NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-21-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

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Lyle, from NPR News. I'm Lakshmi Singh. The Trump administration has started going after migrants in the country without legal status. The borders are. Tom Homan says the immigration and customs enforcement agents are focusing on those with criminal records. Here's NPR's Sergio Martinez Beltran. Homan told CNN the administration is not conducting mass raids but targeted enforcement operations. The priority is migrants who do not have legal status and have committed crimes. But Homan warned there will be collateral arrests. We will find him. But when we find him, he may be with others. Others that don't have

a criminal conviction in the country legally. They will be arrested too. Homan declined to provide specific information on the locations of the operations, citing concerns over the safety of immigration officials. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, Washington. leaders of the far-right groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are now out of prison, a day after President Trump granted clemency to virtually everyone charged in connection with the violent 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The proud boys Enrique Tarrio and the Oath Keepers Stuart Rhodes were sent to prison for seditious conspiracy and other crimes sentenced to 22 years and 18 years respectively. This afternoon they walked free.

Republican Senator Tom Tillis of North Carolina had this reaction to the January 6th pardons. I'm about to file two bills that will increase the penalties up to and including the death penalty for the murder of a police officer and increasing the penalties and creating federal crimes for assaulting a police officer. That should give you everything you need to know about my position. As a result of the pro-Trump riots, several people died and many others suffered injuries. Many of them were law enforcement officers who sought to protect lawmakers and other staffers trapped inside the Capitol. Trump's orders target security clearances, including that of his former

national security advisor turned sharp critic, John Bolton, also took away his security detail. The families of three Israeli women released last weekend are speaking about their condition after being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 15 months. NPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi reports they also had a message to the new US president. Emily Demari, Doran Steinbrecher and Romy Gonen are on a long road to recovery but happy to be with their families. That's what their relatives told a news conference in Tel Aviv. Yamit Ashkenazi is Steinbrecher's sister. She delivered a message from the former hostage. Everyone needs to return, she said, until the last hostage comes home. Ashkenazi also said we reached this moment after far too long.

And without Trump's involvement, it would not have happened. Four more hostages are expected to be released this weekend. Hadil Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Tel Aviv. US stocks have ended the day higher. The Dow closed up 1.2% or 553 points to end the day at 44,039. From Washington, this is NPR News. Firefighters are making more progress

on the wildfires in Southern California. Some of the high winds are dying down, but officials say another threat Firefighters are making more progress on the wildfires in Southern California. Some of the high winds are dying down, but officials say another threat is in the forecast this week. Heavy rains that could lead to landslides. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says she's trying to ensure toxic runoff from the rain does not overwhelm communities. The action plan I have directed our City Public Works Bureaus to implement includes the installation of barriers,

debris removal, and diverting runoff from our stormwater system and into our sewer system where it can be treated. Danielle Pletka The world's wealthiest people are getting even wealthier, according to Oxfam International. NPR's Maria Aspin reports no one is a trillionaire just yet, but the anti-poverty group now predicts that five trillionaires will exist within the next decade. Billionaire wealth and power is growing faster than ever. And Oxfam is raising the alarm about what this income inequality could mean for our society. Billionaires saw their wealth grow three times faster in 2024 than the year before.

Meanwhile, the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990. Oxfam published this report at a time when billionaire power over U.S. politics is increasingly visible. Several tech CEOs and other billionaires attended the inauguration of President Donald Trump, who has assembled the wealthiest U.S. administration in history. Trump is also being advised by the world's wealthiest person, Elon Musk. Maria Aspin, NPR News, New York. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.