The Brief

A California project that provides legal advocacy for unaccompanied child immigrants will end in September unless backers can convince lawmakers to renew funding by next month.

The Children’s Holistic Immigration Representation Project was funded through a one-time allocation in 2022 and not renewed when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed California’s $298 billion budget last month.

There were 64,173 unaccompanied children released in California between January 2015 and May 2023, according to a CalMatters analysis of federal data obtained by the New York Times.

The project’s clients include A.L., who lives with his aunt in Northern California. When A.L. was in the first or second grade, a motorcycle chase ended in the courtyard of his elementary school. He said that he and other young children from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, watched in horror as a group of men surrounded another man, kicked him, beat him, and dragged him all around the school. He never knew why.

“I froze,” said A.L., a 17-year-old who came to the United States as an unaccompanied minor when he was 14. “That’s an example of the violence we live with in my country.”

Honduras has a homicide rate five times higher than the United States, according to the Migration and Asylum Lab, which provides expertise about conditions in Latin American countries for use in asylum applications. San Pedro Sula, the capital where A.L. lived, is called “the world’s murder capital.”

CalMatters is only identifying A.L. by his initials because he fears for his safety and his family’s well-being back in Honduras. We interviewed him with the permission of his sponsor, his aunt, and other advocates.

Without CHIRP, the free legal representation and the social services program A.L. says saved his life, “I’d probably be back in my country,” he told CalMatters.

Rather than providing kids just with legal services, social workers under the project also help children find mental health services, enroll in school, get vaccines, and get work authorization, an approach known as “trauma-informed intervention.”

Unaccompanied children are a particularly vulnerable group. They can be exploited in full-time, dangerous jobs that violate labor laws, advocates and government officials say.

CHIRP was funded as a pilot program with $15.3 million in fiscal year 2022—enough to carry it through this coming September.

Newsom has not met with anyone to discuss the termination of the project, advocates say. His budget sought to close a huge deficit with $16 billion in cuts and delays.

Newsom’s office declined an interview request about overall cuts to immigration services, but a spokesperson said the governor’s budget maintains nearly $60 million for immigration-related legal services provided to Californians, including students, workers, and unaccompanied minors.

“We don’t find any joy in this – but we’ve got to do it, we have to be responsible. We have to be accountable. We have to balance the budget,” Newsom said previously about general budget reductions amid the funding shortfall.

Time is running out, but not all hope is lost.

“The legislature remains active on CHIRP and [is] exploring possible solutions to ensure its survival,” said Hamid Yazdan Panah, advocacy director of Immigrant Defense Advocates. “We are cautiously optimistic that there will be a path to continue the program, especially given there is no clear alternative for the vulnerable population that it serves.”

The legal advocacy project is in jeopardy just as new federal shifts in immigration policy might prompt an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors being released into California.

In June, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that limits asylum processing after encounters with migrants between ports of entry reach 2,500 per day. The new policy exempts unaccompanied minors, in the same way that such children were eventually exempted from a 2020 order that turned away migrants in the name of stopping the spread of COVID-19. Advocates worry the exemption may prompt parents from dangerous countries to make the hard decision to send their children across the border alone.

“We don’t think that will happen,” said Tom Perez, a senior advisor to the president and director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, during a press call in June.

But several years ago, that is the decision A.L.’s parents had to make.

By the time A.L. was 14, gangs in Honduras waited outside his school nearly every single day, threatening him, harassing him, and trying to recruit him, he said. He and his family decided he should flee for the United States.

During the 23-day journey by himself on foot and bus to the U.S.-Mexico border, A.L. said he was robbed by Mexican police. He crossed near the Rio Grande, and U.S. border authorities sent him to live in a center for unaccompanied children in San Antonio, Texas. There, he said, he often didn’t have enough food to eat, and he was not allowed to make phone calls to his family or to find an attorney.

When he was finally released to his family in California at age 15, he was given a long list of attorneys’ names that he was expected to call on his own to secure legal representation for his pending immigration case.

“A.L.,” (far left) an unaccompanied minor from Honduras visits the state Capitol in March of 2024 to advocate for funding for the CHIRP program, which helps protect migrant children alone in the U.S. from deportation.

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“I tried to call and call and call many lawyers. Some of them never answered me, and others said they were already too busy. In the end, no one was able to help me. From that long list of attorneys, none of them could help me,” A.L. told CalMatters. Soon, he received a deportation order.

Kristina McKibben, the executive director of Community Justice Alliance, the nonprofit that administers the legal advocacy project, said unaccompanied minors are often expected to navigate the complicated immigration court system without any representation.

“And so, they’re expected to just figure it out,” said McKibben, who said clients as young as third graders can be left to navigate the court system on their own. “I think we all know that it’s ridiculous.”

In 2023, only 56% of unaccompanied migrant children defending their cases in U.S immigration court had attorneys representing them, according to data from the Justice Department. The immigration court system does not guarantee a right to counsel, even for parentless children.

The stakes are high. Between October 2017 and March 31, 2021, 90% of minors without legal representation were ordered removed from the country by federal authorities, according to data provided in a 2021 Congressional Research Service report.

A.L.’s pending deportation order weighed so heavily on him that he couldn’t concentrate or make friends at school.

“I was so lonely because all my classmates were talking about what their daily life was like, or you know, ‘I remember when this happened to me,’ and they were sharing their experiences. And I was always just quiet, listening, … because I was afraid to share my story,” said A.L.

Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, a Democrat from Baldwin Park, said most unaccompanied children who arrive in California are forced to flee their home countries because of violence and abandonment. She is advocating to keep the program because she says it goes beyond just legal representation for minors.

“The program is centered on an understanding that these children have faced trauma, both before coming to the U.S. and within the immigration system itself,” she said in a written statement. “These unaccompanied children are a symbol of resilience and a testament that a better life and future are possible. California should stand with them and invest in a shared future.”

One of A.L.’s teachers frantically started making calls and finally connected him to the advocacy project, which helped him get his deportation order lifted. He’s now living in a legal limbo called deferred action, which means the Department of Homeland Security has agreed not to deport him, but he does not have any official or permanent legal status. One of his advocates said it will be an approximate five-year wait before he can apply to become a lawful permanent resident, or to receive what is commonly referred to as a green card.

A.L. said he’s not afraid to share his story anymore. He recently traveled to the state Capitol to try to convince lawmakers to maintain funding for other children like him.

“Now I feel more confident because I know that I have support,” he said.

Data journalist Erica Yee contributed to this report. 

This story was reported through a fellowship on U.S. immigration policy in El Paso organized by Poynter with funding from the Catena Foundation.

The Trump administration said this will be the most intense day of strikes on Iran, while Israel intensified its attacks in Lebanon, as the war in the Middle East entered its 11th day.

"Today will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a news conference on Tuesday. He said the Pentagon was giving the president "maximum options," and that the war will not be "endless."

It came a day after President Donald Trump touted major success but sent mixed signals on whether the fighting was almost over.

Iran launched drones and rockets across the Gulf region on Tuesday, while Israel's military said it conducted strikes against the financial infrastructure of the Iran-backed organization Hezbollah in Lebanon.

More than 1,200 people have been killed in Iran, nearly 500 in Lebanon and 12 people in Israel, according to figures from Iranian and Lebanese health officials and Israeli authorities. Seven U.S. soldiers have died in the war so far, the Pentagon says.

Here's what to know about the latest developments in the conflict.

To jump to specific areas of coverage, use the links below:

Trump on war's end | Iran's reaction | Israel strikes Hezbollah | Iranian strikes | Iran-backed militia in Iraq | Turkey NATO air defenses | Trump's reaction on Iran's new leader | Iran women soccer team

Trump sends mixed signals on when the war will end

In a phone call with CBS News Monday, President Trump said, "I think the war is very complete, pretty much." He said Iran's military capabilities were wiped out.

At a later press conference, Trump's first since the war began, he said the U.S. was "achieving major strides toward completing our military objective" and warned Iran against disrupting global energy supplies.

But at a separate event with Republican lawmakers in Miami, he struck a more open-ended tone. "We've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough," he said. "We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long running danger once and for all."

Trump also intensified his warnings about the Strait of Hormuz, saying in a post on social media late Monday that if Iran does anything to stop oil shipments from flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. would respond "TWENTY TIMES HARDER" than it has so far.

Trump's warning came as markets went into shock over fears of supply disruptions. The price of oil briefly hit nearly $120 a barrel on Monday, then fell back after Trump suggested the war might end soon.

— Rebecca Rosman

Iran says it will decide when the war ends

In an apparent response to President Trump's remarks, Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Tuesday that Iran, not the U.S., would have the final say on the end of the war.

"Iran will determine when the war ends," Revolutionary Guard spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini told Iranian state media.

Sardar Shekarchi, a spokesperson for Iran's armed forces, called Trump "the delusional president."

In an interview with PBS Newshour on Monday, Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said he did not believe negotiating with the United States would "be on the table" again.

"We have a very bitter experience of talking with Americans," he said. He pointed out indirect nuclear talks were underway last June when the U.S. attacked Iran, and negotiations had resumed in February when the U.S. attacked again.

Israel strikes more Hezbollah targets; Lebanon's president calls for direct talks

Israel said it carried out a new wave of strikes in Lebanon, targeting assets and storage facilities tied to the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, which is tied to the militant group Hezbollah. The Israeli military said the organization finances weapons purchases and provides salaries for Hezbollah.

Israel has been striking southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, both Hezbollah strongholds, since the Iranian-backed group launched rockets into northern Israel last week.

Lebanon's president, Joseph Aoun, said Tuesday that Lebanon was ready to enter direct talks with Israel to put an end to the fighting there.

An official briefed on the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic affairs, told NPR that Israel saw positive signs from the Lebanese government in its approach to Hezbollah, but that the war would continue.

Israel and Lebanon last held direct negotiations in early December, over securing the southern Lebanese border.

— Hadeel Al-Shalchi

Iran continues strikes on neighboring Gulf countries

Iran's missile and drone attacks continued across the Gulf on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia's defense ministry said it intercepted and destroyed two drones over the kingdom's oil-rich eastern region.

Kuwait's National Guard, meanwhile, said it downed six drones in areas north and south of the country.

The United Arab Emirates also condemned what it called a drone attack targeting its consulate general in Iraq's Kurdistan region, saying it caused material damage but no injuries.

Iraq says airstrike on Iran-linked militia killed five

Iraq's military said an airstrike killed at least five members of an Iran-linked militia in the city of Kirkuk, located near the border with Iran.

It wasn't immediately clear who was behind the strikes.

NATO boosts Turkey's air defenses

Turkey's Defense Ministry said that a U.S. Patriot air defense system was deployed to its Malatya province as NATO takes steps to boost Turkey's air defense amid missile threats from Iran.

Malatya is home to the Kurecik NATO radar base, which helped identify an Iranian ballistic missile headed toward Turkey over the past week.

Iran has denied explicitly targeting Turkey.

— Durrie Bouscaren

Trump "disappointed" with new supreme leader pick, won't say if he will be targeted

Trump said Monday he was "disappointed" that Iran had named Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as its new supreme leader, arguing it would mean "more of the same problem" for the country.

Asked whether the new leader had "a target on his back," Trump said it would be "inappropriate" to comment.

In an interview with CNN Monday, Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Sa'ar, declined to rule out assassination plans targeting Khamenei, saying Israel would not disclose operational steps in advance.

"We never in a war declare what will be our operational steps or actions for that kind of thing," Sa'ar told CNN. "You will have to wait and see."

Iranian women's soccer players granted humanitarian visas in Australia

Australia has granted humanitarian visas to five members of Iran's women's soccer team, after they sought protection over fears of reprisals for refusing to sing Iran's national anthem during a match. The women, who were visiting Australia for a tournament when the war broke out, were later labeled "traitors" on Iranian state television, fueling concerns about their safety if they returned home.

The announcement came after calls from rights groups in Australia and by President Trump for the Australian government to help the women.

On Tuesday, Australian police said five of the women were transferred "to a safe location" after they made asylum requests.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the other 21 team members would be returning to Iran.

Rebecca Rosman contributed to this report from Paris, Hadeel Al-Shalchi from Beirut and Durrie Bouscaren contributed from Istanbul.
Copyright 2026 NPR

It's the last day of a cool front before a heatwave takes over Southern California for the next few days.

Temperatures across the region will range from 65 to 72 degrees.

In Coachella Valley, it will be warmer with highs from 79 to 84 degrees.

Meanwhile, wind advisories will go into effect around 5 p.m. for the 5 Freeway corridor, western Antelope Valley foothills, Ventura County mountains and parts of the Santa Barbara County mountains. Wind gusts could reach up to 45 mph.

Forecasters say windy conditions could lead to fallen tree limbs and possibly power outages.

Only two Democratic lawmakers voted against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal last year curtailing healthcare for undocumented immigrants. Sen. Maria Elena Durazo was one them.

Now, Durazo, a Democrat from Los Angeles, is proposing legislation that would reverse many of those immigrant healthcare cuts and reinstate Medi-Cal eligibility for all income-qualifying residents regardless of citizenship.

Senate Bill 1422 would ensure that all immigrant adults age 19 and older could enroll in Medi-Cal. It would not reverse limits placed on dental benefits that last year’s state budget included, nor would it eliminate the $30 monthly premium required of the same population starting in July 2027. The state budget last year did not cut benefits for children without legal status.

“We are no healthier as a community than the person least able to access care. When we accept a two-tier healthcare system, we borrow trouble,” Durazo said Monday.

Durazo argues that immigrants without legal status contribute billions in taxes each year and many of them now cannot benefit from programs those dollars support. The state spends about $12 billion annually on immigrant health care.

A shrinking budget, a growing fight

Whether Newsom will sign such a measure is unclear but seemingly unlikely. Grappling with a deficit for the fourth straight year — even as revenue grows — Newsom has already proposed cuts to other programs. Marissa Saldivar, a spokesperson for the governor, said his office would not comment on Durazo’s legislation.

His January budget proposal made few changes to the state’s Medi-Cal program, which enrolls more than 14 million Californians, but it underscored the ongoing fiscal challenges. One major threat comes from President Donald Trump’s federal tax reform package, which imposed new limits on the provider taxes that nearly every state uses to support their low-income healthcare programs. California’s tax on health insurers is particularly large, generating about $7 billion annually for the general fund — a figure that the state finance department estimates will decrease to about $6 million next year.

Medi-Cal spending has nearly doubled to $200 billion during Newsom’s two terms, adding to the state’s structural deficit, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. That amount includes about $119 billion in federal dollars.

Both Democrats and Republicans criticize Newsom’s handling of healthcare for immigrants without legal status. Republicans blame Newsom’s gradual expansion of Medi-Cal eligibility to immigrants for the program’s growing costs. Democrats are angry he partially reversed course, and some also take issue with his most recent budget proposal, which they say would needlessly extend some federal Medicaid cuts.

Assemblymember Mia Bonta, a Democrat from Oakland, has introduced a bill that would bar the state from imposing federal work requirements on enrollees whose healthcare is paid for solely with state funds, a group that includes immigrants without legal status. State officials estimate work requirements will cause roughly 2 million Californians to lose Medi-Cal largely due to administrative hurdles.

The fight over healthcare spending has become one of the defining issues heading into this fall’s elections.

The state’s largest healthcare labor union is pushing a billionaire’s tax to raise revenue for healthcare, a measure that has drawn opposition from Silicon Valley’s wealthy elite and divided state Democrats. Meanwhile, party leaders are also trying to unseat a number of vulnerable congressional Republicans, including Rep. David Valadao whose Central Valley district has the highest share of Medicaid recipients in the country.

More Californians filed claims for paid family leave last year than ever before since the state started offering the benefits two decades ago.

In 2025, more than 355,600 workers in the state took time to care for a sick family member or bond with a new child, up 16% from the year before, according to data LAist requested from the California Employment Development Department.

That change coincided with increased payments for workers who use paid leave. Workers in California can get up to eight weeks of paid leave — and now recoup 70–90% of their regular wages, up from 60–70% the year prior.

“The program continues to grow,” said Anne Chapuis, a spokesperson for EDD. While she said 2025 represents their largest year to date, the rise or fall of claims “can sometimes be attributed to a combination of factors including awareness, demand, and eligibility.”

California became the first state to enact a paid family leave program in 2004. At the time, workers only got 55% of their wages and six weeks of paid leave.

Jenya Cassidy, executive director of the advocacy group California Work & Family Coalition, said her organization is still working to understand why there’s a rise in claims, but have anecdotally heard of people taking it because of the increase. The group co-sponsored the 2022 legislation that increase payments, after hearing that many low-income earners couldn’t afford to take leave. Research has shown that paid family leave benefits help a mother and baby’s health.

“Sixty percent of their income wasn't enough to pay their bills, and so many people are living on the edge in this state especially,” Cassidy said.

She said there was also more publicity about the paid family leave program last year because of the payment increase.

“There was a little bit of hubbub about this wage replacement [increase], so I do think raising awareness about the affordability of taking it is a key thing,” she said. “People hearing it anecdotally, seeing it in the news, I think that kind of has an impact.”

The state Employment Development Department says the paid family leave program, which started in 2004, continues to grow.

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There are also cultural and general shifts around family leave, said Jessica Mason, senior policy analyst for economic justice at the National Partnership for Women & Families.

“For millennials and Gen Z, there's a little bit more of an assumption that everybody's going to be doing caregiving, everybody's going to be involved in parenting, and those norms do kind of shift over time,” she said.

For example, more dads in California are taking paid leave time, recent state data show.

Mason recently worked on a report that found 1 in 3 private sector workers nationwide now have access to a paid family leave program, with 14 states having paid family leave laws. But because California is such a big state, it plays a huge role in that statistic, she said. The program covers more than 18 million residents.

“In California, about 97% of the private sector workforce is potentially eligible for paid leave … that's really at the top end of all of the states,” she said.

How the state's paid family leave program works

The family leave program in California is paid through the State Disability Insurance program. Workers pay into the program through a deduction on their paycheck usually labeled as “CADSI.”

To be eligible for paid family leave in California, a worker needs to have earned at least $300 in wages in a “base period” (5-18 months before a claim).

Eligible workers who make less than about $66,000 a year can get 90% of their wages, and workers who make above that recieve 70% while on leave.