Deaths in ICE Custody Are Growing, and Trump Defends Ballroom Plans

0:00This podcast is supported by Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Here's a story that's not getting nearly enough attention. Defunding Planned Parenthood has already caused chaos and harm, and access to essential reproductive care is plummeting. Right now, the Trump administration's backers in Congress want to permanently defund Planned Parenthood, forcing even more health centers to close, and millions at risk of losing access to care. It takes less than a minute to help. Go to plannedparenthood.org slash defend and make a gift of any size. From The New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford.

0:37Today's Tuesday, March 31st. Here's what we're covering.

0:45For the last few days, my colleagues and I in Tel Aviv and Washington, D.C., have been trying to gain a better understanding of Iranian leadership and their ability to make decisions. What we found is there's really a lot of paranoia among Iranian leadership. Adam Goldman is part of the team at The Times looking at who is calling the shots in Iran after U.S. and Israeli strikes have taken out dozens of top leaders and their deputies. Adam says those strikes have fractured the government. And while Iran's security and military agencies continue to function, the regime's ability to plan new strategies has been weakened.

1:23That's in part because the country's surviving leaders feel it can be dangerous to even talk to each other. They're reluctant to send messages or make calls because they're scared of being tracked by U.S. and Israeli intelligence and killed. On the one hand, we found that the Israelis and Americans have been incredibly successful at penetrating Iranian communications and getting the jump on Iranian leaders that they want to target or installations where they might be hiding at. But there's probably an unintended consequence here, which is because of this, it's made it increasingly difficult for the Iranian regime to not only enter peace talks, but be able to communicate with others within the regime about what that peace might look like.

2:06Adam says that in the past week, President Trump has expressed frustration at what he said are mixed messages coming from Iran, which may be a consequence of the fractured government. Still, Trump is threatening more military action if Iran doesn't agree to a peace deal quickly.

2:26Meanwhile, in Lebanon, Israel is doubling down on its plans to take control of large portions of the southern part of the country. Its latest push into Lebanon came at the start of the war, after the Hezbollah militia fired rockets in solidarity with Iran. But Israel is now suggesting it could hold that territory even after the conflict ends. Israel has conducted widespread airstrikes and sent ground troops into the region, displacing hundreds of thousands of people just in the south. Its attacks across Lebanon have killed more than 1 ,200 people, according to Lebanese authorities. The fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is intensifying, and it's raising fears for many Lebanese about how long Israeli forces could try to occupy the territory.

3:12The last time Israel invaded and took over large parts of Lebanon was in the early 1980s, when it tried to subdue Palestinian groups launching attacks from there. That occupation lasted 18 years.

3:32We consider that these deaths reveal systemic failures, operational deficiencies, and possible negligence. The recurrence and frequency of these deaths are absolutely unacceptable. The government of Mexico is speaking out about how many of its citizens have died in U.S. immigration facilities since the Trump administration ramped up its deportation campaign. Mexico says the number is now at 14, with the latest death just last week. In all, federal data shows that nearly 50 people from Mexico and elsewhere have died in federal immigration custody since Trump took office. That's the highest number on record since ICE was established more than two decades ago.

4:14My colleagues and I combed through federal lawsuits and interviewed more than a dozen lawyers, detainees, and their family members. And they painted a very stark picture of what's happening inside these facilities. Jasmine Oyewa covers immigration for The Times. She says as a growing number of people have been put in ICE detention centers, there were 70 ,000 as of the beginning of the year, detainees have been sharing disturbing accounts of inhumane conditions. They describe some of the country's largest immigrant detention facilities as places where disease and illness are rampant and detainees are often denied sufficient food, clean drinking water, medications, and medical care.

4:54One story that really stands out to me is Emmanuel Damas. He had migrated from Haiti. He was in an Arizona detention center when he began to feel a sharp pain in his tooth and detainees told his family that he was given only ibuprofen for about a week. Then one of his brothers received a call that he was in an intensive care unit. By the time his relatives were allowed to visit him, nine days later, he was on life support. He couldn't move, he couldn't speak, and he was shackled to a hospital bed. Dumas died earlier this month at 56 years old. In a statement, a DHS spokeswoman said that he was sent to the hospital immediately after he reported shortness of breath.

5:38She added that overall, ICE has, quote, quote, higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons.

5:52And one last update on the administration. When the White House fence got a redo back in Trump's first term, there were nine months of public meetings. How thick should the posts be? How much space between them? How decorative should those little things on top be? That amount of time has been the norm for federal construction projects in Washington, D.C. The public process for the Fed renovations took two years. The African-American History Museum took even longer. I think it'll be the finest ballroom of its kind anywhere in the world. But now, President Trump is poised to get approval for his ballroom plan in just three months.

6:28And some architects warn that the hurried reviews and rushed plans will compromise the result of the 90 ,000-square-foot project. Renderings, for example, showed columns blocking views, a whole line of faux windows, and a grand external staircase leading to nowhere. They said they talked about a stairway in the South. We don't have a stairway in the South. That was replaced a long time ago. After the Times published a review of the structure earlier this week, Trump showed off revised plans for the$400 million ballroom. The shifting design could mean the project's architects will have to scramble to explain those changes ahead of what's supposed to be a final sign-off on the project this week by a key planning commission in D.C.

7:14Still, the committee, which is made up mostly of the president's allies, is expected to approve the project.

7:27And finally, in Italy, at an art museum outside the city of Parma, Thieves managed to make off with works by Renoir, Cezanne, and Matisse in a heist lasting just three minutes. It happened last week, and the museum tried to keep it under wraps. Yesterday, Italian police confirmed they're investigating. The paintings are worth millions. One, Les Poissons, an impressionist still life by Renoir, is estimated to be worth nearly$7 million alone. The thieves broke in through the museum's front door, and it's just the latest high-profile theft to hit the art world. The brazen break-in at the Louvre this fall underscored how even major museums in broad daylight have become targets.

8:12A few months ago, two armed men stole more than a dozen works of art, including some by Matisse, from a library in Sao Paulo. The chief executive of an art recovery firm said that thieves have started considering museums or libraries easy targets because of a lack of funding for security. Experts say these kinds of art heists have also surged right as cryptocurrency has made it easier to launder stolen goods. But thieves aren't likely to get full value. According to the art recovery expert, stolen art tends to sell for just a fraction of the price that it would get at auction. sometimes as little as just 5 to 10 percent of a legitimate sale.

8:55Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, on what many cities and states used to celebrate as Cesar Chavez Day, a look inside the Times investigation that revealed sexual abuse allegations against the civil rights leader. I mean, come on, I'm a 13-year-old girl going into his office and spending half an hour, 45 minutes, an hour there, just when he's supposed to be so busy. How could they not know? You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.

9:33This podcast is supported by Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Here's a story that's not getting nearly enough attention. Defunding Planned Parenthood has already caused chaos and harm, and access to essential reproductive care is plummeting. Right now, the Trump administration's backers in Congress want to permanently defund Planned Parenthood, forcing even more health centers to close and millions at risk of losing access to care. It takes less than a minute to help. Go to plannedparenthood.org slash defend and make a gift of any size.