Up First from NPR - Taiwan Earthquake, Wisconsin Primary, Texas Border Law

Episode Date: April 3, 2024

A massive 7.4 magnitude earthquake has struck Taiwan, the biggest quake to rock the Asian island in 25 years. rotest votes in Wisconsin's primary — against President Biden and Donald Trump. And a controversial Texas immigration law is back in court for a crucial test.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 Miguel Macias, Padma Rama, Alfredo Carbajal, Alice Woelfle and Ben Adler. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Ben Abrams and Kaity Kline. We get engineering support from Josephine Nyounai, and our technical director is Zac Coleman.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

An earthquake that struck Taiwan was its biggest in 25 years. We'll hear what this 7.4 magnitude quake felt like to a reporter in Taipei and whether Taiwan's infrastructure has held up. I'm Steve Inskeep with A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. Protest votes in Wisconsin's primary against President Biden. We have blown his last margin of victory out of the water. Also against Donald Trump. In a state that helped each of them win the White House, how big are their problems this year? And the next step in the legal battle over a controversial Texas immigration law.

Now, if it holds up in court, immigrants suspected of living in the U.S. illegally could be arrested and deported to Mexico, even if that's not where they're from. Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day. Now, our change will honor 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force and their dedicated service to communities at home and abroad. From the skies to our change, this $2 commemorative circulation coin marks their storied past and promising future. Find the limited edition Royal Canadian Air Force $2 coin today. There was a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan today. It's the biggest quake to hit the island in 25 years. At least seven people are reported dead. Hundreds are injured, and some people are

thought to be trapped in rubble. Japan and the Philippines briefly faced tsunami warnings as a result of this earthquake, although those warnings are now lifted. NPR's Emily Feng was in her home in Taipei today when the quake hit. Emily, what did it feel like? Well, earthquakes are really common here. So when my building first started shaking, I didn't really think anything of it. But then what followed was about 10 minutes of the most intense shaking I'd have experienced yet since moving to this island. The earthquake hit at about 8 a.m. local time. So I just laid out my coffee and my morning snacks. And when things were shaking, I was actually in an online call, but I just kept going because again, I thought it was a normal quake, but then everything on my table shattered,

the glasses, the coffee, and my building kept swaying for about the next three hours because of numerous aftershocks. In fact, there was just a small one as I was talking to you a few minutes ago. Here's a clip of a Taipei TV studio that was live pretty close to where my home is when the earthquake happened. And you can hear the anchor trying to keep on going, but you can also hear the lights and the cameras hanging above her clanging wildly because the building was shaking. And I really got to hand it to her. She tells everyone to stay calm. Yeah, Emily, and I live in LA, so I live in an earthquake area too. And for people that don't know, when an earthquake happens, you just keep doing what you're doing until the earthquake tells you otherwise, because that's kind of the way it

works in these areas. So what's the situation near the epicenter? Right now, roads and train lines there are still shut off. The epicenter was just off Taiwan's east coast, which is on several major fault lines. Right now, you can only reach the city by boat. Some 87,000 people there are without power because a few power plants shut down for safety. And the closest city is Hualien. It has about 320,000 people in that county. It is one of the less densely populated areas in Taiwan. But still, there are videos of some off-kilter houses and collapsed buildings and bridges that were swaying during the earthquake. Mostly, though, it's been a lot of landslides that have blocked roads to the city. You mentioned aftershocks. How many more do you expect?

Hard to say. President says the aftershocks could continue for the next day or so. There have been dozens, and some of these aftershocks have been actually quite strong. One of them, the U.S. Geological Survey registered at 6.5 magnitude, which is a pretty large quake in and of itself. And so people are still on alert. But here in Taipei, people have gone back to life as normal, and kids even went back to school. Yeah. Now, as big as this earthquake was,

I mean, it seems like the damage is limited right now. I mean, that sounds pretty remarkable. That is the astonishing thing. I mean, let me give you an idea of how kind of amazing this is. By comparison, the last time there was an earthquake this big in Taiwan, it was in 1999, and more than 2,000 people died. The epicenter was in central Taiwan. But still, this time compared to that time, damages and deaths were minimal. There are still some people trapped in collapsed houses. But so far, most of the people who died were a result of people who had gone hiking and had been hit by rocks. We're still waiting for updates. But right now we're looking at a relatively low figure for deaths and damages.

And it's just a testament to how Taiwan has proofed itself against earthquakes in the last 25 years. That's NPR's Emily Fang. Thanks a lot. Stay safe and stay alert, Emily. Thank you, A. Wisconsin could be called the most recent example of how underwhelmed some Democrats and Republicans are with their party's presumptive presidential nominees. At least based on the evidence from yesterday's primary. Wisconsin is a swing state, a once reliable blue state that went for Donald Trump in 2016, then back to Joe Biden in 2020. Biden and Trump both won their primaries this time and both faced protest votes, too.

Mayan Silver with member station WUWM joins us now from Milwaukee. Mayan, so what did we learn last night? Well, weather-wise, it felt like winter in Wisconsin yesterday, and as for the election, borrowing from Shakespeare, it also seemed like the winter of voters' discontent. So really, Biden and Trump both won handily in Wisconsin, but they were dealing with these protest votes. And for Biden, that meant the uninstructed vote. That's Wisconsin's version of uncommitted. And in the GOP primary, one surprise for Trump was that Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the race after Super Tuesday, got more than 12% of the vote. Okay, we'll get to Nikki Haley in just

a second. Tell us more about this protest vote against Biden like we've seen in other states. Yeah, it's a movement that's spread across the country urging people to choose uncommitted or, in Wisconsin's case, it's uninstructed on their primary ballots. They're protesting President Biden's handling of the war in Gaza. All right, so how well did they do? Organizers wanted to get at least 20,000 people to do this in Wisconsin. That's actually the margin that Biden won Wisconsin by in 2020. The movement exceeded its own expectations, with more than 40,000 voters choosing that option.

Here's Hiba Mohamed. She's a spokesperson for Listen to Wisconsin at a watch party last night. We have blown his last margin of victory out of the water. He needs to be paying attention and calling for an immediate permanent ceasefire as soon as possible. So these organizers say they'll keep pressuring Biden and local officials to end the war between Hamas and Israel. What are Democratic leaders in the state saying about that? Well, I spoke to Ben Wickler after the results came in. He's the chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. And here's what he had to say. I think that the message from so many of these voters is that they

want to be able to vote for Joe Biden this November. They just don't want this heartbreaking tragedy to continue. Wickler did tell me that he thinks it's a good sign that people actually got out and actually voted. He says it means they haven't checked out or given up on the process. He also says it'll actually be important to remind people of everything that's at stake in November, including abortion rights. That's something that's really been mobilizing Democrats in Wisconsin. Now, earlier you mentioned Nikki Haley. That's a name, Mayan, that we haven't heard much about since she dropped out of the race about a month ago. She's still getting votes. Yes, she dropped out too late to be removed from Wisconsin's ballot. And it suggests there's clearly a block of Republican voters who are not yet ready to get out there and support Trump. Bill McCaution is a Wisconsin GOP strategist. If I were giving any advice to the Trump campaign, it would be to stay disciplined and stay focused. Only talk about issues that

really move voters and don't get distracted by the 2020 election and things like that. But Trump is really hard to corral on that point. He was in Green Bay for a rally yesterday and continued to repeat his ongoing lie, saying that he won Wisconsin in 2020. McCaution says instead, Republicans should focus on issues like immigration and the economy. That is Mayan Silver for the member station WUWM in Milwaukee. Thanks a lot. Thank you. A Texas immigration law is back in court today for a crucial test. The law known as SB4 passed the Republican-dominated legislature in Texas, and it asserts a state role in enforcing federal immigration rules.

It empowers police in Texas to arrest people they suspect are living in the United States illegally. It allows local judges to order people deported to Mexico, whether they're from Mexico or not. The law is on hold awaiting today's federal appeals court hearing, which is in New Orleans. Julian Aguilar from the Texas Newsroom is here with a preview. So what can we expect today? So today's arguments will focus on whether the Texas law conflicts with the federal government's authority to enforce immigration policy. Senate Bill 4, it was supposed to go into effect in early March. It was placed on hold after the Biden administration and the Coalition of Immigrant and Civil Rights Group sued to stop its implementation.

So, of course, Texas appealed that decision. Then the case ping-ponged up to the U.S. Supreme Court and back down to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and that's where oral arguments are going to take place today. Okay, then these lawsuits from the Biden administration and advocacy groups, I mean, they allege what exactly? I mean, that Texas is, what, giving itself too much authority over immigration enforcement? Yeah, yes, that's a key component, that immigration policies have historically been crafted and enforced by the federal government and not individual states. The lawsuits also argue the law will lead to racial profiling of people of color, mainly because the law can be enforced statewide and not just on the state's southern border. So it's important to keep in mind that the three appeals court judges hearing arguments today on the merits of the case, they're the same judges who previously ruled two to one to keep the law on hold as the case plays out. And why is Texas arguing that the law should stand? So Governor

Greg Abbott, a Republican and other supporters of the bill point to the record number of unauthorized crossings on the southern border. And they say Texas is justified to take matters into its own hands if the federal government won't do its job. Right. So since this is the same panel of judges that's already decided once to block the law, at least temporarily, I mean, might that hint at what their ruling in this case might be? Sure. So it's rarely a good idea to speculate about how judges are in the rule, you know, especially given the dizzying set of offense that got us here. But it's fair to say we at least have a glimpse of what the judges are thinking when they decided to keep the law on hold. So Judge Priscilla Richmond wrote that the Supreme Court has held for more than 150 years

that immigration enforcement, that's including the admission and removal of people, was the federal government's duty. Richmond also acknowledged the possibility this law could sour relations with foreign governments, most notably Mexico, which has already come out forcefully against this bill. How is this whole debate playing out in Texas? So immigrant rights groups have held Know Your Rights events to alert the public at large about risks of the legislation, and they worry about how SB4 can affect mixed-status families. That's where, you know, at least one person is undocumented.

They also say it's unclear what probable cause is. How will police decide whom to question? And meanwhile, local police and county sheriffs, even those that support more enforcement, say they don't have a lot of guidance on how to enforce the law should it go into effect. When do you think this will be resolved? So legal experts say we can expect a final decision from the Fifth Circuit probably a little sooner than we normally would. And of course, Texas has the option to ask the full court to let the law go into effect while it waits on that decision. But an ultimate decision will likely come from the U.S. Supreme Court, which means this fight could drag on for quite some time. All right. That's Julian Aguilar of the Texas Newsroom. Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me on.

And that's a first for Wednesday, April 3rd. I'm E. Martinez. And I'm Steve Inskeep. Consider listening next to Consider This from NPR News. The economic effects of last week's Baltimore Bridge collapse begin with the port itself and ripple out into the surrounding city, state, and region. Listen to Consider This. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Miguel Macias, Padma Rama, Alfredo Carvajal, Alice Wolfley, and Ben Adler. It was produced by Zia Butch, Ben Abrams, and Katie Klein. We get engineering support from Josephine Neonai. And our technical director is Zach Coleman.

As always, start your day here with us tomorrow.