Up First from NPR - Feds Eye More Cities, Hyundai Plant Raid, Influential Pastor

Episode Date: September 6, 2025

The Trump administration is eying more cities even as it builds up a National Guard presence near Chicago and fights a lawsuit by Los Angeles. Federal immigration authorities arrested nearly 500 workers they said were in the U.S. illegally at a South Korean battery maker's Georgia construction site. An Idaho pastor is gaining influence among national Republicans and expanding his presence in Washington, D.C.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

South Korea wants answers after an immigration raid here in the U.S. The raid netted hundreds of workers at a site of a plant that Hyundai and a battery maker are building in Georgia. I'm Scott Simon. And I'm Ayesha Roscoe. It's up first from NPR News. The raid near Savannah comes as the administration says it wants to send more National Guard to more cities, citing public safety. But NPR has learned that ICE wants Pentagon. support for operations in one of those target cities. We have the latest from Chicago, as well as on that Savannah raid. And here in D.C., growing influence for a pastor from rural Idaho, why Doug Wilson

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other kinds of stories. Stories about policing or politics. Country music. Hockey. Sex. Of bucks. Regardless of whether we're looking at science or not science, we bring a rigorous curiosity to get you the answers. And hopefully make you see the world anew. Radio Lab. Adventures on the Edge of what we think we know. Wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Rachel Martin. I'm the host of Wildcard from NPR. For a lot of my years as a radio host, silence sort of made me nervous. That pause before an answer, because you don't know what's going on on the other side of the mic. But these days, I love it. Hmm. Ah. Gosh. Give me a minute. Yeah, yeah. Think. Listen to the Wild Card podcast only from NPR. First to Chicago, President Trump is ramping up his threats to send

the National Guard there. Even after a federal judge said his use of troops in Los Angeles back in June was illegal. Chicago is just one of several major cities alongside the likes of Baltimore and New Orleans, to which Trump says he would deploy the Guard for Public Safety, despite data showing that crime is down in those cities. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf is in Chicago and joins us now. Kat, thanks for being with us. Hey, good morning. What do we know now whether or not the president's going to deploy the National Guard there?

Well, Trump has said that he will, but hasn't been. specific about a time frame. Here he is earlier this week at a press conference talking about Chicago. Well, we're going in. I didn't say when, we're going in. When you lose, look, I have an obligation. This isn't a political thing. I have an obligation. You know, since then, an official has confirmed NPR that the Department of Homeland Security has requested assistance from the Pentagon for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in the Chicago metropolitan area. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. ICE and the National Guard are different. The Guard is part of the military. Ice is federal law enforcement. But in D.C., for example, Trump's deployment of the National Guard came with a larger presence from ICE, too. Trump maintains that the National Guard would be sent here for public safety. You heard him there saying that this wouldn't be a political move. He sees it as an obligation. But generally, the National Guard is not used for policing. They can't make arrests or anything like that. In D.C., they've been patrolling federal property and picking up trash, that sort of thing.

Elected officials in Chicago are not in line with this, are they? No, Governor J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat and a big opponent of Trump, has come out strongly against it. In a statement, he said, quote, none of this is about fighting crime or making Chicago safer. And many other local politicians here, you know, senators, aldermen, have said similar things. Democratic lawmakers in many other cities, Baltimore, for example, have said they plan to push back if Trump follows through with his threats. In Louisiana, though, Republican governor, Jeff Landry, says he would welcome the troops if Trump sent them to New Orleans. And, you know, Trump himself has recently made crime an even bigger part of his political agenda, hoping that voters see big city crime as a major problem.

And he seems to think that his crackdown on it, while mostly performative, will play out well for Republicans in the midterms next year. And what's the latest on the legal challenges? Well, earlier this week, a federal judge in California ruled that Trump, deployment of the National Guard there in L.A. in June violated a federal law that limits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. But that ruling, which the Trump administration can appeal, only applies in California. In D.C., where the National Guard has been deployed for about a month, Trump has the authority to do so because of what's called the Home Rule Act. That gives him command of D.C.'s national guard, but that, too, doesn't apply to these other cities.

You know, I'll note that even in D.C., D.C. Attorney General still sued the Trump administration on Thursday over that deployment saying it's illegal. There are times when the National Guard can legally be used in civilian law enforcement, but generally speaking, it has to be requested by each state's governor. Many experts say that what we're seeing here, with it being potentially forced on states, this uncharted territory, and it'll almost certainly lead to a lot more litigation. And Pierce Kat Lundsdorf in Chicago, Kat. Thanks so much for being with us.

Thank you. Hundreds of workers were arrested by immigration authorities at a Hyundai plant near Savannah, Georgia, this week. Agents detained nearly 500 people in what Homeland Security is calling the largest immigration enforcement operation at a single site in U.S. history. And our immigration correspondent Jasmine Garst joins us. Jasmine, thanks for being with us. Hi, Scott. What do we know about this large operation? So the raid happened in Elabel, Georgia, which is right by Savannah, at a construction site for an electrical vehicle battery plant, which is co-owned by LG Energy Solution and the Hyundai Motor Group. It involved several law enforcement agencies. Homeland Security says this was a month's long investigation, and it culminated with a search warrant.

They arrested 475 people, most of whom are South Korean citizens. And Homeland Security says the workers detained were in the U.S. illegally or working at the site unlawfully. They said some overstayed their visas, others unlawfully crossed the border. Here's Special Agent Stephen Shrank. This operation underscores our commitment to protecting jobs for Georgians and Americans, ensuring a level playing field for businesses that comply with the law, safeguarding the integrity of our economy and protecting workers from exploitation. So far, no charges have been filed against the company or the workers,

but officials say it is an ongoing investigation. Now, the plan was a major economic project supported by the state of Georgia and part of a multi-billion dollar facility that employs about 1,200 people. How of Georgia officials and the company's respond? The Georgia Department of Economic Development told NPR in a statement that they expect, quote, anyone doing business in Georgia to follow federal and state laws. Meanwhile, LG Energy Solutions said in a statement that employees of both companies have been taken into custody and that they are cooperating, but in a separate statement, Hyundai said none of those detained were Hyundai employees. Now, of course, the Trump administration has had a campaign going to detain and arrest immigrants unlawfully in the U.S. U.S. But large workplace raids have so far been relatively rare. Do you think this represents a shift in

policy? The Trump administration has vowed to hold companies accountable for employing people in the country illegally, but so far the policy has focused on arresting immigrants in smaller raids at a wide array of places from Home Depot parking lots to construction sites and some farms. But this operation is the biggest workplace raid during this administration. And it has happened in a red state in Georgia. On the same day, on Thursday, in central New York state, a food manufacturing plant was raided and dozens of people suspected of being in the country illegally were detained. Does that mean it's a big policy shift? We're going to have to see how frequent this becomes. And as you mentioned, most of those arrested for South Korean nationals, what

response has there been from South Korea? The South Korean government expressed concern. Embassy officials were sent to the site of the raid. A foreign ministry spokesperson said, quote, the business activities of our investors and the rights of our nationals must not be unjustly infringed. I just want to point out that President Trump has made it a priority to bring manufacturing to the U.S.

In fact, just over a week ago, he hosted President Lee J. Myeong of South Korea who pledged to invest in additional $150 billion in the U.S., including in battery factories. And Pieroz, Jasmine Garst, thanks so much. Thank you for having me. The National Conservatism Conference convened in Washington, D.C. this week, bringing together an influential group of conservative, political, and religious leaders.

Speakers included, Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, several U.S. senators, and senior Trump administration officials. But one of the most anticipated speakers at NatCon was a pastor from Idaho named Doug Wilson. Jack Jenkins of Religion News Service was at the conference all week, and he's here now to tell us more about it. Hi, Jack. Hey. So who is Pastor Doug Wilson, and why were people so eager to hear from him at this conservatism conference featuring all these big-name political speakers? So Wilson is based out of Moscow, Idaho, where he leads Christ's church.

He's been around for decades, and during that time, he slowly built his own Christian empire of sorts. But it's really over the past five years that he's become a national figure, in part because of his open embrace of Christian nationalism. He's very publicly called for a Christian America where women can't vote and non-Christians and even liberal Christians are barred from holding office. And he's won some political allies, Secretary of Defense Pete Hexler, Seth attends worship at two of the churches and Wilson's denomination. So what did Wilson have to say? Well, this was Wilson's second time speaking at NatCon, and he's a popular figure there. You could see him getting mobbed in the hallways by fans in the conference, and during his talk,

he laid out his argument for why the U.S. should be a nation led by and for Christians, while also expressing his views on immigration. It is simply a historical fact that America was deeply Christian and Protestant at the founding. And he also said, In the meantime, it is not xenophobic to object to the immigration policies of those who want to turn the Michigan-Ohio border into something it resembles the India-Pakistan border. That kind of nonsense from our utopian social engineers is actually the root of our current set of practical dilemmas. And he's not limiting himself to this one annual conference. That's right.

So back in July, he established a sort of outpost of his Idaho job. church that meets just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. It's currently housed in a space rented from a right-wing think tank, and in the first sermon delivered there, one of Wilson's pastors declared, worship is warfare. He later praised the Department of Government Efficiency and described the U.S. as a fallen and laps nation that has drifted from its Christian roots. And I was there for that first service, and it was packed. And not only that, Secretary Hegseth was sitting right near the front. And he's been there multiple times since. And folks expect him to be back in the pews again this Sunday when Wilson himself is expected to preach. Back to the National Conservatism

conference. What else did you hear there? There was a lot of opposition to immigration and a clear preference for white Americans with long family histories in the U.S. Other speakers and panelists criticized feminism and same-sex marriage. And there was also an interesting amount of animus directed at AI and big tech. But if, there was a recurring theme. It was that many speakers made a point to denigrate Islam and Muslims. One speaker told me he believes Muslim immigration should be zero, and others insisted that Islam, as a religion, is just incompatible with American values. Still others mentioned the New York City mayoral campaign of Zoran Mamdani, a Muslim American, and Jack Posovic,

a right-wing influencer who was recently invited to travel with Hegsef on an international trip, had this to say. As I stand here today, We are less than 10 years away from one of America's great cities being run by a Muhammad. That was pretty typical rhetoric from this conference. And as I watched many sessions over the course of the week, there was a clear desire to move past points of friction in this conference over Israel and other topics, and instead to disparage a common enemy. And much of that ended up directed at Mamdani and Muslims in general.

That's Jack Jenkins of Religion News Service. thank you for joining us. Thanks so much for having me. This story was produced through a collaboration between NPR and Religion News Service. And that's up first for Saturday, September 6, 2025. I'm Scott Simon. And I'm Aisha Roscoe.

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