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A federal district judge in Massachusetts, Judge Brian Murphy, sought to prevent deportation of violent criminals but was overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court.
On July 4, eight convicted felons, citizens of Burma, Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Vietnam and South Sudan, were deported to South Sudan. The country’s leaders have entered into an agreement with the U.S. to detain criminal foreign nationals, including those who aren’t their citizens. El Salvador and others have entered into similar agreements, with the U.S. government agreeing to pay for detention costs.
U.S. deportation efforts rely on diplomacy with foreign governments, many of which won’t accept their own citizens. Under previous administrations, federal efforts to deport criminal illegal foreign nationals failed because many countries wouldn’t take back their citizens. As a result, they illegally remained in the U.S. even though they had deportation orders from a federal immigration judge, authorities have explained to The Center Square. Under the Trump administration, this has changed.
Those deported to South Sudan were all men illegally in the U.S. with extensive criminal histories, including felony convictions and prison sentences in the U.S. They all received due process in federal immigration court and received final removal orders from federal immigration judges that were never enforced, including one dating back to 1999.
Burmese national Kyaw Mya was convicted of lascivious acts with a child-victim under age 12 and sentenced to 10 years in prison and paroled after four years. ICE- St. Paul officers arrested him; his final removal order was issued March 17, 2022.
Burmese national Nyo Myint was convicted of first-degree sexual assault involving a victim mentally and physically incapable of resisting and sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was also charged with aggravated assault-nonfamily strongarm and a registered sex offender. ICE- St. Paul officers arrested him; his final removal order was issued August 17, 2023.
Cuban national Enrique Arias-Hierro was convicted of homicide, armed robbery, false impersonation of official, kidnapping, and robbery strong arm. His final removal order was issued September 13, 1999. Due to Cuban authorities refusing to take him, he remained illegally in the U.S.
Cuban national Jose Manuel Rodriguez-Quinones was convicted of attempted first-degree murder with a weapon, battery and larceny, and cocaine possession and trafficking. ICE Miami officers arrested him in April; his final removal order was issued Dec. 4, 2012.
Laos national Thongxay Nilakout was convicted of first-degree murder and robbery and sentenced to life in prison. ICE Los Angeles officers arrested him in January. His final removal order was issued July 12, 2023.
Mexican national Jesus Munoz-Gutierrez was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. ICE Miami officers arrested him in May. His final removal order was issued June 16, 2005.
Vietnamese national Tuan Thanh Phan was convicted of first-degree murder and second-degree assault and sentenced to 22 years in prison. ICE Seattle officers arrested him in May. His final removal order was issued June 17, 2009.
The only South Sudan national in the deportation group was Dian Peter Domach, who was first encountered by ICE in 2011 and received a final removal order on July 19, 2011. He wasn’t deported and remained in the U.S. illegally and committed a range of crimes. He was convicted of robbery and possession of a firearm, possession of defaced firearm, possession of burglar’s tools, and driving under the influence.
Murphy, born in 1979, a former public defender and a criminal defense attorney, was appointed by former President Joe Biden less than six months ago. Murphy argued a Supreme Court ruling didn’t apply to his injunction, seeking to keep convicted felons, including sex offenders and murderers, in the U.S. in violation of federal law. His order violated due process, critics argue, because the convicted felon illegal foreign nationals already appeared multiple times before federal immigration judges who issued judgements against them and final orders of removal.
Justice Elena Kagan chastised Murphy in the court’s July 3 ruling, affirming the Trump administration’s authority to deport illegal foreign nationals to third-party countries.

More than 80 people are dead and 51 are missing as a result of the July 4 flash flood event in Texas Hill Country, Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference Sunday night.
There are 59 confirmed deceased and 11 missing from Camp Mystic, in Kerrville and Kerr County, Abbott said. In the Central Texas area, there are confirmed 10 additional people deceased. Statewide, in all areas affected by flooding, there are 41 known missing.
But it’s unknown how many remain missing. Abbott said it was important to clarify that “there were so many people who were just camping out – not children in camps – but adults camping out near the river, people in RVs and things like that,” who are missing. “There are people who are missing, who are not on the known, confirmed missing because we don’t yet know who they are,” he said.
Authorities are involved in ongoing searches “throughout the entire river system to find anybody who may be missing,” he said. Abbott also called on members of the public to contact local Kerr County officials if they believe they know someone is missing who was camping in the area.
“Please contact the local officials in Kerr County and let them know that you have the name, identification and other information about a person who is suspected to be missing,” he said. “Call only if you have specific information,” otherwise calls could slow emergency response efforts, he said.
The state has deployed more than 1,500 personnel and more than 925 vehicles and equipment assets across 20 state agencies in response to the flood event.
Expected dangerous weather conditions continue, Abbott also warned, adding that “life threatening danger over the next 24 to 48 hours” exists. Flash flooding could occur in the regions of “the Big Country, Concho Valley, Central Texas and Kerrville,” he said.
“There are still public safety issues and lives to be saved in Kerr County, and all of these regions,” he said.
He urged Texans to remain vigilant and stay off the roads.
Texas Department of Public Safety Colonel Director Freeman Martin said three people have been reported missing in Williamson County, one has been recovered; the fire chief and a 17-year-old female are missing in Burnet County.
At least six people are confirmed dead and 17 are reported missing in Travis and Burnet counties as a result of flood waters, authorities confirmed to the Dallas Morning News.
Recovering operations are ongoing for everyone including “every single one of the children who were at Camp Mystic, as well as anybody else,” Abbott said. After visiting what’s left of the camp, he said, “it was nothing short of horrific to see what those young children went through.”
“We know that parents and families, they want information, they want closure, and we want them to know that we are working as swiftly as possible to get them accurate information that will provide that closure,” Abbott said.
More than 850 people have been rescued, the majority by the Texas Military Department.
Texas National Guard helped rescue/evacuate 525 people, 366 by air and 159 by ground; 20 were in San Sabo County and five in Burnet County, Texas Military Department Adjutant General Major General Thomas Suelzer said.
One single U.S. Coast Guard officer rescued a record 165 people.
U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer Petty Officer Scott Ruskin “directly saved an astonishing 165 victims in the devastating flooding in central Texas,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said. “This was the first rescue mission of his career and he was the only triage coordinator at the scene. Scott Ruskin is an American hero. His selfless courage embodies the spirit and mission of the USCG.”
The Trump administration is supporting recovery efforts, including the president already approving a major disaster declaration authorizing FEMA assistance.

As the death count in the Independence Day flooding in central Texas has now surpassed that of Hurricane Harvey, with dozens of children reported dead and missing who were camping at Camp Mystic in Kerr County, Texans are asking why a warning system wasn’t in place and why the camp didn’t evacuate when others did.
On Wednesday and Thursday, a series of emergency weather alerts were issued by the National Weather Service and Texas Division of Emergency Management. Despite a decades-long history of flash floods in the Texas Hill Country, and a 1987 flash flood that killed 10 teenagers at a Christian Camp in neighboring Kendall County, Kerr County didn’t have an emergency warning system in place.
This legislative session, a bill to create a coordinated emergency warning system and provide grant funding for rural communities died in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The NWS-Austin/San Antonio issued a Flood Watch Wednesday for several counties, including Kerr County; the NWS San Angelo also issued a flood watch for several counties.
Also on Wednesday, TDEM activated state emergency response resources through 10 state agencies anticipating increased threats of flooding in West and Central Texas ahead of the holiday weekend.
“According to the National Weather Service, heavy rainfall with the potential to cause flash flooding is anticipated across West Texas and the Hill Country beginning tonight and is expected to last a few days. Texans are encouraged to monitor local forecasts and avoid driving or walking into flooded areas,” TDEM said. The next day, it escalated state emergency operations readiness and activated additional resources.
At 1:14 am on Friday, the NWS Austin/San Antonio issued a “life threatening flash flooding” warning for Bandera and Kerr counties, stating, “Some locations that will experience flash flooding include, Kerrville, Ingram, Hunt, Waltonia, Kerr Wildlife Management Area and Lost Maples State Natural Area.”
The NWS also had five people on duty, more than the standard two, to deliver forecasts for its Austin/San Antonio office covering the region, Jason Runyen, a NWS meteorologist, said.
The Department of Homeland Security also said, “The National Weather Service executed timely, precise forecasting and warnings, despite unprecedented rainfall overwhelming the region.” It also published a timeline of NWS alerts.
“These warnings should have provided officials with ample time to evacuate camps such as Camp Mystic and get people to safety,” AccuWeather, which also issued reports on Thursday, citing NWS alerts, said.
By 4 a.m. on Friday, heavy rain caused the Guadeloupe River to rise by more than 26 feet in less than an hour resulting in a flash flood that tore through structures, wiped out RV parks, camper vans and cabins where vacationers or residents were sleeping.
At a news conference on Friday, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said he didn’t know why Camp Mystic and other camps in the county weren’t evacuated.
“Why weren’t these camps evacuated?” a reporter asked.
“I can’t answer that,” the judge replied. “I don’t know.”
“You’re the judge … the top official here in this county. … There’s kids missing. These camps were in harm’s way,” the reporter said.
The judge replied that no one knew “this kind of flood was coming. We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States and we deal with floods on a regular basis. When it rains, we get water. We had no reason to believe that this was going to be any anything like what’s happened.”
On Sunday, Kelly said that several years ago, county officials considered implementing a flood warning system that would function like a tornado warning siren, before he was elected, but never did.
KXAN first reported that county officials didn’t issue warnings until four hours after the NWS alerts, after 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., well after an untold number of people had already been swept away.
The Texas House, under former Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, sought to address crisis communication failures at the local and state level last year.
After a disastrous state response to the Panhandle Wildfires, which destroyed more than 1.2 million acres and caused more than $1 billion in economic losses, the Texas House launched an investigation and proposed solutions. State Rep. Phil King introduced a bill to provide grant funding for rural community emergency alert systems and streamline and improve first responder communications. It passed the House with bipartisan support, with 16 Republicans voting against it, only to die in the Senate Finance Committee.
It remains unclear why Camp Mystic didn’t evacuate children on Thursday after the first NWS and TDEM warnings were issued. Mo-Ranch Camp near Hunt moved several hundred campers and attendees to higher ground; nearby Camps Rio Vista and Sierra Vista ended their summer session early on Thursday.
As of Sunday afternoon, authorities in Kerr County had found the bodies of 40 adults and 28 children; 10 campers are still missing.

This week will be light on data releases, but heavy on Federal Reserve insights that could shape market expectations for the remainder of 2025.
Fed Minutes Take Center Stage
A couple of Fed president speeches and more importantly the minutes of the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting will likely steal the show. Expect to see highlights of the current discussion: weighing the risk of higher tariff-induced inflation versus a slowing labor market that is beginning to show serious cracks.
After the June meeting, the FOMC updated its expectations for economic growth and inflation in its Summary of Economic Projections (SEP). The median projection for the unemployment rate in 2025 was revised higher to 4.5% from 4.4%. However, inflation was also revised up to 3% from 2.7% in the previous SEP. All signs point to rising stagflation concerns among the FOMC.
Key Data Releases to Watch
1. The June NFIB Optimism Index
In May, business optimism recovered slightly on improving sales expectations. After the big tariff scare in April, the subsequent pullback by the administration coupled with an array of tax cuts in the tax bill helped improve business sentiment. So long as tax policy is expansionary and supports consumers, sales volumes should increase along with businesses’ ability to pass on any tariff costs to consumers.
However, despite this improvement, plans to increase employment continued to fall, suggesting the labor market will likely continue to slow. The latest jobs report showed the private sector only added 74,000 jobs in June, down from 137,000 jobs in May.
2. Consumer Credit Report
Consumer credit is expected to show a slowdown. In April, consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.3%. Given the mounting pressures on consumer finances from student loan delinquencies and tightening credit access, any deceleration in credit growth would signal further headwinds for consumer spending. The slowing labor market is also causing consumers to save a higher share of their income.
What It All Means
The Fed finds itself in an increasingly difficult position. Rising unemployment suggests the need for easier monetary policy, while persistent inflation pressures and tariff concerns argue for maintaining restrictive policy. The minutes will reveal how policymakers are weighing these competing forces.
For markets, watch for any signals about the Fed’s tolerance for higher unemployment in service of bringing inflation back to target – or conversely, any willingness to accept above-target inflation in the near term to support employment.

President Donald Trump on Sunday declared a major disaster in Texas as at least 67 people have died and dozens remain missing after torrential rainfall caused historic flooding along the Guadalupe River in the state’s Hill Country.
“These families are enduring an unimaginable tragedy, with many lives lost, and many still missing,” Trump posted on social media. “The Trump Administration continues to work closely with State and Local Leaders. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was on the ground yesterday with Governor Greg Abbott, who is working hard to help the people of his Great State. Our incredible U.S. Coast Guard, together with State First Responders, have saved more than 850 lives. GOD BLESS THE FAMILIES, AND GOD BLESS TEXAS!”
Search and rescue crews continued to look for 11 girls and one counselor attending Camp Mystic in Kerr County, an all-girls private Christian camp.
Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said during a Sunday news conference that 59 people have been confirmed dead in his county alone, including 38 adults and 21 children.
Leitha said 11 young girls and one counselor from Camp Mystic were still missing.
“We extend our sincerest condolences and prayers for every single family affected by this tragedy, and we continue to work around the clock and reunite these families,” Leitha said. “We will continue to search, our search efforts until everybody is found.”
In a statement posted on social media, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also vowed to continue searching for the missing girls until they were found.
“It, and the river running beside it, were horrendously ravaged in ways unlike I’ve seen in any natural disaster,” Abbott said. “The height the rushing water reached to the top of cabins was shocking. We won’t stop until we find every girl who was in those cabins.”
The National Weather Service faced heavy criticism about the lack of notification prior to the floods.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Saturday that the Trump administration is working to update what she called “neglected” and “ancient” systems.

President Donald Trump’s plan to create a sovereign wealth fund that’s the world’s envy remains undefined.
In the meantime, Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global is among the largest in the world, with more than $1.8 trillion in assets.
In February, Trump told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick they had 90 days to present him with a plan for a sovereign wealth fund. That time has passed and no plans have been released.
“Treasury and Commerce Departments have formulated plans for a Sovereign Wealth Fund, but no final decisions have yet been made,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said.
Ana Nacvalovaite, a sovereign wealth funds research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Kellogg College, said the fund’s appearance depends on the details, including funding mechanisms, investment strategies, fund structure, and governance.
Nacvalovaite noted that relatively little information is known about the U.S. plans for a sovereign wealth fund. However, she said many other countries have established funds that the U.S. could follow, but the U.S. will likely face challenges.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, with $925 billion in assets, was established by royal decree in 1971. That could be one roadmap, but America has a different culture and government.
“There is a huge difference between a fund run by a country … where the Royals rule everything, versus an American system where it doesn’t quite work that way,” Nacvalovaite said.
Another question that remains unanswered is how the administration would seed the fund and whether it would need help from Congress, which traditionally allocates federal revenue. The U.S. has $36.2 trillion in debt and hasn’t had a surplus budget since 2001. The White House noted in February that the U.S. government holds about $5.7 trillion in assets. The administration said the U.S. holds far more in natural resources.
Trump also is bringing in new revenue through tariffs. Just how much that generates could vary based on the final terms of trade deals the White House initially hoped to complete by July 9. Tariffs are taxes on imported goods paid to the federal government by the company that imports the goods.
In Norway, the government declared it owned all offshore oil in the North Sea in 1963. Much of the money in the Government Pension Fund Global now comes from a mix of investments, including stocks and real estate. The fund reports it owns nearly 1.5% of total shares in the world’s publicly listed companies.
Most SWFs don’t report everything, which could raise concerns in the U.S.
“Any state-owned investment vehicle must have a focused mandate and a highly transparent and accountable governance structure,” Adnan Mazarei, Anna Gelpern and Edwin M. Truman wrote in a report for the Peterson Institute for International Economics after Trump’s executive order.
Nacvalovaite said some SWFs share more information publicly than others.
“Let’s not forget that there are some sovereign wealth funds which are not transparent,” she told The Center Square.
Four months ago, Bessent said the U.S. would have a fund “within the next 12 months.” That timeline could prove challenging.
Control in the U.S. would almost certainly be an issue. Some nations assign the task to a central bank or government agency.
Norway’s Ministry of Finance has overall responsibility for the fund. It also issues management guidelines. Norges Bank manages the fund.
Norway’s government gets some of the money to spend.
“The Norwegian government can spend only a small part of the fund, but this still amounts to almost 20% of the government budget,” according to the bank.
On average, the Norwegian government spends only the returns – estimated to be around 3% per year – not the fund’s capital.
The report from Peterson Institute for International Economics said the proposal carries risks, especially in absence of more information
“Without much greater clarity and a broadly shared understanding on these issues, a US SWF risks becoming a misplaced fiscal gimmick and an inefficient and potentially corrupt diversion of public resources that could do long-term damage to the US and global economy and financial markets,” it concluded.