Steve Inskeep (2:29)

And we've learned some information about them along the way. So let's go to NPR immigration correspondent Sergio Martinez Beltran. Sergio, good morning.

Sergio Martinez Beltran (2:36)

Good morning, Steve.

Steve Inskeep (2:37)

What do you know about this flight?

Sergio Martinez Beltran (2:38)

Well, the Trump administration announced yesterday that 177 Venezuelans who had been in Guantanamo Bay for a couple of weeks were removed to Honduras. That's all. But one of the migrants who'd been detained there, Honduras was sort of a layover for them. The Venezuelan government met them later and flew them back home. And the migrants landed in Venezuela last night around 10:00pm local time.

Steve Inskeep (2:58)

Okay, so United States, Guantanamo, Honduras, Venezuela, zigzagging around the Caribbean and surrounding areas. So I want to figure out what we've learned here. What do you know about who these people are or were?

Sergio Martinez Beltran (3:12)

So the administration had said, Steve, everyone sent to Guantanamo were hardened criminals, and that many were members of Trend Aragua, the Venezuelan gang. But now we know that's not true. In court documents released because of a lawsuit by the ACLU, the Trump administration admitted that nearly 30% of the detainees were considered queer, quote, low threat illegal aliens. Many of the mothers of the detainees had been pushing back against that narrative. One of them is Joanna Roldan. Her son, Joiner Purroy Rolland, had been accused of being a member of the nindaragua. I know my son has not committed a crime, she says, and he doesn't deserve to go through all of this just for trying to have a better future. And I should say, Steve, NPR didn't find any criminal record for Puroiro lan, and it appears at least a third of the people with him in Guantanamo had not committed crimes.

Steve Inskeep (4:04)

Okay, so I guess some of them were accused of crimes, some of them were not accused of crimes other than entering the United States illegally and they went to Guantanamo. Here's my next question. If they sent people to Guantanamo briefly, only to send them onward to other places, it's a way station. It's a transfer point. What's the point?

Sergio Martinez Beltran (4:21)

That's a good question. The administration knows that sending migrants to Guantanamo is very costly and very complicated logistically. But it's clear many of these migrants were used as part of a public relations operation by the White House. Most, if not all of the people they sent to Guantanamo had already been in detention during the Biden administration. So these were not new RSTs. And when they were put on a plane, there were cameras, and those visuals were published across the world. It also tells us that Guantanamo will likely be a temporary detention facility that will be used to house migrants from countries where deportations might be more challenging.

Steve Inskeep (4:56)

Okay, so they're sending a signal either to the US Public or to future migrants about what they want to do to people who come to the United States. Another question now, Sergio. What was the lawsuit that you mentioned earlier.

Sergio Martinez Beltran (5:06)

Yeah. That lawsuit was filed by the ACLU because for a few weeks, no one knew where these migrants were. The family members had stopped hearing from their loved ones, and they assumed they had been transferred to Guantanamo, but the government never told them. And so the ACLU was alleging that the migrants did not have access to telephones to call attorneys or family members. But despite this new development of removing people from Guantanamo, the ACLU says the lawsuit continues. Last night, I talked with the lead ACLU attorney on this case. He told me the removal of all detainees won't stop the lawsuit unless the Trump administration tells the court they will not transfer anyone else to Guantanamo.

Steve Inskeep (5:43)

Npr, Sergio Martinez Beltran, thanks for your reporting. Really appreciate it.

Sergio Martinez Beltran (5:46)

You're welcome.

Steve Inskeep (5:55)

In Israel, authorities say a body returned by Hamas, a hostage, is not who the militants claimed it to be.

Michele Martin (6:02)

Among the four bodies handed over yesterday were supposed to be those of two young boys and their mother. But after forensic testing, Israeli officials said the mother's remains were not among the bodies of the returned hostages.

Steve Inskeep (6:13)

NPR's Hadil Al Shalchi has been following events. Hadil, good morning.

Hadil Al Shalchi (6:17)

Good morning.

Steve Inskeep (6:18)

I just have to ask, what happened?

Hadil Al Shalchi (6:20)

Yeah. Well, we know that Hamas was supposed to return the bodies of Shiri bibas. She was 32 when she was kidnapped, her two young sons, Ariel, who was 4 at the time, and Kfir, who was just 9 months old. Hamas also said they returned Oded lifshitz, who was 83. And then later in the day, Israeli officials said that forensic testing positively identified the bodies of Lifshitz and the two young boys. But the body that was supposed to be the kid's mother was what they said, quote, an anonymous, unidentified body. The Israeli military, that that body didn't even belong to any known hostage. And then in a statement today, Hamas acknowledged there could have been an error. And the remains thought to be Shira Biba says could have been mixed with the remains of a Palestinian who was staying in the location where the hostages were being kept. Hamas is asking Israel to return the remains of that Palestinian. Now, you have to understand, the Bibas family really became the symbol of Israeli pain after the attacks of October 7th. You know, the plight of the hostages, the, the boys were just so young. So the news as a shock to the country. And then another thing, Hamas has also been saying since the beginning of the war that the Beas family was killed in an Israeli airstrike in November 2023. But then Israeli officials said that the forensic testing showed that the family was actually killed by Hamas. But didn't say exactly how each of.

Steve Inskeep (7:41)

These hostage returns, whether the people are living or dead, has been horrifying in one way or another and dismaying to people in Israel. So what does all this mean for the next steps? Another hostage exchange in the next phase of the peace talks.

Hadil Al Shalchi (7:56)

Yeah, so that next hostage exchange is supposed to happen tomorrow. And I have to say, you know, like, the whole ceasefire has been so precarious. Just last week there was a chance the deal was going to just fall all apart when Hamas alleged Israel committed violations. Israel denied them. But it also looks like both sides want to get this done, especially now with pressure from the United States. So NPR talked to an Israeli official who's familiar with the matter, but they weren't authorized to speak publicly. And we were told that Israel is actually inclined to move ahead with Saturday's prisoner exchange. They said Israel just doesn't want to jeopardize the release of the Israeli hostages this weekend. But then the official also said Israel is going to take advantage that Shiri Bibas body wasn't returned as a point of negotiation to ask for more hostage releases going forward.

Steve Inskeep (8:42)

Hadil, what is this news of explosions in Tel Aviv and Israel that has come out in the same 24 hour period as the hostage exchange of the bodies returned?

Hadil Al Shalchi (8:52)

That's right. So three buses exploded in a suburb called Bat Yam. It's just south of Tel Aviv. Luckily, no injuries were reported. The police said the buses were empty. They had just finished their routes. They were parked in lots around the city. Israeli police said it found explosives on two other buses which didn't detonate. The bombs were the same type as those that had exploded and bomb squads were able to diffuse them. No group claimed responsibility. But right away Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office ordered the military to step up its incursions in the occupied West Bank. The military has escalated its airstrikes and raids there since the beginning of the ceasefire, especially around the city of Jenin. Thousands of Palestinians have been displaced from their homes because of these attacks. And Israel says the operations are trying to root out militants.

Steve Inskeep (9:40)

NPR's Deal Al Shalchi, thanks for your reporting. Really appreciate it as always.

Hadil Al Shalchi (9:44)

You're welcome, Steve.

Steve Inskeep (9:52)

In this country, President Trump's administration has brought its firings to fema, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the people who help local authorities in disasters.

Michele Martin (10:01)

In addition to the firings, people involved tell NPR that FEMA is cutting back on its work to make homes and buildings safer before a disaster. This is also one of the agencies the president has talked of eliminating.

Steve Inskeep (10:13)

Lauren Sommer with NPR's Climate Desk is covering this story. Lauren, good morning.

Lauren Sommer (10:17)

Good morning.

Steve Inskeep (10:17)

How many people were fired?

Lauren Sommer (10:19)

So it's more than 200 employees. That's what the Department of Homeland Security told me. And they oversee fema. These are workers on probationary status, which basically means they were within one year of taking the job. But, you know, I spoke to people that had been at the agency more of a decade, and they were only on probationary status because they accepted a promotion for a new job. You know, one told me the firings were like doing surgery with a chainsaw instead of a scalpel.

Steve Inskeep (10:45)

Okay, so 200 firings, but it is an agency with thousands. So how would this affect their response in a disaster?

Lauren Sommer (10:51)

Right. Yeah. So when disasters happen, it's really all hands on deck at fema. They put hundreds of people on the ground to connect disaster victims and, you know, enroll them for financial assistance. You know, that's for things like renting a place to live or rebuilding long term. Those FEMA staff come from every part of FEMA. And I talked to Michael Cohn, who was FEMA's chief of staff under the Biden administration, and he says the agency was already understaffed.

Michael Cohn (11:17)

We've been behind at FEMA as far as our recruiting goals. And now to let go a whole year's worth of people who have been hired is only going to put the agency in jeopardy.

Lauren Sommer (11:30)

Last year, during Hurricane Helene, FEMA had to use employees from other federal agencies to fill the gap because the need was so great from disaster survivors.

Steve Inskeep (11:39)

Although didn't the president suggest that FEMA wasn't necessary when he was talking during the Los Angeles fires?

Lauren Sommer (11:46)

Yeah, he said disaster recovery is better left to the states. And he's actually creating a council that will review and potentially overhaul fema. You know, local and state governments actually already run disaster recovery, and they request that FEMA come in. But aspects of FEMA's work are already changing because, you know, one thing the agency does is help develop building codes. These are the construction standards that help homes survive floods and hurricane winds. FEMA experts had already written recommendations about how to strengthen those codes. They were submitted to the International Code Council, which is an association that updates the codes every three years, and then local and state governments adopt them. But FEMA has asked for its name to be taken off those recommendations. According to people who are involved with that work and spoke with me, they want to remain anonymous over concerns about retribution from the Trump administration. And FEMA did not respond to our questions about why they made this request.

Steve Inskeep (12:46)

This is really interesting reporting you have here. And I want to talk about this. There is a wider debate over building requirements. There are even liberals and progressives as well as conservatives who think we've made it too hard to build stuff and that it's bad for society. But I assume you're talking here about relatively narrow recommendations about how to make your house or your building survive a disaster.

Lauren Sommer (13:06)

Yeah. Yeah. These are recommendations that come out of actual disasters, you know, seeing what hasn't worked. It's things like maybe raising up a house a little bit so floodwaters don't come in. And research really shows they add about 1 to 2% of the construction costs, but they've saved billions of dollars in damage that would have happened otherwise.

Steve Inskeep (13:25)

NPR's Lauren Sommer from our Climate Desk. Thanks so much.

Lauren Sommer (13:28)

Thank you.

Steve Inskeep (13:33)

And that's up first for this Friday, February 21st. I'm Steve Inski.

Michele Martin (13:37)

And I'm Michelle Martin. Join up first on Saturday and then.

Steve Inskeep (13:40)

On Sunday in this same feed. Our Sunday story goes deep. A journalist tries to understand his own father's belief in conspiracies.

Michael Cohn (13:49)

When all these things happen, then you will realize that I'm not as big a crackpot as you think I am and that these are not conspiracy theories. These are reality.

Steve Inskeep (13:59)

Listen to the Sunday story on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Michele Martin (14:03)

Today's episode of up first was edited by Eric Westervelt, Dede Schanke, Neela Banerjee, Reena Advani and Janaya Williams. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott and our technical director is Carly Strange. Our executive producer is Kelly Dickens. We hope you'll join us again on Monday.

Charles Schwab (14:22)

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Cunard. Discover the best of Alaska on a luxury voyage aboard Cunard's Queen Elizabeth round trip from seattle. Choose from 7 to 12 nights with more time in iconic ports and scenic cruising through Glacier Bay national park and Hubbard Glacier. Enjoy spacious accommodations, locally sourced cuisine and award winning entertainment. Only on Cunard can you experience an Alaskan afternoon tea, the Ice White Ball and guest speakers sharing stories of the visit. Cunard.comalaska this message comes from Mint Mobile. If you're tired of spending hundreds on big wireless bills, bogus fees and free perks, Mint Mobile might be right for you with plans starting from 15 bucks a month. Shop plans today@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month 5 gigabyte plan required new customer offer for first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.