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Good morning and welcome back. In today’s newsletter:
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The Trump administration’s push to reach 1mn deportations
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Kevin Hassett to face trio of finalists in Federal Reserve chair race
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Howard Marks on the AI ‘bubble’
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Columnist Jemima Kelly goes on safari
We start today with a special investigation into President Donald Trump’s deportation policy. The Financial Times spoke to more than a dozen former senior government officials familiar with the administration’s deportation push. All shared concerns about the volume of data collection, the lack of oversight and the shift from criminal to immigration work. Here’s what we found.
Trump’s immigration data dragnet: The Department of Homeland Security is America’s biggest domestic law enforcement and intelligence agency. It was created following the 9/11 terror attacks and was at the forefront of the huge data collection apparatus the US government built to monitor and locate suspected terrorists. Under the Trump administration, large parts of America’s biggest domestic law enforcement and intelligence agency have been directed to help its Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents reach a target of 1mn deportations in the president’s first year.
The new surveillance state: DHS has amassed vast surveillance capabilities: geolocation, facial recognition, DNA testing, eye scans, spyware, licence plate cameras, credit reports and more are used to identify and pursue suspects. AI tools cross–reference datasets, while mobile apps give field agents information at their fingertips.
A wide array of private corporations, from global powerhouses to niche start-ups, have secured hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts, including AT&T, Thomson Reuters, Palantir and Clearview AI. Some have hired lobbyists with ties to the White House to capitalise on ICE’s growing ambitions. This is the story of how the US government is repurposing criminal investigation tools to meet its deportation target.
Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:
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US interest rates: The US Federal Reserve, which has delivered two consecutive rate cuts since September, is expected to reduce interest rates again.
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Economic data: Brazil’s statistics agency IBGE publishes inflation figures for November and the Bank of Mexico publishes its twice-yearly financial stability report.
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Companies: Oracle publishes interim results and Adobe releases annual results.
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Thailand and Cambodia: Donald Trump is expected to call the leaders of both countries after a peace accord signed in October frayed.
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Nobel ceremonies: The prizes, which include peace, literature and physics, are handed out to the winners in ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo.
Martin Wolf, the Financial Times’ chief economics commentator, interviews European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde today in The Global Boardroom. Register for free.
Five more top stories
1. Exclusive: Donald Trump will soon launch a final round of interviews for Federal Reserve chair, pitting White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett — currently frontrunner in the race to replace Jay Powell — against a trio of other candidates.
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Cost of living crisis: Donald Trump said he accepted prices were too high but insisted they were “coming down tremendously” as he addressed supporters at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Pennsylvania.
2. The IMF has called on China to fix “significant” imbalances in its economy, including a bout of deflation that has driven a depreciation of the renminbi’s real exchange rate and boosted exports at a time of rising trade tensions.
3. JPMorgan Chase shares had their biggest fall in eight months yesterday after the largest US bank by assets warned that its expenses would rise by more than $9bn next year. Here’s more on what is driving those cost increases.
4. Warner Bros Discovery investors met Paramount chief executive David Ellison in New York yesterday as he tried to convince them that his company was a better bet than Netflix in the fight to control the Hollywood group. Here’s what we know about the meeting.
5. Donald Trump’s envoys have given Volodymyr Zelenskyy days to respond to a proposed peace deal. Ukraine’s president told his European counterparts that he had been pressed, during a two-hour call on Saturday, to take a swift decision by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Read the full story.
Today’s big read
President Donald Trump’s comment that he “would be involved” in the decision over who ultimately buys Warner Bros Discovery set off speculation about which buyer the president may favour, with the potential to influence the outcome through the justice department’s antitrust powers. FT reporters look at the antitrust concerns raised by the Netflix and Paramount bids.
We’re also reading . . .
Chart of the day
Dollar-based stablecoins offer benefits for the US, which might promote their use, partly in order to enhance the dominant role of the dollar and so help finance its huge fiscal deficits. Britain and the EU, however, are better off resisting them. Martin Wolf explains why.
Take a break from the news . . .
Columnist Jemima Kelly gets up close — sometimes a little too close — with the wildlife on safari in western Uganda.
© Sam Churchill
