First Thing: Democrats express ‘grave concerns’ over secretive ICE deportation flights

From left: Representatives Jasmine Crockett, Rob Menendez and Delia Ramirez are among the Democrats behind the letter. Composite: Getty Images View image in fullscreen From left: Representatives Jasmine Crockett, Rob Menendez and Delia Ramirez are among the Democrats behind the letter. Composite: Getty Images First Thing: Democrats express ‘grave concerns’ over secretive ICE deportation flights Letter follows a Guardian investigation into irregular ways the Trump administration was transporting detainees. Plus, top World Cup tickets to retail at almost $33,000 A group of 40 House Democrats have described “grave concerns” over the Trump administration’s secretive program of deportation flights and demanded that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) address allegations of mistreatment and inhumane conditions on ICE charter jets. In a letter shared with The Guardian and addressed to the FAA administrator, Bryan Bedford, the lawmakers describe the “urgent need for transparency” over ICE’s expanded use of commercial airliners to transfer detained immigrants and criticise its “inappropriate and dangerous” efforts to conceal these operations. The letter follows a Guardian investigation that found the administration was transporting immigrants in irregular ways that often violated their constitutional rights. By how much have deportation flights increased under Donald Trump? The number of ICE flights during 2025 has surged by 84% compared with 2024, according to monitoring by human rights groups. Trump says ceasefire with Iran on ‘life support’ after rejecting peace proposals View image in fullscreen ‘I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support,’ the president said. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump has described the month-long ceasefire with Iran as being on “life support” and said he is considering restarting US navy military escorts of ships through the Strait of Hormuz in an attempt to break the Iranian blockade. The US president rejected Iran’s counterproposals, sent this weekend, and denied he was under any domestic pressure to reach a deal. Referring to the ceasefire in force since 7 April, Trump said: “I would call it the weakest, right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us – I didn’t even finish reading it. I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says: ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living.’” Last week, the US sent Iran a set of conditions for halting the war, mostly related to limiting Tehran’s nuclear capabilities. At the weekend, Iran sent counterproposals that Trump rejected, with points about its nuclear program said to be the key sticking point. What has Tehran said? Trump’s latest comments came after oil prices jumped again when Iran said there would be no further talks about ending the blockade unless he accepted its terms. Alabama can use electoral map that favors Republicans, supreme court rules View image in fullscreen An Alabama Senate committee discusses a proposal to draw new congressional district lines on 20 July 2023. Photograph: Kim Chandler/AP The US supreme court has ruled that Alabama can use a congressional map that a lower court previously said had been drawn to discriminate against Black voters. The court’s decision allows Alabama to use a congressional map it passed in 2023 after courts struck down an earlier version of its map as a violation of the Voting Rights Act – a decision the supreme court agreed with at the time. A three-judge panel concluded the 2023 map had been intentionally drawn to dilute the voting strength of the state’s Black electorate. How soon could this have an effect? Alabama will be able to use the map in this year’s midterm elections. Was an explanation given for the supreme court ruling? No reasoning was offered for its decision, even though it said in its Voting Rights Act case two weeks ago that the relevant law in the Alabama case had not been overturned. In other news … View image in fullscreen Eileen Wang at an Asian Hall of Fame induction ceremony in LA on 21 October 2023. Photograph: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images The mayor of a small southern California city has resigned after being charged with being a foreign agent of China. Eileen Wang, 58, agreed to plead guilty to the felony charge and could face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Two Israeli soldiers have been jailed for desecrating a statue of the Virgin Mary in Lebanon, after a photo of a soldier holding a cigarette to the statue’s mouth sparked widespread anger. The US interior department has scrapped a rule that put conservation on an equal footing with development in the US’s public lands, as the Trump administration seeks to expand exploitation of taxpayer-owned land. Stat of the day: Top World Cup tickets to retail at almost $33,000 View image in fullscreen ‘It is difficult to take anything Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, says seriously after his decision to award a peace prize to Mr Trump.’ Photograph: Bob Frid/EPA Fifa has tripled the price of some of the best seats for the World Cup final in New Jersey to a staggering $32,970 – and for the US’s opening group game against Paraguay in Los Angeles, the cheapest tickets first offered were priced at $1,200. The Guardian’s view: “These are ridiculous, exploitative prices that undermine the integrity of the world’s most avidly followed sporting event.” Culture pick: Rivals season two review – if I could give this exquisite bonkbuster 10,000 stars, I would View image in fullscreen Chukka time … Danny Dyer as Freddie Jones, Luca Pasqualino as Bas Baddingham, Brendan Patricks as Henry Hampshire and Alex Hassell as Rupert Campbell-Black. Photograph: Disney+ Season two of Rivals is a massive hit with the TV critic Sarah Dempster, who can’t get enough of the gloriously ridiculous adaptation of the English author Jilly Cooper’s silly and saucy 1980s novel. “How best to reward such exquisitely knowing escapism? Ten stars? Ten thousand stars? Rivals is beyond earthly praise.” Don’t miss this: The sinister spread of France’s killer seaweed View image in fullscreen Green algae on Saint-Michel-en-Grève beach. Photograph: François Lepage/Hans Lucas for The Guardian When Jean-René Auffray didn’t come home from his daily run in 2016, his panicked family went out in search for him. They found his body on a crust of dried seaweed in one of the estuaries that empties into Brittany’s bay of Saint-Brieuc. In her initial shock, Rosy Auffray didn’t think to question if her husband’s death might be connected to the stinking seaweed choking the area – an explosion driven by the use of fertilizers in industrial farming locally. But in the months that followed, Rosy learned there was evidence to suggest that the seaweed was to blame. It was the start of a 10-year battle to establish the truth. Climate check: Hi-tech missions track record snowpack loss in US west View image in fullscreen A Lidar scan of snow on a mountain. Photograph: Airborne Snow Observatories Flying above California’s Sierra Nevada, the jagged peaks appear blanketed with snow. But the sensors onboard a specialized aircraft reveal that the snowpack is at critically low levels. Last Thing: Hot divorcee summer? View image in fullscreen Is the aesthetic ‘sugar-coating a bitter pill’? Photograph: Oleksii Donenko/Alamy We’ve had hot girl summer, brat summer; could this year’s trend be … hot divorcee energy? Apparently, you don’t even need to be divorced for this one. Tatty Macleod, a comedian and writer, told Zoe Williams: “Divorcee is an energy, it’s not a legal status.” If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com Explore more on these topics US news First Thing newsletter news Share Reuse this content