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.

The hallway to immigration court in the Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis Thursday, April 9, 2026. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
National

Key legal resource for immigrant kids to expire with federal contract, advocates say

Jul 31, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — Bryan Chavez knows that having access to legal representation as an unaccompanied minor can be a lifeline. In 2017, immigration officials separated him from his mother and brother at the southern border, as they were caught up in...
Tractor trailers sit parked in a row at a truck stop in Bloomsbury, N.J. (Dana DiFilippo | New Jersey Monitor)
National

Trump looks to veterans to fill trucking jobs after booting immigrants from industry

Jul 30, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced an initiative Thursday for veterans to quickly obtain commercial driver’s licenses, as the administration attempts to fill vacancies in the industry after pausing license renewals for foreign-born truck drivers. “The radical left wants more...
Demonstrators chant and hold signs outside U.S. Supreme Court on April 29, 2026 in Washington, D.C. The court heard arguments challenging the termination of Temporary Protected Status for immigrants. (Photo by Tom Brenner/Getty Images)
National

Attempt to halt imminent deportations of Haitians and Syrians blocked in US Senate

Jul 29, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — U.S. Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen Wednesday tried to advance in the Senate a bill that would create a legal pathway for immigrants with Temporary Protected Status. However, his request for unanimous consent, a way to expedite...
A traveler looks at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) agents as they walk around the end of the line at Terminal E at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on March 24, 2026 in Houston, Texas. The travel disruptions continue as hundreds of TSA agents quit or work without pay during a partial government shutdown. U.S. President Donald Trump said ICE agents will be deployed to U.S. airports on Monday, with border czar Tom Homan in charge of the effort. (Photo by Antranik Tavitian/Getty Images)
National

TSA shares passengers’ personal information with immigration enforcement, documents show

Jul 29, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has for more than a year used personal information airline passengers provide to the Transportation Security Administration for immigration enforcement, according to documents obtained by a government watchdog group. The documents, collected by the government...
A section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall near El Paso, Texas, on June 6, 2024. (Photo by Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)
National

Number of unauthorized immigrants hit new high of nearly 16 million in 2024, report says

Jul 29, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — The unauthorized U.S. immigrant population grew to its highest level ever by mid-2024, increasing to 15.8 million after hovering at about 11 million since 2010, according to data released Wednesday by a nonpartisan think tank that tracks migration...
Haitians who made Indiana home prepare for end of legal protections for thousands
National

Haitian immigrants brace for end of protected status

Jul 28, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants could lose their legal status as early as Tuesday, subjecting them to deportation after the U.S. Supreme Court last month allowed the Trump administration to proceed with terminating their humanitarian protections. The...
The exterior of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Johnston. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
National

DHS removes interview requirement for asylum seekers, possibly speeding removals

Jul 28, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — Federal asylum officers can deny interviews to asylum seekers and send them immediately to an immigration judge, speeding up deportation proceedings, under a rule U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published Tuesday. The rule, which takes effect immediately, will...
In this photo, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent watches a crowd of protesters at Delaney Hall in Newark, N.J., on May 25, 2026. (Photo by Ben Ackman/New Jersey Monitor)
National

US Senate Dems press Mullin to ensure all immigration agents have body cameras

Jul 22, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — A supermajority of the U.S. Senate Democratic Caucus has asked Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to deploy body cameras to all federal immigration officers, following deadly shootings of immigrants in Texas and Maine. In a July 19 letter...
SELLERSBURG, INDIANA - APRIL 25: Honduran immigrant Nani, 10, carries her baby cousin after moving in with her extended family on April 25, 2021 in Sellersburg, Indiana. She had been released two days before from U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) custody as an unaccompanied minor after spending nearly eight weeks in shelters, the last one in New York City. Originally Nani had traveled with her mother from Honduras and crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico together, but they were immediately deported under T
National

Thousands of immigrant kids risk losing legal aid after Trump administration delays funds

Jul 21, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — As many as 20,000 unaccompanied immigrant children are at risk of losing their federally funded legal representation due to the Trump administration withholding appropriated funds, immigration attorneys warned Tuesday. For more than six months, the Health and Human...
A masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent knocks on a car window in Minnesota on Jan. 12. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
National

ICE officers to wear body cameras at traffic stops, White House border czar says

Jul 20, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — In the wake of two fatal shootings in Texas and Maine, U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers will wear “at least one body camera” during traffic stops, Tom Homan, the president’s border czar, said over the weekend. Homan...
People gather near the scene of 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti on Jan. 24, 2026, the third shooting in as many weeks. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
National

Immigrants, DHS agents and traffic stops: Violent outcomes repeat across the US

Jul 17, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on July 13 killed 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national with legal work authorization, in Maine, making him the 22nd person shot at by federal immigration officers during President Donald...
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer's badge and weapon are seen as ICE conducts a vehicle checkpoint on Georgia Ave. on August 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. The Trump administration has deployed federal officers and the National Guard to the District in order to place the DC Metropolitan Police Department under federal control and assist in crime prevention in the nation's capital. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
National

Trump presses ICE to continue traffic stops despite fatal shootings

Jul 15, 2026
Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to resume traffic stops Wednesday, reversing a one-day pause on the policy after officers killed two immigrants who were in their vehicles in Texas and Maine. In a...