WASHINGTON: Hundreds of migrants in the United States were arrested Thursday and others flown out of the country on military aircraft as President Donald Trump’s promised mass deportation operation got underway, the White House said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s administration on Thursday “arrested 538 illegal immigrant criminals,” adding “hundreds” were deported by military aircraft.

“The largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway,” she said in a post on social media platform X.

On his first day in office, Trump signed orders declaring a “national emergency” at the southern border and announced the deployment of more troops to the area, vowing to deport “criminal aliens.”

US president orders files on JFK, MLK killings be made public; revokes Fauci’s security

Assassination files

The US president has also ordered the declassification of the last secret files on the assassination of former president John F. Kennedy, a case that still fuels conspiracy theories more than 60 years after his death.

He also asked for documents on the 1960s assassinations of JFK’s younger brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. to be made public.

“A lot of people have been waiting for this for years, for decades,” Trump told reporters as he signed the order. “Everything will be revealed.”

The US National Archives has released tens of thousands of records in recent years related to Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963, but has held thousands back, citing national security concerns.

Visits to North Carolina

On Friday, Trump visited disaster-hit western North Carolina on Friday.

He is also due to visit fire-wrecked Los Angeles, where he will be able to see the widespread damage, tallied to cost billions of dollars.

On arrival in Asheville, North Carolina, he sharply attacked the Federal Eme­rgency Management Agency’s (FEMA) handling of the after-effects of September’s Hurricane Helene.

During a briefing about recovery efforts, the Republican Trump promised to speedily help North Carolina “get the help you need” to rebuild.

He said he would prefer the states be given federal money to handle disasters themselves rather than rely on FEMA to do the job. “I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away,” he said.

In LA, officials say Trump will meet firefighters and people who have been affected by the blazes that have killed more than two dozen people in Los Angeles, the second-biggest US city.

China tariff

Trump changed his tone from pledges made on his campaign trail, saying this week he would “rather not” impose tariffs on China.

After taking office on Monday, Trump said 10 per cent tariffs on all Chinese imports could kick in on February 1 — and on the campaign trail touted a levy as high as 60 per cent.

But in an interview on Fox News on Thursday, Trump said: “We have one very big power over China, and that’s tariffs, and they don’t want them, and I’d rather not have to use it.”

Asked during the same interview if he would “reach out” to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again, Trump replied: “I will, yeah. He liked me.”

‘Hire your own security’

Trump said on Friday that he has revoked security protection for Anthony Fauci, who has received death threats over his handling of the pandemic.

He urged his former Covid advisor to hire his own security.

Trump said that when you work for government, “at some point your security detail comes off, and you know, you can’t have them forever.”

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2025