Trump Targets Immigrants
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It's Wednesday, January 22nd. I'm Jane Koston, and this is What A Day, the show welcoming you to the third day of Trump's second term, where everything's made up and the felonies don't matter. On today's show, more fallout from Trump's decision to pardon almost all of the January 6th insurrectionists and commute the sentences of the rest. And New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik gets her chance to overwhelm senators with vague platitudes during her confirmation hearing.

It's a flood out there when it comes to news. There are any number of terrible things that have happened within the last 48 hours that we could lead the show with today. That is, unfortunately, kind of President Donald Trump's way of doing business. Flood the zone with shit, as they say. But today, we're going to focus on the many executive orders Trump signed Monday night to restrict immigration, including an order to end birthright citizenship in the U.S. We're the only country in the world that does this with birthright, as you know.

And it's just absolutely ridiculous. But, you know, we'll see. We think we have very good grounds. People have wanted to do this for decades.

Just as a quick fact check, other countries do have birthright citizenship, including both Canada and Mexico. But here's my question. What's actually in the order? Well, Trump wants to deny birthright citizenship to the future children of undocumented immigrants, as well as the children of those who are here legally, but with only temporary status. And he wants to do that by just waving a wand and reinterpreting the 14th Amendment, the part of the Constitution where the century-old right lives.

The administration is already facing lawsuits from more than 20 states and the ACLU over the birthright citizenship order. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Plotkin said presidents are not kings. This is an extreme and unprecedented act, and this executive order is an assault on the rule of law. It attacks a right that is core to our nation's earliest days.

Trump also declared a national emergency at the southern border. And his administration shut down a Biden-era mobile app to streamline the asylum process for migrants and reduce illegal border crossings. On Monday, thousands of people who'd been waiting at the U.S.-Mexico border for the chance to claim asylum found out that their appointments with the U.S. government had been canceled. One of those people was Marhelle Tinoco of Colombia. She told Texas CBS affiliate KXII that she would still try to enter the U.S. Here she is speaking through an interpreter.

Tinoco said she knows that she will be able to cross into the US someday. She will not give up on the American dream because she doesn't know what to tell her kids when appointments were canceled. Margelli said if US authorities do not bring the program back, she will turn herself in to CBP because she wants to protect her life.

Trump also signed orders bringing back his so-called Remain in Mexico policy to make asylum seekers wait in Mexico while their claims play out in the U.S. courts. He signed orders to label some drug cartels terrorist organizations. He paused the U.S. refugee resettlement program.

And then on Tuesday, the administration threw out longstanding policies that limit arrests of migrants at places like churches and schools. There's more. And it's all shocking and upsetting. And frankly, the cruelty of it all is the point. Some of this is just to scare people. To talk more about the real-world effects of Trump's executive orders on immigration, I spoke with Emily Green. She's a freelance reporter covering Latin America and is based in Mexico City.

Emily, welcome to What Today. Thanks so much for having me. So what does it mean to declare a national emergency at the U.S. southern border, practically speaking? Like what actually changes with that designation? I mean, it gives Trump a lot more powers, take more executive actions around the border, whether that be deploying the military to the border or building the wall or to continue to build the wall as he wants it.

Moving on to the CBP One app that was shut down Monday, what does ending this program mean for the hundreds of thousands of migrants who've been relying on it for a chance to enter the U.S. legally? There's essentially now no legal pathways for entering the U.S. for migrants. I mean, there are legal pathways, but for those that are impoverished or those that don't have family in the U.S.,

At this point, there's not really a legal pathway for entering. And what you're seeing right now are just the scenes of thousands of migrants at the border who had appointments that are stranded. And these migrants, for the most part, have been waiting for months and months and months to get that appointment to enter the U.S. through this legal mechanism. And now that is completely suspended.

shut down. And so there's a lot of confusion, a lot of panic, a lot of, I mean, just despair, I would say. It's a big shift. So many of these people have traveled tens of thousands of miles. They've risked their lives to leave their home countries. Do you think more people will resort to crossing illegally or will they forego trying to get into the United States as the Trump administration seems to hope?

I mean, I think it's hard to say. I think that you're going to see a certain number of those migrants who are waiting for CBP appointments say, we've made it this far. Yeah, we're going to hire more.

a smuggler to help us get into the United States illegally, some might turn back. I don't want to say make prognoses right now when I don't know for sure what the bigger picture is going to look like, but there's no doubt that there is a certain percentage of these migrants who are waiting for CBV appointments who will hire smugglers to help them get into the United States illegally. Trump also brought back his so-called Remain in Mexico program, which requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims play out in court.

What has Mexico said about this? Mexico's president has been a little bit tepid on it. You know, she said she was opposed to the program and then she said they were going to act in a, quote, humanitarian way. I think what you have to remember from Mexico is that the threat of tariffs is so overwhelming, so terrifying and scary, that they will do whatever it takes to avoid tariffs and potentially crippling the Mexican economy.

Let's talk about another executive order Trump signed Monday to end birthright citizenship for the newborn children of undocumented immigrants. Now, the general consensus among legal scholars of all stripes seem to be that the courts will strike this down. But what will it practically mean if Trump succeeds here and this long-held constitutional right comes to an end? You know, I don't know. I would love to tell you, but I don't really know. You know, I think it's going to be a fundamental shift in

the American identity. That's for sure. I mean, the U.S. identity is based on being a nation of immigrants, and that would fundamentally shift if that went into effect. But I cannot say on a practical level how that would play out. In his inaugural address, Trump mentioned deploying federal and state law enforcement to eradicate foreign gangs and criminals in the U.S. by invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. And one, he

It's an act from 1798, and it's a wartime law that's rarely been used. What are the real-world consequences of invoking this law?

I mean, I think that one of the real world consequences is like, is you're going to see more sort of this deployment of the military to execute, to carry out sort of immigration enforcement. And that is something that there is some precedent of that, especially in Trump's first term. But we haven't seen that writ large. And I think that that's really what he's aiming for is basically using the U.S. military to enforce immigration laws. And that is sort of the end goal in many of these executive orders.

What about labeling cartels as terrorist organizations? That's a part of this. And I just keep thinking about how our, the war on terror hasn't gone so great. And I feel like this is, this is not going to go well, but I'm curious as to what you think. Yeah. I mean, I think that so many of this stuff is going to play out in the details. You know, I think that like, it's just like, there's so much that we don't know how it's going to play out because one, they're going to be subject to court challenges and two, it's going to be in the details. So I,

That could be a fundamental shift. It could also enormously backfire because sometimes you are seeing US companies either

or sort of maybe even inadvertently have ties to cartels. I'm not saying that it's like purposeful, but they are sometimes that that's happened through the U.S. banking system, for example, in terms of laundering money, et cetera. And so what does that mean? Are they going to then be charged with terrorism in some way? I mean, these are really like questions that I think a lot of scholars and a lot of activists ask.

are pondering right now. The last time the Alien Enemies Act was invoked, it was to intern Japanese Americans during World War II. But we're in a weird moment globally in which a lot of Western governments are turning against immigration. So how do you think this will be received internationally? You know, I think that in terms of immigration, one of the things that I've seen reported from Mexico is that

Like migrants in many ways are on the lowest part of the totem pole. Like they're very easy bargaining chips. And so that's what you're seeing a lot of. I think you're not seeing Western governments on the whole stand up for migrants. I mean, they've become a political liability. It's standing up for people who are not from your home country.

And, for example, like let's say the example of Venezuelans, it's not like as if Venezuela is so keen to defend Venezuelans who fled that country. And it's not as if Mexico is eager to defend Venezuelans or the U.S. is eager to defend Venezuelans. They're very easy bargaining chips.

So I think that this is what you're saying. They're in some ways the easiest bargaining chips in terms of bigger political fights over trade, over predominance, who's going to have more dominance in the world, China or the United States. And in this you have migrants who are very, nobody's going to stand up and particularly defend.

Emily, thank you so much for joining me. This has been really helpful. Thank you. That was my conversation with freelance reporter Emily Green. We'll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads.

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Here's what else we're following today. Headlines.

They've served years in jail, and murderers don't even go to jail in this country.

On his first day as president, Trump made good on his promise to grant clemency to all of the roughly 1,500 of his supporters who were criminally charged for their role in the insurrection. Dozens of January 6th rioters were released from federal prison Monday night, just hours after President Trump issued them full, complete, and unconditional pardons. Vice President J.D. Vance previously said that he and Trump would look at things on a case-by-case basis and that rioters who committed violent acts should not receive pardons. But they did.

Michael Fanone, a former D.C. police officer who was attacked on January 6th, spoke to CNN on Monday shortly after the rioters were released. Rest assured, I have been betrayed by my country and I've been betrayed by those that supported Donald Trump.

Members of Trump's own party also came out to criticize the pardons. Here's Republican Senator Tom Telles speaking to Spectrum News on Tuesday. Anybody who was convicted of assault on a police officer, I just, I can't get there at all. I think it's, it was a bad idea. Among those who walked free on Monday include former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stuart Rhodes, both of whom were criminally charged for planning the insurrection. More prisoners will likely be released in the coming days.

If confirmed, I will work to ensure that our mission to the United Nations serves the interests of the American people and represents President Trump's America first peace through strength foreign policy. Senate confirmation hearings continued on Tuesday with New York Representative Elise Stefanik, Trump's nominee for United Nations ambassador. She fielded questions from members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

When asked about the war in Ukraine, Stefanik would not say how the new administration plans to hold Russia accountable. On the subject of the Middle East, Stefanik advocated for stronger U.S. support for Israel. If you look at the anti-Semitic rot within the United Nations, there are more resolutions targeting Israel than any other country, any other crisis combined.

Stefanik also said that the U.S. should cut funding to the U.N., specifically the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The Senate is expected to confirm Stefanik. Two of Trump's other nominees also had confirmation hearings on Tuesday. Russell Vogt, nominee for director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Doug Collins, Trump's pick for secretary of veteran affairs.

Donald Trump is making big changes at the Department of Justice. Citing anonymous sources, the Washington Post reported Tuesday at least 15 career staffers across several divisions, including criminal and national security, were removed from their positions and reassigned. The Post said that many officials were transferred within the DOJ to positions where they'd have less influence on big decisions. The Justice Department declined to comment.

The Coast Guard's top admiral was also removed from her position Tuesday. The Department of Homeland Security said Linda Fagan was terminated, quote, because of her leadership deficiencies, operational failures, and inability to advance the strategic objectives of the U.S. Coast Guard. Fagan was the Coast Guard's first female four-star admiral.

90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees were released by Israel on Monday as part of its ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Most of the people released were women and children. A freed Palestinian prisoner told CNN after her release, quote, It's an amazing feeling, but a very heavy debt. Over the next six weeks, thousands more Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released in phases.

Hamas released three hostages Sunday and is scheduled to gradually release 30 more. The next group of hostages are set to be freed January 25th. Amid the pause in fighting in Gaza, thousands of displaced Palestinians are starting to return to their homes, many of which were destroyed in Israeli airstrikes. UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said more than 630 desperately needed aid trucks were able to enter Gaza. Despite the ceasefire in place, Israel launched a military operation in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian officials said at least nine people were killed and 40 others were hurt. And that's the news.

One more thing. Eggs. You may or may not eat them. And you may or may not have noticed that right now, eggs are either super expensive or totally unavailable. As a noted protein aficionado, it's been tough out here for me. A USDA report released last Friday shows retail prices for eggs range from $2 to $10 a dozen. In fact, groceries are still really expensive.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the price of everyday goods like coffee, cereal, and chocolate are rising due to bad weather and tough markets for producers. Now, you might recall that Donald Trump talked a lot during the campaign about how he was going to lower grocery prices. But prices will come down. You just watch. They'll come down and they'll come down fast, not only with insurance, with everything. He talked about groceries a lot. When you buy apples, when you buy bacon, when you buy eggs,

they would double and triple the price over a short period of time. And I won an election based on that. We're going to bring those prices way down. But despite believing that he won based on the issue of how much food costs, Trump told Time magazine after the election that maybe it would be a little tougher than that, saying, quote, it's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard. The wisdom of the age.

As we've discussed, Trump signed a bunch of executive orders on Monday, on everything from making life harder for trans people to renaming bodies of water for reasons. We've been keeping track of all of his executive orders because there are a lot of them. Many are very detailed, but on the subject of the economy, specifically groceries, there isn't much there. In fact, the only executive order I could find that mentions food states that it is delivering emergency price relief.

It reads in part as follows, quote, I hereby order the heads of all executive departments and agencies to deliver emergency price relief consistent with applicable law to the American people and increase the prosperity of the American worker. That's it. Now, what is emergency price relief? I don't know.

And based on the order text, I don't think Trump knows either. One of the items listed in the order is creating employment for American workers. You know, the kind of specific, actionable task a federal agency can definitely do in a month. Oh, while the administration is also enacting tariffs that will raise prices on pretty much everything.

In 30 days, the assistant to the president for economic policy is supposed to tell Trump if every department has delivered emergency price relief. It's like that episode of The Office where Michael Scott declares bankruptcy. And to me, it's just as meaningless. Because while groceries may have been a priority for voters, they clearly were not a priority for Donald Trump. ♪

Before we go, look, we know political news feels bad right now. We're down, very, very down, but we're definitely not out. Our friends at Vote Save America are creating space for you to recharge, find solace in community, have a little fun, and figure out what you can do to protect communities at risk under Trump and build progressive power in 2025 and beyond. Go to votesaveamerica.com and sign up for their email list to get next steps.

This message has been paid for by Vote Save America. You can learn more at votesaveamerica.com. And this ad has not been authorized by any candidate or candidates committee. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, send me recipes for high protein breakfasts that don't involve eggs, and tell your friends to listen.

And if you're into reading and not just about how egg whites are still available, but have the general consistency of what I'd call confused water, like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Jane Koston, and please get that bird flu vaccine handled, guys.

Waterday is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Raven Yamamoto and Emily Fore. Our producer is Michelle Alloy. We had production help today from Johanna Case, Joseph Dutra, Greg Walters, and Julia Clare. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our executive producer is Adrienne Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gillyard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.

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