The Headlines - Deportation Fight Escalates, and America’s New Meth Crisis

Episode Date: April 16, 2025

Plus, “The Great Moose Migration.” On Today’s Episode: ‘Nothing Has Been Done’: Judge Rebukes U.S. Effort to Return Wrongly Deported Man, by Alan FeuerGrassley Draws Jeers From Constituents at Raucous Town Hall, by Michael Gold2 Protesters at Marjorie Taylor Greene Town Hall Are Subdued With Stun Guns, by Maya C. MillerTrump Threatens Harvard’s Tax Status, Escalating Billion-Dollar Pressure Campaign, by Tyler Pager, Andrew Duehren, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan SwanBiden Says Trump Is ‘Breaking Things,’ Including the Safety Net, by Julie Bosman, Shane Goldmacher, Katie Glueck and Tyler PagerAs Fentanyl Deaths Slow, Meth Comes for Maine, by Jan HoffmanThe ‘Great Moose Migration’ Livestream Captivates Sweden, by Amelia Nierenberg and Christina AndersonTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Amelia Nirenberg in for Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, April 16th. Here's what we're covering. A federal judge is turning up the pressure on the Trump administration in the case of the man it wrongly deported to a prison in El Salvador. At a hearing yesterday, the judge criticized the administration for dragging its feet and not immediately complying with a Supreme Court order to facilitate his release. She said, quote, to date, nothing has been done, nothing. Government lawyers had previously admitted that the man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, was mistakenly deported,

though on Tuesday, some of President Trump's top advisors abruptly changed their position, claiming that he was deported on purpose. The judge is now trying to force the administration to show how it's handling the case behind the scenes. She said she plans to let Abrego Garcia's lawyers request government documents and bring in officials for questioning.

Meanwhile, the case has sparked anger across the country. At a town hall in Iowa, constituents confronted Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who heads the Senate committee that oversees immigration policy and federal courts. Grassley said he won't push for a Braygo Garcia's release, arguing that it's out of his control. The president of that country is not subject to our U.S. Supreme Court. Grassley is one of just a handful of Republicans hosting town halls this week while Congress is in recess. In the first months of the Trump administration, the events have become flashpoints, not just about immigration, but about a range of Republican policies. Many Republicans have gone into sort of hiding and are not engaging as much, if at all, with their constituents in the Times, was at one of the few other town halls, an

event with Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of President Trump's most loyal allies. You can head out. The protest is outside. Thank you very much. The protest is outside. She says it quickly became chaotic as protesters interrupted Greene repeatedly. Police used stun guns on two of them and forcibly removed multiple people while supporters of Green cheered and applauded.

At the same time there were folks there who stayed quiet and kept seated and afterwards they told me that they didn't feel like their concerns were really heard at all. So if you were a median voter who had genuine concerns that you wanted to bring to your congresswoman, this was not a good night for you. The fight between Harvard and the Trump administration heated up yesterday when President Trump threatened a new attack on the university, stripping the school of its tax-exempt status. Like many schools, Harvard doesn't have to pay taxes for the most part. Trump suggested that should change, as his administration tries to force radical overhauls at the university and other top schools.

The new threat came just after Harvard became the first school to refuse to comply with a list of demands from the administration, and the administration hit back by freezing more than $2 billion in federal funding. Experts say that it's unlikely that Trump could actually make the IRS take away Harvard's tax-exempt status, and the university is uniquely well-equipped to face off against the White House. It's the richest school in the world with more than $50 billion in its endowment

and spent months preparing for a showdown. Still, even an attempt to change its tax status could force the school into a long and expensive legal fight as the university is starting to feel the pressure from the funding freeze. The Times has learned that some public health research has already been halted there, and any more cutbacks could hit the 11 hospitals

that are affiliated with Harvard. ["The New York Times"] Fewer than 100 days, this new administration has done so much damage and so much destruction. In his first major remarks since leaving the White House, former president Joe Biden gave a speech yesterday condemning the Trump administration and forcefully defending social security. Well, they're following that old line from tech startups.

The quote is move fast, break things. Well, they're certainly breaking things. In Biden's speech, a paid address to disability advocates in Chicago, he said that the Trump administration was, quote, taking a hatchet to the program that more than 70 million Americans rely on. President Trump has promised not to roll back the benefits, but the Social Security Administration has said it wants to cut thousands of staffers. And Trump's budget cuts have already left many local offices understaffed and overwhelmed, with longer lines and longer wait times. Biden's speech was one of his relatively few public events since leaving office, though

the Times has learned he's expected to do more speaking engagements in the next few months. The former president is also working on a memoir. After years of rising overdose deaths, the US got a glimmer of hope last year. Opioid fatalities were falling, treatments were expanding, and drugs like fentanyl seem to be getting less potent. But in some cities, including Portland, Maine, a once popular drug has re-emerged with devastating consequences, methamphetamine. My colleague Greta Ribas, a photographer and I, spent on and off six months in Portland

getting to know people who use the drug and the emergency responders who really struggled to know what to do with someone when they are under extreme agitation from meth. My colleague Jan Hoffman covers addiction for the Times. She says that parts of Portland have been overrun by cheap meth, which is now being mass produced by Mexican cartels and is sometimes cut with other dangerous drugs. The result is a stimulant that can lead to psychosis and violent episodes, and it has overwhelmed health officials. The neighborhood where much of this is concentrated called Bayside has a remarkable repertoire of social services. There are social workers on the street, there are health clinics for

people who are unhoused, and yet with all this extraordinary outpouring of services They are baffled by meth One of the emergency responders I spent the most time with Was a fellow named Bill Burns who's a mental health specialist with the Portland Police and he has just been drowning In trying to help people who are under meth influence. He talked about one time putting his arms around a young guy who was flinging himself against concrete dividers in an alley, completely lost to the world. Another time Bill was called to a woman's apartment, she was ripping tiles from her ceiling looking

for spying devices. And Bill had to try to talk her down and also get her to the hospital. This has happened to him and frankly to people under the influence many, many times. It's not at all uncommon. Jan says that as meth use surges in places like Portland, health officials are short on tools to help. Unlike with opioids, there are no medications specifically approved to treat addiction to meth, and no drugs like Narcan that can be used to reverse an overdose. And finally, in Sweden, an annual TV phenomenon is getting underway this week. A live broadcast of the country's moose migration.

The country's national broadcaster sets up more than 30 cameras in fields, along rivers and in forests, to capture and stream the migrating moose. Last year, millions of people tuned in. I make sure I have coffee, I have snacks, I have prepared food so I don't have to be in the kitchen too long. Sleep. Forget it, I don't sleep.

Tens of thousands of die-hard fans, like Ulla Malmgren, flock to a Facebook group as they wait for the huge mammals to lumber across their screens. When one appears, the page blows up in delight. But even when there are no moose on screen, part of the appeal is that it's just nice to have a little window into nature. Unlike other animal programs, there is no background music or narration. Arna Nilsson, a moderator of the Facebook group, calls it, quote, reality TV at its finest. Those are the headlines today on the daily, an inside look at the negotiations over the

future of Iran's nuclear weapons program. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Amelia Nirenberg. We'll be back tomorrow.