Politics
Trump’s orders have upended U.S. immigration. What legal routes remain?
Promising the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, President Trump, in his first days in office, has released a dramatic series of executive orders and other policy changes that will reshape the country’s immigration system — and the experience of what it means to live in the U.S. as an immigrant, particularly one who is undocumented.
There are an estimated 13 million to 15 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., including more than 2.5 million in California.
That includes people who crossed the border illegally, people who overstayed their visas and people who have requested asylum. It does not include people who entered the country under various temporary humanitarian programs, or who have obtained Temporary Protected Status, which gives people the right to live and work in the U.S. temporarily because of disasters or strife in their home countries.
However, many of the people who came to the U.S. using those legal pathways could also be at risk of deportation, because of other actions the Trump administration has taken.
What exactly has the Trump administration done?
Trump has signed multiple executive orders targeting immigration that, as the Migration Policy Institute noted, do one of three things: sharply limit legal pathways for entering the U.S., bolster enforcement efforts to seal off the U.S.-Mexico border or promote aggressive sweeps to round up and deport people living in the U.S. illegally. Some of the orders have already been challenged in court, and advocates said others could be soon.
Among the most consequential orders:
- The president declared a “national emergency” at the southern border, which will enable him to deploy military troops there.
- He moved to end birthright citizenship, which has long been guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. The American Civil Liberties Union and more than 20 states, including California, have sued, arguing the order is unconstitutional. In a ruling issued in one of those cases on Jan. 23, a federal judge temporarily halted the order while the legal challenges play out.
- He suspended the refugee admissions program as of Jan. 27 for at least 90 days. Last fiscal year, the U.S. resettled more than 100,000 refugees, the highest number in three decades.
Has the new administration done anything else that affects immigration?
Yes. Among the significant actions:
- Hours after Trump took office, his new administration shut down the CBP One mobile app. The Biden administration had expanded use of CBP One to create a more orderly process of applying for asylum. Migrants could use the app, once they reached Mexican soil, to schedule appointments with U.S. authorities at legal ports of entry to present their bids for asylum and provide biographical information for screening.
- In a related action, the administration has given Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials the power to quickly deport about 1.4 million immigrants who were granted legal entry to the U.S. for up to two years through two Biden-era programs: migrants who came in through the CBP One program and were granted parole status as they await hearings on their asylum pleas; and migrants fleeing Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti who were granted temporary parole while seeking asylum.
- In a notice posted Jan. 21, the administration said it would empower immigration authorities to fast-track deportations of people in the country illegally without a judicial hearing. The ACLU has sued to try to halt the plan.
- The Department of Homeland Security has rescinded long-standing guidelines prohibiting immigration agents from making arrests in “sensitive” locations such as schools, hospitals and churches.
- Benjamine Huffman, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has declared a “mass influx” of illegal immigrants at the southern border, which authorizes the department to deputize state and local law enforcement officers to conduct immigration enforcement.
- ICE has begun conducting publicized immigration raids in many cities, including New York and Chicago. The administration said it was targeting undocumented people with criminal records. But in a briefing this week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration views all undocumented immigrants as criminals, because they have violated immigration laws.
So, what are the numbers? Have more people been deported since Trump took office?
ICE authorities this week have been posting daily figures on the agency’s X account citing the number of undocumented immigrants arrested, including 1,179 on Jan. 27 and 969 on Jan. 28. Axios reported this week that ICE made 3,500 arrests during Trump’s first week in office. During Biden’s final year in office, the arrest number was about 350 a week.
It is too soon to evaluate deportation numbers. On Jan. 27, ICE posted on X that: “In one week, law enforcement officials have removed and returned 7,300 illegal aliens.”
If that pace continues, and ICE removes 7,300 immigrants every week for a year, that would result in the forced removal of more than 350,000 people. That figure would outpace removals during the Biden administration. But during the Obama administration, ICE removals peaked at nearly 410,000 in fiscal year 2012. Obama’s enforcement policies targeted undocumented immigrants with criminal records and people who had recently crossed the border without authorization, according to the Migration Policy Institute, while placing low priority on people with established roots in U.S. communities and without criminal records.
What are the current avenues for legal immigration?
- People who have a close family member who is a U.S. citizen can still apply. But if the Trump administration resurrects travel bans barring people from certain countries from entering the U.S., that could limit applications to certain nationalities.
- People deemed to have valuable skills can apply for temporary or permanent employment visas, although in many cases there are years-long waits for such visas. Employers can petition for temporary work visas for foreign nationals for specific jobs. Permanent work visas are capped at 140,000 per year, a figure that includes the immigrants plus their eligible spouses and minor, unmarried children, according to the American Immigration Council.
- Immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S. are eligible for a green-card lottery.
- Visas are still available for parents adopting a child from another country.
What’s going on with Dreamers?
While Trump tried to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, during his first administration, he has not yet touched the program this time around.
The Obama-era program grants a renewable work permit and temporary reprieve from deportation to certain people who came to the U.S. as children. An estimated 537,730 people had DACA protection as of September, with the vast majority being from Mexico, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
The legality of the program remains mired in the federal courts.
What are sanctuary policies, and why is the Trump administration targeting them?
There isn’t one clear definition of a sanctuary policy. The term generally applies to policies that limit state and local officials from cooperating with federal authorities on civil immigration enforcement duties.
California’s 2017 sanctuary law, the California Values Act, prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from investigating, interrogating and arresting people simply for immigration enforcement purposes. The law does not prevent federal authorities from carrying out those enforcement duties in California. And it does allow local police to cooperate with federal immigration officials in limited circumstances, including in cases involving immigrants convicted of certain violent felonies and misdemeanors.
Under L.A.’s sanctuary city law, city employees and city property may not be used to “investigate, cite, arrest, hold, transfer or detain any person” for the purpose of immigration enforcement. An exception is made for law enforcement investigating serious offenses. L.A. Unified’s sanctuary policy prohibits staff from voluntarily cooperating in an immigration enforcement action, including sharing information about a student’s immigration status.
An executive order issued on Trump’s first day in office threatens to withhold federal funds from sanctuary jurisdictions that seek to interfere with federal law enforcement operations. A memo from the Department of Justice, meanwhile, said state and local officials could be investigated and prosecuted for not complying with Trump’s crackdown on immigration enforcement.
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has called the pronouncement “a scare tactic,” and vowed legal action “if the Trump administration’s vague threats turn to illegal action.”
If immigration authorities make mass arrests, does the U.S. have space to detain all the immigrants?
That depends on several factors.
On average, nearly 40,000 people have been locked up in ICE detention centers on a daily basis during fiscal year 2025. There is probably capacity in the system for additional detainees, but how much isn’t entirely clear, according to Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney with the ACLU National Prison Project.
What is clear is that the administration intends to expand the ICE detention footprint. On Wednesday, Trump directed his administration to begin using the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the detention of 30,000 “high priority” immigrants. The military also is allowing ICE to detain undocumented immigrants at Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado, according to multiple news reports.
ICE operates six detention facilities in California, with capacity for nearly 7,200 detainees, and is pressing to expand. Agency officials are looking for space to accommodate 850 to 950 people within two hours of its San Francisco regional field offices, a development first reported by CalMatters.
The agency is also looking to increase detention capacity in Arizona, New Mexico, Washington and Oregon, according to federal documents obtained by CalMatters.
ICE facilities, which are largely run by private prison corporations, have been dogged by allegations of poor medical care and inhumane treatment. A 2019 law that would have banned private immigration facilities in California was overturned by the federal courts.
Times staff writers Kate Linthicum, Brittny Mejia, Andrea Castillo and Rachel Uranga contributed to this report.
Politics
Kamala Harris blasts Trump administration’s capture of Venezuela’s Maduro as ‘unlawful and unwise’
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Former Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday evening condemned the Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, calling the operation both “unlawful” and “unwise.”
In a lengthy post on X, Harris acknowledged that Maduro is a “brutal” and “illegitimate” dictator but said that President Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela “do not make America safer, stronger, or more affordable.”
“Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela do not make America safer, stronger, or more affordable,” Harris wrote. “That Maduro is a brutal, illegitimate dictator does not change the fact that this action was both unlawful and unwise. We’ve seen this movie before.
“Wars for regime change or oil that are sold as strength but turn into chaos, and American families pay the price.”
SEE PICS: VENEZUELANS WORLDWIDE CELEBRATE AS EXILES REACT TO MADURO’S CAPTURE
Vice President Kamala Harris had strong words for the Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)
Harris made the remarks hours after the Trump administration confirmed that Maduro and his wife were captured and transported out of Venezuela as part of “Operation Absolute Resolve.”
The former vice president also accused the administration of being motivated by oil interests rather than efforts to combat drug trafficking or promote democracy.
“The American people do not want this, and they are tired of being lied to. This is not about drugs or democracy. It is about oil and Donald Trump’s desire to play the regional strongman,” Harris said. “If he cared about either, he wouldn’t pardon a convicted drug trafficker or sideline Venezuela’s legitimate opposition while pursuing deals with Maduro’s cronies.”
SECOND FRONT: HOW A SOCIALIST CELL IN THE US MOBILIZED PRO-MADURO FOOT SOLDIERS WITHIN 12 HOURS
President Donald Trump shared a photo of captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima after Saturday’s strikes on Venezuela. (Donald Trump via Truth Social)
Harris, who has been rumored as a potential Democratic contender in the 2028 presidential race, additionally accused the president of endangering U.S. troops and destabilizing the region.
“The President is putting troops at risk, spending billions, destabilizing a region, and offering no legal authority, no exit plan, and no benefit at home,” she said. “America needs leadership whose priorities are lowering costs for working families, enforcing the rule of law, strengthening alliances, and — most importantly — putting the American people first.”
MADURO’S FALL SPARKS SUSPICION OF BETRAYAL INSIDE VENEZUELA’S RULING ELITE
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, left, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio watch U.S. military operations in Venezuela from Mar-a-Lago in Florida early Saturday. (Donald Trump via Truth Social)
Maduro and his wife arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn late Saturday after being transported by helicopter from the DEA in Manhattan after being processed.
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Earlier in the day, Trump said that the U.S. government will “run” Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”
Harris’ office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
CARACAS, Venezuela — It was about 2 a.m. Saturday Caracas time when the detonations began, lighting up the sullen sky like a post-New Year’s fireworks display.
“¡Ya comenzó!” was the recurrent phrase in homes, telephone conversations and social media chats as the latest iteration of U.S. “shock and awe” rocked the Venezuelan capital. “It has begun!”
Then the question: “¿Maduro?”
The great uncertainty was the whereabouts of President Nicolás Maduro, who has been under Trump administration threat for months.
The scenes of revelry from a joyous Venezuelan diaspora celebrating from Miami to Madrid were not repeated here. Fear of the unknown kept most at home.
Hours would pass before news reports from outside Venezuela confirmed that U.S. forces had captured Maduro and placed him on a U.S. ship to face criminal charges in federal court in New York.
Venezuelans had watched the unfolding spectacle from their homes, using social media to exchange images of explosions and the sounds of bombardment. This moment, it was clear, was ushering in a new era of uncertainly for Venezuela, a nation reeling from a decade of economic, political and social unrest.
Government supporters display posters of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, right, and former President Hugo Chávez in downtown Caracas on Saturday.
(Matias Delacroix / Associated Press)
The ultimate result was an imponderable. But that this was a transformative moment — for good or bad — seemed indisputable.
By daybreak, an uneasy calm overtook the city of more than 3 million. The explosions and the drone of U.S. aircraft ceased. Blackouts cut electricity to parts of the capital.
Pro-government youths wielding automatic rifles set up roadblocks or sped through the streets on motorcycles, a warning to those who might celebrate Maduro’s downfall.
Shops, gas stations and other businesses were mostly closed. There was little traffic.
“When I heard the explosions, I grabbed my rosary and began to pray,” said Carolina Méndez, 50, who was among the few who ventured out Saturday, seeking medicines at a pharmacy, though no personnel had arrived to attend to clients waiting on line. “I’m very scared now. That’s why I came to buy what I need.”
A sense of alarm was ubiquitous.
Motorcycles and cars line up for gas Saturday in Caracas. Most of the population stayed indoors, reluctant to leave their homes except for gas and food.
(Andrea Hernandez Briceno / For The Times)
“People are buying bottled water, milk and eggs,” said Luz Pérez, a guard at one of the few open shops, not far from La Carlota airport, one of the sites targeted by U.S. strikes. “I heard the explosions. It was very scary. But the owner decided to open anyway to help people.”
Customers were being allowed to enter three at a time. Most didn’t want to speak. Their priority was to stock up on basics and get home safely.
Rumors circulated rapidly that U.S. forces had whisked away Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
There was no immediate official confirmation here of the detention of Maduro and Flores, both wanted in the United States for drug-trafficking charges — allegations that Maduro has denounced as U.S. propaganda. But then images of an apparently captive Maduro, blindfolded, in a sweatsuit soon circulated on social media.
There was no official estimate of Venezuelan casualties in the U.S. raid.
Rumors circulated indicating that a number of top Maduro aides had been killed, among them Diosdado Cabello, the security minister who is a staunch Maduro ally. Cabello is often the face of the government.
But Cabello soon appeared on official TV denouncing “the terrorist attack against our people,” adding: “Let no one facilitate the moves of the enemy invader.”
Although Trump, in his Saturday news conference, confidently predicted that the United States would “run” Venezuela, apparently during some undefined transitional period, it’s not clear how that will be accomplished.
A key question is whether the military — long a Maduro ally — will remain loyal now that he is in U.S. custody. There was no public indication Saturday of mass defections from the Venezuelan armed forces. Nor was it clear that Maduro’s government infrastructure had lost control of the country. Official media reported declarations of loyalty from pro-government politicians and citizens from throughout Venezuela.
A billboard with an image of President Nicolas Maduro stands next to La Carlota military base in Caracas, Venezuela, on Saturday. The graffiti reads, “Fraud, fraud.”
(Andrea Hernandez Briceno / For The Times)
In his comments, Trump spoke of a limited U.S. troop presence in Venezuela, focused mostly on protecting the oil infrastructure that his administration says was stolen from the United States — a characterization widely rejected here, even among Maduro’s critics. But Trump offered few details on sending in U.S. personnel to facilitate what could be a tumultuous transition.
Meantime, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez surfaced on official television and demanded the immediate release of Maduro and his wife, according to the official Telesur broadcast outlet. Her comments seemed to be the first official acknowledgment that Maduro had been taken.
“There is one president of this country, and his name is Nicolás Maduro,” the vice president said in an address from Miraflores Palace, from where Maduro and his wife had been seized hours earlier.
During an emergency meeting of the National Defense Council, Telesur reported, Rodríguez labeled the couple’s detention an “illegal kidnapping.”
The Trump administration, the vice president charged, meant to “capture our energy, mineral and [other] natural resources.”
Her defiant words came after Trump, in his news conference, said that Rodríguez had been sworn in as the country’s interim president and had evinced a willingness to cooperate with Washington.
“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump said.
Pro-government armed civilians patrol in La Guaira, Venezuela, on Saturday after President Trump announced that President Nicolás Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country.
(Matias Delacroix / Associated Press)
Somewhat surprisingly, Trump also seemed to rule out a role in an interim government for Marina Corina Machado, the Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize laureate and longtime anti-Maduro activist.
“She’s a very nice woman, but doesn’t have respect within the country,” Trump said of Machado.
Machado is indeed a controversial figure within the fractured Venezuelan opposition. Some object to her open calls for U.S. intervention, preferring a democratic change in government.
Nonetheless, her stand-in candidate, Edmundo González, did win the presidency in national balloting last year, according to opposition activists and others, who say Maduro stole the election.
“Venezuelans, the moment of liberty has arrived!” Machado wrote in a letter released on X. “We have fought for years. … What was meant to happen is happening.”
Not everyone agreed.
“They want our oil and they say it’s theirs,” said Roberto, 65, a taxi driver who declined to give his last name for security reasons. “Venezuelans don’t agree. Yes, I think people will go out and defend their homeland.”
Special correspondent Mogollón reported from Caracas and staff writer McDonnell from Boston. Contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal in Mexico City.
Politics
Marjorie Taylor Greene criticizes Trump’s meetings with Zelenskyy, Netanyahu: ‘Can we just do America?’
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on Sunday called for President Trump to only focus on America’s needs as the president meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The president has been heavily involved in the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas conflicts since returning to the White House.
Trump met with Zelenskyy on Sunday at Mar-a-Lago to discuss a peace plan aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war that began with an invasion by Moscow in February 2022.
Netanyahu arrived in Florida on Sunday ahead of their scheduled meeting on Monday at Trump’s estate to address Israel’s conflicts in the Middle East. It will be the sixth meeting of the year between the two leaders.
TRUMP ZELENSKYY SAY UKRAINE PEACE DEAL CLOSE BUT ‘THORNY ISSUES’ REMAIN AFTER FLORIDA TALKS
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized President Donald Trump’s meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Greene, responding to Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy and Netanyahu, said that the Trump administration should address the needs of Americans rather than becoming further involved in global conflicts.
“Zelensky today. Netanyahu tomorrow,” she wrote on X.
President Donald Trump welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. (Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images)
“Can we just do America?” the congresswoman continued.
The congresswoman has been a vocal critic of supplying U.S. military aid to foreign countries amid the conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.
She has also referred to Zelenskyy as “a dictator who canceled elections” and labeled Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as a genocide and humanitarian crisis.
ZELENSKYY READY TO PRESENT NEW PEACE PROPOSALS TO US AND RUSSIA AFTER WORKING WITH EUROPEAN TALKS
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and President Donald Trump had a public feud in recent months. (Getty Images)
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This comes after Taylor Greene, who is set to resign from the House in January, had a public spat with Trump over the past few months as Trump took issue with the Georgia Republican’s push to release documents related to the investigations into deceased sex predator Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump had withdrawn his endorsement of Greene and called her a “traitor” over the public feud.
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