0:02

This week marks a major milestone

0:04

in Trump's second term as president. Tuesday

0:07

will be his 100th day in office.

0:10

The Trump administration is holding a press conference every

0:12

morning this week to highlight what they

0:14

see as their biggest achievements. Today

0:17

we kick off 100 -day week with

0:19

a focus on the president's historic

0:21

effort to secure our southern border.

0:24

Later this afternoon... Trump's press secretary Caroline

0:26

Levitt and border czar Tom Holman

0:28

came ready to play up the administration's

0:30

accomplishments. But some reporters were

0:32

more focused on the recent controversies

0:34

surrounding Trump's immigration policies, especially the three

0:36

young American children who were sent

0:38

to Honduras on Friday, along with their

0:40

non -citizen mothers who had crossed the

0:42

border illegally. When asked about

0:44

removing U .S. citizens, seemingly without

0:47

due process, Homan doubled down. If

0:49

you to have a U .S. citizen child

0:51

knowing you're in this country illegally, you put

0:53

yourself in that position. You put your family

0:56

in that position. Trump's

1:00

hardline immigration stance is credited with helping

1:02

him win the presidency a second

1:04

time. But now, a majority

1:06

of Americans, 53%, are not happy

1:08

with Trump's handling of the issue.

1:11

That's according to a new Washington Post

1:13

ABC News Ipsos poll. Immigration

1:15

reporter Marion Levine has been covering the

1:17

White House's non -stop actions on immigration.

1:20

While President Trump in his first 100 days

1:22

has made it very clear that immigration

1:24

is Either his top policy

1:26

priority or among his very top policy

1:28

priorities, Trump on his first day

1:31

in office announced a national emergency at

1:33

the border. He basically eliminated

1:35

the automatic right to birthright citizenship

1:37

or at least tried to.

1:39

He sent migrants to Guantanamo who

1:41

are alleged gang members. He

1:43

has invoked the Alien Enemies

1:46

Act, a rarely used wartime

1:48

authority to basically speed up

1:50

the process of mass deportations.

1:52

So I think we've seen

1:54

really a whole effort to

1:56

reshape the immigration system, sometimes

1:58

successful, sometimes not. We've seen

2:00

how there have been mistakes made as they've rushed

2:02

to remove people from the country. And I think

2:04

those are things that are only going to continue

2:06

in the next 100 days. But those are some

2:08

of the big stories that we've been watching. From

2:13

the newsroom of the Washington Post, this

2:15

is Post Reports. I'm

2:17

Cole Viecoitz. It's Monday, April

2:19

28. Today. I

2:21

talked to my colleague, Marion

2:23

Levine, about how Trump is handling

2:25

immigration enforcement. Marion,

2:32

hi. Thanks for joining me. Hi. Thank you for

2:34

having me. So, Marion, the

2:36

Trump administration held this press conference this

2:38

morning about immigration policy. It has

2:40

quite a celebratory tone. How

2:42

does their kind of tone

2:44

about immigration compare to

2:46

the story that you've been reporting

2:48

over the past 99 days? Well,

2:51

the story we've been seeing over

2:53

the last 99 days is, of

2:55

course, more complicated than what the

2:57

Trump administration is presenting. It

2:59

is true that border crossings have

3:01

been at the lowest level in decades,

3:03

and that is something that the

3:05

Trump administration has really celebrated. It's

3:07

worth noting that border crossings were already

3:09

on a decline in the last year

3:12

of the Biden administration, but we really

3:14

have seen them hit near

3:16

record lows in the last few weeks,

3:18

last few months. So they're definitely

3:20

touting that. And one major change we've

3:22

also seen is the militarization of

3:24

the border. So those are

3:26

some of the big changes they've made

3:28

to deter people from coming. But

3:30

we've also seen that the numbers are

3:32

not quite in line with what

3:34

the administration needs to hit their target

3:37

of one million deportations in a

3:39

single year. So we previously reported that

3:41

that's a goal that they have.

3:43

The Trump administration is very focused on

3:45

the numbers. And one thing

3:47

to note is that deportation numbers

3:49

were higher under Biden. But there is

3:52

a complicated story there, and that's

3:54

because the border under Biden saw record

3:56

numbers of crossings. So that actually

3:58

makes it easier to deport people because

4:00

many of the deportations that are happening

4:02

are people getting turned around at the

4:04

border. So as a result, the

4:06

border numbers are going to be

4:08

significantly higher. What's happening is

4:11

because the border is very quiet

4:13

right now, it's harder to hit

4:15

the numbers that the Trump administration is

4:17

seeking even as they try to tout

4:19

the success of the border. border

4:22

crossings are so low right now because

4:24

people are scared of Trump and his

4:26

policies? That's definitely part of it. I

4:28

think that there is a fear of

4:30

the Trump administration, and Trump has made

4:32

it very clear, and Kristi Noem, his

4:34

Department of Homeland Security Secretary, his borders

4:36

are Tom Homan, have had a very

4:38

intense message of deterrence. And Tom Homan

4:40

even made it very clear today that

4:42

if you are in the country here

4:44

legally, you will be prosecuted. I'd say

4:46

from day one, that you

4:49

enter this country legally, it's a crime.

4:51

And so they really are trying to

4:53

take this hard line policy, and that's a

4:55

huge part of their messaging, and that

4:57

appears to be at least somewhat working

4:59

for now. And I feel

5:01

like a big narrative that's been

5:03

over their immigration policy is not

5:05

just the number of people they've

5:07

deported, but like how they're deporting

5:10

them, right? That they're deporting them

5:12

in ways that people say are

5:14

unlawful, inhumane. I

5:17

wanted to unpack with you

5:19

the biggest immigration story of this

5:21

moment, which is we heard

5:23

about these three young American citizens,

5:25

children, who were deported. How

5:28

did this happen? I mean, how does

5:30

it happen that U .S. citizens are deported?

5:32

Can you walk me through what we know

5:34

about their cases? Yeah, so

5:36

what we know so far is that

5:38

Basically, these two families were in

5:40

Louisiana. They were going

5:42

into their routine check -in appointments with

5:44

ICE in New Orleans. And they're

5:47

part of a program where they

5:49

can live in the community as

5:51

long as they check in with

5:53

immigration authorities. As they

5:55

were going through this process, they were

5:57

basically taken away and driven hours

5:59

away to Alexandria, Louisiana. were

6:03

prevented from communicating with their

6:05

families according to their lawyers.

6:07

What we know is there was

6:09

a two -year -old who was deported. She

6:12

was with her mother and had

6:14

an 11 -year -old sibling and there

6:16

was also a four -year -old and a

6:18

seven -year -old with US citizenship who

6:20

were deported alongside their mothers. So

6:22

these are two separate families, both sent

6:24

to Honduras. And it raised

6:26

a lot of legal concerns because the

6:29

process happened very quickly. The Trump

6:31

administration argues that it's the policy to

6:33

keep the children with their mothers and the

6:35

mothers wanted the children with them. But

6:37

what we know is, at least in one

6:39

of the cases, the father of the

6:41

two -year -old tried to file an emergency petition.

6:43

But it all happened so quickly. And

6:46

so it goes to this broader question of

6:48

due process and how quickly the administration

6:50

is trying to remove people from the country.

6:52

And when that happens, I think there's

6:54

a lot of fear that mistakes get made.

6:57

So what we understand is they were

6:59

there for a routine immigration proceeding

7:02

that allows them to stay in the

7:04

country even though they came in

7:06

illegally. Or while they're going through proceedings.

7:08

OK. But their children were born here.

7:11

And the mothers were going to be deported.

7:13

And so what the Trump administration is saying

7:15

is that they had a choice. They could

7:17

either, I guess, leave their kids in America

7:19

or take them with. And the mothers in

7:21

this case chose to take them with. And

7:23

I guess we don't really know the details

7:26

of how what that conversation looked like. Yeah,

7:28

that is what the Trump administration is arguing.

7:30

But the lawyers in the case are objecting

7:32

to that. OK. And what are they saying?

7:34

They're basically saying that the mothers were not

7:36

given the opportunity to

7:39

have the other option. I

7:41

mean, I also read that one

7:43

of these young children has stage 4

7:46

cancer and now is, you know,

7:48

separated from their doctors and their medications.

7:50

What do we know about that?

7:52

Basically, what we know is that during

7:54

detention, the four -year -old basically

7:56

had no access to their medication or to

7:58

the doctors while they were in custody. That's

8:00

the extent of the information that we know

8:02

right now. Yeah, I guess we have no

8:04

idea whether or not they have access to

8:06

that now that they're in Honduras. Correct. So,

8:09

bringing it back to the press conference

8:11

this morning, how was

8:13

this situation addressed?

8:16

Reporters brought it up, right? They asked

8:18

the Trump administration to explain it.

8:20

What did they say? I think we're

8:22

seeing Homan really double down on

8:24

this argument that it was the mother's

8:27

choice to bring their children with

8:29

them and that the Trump administration is

8:31

not separating families. What we did

8:33

is remove children with their mothers who

8:35

requested the children depart with them.

8:37

This was a parental decision. Parenting

8:40

101. The mothers

8:42

made that choice. And I tell you what,

8:44

if we didn't do it, the story

8:46

would be Trump administration separating families again. No,

8:49

we're keeping families together. That's

8:51

kind of an irony there because in

8:53

the first Trump administration, they got

8:55

a lot of scrutiny over family separation.

8:57

So, Holman is basically arguing that

8:59

they're not doing that, that they're taking

9:01

this approach of letting the children

9:03

stay with their mothers and that they

9:05

are acting on the mother's request.

9:07

So, they're really doubling down on that

9:09

argument. So, is there

9:11

any recourse for the families to

9:13

get the children back to America

9:15

if that's ultimately what the families

9:17

want? I think we have to

9:19

see where it goes. I know

9:21

that there's a court hearing coming

9:23

up in May for the case

9:25

involving the two -year -old. Clearly, there's

9:27

strong concerns from judges about how

9:29

the Trump administration is approaching these

9:31

deportations. And one of the judges

9:33

who was examining the case with

9:35

the two -year -old basically raised concerns

9:37

about the process and about how

9:39

he essentially said there was a

9:42

strong suspicion that the government deported

9:44

a U .S. citizen with no meaningful process.

9:46

And so there's a May 16th court hearing to

9:48

investigate this question and I think we're going

9:50

to have to see where it goes from

9:52

there. After

9:55

the break, we're going to dig into

9:57

some of the other controversial immigration actions that

9:59

the Trump administration has taken recently. We'll

10:02

be right back. I'm

10:19

Fennett Narapil, and I'm a health reporter

10:21

for The Washington Post. My

10:24

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10:26

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10:28

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11:57

the White House announced

11:59

this morning two more immigration

12:01

-related executive orders, which is

12:03

how they've been largely

12:05

doing immigration policy through executive

12:07

orders. What do these

12:09

new ones say? So the

12:11

first one, Caroline Leavitt, the White

12:13

House press secretary said, will unleash

12:16

America's law enforcement and so we have to

12:18

kind of clarify what that exactly means

12:20

but because they haven't said what that they

12:22

haven't fully explained it yet so I

12:24

think we have to we have to wait

12:26

and see what that announcement is going

12:29

to look like later today and then the

12:31

second one is targeting what's known as

12:33

sanctuary cities, which are basically immunosupply holidays that

12:35

limit cooperation with the federal government when

12:37

it comes to immigration enforcement. The Trump administration

12:39

has made it very clear that they

12:41

want to target these cities. And so basically,

12:44

the second executive order is really

12:46

targeting those cities and directing

12:48

the Attorney General and Homeland Security

12:50

Secretary Kristi Noem to publish

12:52

a list of state and local

12:54

jurisdictions that Leavitt and White

12:57

House officials claim have obstructed federal

12:59

immigration laws. And what would

13:01

publishing such a list do? I mean,

13:03

I think a lot of this is intimidation.

13:06

Like I think a lot of this

13:08

is driven by fear. I think a

13:10

lot of this is driven by the

13:12

idea that the federal government, especially the

13:14

Trump administration thinks that they can get

13:16

localities to cooperate by saying we will

13:18

target you if you don't work with

13:20

us to enact this agenda. And I

13:22

think we've seen a lot of different

13:24

examples of that throughout the administration. This

13:26

is not the first time they've talked

13:28

about sanctuary cities. But I think that

13:30

this is just another example of them

13:32

really trying to say, and in some

13:34

ways in a performative way for the

13:37

public to tell them that they are

13:39

trying every avenue possible to target undocumented

13:41

immigrants. I mean, these new

13:43

orders, they seem to go around

13:45

the people who the White House

13:47

see as standing in the way

13:49

of their ability to carry out

13:51

their immigration enforcement and hoping that

13:53

that kind of has a chilling

13:56

effect. which makes me think

13:58

of this other story that that happened late last

14:00

week and that's the arrest of that judge

14:02

in Wisconsin. Tell me

14:04

what happened there. So basically

14:06

last week FBI Director Cash

14:08

Patel essentially announced the arrest

14:10

of this Milwaukee County Circuit

14:12

judge. And what the

14:14

administration is accusing her is of

14:17

intentionally misdirecting federal agents as

14:19

they tried to detain an undocumented

14:21

immigrant. And basically in court

14:23

filings, the government said that the

14:25

judge sent federal agents away from the

14:27

hearing and that she basically helped

14:29

the man in question and his lawyer

14:31

get out of the courtroom while

14:33

this was happening. So these are the

14:35

allegations she's and she was basically

14:38

charged with obstruction and concealing a person

14:40

from arrest. And so I

14:42

think this is a pretty extraordinary

14:44

moment because I think we're seeing

14:46

the extent to which the administration

14:48

is willing to go after people

14:50

who they don't think are compliant

14:53

with their agenda on immigration. And

14:55

I think this is yet another

14:57

new example of this clash that

14:59

we're really seeing between the judiciary

15:01

and the administration. It's been really

15:03

interesting covering this story because there's

15:05

so many intersections with DOJ and

15:08

the role DOJ is also playing

15:10

in trying to enforce the immigration

15:12

agenda. So I think it's obviously

15:14

telling that. Kashpatel is involved and

15:16

announced this arrest and I think

15:18

it shows the extent to which

15:20

so many different agencies of the

15:23

federal government are involved in this

15:25

effort to enact mass deportations and

15:27

to go after people who are

15:29

here illegally. Yeah, I know that

15:31

people were really outraged and maybe

15:33

a little scared that this is

15:36

the start of something fairly unprecedented,

15:38

this idea that you could arrest

15:40

a judge because he

15:42

or she is not

15:44

doing something that you feel

15:46

aligns with your policies. Yeah,

15:48

I mean, I think this got a lot

15:51

of criticism, especially from Democrats. And I

15:53

think that there is concern about

15:55

the setting of precedent for future arrests.

15:57

Caroline Levitt was asked about this

15:59

at the White House press briefing today.

16:01

That is a clear -cut case of

16:03

obstruction. You don't have to be

16:05

a lawyer to understand that. And so

16:08

anyone who is breaking the law

16:10

or obstructing federal law enforcement officials from

16:12

doing their jobs is putting themselves

16:14

at risk of being prosecuted, absolutely. I

16:16

think that we're seeing the administration

16:18

really view the courts as a major

16:20

obstacle. And they've made that very

16:22

clear that they are frustrated with the

16:25

court system. President Trump

16:27

has often posted on Truth Social about

16:29

his frustration with the judges and

16:31

them standing in the way of his

16:33

immigration agenda and so... Right, calling

16:35

them like activist judges. Correct,

16:37

geratical judges or things like that.

16:39

And I think we're really seeing

16:41

that tension play out and what's

16:43

been really interesting about covering the

16:45

story in the first 100 days

16:47

is a lot of the questions

16:49

about whether or not the US is

16:51

in a constitutional crisis really are

16:53

tested through the lens of immigration

16:55

policy because in some ways Republicans

16:57

and Trump have bet on this

16:59

being the issue that they're doing

17:01

the best on. And I think

17:04

it's been interesting to see how

17:06

that's played out. But it's also

17:08

been the policy area where they've

17:10

tested the legal system on broader

17:12

questions that are not just immigration related.

17:14

Right. You mentioned earlier the Alien

17:16

Enemies Act, which was another one

17:18

where Trump used this and the

17:20

court said, wait, I don't think

17:22

that applies here. And he

17:24

did have to stop, but not before sending

17:26

planes of people out of the country. Yeah,

17:29

there's a lot of broader questions where sometimes

17:31

they're not just immigration questions, but they're broader legal

17:33

questions as well. And I think we've seen

17:35

that in so many different iterations. Yeah.

17:37

So Marion, as we approach that

17:39

100 -day milestone, it has been

17:41

a crazy few months for you

17:43

and all of your colleagues on

17:46

the immigration team here at The

17:48

Post. But what does the next

17:50

100 days look like? given what

17:52

we've seen as the administration does

17:54

these rush deportations, removes legal safeguards, what

17:57

do you think's next? I mean,

17:59

I think we're finding it's very

18:01

hard to predict. A lot of

18:03

the questions that we're asking will

18:05

maybe be answered by the courts,

18:07

and especially we have the birthright

18:09

citizenship hearing that's coming up. that

18:11

is a question that the Supreme

18:13

Court is going to be looking

18:15

at in the next couple of

18:17

weeks. And so we'll be looking

18:19

to see how the court handles

18:22

that case and what the ruling

18:24

might look like. But then we

18:26

also have this broader question of

18:28

what does the mass deportation effort

18:30

actually look like? And one thing

18:32

I'm watching is how Congress approaches

18:34

the upcoming spending reconciliation package that

18:36

they're trying to put together, which

18:38

is going to really infuse an

18:40

unprecedented amount of money in immigration

18:42

enforcement, especially to ICE. We're also

18:44

watching how the administration deals with

18:46

this question of detention space. But

18:49

there's a lot out there, and

18:51

I think there's no shortage of stories

18:54

as we cover this policy. Marianne,

18:57

thank you so much. Thanks, Colby.

19:04

Marianne Levine covers Immigration for the Post.

19:07

That's it for Post Reports. Thanks for

19:09

listening. If you love this

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was mixed by Sean Carter. It

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was edited by Maggie Penman with help

19:25

from Ariel Plotnik. Thank you

19:27

to Christine Amario. I'm

19:29

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