First Thing: Number of people in ICE detention hits record high
Administration has arrested 328,000 and deported 327,000 people. Plus, Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank celebrates Christmas againGood morning.The number of people in immigration detention in the US has hit an all-time high, according to data published by Immigration and Customs...
<p>Administration has arrested 328,000 and deported 327,000 people. Plus, Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank celebrates Christmas again</p><p>Good morning.</p><p>The number of people in immigration detention in the US has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/22/ice-detentions-record-immigration">hit an all-time high</a>, according to data published by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).</p><p><strong>What are the demographics of people the administration is targeting for deportation?</strong> In one of the biggest changes in immigration enforcement policies, immigrants with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/21/deportations-us-government-shutdown-ice-data">no criminal record</a> continue to make up the largest group in US immigration detention, despite the administration’s rhetoric about focusing its anti-immigration efforts on “the worst of the worst” criminals. (Being undocumented in the US is a civil not a criminal infraction.)</p><p><strong>How are ordinary people fighting back?</strong> As Trump carries out his mass deportation operation, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/18/ice-raids-fighting-back">Julia Carrie Wong reports</a> on how residents are banding together to block raids and distribute groceries.</p><p><strong>What did Trump say about Clinton?</strong> “I like Bill Clinton,” Trump said after he featured prominently in Friday’s cache of photos. “I hate to see photos come out of him but this is what the Democrats – mostly Democrats and a couple of bad Republicans – are asking for, so they’re giving their photos of me too.”</p><p><strong>Meanwhile, what’s happening on the Hill? </strong>The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, said yesterday he will introduce <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/22/schumer-doj-epstein-senate-legal-action">a resolution</a> directing the Senate to take legal action against the justice department – over its incomplete release of files.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/23/first-thing-number-of-people-in-ice-detention-hits-record-high">Continue reading...</a>
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