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Exit offer, Gaza takeover and Hollywood tariffs confusion

 
Today's IMMIGRATION story

Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'

What happened
The Department of Homeland Security said yesterday it would give $1,000 and a plane ticket home to any undocumented immigrants who opted to "self-deport," calling the "historic" offer a "dignified way to leave the U.S." Migrants who register for "voluntary self-deportation" through the Customs and Border Protection app will be "deprioritized for detention and removal," DHS said, so long as "they are making meaningful strides" toward their departure.

Who said what
President Donald Trump said migrants might be given a "path to coming back into the country" if they self-deport, though neither he nor DHS explained how. "Maybe someday, with a little work, they can come back in," he said, "if they're the kind of people that we want in our country." But Aaron Reichlin-Melnick at the American Immigration Council told The Associated Press that immigrants would probably be better off staying in the country if they hoped to gain legal status. The administration is pushing self-deportation, he said, because "they’re not getting their numbers."

Trump is "struggling to increase deportations to fulfill" his campaign promise of a million expulsions in his first year, The Wall Street Journal said. Despite aggressive tactics and high deportation quotas, his administration has averaged "about 660 a day, compared with 742 a day in 2024."

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News that immigrants should trust the offer because "we're giving you our word that we will give you this money and that you can leave today," but there will also be "documentation."

What next?
DHS said it had already paid for one plane ticket for a migrant to return to Honduras from Chicago and more tickets were being booked for this week and next. It's not clear where the department is finding the money for the $1,000 stipends and other costs, but DHS said each self-deportation would cut 70% from the average $17,121 cost of arresting, detaining and removing an immigrant.

 
 
Today's MIDEAST story

Israel approves plan to take over Gaza indefinitely

What happened
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that his security cabinet had agreed to an "intensive" escalation of the 19-month war in Gaza, and his country was "on the eve of a forceful entry" and indefinite occupation to destroy Hamas. The cabinet separately agreed to set up food-distribution "hubs" protected by U.S. contractors, potentially ending a two-month Israeli blockade of all humanitarian assistance into the enclave.

Who said what
Netanyahu's new plan calls up 70,000 reservists to gradually take over all of Gaza, "flatten any buildings that remain standing and displace virtually the entire population of 2 million people to a single 'humanitarian area,'" Axios said. It would kick in if Hamas doesn't agree to a peace deal by May 15, when President Donald Trump concludes a three-day visit to the Middle East. 

Netanyahu's far-right allies said the plan would lead to a permanent takeover of Gaza. The government is "choosing territory over hostages," Israel's Hostage Families Forum said, and going "against the will" of the Israeli people, over 70% of whom oppose a major Gaza operation and favor a peace-and-hostage deal.

What next?
Trump "does not wish to be seen as a loser on an issue that he declared he would resolve" and wants the Gaza situation "resolved by the time he's in the region," a person familiar with White House deliberations told The Washington Post. The success of his dealmaking in the Gulf Arab countries "lies through not having this bleeding sore of Gaza."

 
 
Today's ENTERTAINMENT Story

Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea

What happened
Hollywood executives and unions said yesterday they appreciated President Donald Trump's help in bringing moviemaking back to Los Angeles but were confused by his proposal, posted late Sunday on social media, for a "100% tariff" on movies "coming into" the U.S. "that are produced in foreign lands." California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said last night he was "eager to partner with" Trump to "Make America Film Again" with a $7.5 billion federal film tax credit, the fix favored by Hollywood.

Who said what
Film and TV production in Los Angeles has been declining for years as other countries — and other states, including Georgia and New York — lured away moviemakers with generous tax breaks and cheaper labor. The industry has been "pleading with politicians for years to help stem the exodus," The Wall Street Journal said, but tariffs aren't "what Hollywood had in mind." 

It's not clear what would constitute a "foreign" production, how the tariffs would be applied or how Trump would tax digital streaming services. And expanding his "trade war to include services" exposes Hollywood and other service-based industries to "potentially punishing foreign retaliation," The Washington Post said. "Americans routinely sell foreign customers more services than they buy," and Hollywood alone had a "$15.3 billion trade surplus in 2023," earning 70% of box office revenues from overseas.

What next?
White House spokesperson Kush Desai said yesterday that the administration was "exploring all options" and "no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made." 

 
 

It's not all bad

A creative mobility aid is helping a turtle named Root get around his new home at the Museum of Natural History in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Root, who arrived last September, is missing his right front foot, so his bottom shell scraped when he walked. Inspired by an exhibition at the museum, naturalist interpreter Tessa Biesterfeld used Legos to make Root a platform with wheels. Now, he's scooting around and "getting lots of great exercise," Biesterfeld said to CBC News.

 
 
Under the radar

Four small coral islands, an atoll and a reef in the Indian Ocean are at the center of geopolitical tensions between France and Madagascar. Covering just 16 square miles of land, the Scattered Islands represent "part of the unfinished business of decolonization," said Radio France Internationale.

The islands are "scattered" across the Mozambique Channel and western Indian Ocean, said France 24. They include Bassas da India, Europa, Juan de Nova, Tromelin and the Glorioso Islands. Aside from a handful of French soldiers posted to military installations, they are uninhabited. 

But their value is clear. Each island gives France control of more than 200 nautical miles of surrounding waters and. collectively, more than half of the channel, a key route for global shipping. In 1979, the United Nations passed a nonbinding resolution asking France to return the Scattered Islands to Madagascar, saying they had been arbitrarily separated just before independence.

In recent years, France has "taken steps" toward "acknowledging its colonial past," and President Emmanuel Macron has worked to "reshape the country's image" in Africa, said France 24. But the government "shows little sign" of "relinquishing control" of the islands because they are crucial to its "triangle of power" in the region.

Last week, Macron paid a two-day state visit to Madagascar, and a bilateral commission is due to meet in Paris on June 30 to discuss the future of the Scattered Islands. Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina said the two nations were "determined to find a solution together."

 
 
On this day

May 6, 1937

The German airship Hindenburg exploded, killing 35 people on the ship and one person on the ground. The hydrogen-filled Zeppelin caught fire while on approach to Lakehurst, New Jersey. Images of the burning wreckage crashing to the ground spelled the end of airships as a widely used mode of transportation.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

"'Made in America' becomes a trade war casualty" as "Europans shun goods" from the U.S., The New York Times says on Tuesday's front page.  "A contracting economy squeezes U.S. housing" as "tariffs make building more costly," The Washington Post says. "Job cuts complicate hopes for coal revival," USA Today says. President Donald Trump "calls for 100% tariffs on foreign-made films," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says. "Tariff plot twist panics Hollywood," The Wall Street Journal says. "Hollywood is on the edge of its seat" over Trump's "tariffs twist," the Los Angeles Times says. But his "Alcatraz proposal called 'not serious,'" the San Francisco Chronicle says.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Pop-up party

When the Low Tide Event in Britain's Isles of Scilly is over, it is over — or else participants will find themselves stuck at sea. The festivities take place between two islands, on a sandbar that is normally under 20 feet of water. Twice a year, the tide retreats enough that people can walk across the seabed and stand on dry ground for about 90 minutes. The latest Low Tide Event, last week, drew hundreds of revelers.

 
 

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

Image credits, from top: Andrew Harnik / Getty Images; Menahem Kahana / AFP via Getty Images; Frederic J. Brown /AFP via Getty Images`; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images