I don’t know how to make sense of it. It just hurts my heart. It should not be that hard. Americans have argued about immigration for decades, often with anger, fear and racial resentment. But if the debate stands out today, it is for another sentiment coursing through the conversation: exhaustion. Decades of neglect and…
A spate of new state laws, including on guns, minimum wage and gender transition care, went into effect as the calendar flipped to 2024. Perhaps the most significant change bans programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion at publicly funded colleges and universities in Texas. Conservative politicians have targeted these diversity initiatives, known as D.E.I.,…
First the trucks arrived, carrying armed men toward the mist-shrouded mountaintop. Then the flames appeared, sweeping across a forest of towering pines and oaks. After the fire laid waste to the forest last year, the trucks returned. This time, they carried the avocado plants taking root in the orchards scattered across the once tree-covered summit…
Follow live news updates on the Israel-Hamas war. Israel is preventing Palestinian Americans from entering the country from the West Bank, an apparent violation of a recent agreement in which citizens from the United States and Israel can travel to the other nation without a visa. The Homeland Security and State Departments, which manage the…
“U.S. allies and partners are concerned about U.S. overstretch,” said Stephen Wertheim, a historian of American foreign policy and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “But paradoxically, if they have put enough chips to date in the U.S. basket” of military ties, he added, “they want to seek closer relationships and more…
They woke up last Saturday morning and picked up their phones, the daily ritual of reconnecting with the world. The horror came flooding in, through direct messages, Instagram posts, terrifying video clips and scattered news reports. “Good morning,” read an overnight text from a friend in Israel. “I just woke up to a war with…
As news spread over the weekend that gunmen from Hamas, the Palestinian faction that governs the Gaza Strip, had killed hundreds and taken hostages in a surprise attack on Israel, Zarefah Baroud watched in horror from Seattle. Ms. Baroud, a doctoral student and activist who is Palestinian American, said she felt deep sadness for the…
There was a time, not that long ago, when the United States presumed to teach the world how it was done. When it held itself up as a model of a stable, predictable democracy. When it sent idealistic young avatars to distant parts of the globe to impart the American way. These days, to many…
Suresh Reddy, a centrist Democrat and city councilman, is watching the Republican presidential primary with a mix of pride and disappointment. When Mr. Reddy and his wife, Chandra Gangareddy, immigrants from southern India, settled in the Des Moines suburbs in September 2004, they could count the number of Indian American families on one hand. Only…
For months, Beth Levine, an attorney in New York, grew worried about developments in Israel, where the far-right government has sought to diminish the judicial branch’s independence. Its efforts provoked massive protests in Israel and smaller ones in the United States, including most Sundays in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park. Though sympathetic to the cause, Ms.…