Ari Figueroa

Ariana Figueroa

[email protected] https://twitter.com/arianalfigueroa https://bsky.app/profile/arianalfigueroa.bsky.social

Ariana covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include immigration, congressional policy and legal challenges with a focus on how those policies impact the lives of immigrants and migrants coming to the U.S.

Before joining States Newsroom, Ariana covered public health and chemical policy on Capitol Hill for E&E News. As a Florida native, she's worked for the Miami Herald and her hometown paper, the Tampa Bay Times. Her work has also appeared in the Chicago Tribune and NPR.

She is a graduate of the University of Florida.

ICE changes location of Tennessee call center site from Adams to Nashville
National

Federal funds for local police enforcement accelerated Trump immigration crackdown

Oct 02, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — This summer, arrests of immigrants in the United States soared to the highest levels since President Donald Trump returned to office. An unprecedented increase in cooperation between local and state law enforcement and federal immigration officers through collaborations...
The U.S. Supreme Court on April 9, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
National

US Supreme Court allows Trump to resume deportations outside immigrants’ home countries

Sep 29, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday granted, for now, the Trump administration’s request to continue rapid third-country deportation of immigrants to countries not their own. The decision will allow the Trump administration to carry out its aggressive deportation...
ICE deportation flights surge at Ohio’s Akron-Canton Airport as unpaid landing fees mount
National

Appeals court poised to allow contempt probe of DHS deportation flights to El Salvador

Sep 29, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — Most judges on a federal appeals court seemed inclined during oral arguments Tuesday to allow a federal judge to continue investigating Trump officials for possible criminal contempt-of-court charges for defying a judicial order by sending more than 100...
Kristi Noem, at the time secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, receives a tour of the CECOT prison with Minister of Justice and Public Security Gustavo Villatoro in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 26, 2025. (Photo by Tia Dufour/Department of Homeland Security)
National

Venezuelan men shipped to brutal prison under Alien Enemies Act ask court for due process

Sep 25, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — An appeals panel Friday seemed inclined to agree that more than 100 Venezuelan men the Trump administration sent to a brutal prison in El Salvador are entitled to due process hearings to challenge their removal, which was made...
he U.S. Supreme Court on April 9, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
National

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to permit quick third-country deportations

Sep 24, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration Thursday made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to allow for rapid third-country deportations of noncitizens to continue, after an appeals court blocked the policy last week. In a brief, U.S. Solicitor General...
The watchtower of CoreCivic’s former Prairie Correctional Facility, in Appleton, Minn., which will now be used as an ICE detention center, on Aug. 20, 2026. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
National

Millions of dollars of waste found in Trump administration push for immigration detention

Sep 24, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — Government investigators Thursday released a report that found the Department of Homeland Security wasted more than $20 million in federal funding in its rapid expansion of immigration detention, including warehouse purchases strongly opposed in numerous U.S. communities. The...
A Flock camera monitors passing traffic on September 02, 2026 in Miami, Florida. Florida announced it will remove license plate readers, such as Flock cameras, from all state highways, citing an increase in reports of misuse of the systems. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
National

Flock surveillance cameras raise constitutional questions, bipartisan US senators say

Sep 23, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — A vast and growing network of artificial intelligence-driven Flock cameras could violate constitutional privacy rights, U.S. senators on a Judiciary Committee subcommittee said during a Wednesday hearing. GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, the chair of the Crime...
Demonstrators from the immigration advocacy organization CASA chant "Up, up with liberation, down, down with deportation" outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on May 15, 2025, as justices heard oral arguments on the Trump administration's legal challenge to birthright citizenship. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
National

Judge suggests Trump’s most recent birthright citizenship orders may require new lawsuit

Sep 22, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — A New Hampshire federal judge seemed skeptical during a Tuesday hearing that a civil rights group could continue with a challenge to block President Donald Trump’s second attempt to redefine the constitutional right to birthright citizenship, suggesting that...
An airplane sits on the tarmac at Mesa Gateway Airport on the evening of April 9, 2026, outside of the Arizona Removal Operations Coordination Center, an ICE facility where detainees are temporarily housed before they are put on a plane to either be deported or moved to a different ICE facility. (Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy/Arizona Mirror)
National

Trump rapid third-country removal policy blocked at appeals court

Sep 18, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court Friday struck down the Trump administration’s policy to quickly send noncitizens to countries they are not from, finding that immigrants must have an opportunity to challenge their removal if they fear for their safety...
Signs in English and Spanish direct voters to the polls at the Salt Lake County Government Center in Salt Lake City on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
National

Trump administration faces second lawsuit to block ICE agents at polls

Sep 18, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — A coalition of civil rights groups and union organizations Friday sued the Trump administration to prevent the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to polling locations during November’s midterm elections. The suit in the U.S. District...
Federal immigration officers were at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on March 23, 2026 to help with airport security as a partial governemnt shutdown continued. (Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
National

White House yanks nominee to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Sep 17, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — The White House Thursday withdrew the nomination of Richard “Lance” Schroyer to lead the agency the president tasked with carrying out his mass deportation campaign, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, had yet...
Voting at the Portland Expo in Maine’s June 9, 2026 primary election. (Photo by Jim Neuger / Maine Morning Star)
National

U.S. Senate Dems disclose Trump administration operation dug through state voter rolls

Sep 14, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — Department of Homeland Security officers may have broken state laws carrying out the Trump administration's orders to find noncitizens voting illegally in federal elections, Democratic senators alleged Monday following a whistleblower complaint. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer...