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As US raids spread, a grassroots pantry delivers food, medicine and basics to immigrant families too afraid to leave home

Last summer, months before Memphis became overrun with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, local activists and Latino leaders came together to figure out how to best meet their community’s needs. The Trump administration’s expansion of ICE was still nascent; the agency had conducted raids in Los Angeles, but hadn’t yet begun its operations in Chicago or Minneapolis.

Amber Hampton and another member of Indivisible Memphis, a volunteer-run chapter of the nationwide civil rights organization, attended the meeting. Though neither of them spoke much Spanish, and many of those gathered from the Latino community spoke little English, they understood each other, Hampton told the Guardian.

“There was a communication barrier, but there was not a feeling barrier,” she said. “You could see the emotion and feel the pain and fear in that room without even having to understand the words that were being spoken.” Some people were afraid to leave their homes, and when ICE began its foray into Memphis months later, some parents kept their children home from school.

Donald Trump’s top housing official Bill Pulte issued two new criminal referrals for New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday, attempting to revive the administration’s ongoing legal pursuit of one of his political opponents.

According to a person familiar with the matter, Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, issued two referrals to the Justice Department, one to the US Attorney for Northern District of Illinois and another to the US Attorney for Southern District of Florida.

If federal prosecutors were to pursue a new set of charges based on Pulte’s recommendation now, the case may look substantially like the Trump Justice Department’s failed fraud case last year against James in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Tehran skeptical of president’s offer – and troop deployments for potential ground operations – suggest claim of imminent end to war not credible

Somewhere between the strait of Hormuz and the screens of Bloomberg terminals around the world, the standard laws of cause and effect appear to have been suspended for Donald Trump’s war in Iran.

Trump this week soft-launched his latest Iran peace talks – which he has said must be accepted or “we’ll just keep bombing our little hearts out” – with few details or proof that anyone in the Iranian regime was willing to listen to him. The ultimatum was described as “maximalist” by Iran and quickly derided as a non-starter by analysts and former government officials.

Iran’s response to the 15-point plan appeared to be a resounding no, demanding instead that Tehran be given sovereignty over the strait of Hormuz, in effect confirming its control – or at least veto power – over the world energy trade.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it would temporarily allow widespread sales of a higher ethanol gas blend in a move that they hope will tamp down consumer prices that have soared since the Iran war began.

The sale of E15 is typically discontinued in the summer because it can contribute to harmful air pollution.

Not all are convinced the move will substantially lower gas prices. E15 isn't available in all states and some places don't have the necessary infrastructure or enough of a supply of ethanol to ramp up use, said Kenneth Gillingham, a professor at the Yale School of the Environment who studies the impacts of transportation regulations on prices, emissions and consumer welfare.

Top ICE official quietly sent memo to clarify agency’s arrest policy after months of chaos in courthouse hallways

Donald Trump’s administration has falsely stated for nearly a year that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers can arrest people inside immigration courts, where agents standing outside courtroom doors have swiftly cuffed thousands of immigrants immediately after they left their hearings.

The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan — which emerged as a major flashpoint for courthouse arrests over the last year — repeatedly expressed “regret” in a letter to a federal judge this week, saying that his office mistakenly defended an ICE memo that “does not and has never applied” to immigration court arrests.

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton blamed ICE and the agency’s legal team, which “specifically informed” his office that a Trump-era memo “applied to immigration courthouse arrests,” according to Clayton.

Researchers say the strain could evade protection from current COVID shots

A new Covid variant is spreading across the U.S. and it may be able to evade protection from current vaccines.

The variant, known as BA.3.2, has been detected in nasal swabs taken from four American travelers and clinical samples from five patients in four unidentified states. It’s also been found in three airplane wastewater samples and 132 wastewater samples taken in more than 20 states, suggesting that its reach is actually far more widespread than what scientists see right now.

Descended from omicron, BA.3.2 was first detected in South Africa in 2024 and in the U.S. in June 2025 in a traveler from the Netherlands. The variant began really surging in September 2025 and has since been reported in 23 countries.

Democrat Emily Gregory has said she does not "think all of that much" about Donald Trump being one of her constituents after she won a special election to represent District 87 in the Florida House on Tuesday.

"I mean I don't think all of that much about it right, he's one of 115,000 registered voters in District 87," she told CNN.

Gregory flipped the Republican-held Palm Beach County district, where Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort is located.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is encouraging red states to cut public funding to educational initiatives that benefit the children of undocumented migrants, according to a report.

Miller, well known as an immigration hardliner, challenged Texas Republican lawmakers during a four-hour meeting in Washington last week about why they had not already introduced a bill to that effect, according to The New York Times.

“Do we have a RINO problem in Texas?” he asked, using an acronym MAGA conservatives employ to disparage moderates within their own camp, which stands for “Republicans in Name Only.”

Most Americans believe recent U.S. military action against Iran has gone too far, and many are worried about affording gasoline, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

As the war launched by the U.S. and Israel continues in its fourth week, the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates that while Donald Trump’s approval rating is holding steady, the conflict could be swiftly turning into a major political liability for his Republican administration.

While Trump is deploying more warships and troops to the Middle East, about 59% of Americans say U.S. military action in Iran has been excessive.

Meanwhile, 45% are “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to afford gas in the next few months, up from 30% in an AP-NORC poll conducted shortly after Trump won reelection with promises that he would improve the economy and lower the cost of living.

Australian-born Maga influencer Nick Adams appointed to role for tourism, exceptionalism and American values

Donald Trump’s appointment of Nick Adams, the “alpha male” Australian turned American internet provocateur as a new special presidential envoy on Tuesday, could give fuel to theories that the White House is deliberately trolling the world.

The president nominated the Sydney-born Maga influencer, who has a history of theatrically inflammatory and Islamophobic comments, as ambassador to Malaysia in July, but the Senate returned the appointment without a confirmation vote in January and Trump did not re-submit him.

The White House said on Tuesday that Adams has now been appointed special presidential envoy for tourism, exceptionalism and American values.

The US is recklessly spreading economic havoc among global friends and foes while suffering little harm itself