US updates: Trump orders closure of Department of Education

A US judge has temporarily blocked tech billionaire Elon Musk and his aides at the cost-cutting body DOGE from accessing sensitive data from the Social Security Administration (SSA).

District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander of Maryland said on Thursday that the SSA likely violated privacy laws by giving DOGE "unbridled access" to the data of millions of Americans. 

She ordered a halt to further record sharing and the deletion of information DOGE has already received that has not been anonymized. 

DOGE was intruding into "the personal affairs of millions of Americans" as part of its hunt to slash government waste, she said.

The SSA holds sensitive data on millions of Americans, including medical records, earnings history and social security numbers. 

It is just one of at least 20 agencies DOGE has accessed since January.

The ruling comes two days after a different federal judge ruled Musk's efforts to shut down the US Agency for International Development were likely unconstitutional.

Dramatic aid cuts globally are risking lives around the world, the UN refugee chief has warned. 

"Brutal funding cuts in the humanitarian sector are putting millions of lives at risk," UNHCR Commissioner Filippo Grandi said in a statement released on Thursday.

"The consequences for people fleeing danger will be immediate and devastating." 

In this latest statement, Grandi did not explicitly mention the United States, which provided more than $2 billion (€1.84 billion) in donations to UNHCR 2024, making up around a fifth of the agency's total donations of $10.6 billion.

But Grandi has previously warned that the majority of UN agencies were affected by the US freeze of most foreign aid funding. 

He now warns that lives will be lost and appealed to UN member states to honor their commitments.

"This is not just a funding shortfall — it is a crisis of responsibility. The cost of inaction will be measured in suffering, instability and lost futures," Grandi said.

UNHCR helps millions of people around the world fleeing conflict and persecution. Forced displacement is currently at record levels, with the figure of 123 million people set to rise.

A UNHCR spokesperson confirmed to the AFP news agency on Thursday that it has frozen over $300 million of planned activities as part of cost-saving efforts. 

A judge has ordered immigration officials not to deport Badar Khan Suri, an Indian academic studying in the United States on a fellowship, until the court has had a chance to rule.

The Department of Homeland Security detained Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, late Monday after it deemed him a threat to US foreign policy. The department said it intended to deport him. 

The US district judge ordered on Thursday that Suri "shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court issues a contrary order."

The US Department of Homeland Security accused Suri of ties to the Palestinian militant group Hamas and said he had spread Hamas propaganda and antisemitism on social media. 

Suri is living in the US on a student visa. He is married to an American citizen who was born in Gaza. 

US Attorney General Pamela Bondi has announced charges against three individuals responsible for fire-bombing Tesla electric vehicles and charging stations.

"The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended," Bondi said in a statement released on Thursday. "Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars."

Tesla vehicles have been repeatedly set on fire in protest against Tesla founder Elon Musk and his role as the government's chief austerity commissioner for Trump's administration. Trump had openly expressed support for prosecuting violence against Tesla as domestic terrorism.

The announcement came as US safety regulators recalled virtually all Tesla Cybertrucks. It's the eighth recall of the vehicles in just more than one year.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's recall covers more than 46,000 Cybertrucks and warned that an exterior panel on the left and right side of the windshield could detach while driving.

A federal judge stopped Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing Social Security records.

US District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander called DOGE's attempt to access the personal records a "fishing expedition." She also ruled that the Social Security Administration likely violated privacy laws by giving DOGE "unbridled access to the personal and private data of millions of Americans."

"The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion," she said in her ruling. "It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack."

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday "aimed at eliminating" the US Education Department.

"We're going to shut it down as quickly as possible," Trump said, surrounded by students sitting at desks. "It's doing us no good."  

Trump has called on Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take all legal steps to shut down the department. 

He also said critical programs currently operated by the Education Department would be moved to other agencies.

The president said dismantling the department would return decisions on education to the country's states. 

Congress would have to pass legislation to close the Department of Education completely. It is, however, unlikely that Trump has support from enough lawmakers to pass such a law.