“You see on the news all the time undocumented, illegal, and you realise that’s you.

“There’s fear. It’s in your head, it’s stuck with you. Even when you get out there and you find someone staring at you, you’re concerned. Who are they? Did someone tell on me?”

Franklin is not his real name and he’s asked us to keep his identity secret. He is an African migrant fleeing political persecution in a country he doesn’t want us to name.

The abundance of caution shows how terrified he is that he might jeopardise his asylum application in this new Trump era by speaking with the media, but he wants his words to count.

“Maybe it will help, maybe it will help others”, he says. “They’ll know they’re not alone.”

President Trump has promised the biggest deportation in US history, with his new border czar, Tom Homan, saying he’ll target “the worst, first”.

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Franklin has not committed a crime, violent or otherwise. He should not have to worry. But he does.

“If you’re going door to door home by home, restaurant by restaurant, how are you discerning who is a hardened criminal and who’s not?”, asks Anuj Gupta, who runs The Welcoming Centre in Philadelphia, an NGO focused on economic growth through immigrant integration.

“So there is the fear of getting swept up in that, irrespective of what your status is. That chilling effect is more impactful than whatever their potential policy or operationalisation of it may be. It also dampens everyone’s willingness to participate in day to day life.”

Africatown in South West Philadelphia is a hub for the African diaspora, some of whom have lived here for decades, many of whom are more recent arrivals.

It wears its heritage proudly, via colourful street murals and African flags along the main Woodland avenue which houses a cluster of shops and small businesses.

A new $23m (£18.56m) community centre, the Africa Centre is due to be completed next April. It is a case study in thriving immigrant entrepreneurship.

“A lot of people are scared right now to come out because of Trump’s threats, a lot of people who don’t have documents,” says Sullay, to explain the relatively empty streets.

It could be the chilling effect of potential ICE raids, the widely known acronym for federal immigration and customs enforcement. It could be the bitter cold, minus 12 in Philly on Thursday.

Amadou – not his real name – from Guinea is confident his asylum claim is in the works. He believes in the system. He proudly shows off his application on the Biden-era app which was supposed to provide a legal pathway to asylum, and the hearing he has scheduled for later in the year.

“I like Donald Trump,” Amadou says. “I think he is a good president. If he says America First, maybe that’s good.

“If my president said Guinea First, that would be good too. Maybe I would stay there.”

Donald Trump has said that attacks on police officers during the January 6 riots were “minor incidents”.

In his first sit-down interview since being inaugurated on Monday, recorded in the Oval Office, Mr Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity most of those who were jailed over the US Capitol riots were “absolutely innocent”.

As part of a flurry of executive orders on his first day back in office, the president pardoned around 1,500 people who were convicted over the unrest – including more than 200 who were jailed for felony assault on police officers.

Speaking to Hannity on Fox, Mr Trump said of those convicted: “Nobody’s ever been treated so badly. They were treated like the worst criminals in history.”

He went on to claim those at the US Capitol were simply there “protesting the vote” before again falsely claiming the 2020 election was “rigged”.

When asked by Mr Hannity about the pardons for those jailed for assault, the president said: “They were very minor incidents, and it was time.”

The president was equally dismissive of the alleged threat to US security posed by TikTok.

He ordered the reactivation of the video-sharing site shortly after it had been closed down in the US by a law passed under the Biden administration, because of concerns over links between the owners and the Chinese government and the perceived threat to personal data.

He said “we have so many things made in China” and questioned why it would be important for China to be spying on “young kids watching crazy videos”.

Elsewhere, Mr Trump said the US government should not give California aid to help rebuild after wildfires in Los Angeles until it uses water from the northern part of the state.

The president has accused Governor Gavin Newsom of refusing to redirect water from northern California as it protects the Delta smelt – an endangered species of fish. Mr Newsom has denied the claim

“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down,” he said.

Mr Hannity also asked the president about surviving an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, last summer, where Mr Trump was shot in the ear by a gunman after turning his head at the moment the shot rang out.

Mr Trump said it was “split second perfect timing” to look at the immigration board he had behind him that day, and added: “I don’t think you can just call it luck.”

When asked if surviving the attempt had changed him, the president said: “I haven’t changed. But it’s increased my faith in God.”

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After previously promising to do so in his first term in office, Mr Trump also suggested his administration was looking into releasing all information on the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

He told Mr Hannity that Mike Pompeo – his first secretary of state – raised national security concerns over the release of documents, but said he is still looking at declassifying them.

“I’m going to release them immediately upon getting – we’re going to see the information – we’re looking at it right now,” he said.

Mr Trump inevitably spent some time railing against the previous administration, but again said Joe Biden had left a nice letter for him in the drawer of the desk in the Oval Office, the contents of which he has now allowed to be published.

Biden’s letter to Trump in full

Dear President Trump,

As I take leave of this sacred office I wish you and your family all the best in the next four years.

The American people – and people around the world – look to this house for steadiness in the inevitable storms of history, and my prayer is that in the coming years will be a time of prosperity, peace, and grace for our nation.

May God bless you and guide you as He has blessed and guided our beloved country since our founding.

– Joe Biden

More than 30,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes north of Los Angeles after a new wildfire broke out in California.

The latest blaze – dubbed the Hughes Fire – started late on Wednesday morning near Lake Castaic, around 40 miles from the Eaton and Palisades wildfires that devastated parts of LA earlier this month.

Within hours, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said the blaze had burned across 9,400 acres. They added the fire is at zero percent containment.

Los Angeles County officials said in a news conference that more than 31,000 people – greater than the entire population of Castaic – were told to leave over warnings of “immediate threat to life”.

Another 25,000 people are in zones facing evacuation warnings.

Planes were seen making runs over the mountains to drop water and fire suppressants.

‘Driving into hell’

Helicopters have also reportedly scooped water out of the lake to drop on the fire to stop it from approaching Interstate 5, where a 30-mile stretch of the Mexico-to-Canada highway had already been closed.

Speaking to NBC4, a local affiliate of Sky’s US partner network NBC News, J.C. Chancellor said scenes from the nearby 5 Freeway “looked like you were driving into hell”.

“There was red fire coming up from below,” she told the broadcaster. “It was pretty terrifying… It looks like a smoke bomb went off.”

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Smoke from the fire caused “worsening air quality” forcing Ventura College to close, while Los Angeles Zoo shut its doors over “Red Flag” weather conditions.

It comes as the National Weather Service (NWS) branch in Los Angeles said areas around the city – including Oxnard and Burbank – are under critical fire conditions until 8pm on Thursday (4am on Friday in the UK).

High winds to continue

Low humidity and high winds have been driving the spread of the fires across southern California, which has not seen significant rainfall for nine months.

The continuing gusts have left officials concerned that the Palisades and Eaton fires could break their containment lines. At least 27 people have died since the two blazes began on 7 January.

According to Cal Fire, the Palisades fire, which started as a brush fire in the Pacific Palisades, has destroyed thousands of homes and burned 23,713 acres, and is still only 68% contained.

The Eaton fire broke out just hours later, and spread to 14,021 acres and destroyed more than 10,000 homes and businesses. It’s currently at 91% containment.

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Meanwhile, firefighters are also tackling two blazes – the Lilac and Center fires – in San Diego, near the Mexico border.

While smaller than the Los Angeles fires, evacuation orders were issued on Tuesday for the Lilac blaze, which broke out near Old Highway 395.

It also comes as the NWS forecasts heavy rain for Los Angeles by the weekend, which officials warned could cause toxic ash runoffs and mudslides.

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a full-force mobilisation of fire crews in “burn scar” areas where the Los Angeles wildfires broke out.

In 2018, flash flooding in the Santa Ynez Mountains after a wildfire led to a mudslide that killed 23 people in Montecito.