The Headlines - ‘Horror Show’ at Detention Facility, and the Dollar’s Big Drop

Episode Date: July 1, 2025

Plus, three new teams for the WNBA. On Today’s Episode:Trump to Visit Migration Detention Camp Called ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ by Chris CameronConcerns Grow Over Dire Conditions in Immigrant Detention, by Miriam Jordan and Jazmine UlloaG.O.P. Toils to Lock Down Senate Votes as Debate on Policy Bill Enters Third Day, by Michael Gold and Megan MineiroThe Dollar Has Its Worst Start to a Year Since 1973, by Joe RennisonCalifornia Rolls Back Its Landmark Environmental Law, by Laurel Rosenhall, Soumya Karlamangla and Adam NagourneyWNBA Announces Record Expansion to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia, by Ben PickmanTune 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 Tracy Mumford. Today is Tuesday, July 1st. Here's what we're covering. There is only one road leading in and the only way out is a one-way flight. It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain. The White House says that this morning, President Trump will travel to Florida for the opening of a migrant detention camp that's been dubbed Alligator Alcatraz.

This is an efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history. The facility is located on an old airfield in the middle of the Everglades, and state officials have said that the site's harsh surroundings, with alligators and snakes, will save money on security. Once it's fully operational, it's expected to house thousands of migrants in large tents at a cost of about $450 million a year. Immigrant advocates have raised concerns about the site, including the dangers of extreme

heat, with one telling The Times the plan, quote, shocks the conscience. Florida officials moved forward with the unconventional facility as immigration arrests have increased sharply nationwide. Government data recently made public through a Freedom of Information Act request shows that immigration officials are arresting

about 1,200 people per day across the country, up from about 300 when Trump took office. The White House has set a target of 3,000 arrests per day. Meanwhile, The Times has found that the spike in arrests has led to dire conditions at existing detention centers across the country. More than two dozen former detainees, their lawyers, and others that the Times interviewed described the facilities as unsanitary and unsafe. At one, 35 to 40 men lived in a windowless room with one toilet. They slept head to toe on the concrete floor. Others say they went more than a week without showers

and didn't get medications they needed for diabetes, high blood pressure, or other health issues. One day laborer from Mexico who'd lived in the US for 28 years until he was arrested in California last month said he'd been jammed into a frigid, filthy space in the basement of a federal building in LA with dozens of other men. We felt like we were in a cage, he said, adding they would take out five men and bring

in 10 more. A lawyer familiar with the center called it a quote, horror show. In response to questions from the Times, the Department of Homeland Security categorically denied all claims of overcrowding and poor conditions at its facilities. As of this morning, the fate of President Trump's big domestic policy bill is still up in the air. I would suggest to my colleagues that we get this vote started. The Senate spent all night slogging through votes on proposed amendments,

and Republican leaders are still trying to pull together enough support from some of their skeptical colleagues to get the package passed. Some GOP members want more spending cuts, eyeing the deficit. Some want fewer, concerned about the impact on social safety net programs. Just four Republican defections would cause the bill to fail. While Republicans try to push it across the finish line, Elon Musk, who became the Republican Party's biggest donor last year, has continued to rail against the bill as too expensive, and he threatened the political futures of its supporters. Yesterday,

he said that nearly all of the Republicans in the House and Senate, quote, will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this earth. He also suggested that if the bill does pass, he would use his vast wealth to form a new political party the U.S. dollar has had its worst start to a year since the early 70s. It's weakened more than 10% compared to a set of currencies from the U.S.'s major trading partners like the euro, the British pound, and the Canadian dollar. It's been weighed down by a combination of inflation concerns, rising government debt, and President Trump's aggressive tariff proposals, and confidence in the U.S. as the center of the global financial system has been falling.

Even as Trump's backed off some of his most extreme proposals and the U.S. stock markets recovered from recent shocks, the dollar has continued to slide. It's not that weak historically, but the downward trajectory has made it more expensive for Americans to travel abroad, and has made the U.S. less attractive for foreign investors, potentially slowing incoming cash right when the government may be looking to borrow more to cover the growing deficit. In California, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Monday rolling back a law that had become a national symbol for environmental protection. The California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, had been

around for more than five decades and sought to protect natural resources from overdevelopment, pollution, and suburban sprawl. But in recent years, many lawmakers, Democrat and Republican, began to see the law's rigorous environmental review requirements and other provisions as barriers to construction. They say that helped fuel the state's affordability and homelessness crises. Now, many projects will be able to move forward more quickly, making it easier to, say, convert a vacant shopping center into apartments, which the governor celebrated yesterday. This is the most consequential housing reform that we've seen in modern history in the state

of California. Long overdue, absolutely. For many decades, California has had a very strong environmental movement and this law is one of the bedrock laws. So there has been a lot of reluctance to change it because Democrats have been very much in alignment with that. My colleague Laurel Rosenhall covers California for the Times. But I think that the election last year where Democrats saw so many losses across the country created a reckoning for some politicians in Sacramento. They realized that voters were very frustrated about high prices, the high cost of living,

and if voters feel like the government isn't looking out for their basic needs, then they're gonna vote accordingly. California is not the only state with this kind of environmental law on the books, and it's possible that there could be other democratic-led states that might look to California's

actions as a reason to weaken their environmental regulations to address their own housing shortages. Experts we spoke with mentioned that Massachusetts, New York, or Minnesota are among those that have laws similar to California's, and perhaps the move that was done here could embolden those governors too. And finally, it's not every day you get to make history, but today we do it three times over. The WNBA is adding three new teams in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia over the next few years. The league's commissioner, Kathy Engelbert, made the announcement yesterday after groups

from more than 10 cities put in bids. This expansion marks far more than an increase in teams. It's a transformational investment in the future of women's sports. Engelbert said the expansion was driven by the league's recent all-time high viewership and surging attendance at arenas. For the WNBA, this is in some ways a comeback story. At times, the league has shrunk. Cleveland and Detroit both had teams in the 90s when the WNBA first got going, but they

later folded or moved. Now they're getting them back. They'll join a handful of other new teams. The Golden State Valkyries just started playing this year out of California, and Toronto and Portland have teams coming in 2026. In another sign of investment in the league, WNBA teams are increasingly getting their own top-of-the-line practice facilities, with everything from saunas to on-site child care. A major upgrade from the old days when some of the women's teams practiced at their local community center or the YMCA.

Those are the headlines today on The Daily, an interview with Steve Bannon on what he sees as the future of the MAGA movement. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.