By ZACH MONTAGUE A Trump administration initiative to impose $100,000 fees on employers seeking visas for skilled foreign workers amounts to an unlawful tax on those companies and must be voided “in its entirety,” a federal judge ruled Monday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin in Massachusetts nullified one of a series of tactics the administration has used to restrict legal immigration, even in fields in which foreign skilled labor helped address severe sho

Nithya Raman, a City Council member running for mayor, during a campaign stop in downtown Los Angeles ahead of the primary election, May 2, 2026. (Gabriela Bhaskar/ The New York Times) By SHAWN HUBLER Nithya Raman, a progressive Democrat who has drawn comparisons to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, will face Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles in a two-person race in November, the Associated Press determined Monday. Raman, 44, a City Council member and former Bass ally, was be

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents create a perimeter to let cars enter and exit without disruption by protesters at the Delaney Hall migrant detention center in Newark, N.J., June 6, 2026. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who had been trying for weeks to tour Delaney Hall, was allowed to visit the detention center on Monday, June 8, 2026, but she said she was not allowed to speak with the detainees, who have complained of inhumane living conditions. (Lexi Parra/T

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling to an event in Chippewa Falls, Wis., on Friday, June 5, 2026. President Trump, who campaigned on a central promise to keep the United States out of overseas wars, denied in an interview aired on Sunday that he’d ever made the pledge. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times) By KATIE ROGERS President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a central promise to keep the United States out of overseas wars, denied i

By SHAWN HUBLER Nithya Raman, a progressive member of the Los Angeles City Council, pulled ahead of reality TV star Spencer Pratt in the Los Angeles mayoral primary Sunday, as a surge in the vote count signaled a potential shift in the race for second place. Five days after the election deadline, it remained officially undetermined who will face Mayor Karen Bass, the incumbent, in the November contest to decide who will lead the nation’s second most populous city. The Associa

The arch of the Ultimate Fighting Championship arena under construction rises above the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, June 1, 2026. A political activist and a Vietnam veteran, represented by an anti-corruption organization, filed a lawsuit on Saturday, June 6, 2026, challenging what it called the “night of cage fights” that President Trump planned to hold at the White House as part of the celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary. (Allison Robbert/The New

Immigrants wait for their appointments at the Annandale Immigration Court in Annandale, Va., on May 26, 2026. A federal judge on Friday, June 5, 2026, invalidated policies the Trump administration enacted last year that halted asylum grants, as well as the processing of immigration benefits for people from 39 countries. (Salwan Georges/The New York Times) By JESUS JIMÉNEZ A day after a federal judge struck down Trump administration policies that had frozen applications for ma

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department dog checks incoming ballots for harmful substances at the Ballot Processing Center in the City of Industry, Calif., Nov. 4, 2025. Counting ballots in California is a complex and lengthy undertaking. In Los Angeles, the choreographed process includes canines, humans and machines. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times) By LAUREL ROSENHALL, JILL COWAN and LIVIA ALBECK-RIPKA Four days after the primary election in California, officials have t

People wait in a hallway for their hearings at the immigration court in Annandale, Va., May 26, 2026. Federal officials have quietly begun fast-tracking cases through immigration courts in an effort to more quickly process asylum and other claims, and also increase the pace of deportations. Lawyers say the tactic is causing errors and confusion. (Salwan Georges/The New York Times) By JAZMINE ULLOA and HAMED ALEAZIZ Federal officials have quietly begun fast-tracking cases thro

Protesters gather outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, N.J., June 2, 2026. Gov. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey said federal immigration officials were continuing to bar her from entering the center, raising “serious questions about what is happening behind its walls.” (Vincent Alban/The New York Times) By TRACEY TULLY Gov. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey said earlier this week that federal immigration officials were continuing to bar her from entering a