Xi arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday arrived in Kazan, the capital city of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, to attend the 16th BRICS Summit, at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Xi is set to attend small- and large-group leaders' meetings and the BRICS Plus leaders' dialogue, and will deliver important speeches. Xi will also have in-depth exchanges with other state leaders on the current international situation, practical BRICS cooperation, the development of the BRICS mechanism and other important issues of common concern.

Xi's entourage, including Cai Qi, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau and director of the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and foreign minister, arrived on the same plane.

This summit, scheduled for Tuesday to Thursday, is the first to be held after the expansion of the BRICS organization earlier this year.

BRICS is the acronym for an emerging-market cooperative mechanism that initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. In January, it expanded its membership to include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Ethiopia.

Xi arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit

Xi arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit

Xi arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit

Xi arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit

Xi arrives in Russia's Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to invest 38.3 billion U.S. dollars as to the end of 2026 to purchase and renovate additional detention facilities for undocumented immigrants, amid a sharp rise in arrests over the past year.

According to the ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative released Friday by the office of Kelly Ayotte, governor of the U.S. state of New Hampshire, ICE intends to buy 16 buildings and convert them into small-scale detention centers to expand custody capacity. The facilities are expected to be put into use by November, 2026.

Each facility would accommodate between 1,000 and 1,500 people, with an average detention period of three to seven days.

Meanwhile, the document says that the ICE also plans to establish eight large-scale detention centers, each capable of holding 7,000 to 10,000 detainees, with an average detention duration of about 60 days.

The document points out that the ICE is to recruit 12,000 additional law enforcement personnel for a potential surge in arrests and consequently, increased demand for detention facilities.

U.S. government data shows that the number of individuals detained by ICE has increased by approximately 74 percent since the current U.S. administration assumed office in January 2025.

ICE to invest 38.3 bln USD for new detention centers