McALLEN, Texas — The Trump administration said Friday that it would pay migrant children $2,500 to voluntarily return to their home countries, dangling a new incentive in efforts to persuade people to self-deport.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t say how much migrants would get or when the offer would take effect, but the Associated Press obtained an email to migrant shelters saying children 14 years of age and older would get $2,500 each. Children were given 24 hours to respond.
The notice to shelters from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department’s Administration for Families and Children did not indicate any consequences for children who decline the offer. It asked shelter directors to acknowledge the offer within four hours.
ICE said in a statement that the offer would initially be for 17-year-olds.
“Any payment to support a return home would be provided after an immigration judge grants the request and the individual arrives in their country of origin,” ICE said. “Access to financial support when returning home would assist should they choose that option.”
Advocates said the sizable sum may prevent children from making informed decisions.
“For a child, $2,500 might be the most money they’ve ever seen in their life, and that may make it very, very difficult for them to accurately weigh the long-term risks of taking voluntary departure versus trying to stay in the United States and going through the immigration court process to get relief that they may be legally entitled to,” Melissa Adamson, senior attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, said in response to the plans Friday.
ICE dismissed widespread reports among immigration lawyers and advocates that it was launching a much broader crackdown Friday to deport migrant children who entered the country without their parents, called “Freaky Friday.”
SACRAMENTO — Not long ago, California’s pharmacists came to town and hosted a get-acquainted reception for legislators. The fete was held at Frank Fat’s restaurant, a venerable haunt of choice for the capital’s power elite.
Like other freshmen legislators, Assemblyman Tom Bordonaro was eager to attend. There was just one problem: He could not get into the party. Literally.
Bordonaro, 36, is a quadriplegic who uses a wheelchair. Frank Fat’s banquet room is up a flight of stairs; hence, Bordonaro was out of luck.
What is most intriguing about this story is Bordonaro’s reaction. Instead of pitching a fit, the assemblyman adopted a no-big-deal approach: “It’s unfortunate,” he mused recently, “but eventually they’ll get the message and change their ways.”
Elected in November, Bordonaro is the first quadriplegic to serve in the California Legislature–and only the second member in a wheelchair. As a result, he now commands a powerful pulpit from which to trumpet–and perhaps remedy–the troubles of California’s 2.4 million disabled residents. That, however, is not his style.
Indeed, Bordonaro opposed the Americans With Disabilities Act–the landmark federal law banning discrimination against the disabled–and he considers many regulations protecting the disabled too burdensome for business. Progress, he believes, can best be won through public awareness and persuasion–with a carrot, not a stick.
“To the dismay of many folks, I’m just not a huge disabled advocate,” said Bordonaro, a conservative Republican from San Luis Obispo County. “Sure I’ll help on some things, but I was elected to serve my district. That’s my priority and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Given his lukewarm interest in their cause, some disabled activists lament Bordonaro’s election.
Others, however, are more upbeat. “He may not see himself as an advocate, but he is–just by being here,” said Kathleen Barrett, who works for the California Assn. of Persons With Handicaps.
A garrulous man with a self-deprecating wit, Bordonaro has spent half his life in a wheelchair after a car accident when he was 18.
Until last year, Bordonaro was content to help manage his family’s alfalfa and cattle ranching business in Paso Robles.
But when the assemblywoman in his district announced that she was leaving, friends persuaded Bordonaro to run. The political rookie beat six opponents in the GOP primary, then drubbed his Democratic rival.
His disability never came up in the campaign, but he suspects that it may have been an asset: “I think my opponents were afraid to attack me. Who’s gonna beat up on the poor guy in the wheelchair?”
It is unlikely that that will hold true in the Assembly. So far, Bordonaro has kept a low profile. But one of his bills–rescinding conjugal visits for certain state prisoners–is likely to stir a fuss. And another–requiring public disclosure of the names of juveniles arrested for certain crimes–drew fire this week.
Although Bordonaro may hesitate to introduce legislation on behalf of the disabled, he has made a phone call or two.
This year, the DMV issued disabled people new license plates bearing a large, glow-in-the-dark wheelchair logo. Many disabled drivers worried that the highly visible logo told criminals they were vulnerable. The assemblyman intervened, ensuring that those who prefer a less obtrusive plate may get one.
Bordonaro has made a mark in another way as well. Before his arrival in Sacramento, numerous changes were made to the Capitol, leaving it far more accessible to those with disabilities–as mandated by federal law.
Ever since President Trump seized control of the California National Guard and deployed thousands of troops to Los Angeles, calls from distressed soldiers and their families have been pouring in to the GI Rights Hotline.
Some National Guard members and their loved ones have called to say they were agonizing over the legality of the deployment, which is being litigated in federal court, according to Steve Woolford, a resource counselor for the hotline, which provides confidential counseling for service members.
Others phoned in to say the Guard should play no part in federal immigration raids and that they worried about immigrant family members who might get swept up.
“They don’t want to deport their uncle or their wife or their brother-in-law,” Woolford said. “… Some of the language people have used is: ‘I joined to defend my country, and that’s really important to me — but No. 1 is family, and this is actually a threat to my family.’ ”
Although active-duty soldiers are largely restricted from publicly commenting on their orders, veterans’ advocates who are in direct contact with troops and their families say they are deeply concerned about the morale of the roughly 4,100 National Guard members and 700 U.S. Marines deployed to Los Angeles amid protests against immigration raids.
In interviews with The Times, spokespeople for six veterans’ advocacy organizations said many troops were troubled by the assignment, which they viewed as overtly political and as pitting them against fellow Americans.
Advocates also said they worry about the domestic deployment’s potential effects on military retention and recruitment, which recently rebounded after several years in which various branches failed to meet recruiting goals.
“What we’re hearing from our families is: ‘This is not what we signed up for,’ ” said Brandi Jones, organizing director for the Secure Families Initiative, a nonprofit that advocates for military spouses, children and veterans. “Our families are very concerned about morale.”
Horse riders make their way past U.S. Marines near the Paramount Home Depot during the Human Rights Unity Ride on June 22, 2025.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)
Janessa Goldbeck, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and chief executive of the nonprofit Vet Voice Foundation, said that, among the former Marine Corps colleagues she has spoken to in recent weeks, “There’s been a universal expression of, ‘This is an unnecessary deployment given the operational situation.’”
“The fact that the LAPD and local elected officials repeatedly said deploying the National Guard and active duty Marines would be escalatory or inflammatory and the president of the United States chose to ignore that and deploy them anyway puts the young men and women in uniform in an unnecessarily political position,“ she said.
She added that the “young men and women who raised their right hand to serve their country” did “not sign up to police their own neighbors.”
Trump has repeatedly said Los Angeles would be “burning to the ground” if he had not sent troops to help quell the protests.
“We saved Los Angeles by having the military go in,” Trump told reporters last week. “And the second night was much better. The third night was nothing much. And the fourth night, nobody bothered even coming.”
The troops in Los Angeles do not have the authority to arrest protesters and were deployed only to defend federal functions, property and personnel, according to the military’s U.S. Northern Command.
Task Force 51, the military’s designation of the Los Angeles forces, said in an email Saturday that “while we cannot speak for the individual experience of each service member, the general assessment of morale by leadership is positive.”
The personnel’s “quality of life,” the statement continued, is “addressed through the continued improvement of living facilities, balanced work-rest cycles, and access to chaplains, licensed clinical social workers, and behavioral health experts.”
U.S. Marines guard the Federal Building at the corner of Veteran Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
It is unclear whether the National Guard troops, federalized under Title 10 of the United States Code, had been paid as of this weekend.Task Force 51 told The Times on Saturday that the soldiers who received 60-day activation orders on June 7 “will start receiving pay by end of the month” and that “those that have financial concerns have access to resources such as Army Emergency Relief,” a nonprofit charitable organization.
U.S. Rep. Derek Tran (D-Orange), an Army veteran and member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he has asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “for his plan to manage the logistics of this military activation, but he has failed to provide me with any clear answers.”
Tran said in a statement to The Times that “the pattern of disrespect this Administration has shown our Veterans and active-duty military personnel is disgraceful, and I absolutely think it will negatively impact our ability to attract and retain the troops that keep America’s military capacity the envy of the world.”
Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokeswoman for Gov. Gavin Newsom, said in an email that the governor is “worried how this mission will impact the physical and emotional well-being of the soldiers deployed unnecessarily to Los Angeles.”
On June 9, Newsom posted photos on X depicting National Guard soldiers crowded together, sleeping on concrete floors and what appeared to be a loading dock. Newsom wrote that the president sent troops “without fuel, food, water or a place to sleep.”
Task Force 51 told The Times that the soldiers in the photos “were not actively on mission, so they were taking time to rest.” At the time, the statement continued, “it was deemed too dangerous for them to travel to better accommodations.”
Since then, according to Task Force 51, the military has contracted “for sleeping tents, latrines, showers, hand-washing stations, hot meals for breakfast, dinner and a late-night meal, and full laundry service.”
“Most of the contracts have been fulfilled at this time,” the military said.
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement to The Times that Newsom “should apologize for using out-of-context photos of National Guardsmen to try and make a political argument.”
“Under President Trump’s leadership military morale is sky high because our troops know they finally have a patriotic Commander-In-Chief who will always have their backs,” Jackson wrote.
Troops have been posted outside federal buildings in an increasingly quiet downtown Civic Center — a few square blocks within the 500-square-mile city.
Their interactions with the public are far different from those earlier this year, when Newsom deployed the National Guard to L.A. County to help with wildfire recovery efforts after the Eaton and Palisades fires.
At burn zone check points, National Guard members were often spotted chatting with locals, some of whom brought food and water and thanked them for keeping looters away.
But downtown, soldiers have stood stone-faced behind riot shields as furious protesters have flipped them off, sworn at them and questioned their integrity.
Members of the California National Guard stand by as thousands participate in the “No Kings” protest demonstration in downtown Los Angeles on June 14.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
During the boisterous “No Kings” protests on June 14, a woman held up a mirror to troops outside the downtown Federal Building with the words: “This is not your job. It’s YOUR LEGACY.” On a quiet Wednesday morning, a UCLA professor, standing solo outside the Federal Building, held up a sign to half a dozen Guard members reading: “It’s Called the Constitution You F—ers.”
James M. Branum, an attorney who works with the Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild, said that, in recent weeks, the task force has received two to three times more than the usual volume of referrals and direct calls. The upward trend began after Trump came into office, with people calling about the war in Gaza and increased military deployment to the U.S. southern border — but calls spiked after troops were sent to Los Angeles, he said.
“A lot of these folks joined because they want to fight who they see as the terrorists,” Branum said. “They want to fight enemies of the United States … they never envisioned they would be deployed to the streets of the United States.”
In his June 7 memo federalizing the National Guard, Trump called for their deployment in places where protests against federal immigration enforcement were occurring or “are likely to occur.” The memo does not specify Los Angeles or California.
California officials have sued the president over the deployment, arguing in a federal complaint that the Trump administration’s directives are “phrased in an ambiguous manner and suggest potential misuse of the federalized National Guard.”
“Guardsmen across the country are on high alert, [thinking] that they could be pulled into this,” said Goldbeck, with the Vet Voice Foundation.
Jones, with the Secure Families Initiative, said military families “are very nervous in this moment.”
“They are so unprepared for what’s happening, and they’re very afraid to speak publicly,” she said.
Jones said she had been communicating with the wife of one National Guard member who said she had recently suffered a stroke. The woman said her husband had been on Family and Medical Leave Act leave from his civilian job to care for her. The woman said his leave was not recognized by the military for the domestic assignment. He was deployed to Los Angeles, and she has been struggling to find a caregiver, Jones said.
Jones said her own husband, an active-duty Marine, deployed to Iraq in 2004 with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment based at Twentynine Palms — the same infantry unit now mustered in Los Angeles.
The unit was hard hit in Afghanistan in 2008, with at least 20 Marines killed and its high rate of suicide after that year’s deployment highly publicized.
Jones said she was stunned to learn the battalion — nicknamed the War Dogs — was being deployed to Los Angeles.
“I said, ‘Wait, it’s 2/7 they’re sending in? The War Dogs? Releasing them on Los Angeles?’ It was nuts for me,” Jones said. “To hear that unit affiliated with this — for my family that’s been serving for two decades, it brings up a lot.”
The Los Angeles deployment comes at a time of year when the California National Guard is often engaged in wildfire suppression operations — a coincidence that has raised concerns among some officials.
On June 18, Capt. Rasheedah Bilal was activated by the California National Guard and assigned to Sacramento, where she is backfilling in an operational role for Joint Task Force Rattlesnake, a National Guard firefighting unit that is now understaffed because roughly half its members are deployed to Los Angeles.
“That’s a large amount to pull off that mission … so you have to activate additional Guardsmen to cover on those missions,” said Bilal, speaking in her capacity as executive director of the nonprofit National Guard Assn. of California.
National Guard members are primarily part-time soldiers, who hold civilian jobs or attend college until called into active duty. In California — a state prone to wildfires, earthquakes and floods — they get called into duty a lot, she said.
Many of the same National Guard soldiers in downtown Los Angeles are the same ones who just finished a 120-day activation for wildfire recovery, she said.
“You have the state response to fire and then federal activation? It becomes a strain,” Bilal said.
“They haven’t complained,” she added. “Soldiers vote with their feet. We’re mostly quiet professionals and take a lot of pride in our job. [But] you can only squeeze so much of a lemon before it is dry. You can only pound on the California Guardsmen without it affecting things like retention and recruiting.”
Noor Abdalla, the Columbia University graduate student’s wife, says the family ‘can finally breathe a sigh of relief’.
A federal judge in the United States has ordered the release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who has been detained since March by immigration authorities over his involvement in Palestinian rights protests at Columbia University.
The decision on Friday to grant Khalil bail came from a federal court in New Jersey, where Khalil’s lawyers are challenging his detention. It is separate from the legal push against his deportation that will continue to take place in immigration courts.
It is unclear whether Khalil – who is a legal permanent resident – will be immediately freed. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has been advocating on his behalf, said he will be returning to New York to be with his family.
“This is a joyous day for Mahmoud, for his family, and for everyone’s First Amendment rights,” ACLU lawyer Noor Zafar said in a statement, referring to the US constitutional provision that protects free speech.
“Since he was arrested in early March, the government has acted at every turn to punish Mahmoud for expressing his political beliefs about Palestine. But today’s ruling underscores a vital First Amendment principle: The government cannot abuse immigration law to punish speech it disfavors.”
He was the first known activist to be detained and have his legal immigration status revoked by the administration of President Donald Trump over involvement in student protests.
His case gained national attention, especially after the authorities denied him the chance to witness the birth of his first born son in April.
“After more than three months we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen, who never should have been separated from his father,” said Noor Abdalla, Khalil’s wife, said in a statement.
Khalil was not charged of any crime. Instead, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has used a rarely used provision of an immigration law that allows him to order the removal of noncitizens if they are deemed to have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the US.
Advocates have argued that the crackdown violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects freedom of speech.
The Trump administration has also been criticised for sending immigration authorities – sometimes masked and in plainclothes – to detain the students instead of allowing them to remain free while they challenge their deportation.
Several other students that the Trump administration is looking to deport have been ordered released by federal courts, including Turkish Tufts University scholar Rumeysa Ozturk and Columbia’s Mohsen Mahdawi.
Ozturk was detained over co-authoring an op-ed calling on her school to abide by the student government’s call for divesting from companies involved in Israeli abuses against Palestinians.
Khalil, who lived with his wife, a US citizen, in New York, has been detained in rural Louisiana – an effort that his supporters say aims to keep him away from his family and lawyers and transfer him to a more conservative rural jurisdiction.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett said Khalil’s release is a blow to the Trump administration, which has insisted that he must remain in detention while making his immigration case.
“The bottom line in all of this is that he has really become sort of a poster child for those who are advocating for free speech in the United States,” Halkett said.
Federal agencies must do more to house struggling victims from January’s Eaton Fires, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) and advocacy groups argued Tuesday.
Chu hosted a roundtable at the Altadena Library with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and other agencies, where a dozen organizations assisting fire survivors pleaded for more assistance.
Even with the availability of federal vouchers and other housing aid, thousands of people remain bouncing between hotel rooms, living out of their cars or in other unstable housing situations, advocates said.
“Survivors of the Eaton Fire are slipping through the cracks,” Chu said at a press conference following the event.
Chu is urging FEMA to authorize a housing program called Direct Lease where FEMA directly rents apartments for disaster survivors who cannot find somewhere to live on their own. The Times reported this month that FEMA hasn’t implemented Direct Lease in Los Angeles even though it’s commonly made available after natural disasters nationwide, including the 2023 wildfires in Maui.
FEMA and CalOES officials have said that their data shows thousands of rental units available across L.A. County, making the program unnecessary.
“We know from anecdotal evidence that that cannot be true,” Chu said. “It is far from the truth.”
Fire survivors have faced numerous barriers to finding permanent housing while they decide on rebuilding their homes, advocates said. Landlords’ income requirements are too high. Potential tenants’ credit scores are too low. Some landlords aren’t accepting the vouchers FEMA is providing survivors. And the agency is including apartments in the Antelope Valley and other areas far from Altadena in its assessment of L.A.’s rental market.
By not taking these factors into account, FEMA officials are ignoring needs on the ground, advocates said.
“There is a huge gap between availability and vacancy and accessibility,” said Jasmin Shupper, president of Greenline Housing Foundation, a local nonprofit.
Chu said that FEMA already has provided $132 million in assistance, including $40 million for help with housing.
She said that money for Direct Lease was available through the existing federal disaster allocation following January’s wildfires. She noted that she supported the state’s request to Trump and Congress for $40 billion for long-term recovery efforts.
FEMA and CalOES didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Chu’s request. After Times reporting earlier this month, state emergency officials said they were reevaluating an earlier decision not to advocate for Direct Lease.
