With limited access to immigrants in detention, US attorneys are scrambling to understand the scope of California’s immigration raids, and the extent to which the Department of Homeland Security has violated immigrants’ rights.
Immigration lawyers have said some detainees – including families with small children – were held in a stuffy office basement for days without sufficient food and water.
Elsewhere, US immigration officials carried out further “enforcement activity” in California’s agricultural heartland, with one advocacy group saying agents pursued workers through blueberry fields.
The raids have sparked ongoing protests in Los Angeles and led to demonstrations in other cities across the country.
Here are the key stories:
US immigration officials raid California farms as Trump ramps up conflict
An estimated 255,700 farm workers are undocumented and the raids have been sharply criticized by advocacy groups and local officials, who said they were “outraged and heartbroken by Ice activities targeting immigrant families”.
The increasing raids come as Ice ramps up its efforts to meet a reported quota of 3,000 detentions a day set by Stephen Miller, Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff.
Families arrested in LA Ice raids held in basements with little food or water, lawyers say
The children, the youngest of whom is three years old, were provided a bag of chips, a box of animal crackers and a mini carton of milk as their sole rations for a day. Agents told the family they did not have any water to provide during the family’s first day in detention; on the second day, all five were given a single bottle to share.
The one fan in the room was pointed directly towards a guard, rather than towards the families in confinement, they told lawyers.
World’s biggest TikTok star Khaby Lame leaves US after Ice agents detain him over visa
The world’s most followed TikToker, Khaby Lame, has left the US after being briefly detained by immigration agents for allegedly overstaying his visa. The Italian-Senegalese influencer is now one of the most high-profile people to be swept up in Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
The social media star, whose legal name is Seringe Khabane Lame, was detained last Friday at an airport in Las Vegas. He was released the same day and has since left the US, a spokesperson for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) told the Guardian in a statement.
Trump says China will face 55% tariffs as he endorses trade deal
Donald Trump has endorsed the US-China trade deal struck in London that will ramp up supplies of rare earth minerals and magnets needed for the automotive industry, saying it will take total tariffs on Beijing to 55%.
Acknowledging that his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, still needed to give his final approval on the terms agreed late on Tuesday night at Lancaster House, the US president disclosed the pact would also facilitate Chinese students’ access to US colleges.
Judge rules Trump administration can no longer detain Mahmoud Khalil
A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration can no longer detain Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil on the basis of federal claims that he is a threat to US foreign policy.
In his order on Wednesday, Judge Michael E Farbiarz said that the ruling will come into effect at 9.30am on Friday, adding: “This is to allow the respondents to seek appellate review should they wish to.”
Major US climate website likely to be shut down after almost all staff fired
A major US government website supporting public education on climate science looks likely to be shuttered after almost all of its staff were fired, the Guardian has learned.
Climate.gov, the gateway website for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa)’s Climate Program Office, will no longer publish new content, according to multiple former staff responsible for the site’s content whose contracts were recently terminated.
Pentagon launches review of US-UK-Australia security alliance
The Pentagon has launched a review of the Aukus submarine agreement to make sure it is aligned with Trump’s “America first” agenda, throwing the $240bn defense pact with Britain and Australia into doubt.
The review may trigger more allied anxiety over the future of the trilateral alliance designed to counter China’s military rise.
EPA announces major rollbacks to power plant pollution limits
US power plants will be allowed to pollute nearby communities and the wider world with more unhealthy air toxins and an unlimited amount of planet-heating gases under new regulatory rollbacks proposed by Donald Trump’s administration, experts warned.
Trump plans to ‘phase out’ Fema after hurricane season
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he planned to start “phasing out” the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the hurricane season and that states would receive less federal aid to respond to natural disasters.
Musk says he regrets some of his posts about Trump
Elon Musk has expressed contrition for some of his tweets about Donald Trump last week, in an apparent effort to retreat from an explosive falling out that has threatened to damage the Tesla boss’s business interests.
What else happened today:
Barely one-third of people polled across 24 countries say they have confidence in Donald Trump as a world leader, with most describing the US president as “arrogant” and “dangerous”, and relatively few as “honest”.
Donald Trump’s administration is discouraging governments around the world from attending a UN conference next week on a possible two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, according to a US cable seen by Reuters.
US prices continued to rise in May as companies and consumers grappled with Donald Trump’s tariffs. Annualized inflation ticked higher to 2.4% in May, up from 2.3% in April.
Catching up? Here’s what happened 10 June.
