In this second installment of the Guardian's investigation, @oliverlaughland.bsky.social @wcraft.bsky.social & @raimaamjad.bsky.social look at Alexandria, Louisiana – a key deportation hub. One detainee said the this was "just not a place for human beings”

NEW: We’ve spent the past 4 months investigating a detention center on the tarmac of a rural airport in Alexandria - a legal “black hole” & Trump’s deportation hub We uncovered a pattern of alleged due process violations, poor medical treatment, overcrowding, health emergencies, abuse & long stays:

Andry Hernández Romero – the Venezuelan makeup artist deported to a Salvadoran megaprison – was one of several detained immigrants I interviewed. Here's his chaotic path across the US. When Andry boarded these flights, no one would tell him where exactly he was going. (Illo by Andrew Witherspoon)

Excellent reporting from The Guardian. Plane to purgatory: how Trump’s deportation program shuttles immigrants into lawless limbo www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

We analyzed leaked data for rare look at the winding journeys of more than 44,000 immigrants detained or deported by the Trump administration... and found that people are being moved around in unprecedented and irregular ways. w/ @wcraft.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

We are launching a new investigation today, which reveals new details about Trump's deportation program. Our first story is by @maanvisingh.bsky.social and @wcraft.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Border patrol agents arrested Catalina Santiago, granted temporary protection as a Dreamer, on 3 August. “They have no legal basis for why they detained her or why they’re holding her or why they’re trying to deport her,” said her spouse, Desiree Miller.

Tomorrow’s Guardian front page

Unreal visualizations of what the ICE deportation and detention machine has looked like under Trump from @maanvisingh.bsky.social @wcraft.bsky.social & Andrew Witherspoon www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Our analysis of detailed arrest and deportation data hows just how drastically the ICE immigration enforcement apparatus has transformed under Trump. With @wcraft.bsky.social & Andrew Witherspoon.

Deportation numbers haven't risen as drastically as arrests, but one pattern has emerged from the data: The Trump administration is trying to send more people to countries where they are not citizens. We found 8,100 people sent to third countries. The biggest group? Venezuelans deported to Mexcio

Detention facilities are at record highs, with a daily average of nearly 60,000 people held across the country in June, far more than the number of beds that Congress has allocated for Ice detention

Trump has drastically reshaped immigration enforcement over the last 6 months. Our analysis found that for the first time, people without criminal records are being arrested in higher numbers than any other group www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Israeli military used 500lb bomb in strike on Gaza cafe, fragments reveal

“How can Nepal deport them back to the country that once expelled them?” The US deported them to Bhutan, which refused to accept them. So they went to Nepal...which wants to deport them again, back to Bhutan.

🚨 Trump's border "invasion" declaration was just ruled unlawful "nothing in the INA or the Constitution grants the President or his delegees the sweeping authority asserted in the Proclamation and implementing guidance."

🚨NEW: The Trump admin moves to terminate Temporary Protected Status for HALF A MILLION Haitians, claiming despite all reality that Haiti is a safe country to return to — even though large portions of the country are ruled by vicious gangs and civil governance has collapsed.

NEW: The Trump admin finalized an emergency regulation, which goes into effect tomorrow, authorizing DHS to impose civil monetary penalties for immigration law violations with far less due process. The rule could lead to DHS imposing exorbitant fines on millions of people — fines they can't afford.

“In this moment, while we’re seeing the worst of our federal administration, we are seeing the best here in the city of Los Angeles." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Families arrested in LA Ice raids held in basements with little food or water, lawyers say

at least five car washes in L.A. and Orange counties have been targeted by federal immigration agents in recent days, w/ more reports rolling in this afternoon. ~26 people were taken at these locations—some in unmarked vehicles. the vast majority were workers. story: www.latimes.com/business/sto...

A series of local immigration enforcement actions and the resulting protests are reshaping the end of the school year in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Fears of ICE raids upend life in L.A. County, from schools to Home Depot parking lots

Really good WSJ article on ICE escalations over recent weeks including Miller's visit to ICE national HQ where he demanded Home Depot raids. www.wsj.com/us-news/prot...

There's officers from ICE and Customs and Border Patrol here in LA. The latter are usually restricted to 100mi of the US border... but lawyers suspect the agency is now counting the entire coastline as a border. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

As the government rushes to arrest immigrants in LA, people are being held in harrowing conditions. One family with three children was held in the basement of an administrative building for 2 days without a full meal or enough water, their lawyers said. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

ICE raids in Los Angeles are a declaration of war, & Angelenos are primed for battle, @tinavasquez.bsky.social writes in an op-ed. Immigration & Customs Enforcement sent the city a message when its agents showed up in full force, & that message was responded to in kind by the people of LA.

ICE is increasingly using Bureau of Prisons (BoP) facilities to incarcerate immigrants facing deportation. @samtlevin.bsky.social spoke to several people about their experience in these prisons – where detainees face squalid conditions and mistreatment.

"Salazar’s case demonstrates that 'if your only tool is a hammer everything looks like a nail,' said his attorney, Travis Collins."

Israeli forces have now dropped more explosives in Gaza than fell on London, Dresden, and Hamburg during the Second World War. The region’s hospitals have not been spared; most are no longer functional. Clayton Dalton writes about the devastation.

UPDATE: Remember this case, where a federal judge savaged the Trump administration's "evidence" that a woman was in Tren de Aragua? Well, last week the Trump administration arrested her and her husband for the THIRD TIME — and now they say they'll use the Alien Enemies Act on them!

The Trump administration has restarted the practice known as “family detention” – locking up children along with their parents. Those detained include families who had recently crossed into the US. Among the youngest detainees was a one-year-old child.

I spoke to one of the first families detained after the Trump administration re-started the practice of jailing families together. Jade, 13, said was "confused and scared". Now that she's out, she's still waiting on the government to return her Nintendo Switch. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

NEW: Venezuelan plaintiffs represented by ACLU ask Judge Boasberg for an IMMEDIATE emergency order to prevent apparently imminent deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. They say people have already been loaded onto buses. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Context: The Trump administration is trying to use a procedural issue (the scope of the injunctions) to put the policy into effect across 99% of the country. It’s not formally asking the Court to *uphold* the executive order, but the relief it’s seeking would produce the same *practical* result.

This is the first habeas petition to directly seek the release of a Venezuelan detained at CECOT.

BREAKING: We've filed a lawsuit with @ccrjustice.org and @nipnlg.bsky.social for the U.S. government to secure the release of Mr. Edicson David Quintero Chacón from El Salvador's notorious mega-prison CECOT. The 28-year-old father of two is being illegally detained at CECOT with no due process.

On @theguardian.com 's Today In Focus podcast, I discuss Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case in depth >

Based on arrest data from the first four weeks of the Trump administration, that about 1,400 arrests, or about 8% of the nearly 16,500 arrests in the administration’s first month – may have occurred during or right after people checked in with the agency.

Here's another piece from this weekend. Alberto Lovo Rojas fled violence in Nicaragua, and had been checking in with Ice weekly. They arrested him while he was waiting to get his hair cut. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Marina & Sergei fled Russia after they protested their government's invasion of Ukraine – and the came to the US seeking asylum. Then Sergei was arrested at an Ice check in - and the family feels the only way they can remain together, is to flee again: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Sergei and Marina fled Russia after protesting the Ukraine war, and came to the Bay Area to build a new life. Marina is a photographer and volunteer at the San Francisco zoo, Sergei is a mechanic and their daughter is two years old.

Local law enforcement agencies can apply to work with Ice through the 287(g) program. Biden promised to phase the program out, but it has come roaring back under Trump

Ice arrested more people in 22 days in February than in any month in the last 7 years

New from @maanvisingh.bsky.social and I: What does the first few months of immigration enforcement look like under Trump - more arrests, more local police cooperation, more fear. "“What we’re seeing is a real scattershot of different tactics" www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

E.S. was arrested, tortured and raped in Turkey as part of a government crackdown on members of the Gülen movement. He made his way to the US seeking safety, but was denied asylum by a judge who has rejected almost every case.

Last week, I got to collaborate with @almacampos.bsky.social on this piece. Alma interviewed another parent, Yess, who told us: “My kids don’t deserve to see their mother hiding. And I’m not going to do it.”

I've been reporting from Chicago, where parents and educators have been scrambling to protect children at schools, and help them process the fear. “They’re sad and they’re scared,’” said Lucy, a parent to an 8yo and 10yo. “And I have to explain racism, and how we are being profiled.”

When you Google Ice raids, years-old operations pop up - creating a mirage of mass deportations. Incredible scoop from @darakerr.bsky.social "All of that is intended to send a message to immigrants to be afraid and that they’re coming for you."

In LA, immigrants who were displaced or lost their jobs in the fire are doubly vulnerable, fearing raids while wondering how they can afford to make ends meet. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...