Jane Costen (2:21)

After this exchange, Noem said she would review the case. She then left the hearing early for a meeting, a meeting that turned out to be canceled.

Aaron Raichlen Melnick (2:29)

Huh?

Jane Costen (2:30)

The Trump administration has put billions of dollars into building an immigration superstructure meant to punish those who have done nothing wrong and intimidate everyone else, including legal immigrants and US Citizens. Weirdly enough, that's proving to not be very popular. According to New Polling from the Associated Press. Trump is now deeply underwater on the subject of immigration, with 60% of respondents opposing his handling of the issue. So to talk more about what's happening with immigration, from the administration's plans to 2026 to its many horrifying offenses against everyone, I spoke to Aaron Raichlen Melnick. He's a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. Aaron, welcome back to Whataday.

Aaron Raichlen Melnick (3:10)

Thank you for having me back.

Jane Costen (3:12)

Recently, the Trump administration has used the tragic shooting of two National Guard members by an Afghan national with a history of mental health issues to make a lot of horrible changes to its asylum and citizenship processes. Can you walk us through what those were?

Aaron Raichlen Melnick (3:26)

Yeah. So there are two major changes. First, the suspension of processing for a whole swath of immigration benefits. And second, a call to re review immigration benefits granted to hundreds of thousands of people during the Biden administration. The first one is two parter. First, they're saying we are not going to adjudicate any asylum applications that are pending with U.S. citizenship and Immigration Services. These are what are known as affirmative asylum applications, people who are not currently facing removal. And they're just saying we're going to go up to the point where we can grant a case and then we're just going to put it on hold until we get some sort of new vetting system in place. And that applies to everyone going through the system. But more broadly, they're now saying for anyone who comes from a country, one of the 19 countries targeted by President Trump's travel ban, they are not going to adjudicate any, any immigration benefit that includes things like requests for work permits, includes things like requests for green cards or visa petitions for family members. And it even includes things like citizenship.

Jane Costen (4:29)

Right. There were some recent stories about people who were literally going to their citizenship proceedings who got pulled out of line after they were asked what country they were coming from.

Aaron Raichlen Melnick (4:39)

That's right, because this new pause, which is indefinite and will last for an unknown period of time, applies to anyone who was born in one of those countries. So it's even affecting some dual nationals who hold, for example, Canadian and Iranian citizenship or British and Afghan citizenship, even those people who would not actually be subject to the travel ban. And they're saying, we will not let you have any benefit until an indefinite period in the future when we put new vetting rules in place. And that's startling because, again, you've seen people literally pulled out of their citizenship oath ceremony inches from the finish line to becoming UN Citizens, not because of anything they did, but solely because of where they were born, it felt like.

Jane Costen (5:21)

We were getting news about ICE operations and protests against them pretty much every day. A few months ago, can you remind us where in the country ICE is currently active?

Aaron Raichlen Melnick (5:29)

I mean, so right now ICE is active everywhere in the country, as you just mentioned. And so really what we're seeing is two kinds of operations. There's the everyday day to day arrests that are going on in communities around the country. And then there's the splashy blitzes, the operations with catchy nicknames that the Trump administration tries to make a lot of propaganda around where they are sending, you know, not only Border patrol agents to do arrests, but, you know, masked videographers with no identification carrying around Steadicam rigs so they can get video for social media. And those operations right now are focused in New Orleans, primarily with. They don't really have the manpower, it seems, or the ability to do multiple splashy operations like this simultaneously. So they went from Los Angeles to Chicago, then to Boston, Washington, D.C. and then Charlotte. Now they're in New Orleans, and where they go next isn't clear. But the everyday day to day pace of ICE arrests keeps going up as more officers are coming online with money and resources from the one big beautiful Bill act.

Jane Costen (6:35)

Yeah, that's actually a point I want to ask you about. They have so much money right now. They have money they clearly don't really know what to do with. Why are they still having manpower issues?

Aaron Raichlen Melnick (6:45)

Well, they only got the money in July, so some of this is just a matter of time. But at its heart, of course, we are talking about a very large population of people that they could potentially target. There are 14 million undocumented immigrants in the country. And there also comes a point where they need to increase the capacity of the system more rapidly. One of the biggest things, for example, is that the detention system, where they had hoped to have 107,000 beds online by January, currently has about 70,000 beds online now. That's huge. That is already massively higher than the system has ever had. But reportedly Secretary Noem is requiring that every large purchase be personally signed off by her. And that's leaving the system less flexible. And maybe they just aren't able to actually ramp up the capacity to the speed they would like. But I will note it is still faster than really any of us expected, because $45 billion for detention and $30 billion for enforcement and removal operations is an unheard of sum of money for this. It just takes time to spend it all.

Jane Costen (7:49)

Okay, I want to back up A second, because it seems like the administration is doing everything it can to make immigrants fearful and make themselves look successful. But it seems to me that you have the combination of immigration hardliners saying, you're not doing enough, but also everyday Americans saying, this isn't what I wanted. This isn't what I voted for. Which could explain why Trump's numbers on immigration have been going down. So can you help me separate the rhetoric from what's actually happening more broadly on immigration? How successful is the administration in what they've been trying to do with regard to immigration, and what is it actually doing?

Aaron Raichlen Melnick (8:26)

I really don't want to understate the extent to which they've already transformed the system into something more aggressive, more hyper militarized, and more efficient in many ways than ever before. And efficient not at providing due process or a fair day in court, but efficient at getting people to simply give up and agree to be deported. That's one of the biggest things that the expansion of detention does. It keeps people locked up. And while they're locked up, every single day, you have ICE officers going to them and telling them, give up, give up. If you give up, you'll get $1,000. If you give up, you'll be out of here tomorrow. And if you don't give up, we're going to keep you locked up here for months and months. And the system is just getting bigger and worse, but it's still not at the 1 million deportations a year level that they were seeking. They're still maybe less than half of that goal, and they're still not reaching the point where every single undocumented immigrant is saying, it's time for me to go. And I think they want that fear campaign to ramp up, because that's the only way to get it. They understand very clearly that you need fear in order to actually get everyone out. Otherwise this is going to take 20 years to deport everybody. But I think you're also saying the American public doesn't like it. Of course, Trump ran on mass deportation, but nobody actually believed it.

Jane Costen (9:49)

Yeah, there's a real sense of, like when you were holding the sign that says mass deportations now at the Republican National Convention, apparently some people didn't think that meant that literally.

Aaron Raichlen Melnick (9:58)

No, they thought it meant kick out the criminals. And he was quite successful with that message. And it resonated with a lot of people who had serious public safety concerns. The problem was the people running this operation do believe it, and they really do want to deport everybody. And so they're going for the lowest hanging fruit. And the lowest hanging fruit are people with no criminal convictions. New data just came out obtained under the Freedom of Information act that shows after the late May meeting where Stephen Miller ordered ICE to stop focusing on public safety's threats, stop doing targeted enforcement as much, instead, quote, just go out there and arrest illegals. What happened is a huge increase in the arrests of people with no criminal convictions. And then the Los Angeles raid started a week later. And since that point, almost two thirds of all people arrested by ICE in the community have had no criminal record at all.

Jane Costen (10:52)

So moving into 2026, given all of this, where do you expect the administration's immigration policies to go from here?

Aaron Raichlen Melnick (10:58)

Right now, the big thing I'm looking at is tent camps on military bases. There's already one they have built in El Paso, Texas, that's holding nearly 3,000 people already. And the stories coming out of there, according to an ACLU report that just was released a few days ago, are horrific, really serious allegations of abuse of officers, illegally deporting people to Mexico who had no removal, physical abuse, verbal abuse, a lot of things going on. And they want to build dozens of these facilities. They want to have tent camps in Indiana and New Jersey, in Florida. That's the new way forward. And they have the money to do it. The issue right now is getting the contractors and the manpower to actually build those facilities and staff those facilities. And the longer time they have to do that, the more they'll be able to.

Jane Costen (11:49)

Erin, thank you so much as always for joining me.

Aaron Raichlen Melnick (11:52)

Thank you. And sorry I couldn't be more positive about these.

Jane Costen (11:55)

It's okay. That was my conversation with Aaron Raichlen Melnick, Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council. We'll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe. Leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. Foreignay is brought to you by Acorns. So many people are focused on where their money is today. Acorns is a financial wellness app that cares about where your money is going tomorrow. And with the Acorns potential screen, you can find out what your money is capable of. Acorns is easy. You can sign up in minutes and start automatically investing your spare money. Even if all you've got a spare change, Acorns grows with you. Whether you're just starting out or thinking about settling down, Acorns supports your big and small goals across every life stage. The Acorns potential screen shows you the power of compounding and how your money could grow over time. Plus, you can quickly adjust how much you're investing each day, week or month to make sure you're building towards your goals. Acorns is all in one no more finance apps cluttering up your phone with Acorns. You can invest, save and give your money a chance to grow in one trusted place. I love how Acorns does the saving for me. Sign up now and Acorns will boost your new account with a $5 bonus. Investment join the over 14 million all time customers who have already saved and invested over $27 billion with Acorns. Head to acorns.com wad or download the Acorns app to get started. Paid non client endorsement compensation provides incentive to positively promote Acorns tier 2 compensation provided potential subject to various factors such as customers, accounts, age and investment settings does not include Acorns FE do not predict or represent the performance of any Acorns portfolio. Investment results will vary. Investing involves risks. Acorns Advisors LLC and SEC registered investment advisor view important disclosures@acorns.com wad finding the.

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Aaron Raichlen Melnick (14:21)

Hey, it's Chris K from Target. Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas. Hit it, Dasher. Give me some Jingle Bells, Dancer Prancer let's hear a Beat and Mouse chorus. Oh, it's a beautiful job, everybody. All right now, bring it home. Happy holidays, everybody.

Jane Costen (14:51)

Here's what else we're following today. Head of Lines it now seems all but certain that the Obamacare subsidies will expire at the end of the year. Means More than 20 million Americans are now bracing for their health care costs to soar. Is the president prepared to let this happen, or is he going to step in? The president is prepared to take action on health care, and he wants Republicans on the Hill to do the same. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt spoke after the Senate rejected two partisan health bills that were intended to help Americans facing steep premium increases due to the expiring Affordable Care act subsidies. Senators had two chances to address health care on Thursday. Neither plan got enough votes, despite four Republicans crossing the aisle and voting with Democrats. The Democratic bill would have extended the enhanced subsidies for three years. The Republican proposal involved directing funds into health savings accounts for people on the cheapest plans in the ACA marketplace. Congress's inaction essentially guarantees that millions of Americans will see a steep rise in costs when the subsidies run dry in the new year. In a presser after the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer offered an apt metaphor.

Aaron Raichlen Melnick (16:01)

Senate Republicans just shoved the American people off the side of a cliff with no parachute and with an anchor tied to their feet.

Jane Costen (16:10)

Don't worry, I'm sure Trump will fix it in two weeks.

Aaron Raichlen Melnick (16:18)

We are a co equal force of government, or at least we are supposed to be. And as long as I have breath, I will use my voice to resist a federal government that attempts to bully, direct and control this state or any state.

Jane Costen (16:30)

Indiana Republican State Senator Spencer Deary encouraged his fellow Republicans on Thursday to vote against a redistricting effort that would have favored their party. And guess what? The message was heard loud and clear. Indiana's Republican led Senate rejected the redrawn congressional map. By rejecting the measure, Indiana's GOP defied months of pressure from President Trump, who has been urging Republicans nationwide to redraw their congressional maps so that the party has a better chance of keeping its majority in the House in the midterms next year. Ahead of the vote, Trump threatened on Truth Social quote, anybody that votes against redistricting and the success of the Republican Party in D.C. will be, I am sure, met with a MAGA primary in the spring. Of course. When asked about the failed effort during a press conference in the Oval Office on Thursday, the president played his loss down. I wasn't working on it very hard. Would have been nice. I think we would have picked up two seats if we did that. You had one gentleman, the head of the Senate, I guess, bray whatever his name is. I heard he was against it and probably lose his next primary. Whenever that is, I hope he does. Honestly, it's his own fault. He sent Vice President J.D. vance to Indiana to convince the GOP to vote for redistricting. And everyone knows that J.D. vance represents a horrifying insult. An environmental conservation group is suing to stop the administration from putting a picture of Donald Trump's face on the 2026 National Parks Pass, citing, quote, aesthetic harm. The center for Biological Diversity filed the lawsuit Wednesday in a Washington, D.C. federal court to prevent, quote, Trump from replacing a beautiful picture of Glacier national park with a close up of his own face. The Lawsuit References the 2004 Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement act, which requires the Interior and Agriculture secretaries to, quote, jointly hold an annual competition to choose the image featured on the pass to submit a photo. The National park foundation requires that photographers, quote, capture a moment that has been experienced on America's federal public lands and waters. Roaming around Yellowstone, you'd sooner snap a legitimate shot of Bigfoot than run into Donald Trump. Its administration also recently announced that it would ax free admission to national parks on MLK Day and Juneteenth, opting to waive fees on Trump's birthday instead, which coincides with Flag Day. Lucky break. A spokesperson from the center for Biological Diversity sums it up well, America the Beautiful means wild rivers and majestic mountains, not a headshot of a bloated, fragile, attention seeking ego. There's nothing beautiful about that. If you're like me, you'd love the power to make Remy from Ratatouille open up a Michelin Star rat bistro inside of Elsa's Ice Castle from Frozen. You've always dreamed of it, trust me. Disney announced a $1 billion investment in OpenAI on Thursday, making it the first major studio to license its characters to sora, the AI video generator. Over the next three years, fans will be able to create short Sora videos featuring more than 200 animated Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star wars characters. 99% of those videos will not be safe for work. Disney is the first major studio to cross this potentially cursed line. Actors, animators and writers have warned for years AI could wipe out their jobs, the Writers Guild of America said in part. Disney's announcement with OpenAI appears to sanction its theft of our work. Children's safety advocates also blasted the OpenAI deal, warning it could lure kids towards unsafe content. So should I make Remy open his Frozen fromagerie? Or is that how we accidentally speed up the apocalypse? One AI generated rat fondue video at a time. And that's the news. Before we go. Not sure what to get your family and friends this holiday season. If they're the kind of person who cares about the world around them, why not give them the gift of content? That's right, a Friends of the Pod subscription. It's the gift that keeps on giving. A Friend of the Pods subscription will keep them informed, entertained and mostly sane. They'll get access to all the good stuff, exclusive content like Polar Coaster with Dan Pfeiffer ad, free episodes of all of their favorite crooked shows and endless bragging rights that they support Independent progressive media. Now that's a present gift. A Friends of the Pilot subscription grab one for yourself or learn more@crooked.com friends. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. Leave a review, Read former French President Nicolas Sarkozy's prison diaries from his 20 days behind bars and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just about Sarkozy's new book entitled A Prisoner's Diary, which details his imprisonment for again 20 days of a five year sentence for criminal association. Like me, what a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe@crooked.com subscribe I'm Jane Coston and this man wrote a whole ass book about being in jail for 20 days and according to Amazon, it is 216 pages long. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our producer is Caitlin Plummer. Our associate producers are Emily Foer and Chris Allport. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters and Matt Burke. Our senior producer is Erika Morrison and our Senior Vice President of News and Politics is Adrienne Hill. We had help from the Associated Press. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.

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Jane Costen (23:21)

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