5 h. ago Trump’s deportations are turning immigrant communities into ghost towns

The Independent visited three immigrant neighborhoods across the U.S. — Michelle Del Rey in Virginia, Josh Marcus in California and Richard Hall in New York — to investigate the impact of Trump’s deportations on the communities in the crosshairs.

Events

5 h. ago Faces of Trump’s deportation push: The people falling victim to the immigration crackdown

Asylum-seekers, international students and activists alike tell Josh Marcus about their age of uncertainty under Trump

Politics

21 h. ago Denied, detained, deported: the people targeted in Trump’s immigration crackdown

These are some of the people ensnared by the administration’s unprecedented measures to target people it believes oppose its agendaDonald Trump retook the White House vowing to stage “the largest deportation operation in American history”. As previewed, the administration set about further militarizing the US-Mexico border and targeting people requesting asylum and refugees while conducting raids and deportations in undocumented communities, detaining and deporting immigrants and spreading fear.Critics are outraged, if not surprised. But few expected the new legal chapter that unfolded next: a multipronged crackdown on certain people seen as opponents of the US president’s ideological agenda. This extraordinary assault has come in the context of wider attacks on higher education, the courts and the constitution. Continue reading...

Politics

47 h. ago ‘Border czar’ touts Trump’s immigration successes and blasts Biden for ‘unsecuring’ border

The White House is taking credit for unprecedented drops in illegal crossings, which have virtually disappeared due to Trump’s harsh border crackdown

Politics

9 d. ago JD Vance granted lightning audience with Pope Francis in Vatican

US vice-president spends few minutes with pontiff whom he has publicly disagreed with over migrationPope Francis and JD Vance, who have disagreed very publicly over the Trump administration’s attitude to immigration and its migrant deportation plans, met briefly in Rome on Sunday to exchange Easter greetings.The meeting came a day after the US vice-president, who converted to Roman Catholicism in 2019, sat down with senior Vatican officials and had “an exchange of opinions” over international conflicts and immigration. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago US supreme court orders temporary halt to deportations of Venezuelan men

The order is the latest example of how the courts are challenging the Trump administration’s overhaul of the immigration systemThe US supreme court has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily halt the deportation of Venezuelan men in immigration custody, after their lawyers said they were at imminent risk of removal without the judicial review previously mandated by the justices.“The government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this court,” the justices said early on Saturday. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Trump’s approval rating on immigration has tanked in recent weeks as more controversial deportations are revealed

Trump’s approval rating has fallen as many call for the government to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a father and Salvadoran immigrant who was wrongfully deported from Maryland

Politics

1 week ago Denied, detained, deported: the people at the heart of Trump’s immigration crackdown

The White House is targeting people seen as opponents of its agenda – here are some of the most high-profile casesDonald Trump retook the White House vowing to stage “the largest deportation operation in American history”. The administration has set about further militarizing the US-Mexico border and targeting asylum seekers and refugees while conducting raids in undocumented communities and spreading fear.Critics are outraged, if not surprised. But few expected the new legal chapter that unfolded next: a multi-pronged crackdown on certain people seen as opponents of the US president’s ideological agenda. This assault has come in the context of wider attacks on higher education, the courts and the constitution. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Denied, detained, deported: the people ensnared in Trump’s immigration crackdown

The White House is targeting people seen as opponents of its agenda – here are some of the most high-profile casesDonald Trump retook the White House vowing to stage “the largest deportation operation in American history”. The administration has set about further militarizing the US-Mexico border and targeting asylum seekers and refugees while conducting raids in undocumented communities and spreading fear.Critics are outraged, if not surprised. But few expected the new legal chapter that unfolded next: a multi-pronged crackdown on certain people seen as opponents of the US president’s ideological agenda. This assault has come in the context of wider attacks on higher education, the courts and the constitution. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Maryland senator meets Kilmar Ábrego García in El Salvador amid battle over US return

Chris Van Hollen posts photo on X but does not provide update on status of man wrongly deported from USThe Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen met in El Salvador with Kilmar Ábrego García, a man who was sent there by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.Van Hollen posted a photo of the meeting on X, saying he also called Ábrego García’s wife “to pass along his message of love”. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Ice deports Venezuelan teen despite reportedly knowing he was not a target

Merwil Gutiérrez sent from New York to El Salvador prison although family says he has no criminal history or gang tiesA 19-year-old Venezuelan in New York City reportedly was apprehended by Trump administration immigration authorities and deported to El Salvador despite agents’ realizing he was not whom they meant to arrest in a targeted operation.Merwil Gutiérrez, whose family opened an asylum case after arriving in the US, was deported from the Bronx to the notorious Cecot prison in El Salvador despite his relatives’ insistence that he has no gang ties or criminal history, according to Documented, a newsroom dedicated to telling the stories of immigrants in New York City. The Gutiérrez family says it has been left without information or answers. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Immigration lawyer 'deported' via Team Trump email...but they made huge mistake

US citizen Nicole Micheroni was stunned when she opened the letter from the Department of Homeland Security on Friday morning.

Politics

2 w. ago Trump’s already skirting due process. Now he’s musing about deporting citizens | Moira Donegan

Amid a series of sadistic expulsions, the White House says Trump has reflected kicking Americans out of the countryThey’re rounding people up, and you could be next. The Trump administration has largely dispensed with due process rights in deporting immigrants, who are now being targeted for their protected speech, having their visas or green cards summarily cancelled without process and sometimes without notice, and getting kidnapped off the streets and hustled into vans so that they can be shipped to “detention centers” too far away for their loved ones, or their lawyers, to visit them.Some immigrants are being targeted for disappearance because they oppose Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, an opinion that it is now physically dangerous, instead of merely unpopular, to hold. But others the government seems to be seizing almost at random. More than 200 Venezuelan nationals have been seized and deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador, rendered outside of US jurisdiction in...

Politics

2 w. ago From classifying immigrants as dead to deportation: A guide to actions on Trump immigration policies

President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda is playing out in hearings in key cases

Events

3 w. ago Was the deportation ruling a win for the Trump administration or immigrants?

The supreme court allowed the wartime law but impeded reliance on deportation without due process – here’s what to knowThe US supreme court may have ruled that the Trump administration could continue using an 18th century wartime law to deport Venezuelan migrants it accused of being gang members – but it also notably impeded the government’s reliance on summary deportation without due process in such situations.Monday’s emergency ruling lifted a temporary block on the controversial deportations. The legal challenge to the removals had been brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the organization Democracy Forward on behalf of the men deported to El Salvador last month without so much as a court hearing. The organizations argued that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it bypassed immigration laws and ordered their removal under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, or AEA. The US government last invoked the law to detain Japanese, Italian and German nationals durin...

Events

3 w. ago Was the supreme court’s deportation ruling a win for Trump or immigrants?

The justices allowed the wartime law but impeded reliance on deportation without due process – here’s what to knowThe US supreme court may have ruled that the Trump administration could continue using an 18th-century wartime law to deport Venezuelan immigrants it accused of being gang members – but it also notably impeded the government’s reliance on summary deportation without due process in such situations.Monday’s emergency ruling lifted a temporary block on the controversial deportations. The legal challenge to the removals had been brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the organization Democracy Forward on behalf of the men deported to El Salvador last month without so much as a court hearing. The organizations argued that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it bypassed immigration laws and ordered their removal under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, or AEA. The US government last invoked the law to detain Japanese, Italian and German nationals during t...

Events

4 w. ago Christians make up vast majority of US immigrants facing deportation under Trump

About 10 million Christians living in the US are deemed vulnerable to removal

Events

4 w. ago Lawyers press Trump administration to return wrongfully deported immigrant after White House admits ‘clerical error’

Administration officials should be ordered to ask El Salvador for his return, his attorney tells The Independent

Events

4 w. ago Trump administration cuts tens of millions of dollars from Planned Parenthood – live

HHS reportedly gives organization 10 days to prove that they’ll comply with orders that ban DEI and other initiativesImmigration remains a strength for Donald Trump, but his handling of tariffs is getting more negative feedback, according to a poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About half of US adults approve of Trump’s approach to immigration, the survey shows, but only about four in 10 have a positive view of the way he’s handling the economy and trade negotiations. The poll indicates that many Americans are still on board with Trump’s efforts to ramp up deportations and restrict immigration. But it also suggests that the Republican president’s threats to impose tariffs – which have been accompanied by tumbling consumer confidence and wild stock market swings – might be erasing his advantage on another issue that he made central to his winning 2024 campaign. The economy was a drag on then president Joe Biden, who saw the share of Americans who ...

Politics

4 w. ago Trump administration announces review of Harvard University’s federal contracts and grants – live

Education department announces review of Harvard’s $255.6m contracts and $8.7bn multi-year grant commitments amid allegations of antisemitism Immigration remains a strength for Donald Trump, but his handling of tariffs is getting more negative feedback, according to a poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About half of US adults approve of Trump’s approach to immigration, the survey shows, but only about four in 10 have a positive view of the way he’s handling the economy and trade negotiations. The poll indicates that many Americans are still on board with Trump’s efforts to ramp up deportations and restrict immigration. But it also suggests that the Republican president’s threats to impose tariffs – which have been accompanied by tumbling consumer confidence and wild stock market swings – might be erasing his advantage on another issue that he made central to his winning 2024 campaign. The economy was a drag on then president Joe Biden, who saw th...

Politics