The proposal comes after the Trump administration ran into legal challenges in its attempt to attach a similar fee to the H-1B visa last year.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

The Mexican man was sent to his home country after assisting federal law enforcement by testifying against Mexican drug cartels.

© Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

Exclusive: internal correspondence reveals USCIS anti-fraud officers shifted on to two ‘high-priority’ initiatives

All US immigration officers working for a key anti-fraud unit have been reassigned by the Trump administration to focus on screening South African refugees and alleged “unlawful” voters.

Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS) immigration officers have been shifted full-time on to two “high-priority” initiatives, according to internal correspondence seen by the Guardian, leaving US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) unable to provide officers to train asylum officers in “the near future”.

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© Photograph: Kayla Wolf/AP

© Photograph: Kayla Wolf/AP

© Photograph: Kayla Wolf/AP

The sailor, Joshua Aviles, was on his way home from the Middle East aboard the beleaguered aircraft carrier when he learned his father had been detained.

© Katherine Delgado, via Associated Press

The president’s border wall plan could damage or destroy ‘the oldest-known books in North America’

On an overcast summer morning, Carolyn Boyd, an archeologist at Texas State University, stood at the foot of a cave in west Texas, looking up toward a series of towering murals painted on a rock wall. Three massive human-like figures soared toward an overhang that had sheltered the painting from the elements since they were drawn here perhaps 4,000 years ago.

An artist herself, Boyd knows how hard it would have been to paint these long, crisp lines. Before starting, the bands of Indigenous hunter-gatherers who lived in this west Texas valley, where the Pecos River empties into the Rio Grande, would have spent weeks pulverizing gypsum, hematite, limonite and manganese to make paint. They would have gathered massive quantities of sotol stalks to fold its fibers into scaffolding. The painting itself would have required teamwork and precision, with people at the bottom guiding artists on the wall as they painted figures stretching up to 30ft tall.

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© Photograph: Roque Planas/The Guardian

© Photograph: Roque Planas/The Guardian

© Photograph: Roque Planas/The Guardian

Joshua Aviles says he is on a nine-month Middle East deployment and learned his father has been arrested while he was waiting for green card approval

The father of a US sailor on board the USS Abraham Lincoln ⁠aircraft carrier deployed in the Middle East during the Iran war has been taken into federal immigration detention, the sailor ⁠said.

The border ​patrol arrested Luis Manuel Aviles Roa, originally from Nicaragua, after conducting a vehicle stop in Key West, Florida, a spokesperson for the US homeland security department said on Sunday.

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© Photograph: Katherine Delgado/AP

© Photograph: Katherine Delgado/AP

© Photograph: Katherine Delgado/AP

The ruling from the Southern District of New York found that the policy went beyond Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s legal authority.

© Anna Watts for The New York Times

The Trump administration approved the payment after Liberia said it would consider taking migrants from other countries.

© Matthew Jacobs/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

At least five of the people flown to Liberia under the Trump administration’s third-country deportation program resisted leaving the plane. They were then flown to Equatorial Guinea.

© Monika Pronczuk/Associated Press

ICE charter carrying more than 160 Haitian nationals landed in Cap-Haïtien, after temporary protection status was revoked

The first deportation flight to Haiti since the US supreme court upheld Donald Trump’s power to strip 350,000 Haitians – and others – of a key type of legal status in the US landed in the troubled nation on Thursday.

The flight was carrying more that 160 Haitian nationals and landed in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti’s second-largest city, aboard an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) charter.

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© Photograph: Matias Delacroix/AP

© Photograph: Matias Delacroix/AP

© Photograph: Matias Delacroix/AP

Pima county figures show highest number of monthly migrant deaths in two years as critics condemn US policy

According to newly released data from the medical examiner’s office in Pima county, Arizona, the remains of 19 migrants, including children, were recovered along the Arizona-Mexico border last month.

The figure accounts for the highest number of monthly deaths in that area since 2024 and brings the number of total remains found to 73 this year, 14 more than the same time period last year.

This article was updated on 21 August 2026 to correct the name of Octavio Fuentes.

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© Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Business owner Assim Alkhawaja was arrested by ICE as he dropped off Lyft passengers at a military base. Now he’s stuck in a terrifying fight to stay in the US

Deep within the bowels of San Diego’s federal courthouse, Assim Alkhawaja sat on the floor outside a nondescript office, waiting to be called for his ICE-mandated immigration appointment. He stared straight ahead, his posture tense, his face a mask.

The hallway was brown, as was the carpet. Above Alkhawaja’s head hung a framed stock photo of a waterfall. A few paces away, official government signs encouraged people without legal status to self-deport. “Leave on your own terms,” they read, in several languages. “Claim a free flight and an exit bonus for each member of your family.”

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© Photograph: Amanda Ulrich

© Photograph: Amanda Ulrich

© Photograph: Amanda Ulrich

With plentiful jobs and community support, one Mexico City neighbourhood has become a haven for those who have lived much of their lives in the US

With its wide avenues lined with tall palm trees, its quaint cafes and old-school cantinas, as well as the mix of English and Spanish spoken on the street, the Tabacalera neighborhood in downtown Mexico City has a certain US feel – so much so that it is has become known as Little LA.

The nickname is about more than appearances, however. In recent years, this corner of the metropolis has become a haven for many Mexicans deported from the US, particularly those who spent years or decades living across the border and for whom Mexico feels like a foreign country. In Little LA, they have found a more familiar place to belong.

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© Photograph: Luis Antonio Rojas/The Guardian

© Photograph: Luis Antonio Rojas/The Guardian

© Photograph: Luis Antonio Rojas/The Guardian

DHS says Manuel Ernesto Hernandez-Umana is in US illegally after lying to border patrol when he entered in 2007

The captain of a boat that capsized in the New York harbor, resulting in the death of a woman and her infant daughter, has been taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with the federal agency saying it intends to deport him.

The deadly incident unfolded near the Statue of Liberty on 8 August. Authorities said a 911 call was received at approximately 10.25pm that prompted a major emergency response including multiple boat teams, a scuba team and a helicopter unit.

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© Photograph: Larry Neumeister/AP

© Photograph: Larry Neumeister/AP

© Photograph: Larry Neumeister/AP

The five men were part of the first group of deportees to be sent to the West African nation by the Trump administration. The Liberian government has not clarified their status.

© Thierry Gouegnon/Reuters

Agreement is among largest third-country deportations driven by Trump administration’s immigration crackdown

Twenty deportees from the United States arrived in Liberia on Thursday, as part of a new agreement that will see the west African country receive as many as 1,200 people under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The group arrived at the Roberts international airport outside the capital, Monrovia. The Liberia-US agreement is one of the largest third-country deportation arrangements pursued by the administration since Trump returned to office last year.

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© Photograph: Alexander Wiaplah/AP

© Photograph: Alexander Wiaplah/AP

© Photograph: Alexander Wiaplah/AP

The reversal of the plan, which had not been publicly disclosed, comes amid mounting confusion about how the administration is protecting the rights of unaccompanied minors.

© Paul Ratje for The New York Times

After reviewing claims of persistent safety and sanitary failures, the court named two experts to monitor detention conditions across several facilities.

© Brenda BazáN/Associated Press

The arrangement is one of the largest known deals that the Trump administration has struck to expel migrants who cannot be sent back to their home countries.

© Annie Risemberg/Associated Press

• Family says Venezuelan has pending asylum claim

• DHS says 34-year-old faces removal proceedings

San Diego Padres minor-league catching coordinator Oswaldo Pirela remained in federal immigration custody on Tuesday after being detained at an airport in El Paso, Texas, while returning from a work trip.

Pirela’s family said the 34-year-old Venezuelan has a pending asylum claim and has continually renewed his work authorization. The Department of Homeland Security said he does not have legal status and will face removal proceedings.

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© Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images

© Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images

© Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images

A federal agent facing assault charges in Minnesota has been jailed in Texas since May. Gov. Greg Abbott has not granted an extradition request.

© Christopher Lee for The New York Times

Attorneys for Ábrego, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador, say the DoJ’s appeal was ‘flat wrong’

The Trump administration has asked a federal appeals court to reinstate criminal charges against Kilmar Ábrego García that were dismissed in May by a judge who said the prosecution of the man who unwittingly became a symbol of the White House’s mass deportation campaign was “vindictive in nature”.

In a filing to the US sixth circuit court of appeals, the justice department insisted that human smuggling allegations against Ábrego are genuine – and not retaliation for challenging his wrongful deportation to El Salvador in March 2025.

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© Photograph: George Walker IV/AP

© Photograph: George Walker IV/AP

© Photograph: George Walker IV/AP

The Department of Homeland Security said there would be an investigation. But so far little has been disclosed about the killing last month.

© Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

The Trump administration has been carving a path through some of the beloved national park’s major natural attractions.

Controversial project has faced bipartisan opposition by critics who say it mars pristine environmental area in Texas

Construction on a US-Mexico border project in Big Bend national park has halted, the Trump administration said Monday, as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) evaluates the controversial project in Texas.

“CBP is pausing all construction activity in Big Bend National Park while I visit and conduct a personal, on-the-ground evaluation,” CBP’s head, Rodney Scott, wrote in a social media post.

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© Photograph: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images

The U.S. is building an archipelago of overseas detention sites where deportees are often held indefinitely without charge.

© Moises Saman/Magnum, for The New York Times

The case represents a new front in President Trump’s mass deportation drive: arrests at airports of people who have active immigration cases and no criminal history.

© Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times

Immigrants have long eased labor shortages on farms and factories in Italy. But churches also need foreign-born priests, like the Rev. Vincent Souly of the Ivory Coast.

© Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times

Over the objections of environmentalists, local sheriffs and some state leaders, the Trump administration appears to be moving ahead with border infrastructure in one of Texas’ most beloved parks.

© Brian Finke

The government said it could not prove that a man accused of threatening federal agents had committed a crime, adding to the scores of cases in the administration’s deportation efforts that have unraveled.

© Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times

Heavy machinery seen operating in famous Santa Elena Canyon amid outcry over new wall infrastructure in beloved Texas park

Bulldozers have begun plowing up ground at the mouth of Big Bend national park’s famed Santa Elena Canyon as part of the Trump administration’s multibillion-dollar “smart wall” expansion on the US-Mexico border, according to new footage taken by activists who have been monitoring the site.

Tensions have run high since the Trump administration announced plans to erect new border security infrastructure in the roughly 500-mile Big Bend region of south-west Texas, which includes the Lone Star State’s largest and most-visited national park.

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© Photograph: Hannah Gentiles

© Photograph: Hannah Gentiles

© Photograph: Hannah Gentiles

Facility also had no air conditioning for two days amid extreme heat, according to one of the people detained

People detained at an overcrowded federal immigration camp in Mississippi were sickened by a mystery gas leak, then denied medical care when they complained of headaches and other symptoms, it has been alleged.

A lengthy power outage at Adams county detention center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility run by the private operator CoreCivic, also left it without air conditioning for two days this week, according to one detainee who contacted the Guardian through his family.

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© Photograph: Google Earth

© Photograph: Google Earth

© Photograph: Google Earth

The FBI from the 1950s to the 1970s tried to infiltrate and discredit leftist organizations. Trump seems to be repeating that sordid practice

It is bad enough that the Trump administration blocked a federal criminal investigation when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent killed Renee Good as she was turning her car away from him in Minneapolis the past January. Just before the shooting, Good and her partner had been observing and protesting against ICE officers.

Instead, it turns out the administration has been investigating progressive and even mainstream groups that have been involved in protests against Donald Trump’s sweeping deportations, according to newly released government documents.

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© Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

© Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

© Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

As the Trump administration drops charges against corporations and the wealthy, it is also taking aim at small-scale fraud cases, including against the operator of a weathered food truck in California.

© Alex Kent/The New York Times

DHS sent undercover agents to meetings and infiltrated chats of groups opposing Trump’s immigration crackdown

Newly disclosed records reveal the US government extensively spied on prominent leftwing organizations and on protesters as part of a vast operation into groups opposing the immigration crackdown in Minnesota earlier this year.

Internal investigative reports show the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent undercover agents to community meetings in the Twin Cities and New York City, infiltrated Signal chats and obtained financial records of mainstream unions and left-leaning non-profit groups.

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© Photograph: Seth Herald/Reuters

© Photograph: Seth Herald/Reuters

© Photograph: Seth Herald/Reuters

The court dismissed a case over the Alien Enemies Act in a messy conclusion to a long-running legal battle that had seemed destined to end up before the Supreme Court.

© Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

U.S. leaders limited immigration amid economic and social turmoil. Historians see similarities to Trump’s crackdown, with a catch: He’s doing it without Congress.

© Library of Congress

José Chajón-Raxón experienced ‘seizure-like activity’ at Delaney Hall and later died after being hospitalized

A Guatemalan immigrant detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at a Newark, New Jersey, facility suffered a medical emergency and later died after being hospitalized, according to the Trump administration.

José Chajón-Raxón is the third immigrant to die after being held at Delaney Hall, an ICE detention center that reopened in May 2025 amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

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© Photograph: Vincent Alban/Reuters

© Photograph: Vincent Alban/Reuters

© Photograph: Vincent Alban/Reuters

The government conducted expansive surveillance, infiltrated group chats and obtained financial records of organizations never accused of crimes.

© Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times

The agent, Adam Saracco, was charged with misdemeanor after the altercation at a gas station near Chicago last year during the Trump administration’s crackdown there.

© Jim Vondruska/Reuters

The agent accused the woman of trying to run him over with her vehicle, a claim she denied. It was the latest tense encounter between a federal agent and a driver.

Latvia has discovered its first known border tunnel used to enter the country illegally from Belarus, the country’s State Border Guard said on 11 August. Officers intercepted 15 people who had crossed through the underground passage and returned them to Belarus.

Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland accuse Belarus and Russia of directing migrants toward their borders to retaliate for EU sanctions and strain countries supporting Ukraine. Minsk and Moscow deny orchestrating the crossings. Tunnels found in Lithuania and Latvia show organizers adapting to fortified borders, requiring Baltic governments to deploy more personnel and surveillance technology.

The tunnel was about 10 meters from Latvia's fence

Border guards found the group on 10 August in Skrudaliena parish, in Latvia’s southeastern Augšdaugava municipality, and briefed the public on the discovery the following day. The operation involved the State Police, a Lithuanian border-service dog handler, and a rapid-response unit, the Latvian Border Guard said.

While reconstructing the group’s route, officers found the passage near the Silene border post, about 10 meters from Latvia’s fence. The agency said it had received intelligence that a tunnel might be under construction, but had previously found no sign of a breach there.

Riga answered on 11 August 2026 by launching Operation Vilkatis, or “Werewolf,” scheduled to run through the end of August. The government says the operation will improve intelligence-sharing among border guards, police, the military, and security services. It will also expand aerial surveillance and target networks that transport and shelter migrants after they cross.

Latvia faced 87% of all crossing attempts along the EU-Belarus border by mid-July 2026

Belarus has weaponized migration since 2021, when EU governments accused Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime of bringing people from the Middle East and Africa to the bloc’s frontier in retaliation for sanctions. Belarus denied orchestrating the crisis.

Latvia reported more direct evidence in January 2026. Documents and phones taken from detained migrants linked Belarusian military and border personnel to organized crossings, according to Latvia’s armed forces and Border Guard.

By 13 July, Latvia had recorded 7,791 attempts over 111 consecutive days, 87% of all attempts along the EU-Belarus border by then. Lithuania later found an unfinished tunnel dug from Belarus. Latvia’s tunnel, unlike the unfinished Lithuanian passage, had already been used.

The Department of Homeland Security described the gloves as a “de-escalation device,” but critics said they could encourage agents to use more force.

© Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times

As the Trump administration sends a growing number of immigrants to countries they have no connection to, some find themselves imprisoned with no way out.

© Moises Saman/Magnum, for The New York Times

Ms. Craig, a moderate Democratic congresswoman, flipped a swing House seat in 2018 to become Minnesota’s first openly gay member of Congress.

© Tom Baker/Getty Images

Roberto Mosquera, a Cuban immigrant who has lived in the United States since 1980 and completed a prison sentence in 1996, was arrested by ICE last year and sent to a prison in Eswatini, a country in Africa he’d never heard of. After a hunger strike, Mosquera obtained a phone and talked with Nicholas Casey of The New York Times Magazine to share what is happening there.

Most visas were rescinded over criminal accusations, the State Department said, while some were revoked from people who had celebrated the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

© Nathan Howard for The New York Times

Jazmine Ulloa, our national reporter covering immigration, describes body-camera footage and other court evidence that federal agents used slurs and racially profiled people during immigration sweeps.

Claims swirled that Morocco, perhaps spurred by Israel and the United States, organized a recent border disaster. That unproven speculation, experts said, was exacerbated by the region’s complicated history.

© Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

A wave of disinformation online contributed to a surge of migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta who were trying to reach Europe, resulting in about 90 deaths.

© Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times