The Brief

More than 1.6 million immigrants have lost their legal status in the first 11 months of President Trump's presidency. The staggering number includes people who applied for and were accepted to come to the country on a wide variety of immigration parole, visa, asylum and temporary protected status programs. That number exceeds Philadelphia's entire population.

This is the largest effort to take away deportation protections for migrants who are in the country legally. Immigration advocates say it's very likely an undercount.

"These were legal pathways. People did the thing the government asked them to do, and this government went and preemptively revoked that status," said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, an immigration advocacy organization that has been tracking the efforts to delegalize immigrants.

"There's nothing close to this. Like there's no president of either party who has said, 'Central to my effort is revoking the work authorization and legal status for millions of people.'"

Many of the immigrants who lost legal status have been in the country for years. Now, they fear what could happen should their immigration cases not process quickly enough. The administration has encouraged immigrants to leave the country as it gets rid of their legal authorization.

"The American taxpayer will no longer bear the financial burden of unlawfully present aliens," U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson Matthew Tragesser said, in response to a request for comment about concerns that the administration is making more people deportable.

In another effort to eliminate existing legal pathways, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced last week that the Trump administration would be pausing the diversity visa lottery program. In a post on X, she said the man accused of carrying out a deadly shooting at Brown University — and of killing an MIT professor — came to the U.S. through the program in 2017 and was granted a green card. While the cancellation doesn't impact those already in the country, the lottery program faces an uncertain future going forward.

The White House says scrapping prior legal pathways and protections is part of its goal.

"The Trump administration has done more to limit migration, both illegal and legal, than any administration in history," Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said during a press conference this fall. She touted all the ways the administration has cut off these avenues, including by pausing and revoking visas.

"Having a visa in the United States is not a right. It is a privilege and the secretary of state — if you are deemed contrary to our country's foreign national interests — has the right to revoke that privilege."

A look at canceled programs and permissions

Hours after being inaugurated, Trump signed an executive order slashing a program created by the Biden administration to temporarily allow the entrance of 530,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The decision to end the program was later upheld by the Supreme Court — paving the way for individuals to be eligible for deportation.

Most of the people who entered the U.S. under this humanitarian parole hail from Haiti. Migrants under the program have pushed against the narrative that they are abusing the system.

Temporary protected status, or TPS, provides deportation protection and grants work permits to people from specific countries affected by war, natural disasters, political instability, or any other condition that makes the country unsafe for its nationals to return to. Each country's designation can last six to 18 months at the discretion of the secretary of homeland security.

Since January, the Homeland Security Department has ended TPS for 10 countries. Here is the breakdown, according to DHS, of how many people were affected:

The agency moved forward with ending TPS for about 3,800 Syrians, though that effort is currently stalled in court. Lawsuits have also impacted the termination of Venezuela's TPS designation. While the program has been terminated, certain beneficiaries will keep their TPS through October 2026.

The Trump administration argues that parole programs like TPS are meant to be only temporary. But immigration advocates said that while the government can, and has, ended country-specific designations in the past, it typically must prove that conditions in the country have improved.

Schulte, from FWD.us, points to recent comments from Trump denigrating the situation in countries like Afghanistan and Haiti, and actions against Venezuela, as evidence that the U.S. does not consider these countries particularly improved or stable.

With each cancellation, DHS has offered monetary incentives and a 60 days' notice to leave the country. DHS did not respond to questions about how many people have taken them up on the offer of a $1,000 cash payment.

There are several pending lawsuits challenging the terminations of their TPS, and some people may be able to apply for other avenues for protection against deportation.

Eliminating CBP One, others

Another program that the Trump administration ended earlier this year is CBP One, a mobile app that allowed migrants to make appointments to seek asylum from inside the U.S.

From 2023 to January 2025, more than 936,000 people were allowed in the country. It's unknown exactly how many people entered the U.S. through the app and were still waiting on legal permissions when it was canceled.

In the spring, thousands of migrants who had entered the U.S. through the app and awaited asylum appointments received messages to leave. Many who entered with the app ended up getting detained in courthouses or in their neighborhoods.

Grebi Suárez, a Venezuelan barber who entered the U.S. through CBP One in January right before Trump was inaugurated, told NPR that last week he finally received his work permit and Social Security number.

"But I'm anxious and scared because some of my friends have received emails from the government telling them to self-deport," said Suárez, who was featured on an NPR story last year about his attempts to get to the U.S.

The State Department has also assisted the administration's goals of canceling permissions to be in the U.S. This year, 85,000 visas of all categories, including more than 8,000 student visas, have been revoked, according to a State Department official. That is more than double the number the year before.

DUIs, assaults and theft are some of the top reasons why visas were revoked, together accounting for almost half of the revocations in the past year, the official said in a statement.

"These are people who pose a direct threat to our communities' safety, and we do not want to have them in our country," the official said.

Earlier this month, the administration also moved forward with canceling the Family Reunification Parole of 14,000 people, mostly Central and South Americans. The program sought to make it easier for people with family-based petitions to be permitted to be in the U.S. while their immigration processes played out.

Migrants brace for more cancellations in 2026

Several thousand more migrants are at risk of their programs ending next year.

Other TPS permissions that expire next year are for El Salvador, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. If their programs, along with Ukraine's, get canceled, the U.S. may have no one residing under such a temporary status for the first time since the program was created in 1990.

Ukrainians who came under the Uniting for Ukraine parole program have been concerned their program could be next in line for cancellation. TPS for Ukrainians, which allowed about 100,000 people to enter the U.S., also is set to expire next year unless the administration renews it.

The Trump administration earlier this year paused the Uniting for Ukraine program and later resumed it. The pause affected thousands of Ukrainians, including Viktoriia Panova.

Her work permit expired in February, adding to the anxiety and uncertainty she's felt since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

"Ukrainians, we cannot create any plans for our lives because of this situation," Panova told NPR earlier this year. "We cannot live a full life."

Copyright 2025 NPR

Facing a mountain of lawsuits, California K-12 schools will have a system in place beginning this year to prevent teachers and other staff from sexually abusing students.

A new California law creates an array of measures to educate school staff, beef up reporting requirements and stop teachers credibly accused of abuse from getting jobs at other districts.

The law, Senate Bill 848, goes into effect Jan. 1 and schools must have protocols in place by July. The law applies to all schools, including private schools.

“I’m proud to see this bill move forward. It’s been really personal for me,” state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, the bill’s author, told CalMatters after it passed. “For survivors, this is an important step toward justice.”

Avalanche of lawsuits

The law stems from a previous California law that made it easier for victims to sue school districts and counties. Under AB 218, which went into effect in 2020, victims can file suit until age 40 or even older if they didn’t remember being abused until later in life. That’s led to an avalanche of lawsuits and much greater public awareness of the scope of the problem.

So far, victims have filed more than 1,000 lawsuits against school districts and counties, with some resulting in enormous payouts. A jury in Riverside County in 2023 handed Moreno Valley Unified a $135 million verdict over abuse allegations, and Los Angeles Unified faces more than $500 million in claims.

Overall, California schools face nearly $3 billion in sex abuse claims from former students, according to the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, a state agency that helps school districts with financial matters. Some of the incidents occurred decades ago, as early as the 1940s, and some of the payouts have been so large that they’ve led districts to financial insolvency.

School accountability

While the new law doesn’t address the lawsuits, it does institute measures intended to stop future abuse and hold schools more accountable. It requires schools to write comprehensive policies on appropriate behavior, and train students, teachers, coaches and other school staff on recognizing and reporting misconduct. It also broadens the number of staff who are required to report abuse allegations.

Perhaps the most noteworthy requirement is creating a database of teachers credibly accused of abuse. The database, to be administered by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, will be available to schools during their hiring processes. The aim is to stop teachers who’ve abused students from quitting and getting rehired elsewhere, only to abuse more students. Teachers who’ve been cleared of wrongdoing will be removed from the database.

Pérez, a Democrat from Alhambra, said she was inspired to author the new law after reading about generations of abuse at Rosemead High School, which is in her district. She also told CaMatters that she was the victim of a teacher’s unwanted attention when she was in high school.

“There are now dollars and cents being assigned to these cases,” she said in September. “It’s really opened up this conversation about what can we do to better prevent this abuse from happening.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

After hundreds of meals across Southern California this year, these 12 dishes stand out for me — not just for how they tasted, but for what they revealed about our region.

2025 took me from makeshift taco stands in Vernon to Michelin-starred counters in Little Tokyo, from strip-mall gems in Garden Grove to high-profile chef collaborations in Santa Monica and downtown L.A.

I tasted underappreciated cuisines finally get their due, discovered that some of the most memorable meals cost less than lunch at a chain restaurant, and felt embraced by love as a Long Beach chef turned a dinner into a wildfire fundraiser. What tied it all together? Each dish told a story about who we are as Angelenos — our immigrant roots, our creative spirit, our refusal to choose between honoring tradition and pushing boundaries.

So without further ado, here are my best dishes of 2025.

Aguachile at Mariscos Chiltepín (Vernon)

Aguachile mixto with salsa verde and salsa negra at Mariscos Chiltepín in Vernon. Chef Francisco Leal dusts the fresh shrimp with crushed chiltepín peppers for extra heat.

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In the never-ending quest to find the best mariscos in all of Los Angeles, after a few tips from some trusted colleagues, I found myself at Mariscos Chiltepín, a small makeshift outdoor restaurant run by Francisco Leal, who's from Sinaloa, Mexico. Leal's tenure in Los Angeles began when he helped start Del Mar Osteria, a popular mariscos truck located off La Brea, for which he still consults.

These days, Leal can be found on the streets of Vernon making some of the most memorable aguachiles that I've had in recent memory. I ordered a mixture featuring fresh, opaque shrimp splayed in a circle, bathed in two different salsas on either side, which Leal makes himself. I ordered a salsa verde along with his signature salsa negra, both dusted with crushed bits of chiltepín, a tiny, fiery wild chili pepper that's also Leal's stand's namesake, providing that extra added heat. The salsas are dynamic beyond belief, each with its own distinctive flavor profile that combines sweet, savory and spicy notes, highlighting the integrity of the fresh shrimp and making the dish super memorable.

Roasted duck breast at Backbone (Montrose)

Roasted duck breast with caramelized endive and roasted black figs at Backbone in Montrose.

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I've always been a sucker for a good comeback story when it comes to restaurant vets, especially in places like Los Angeles, where there seems to be endless fascination with the new, best thing.

But what if chefs and restaurateurs used their platforms as jumping-off points to grow and develop into something that recognizes its past while embracing its future? That's the vibe I caught while visiting Backbone, located on North Verdugo Road in the Montrose neighborhood, run by Karen Yoo and Nathan McCall. They were the original owners of McCall's Meat & Fish at its first Los Feliz location before selling it. McCall and Yoo have also spent time cooking in some of the most revered kitchens in the world, including the Michelin-starred Daniel in New York and Arzak in San Sebastián, Spain.

That talent is on full display at this cozy neighborhood bistro, where you can grab a seat at the bar or any one of the tables and still get a good view of the team pulling out all the stops. A standout dish for me was the roasted duck breast, dressed in a buttery golden sauce, served alongside caramelized endive with roasted black figs over a bed of greens. It was both seasonal and timeless, capturing McCall and Yoo's ability to stay as relevant as ever, just in a different era of their careers.

Goat biryani at Jikoni (Culver City)

Goat biryani and sides including kale egusi at Kiano Moju's pop-up Jikoni, which operated at Citizen Public Market in Culver City before the market closed.

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This past year, I had the privilege of hosting the LAist live event series Cookbook Live, in partnership with the James Beard Foundation, where I participated in live cooking demos and conversations.

One of the guests was Kiano Moju. Moju was born in California to African immigrant parents — her mother is Kenyan, and her father is Nigerian. In 2024, she published her cookbook AfriCali.

I got to try some of Moju's cooking at her pop-up Jikoni at the Citizen Public Market in Culver City before it closed earlier this year. When our social media producer, Brandon Killman, and I arrived, Moju informed us that the special of the day was goat biryani. I'm a huge fan of goat protein and love the gamey flavor it adds to each dish, and I always jump at the chance to try it in a way I haven't had before.

The rich flavors from Moju's version didn't disappoint. The same goes for the seemingly endless side dishes she served with it, which included her egusi, a traditional West African dish with cooked-down kale, where the bitterness of the greens and the nutty flavors of the crushed melon seeds came together with the soft bitterness of the roughage.

Jikoni ended right before the Citizen Public Market closed its doors; however, Moju and her team are still popping up around Los Angeles. Follow her on Instagram to see where she'll be next.

Chochoyotes with squash blossoms, roast Petaluma chicken with pepián at Rustic Canyon x Acamaya (Santa Monica)

Chochoyotes with squash blossoms (top) and roast Petaluma chicken with pepián at the Rustic Canyon x ACAMAYA collaboration dinner in Santa Monica.

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Elijah Deleon's work at Rustic Canyon has consistently demonstrated that Mexican cooking doesn't need to compromise its soul to earn fine-dining recognition. For this collaborative dinner at his home base — where he serves as chef de cuisine — Deleon partnered with Chef Ana Castro of Acamaya, the acclaimed New Orleans mariscos restaurant known for blending Mexican traditions with Louisiana Gulf Coast ingredients. Castro brought the same infectious energy to her cooking as she did working the dining room that night, flitting from table to table like a monarch butterfly with plenty of joie de vivre. The result was a multicourse showcase of what happens when Mexican techniques meet California's peak-season abundance.

The chochoyotes course — an ode to Oaxacan cooking made from the masa from Chef Fatima Juarez's KOMAL, the craft molino located in the Mercado de Paloma — made the strongest case: those distinctive thumb-pressed masa dumplings swimming in a vibrant golden-green sauce built from Valdivia Farms squash blossoms, eggplant and habanada peppers (a fruity, floral cousin of a habanero minus the spice). Whole squash blossoms — some bearing delicate char marks — floated alongside the dumplings, their petals still intact and tender. Where traditional preparations might serve chochoyotes in simple broths, the sauce is carefully emulsified to preserve that just-picked vibrancy rather than the heavier, earthier notes of conventional moles.

The roast Petaluma chicken with pepián proved equally revelatory. That ancient pumpkin seed sauce — golden-green and glossy with natural oils from ground pepitas — pooled around perfectly cooked chicken, topped with a tangle of sunflower shoots and edible flowers. Deleon's refined take maintained a distinctive nutty, earthy complexity, while fresh plums added subtle sweetness to the sauce's savory depth. It was the cooking of both chefs that honored its roots while speaking fluently in California's agricultural dialect — precisely the kind of work that defines both Rustic Canyon and Acamaya's overlapping missions.

Gimmari at Kato x Animae (Downtown Los Angeles)

Gimmari, Korean seaweed rolls filled with shrimp, pork and perilla are topped with salmon roe and are meant to be eaten by hand, wrapped in the perilla leaves.

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When Jon Yao and Tara Monsod, two chefs operating at the highest level of Asian American dining, came together for a Sunday Summer Series dinner pairing, it felt inevitable. Both are committed to honoring tradition while refusing to be constrained by it. But it was the opening course that set the tone for everything that followed: gimmari, those humble Korean seaweed-wrapped noodle rolls, reimagined as sleek rectangular packages filled with shrimp, pork and perilla, then crowned with glistening salmon roe.

Served on wooden planks atop fresh perilla leaves, the dish demanded interaction — you wrapped the crispy, glossy nori bundle in the aromatic leaf. You ate it with your hands, almost like a taco, with the ikura bursting against the savory filling. It was refined and playful, luxurious and humble, a perfect synthesis of both chefs' approaches. This wasn't just elevated banchan; it was a thesis statement about what California's Asian diaspora cooking can be when two masters collaborate.

Carnitas at Carnitas Los Gabrieles (downtown Los Angeles)

Michoacán-style carnitas tacos at Carnitas Los Gabrieles in Downtown's Piñata District.

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There's something fitting about a Gabriel (that’s me) finding his way to Carnitas Los Gabrieles in the Piñata District — call it destiny or just good marketing, but either way, it delivered. This is Michoacán-style carnitas done right: all parts of the pig, slow-cooked until they achieve that impossible texture where the meat simultaneously holds its shape and melts the moment it hits your tongue.

Served on freshly made tortillas that were still warm, the carnitas needed nothing more than maybe a squeeze of lime and some salsa to let that pork fat work its magic. Every bite was pure, unapologetic indulgence — the kind of straightforward, technically perfect cooking that reminds you why carnitas remain one of Mexico's greatest gifts to the taco world.

Tasting Menu at Restaurant Ki (Little Tokyo)

Dungeness crab soup with pine mushrooms and fresh noodles made by Keizo Shimamoto at Restaurant Ki in Little Tokyo.

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Chef Ki Kim earned his first Michelin star this year, and one evening at his Little Tokyo counter made it clear why. The $285 multicourse tasting menu is nuanced dining storytelling at its finest — each plate building on the last, taking you on a culinary journey that feels both meticulously crafted and surprisingly intimate. Kim's cooking has a quiet confidence that never announces itself, letting technique and ingredient quality speak without unnecessary flourish.

What sets Restaurant Ki apart from other high-end tasting menus is its approachability. Despite the price point and the precision on display, there's nothing precious or intimidating about the experience. Kim and his staff engage directly with diners from behind the counter, explaining dishes without pretension, making you feel included in the creative process rather than merely observing it. It's the kind of meal that justifies its cost not through luxury ingredients or theatrical presentation, but through thoughtfulness, skill, and genuine hospitality — the markers of a chef who understands that a Michelin star is just the beginning of the conversation.

Makali pita at Sababa Falafel Shop (Garden Grove)

Makali pita at Sababa Falafel Shop in Garden Grove, stuffed with fried eggplant, potato, vegetables, pickles and tahini.

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In the suburban sprawl of Orange County, finding a parking spot in a strip mall lot can be just as challenging as scoring a reservation. Sababa Falafel Shop in Garden Grove has been quietly earning recommendations for years, tucked into one of those spaces that reward the effort. This is the kind of place that does one thing exceptionally well: stuffing impossibly good ingredients into warm, soft pita bread until it can barely contain itself.

The makali pita was a revelation — fried eggplant and potato tumbling together with assorted vegetables, sharp pickles cutting through the richness, all drizzled with creamy tahini that tied everything together. Every bite delivered that perfect contrast of textures: crispy, tender, tangy, smooth. And as the name suggests, their falafel lives up to the shop's reputation, which everyone is given a free sample of before they order — herbaceous, perfectly crispy outside, fluffy within.

Sesame cold noodles at Liu's Cafe (Koreatown)

Sesame cold noodles with chili crisp and chili wontons at Liu's Cafe in Koreatown.

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What if I told you one of my favorite meals in Koreatown this year wasn't actually Korean food, but instead a hybrid Taiwanese and Hong Kong-style cafe with a modern bent? Liu's Cafe is just that place. Walk inside and you might think it's strictly a spot for coffee and tea — which it is — but you'd be missing the point entirely if you didn't explore the lunch menu, particularly the noodles.

The sesame cold noodles with chili crisp sound simple on paper, but that simplicity is exactly what makes them remarkable. Fresh, extra-chewy egg noodles get bathed in house-made sesame sauce and chili oil, topped with crisp cucumber. Each bite builds on the last, reminding you that not everything needs to be elaborate to be exceptional. The chili wontons hit that same sweet spot — spicy, savory, beautifully textured, tasting exactly like the platonic ideal of what the dish should be. Washing it all down with one of their Taiwanese fruit teas over ice added the perfect fruity counterpoint to all that savory heat. I haven't stopped thinking about this place since, and I'm already planning my return.

Afro-Caribbean shrimp dumplings at Si!mon (Venice)

Afro-Caribbean shrimp dumplings in coconut bisque with coconut rice at Si!mon in Venice.

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It was a Monday night and I was on assignment to write about a $27 Panamanian-style lamb neck tamal, so I made a late reservation at Si!mon in Venice — 8:45 p.m., late enough to put my kids to bed first. Chef Jose Olmedo Carles Rojas' restaurant had been on my radar for years, ever since it opened, but I'd only had Panamanian food once before and honestly had no idea what I was in for.

My server didn't need to work too hard to convince me to order beyond the tamal. The Afro-Caribbean shrimp dumplings arrived in a pool of coconut bisque, highlighted with charred scallion oil and fresh herbs — essentially shumai that had taken a tropical vacation. Alongside it, the coconut rice looked unassuming. Still, it delivered some of the most memorable rice I've tasted this year: deeply coconut-forward with crispy, caramelized bits throughout that left me almost at a loss for words. I ended up pacing myself through both dishes, partly to save room but mostly because I wanted to bring some home for my wife to share in the discovery.

Si!mon is a special restaurant, and I'm already ready to go back to soon — hopefully at a more reasonable dining hour.

Crispy smoked lamb belly at Selva (Long Beach)

Crispy smoked lamb belly at Selva in Long Beach. Chef Carlos Jurado, who grew up in Long Beach, blends Colombian influences with techniques learned at Nashville's Husk and Beverly Hills' Bouchon.

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I'd be remiss not to mention a Long Beach restaurant on this list (where I live), especially when Selva remains one of my favorite places in the city. Chef Carlos Jurado has built a reputation as something of a local culinary alchemist, playfully blending Colombian food with influences from the American South (he worked with Sean Brock at Husk in Nashville) and Southern California fine dining (Thomas Keller's Bouchon in Beverly Hills).

The crispy smoked lamb belly exemplifies his approach — similar to pork belly but lighter, with a distinct gamey richness that sets it apart. It arrived over a bed of forbidden black rice, topped with a heap of purple spring onions and a thick triangle of pickled golden beets that cut through the richness with sharp acidity. It's exactly the kind of dish you get from a chef who honors tradition without being bound by it.

Chicken parmesan at Ellie's (Long Beach)

Chicken Parmesan at Ellie's in Long Beach. Chef Jason Witzl turned this dinner service into a fundraiser for those affected by the Eaton fire, asking guests to donate directly to a friend who lost his home rather than paying for their meals.

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The wildfires that hit Los Angeles were felt everywhere throughout the Southland, even all the way down here in Long Beach. When my wife and I were invited to a special dinner at Ellie's — a charming Italian American bistro run by Jason Witzl, blocks from the ocean — we knew we were coming to support our mutual friend Andre Soto, whose house was tragically lost in the Eaton fire. What we didn't realize was what Chef Jason had planned for the evening.

When he came out to address the whole dining room, he announced he wouldn't be charging anyone that night — instead asking guests to donate directly to Andre and his family. There was an audible gasp. Nobody expected that kind of generosity, but the leadership Chef Jason showed that evening, rallying the Long Beach community around a victim of the Altadena fire, made this one of the most important meals I attended all year. The chicken parmesan — deliciously breaded chicken breast blanketed in mozzarella and swimming in bright San Marzano tomato sauce, served with a simple arugula salad — was exactly the kind of comforting, generous food the moment called for. It was a perfect meal to celebrate a friend and support a good cause.

Borrowers have spent much of 2025 trying to keep up with dizzying changes to the federal student loan system.

The Trump administration and Congress are in the process of overhauling everything from how much Americans can borrow to how quickly they have to pay it back.

Here's what to know as we head into a new year:

President Biden's SAVE Plan is ending

The U.S. Department of Education announced in early December that it had reached a proposed settlement agreement to end the popular, yet controversial Biden-era student loan repayment plan known as SAVE.

The Saving on a Valuable Education Plan "was the most affordable, generous and flexible plan for millions of student loan borrowers," says Persis Yu of the liberal advocacy group Protect Borrowers.

But it was so affordable, generous and flexible — with its fast-tracked loan forgiveness and monthly payments as low as $0 for low-income borrowers — that Republican state attorneys general sued the Biden administration for exceeding its authority.

Legal challenges put SAVE borrowers in limbo for months, during which they were not required to make payments on their loans. Interest began accruing in August.

This new agreement, pending court approval, would end the long legal battle by ending SAVE itself.

"The law is clear: if you take out a loan, you must pay it back," Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said in a statement announcing the proposed agreement. "American taxpayers can now rest assured they will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for illegal and irresponsible student loan policies."

Under the agreement, the Education Department would commit to moving the roughly 7 million borrowers still enrolled in SAVE into other repayment plans — though some of those plans are also in flux.

Whether you blame Biden or Republicans for SAVE's downfall, Betsy Mayotte, founder of the Institute of Student Loan Advisors (TISLA), says it puts borrowers in a real bind.

"People that made other financial decisions based on what they thought their payment was gonna be on the SAVE plan — they're in trouble," Mayotte says. "A payment plan has never been challenged in court and has never been pulled out from existing borrowers."

Now, Mayotte says, those roughly 7 million SAVE borrowers will have to change plans and find a way to afford what will likely be higher monthly payments.

Complications for borrowers working toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Liz Kilty, an oncology nurse in Portland, Ore., has been on the SAVE plan from the start.

"As soon as SAVE was an option, I signed up for it," says Kilty, who works in a public hospital and wanted to keep her monthly payments reasonably low on her way toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

Since 2007, PSLF has offered a path for borrowers who work in public service — including teaching, nursing and policing — to have their loan balances erased after 10 years on the job.

Kilty has $36,000 in debt remaining, and 15 payments to go before she can qualify for loan forgiveness.

But SAVE's legal troubles have slowed her down: Since her payments were frozen, so too was any progress she could make toward forgiveness. "I was like, 'Are you kidding me?' Like, 'This is the year I'm going to be done, and this is the year that they're going to screw things up?' I've been waiting a decade [for forgiveness] and now things could go awry, and you're just helpless."

Earlier this month, Kilty applied for the PSLF Buyback, to make her remaining 15 payments in one lump sum and finally qualify to have the remainder forgiven.

One reason PSLF is still an option for Kilty and other borrowers is because it was created by Congress.

The Trump administration doesn't have the authority to stop PSLF — but it has worked to change the rules. Effective July 1, 2026, the department says it will deny loan forgiveness to workers whose government or nonprofit employers engage in activities with a "substantial illegal purpose." The job of defining "substantial illegal purpose" will fall not to the courts but to the education secretary.

In November, the cities of Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Albuquerque, N.M., sued the Trump administration over those PSLF changes.

The complaint argued that a city or county government's resistance to the administration's immigration actions, for example, could lead the secretary to exclude that government's public workers — including a local nurse, like Kilty — from loan forgiveness.

Repayment plans are changing 

SAVE aside, trying to change repayment plans in 2026 is about to get weird.

That's because, in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), Republicans also decided to gradually shut down two other popular, more affordable plans: Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE). Both base payments on a borrower's income, and both will end in mid-2028.

Current borrowers can still, technically, enroll in these plans – for now. Another income-adjusted plan to consider — one that's not going anywhere — is Income-Based Repayment (IBR).

You can find a handy list of all of these plans and compare your monthly payments on the Education Department's Loan Simulator.

Congress also used the OBBBA to create two new repayment plans, beginning on July 1, 2026, that, for new borrowers, will replace all of the current options.

1. The standard plan

Under this new standard plan, new borrowers would agree to a repayment window between 10 and 25 years, depending on the size of their debt, with what they owe being divided up, along with interest, into equal monthly payments, like a home mortgage.

Under this plan, borrowers with larger debts would qualify for a longer repayment period.

2. The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) 

For borrowers worried they don't earn enough to cover the standard plan's rigid monthly payments, Republicans created the RAP for future and current borrowers alike.

Payments would, for the most part, be based on borrowers' total adjusted gross income (AGI), and the department will waive any interest that is left after a borrower makes their monthly payment. The result: Borrowers in good standing will no longer see their loans grow.

In fact, Republicans want to make sure borrowers see their balances go down every month. For those whose monthly payments are less than $50, the government would match whatever they do pay and apply it toward the principal.

While other plans offer forgiveness of remaining debts after 20 or 25 years, the RAP would delay that to 30 years. That's a big difference, says Preston Cooper, who studies student loan policy at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

Borrowers with typical levels of debt "and typical incomes for their degree level are almost always gonna pay off well before they hit that 30-year mark," Cooper says. "So if you're going into RAP, I wouldn't be thinking about forgiveness because you're probably gonna pay it off."

Beginning July 1, 2026, new loans will be subject to new borrowing limits

We've covered big changes to repayment, but there are also big changes to how much graduate students can borrow in the first place. (Undergraduates won't see any changes.)

New limits will make it harder for lower- and middle-income borrowers to attend pricier graduate schools. Republicans are shutting down the current grad PLUS program, which allows students to borrow up to the cost of their degree.

"Colleges could simply raise the price, pass the cost on to students, and the federal government would be required to write a check through the federal student loan program, " Cooper says. "That system was completely untenable, and I very much understand why Congress elected to end it." 

After July 1, grad students' borrowing will be capped at $20,500 a year. Ideally, Cooper says, this will push some schools to lower their prices.

Until they do, though, Persis Yu, with Protect Borrowers, says many students will face a serious funding gap between their federal loans and the actual cost of graduate school.

"Students are gonna have to make up that gap with some other type of funding," Yu says, "and many students are gonna have to turn to the private student loan market."

Mayotte, at TISLA, says she thinks some schools will abandon certain degree programs.

"I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach when this law went through because I don't think it's gonna lower the cost of education like members of Congress think that it might," Mayotte says.

Borrowers working toward a professional graduate degree (think medicine or law) will have their borrowing capped at $50,000 a year.

Parents and caregivers who use parent PLUS loans to help students pay for college will also see new loan limits. They will be capped at $65,000 per child.

"The precipice of a default cliff"

Amidst all this change, data shows that millions of borrowers are struggling to keep up with their payments.

Preston Cooper at AEI recently published an analysis of the latest federal student loan data, and the results were sobering: 5.5 million borrowers in default, another 3.7 million more than 270 days late on their payments and 2.7 million in the early stages of delinquency.

"We've got about 12 million borrowers right now who are either delinquent on their loans or in default," Cooper says.

That's more than 1 in 4 federal student loan borrowers – a crisis raising bipartisan alarm.

Persis Yu, of Protect Borrowers, warns America is at "the precipice of a default cliff."

Mayotte adds, "I really do think we're headed for historic default rates, for a while."

And so, heading into 2026, the big question hanging over the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans is: Can all the changes they've made help bring these borrowers back into good standing? Or will the default numbers snowball into an avalanche?

Copyright 2025 NPR

The LAist newsroom rose to challenge after challenge throughout 2025:’

• When devastating fires hit Southern California in January, our reporters worked around-the-clock to bring life-saving news to people on our website and airwaves — even as colleagues lost homes and our headquarters was inundated by ash and smoke.
• As people took to the streets to protest ICE raids in L.A., our reporters were there again — to explain what we did and didn’t know.
• Over the course of this year, LAist delivered more accountability investigations than ever before and we invested in stories that explored L.A. and Orange County, to bring you a break from what has felt like a relentless news cycle.

As we look back on another year, I asked editors, reporters, producers and hosts to share the stories that stood out to them — and why. I hope you spot some stories that stuck with you, and have the time to explore others you missed.

I’m enormously proud of my team and their dedication to serving Southern Californians. And for readers who already support our independent nonprofit newsroom with financial contributions: Thank you. None of this would be possible without you.

— Megan Garvey | SVP of News, Editor-in-Chief

The fires and their aftermath

Jan. 9, 2025
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— Rene Lynch, editor

Jan. 11, 2025
I was able to get a real estate agent on the record saying she encouraged her client to put her second home up for rent at an elevated price days after the fires because "people are desperate."
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Jan. 21, 2025
This segment gave listeners a more clear and concrete vision for what the next year would be like for those who survived the fires and were on track to rebuild. It provided some hope amongst the chaos that rebuilding was possible.
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Feb. 7, 2025
When I heard the story of how Cupcake, the class pet, survived the Eaton Fire at Pasadena's Don Benito Elementary School, I needed to know how. The answer is a reflection of how a tight-knit community has weathered one of the region's worst natural disasters and what support students will need as they continue to recover.
— Mariana Dale

Feb. 26, 2025
For months, I have been fascinated by the landslide in my own backyard, watching as some homes literally split in two. This story let me go back in time to understand how development and policies of the past are affecting people's lives today and what that means for the future of some of SoCal's prime real estate.
— Yusra Farzan

Feb. 26, 2025
This was a good get, coupled with Frank Stoltze's skill at explaining complex/esoteric topics in ways that are accessible to a broad audience.
— Dana Littlefield, editor

April 3, 2025
California firefighting agencies regularly drop more fire retardant than water when fighting fires throughout the state. However, Cal Fire, the US Forest Service and Perimeter Solutions all refused to tell LAist whether that retardant also contained heavy metals. So, we went out, gathered some on our own and had it tested by researchers at USC. The results may point to one of the reasons why we so often see elevated levels of heavy metals in runoff when rains fall on a recently burned area.
— Jacob Margolis

May 6, 2025
This was a long booking process, but we got the CEO of Edison on AirTalk right when the company was beginning to align with the likelihood the Eaton Fire was their doing.
— Nic Perez

July 14, 2025
I obtained 911 calls via a records request from the home of two victims of the Eaton Fire to better understand how people with disabilities were left behind. The story has been cited by a state commission and used in trainings for emergency managers since.
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Oct. 20, 2025
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Oct. 23, 2025
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Oct. 31, 2025
A great example of pre-planning the social as the story was being reported. Joshua Letona was able to go with Aaron Schrank to film these and have a complementary video package ready to publish the same day as the in-depth story.
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Oct. 16, 2025
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Holding officials to account

March 28, 2025
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May 6, 2025
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May 22, 2025
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June 9, 2025
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Sept. 2, 2025
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— Destiny Torres

Sept. 10, 2025
This story is quintessential watchdog reporting. We covered protests against federal immigration action as they happened, then stepped back to provide deep reporting context. Our analysis highlighted key gaps in California's laws regarding police use of force.
— Jared Bennett, editor on work by Kahani Malhotra

Sept. 17, 2025
A strong example of watchdog reporting with a close eye for details. Jordan Rynning spotted this item in a public meeting and followed through. The story had immediate impact: Mayor Karen Bass agreed to convene the relevant departments to work toward a solution.
— Jared Bennett, editor

Nov. 6, 2025
This story lays out the city's unlimited financial exposure as host city for the 2028 Olympic Games and runs through the risks, which are being downplayed by L.A.'s city officials.
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Nov. 19, 2025
Sometimes government agencies don't answer questions adequately or outright ignore journalists' requests. This story shows how sometimes the information you're after is hiding in plain sight.
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Dec. 9, 2025
Aaron Schrank's thorough reporting allowed him to tell the tale of what happened step by step. He reviewed about 70 emergency plans from residential care facilities so he could accurately explain where the deficiencies were.
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Navigating life in Southern California

April 1, 2025
Larry Mantle is a legend in L.A. journalism for good reason. For the entire 40 years that he’s had a daily radio show in the nation’s second largest market, his approach has been steadfast. While much of the industry moved to a style where the loudest voice in the room wins the day, Larry has continued to make space for context, nuance and civility on topics ranging from intractable world problems to memories of lost music venues in Southern California.
— Megan Garvey, editor

April 9, 2025
Neighborhood council elections don't have great participation in general, but we were the only local news outlet that seemed to have noticed the steep and continuous 10-year decline in voter participation across these elections.
— Brianna Lee

April 28, 2025
This story was an example of the city's short-sightedness and the challenges working parents face in Los Angeles. It also laid bare the city's priorities when child care centers were cut in the new budget.
— Libby Rainey

April 30, 2025
Parents say the process to choose a public school is bewildering. School Game Plan addresses families' top questions in a series of guides. We forged a new partnership with the LA Public Library to distribute 7,000 print editions.
— Mariana Dale

June 27, 2025
This was an in-depth look at a really intriguing and promising idea for involving residents in solving community problems. It offers readers a glimpse of what a different kind of civic participation can look like.
— Brianna Lee

June 27, 2025
Co-reported with CalMatters, this story coupled public records analysis with shoe-leather reporting to explore enforcement in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Grant’s Pass decision. We reported LAPD made 68% more camping arrests in the second half of 2024 than the first.
— Aaron Schrank

Nov. 11, 2025
The education team spent quality time in the field to reveal what goes on inside TK classrooms, leading to a series of insightful stories and a delightful pinwheel radio feature.
— Julia Barajas, Mariana Dale, Elly Yu

Nov. 24, 2025
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— Elly Yu

Immigration

June 10, 2025
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— Mark Betancourt, Julia Barajas

June 13, 2025
This summer, families risked racial profiling and separation to attend high school graduations. At Maywood High, the salutatorian said marching in protest of the raids was one of her proudest moments.
— Julia Barajas & Mariana Dale

July 23, 2025
This story features an AI-generated version of a corrido (ballad) and draws parallels between the mass deportation of Mexican descent people in the 1930s and what's happening now.
— Julia Barajas

Aug. 5, 2025
Luis Valentan, founder of a nationally known day laborer radio show, moves back to Mexico with his U.S.-born family. Valentan described the difficult decision-making that led to them leaving their longtime home.
— Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

Oct. 3, 2025
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— Jordan Rynning

Oct. 9, 2025
It took months to develop sources in order to tell this story. It has since sparked a new policy at county hospitals designed to protect immigrant patients' rights.
— Jill Replogle

Exploring L.A. and beyond

March 13, 2025
Coverage of Ramadan tends to focus on the spiritual aspect. But for a different take, I got to do a fun piece looking at how Muslims come together during the nights to socialize and shop.
— Yusra Farzan

March 21, 2025
It became one of my most meaningful stories of the year. What made it special was the rare chance to write about a home-cooked meal where hospitality and heritage mattered most.
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March 28, 2025
When one of Jackie and Shadow’s chicks died, I wanted to explore how fans were handling the loss. I loved being able to connect with teachers across the country while taking home life lessons about grief.
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May 18, 2025
One of the first stories where I was able to spend the entire day out in the field on my own. It was a nice road trip and an honor to catch the "lilac legend" Gary Parton at the end of his second career.
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May 27, 2025
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July 24, 2025
Everyone we talked to for this story was so fun and interesting. They are serious about their hobby, and we got some great responses, including a reader who offered "kudos and hurrahs."
— Monica Bushman and Antonia Cereijido

Aug. 30, 2025
I was drawn to telling the mural's story because its message of identity based on working-class solidarity with people of other races and ethnicities is just as relevant now as when it was newly painted.
— Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

Nov. 1, 2025
Came out from a callout where people shared memories of their loved ones. The feedback was people thanking us for creating the space for them to do that.
— David Rodriguez and Gillian Morán Pérez

Nov. 14, 2025
It was fun & challenging to write. I wanted to juxtapose my experience first tasting this snack with the (re)discovery of it in the SGV. I think I landed it.
— Fiona Ng

Dec. 4, 2025
In L.A., it can feel like music venues are closing more than they're opening. Sid the Cat's new venue bucks that trend and features lots of nuggets of music and local history.
— Kevin Tidmarsh