The President's Daily Brief - PDB Situation Report | September 27th, 2025: Trump Shocks World on Ukraine & Immigration Milestone

Episode Date: September 27, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Situation Report: President Trump shocks the world with a dramatic reversal on the war in Ukraine, declaring that the country could win back all of the territory it has lost. Former Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe, Retired Lt. General Ben Hodges, joins the show to share his thoughts on Trump’s new position and what it means for the battlefield. Later, the Trump administration touts a milestone in its immigration crackdown, reporting that over 2 million illegal aliens have been removed or self-deported in just 250 days. Resident Fellow for Law and Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, Art Arthur, breaks down the numbers and the strategy behind the administration’s approach. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting https://PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief.  YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief CBDistillery: Visit https://CBDistillery.com and use promo code PDB for 25% off your entire order! Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold American Financing: Call American Financing today to find out how customers are saving an avg of $800/mo. NMLS 182334, https://nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.327% for well qualified borrowers. Call 866-885-1881 for details about credit costs and terms. Visit http://www.AmericanFinancing.net/PDB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Olivia Rodriguez, the unraveled tour, live across North America with special guests. Get tickets Thursday, May 7th, at Olivia Rodrigo.com. Wireless can feel like a world of traps, but not with visible. It's one-line wireless with unlimited data and hotspot, powered by Verizon for $25 a month, taxes and fees included. Plus, for a limited time, new members pay, just $20 a month for one year on the Visible plan using the code fresh start.

Refresh your wireless with Visible. Tap the banner to switch today. Terms apply, limited time offer subject to change. See Visible.com for plan features and network management details. Welcome to the PDB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, prisoner jumped shocked the world this week,

appearing to do a complete U-turn on the war in Ukraine. declaring that the country could recover all the territory it's lost. Then he added in and then some perhaps. Former Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe, retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges stops by to give his thoughts on the reversal. Later on the shelf, the Trump administration, celebrating a milestone in their crackdown on illegal immigration, reporting that over two million illegal aliens have been removed or self-deported in 250 days. Resident Fellow for Law and Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, Art Arthur joins us to dig into those details. But first, today's situation report spotlight.

President Jopp has made a surprising reversal on the war in Ukraine. After months of calling from negotiations and questioning U.S. support, the president now says he believes Ukraine can reclaim every inch of territory lost to Russia, or at least that it's possible. In a truth social post, he declared the Ukraine, backed by the European Union, is, quote, in a position to fight and win, and he wrote win in all capitals, all of Ukraine back in its original form. Trump also ridiculed Russia's military, saying the war should have taken out real military power less than a week to win, and calling Moscow a paper tiger.

Joining us to break it all down is a retired lieutenant general Ben Hodges, former commanding general of U.S. Army Europe. Sir, thanks again very much for coming back on the situation report. Mike, thanks for the privilege. Let's start with the big news of the week. President Trump's apparent turnaround on Ukraine. What do you make of that? Unfortunately, the initial excitement has already worn off, for a couple of reasons. There were one.

In less than 24 hours, both Secretary Rubio and Secretary Bepa said gave indications that this is not going to be a major policy shift, that they really are, I hate to say it, but I think they're trying to wash their hands of the whole Ukraine thing. And when the president said that, you know, that Ukraine was doing great and they could win with support from the EU,

that's an important distinction. He didn't say it from NATO, except from the EU, of course, which does not include the United States. And when he talks about Russia being a paper tiger, I would support that, by the way. But that also is another way of kind of saying that, so we don't need to be here anymore. We have other things to focus on.

Now, I could be reading too much into it, but I haven't seen or felt or heard anything beyond the present of the statement that tells me that this is a real policy shift. Yeah, that is a very interesting interpretation, sir, because, of course, in the aftermath and still to this day, there's, There seems to be a great deal of excitement, at least being reported, coming out of Ukraine over the president's announcement. It's interesting because the way he phrased it, that they could win back all the territory, and then I think he threw in a line and then some or something to that effect. is that in the realm of the possible? Is it realistic? I have always believed that Ukraine can get back all of its territory if we, the United States and our allies made that the strategic objective. I mean, my goodness, just the countries of Europe combined dwarfs whatever Russia has. So it's not like we don't have the ability to do it. It's all about committing.

to that as an objective. The Biden administration never did it and the Trump administration, both one or two, have never stated clearly that that's our objective. Ukraine has stopped Russia after 11 years of war with Russia having every advantage and Russia is never going to be able to defeat Ukraine unless we just totally turn our back. So I think if we made it our objective, it would absolutely happen that Ukraine could do that. And that's, it's in our interest that they do that. What happens in Ukraine affects us because it affects the security and stability and prosperity

of Europe, our biggest trading partner, and it also says a message to China that we have the political will and the ability to stop Russia. Right now, I think China's not until the press. Yeah. China, I mean, again, I think it's always

you can always count on them to do whatever is specifically in their best interests. So they're always looking at these relationships, particularly the relationship with Russia, I think from that perspective, it's we sometimes read too much into their bromance or, oh my God, it's a no-limits partnership. I personally don't believe that that's how Xi Jinping thinks. If we stick with President Trump's comments to the UN, what do you make of his comment about NATO,

about the U.S. will continue to supply weapons to NATO. They can do with them what they will, Is that of interest or is that just, well, you know, we were going to sell them weapons anyway? Of course, what he said was allies can buy weapons from us and then they can give them to Ukraine. I mean, that's not exactly Roosevelt or Eisenhower or troop-woman-esque in terms of statesmen-like leadership. It makes us look like it's more of just a weapons transaction instead of something that's in the best interest, strategic interest of the United States. Now, at the end of the day, if it does increase capabilities that are provided to Ukraine, I'm for it. And of course, the United States sells arms to much of the world, especially now after most of the world has seen that what Russia makes turns out to be not that good. So the problem is several European countries are starting to waver or change their mind about,

are they going to buy U.S. capabilities, partly in reaction to tariffs, partly in reaction to concern that the U.S., the vendor might not be able to fulfill all of the obligations for political reasons. So we've seen a couple of countries back away from F-35, for example, and Denmark just made a decision to go with a European air defense system instead of American. So I want the United States to be seen as the personal democracy, but it's not just a matter of making weapon systems available. For me, Mike, the most important thing is the president laying out our strategic objective.

What do we want the world to look like at the end of this conflict in Ukraine? And I think what we want is a Europe that is prosperous, which means it's stable and secure, which means that Russia is living back inside its own boundaries. And for China to realize that the United States will defend sovereignty. Right now, I think the Chinese thing we're a little bit flexible on sovereignty. Yeah, I would agree with that as well. They always talk about President Trump as being sort of a transactional guy. So I guess my question has a lot of room there.

to speculate or kind of wander around, I suppose it's not a very good question. But does this White House, from your perspective, do they think in that sort of strategic term? Is it, okay, looking down the road, five years, 10 years from now, what's in America's best interest? I know they always talk about, you know, America first, that's fine. But I'm wondering whether, you know, again, as with the arms deal, well, we'll sell weapons to NATO. They can use them. Is part of the problem. here that the president is more transactional than strategic? Well, you know, I read an excellent interview with the journal Kellogg just the other day. I think it was done while he was still in Kyiv last week.

And, you know, this is a guy that understands strategy, what's required. He's not confused about who the Russians are. And so here's a part of the administration that thinks very strategically and also understands the importance of allies. Ambassador Waltz, the president's nominee to be our ambassador to the United Nations, former National Security Advisor. He absolutely

gets it. He understands the importance of allies and how you have to use power, all the different levers of power. I'm not so clear that the Secretary of State sees it

that way. Or the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Besson, You know, just two days ago, I read what he said about. He goes, you know, the Russians, they may be marching into Warsaw, but they're not marching into Boston. So basically, not our problem. That's a remarkable statement for the Secretary of the Treasury to say. I worry that there is America's isolationist DNA is raising its head to a level that's not good

for our long-term security. I want to pick up on that. I just have to take a quick break, sir. So don't go anywhere. Stay right where you are if you don't mind. We'll be right back with more from General Hodges. Here on the Situation Report. Stick around. Hey, Mike Baker here. You know those nights when you just don't sleep? You know what I mean? You're tossing and turning. Your mind's racing. And sleep just won't come. And then, of course, the next day, well, you're dragging. You're exhausted and everything just feels harder. That's where CBD from CB Distillery can make a real difference. But it's not just sleep products over at CB Distillery. They've got solutions that work with your

body to help with stress, with pain after exercise, even mood and focus. Now, it's all made with the highest quality clean ingredients, and that's important. No fillers, just premium CBD. Imagine waking up Restador, enjoying your day without those nagging aches and pains. That's the real win of CB Distillery's solutions. And that's why over 2 million people, I said 2 million people trust CB Distillery. Look, I use their relief ball for after workouts because frankly, every workout at my age involves some level of pain, right? And that relief ball really does the job. It works. It's terrific. So give it a go. If you're ready for better sleep, less stress, and just generally feeling better, try CBD from CB Distillery. And right now, you can save 25% off your entire purchase. Give that a go.

Visit CB Distillery and use promo code PDB at CBdistillery.com promo code PDB. Again, CBdistillery.com. Specific product availability depends on individual state regulations. Who cares about your poops? Ollie does? That's why Ali's science-backed gut health lineup help support your family's regularity. From daily probiotics to fiber gummies, your kiddos will love. Find it all on Ali.com.

That's OLLL.L. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. I get so many headaches every month. It could be chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more. Botoxalin A prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine. It's not for those who have 14 or fewer headache days a month. Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor.

Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms, and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS-Lugherig's disease, Myasthenia Gravis or Lambert Eaton syndrome, and medications, including botulinum

toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. Why wait? Ask your doctor. Visit Botox Chronic Migraine.com or call 1-800-44 Botox to learn more. Welcome back to the Situation Report. Joining me once again is retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges. He's a former commanding general of U.S. Army Europe. Sir, thank you very much for sticking around. You raised some very interesting points towards the end of the first segment. And I wanted to pick back up on that. When we're talking about what's in America's best interests in terms of the war in Ukraine, Putin's war in Ukraine, I think you referenced Secretary Besson in his comments that, hey, look, you know, the Russian military is not marching on Boston. And that isolationism, that concept of isolationism, and we obviously saw it, it was raging

prior to World War II, which was one of the problems that FDR had. And at this point, with an administration that does consistently beat the drum for America first, and, you know, let's take care of problems at home, which is fine, which makes perfect sense. But you have to be able to multitask, right? And nothing happens in a bubble. are you concerned that there is the possibility that this administration just loses interest? Look, I think it's the job of the president, of every president, to explain to all of us, to speak to all of us as adults, and they say, look, of course, my job is number one to protect America's population, our strategic interests, our infrastructure, that's the job of every president. Of course, whether you call it America first or not, the fact is that's what he has to do. The difference is, how do you do that?

I mean, go ask Arkansas sword bean farmers right now. Clearly, America cannot consume all the sword beans that they need because China is who they used to sell to. Now, China's not doing it, so we have a problem. The same would be true for almost every other thing that we make in America, except maybe baseball bats. that we have international markets, or we depend on other countries for what we need. That's why we have the greatest Navy in the world to make sure that the international waters are safe so that trade can proceed. I think that America First doesn't mean in America, we would just focus inward because that's not going

to bring prosperity or security to anybody else. I'm surprised that we don't have a carve out in sort of the old tariff issue for the defense industry. Well, I think you probably could address that better than I could. But, you know, I mean, all the major weapons systems, for example, have supply chains that come with so many different components. The gun on an Abrams take comes from a German company. So, I mean, you can't, when we're so intertwined on so much of what we do that that might be, it might be feasible in some things. I imagine that would be a little bit difficult to do on others. Yeah, yeah.

No, I should tell our viewers, I am not a tariff expert. I know that's going to shock a lot of people, but I just throw that out there. Let's switch gears just slightly to talk about the recent incursions. Obviously, there were some 19 or 20 drones that made their way into Polish airspace. There have been incursions related to Estonia. We just had another sorty of Russian aircraft flying in the Alaska-Aid-this area, the Northern Defense zone up there. And what do you make of that? Are these just the result of an ongoing war where you're going to have these incidents? And the Kremlin keeps brushing them off as, you know, they strayed into space, eh, it wasn't intentional, whatever.

Or do you think there's something else there? I think it's something else. First of all, these are operations. I've used the word operations instead of encourages because they're planned and they deliberately take. target areas where they want the drones to go or the three Russian fighters that spent 12 minutes in Estonian airspace the other day, the four Russian aircraft you just referenced outside of Alaska, and we had another incident in the last 24 hours near Latvia. 21 drones, that's not an accident. And the Polish Air Force was able to figure out that they all came from the same spot close to

the Russia's border with and Belarus and so the fact that they launched 21 drones into Poland knowing that there are almost 10,000 American troops that are there that tells me that the Russians were not

too concerned that the U.S. would actually do anything about it, that there would not be a meaningful response. And so I see all of these things, the drones that were operating around five different Air Force in Denmark over the last few days also.

And by the way, the Germans have seized a tanker with a Russian crew that apparently was a drone launching platform. And so these are the things that are going on out there. These get referred to sometimes as gray zone operations because they're below the level of a kinetic strike. So not exactly Article 5. But I think our mentality is wrong. The Russians are clearly at war with us, using the full spectrum of capabilities they have,

the weird I yet at war with them. And we don't think that way. And so as a result, we don't have the urgency to address the weaknesses and gaps. I mean, after watching Ukraine for over three years, battling hundreds of drones every night, we clearly were not ready when those 21 drones entered Poland. So we have to fix that. It's interesting. Our good friend Gordon Chang, China expert, makes a similar comment about China.

He says, China is at war with us, with the West. We just don't know it. And we don't understand it. And we're certainly not on a war footing, but he says the Chinese regime is on a war footing. How would you describe, if I could ask you this, how would you describe the resolve of the EU when it comes to Ukraine? So I have seen a significant increase in the resolve of our European allies, both within a NATO construct or in their own sovereign construct,

and now as the EU. I mean, the president of the European Commission, Ursula Funderland, she sounds tough. And, you know, she's talking about shooting down Russian aircraft. the Germany, France, and I think UK, or maybe it's Poland, just told the Russians, said, look, we are going to start shooting down your aircraft if you continue to do this. This is a different, it's a different tone. We'll see what happens.

And, of course, the Russians will immediately test that. The Russian ambassador to France yesterday said that if you shoot down an aircraft, that means war. No, it doesn't. But that's the language from the Russian side. And so we just need to be, it's not going to be up to Captain Hodges there to decide whether or not to shoot down a Russian aircraft. It's going to be a policy decision by the leaders. And they have to have already thought through to the consequences, possible Russian reactions, and to have the messaging, the narrative already established.

Otherwise, Russia will, of course, twist the narrative about what happened and how this is, they're defending themselves against all of NATO. So I think we should be a lot more self-confident. And Russia should worry about what we're going to do. We should quit worrying so much about what they might do. Yeah, it seems like that's been the case ever since this started, right? That we've been focused on what they might do. And we've always been, and whether it's this administration and previous administration,

they've always kind of held back. And it seems like out of that, out of that concern. at the end of the day, from your perspective, can Ukraine have a successful resolution? I'm not sure how you would describe that without U.S. support, but with EU resolve, with EU support. So, of course, when you say EU, I always add plus Canada, the U.K. and Norway, because they're not in the EU. So that makes a difference. But the combined economies, the defense industries, the wealth of all these nations is about 15 times more than what Russia has.

And so if they had the made it their strategic objective, yes, they want Ukraine to win, which means Russia goes back to the 1991 borders. So Ukraine's sovereignty is reestablished. Then there's no question that they could make. that happen. Russia's economy is in deep trouble. And if we can stop Russia's export of oil to China and India and other customers, then they can't keep going. I mean, that's the key. And almost all of these oil tankers pass through the Baltic Sea, three per day, which is completely controlled by NATO and EU countries, and the Black Sea, also controlled by NATO countries. So this really boils down

to political will. It's not like there's not enough money or there's not enough ammunition. This is all about political will. Do you think the White House has political will or do you think we're kind of back to earlier part of our conversation where, you know, they really haven't explained their strategic objective here? I believe the President Trump really does want to see an end to the killing. I don't believe that he's willing.

I mean, if he can't even say that, you know, we want Ukraine to win or to, tell President Putin, get out of Ukraine, pull your troops out, or else I'm going to do these things. The president has enormous leverage he could be using, and it doesn't seem to be willing to do that, even though most of the Congress, the Republican-led Congress supports Ukraine, supports NATO, and has a transatlantic, supports transatlantic relationships. So I can't explain it. I don't think he's willing to do what needs to be doing. Yeah, it is interesting because there's enormous support.

support also on the Democrat side, obviously, for Ukraine, particularly when they felt like Trump was getting squishy on the subject, then obviously for political reasons, they saw a reason to take even a harder stance. But it is interesting. I think within Trump's statements that have been perceived as a reversal on his position on Ukraine, you know, included in there was, well, I wish both countries well, you know, you can look at that and go, really? You wish both countries well? And then at the end of it, I think during a press conference shortly after, he was asked if he has lost trust in Putin. And he said, well, you know, we'll see it about a month or so. So, I mean, I take your point that I think there was a great deal of excitement over this apparent reversal.

but in the aftermath, I'd see what you mean about. Let's be a little bit more measured here to see whether actions actually follow words. No, there's been months in two weeks, in two weeks, in two weeks, in two weeks. And, I mean, to be, of course, the president has more information that I do, access to more intelligence than I do. But, I mean, why would he say, well, we'll see in about a month whether or not I can trust him? I don't quite understand that. Yeah, no, agreed. Well, sir, I want to be mindful of time.

And as always, we very much appreciate you spending some time with us. And all your insight, your experience brought to the table here. So I hope that at some point when we call you back, because you can count on us calling you back, you'll pick up the phone and say, sure, I'll show back up again on the situation report because it is very much appreciated. Well, you know, I've heard from friends that I listen to your program. And so when I started seeing who else, who's out in your audience, I thought, all right, well, this is, not only do I personally enjoy the conversation, it's nice to know that you've got that kind of an audience.

Yeah. Now, we've got great viewers, great listeners, which we're very appreciative of. But part, it's because, you know, people like you are willing to come on and talk about very, very important issues. So, sir, thank you again. And I hope to see you very soon. General Ben Hodges, always great to have him on the show. All right, coming up next, DHS reports that over 2 million illegal aliens have been removed or self-deported since President Trump took office.

President Fellow from Law and Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, that would be Art Arthur, joins us to dig into those details. Hey, Mike Baker here, let me ask you a question, if I could, about protecting your hard-earned assets. And when you air about inflation worries or when you see that the U.S. national debt is over $37 trillion, we just look around and see all the goals. global uncertainty. Do you ever think to yourself, hmm, maybe now, maybe now would be a good time to buy some gold? Well, let me tell you, that would be a logical thought. Because you see, whether as a hedge against inflation or a peace of mind during global instability or just for sensible diversification, gold has always been viewed as a safe haven. And the Birch Gold Group, well, they believe every American should own physical gold. So they've created something special.

Listen to this. Until September 30th, on the end of the month, if you're a first-time gold buyer, Birch Gold is offering a rebate of up to $10,000 in free metals on qualifying purchases. To claim eligibility and start the process, just request an information kit. Text PDB to 989-898. Plus, Birch Gold can help you roll an existing IRA or a 401k into an IRA in gold, and you're still eligible for a rebate in free metals of up to $10,000. Find out why tens of thousands of happy customers trust the Birch Gold Group. And make right now the time to decide if gold is right for you.

and take advantage, of course, of a rebate of up to $10,000 when you buy by September 30th. Text PDB to 989-89-8-claim your eligibility and get your free information kit. Again, text PDB to 989-89-898. Now's the time to save on new carpet at the Home Depot. Receive 10% off your total carpet project and 12 months special financing. Plus, we'll measure your space for free. Choose from a variety of stylish, on-trend options fit for everyday life, life-proof, life-proof with pet-proof technology, home decorators collection, and traffic

master carpets. Save 10% and get 12-month special financing. Now at the Home Depot. Offer valid April 16th through May 3, 2006. Exclusions apply for licenses. See Home Depot.com slash license numbers. Make Mother's Day even more special at Whole Foods Market. Kick off brunch or dinner with quality cheese and charcutory with no synthetic nitrates, then go seafood. There's an abundance on sale at Whole Foods Market, where it's all sustainable while caught are responsibly farmed. At the bakery, grab seasonal treats like their strawberry pretzel cream pie, and you can't go wrong with a ready-to-heet Kish Lorraine, deviled eggs, and fresh-cut fruits to go. Celebrate Mom with Whole Foods Market.

Welcome back to the BDB Situation Report. The Trump administration says it has hit a major milestone on immigration enforcement. Over two million illegal aliens have left the U.S. since January 20th. Now, DHS reports about 1.6 million self-deportations and more than 400,000 removals, with officials crediting tougher enforcement under President Trump and Secretary Null. A recent U.N. study shows attempted illegal crossings are plummeting, with nearly half of would-be migrants abandoning their journey due to fear of detention or deportation. A very dangerous journey, might I also add. Joining me now as the resident fellow in law and policy at the state,

Center for Immigration Studies. That would be friend of the show, Art Arthur. All right, thanks very much for being back on the Situation Report. Really good to see it. Thanks so much for having me, Mike. Now, let's start with the numbers. The numbers that have been reported by the White House, upwards of 2 million illegal immigrants, they're saying, out of the country, some from self-deportation, some from being picked up and encouraged to leave. How accurate are those numbers from your perspective? So I think that with respect to the 1.6 million deport, self-deportations that they're talking about, I actually think that number is a little bit low. We did an analysis six weeks ago based on

Bureau Labor statistics figures, and we determined that in the middle of August, about 1.6 million had left. I estimate that there have probably been about another 200 to 400,000 who have left since then. So I think that the actual number of self-deports is closer to 2 million. Now, with respect to the 400,000 deportations, that one, I'm having a little bit of trouble, you know, going back and reconfiguring. it's definitely probably been around 250 to 325,000. They might be counting in some individuals that are what we call turnbacks. Those are people who show up at the border, see Border Patrol and turn around and go back. And that would probably make up the difference for the rest.

The important takeaway, however, is that the illegal population has dropped by about 2 million, 2 million plus since Donald Trump came back into office. and that's a good thing. Okay, yeah. And do you get the impression that they're accelerating this process? Or, I mean, where do you see this going, say, if we had to look a year from now, are we going to be looking at doubling these numbers? Or what are your perspective on this? So the White House is looking to get to about 600,000 actual physical deportations.

And I think that with the large number of people who are selling, deporting, it's going to be a little bit difficult for them to get to that point, simply because a lot of the people they're going to look for have already left. If you're a criminal and if you got a serious crime in the United States, you were doing ICE check-ins under the Biden administration, then, you know, you probably can read the writing on the wall and you're going to make yourself scarce. If you're under a final order of removal, again, if you know that, you know, people in your community are, you know, being picked up, being removed,

moved, you're going to go. So I think it's going to be tough for them to get to that figure. But the flip side of that is that there are about a thousand, what we call 287G agreements that have already been inked. Those are state and local authorities who are out there actively looking for people that they pick up criminals who have immigration holds on them or medable to removal that they're going to hold for ICE. And that's going to be a force multiplier. for agents, that'll help them, you know, sort of backfill some of those people that's felt deport. So I think that about a half million a year is a reasonable number for the Trump administration to come to. Okay. I assume that none of those agreements, those 287G agreements,

have been signed with sanctuary cities? No, definitely not. In fact, the best way to think of a 287G agreement is a sanctuary policy times negative one. It's the mirror opposite of that, because whereas in sanctuaries, they safeguard, they physically protect their criminal aliens. In 287G communities, they are actively looking for them. They're going to hold them. They're going to make them available to ICE officers so that they can be deported. So they don't end up back on the street, they don't end up harbing members of those communities. So how impactful can this program be if the existing sanctuary cities kind of remain with their current policies?

Because it would seem, look, if I'm a illegal immigrant, you know, particularly if I've been engaged in some sort of nefarious activity, I'm moving to a sanctuary city. right? That just seems logical. So I'm just wondering, there's going to have to be at some point, some kind of come to Jesus meeting with politicians in some of these locations. I would think if the White House wants to realize maximum effect from their policies. There will have to be. And one of two things are going to happen. Either Congress is going to put some riders on fundings for these sanctuary jurisdictions that say you don't get, you know, law enforcement grants or you don't get, you know, other federal money if you actively block ICE enforcement,

which is the definition of a sanctuary community, or alternatively, and this is the one I hope it doesn't come to, there will be some sort of black swan events, something along the lines of September 11th, that are going to wake up sanctuary communities from their slumber, they're going to begin cooperating with ICE because they want to get people off the streets. And you can, you know, seeing the ICE press releases the drumbeat of, you know, malefactors that are being dragged out of, you know, big sanctuaries like Boston and Los Angeles. You know, there's some pretty hardened criminals. Even if you, you know, don't like immigration enforcement, you don't like Donald Trump's policies,

I don't think any of us wants to have a child molester or, you know, in a case that happened in Northern Virginia the other day, a legal migrant who strangles his toddler sister to death with a phone cord living in the community. We want to get those people out. And it's interesting because it's almost as if we're living in the same planet in two different worlds. because, you know, on the one hand, you've got, you know, ICE, you've got Tom Holman, Donald Trump, who were out there, Christy, know, I'm talking about, look, we want to pick up criminals. We want to get the criminals off the streets. And then you have Gavin News, some Karen Bass, Michelle Wu, various other people, J.B. Pritzker, who were talking about, you know, ICE being thugs and Gestapo and, you know, fascists, and they're sweeping it and they're grabbing nannies. if ICE had the ability to go into Boston jails and take out criminal aliens, it'd be too busy going into, you know, communities in the Commonwealth to find people. You know, that just wouldn't happen.

You wouldn't see these street scenes. So, I mean, hopefully this all results itself amicably through money, which is the language of politics. But if it doesn't, I'm afraid something bad's going to happen, and it's just going to break that way. Yeah, it seems to me that when we look at this issue, right, that part of the problem is the optic. Now, the narrative has been from the White House, and they've said from the very beginning,

we're going after the worst of the worst, right? And everybody, I'd say reasonable people, perhaps psychotics on the hard, progressive left side would disagree. But I think most reasonable people could say, yeah, that's a good thing. Let's get the criminals off the streets. They're illegal immigrant criminals. That makes sense. Then you get media coverage of an ICE rate on a Home Depot, right?

That's a different story. I'm not saying that the people that they're picking up aren't illegal immigrants, you know, but I'm saying that the optic now changes. And for a lot of people watching that, I think, well, hold on a second. And you said you were going after the worst or the worst. It looks like you're going after people who are, you know, try to be employed and, you know, maybe paying taxes. You can see how that becomes an easy narrative for the other side. Yeah, absolutely, which is why it's good to take a look at what they are really doing.

There was Supreme Court case that came down a couple of weeks ago that talked about ICE enforcement in Los Angeles and what they could and couldn't consider when they did what we call a Terry stop, just short of of an arrest where they, you know, halt somebody. They don't let them leave, but they're not actually being arrested. They're just being questioned. And one of the things that came out in the court documents around that is that during the scenes we saw in Los Angeles about, you know, six, eight weeks ago, where there were riots in the streets and protests and people burning things, you know, complaining about exactly the sort of enforcement you're talking about. During that period of time, ICE only arrested 2,000, just over 2,000 people in a city that has two million

illegal aliens in it. And most of those arrests were actually triggered by ICE knowing that there was a specific individual, a specific criminal that they wanted to pick up. They go into the area, they find that person, he's standing around with a lot of other people, and while they're there, they'll start to ask those people what their status is too. That's smart policing. It's something that ICE has done and that, you know, I and S did when I started 33 years ago in this field. It's a very common thing. But, you know, ICE doesn't explain to passers-by or, you know, onlookers or the press, you know, in real time.

Oh, yeah, we're looking for, you know, Art Arthur. he's a guy who was a known drug trafficker and we know that he's here. They simply go in, they pick the people up, and then they leave it to the fabulous in the media to, you know, paint this scene however they want. That's a huge part of the issue. Nothing that they're doing right now is anything that, you know, ICE didn't do under, you know, the early years of Obama, that they didn't do under George W. Bush or Bill Clinton. None of that has changed.

The only thing that's changed is that now we have people. who think that they can interpose themselves into a police stop, you know, any time that they see one, whatever they think the dice is involved and that they can, you know, pull out their cell phones and flip off the agents and hurl epithets at them. And I mean, honestly, they're simply being egged on by demagogues, many of them in political office, but not exclusively, you know, who are spitting this narrative through their own political advantage. It's, you know, honestly, from my experience, you know, given everything that I know about how this works, it sickens to me to my stomach, but it's the world that we live in.

Yeah, I can't believe that you might be implying that Gavin Newsom is doing something for political advantage. That's shocking to me. So, hey, listen, Art, if you can stay right where you are, got a lot more questions here, but we need to take a quick break, and then we'll be right back with Art Arthur, resident fellow and law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies here on the Situation Report. Stick around. Hey, Mike Baker here.

Let me take just a moment of your time to talk about your personal finances. That's important, right? Now, the Fed has finally dropped to industry, so you've probably heard about that. And that's great news for American homeowners. After all, expenses have been a major burden on families, of course. Wages are flat, prices keep climbing, and for many, the only way to make ends meet has been to lean on credit cards. But that cycle of high-interest debt, well, it makes it hard to stay ahead.

If you're a homeowner, I want you to call my friends over at American Finance. With credit cards charging rates around 20% or even higher, you should look at the potential to use your home equity to save money. There's an easy bath to see how you can finally put your hard-earned equity to work for you. American financing can help you pay off that expensive debt, free up your cash flow, and keep your budget under control. Their salary-based mortgage consultants are saving customers an average of $8,000. $800 a month. And if you get started today, well, you may be able to delay your next mortgage

payment. Take control. Call American Financing today. The number 866-885-1881. Again, that's 866-885 1881. Or just visit Americanfinancing.net slash PDB. Thanks, yours too. What does Ravs stand for anyway? To me, it's the remarkably advanced vehicle. Really? To me, it's the runway approved vehicle for its amazing style. What about remarkably adaptable vehicle because of its versatile cargo space? Or really admired vehicle? Oh, or really awesome vehicle.

It really is the recreational activity vehicle. The stylish 26 Toyota RAP4 Limited. What's your Rav for? Spring is the season everyone refreshes everything, except their blinds. People put it off because they think it's complicated. But at Blinds.com, we've spent 30 years proving it's not. Right now, you can save big during the Spring Cyber Monday sale.

Whether you want to DIY it or have a pro to handle everything from measure to install, we've got you. Free samples, real design experts, and zero pressure. Just help when you need it. Shop up to 50% off sitewide. Huge savings on special buys, plus a free professional measure now during the Spring Cyber Monday sale. Rules and restrictions apply. Welcome back to the PDB Situation Report.

Let me bring back my guest, Art Arthur, he's the resident fellow for law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies. Art, thanks very much for sticking around. Let's switch just slightly in talking about immigration and immigration policies. Let's talk about this that you touched on towards the end of the first segment. The violence that we're seeing, the uptick in attacks on ICE personnel. Talk to me about that, go any direction you want to, but I want to explore this. So one of the things that we've seen come out of DHS, and they actually do,

keep track of this, is that the number of assaults on both ICE and CBP officers has increased a thousand percent since last year. Now, nothing's, the only thing that's changed is that we have increased enforcement during that period of time. But the other thing that's changed is the rhetoric that we see out of a lot of people who are vilifying immigration enforcement for their own gains. It's interesting because there was a poll that had been done by the Washington Post and Ipsos that came out last week that showed that support for Donald Trump's immigration enforcement scheme had fallen since he took office and since I started carrying out some of these operations. And that's natural. Immigration enforcement is tough. Law enforcement is tough.

If you ever see it, it's one of those things that people support. They like the sausage. They just don't really necessarily like the process by which the sausage is being made. But another interesting question that was asked in that poll was, do you think that people who have been deported, you know, deserve to be deported or didn't deserve to be deported? And a majority of the people concluded that the people who have been deported deserve to be deported. They also showed, I think it was by a 13-point margin, that registered voters have more trust in Republicans when it comes to immigration than they do in Democrats. So I think that Donald Trump has any number of vulnerabilities, but immigration enforcement has long been one of his biggest positive factors. And so I think that his political opponents are attempting to undermine him by proxy by going after the officers who, you know, aren't political, who were carrying out that duty. And, you know, we saw the shooting in Dallas. And that, you know, followed one in Alvaredo, Texas on the 4th of July in which a group of respectfully losers got together to attack an ICE detention facility down in Alvarado, Texas. and which bullets were fired.

This is getting out of control. Someone is going to get hurt. And I've been saying this, you know, since April, when we started to see these events tick up. I mean, they're now reaching a drumbeat and a fever pitch, whatever you want to talk about, in which, you know, there will be significant bloodshed. We had three migrant shot, one killed in the Dallas incident, and it's just a matter of time before some agent dies in the line of duty.

Right. Well, I think there's no doubt you can't vilify one side as Nazis, as stormtroopers, as some on the left half politicians I'm talking about who have a, I think have to meet a higher standard in terms of their rhetoric and their public comments. you can't do that and then not expect that some you know psychos or some losers however you want to describe them out there won't process that information you know the way that sort of a normal person would right and that's that's where we always you know assume oh it's just words I get it words words aren't violence I've never I always thought that's one of the stupidest things words are violence it's ridiculous but we have to understand that there are people out there who who don't process things in a normal behavior pattern. So I think that part of it is probably not going to change.

I don't imagine we live in a world where people are actually going to dial back the rhetoric. I don't see that happening anytime soon. So what is the answer? Because it seems to me like the White House is going to continue this path, right? I think they believe that this is, as you pointed out, this is a winning issue. It's the thing to do. It's the right thing to do. and it also resonates with voters.

The Democrats themselves have realized they've got some problems. They're on the wrong side of certain issues. Immigration is certainly one of them. I think crime, probably trans rights, they're trying to recalibrate their positions there to win back voters. And immigration is probably at the top of that list. But what is the answer here? If the rhetoric doesn't get dialed back,

they don't turn down the temperature. The White House continues on this policy. Where does all this go? this theme that they're pushing fits right in with, you know, a Hegelian dialecticalism that, you know, we've seen our dialectic, that we've seen, you know, being pushed the oppressor and the oppressed. In this instance, the people who come to the United States illegally, criminal aliens are in, you know, this tale. The oppressed and the oppressors are the masked ICE agents. And the more that ICE does, you know, that ICE officers actually do to protect. themselves, the more that this narrative gets ramped up. We saw Gavin Newsom signed a bill in California, you know, barring officers from wearing masks. Well, you've studied constitutional law one in law school. You've read a case called McCullough v. Barrel. Did you know that a state can't pass a law that is going to burden the federal government in enforcing a federal law, which is exactly what this does?

what this is going to do is take the masks off of, you know, Los Angeles SWAT officers and make it easier for bad people to dox them. It's not going to make any difference. Really, I mean, there needs to be some accountability, but in our Democratic or constitutional Republican system, that comes from the voters, and we don't have an election coming up for a while. Now, we may see indications in the upcoming election in New Jersey and in Virginia. Both of those, races, Democrats are favored to win governorships. But, you know, if we see that change, I think it's going to be a wake-up call for many Democratic officials who think that they can, you know, say whatever they want and do whatever they want and that they're going to get away with it because they're on the right side of history or because they have the media behind them. Same, same, same. But, you know, it's, so you can argue whether these policies are good or bad. You can argue whether the law is good or bad, but, you know, don't rile up, you know, people who are already predisposed to mental illness because you're going to get the sort of results like we've seen

of late, up to it including the Charlie Kirk shooting. Yeah, no, absolutely. But again, I'd like to say I'm more optimistic, but look, the civility in our discourse has, that's left the building, right, along with Elvis. So I don't, I don't see that. that changing. So I do always kind of try to carry it out, okay, where does this, where does this logically go? And you're right, you know, maybe elections come around and chase the course of immigration policy and spin it back in the other direction. That tends to be what happens. The pendulum swings wildly from one hard side to the other. I'm old enough to remember when we had elected representatives who respected their office. Those days are over. Hopefully they'll come back.

I'll put money that they don't. But if you want to take the other side of that bet, I'd be happy to put money on that, as well as putting money on Ole Miss beating LSU on Saturday. So that's just a thought. Art, it's always fascinating to talk to you about this. You've got so much experience in this field. Anything else that concerns you about the current situation related to immigration policy that you wanted to get out? No, I mean, you know, we were.

are seeing immigration enforcement move in a positive direction. For the first time in at least 10 years, we're seeing the unauthorized population in the United States drop. We're seeing an administration that is attempting to undo some of the harm that's been done. And, you know, at the United Nations, we saw President Trump, you know, touting his victories when it comes to immigration in telling, you know, other countries, other allies of ours to get their houses in order. So I think that's going to be a positive thing. But yes, I too of cheering for the running rebels on Saturday and go all this. That's a good thing. That's why we have you on the show, frankly. So hey, look, one last question. And I want to be mindful of time here. But one last

question. Could ICE, and I suppose the administration, do a better job in explaining themselves in messaging so that they have some ability to push back on the narrative that is out there right now? You know, one of the things that we do see quite often is we see DHS Secretary Trish McLaughlin. We see, you know, come out and talk about these events in real time. We see I just try to push back on some of these narratives on our social media accounts and on major outlets. I think it's time for the president to actually make an announcement to the country. And, you know, if he, you know, very soberly, very directly talks about the dangers and talks about his vision for where this is going. I think that that would definitely help.

But, you know, you also don't want to be a person who reacts to bad behavior. and right now it would be a reaction to bad behavior. So, you know, again, let's just hope that, you know, people find the next thing that they're going to be excited about and concerned about immigration enforcement and that they simply let the officers do their jobs and go home to their families at night. All right. I like you. I like you finishing up on an optimistic, hopeful note there. That's appreciated.

Well, listen, thank you again, man, for being here on the show. I hope you'll pick up the phone next time we call because we will definitely be calling you back. It's Art Arthur of the Center for Immigration Studies. Always great to have him on, particularly at this point in time where there is so much happening in that arena. Well, that's all the time we have for the PDB situation report. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. The PDB crew actually does very much love to hear from you. And as you probably heard, during the recent UN General Assembly speeches, every month, the PDB takes some of your best questions and your comments, and we put them all together in a special monthly episode that we call Ask Me Anything episode. Now, a new Ask Me Anything episode is being pulled together even as we speak. You can catch those episodes by becoming a premium member of the president's daily brief, and that's very simple to do. Just go to pdb premium.com. I told you it was simple. And once you're a premium member, get this. You can listen to the PDB, ad-free. How do you like them out?

I'm Mike Baker. Until next time, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th.

Tickets on sale now at Yamavatheater.com. Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. U-N. Must be 21 to enter.