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The President's Daily Brief
PDB Afternoon Bulletin | January 23rd, 2025: Trump To Deploy 10,000 Troops To Southern Border & Iran Floors The Gas On Their Nuclear Ambitions
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It's Thursday, the 23rd of January. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First, a correction that I should make regarding this morning's pdb. While talking about the deportation actions and policies of previous U. S. Administrations. Well, I got a statistic wrong, fairly significantly wrong. I mentioned that as an example of past administration's actions to deport illegal immigrants, the Obama administration during its tenure deported some 400, 000 individuals. Well, that number is wrong. The reality is that number was closer to 3 million. Hmm. My point being, don't get trapped in the hysteria of media and social media of the moment regarding immigration policies. Take the time to look at what happened in the past and you may find out that there's not much new under the sun. All right, for this afternoon, first we'll begin at the U. S. Southern border where President Trump plans to deploy some 10,000 troops to beef up security and aid in the swift arrest and deportation of illegal crossers. Then, the UN's nuclear watchdog has issued a stark warning on Iran's nuclear program, saying that the mullahs are, quote, pressing the gas pedal on enrichment in the wake of Trump's return to the White House. But first, our afternoon spotlight. President Trump's immigration crackdown is now in full swing with preparations reportedly underway to dramatically beef up security at the southern border with US Soldiers. According to an internal Customs and Border Protection memo, Trump plans to deploy as many as 10,000 troops to the U. S. Mexico border to aid border patrol agents as they work to seal off all entry points into America. They'll also be given orders to summarily detain and immediately deport all illegal crossers that they encounter. That's according to a report from the New York Post. The move stems from Trump's executive order on Monday declaring a national emergency at the US Southern border, which ordered the Department of Defense to provide resources and troops to support the activities of U.S. customs and Border Protection agents. In addition to aiding with arrests, the military will reportedly build border barriers to repel migrants and convert Pentagon bases near the border into temporary holding facilities to house migrants awaiting deportation. The ambitious strategy began with the deployment of 1500 troops on Wednesday. They'll join the approximately 2200 US National Guard and reserve forces already in place along the border. It's unclear when the larger force will arrive. Additionally, Trump fired the head of the US Coast Guard on Tuesday, citing a, quote, erosion of public trust, and subsequently ordered the Guard to surge resources to migrant prone waters, particularly around Cuba and Haiti. At the same time, the Coast Guard will step up patrols around Alaska and Hawaii, as well as around the US Territories of Guam, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. They've also been ordered to increase patrols of the maritime borders between the U.S. the Bahamas and Mexico. That's a hot spot for traffickers smuggling migrants and drugs. Trump had already shut down all crossings along the U S. Mexico border on Monday, effectively suspending access for migrants seeking asylum in the United States. With the exception of official border crossing facilities. Refugee and parole admissions have also been suspended. And Trump has ended the Biden era catch and release policy that allowed apprehended illegal migrants to go free inside US Borders. Instead, Trump expanded the powers of border authorities under a process called expedited removal, which allows the deportation without a court hearing of any migrant who cannot prove that they've been in the US for longer than two years. It's a seismic policy shift given that the Biden administration allowed nearly 8 million migrants, and that's a conservative number, to enter the US Illegally over the past four years. And of course, that doesn't count the known gotaways. That's a number that could also reach into the millions. Trump's border actions come as targeted arrests of hundreds of illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities across America began on Tuesday. As we discussed on yesterday's pdp, the early arrests and deportations are prioritizing illegal migrants with a criminal record or who have been deemed a potential threat to public safety. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the border, Mexico is bracing for a major influx of migrants due to Trump's mass deportation efforts. The UK Telegraph reported on Thursday that border cities in Mexico have begun building temporary tent cities on football fields, empty blocks of land, and inside gymnasiums. The Mexican government is also building nine official shelters in border cities to receive deportees. Coming up, the UN's nuclear watchdog has issued a stark warning on Iran's nuclear program saying that the Iranian regime is pressing the gas pedal on enrichment. I'll be right back.
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Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. Iran's accelerated efforts to enrich uranium are drawing heightened global concern, with International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA chief Rafael Grossi confirming on Wednesday that Tehran is, quote, pressing the gas pedal, edging dangerously close to weapons grade levels. Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is there anybody not in Davos at this point? Grossi revealed that the Iranian regime is now enriching uranium to 60% purity at an unprecedented rate, producing over 65 pounds per month. And that is reportedly a fourfold increase compared to previous output. This acceleration places Iran's stockpile at approximately 440 pounds of enriched uranium, far exceeding the threshold needed to produce a nuclear weapon if further enriched to 90%. By IAEA estimates, only 90 pounds of enriched uranium is needed to make one nuclear bomb. The UN nuclear watchdog chief also noted that Iran is installing advanced centrifuges, which, while not yet fully operational, will soon enable Tehran to achieve even higher enrichment thresholds, stating, quote, we are going to start seeing steady increases from now, end quote. Iran's enrichment frenzy, if you can call it a frenzy, follows a sharp diplomatic fallout in November when Western nations issued a censure over Tehran's nuclear activity. In response, Iranian engineers boosted production capacity sevenfold by December. The US And European powers have condemned these developments, asserting that there's no legitimate civilian rationale for enrichment at this level. Well, that that statement would be a contender for today's PDB statement of the obvious award. Yet Iran, with a straight face, might I add, continues to insist its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and claims it has the right to enrich uranium under international law. That's claimed it has failed to dispel global skepticism over their intent, Grossi is called for diplomacy. Well, that always works. As President Trump returns to the White House, potentially reviving his administration's, quote, maximum pressure strategy against the Iranian regime. Trump's first term saw the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, opting instead for sweeping sanctions that crippled the Iranian regime's economy. Officials within the Trump team indicate that a new sanctions package targeting the Iranian regime's critical oil sector could be announced as early as February, setting the stage for renewed confrontation. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has urged Iran to restore Trust through transparency. Well, that would be a first. Guterres emphasized the need to demonstrate that it does not intend to develop nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, European powers led by France, Germany and the UK are directing IAEA inspectors to produce a special report on Iran's activities in the first half of 2025. This report then could form the basis for reinstating UN sanctions set to expire in October of this year. Now, would it be churlish of me to point out that while the IAEA and the UN dither around for months drafting a report which no doubt will be scintillating, Iran at its current pace, could at the same time then become a member of the global nuke club. And I'd. I'd like to point out that I did just use the word dither. You're welcome. The specter of renewed sanctions and Tehran's growing uranium stockpile is fueling fears, of course, of a military confrontation in the Middle East. Grossi underscored the importance of diplomacy, stressing, quote, we don't want more wars, end quote. Well, to be fair, I'm not sure that the the we he's referring to includes Iran. I mean, after all, their regime is the cause of most of the instability and chaos in the Middle east currently. The reality is that the mounting tensions and the Iranian regime's defiance leave the international community with a rapidly closing window for possible de escalation. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Thursday 23rd January. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at the first TV calm. And of course, word on the street is that to listen to the show ad free, well, you can become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by simply visiting PDB premium.com I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. It.