--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Tuesday, August 9th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A surprise search of Mar-a-Lago that included opening up Donald Trump's safe. Investigations into the former president are now reaching a whole new level following yesterday's hours-long search of his home in Palm Beach.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Wall Street Journal reports that agents were there as part of an investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents. Removing classified material or official documents could mean a prison sentence or disqualification from holding federal office.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump has faced questions before about his handling of official papers. In January, the National Archives and Records Administration retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. It said he should have handed them over when he left office.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Trump wasn't there at the time of yesterday's raid, which he said was, quote, not necessary or appropriate. He and his supporters were quick to say the investigation has political motivations.
--:-- Eric Trump: [over phone] This is just more political persecution of Donald J. Trump.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The journal checked in with legal historians who couldn't name a recent example of an FBI search of a former president's home. But Trump has often taken the presidency into uncharted territory.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Beyond questions about handling documents, he's accused of plotting to steal an election and backing a coup to keep him in power. A raid like this requires high-level sign-off at the Justice Department.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A spokesman wouldn't say what role Attorney General Merrick Garland played. He has said little publicly about what DOJ is looking into related to Trump. But when asked about possibly charging a former president he said no person is above the law in this country.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It may be some time before we learn what any evidence gathered from Mar-a-Lago says about the Trump presidency, but let's turn now to extensive new reporting from The Atlantic into the Trump immigration policy that separated parents and children who tried to enter the United States.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Over the course of 150 interviews over 18 months, reporter Caitlin Dickerson reveals how the U.S. government designed a policy to tear families apart. She shows how the administration put the policy in place knowing how damaging it would be to children and parents with little to no planning to help them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And she shows that the policy wasn't just made possible by a few hardliners close to Trump. Dozens of bureaucrats either actively signed off or failed to stop it, figuring that someone else would.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It required buy-in from a far larger number of people, both within the highest echelons of political appointees in the Trump administration, but also at the top of the bureaucracy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Dickerson told us over 5,000 families were separated during the Trump administration, and as many as 1,000 may still be apart today. Those who've been reunited are recovering from complex trauma.
--:-- Shamita Basu: When it comes to children, they're experiencing a lot of developmental delays. So children went back to bedwetting. Some children lost their speech.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And there's a lot of paranoia and insularity and this feeling of just never wanting to leave the house and always fearing that they might be taken from their parents again or just fearing in general that something bad could happen at any time.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And on the parents' side, they're also dealing with really severe trauma. And they, too, are suffering from night terrors and various other PTSD-related symptoms.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So in a lot of cases, you know, these families have a really long way to go. There's a lot of detail in this story about how Washington works, or at least how it's supposed to work.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Typically, policy ideas are vetted by experts on the topic. They sign off on an idea, and then it moves up the chain. It's how it's worked for generations.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Expert advisors evaluate and refine ideas that are then presented to the cabinet or the president himself for final approval.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But in the case of family separations Trump advisor Stephen Miller sidestepped that system to get the hardline immigration policies he wanted, including separating families.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Dickerson explains how Miller would pester people at all levels of the administration until he got what he wanted.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As one former Homeland Security official said, Miller and his allies, quote, would just keep calling until they got to yeses.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Dickerson repeatedly contacted Miller to offer him the chance to tell his side of the story, but he refused to comment.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We're only scratching the surface of this reporting here. You can read the whole thing on the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Terror and panic that's the feeling right now for the Muslim community in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after three Muslim men were murdered in the span of just a few weeks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Police say there's a strong possibility their murders are related to the unsolved killing of another Muslim man last November.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The victims are Muhammad Ahmadi, Aftab Hussein, Muhammad Afzal Hussein, and Naeem Hussein.
--:-- Shamita Basu: According to investigators, three of the four were ambushed and shot to death.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Investigators haven't released a description of a suspect or suspects. They are looking for a silver Volkswagen sedan that may be connected with the killings.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Muhammad Ahmadi was killed outside the shop that he ran with his brother, who told NBC that the killings are sending chills through the community.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Everybody is scared. They say we are not safe anymore. Some people, they already want to leave the city.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The victims all attended the same mosque. Meanwhile, Muslim leaders are advising community members to stay vigilant, to use the buddy system when they go out, and to avoid traveling alone at night if they can help it.
--:-- Ahmad Assad: [over phone] Some people want to move from the state till this thing is over. Some people have moved from the state. Businesses are closing. They're closing businesses early Students won leave their homes It affecting people from coming over to the mosque to conduct their services their prayers
--:-- Shamita Basu: Naeem Hussain was the most recent victim killed on Friday. He'd migrated from Pakistan in 2016 and had only become a citizen last month.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Earlier on the day he was killed, he'd attended funerals for two of the recent victims. His brother-in-law spoke to NBC.
--:-- Shamad Assad: [over phone] Being shot in that brutal manner It is just the most un-American thing to do to anybody and the most inhumane thing to do to anybody.
--:-- Shamita Basu: For many families, the end of summer means back to school shopping. This year, stocking up on things like notebooks, backpacks and binders is a lot harder because of inflation hovering at a 40-year high.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Michigan parent Mary Reinsberger told NPR about changes that she's making.
--:-- Mary Reinsberger: For the first time, maybe in my entire experience of being a mom, I'm pausing on buying kind of more basic things that I used to not even think twice about.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The National Retail Federation expects that back-to-school spending will probably match the $37 billion spent last year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But inflation means that families will get less for their money. In one survey of shoppers, half the parents noted that they expected to buy fewer products this year and prioritize necessities as a result of inflation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Another survey finds families skipping travel or dipping into savings to pay for stuff.
--:-- Stephanie Maddox: [over phone] My budget is bigger this year. I started a new job last year, so it's a bit bigger, but it still, it seems like it doesn't matter much. Because food is the item hit hardest by inflation, one parent told NPR that she's skipping over extras like soft drinks and Doritos.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They're just not worth it at the higher price.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I'll talk with you again tomorrow.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Thanks for listening to Apple News Today.
