Six months of ‘shock and awe’ on immigration enforcement

Since returning to office, President Trump has moved swiftly to upend decades of federal policy—from education to healthcare to vaccines…but nowhere more aggressively than immigration.

Congress just passed tens of billions in funding for immigration enforcement…It’s the largest domestic enforcement funding in U.S. history, fueling Trump’s mass deportation campaign of migrants living in the U.S. illegally.

President Trump campaigned for office promising the largest deportation in history.

Six months into his second term, how has immigration enforcement changed.

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A civil rights organization declares a ‘state of emergency’ in the U.S.

As a candidate in 2024, President Trump promised – often – to end what he and other conservatives describe as “woke” policies.

On his first day in office, he signed executive orders rolling back policies around diversity, equity and inclusion — and those policy changes have continued over the last six months of the second Trump administration.

One of the oldest civil rights organizations in the country now warns that the administration’s policies have thrust Black Americans — and the entire country — into a “state of emergency.”

NPR’s Juana Summers speaks with Marc Morial, the president and CEO of the National Urban League.

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Is Emil Bove the face of a new MAGA judiciary?

President Trump helped reshape the federal courts during his first term in office. And he relied heavily on the Federalist Society in that effort, which helped him zero in on judges with a conservative, originalist interpretation of the constitution.

Now the nominations machinery is restarting, and Trump’s most controversial judicial nominee is only one step away from the federal bench.

His name is Emil Bove.

During his first term, Trump appointed scores of originalists to the federal bench– a victory for the conservative legal movement.

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With plea deals canceled, what happens next with the Guantanamo 9/11 trials?

Plea deals with the 9/11 defendants, including for the alleged ringleader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have been canceled.

Families of those who died on September 11th are still calling for justice.

What happens next in the most delayed criminal trial in US history?

NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer speaks with Georgetown University Law professor Stephen Vladeck.

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Florida: the frontline of Trump’s immigration crackdown

NPR correspondent Jasmine Garsd has taken several reporting trips to Florida recently, a state seeing some of the most aggressive immigration enforcement since President Trump took office again in January. She’s spoken with children separated from their parents and reported on a new massive detention center in the state.

For our weekly Reporter’s Notebook series Garsd talks about how Florida is key to understanding what the future of immigration enforcement may look like.

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Trump says no one cares about Epstein. Why won’t his base let it go?

One of the narratives at the heart of President Trump’s political movement is this: American society is dominated by a shadowy group of elites, and those elites are deeply corrupt.

Nothing represented that theory more than the case of Jeffrey Epstein.

He was a man most people had never heard of initially, with a private plane and a private island. Acquainted with the world’s most powerful people: British royalty, U.S. presidents.

A man who ultimately died in jail…by suicide, according to authorities… before the case against him went to trial. Epstein’s case and his death bred skepticism and conspiracy theories – especially among supporters of Donald Trump.

Now, some of Trump’s most ardent supporters are attacking his Justice Department’s decision not to release all of the files related to the Epstein case.

Trump says nobody cares about Epstein. But his base won’t let it go.

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Will air traffic control’s $12.5 billion update fix employee morale?

Earlier this week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy testified on Capitol Hill, where he thanked Congress for recently approving $12.5 billion dollars to modernize the nation’s aging air traffic control system.

But some U.S. air traffic controllers say there’s a much deeper problem: a nationwide staffing shortage that leaves controllers overworked and employee morale low.

NPR’s Joel Rose and Joe Hernandez spoke with five current and former air traffic controllers to find out what improvements they want to see.

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Tariffs are a tax. Are you already paying it?

It’s been over three months since President Trump announced very big across-the-board tariffs on imports from nearly every territory on Earth–including uninhabited islands. It’s a move he said would revitalize the U.S. economy.

Since that splashy White House announcement, the tariff rates have been a wildly moving target. Ratcheted up – then back down – on China, specifically.

Overlaid with global product-specific tariffs on categories like automobiles and copper. Partially paused after the stock market tanked.

Through it all, the tariff rate has remained at or well-above 10 percent on nearly every good imported to the U.S.

And if you’ve listened to NPR’s reporting since April, you’ll have heard many voices make one particular prediction over and over again – that American consumers will pay the price.

If American consumers are going to pay for the tariffs, the question is: when ?

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Climate change is fueling brutal rainstorms. Here’s how to stay safe

It’s not just Texas. In the past couple of weeks, communities all around the country have been hit with torrential rains and deadly flash flooding. Extreme weather events like this are expected to become more common as the planet heats up.

As climate change increases flash flooding risks, our infrastructure is struggling to keep up. But improvements to that infrastructure will cost billions.

NPR’s Michael Copley explains how a changing climate drives flooding and how communities and individuals can prepare.

And NPR’s Laura Sullivan reports on how flood maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency didn’t capture the true risks at Camp Mystic, which was devastated by the Texas flooding.

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