Trump executive order on Smithsonian targets funding for programs with 'improper ideology'

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday revealed his intention to force changes at the Smithsonian Institution with an executive order that targets funding for programs that advance “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology," the latest step in a broadside against culture he deems too liberal.

Trump claimed there has been a “concerted and widespread” effort over the past decade to rewrite American history by replacing “objective facts” with a “distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth," adding that it casts the “founding principles” of the United States in a “negative light.”

The order he signed behind closed doors puts Vice President JD Vance, who serves on the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents, in charge of overseeing efforts to “remove improper ideology” from all areas of the institution, including its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.

It marks the Republican president's latest salvo against cultural pillars of society, such as universities and art, that he considers out of step with conservative sensibilities. Trump recently had himself installed as chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the aim of overhauling programming, including the annual Kennedy Center Honors awards show. The administration also recently forced Columbia University to make a series of policy changes by threatening the Ivy League school with the loss of several hundred million dollars in federal funding.

The executive order also hints at the return of statues and monuments of Confederate figures, many of which were taken down or replaced around the country after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020 and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, which is detested by Trump and other conservatives.

The order also calls for improvements to Independence Hall in Philadelphia by July 4, 2026, in time for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Trump singled out the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in 2016 near the White House, the Women's History Museum, which is in development, and the American Art Museum for criticism.

“Museums in our Nation's capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history,” he said.

Linda St. Thomas, the Smithsonian Institution’s chief spokesperson, said in an email late Thursday, “We have no comment for now.”

Under Trump’s order, Vance will also work with the White House budget office to make sure future funding for the Smithsonian Institution isn’t spent on programs that “degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with federal law and policy.” Trump also wants to ensure that the women’s history museum celebrates women and not “recognize men as women in any respect.”

It also requires the interior secretary to reinstate monuments, memorials, statues and similar properties that have been removed or changed since Jan. 1, 2020, to “perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.”

The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education and research complex. It consists of 21 museums and the National Zoo. Eleven museums are located along the National Mall in Washington.

The institution was established by Congress with money from James Smithson, a British scientist who left his estate to the United States to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”

FILE- People wait in line to enter the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Cultural on the National Mall in Washington, Mat 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

FILE - People gather for a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery to announce the installation of a life-size painting of President Abraham Lincoln by artist W.F.K. Travers, Feb. 10, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

People look during the opening night of the Afro-Atlantic Histories exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Gallery of Art in Washington, April 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan plans to expel 3 million Afghans from the country this year, as a deadline for them to voluntarily leave the capital and surrounding areas expired on Monday.

It’s the latest phase of a nationwide crackdown launched in October 2023 to expel foreigners living in Pakistan illegally, mostly Afghans. The campaign has drawn fire from rights groups, the Taliban government, and the U.N.

Arrests and deportations were due to begin April 1 but were pushed back to April 10 because of the Eid al-Fitr holidays marking the end of Ramadan, according to government documents seen by The Associated Press.

About 845,000 Afghans have left Pakistan over the past 18 months, figures from the International Organization for Migration show.

Pakistan says 3 million Afghans remain. Of these, 1,344,584 hold Proof of Registration cards, while 807,402 have Afghan Citizen Cards. There are a further 1 million Afghans who are in the country illegally because they have no paperwork.

Pakistan said it will make sure that Afghans do not return once deported.

Authorities wanted Afghan Citizen cardholders to leave the capital Islamabad and Rawalpindi city by March 31 and return to Afghanistan voluntarily or be deported.

Those with Proof of Registration can stay in Pakistan until June 30, while Afghans bound for third-country resettlement must also leave Islamabad and Rawalpindi by March 31.

Authorities have said they will work with foreign diplomatic missions to resettle Afghans, failing which they will also be deported from Pakistan.

Tens of thousands of Afghans fled after the Taliban takeover in 2021. They were approved for resettlement in the U.S. through a program that helps people at risk because of their work with the American government, media, aid agencies, and rights groups.

However, President Donald Trump paused U.S. refugee programs in January and 20,000 Afghans are now in limbo.

“No Afghan officials to be made part of any committee or formal decision-making process,” one of the documents said about the expulsion plans.

A spokesman for Afghanistan’s Refugee Ministry, Abdul Mutalib Haqqani, told The Associated Press that Pakistan was taking decisions arbitrarily, without involving the U.N. refugee agency or the Taliban government.

“We have shared our problems with them, stating that unilaterally expelling refugees is neither in their interest nor ours,” said Haqqani. “It is not in their interest because expelling them in this way raises hatred against Pakistan.

“For us, it is natural that managing so many Afghans coming back is a challenge. We have requested they should be deported through a mechanism and mutual understanding so they can return with dignity.”

Two transit stations will be set up in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to help with deportations. One will be in Nasir Bagh, an area in the Peshawar suburbs. The second will be in the border town of Landi Kotal, some 7 kilometers from the Torkham crossing.

It is not clear what will happen to children born in Pakistan to Afghan parents, Afghan couples with different document types, and families where one parent is a Pakistani citizen and the other is Afghan. But officials indicated to the AP that social welfare staff will be on hand to help with such cases.

Omaid Khan, 30, has an Afghan Citizen Card while his wife has Proof of Registration. According to Pakistani government policy, he has to leave but his wife can stay until June 30. Their two children have no documents, including passports or identity cards from either country.

“I am from Paktia province but I have never been there and I am not sure about my future,” he said.

Nazir Ahmed was born in the southwest Pakistani city of Quetta and has never been to Afghanistan. His only connection to the country was through his father, who died in Quetta four years ago.

“How can we go there?” said Ahmed, who is 21. “Few people know us. All our relatives live in Quetta. What will we do if we go there? We appeal to the Pakistani government to give us some time so we can go and find out, at least get some employment."

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Associated Press writer Abdul Sattar contributed to this report from Quetta, Pakistan.

FILE - Afghan refugees settle in a camp near the Torkham Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in Torkham, Afghanistan, Nov. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)