Nate Raymond - The Japan Times

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Nate Raymond

The fee on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers was raised from about $2,000 to $5,000, depending on various factors, to $100,000 following an announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump in September last year.

WORLD / Politics

Jun 9, 2026

Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee is unlawful, U.S. judge rules

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin concluded that the fee on the visas for highly skilled foreign workers constituted an unlawful tax Congress never authorized.

Takeda Pharmaceutical headquarters in Tokyo. The company said it will "vigorously pursue" an appeal after a U.S. jury on Monday found the company liable for causing about $885 million in damages by delaying a generic version of its constipation drug through an anticompetitive scheme.

BUSINESS / Companies

May 19, 2026

Takeda engaged in antitrust scheme to delay generic constipation drug: U.S. jury

The verdict is the first time ‌a jury has found a pharmaceutical company liable in class-action litigation over what is called a “pay-for-delay” agreement with generic rivals.

The family of a detained migrant speaks to immigration officers in an attempt to gain information at the U.S. immigration court in Manhattan, New York, on Jan. 16.

WORLD / Crime & Legal / FOCUS

Feb 15, 2026

Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. It hasn’t stopped.

Under Trump, the number of people in ICE detention reached about 68,000 this month, up about 75% from when Trump took office last year.

A detained woman sits inside a vehicle surrounded by federal agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Wednesday.

WORLD / Politics

Jan 22, 2026

U.S. appeals court lifts order curbing ICE tactics against Minnesota protesters

The decision comes as Washington launches a criminal probe of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, among the U.S. president’s loudest political opponents.

Volunteers prepare to load donated food items into a resident's vehicle during a Los Angeles Regional Food Bank drive-through distribution at The Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, on Saturday.

WORLD / Politics

Nov 7, 2025

Judge orders Trump administration to fully fund food aid benefits

The order blocks the administration’s plan to only provide reduced benefits during the government shutdown.

A worker sorts fresh fruit and vegetables at a food pantry in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on Oct. 29, days before food aid benefits, including SNAP payments, were to be suspended starting Nov. 1 amid the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.

WORLD / Politics

Nov 4, 2025

U.S. to pay reduced food aid benefits, but warns of weeks or months delay

SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, lapsed for the first time ever on November 1 during the federal shutdown.

An armored vehicle carrying members of a Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Response Team pulls up by a crowd of protesters outside of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview, Illinois, on Friday.

WORLD / Politics

Oct 7, 2025

Illinois sues to halt Trump’s deployment of national guard, but troops on the way

The case is the latest flashpoint in a growing number of court battles over Trump’s authority to deploy military forces domestically.

Waterfront Park in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was directing the U.S. military to deploy to the city

WORLD / Politics

Sep 29, 2025

National guard troops called up after Trump’s Portland announcement

The U.S. president on Saturday announced plans to send troops into Portland to protect federal immigration facilities against “domestic terrorists.”

The badge of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Fugitive Operations team is seen in Santa Ana, California, on May 11, 2017.

WORLD / Crime & Legal

Jul 14, 2025

ICE may deport migrants to countries other than their own with hours notice

ICE agents could remove them to a so-called third country with as little as six hours’ notice “in exigent circumstances,” a new memo says.

The ruling is far from the last word in the legal battle over U.S. President Donald Trump's order, which he signed in January on his first day back in office.

WORLD / Crime & Legal

Jul 11, 2025

Judge blocks Trump’s birthright citizenship order after Supreme Court ruling

The judge made use of an exception to overcome the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that restricted the ability of judges to block policies nationwide.

Harvard University students wearing graduation gowns walk through Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday.

WORLD / Crime & Legal

May 30, 2025

Judge blocks Trump ban on Harvard’s international students

The ruling is a victory for the Ivy League school that is entangled in multiple battles with the administration.

The Business School campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts

WORLD / Politics

May 23, 2025

Trump administration blocks Harvard’s international enrollments

The move came after Harvard refused to give Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem information about some foreign student visa holders at the school.

Detainees play outside during a media tour of the Port Isabel Detention Center, hosted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Harlingen Enforcement and Removal Operations, in Los Fresnos, Texas, on June 10, 2024.

WORLD / Politics

May 21, 2025

Deportations to South Sudan appear to violate court order, U.S. judge says

The development marked a new clash between the federal judiciary and U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration in its efforts to implement mass deportations.

Demonstrators take part in a rally to support Rumeysa Ozturk — a Tufts doctoral student taken into custody by federal agents — in Somerville, Massachusetts, on Wednesday.

WORLD / Politics

Mar 27, 2025

U.S. authorities detain Turkish doctoral student at Tufts, revoking F-1 visa

U.S. authorities have also targeted students at Columbia University, Cornell University, Georgetown University, Brown University and the University of Alabama.

The Eastern District of New York Court Federal Court House in New York on Feb. 5.

WORLD / Politics

Mar 6, 2025

Judges face rise in threats as Musk blasts them over rulings

In recent weeks, Musk, congressional Republicans and other top allies of U.S. President Donald Trump have called for the impeachment of some federal judges.

Demonstrators protest against actions taken by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, outside the Treasury Department in Washington, on Tuesday.

WORLD / Politics

Feb 9, 2025

U.S. federal judge temporarily blocks Musk’s DOGE from accessing payment systems

A federal judge temporarily blocks Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing U.S. Treasury systems, citing risks of sensitive data leaks and cybersecurity threats.

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.

WORLD / Politics

Jan 24, 2025

U.S. judge temporarily blocks Trump’s order limiting birthright citizenship

The judge’s order prevents Trump’s policy from being enforced nationwide for 14 days while he considers whether to issue a long-lasting preliminary injunction.

The U.S. Capitol in Washington. The U.S. Constitution assigns to the Senate the power to confirm a president's nominees for life-tenured seats on the federal judiciary.

WORLD / Politics

Nov 13, 2024

U.S. Senate Democrats rush to confirm judges before Trump takes office

Democrats are on a crusade to confirm as many new federal judges nominated by U.S. President Joe Biden as possible.

Jack Douglas Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard, who was arrested by the FBI over his alleged involvement in leaks online of classified documents, poses for a selfie at an unidentified location.

WORLD / Politics

Mar 1, 2024

Pentagon leak defendant Jack Teixeira to plead guilty

The material allegedly leaked by Teixeira included highly sensitive U.S. military assessments, including on the war in Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden answers reporters questions as he departs for Camp David from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington on Dec. 23.

WORLD / Politics

Dec 28, 2023

With vote ahead, Biden trails Trump’s pace of judicial appointments

Ahead of the 2024 election, Senate Democrats are pledging to stay focused on confirming Biden’s judicial nominees and adding to the 166 already approved.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.

What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival

By Alex K.T. Martin

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