Author

Ariana Figueroa

Ariana Figueroa

Ariana covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom. Her areas of coverage include politics and policy, lobbying, elections and campaign finance.

Supporters of the DACA program rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court .

Talks over protecting Dreamers pick up in Congress, but agreement still elusive

By: - December 6, 2022

WASHINGTON — In a last-minute push, U.S. senators are working on a bipartisan agreement to create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented people who were brought to the United States as children. But the success of any major immigration deal appears unlikely, as a lame-duck session of Congress dwindles into its last days. Democrats are […]

empty desks in a school classroom

U.S. Supreme Court to review Biden student debt relief plan in February

By: - December 1, 2022

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court said Thursday it will hear oral arguments in February over a legal challenge by six Republican-led states to the Biden administration student debt relief plan. Until the arguments are heard and the court issues a ruling, the $400 billion Biden plan is on hold due to a nationwide injunction […]

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, left, and Democratic Sen. Pat Leahy of Vermont

U.S. Senate averts freight rail strike, but bid to include worker sick leave fails

By: - December 1, 2022

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to codify an agreement the White House brokered between rail unions and freight companies in order to avoid a catastrophic rail strike, but fell short of enough votes to include paid sick leave for workers. The Senate backed the rail deal on an 80-15 vote and rejected […]

shipping containers on a railway

U.S. House to intervene in rail workers strike, heeding Biden call

By: - November 29, 2022

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday said the House will take up legislation to ratify an agreement between rail workers and operators in order to avert a nationwide rail strike. “This week, the House will take up a bill adopting the Tentative Agreement — with no poison pills or changes to the […]

a student loan application form pictured with an ink pen

Student loan repayment pause extended by White House amid legal battles over relief plan

By: - November 22, 2022

WASHINGTON — The Department of Education announced on Tuesday it is extending the pandemic-era pause on federal student loan repayments until June 30 while legal challenges to the administration’s student debt relief program are fought over in the courts. The agency said if the student debt relief program has not been put in place by […]

Supporters of the DACA program rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court .

U.S. Senate Democrats make a last-ditch push for a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers

By: - November 16, 2022

AWASHINGTON —  Democratic U.S. senators have set a December deadline for passing bipartisan legislation that would create a pathway to citizenship for more than 600,000 undocumented people who were brought into the country as children — but they don’t yet have enough Senate Republican votes to make it a reality. During a Wednesday press conference […]

a fence topped with barbed wire

Migrant women endured medical mistreatment at ICE facility run by Louisiana company, report finds

By: - November 15, 2022

WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. Senate on an investigation panel on Tuesday grilled federal immigration officials about a bipartisan report that detailed how migrant women at an immigration detention center in Georgia underwent questionable gynecological procedures. The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Permanent Investigations released an 18-month bipartisan report that found migrant women who were […]

border patrol paddy wagon

U.S. district court strikes down use of Title 42 to expel migrants

By: - November 15, 2022

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the government from continuing Title 42 —  a controversial pandemic-era health policy used by both the Trump and Biden administrations to expel nearly 2 million migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. The request to halt the use of Title 42 had been filed by immigrant advocacy groups and […]

The entrance gate at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans

FBI confirms a single juvenile suspect behind most bomb threats to dozens of HBCUs

By: - November 15, 2022

WASHINGTON — The FBI has officially announced that a single minor youth is the main suspect in most racially motivated bomb threats to dozens of Historically Black Colleges and Universities earlier this year that terrorized students. The FBI in a statement on Monday did not release any further details — only that the individual is […]

A building on the campus of Reed College in Portland, Oregon.

Six GOP-led states win national injunction against Biden student debt relief plan

By: - November 14, 2022

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Monday issued a nationwide injunction indefinitely blocking the Biden administration’s student debt relief program in response to a challenge by six GOP-led states. The unanimous ruling by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis came after the six states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and […]

a student loan application form pictured with an ink pen

Biden student debt relief plan thrown out by Texas judge; new applications halted

By: - November 11, 2022

WASHINGTON — Late Thursday a federal judge in Texas struck down the Biden administration’s student debt relief plan, ruling that the program is unlawful, in a blow to 16 million student debt borrowers already approved for relief. The U.S. Department of Education now is no longer accepting applications for the program, according to the student […]

A roll of stickers sit on a table as people vote during the Georgia primary at the Metropolitan Library in Atlanta

Young Black and Latino voters seen as key in turning back midterm ‘red wave’

By: - November 10, 2022

WASHINGTON — Young Black and Latino voters were critical in holding off the Republican “red wave” in several battleground states for U.S. Senate seats and in tight U.S. House races in the midterm elections, according to analyses by researchers and grassroot organizations.  Young, diverse voters between the ages of 18 and 29 had the second-highest […]