fear

Raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement have sparked fear, protests and the cancellation of several public events throughout the Los Angeles area. Amid the tense climate, more than 100 people recently gathered at the Maywood Boxing Club to watch Julio César Chávez Jr. train as he prepares to face Jake Paul on June 28 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Chávez, visibly surprised by the turnout, confessed that he did not expect to see so many people given the circumstances.

“I thought there wouldn’t be people here, because of everything happening, but I’m glad they made the time to come,” the Mexican boxing star told L.A. Times en Español moments before beginning his training session.

While they were drawn to the chance to watch a boxing star train, the event also united a community and showed its resilience in the face of adversity.

Boxers Jake Paul, left, gestures toward Julio César Chávez Jr. during a boxing news conference at the Avalon Hollywood Theatre in L.A. on May 14. Nakisa Bidarian, CEO and co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, center left, and Oscar De La Hoya, of Golden Boy Promotions, center right, look on.

(Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)

The last few weeks have been particularly difficult in Los Angeles. Testimonials and videos on social media have documented arrests of immigrants in the middle of public streets, generating a generalized state of fear. Chávez, who has lived in the city for more than a decade, reflected on the impact of the raids.

“It even scared me, to tell you the truth, it is very ugly,” he said. “I don’t understand the situation, why so much violence. There are many good people and you are setting an example of violence to the community.”

Chávez said his concerns about the raids have little to do with political debates over immigration policy. He is more focused on the treatment of people being detained by federal agents wearing masks who don’t identify themselves and target workers who appear to be immigrants.

“Seeing children left alone because their parents are grabbed. … That is common sense, we are people and we are going to feel bad when we see that situation,” he said.

Although he acknowledges immigration crackdowns could affect ticket sales for his fight against Paul, Chávez was confident that the fight will go off without a hitch.

“I don’t think the fight will be affected, maybe the tickets, although you can watch it on pay-per-view at home, because in the end there will be a fight,” he said. “The support for me is going to be there and if they don’t go, I know they will go another way. People want me to beat Jake Paul with my heart and I want to give a fight like I haven’t given in a long time.”

Sean Gibbons, president of Knucklehead Boxing and MP Promotions, was more direct. For him, the June 28 fight is safe.

“I don’t think there will be any changes. The fight will happen at the Honda Center in Anaheim, and everything that happens is happening in Los Angeles,” he said. “If we had done the fight at Crypto.com Arena, it could have been a problem, but I think the people sent a strong message by being here [at the training session], despite everything that’s going on. Hopefully things will calm down long before the 28th.”

Gibbons also stressed that the attendance at the training is proof that fans are willing to come out and support Chávez, even in uncertain times.

Among those attending the event was 38-year-old Maywood resident Olaf Luevano. For him, being at the gym was not only a show of support for the boxer, but also an act of unity.

“This was a good way to come out and support the people, to show everyone that we are together. He is someone from our community and he will come out and fight, representing our people,” said Luevano, who added that although he has legal documents, discrimination and fear affect everyone equally. “Just because of the color of our skin and how we look, it affects us too.”

Miguel Castañeda, originally from Sinaloa, Mexico, lives in Lynwood and came to witness the open-door training. Castañeda shared the same nervous feeling, but also the need to resist.

“Dismayed everyone, even the celebrities are worried,” said Castañeda, 39. “One thinks about it, but you have to go out and live. You don’t have to live in fear. Not to be locked up, no, we all have to go out. … We have to be encouraged.”

Castañeda was also surprised by the size of the crowd at the gym he has visited in the past.

“I’ve never seen so many fans in this gym. It’s good to see this, that people come out to support,” he said.

Two miles away, Chávez’s legendary father opened the doors of the now defunct Azteca Boxing in Bell to connect with fans before some of his historic bouts.

Julio César Chávez Jr. said working out in front of a big group of fans not only motivates him, but also connects him with his roots.

“It’s impressive, the people there. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen so many people together and even more so in these difficult times,” he said.
“It’s a motivation to keep working hard. Also, coming to these kind of gyms, people remember the times of before and I am very grateful.”

Chávez said he takes issue not only with the raids, but the way political speeches — especially those by President Trump — have attacked immigrants.

“I’m from Sinaloa, where you see things over there so ugly and to come here, to such a beautiful country, and see Trump attacking immigrants, Latinos, without a purpose,” Chávez said. “… You have to get closer to God and I think Trump made a bad decision.”

Chávez said he understands the fear many in the community feel as a result of the recent immigration crackdown, but it was encouraging to see people gather at his gym.

“One of my trainers didn’t want to come because of the fear of ICE,” he said. “… I just ask them to take care of themselves, to stay away from danger. We know … there is a very big conflict and we’re hoping that nothing bad happens.”

This article first appeared in Spanish via L.A. Times en Español.

Amid ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids happening in Los Angeles and across the country, Shakira is opening up about the realities of being an immigrant in the United States.

The 48-year-old singer spoke with the BBC last week about moving as a teenager from her native Colombia to Miami in the ’90s.

“I was only 19 when I moved to the US, like many other Colombian immigrants who come to this country looking for a better future,” she said. “And I remember I was surrounded by Spanish-English dictionaries and synonym dictionaries because back in the day I didn’t really have Google or ChatGPT to [help].”

Further commenting on her “very precarious” situation, Shakira noted that she used the works of poet Walt Whitman and singer-songwriters Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan to refine her English skills.

But beyond the language learning pains, the “Estoy Aquí” artist spoke on the emotional toll of the immigrant experience.

“It means living in constant fear. And it’s painful to see,” Shakira said. “Now, more than ever, we have to remain united. Now, more than ever, we have to raise our voices and make it very clear that a country can change its immigration policies, but the treatment of all people must always be humane.”

This isn’t the first time Shakira has touched on the subject of immigration in recent months.

While accepting the Latin pop album Grammy for “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran” in February, the “Whenever, Wherever” singer dedicated her award to her “immigrant brothers and sisters in this country”

“You are loved, you are worth it and I will always fight with you,” she said.

Shakira’s recent words of solidarity with the immigrant community came as other major Latin American music acts used their platforms to condemn the ICE raids and align their sympathies with immigrants. Becky G, Ivan Cornejo, Fuerza Regida, Junior H, Grupo Frontera and Maná were among the acts to publicly voice concern for the immigrant community.

It took Crystal Strickland years to qualify for Medicaid, which she needs for a heart condition.

Strickland, who’s unable to work due to her condition, chafed when she learned that the U.S. House has passed a bill that would impose a work requirement for many able-bodied people to get health insurance coverage through the low-cost, government-run plan for lower-income people.

“What sense does that make?” she asked. “What about the people who can’t work but can’t afford a doctor?”

The measure is part of the version of President Trump’s “Big Beautiful” bill that cleared the House last month and is now up for consideration in the Senate. Trump is seeking to have it passed by July 4.

The bill as it stands would cut taxes and government spending — and also upend portions of the nation’s social safety net.

For proponents, the ideas behind the work requirement are simple: Crack down on fraud and stand on the principle that taxpayer-provided health coverage isn’t for those who can work but aren’t. The measure includes exceptions for those who are under 19 or over 64, those with disabilities, pregnant women, main caregivers for young children, people recently released from prisons or jails — or during certain emergencies. It would apply only to adults who receive Medicaid through expansions that 40 states chose to undertake as part of the 2010 health insurance overhaul.

Many details of how the changes would work would be developed later, leaving several unknowns and causing anxiety among recipients who worry that their illnesses might not be enough to exempt them.

Advocates and sick and disabled enrollees worry — based largely on their past experience — that even those who might be exempted from work requirements under the law could still lose benefits because of increased or hard-to-meet paperwork mandates.

Benefits can be difficult to navigate even without a work requirement

Strickland, a 44-year-old former server, cook and construction worker who lives in Fairmont, North Carolina, said she could not afford to go to a doctor for years because she wasn’t able to work. She finally received a letter this month saying she would receive Medicaid coverage, she said.

“It’s already kind of tough to get on Medicaid,” said Strickland, who has lived in a tent and times and subsisted on nonperishable food thrown out by stores. “If they make it harder to get on, they’re not going to be helping.”

Steve Furman is concerned that his 43-year-old son, who has autism, could lose coverage.

The bill the House adopted would require Medicaid enrollees to show that they work, volunteer or go to school at least 80 hours a month to continue to qualify.

A disability exception would likely apply to Furman’s son, who previously worked in an eyeglasses plant in Illinois for 15 years despite behavioral issues that may have gotten him fired elsewhere.

Furman said government bureaucracies are already impossible for his son to navigate, even with help.

It took him a year to help get his son onto Arizona’s Medicaid system when they moved to Scottsdale in 2022, and it took time to set up food benefits. But he and his wife, who are retired, say they don’t have the means to support his son fully.

“Should I expect the government to take care of him?” he asked. “I don’t know, but I do expect them to have humanity.”

There’s broad reliance on Medicaid for health coverage

About 71 million adults are enrolled in Medicaid now. And most of them — around 92% — are working, caregiving, attending school or disabled. Earlier estimates of the budget bill from the Congressional Budget Office found that about 5 million people stand to lose coverage.

A KFF tracking poll conducted in May found that the enrollees come from across the political spectrum. About one-fourth are Republicans; roughly one-third are Democrats.

The poll found that about 7 in 10 adults are worried that federal spending reductions on Medicaid will lead to more uninsured people and would strain health care providers in their area. About half said they were worried reductions would hurt the ability of them or their family to get and pay for health care.

Amaya Diana, an analyst at KFF, points to work requirements launched in Arkansas and Georgia as keeping people off Medicaid without increasing employment.

Amber Bellazaire, a policy analyst at the Michigan League for Public Policy, said the process to verify that Medicaid enrollees meet the work requirements could be a key reason people would be denied or lose eligibility.

“Massive coverage losses just due to an administrative burden rather than ineligibility is a significant concern,” she said.

One KFF poll respondent, Virginia Bell, a retiree in Starkville, Mississippi, said she’s seen sick family members struggle to get onto Medicaid, including one who died recently without coverage.

She said she doesn’t mind a work requirement for those who are able — but worries about how that would be sorted out. “It’s kind of hard to determine who needs it and who doesn’t need it,” she said.

Some people don’t if they might lose coverage with a work requirement

Lexy Mealing, 54 of Westbury, New York, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 and underwent a double mastectomy and reconstruction surgeries, said she fears she may lose the medical benefits she has come to rely on, though people with “serious or complex” medical conditions could be granted exceptions.

She now works about 15 hours a week in “gig” jobs but isn’t sure she can work more as she deals with the physical and mental toll of the cancer.

Mealing, who used to work as a medical receptionist in a pediatric neurosurgeon’s office before her diagnosis and now volunteers for the American Cancer Society, went on Medicaid after going on short-term disability.

“I can’t even imagine going through treatments right now and surgeries and the uncertainty of just not being able to work and not have health insurance,” she said.

Felix White, who has Type I diabetes, first qualified for Medicaid after losing his job as a computer programmer several years ago.

The Oreland, Pennsylvania, man has been looking for a job, but finds that at 61, it’s hard to land one.

Medicaid, meanwhile, pays for a continuous glucose monitor and insulin and funded foot surgeries last year, including one that kept him in the hospital for 12 days.

“There’s no way I could have afforded that,” he said. “I would have lost my foot and probably died.”

Mulvihill writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this report.

At a news conference Thursday, Mayor Karen Bass made a startling claim.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had appeared at a homeless shelter that day, among other sensitive locations in Los Angeles, she said.

But what actually happened at the Whitsett West Tiny Home Village in North Hollywood remains murky. The shifting narratives reflect the anxiety of Angelenos amid ICE raids targeting immigrants at Home Depots, churches and retail centers.

In L.A., a “sanctuary city” where local officials do not participate in federal immigration enforcement, tensions with the federal government are at an all-time high. After some protests against the raids turned violent, the Trump administration called in the National Guard and the U.S. Marines.

With federal officials keeping the city in the dark on immigration enforcement actions, City Council members and the mayor sometimes rely on the rumor mill.

ICE’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, quickly responded to Bass’ comments, saying they were “false.”

“[ICE] is not in homeless shelters,” the agency wrote on X. “This rhetoric from [the mayor] and California politicians demonizes the brave men and women of law enforcement.”

The Whitsett West Tiny Home Village, which is on city property and is run by the nonprofit Hope the Mission, has beds for about 150 people in shed-like structures off the 170 Freeway near Whitsett Avenue and Saticoy Street.

According to Laura Harwood, Hope the Mission’s deputy chief program officer, people in a car tried to get access to the tiny home village on Thursday afternoon, telling security guards that they were American citizens who wanted to see how their taxpayer dollars were being used. The guards did not admit the visitors, who were wearing civilian clothes.

“This is a really unusual situation. This really doesn’t happen,” Harwood said.

Other employees saw some men looking into the complex from different sides and taking pictures.

A worker at the tiny home village, who requested anonymity because he has family members who are undocumented, told The Times that he was returning from lunch when he spotted two DHS SUVs with tinted windows down the block.

Tiny home staffers were concerned enough that they reached out to City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian, who came to the complex.

“We got reports that some ICE agents were around in the area viewing the location from both the front and the backside entryways,” Nazarian said on Instagram.

Nazarian said that immigration agents appearing at the tiny home village would be a “fear mongering” tactic.

The targeting of interim homeless housing could dissuade people from moving off the street, or push those in shelters to leave out of fear, said Rowan Vansleve, Hope the Mission’s president.

“Last Thursday, ICE entered our city, and provoked the city, by chasing people through Home Depots and car washes and showing up at schools. And today, showing up at emergency rooms and homeless shelters,” Bass said at the Thursday press conference.

Bass’ team confirmed to The Times that she was referring to the incident at the Whitsett West Tiny Home Village.

City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said that community organizations and local elected officials have been sorting through reports of DHS sightings to see if they are credible.

“We have seen situations where people say federal agents are here, and then when someone goes, it turns out they were never there or were gone an hour ago,” Hernandez said.

Iranians awoke to bombs dropping across the country, as Israel launched a major attack on the country. Israel says it targeted military and nuclear sites and officials, but entire residential buildings have been destroyed.

Hundreds of eighth-graders in freshly ironed button-down shirts and flowing dresses filed into Andrew Carnegie Middle School with their families Tuesday morning in high spirits.

But the graduation festivities at the school in Carson had an ominous undertone, as word had spread ahead of the event that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement might make an unwanted appearance.

Nervous parents and educators browsed apps dedicated to tracking ICE activity, refreshed their social media feeds and conferred with one another about the latest rumors. Some students who had been expected to attend the event did not come to the stage when their names were called. They had chosen to stay home out of fear that they or their loved ones would be detained.

Similar scenes have played out repeatedly across Los Angeles County in recent days, with the Trump administration deploying swarms of federal agents to detain immigrants.

Jacob Johnson, left, walks with his family after graduating as valedictorian from Andrew Carnegie Middle School in Carson on Tuesday. The arrival time for graduates and their family was moved up at the school to avoid potential confrontations with ICE.

In neighborhoods with large populations of foreign-born people across the region, every commute, trip to the grocery store or school drop-off has come to represent another potential final moment in lives built in this country.

In the span of just a few hours Tuesday, unverified messages posted online rapidly spread warnings about ICE agents being spotted near schools, hotels and hardware stores, leading to panic and disruption.

At Carnegie, the prospect of a raid was all anyone could talk about.

The school had sent out a message ahead of the event informing parents and students that “all guests will be admitted onto campus immediately — no waiting outside — due to ongoing concerns in our community related to the Department of Homeland Security (ICE).”

Mekeisha Madden Toby, 48, was there Tuesday morning to celebrate the graduation of her 14-year-old daughter, Zoe.

“It’s bittersweet because it’s supposed to be a celebration moment and it kind of got overshadowed by fear,” the mother said. “Your friend or your friend’s abuela could get snatched. You have to be aware, and you can’t even fully celebrate a graduation without thinking about it.”

“It’s not fair for these kids to put all this time and effort into school only to have to be concerned about their safety,” said Gardena High School junior Chris Alvarez, left, next to his cousin, Gardena High School graduate Anthony Garcia, 18, in Gardena on Tuesday.

Federal agents — often in plainclothes and unmarked vehicles — have raided L.A. County businesses, homes and even an underground nightclub in recent weeks, detaining scores of people in the process, including children.

Earlier this month, ICE detained a Torrance Elementary School fourth-grader, who was transferred to an immigration facility in Texas. Federal officials have since deported the 9-year-old and his father to Honduras.

Multiple recent incidents captured on video showed ICE agents in L.A. County confronting people on the streets — seemingly at random in some cases — and quickly whisking them away, offering no explanation to shocked loved ones and onlookers. Footage reviewed by The Times showed a Sunday raid in which unidentified law enforcement agents detained a fruit vendor in Westchester.

“They had him pressed down on the ground, they had weapons drawn so no one could get near to help him. It just looked like he had been kidnapped,” said witness Yuliza Barraza, 45. “Everyone was in shock and awe.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing Wednesday that 330 people had been arrested since Friday in the immigration sweeps in ICE’s Los Angeles Area of Responsibility, which stretches from San Luis Obispo to San Diego.

ICE shared photos on social media Tuesday showing armed members of the military accompanying immigration agents on L.A. raids. In recent days, Trump announced that he was sending a total of 700 U.S. Marines and 4,000 National Guard troops to L.A. to respond to protests and support federal operations.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass have demanded a detente, but to no avail. Bass called on Trump to “stop the raids” during a news conference Tuesday.

“We never know when, we never know how long” they will be, she said. “But that very notion creates such a terrible sense of fear in our city, and it’s just not right to do that to a population who’s trying to survive.”

Two Times journalists spent most of the day criss-crossing L.A. County’s southern reaches to document the disruption and trauma caused by the omnipresent specter of ICE. Following alerts shared on an assortment of online platforms, the journalists visited communities with significant foreign-born populations, such as Carson, Torrance, Gardena, Compton, Bell Gardens, and Long Beach, and nearby neighborhoods in the city of L.A.

Many people were on edge, even U.S. citizens not at risk of being deported. At a care facility for disabled adults in Torrance, one staffer — who declined to give her name out of fear of retaliation — said she had not seen an alert about a reported ICE sighting outside the facility that had been posted on Ice Block, one of the apps that circulates user-generated reports of federal actions.

But she said in a half-whisper that a friend had spotted U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on a residential street a few blocks away. It was unclear whether anyone had been detained in the area.

“It’s so scary what they’re doing,” she said.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Human Rights of Los Angeles characterized the sweeps as an unprecedented “enforcement blitz” in which people are being “indiscriminately” targeted. Her organization, she said, has received 3,000 calls for service since Thursday.

In Signal Hill, the mood among a handful of day laborers who were posted up on a patch of grass near a Home Depot on Tuesday afternoon was jovial and almost defiant.

“I’m not worried,” one of the men said as pickup trucks laden with heavy lumber rumbled past. But he declined to give his name, not wanting to risk immigration agents tracking him down.

Andrew Carnegie Middle’s graduation in Carson ultimately went off without any interruptions by law enforcement. But attendees said they were asked at the last minute to show up at 7:30 a.m. instead of the previously planned 8:00 a.m. in an effort to avoid confrontations with ICE outside the school.

“They changed the graduation time because they were worried about people getting snatched up and taken,” said Zoe Toby, who wore a black Class of 2025 sash and blue lei over her gray-blue dress to celebrate her final day at Carnegie. “It’s scary because you never know when it’s going to happen.”

During the ceremony, some parents received notifications via the Ice Block app and social media warning that immigration enforcement officers were seen near the school. There was no confirmation of anyone being detained.

Zoe said some of her friends worry every day about being taken away by federal agents. Many of them have received red cards from the school explaining their rights, she added, pulling a picture up on her phone of one of the many posters emblazoned with the words “This classroom is a safe space for immigrants” that she said have been posted on the middle school’s walls.

“I’m on the Nextdoor app,” Zoe’s mother added, “and every day there’s neighbors warning each other” about ICE activity.

Gardena police officers keep a watchful eye out as Gardena High School graduates mingle with family and friends on Tuesday.

Later Tuesday, hundreds of teenagers in caps and gowns spilled out onto the street next to Gardena High School to revel in their first moments as high school graduates. Like in Carson, people were smiling and embracing one another as roadside vendors sold snacks and flower bouquets.

Chris Alvarez, a junior, was there to celebrate his 18-year-old cousin Anthony Garcia’s graduation. In between jokes with his friends and relatives, Chris, 17, said he’s “not really worried” about ICE, but he was dismayed by online warnings that agents had been spotted near his school earlier Tuesday.

“It’s not fair for these kids to put all this time and effort into school only to have to be concerned about their safety and the safety of their family and their friends,” he said. “This should be a celebration.”

For Orlando Johnson, principal of Susan Miller Dorsey Senior High School in South Los Angeles, safety is paramount amid the ongoing threat posed by the immigration crackdown.

“The focus is just on protecting our families and protecting our students. We don’t know what information’s real and not real,” he said Tuesday. “I think everybody’s concerned.”

Times staff writers Andrea Castillo and Rachel Uranga and L.A. Times Studio senior producer Karen Foshay contributed to this report.

Frame it as a call to action or a presidential campaign announcement, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s address to America on Tuesday has tapped into our zeitgeist (German words feel oddly appropriate at the moment) in a way few others have.

“Democracy is under assault right before our eyes,” Newsom said during a live broadcast with a California flag and the U.S. flag in the background. “The moment we’ve feared has arrived.”

What moment exactly is he referring to?

President Trump has put Marines and National Guardsmen on the streets of Los Angeles, and granted himself the power to put them anywhere. Wednesday, a top military leader said those forces could “detain” protesters, but not outright arrest them, though — despite what you see on right wing media — most protesters have been peaceful.

But every would-be authoritarian ultimately faces a decisive moment, when the fear they have generated must be enforced with action to solidify power.

The danger of that moment for the would-be king is that it is also the time when rebellion is most likely, and most likely to be effective. People wake up. In using force against his own citizens, the leader risks alienating supporters and activating resistance.

What happens next in Los Angeles between the military and protesters — which group is perceived as the aggressors — may likely determine what happens next in our democracy. If the military is the aggressor and protesters remain largely peaceful, Trump risks losing support.

If the protesters are violent, public perception could further empower Trump.

The president’s immigration czar Tom Homan, said on CNN that what happens next, “It all depends on the activities of these protesters — I mean, they make the decisions.”

Welcome to that fraught moment, America.

Who would have thought Newsom would lead on it so effectively?

“Everybody who’s not a Trumpist in this society has been taken by surprise, and is still groggy from the authoritarian offensive of the last five months,” said Steven Levitsky, a professor of government at the embattled Harvard University, and author of “How Democracies Die.”

Levitsky told me that it helps shake off that shock to have national leaders, people who others can look to and rally behind. Especially as fear nudges some into silence.

“You never know who that leader sometimes is going to be, and it may be Newsom,” Levitsky said. “Maybe his political ambitions end up converging with the small d, democratic opposition.”

Maybe. Since his address, and a coinciding and A-game funny online offensive, Newsom’s reach has skyrocketed. Millions of people watched his address, and hundreds of thousands have followed him on TikTok and other social media platforms. Searches about him on Google were up 9,700%, according to CNN. Love his message or find it laughable, it had reach — partly because it was unapologetically clear and also unexpected.

“Trump and his loyalist thrive on division because it allow them to take more power and exert even more control,” Newsom said.

I was on the ground with the protesters this week, and I can say from firsthand experience that there are a small number of agitators and a large number of peaceful protesters. But Trump has done an excellent job of creating crisis and fear by portraying events as out of the control of local and state authorities, and therefore in need of his intervention.

Republicans “need that violence to corroborate their talking points,” Mia Bloom told me. She’s an expert on extremism and a professor at Georgia State University.

Violence “like in the aftermath of George Floyd, when there was the rioting, that actually was helpful for Republicans,” she said.

Levitsky said authoritarians look for crises.

“You need an emergency, both rhetorically and legally, to engage in authoritarian behavior,” he said.

So Trump has laid a trap with his immigration sweeps in a city of immigrants to create opportunity, and Newsom has called it out.

And it calling it out — pointing out the danger of protesters turning violent and yet still calling for peaceful protest — Newsom has put Trump in a precarious position that the president may not have been expecting.

“Repressing protest is a very risky venture,” said Levitsky. “It often, not always, but often, does trigger push back.”

Levitsky points out that already, there is some evidence that Trump may have overreached, and is losing support.

A new poll by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 76% of Americans oppose the military birthday parade Trump plans on throwing for himself in Washington, D.C. this weekend. That includes disapproval from more than half of Trump supporters.

A separate poll by Quinnipiac University found that 54% of those polled disapprove of how he’s handling immigration issues, and 56% disapprove of his deportations.

Bloom warns that there’s a danger in raising too many alarms about authoritarianism right now, because we still have some functioning guardrails. She said that stoking too much fear could backfire, for Newsom and for democracy.

“We’re at a moment in which the country is very polarized and that these things are being told through two very different types of narratives, and the moment we give the other side, which was a very apocalyptic, nihilistic narrative, we give them fodder, we justify the worst policies” she said.

She pointed to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, when some protesters placed flowers in the barrels of soldiers’ guns, and act of peaceful protest she said changed public perception. That, she said, is what’s needed now.

Newsom was clear in his call for peaceful protest. But also clear that it was a call to action in a historic inflection point. We can’t know in the moment who or what history will remember, said Levitsky.

“It’s really important that the most privileged among us stand up and fight,” he said. “If they don’t, citizens are going to look around and say, ‘Well, why should I?”

Having leaders willing to be the target, when so many feel the danger of speaking out, has value, he said.

Because fear may spread like a virus, but courage is contagious, too.

Los Angeles school police will set up a safety perimeter around campuses and school events — including graduations — to keep federal immigration agents away from students, employees and families, school officials said Monday.

The announcement by Supt. Alberto Carvalho comes amid widespread immigration raids in Los Angeles — including one on Monday at a Home Depot adjacent to Huntington Park High School — after a weekend of isolated but intense downtown clashes between police and protesters, some of whom set self-driving Waymo cars on fire and threw rocks and fireworks.

The move is among the most notable actions taken by the nation’s second-largest school district, whose leaders said at a news conference Monday that they will deploy their own police force to protect students and their families so they can enjoy in peace the many graduation ceremonies that will unfold this week as the school year concludes Tuesday.

“We stand strongly on the right side of law,” Carvalho said. “Every student in our community, every student across the country, has a constitutional right to a free public education of high quality, without threat. Every one of our students, independently of their immigration status, has a right to a free meal in our schools. Every one of our children, no questions asked, has a right to counseling, social emotional support, mental support.”

President Trump reversed a Biden administration policy that largely exempted schools and other potentially sensitive areas such as churches from immigration enforcement. In recent days, federal agents also have not targeted local schools. But in April federal agents were turned away by staff at two elementary schools.

Carvalho did not rule out the potential for a standoff involving school police if federal officers attempted to enter a school or an off-campus school event — such as a graduation ceremony — without a judicial warrant.

“I think that would be a preposterous condition,” Carvalho said. “But then again, we have seen preposterous actions taken recently by this administration. We are prepared for everything,” Carvalho said, adding that he’s in consultation on contingency plans with L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.

“I have a professional, moral responsibility to protect our kids, protect our workforce, ensure the sanctity, the protection of our buildings and their extension,” Carvalho said. “That means the school buses, the transportation of kids to school and graduation ceremonies. Nothing should interfere with that, and I will put my job on the line to protect a 5-year-old, an 11-year-old, an 11th grader or a soon-to-be graduate.”

But there are limits. Officials acknowledged that they are not legally allowed to interfere if officers arrive with a judicial warrant, which are relatively rare. All school staff — not just the school police — have received training in how to interact with immigration agents, especially to limit their access to campus and children.

Defenders of Trump’s goals counter that public employees should assist in supporting immigration laws against those who are not legally authorized to live in the United States.

For the school system, the immigration furor put a chill on a normally celebratory time — graduation season. The federal actions prompted a detailed, concerned and sometimes furious response from school district leadership.

“As I looked out at the horizon from my office this morning, I saw gray clouds over Los Angeles,” Carvalho said as he opened his remarks. “Those gray clouds could mean a lot of things to a lot of people. I interpreted them as clouds of injustice, clouds of fear, intimidation — clouds that seek to scare the best of us into dark corners.”

About 100 high school graduations and end-of-year culminations were scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, with graduation events continuing through June 16.

L.A. school police lack the manpower to encircle every campus and school-event venue, but when officials learn of potential immigration enforcement activity, the plan is to put one patrol car in front of a campus and another in motion around the site.

At graduation ceremonies outdoor lines to enter venues are to be minimized. And families can remain inside for as long as necessary should agents initiate a raid outside or in the neighborhood.

Where possible, a virtual option would be provided for families to watch a graduation ceremony online.

Said Carvalho: “I’ve spoken with parents who’ve told me that their daughter would be the first in their family to graduate high school, and they’re not going to be there to witness it, because they have a fear of the place of graduation being targeted. What nation are we becoming?”

Carvalho said there is confirmation so far of six or seven school district families that have been affected by raids and arrests. In one case, a student was detained with his father and transported from L.A. to Texas. The district has not identified the student or school out of privacy concerns.

A fourth-grader who attends Torrance Elementary — in a neighboring school district — and his 50-year-old father were taken into custody on May 29 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — and will soon be deported, a federal official said.

The father and son entered the U.S. illegally in 2021, according to the federal government.

The superintendent also noted talk of student walkouts. He said that students’ right to protest would be respected but he asked families to urge their children to remain on campus for safety reasons.

Carvalho also advised families to update their contact and emergency information with their school. And families also should prepare backup plans should caregivers be taken into custody.

Summer school starts on June 17 and runs through July 16. Carvalho said more campuses would be opened for classes to minimize travel from home to school and more school-funded transportation would be provided.

District leaders have frequently been circumspect in their words about the Trump administration — critical, to be sure, but somewhat careful. But there was little caution Monday.

School board member Nick Melvoin demanded the removal of the National Guard and compared Trump’s heavy-handed response in Los Angeles to his delay in halting rioters who sought to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Trump to President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 6, 2021.

Board member Rocio Rivas said there had been raids in the last few days in Boyle Heights, MacArthur Park, Lincoln Heights, Pico Union, Cypress Park, “just to name a few.”

“Our families are now forced to live in fear, looking over their shoulders on the way to school or their child’s graduation. This is just simply wrong. It is also very, very cruel,” Rivas said.

Said board member Tanya Ortiz Franklin: “This isn’t about keeping our community safe. This is about a backwards belief about who belongs and who should be pushed out, locked up and shut up.”

School board President Scott Schmerelson reached for a wider perspective.

“This is supposed to be the happiest time for our kids and their parents, and it’s a very sad time, but we have to remember too our kids have accomplished a lot,” Schmerelson said. “They are graduating and are trying to keep a positive attitude.”

WEIGHT loss jabs could prevent a medication taken by millions of women from working – and increase patients’ risk of cancer.

The British Menopause Society said the jabs could cause hormone imbalance in women taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT), particularly for those with obesity, putting them “at increased risk of womb cancer”.

1

It follows warnings to women on weight loss medications to take effective contraception, as the jabs could render the pill less effective.

That’s because weight loss drugs Wegovy and Mounjaro – as well as diabetes jab Ozempic – can delay the absorption of pills taken orally, as well slowing down the passage of food through the gut.

Guidance suggests women taking HRT in pill form may also be at risk.

The British Menopause Society (BMS) told doctors to closely monitor menopausal women on HRT who are also using weight-loss jabs.

The treatment tops up the hormones oestrogen and progesterone, which dip to low levels as the menopause approaches.

Data from 2023-24 showed that 2.6 million women in England rely on the drugs to alleviate hot flushes, night sweats, difficulty sleeping and mood changes.

“During the last two years, since semaglutide and tirzepatide [the active ingredients in Wegovy and Mounjaro] received licenses for weight loss, there has been an increase in uptake of these medications through private clinics, while NHS prescribing is limited to specialist weight management services,” the BMS guidance stated.

“There are no current data available about numbers of women receiving HRT concurrently with semaglutide or tirzepatide.”

The most common form of HRT is a progesterone pill alongside a skin patch or gel to deliver oestrogen, but some people opt for a combined pill.

Progesterone balances out the effects of oestrogen, which on its own stimulates the growth of the womb lining, and can cause “abnormal cells and cancer” to grow.

The menopause experts expressed concern over the loss of the progesterone’s protective effect on the womb as a result of weight loss jabs.

They recommended that doctors move women taking progesterone orally to an intrauterine device, such as a Mirena coil, or increase their dose of progesterone.

Prof Annice Mukherjee, a consultant endocrinologist and member of the society’s medical advisory council, who led on the guidance, told The Telegraph that a hormone imbalance could put women “at increased risk of womb cancer” – particularly if they are obese.

“Oestrogen is almost always given through the skin for HRT in women living with obesity, but progesterone is frequently given as a tablet, and that formulation is thought to be the safest route for women who have complicated health issues,” she said.

“If we then start one of these injectable weight-loss drugs, then you’re preferentially stopping absorption of the progestogen that’s coming in orally, but you’re allowing plenty of the oestrogen through the skin.

“The rules are very clear that if you give a very high dose of oestrogen and you don’t give enough progesterone, however that happens, you’re putting that woman at risk of womb cancer,” she said.

Prof Mukherjee said there was currently a “culture of putting women on very high doses of oestrogen”, which can make the womb lining thicken.

“It’s like having a lawn in a woman’s womb. Oestrogen makes the lawn grow. Progestogen cuts the lawn. But if it’s not being cut, it grows thicker, and then you can get abnormal cells and cancer.”

But she also stressed that the biggest risk factor for womb cancer was obesity – meaning that on the whole, weight loss jabs can cut the risk of disease.

“These drugs reduce the risk of cancer,” Prof Mukherjee said.

“But if they are prescribed to a woman who’s on oestrogen through the skin, and she might already have womb thickening because she’s living with obesity, and she’s not absorbing the progesterone because she’s been put on a weight-loss injection, she’s potentially getting loads of oestrogen on top of her thickened womb lining, and that could potentially unmask cancers that are there or drive an early cancer to a more advanced stage.”

The BMS put together the guidelines after calls from GPs for advice to give to patients.

Dr Janet Barter, the president of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, told The Telegraph that weight loss jabs can cause side effects such as “vomiting and severe diarrhoea in some patients”.

“Obviously this could render any medication, such as HRT tablets or oral contraception, ineffective if there hasn’t been enough time for them to be fully absorbed,” she said.

“If these side-effects are occurring, then people should discuss the matter with their doctor or specialist clinician to find the combination of drugs that’s right for them.”

Sun Health has contacted Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly – the makers of Wegovy and Mounjaro – for comment.

It follows warnings from the Medicines and Healthcare products Agency (MHRA) that GLP-1 weight loss drugs could reduce the absorption of contraceptives, due to the fact they slow down the emptying of the stomach.

The watchdog also said the jabs should not be used during pregnancy, while trying to conceive or breastfeeding, over fears they could lead to miscarriage or birth defects.

The MHRA explained: “This is because there is not enough safety data to know whether taking the medicine could cause harm to the baby.”

Dr Bassel Wattar, a consultant gynaecologist and medical director of clinical trials at Anglia Ruskin University, told The Sun: “It’s not the medication itself, but the weight loss that helps regulate a woman’s hormones allowing her ovaries to function properly again.

“Pregnancy is more of a happy side effect.”

WASHINGTON — After the raucous rainbow-hued festivities of Saturday’s parade, the final day of World Pride 2025 in the nation’s capital kicked off on a more downbeat note.

More than 1,000 people gathered under gray skies Sunday morning at the Lincoln Memorial for a rally that will lead into a protest march, as the community gathers its strength for a looming fight under President Trump’s second administration.

“This is not just a party,” Ashley Smith, board president of Capital Pride Alliance. “This is a rally for our lives.”

Smith acknowledged that international attendance numbers for the biannual World Pride were measurably down, with many potential attendees avoiding travel to the U.S. because of either fear of harassment or in protest of Trump’s policies.

“That should disturb us and mobilize us,” Smith said.

More than 1,000 people cheered on LGBTQ+ activists taking the stage while waving traditional Pride flags and flags representing transgender, bisexual, intersex and other communities. Many had rainbow glitter and rhinestones adorning their faces. They held signs declaring, “Fight back,” “Gay is good,” “Ban bombs not bathrooms” and “We will not be erased.”

Trump’s campaign against transgender protections and oft-stated antipathy for drag shows have set the community on edge, with some hoping to see a renewed wave of street politics in response.

“Trans people just want to be loved. Everybody wants to live their own lives and I don’t understand the problem with it all,” said Tyler Cargill, who came wearing an elaborate costume with a hat topped by a replica of the U.S. Capitol building.

Wes Kincaid drove roughly six hours from Charlotte, N.C., to attend this year. Sitting on a park bench near the reflecting pond, Kincaid said he made a point of attending this year, “because it’s more important than ever to show up for our community.”

Drag dancer Violeta puts on a show for visitors to Beaches Pride Paradise at the WeHo Pride Street Fair along Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood on May 31.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Reminders of the cuts to federal government programs were on full display Sunday. One attendee waved a massive rainbow flag affixed on the same staff as a large USAID flag; another held a “Proud gay federal worker” sign; and a third held an umbrella with the logos of various federal programs facing cuts — including the PBS logo.

Trump’s anti-trans rhetoric had fueled fears of violence or protests targeting World Pride participants; at one point earlier this spring, rumors circulated that the Proud Boys were planning to disrupt this weekend’s celebrations. Those concerns prompted organizers to install security fencing around the entire two-day street party on a multi-block stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue.

But so far, the only clear act of aggression has been the vandalizing of a queer bar last week. Late Saturday night, there was a pair of violent incidents near Dupont Circle — one of the epicenters of the World Pride celebrations. Two juveniles were stabbed and a man was shot in the foot in separate incidents. The Metropolitan Police Department says it is not clear if either incident was directly related to World Pride.

Fernando, Hussein, Martin and Pesoli write for the Associated Press.

Every weekday, 38-year-old Fatima Musa grips her son’s hand as they step onto a makeshift bridge in Fori, a community in Jere Local Government Area (LGA) of Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. Together, they cross the poorly constructed structure to reach the primary school he attends, and later make the same journey home.

The original Fori Bridge collapsed during the devastating floods of September 2024, which inundated Maiduguri and its environs, leaving dozens dead and thousands displaced. The destruction severed vital connections between Bama Park and Market, the University of Maiduguri, and several neighbourhoods.

With no official intervention, local youths erected a makeshift crossing far from Fatima’s home. Constructed from wooden planks, logs, and sand-filled sacks, the narrow bridge hovers precariously over the Ngadda River, the same river that swept away homes, businesses, and livelihoods just months ago.

The disruption forced residents like Fatima to undertake perilous detours or depend on the makeshift bridge, which is far away from her home. 

The community’s improvised fix has restored a semblance of connectivity, but it is fragile. In less than two months, seasonal rains will return, swelling the Ngadda once again. Residents told HumAngle they fear the structure will be destroyed, cutting them off from schools, hospitals, and markets, and deepening the isolation they already face.

The original Fori Bridge, a vital link for residents across several communities in Jere, was the first structure to collapse when the floods ravaged the area. 

A student’s dread

For 27-year-old Zainab Yahaya, a student at the University of Maiduguri, the broken bridge is more than a daily inconvenience, it threatens her future. She crosses the makeshift bridge every day to attend classes. As the rainy season looms, her anxiety increases.

“I use the makeshift bridge now, but when the water returns, the bridge won’t survive it,” she said. “And then, everything becomes more difficult, more expensive, more dangerous and more exhausting.”

Last year’s flood destroyed her neighbourhood. This year, she fears her education may be next. Without the bridge, Zainab would be forced to take longer detours that significantly increase both cost and travel time.

“What used to cost ₦100 will now jump to ₦400,” she explained. “And the hours I lose taking detours, it’s hard to keep up with school. I will be exhausted before I reach class.”

Crossing by canoe is not an option she trusts. “It’s dangerous. The water is unpredictable, the canoes are unstable, and sometimes you don’t even know if the person paddling them is a professional or not,” Zainab added.

Her frustration is echoed throughout the community. “The government hasn’t done anything tangible. No repairs, no support, not even a visit,” she says. “We’re left on our own.”

A cycle doomed to repeat

A HumAngle investigation published in 2024 traced the flood’s origins to a combination of infrastructural decay, poor planning, and delayed emergency response at the Alau Dam.

Originally designed in 1986 to hold 112 million cubic meters of water, the dam’s capacity has swelled to an estimated 279 to 296 million cubic meters, primarily because of unchecked sediment buildup. 

Every year, during the June-to-September monsoon, stormwater flows from the Mubi highlands into the Yedzeram River. This major tributary quickly swells and merges with the Gambole River, before entering the wetlands of the Sambisa Forest to form the headwaters of the Ngadda.

From there, the Ngadda empties into Lake Alau, held back by the Alau Dam, a large reservoir on the outskirts of Maiduguri. When rainfall is heavy upstream, the rivers surge downstream with little delay, raising water levels sharply in Lake Alau.

The dam is gate-controlled, designed to hold and release water in a regulated manner.

However, another dam downstream lacks this control. Without gates, it simply overflows once water reaches a certain level, releasing torrents into vulnerable communities with no warning. This unregulated spillway worsened last year’s catastrophe in Maiduguri.

In February, the federal government announced a ₦80 billion rehabilitation and expansion project for the Alau Dam to prevent any disaster in the future. On March 2, the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utsev, officially flagged off the project, stating it would be executed in two phases over 24 months.

Yet, a visit by HumAngle to the site in May painted a different picture.

Three bulldozers sat idle in the sun. No workers were present. The dam, still visibly broken, lay open like an unhealed wound. A makeshift sand barrier was the only sign of intervention, containing stagnant water where a flowing river once ran.

Nearby, fishermen cast their nets into the shallow puddles, making do with what remains of their vanishing livelihood. 

“They [referring to government contractors] brought those bulldozers months ago,” said Musa, a wiry young man watching the water. “All they did was pile sand to block the flow. Since then, nothing.”

Adamu, another resident and a fisherman, leaned against a tree and shook his head. “This sand is like candy floss,” he muttered. “It will melt when the floods come. Then we’ll flood again.”

At 53, Bulama Isa no longer moves with the vigour of his youth. Yet he frequently walks his farmland along the banks of the Ngadda River, inspecting what remains of his farmland. 

“This place used to feed my whole family,” he says, gesturing at the gaping holes where his garden once stood. “Now I don’t have a farm.” Isa has farmed near the Alau Dam since the early 2000s. He watched the flood swallow his fields last September and his year’s harvest. When the water receded, he was left with a gaping hole. 

Now, with no compensation and no clear plan from the government, he survives on support from relatives and the little his wife makes selling fried groundnuts.

Residents who spoke to HumAngle expressed frustration over the lack of progress and now fear that this year’s flood could be even worse than the last. 

As of May 2025, neither the Fori Bridge nor the Alau Dam has been repaired. 

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has projected that the onset of the rainy season in Borno State will occur between early June and July 2025. In northern states, flooding will likely occur at the peak of rainfall between July and September, according to NiMet. Urban areas with poor drainage systems are particularly at risk of flooding during this period.

HumAngle reached out to the Ministry of Water Resources through the state commissioner, Tijjani Goni Alkali, to inquire about the project’s status and the concerns of nearby communities. As of press time, no response had been received.

With the forthcoming rains, many fear that their lives will be uprooted once again.

Washington, DC – There were shackles at her wrists. Her waist. Her ankles.

The memory of being bound still haunts 19-year-old Ximena Arias Cristobal even after her release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.

Nearly a month after her arrest, the Georgia college student said she is still grappling with how her life has been transformed. One day in early May, she was pulled over for a minor traffic stop: turning right on a red light. The next thing she knew, she was in a detention centre, facing a court date for her deportation.

“That experience is something I’ll never forget. It left a mark on me, emotionally and mentally,” Arias Cristobal said during a news conference on Tuesday, recounting her time at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia.

“What hurts more,” she added, “is knowing that millions of others have gone through and are still going through the same kind of pain”.

Rights advocates say her story has become emblematic of a “dragnet” deportation policy in the United States, one that targets immigrants of all backgrounds, regardless of whether they have a criminal record.

President Donald Trump had campaigned for a second term on the pledge that he would expel “criminals” who were in the country “illegally”.

But as he ramps up his “mass deportation” campaign from the White House, critics say immigration agents are targeting immigrants from a variety of backgrounds — no matter how little risk they pose.

“The quotas that they are pushing for [are] creating this situation on the ground where ICE is literally just trying to go after anybody that they can catch,” said Vanessa Cardenas, the executive director of America’s Voice, an immigration advocacy group.

She explained that young, undocumented immigrants, known as Dreamers, are among the most vulnerable populations.

“In the dragnet, we’re getting long-established, deeply rooted Dreamers and other folks that have been in the United States for a long time,” Cardenas explained.

A vulnerable group

An avid runner who studies finance and economics at Dalton State College, Arias Cristobal is one of the 3.6 million people known as Dreamers. Many were sent to the US as children, sometimes accompanied by family members, others alone.

For decades, the US government has struggled with how to handle those young, undocumented arrivals to the country.

In 2012, then-President Barack Obama announced a new executive policy, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). It provided temporary protection from deportation for younger immigrants who had lived in the US since June 2007.

About 530,000 Dreamers are protected by their DACA status. But Gaby Pacheco, the leader of the immigration group TheDream.US, said that number represents a small proportion of the total population of young immigrants facing possible deportation.

Some arrived after the cut-off date of June 15, 2007, while others have been unable to apply: Processing for new applications has been paused in recent years. Legal challenges over DACA also continue to wind their way through the federal court system.

“Sadly, in recent months multiple Dream.US scholars and alumni have either been arrested, detained and even deported,” Pacheco said.

She noted that 90 percent of the Dreamers that her organisation is supporting during their first year of higher education have no protections under DACA or other programmes.

All told, she said, the last few months have revealed a “painful truth”: that “Dreamers are under attack”.

Setting quotas

But advocates like Pacheco warn that the first months of the Trump administration may be only a harbinger of what is to come.

Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller informed ICE agents that the Trump administration had increased its daily quota for immigration arrests, from 1,000 per day to 3,000.

The current draft of Trump’s budget legislation — known as the One Big Beautiful Bill — would also surge an estimated $150bn in government funds towards deportation and other immigration-related activities. The bill narrowly passed the House of Representatives and is likely to be taken up in the Senate in the coming weeks.

Both actions could mean a significant scale-up in immigration enforcement, even as advocates argue that Trump’s portrayal of the US as a country overrun with foreign criminals is starkly out of step with reality.

Studies have repeatedly shown that undocumented immigrants commit fewer crimes — including violent crimes — than US-born citizens.

Available data also calls into question Trump’s claims that there are large numbers of undocumented criminal offenders in the country.

The rate of arrests and deportations has remained more or less the same as when Trump’s predecessor, former President Joe Biden, was in office, according to a report by the TRAC research project.

From January 26 to May 3, during the first four months of Trump’s second term, his administration made an average of 778 immigration arrests per day. That is just 2 percent higher than the average during the final months of Biden’s presidency, which numbered about 759.

The number of daily removals or deportations under Trump was actually 1 percentage point lower than Biden’s daily rate.

‘More and more pushback’

All told, Pacheco and Cardenas warned that the pressure to increase arrests and deportations could lead to increasingly desperate tactics.

The administration has already rolled back a policy prohibiting immigration enforcement in sensitive areas, like churches and schools. It has also sought to use a 1798 wartime law to swiftly deport alleged gang members without due process, and revoked temporary protections that allowed some foreign nationals to remain in the country legally.

In an effort to increase immigration arrests, the Trump administration has also pressured local officials to coordinate with ICE. Drawing on section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the administration has even delegated certain immigration powers to local law enforcement, including the right to make immigration arrests and screen people for deportation.

In one instance in early May, the Tennessee Highway Patrol coordinated with ICE in a sweep of traffic stops that led to nearly 100 immigration arrests. Another large-scale operation in Massachusetts in early June saw ICE make 1,500 arrests.

Swept up in that mass arrest was Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, an 18-year-old high school student on his way to volleyball practice. His arrest sparked protest and condemnation in Gomes Da Silva’s hometown of Milford, Massachusetts.

Cardenas pointed to those demonstrations, as well as the outpouring of support for Arias Cristobal, as evidence of a growing rejection of Trump’s immigration policies.

“I think we are going to see more and more pushback from Americans,” she said.

“Having said that, it is my belief that this administration has all the intention to implement their plans… And if Congress gives them more money, they’re going to go after our communities.”

Aid workers and activists are fearful that new regulations announced by Sudan’s army-backed government will lead to a crackdown on local relief volunteers, exacerbating the catastrophic hunger crisis affecting 25 million people across the country.

A directive announced by Khartoum state on its official Facebook page this month said all relief initiatives in the state must register with the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), a government body that oversees humanitarian operations in Sudan.

The HAC was given expanded powers to register, monitor and – critics argue – crack down on local and Western aid groups by former leader Omar al-Bashir in 2006, according to aid groups, local relief volunteers and experts.

“HAC is trying to monitor and restrict the work of ERRs by forcing us to register, … and I fear they will arrest volunteers if we keep working but don’t register,” Ahmed*, a local volunteer in Khartoum, said, referring to the Emergency Response Rooms, grassroots committees that are spearheading the humanitarian response in Sudan.

Khaled Abdelraheem Ahmed, the HAC commissioner for the state of Khartoum, confirmed the new directive to Al Jazeera.

He said registration requires paying a fee of roughly $800 and submitting a list of names of the employees or volunteers in each relief initiative.

“[Nobody] is allowed to carry out humanitarian activities without registering,” Abdelraheem said.

Indispensable relief

The new directive is raising concern among ERRs. They have been instrumental in feeding, protecting and rescuing civilians from attacks since the civil war erupted between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023.

The ERRs maintain a public stance of neutrality in an effort to preserve humanitarian access irrespective of who controls the areas they operate in at any given time.

Still, they have been attacked by both sides throughout the war.

Local activists, foreign aid workers and experts now suspect that the HAC is trying to register ERRs in Khartoum to try to monitor and coopt their activities and profit from their already meagre budgets.

Any constraints or impediments to their work could have devastating consequences for civilians in Khartoum, said Kholood Khair, a Sudan expert and the founder of the Confluence Advisory think tank.

“In Khartoum, it’s one meal a day for a lot of people in a lot of areas,” she told Al Jazeera.

“If people start missing that one meal because [ERR] volunteers are not turning up because they don’t feel safe enough to [show up and feed them], then obviously that means that famine levels will go through the roof,” Khair added.

Experts and aid workers previously told Al Jazeera that they consider the HAC an outfit for military intelligence.

Al Jazeera contacted army spokesperson Nabil Abdullah to comment on the accusations against the HAC.

He did not respond before publication.

The head of the HAC, Najm al-din Musa, previously denied allegations that the commission was involved in aid diversion, telling Al Jazeera that they were “lies”.

Politicising aid

The HAC has long been accused of imposing bureaucratic impediments to prevent international aid groups from reaching regions outside the army’s control.

It often forces aid agencies to apply for multiple – seemingly endless – permissions from various ministries and security branches as a way to significantly delay or outright block access to regions outside the army’s control and in urgent need, aid workers previously told Al Jazeera.

This practice has led experts, global relief workers and human rights groups to accuse the army of using food and aid as a weapon of war.

Yet Hamid Khalafallah, an expert on Sudan’s grassroots movements and a PhD candidate at Manchester University in the United Kingdom, believes the HAC is further politicising aid by forcing ERRs to register.

“[The HAC] wants to control the programming of [the ERRs] and make sure that it matches their priorities, … which are obviously politicised and follow the guidelines of the de facto [army] government,” he told Al Jazeera.

In addition, local relief workers and experts fear that if ERR members in Khartoum register with the HAC, then their names could be handed over to intelligence branches, exposing them to unwanted harassment or arrest.

Shortly after the army recaptured most of Khartoum in March, a number of “hit lists” circulated over social media, Khalafallah said.

The lists accused hundreds of civilians who did not have the resources to flee from the RSF while it controlled Khartoum of cooperating with the group.

The names of some ERR members were on the lists.

Competition and autonomy

The army has created some of its own humanitarian committees called “Karama” (Dignity), which have been providing some services to civilians in Khartoum, four local relief workers told Al Jazeera without providing details.

The relief workers did say that the Karama committees have not tried to obstruct the work of the ERRs.

Local volunteers still worry that the Karama committees were designed to help the army build a loyal constituency through aid provision.

“The [army] wants the services to go through the people they appoint. They will handle distribution of food, medicare and whatever else,” said Noon*, a local volunteer from one of the ERRs.

“It’s a type of propaganda,” she told Al Jazeera.

ERR volunteers worry that if they register with the HAC, then they will be prohibited from aiding their communities if they ever come back under RSF control.

This could significantly harm the trust that ERR volunteers have built with their communities since the start of the war, they said.

Others worry that the HAC will try to restrict and impede the work of ERRs once they register as part of a broader ploy to empower Karama committees at their expense.

However, experts and international aid workers both said the army is not doing enough to repair basic services in a city that has been destroyed by the RSF.

In contrast, the ERRs have been effective in acting quickly to mitigate the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan because volunteers do not need approval from a state authority before making life-saving decisions, Khalafallah said.

“This requirement [to register] with HAC is absolutely damaging for ERRs because the work they do is based on being totally independent and … [on having a model] where accountability looks downwards to the beneficiaries,” he said.

Profiteering off aid?

The ERRs are struggling to raise enough money to support their communities.

They now worry they will be forced to cough up money to the HAC if they have to register with it.

“We know that HAC will take a cut from our budgets. … This is the main problem [with registering] really,” Noon said.

The HAC has a long history of shaking down aid agencies for money. Even before the war, they forced aid groups to hire HAC staff to deliver aid and sit in on job interviews.

One foreign relief worker who did not wish to be named said international aid agencies who have supported ERRs since the start of the war will likely continue to do so quietly whether they register or not. However, the source warned that United Nations agencies may make concessions to the HAC.

“What the UN agrees to [with the HAC] will have an impact on everybody else, and it will undermine the position of everybody else,” the source said.

Daniel Tengo, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson for Sudan, told Al Jazeera that the UN has not decided whether it will maintain or cease support to ERRs that do not register with the HAC.

He added that OCHA is in touch with ERRs and waiting for them to make a decision.

“OCHA is aware of the recent communication from Khartoum HAC and has reached out to the coordination body of the Emergency Response Rooms to better understand the implications,” he said.

“ERRs confirmed awareness of [HAC’s directive] and indicated that internal discussions are ongoing on how best to respond,” Tengo told Al Jazeera.

Local relief workers in Khartoum explained that each ERR in Khartoum will deliberate among its own members and then share their opinion with other ERRs.

In the end, they will reach a unanimous decision.

“Maybe we will find another creative solution,” said Salma*, a local volunteer.

“We are just trying to find a way to keep working without creating more fights and problems,” she told Al Jazeera.

*The names of local aid workers have been changed due to safety concerns.

Across Los Angeles, the Inland Empire and the Coachella Valley, one community health center is extending its services to immigrant patients in their homes after realizing that people were skipping critical medical appointments because they’ve become too afraid to venture out.

St. John’s Community Health, one of the largest nonprofit community healthcare providers in Los Angeles County that caters to low-income and working-class residents, launched a home visitation program in March after learning that patients were missing routine and urgent care appointments because they feared being taken in by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

St. John’s, which offers services through a network of clinics and mobile units across the region, estimates that at least 25,000 of its patients are undocumented, and about a third of them suffer from chronic conditions, including diabetes and hypertension, which require routine checkups. But these patients were missing tests to monitor their blood sugar and blood pressure, as well as appointments to pick up prescription refills.

Earlier this year, the health center began surveying patients and found that hundreds were canceling appointments “solely due to fear of being apprehended by ICE.”

President Trump came into his second term promising the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, initially focusing his rhetoric on undocumented immigrants who had committed violent crimes. But shortly after he took office, his administration said they considered anyone in the country without authorization to be a criminal.

In the months since, the new administration has used a variety of tactics to sow fear in immigrant communities. The Department of Homeland Security has launched an ad campaign urging people in the country without authorization to leave or risk being rounded up and deported. Immigration agents are showing up at Home Depots and inside courtrooms, in search of people in the U.S. without authorization. Increasingly, immigrants who are detained are being whisked away and deported to their home countries — or, in some cases, nations where they have no ties — without time for packing or family goodbyes.

The Trump administration in January rescinded a policy that once shielded sensitive locations such as hospitals, churches and schools from immigration-related arrests.

In response to the survey results, St. John’s launched the Health Care Without Fear program in an effort to reach patients who are afraid to leave their homes. Jim Mangia, chief executive and president of St. John’s, said in a statement that healthcare providers should implement policies to ensure all patients, regardless of immigration status, have access to care.

“Healthcare is a human right — we will not allow fear to stand in the way of that,” he said.

Bukola Olusanya, a nurse practitioner and the regional medical director at St. John’s, said one woman reported not having left her home in three months. She said she knows of other patients with chronic conditions who aren’t leaving their house to exercise, which could exacerbate their illness. Even some immigrants in the U.S. legally are expressing reservations, given news stories about the government accusing people of crimes and deporting them without due process.

Olusanya said waiting for people to come back in for medical care on their own felt like too great a risk, given how quickly their conditions could deteriorate. “It could be a complication that’s going to make them get a disability that’s going to last a lifetime, and they become so much more dependent, or they have to use more resources,” she said. “So why not prevent that?”

On a recent Thursday at St. John’s Avalon Clinic in South L.A., Olusanya prepared to head to the home of a patient who lived about 30 minutes away. The Avalon Clinic serves a large population of homeless patients and has a street team that frequently uses a van filled with medical equipment. The van is proving useful for home visits.

Olusanya spent about 30 minutes preparing for the 3 p.m. appointment, assembling equipment to draw blood, collect a urine sample and check the patient’s vitals and glucose levels. She said she has conducted physical exams in bedrooms and living rooms, depending on the patient’s housing situation and privacy.

She recalled a similar drop in patient visits during Trump’s first administration when he also vowed mass deportations. Back then, she said, the staff at St. John’s held drills to prepare for potential federal raids, linking arms in a human chain to block the clinic entrance.

But this time around, she said, the fear is more palpable. “You feel it; it’s very thick,” she said.

While telehealth is an option for some patients, many need in-person care. St. John’s sends a team of three or four staff members to make the house calls, she said, and are generally welcomed with a mix of relief and gratitude that makes it worthwhile.

“They’re very happy like, ‘Oh, my God, St. John’s can do this. I’m so grateful,’ ” she said. “So it means a lot.”

Europe is a popular tourist destination for many people around the globe, but one common travel destination is sinking, and people fear it will ‘end up like Atlantis’

One favourite European hotspot is going underwater, and travel fans fear it could vanish just ‘Atlantis.’ The iconic city Venice is built on over 100 small islands and intersected by 177 canals, and it is sinking.

Located in northeastern Italy and serving as the capital of the Veneto region, Venice is best explored on foot or by boat due to its car-free policy. This unique characteristic draws flocks of tourists to the Italian gem. However, BBC Future warns that due to subsidence and rising sea levels, Venice is at “real risk of being consumed by the sea”. The outlet even suggests that in the worst-case scenario, the city could “disappear beneath the waves by as early as 2100”.

This alarming situation has led to comparisons with Atlantis, the legendary lost island described by ancient Greek philosopher Plato.

Jennifer Napolski shed more light on the issue in a TikTok video. A voiceover in the clip states: “Venice is an ancient city that once had the most powerful people, materials and power in Europe.”

It goes on to mention Piazza San Marco, the main public square in Venice, and St Mark’s Basilica, some of the city’s most famous attractions.

The voiceover concludes: “However, today, due to climate change, the foundations of Venice are sinking. The sea level is rising and Venice’s life is coming to an end.

“Perhaps in 50 years this miracle on the sea will sink to the bottom of the sea. By then the charming streets, romantic century-old buildings and dreamy islands in the water will disappear onto the sea.

“If you have the opportunity, you must take your family to visit this disappearing city.” Venice grapples with flooding during certain seasons due to “acqua alta”, which translates to “high water.”

This flooding is caused by a mix of high tides, wind conditions like the Adriatic’s sirocco winds, and low atmospheric pressure causing waters from the Venetian Lagoon to inundate the city.

Flooding is most likely between October and December but can happen at other times depending on the weather. Rising sea levels due to climate change are making the flooding worse, but there is a ray of hope for Venice.

The city awaits the completion of the Mose (Experimental Electromechanical Module) project to save itself from sinking.

The initiative includes putting in place 78 moveable gates to act as sea barriers which will hopefully help prevent severe floods.

Jennifer’s TikTok footage showing Venice under water has sparked almost 3,000 comments as travel fans express their worries over the fate of the enchanting city. One user ominously predicted: “One day they will talk about Venice like we talk about Atlantis.”

Another mused: “What if Atlantis was a prophecy instead of historical fiction?” A third voiced: “Venice underwater. About to be the new Atlantis.”

Someone who has visited Venice shared: “I was there 10 years ago and it was NOT this flooded.” Another user expressed their concern: “This is kind of terrifying for the people who have lived there for generations.”

Someone else commented: “It’s so sad that it could disappear I love Venice. I’ve been there so many times.”

The Loose Women panellists are said to be in fear over their future on the show after ITV announced a major shake-up, which has been branded a ‘time-bomb’ by some

Loose Women stars are said to have been left shaken following ITV’s dramatic shake-up. Earlier this week, the network announced a major overhaul of their daytime schedules, which affects both Loose and Lorraine Kelly’s self-titled morning programme.

However, despite being hit with a mass loss of viewers, the magazine show This Morning remains unaffected. While all shows air throughout the year, the new schedule means that both Loose and Lorraine will only be on screens for 30 weeks of the year. Meanwhile, Good Morning Britain has been extended until 9.30, axing part of Lorraine’s show.

The shake-up will come into play in January, with many of the Loose panel now feeling as though they’re on a probation period. Sources have claimed that anchors on the show, including Christine Lampard, Coleen Nolan and Gloria Hunniford had not been informed of the shake-up before it was made public.

It’s claimed that some of the older members of the panel who have been part of the show since its launch 25 years ago, are worried that they will be fighting for appearances on the panel, while “PR friendly” younger members of the team including GK Barry, Olivia Attwood and former singer Frankie Bridge will be favoured.

READ MORE: Weight loss method backed by Dr Michael Mosley and loved by Davina McCall

ITV sources have criticised This Morning for being “favoured” despite its dwindling viewing figures. The tension behind the scenes at the network is believed to be “unbearable,” with This Morning being hit with “rage.” Sources claim that the shake-up has sparked a ” time bomb,” with executives allegedly doing everything to defuse the situation amongst talent.

“ITV Daytime could combust from the inside out at this rate,” a source said. They went to tell The Sun that older panellists on Loose Women have seen shake-ups in the past but “weathered” them. Now, this news has come out of nowhere, leaving them shaken.

The older members of the panel are believed to think that the negative criticism surrounding the programme has been directed towards them with “out of touch” comments, whereas the new and younger panellists have a hype around them due to having different viewers than their older colleagues.

Older members of the panel believe that the younger stars are “shiny teachers’ pets,” after top bosses have praised them for bringing in a younger audience. “It’s now five months or so for them to prove their worth and sing for their supper,” the source added. They went on to say: “The older panellists feel like until January they’re on probation and pragmatic bosses will be scrutinising their every tweet, every rating and audience polling — everything like that.”

There is also believed to be tension around the pay from the show, with some on a staff PAYE contract, and some panellists working on a freelance basis. But while the take-home fee is different, every panellist is believed to be on around £3,000 per episode. The Mirror previously revealed that Loose Women had become embroiled in a pay row behind the scenes.

Three big stars had told their bosses that they would walk out if the issues were not resolved. It came after the network was hit with a change by HMRC on tax legislation. ITV were made to decide whether a role was self-employed or employed for tax purposes from April 2021.

Some stars had been told to take a PAYE contract, meaning that instead of paying corporation tax at 19 per cent, they would have had to pay 40 per cent on earnings between £50,271 and £150,000, plus National Insurance. A source behind the scenes told us: “They have all been self-employed for decades. Their accountants are saying no, they are self-employed… and are not going to go on PAYE.”

Our mole added: “They’re so strict about it, and we’re talking about the big players.” ITV sources said the broadcaster had communicated the change to all those concerned across the channel and that assessments are done on a “case-by-case basis”.

The Mirror approached Loose Women for comment.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir – In a quiet laser clinic in Indian-administered Kashmir’s biggest city, Srinagar, Sameer Wani sits with his arm stretched out, his eyes following the fading ink on his skin.

The word “Azadi” (freedom in Urdu), once a bold symbol of rebellion against India’s rule, slowly disappears under the sting of the laser. What was once a mark of defiance has become a burden he no longer wants to carry.

As Sameer, 28, watches the ink vanish, his mind drifts to a day he will never forget. He was riding his motorbike with a friend when Indian security forces stopped them at a checkpoint.

During the frisking, one of the officers pointed to the tattoo on his arm and asked, “What is this?”

Sameer’s heart raced. “I was lucky he couldn’t read Urdu,” he tells Al Jazeera, his voice tinged with the memory. “It was a close call. I knew right then that this tattoo could get me into serious trouble.”

When he was younger, he said, the tattoo was a “sign of strength, of standing up for something”.

“But now I see it was a mistake. It doesn’t represent who I am any more. It’s not worth carrying the risk, and it’s not worth holding on to something that could hurt my future.”

Sameer is one of many young Kashmiris choosing to erase tattoos that once reflected their political beliefs, emotional struggles or identity. Once worn with pride, the tattoos are now being removed in growing numbers across the region – quietly and without fanfare.

While a trend to remove tattoos was already under way, the urgency has deepened since India and Pakistan – who have fought three wars over Kashmir since emerging as independent nations in 1947 – came to the brink of yet another war following the killing of 26 people in the scenic resort town of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir last month.

New Delhi accuses Islamabad of backing an armed rebellion that erupted on the Indian side in 1989. Pakistan rejects the allegation, saying it only provides moral diplomatic support to Kashmir’s separatist movement.

Two weeks after Pahalgam, India, on May 7, launched predawn drone and missile attacks on what it called “terror camps” inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir – the most extensive cross-border missile strikes since their war in 1971. For the next three days, the world held its breath as the South Asian nuclear powers exchanged fire until United States President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between them on May 10.

However, peace remains fragile in Indian-administered Kashmir, where a crackdown by Indian forces has left the region gripped by fear. Homes of suspected rebels have been destroyed, others have been raided, and more than 1,500 people have been arrested since the Pahalgam attack, many under preventive detention laws.

‘We feel it on our skin’

In such a tense atmosphere, many Kashmiri youth say they feel exposed – and more vulnerable to scrutiny over even the most personal forms of expression.

“Every time something happens between India and Pakistan, we feel it on our skin – literally,” Rayees Wani, 26, a resident of Shopian district, tells Al Jazeera.

“I have a tattoo of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s name on my arm, and after the Pahalgam attack, I started getting strange looks at checkpoints,” he said, referring to the separatist leader who passed away at the age of 91 in 2021. The Hurriyat is an alliance of pro-freedom groups in Indian-administered Kashmir.

“Even my friends ask me uncomfortable questions. The media, police, and even the neighbours start looking at you differently,” Rayees added.

“I just wish people understood that a tattoo doesn’t define someone’s loyalty or character. We are just trying to live, not explain ourselves every day. I want to erase this as soon as possible.”

Arsalan, 19, from Pulwama recently booked a tattoo removal session. He did not share his last name over fears of reprisal from the authorities.

“People with visible tattoos – especially those hinting at past political affiliations – are suddenly worried they could be profiled, questioned – or worse,” he said.

To be sure, tattoo culture itself isn’t fading in Kashmir. Tattoo studios are still busy, especially with clients aged between 22 and 40, many of whom wait for hours to get inked. But the trend has shifted; instead of political or religious tattoos, people now prefer minimalistic designs, nature-inspired patterns, names or meaningful quotes in stylish fonts.

Some Kashmiris trying to get rid of tattoos say that’s part of their personal evolution and growth.

“For me, it was about being brave,” Irfan Yaqoob from Baramulla district told Al Jazeera. Now 36, Yaqoob got a slain rebel’s name tattooed on his left arm when he was a teenager.

“Back then, it felt like a symbol of courage. But now, when I look at it, I realise how much I have changed. Life has moved on, and so have I. I have a family, a job, and different priorities. I don’t want my past to define me or create trouble in the present. That’s why I decided to get it removed. It’s not about shame. It’s about growth,” he said.

Many reasons to remove tattoos

It isn’t just the security forces that are driving this move among many Kashmiris to get rid of tattoos.

For some, tattoos became painful reminders of a turbulent past. For others, they turned into obstacles, especially when they tried to move ahead professionally or wanted to align the inscription on their bodies with their personal beliefs.

Anas Mir, who also lives in Srinagar, had a tattoo of a sword with “Azadi” written over it. He got it removed a few weeks ago.

“People don’t clearly say why they are removing tattoos. I removed mine only because of pressure from my family,” the 25-year-old said.

“It’s my choice what kind of tattoo I want. No one should judge me for it. If someone had an AK-47 or a political tattoo, that was their choice. The authorities or government shouldn’t interfere. And yes, tattoo trends also change with time,” he added, referring to the Russian-made Avtomat Kalashnikova assault rifles, arguably the most popular firearm in the world.

One of the key reasons behind people removing tattoos is religion. In a Muslim-majority region, tattoos, especially those carrying religious or political messages, could often conflict with the faith’s teachings.

Faheem, 24, had a Quranic verse tattooed on his back when he was 17.

“At that time, I thought it was an act of faith,” he told Al Jazeera, without revealing his last name over security fears. “But later, I realised that tattoos – especially with holy verses – are not encouraged [in Islam]. It started to bother me deeply. I felt guilty every time I offered namaz [prayers] or went to the mosque. That regret stayed with me. Getting it removed was my way of making peace with myself and with my faith.”

Many others said they shared the feeling. Some visit religious scholars to ask whether having tattoos affects their prayers or faith. While most are advised not to dwell on past actions, they are encouraged to take steps that bring them closer to their beliefs.

“It’s not about blaming anyone,” said Ali Mohammad, a religious scholar in Srinagar. “It’s about growth and understanding. When someone realises that something they did in the past doesn’t align with their beliefs any more, and they take steps to correct it, that’s a sign of maturity, not shame.”

Another key factor driving tattoo removals is job security. In Kashmir, government jobs are seen as stable and prestigious. But having a tattoo, especially one with political references, can create problems during recruitment or background checks.

Talib, who disclosed his first name only, had a tattoo of a Quranic verse shaped like an AK-47 rifle on his forearm. When he applied for a government position, a family friend in law enforcement hinted it might be an issue.

“He didn’t say it directly, but I could tell he was worried,” said the 25-year-old. “Since then, I have been avoiding half-sleeve shirts. I got many rejections and no one ever gave a clear reason, but deep down, I knew the tattoo was a problem. It felt like a wall between me and my future.”

As the demand for tattoo removal rises, clinics in Srinagar and other parts of Indian-administered Kashmir are seeing a steady increase in clients. Laser sessions, once rare, are now booked weeks in advance.

Mubashir Bashir, a well-known tattoo artist in Srinagar who also runs a tattoo removal service, said: “After a popular singer’s death in 2022, the trend of AK-47 tattoos exploded,” Bashir said. Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala, whose music often glorified guns, was killed in May 2022. Police blamed his death on an inter-gang rivalry.

“But now, especially after the Pahalgam attack, we are seeing more people coming in to erase those tattoos. The fear is real,” Mubashir said.

He estimated that tens of thousands of tattoos have been removed in the region over the past seven years, since 2019, when India abrogated Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status and launched a major crackdown, arresting thousands of civilians. “Some say the tattoo no longer represents them. Others mention problems at work or while travelling,” Mubashir said.

Laser tattoo removal isn’t easy. It requires multiple sessions, costs thousands of rupees and can be painful. Even after successful removal, faint scars or marks often remain. But for many Kashmiris, the pain is worth it.

Sameer, whose “Azadi” tattoo is almost gone, remembers the emotional weight of the process. “I didn’t cry when I got the tattoo,” he says. “But I cried when I started removing it. It felt like I was letting go of a part of myself.”

Still, Sameer believes it was the right choice. “It’s not about shame,” he says. “I respect who I was. But I want to grow. I want to live without looking over my shoulder.”

As he finishes another laser session, a faint scar is all that is left of the word that is Kashmir’s war-cry for freedom.

“I will never forget what that tattoo meant to me when I was 18,” Sameer says as he rolls down his sleeve. “But now, I want to be someone new. I want a life where I don’t carry old shadows.”

ITV’s Good Morning Britain has been on the air since 2014 and has boosted the profiles of the likes of Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan – but the long-running series could be getting a major overhaul

There are fears of a “mutiny” at ITV over plans to revamp breakfast news show Good Morning Britain. The topical news show has been on the air since 2014 and features Susanna Reid, Richard Madeley and Kate Garraway as regular hosts.

However, things are tipped to change at the Television Centre in London, where the ITV show is filmed—and there will be a major “shake-up” over the way the show is filmed. It has been suggested that the overall aesthetic of the show could be changed to be more hard-hitting and in line with ITV’s news reports, which are produced by ITN.

It has been suggested that a new studio could be constructed to house the morning show, sparking alarm among staff that this could affect roles behind the scenes. Changes are said to be in consideration in the hope that the ITV show can overtake BBC Breakfast, which regularly pulls in over one million viewers each morning, compared to around 700,000 for GMB.

The suggestion of changes comes months after former ITV News boss Andrew Dagnell was appointed director of news and current affairs at ITV. While Unions reportedly expressed “concern” in a memo to staff.

READ MORE: Nutritionist says special coffee ‘elevates energy’ and ‘manages stress’ without crash

The Daily Mail reported the rumours of changes with a source telling the outlet: “Obviously any talk of major change starts panic – lots of the staff were immediately worried about the security of their jobs.

“This is about streamlining ITV’s news output across the whole day, and having separate teams doubling up just doesn’t make sense. So it may well be that some correspondents end up appearing across the whole day’s schedule, rather than being specifically attached to GMB or ITV News.

“There could be a new set and a new feel, and a more continuous feel to ITV’s news bulletins throughout the whole day as a result. But people are very much likely to lose their jobs, so there is a lot of upset, anger and in some cases, mutiny.”

The Mirror has contacted ITV for comment.

One of Good Morning Britain’s biggest stars was Piers Morgan who served as an anchor on the show from 2015 until 2021 and was known for his outspoken opinions. His inclusion on the show helped GMB reach some of its biggest ratings in it’s 11 years history.

However, he sensationally walked away from the show four years ago after hitting out at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after they gave an interview with Oprah Winfrey. Piers sparked a backlash when he criticised Meghan Markle after she opened up about past mental health struggles during her interview.

Quitting the show, he later wrote on X: “On Monday, I said I didn’t believe Meghan Markle in her Oprah interview. I’ve had time to reflect on this opinion, and I still don’t. Freedom of speech is a hill I’m happy to die on.”

Piers has struggled to find steady work since leaving the ITV show, however, as he joined News UK’s TalkTV channel – only for the network to be wound down. He now broadcasts a show on YouTube.

Piers has enjoyed viral success, however – particularly with an interview with Scottish lawyer Fiona Harvey, who is suing Netflix as she claims she was defamed by their hit show Baby Reindeer.

Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads.