Up First from NPR - SCOTUS Immigration Sweeps Ruling, Limited Epstein Files, Trump's Handling of Russia

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

The Supreme Court clears the way for President Trump’s immigration sweeps in Los Angeles, even when agents use race and accents as a factor. The House Oversight Committee released a limited batch of Epstein estate documents, including a crude birthday letter that appears signed by President Trump. And Russia’s war on Ukraine is only intensifying, despite Trump’s threats of sanctions and his high-profile talks with Russia's president.Want more comprehensive 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 Eric Westervelt, Megan Pratz, Andrew Sussman, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woefle It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I met someone the other day. I never met him in person before. I think I have a short voice. He said you have a short voice? Well, like, every time you people, they're like, you look nothing like I expected, you're so tall, and your voice makes me think you're short. Do I have a short voice?

If someone said annoying voice, maybe I'd be bad. My voice is calming. That's what Sabrina Carpenter said. The Supreme Court rules immigration stops based on skin color, accents, or where someone works are allowed in Los Angeles for now. We will not stand up for armed masked goons who come into our neighborhoods. Where does the legal battle go from here? I'm A. Martinez, that's Leila Fonnell, and this is up first from NPR News.

Remember that lewd birthday drawing for Jeffrey Epstein that was reported about and President Trump denied drawing? Well, the House Oversight Committee has released it and it appears to include Donald Trump's signature. What else is in the new set of documents about Epstein that are now public? Plus, threats of sanctions haven't worked to stop Russia's war on Ukraine, nor have President Trump's attempts at peace talks. Things have actually gotten worse. Why is Moscow attacking more now than when Trump came into office in January? Stay with us.

We'll give you the news you need to start your day. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and C's Apply. Support for this podcast and the following message come from Dignity Memorial. When you think about the people you love, it's not the big things you miss the most. It's the details. What memories will your loved ones cherish when you're gone? At Dignity Memorial, the details aren't just little things, they're everything. They help families

meaningful celebrations of life with professionalism and compassion. To find a provider near you, visit DignityMemorial.com. Hey, it's Robin Hilton from NPR Music with some big news for everyone who loves the Tiny Desk. We're giving away a trip to D.C. to see a Tiny Desk concert in person, hotel and flights included. Learn more and enter for free at NPR.org slash Tiny Desk giveaway. No purchase or donation required for entry must be 18 years or older to enter. Links to the entry page and official rules can be found at npr.org slash tiny desk giveaway. In a ruling Monday, the Supreme Court cleared the way for ICE and border patrol agents

to restart aggressive immigration sweeps in the Los Angeles area. Over the summer, a lower federal court's order temporarily put a stop to those sweeps. The judge said there was lots of evidence agents were racially profiling as they roamed the streets arresting people for possible deportation. For more on the Supreme Court's decision and the reaction to that decision were joined by NPR's Adrian Florido, who is in Los Angeles. Good morning. Good morning, Leila. So walk us through this decision. Well, it was a brief unsigned order granting a request from the Trump administration to lift that lower court judge's restrictions on immigration enforcement rates in the

LA area in Southern California. So the government could now immediately resume these aggressive sweeps that it started here in June and that set off protests and clashes in parts of the city and that led President Trump to send in the National Guard. Starting in June, ICE and Border Patrol agents rounded up day laborers in Home Depot parking lots, food cart vendors on street corners, people working on farms or car washes. And the ACLU sued saying that agents were targeting people based solely on their skin color or on their accents or on the type of work they were doing. They called it blatant racial profiling. Even U.S. citizens were being arrested. An L.A. federal judge told the government that it could not rely only on race and accent and occupation.

and the raids pretty much ended. So what reasons did the justices give for lifting that federal judge's restrictions? Well, their order itself didn't give any legal reasoning. But in a concurrence, Justice Brett Kavanaugh cited an estimate that 10% of L.A.'s population is undocumented and said race can be relevant when agents are determining whether they suspect someone is in the country illegally. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissent, and she wrote, quote, we should not have to live in a country where the government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low-wage job. This is a big win for the Trump administration, though, Leila, though it is temporary because the underlying lawsuit is still moving through the courts.

Okay, so what are rights groups, city officials saying in reaction to this? Well, they said the court is allowing racial discrimination. But Muhammad Tajzar, the ACLU's lead attorney in this case, told reporters that the group will continue its court fight to stop these raids. We will not stand up for armed masked goons who come into our neighborhoods into our streets and terrorize us in the ways that they have been doing. He said lawyers will keep gathering evidence that immigration agents are employing unconstitutional tactics and arresting people without probable cause or reasonable suspicion that they're in the country illegally. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass called the ruling an attack on the people of Los Angeles, but also on every person in every city in this country. So this ruling means these aggravecer of raids will, in fact, resume in L.A. and other cities? The Trump administration says they will resume in L.A. President Trump's borders are Tom Homan and his attorney general, Pam Bondi, both celebrated the ruling.

On social media, Bondi wrote, quote, now ICE can continue carrying out roving patrols in California without judicial micromanagement, unquote. And the Department of Homeland Security said on social media that it's going to, quote, flood the zone. This could also emboldened the Trump administration as it expands deportation efforts in other cities. Yesterday in Chicago it announced what it's calling Operation Midway Blitz, and it's possible this ruling will affect that operation. But as I said, Layla, this emergency ruling is not the final word on the underlying lawsuit challenging racial profiling in ICE arrests. There's a court hearing in L.A. later this month, and the case could eventually find its way back up to the High Court for a final ruling. So more legal battles ahead. That's NPR's Adrian Florido in Los Angeles. Thank you for your reporting, Adrienne.

Thanks, Leila. The House Oversight Committee has released some documents handed over by the estate of Jeffrey Epstein. Yeah, that includes more than 200 pages of a book made for the disgraced financiers 50th birthday more than two decades ago. One of those pages is a lewd drawing and letter that appears to be signed by President Trump, a letter that Trump said did not exist. NPR, Stephen Fowler, has read through the document release, Stephen, are these going to be enough to satisfy the demand from people who want the release of the quote Epstein files? Not at all.

I mean, this is a limited set of documents handed over by the Epstein estate. They were answering a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee investigating how the government handled the prosecution of the convicted sex offender, who died by suicide in 2019 while in federal custody. There is the copy of a type letter set inside the drawing of a nude female body that appears to be signed by Trump, which includes the line, A Pal is a wonderful thing, happy birthday, and may every day be another wonderful secret. Yeah, and I remember this was reported back in July,

and now we're seeing the birthday drawing. What else did you just see in the documents? There's a lot of redacted pictures and other vulgar references to Epstein's sex life and personal life. Notes from high-profile friends like former President Bill Clinton and lawyer Alan Dershowitz. There was another page that had a mock-up of a check that appears to be a crude joke about Trump and Epstein and a redacted woman. The text below the picture says Epstein was, quote, showing early talents with money and women, sells fully depreciated, and here's the redacted woman's name, to Donald Trump for $22,500.

There's also a copy of Epstein's will, address book entries, and a non-prosecution agreement by the, the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2007. All right, so what are Republicans saying about these documents, including that letter apparently signed by Trump? In Trump's second term, there's been very little daylight between Republican stances and Trump's often changing views on a lot of things, including Epstein stuff. People like Vice President J.D. Vance, who once agreed with Trump that the files must be released, then agreed with Trump that there were no files, then agreed with Trump that the

letter didn't exist, now agree, yet again, with the president that actually it's just all another hoax from the Democrats. Case in point, House Oversight Chair James Comer said in a statement accompanying a release of yesterday's documents that it is, quote, appalling Democrats on the Oversight Committee are cherry-picking documents and politicizing information received from the Epstein State. And Democrats have been talking about the Epstein files a lot, largely because it's politically advantageous to do so, but what's that looking like now? Well, on the one hand, Trump campaigned on releasing the files. It was part of his. campaign message to expose powerful people hiding the truth from the public. It's pretty easy

to say he has broken that promise, and now many voters are seeing him as a powerful person hiding the truth from the public. Democrats on the Oversight Committee release the image of Trump's alleged letter, and the White House is insisting that letter actually proves it's not his signature and he didn't actually sign it. Meanwhile, Democrats on the Hill have met with survivors and victims of Epstein's sex trafficking and abuse and are pushing for a fuller release of files for transparency. It's one of the few places where Democrats have leverage against Trump's otherwise complete control of the political narrative in Washington. All right. That's NPR. Stephen, thanks a lot. Thank you.

President Trump repeatedly threatens sanctions against Russia if it doesn't move toward a ceasefire or ending the war on Ukraine. Yet the Russian response, has been stepping up airstrikes against Ukraine. In fact, Russia now carries out far more attacks and it did before Trump re-entered the White House in January. NPR's Greg Mirey recently returned to Washington after a month in Ukraine and joins me now. Good morning, Greg. Hi, Leila. So President Trump, you know, he keeps warning Russia. He's going to do something. He sets deadlines that come and go. With these stepped-up attacks, what is the president saying now? Well, he says he's still thinking about sanctions, but he's noncommittal. Trump says he expects to speak with Russian leader Vladimir

Putin in the next couple days. Now, it's been a month since the two leaders met in Alaska without any movement toward a ceasefire. Trump has been threatening sanctions more or less since March, and he keeps saying he's not happy with Russia that we'll see what happens in two weeks, but his only real action so far has been 50 percent tariffs on India because it's buying Russian oil. Now, Russia's economy is relatively weak, but oil and gas sales have allowed the country to chug along during the war. More sanctions would further strain the economy. It's not clear how much pain they would inflict. Is there any sign the Russian position is changing? Well, politically, Russia is just not budging. The Kremlin says sanctions will not force Russia to change

its stance. And the key demand is still international recognition of Russian control over Ukrainian territory. Militarily, Russia is just becoming more and more aggressive. Russia is able to increase air strikes on Ukraine because it has ramped up its own domestic drone production. Before this year, Lela, Russia was firing perhaps a couple dozen drones into Ukraine on a typical night. This year, the number has soared. It first began hitting a hundred or more a night. And now many hundreds. Sunday was the heaviest assault yet, more than 800 drones. And Russia appears capable of sustaining this pace and has ignored Trump's calls without suffering any consequences. How is Ukraine dealing with these intensified attacks? Well, Ukraine has to scramble every

night. Russia typically attacks three, four, five cities, and these tend to be different cities every night. Ukraine responds with sending up helicopters, fighter jets, electronic jamming, machine guns, and increasingly Ukraine is making its own defensive drones that shoot down Russia's incoming offensive drones. Now, Ukraine still takes down the majority of these Russian drones, but some get through and they're often followed by missiles which inflict even greater damage. Now, Greg, you were in Ukraine when Trump hosted Putin last month here in the U.S., the Russian president. How is that summit viewed in Ukraine? And at this point, are there prospects for peace? Well, not really. Ukrainians were deeply skeptical with the Trump-Pooten

meeting. Ukrainians are exhausted by the war. They are open to negotiations to end the conflict, but they just don't think Putin will make any concessions. Now, they're even supportive of Trump's peace efforts, and they were pleased when he hosted President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House just a few days after the Putin meeting. But the vast majority of Ukrainians believe Putin is just stringing Trump along, buying time, hoping that Russia can win a war of attrition. Here in Washington, there's still this strong focus that Trump might do something that could lead to ceasefire negotiations. But in Ukraine, I just heard people saying they have to depend on themselves. They can't count on the U.S. or others.

That's NPR's Greg. Myrie. Thank you for your reporting, Greg. Sure thing, Lela. And that's up first for Tuesday, September 9th. I'm Lela Falded. And I'm Amey Martinez. The NPR app means that you can have public radio right in your program.

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