Senate Funding Deal, Border Czar Homan In Minnesota, Georgia Election Ballots Seized

0:02Senators cut a deal to fund most government agencies. The agreement likely came too late to avoid a brief government shutdown. The idea is to keep the government open while lawmakers negotiate new restrictions for immigration agents. I'm Leila Faldil with Stephen Skipe and this is Up First from NPR News. The president's border czar, Tom Homan, suggested some immigration agents could leave Minnesota. Trump didn't seem to know about it when asked if agents are pulling back. No, no, not at all. So what is the plan for Minneapolis? Also, we try to answer questions about an FBI raid in Georgia. The agency seized thousands of ballots from the 2020 election that President Trump lost.

0:41What does this imply for future elections? Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.

0:53For 47 years, Iranians have lived under a dictatorship many no longer want. Now the country may have reached a breaking point. Iranians have recognized that they need to take matters into their own hands, pushing back against authority. We ask three central questions about how Iran got here and what comes next. Listen to ThruLine on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Sources and Methods is NPR's national security podcast. When world news changes by the hour, we help you zoom out to understand shifting alliances, global flashpoints, and what is really happening in places like Iran, Venezuela, Greenland.

1:31Our reporters on the ground connect the dots to explain a world order changing beneath our feet. Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. On NPR's Wildcard podcast, Oprah on the art of being alone. Are you good at being alone? Oh, my God. I'm a master at it. Tell me more. I cherish it. I revel in it. I can't wait to be alone. Watch or listen to that wildcard conversation on the NPR app or on YouTube at NPR Wildcard. The federal government is on the brink of a partial shutdown again. The hope is that it won't last long because senators did reach a deal. Democrats declined to approve funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

2:18They've now agreed with President Trump on a two-week extension to allow time to negotiate reforms after federal agents killed two Americans. They'll make an effort to fund other agencies as well. NPRS, Jimena Bastillo has been tracking it all. Jimena, good morning. Good morning. Okay, so what's in the deal? The plan senators have would allow them to approve the five bipartisan bills that fund other agencies and take Homeland Security Department's funding part out and essentially temporarily strip it out. It would give them two weeks to keep negotiating just that part. However, the way Congress works is that if one chamber makes any change, it has to go back to the other chamber.

3:00So, you know, the Senate still needs to vote on it, and then the measure would need to be revoted on in the House, which is out this week. So that means that a short-term shutdown is all but inevitable. Once the House returns early next week, it's also not entirely clear if the new package can be approved by them. If the House does act quickly, the effects of the shutdown could be limited since most federal offices are closed over the weekend. Okay, so they might have this worked out by Monday or Tuesday. Might have it worked out. Good to know the mechanics. Now let's talk about the substance.

3:32What is it that Democrats want the Department of Homeland Security to do differently? Senate Democrats have outlined three buckets of policy that they're pursuing. First, what they call ending, quote, roving patrols. This primarily has to do with the use of warrants. Officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement were using administrative and not judicial warrants necessarily to enter people's homes. A whistleblower memo described how the agency was giving itself permission to enter homes. And judicial warrants are approved by judges instead of by the agency. Second, Democrats want to make it easier to pursue legal action against immigration officers and, quote, independent investigations into ICE and other federal enforcement misconduct.

4:17They say that the agency is not doing a good job of investigating employee misconduct. And DHS, which is involved in the recent killings, is now investigating itself in these instances. And third, Democrats want to mandate that immigration agents display clear identification, not cover their faces and wear body cameras. Republicans had resisted some of these demands for the past year. What about now? The shooting of Alex Preddy, a U.S. citizen, was a turning point for them. Several Republicans called for hearings and independent investigations. Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Tom Tillis of North Carolina, who are frequent Trump critics, also said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should resign.

5:00Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Rand Paul said he's, quote, not a fan of administrative warrants, which has signaled perhaps some flexibility on that point of negotiations. And GOP Senator Susan Collins of Maine, another senator, has taken steps to curb ICE, particularly within her state. Still, divides continue to persist within the Republican Party. Several Republicans told us that they do believe ICE is doing their job and that the existing bill already includes additional mandates for reporting and training. So they don't believe that Congress needs to go any further. OK, we'll hear how the debate unfolds in the days to come.

5:40NPR's Jimena Bestio, thanks so much. Thank you.

5:50The president's borders are Tom Homan said the federal government is working on plans to pull some of the thousands of federal immigration agents out of Minnesota. Homan said that as he arrived to oversee the government's military-style presence in Minneapolis. He acknowledged some problems with an operation that led to chaos and where federal agents shot and killed two Americans. How quickly, if at all, is change coming? NPR Sergio Martinez Beltran is in Minneapolis. Sergio, good morning. Good morning. What do you see so far? You know, it feels like nothing has changed, Steve. Federal agents continue to make arrests around the state.

6:26Minneapolis continues to see most of these pickups. In fact, just yesterday, the superintendent of the Columbia Heights School District, north of Minneapolis, said several of her students were harassed and stopped by ICE officers. And one of the websites activists use to monitor ICE activity continues to show a high number of hits just all over the map. NPR asked Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry about this drawdown plan, and he said in a statement, any drawdown is a good step, but he said the search must end. I do want to acknowledge there's a bit of a change in appearance and tone. Tom Homan comes there.

7:00He's wearing a civilian suit rather than a police or military-style uniform. Seemed to acknowledge some problems in this operation that has led to deaths. But how is the drawdown supposed to work once it gets going? There is no timeline, and Homan did not offer any specifics as to how they would wind down operations here. Homan did say he's working on ways to make immigration enforcement safer, more efficient, and by the book. But the big headline, Steve, is that all of these plans are dependent on the cooperation of state and local officials. Homan said that means more access to prisons and jails, which would mean fewer agents on the streets.

7:37Homan also said the administration will prioritize the arrest of migrants with criminal records or who pose a public safety threat. And it's important to know that the administration has said this all along, and yet has arrested a bunch of undocumented immigrants who have not committed crimes. So it will be important to see whether, in fact, there will be fewer collateral arrests in Minnesota from now on. I want a little bit of clarity if you've got it. He says he wants more access to jails. I think Minnesota officials have said they give some access to jails. Is that right? Yes, and that's something that Holman acknowledged yesterday in his press conference as well and something that the administration of Governor Tim Walz has maintained all along as well.

8:15Okay, unusual. What do you hear from people who've been protesting? Well, they have a lot of questions. And, you know, after what they've gone through over the past month, people here are super skeptical about anything the federal government says. I mean, President Trump said last night there would not be a pullback of federal agents in Minnesota. And we continue to see immigration agents making arrests. So the fear continues. And many people say even if ICE hypothetically leaves the state, let's say tomorrow, there will be lingering effects. For example, it's the end of the month and there are many immigrants who have not left their homes in weeks or their primary breadwinner has been arrested by ICE.

8:51So they could miss rent. Now, mutual aid groups have been paying for some of those bills, but they're not sure how long they can keep it up. And they're calling on the governor to implement an eviction moratorium. So, you know, many residents in Minneapolis are, I would say, cautiously optimistic and they have vowed to continue to protest until this surge ends. OK, so what are they going to do next? The protesters, I mean. Yeah, there is another general strike planned. Exactly a week ago, there was a big statewide strike here in Minnesota, similar to what's expected here today. That turnout stretched for blocks and blocks in downtown Minneapolis, and it was 20 degrees colder than it was today.

9:24So there could be a bigger turnout this time. On the other hand, Steve, the morning after that strike last week, Alex Petty was killed by border patrol agents. And that has had a chilling effect on some of the activists here. One community organizer told me she's noticed an increase in fear among people doing simple things like delivering groceries to their neighbors. So there's this feeling like everybody's taking it day by day and things have the potential to become extremely volatile again. And Piero Sergio Martinez Beltran, thanks so much for your insights. Really appreciate it. You're welcome.

10:03The FBI has taken possession of hundreds of thousands of ballots from the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia. Fulton County includes most of Atlanta. It was a hub of baseless fraud claims from the 2020 election. At one point after his election defeat, Trump called a Georgia official and was heard on tape asking him to find exactly enough extra votes for Trump to win. Nationwide, thousands of election officials from both parties certified Trump's defeat in 2020. His own allies conducted an extended audit in Arizona and admitted finding no evidence to change the results. The seizure of Georgia ballots is raising concerns about this year's elections.

10:42So we've called NPR's Stephen Fowler, who is in Atlanta and has covered this story for years and years. Hi there, Stephen. Good morning. What exactly happened in Fulton County? Well, the FBI now has about 650-ish boxes worth of stuff from Fulton County's 2020 election. Earlier this week, there was a judge who signed off on a search warrant that asked for all the ballots, tabulator tapes, the scanned images of the ballots, and all copies of voter rolls from that election. So several trucks came in to take them away late Wednesday night, and I live in Fulton County. I voted here in 2020, so they have my ballot, Steve.

11:17And the Republican-led state Election Board took the county to court last year trying to access these ballots and records. While that was playing out, the Department of Justice also sued over these records. So now somehow we are here with a seizure. OK, we know that the Justice Department is now doing whatever Trump feels like telling them to do, but they seem to have gone to a judge, you say. So what evidence did investigators give for seizing voting material? We don't know. That's because the warrant mentions an FBI affidavit, but that's under seal. In the search warrant, there are two criminal laws mentioned, one of them about counting of ballots that are fraudulent.

11:53The other has to do with keeping records of an election for two years after it's over. The FBI hasn't answered any of our questions, and I will note we are more than five years after this election, so there are also questions about the statute of limitations. You mentioned a state lawsuit. There's the federal laws around Fulton County for years, right? Well, the only reason these records are available to be seized by the FBI is because a court ordered them kept under seal because of numerous lawsuits making fantastical and unproven allegations of fraud in Georgia's most populous county that's also heavily Democratic.

12:28And I covered this election and its aftermath firsthand, which has included five years of constant false claims about how Fulton County ran its election, like workers pulling out suitcases of ballots to accusations that any ballot that wasn't cast on Election Day was somehow fake or illegitimate. Also, it's one of several places where Trump faced criminal charges for his efforts to overturn that election, though that case was dropped at the end of last year. Why was Tulsi Gabbard, not a law enforcement official, but the director of national intelligence, seen at the site of the ballot seizure?

13:02Well, it's not something you would think it's in her purview. But the White House says Gabbard is playing a key role in making sure an election, quote, can never, ever be rigged again. At the same time, the Trump administration is inserting itself in elections in other ways, like suing states for unredacted voter rolls and using data from other government agencies like Social Security to find evidence of non-citizen voting, which evidence has shown to be incredibly rare. All of this action by the Trump administration is ratcheting up tensions with state and local election officials who worry about what other steps the government might take in this midterm year.

13:37And Parapolitical reporter Stephen Fowler is in Atlanta. Stephen, thanks so much. Thank you.

13:46And that's a first for this Friday, January 30th. I'm Steve Inskeep. And I'm Leila Falded. President Trump has a vision for the American workforce. He says he wants to make America skilled again. But women in the skilled trades worry that his attack on DEI will undo decades of progress. You cannot look at the workforce of the construction trades and say, oh, they've taken DEI too far. You look at the workforce of the construction trades and you see we have a long way to go. This weekend on the Sunday story, what role will women play in this skilled trades revival? Listen right here on NPR's Up First podcast.

14:24Today's Up First was edited by Anna Yukonanoff, Gigi Dubon, Ben Swayze, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Ava Pukic, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hainas. Our technical director is Carly Strange. Our executive producer is Jay Shaler. Join us again. I'm Mary Louise Kelly. World news is changing by the hour. On Sources and Methods, NPR's national security podcast, we zoom out to explain shifting alliances, global flashpoints, and what's really happening in places like Iran, Venezuela, Greenland. Our reporters on the ground connect the dots to help you understand a world order changing beneath our feet.

15:04Listen to Sources and Methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. On the TED Radio Hour, if you won the lottery, your life would be amazing, right? So I think everyone's got a vision of what it's like to win the lottery in their head when they're playing. The reality, of course, is very different. Ideas about making the most of what you've got and finding agency. Listen to the TED Radio Hour on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.