Desi Weekly News Digest 

NATIONAL

Some Retailers Give up on the US as De Minimus Rule Expires: The de minimis rule, which has allowed items worth $800 or less to enter the country duty-free since 2016 expired Friday as a result of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in April. Trump briefly suspended the de minimis rule in February before reinstating the provision days later as customs officials struggled to process and collect tariffs on a mountain of low-value packages. The end of de minimis, as well as Trump’s new 145% tariffs on China, has forced companies like Temu to raise prices, CNBC REUTERS

Texas House of Representatives Passes Bill to Criminalize Political Memes: The law requires disclosure for substantially altered images, audio or video in political ads spending over $100 and applies to candidates, officeholders and committees. Violators face a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and fines up to $4,000. SAN

Conservative PAC Scams Hindu Donors: The PAC collected $55,901 in donations. Its expenditures went to just two different things: A social media marketing firm owned by Parra and a VIP table at a fancy Republican gala. To add insult to injury, the PAC’s owners spent Christmas week heaping abuse on immigrants from India, casting the community as outsiders who would pollute native American stock. DAILY DOT

Trump Signs Order Requiring Nationwide List of Sanctuary Cities and States: President Trump signed an executive order on Monday escalating his battle against Democratic-led states and cities that don’t fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities, a key barrier to the mass deportations he has promised. WSJ (paywall)

CORRUPTION ALERT

Donald Trump Jr. co-founds new private members club, Executive Branch, with a $500,000 fee: The club, called Executive Branch, held a launch party on Saturday night that included at least a half dozen members of President Donald Trump’s administration as well as wealthy CEOs, tech founders and policy experts. CNBC

DESI NEWS

Indian man languishing in US jail for alleged kidnapping: Mahendra Patel, a man of Indian origin, has been languishing in an American jail for over a month now. Patel, the 56-year-old, was accused of a crime that surveillance footage suggests never happened. Caroline Miller, the 26-year-old woman, accused Patel of trying to abduct her two-year-old toddler son at Walmart in the US's Georgia on March 18. INDIA TODAY

I Am Indian American By Rajiv Satyal: Comedian Rajiv Satyal's "I Am Indian American," continues to make waves online.  Rajiv's new video, made in collaboration with Indiaspora highlights the community's service and contributions to the United States and draws on Indiaspora and BGC's 2024 Impact Report. INDIASPORA/YOUTUBE

Indian airlines Can’t Fly Over Pakistan, affecting flights: Pakistan’s closure of its airspace to Indian airlines Thursday is forcing carriers to alter some routes that link India to Europe, North America, Central Asia and the Middle East. Indian carriers — including Air India, IndiGo, Akasa Air and SpiceJet — must now fly longer, and thus costlier, flights on some westbound routes. The detour could push some flights to add a refueling stop or cancel certain routes altogether. CNBC

HEALTH

USDA withdraws a Biden-era effort to limit salmonella levels in raw poultry: The United States Department of Agriculture is withdrawing a rule proposed in August to help prevent food poisoning from poultry contaminated with salmonella. The Biden Administration effort, which had been in development for three years, would have required poultry companies to keep levels of salmonella bacteria under a certain threshold and test for the presence of six strains most associated with illness. CBS

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