Category Archives: US immigration

Mahmoud Khalil finally allowed to hold one-month-old son for the first time

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Detained Palestinian activist granted contact by judge who blocked Trump administration’s efforts to separate family

Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and detained Palestinian activist, was finally allowed to hold his infant son for the first time Thursday – one month after he was born – thanks to a federal judge who blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to keep the father and infant separated by a Plexiglass barrier.

The visit came before a scheduled immigration hearing for Khalil, a legal permanent resident who has been detained in a Louisiana jail since 8 March.

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Judge rules White House violated order by deporting migrants to South Sudan

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Eight people apparently deported as their lawyers say they are at ‘risk of harm’ and that there is ‘no clarity’

A federal judge has ruled the US government’s attempt to deport migrants to South Sudan “unquestionably” violated an earlier court order.

Brian E Murphy, the US district judge in Massachusetts, made the remark at an emergency hearing he had ordered in Boston following the Trump administration’s apparent removal of eight people to South Sudan, despite most of them being from other countries.

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US deportations cast spotlight on South Sudan’s deepening political crisis

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World’s youngest country is facing renewed outbreak of tensions that have plagued it for years

An attempt by the US to deport South Asian migrants to South Sudan has cast a spotlight on the world’s youngest country, which is experiencing a renewed outbreak of the political tensions that have plagued it over the years.

On Wednesday, a US federal judge said the deportation of migrants from the US to South Sudan “unquestionably” violated a court order requiring that any people being deported to a third country should receive due process.

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Qatar defends offer of plane gift to Trump as ‘a normal thing between allies’ – US politics live

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PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani dismisses concerns country is trying to buy influence as Schumer introduces bill to block such a move

President Donald Trump is expected to head to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet congressional Republicans as they aim to reach agreement on a sweeping tax-cut bill, with their narrow majority divided over the scope of spending cuts, reports Reuters.

Hardline Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Friday briefly blocked the advance of the bill – which nonpartisan analysts say could add $3tn to $5tn to the federal government’s $36.2tn debt – but relented on Sunday.

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Mohsen Mahdawi, released from Ice custody, graduates from Columbia

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Palestinian activist, freed just over two weeks ago from federal detention, crosses graduation stage to cheers

Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, released just over two weeks ago from federal detention, crossed the graduation stage on Monday to cheers from his fellow graduates.

The Palestinian activist was arrested by immigration authorities in Colchester, Vermont, while attending a naturalization interview. He was detained and ordered to be deported by the Trump administration on 14 April despite not being charged with a crime.

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At least 50 migrants sent to El Salvador prison entered US legally, report finds

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Cato analysis goes against Trump administration’s claim that only undocumented people were deported to Cecot

At least 50 Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a prison in El Salvador had entered the United States legally, according to a review by the Cato Institute.

The report, published by the libertarian thinktank on Monday, analyzed the available immigration data for only a portion of the men who were deported to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), and focuses on the cases where records could be found.

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US supreme court allows Trump to revoke protected status for Venezuelans

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Justices grant homeland security request to end temporary protected status while appeal proceeds in lower court

Donald Trump’s administration can end legal protections that have shielded about 350,000 Venezuelans from potential deportation, the supreme court ruled on Monday.

America’s highest court granted a request by Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, to revoke temporary protected status (TPS) for the Venezuelans while an appeal proceeds in a lower court.

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Trump officials reportedly consider TV gameshow with US citizenship as prize

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Homeland security department reviewing ‘out-of-the-box’ pitch in which immigrants would compete for citizenship

The US Department of Homeland Security is reportedly considering an “out-of-the-box” pitch to participate in a television gameshow that would have immigrants compete to obtain US citizenship.

Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin described the pitch to the New York Times as a “celebration of being an American” and said the show would include challenges based on American traditions.

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Supreme court blocks Trump bid to resume deportations under 1798 law

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Administration’s appeal to quickly deport Venezuelans under Alien Enemies Act rejected with two dissenting

The supreme court has rejected the Trump administration’s request to remove a temporary block on deportations of Venezuelans under a rarely used 18th-century wartime law.

Over two dissenting votes, the justices acted on an emergency appeal from lawyers for Venezuelan men who have been accused of being gang members, a designation that the administration says makes them eligible for rapid removal from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

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Judge dismisses trespassing charges against people crossing US-Mexico border

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New Mexico judge rules immigrants did not know they were entering US military zone, marking setback for Trump

A federal judge in New Mexico on Thursday dismissed trespassing charges against dozens of immigrants caught in a new military zone on the US-Mexico border, marking a setback for Trump administration efforts to raise penalties for unlawful crossings into the US.

Chief US magistrate judge Gregory Wormuth began filing the dismissals late on Wednesday, ruling that immigrants did not know they were entering the military zone in New Mexico and therefore could not be charged, according to court documents and a defense attorney.

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California governor seeks to exclude undocumented from Medicaid program

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Measure targeting immigrants is to help close added $12bn deficit that Newsom blamed on ‘Trump slump’

The California governor, Gavin Newsom, wants his state to stop enrolling more low-income immigrants without legal status in a state-funded healthcare program starting in 2026 and begin charging a monthly premium the following year to those already enrolled.

It is one of several measures proposed by Newsom on Wednesday to help close an additional $12bn deficit, a budget shortcoming the Democratic governor squarely placed on the shoulders of the “Trump slump”.

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Trump cabinet member’s links to El Salvador crypto firm under scrutiny

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Commerce chief Howard Lutnick’s firm backed controversial crypto giant Tether as Bukele ties deepened

Trump administration’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and his family have had extensive business interests linked to El Salvador, whose authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has grown close to the White House and who has courted controversy by imprisoning people deported from the US in an immigration crackdown.

El Salvador also plays host to a booming cryptocurrency and new media industry, which has numerous ties to Donald Trump allies who are seeking to make money from various ventures which have sometimes drawn the attention of authorities or ethics watchdogs.

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Trump administration offers refugee status to 49 white South Africans

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Group, including families and small children, departed for US after Trump order created relocation program

A group of 49 white South Africans departed their homeland on Sunday for the United States on a private charter plane having been offered refugee status by the Trump administration under a new program announced in February.

The group, which included families and small children, was due to arrive at Dulles international airport outside Washington DC on Monday morning local time, according to Collen Mbisi, a spokesperson for South Africa’s transport ministry.

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Quakers march 300 miles to protest Trump’s immigration crackdown

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Group marches from New York City to Washington, carrying on a long tradition of Quaker activism

A group of Quakers were marching more than 300 miles from New York City to Washington DC to demonstrate against the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants.

The march extends a long tradition of Quaker activism. Historically, Quakers have been involved in peaceful protests to end wars and slavery, and support women’s voting rights in line with their commitment to justice and peace. Far more recently, Quakers sued the federal government earlier this year over immigration agents’ ability to make arrests at houses of worship.

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This American pope: Leo XIV’s bloodline reflects the US melting pot

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A fraught history of race and immigration connect the new pope with his homeland

Pope Leo XIV, who on Thursday was elected as the first-ever US-born leader of the Roman Catholic church, has a familial bloodline that reflects his homeland’s fraught relationship with race – and why the nation’s stature as a melting pot of origins has long endured, records unearthed by genealogists show.

The maternal grandfather of 69-year-old Robert Prevost, the newly minted pope, was evidently born abroad in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, according to birth records that professional genealogist Chris Smothers cited to ABC News in a recent report. When Leo’s grandfather, Joseph Martinez, obtained an 1887 marriage license to wed the future pope’s grandmother, Louise Baquié, he listed his birthplace as Haiti, which at the time was the same territory as Santo Domingo, Smothers noted.

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New Jersey mayor to continue fight against Ice detention center after arrest

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Newark’s Ras Baraka says court fight against Geo Group will go on despite being jailed and charged with trespassing

Speaking out after his arrest on Tuesday, the Newark mayor Ras Baraka said his city would continue its fight in court against the company that runs an immigration detention facility in New Jersey.

“I know there are some protests that other people are planning, and if I feel obligated to be there, I will,” Baraka told the Rev Al Sharpton on MSNBC Saturday afternoon. “This doesn’t stop the city’s contention with the Geo Group, and we’re going to continue in court with them.”

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Mayor of Newark arrested for trespassing at Ice detention center

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Ras Baraka, who has spoken out against Trump’s immigration policies, was at the center with Democratic members of Congress

The mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, was arrested for trespass at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention center in New Jersey on Friday as Democratic members of Congress also attempted to conduct what they say was a visit to the controversial facility to conduct “federal oversight”.

News of Baraka’s arrest at Delaney Hall was reported on X by Alina Habba, the acting US attorney for the district of New Jersey, and a former personal attorney and adviser to Donald Trump.

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Immigrants set for Libya deportation sat on tarmac for hours, attorney says

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Any Trump administration efforts to send non-Libyans to the north African country would violate a prior court order

Immigrants in Texas who were told they would be deported to Libya sat on a military airfield tarmac for hours on Wednesday, unsure of what would happen next, an attorney for one of the men has said.

The attorney, Tin Thanh Nguyen, told the news agency Reuters that his client, a Vietnamese construction worker from Los Angeles, was among the immigrants woken in the early morning hours and bussed from an immigration detention center in Pearsall, Texas, to an airfield where a military aircraft awaited them.

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Trump administration invokes state secrets privilege in Kilmar Ábrego García case

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Lawyers say they’re ‘still in dark’ about government’s efforts to free the man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador

The Trump administration is invoking the “state secrets privilege ” in an apparent attempt to avoid answering a judge’s questions about its erroneous deportation of Kilmar Ábrego García to El Salvador.

US district judge Paula Xinis disclosed the government’s position in a two-page order on Wednesday. She set a Monday deadline for attorneys to file briefs on the issue and how it could affect Ábrego García’s case. Xinis also scheduled a 16 May hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, to address the matter.

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Brazil rejects US request to designate two gangs as terrorist organizations

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Security minister says US delegation wanted classification for PCC and Comando Vermelho to aid immigration policy

The Brazilian government has rejected a request by the US state department to designate two major criminal gangs as terrorist organizations, according to Mario Sarrubo, Brazil’s national secretary of public security.

Sarrubo said the request was made on Tuesday during a meeting between US and Brazilian officials in Brasília.

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