Author: Reporter

Counting votes: How Congress will certify a convicted felon’s Electoral College victory on January 6

The congressional joint session to count electoral votes on January 6 is expected to be much less eventful than the certification four years ago that was interrupted by a violent mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump who tried to stop the count and overturn the results of an election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. This time, the convicted felon is returning to office after winning the 2024 election that began with Biden as his party’s nominee and ended with Vice President Kamala Harris atop the ticket. She will preside over the certification of her own loss, fulfilling...

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More Border Patrol agents are training as chaplains to help peers process challenges on and off the job

As immigration remains a hotly contested priority for the Trump administration after playing a decisive role in the deeply polarized election, the Border Patrol agents tasked with enforcing many of its laws are wrestling with growing challenges on and off the job. More are training to become chaplains to help their peers as they tackle security threats, including the powerful cartels that control much of the border dynamic, and witness growing suffering among migrants — all while policies in Washington keep shifting and public outrage targets them from all sides. “The hardest thing is, people … don’t know what...

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Educators worry that mass deportation fears will keep immigrant children from attending school

Last time Donald Trump was president, rumors of immigration raids terrorized the Oregon community where Gustavo Balderas was the school superintendent. Word spread that immigration agents were going to try to enter schools. There was no truth to it, but school staff members had to find students who were avoiding school and coax them back to class. “People just started ducking and hiding,” Balderas said. Educators around the country are bracing for upheaval, whether or not the president-elect follows through on his pledge to deport millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally. Even if he only talks...

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Milwaukee is among many cities nationwide that lack resources to fulfill Trump’s mass deportations

The immigration officers sat in their vehicles before dawn near a two-story building. A New York subway line rumbled overhead, then an officer’s voice crackled over the radio. After watching for about two hours, he said, “I think that’s Tango,” using a term for target. “Gray hoodie. Backpack. Walking quickly.” The immigration officers surrounded and handcuffed a 23-year-old man from Ecuador who had been convicted of sexually assaulting a minor. Kenneth Genalo, head of Enforcement and Removal Operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York, said a popular misconception is that officers can sweep into a community and...

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Prepare to stay: Advocates train immigrants how to protect themselves against being targeted by Trump

Winston Leiva rattles off a long list of things immigrants should do to protect themselves against Donald Trump’s promise to conduct mass deportations when he returns to the White House. Make a plan for someone to care for your children if you are arrested. Do not open the door unless authorities slip a signed judicial warrant under it. And above all, exercise your right to remain silent. “We already know this administration,” Leiva told participants of a bilingual workshop in Los Angeles for immigrants who want to stay in the United States. “The truth is we don’t know to...

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U.S. population growth hits highest rate in 23 years driven by immigration as residents pass 340 million

Immigration in 2024 drove U.S. population growth to its fastest rate in 23 years as the nation surpassed 340 million residents, the U.S. Census Bureau said in December. The almost 1% growth rate this year was the highest it has been since 2001, and it was a marked contrast to the record low of 0.2% set in 2021 at the height of pandemic restrictions on travel to the United States, according to the annual population estimates. Immigration this year increased by almost 2.8 million people, partly because of a new method of counting that adds people who were admitted...

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