LOCALIZE IT: Trump's immigration crackdown is detaining dozens of U.S. troops' parents and spouses

EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:

President Donald Trump’s administration has detained dozens of parents and spouses of active-duty U.S. troops as it rolls back immigration protections for military families to pursue its mass deportation agenda, an Associated Press investigation found.

More than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty service members have been detained since Trump took office for a second term, and at least six have been deported and one self-deported, the AP found in the first accounting of such detentions, which the government does not track. At least eight immediate family members of U.S. service members remain in federal immigration custody.

Immediate family members of U.S. troops have generally not been targeted for immigration enforcement due to the longstanding bipartisan consensus that doing so undermines military preparedness. But a federal policy, implemented in April 2025, states that “military service alone does not exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws.”

The AP found troops' family members are now being routinely detained for months as they seek to adjust their legal status through the policies available to service members' close relatives, even as the military continues to recruit by advertising immigration benefits for enlistees' families. Though the U.S. is at war in Iran, service members have had to take leave of their duties, including delaying deployment, to take care of their young children after their spouses were detained.

Military veterans and their family members, who have also received immigration benefits, are also being detained and deported.

There are likely many more people affected than those that come up in AP's coverage making this a good opportunity for local reporting.

READ AP’S COVERAGE

AP Exclusive: Trump’s immigration crackdown has detained more than 50 military spouses and parents

Takeaways from AP’s review of military families detained under Trump’s immigration crackdown

FINDING MILITARY MEMBERS WITH DETAINED FAMILY MEMBERS

— Military service members often post about detained family members on social media or on fundraising sites like GoFundMe and using key term searches and Google alerts can help you learn of emerging cases.

— You can also often find new cases by searching court filings, such as habeas petitions. While habeas petitions generally must be viewed in-person in federal court, it is possible to find many through Habeas Dockets, a project run by the Immigration Justice Transparency Initiative which scans and uploads the petitions. You can search for key terms like “active-duty”, “military parole-in-place” or “veteran” to identify possible cases of military service members’ families being detained.

— Many cases of detention or deportation of military family members will not appear in habeas filings or other court documents, meaning the only way to find cases in your area may be from local immigration attorneys, nonprofits providing legal support or groups that support veterans and military families. Often, they are the first to learn of new cases and can help make introductions and convince families to speak with media. DHS is not providing data on these situations, so it's worth reporting even one case in your area.

CONSIDERATIONS FOR USING PACER AT COURTHOUSE TERMINALS

— There are 94 such courts with computers that the public can use to search an unfiltered version of PACER. Journalists can pull up filings from immigrant detainees by selecting “463 (Habeas Corpus - Alien Detainee)” from the “Nature of Suit” dropdown, then either read through them on the spot or print out the documents, typically at a cost of 10 cents per page.

— It isn’t just immigrant detainees who file habeas corpus cases. To ensure you’re looking at cases filed by immigrants, select “463 (Habeas Corpus - Alien Detainee)” from the “Nature of Suit” menu. There may be more under codes like “460 (Deportation)” or “530 (Habeas Corpus (General))” but most will be “463.”

— Some states have more than one federal district court. The case filings will only be available at the district court where it was filed. For example, Iowa has two federal district courts, the Northern District of Iowa and the Southern District of Iowa. Records filed in the Northern District will only be accessible at the Northern District terminals.

— Filings in immigration-related habeas corpus cases often contain detainees’ Alien Number, or A-Number, which can be helpful for requesting interviews or connecting with them through online platforms used for people behind bars.

— Massachusetts is an exception in that the federal district court there allows habeas corpus records to go online 30 days after filing.

CONSIDER THESE REPORTING THREADS

— Some people are being detained in or near military bases. What role are local military installations and officials playing in assisting federal immigration authorities with detaining U.S. troops' family members?

— To what extent are congressional leaders and elected officials, including GOP officials who may be generally supportive of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, advocating publicly or behind-the-scenes for military family members?

— How are military recruiters in your area advertising immigration benefits to enlistees and their families? Check out their social media profiles and presentations to see how they are framing the protections that military service affords to immediate family members. You can often find their Instagram profiles by searching for profiles that start with an abbreviation of the military ranks common to recruiters, such as sergeant “SGT”, staff sergeant “SSG" or sergeant first class “SFC."

— How has the detention of a family member disrupted a military service member's life? Were they scheduled for deployment? Was the detained family member listed as a caretaker? Has the service member had to take leave of their duties to deal with the legal matters surrounding a loved one's detention?

— When speaking with military service members whose relatives have been detained, ask them what they were told by recruiters about the immigration benefits and protections available to their families after they enlisted.

—Also see if the detained individual qualified for any of the immigration benefits and protections available for military service members and their families. Ask families and their attorneys about whether they had applied for military parole-in-place, one of the policies available to relatives of service members that allows them to remain in the country to adjust their legal status. The administration is detaining families even when they have already received parole or have pending applications.

— What support, if any, did military officials provide to a service member who had a family member detained? Many service members whose family members were detained have said they struggled to get support or access to legal resources from military officials and institutions.

— Make sure to ask the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for comment on a detained family members' immigration and criminal history (before you reach out, it's useful to have the person's date of birth and nationality to ensure DHS can provide a proper response). But also apply due diligence — if DHS says the person had a removal order, that does not necessarily mean they had to be detained or deported. Some individuals may have received the order as a child after not being notified of a court hearing and are in the process of seeking to re-open their cases. Make sure to report out the full context by following up with families and their attorneys about how DHS characterizes cases.

Localize It is a resource produced regularly by The Associated Press for its customers’ use. Questions can be directed to the Local News Success team at localizeit@ap.org. View guides published in the last 30 days here.

Army Sgt. Hedar Leonel Turcios Juarez, whose wife Cristy has been detained by immigration authorities, poses for a photo at home in El Paso, Texas, July 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ryan Romero)

President Donald Trump has been extolling his economic accomplishments on social media and at events like a rally at a Las Vegas resort Wednesday. He touts recent record stock market highs and claims a boom in hiring, manufacturing and investment. Some of the claims are clearly true, some exaggerated, some unclear.

Ahead of Nov. 3 midterm that will determine whether Trump's Republican Party will retain full control of Congress, voters are frustrated with the economy and the high cost of living.

Only 32% of U.S. adults approved of Trump’s handling of the economy in an AP-NORC poll conducted in late July. The same poll found that 69% of Americans characterized the economy as “poor.'' Many said the cost of everyday essentials like groceries and gas was a “major” source of stress in their lives.

Here's a look at the facts.

TRUMP: “More Americans are working in the United States right now than at any point in the history of our country.”

THE FACTS: True, but this needs context. The economy adds jobs most months, so U.S. payrolls are constantly hitting new highs. Jobs have increased in the United States 65 of the last 80 years. In June, the United States had nearly 159 million jobs (not including farm workers). And that was, in fact, a record. If Friday’s July jobs report shows another uptick, as expected, U.S. payrolls will hit another high.

In Trump’s second term, however, job growth has slowed considerably. Last year, companies, government agencies and nonprofits added just 9,700 jobs a month – the weakest hiring outside a recession since 2002. So far this year, they’ve been creating 92,000 jobs a month, considerably better but unimpressive by historical standards.

During President Joe Biden’s four years in office, employers added an average of nearly 329,000 jobs a month. Those totals were inflated by a record-breaking hiring surge in 2021 and 2022 that followed the end of COVID-19 lockdowns. But even in Biden’s last two years — 2023 and 2024 — job growth averaged 166,000 a month.

High interest rates, Trump’s own immigration crackdown and the ongoing retirement of Baby Boomers are contributing to lower job growth.

TRUMP: “The stock market has set 74 all time highs just since our short time that we’ve been back.”

THE FACTS: It’s unclear what exact stock market measure Trump is referring to. But the S&P 500 — an index for the biggest public companies in the U.S. — has hit a new record 64 times since the start of Trump’s second term in January 2025, per a count from investment research firm CFRA. It’s hit 74 new highs since the 2024 presidential election.

U.S. stocks soared to their latest record earlier this week, and have hovered near those all-time highs since. The rally is being driven by a surge in profits for companies in the S&P 500 — they’re on track for the best quarterly profit growth since the second quarter of 2021.

A recent drop in the price of oil has also helped as investors remain hopeful about Trump’s latest claims of a coming deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the flow of fuel. Still, promises about Hormuz’s future have unraveled before — and uncertainty over the U.S. war with Iran has led to market volatility. Beyond the war, some of the biggest swings have been due to the frenzy ( and skepticism ) around the value of artificial-intelligence technology.

TRUMP: “Manufacturing is BOOMING! Factory activity just hit its fastest pace in more than FOUR YEARS, far exceeding expectations ... American Manufacturing is BACK!

THE FACTS: U.S. factories have indeed pulled out of a long slump in the past few months — but they aren’t creating many jobs.

In comments on his Truth Social platform Tuesday, Trump appeared to refer to a report out the day before from the Institute for Supply Management, a trade association of purchasing managers. The institute’s closely watched survey showed that U.S. manufacturing activity had expanded for seven months and in July hit the highest level since May 2022.

The upswing reversed a long losing streak for American manufacturing, which was in decline all but two months between November 2022 through December 2025, according to the ISM survey.

Trump’s signature economic policy — massive tariffs — is meant to pressure manufacturers into moving production and factory jobs to the United States from overseas. But an uptick in production has not translated into a manufacturing hiring boom. In fact, the United States had 95,000 fewer factory jobs in June than it did before Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.

So far this year, U.S. manufacturers have added just 18,000 jobs, or 3,000 a month. Part of the problem is that today’s factories are automated and don’t need nearly as many workers as they did in the ’60s and ’70s heyday of American manufacturing. Trump’s tariffs have also hurt some manufacturers by driving up the cost of imported steel, aluminum and other inputs they need to create their products.

Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said the “reshoring″ of American manufacturing might eventually bring some factory jobs back to the United States, but it’s ”premature″ to say that is happening in a significant way now. He attributes most of manufacturing’s recent improvements to the AI investment boom.

TRUMP: Exports have skyrocketed “to the highest level in American history" — and the U.S. "is on track to export unprecedented $2.5 trillion in goods this year alone, something everyone thought was impossible.”

THE FACTS: Per the Bureau for Economic Analysis, seasonally-adjusted exports of U.S. goods hit an all-time monthly high of over $221.8 billion in April of this year. But there’s been a bit of a decline since.

In June — the latest month with data available — America’s seasonally-adjusted exports of goods amounted to about $206.9 billion, the BEA said. And exports of goods like U.S. crude oil, gold and computers all fell by billions of dollars. All the while, the value of goods the U.S. imports (nearly $388 billion in June) continues to far surpass how much the country sends abroad.

That said, the value of U.S. goods exports is still higher at the midpoint of 2026 than it was at this time last year. In 2025, seasonally-adjusted goods exports hit nearly $1.09 trillion through June — and ended the year at a record $2.19 trillion, per BEA. By comparison, those goods exports for the first six months of 2026 now amount to about $1.25 trillion and would hit Trump's $2.5 trillion estimate if the trend continues until the end of the year.

TRUMP: "With TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS of new Investment pouring into the United States, and more Factories, more Construction, and more High Paying Jobs on the way, the results are impossible to hide.''

THE FACTS: In his Truth Social post Tuesday, Trump didn't put an exact dollar figure on the surging investments he claimed. But in May he told a group of small business owners that they totaled a staggering $18 trillion. He didn't say exactly where his numbers came from, and the White House website cites a lower figure of $10.7 trillion that appears to be padded with some investment commitments made during the Biden presidency.

Either way, the numbers seem implausible. Total private investment in the United States was running at an annual pace of $5.7 trillion from April through July this year. And the BEA reported last month that foreign direct investment in the United States increased last year by $266 billion. Direct investment includes money sunk into such things as factories and offices but not financial investments like stocks and bonds.

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

FILE - Shipping containers are lined up near a crane at CSX Intermodal Terminals, a supplier of rail-based freight transportation, at CSX Queensgate Rail Yard, May 7, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

President Donald Trump dances after speaking at an event at the Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)