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First Thing: Number of people in ICE detention hits record high

Good morning.

The number of people in immigration detention in the US has hit an all-time high, according to data published by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The data, released every two weeks, show that as of 14 December 2025, ICE held more than 68,400 people.

This many people in immigration detention is a new record, breaking the previous high set at the beginning of December. In total, the administration has arrested more than 328,000 and deported nearly 327,000.

What are the demographics of people the administration is targeting for deportation? In one of the biggest changes in immigration enforcement policies, immigrants with no criminal record continue to make up the largest group in US immigration detention, despite the administration’s rhetoric about focusing its anti-immigration efforts on “the worst of the worst” criminals. (Being undocumented in the US is a civil not a criminal infraction.)
How are ordinary people fighting back? As Trump carries out his mass deportation operation, Julia Carrie Wong reports on how residents are banding together to block raids and distribute groceries.

Trump complains Epstein files are damaging people who ‘innocently met’ him

Protesters demanding Donald Trump release unredacted Epstein files in September.

Donald Trump has broken his silence on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, complaining that people who “innocently met” the convicted paedophile could have their reputations destroyed.

In his first comments since the justice department began releasing the materials on Friday, the president on Monday expressed sympathy for prominent Democrats who have come under renewed scrutiny over their associations with Epstein.

What did Trump say about Clinton? “I like Bill Clinton,” Trump said after he featured prominently in Friday’s cache of photos. “I hate to see photos come out of him but this is what the Democrats – mostly Democrats and a couple of bad Republicans – are asking for, so they’re giving their photos of me too.”
Meanwhile, what’s happening on the Hill? The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, said yesterday he will introduce a resolution directing the Senate to take legal action against the justice department – over its incomplete release of files.

Russia and China pledge support for Venezuela as Trump ratchets up pressure on Maduro

Footage shows US forces seizing second oil tanker off Venezuela – video

China and Russia have expressed support for Venezuela as it confronts a US blockade of sanctioned oil tankers, while Donald Trump continues to ramp up his pressure campaign on the South American country’s president, Nicolás Maduro.

China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that the seizure of another country’s ships was a serious violation of international law, after the US intercepted a China-bound oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast on Saturday.

What has Trump said about forcing Maduro to relinquish power? Trump told reporters: “I think it’d be smart for him to do that,” before adding “if he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’s ever able to play tough.”

In other news …

Donald Trump announces the navy’s ‘Golden Fleet’, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday.

President Donald Trump has announced plans for the US navy to build a new generation of warships to be known as “Trump-class”. The project will begin with construction of two such battleships and eventually be expanded to 20 to 25 new vessels.
A Russian general was killed after an explosive device detonated beneath his car in Moscow, which Russia described as a likely assassination carried out by Ukrainian intelligence services.
The prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland have demanded respect for their borders, after Donald Trump appointed a special envoy to the largely self-governing Danish territory, which he has said repeatedly should be under US control.
A coalition of Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit yesterday seeking to prevent Donald Trump’s administration from defunding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying the administration’s actions violate the constitution’s principle of separation of powers.

Stat of the day: Larry Ellison said he agreed to $40.4bn personal guarantee for Paramount’s bid to take over Warner Bros Discovery

Larry Ellison at the White House in DC on 21 January.

On Monday, the tech billionaire Larry Ellison, the co-founder of tech giant Oracle who is worth about $250bn, said he had agreed to personally backstop $40.4bn in equity financing for Paramount Skydance’s fight to gain control of Warner Bros Discovery. WBD, however, urged shareholders to reject a $108.4bn hostile takeover bid from Paramount – which is controlled by the Ellisons – last week, favoring a sale to Netflix after agreeing a deal worth $82.7bn.

Culture pick: The Night Manager is back soon – and it’s even steamier

Tom Hiddleston in season two of The Night Manager.

After a decade away, Tom Hiddleston is going undercover again as Jonathan Pine and this time he’s getting into an explosive, sexually fluid power threesome. The series has been co-produced by Amazon and travels to Egypt, Barcelona, Miami and Medellín in the opening two episodes. “I’d always hoped I might return to the role,” Hiddleston says.

Don’t miss this: Bethlehem is celebrating Christmas again for the first time in three years – podcast

People taking photos last week among Christmas decorations in Bethlehem’

This December, Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, turned on its Christmas lights for the first time in three years. Since the outbreak of war in Gaza, which health officials say has killed more than 70,000 Palestinian people, the town associated with the nativity has featured no Christmas festivities. Pastor Munther Isaac tells Today in Focus about Christmas returning to his hometown.

… or this: The best of the long read in 2025

Our 20 favourite pieces of in-depth reporting, essays and profiles from the year.

Over the holidays, check out the top 20 pieces from the Guardian long read. Such as Sophie Pinkham on the mysterious novelist who foresaw Putin’s Russia, then came to symbolise its moral decay. Or Atul Dev on life in the sinking nation of Tuvalu. Or Mark O’Connell’s longform profile of MrBeast, “the Mozart of the attention economy”.

Climate check: One dead in California floods as state braces for brutal week of Christmas storms

Dekoda Cruz walks through flood water in Redding, California on Monday.

One person has died after becoming stranded in their vehicle amid heavy flooding, said authorities in Redding, California. Residents across the state are bracing for a week of brutal storms that are predicted to bring extensive rainfall and floods throughout the holiday weekend. Southern California could face its biggest Christmas storm in years, which comes after the wettest November for Los Angeles in decades.

Last Thing: Fairer laws passed, polluting factories shuttered, charges against innocent people dropped – how our US reporting made change in 2025

The Guardian celebrated many US wins this year.

It was a year of impactful reporting for the Guardian US. For instance, after a Guardian report, the Trump administration was sued by 50 leading organizations for retreating on human trafficking and child exploitation. And there was the Major League Soccer executive who was placed on administrative leave after an investigation into claims of sexist, racist and homophobic behavior. And Israel was blocked from using Microsoft software for mass surveillance of Palestinians after a report. Read more here.

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