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Two foreign nationals have been charged for their role in a scheme to smuggle U.S. military equipment and technology — including missiles — into China, according to the U.S. Justice Department. 

The charges come as President Donald Trump and his administration have launched multiple efforts to beef up the vetting process for foreigners seeking visas in the U.S., particularly those from China. 

Cui Guanghai, 43, of China, and John Miller, 63, of the United Kingdom, were charged with interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit interstate stalking, conspiracy, smuggling and violating the Arms Export Control Act, the Justice Department announced Friday. 

Prosecutors believe that Cui was working on behalf of the Chinese government, according to court documents. 

Court documents allegethat Cui, who is based in China, and Miller, who is a permanent resident in the U.S., sought to procure military equipment including missiles, an air defense radar, drones and cryptographic devices starting in November 2023. The two allegedlycoordinated with two other individuals, who, unbeknownst to Cui and Miller, were working on behalf of the FBI, on ways to export the cryptographic device to China.

Cui and Miller allegedly discussed how to hide the cryptographic device in a blender, other small electronics or a motor starter — or ship the device to Hong Kong first — to avoid detection. They paid $10,000 as part of a deposit for the cryptographic device, court documents say. 

Additionally, Cui and Miller allegedlyrecruited two people to help them conduct a scheme that sought to silence an unnamed U.S. citizen from speaking out against Chinese President Xi Jinping’s appearance at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November 2023, court documents say. 

Specifically, both Cui and Miller allegedly orchestrated a plot to surveil the U.S. citizen, install a tracking device on his or her car, slash the car’s tires, and purchase and destroy a pair of statues the U.S. citizen created of Xi and Xi’s wife. 

However, the individuals that Cui and Miller allegedly recruited were actually working in coordination with the FBI,according to court documents.

‘The defendants targeted a U.S. resident for exercising his constitutional right to free speech and conspired to traffic sensitive American military technology to the Chinese regime,’ Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Friday. ‘This is a blatant assault on both our national security and our democratic values. This Justice Department will not tolerate foreign repression on U.S. soil, nor will we allow hostile nations to infiltrate or exploit our defense systems.’

Cui and Miller were arrested by Serbian law enforcement officials in April at the request of the U.S. government and are currently detained in Serbia. The Justice Department said it is working with the Serbian government regarding their pending extraditions. 

If convicted, Cui and Miller face up to five years in a U.S. prison for conspiracy, up to five years for interstate stalking, up to 10 years for smuggling, and up to 20 years for violating the Arms Export Control Act. 

The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the U.S. did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told Fox News Digital that it is providing consular assistance to Miller following his arrest and ‘are in touch with the local authorities and his family.’ 

Separately, the State Department has unveiled a series of initiatives aimed at bolstering the screening process for various visa applicants seeking to come to the U.S. For example, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in May that the agency was planning to ‘revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications’ for those originating from China and Hong Kong. 

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The House Freedom Caucus is demanding the House of Representatives vote on the White House’s impending $9.4 billion federal spending cut proposal the same week it lands on Capitol Hill.

The conservative group, led by Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., is drawing its line in the sand on Monday with an official position on the coming package, which is expected to call for clawing back government funding for NPR, PBS and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

‘When the White House submits its first rescissions package to enact [Department of Government Efficiency] spending cuts to Congress, the House of Representatives should immediately move this to the floor for swift passage,’ the Freedom Caucus position said.

‘The House Freedom Caucus strongly supports these critical rescissions, and we will support as many more rescissions packages as the White House can send us in the coming weeks and months. These first DOGE cuts target taxpayer-funded public broadcasters notorious for their liberal bias like NPR and PBS, as well as billions in wasteful foreign aid dollars.’

It comes as Elon Musk’s time leading President Donald Trump’s DOGE effort comes to an end, with the tech billionaire shifting his focus back to Tesla and his other private ventures after his billions of dollars in proposed spending cuts drove a partisan wedge through Congress. 

‘Passing this rescissions package will be an important demonstration of Congress’ willingness to deliver on DOGE and the Trump agenda,’ the statement continued.

‘While the Swamp will inevitably attempt to slow and kill these cuts, there is no excuse for a Republican House not to advance the first DOGE rescissions package the same week it is presented to Congress then quickly send it for passage in the Republican Senate, so President Trump can sign it into law.’

The White House is expected to send its $9.4 billion spending cuts package to Congress on Tuesday.

The proposal is called a ‘rescissions package,’ a vehicle for the president to block funds that were already allocated by Congress in its yearly appropriations process. Once transmitted to Capitol Hill, lawmakers have 45 days to take it up before it’s voided.

And GOP officials have made clear that it’s the first of several such proposals that could come from the White House.

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told Fox News Channel last week that there will ‘100%’ be further rescissions packages coming from the White House.

Bringing the first package to a House-wide vote within a week would require quick political maneuvering.

Under House GOP conference rules, lawmakers must get 72 hours to read a bill before the chamber weighs in – a provision that conservatives also fought for – putting a possible vote on Friday at the earliest and possible into the weekend.

But the House Freedom Caucus is not the only GOP group pushing for a swift vote. Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, said on Friday, ‘This brings fairness and accountability back to taxpayers who are sick of funding government waste while making progress towards our crushing $36 trillion national debt. Congress must promptly cement these cuts in law through rescissions and the FY26 appropriations bills.’

It comes just over a week after House Republicans pushed through Trump’s multitrillion-dollar tax and immigration bill via the budget reconciliation process.

That bill is now being considered by the Senate, and will have to go back to the House if the upper chamber makes any changes.

Republican leaders are hoping to have that bill on Trump’s desk by Fourth of July.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., noted both deadlines in an appearance on NBC News’ ‘Meet The Press’ on Sunday.

‘We’re going to have a second budget reconciliation bill that follows after this, and we’re beginning next week the appropriations process, which is the spending bills for government. And you’re going to see a lot of the DOGE cuts and a lot of this new fiscal restraint reflected in what Congress does next. So stay tuned, this is not the end-all, be-all,’ he said of the reconciliation bill.

Johnson said on X Friday that ‘Congress is working with the White House to codify DOGE savings to stop government misuse and misspending of our tax dollars.’

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Progressive Democrats spoke out against antisemitism following a terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national set peaceful protesters on fire at a demonstration to bring Israeli hostages home. 

‘I am horrified by last night’s horrific attack in Boulder,’ progressive Democrat and potential 2028 presidential candidate,Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said on X. ‘My heart is with the victims and our Jewish communities across the country. Antisemitism is on the rise here at home, and we have a moral responsibility to confront and stop it everywhere it exists.’

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who was voted off the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 2023 and was hit with a censure resolution in 2024 for alleged antisemitism, condemned the violence on Monday. 

‘I’m holding the victims and families in Boulder, Colorado in my heart,’ Omar said in a social media post. ‘Violence against anyone is never acceptable. We must reject hatred and harm in all its forms.’

While Omar’s censure resolution never passed, the House did vote to censure fellow ‘Squad’ member Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., in 2023 for alleged anti-Israel comments. 

‘The violent attack in Boulder is horrific. My heart goes out to all of the victims and their families. Violence has no place in our communities,’ Tlaib said on X.

Two progressive Democrats, who joined Congress in 2022, also slammed the ‘antisemitic attack’ in social media statements. 

‘I am horrified by the antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado,’ Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, who was elected in 2022, said on social media. ‘My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and Jewish communities across the country.

‘Yesterday’s antisemitic attack against those in Boulder, CO calling for the safe return of hostages is deplorable and heartbreaking,’ Rep. Delia C. Ramirez, D-Ill., said on X, condemning both violence against Gaza and violence in our local U.S. communities. 

‘Neither bombing in Gaza nor violence perpetrated in our communities will bring us closer to peace. Only by recognizing our interconnected safety and shared humanity can we carve a path forward. As we hold those affected by the attack close, our nation’s leaders must unite to reject all forms of hate and violence that continue to make us all less safe, and to honor the dignity of every human life,’ she added. 

Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., the first Gen-Z congressman, admitted he should have supported a resolution in 2023 condemning antisemitism on college campuses. He joined the progressive Democrats on Monday who condemned the attack. 

‘I’m horrified to hear about the antisemitic attack in Boulder, just weeks after the shooting of two Israeli embassy officials in DC. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. There is no place for this hatred and violence — and we must keep working to end it. Political and bigoted violence in our country must be denounced swiftly and strongly by all,’ he said. 

One of the original ‘Squad’ members who was elected in 2018, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., added on X on Monday afternoon, ‘The antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado is horrifying and unacceptable. Violence against innocent people is never the answer. It will never bring justice for anyone, and we must do everything to root it out. I pray for the victims, their loved ones, and everyone impacted.’

The Massachusetts Democrat also spoke out against President Donald Trump on Monday. 

‘Donald Trump wants to sow fear & chaos in our communities so we feel alone & defeated — but we won’t let him. Tune in as I join immigrant justice advocates, local leaders, & impacted families to tell Trump & ICE: Hands off our immigrant neighbors,’ Pressley wrote on X, as she directed her followers to a livestreamed event condemning Trump’s deportation policies.

As of Monday afternoon, ‘Squad’ member, Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania did not condemn the attack on social media. Lee’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is coordinating with his colleagues in the House to push back against Senate Republicans’ efforts to ram President Donald Trump’s wish list of policy desires through the Senate.

In a letter to Senate Democrats on Sunday, Schumer, D-N.Y., laid out a multipronged strategy to inflict as much pain on Republicans as possible in the budget reconciliation process, the legislative strategy the GOP is employing to sidestep negotiating with Democrats to advance the president’s priorities.

While congressional Republicans don’t need Democrats to move the colossal bill to Trump’s desk, Schumer wants to make the process as uncomfortable as possible as Senate Republicans begin a roughly monthlong sprint to put their fingerprints on what Trump deemed a ‘big, beautiful bill.’

The top Senate Democrat is coordinating with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and the top Democrats on crucial House committees to ‘share firsthand insight from their process and key Republican fault lines’ with their Senate counterparts.

‘Based on Senate Republicans’ public comments, it’s clear that if this reckless reconciliation bill passes the Senate it is very likely to contain changes, forcing it to be sent back to the House of Representatives,’ Schumer wrote. ‘That’s why we must be united with our House Democratic colleagues to fight this assault on working families.’

Indeed, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said much of the debate and subsequent tweaks to the bill would focus on finding deeper spending cuts. The House’s offering set a goal of $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, but some Senate Republicans want to hit $2 trillion, while a smaller cohort of fiscal hawks want to go even deeper.

Thune said that Republicans’ main focus during the next month would be ensuring that Trump’s first-term tax cuts are made permanent with the massive bill and not allowed to expire by the end of the year on the Senate floor, marking the Senate’s return on Monday. 

‘We are not going to let that happen, and our biggest focus this month is completing this tax relief legislation with the goal of getting the final bill to the president before the Fourth of July,’ he said. ‘It’s going to be a very busy month, Mr. President.’ 

In all, 10 Senate committees will be tasked with sifting through the massive bill’s contents, which include the president’s policy desires on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt.

Schumer’s edict comes as those committees gear up to make their own revisions to the bill to, in part, fall in line with their own policy and spending desires and to also comply with Senate rules.

He noted that Senate Democrats have been working ‘overtime’ to target a litany of policies in the GOP’s plan that ‘are in clear violation of the reconciliation rules and, in some cases, an assault on our very democracy.’

Some Republicans already have issues with certain policies in the bill, like cuts to Medicaid or the plan to move up the timeline to phase out green energy tax credits ushered in by the Biden administration.

Schumer also prodded Democrats to continue aggressively denouncing the bill on the ground in their home states and districts, arguing that ‘if the American people truly knew how deeply devastating, damaging, and deceitful this Republican plan is, they will reject it.’

‘Republicans’ ‘One Ugly Bill’ is a farce; an attack on the values that make America great,’ he wrote. ‘We know the first four months of Donald Trump’s presidency have been catastrophic for the American people. It is our duty to fight for American families, to stop the damage, and make certain Republicans are held accountable.’

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A report from Axios has indicated that the United States plans to allow Iran to continue limited low-level uranium enrichment on its soil for an unspecified period of time. 

On Saturday, the Trump administration presented its first formal proposal to Tehran in an attempt to sign a nuclear deal with the country, but did not share any details of the proposed deal publicly. ‘President Trump has made it clear that Iran can never obtain a nuclear bomb,’ Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said over the weekend. ‘Special Envoy Witkoff has sent a detailed and acceptable proposal to the Iranian regime, and it’s in their best interest to accept it.’

The report, from Axios, cited two sources familiar with the Trump administration’s ongoing negotiations with Iran. The White House did not deny the details of Axios’ reporting when Fox News Digital reached out for confirmation. 

Instead, a White House official responded with a statement calling the terms of the deal ‘very tough’ and insisted the terms of the deal prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

‘President Trump is speaking the cold, hard truth. The terms we gave Iran were very tough and would make it impossible for them to ever obtain a nuclear bomb,’ the official said. 

Media reports Monday said that Iranian officials were planning to reject the U.S.’s proposed deal. The new details reported by Axios might serve to assuage some of the Iranians’ concerns, but could also anger some Republicans, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have all expressed that they only want zero nuclear enrichment as part of the deal – in addition to full dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program.

Axios reported that the details of the proposal described to them indicated that Iran would not be allowed to build any more new enrichment facilities, must ‘dismantle critical infrastructure for conversion and processing of uranium,’ and would be forced to halt any new research and development on nuclear centrifuges. However, according to the details of the proposal reported by Axios, Iran will be allowed to participate in a regional enrichment consortium under certain conditions. 

For example, Iran will only be able to develop domestic enrichment capabilities for civilian purposes only, according to Axios. Meanwhile, after signing the agreement, Iran would be forced to reduce its enrichment concentration to 3% and shut down all underground enrichment facilities for an agreed-upon time period by both parties.

The new proposal also seeks to develop auditing and oversight mechanisms to ensure Iran follows the rules of the agreement. 

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President Donald Trump turned to social media on Monday evening to sell Americans on his vision for the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill,’ calling it an opportunity to turn the U.S. around after what he called ‘four disastrous years’ under former President Joe Biden.

The House passed the spending bill in late May and it is now in the Senate’s hands.

‘We will take a massive step to balancing our Budget by enacting the largest mandatory Spending Cut, EVER, and Americans will get to keep more of their money with the largest Tax Cut, EVER, and no longer taxing Tips, Overtime, or Social Security for Seniors — Something 80 Million Voters supported in November,’ Trump said in a post on Truth Social. ‘It will unleash American Energy by expediting permitting for Energy, and refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It will make American Air Travel GREAT AGAIN by purchasing the final Air Traffic Control System.’

The president said the bill includes the construction of The Gold Dome, which he says will secure American skies from adversaries. The bill will also secure the border by building more of the wall and ‘supercharging the deportation of millions of Criminal Illegals’ that he said Biden allowed into the U.S.

‘It will kick millions of Illegals off Medicaid, and make sure SNAP is focused on Americans ONLY! It will also restore Choice and Affordability for Car purchases by REPEALING Biden’s EV Mandate, and all of the GREEN NEW SCAM Tax Credits and Spending,’ Trump wrote. ‘THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL also protects our beautiful children by stopping funding for sick sex changes for minors.’

The Senate returned to Washington on Monday, and in his post, Trump called on his Republican allies in Congress to work quickly to get the bill on his desk before July 4.

In a separate post, Trump addressed what he referred to as false statements about the bill, reiterating that it is the ‘single biggest Spending Cut in History.’

He noted that there will not be any cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, adding they will be saved from ‘the incompetence of the Democrats.’

‘The Democrats, who have totally lost their confidence and their way, are saying whatever comes to mind — Anything to win!’ Trump said. ‘They suffered the Greatest Humiliation in the History of Politics, and they’re desperate to get back on their game, but they won’t be able to do that because their Policies are so bad, in fact, they would lead to the Destruction of our Country and almost did.

‘The only ‘cutting’ we will do is for Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, something that should have been done by the Incompetent, Radical Left Democrats for the last four years, but wasn’t,’ he concluded.

Senate Republicans will get their turn to parse through the colossal package and are eying changes that could be a hard sell for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who can only afford to lose three votes.

Congressional Republicans are in a dead sprint to get the megabill — filled with Trump’s policy desires on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt — onto the president’s desk by early July.

If passed in its current state, the bill is expected to add roughly $3 trillion to the national debt, including interest, according to the Committee for Responsible Federal Budget.

Fox News Digital’s Amy Nelson, Pilar Arias, Brie Stimson and Alex Miller contributed to this report.

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Nearly six months into his second term, President Donald Trump has a new portrait posted to the White House website.

White House officials posted an eight-second video to social media on Monday, showing the new portrait being hung on the wall at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus.

In his previous presidential portrait, which was unveiled just days before taking the oath of office for his second term, Trump could be seen wearing a blue suit coat, white button-up shirt and blue tie.

The president showed no expression in the previous portrait, compared to an official portrait taken of him in 2017, in which he was smiling.

In the portrait unveiled on Monday, Trump is wearing a blue suit coat, white button-up shirt and a red tie. In both images, he has an American Flag pinned to his coat.

The president also shows little expression in the new portrait.

White House officials told Fox News Digital the photo was taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok.

As of Monday evening, the photo is hanging in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and it will eventually start rolling out to other offices and federal buildings.

Trump’s new portrait was unveiled just days after he announced that he was firing Kim Sajet, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, for being a ‘strong supporter’ of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

He announced Sajet’s termination in a post on Truth Social on Friday afternoon.

‘Upon the request and recommendation of many people, I am hereby terminating the employment of Kim Sajet as Director of the National Portrait Gallery,’ the president wrote. ‘She is a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position. Her replacement will be named shortly. Thank you for your attention to this matter!’

A White House official told Fox News Digital that Sajet had donated $3,982 to Democrats, including the presidential campaigns of former President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. Sajet also reportedly donated to other Democrats, including former Vice President Kamala Harris.

The White House also pointed to the gallery’s photo of Trump, which was curated by Sajet. 

The caption of the photo reads, ‘Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials. After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.’

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Millions of South Korean voters are casting their ballots on Tuesday for a new president in a snap election following the ouster of former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Yoon, a conservative, faces trial on rebellion charges over his short-lived martial law declaration in December.

Pre-election surveys suggested Lee Jae-myung, Yoon’s liberal archrival, appeared poised to coast to victory due to public frustration over the conservatives in the wake of Yoon’s martial law decree.

The main conservative candidate, Kim Moon Soo, has struggled to win over moderate swing voters, as his People Power Party grapples with internal feuding over how to view Yoon’s actions.

Over the past six months, large crowds of people rallied in the streets to either protest against Yoon or come to his support.

The winner of the election will immediately be sworn in as president on Wednesday for a single, full five-year term without the typical two-month transition period. The new president will face significant challenges, including a slowing economy, U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and North Korea’s nuclear threats.

Voting began at 6 a.m. at more than 14,000 polling stations nationwide. Polls will close at 8 p.m., and observers say a winner could be declared as early as midnight.

As of 2 p.m. local time, more than 13 million people had cast their ballots. Roughly 15 million also voted during last week’s two-day early voting period, meaning voter turnout stood at 65.5%. South Korea has 44.4 million eligible voters.

On Tuesday, Lee, whose Democratic Party led the legislative effort to oust Yoon, urged voters to ‘deliver a stern and resolute judgement’ against the conservatives over Yoon’s martial law declaration.

In one of his final campaign speeches on Monday, Lee argued that a victory by Kim would represent ‘the return of the rebellion forces, the destruction of democracy and the deprival of people’s human rights.’ He also vowed to revitalize the economy, reduce inequality and ease national divisions.

Kim, a former labor minister under Yoon, warned that a win by Lee would allow him to hold excessive power, launch political retaliation against opponents and legislate laws to protect him from various legal troubles, as his party already has control of parliament.

Lee ‘is now trying to seize all power in South Korea and establish a Hitler-like dictatorship,’ Kim said at a rally in the southeastern city of Busan.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court has reached a decision to allow nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people to update their birth certificates.

The action was brought about by six non-binary individuals born in Puerto Rico who filed a lawsuit claiming that ‘the Commonwealth’s current Birth Certificate Policy violates the right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, according to the court filing.’

The court’s decision will now allow people who identify as nonbinary or gender-nonconforming to select ‘X’ as their gender marker on birth certificates.

In the filing, the court explains that there would be no rational basis to deny the request.

‘The current Birth Certificate Policy of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico arbitrarily distinguishes between binary and nonbinary individuals and subjects nonbinary individuals to disfavored treatment, without any justification for doing so. In such cases, it is the duty of the federal courts to intervene, to guarantee the equal protection of all persons under the law,’ it states.

Pedro Julio Serrano, president of Puerto Rico’s LGBTQ+ Federation, called Friday’s ruling a historic one that upholds equality, according to the Associated Press.

The defendants named in the case opposed the request, arguing that ‘the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has a legitimate interest in maintaining vital records and statistics regarding its citizens.’

The filing argued that this argument ignores the fact that the Commonwealth already permits its citizens to amend information on their birth certificates, including modifying the gender marker.

The legislators have already enacted legislation to ensure that, in the case of modifications, the original, unaltered birth certificates are preserved by the state.

Puerto Rico joins at least 17 U.S. states that permit their residents to include the nonbinary or gender-neutral sex on their birth certificates.

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Growing up in Brazil, neuroscientist Danielle Beckman always dreamed of moving to the US for work. So, in 2017, when Beckman got the opportunity to work at the California National Primate Research Center at UC Davis, she jumped on it.

“I was so excited,” she recalled. “Coming to the US was always the dream. It was always the place to be, where there’s the biggest investment in science.”

But months into President Donald Trump’s second term, as his administration wages an unprecedented war on the country’s top universities and research institutions, Beckman no longer sees the US as a welcome home for her or her research, which focuses on how viral infections like Covid-19 affect the brain.

Beckman is part of a growing wave of academics, scientists and researchers leaving the US in what many are warning could be the biggest brain drain the country has seen in decades.

But America’s loss could be the rest of the world’s gain.

As the Trump administration freezes and slashes billions of dollars in research funding, meddles with curricula, and threatens international students’ ability to study in the US, governments, universities and research institutions in Canada, Europe and Asia are racing to attract fleeing talent.

The European Union pledged €500 million ($562 million) over the next three years “to make Europe a magnet for researchers.”

A university in Marseille, France, is wooing persecuted academics under a new program called a “Safe Place for Science.” Canada’s largest health research organization is investing 30 million Canadian dollars ($21.8 million) to attract 100 scientists early in their careers from the US and elsewhere. The Research Council of Norway launched a 100 million kroner ($9.8 million) fund to lure new researchers. The president of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University recently told a crowd at a higher education summit the school is identifying “superstar” US researchers and making them offers as soon as the next day.

The Australian Academy of Science also launched a new talent program to recruit disillusioned US-based scientists and lure Australians back home.

“We know these individuals are highly trained, talented, and have much to offer,” said Anna-Maria Arabia, chief executive of the academy, noting the program has received “encouraging interest” so far.

“It’s vitally important that science can continue without ideological interference,” Arabia said.

The US could lose its scientific edge

The US has long been a powerhouse when it comes to research and development, attracting talent from far afield with its big budgets, high salaries and swanky labs.

Since the 1960s, US government expenditure in research and development (R&D) has more than doubled from $58 billion in 1961 to almost $160 billion in 2024 (in inflation-adjusted dollars), according to federal data. When incorporating R&D funding from the private sector, that number balloons to more than an estimated $900 billion in 2023.

The US’s enormous investment in R&D has led to an outsized influence on the world stage. The US has racked up more than 400 Nobel Prizes, more than double the amount of the next country, the United Kingdom. More than a third of the US’s prizes were won by immigrants.

“We have been respected worldwide for decades because we have trained succeeding generations of researchers who are pushing into new territories,” said Kenneth Wong, a professor of education policy at Brown University.

But Trump’s second term has upended the relationship between higher education and the federal government.

Trump’s gutting of federal health and science agencies has led to sweeping job losses and funding cuts, including at the National Institutes of Health, which funds nearly $50 billion in medical research each year at universities, hospitals and scientific institutions.

Between the end of February and the beginning of April, the administration cancelled almost 700 NIH grants totaling $1.8 billion, according to an analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The Trump administration has proposed reducing the NIH’s budget in 2026 by 40%.

The National Science Foundation has also slashed nearly $1.4 billion worth of grants. On Wednesday, 16 US states sued the Trump administration over the NSF cuts, which they argue will impede “groundbreaking scientific research” and “(jeopardize) national security, the economy and public health.”

Trump has also targeted elite universities and is in the middle of a legal battle with Harvard University over its refusal to bow to his administration’s directives to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, resulting in billions in frozen federal funding. That battle significantly escalated this month when Trump banned Harvard’s ability to enroll international students – a decision swiftly halted by a federal judge hours after Harvard filed suit.

This week, the White House directed federal agencies to cancel all remaining contracts with Harvard.

“The president is more interested in giving that taxpayer money to trade schools and programs and state schools where they are promoting American values, but most importantly, educating the next generation based on skills that we need in our economy and our society: apprenticeships, electricians, plumbers,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News this week.

“We need more of those in our country, and less LGBTQ graduate majors from Harvard University.”

‘I don’t feel so welcome’

Foreign institutions have already jumped on the chance to welcome Harvard students now caught in legal limbo. On Monday, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology said it will accept any Harvard students that wish to transfer, as well as prospective students with a current offer from Harvard.

“I see this as the most significant crisis that universities are facing since World War Two,” Wong said. “We are seeing a complete reset of this collaborative relationship between the federal government and leading research institutions.”

Once the beacon of scientific research, the US has now become an increasingly hostile place to study, teach, and do research. Three quarters of US scientists surveyed by the journal Nature in March said they were considering leaving because of the Trump administration’s policies.

Some have already jumped ship. Yale professors Jason Stanley, Marci Shore and Timothy Snyder, preeminent fascism scholars, announced in March they were leaving for the University of Toronto across the border in Canada because of Trump’s affronts to academic freedom.

Beckman, the Brazilian neuroscientist, said her lab has seen $2.5 million in grant funding cancelled in recent months. On top of these funding woes, Beckman said the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants, and shifting attitudes towards foreigners in the US, has also pushed her to look for work elsewhere.

“It’s the first time since I moved here that I don’t feel so welcome anymore,” she said.

As the US research ecosystem responds to shrinking budgets and intrusions on academic freedom, early-career scientists are going to be hardest hit, Wong said. But younger researchers are also more mobile, and institutions around the world are welcoming them with open arms.

“What we are losing is this whole cadre of highly productive, young, energetic, well-trained, knowledgeable, advanced researchers who are primed to take off,” Wong said.

Other countries have long deprioritized investment in scientific research as the US absorbed the R&D needs of the world, Wong said. But that trend is shifting.

R&D spending in China has surged in recent decades, and the country is close to narrowing the gap with the US. China spent more than $780 billion on R&D in 2023, according to OECD data. The European Union is also spending more on R&D. R&D investment in the bloc has increased from about $336 billion in 2007 to $504 billion in 2023, according to the OECD.

For a couple of months, Beckman said she considered stepping away from her Covid-19 research, which has become increasingly politicized under the Trump administration.

But then she started getting interviews at institutions in other countries.

“There is interest in virology everywhere in the world except the US right now.”

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