May 22, 2025

Good morning. Two Israeli embassy aides were shot and killed outside an event in Washington. Trump criticized South Africa's leader, Cyril Ramaphosa, in the Oval Office. And the government continues to deport migrants to countries they're not from.

A DEADLY SHOOTING IN D.C.

Two young Israeli Embassy staff members were shot and killed at close range in downtown Washington last night. They were leaving a reception for diplomats at the Capital Jewish Museum. Here's what we know about the shooting.

The suspect: A 30-year-old man is in custody. He approached four people, shot the two victims, then walked into the museum, where security detained him and he shouted "Free, free Palestine."
The victims: Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim were about to be engaged. "The young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem," the Israeli ambassador said.
The response: Benjamin Netanyahu called the shooting a "horrifying antisemitic murder." President Trump wrote on social media that the killings were based in antisemitism, adding: "Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA."

About a dozen migrants are walking on a tarmac after disembarking a U.S. Air Force plane.

Deported migrants arriving in Guatemala, in January. Daniele Volpe for The New York Times

Final destination

	By German Lopez

The Trump administration keeps sending migrants to countries they are not from. Yesterday, a federal judge held a contentious hearing about migrants reportedly heading to South Sudan and declared that the administration had violated a previous order. The administration has sent people who weren't natives to El Salvador, Panama and Costa Rica. It is also asking other countries, such as Libya and Rwanda, to accept deportees.

Today's newsletter explains how and why the Trump administration is doing this.

Is it legal?

Yes, with some safeguards.

Federal law allows deportations to third countries. Presidents of both parties have used this power when an immigrant's nation of origin is "recalcitrant," meaning officials there won't take him or her back. Venezuela, for instance, accepts deportees only sporadically. So if an administration wants to deport Venezuelans, it often needs to send them somewhere else.

The policy comes with two protections: First, migrants can challenge their deportation in court. And second, the destination must not be dangerous for them. Yesterday's hearing touched on both issues. The judge, Brian Murphy, had ordered the administration not to deport migrants to third countries without giving them at least 15 days' notice to raise concerns about potential dangers. Murphy said he might hold officials in criminal contempt for violating that order.

The Trump administration has used creative legal arguments to carry out third-country deportations, such as invoking the Alien Enemies Act to send Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador. That's not always necessary. The plaintiffs in Murphy's court already had a "final order of removal," so they had gone through the typical immigration court process.

Why South Sudan?

We don't yet know if South Sudan is where the migrants are headed. The administration said it had sent eight migrants to a third country, but it hasn't confirmed which. Their plane last stopped in the east African nation of Djibouti, my colleagues reported.

If South Sudan is the final destination, it's likely the result of an agreement between the United States and South Sudan. Not many places want to take foreigners who the U.S. government says are criminals. But President Trump has offered economic incentives to entice third countries to play along. For example, the administration is paying El Salvador millions of dollars to hold deportees in its prisons.

Another thing that sets South Sudan apart is that it's dangerous. The State Department advises Americans not to travel there because it's so violent. For Trump, that may be part of the goal: It sends a message that people who come to the United States illegally could end up in the world's most dangerous places. That perception could scare away future migrants. In other words, fear is the point.

More on immigration: "Keep him where he is": After the mistaken deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, Trump officials fiercely debated strategies for influencing news coverage, according to documents obtained by The Times. Read the inside story.

WHITE HOUSE CONFRONTATION

President Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, left, are seated next to each other in the Oval Office. Both men are gesturing with their hands.

President Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa Eric Lee/The New York Times

At a televised meeting in the Oval Office, Trump surprised the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, with a video and printouts that he said were evidence of persecution against white South African farmers. Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent, explains what the scene tells us about Trump's views on race.

In the Oval Office yesterday, Trump positioned himself as the savior of white South Africans.

Sitting alongside Ramaphosa, Trump said white people were "being executed." He referred over and over again to "dead white people." He dressed down Ramaphosa, who helped his country cast off the racist policies of apartheid, and questioned why he was not doing more when white people were being killed.

"I don't know how you explain that," Trump said. "How do you explain that?"

The American president was not much interested in the answer, which is that police statistics do not show that white people are more vulnerable to violent crime than other people in South Africa.

The confrontation provided a vivid demonstration of Trump's views on race. After rising to power in part by framing himself as a protector of white America, Trump has used his platform to elevate claims of white grievance.

For Trump, white people are the true victims; Black people and other minorities have received an unfair advantage in the United States. And when Trump looks to South Africa, a majority-Black country emerging from a legacy of apartheid and colonialism, he sees white people who need sanctuary.

Read the rest of Zolan's analysis here.

For more: Ramaphosa wanted to hit the reset button, to discuss tariffs and trade. Instead, his efforts backfired spectacularly, John Eligon writes.

THE LATEST NEWS

House Republicans' Bill

The House is debating the Republicans' sweeping domestic policy bill. Follow our coverage here.
Speaker Mike Johnson, in an effort to win over holdouts, agreed to a number of changes, including speeding up the date for Medicaid work requirements.
The concessions may not be enough to flip Republican opponents of the bill. The House looks like it will vote on the bill soon.
The bill would give newborns $1,000 in "Trump accounts."

Qatari Jet

The Boeing 747-8 from Qatar, in Florida. Al Drago for The New York Times

The U.S. officially accepted the luxury Boeing 747 that Qatar promised to Trump. The Air Force will outfit it to serve as the new Air Force One.
Senate Democrats argued that the Constitution prohibits the acceptance of such a gift without congressional approval. Senator Chuck Schumer called the jet "the largest foreign bribe in modern history."

A COMING STORM?

The Trump administration has fired people and slashed budgets at the agencies that forecast and respond to weather disasters. With the Atlantic hurricane season set to begin, Judson Jones, a meteorologist who has covered those cuts, explains the potential impact at three agencies.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has lost about one-quarter of its full-time staff. That includes half of the experts who led teams to get aid to those who have been affected by emergencies.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been preparing to lose as much as a fifth of its staff. It now has fewer workers to build the next generation of computer forecast models, which would provide the U.S. with quicker, more accurate hurricane forecasts.
The National Weather Service has reduced its work force in local offices. Now, some locations, including offices along the coasts where hurricanes can strike, are severely short staffed. Some no longer monitor the weather overnight. Others have stopped launching weather balloons, which means they will have less data from the atmosphere about temperature, humidity and wind direction to feed into forecast models.

For more about what the cuts could mean this hurricane season, read our full story here.

OPINIONS

Trump sees Benjamin Netanyahu for what he is: a weak leader with nothing to offer, Mairav Zonszein writes.

Nicholas Kristof shares three ways to resist authoritarianism.

Catch up on the biggest news, and wind down to end your day.

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MORNING READS

Amid a lush garden of vibrant green trees, a man stands near the top of a ladder with pruning shears.

In a suburb of Melbourne, Australia Anu Kumar

Our favorite gardens: See pictures from England to Australia.

Ask the Therapist: "My husband had an affair, and I divorced him. Should our kids know why?"

Optimizing: Is using tech to self-monitor our health making us paranoid?

Your pick: The most-clicked story in The Morning asked whether there is a least bad alchohol for your body.

Trending: Apartment-hunting videos on YouTube have become popular. They try to give a realistic view of New York City's difficult housing market.

Lives Lived: Jim Irsay was the outspoken owner of the Indianapolis Colts. He spent his life in football, from witnessing his father's controversial team relocation to leading the Colts through a Super Bowl victory. He died at 65.

SPORTS

N.B.A.: A clutch shot by Tyrese Haliburton sent Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals into overtime, where the Indiana Pacers secured a come-from-behind win over the New York Knicks. Here's how it happened.

Most Valuable Player: Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won the award after leading the league in average points per game.

Indy 500: IndyCar powerhouse Team Penske fired its senior leadership team just five days before the Indianapolis 500, after a cheating scandal.

ARTS AND IDEAS

Shelves are lined with hundreds of stuffed animals, figurines and toys shaped like Stitch, the fictional blue alien from the movie

In Orlando, Fla. Zack Wittman for The New York Times

In recent years, Stitch, the fuzzy blue alien from Disney's "Lilo & Stitch," has quietly become one of the company's most merchandised characters. Stitch appears on neck pillows and power banks, on yogurt and slime. Stitch figurines are even sold at Graceland.

His cultural permeation is belated: When the film was released in 2002, it failed to generate the immediate cultural cachet of predecessors like "The Lion King." But consumers have become obsessed over the years, enough so that Disney has made a live-action version of the film, which hits theaters this weekend. "Honestly, I think about him all the time," Elle Bauerlein said of Stitch. "Like, 10 hours every day."