Officials in Costa Rica and Panama are confiscating migrants' passports and cellphones, denying them access to legal services and moving them between remote outposts as they wrestle with the logistics of a suddenly reversed migration flow. The restrictions and lack of transparency are drawing criticism from human rights observers and generating increasingly testy responses from officials, who say their actions are aimed at protecting the migrants from human traffickers. Both countries have received hundreds of deportees from various nations sent by the United States as President Donald Trump's administration tries to accelerate deportations. At the same time, thousands of migrants shut out of the US have started moving south through Central America Panama recorded 2,200 so far in February. We're a reflection of current United States immigration policy, said Harold Villegas-Romn, a political science professor and refugee expert at the University of Costa Rica. There is no focus on .
Days after telling legal groups who help migrant children who arrive in America alone some so young they are in diapers or their feet dangle from their chairs in court that they must stop their work, the federal government Friday reversed itself. The Trump administration told the groups that they can resume providing legal services to tens of thousands of unaccompanied children. The Acacia Centre for Justice said that they received notice from the government of the reversal. The notice came after the government on Tuesday suspended the program that provides legal representation to children who have arrived in the United States across the border with Mexico without parents or legal guardians. Several organisations that offer assistance to migrant children had criticised the measure and said at the time that the minors were at risk. The USD 200 million contract allows Acacia and its subcontractors to provide legal representation to about 26,000 children and legal education to anothe
The top official in charge of carrying out President Donald Trump's mass deportations agenda has been reassigned amid concerns that the deportation effort isn't moving fast enough. Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Friday that Caleb Vitello, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was "no longer in an administrative role, but is instead overseeing all field and enforcement operations: finding, arresting, and deporting illegal aliens, which is a major priority of the President and Secretary (Kristi) Noem". The statement made no mention of why Vitello, a career ICE official with more than two decades on the job, was reassigned or who his replacement will be. But White House officials have expressed frustration with the pace of deportations of people in the country illegally. The decision comes a little over one month into the new administration, showing how important immigration and carrying out mass deportations are to the Trump .
Recent data shows a rise in detainees in the US with no criminal convictions or pending charges
Nearly 200 Venezuelan immigrants to the US were returned to their home country after being detained at Guantanamo Bay, in a flurry of flights that forged an unprecedented pathway for US deportations. US and Venezuelan authorities confirmed the deportations that relied on a stopover in Honduras, where 177 Venezuelans exited a US Customs and Immigration Enforcement flight and boarded a Venezuelan plane bound for Caracas. The government of President Nicols Maduro said it had requested the repatriation of a group of Venezuelans who were unjustly taken to the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. With the request accepted, an aircraft with the state-owned airline Conviasa picked up the migrants from Honduras. ICE confirmed the transfer of 177 Venezuelan illegal aliens. The administration of President Donald Trump has placed a high priority on deporting people who have exhausted all legal appeals to stay in the U.S. Nearly 1.5 million had final removal orders as of Nov. 24, according to
US President Donald Trump's deportation efforts have sparked numerous controversies, especially over allegations of inhumane treatment of migrants by US military officials
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco refused the Trump administration's request to temporarily halt a previous lower court ruling
Deported Indian immigrant Davinder Singh recounts harrowing tales of mistreatment, with reports of inadequate food, extreme cold, and religious insensitivity
The North American Punjabi Association has expressed serious concern over human trafficking, saying the government must take immediate action to prevent youths from taking illegal and dangerous routes to reach foreign shores. The reaction came after many Indians deported from America last week alleged that they were taken to the US borders through treacherous 'dunki' routes by unscrupulous travel agents without their prior knowledge and after charging huge sums. Satnam Singh Chahal, the Executive Director of the North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) on Saturday alleged that despite repeated warnings and several tragic incidents, the government has failed to implement effective measures to curb illegal migration. "The government must take immediate steps to strengthen enforcement, increase awareness and work closely with international agencies to put an end to this crisis," Chahal said. NAPA urged the Punjab government to protect the lives of young Punjabis and take decisive act
New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he will allow federal immigration officials to operate at the city's Rikers Island jail following a meeting Thursday with President Donald Trump's border czar. Adams said he will issue an executive order reestablishing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence at the complex one of the nation's largest and most notorious lockups as had been the case under prior administrations. The Democrat said ICE agents would be focused on assisting the correction department's intelligence bureau in criminal investigations, particularly those focused on violent criminals and gangs. As I have always said, immigrants have been crucial in building our city and will continue to be key to our future success, but we must fix our long-broken immigration system, Adams said in a statement. That is why I have been clear that I want to work with the new federal administration, not war with them, to find common ground and make better the lives of New ...
India's cooperation shows it wants to shake off the label of being a major source of illegal immigration to the US
The analysts see net immigration to the US plummeting to 750,000 a year, shaving 30-40 basis points (0.3-0.4 percentage points) off potential gross domestic product growth this year
A US Air Force cargo plane landed in Amritsar on Wednesday with 104 Indian nationals deported for illegal entry, marking the first known use of military aircraft for such deportations
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha that it is the obligation of all countries to take back their nationals if they are found to be living illegally abroad
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arvalo said Wednesday his country will accept migrants from other countries who are being deported from the United States, the second deportation deal that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Under the agreement announced by Arvalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. We have agreed to increase by 40 per cent the number of flights of deportees both of our nationality as well as deportees from other nationalities, Arvalo said at a news conference with Rubio. Previously, including under the Biden administration, Guatemala had been accepting on average seven to eight flights of its citizens from the US per week. Under President Donald Trump it's also been one of the countries that have had migrants returned on US military planes. El Salvador announced a similar but broader agreement on Monday. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said his coun
The Pentagon is readying orders for the deployment of at least 1,000 additional active duty troops to bolster President Donald Trump's expanding crackdown on immigration, US officials said Friday. They said roughly 500 more soldiers largely a headquarters unit from the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum in New York will be sent to the southwest border. And about 500 Marines will go to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where some of the detained migrants will be held. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because announcements have not been made, said there have been ongoing discussions about the deployments and the numbers could increase if additional details are worked out. The Pentagon has been scrambling to put in motion Trump's executive orders signed shortly after he took office on January 20. The first group of 1,600 active duty troops deployed to the border last week. The deployments reflect Trump's determination to expand the military's role in his campaign to shut down
Donald Trump criticised the current US immigration policy, stating that unqualified individuals and their children were benefiting from a system that was never meant for them
Over 7,000 student and exchange visitors from India overstayed in the US in 2023, an expert told US lawmakers and suggested several reforms in the country's immigration policies, including those related to H-1B visas. As many as 32 countries have student/exchange visitor overstay rates of higher than 20 per cent, Jessica M Vaughan from the Center for Immigration Studies told the US House Committee on the Judiciary during a hearing on Restoring Immigration Enforcement in America. The F and M visa categories have the highest overstay rates of any of the broad categories of temporary admission. The F-1 Visa allows a person to enter the United States as a full-time student at an accredited college, university, seminary, conservatory, academic high school, elementary school, or other academic institution or in a language training programme. The M-1 visa category includes students in vocational or other nonacademic programmes, other than language training. Four countries -- Brazil, Chin
Tom Homan, the former chief of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, questioned Selena Gomez over her stance when 'half a million children were sex trafficked'
The Trump administration arrested 538 illegal migrants, including criminals and a terrorist, deporting hundreds to secure US borders