French President Emmanuel Macron accused Elon Musk on Monday of “supporting a new reactionary international” and interfering in the elections of other countries, such as Germany.
“Ten years ago, if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new reactionary international and intervene directly in elections, including Germany, who would have imagined it?” he asked during a speech before the annual conference of French ambassadors.
Macron warned of the “uncertainty” that lives a world increasingly in “disorder”, marked by the return of imperial impulses, the questioning of information and knowledge and the “very violent” questioning of humanism.
He warned that there is “an international of reactionaries” that represents “great private financial interests”, which takes advantage of the fact that “our liberal democracies have not been sufficiently effective” in protecting the middle class.
“We must achieve an agenda for the defense of democracy”
“We must achieve an agenda for the defense of democracy,” with counter-powers, and he also warned that large technology companies, while offering new possibilities, are also making States feel threatened by their growing power.
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Faced with this situation, he reached out to the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, assuring that the future tenant of the White House “kinds that he has a solid ally” in France.
He added that Trump, who will take office in two weeks, has “a lucid ambition about the transatlantic relationship” between the US and Europe, and recalled that France “knew how to work” with Trump during his first term in 2016-2020.
Macron also acknowledged that “if you are weak and defeatist, there is little chance of being respected by President Trump’s United States.”
The French head of state extended his criticism of Russia and Iran. Regarding Russia, he said that it “has changed” in the way it exerts its “aggressiveness towards Europeans,” and recalled its political and electoral interference last year in Romania, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia.
Macron on Ukraine: “There is no quick and easy solution”
He also accused Moscow of “de facto globalizing” the war in Ukraine, which in his opinion is one of the great strategic challenges for Europe.
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Macron acknowledged that “there is no quick and easy solution to that conflict,” but also recalled that there will be no solution without the Ukrainians, something that Europe would not accept either.
And about Iran, he said that his ballistic program “threatens European territory” and that he has been involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as in the conflicts in the Middle East.
“The Iranian issue is one of the main ones that we will deal with with the new US Administration,” he summarized.
Macron also warned about the “very important” risk of “regression” in the international fight against climate change, for which he said he is responsible for the recent disasters in Spain and in the French department of Mayotte.
“There is no justification for the continuation of Israel’s military operations”
On Gaza, he said that “there is no justification for the continuation of Israel’s military operations” in that territory and said that this year must mark the progress for the materialization of Palestinian aspirations.
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The French president also focused on international trade, which in his opinion must be “rethought”, because Europeans “have been too naive”, and gave as an example the dispute with China over electric cars.
“If there is no loyalty in trade, it is not possible to produce competitively in Europe,” he said, so he asked to “defend European production capacity at every step of the value chain.”
ICE set to become America’s largest security force under Trump’s $75B immigration overhaul
President Donald Trump’s “great and beautiful law” is set to transform U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into the largest security agency in the country, with a projected budget of $75 billion—a figure that surpasses the military budgets of nearly every country in the world, according to experts.
Under the budget Trump signed on July 4, ICE will receive $45 billion through 2029 to build new detention centers—62% more than the entire federal prison system—which would enable the agency to detain 116,000 people daily, according to analysis by the American Immigration Council (AIC).
An additional $30 billion will fund operations, allowing the hiring of 10,000 new agents to join the existing 20,000, reaching an annual deportation capacity of 1 million people, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The budget also includes $4.1 billion to recruit 3,000 new Border Patrol agents and 3,000 Customs officers, DHS stated.
These allocations will give immigration enforcement more funding than all other U.S. law enforcement agencies combined, including the FBI, Secret Service, Department of Justice, DEA, and ATF, according to a Cato Institutereport.
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ICE’s $75 billion budget would also surpass the military budgets of all but five countries: the United States, China, Russia, India, and Saudi Arabia, according to an analysis by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).
A “dramatic” and “outrageous” increase
Civil rights organizations have voiced alarm over the sweeping expansion, especially amid growing reports of human rights violations—including the deaths of 11 migrants in ICE custody since the start of the 2025 fiscal year in October, nearly matching the 12 deaths recorded during all of the previous year.
“We find it outrageous to see such a dramatic increase in funding for an agency that has spent the last several months terrorizing communities, families, and neighborhoods across the country,” said Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress (CAP), during a virtual press call.
Frank Sharry, founder of America’s Voice, a group advocating for immigration reform, described the expansion as “a shocking advance of authoritarianism,” citing incidents in which U.S. citizens have been mistakenly detained by ICE.
“This is empowering an American-style secret police force that could very well go beyond targeting innocent undocumented immigrants to include legal immigrants and U.S. citizens,” Sharry warned.
Harvard faces Federal pressure over immigration docs, autonomy dispute intensifies
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ordered Harvard University on Wednesday to hand over documents related to its foreign students, issuing an administrative subpoena after the university allegedly refused to comply voluntarily.
This move marks a new escalation in the ongoing conflict between Donald Trump’s administration and academic institutions. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which operates under DHS, demanded access to “relevant documents” for “immigration law enforcement purposes since January 1, 2020,” according to an official statement.
“Harvard, like other universities, has allowed foreign students to abuse their visa privileges and promote violence and terrorism on campus,” said DHS Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, who added that the university has “repeatedly refused to cooperate” with previous requests.
Harvard is among several universities facing potential loss of federal funding following reports by Trump’s “Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism,” which accused the school of enforcing affirmative action policies and failing to promote what the administration refers to as “diversity of thought.”
Asked about the escalating conflict during a separate meeting on Wednesday, Trump stated, “Harvard has been terrible — completely antisemitic,” but added that he was optimistic the pressure would work and believed that “of course, the government and the university will reach an agreement.”
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According to The Harvard Crimson, the university did provide some documentation related to foreign students in April and May, but the government deemed it insufficient and consequently moved to ban its exchange programs and bar international students and scholars.
In June, Harvard sued the Trump administration over this ban. That same month, a federal judge indefinitely blocked the order while litigation continues.
A Harvard spokesperson reaffirmed the university’s commitment to the law but described the DHS demands as “unjustified” and a form of “retaliation” for defending its autonomy against what it considers government overreach — particularly regarding whom private universities may admit, hire, and what they are allowed to teach.
Additionally, Harvard filed another lawsuit in April to reclaim nearly $2 billion in frozen federal funding, which the government has withheld over alleged antisemitic practices.
In its statement on Wednesday, DHS said the administrative subpoena was its “only remaining option” to compel Harvard to comply, and urged other academic institutions facing similar demands to “take note of Harvard’s actions and the consequences.”
Mexico launches probe into alleged $25 million bribe to ex-president Peña Nieto
Mexico’s Attorney General announced on Tuesday that an investigation has been opened ex officio into the alleged payment of a multimillion-dollar bribe to former Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto by two Israeli businessmen to secure the sale of spyware software.
The Israeli newspaper The Marker reported last Friday that, amid a legal dispute, two businessmen claimed to have handed the former president $25 million in exchange for being awarded contracts to purchase the Pegasus software.
The ex-president (2012-2018) dismissed the allegations as “completely false” in a message on social media platform X.
“We have opened an investigation file,” Attorney General Alejandro Gertz said during the usual press conference held by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
“We will request that Israeli authorities share this media-based information so that we can include it in the investigation,” Gertz added.
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On Monday, in an interview with Radiofórmula, Peña Nieto reiterated that the accusation is “a completely baseless insinuation.”
The reports link the businessmen to the sale of Pegasus, a spyware associated with espionage scandals in Colombia, Mexico, and other countries.
