Up First from NPR - Ukraine-Russia Peace, Noncitizens And Due Process, Khartoum Destroyed
Episode Date: April 25, 2025Ukraine says a ceasefire must be in place first before it will accept a peace deal with Russia, President Trump claims it's not possible for all of the people he wants to deport to get a trial, and af...ter two years of brutal fighting, Sudan's once-vibrant capitol city of Khartoum is in ruins.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 Tara Neill, Anna Yukhananov, Ryland Barton, Janaya Williams and Jan Johnson. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange. And our Executive Producer is Jay Shaylor. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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The Trump administration is demanding that Ukraine accept a peace deal favoring the Kremlin.
Ukraine says a ceasefire must be in place first.
With so little progress on the ceasefires, there is still a chance for peace.
I'm Michelle Martin, that's Amy Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News.
President Trump says it's not possible for all of the people he wants to deport to get
a trial.
Top officials in his administration have said that due process is only for U.S. citizens.
What rights do non-citizens have in this process?
And the civil war in Sudan started in the capital city of Khartoum.
After two years of brutal fighting, the once vibrant city is in ruins.
NPR is one of the few Western news outlets to gain access to the city to see the destruction.
We'll have a report from our correspondent. Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start today.
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The new wave of biotechnology that's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR.
Ukraine is marking a day of mourning today.
At least 12 people died in Russian drone and missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital of
Kiev.
President Trump scolded Russian President Vladimir Putin on social media for the attacks. Trump says he wants peace quickly. He says Ukraine must accept
concessions and that Russia is making a pretty big concession by not occupying all of Ukraine.
MPR's Ukraine correspondent, Joannika Kisses joins us now from Kiev. Joannika, tell us
more about this latest Russian attack on the capital.
Well, A, there is a lot of anger and grief here, as to be expected.
We spoke with 40-year-old Maria Rumyantseva, who scrambled to evacuate her elderly mother
before a Russian missile destroyed their home.
She said Russian attacks on Ukraine seem to have escalated after Trump started accommodating
Russia in peace talks, and she had this question for President Trump.
How do I get my mother, a disabled person in a wheelchair, down from the second floor
to the first floor to the bomb shelter alone in eight minutes?
We also spoke to Elena Krakowska, who ran out of her home in her bathrobe just before
the walls caved in.
She believes Trump is sacrificing Ukraine for a quick deal.
Trump is simply selling Ukraine and giving it away.
And Ukraine cannot give up its territories.
Even though these are occupied, this is our territory.
Ukrainians live here.
Now, A, most Ukrainians refuse to recognize Ukrainian land occupied by Russia as part
of Russia and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has refused to accept demands by the Trump
administration to do so.
For this attack Trump blamed Zelensky for prolonging the war and he was largely seen
as accommodating Russian demands.
Has this attack changed that at all?
Well no, I mean Trump did chide Putin on social media for the attack but he also said that
Russia is already making a big concession by not occupying all of Ukraine and statements
like this obviously make Ukrainians very nervous, especially coming from the leader of the US,
which was once Ukraine's strongest single ally.
Now Zelensky says his country wants peace, he has agreed to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire
brokered by the US last month, something Russia did not agree to, and Zelensky's team is finalizing a minerals deal that
could make the US a lot of money. So in return, Ukraine wants the US to provide
security guarantees so Russia does not invade their country again, but the Trump
administration so far is only offering vague promises. I remember being in
Kiev with you, Joanna, three years ago and everyone I spoke to just tell me how much they love America, I mean
adoration for America. I'm wondering now if Ukrainians still have that optimism
about the US coming to their aid at this point. Well I'm still hearing some hope
in the northeastern city of Sumi recently. I spoke to commander Oleg
Shariayev, he is with the 225th Separate Assault Brigade, and here's what
he had to say.
He's saying, I do not believe in friendship between the United States and Russia.
It is impossible.
He said such a friendship defies history and the interests of the West, but when I pressed
him about the US cutting off military aid to Ukraine last month, he admitted that this
could happen again.
And then he said, Ukraine will try to defend itself on its own as long as it can.
That's NPR's Joanna Kokissis in Kyiv. Joanna, thanks.
You're welcome.
President Trump is working hard to implement a campaign promise for mass deportations.
Officials are moving quickly to arrest, detain, and remove people from the country.
But critics say such fast action skirts due process that all people in the U.S. should receive.
NPR's immigration policy reporter Jimena Bustillo joins us now to unpack all of this.
So Jimena, has the administration addressed what due process means for their mass deportation goals?
Yes, earlier this week Trump said that it wasn't possible for all the people he wants to remove to get a trial.
And I hope we get cooperation from the courts because, you know, we have thousands of people that are ready to go out
and you can't have a trial for all of these people. Vice President JD Vance
went as far as to call it a quote fake legal process on social media and in
another post deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller has said quote the
judicial process is for Americans immediate deportation is for illegal
aliens but critics broadly point to the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution
that states that no person can quote be deprived of life liberty or property But critics broadly point to the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.
That states that no person can quote be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process
of law.
The administration seems to be banking on Americans believing that non-citizens don't
get the same due process as citizens.
That's according to Muzaffar Chishti from the Migration Policy Institute.
That may be politically a good slogan.
Unfortunately, the constitution does not make any distinction between citizens and non-citizens
for the application of the protections of due process and judicial review.
The ultimate concern, he says, is that if you strip due process for one group, that's
a slippery slope for others.
All right, so let's get into that because let's assume that some people are good with
the argument that due process rights are not owed to everyone.
What's the argument then about why that's not just incorrect, that it is a slippery
slope for absolutely everyone?
You know, put simply because mistakes are made.
It's central to the Constitution that if the government makes any accusation, people
accused have a chance to respond. Immigration courts were designed specifically as a neutral
space where both the government and immigrants could both make their cases. Not every person
gets the same rights though. It's a spectrum of rights, you know, the lie experts tell me.
It depends on how long you've been in the country
and other factors.
I spoke with Ashley Tabador,
she's a former immigration judge,
and she said the government can't just act
on the basis of allegations.
Government is not immune from making errors
and errors that can cost someone's life.
So what is at stake is oftentimes
a life and death situation.
Are there any examples of such errors already?
You know, the case of Kilmar Abrego-Garcia brought the question of due process to the
forefront. In 2019, an immigration judge had decided that he could not be deported to El
Salvador, but last month officials arrested him. Within days and by mistake, he was sent
to a prison in El Salvador.
Other lawyers fighting Trump's policies have alleged their clients didn't have deportation
orders yet and were due in court and suddenly they ended up in other countries.
And lawyers have told me that they've defended US citizens or others with legal status who
got arrested or detained when they shouldn't have.
But Trump administration is making other changes too.
They increased the number of people who can be removed without a court hearing.
And they've terminated contracts that provide legal services to over 20,000 minors without
legal status.
And they fired and accepted resignations from over 100 court staff, including dozens of
judges.
Critics warn that erodes those due process protections America was founded on.
That's NPR's immigration policy reporter,
Jimena Bustio, thanks a lot.
Thank you.
Our final story this morning doesn't often make it
into the headlines in the US,
although a lot of people have argued it should.
Sudan's capital city of Khartoum has been
systematically destroyed. The once vibrant city at the junction of the white and blue Nile has been
hollowed out after two years of civil war. The conflict between the Sudanese army and the
paramilitary rapid support forces or RSF started in Khartoum. Then over a month ago in a major shift,
the city was liberated by the Sudanese army.
Now for the first time, the outside world is getting a glimpse of what has been left
behind.
NPR is one of the few Western news outlets that's made it into Khartoum.
With us now is NPR's Emmanuel Akinwotu, who has just returned from there and joins us
now from the de facto capital of Port Sudan.
So tell us, Emmanuel, what you saw as you traveled through Khartoum.
Good morning.
It's utterly devastating and surreal.
Before Khartoum became the center of the war,
this was a really vibrant, proud, historic city
of a 6 million people.
But then two years of war between these two former allies
and then occupation by the rapid support forces
until just the last month really has left
the city emptied, almost eerie. The swathes of it are torched, damaged, destroyed by artillery
and gunfire. And this is from everyday areas to the presidential palace, to hospitals,
schools, museums, even the airport has been burnt to a crisp. Before the RSF were forced
out of Khartoum, they stripped the city almost like locusts,
looting it to a degree that's honestly just really hard to grasp. And that's from the
National Museum where they took tens of thousands of ancient artifacts, and even down to electric
wires ripped from the walls in almost every building that they occupied. And they stripped
them for copper. The city is without power, there's a shortage of water, virtually no state services, although they're gradually returning.
So if the city is missing power, shortage of water, I mean basic services, I mean can
people return? Well there are tractors at the moment clearing debris, teams of
sweepers cleaning the streets, and they're still finding unexploded bombs
and human remains. But you're right, it's mostly uninhabitable.
There's a trickle of people returning, but mainly to find out or confront what's happened
to their property and their belongings.
We went to a bakery and spoke to the owner Yousuf Aldi.
He said the RSF looted his home above the shop and they lived there and for a period they
even kept the bakery open and ran it like it was their own business.
And Manuel, also wondering about what you may have witnessed around the humanitarian
crisis.
I mean, the United Nations says Sudan is experiencing the worst famine anywhere in the world in
decades.
Yes, it's unprecedented.
We visited the Al-Baluk Hospital, which is the main and largest pediatric health facility in the Khartoum state region. The wards were packed with
malnourished children. The hospitals expanded again and again through the war
but it's still overwhelmed. I spoke to the lead doctor Ahmed Khology. At the
beginning of January 1 2024 we served like 4,000 patients per month. Now it's 30 to 36,000 per month.
So the fighting has stopped in Khartoum,
but the toll of the war is really just coming to the surface.
And of course, the fighting continues.
Tell us about where the fighting has shifted.
Well, it's shifted to the outskirts of the capital region
and has become really intense towards the Western region
of Darfur, which
is overwhelmingly controlled by the RSF.
It's where there was a genocide 20 years ago by Arab militias that evolved into the RSF
against African ethnic groups and it's happening again now according to the UN, US and others.
That's NPR's Emmanuel Akinwotu in Sudan.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Music
Morningers from around the world are lining up to see Pope Francis lying in
state at St. Peter's Basilica.
The Vatican said more than 90,000 people had paid their respects by yesterday evening,
waiting in long lines for hours. Among them was Kelly Gaffigan from Virginia. Here's how she said she'll remember Frances.
He really like had the best interest of the people as a whole, Catholic and everyone and
the planet. And even though that rubbed people the wrong way, I think he was always doing
what was best for us in our world.
When the viewing ends tonight, the coffin will be sealed for the funeral mass Saturday
morning.
That will be a traditional Catholic requiem mass for the dead with prayers mostly in Latin,
but also in Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, and Arabic.
Then nine days of official mourning begins leading up to the papal conclave.
Once the conclave gets underway, voting cardinals are sequestered in a Sistine Chapel and a
nearby house until a new pope is selected.
This Sunday on a First Day, whistleblower inside the federal government shares
evidence that Doge employees may have taken sensitive data from government
computers and cover their tracks.
Unfortunately, because of the way that the database was manipulated, there's really no way to tell
where that data is now. What the whistleblower found this weekend on the Sunday story right here
in the Up First podcast. And that's that first for Friday, April 25th.
I'm your host, Amy Martinez.
And I'm Michelle Martin.
And a reminder, Up First airs on weekends too.
Ayesha Roscoe and Scott Simon will have the news.
Look for it wherever you get your podcasts.
Today's episode of Up First was edited by Tara Neal, Anna Yukhanov, Rylan Barton, Jan
Johnson and Janaya Williams.
It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent and our technical director is
Carly Strange. Our executive producer is Jay Shaler. Have a great weekend, everyone.
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