Coast Guard Pursues Tanker, Epstein Files Release, Immigration Court No-Shows

0:00Layla. Hi, Steve. You sound a little impatient with me already. No, no. Whoops. It's just really early. I'm tired. Well, it's good to hear your voice. It's good to hear your voice. You too. And before we get started, we're supposed to, and I'm happy to, make a note here that public media has not only brought you the news this year, we've been part of the news this year. Yeah. We don't like to be part of the news, but we're happy to still be here, happy to still bring you up first and all the podcasts you love from NPR. Public media, it's made for you. We're not thinking about shareholders or advertisers.

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1:13Spiritual. I hope the dog likes it too. Thanks, Greg. And thank you if you already go the extra mile as an NPR Plus supporter. If not, you can join the Plus community and get a bunch of perks like bonus episodes, and more from across NPR's podcasts. And you also, this is the big thing, you support public media by signing up for NPR Plus. And you can do it today at plus.npr.org. The United States says the Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker in the Caribbean. The U.S. sees a different tanker over the weekend. What justification does the administration offer for its actions off the coast of Venezuela?

1:52I'm Leila Faudil. That's Stephen Skeep. And this is Up First from NPR News. Lawmakers are far from satisfied with the limited number of Epstein files released in time for a legal deadline. Pam Bondi is breaking the law, and this is the corrupt system, the Epstein class, that people are sick of. What consequences would the attorney general face? Also, an analysis by NPR finds thousands of immigrants without legal status are not showing up to immigration court, and that is leading to a rise in deportation orders. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.

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3:18Like for this guy David, whose entire life took a sharp, unexpected, and very unpleasant turn. And it did take me a while to realize it's basically because the monkey pressed the button. That's right. Because the monkey pressed the button. Surprising stories every week, wherever you get your podcasts. The Trump administration says the Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker linked with Venezuela. That's one of several developments over the weekend in the U.S. campaign against the government of President Nicolas Maduro. The U.S. is trying to enforce a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.

3:57Okay, there's a lot to catch up on here. So NPR's Carrie Kahn is tracking it all from Rio de Janeiro. Carrie, welcome. Hi. Terms to define here. What does the United States mean when they say they are pursuing a tanker? Right. We have limited official information on the situation right now in the Caribbean. The Pentagon and the Coast Guard is referring all inquiries to the White House, which is not commenting. But late yesterday, one U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly did tell NPR the Coast Guard was in, quote, active pursuit of a ship. The official said that ship, the tanker, was, quote, a dark fleet vessel attempting to illegally evade sanctions.

4:38The official also stated that the tanker was flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order. What's a dark fleet vessel? Usually these are oil tankers that use a lot of deceptive practices to evade international sanctions, like they fly fake national flags. They can disable their transponders, send out fake signals, all to hide where they've been and where they're going. But this is not the only ship the U.S. targeted over the weekend. In the pre-dawn hour Saturday, and this is according to a social media post by U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, she said the Coast Guard, with the help from the military that's out there in the Caribbean, apprehended a different oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela.

5:23According to data from the monitoring group Tankertrekkers.com, the ship was not under U.S. sanctions, though. A White House spokeswoman later then posted on social media that the tanker was flying under a false flag. And again, tankertrackers.com says it was a Panamanian flag. Okay, so we've got two ships, one seized, one being pursued in some fashion. There was also this third ship earlier this month that the U.S. seized. What is this add up to? What is the United States really doing? Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in that posting on social media that the U.S. is combating narco-terrorism, which the U.S.

6:01says Venezuela funds through its oil sales. That's what they've been saying. But then when that White House spokeswoman also posted, Anna Kelly, in her social media post, she gave another argument that we've been hearing a lot from President Trump that the oil in these tankers is stolen from the U.S. And if you remember last week when President Trump announced that he was going to put this total and complete blockade against Venezuelan oil and the sanctioned tankers, he said more military pressure would come, and I'm going to quote, until they return to the United States of America all of the oil, land, and other assets that Venezuela stole from us.

6:40It's not entirely clear what President Trump is referring to. Venezuela did nationalize U.S. oil assets in the 1970s and some more in the 2000s. Venezuela, of course, denies they've stolen anything and says Trump's true intentions are out in the open now. He just wants Venezuela's natural resources and its vast oil reserves among the largest in the world. How's Venezuela responding? Publicly, Steve, the government put out a statement condemning Saturday's seizure. Maduro put out a video accusing the U.S. of piracy and theft. He's called for the U.N. to intervene. Remember, the U.S. is also striking small boats in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific that it claims are transporting drugs, killing at least 104 people in at least 28 strikes so far.

7:25Maduro mentions all of this in rallies that he's holding a lot these days. And he's also giving long speeches on state TV where he insists he just wants peace, not war. He really likes saying that in English. And lately, he's even printed it on a MAGA-style red hat. You see him wearing a lot, too. NPR's Carrie Kahn is in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Carrie, thanks so much. You're welcome, Steve.

7:56Over the weekend, the Justice Department continued its partial release of files from the life and criminal cases of Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender. The DOJ changed some of its redactions. That means people were able to read files that were originally blacked out. Lawmakers criticized the department for missing its deadline to release all the files. Some are threatening to hold Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt. NPR's Luke Garrett has been reading over the weekend and is here with us. Luke, good to see you. Good morning, Steve. Glad you got the scarf on to deal with the cold here in Washington, D.C.

8:30What did you learn over the weekend? In short, not a lot. The DOJ did release two more data sets, and the department posted on X that a previously blacked out grand jury document was released with, quote, minimal redactions. But after a really close reading, the 119-page document did not have any major revelations such as new co-conspirators or crimes. While Epstein's crimes and conspiracy were described in brutal detail, the names remain largely redacted. But taken together, Steve, these files do show that people reported Epstein's criminal behavior to the government decades before it was federally investigated.

9:01Okay, the Justice Department is calling all of this online material the Epstein Library. I did notice the problems over the weekend. If you search the search engine for Epstein, you found no results. They also deleted some files that had previously been released and then brought them back. What's going on? That's right. The department deleted more than a dozen files from their original release this weekend. On Sunday morning, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche acknowledged this on NBC News. There were a number of photographs that were pulled down after being released on Friday. That's because a judge in New York has ordered us to listen to any victim or victim rights group if they have any concerns about the material that we're putting up.

9:38Now, NPR found that at least one of these removed files included a photo of President Trump. By Sunday afternoon, the DOJ republished that Trump file saying no victims were depicted in that photo. In short, the DOJ says they were under a huge time crunch to put these files out, so they're asking the public to help them identify anything that should or shouldn't be there. And this review process is causing this back and forth, but some members of Congress aren't buying it. There was a legal deadline passed by Congress almost unanimously. Can they enforce the law in any way? The lawmaker who authored the law says he's going to try.

10:10Take a listen to California Representative Ro Khanna on CBS News. Pam Bondi is breaking the law. And this is the corrupt system, the Epstein class that people are sick of. So I believe we're going to get bipartisan support in holding her accountable. And Steve, Kanna's not alone. His co-sponsor, Republican Thomas Massey of Kentucky, wants to hold Bondi in congressional contempt, which would mean she'd face consequences for not releasing these files. Here's Massey. And I think the most expeditious way to get justice for these victims is to bring inherent contempt against Pam Bondi. Kana and Massey say they're drafting this text now.

10:47And it's worth noting here, Steve, that inherent contempt has not been successfully used since 1935. But if passed, the House could jail someone inside the Capitol building or fine them without going through the courts. Why not just go to the courts, though? Well, individual members can't sue on behalf of the entire Congress. House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin told CNN, you know, he'd like to sue, but he just can't. It's not clear that we've got standing to do that. That Speaker Johnson would clearly have standing to do that on behalf of the whole House of Representatives. Now, Speaker Johnson has given no indication he will sue the DOJ.

11:18But Steve, setting aside the legality of all this, the politics also looms large for the White House. And this Epstein file issue has already contributed to Trump losing support from one of his fiercest allies in Congress, namely Marjorie Taylor Greene. So I'll be watching if there's any more political fallout for the president over these files. NPR's Luke Garrett, thanks so much. Thank you.

11:46Thousands of immigrants without legal status have been no-shows in immigration court this year. And NPR has found those absences are leading to a rise in deportation cases. People lose their cases in absentia without coming to court to argue their cases. Immigration courts are under pressure, fired judges, immigration agents milling about in hallways to make arrests. And some people deported to countries they've never lived in. NPR immigration policy reporter Jimena Bastillo and data reporter Rahul Mukherjee calculated just how many times people are not showing up for these appointments. And Jimena is the one who gets to come here early in the morning to talk about this face-to-face.

12:25Jimena, good morning. Good morning. What is going on here? Well, let's say you're in the country illegally. You may get a notice to appear in an immigration court with a specific place and a specific time. So basically, that's your chance to make your case as to why you should stay. That notice is not a deportation order. But if you don't show up, the government may have the right to order your deportation, and that's called an inabstention removal. Okay. And when you looked at these inabstention removals, what did you find? We found that in nearly every immigration court in the country, more people are getting these orders saying they basically didn't show.

13:00That's early analysis unique to NPR that relied on data from January through November. It's more than 50 ,000 people in that time, nearly three times the number from the last fiscal year. And it's a big jump from trends of prior years. The spike is really noticeable starting in summer, around June, and that lines up with anecdotal observations I've been hearing. This is really interesting because in the past, people generally have showed up for these hearings. So what happened in June? That's around the time when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers began making arrests in immigration courts.

13:30Here's Ruby Powers, an immigration attorney in Texas, talking about these arrests. They weren't consistent around the country. They were in some places, but at least the word had spread. The fear had spread. And so the individuals were really hesitant to going to court. She also said there are several other reasons why people might not show up in court. This includes mail delays, getting notices to appear, or notices being sent to completely wrong addresses. And those logistical issues can mean you never get a chance to argue why you should stay in the U.S. Okay, what does that tell you about the whole idea of due process of law for people who may claim they have some right to be here?

14:06Due process in immigration can already be fairly limited. This administration has thrown into question whether these courts are even needed and if immigrants want to participate. Here's Andrew Arthur from the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonprofit that advocates for lower levels of migration. In essence, by failing to appear, they were given their due process. They simply opted not to take the government up on the offer and are now amenable to removal. He said the more removals in absentia ordered by judges, the more are available to be arrested by immigration officers. And this all helps the administration's goal to curb illegal and legal migration.

14:46Powers and the Texas immigration attorney said immigrants do want to participate in the process and most people do show up. You know, it is pretty unlikely that you're going to be arrested if you come. One nonprofit, Mobile Pathways, puts the odds at less than 1%. But still, that broader uncertainty of if officers might be making arrests or where officers might be making arrests looms over immigrants and their lawyers, you know, who are thinking about these next steps. Yeah, when you say less than a 1 % chance of being arrested when you're in court, that's not the impression people get from media reports.

15:18You hear about these dramatic arrests and confrontations in courtrooms. And it brings into question that risk. NPR's Amanda Bastillo, thanks so much. Thank you.

15:30And that's Up First for this Monday, December 22nd. I'm Steve Inskeep. And I'm Leila Faudil. For your next listen, why not try Consider This from NPR? We here at Up First give you the three big stories of the day. Our Consider This colleagues take a different approach. They dive into a single news story and what it means to you in less than 15 minutes. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Today's Up First was edited by Tara Neal, Anna Ukhaninov, Lisa Thompson, and Adriana Gallardo. It was produced by Ziad Bacch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hines, and our technical director is Carla Strange.

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