Uber’s Sexual Assault Problem, and ICE’s $50,000 Signing Bonus

0:00Hi, it's Alexa Weibel from New York Times Cooking. We've got tons of easy weeknight recipes and today I'm making my five ingredient creamy miso pasta. You just take your starchy pasta water, whisk it together with a little bit of miso and butter until it's creamy, add your noodles and a little bit of cheese. It's like a grown-up box of mac and cheese that feels like a restaurant quality dish. New York Times Cooking has you covered with easy dishes for busy weeknights. You can find more at NYTCooking.com.

0:33From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, August 6th. Here's what we're covering.

0:44A new investigation from the Times into Uber, the ride-sharing service, has found the company's had a long-running sexual assault problem, even while it's promoted itself as one of the safest travel options out there. According to sealed court documents the Times reviewed, Uber received over 400 ,000 reports of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the U.S. between 2017 and 2022. That's almost one every eight minutes on average, far more than it publicly disclosed.

1:16Apoorva Mandavilli:Behind the scenes, Uber discussed what it should do. It had data scientists and safety experts study the problem, and they found distinct patterns. Victims were most often women, riders, or drivers. Attacks typically occurred late at night and on weekends, especially if riders were picked up near a bar. Intoxicated passengers were especially vulnerable. And internal Uber documents show that in the vast majority of cases, the offenders were men with records of sexual misconduct complaints and low ratings on the app. But Uber didn't warn passengers about what it found. My colleague Emily Steele reviewed an internal company investigation of one incident from 2023 that showed Uber wrestling with its own response to those risk factors.

2:03So this woman in Houston, Texas, orders a car just before 9 o 'clock on a Thursday night. She is at an apartment and wants to be dropped off about 22 minutes away. But the trip diverges, first at 9.10, then at 9.13, and then at 9.29 when it stops near a Motel 6. Over that time, Uber sends her an automated notification. She doesn't respond. Uber sends her another automated notification. She doesn't respond. And then Uber tries to contact her with a robocall. She doesn't pick up. The trip stays active with no recorded movement until 2.01 a.m. Hours later, she calls Uber to say that she had been raped by her driver.

2:51She said that she had been intoxicated and that she had woken up in a hotel with the driver who fled after she became frantic. What's really striking is that this internal investigation discovered a concerning fact pattern. The driver had had two previous accusations of sexual misconduct. This 22-minute ride lasted about five hours. And those three automated attempts to contact the woman were unanswered. The report asked, are our actions or lack of actions defensible? But didn't answer that question.

3:27Apoorva Mandavilli:In her reporting, Emily found that over the years, Uber tested tools to try and reduce risks, like mandatory video recording or pairing female passengers with female drivers. And though the company found that some of those programs did make rides safer, Uber delayed their use or never required them. Emily says Uber set them aside in favor of protecting its business and growing its customer base. In a statement, Uber's head of safety for the Americas said many of the 400 ,000 reports the Times uncovered were, quote, less serious, such as making comments about someone's appearance. She also said the number could include fraudulent reports.

4:09Apoorva Mandavilli:Uber said when it next releases data, for 2023 and onward, it expects the rate of what it called critical sexual assaults to drop to the lowest level in years. For the full investigation into Uber's safety record, go to nytimes.com.

4:29Apoorva Mandavilli:Now, three quick updates on the Trump administration. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has slashed half a billion dollars in funding for research into a key type of vaccine used during the pandemic, falsely claiming it's ineffective. mRNA vaccines, which were first used against COVID, work by prompting the body to produce a small fragment of a virus so it can learn how to fight it off. And unlike traditional vaccines, which can take years to develop, mRNA vaccines can be spun up in just months to quickly respond to new diseases. Public health experts are warning that Kennedy's cuts will undermine the country's ability to defend against future pandemics or even biological weapons.

5:11One expert told The Times it's a, quote, huge strategic failure that will be measured in lives lost during times of crisis. Also, the Justice Department has authorized prosecutors to investigate one of President Trump's top grievances, the so-called Russia hoax, as the administration tries to distract from the uproar over the Jeffrey Epstein case. For years, Trump has claimed that efforts to investigate his 2016 campaign's ties to Russia were politically motivated and has promised to go after those who were involved. But White House officials tell The Times that the current frenzy over the administration's handling of the Epstein case has made rolling out the Russia investigation now more urgent for them.

5:54For the moment, it's not clear who might actually be investigated, or for what, if any, crimes. But in recent months, Justice Department officials have explicitly said that they intend to name and shame people the president wants to target, even if there isn't enough evidence to prosecute them. And Immigration and Customs Enforcement is floating new strategies to try and keep up with President Trump's promise of mass deportations. Yesterday, in an email, ICE told its agents that they could get cash bonuses for deporting people quickly

6:28Apoorva Mandavilli:and encouraged them to use a fast-track process that allows some immigrants to be removed without a court hearing. One former senior Homeland Security official called that effort, quote, so ungodly, unethical. And just hours later, after the Times asked ICE about the program, they abruptly canceled it. Meanwhile, ICE is pushing ahead on another front, an all-out recruitment campaign to hire as many as 10 ,000 new agents. Recruits are being offered signing bonuses of up to$50 ,000. Over the coming years, ICE is set to become the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency, as it starts to get billions of dollars in new funding that Congress approved this summer.

7:15In Israel, a small but growing number of people are calling for an end to the war in Gaza.

7:23Apoorva Mandavilli:At recent protests across the country, some voiced their concerns about the fate of the remaining hostages, or about the growing starvation crisis in the territory, or both.

7:36Apoorva Mandavilli:There's also pressure coming from some of Israel's top former security officials, who released a video that demanded an end to the war. The group, which includes former army chiefs of staff and the heads of Israel's intelligence agencies, said the push into Gaza was justified when it started, after Hamas' attack on October 7th, but that it's now endless and pointless, since most of Hamas' leadership has already been killed. Israeli critics of the war say that instead, the country's continued military operations will endanger the hostages who are still alive and cause more damage to the country's global reputation as outrage grows over conditions in Gaza.

8:16Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently weighing what to do next. His office told reporters that he's considering expanding military operations across all of the Gaza Strip. But officials say that for now, no decision has been made.

8:38And finally, this summer marks the 50th anniversary of the movie Jaws.

8:48Apoorva Mandavilli:The movie instilled a deep, deep fear of the water in generations of people. The truth, of course, is that shark attacks are extremely rare. There were four fatalities last year, and less than 50 bites reported worldwide. But a club has actually sprung up specifically for the survivors of shark attacks. Yeah, so I was in the hospital, and initially someone actually messaged me on Facebook and just said, welcome to Bite Club. It's called Bite Club. The Times talked with some of the members of the private Facebook page, who say that since getting bit is so rare, finding other people who really understand what it's like is also rare.

9:29For them, Bike Club has become a support group.

9:33Apoorva Mandavilli:The group's founder, Dave Pearson, is a surfer who was bitten in 2011. He started the group in Australia, but it now has members all over the world. Pearson says that for him and a lot of the other survivors, the group has helped them process what happened to them as they deal with things like nightmares and insomnia, or one of the biggest hurdles, overcoming the fear of getting back in the water. The hardest thing to accept is you did nothing. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the shark decided that you looked good enough to have a snack out today, and it came and had a go.

10:10Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, why the results of a new study into child poverty

10:16Apoorva Mandavilli:shocked researchers and undercut years of assumptions about how to help kids. You can find that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.