NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-28-2025 4AM EST

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

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This message comes from the Kresge Foundation. Established 100 years ago, the Kresge Foundation works to expand equity and opportunity in cities across America. A century of impact, a future of opportunity. More at kresge.org. Live from MPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. As federal agents continue to expand their deportation operations in raids across the country, immigrant rights groups are stepping up their resistance. And here's Adrienne Florido has the story.

Adam Chapnick Immigration and Customs Enforcement and partner agencies have reported raids to pick up more than a thousand immigrants in Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, San Diego, Miami, and many other cities. ICE says it's targeting potentially dangerous criminal aliens. Its press releases highlight arrests of people convicted or wanted for crimes like extortion, homicide, domestic violence, and narcotics violations. But advocates say it's also getting people who pose no threat. In Atlanta, activists reported immigrants with pending asylum claims were rounded up. In Puerto Rico, the ACLU said ICE had detained people with legal status and

no criminal history. Advocates have filed a raft of lawsuits to try to slow the deportation dragnet. Adrienne Fledido, NPR News, Los Angeles. The Justice Department says more than a dozen employees who worked on criminal investigations of Donald Trump have been fired. Meanwhile, dozens of career civil service workers at the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, have been placed on paid administrative leave on suspicion of

trying to circumvent executive orders. Japan's Ben Park Nikkei average is down over 1% after a Chinese startup unveiled what it calls a less expensive artificial intelligence program. The release of AI chat bot DeepSeaks sent U.S. shares chumbling on Monday. But as NPR's Giles Snyder reports, President Trump says that could be a good thing. The release of DeepSeak by a Chinese startup threatens to upend American AI dominance, marking worry among investors about the billions that have been poured into AI by big American tech companies. President Trump says DeepSeek's release should be a wake-up call for the US AI industry,

but he says getting a similar result for less money could turn out to be a positive. NPR's Giles Snyder. Syria's Golden Heights has long been mostly occupied by Israel. NPR's Emily Fang reports neighboring communities say Israeli forces are taking control of more villages. Syrian residents in the Golan Heights told NPR that Israeli tanks rolled into their villages days after rebels toppled a dictatorship run

by the Assad family in Syria. The troops are restricting their movements in and out of the Syrian villages, both inside and outside a buffer zone monitored by the United Nations following a 1973 war with Israel and Egypt. This is Mohammed Al Fayyad, who was from a town in the buffer zone. He says Syria was liberated from the Assad's, but then the Israeli occupation came. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the expansion is a, quote, temporary

defensive position, but has not set a date to withdraw. This is NPR News. A jury in North Dakota is hearing testimony over a state ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors. A doctor and families of transgender children filed suit arguing that the statute violates North Dakota's constitution. Similar bans are on the books in more than two dozen states across the U.S. In Tennessee, lawmakers held a special session on Monday

on immigration, disaster relief, and school vouchers. WPLN's Mariana Baockenhall reports that protesters gathered on the steps of the state capitol to demand gun reform after Nashville's second school shooting. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the state capitol, decrying the legislature's lack of action after a shooting at Antioch High School in Nashville last week. Are they going to be doing anything about the guns? No! No, because they'd rather attack our immigrant and refugee neighbors. Tennessee's governor has called the special session to focus, in part, on

helping with President Trump's mass deportation efforts. Less than two years ago, a deadly shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville inspired its own special session on gun safety. The Republican supermajority didn't pass gun reform then, and protesters say they don't expect them to this time either. For NPR News, I'm Mariana Bacallao in Nashville. Whole Foods is expressing disappointment after a majority of its workers at one of its stores in Philadelphia voted in favor of a union.

The workers are seeking higher pay, cheaper health care, and other benefits. Whole Foods is part of NPR contributor Amazon. This is NPR News. Support for NPR and the following message come from the Kauffman Foundation, providing access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability,

upward mobility, and economic prosperity, regardless of race, gender, or geography. Kaufmann.org