International

ICE Arrests Reach 379,000 Under Trump, Testimony Shows Amid Minnesota Shootings

A total of 379,000 immigrants were arrested between January 20, 2025 and January 20, 2026 under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Todd Lyons, revealed Tuesday during testimony before the U.S. Congress.

Lyons said that among those taken into custody were more than 7,000 alleged gang members and over 1,400 known or suspected terrorists, and he emphasized that ICE remains committed to holding people who enter the country illegally accountable under the law.

The hearing comes amid rising tensions over the administration’s immigration policies, especially after multiple fatal shootings of U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents during enforcement operations in Minnesota. Federal agents have been conducting a large-scale deployment known as Operation Metro Surge, sent to arrest undocumented migrants in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area.

In January 2026, two separate incidents in Minneapolis resulted in the deaths of U.S. citizens at the hands of federal immigration officers — including 37-year-old Renée Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent, and Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who was fatally shot during a confrontation with Border Patrol agents.

Those incidents have sparked widespread protests, public outcry and demands for accountability, contributing to fierce debate in Congress over immigration enforcement tactics. Democrats have been pressing for reforms and oversight of ICE and other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies, including requirements for body-worn cameras, limits on enforcement authority, and protections for civil liberties.

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At the same time, opposition from Democratic lawmakers to fully funding DHS unless such reforms are enacted has raised the possibility of a government funding impasse, which could lead to a partial shutdown of the agency if no budget agreement is reached by the weekend.

International

MEPs Approve Plan That Could Fast-Track Rejection of Some Asylum Claims

With an overwhelming majority of 408 votes in favor, the European Parliament backed the creation of a list of safe countries of origin for asylum seekers.

People coming from Colombia, Egypt, India, Bangladesh, Kosovo, Morocco and Tunisia who apply for asylum in the European Union could see their requests rejected on the grounds that the bloc’s 27 member states consider those nations safe. Applicants would have to prove their individual circumstances, showing evidence of persecution or specific risks if they were to return.

At the same time, while their applications are processed or their return is arranged, migrants could be transferred to third countries outside the EU if the bloc has an agreement with them, if the individuals previously transited through those nations, or if they have family or cultural ties there. The measure provides legal cover for the creation of processing centers beyond EU territory, similar to an initiative previously pursued by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Albania.

Tuesday’s vote reflects the tightening of European migration policy in recent years, despite asylum applications having fallen by more than 20% last year and the issue not ranking among citizens’ top concerns, according to recent surveys.

International

Chile Unveils Latam-GPT to Give Latin America Its Own AI Model

Chile on Tuesday launched Latam-GPT, an initiative aimed at providing Latin America with its own artificial intelligence model in a field largely dominated by U.S. companies, while seeking to reduce biases identified in existing systems.

The project is led by Chile’s National Center for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA), a private corporation funded with public resources.

Latam-GPT is backed by universities, foundations, libraries, government agencies and civil society organizations from across the region, including Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador and Argentina.

“Thanks to Latam-GPT we are positioning the region as an active and sovereign player in the economy of the future. We are at the table — we are not on the menu,” President Gabriel Boric said during the presentation of the initiative on national broadcaster Televisión Nacional.

The tool aims to break down prejudices and prevent Latin America from being portrayed as a single, uniform reality, Chile’s science minister, Aldo Valle, told AFP.

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The region, he added, “cannot be merely a user or passive recipient of artificial intelligence systems. That could result in losing a significant part of our traditions.”

Despite its name, the initiative is not an interactive chatbot. Instead, it is a large regional database trained on Latin American information that can be used to develop technological applications, the minister explained.

International

Mexico Rises Slightly to 141st in Global Corruption Perceptions Index 2025

Mexico improved by one point in its rating and climbed to 141st place in the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published Tuesday by the anti-corruption organization Transparency International, which gave the country a score of 27 out of 100.

The slight increase in score comes after Mexico recorded its lowest CPI result in history in 2024 during the final year of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term, also scoring 27 out of 100. The CPI is widely regarded as the main global measure of perceived public-sector corruption, where 0 represents high corruption and 100 denotes very low corruption.

Within the region, Mexico ranks above only Guatemala (26), Paraguay (24), Honduras (22), Haiti (16), Nicaragua (14) and Venezuela (10), but trails key economic peers such as Brazil (35) and Chile (63).

Among the 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Mexico ranks last. In the G20 grouping, it sits in the penultimate position, ahead of only Russia. Experts say Mexico’s persistently low score reflects ongoing challenges in curbing corruption and protecting public funds.

Transparency International’s report also highlights structural corruption issues that have allowed organized crime to infiltrate politics and weaken governance, as well as risks to journalists covering corruption.