The Latest: Trump administration targets Education Department for closure

Trump

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Thursday “aimed at eliminating” the U.S. Education Department, advancing a campaign promise to eliminate an agency that’s been a longtime target of conservatives. The Justice Department is resisting a federal judge’s demand for more information about flights that took deportees to El Salvador, arguing that the court should end its “continued intrusions” into executive branch authority. A different federal judge allowed Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to remain in control of the U.S. Institute of Peace, an independent nonprofit created by Congress. And the Trump administration has suspended approximately $175 million in funding for the University of Pennsylvania over a transgender swimmer who last competed for the school in 2022.

Here's the latest:

The Education Department was created to ensure equal access. Who would do that in its absence?

The equity goal of the Education Department, which was created by Congress in 1979, emerged partly from the anti-poverty and civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

But as the Trump administration moves to dismantle it, officials have suggested other agencies could take over its major responsibilities: civil rights enforcement to the Justice Department, perhaps; student loans to Treasury or Commerce; oversight of student disability rights to Health and Human Services.

Advocates are worried about what could happen with a more lofty part of the department’s mission — promoting equal access for students in an American education system that is fundamentally unequal. Without the department, they’re concerned that the federal government would not look out in the same way for poor students, those still learning English, disabled students and racial and ethnic minorities.

Georgetown University defends scholar who was seized for deportation and jailed in Louisiana

Badar Khan Suri was determined to be deportable for “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said late Wednesday on X.

A Georgetown statement says the Indian national was “duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan” while studying at the university’s center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

“We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention,” the school said. “We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”

Slightly more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs remain historically low.

That’s according to the Labor Department’s latest tally of jobless claims filings, showing they rose by 2,000 last week to slightly less than the 224,000 new applications analysts forecast.

The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of March 8 rose by 33,000 to 1.89 million.

Economists don’t expect the Trump administration’s federal workforce layoffs to appear until the March jobs report.

Trump’s 200% tariff threat would be ‘a real disaster’ for Europe’s wine industry

Across wine country in France, Italy and Spain one number is top of mind: 200%.

That’s because last week Trump threatened a tariff of that amount on European wine, Champagne and other spirits if the European Union went ahead with retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. products. The top wine producers in Europe could face crippling costs that would hit smaller wineries especially hard.

Europe’s wine industry is the latest to find itself in the crosshairs of a possible trade spat with the U.S.

Italy, France and Spain are among the top five exporters of wine to the United States. Trump made his threat to Europe’s alcohol industry after the European Union announced a 50% tax on American whiskey expected to take effect on April 1. That duty was unveiled in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum.

Trump plans executive order to lay groundwork for shutting down Education Department, official says

The White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity before the announcement, said Trump plans to sign the order on Thursday.

Finalizing the elimination of the Department of Education would require an act of Congress.

But a White House fact sheet said the order would direct Education Secretary Linda McMahon “to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure (of) the Department of Education and return education authority to the States, while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”

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Associated Press reporter Chris Megerian contributed.

Social Security Administration to require in-person identity checks for new and existing recipients

In an effort to limit fraudulent claims, the Social Security Administration will impose tighter identity-proofing measures — which will require millions of recipients and applicants to visit agency field offices rather than interact with the agency over the phone.

Beginning March 31st, people will no longer be able to verify their identity to the SSA over the phone and those who cannot properly verify their identity over the agency’s “my Social Security” online service, will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, agency leadership told reporters Tuesday.

The change will apply to new Social Security applicants and existing recipients who want to change their direct deposit information.

Retiree advocates warn that the change will negatively impact older Americans in rural areas, including those with disabilities, mobility limitations, those who live far from SSA offices and have limited internet access.

Maine found in violation of Title IX over transgender athletes after Trump clashed with governor

Maine’s education office is being ordered to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports or face federal prosecution, an escalation in Trump’s threats to pull federal money from states and schools over transgender athletes.

The Education Department on Wednesday said an investigation concluded Maine’s education office violated the Title IX antidiscrimination law by allowing transgender girls to compete on girls’ sports teams and use girls’ facilities. It’s giving Maine 10 days to comply with a list of demands or face Justice Department prosecution.

The federal investigation was opened Feb. 21, just hours after Trump and the state’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills, clashed over the issue at a meeting of governors at the White House. During the heated exchange, Mills told the Republican president, “We’ll see you in court.”

Berkeley Faculty Protest

People rally at the University of California, Berkeley campus to protest the Trump administration Wednesday, March 19, 2025, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)ASSOCIATED PRESS

Trump

Deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)ASSOCIATED PRESS

Israel Palestinians Trump Protest New York

People gather to protest against Israel and President Donald Trump in front of a Trump-branded building Wednesday, March 19, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)ASSOCIATED PRESS