Up First from NPR - Iran and US Pause Fighting Again, TPS Work Permits, July 4th Teen Death Investigation

Episode Date: July 10, 2026

It's not clear if peace talks are still on as the funeral for Iran's former supreme leader wrapped up after days of mourning, and the tit-for-tat strikes appear to have stopped in what could be another lull, though Israel says it's ready to go back to war at any moment.More than 300,000 Haitians and thousands of Syrians are about to lose their right to work in this country, and with the work permit goes the driver's license, leaving people in places like Springfield, Ohio waiting to see what happens next. The family of Nolan Wells speaks out today, weeks after the Black teenager was found dead on a Mississippi barrier island following a Fourth of July trip with friends, a case that's drawn national attention now that the family has hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump.Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Kate Bartlett, Cheryl Corley, Susanna Capelouto, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia DumasOur director is Christopher ThomasWe get engineering support from Eowyn Fain . Our technical director is Damian Herring.And our Executive Producer is Jay Shaylor.(0:00) Introduction(01:54) Iran and US Pause Fighting Again(05:35) TPS Work Permits(10:50) July 4th Teen Death InvestigationSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Iranians buried the country's supreme leader in the city where he grew up. A week-long funeral ended, and so did the latest exchange of fire between the United States and Iran. What happens with peace talks now? I'm me Martinez. That is Steve Inskeep, and this is up first from NPR News. A change is coming for many Haitians and Syrians in the United States. Any day now, the Trump administration gets final clearance to revoke their permission to work. We hear from Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, the people President Trump and Vice President Vance attacked during the 2024 campaign.

Also, how did a Mississippi teenager die on a coastal island on the 4th of July? Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump is raising questions about the fate of Nolan Wells. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. Fighting between the United States and Iran appears to be on hold again. This is after two days of an exchange of missile and drone strikes that is testing a ceasefire between the two. The U.S. says it hit more than 170 sites inside Iran. Iran says its attacks hit neighboring Gulf states targeting U.S. bases there. All this just as Iran was burying its Supreme Leader.

NPR's Kerry Khan has been following all of this from Tel Aviv. Hi there, Carrie. Hi. A mentioned the funeral of Iran's Supreme Leader, which I know has been going on for several days. But what was the scene there at the end? Last night was the end of this week-long funeral for Ayatollah Ali Khomeini and four of his family members. They were all killed in the first day of the U.S. Israeli War on Iran.

And here are some of the final prayers before his burial in his hometown of Mashat. State media showed these huge crowds, and you can hear these large groups of women. They're all dressed in black, and they're just weeping at the site. These images have tried to portray just this unified country resilient against the U.S. attacks. And, Steve, there were also these images of banners, and signs held in the crowds over the past days reading hashtag kill Trump. And while at the NATO summit in Turkey this week, Trump addressed those threats, but he also brushed them off.

Okay. I want to ask what something else the president said. He was asked about this ceasefire, which keeps being disrupted by exchanges of fire. In Turkey, he said he thought the ceasefire was done, that it was over. So is it? As of now, we don't know when talks will resume. They were put on hold during the week-long funeral of the Ayatollah. And after saying he thought the ceasefire was over, though Trump also left the door open to negotiation. Qatar's foreign minister, who's a lead mediator in the talks yesterday, was making a round of calls, speaking to the regional partners and attempting to just re-engage all sides in the conflict. I think analysts have assumed the United States just would not want to go back to full-scale war

and that the Iranians probably wouldn't either. But what do you hear in the region as the firing continues from time to time? I'd say the situation is very tense right now throughout the region. You know, in this latest round of attacks by Iran, not only were missiles and drones fired at multiple Gulf states, Jordan said it intercepted incoming fire from Iran, too, and that's not a usual target for Iran. Iran issued new threats to the UAE just yesterday, and shipping traffic in the vital Strait of Hormuz has also dropped dramatically in the last couple days.

Here in Israel, there's a concern about whether they'll get back into the war. Yesterday, Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Ayel Zemir, said Israel is at the ready. He says even at this very moment, our enemies continued to plot evil. The campaign is not over. And he told this graduating class of Air Force pilots to be ready and to be ready soon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made similar comments. He and President Trump spoke late last night about U.S. moves in the Gulf. and that was according to the prime minister's office.

And what's happening in Lebanon? A U.S. official told reporters yesterday that talks on implementing that peace deal between Lebanon and Israel are set to play place soon in Rome. And Lebanon's information minister also was asked yesterday if he was concerned about a return to war in light of the U.S. Iranian tax. And he said no. And Pierce, Kerry Kahn, thanks so much. You're welcome. Any day now, many Haitians and Syrians lose.

their ability to work in the United States. That's because the Trump administration won a Supreme Court ruling that should allow it to revoke temporary protected status for more than 300,000 people. The status lets people live legally in the United States if their countries are extremely dangerous. Some of the 300,000 affected Haitians live in Springfield, Ohio, which the administration made part of its 2024 campaign. Vice President Vance attacked the Springfield immigrants in his home state, while President Trump made a false statement about eating dogs. W.YSO reporter Catherine Mowbly has been reporting in Springfield, Ohio. Good morning. Good morning, Steve. Okay, I guess Haitians and Syrians have known that this day could be coming. As soon as today, they could be losing the ability to work, and that's a prelude to being

actually deported. How are people taking this news? Well, in Springfield, there are about 15,000 Haitians, roughly 15,000 Haitians, and many of them are on TPS. Emotions are varied. Some people are sad, or angry. Others are very confused. However, overall, many are optimistic and they believe something positive is going to happen to help them. They told me they expect some kind of relief to either come from the U.S. government or from God. Now, today is a big challenge because, as you were just saying, work permits are now expiring. These work permits are connected to a person's TPS. Their driver's license is then connected to their work permit. Thus, once a person loses their TPS, they lose their ability to legally work and drive in their community. And this

definitely makes it very difficult for individuals to support their families, to earn an income, and, you know, to pay their bills. I spoke with Rose Thamar Joseph. She had TPS. She's also an asylum Seeker. And now she's very anxious about driving openly on the roads in the city. My driver's license is valid for 20229, but I still have to be cautious being on the street. If I don't have any needs, I will be conscious. I'm interested in hearing you say that people still have confidence in hope, hope and God, perhaps. And I do know that the Supreme Court ruling, I mean, it's been made, it's final, it's done. there are some details for lower courts to work out, but is there any way that people could get out of this?

Well, according to the Department of Homeland Security, no. I reached out to the Department for a comment, and in an email, DHS directed me to a statement recently made by the Department's General Counsel James Percival during an interview on Fox News. President Trump has been trying to end these programs since 2017. So these people have been on notice for nine, years that this day is coming. So what we would say now is it's closing time, which means you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. The good news is it's not too late to get a $2,600 check and a free flight home. Are people preparing to leave? Actually, Steve, there's no mass exodus. People right now are sequestering in their homes and neighbors or non-Hasian immigrants. They're coming in to help. They're delivering food. They're delivering groceries. In Springfield,

there's a place called the Haitian Support Center. And they've been featured. yielding calls from people who have questions about their immigration papers, what they can do. The center is asking for volunteers to deliver groceries, to donate hygiene projects, and also to drive people to the store, to appointments. Meanwhile, many nonprofits are encouraging these individuals who used to have TPS to apply for asylum, but that's a very slow process, and it's not any protection from being deported. Okay, so if these thousands of people in Springfield can no longer work, What does that mean for employers in Springfield?

Steve, what it means is there are going to be job openings. You know, it kind of puts them back in a position where they were about a decade ago when they first put out the call to immigrants and pretty much anyone to come and fill in these job spots. I spoke with the owner of a temp staffing service in Springfield, and he says he's been talking with his employer clients who say at the end of the day, they're going to follow the law. So if the federal law says TPS holding immigrants are now no longer provided a work permit, a valid legal work permit, then they're not going to hire these individuals. And they have been laying them off. They were telling them after the Supreme Court ruling in June,

starting July 1st, to not return to work. And these employers seem very confident, other people will step up and fill in the spots. So bottom line, that's pretty much what's happening in terms of immigrants, Haitian, and Syrian, who were under TPS legally here in the United States. But now they don't have that protection. Catherine Mobley of W.YSO, who's been reporting in Springfield, Ohio. Thanks so much. Thank you, Steve. A press conference is expected today by the family of Nolan Wells, a black teenager who was found dead on a barrier island off Mississippi's coast following the fourth. the July weekend. The case is getting national attention as the family has retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump. Elise Gregg of Mississippi Public Broadcasting and the Gulf States Newsroom is covering this.

Good morning. Good morning. What do you know? So right now, what we kind of understand from the investigation and what we're seeing online is that Wells was the only friend in his group who didn't return from that Independence Day trip to Horn Island. A lot of attention is on the fact that it looks like he was the only black friend in a group of mostly white teenagers on the island. island that day. Now, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office is investigating this as a death, not a homicide, per press release. So right now, a lot of the details that we're seeing are coming from social media, like a video showing an argument that took place on the island, a mom of one of Wells' friends saying Wells chose to stay on the island when his friends left. That left behind part is

one thing picking up interest, as well as questions about whether that alleged argument involved Wells. and if there is a racial element in any of this. There's been a lot of speculation, and state officials haven't announced a cause of death yet. They say the medical examiner is still waiting on a toxicology report to finalize the autopsy. In the meantime, civil rights attorney Ben Crump called for an independent autopsy. He said he's holding a press conference in Harlem, New York City,

with Reverend L. Sharpton and Wells' family. So we'll see if we get further details this afternoon. Appreciate you emphasizing how much we don't know. here and how many blanks there are in this story, how much is speculation in social media. But what have you learned about Wells and his community? By all accounts, Wells was really loved by his friends and family and people who knew him. He was a wide receiver at Southwest Mississippi Community College. He played football at Ocean Springs High School too.

And in a statement, his coach said Wells was an outstanding young man. And the kind of son, teammate, friend, and student every coach hopes to have. and I've really just seen those sentiments reiterated online by friends and family. Now, Ocean Springs is toward the southeast corner of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Just under 19,000 people live there, and it's a middle, upper class, majority white community. And for folks on the coast, going out on the water like this is pretty normal, including trips out to those barrier islands. They're part of the national park system. Here's Brian Trasher.

He's with Volunteer Emergency Response Group, United Cajun Navy, and was part of the search for Wells this past weekend. Especially on the Northwest, because it's a shallow area and like a really nice beach on both sides. It's a popular place for boats to post up. But there's parts of that point where you could be in like three feet of water and 20 feet of water, like within a few steps. He said calls for help around these barrier islands are not unusual. Well, if this is not unusual, is there anything unusual about the sheriff's investigation then? Right. So again, drownings are not uncommon in this part of me.

Mississippi. In fact, there was a drowning of a shrieper in April. However, the level of attention is what's not normal for this case. There haven't been many updates from the sheriff's office, and he hasn't returned our request for comment. They have asked folks for photos and videos of Wells that day, particularly for anything, quote, depicting alleged altercations or arguments that involved Wells. Okay, Elise Gregg with Mississippi Public Broadcasting in the Gulf States Newsroom. Thanks so much. You're welcome. And that's up first for this Friday. July 10th. I'm Steve Hinskeep. And I'm May Martinez. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Kate Bartlett, Cheryl Corley, Susanna

Capuluto, Mohamed El Bardisi, and Alice Wolfley, was produced by Ziat Budge and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from A.O. Winfane. Our technical director is Damian Herring, and our executive producer is Jay Scheler. Join us again on Monday. Or even on Saturday, when you can also hear up first.