Immigration protests intensify

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday, the 10th of June.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Up first, the riots in LA, they’re continuing for a fourth straight day, while a power struggle plays out between California political leaders and the president.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass:

BASS: I was trying to encourage the administration that if they deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles, it would create a sense of chaos.

EICHER: President Trump considered the chaos was already created, committing to federalizing the guard after protests against immigration enforcement got out of hand.

ARTHUR: ICE arrested 44 individuals, most of whom had criminal records in Los Angeles.

REICHARD: Andrew Arthur of the Center for Immigration Studies previously served as an immigration judge and advisor to Congress and the White House.

He told our Washington producer Harrison Watters that what started as a targeted action has become much bigger.

ARTUHUR: I think that there are those who oppose Donald Trump generally, and oppose immigration enforcement, who are taking to the streets and engaging in these actions.

EICHER: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, has yet to release details about the number of suspected illegals detained as of Friday. And critics of the policy point to that lack of specificity as adding to the confusion. Jenny Murray heads up the National Immigration Forum.

MURRAY: Did they have a criminal history or not? Were they sensitive populations or not, right, children or not?

Murray says her group would prefer a focus first on migrants with a criminal history beyond illegal border crossing, and she worries ICE may be violating rights.

MURRAY: We don't know yet I think all the facts on the ground, but where maybe some of those things could have been violated, and that's why there might be outrage, right?

REICHARD: Some protestors have been peaceful, but others have not. Simon Hankinson researches immigration policy for the Heritage Foundation.

HANKINSON: In many of these riots, you see the Mexican flag and the Palestinian flag being displayed, and you see the American flag burning.

He says the Biden administration’s lax border enforcement set the stage for the conflict we’re seeing play out in the streets.

HANKINSON: Now that ICE is going back to the job of enforcing immigration laws, there are many who are trying to make it appear as if this is some sort of disgusting historical anomaly. But it's really not.

Add to that self-proclaimed sanctuary cities hamstringing ICE efforts to detain and deport.

HANKINSON: Whether or not you oppose the policy, it is actually the law. The law does require us to enforce the decisions that courts make.

EICHER: Meanwhile, opponents of Trump’s tougher border policies are protesting another move he made that took effect Monday.

He ordered the State Department to place travel restrictions on a dozen countries he maintains fail to meet adequate security and vetting. Another seven countries face limited restrictions.

TRUMP: Very simply, we cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screened those who seek to enter the United States.

REICHARD: Back in 2017, President Trump signed a similar order targeting nations with majority-Muslim populations. That kicked off a legal battle and several revised orders that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts in 2018.

ROBERTS: There is sufficient evidence that the proclamation is reasonably related to an independent national security justification.

Roberts pointed out the travel ban was a legitimate state interest.

ROBERTS: The policy is limited, after all, to countries that were previously designated by Congress or prior administrations as posing national security risks.

EICHER: Arthur of the Center for Immigration Studies says the Trump administration learned from that legal battle.

ARTHUR: The current order stands on pretty good ground. It's, if anything, better factually supported than the earlier order.

President Trump’s first travel ban prohibited all travel from restricted countries no exceptions. His newest one contains a variety of exceptions for categories including lawful permanent residents, athletes, and some persecuted religious minorities.

But Murray at the Immigration Forum says that move could have negative economic repercussions.

MURRAY: If they happen to be hospitality, they'll be worried about both their workers and the tourists that come right to take part in, you know, in their industry and in consuming their goods and services.

But Arthur believes most Americans support the president’s border policies.

ARTHUR : I anticipate that there will be an ongoing conversation about immigration enforcement, but I think that the people who attack the President about immigration enforcement aren't on the same side as the majority of American voters.

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