Transcript

5.5.26 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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May fifth, twenty twenty six. As a reminder, Radio I
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is a reading service intended for people who are blind
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or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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printed material. Your reader for to day is Cindy Fraser.
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To day's front page headlines from the Washington Post are
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strikes in Hormeuse golf region, in peril us Aaron cease fire,
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American destroyer is fired on, not hit. Iranian fast boats
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chasing commercial ships destroyed. Next, Idaho immigration fight reflects GEOEPI schism,
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lawmaker support for crackdown in state with high reliance on
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foreign born labor Hert's husband. Next, multiple police leaders in
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d C face termination. The next headline ICE's use of
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force and facilities accelerates. Internal records reveal sharp prize and
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incidents during Trump's first year. Next, how Republicans warmed to psychedelics.
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And the final headline from today's front page. Post wins
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Public Service Photography. Pulleitzers top prize was for stories on
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how federal overhaul upended workers' lives. Now let's turn to
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our first item, entitled strikes in Hormos Golf Region imperil
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us around ceasefire. American destroyer is fired on, not hit
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Iranian fast boats chasing commercial ships destroyed by Susanna, George
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and Tera Copp. A sharp escalation in attacks in the
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Strait of Hormus and the Persian Gulf is threatening the
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shaky ceasefire between Iran and the United States as the
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two sides struggle to make progress in talks on a
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lasting end of the war. Iran accused the US of
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ceasefire violations and issued new warnings Tuesday after two U
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S destroyers closely followed by two merchant vessels, came under
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attack Monday morning during successful transits of the strait in
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an expansion of U S operations in the waterway. The
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United Arab Emirates reported an arraigning assault on an energy
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hub that caused a fire, and Oman State Meet reported
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an attack in the country but did not identify a perpetrator.
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Iran fired cruise missiles and drones at the U S
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naval and commercial vessels, but did not land any hits,
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said Admiral Bradcooper, head of U S Central Command. Ran
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also sent six fast boats after the commercial ships. He said,
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but U S forces fired on and destroyed the vessels.
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He would not say whether the exchange of strikes meant
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the cease fire was over. In a separate incident, President
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Donald Trump said Iran hit a South Korean tanker in
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the Strait. Perhaps his time for South Korea to come
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and join the mission, Trump wrote in a True social
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post Monday. South Korea officials said Tuesday they would investigate
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the cause of an explosion and fire aboard a tanker.
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According to Janhap, south Korea's state news agency. No fresh
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attacks were reported Tuesday, ahead of a planned briefing by
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Defense Secretary Pete Hexath and General Dan Kin, Chairman of
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the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Secretary of State Mark Arrubio
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is also due to hold a press briefing at the
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White House, the details of which were not made public.
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Iranian officials issued warnings following the flaups and hostilities. Parliamentary
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Speaker Mohammed Bagger Glibof accused the US of ceasefire violations,
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saying we know full well that the continuation of the
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status quo is intolerable for America, while we have not
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even begun yet. In a post on X Foreign Minister
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Abbasaraci said events in the Strait may clear that there
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is no military solution to a political crisis. In a
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separate statement, the U S should be wary of being
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dragged back into quagmire by ill wishers, he said, adding
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in reference to the U. S Military mission to reopen
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the Strait of Hormuz, project Freedom is project deadlock. Earlier,
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the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the predominant
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branch of the Iranian armed forces, warned any US vessels
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in the Strait would be considered a legitimate target. The
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Strait of Hormus would not be opened by the tweet
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of the President of the United States. The management and
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control of this waterway is in the hands of Iran,
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Ahmed Vahidi said in a post on x Trump reiterated
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comments about what he described as U S military dominance
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over Iran while speaking to conservative radio host Hugh hewittt
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on Monday, saying one way or the other we win.
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We either make the right deal or we win very
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easily from the military standpoint, he said, adding that the
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US had knocked out Iran's previous leadership. They talk a
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lot differently when they're talking to me than they talk
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when they're talking to the media, he said. Iranian officials
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said over the weekend the US attempts to interfere with
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Tehran's management of the Strait would qualify as a ceasefire violation.
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Reopening the Strait, a vital choke point for oil and
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gas shipments, through which Iran has slow traffic to a trickle,
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causing severe disruptions to the global economy, has been a
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central issue in the weeks of negotiations between Iran and
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the US. Since they agreed to a cease fire on
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April seventh, which largely halted fighting, the two sides have
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exchanged a number of proposals and held face to face
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talks in Pakistan, but they have failed to bridge considerable
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differences on key issues, including Iran's nuclear program. Further complicating matters,
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Iran has insisted on using its control over the Strait
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as leveraged to demand the unfreezing of assets and war reparations.
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Iran mined parts of the strait to the US, and
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Israel launched large scale air strikes on the country in
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late February. Since then, a handful of vessels have been
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allowed to transit, but they are required to coordinate with Iran,
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which has begun demanding tolls. Others have come under attack.
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Tehran has largely shut the waterway to traffic, cutting off
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roughly a fifth of global energy supplies, leading to energy
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shortages in many countries and sky rocketing prices elsewhere. The
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US responded last month by implementing a naval blockade of
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Iranian ports. On Tuesday, the price of Brent crude, the
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international benchmark, hovered around one hundred thirteen dollars per barrel,
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reflecting market uncertainty over energy supplies. The US is reaching
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out to the hundreds of vessels representing eighty seven countries
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that are in the Persian Gulf to help them get
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through the strait, Cooper said Monday. The Trump administration said
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over the weekend that it was moving forward with further
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military action to reopen the strait, including an effort between
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the State Department and international partners to increase information sharing
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on security in the waterway. Trump said in a truth
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social post Sunday that the action is meant to free
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up people, companies, and countries that have done absolutely nothing wrong.
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They are victims of circumstance. The US Project Freedom is
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deploying guided missile destroyers, more than one hundred Navy and
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Air Force warplanes, drones, satellite imagery, and more than fifteen
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thousand personnel. Sentcom said Monday. The two u S destroyers
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that passed through this straight Monday were not escorting the
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commercial vessels and were instead moving through the waterway to
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clear it for traffic, Cooper said. The UAE reported that
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its air defenses engaged fifteen missiles and four drones on Monday,
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the first such attacks in nearly a month. Local authorities
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in the oil hub of Fujaira reported a fire caused
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by one of the Iranian attacks. Also Monday, the UAE
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Foreign Ministry set a tanker affiliated with the state oil
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company Adnoc was hit by drones. The tanker was empty
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at the time, according to the statement. In Oman, an
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attack injured two people. According to a state media report
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citing a security source. The report said the attack targeted
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a residential building in a town on Oman's Mussumdam peninsula,
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inland from the Strait of Hormuz. The attack also shattered
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windows and damaged four vehicles, according to the report. The
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US naval blockade of Iranian ports remains in place. Two
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aircraft carriers and a host of warships are intercepting commercial
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vessels that have visited Iranian ports or are carrying Iranian
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oil or cargo. The Navy says it is sent back
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to Iran or stopped forty eight vessels, including firing on
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one to disable it when it tried to get past
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the blockade. This item is accompanied by a photo captioned
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a vessel in the street of Hormus near Bunda Abbasaran
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on Monday a mere housin Korgui I s N A
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W A NA Reuters. The photto shows a ship which
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appears to be stacked with containers with a very much
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smaller vessel in front of it. The next out inmprinted
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days from page is entitled Idaho immigration fight reflects g
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P schism lawmaker's support for crackdown in state with high
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reliance on foreign born labor. Hert's husband by Karen Bruilliard
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from Twin Falls, Idaho. The call came as Tom Zuderveld
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was driving last month, just minutes from his home on
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five verdant acres of southern Idaho's agricultural heartland. It was
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his district manager relaying that three of the dairies he
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sold synthetic oil to had refused to continue working with him.
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Zuderveld felt blindsided. He had known the dairy owners for
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years and the accounts represented a eighty percent of his income.
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But it wasn't about his performance, the manager explained on
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the phone and in a later email. It was about
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the politics of Zudterveldt's wife, Glenda Zuterveld, is a Republican
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state senator and member of a far right block that
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was pushing for strict immigration laws. Idaho's dairy industries, which
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powers the economy of the Magic Valley region anchored by
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Twin Falls, depends on foreign born labor and fiercely oppose
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the measures. To the Zudervelts, the rupture was simple retaliation
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that illustrates just how bitterly personal American politics has become.
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An ambush. Tom Zudervelt said that costs the couple as
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much as one hundred twenty five thousand dollars in commission
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a year to the businesses, which are dominated by Republicans
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in this deep red state. The moves are fair game
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in an essential effort to protect the nation's third largest
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dairy industry. We live in a free country, and we
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can act actually due business with whoever we want to,
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said Airy Roloff's owner of River Benderry, which in April
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became the fourth to cut ties with Zuderveld, who is
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his wife's campaign treasurer. What his wife is doing in
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the state legislature are things I don't agree with, and
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he stands behind her. The schism illustrates a costic split
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in Idaho's Republican Party, in which Gleneada Zuderveld's hard right
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wing regularly breaks with more traditional GOP members, often overspending,
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but also immigration. That divide reflects an escalating national fault
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line among Republicans over whether President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown
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should spare no mercy for agriculture and other businesses that
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depend on unauthorized foreign born labor, or, as a White
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House has signaled, approach them with leniency and even new
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forms of work permits. Which side will prevail in Idaho
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will become clearer after the Republican primary on May nineteenth,
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which essentially serves as a general election in many districts
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of the state that has grown more read amid a
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recent influx of conservatives from blue states. The Idaho Dairymen's Association,
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whose members employ about four five hundred people, ninety percent immigrants,
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many without legal work permits, views the vote as one
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of the most consequential yet. We've seen Republicans openly hostile
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to farmers, which is extremely unusual, said Rick neerabout the
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association's chief executive. This will be a potential tipping point
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for Idaho. Do we continue to shift further to the
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right or do we moderate some It feels very much
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like that's what's at stake for us, especially in agriculture.
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The Zuderveld case, which the Senator wrote about in a
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substack post that included the email her husband received from
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his employer, isn't the first time immigration and agriculture politics
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have turned personal in the Idaho GOP. Last year, federal
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officers raided the farm of a moderate Republican state representative,
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Stephanie Michelson, after a far right activist reported her businesses
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to an immigration and Customs enforcement tip line. One worker
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with a criminal record was taken into custody. According to
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Investigate West, the dairy owners who ended their working relationships
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with Tom Zudterveld declined in depth interviews thereabouts said they
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also fear being targeted, but he added that their decisions
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were not only about Lionnetta Zuderveld's stance on immigration, and
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that they do not see her husband as an innocent bystander.
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He is her campaign treasurer and she supports his oil
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sales job in an administrative role. Neabout called the immigration
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bills out of state ideas foisted on Idaho by groups
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such as the conservative Heritage Foundation, which opposes amnesty for
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undocumented farm workers. All failed after pushback from law enforcement,
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clergy and businesses, which argued that mass deportations would tank
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Idaho's economy, but Glinetta Zudervelt insists they were not outside
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ideas at all. Illegal immigration, she said, is one of
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her constituent's top complaints. Amnesty for dairy workers who entered
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the country without permission is unfair, they tell her, as
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is mercy for employers who she called their accomplices agriculture
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and dairy. They might have the money behind them, but
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they don't have the votes and they don't really understand
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the area. Zudervelt said, they're not really listening to the
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concerns of their neighbors. In an interview at their kitchen table.
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The Zudervelt said they are mostly getting by on savings.
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As Gleneta Zudervelt fifty nine campaigns across the Magic Valley,
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where she has lived since she was a small child.
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Her parents were potato farmers and her husbands worked in
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dairy They met when she was in high school, married
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and had three boys. The dairy industry, they say, has
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been interwoven into their lives. They attended church with one
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of the dairy families that broke tides with Zudervelt's husband,
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Tom zuderveld worked for years as a dairy cow hooff trimmer.
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Glenetta Zudervelt worked in dairy offices, where she says she
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made no secret of her feelings about quote illegals, but
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befriended Latino employees, whom she saw as very family oriented people.
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She said she also saw that they were sometimes unfairly
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docked pay, a sign she believed of an abusive system,
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and contended that the rare American workers never lasted because
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the immigrants made it so miserable for them. Though he
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knew they saw the issue differently, Tom Zuderveldt said he
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still found the dairy's impersonal rejection shocking. You couldn't have
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come to me first, he said. They did exactly what
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they wanted to do. Send a message. Glenetta Zudervelt has
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represented her sprawling district since twenty twenty two, when she
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won her first primary by thirty seven votes, a gap
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she expanded to eight hundred twenty eight in twenty twenty teo.
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She initially campaigned on quote health freedom for nurses who
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oppose vaccine requirements and vows to expose corruption. She a
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sense push for displaying the Ten Commandments in schools, voted
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for the nation's strictest bathroom bill, and back the anti
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spending platform of her ultra conservative Gang of Eight, part
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of the State Freedom Caucus network. In twenty twenty four,
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Zuderveld co sponsored an unsuccessful resolution calling on Congress to
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impeach former President Joe Biden over what the Idaho state
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lawmakers said were immigration failures and societal ills caused by
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quote cheap immigrant labor. Dairy lobbyist's efforts to appeal to
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her faith by urging her to care for the least
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of these do not sway her. She said, that's in
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our personal capacity, not in our official capacity. She said,
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you don't get to use somebody else's tax dollars to
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take care of the lesser of these. Idaho dairies all
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remained family owned, but consolidation has made made many into
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large operations that struggle to find non immigrant workers willing
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to labor for hours in muck and cold. Thereabouts said.
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The companies adhere to federal laws when hiring workers, he said,
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and concede that applicants might use fake documents. The association,
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like other dairy groups, has long pushed Congress to create
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visas for their year round industry, which cannot access the
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seasonal visas crop farms use. In the meantime, it has
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opposed conservative Idaho lawmakers immigration proposals, including bills requiring businesses
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to use Everify, an electronics system that checks new hires
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documents against federal records. It should be on the federal government,
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not employers, to determine workers legal status. Thereabouts said. The
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Magic Valley has the highest proportion of Latinos in Idaho,
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and Thereabouts said most dairy workers are Mexican. Twin Falls
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was for years a major refugee resell site, a source
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of both diversity and occasional friction. Since Trump suspended most
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refugee admissions last year. Only a few white South Africans
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have arrived, but the subject of immigration remains fraught. The
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owner of Mellencamp Cattle, which owns two of the companies
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that stopped working with Tom zuderveld did not respond to
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her request for comment. Roloffs, in a brief phone interview,
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said he believes that federal government needs to handle immigration
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reform and added that he objected even more strongly to
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Coloneta Zudervelt's votes against funding for water projects. Hank Hoffliger,
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the owner of Cedar Ridge Drry, echoed that in his statement,
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the Senator has attempted to frame this as a single
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issue decision, but the reality is it was a combination
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of all her votes and statements round various agricultural issues
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that brought our decision to a head, Haffliger said, adding
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that her district is completely dependent on agriculture and food production,
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and we struggle to find a single meaningful bill she
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has advocated for in support of her constituent farmers and
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food processors in her time in Boise Gleneta Zuterveldt disputes
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that her work has been anti agriculture, Why would I
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want to destroy the industry that built our livelihood, she said.
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Zuerveld's primary opponent and the dairy industry's pick, is Brent Reinke,
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accounting commissioner and former state Corrections director, who says his
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priorities are God, family, and farming. In an interview, Reranke
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said he supports Trump's border policies but views state level
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immigration mandates as locally problematic. Everify is a good program
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that could burden Magic Valley employers and requiring local sheriffs
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to enforce immigration law with strained local jails and cost taxpayers,
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he said, what's the impact next week, next month, next year?
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Rankee said, those are the kind of things that I
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think we need to get back to instead of the
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radical approach that if it has a federal dollar attached
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to it, it's a no vote. It's almost like a
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burned down mentality. The tensions over immigration were on display
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at a recent luncheon sponsored by the Magic Valley Republican
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Women at a Mexican restaurant in the small town of
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buel As servers chattering in Spanish delivered meals. Suder Veld
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and three other state lawmakers recapped the legislative session, but
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attendees ask only about illegal immigration. One man said California,
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where he used to live, had been quote turned into
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the hell whole it is to day after President Ronald
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Reagan granted amnesty to nearly three million undocumented immigrants in
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nineteen eighty six, a woman said immigrants were quote still
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milking off us even with a job. Another woman said
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her teenagers could never get work on dairies or farms
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and employed foreign born workers. What are y'all looking at doing,
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not just to the legals, but the businesses, farms, dairies
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and others that are hiring them, she said. Just One attendee,
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an eighty three year old woman, urged a different view.
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She said she spent most of her life in the
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California dairy industry after immigrating from Portugal. Immigration is a
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wonderful thing, she said. Just think about where you people
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came from. Be generous with your thoughts. At their home.
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The next day, the Zuderveld said they were in lockstep
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when it came to immigration policy. Dairies may need immigration workers,
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Tom Zudervelt said, but that's breaking the law. As a
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nation of laws, where do we start determining which laws
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are okay to break. Glenetta Zuderveld said she supports some
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of the sponsorship program, but thinks those who qualify must
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pay a penalty some kind of justice. When she went
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into politics, she said, she knew her views might eventually
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jeopardize their income. On Friday, her husband lost another dairy account,
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but she feels confident the voters will stand by her
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when it comes to election time. She said, I think
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the joke is I probably won the election but lost
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our home. This item is accompanied by photos. The first
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is captioned Idaho State Senator Glennada Zuderfeld with her husband
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Tom Zuderveld, outside their home in Twin Falls, Idaho, last month.
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Kim Raff for The Washington Post. The next phetto is
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captioned State Senator Glenetta Zudterveld, Republican, talks with attendees at
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the Wendell Senior Center during a good Ring County go
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p debate on April sixteenth and Wendell, Idaho. Kim Raff
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for The Washington Post. The next photto is captioned Tom
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Zuderveld puts up campaign signs for his wife in the
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yards of her supporters in Gooding County, Idaho, last month.
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Kim Raff for The Washington Post. Next photto is captioned
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dairy Cow's and Gooding County, Idaho. Kim Raff for the
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Washington Post. The next photo is captioned, this will be
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a potential tipping point for Idaho. Do we continue to
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shift further to the right or do we moderate some?
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Says Rick Neerabout, the Idaho Dairyman's Association CEO, shown here
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last month in Twin Falls, Idaho. Kim Rath for The
23:17
Washington Post. Mister neareabout is shown outdoors leaning against a fence.
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The next photo is captioned Brent reink left, who is
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running for state Senate in Idaho, sets up his display
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at the Wendell Senior Center during a Gooding County go
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P debate last month. Kim Rap for the Washington Post.
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The next photo is captioned Attendees listen as Idaho State
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Senator Glennetta Zuderveld Republican debates challenger Brent Reinke at the
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Wendell Senior Center. Kim Rap for the Washington Post. The
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next item from to day's from page is entitled multiple
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police leaders in d C face termination. Some of the
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proposed firings tied to probe of alleged crime data manipulation
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by Jerry Gathwright and Emily Davies. Multiple high ranking DC
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police officials face termination or other potential disciplinary action, four
24:11
officials said Monday, creating a scramble as a department faces
24:16
intense scrutiny from federal officials. Among them are two assistant
24:20
police chiefs. According to two of the sources, who like
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the others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss
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a sensitive internal process, at least some of the proposed
24:31
discipline is related to an internal affairs investigation into the
24:35
alleged manipulation of crime data. According to the officials, the
24:39
city has been investigating the matter along with the Department
24:42
of Justice and Republicans in Congress. The officials accused of
24:46
mis conduct will have the opportunity to defend themselves against
24:50
the allegations through the department's disciplinary process, which can lead
24:54
to arbitration and take years to complete in some cases.
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The recommended terminingations and other disciplinary actions, if enacted, portend
25:03
a potentially sweeping shake up among top department leadership. It
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will also cause an immediate staffing challenge as some officials
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are placed on administrative leave. The high ranking DC Police
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officials placed on administrative leave include Assistant Chief Lechee McCall
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and second District Commander At touched on A Savoy, said
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DC Police spokesman Tom Lynch. He declined to explain why
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they were placed on leave. Two officials familiar with the
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matter said Savoya McCall faced possible discipline as part of
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the crime statistics investigation. McCall declined to comment, and Savoy
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could not be reached on Monday. Two other high ranking
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officials facing possible discipline, Assistant Chief Andre Wright and former
25:47
third District Commander Michael Pulliam, were already on administrative leave.
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Wright was put on leave after inappropriate text messages were
25:54
allegedly found on his phone, while Pulliam was previously the
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subject of a crime statistics were late investigation, The Post
26:01
has reported. Attorney Pamela Keith, who represents one of the
26:05
captain's facing termination, said her client declined to comment on
26:09
the allegations, but Keith said she thinks the investigation is
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sweeping up managers who did not intentionally try to downplay crime.
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Some are being accused of improperly changing crime reports when
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they did so only to correct misclassifications, a common practice
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in the department. She said. Still, news of the potential
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discipline over crime statistics is likely to fuel additional GOEPEDI
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attacks on the district over this issue. We're not stopping
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until the full truth is out. House Oversight Republicans wrote
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in a social media post Monday, while demanding that the
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police department release every document from their internal investigation into
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manipulated crime data. Lynch had declined earlier Monday to confirm
26:53
the proposed terminations or any details about them, saying the
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department cannot discuss personnality matters or internal investigations. Susanna Castillo,
27:04
spokeswoman for d C Mayor Muriel E. Bauser, a Democrat,
27:08
also declined to comment. The district has reported a decline
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in overall crime in recent years after a historic spike
27:15
in twenty twenty three, but some in DC police circles
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have long complained that certain managers routinely reduced the severity
27:23
of crime classifications to make their police districts appear safer
27:27
or avoid criticism from TARP department brass. President Donald Trump
27:31
intensified public scrutiny of the d C Police Department last summer,
27:36
claiming that crime was worse than city statistics showed to
27:39
justify his unprecedented move to take temporary control of the
27:43
local force. Trump in particular seized on reports that Pulliam
27:47
was being investigated for potentially changing crime classifications inappropriately. Pulliam
27:52
has denied wrongdoing. The Justice Department and Congressional Republicans launched probes,
27:58
and dozens of d C officas officers voluntarily offered information
28:02
to investigators, seeing an opportunity to voice long standing concerns
28:06
over the way their managers classified crimes. The Post reported
28:10
both investigations resulted in reports that excoriated DC police leadership,
28:15
but were thin on details about the manipulation of crime
28:18
statistics and any possible impact on the public's understanding of crime. Instead,
28:25
the reports focused on the leadership style of Pamela A. Smith,
28:28
alleging that as police chief, she created a culture of
28:32
fear the incentifized officials to misclassify crimes to avoid her ire.
28:37
The reports did not cite examples of Smith ordering staff
28:41
to downplay crimes. US Attorney for the District of Columbia,
28:44
Janine Piro, said that none of the conducts surfaced by
28:48
the investigation merited criminal charges. Smith vehemently denied allegations that
28:53
she ordered any manipulation of statistics, and Bowser gave the
28:57
chief praise for the sharp citywide reduction in crime reported
29:00
over her tenure. Bowser also requested that the city's Inspector
29:04
General's office investigate crime statistic concerns, seeking what she saw
29:09
as a more impartial examination of the matter. The office
29:13
launched that probe in January. Smith stepped down in December
29:17
and told Fox five TV that the federal intervention in
29:20
the city's policing did not influence her decision. Representative James Comer,
29:25
Republican from Kentucky, who chairs a House committee investigating d
29:29
C police crime reporting, recently said the panel's probe continues
29:34
and requested additional documents and communications from the department. In
29:39
a letter to interim d C Police Chief Jeffrey Carroll,
29:42
Comber wrote that the committee had recently learned that the
29:45
internal affairs investigation has been completed and included substantiated claims
29:50
against individuals in d C police leadership positions. According to
29:55
d C police policy, supervisors are not permitted to make
29:59
changes to crime classifications in other officers' reports. Keith, the
30:04
lawyer for a captain facing discipline, said that means that
30:07
high level officials may have been running a foul of
30:10
department policy for correcting inaccurate classifications, even when well intentioned.
30:16
They're not trying to manipulate anything. They're simply trying to
30:19
correct the report, Keith said. But Keith, who has represented
30:23
whistleblowers who have questioned d C police crime data reporting
30:26
in the past, said she does think that others may
30:30
have very much been trying to manipulate crime statistics for
30:32
their own benefit, to make themselves more appealing for promotion
30:36
or to be in favor with leadership. What the investigations
30:39
will have to determine for the various managers, she said,
30:42
is did they do something that was malicious and intentional
30:46
and designed to officecate and mislead the public. Steve Thompson
30:50
contributed to this report. This item is accompanied by photos.
30:55
The first is captioned Interim d C Police Chief Jeffrey
30:58
Carroll during an a twenty fifth news conference following the
31:02
shooting at the White House correspondence dinner. Allison robert A
31:06
p the police chief, is shown in the center of
31:09
the photo in front of an American flag. There are
31:12
two people on each of his sides. The next photo
31:16
is captioned Pamela A. Smith, who resigned as d C
31:19
police chief in December, was criticized in the Republican led
31:23
federal probes of the police department Demetrius Freeman the Washington Post.
31:28
The next autumpant to Day's front page is entitled ICE's
31:32
use of force and facilities accelerates. Internal records reveal sharp
31:37
rise in incidents during Trump's first year by Douglas macmillan,
31:41
Andrew Batran, Drea Cornejo, and Luis Melgar. Pedro contuur Rios
31:48
was eating lunch when he felt the chemicals rush into
31:51
his lungs. Like many of the emigrant men held in
31:55
a cramped Alaska jail last summer, Conturios, then sixty eight,
32:00
had grown frustrated and restless locked in a small cell
32:03
with no windows and no access to his personal belongings,
32:07
he recalled in an interview conducted in Spanish. As he
32:11
ate in the communal room, he overheard some detainees complaining
32:14
to a guard about needing their things. Minutes later, according
32:18
to documents and interviews. A throng of guards arrived wielding
32:22
gun like weapons. They fired plastic spheres the size of
32:26
gumballs into the room, which burst into orange clouds of
32:29
chemical dust. Contugurrios, who suffers from a lung condition, said
32:34
he was left gasping for air. He stumbled into a
32:37
cell and put a towel over his face. I thought
32:40
I was going to die, he said. The incident was
32:43
one of at least seven hundred eighty in which staff
32:46
members at US Immigrations and Custom Enforcement facilities used physical
32:51
force or chemical agents to control emigrant detainees during the
32:55
first year of the Trump administration. A Washington Post investigation
32:58
has found, based on a trove of ICE records obtained
33:02
from a government employee, they shared the records on the
33:05
condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the disclosures.
33:09
The Post reviewed hundreds of internal ICE E mails called
33:13
the Daily Detainee Assault Report, which summarize every incident in
33:17
which staff members reported using physical force against detainees and
33:21
ninety eight ICE detention facilities. The reports reviewed by the Post,
33:26
dating from January twenty twenty four to February twenty twenty six,
33:30
covered the last year of the Biden administration and the
33:33
first year President Donald Trump's second term in office. Taken together,
33:38
the reports offer an unprecedented look as the treatment of
33:41
ICE detainees as the Trump administration has carried out the
33:45
biggest expansion of immigration detention in decades. As ICE is
33:50
crackeddown on illegal immigration, has flooded detention centers with record
33:54
numbers of detainees, guards inside those facilities have increasingly resorted
33:59
to as acts of physical force. The Post's analysis of
34:02
the reports found detention guards have used punches, kicks, takedown maneuvers,
34:08
restraint holds, and restraint chairs, as well as les lethal
34:11
weapons such as tasers and pepper spray. According to the reports,
34:16
during the first year of Trump's second term, detention staff
34:19
used force thirty seven percent more times than the previous year.
34:23
The report show the number of people subjected to force
34:27
rose even more sharply to one thy three hundred thirty individuals,
34:31
a fifty four percent increase from the previous year under
34:34
President Joe Biden. As officers increasingly use these tactics with
34:38
groups of detainees, The report show in this same period,
34:43
the detained populations of these facilities increased forty five percent,
34:47
according to population figures estimated by Maryland based research group
34:51
Relevant Research, based on its analysis of ICE's publicly released data.
34:56
Next in this article is a bar graph entitled Monthly
34:59
use of force Incidents in ICE detention facilities. The graph
35:04
shows the year's twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five,
35:08
with a bar for each month. The highest number of
35:12
incidents was recorded in October twenty twenty five. Why are
35:17
they resorting to this use of force in such bigger numbers,
35:20
said Jeff Schwartz, a police trainer and associate professor of
35:24
law and justice at Rowan University in New Jersey, after
35:27
reviewing the Post's findings. It could be the overcrowding, It
35:31
could be the lack of staff, It could be the
35:33
lack of training, or a combination of all of them,
35:36
he added. Lauren Biss, a spokeswoman for the Department of
35:40
Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, declined to comment on the
35:43
Post's analysis of use of force incidents, saying she was
35:47
unable to verify the data. The Post provided her samples
35:50
of the reports and detail questions about some of the incidents.
35:54
ICE law enforcement officers are trained to use the minimum
35:57
amount of force necessary to resolve dangerous situations to prioritize
36:02
the safety of the detainees, the public, and our officers.
36:05
Biss said officers are highly trained in de escalation tactics
36:09
and regularly receive ongoing use of force training. Biss said
36:13
that ICE has worked to maintain a higher standard of
36:16
care than most prisons that hold US citizens. In several
36:20
incidents covered by the reports, guards forcibly handle detainees who
36:24
repeatedly asked out for things to which they are legally entitled,
36:28
including food and water, medical care, and personal belongings. According
36:33
to interviews with the detainees or witnesses to these events,
36:37
ICE attention standards stipulate that force can be used only
36:41
as a last resort after all reasonable efforts to resolve
36:45
the situation have failed to regain control of a detainee
36:48
who acts violently or appears on the verge of violent action.
36:53
Forces never to be used as punishment. The standards say,
36:56
we weren't violent people. We are all fighting our cases,
37:00
said Conto Rios, a Mexican national who came to the
37:03
United States as a teenager more than fifty years ago.
37:07
No one was causing trouble Moments before the guards in
37:10
Alaska deployed chemical agents known as pepper balls, some of
37:14
the detainees were loudly cursing its staff, demanding their property,
37:18
and refusing to obey orders to return to their cells.
37:21
According to an incident report that a staff sergeant filed
37:24
that day, which was obtained through a public record's request
37:27
by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska and shared
37:30
with a post, Nowhere in the incident report did the
37:34
sergeant indicate that any of the men acted violently or
37:37
appeared on the verge of violence. Biss said that at
37:41
no point was any detainee directly impacted by pepper ball rounds,
37:45
and that following the incident, employees left a door to
37:49
the outside open to assist with decontamination and ventilation of
37:52
the housing unit. Bessy Halley, a spokeswoman for the Alaska
37:57
Department of Corrections, which oversees the TAIL, said in an
38:00
email that her department has nothing to contribute to this story.
38:05
During another incident at the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia
38:08
in April twenty twenty five, a group of thirty five
38:11
immigrant detainees refused to enter their cells for count stating
38:16
they had not been seen by medical One of the
38:18
ICE reports says after guards removed those not protesting to
38:22
the recreation yard, staff members pepper sprayed the remaining people
38:26
the reason to gain compliance and control of the pod.
38:30
According to the report, Biss said that staff worked with
38:33
the detainees to gain voluntary compliance and only resorted to
38:37
pepper spray eight hours after their initial refusal. Guards also
38:42
used pepper spray on sixty five detainees at the Torrens
38:45
County Detention Facility in New Mexico, according to the reports.
38:49
According to Gerreal Angi, a Cameroonian immigrant who says he
38:53
witnessed the March twenty twenty five incident from a neighboring
38:56
housing unit, the detainees were holding a hunger strike to
38:59
protest inadequate food, as well as water shut offs that
39:03
sometimes forced them to go days without a shower. Anything
39:07
you do, they put pepper spray on your body on
39:10
g thirty six, said in a phone interview from the
39:12
detention center. Nobody is questioning them. They keep doing it.
39:17
Bis said that in this instance, the detainees refused to
39:20
comply with lawful commands and became aggressive toward facility personnel.
39:25
She said the incident was not related to access to water.
39:29
Ryan Guston, a spokesman for Corcivic, the company that operates
39:33
both Stuart and Torrance, said in a statement that in
39:36
both of these incidents, force was applied in response to
39:39
groups of detainees actively refusing to comply with verbal directives,
39:44
and not in response to peaceful requests. Use of force,
39:48
Guston added, is authorized only when necessary to insure the
39:52
safety of those in our care and our staff, and
39:55
only at the lowest level required to gain compliance. It
39:58
is never used as punishment. Next in the article is
40:03
a graph entitled use of force incidents involving multiple detainees.
40:07
The graph is captioned twenty twenty five includes incidents reported
40:11
in the twelve months following Trump's inauguration on January twentieth,
40:15
twenty twenty five. Twenty twenty four includes incidents in the
40:19
preceding twelve months. The graph demonstrates that there was an
40:23
eighty two percent increase in incidents involving TENA. Moore detainees
40:28
from twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five. Next is
40:32
a graphic titled incidents with ten or more detainees, Torrens
40:37
County Detention Facility, New Mexico, March twenty twenty five. Guards
40:42
pepper sprayed sixty five people to break up a hunger
40:44
strike in which detainees were protesting a lack of adequate
40:48
food and showers. Stewart Detention Center, Georgia, April twenty twenty five.
40:53
Guards pepper sprayed thirty five detainees who were refusing to
40:57
enter their cells, saying they had not been seen by
40:59
medical state. Richwood Correction Center, Louisiana, April twenty twenty five,
41:04
fifty three detainees, Anchorage Correctional Complex, Alaska. June twenty twenty five.
41:11
Guards fired pepper balls into a communal room of thirty
41:14
nine detainees after some of them refused to return to
41:17
their south, complaining that they could not access their personal belongings.
41:22
Golden State Annex, California, July twenty twenty five, thirty detainees involved.
41:28
Central Louisiana Ice Processing Center in Louisiana, July twenty twenty five,
41:33
involved sixty six detainees. Central Louisiana Ice Processing Center, Louisiana,
41:39
August twenty twenty five, involving eleven detainees South Texas ICE
41:44
Processing Center, Texas, October twenty twenty five, involving thirty five detainees,
41:50
South Texas Ice Processing Center December twenty twenty five, involving
41:54
fifteen detainees, and Adelanto Ice Processing Center, California, December twenty five,
42:01
involving twenty detainees. The reports help illuminate a practice the
42:05
government has shielded from scrutiny for years. ICE has long
42:09
required detention centers to file reports on all uses of
42:13
force in their facilities. These reports, which are summarized in
42:16
the daily emails sent to a group of ICE employees,
42:19
are one of the main ways the agency monitors problems
42:22
that arise at the centers. The majority of facilities reporting
42:26
use of force incidents last year were run by private contractors.
42:30
The Post's analysis found these companies are responsible for hiring
42:34
their own security guards, training them on ICE standards, and
42:38
ensuring their actions adhere to these rules. According to interviews
42:41
with former ICE officials, ICE requires facilities to report every
42:46
time force is used and then review each incident to
42:49
determine whether guards acted appropriately. However, the reports analyzed by
42:54
the Post do not indicate whether those reviews happened or
42:58
what they found. The government has long fought legal efforts
43:02
to make the use of force reports public, arguing in
43:05
court that doing so would expose the private information of
43:08
detainees or the confidential details of active law enforcement investigations.
43:13
According to Andrew Free, a researcher and lawyer who assued
43:17
DHS for access to these records, Advocates for immigrants say
43:22
a full accounting of these incidents is necessary to help
43:25
the public understand the conditions of ICE detention and hold
43:29
staff members accountable for their actions. The Post has published
43:33
the summary reports of all one thousand, four hundred sixty
43:37
use of force incidents in an altered format, removing names
43:40
and contact information. I says on its website that immigration
43:46
detention is non punitive and seventy one percent of detainees
43:50
have no criminal convictions, according to data that ICE published
43:54
last month. Yet many of the facilities rely on the
43:57
same kinds of tools and tactics thaties and prisons used
44:01
to maintain control. The Post review found at least one
44:05
hundred six detainees have been injured in use of force
44:08
incidents since the beginning of twenty twenty four. According to
44:12
the reports, which details seizures dislocated shoulders, broken arms, head injuries,
44:18
and eye injuries. The actual number of injured is probably
44:22
higher because injuries are sometimes omitted in the reports. The
44:26
Post's reporting found earlier this year, when pepper spray was
44:30
used on a group of forty seven detainees inside a
44:33
temporary holding facility at the airport in Mesa, Arizona. The
44:36
facilities said in its report that no injuries were reported. However,
44:41
in a recording of a nine to one one call
44:43
that the Posts obtained through a public records request, an
44:47
ICE officer said that a man was having seizures after
44:50
being exposed to pepper spray. In her statement, Biss of
44:54
DHS said without evidence that nobody had a seizure as
44:58
a result of this incident. She said one detainee was
45:01
taken to a hospital because of an asthma episode, but
45:04
there was no evidence that it was caused by exposure
45:07
to pepper spray. The Post analysis is likely an undercount
45:11
of use of force incidents. While the records cover the
45:15
facilities where eighty six percent of ICE detainees were held
45:18
last year, according to the Post analysis of ICE population data,
45:22
one hundred forty facilities do not appear in the reports,
45:26
These are predominantly county jails a contract with ICE to
45:29
hold a small number of detainees. It's unclear whether force
45:33
was not used at these places or whether they failed
45:36
to report it. Next is a graphic titled use of
45:40
Force Incidents reported at ICE facilities reported between January twenty first,
45:45
twenty twenty five, and January twentieth, twenty twenty six. The
45:50
graphic is in the form of a map of the
45:52
United States with dots of various sizes describing the number
45:56
of incidents that happened in a location. The locations with
45:59
a large number of use of force incidents included Port Isabel,
46:03
Texas with one hundred, Chrome Florida with sixty two, at Alanteau, California,
46:09
with thirty, Moshannon Valley, Pennsylvania with fifty nine, Folkestown, Georgia
46:15
with twenty five, and Northwest in Washington with twenty two.
46:20
Source ICE relevant research analysis by The Post. The reports
46:25
admit a January third incident in was Hiralo Lunas compos,
46:29
a fifty five year old Cuban man died following a
46:32
struggle with guards at a Texas tent encampment. A medical
46:36
examiner ruled the death a homicide, and a fellow detainee
46:39
has said in a sworn declaration filed in federal court
46:42
that he heard staff members choking Luna's compos. This said
46:47
in her email that the guards were trying to prevent
46:49
Luna's compos from killing himself. Is unclear why the incident
46:53
is not included in the reports. I's acting director testified
46:57
on April sixteenth that the FBI is investigating the death.
47:01
An FBI spokesperson declined to comment minimal details. Unlike ICE
47:07
agents in the field, who are now frequently followed and
47:10
recorded by a network of self unwielding citizens, detention centers
47:15
and their employees are largely shielded from public scrutiny. ICE
47:19
facilities are closed to the public, and ICE rarely releases
47:23
surveillance videos taken inside them. Although the daily assought reports
47:27
help shed some light on this world, many of the
47:30
reports are written in vague language or omit key information.
47:34
For example, five of the reports they officers quote guided
47:38
detainees to the ground, a term the DH's Office for
47:41
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said one detention officer used
47:45
misleadingly in twenty twenty two to describe an incident in
47:48
which he picked up a detainee in a bear hug
47:51
and threw him to the ground. The reports became even
47:55
harder to discern after Trump was sworn into office last year,
47:58
when facilities which from writing descriptive narratives of incidents to
48:02
producing short, formulaic sentences with minimal details. The POSTS analysis
48:07
found in twenty twenty five, the average narrative contained forty words,
48:12
about one third is long as a previous year. Next
48:15
in this article is a graph titled average word count
48:19
and narratives of use of force incidence reports. The graphic
48:22
shows a sharp decline in number of words in January
48:25
twenty twenty five. One of the biggest black boxes for
48:29
this information may be Camp East, Montana, the Olpaso ten
48:33
encampment where Luna's compos died. Since opening in August and
48:37
rapidly growing into one of the nation's most highly populated facilities,
48:41
it has reported just three use of force incidents, according
48:44
to the reports. An ICE inspection report published last month
48:49
based on a February review of Camp East Montana, found
48:52
that the facility violated twenty two federal standards relating to
48:56
how staff members used force and restraints, including not documenting
49:00
medical checks after altercations, not recording incidents on video, and
49:05
not submitting written reports to ICE. In October twenty twenty five,
49:10
a nurse at Campy, Spontana called nine one one seeking
49:14
medical help for a man who she said was experiencing
49:17
back pain after quote an altercation with quote a security guide,
49:22
according to an audio recording of the call that the
49:24
Post obtained through a public record's request. Around the same date,
49:29
a thirty five year old Cuban detainee said he was
49:31
beaten by several guards after repeatedly asking them for his medication.
49:36
According to a sworn statement the man gave to a
49:38
group of advocates, including the ACLU, they threw me to
49:42
the ground and my clothes were torn off me, the
49:44
man said in the statement. I was left bruised and bloody.
49:48
There's no record of this incident in the use of
49:51
force reports reviewed by the Post. Biss said she could
49:54
not comment on the nine one one call or the
49:56
man's allegations without more identifying details about him. Jail and
50:01
prison models. Some of the conflicts documented in the daily
50:05
assault reports arose from detainees protesting what they saw is
50:09
mistreatment and security staff treating them as a threat. ICE
50:13
detainees resort to hunger strikes and protests because they have
50:17
few options to challenge the conditions of their confinement, said
50:20
Michel Barney, a former head of the Federal Office of
50:24
the Immigration Detention OBMUNDSMEN, an independent government watchdog that previously
50:29
performed inspections and responded to detainee complaints. Unlike American citizens
50:35
who are charged with crimes, ICE detainees are not guaranteed
50:39
legal representation, can not have their civil immigration cases heard
50:43
before a jury, and may remain detained for an indefinite
50:46
period until an emigration judge decides they can be deported
50:50
or released. Some of the few protections for ICED detainees
50:54
were voted last year as a Trump administration gutted two
50:58
oversight offices that had been responsible for investigating problems at
51:03
detention centers and proposing alternatives. This said that these offices
51:07
were closed because they added pureacratic hurdles by going beyond
51:11
their missions. ICE detention standards instruct staff to attempt to
51:15
de escalate conflicts and when there is no immediate threat,
51:20
consult medical professionals to discuss who was being targeted. And
51:23
how it might impact their physical and mental health. Still,
51:27
many ICE detention facilities are housed in former prisons and
51:31
run by former corrections officers and officials who may use
51:35
force as a primary response to people who are not complying,
51:38
said Claire Trickling MacNulty, a former senior official ad ICE
51:43
who served in the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations. All
51:47
immigration detention is premised on jail and prison models, Trickler
51:51
MacNulty said control is a primary function, and if people
51:55
don't comply, there is often a strong response. Hire incident
52:00
last year at the Anchorage Correctional Complex in Alaska lasted
52:04
just a few minutes, according to interviews with three of
52:07
the detainees and sworn statements that a dozen of them
52:10
provided to the ACLU of Alaska. When some detainees refused
52:15
to return to their cells, insisting on their rights to
52:18
access their belongings, guards rapidly escalated the conflict, rather than
52:23
de escalating or consulting with supervisors, as ICE rulls require,
52:27
said Sidney Woods, an attorney with the ACLU of Alaska
52:31
who visited the facility after the incident and spoke to
52:34
many of the people involved. As the chemical hay still
52:38
hung in the air. All of the detainees were confined
52:41
to locke cells for at least two days, unable to
52:45
change their soil clothes or take a shower, several of
52:47
the men said in statements and interviews. Right after the incident,
52:51
Contourios asked to see a doctor about his breathing, but
52:55
was not able to do so until at least a
52:57
day later, he said. Contourie was deported to Mexico, where
53:01
he works as a street sweeper in a small town
53:04
in the northeastern state of neuev Leon. Because his breathing
53:08
never fully recovered after the incident, he says he has
53:11
to move slowly and rest frequently during the day. They
53:15
made a serious mistake and I am suffering because of it,
53:18
he said. Methodology The Post obtained reports on one thousand,
53:23
four hundred sixty use of force incidents at ice detention
53:26
centers dated January first, twenty twenty four to February twenty eighth,
53:30
twenty twenty six. Reporters extracted dates, numbers of detainees involved,
53:36
facility names, law enforcement agencies, and whether the report indicated
53:41
that earlier resident capsicum pepper spray was deployed reporters used
53:46
Google's Pinpoint AI tailed identify reports in which a detainee
53:50
may have been injured, and then verified the injury descriptions manually.
53:55
If an injury appeared to be caused by self harm
53:57
or a fight with another detainee, it was not counted.
54:01
Some narratives included multiple dates. For the purpose of this analysis,
54:05
only the first date of each narrative was counted. Incidents
54:08
during the last year of President Joe Biden's term occurred
54:10
between January twenty first, twenty twenty four and January twentieth,
54:14
twenty twenty five. Incidents during President Donald Trump's first year
54:18
of his second term occurred between January twenty first, twenty
54:22
twenty five and January twentieth, twenty twenty six. For facility populations,
54:27
the posts used the medium of interval average daily population
54:31
figures calculated by Relevant research. These estimates better represent kurrent
54:35
population figures than ICE's publicly released population numbers because Relevant
54:40
calculates and accounts for rates of change each month, as
54:43
opposed to ICE's single rolling annual average. We limited our
54:47
calculations of population change to the ninety eight facilities that
54:51
had reported use of force Much of the data behind
54:54
this story can be found on GitHub. Aaron Shafer, Tao Armas,
54:59
and Eric contributed to this report. This article is accompanied
55:04
by photos. The first is captioned Pedro Canturios was among
55:08
detainees affected when guards used chemical agents known as pepper
55:11
balls in a communal space at a detention facility in
55:15
Alaska last year. Cesar Rodriguez for The Washington Post. The
55:19
photo shows a man standing in a doorway. The next
55:23
photo is captioned Contourios suffered from a lung condition and
55:26
uses an inhaler. Cesardriguez for The Washington Post. The photo
55:31
shows the hands of a man holding a respiratory in halar.
55:35
The next photo is captioned Conto Rios handles a form
55:39
he used to request a medical checkup for respiratory problems.
55:42
Cesardriguez for The Washington Post. The photo shows hands holding
55:48
a yellow form entitled Requests for Interview Form. The form
55:53
shows Contu Pedro's name, and the top and part of
55:57
the form reads, I want to say meta, go for
56:00
check my urine. I want to talk with the medical
56:03
because I have respiratory problems for the pepper spray. The
56:06
pepper spray affects my respiration health. Thank you so much,
56:09
God bless you. And The last photo accompanying this item
56:13
is caption Conto Rios walks home from work Cesar Rodriguez
56:18
for The Washington Post. The photo shows the back of
56:20
a man walking along a road. The next item from
56:25
today's front page is entitled How Republicans Warmed to Psychedelics
56:29
by Rachel Rubin. After taping Joe Rogan's podcast in late March,
56:34
former Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Republican and a Bogayne advocate,
56:38
W Bryan Hubbard made an unusual request. Mister Rogan, would
56:43
you be willing to consider asking the President of the
56:45
United States for a meeting? Hubbard recalled, asking they were
56:49
focused on the illegal psychedelic a bogeying, the extract of
56:53
an ancient African shrub which some say can help treat
56:56
addiction and post traumatic stress disorder. Less than three week
57:00
weeks later, Hubbard, the CEO of Americans for a Boogaine,
57:04
was standing behind President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
57:07
The President hailed the drug and announced efforts aimed at
57:10
accelerating research into it, while fast tracking federal reviews of
57:14
other psychedelic medicines for mental health conditions. The short time
57:18
between Rogan's appeal to the President and Trump's executive order
57:22
last month has buoyed the hopes of those advocating for
57:25
broader access to the drugs, particularly from military veterans suffering
57:29
from PTSD and brain trauma. For decades, the Republican Party
57:34
has supported the Nixon era War on Drugs approach, but
57:37
in recent years some Republicans have begun embracing psychedelics as
57:41
veterans who typically have clout with the GOP pushed the issue.
57:46
High ranking administration officials, such as Health Secretary Robert F.
57:50
Kennedy Junior and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty McCarry
57:54
have championed the drugs. Kennedy has said he became open
57:58
to the use of psychedelics in certain sets because he
58:01
believes the psychoactive ayahuasca plant mixture helped his son process
58:05
his mother's suicide, and officials have been closely watching a
58:09
fifty million dollar investment in a bogaine research in Texas,
58:12
billed by supporters as the largest such public investment. Several
58:17
experts in the field of psychedelics said the emerging research
58:19
is promising, but cautioning against over hyping the drugs, particularly
58:23
a bogaine, where clinical data is furthest behind. Unfortunately, due
58:28
to the constraints of time, we will be unable to
58:31
complete this item. This concludes a reading of the Washington
58:34
Post for today, Tuesday, May fifth, twenty twenty six. Your
58:38
reader for today has been Cindy Fraser. If you have
58:41
any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program, please feel
58:45
free to call us at eight five nine four two
58:47
two six three nine zero. Thank you for listen.