The Brief

It was Friday, June 6, and the rent was due. As soon as she finished an errand, Imelda Carreto planned on joining her family as they gathered scrap metal to earn a little extra cash. Her fiancé, Julio Matias, and 15-year-old nephew, Carlos, had set out early, hitching a trailer to the back of their beat-up gray truck.

Shortly after 8 a.m., Carreto’s phone rang. It was Carlos, telling her an officer with the Florida Highway Patrol had pulled over the truck on Interstate 4 near Tampa. The stated reason: cracks in their windshield. But Carreto was worried. She knew Florida police were collaborating with federal immigration authorities. Her fiancé was undocumented. She says she rushed to the scene and made it there just before the immigration officers.

As she feared, Matias had been detained. But to her surprise, so had Carlos. He was just a kid. (ProPublica is only identifying Carlos by his first name because he is a minor.) Carlos was in high school. He’d been living in the United States for over two years and was working toward applying for legal status to stay long term. The government had given her, a legal resident, custody of him. Now he was in handcuffs. Why would they take him too?

Carreto didn’t carry any proof that she had custody of the boy. She had left it in another car in her rush. She recalls officers saying her nephew would likely be released to her in a few days once she presented the proper documents. Before they drove him away, Carlos started to tear up. Carreto told him, “Don’t cry. I don’t know how, but I’ll get you back. Understand?”

A cracked windshield, a waiting officer, a forgotten document: The new family separations often start in the most mundane ways.

Seven years ago, during the first administration of President Donald Trump, children were taken from their families the moment they crossed the border into the United States. Under a policy of zero tolerance for illegal crossing, Customs and Border Protection officers detained adults while children were sent into the federal shelter system. The aim: to deter other families from following. But after widespread public outcry and a lawsuit, the administration ended it.

Today, family separations are back, only now they are happening all across the country. The lawsuit against the zero tolerance policy resulted in a 2023 settlement that limits separations at the border, but it does not address those that occur inside the country after encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Advocates fear the administration is conducting the new separations for the same reasons as before: to deter new immigrants from coming and to terrify those who are here into leaving.

Since the start of this year, some 600 immigrant children have been placed in government shelters by ICE, according to government data. That figure, which has not been previously reported, is already higher than the tally for the previous four years combined. And it is the highest number since recordkeeping began a decade ago.

ProPublica pieced together additional information for around 400 children sent to shelters by examining state and federal records and conducting dozens of interviews with current and former government officials, advocates, attorneys and immigrant families.

Around 160 of the cases that we learned about involved child welfare concerns, which current and former officials say is typical of the children ICE has sent to shelters in the past. These cases include instances of kids who were encountered alone inside the country or were considered potential victims of domestic abuse or trafficking, or instances where minors or the adults they were with had been accused of committing a crime.

But in a majority of the cases we examined, kids ended up in shelters in ways government officials say they never would have in the past: after routine immigration court hearings or appointments, or because they were at a home or a business when immigration authorities showed up to arrest someone else.

In South Carolina, a Colombian family of five went to a government office for a fingerprinting appointment, only to have the parents detained while the children — ages 5, 11 and 15 — were sent into the shelter system for four months. In South Florida, a 17-year-old from Guatemala was taken into custody because officers couldn’t make contact with his dad after a traffic stop; his dad is deaf. In Maryland, a 17-year-old from Mexico ended up in a shelter after making a wrong turn onto military property.

In around 150 cases, children were taken into federal custody after traffic stops. The trend is especially noticeable in states like Florida, where thousands of state and local police, including highway patrol, have been deputized to enforce immigration laws.

“What’s happening to kids now is like many small zero tolerances,” said Marion “Mickey” Donovan-Kaloust, director of legal services at the Los Angeles-based Immigrant Defenders Law Center. This and other changes affecting immigrant children are “adding up to a huge trauma.”

Most of the cases we found involve teenagers, and many of them had been in the United States for years. In those cases, being sent to a shelter can mean separation not only from their families but from schools, friends, churches, doctors and daily routines.

Once children are in shelters, the government is making it harder and harder for relatives or other adults who act as sponsors to get them back. The average length of stay has grown to nearly six months, up from one month during the presidency of Joe Biden, public data shows.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a written statement that the Biden administration released immigrant kids to sponsors too quickly and without proper vetting, sometimes into unsafe situations. “The Trump Administration is ensuring that unaccompanied minors do not fall victim to the same dangerous conditions,” Jackson said.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, speaking for ICE, said the agency “does not separate families” and instead offers parents the choice to have their children deported with them or to leave the children in the care of another safe adult, consistent with past practices.

Asked about Carlos’ detention in Florida, McLaughlin said that traffic stops by officers trained to partner with ICE have prevented abuse of immigrant children and “resulted in arrests of human traffickers, abusers, and other criminals.”

ProPublica found no evidence of Carreto or Matias, her fiancé, being accused or convicted of serious crimes. Carreto had been found guilty of driving without a license at least twice and had gotten a speeding ticket. Matias pleaded guilty to a 2011 taillight infraction. He now has an ongoing case for driving without a license from the traffic stop with Carlos, and he has been returned to Guatemala.

Shelter network turned on its head

What is happening now is not what the system was set up for.

The nation’s network of roughly 170 federal shelters for “unaccompanied” immigrant children is run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. The office is tasked with temporarily housing vulnerable children who cross the border alone, holding them in the least restrictive setting possible until they can be released to a sponsor in the United States. Typically that means placing kids with a parent or other family member. The office finds and vets the sponsors and is required to release children to them without delay. Once kids are out, they can apply to remain here permanently.

Under Biden, when border crossings surged to record highs, around 470,000 children were released to sponsors after going through the shelter system. Republicans said the releases incentivized smugglers to endanger kids on the long journey north and encouraged parents to send their children across the border alone.

The White House called the previous administration’s sponsor-vetting process “abysmal,” and said that many records pertaining to minors released under Biden “were either fraudulent or never existed to begin with.”

Biden officials deny these claims. But some kids have indeed ended up working in dangerous jobs.

The Trump administration has placed former ICE officials in charge of the refugee resettlement office and has made it a priority to locate children who were released from custody in previous years. To facilitate the effort, ICE plans to open a national, 24-hour call center meant to help state and local officials find them. The government says it says it has already checked on more than 24,400 children in person, and it cited more than a dozen examples of sponsors and immigrant minors arrested for crimes ranging from murder to drug trafficking, rape and assault. One of the cases the White House highlighted was of a 15-year-old Guatemalan girl the government says was released in 2023 to a man who falsely claimed to be her brother and allegedly went on to sexually abuse her.

Under Trump, the government has introduced new vetting requirements, including expanded DNA checks, fingerprinting for everyone in the sponsor’s household and heightened scrutiny of family finances.

In response to questions from ProPublica, the refugee resettlement office said it was legally required to care for all unaccompanied kids who came through its doors and defended the new vetting process. “The enhanced sponsorship requirements of this administration help keep unaccompanied alien children safe from traffickers and other bad, dangerous people,” a spokesperson said.

Because so many children are now being sent into shelters in ways they hadn’t been before, though, lawyers and advocates worry the administration’s efforts have another motive: to more broadly target and deport immigrant kids and their families. They also say the new requirements are creating so much fear that some undocumented family members are hesitant to come forward as sponsors.

Around half of the kids that ICE sent into the shelter system this year have been there before. When they arrived years ago, after crossing the border alone, they were released as soon as possible. This time, back in the system, they’re languishing.

“I think that they’re using a clearly vulnerable, clearly sympathetic population in a way that sends a powerful message to literally every other population,” said Jen Smyers, who was an official at the Office of Refugee Resettlement during the Biden administration. “If they’re going to go after these kids who have protections and say we care about them, and then treat them like this, that shows everyone that no one is safe.”

This month, attorneys suing the government over its treatment of children in the shelter system recovered a government document being provided to unaccompanied minors who cross the border. It warns them that if they do not choose to leave the country within 72 hours they will “be detained in the custody of the United States Government, for a prolonged period of time.” The document also warned that if the person who sought to sponsor the minors was undocumented, they would be “subject to arrest and removal” or to criminal penalties for “aiding your illegal entry.”

Customs and Border Protection told ProPublica that the document is used to ensure immigrant children “understand their rights and options.”

There have already been cases of prospective sponsors who have shown up at government offices for in-person interviews and been detained for being in the country illegally, said Marie Silver, a managing attorney at the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago.

“They are using the kids as bait, and then the kids are stuck,” Silver said. “They are creating unaccompanied children this way.”

Separation in the Sunshine State

In Florida, we found two dozen kids arrested in traffic stops who went on to spend weeks or months in federal shelters. Some are still there.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s Republican majority have spent years crafting policies that allow local police officers to seamlessly operate as federal immigration enforcers. They aim to be a model for how states can help the Trump administration “reclaim America’s sovereignty.”

Across Florida, almost 5,000 officers — even those from its Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission — are empowered to detain people over their immigration status and to call in federal authorities to come pick them up. ProPublica obtained state data revealing that Florida police have arrested at least 47 children on federal immigration charges since late April, with the Florida Highway Patrol leading the tally.

In cases like that of Carlos, children were sent to a federal shelter despite having a parent or legal custodian caring for them. Five current and former federal officials said this could be a violation of ICE’s own policy. The policy dictates that officers should let primary caregivers like Carreto take them home or find a safe place to send them. (It does not clearly require caregivers to show any documentation.) If they can’t find a safe place, or if there are signs the child is in danger, officers are supposed to alert local law enforcement or child-welfare officials and wait for them to arrive.

Florida has its own laws governing how state and local officers should interact with children. If a kid is found alone or in danger, state police must call a hotline run by Florida’s Department of Children and Families. The call is supposed to trigger a process in which state judges review any decision to place a child in the care of someone other than their family within 24 hours.

It’s not clear if Florida officers are calling the state hotline when encountering immigrant children. But it is clear that this year they have often called ICE.

State police contacted immigration officials directly about Carlos, Florida records show. Carlos went into federal custody without a state shelter hearing, according to his attorney, who said the same thing has happened to three other clients following traffic stops.

State Rep. Lawrence McClure, the Republican who introduced legislation this January that supercharged Florida’s cooperation with ICE, promised during debate on the bill that nothing would change about how the state treated immigrant children. McClure did not respond directly to questions from ProPublica about the transfers to ICE.

Boundaries between state and federal policy “are being blurred” in an “unprecedented way,” said Bernard Perlmutter, co-director of the University of Miami’s Children and Youth Law Clinic.

The collaboration with local police in Florida and elsewhere comes as ICE has worked increasingly with other federal agencies that may have their own policies for handling encounters with kids.

In response to detailed questions from ProPublica, DeSantis’ press secretary emailed a list of more than a dozen links from the video platform Rumble in which the governor speaks about immigration enforcement, writing: “Governor DeSantis has made immigration enforcement a top priority to keep Florida communities safe.”

Other state officials, including from the Florida Highway Patrol and Department of Children and Families, either did not respond or declined our requests for comment on the state’s partnership with ICE and its impact on immigrant children.

It was Florida’s cooperation with federal authorities that landed Carlos in the federal shelter system this June — his second time there.

In December 2022, Carlos, then 13 years old, came to the United States from Guatemala, where his single mother made him work or beg for money, according to court records. He thought he would be better off in the U.S. with her sister, according to records provided by his attorney. He made the journey without his parents, the documents say.

After he crossed near Donna, Texas, he was picked up by border agents and spent three weeks in a federal shelter before being released to his aunt. Carreto said she had no idea Carlos was making the journey until she received a 2 a.m. phone call from immigration authorities. She welcomed the boy into her sprawling Guatemalan American family and insisted that he go to school.

Two and a half years into his stay with Carreto came the traffic stop.

Carlos was first taken across the state to the Broward Transitional Center, a for-profit detention facility operated by the GEO Group, an ICE contractor. He was transferred later in the day to an Office of Refugee Resettlement shelter in Tampa run by Urban Strategies, another government contractor, records show. The GEO Group declined to comment and referred ProPublica to ICE. Lisa Cummins, president of Urban Strategies, wrote in an email: “We remain deeply committed to the care and well-being of the children we serve.”

Carreto launched into weeks of confusing phone calls and paperwork to get her nephew back. She had to send in a 10-page application. She turned over information about her finances, her adult son’s finances, her lack of criminal history. She submitted samples of her DNA. She sent photos of the smoke alarms in her house.

Shortly after Carlos was detained, Carreto said, immigration officers paid an unannounced visit to her home. Her son Ereson, who is 18, says federal agents came onto the property without permission and asked if any immigrants were living there. The visit scared the family.

Carreto’s daughters eventually managed to pinpoint Carlos’ location by asking him over the phone to name landmarks he could see, then searching for them on Google. In video calls home, Carreto said, Carlos was visibly sad. She said he sometimes skipped meals. “Why are they keeping me here?” she recalled him asking, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Carreto visited the offices of Homeland Security Investigations in Tampa with three of her children. She said agents asked how much she paid to have Carlos smuggled across the border and how much she was getting paid to try to get him out of detention. They threatened her with federal charges if she didn’t tell the truth, she said.

“I told them that nobody is paying me,” she said. “I’m doing this because he’s my nephew. He’s like a son to me.”

Carlos was released after two and a half months.

He was one of the lucky ones: His aunt was a legal resident who had custody of him, and the family had the resources and determination to fight for him.

The government this year has moved to slash legal services for children and offered cash to kids who give up their cases and go home. (The Office of Refugee Resettlement’s statement to ProPublica said it is fully complying with a court order requiring that minors be provided with legal representation.) Attorneys who represent children said they have seen a spike in cases of self-harm and behavioral problems as kids lose hope of being released.

Of the kids that ProPublica learned about, around 140 were still stuck in federal shelters as of last month. Close to 100 were ordered to be deported or had signed papers agreeing to leave the country.

Brigitte Bardot, the international sex goddess of cinema in the 1950s and '60s, has died aged 91. Bardot's animal rights foundation announced her death in a statement to news agency Agence France-Presse on Sunday, without specifying the time or place of death.

Stylish and seductive, Bardot exuded a kind of free sexuality, rare in the buttoned-up 1950s. She modeled, made movies, influenced fashion around the world and recorded albums. She married four times. Her list of lovers famously included Warren Beatty, Nino Ferrer and singer-songwriter-producer Serge Gainsbourg, with whom she recorded the French hit Bonnie and Clyde.

Bardot's look was copied by women around the world, says Claire Schub who teaches French literature and film at Tufts University.

"Her fashion choices, her hair, her makeup, her pout ... She became this icon, this legend, all over the globe," says Schub.

But her image changed in her later years. Bardot was found guilty multiple times in her native France of "inciting racial hatred," mainly for comments attacking Muslims.

Bardot runs along the beach in Cannes, France, on April 28, 1956.

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As an actor, Bardot worked with some of France's leading directors including Henri-Georges Clouzot in La Vérité (The Truth), Jean-Luc Godard in Le Mépris (Contempt) and Louis Malle in Viva Maria!

Born Catholic to an upper-middle-class couple in Paris in 1934, Bardot studied ballet and modeled before becoming an actor. As a teenager, she appeared several times on the cover of Elle magazine, attracting the attention of Roger Vadim who was six years her senior. The two married in 1952. Bardot's parents made them wait until she turned 18.

Vadim, an aspiring director, has been credited with turning Bardot into the iconic sex symbol she became. In his 1957 film And God Created Woman, Bardot plays a provocative young woman on a quest for sexual liberation.

Bardot arrives at a Royal Air Force base in London in April 1959.

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Vadim wanted Bardot's appearances in his films to shake off sexual taboos. He once said that he wanted to "kill the myth, this odd rule in Christian morality, that sex must be coupled with guilt."

The New York Times panned the film but wrote that Bardot "moves herself in a fashion that fully accentuates her charms. She is undeniably a creation of superlative craftsmanship."

The media savvy Vadim made sure Bardot appeared often in the French press. Not that it took much convincing — Bardot's alluring images helped sell both magazines and movie tickets. "To be fair, if Vadim discovered and manufactured me," Bardot once said, "I created Vadim."

Bardot's liberating sexuality

While she was one of France's best known exports, she wasn't always beloved at home. She was often ridiculed by critics who derided her acting even as they gushed over her body.

Reviewing the 1959 film Babette Goes to War, in which Bardot does not bare all, one critic wrote, "In deciding not to reveal her body, Brigitte Bardot wanted to unveil only her talent. Alas, we saw nothing."

Bardot during a rehearsal of the TV program "Bonne année Brigitte" in which Bardot performed songs to ring in the new year in 1962.

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Despite the misogynistic comments and constant scrutiny of her private life, Bardot's popularity coincided with changing attitudes about sex. French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir took note of France's love-hate relationship with Bardot's sexual appetite.

"In the game of love, she is as much hunter as she is prey," de Beauvoir wrote in her 1959 essay for Esquire, "Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome."

Bardot was hounded by the paparazzi, suffered from depression and attempted suicide. "What I rejected the most during my life as an actress was the limelight," she wrote in her autobiography, "That intense focus...ate at me from the inside."

Bardot discusses a scene with director Louis Malle during the filming of <em>Viva Maria!</em> in February 1965.

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After starring in dozens of movies, Bardot retired from acting in 1973. She started an animal rights foundation.

Convicted for 'inciting racial hatred'

In her later years, Bardot became notorious for her racist and homophobic comments and her association with France's far right. Her fourth husband, Bernard d'Ormale, was an aide to Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front party.

In her 2003 book, Un Cris dans le Silence, she disparages immigrants, gays, French schools and contemporary art. She called Muslims "invaders" and railed against the killing of animals in the name of religion. She apologized in court in 2004 but also doubled down on what she called the "infiltration" of France by Islamic extremists.

In her biography of Bardot, author and French film scholar Ginette Vincendeau writes "the high priestess of freedom resents almost everyone else's rights to exercise it."

Bardot, the stunning, desirable beauty who once stood for sexual freedom for women, spent the latter part of her life at her home near Saint Tropez with her husband and a menagerie of pets.
Copyright 2025 NPR

A woman stands in front of Andy Warhol's "Brigitte Bardot" at Sotheby's auction house in London on May 12, 2012.

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There’s something about a library that’s inherently beautiful. Maybe it’s the silence or the history of the building. Maybe it's the idea of books being shared among countless readers.

Some of the most gorgeous libraries are reflections of their respective communities. Whether it’s seeing a mosaic from a local artist, or standing in awe simply from the architecture itself, these libraries hold countless stories and we become part of them whenever we walk through their doors.

The libraries listed here are just a small sample of SoCal’s offerings. Need a green space to unwind with your latest fiction read? Does being surrounded by art and color help ease the drudgery of a study session? Remote work with an ocean view?

We hope there’s something on this list for you.

East Los Angeles Library

• 4837 E. 3rd St., Los Angeles

West entrance of the East Los Angeles Library

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From its brightly-colored cylindrical towers to the mosaics that adorn the building’s entrance, the East Los Angeles Library is a tribute to Mayan designs, with a particular reference to their astronomical observatories.

Enter from the west — or parking lot — side, the red tower stands in for the sun. Above that entrance, visitors are greeted with a stunning mosaic mural by artist José Antonio Aguirre, carved out of limestone and comprised of Byzantine and Venetian glass. This exterior panel of the four-part mural shows an open book amid a sea of geometric shapes and images.

A view of the East Los Angeles Library’s east entrance adjacent to Belvedere Park Lake.

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Enter from the east or lakeside (yes, there’s a lake just steps away), the blue tower representing the moon.

East Tower, Mosaic Cycle Mural, “Our Legacy, Forever Presente”, “Arrival” movement by José Antonio Aguirre.

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The vast scope of Aguirre’s 2,000-foot-plus work unfolds as you continue your entry, and features prominent East L.A. figures such as Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, Edward James Olmos and the late former First District County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who commissioned the artwork.

East Los Angeles Library interior featuring Mosaic Cycle Mural, “Our Legacy, Forever Presente”, “Departure” movement by José Antonio Aguirre.

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Outside, the library is surrounded by Belvedere Park — approximately 30 acres of greenspace and a recreation center. If you decide to take a stroll around the nearby lake, you’ll find ducks swimming and see artist Rude Calderón’s “Leaping Fish, Nature's Cycles” water features–two sculptures of fish, one leaping out of the water, and one diving back in.

A view of Belvedere Park Lake outside of the East Los Angeles Library.

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Billie Jean King Main Library

• 200 W. Broadway, Long Beach

Billie Jean King Main Library exterior on Broadway in Long Beach.

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The Billie Jean King Main Library in Downtown Long Beach is a study in modern architecture. From Broadway, this building looks like row after row of glass panes, white window frames and caramel-toned wood.

The structure was designed with sustainability in mind, and is made up of renewable timber that’s been reinforced where needed with steel and concrete.

The central atrium of the Billie Jean King Main Library.

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The focal point of the building is its central atrium, a large, open space on the first floor with light pouring in from all sides. This room can be used for events, workshops or exhibits, including an exhibition showcasing work from the city’s Professional Artist Fellowship, a grant program that honors living Long Beach artists who have affected local communities.

From left to right “Ethereal Queen” and “Unbreakable Spirit” by artist Stephanie Rozzo is displayed in the atrium of the Billie Jean King Main Library.

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Grab a desk overlooking the first floor to get another perspective of the expansive, light-filled interior space. Or catch a window seat with a view of Lincoln Park on Pacific Avenue.

View from the Billie Jean King Main Library overlooking Lincoln Park in Long Beach.

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Manhattan Beach Library

• 1320 Highland Ave., Manhattan Beach

A view of 14th street through the “Light Gate” sculpture by artists Mags Harries and Lajos Héder.

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The Manhattan Beach Library is a perfect example of how wonderfully spoiled we are by the weather here in SoCal. This two-story, 21,500-square-foot building on Highland Avenue offers panoramic views of the sun and the ocean of this beach city for all who enter.

View from the second story of the Manhattan Beach Library.

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The theme of ocean living is evident throughout, like an eye-catching sea kelp sculpture with 10-foot tall leaves that hugs the ramp to the library’s stairwell.

The sculpture consists of multiple elongated, organic forms arranged in a flowing, wave-like pattern across the surface.

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“Personal Archaeology” installation by Kathy Taslitz near the stairwell of the Manhattan Beach Library

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Or the row of jellyfish floating overhead when you climb the stairs.

“Prevailing Affinities” installation by Kathy Taslitz near the stairwell of the Manhattan Beach Library.

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Cerritos Library

• 18025 Bloomfield Ave., Cerritos

Exterior of the Cerritos Library.

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From its golden titanium exterior to the T-Rex fossil replica inside, the Cerritos Library offers its patrons an experience to remember with every visit. In fact, it was designed to be the first "Experience Library," with themed spaces like an “Old World” collegiate-style reading room, or its 15,000-gallon saltwater aquarium, which faces the entrance.

A view of the Cerritos Library’s 15,000 gallon aquarium, shot from the library’s children’s area.

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Like the rest of the libraries on this list, Cerritos regularly displays work from local artists. Its latest exhibition features Patrice Monteiro, who uses a technique called paper quilling, where strips of paper are placed together to create each piece. The exhibit will be on display until Dec. 30.

“Joy is a Revolution” by Patrice Monteiro, inspired by Nettie Beatrice’s digital art, on display in the Cerritos Library through December 2025.

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Perhaps the biggest draw to this library is its children’s area. Step through the passage of giant story books and you’re in an enchanted world that includes a rainforest tree, a space shuttle, a lighthouse and the aforementioned 40-foot long Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton replica named Stan.

The Cerritos Library’s children’s area features a lighthouse, rainforest tree and 40-foot long Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil replicas.

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After a decade of expanding health coverage and safety net programs, the Golden State took a sharp detour in 2025. As federal funding reductions and policy changes rippled through the health care system, California confronted service cuts, coverage losses and growing uncertainty.

During the summer, a congressionally approved spending plan slashed nearly a trillion dollars from the Medicaid program over the next decade. Funding cuts and new rules — such as work requirements — are expected to push 3.4 million Californians off their Medicaid coverage as changes take effect.

In Washington, a dispute over whether to renew enhanced premium subsidies that help keep Affordable Care Act marketplace insurance plans affordable prompted the longest shutdown in history. Absent federal action, hundreds of thousands of people could be priced out of Covered California insurance in 2026. More than 2,300 Dreamers in California have already lost access to the state marketplace: The Trump administration overturned a rule that had allowed undocumented people brought to the country as children to buy subsidized health insurance.

Federal immigration raids prompted undocumented people to skip care, and families reported worsening mental health, and federal anti-trans policies pushed providers to scale back on gender-affirming care.

Shifting federal policy forced the state the state to inject millions into Planned Parenthood to try to keep clinics afloat. Anticipating more restrictive federal immunization rules under U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, California advanced its own vaccine guidelines.

Federal changes weren’t the only reversal. State budget constraints and overspending in the Medi-Cal program led California to freeze new enrollment for undocumented people and cut some costly benefits, such as weight loss drugs.

On affordability, Gov. Newsom delivered on his promise to cut down the cost of insulin. In 2026, diabetics will be able to purchase long-acting insulin pens at pharmacies for $11 a pen. After CalMatters shed a light on disappearing birth centers, state lawmakers approved a new law improving access in underserved areas, streamlining licensure requirements so that birth centers can more easily contract with Medicaid.

2026 outlook

The Legislative Analyst’s Office projects that Medi-Cal spending will continue to grow. Paired with the uncertainty of federal funding cuts, lawmakers may again seek ways to control costs and weigh priorities.

As federal spending cuts phase in, they’ll have implications for hospitals and other providers, such as an uptick in uncompensated care.

California has been distributing $6.4 billion from a voter-approved mental health bond. Starting July 1, the Behavioral Health Services Act will also require counties to spend revenue received from a 1% tax on incomes over $1 million on services and housing for people who are homeless.

For the millions of Americans who buy Affordable Care Act insurance, there’s still time left to enroll for 2026. But premium increases and the expiration of enhanced tax subsidies have led to larger-than-expected costs.

Concerned shoppers, wondering if there’s anything they can do, are consulting insurance brokers or talking to representatives at ACA marketplace call centers.

“We’re hearing from people with complex medical conditions who don’t think they can survive if they don’t have access to medical care,” said Audrey Morse Gasteier, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector, that state’s insurance marketplace.

And some are considering going outside the ACA to find more affordable options. But that requires caution.

Congress looks increasingly unlikely to extend the enhanced subsidies before the year’s end. Late Wednesday, the House passed a package of measures favored by conservatives that does not address the subsidies and is largely viewed as dead on arrival in the Senate. Earlier Wednesday, however, four GOP moderates joined with Democrats to sign a discharge petition to force a vote — likely in January — on a three-year extension. The Senate and President Donald Trump would also have to approve the measure, but if extended the subsidies could be applied retroactively.

Meanwhile, the deadline for choosing a health plan is quickly approaching. The official end of open enrollment is set for Jan. 15 for coverage starting Feb. 1. In most states, it’s already too late to enroll for coverage starting Jan. 1.

Here are five considerations in the decision-making process:

1. Short-Term Plans: ‘You Have To Be Healthy’

Some ACA shoppers might find themselves considering short-term insurance plans sold outside the government-run marketplaces — or steered toward the plans by insurance brokers. Be wary.

Short-term plans are just that: insurance originally designed as temporary coverage for situations like changing jobs or attending school. They can look a lot like traditional coverage, with deductibles, copayments, and participating networks of hospitals and doctors. Still, they are not ACA-compliant plans and are not available on the official ACA marketplaces.

They are often less expensive than ACA plans. But they cover less. For example, unlike ACA plans, they can impose annual and lifetime caps on benefits. The vast majority do not cover maternity care. Some might not cover prescription drugs.

Short-term plans require applicants to complete a medical questionnaire, and insurers can exclude coverage or cancel a policy retroactively for those with preexisting medical conditions. Also, depending on the terms of the particular plan, a person who develops a medical condition during the coverage period might not be accepted for renewal.

In addition, short-term plans are not required to cover care on the ACA’s checklist of essential benefits, such as preventive care, hospitalization, or emergency services.

The shortcomings of the plans, which critics say are sometimes marketed in misleading ways, have led Democrats to label them “junk insurance.” The Trump administration argues they’re suitable for some people and has sought to make them more widely available.

“We recommend it when it makes sense,” said Joshua Brooker, a Pennsylvania insurance broker. “But if you’re going to enroll in short-term coverage, you need to know which boxes are unchecked.”

“They’re not for everyone. You have to be healthy,” said Ronnell Nolan, the president and CEO of Health Agents of America, a trade group.

And they’re available in only 36 states, according to KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. Some states, such as California, prohibit them. Others set tight restrictions.

2. Beware of Coverage That’s Not Comprehensive

There are other types of health coverage offered by sales brokers or other organizations.

One kind, called an indemnity plan, is meant to supplement a traditional health insurance plan by paying toward deductibles or copayments.

Those plans do not have to follow ACA coverage rules, either. Generally, they pay a fixed dollar amount — say a few hundred dollars a day — toward a hospital stay or a smaller amount for a doctor’s office visit. Typically those payments fall short of the full costs and the policyholder pays the rest. They generally also require consumers to fill out medical forms stating any preexisting conditions.

Another type, a faith-based sharing plan, pools money from members to cover their medical bills. The plans are not required to keep any specific amount of financial reserves and members are not guaranteed that the plans will pay their health expenses, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation that supports health care research and improvements to the health system.

Sharing plans expanded beyond faith communities after the ACA was adopted. Like short-term plans, they cost less than ACA plans but also don’t have to follow ACA rules.

They are not considered insurance, and some have been accused of fraud by state regulators.

“Yes, it is cheaper, and yes, it does work for some people,” Nolan said. “But you need to understand what that plan does. It would be my last resort.”

3. Consider a ‘Bronze’ or ‘Catastrophic’ Plan, But Be Aware of Deductibles

For those wanting to stay with ACA plans, the lowest premiums are generally in the categories labeled “catastrophic” or “bronze.”

Jessica Altman, executive director of California’s ACA exchange, said her state has noticed an uptick in enrollments in bronze-level plans. They have lower premiums but high annual deductibles — the amount a customer must spend before most coverage kicks in. Deductibles for bronze plans average nearly $7,500 nationally, according to KFF.

Another option, new for 2026, is expanded eligibility for catastrophic plans, which used to be limited to people younger than age 30. As the name suggests, they’re intended for people who want health insurance just in case they suffer a catastrophic health condition, such as cancer or injuries from a car accident, and the plans can have deductibles as high as the ACA’s annual limit on out-of-pocket spending — $10,600 for an individual or $21,200 for a family.

But now people losing subsidies because of the expiration of the enhanced tax credits can also qualify for the plans. However, they may not be available in every region.

Lauren Jenkins, a broker in Oklahoma, said some of her clients earning less than $25,000 this year had qualified for very low-cost or free plans with the enhanced subsidies. Next year, though, their costs may rise to $100 or more per month for a “silver”-level plan, a step up from bronze.

So she is showing them bronze plans to bring down the monthly cost. “But they might have a $6,000, $7,000, or $10,000 deductible they now have to pay,” Jenkins said. “For people only making $25,000 a year, that would be detrimental.”

Both bronze and catastrophic plans are eligible to be linked with health savings accounts, which can be used to save money tax-free for medical expenses. They are more popular with higher-income households.

4. Another Plan May Have Lower Premiums

It can pay to shop around. Some people may be able to find a lower premium by shifting to a different plan, even one offered by the same insurer. There are also different levels of coverage, from bronze to “platinum,” where premiums also vary. Brooker said that in some locations “gold”-level plans are less expensive than silver, even though that seems counterintuitive.

Also, some people who run their own businesses but have only one employee might qualify for a group plan rather than an individual policy. Sometimes those can be less expensive.

Not every state allows this, Nolan said. But, for example, Nolan said, she has a client whose only employee is his wife, so she’s going to see whether they can get a group plan at lower rates.

“That might work out for them,” she said.

ACA rates for small group plans (fewer than 50 employees) vary regionally and are not always less expensive than individual coverage, Brooker said.

“It’s pretty all over the board as to where the rates are better,” he said.

5. Other Rules of the Road

Insurance experts encourage people not to wait until the last minute to at least take preliminary steps. Shoppers can go onto the official federal or state marketplace website and fill out or update an application with required income and other information necessary to determine what the 2026 plan year holds for them.

For instance, even without congressional intervention, subsidies will not go away entirely. They will be smaller, though, and there is an upper income limit — a cutoff for households earning more than four times the poverty level, which comes to $62,600 for an individual and $84,600 for a couple for 2026.

When shopping, consumers should make sure they land on an official ACA website, because there are look-alikes that may not offer ACA-compliant plans. Healthcare.gov is the official federal site. From there, people can find websites serving the 20 states, along with the District of Columbia, that run their own ACA exchanges.

The government sites can also direct consumers to licensed brokers and other counselors who can help with an application.

And a reminder: Consumers also need to pay their first month’s premium for coverage to take effect.