NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-04-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Herbst. Officials in Minnesota say federal immigration operations are now underway, targeting Somali immigrants with final deportation orders. Somali American Minneapolis City Councilman, Jamal Osman. They have arrested many, many people so far that are waiving their asylum interviews. Most of them had, we're working, were renting. have a work permit and a social security, and they went through the right process. It's part of an expanded deportation effort by the Trump administration. Meanwhile, in the Oval office yesterday, President Trump once again slammed the Somali community.

Somali is considered by many to be the worst country on earth. I don't know. I haven't been there. I won't be there anytime soon. This after he was asked about a fraud investigation where some Somalis, among others, were convicted of defrauding social service programs in Minnesota. The Trump administration has recently fired more than a dozen additional immigration judges, bringing the total numbers of terminated judges to 90. And Piers Jimenez-Bustillo has more. Immigration judges are more like other federal workers than like judges in the judiciary. The courts are housed in the Justice Department, in the executive branch of government,

not the judicial branch. And that makes it easier for the Attorney General to fire them. Most of the judges this administration fired had still been in their two-year probationary period, but many of those in recent terminations had been with the agency for years. That expands the scope of who could be targeted by future rounds of firings. Immigration advocates warn the layoffs contribute to an already years-long backlog for immigrants to have their cases heard. Hemanabustillo, MPR News, Washington. Those judges had been in their roles for years.

A powerful advisory committee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, convention convenes a two-day meeting today to consider controversial changes to how doctors vaccinate children against dangerous infectious diseases. And here's Rob Stein reports. The CDC advisors will consider dropping a recommendation that all babies routinely get vaccinated against hepatitis B at birth. Proponents of making the change argue the shots should be delayed because the virus spreads through sex and drug use. But most experts say babies can catch the virus. in other ways, increasing the risk for liver disease, failure, and cancer. The committee will also discuss changing how pediatricians inoculate children against more

than a dozen other infectious diseases, including measles, whooping cough, and polio. Most public health experts say any changes are necessary and would be dangerous. Rob Stein and Peer News. U.S. futures contracts are trading higher this morning. Dow futures up about one-tenth of a percent. NASDAQ futures up a fraction. You're listening to NPR News. In Texas, a law goes into effect today, requiring people in government buildings or schools to use the bathroom associated with the sex on their birth certificate. Supporters say it will protect women's privacy, but critics say it's a clear attack on transgender Texans.

Blais Ganey of the Texas Newsroom has more. Starting today, public buildings like courthouses, libraries, and prisons will have to restrict. restroom and locker room access based on a person's sex assigned at birth. To be clear, the law does not affect private businesses, which can use their own bathroom policies. But advocates for trans rights say the law is discriminatory. Ash Hall, with the ACLU of Texas, says exactly how the bill will be implemented is not clear.

The way that the government defines gender in this law is that's based on reproductive anatomy, but no one can check that without a serious. invasion of privacy, right? Paul says a lawsuit against the measure isn't off the table. I'm Blaise Ganey in Austin. The popular payment service app Venmo says its backup and running again after users reported trouble sending and receiving money last night. In a post on social media this morning,

Venmo says it was an internal issue that was fixed by its engineers and it apologized for the inconvenience, but it didn't provide details on what cars. the outage. Some users posted on social media that they were unable to pay for medication or dinner. Peer-to-Pair payment apps have exploded in popularity in the last decade. I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News.