boasberg scheduled a Friday hearing on the merits of the case, even as the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., weighs the Trump administration's appeal.

 
 
Today's INTERNATIONAL story

Houthis vow retaliation amid US airstrikes

What happened
Yemen's Houthi-run health ministry said yesterday that large-scale U.S. airstrikes over the weekend killed at least 53 people, including women and children. Houthi leaders vowed retaliation and unsuccessfully fired drones and missiles at U.S. warships. President Donald Trump said Saturday that the U.S. would use "overwhelming lethal force" against the Houthis until they stopped attacking ships in the Red Sea. U.S. officials said the strikes could continue for weeks.

Who said what
The Houthis suspended their yearlong campaign against commercial ships in January after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza. They threatened to restart the attacks last week but have not done so yet. "We will confront escalation with escalation," Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said in a televised speech last night. If the "American enemy" continues its "aggression, we will move to additional escalation options" beyond attacking warships.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on "Fox News Sunday" that the "unrelenting" U.S. strikes would continue until "the minute the Houthis say, 'We'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones.'" Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS News the U.S. would keep attacking until the Houthis "no longer have the capability" to constrain Red Sea shipping traffic.

What next?
Trump "joins a succession of U.S. presidents" in ordering strikes on the Houthis, The Wall Street Journal said, but so far the Iran-backed group's "own attacks and defiant response to Western airstrikes" have only boosted their global stature and "popularity in the Arab world." It's "absurd" to think "this massive wave of airstrikes" will cow the Houthis, U.S. Middle East analyst Mohammed Albasha told the newspaper. "They're going to retaliate and retaliate severely. It's going to be a vicious cycle."

 
 
Today's NATIONAL Story

Severe storms kill dozens across central US

What happened
At least 40 people were killed over the weekend in a complex of powerful tornadoes, wind-fueled wildfires and dust storms across the Midwest and South. Mississippi was whipped by 32 of the 81 tornadoes, and Missouri recorded at least 12 deaths, the most of any state.

Who said what
The "scale of devastation" in Missouri is "staggering," Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) said yesterday. One of the 17 tornadoes that struck that state left a "debris field" where a house stood previously, Butler County coroner Jim Akers said. "The floor was upside down. We were walking on walls."

Along with 24 deaths reported from tornadoes, at least 12 people were killed in multicar pileups in Kanas and Texas, and Oklahoma recorded four deaths related to wildfires and strong winds. "Nobody has enough resources to fight fires when the wind is blowing 70 mph," said Terry Essary, the fire chief in Stillwater, Oklahoma. "It's an insurmountable task."

What next?
The "large storm system is expected to move offshore" today after pushing through the East Coast, halting flights from Florida to New York, The New York Times said. That's likely the end of the extreme and tempestuous weather for "at least a few to several days," said meteorologist Rich Otto at the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center. But "this is probably not the last time we'll talk about severe thunderstorms in the next several weeks."

 
 

It's not all bad

British regulators have approved a first-of-its-kind medication to treat endometriosis, a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside of the organ. Ryeqo (sold as Myfembree in the U.S.) is a tablet that works faster than current injectable treatments and is taken once a day without necessitating regular doctor's visits, "putting control back in patients' hands," Helen Knight, the director of the U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, said to Sky News.

 
 
Under the radar

Westerners' consumption of a little-known tree gum, used in everything from Coca-Cola and Nestlé pet food to L'Oréal lipsticks and M&M sweets, could be funding both sides in Sudan's bitter civil war. Gum arabic, derived from the sap of acacia trees, is widely used as a stabilizer, thickener and binding agent. For global billion-dollar consumer companies, said financial news site Finshots, "uninterrupted access to this key ingredient is non-negotiable."  

About 80% of the world's gum arabic is harvested in Sudan, where the acacia trees stretch from border to border. But the sap is "increasingly being trafficked from rebel-held areas" of the war-torn nation, Reuters said, citing industry sources. This is "complicating Western companies' efforts" to disengage their supply chains from the devastating conflict.  

Because of this complexity, few Western companies are taking active steps to avoid Sudanese gum arabic, said The Wall Street Journal. Some have argued that doing so would "hurt hundreds of thousands of Sudanese who depend on the sap for their livelihoods," against the backdrop of growing famine.  

But it's also logistically difficult. The raw product is "making its way to Sudan's neighbors without proper certification," Reuters said. Recently, traders in countries with lower production, such as Chad and Senegal, or that "barely exported it before the war," like Egypt and South Sudan, have begun "aggressively" offering it at cheap prices "without proof that it's conflict-free." Coca-Cola and Nestlé declined to comment to Reuters, while L'Oréal and M&M maker Mars "did not return requests for comment."

 
 
On this day

March 17, 461

Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is thought to have died on this day. Patrick was believed to have been a missionary in Ireland throughout the fifth century and is a formative figure in Irish Christianity. March 17 is celebrated each year as St. Patrick's Day, a celebration of Irish culture.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

The Trump administration is "rapped over lies, 'sham' records" as "judges criticize Trump defense" and Attorney General "Pam Bondi's changes shaking up the Justice Department," USA Today says on Monday's front page. "Wartimes power used to deport some migrants," despite "court ruling blocking flights," and a Venezuelan "migrant couple arrested despite protected status," The Washington Post says. Meanwhile, a "Trump loyalist's VOA plans are thrown into limbo" as the president slashes the state media outlet. "Trump orders the dismantling of Radio and TV Martí," the Miami Herald says.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Artificial anxiety

AI chatbots are starting to suffer from anxiety when given disturbing information, increasing the likelihood of them responding with bias, according to a new study. The chatbots do respond to mindfulness-based exercises, changing how they interact with users after being prompted with calming imagery and meditations. The research, conducted by Yale University, Haifa University, the University of Zurich and the University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich, could be "used to inform how AI can be used in mental health interventions," said Fortune.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: El Salvador Presidency / Handout / Anadolu via Getty Images; Mohammed Huwais / AFP via Getty Images; Brad Vest / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images