US politics

US politics

The U.S.'s population growth is slowing as immigration has declined amid President Donald Trump's deportation push and stricter border policies. According to new Census Bureau data, the drop-off is the biggest since the COVID-19 pandemic. From July 2024 to July 2025, the population of the United States grew by 1.8 million people (about 0.5%). This was mostly driven by immigration: During that period, the U.S. added 1.3 million immigrants.

The 11th-hour additions of Attorney General Pam Bondi, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Director of the Office of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard come as the Trump administration pushes for more voter data from states and hunts for evidence to back up Trump's discredited voter fraud claims. The intrigue: It was not immediately clear what the cabinet secretaries intended to discuss, but organizers have added a new session to accommodate them.

Many millions of eyes are on Minneapolis this week as the city, the state, and indeed the nation try to cope with the violence unleashed by a federal immigration-enforcement "surge" that has taken the lives of two U.S. citizens and created a huge backlash against the Trump administration's mass-deportation initiative. Now Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar is stepping into that maelstrom and a very bright spotlight.

Speaking out on Thursday, the two members of Congress reflected a national Democratic leadership that-finally, belatedly-seems to have found its collective voice in responding to what Donald Trump has unleashed on America since returning to office a year ago. Some of the President's most fervent opponents now believe, as the never-Trump conservative Charlie Sykes wrote on Thursday morning, that the recent news out of Minnesota marked a breaking point for 'patriotic, non-political normies.'

But on top of a lengthy list of demands from Democrats around ICE, expect an even longer one from the House Freedom Caucus, centering on sanctuary cities, immigration enforcement and border security. What's next: Conservatives would need to vote for a rule - a party-line procedural vote - to advance the bill. And President Trump's urging everyone to help it pass.

Train passengers are missing out on over 80 million annually in compensation for delayed journeys, a new analysis has revealed. The shortfall has been blamed on an "unacceptable" claims processes. Online ticket retailer Trainline, which produced the data, has called for rail reform that "focuses on what matters" to passengers. While customers who purchase tickets directly through a train operator's website or app can often access "one-click" compensation claims via the delay repay scheme for service disruptions,

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

On Thursday, the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced a bill that would establish a federal regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. The bill's future prospects seem dim, but it resulted in a sizable crash for Bitcoin, which fell to around $84,000 - its nadir for 2026 so far. Other prominent digital currencies like Ethereum and Doge fell it with, tumbling as much as 6 percent.

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that would slap additional tariffs on goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba. The order invokes the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and calls the Cuban government an "extraordinary threat" to US national security. The move could further aggravate an already deep energy crisis in Cuba. The Caribbean island has experienced severe fuel shortages in recent years, impacting its power grid and causing widespread blackouts.