One recent day at Miami’s international airport, Andy, age 6, was getting ready to fly to Guatemala. He was anxious, this was no year-end vacation to visit his relatives.Andy was moving to his ancestral country to reunite with his father, recently deported as part of President Donald Trump’s aggressive policy to expel undocumented migrants.”They took my brother and I’ve had to take care of the little one,” said Osvaldo, Andy’s uncle who brought him to the airport but was not getting on the plane with him.Andy was making the trip with six other children aged 3 to 15 — three of them US citizens, the others Guatemalans who grew up in Florida. They were all moving to a country where they either had never been, or one which they barely remembered.The sprawling city of Miami on Florida’s east coast is about 70 percent Hispanic, and often called the Gateway to Latin America.Across the United States, cities with large immigrant communities are primary targets of Trump’s virulent anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric.Trump’s administration has deployed heavily armed and masked enforcement agents and onlookers have filmed them in various cities tackling people in the street or dragging them from cars.- ‘I worry about the child’ -Born in the United States, Andy is a US citizen. Until November, he lived with his father Adiner, who had been in Florida for a decade. His mother hasn’t been in his life since the parents separated.One day, when Andy’s father came to pick him up from school, a police officer stopped him. He had neither a visa nor a residency permit.Andy — who wore a backpack and a little cross necklace for the flight to Guatemala City — was happy about being reunited with his father but also “a little nervous” about the trip, said Osvaldo, who did not want his full name published for fear of arrest.”I keep thinking about my brother, about why they nabbed him. And I also worry about the child,” he said.The trip was organized by the Guatemalan-Maya Center, a nonprofit group serving “uprooted children and families” in the Miami area. Mariana Blanco, its director of operations, circulated among the children, checking they had everything needed for the trip.She pointed out Franklin, 3, and his 6-year-old brother Garibaldi, both US citizens. The younger boy wore a Spider Man hoodie, a dinosaur backpack, and an anxious expression.Like Andy, they were travelling to reunite with their deported father, because their mother works long hours in Miami and fears she too will be arrested. – ‘Trampling on children’s rights’ -Two volunteers with the Guatemalan-Maya Center were accompanying the children on the trip.One of them, Diego Serrato, accused the Trump administration of racism and “trampling on children’s rights.” “It’s sad to see worry and fear on their little faces instead of the smiles they should have,” Serrato said.The group also included Mariela, 11, traveling to live with her mother because her father fears arrest; Alexis, 11, who had to stay for a few days with an aunt he’d never met after his father was arrested; and Enrique, 13, about to see his mother for the first time in eight years after his father ended up in an ICE lockup.”No one should go through that, especially not a child,” said Blanco.The children, all of them Mayan, would have to adapt to life in Guatemala, where their families primarily live in impoverished rural areas, Blanco said. Most of the older ones would have to start working because middle school and high school in Guatemala come with expenses that their parents cannot cover, she added. As the group headed towards customs, Andy suddenly turned, hugged his uncle Osvaldo tightly, before rejoining the other children.

As millions of Americans brace for soaring health care costs, President Donald Trump is confronting an open rupture inside his own party that lawmakers fear could haunt Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections.US patients already face among the highest medical bills in the world, spending more than twice as much on average as people in other wealthy nations, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).The latest flashpoint is the year-end expiration of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that help cash-strapped families buy health insurance — a deadline that has laid bare a widening gulf between Trump’s blue-collar coalition and establishment Republicans determined to let the aid lapse.Fiercely opposed to anything resembling support for the ACA — a law nicknamed “Obamacare” for its architect, Democratic former president Barack Obama — Republican leaders insist the subsidies must end on December 31.Trump, whose handling of health care is deeply underwater in public polling, sought to project flexibility in remarks late Thursday, offering to work with Democrats on a long-term fix.But the overture sits uneasily alongside his longstanding opposition to Obamacare and his resistance to extending subsidies — which Republicans argue would further entrench a law they have spent more than a decade trying to dismantle.Tensions burst into the open earlier Thursday when four Republican senators crossed party lines to back an ultimately unsuccessful Democratic bill extending the subsidies for three years.- ‘Under pressure’ -“I hope the message is, ‘We need to do something here,'” Missouri Senator Josh Hawley said, according to The Hill, after voting to advance the Democratic proposal. “We’re all under pressure.”If Congress fails to act in the coming days, insurance costs are expected to spike for roughly 22 million Americans receiving enhanced ACA tax credits.KFF, a health policy research group, projects that they could see their monthly payments more than double, while overall marketplace premiums would rise by an average of 26 percent.The anxiety is spilling into the House, where up to two dozen swing‑district Republicans are openly defying Speaker Mike Johnson by joining Democrats on so-called “discharge petitions” to force votes on reviving the government aid.The rebellion reflects growing fear among frontline lawmakers that allowing premiums to spike on Trump’s watch could hand Democrats a potent campaign weapon.Johnson has made clear he opposes rank-and-file maneuvers to bypass leadership, but moderates warn that rigid party orthodoxy could cost them their seats — and ultimately imperil Trump’s already thin House majority.- Open to talks -Republican leaders, long unable to forge consensus on how America should fund treatment for its sick and infirm, released their own health care funding proposals on Friday, limited to measures they believe have broad support in the party.Slated for a vote next week, the text excludes language extending the expiring Obamacare subsidies, though lawmakers will be allowed a vote on an amendment to keep the aid in place — an effort party leaders expect to fail.Democrats say they’re open to talks on any initiative making health care more affordable but skeptical of Republican resolve.For Trump, the fight carries enormous political risk. Polls show health care as his weakest issue, with his approval — even among Republicans — lagging as voters fault Washington for failing to rein in costs.It is a rare policy arena in which the billionaire’s grip on his party appears to be slipping.Back an extension of a law he once vowed to repeal, or allow premiums to soar in an election year? Either path risks alienating voters, and Republicans across Capitol Hill are signaling they want clear leadership from the president.”House Democrats remain ready, willing and able to sit down with our Republican colleagues anytime, anyplace and anywhere in order to enact a bipartisan agreement,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Friday. “But Republicans continue to pursue a my-way-or-the-highway approach, which has gotten them nowhere this year.”

A United Airlines Boeing 777 bound for Tokyo had to turn back to Washington’s Dulles International Airport on Saturday after an engine failed and a brush fire ignited near the runway, officials said.  No injuries were reported among the 275 passengers and 15 crew members aboard the wide-bodied jet, which had to make an emergency landing after losing power in one of its twin engines and having to dump fuel.”Shortly after takeoff, United Flight 803 returned to Washington Dulles and landed safely to address a power loss issue with one of its engines,” the airline said.United was arranging to put the passengers on a different flight to Haneda scheduled for later Saturday.The engine failed as the 777-200ER departed for Tokyo’s Haneda Airport at around 12:20 pm (1720 GMT) Saturday, sources told AFP. “United flight 803 ignited some brush around the runway as it was departing Dulles Airport. The fire was extinguished and the flight returned to Dulles, landing safely at about 1:30 pm, when it was checked by airport fire responders,” an airport spokesperson said.According to the official, the affected runway had to be closed for a short time, “but Dulles has multiple runways and other flight operations were not impacted.”The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the aircraft had to turn back to Dulles after experiencing an engine failure during departure, and that the agency would investigate.   In a message to AFP, the National Transportation Safety Board said it was gathering information about the incident.Aircraft manufacturer Boeing referred questions to United Airlines. According to reports cited by the specialist site AirLive, one of the aircraft’s engines caught fire at the time of takeoff, sparking the flames along the edge of the runway.”Following the incident, the aircraft was observed maneuvering over the Fredericksburg (Virginia) area to dump fuel, a critical safety procedure used to reduce the plane’s weight to a safe level before attempting an emergency landing,” the website said.According to registration information provided by the site, the 777 in Saturday’s incident was delivered in November 1998 to Continental Airlines, which was later absorbed in a corporate takeover by United Airlines. The plane is equipped with two General Electric engines — now known as GE Aerospace.