ICE: Deadly Racism
Also in this edition: FIFA's deference to Trump. Real wages continue to recover. The FBI in Mexico. The killing of journalists continues. The aesthetic and social vision of Mariana Yampolsky.
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President Donald Trump's anti-immigration policy is shifting—from highly visible mass raids to a quieter strategy centered on surveillance, the use of massive databases, and expanded cooperation with local police. This approach has dramatically increased the number of immigrants detained each day. The new strategy is no less cruel and, in some cases, has proven even deadlier for those targeted by government enforcement.
This week, a Mexican citizen was shot and killed by an agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Houston. According to a recent tally by La Jornada, which includes both deaths in ICE custody and deaths occurring during immigration enforcement operations, 17 Mexican immigrants died between January 20, 2025, and June 7, 2026. Overall, at least 52 immigrants have died while in ICE custody.
"Between 2021 and 2024, during Joe Biden's administration, only one Mexican died each year while in ICE custody. The figures under Trump represent a 1,000 percent increase," La Jornada writes in an editorial. The record number of Mexicans who have died at the hands of ICE should compel the Mexican government to consider stronger measures to pressure Washington into stopping the killings of its citizens.
"We cannot allow the mistreatment of our fellow Mexicans living in the United States. We are preparing more significant legal measures that go beyond diplomatic notes," President Claudia Sheinbaum said. Yet neither the deaths nor the Mexican government's protests have made front-page news in the United States.
What is clear is that grassroots movements opposing ICE and the deployment of federal agents—and in some cases federal troops—in cities such as Minneapolis, Chicago, and Los Angeles forced the Trump administration to pull back, changing or at least modifying its tactics and, for now, abandoning its dramatic mass raids.
However, the new tactics are producing consequences even in areas considered Republican strongholds. This weekend, the front-page headline of a local newspaper in rural Virginia read: "Local Farms Face Worker Shortages as ICE Raids Continue."
Facing pressure from members of its own political base, who have protested labor shortages caused by the immigration crackdown, the Trump administration indicated it is modifying two anti-immigration initiatives. Temporary immigrant workers will now be allowed to work full-time on dairy farms, and some Haitian immigrants who previously held Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will be permitted to apply for legal status. These changes, however, were made with little publicity.
There is no doubt that the Trump administration’s more than 700 immigration restrictions and enforcement measures are transforming the U.S. immigration system. The government’s focus has now shifted toward using technology, local law enforcement, and the courts to locate and detain undocumented immigrants. And it is working.
“With ICE enforcement intensifying, immigrant arrests surged to 10,000 in five days,” The New York Times reported. Whether the administration can sustain this pace for months remains unclear, but it is a central part of its new strategy.
Another element of this strategy targets businesses that employ undocumented workers, with workplace raids designed to apprehend large numbers of immigrants. In the past, such operations were often halted quickly because local businesses could not function without immigrant labor.
The greatest challenge facing Trump and the White House is that public opinion polls suggest most Americans oppose the president’s immigration policies. While his core Republican supporters remain firmly behind him, a recent survey found that two-thirds of respondents believe immigration benefits the country and reject the strict immigration enforcement measures implemented during the first year of his administration.
The Quote:
“Your god is Jewish, your music is African, your car is Japanese, your pizza is Italian, your gas is Algerian, your coffee is Brazilian, your democracy is Greek, your numbers are Arabic, your letters are Latin. I am your neighbor. And you call me a foreigner?”
—Eduardo Galeano in Hunter of Stories
In Case You Missed It
◻️ FIFA's deference to Trump. "The bias shown by FIFA's leadership during this World Cup has also been evident in its obsequiousness toward abuses committed by the Trump administration against several national teams," La Jornada writes in an editorial. These included preventing Iran's team from staying overnight in the United States, subjecting Uruguay's national team to humiliating security inspections, and denying a visa to Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan. "For Mexico, the World Cup is over—but the business goes on," writes Miguel Ángel Velázquez.
◻️ Strong recovery in real wages. Rising minimum wages and collective bargaining agreements have made Mexico one of the OECD countries with the strongest growth in real wages over the past five years, according to a report by the organization.
◻️ USMCA uncertainty: a turning point for economic independence? The decision not to extend the USMCA has led to annual reviews of trade among the three member countries over the next ten years, but President Sheinbaum says it has not created uncertainty for investment. In fact, according to a UNCTAD report, Mexico has returned to the list of the world's ten largest recipients of foreign direct investment. For Ana María Aragonés, however, the development should also prompt a broader reassessment of Mexico's economic integration. She argues that now is the time to diversify trade relations with the rest of the world, strengthen domestic companies under new development rules, expand domestic production, and invest decisively in science, technology, and innovation.
◻️ The FBI in Mexico. President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed surprise at reports suggesting the FBI may have participated in the abduction of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada on Mexican soil. Two years after the operation, she demanded additional information from the U.S. government. In light of the new reports, Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez stated that if the FBI did participate in capturing and transporting the drug trafficker without informing the Mexican government, it would constitute a violation of both Mexican and international law. La Jornada argues in an editorial that these allegations raise serious questions about the bilateral relationship with Washington and may require a reassessment of security cooperation between the two countries.
◻️ Journalists continue to be murdered in Mexico. In Veracruz, four municipal police officers from Ixhuatlán del Sureste are among those arrested in connection with the murder of Roxana Berenice Guzmán, director of the news outlet Pulso Informativo del Sureste. Meanwhile, in Guerrero, independent journalist and environmental activist Manuel Alejandro Moreno Serna was found dead. In recent months, he had reported on alleged environmental damage and possible corruption along the Costa Grande region.
◻️ The aesthetic and social vision of Mariana Yampolsky. Photographer Mariana Yampolsky understood that any object, scene, gesture, or person—when viewed carefully through the eyes of a photographer—can become a beautiful image. Yampolsky (1925–2002) was not only an extraordinary photographer but also a woman deeply committed to social causes, the dignity of Indigenous communities, children, women, and the beauty of everyday life.
🎧 What We Are Listening To
Dolly Parton's version of "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)," originally written by Woody Guthrie.
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Edited by David Brooks and Jim Cason in the United States, Tania Molina Ramírez in Mexico City, of La Jornada, and Elizabeth Coll in Tokyo, under the direction of Carmen Lira Saade and Guillermina Álvarez. More information.