Described as the “most dangerous man in Germany” by Der Spiegel, 35-year-old Ulrich Siegmund is on course to lead his Alternative fur Deutschland Party to power in elections in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, ushering in the first far-right state government in postwar German history. The party’s predicted victory could provide a first look at what the AfD “hopes could ultimately be a cultural and demographic overhaul of German life,” said The New York Times.

What are AfD’s policies?
The party’s 156-page manifesto advocates a “complete 180-degree turn” on migration, including deportation and what it calls “remigration.” The term has “Nazi connotations” for a policy under which Ukrainian refugees who fled the war could be targeted, said CNN.

An AfD government would also seek to ban gay pride flags from schools, axe funding for public broadcasters and pro-democracy NGOs, impose a moratorium on new wind turbines, roll back other green policies, and offer tax breaks to large families of German origin. The party wants to improve relations with Moscow and would move to teach more Russian in schools. The manifesto also includes provisions to make childcare, already heavily subsidised by the state, totally free.

How likely is an AfD national government?
Since its founding in 2013, the AfD has evolved from a Eurosceptic party into a “full-scale populist uprising against mass migration, green energy policies and so-called wokeism,” said James Rothwell at The Telegraph. It has expanded beyond its heartland in the former East Germany and now consistently leads Politico’s polls on national voting intention. 

Standing in its way of entering national government is the Brandmauer, Germany’s political “firewall” agreement between mainstream parties to refuse to work with extremists. It has succeeded until now in keeping the AfD out of power at the state and federal levels but has done nothing to harm the party’s popularity.

Some hope that taking control of Saxony-Anhalt would force the party to compromise and show that its radical political platform is unworkable and ineffectual. But the AfD could turn the German state into a “testing ground for the whole country,” said David Begrich of Miteinander, an organization that fights right-wing extremism, to Deutsche Welle.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been deporting thousands of people to their home countries, but many deportees are also being sent to “third countries,” nations the deportee is not originally from. This leaves the deported person stranded in a place where they do not speak the language or understand the customs.

Mexico
While thousands of Mexican migrants have been deported to Mexico, the country is also the one with the greatest number of third-country deportations. About 20,000 people without Mexican heritage have been deported there during the second Trump administration, according to Refugees International’s Third Country Deportation Watch (TCDW). These deported people are also racing against the clock, as the Mexican government “gives third-country citizens just 10 days to remain in the country,” said the Washington Office on Latin America. 

Guatemala
Though the third-country agreement between the U.S. and Guatemala wasn’t renegotiated until July 2025, several thousand people have since been sent by ICE to the Central American nation, including 2,284 Mexicans, according to the TCDW. This marks a notable change, given that before the deal with Guatemala, most Mexicans deported from the U.S. were “sent almost exclusively back to their country,” said The Associated Press. 

Panama
About 360 non-Panamanians have been deported from the U.S. to Panama, according to the TCDW. The nation has been a third-country destination during almost all of the second Trump administration. In one instance, a group of refugees were “put on U.S. military planes,” said Human Rights Watch. They didn’t know their destination and “realized they were in Panama only after landing.” In another instance one month after Trump returned to power, “hundreds of asylum seekers were sent to Panama instead of being allowed to present claims in the United States,” said the American Immigration Council.

El Salvador
About 250 people without El Salvadorian heritage have been sent to the country from the U.S., according to the TCDW. ICE transfers to the nation only began in July 2026. This number may seem minimal, and it’s generally true that third-country deportations represent a “small share of U.S. removals,” said the Migration Policy Institute. But when it comes to the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, “fear may be their main function.”

A helicopter drops water bombs to contain a fire at the Putri Cempo landfill site in central Java, Indonesia. Emergency responders have been distributing oxygen tubes to residents affected by the smoke.
Devi Rahman / AFP / Getty Images

Book releases typically pick up in the fall, and this September is no exception. Whether you are looking for something deeply educational or thrillingly entertaining, there are plenty of books to look forward to this month.

‘The Disappearers’
Marlon James, who previously won the Booker Prize for his 2015 novel, “A Brief History of Seven Killings,” has also made the long list for this year’s prize with “The Disappearers.” The novel is set in 1988 and opens with a group of “eight gay men commencing rehearsals for a play” in Kingston, Jamaica, said Harper’s Bazaar. The writer’s sprawling new novel, at more than 600 pages, is “humane, blood-flecked, disturbing and sustaining,” said The New York Times. (out now, $32, Penguin Random House)

‘Mazywood’
Tananarive Due’s reputation as a master of the horror genre became clear after the highly acclaimed “The Reformatory.” Her follow-up, “Mazywood,” is a haunting tale of how an errant wish shaped one family’s life from Old Hollywood to today. Due crafts a “searing, incisive take on the politics of Black performance past and present,” said Publishers Weekly. (Sep. 22, $32, Simon & Schuster)

‘No Land to Stand On: Notes from Detention’ 
Mahmoud Khalil became a household name last year when ICE “apprehended him without a warrant, separated him from his pregnant wife and New York City community, and detained him under the threat of deportation,” said Harper’s Bazaar. Based on notes from his prison diary, this memoir “unflinchingly shows the cruelty of ICE detention.” (Sep. 29, $28, Macmillan)