--:-- [Up First theme music fades out]
--:-- Michelle Martin: President Trump declared a ceasefire had begun between Israel and Iran. But then Israel says Iran fired missiles. Iran denied it and Israel vowed to respond. Is the ceasefire already over?
--:-- Leila Fadel: I'm Michelle Martin with Leila Fadel and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- Michelle Martin: The Supreme Court reverses a decision to pause the deportation of immigrants to countries they're not from. That has immigrant advocates worried. The risks of harm that people face are extreme. I mean, they include torture. They include death. That harm cannot be undone.
--:-- Leila Fadel: What reasoning did the justices give for that decision?
--:-- Michelle Martin: And New York City's Democratic mayoral primary is today. It's a tight race between a new face in the Democratic Party and a political veteran. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
--:-- Michelle Martin: This message comes from BetterHelp. It's only human to ask others for advice, like turning to your barista, hairdresser, or a taxi driver for life advice. But when you're looking for help about relationships, anxiety, depression, or other clinical issues, they may not have all the right answers. Instead, get guidance from a licensed therapist online with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash NPR for 10% off your first month.
--:-- Leila Fadel: This message comes from Paka. Everyone's got that one hoodie they practically live in. But the Paka hoodie? It's on another level. Softer than cashmere, warmer than wool, and still breathable, this alpaca fiber hoodie goes from airport to mountain trail to couch without missing a beat.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Right now, grab a Paka hoodie and score a free pair of alpaca cruise socks. Moisture-wicking, odor-resistant, and guaranteed for life. Level up your hoodie game at go.pakaapparel.com slash NPR, code NPR.
--:-- Leila Fadel: This message comes from Mint Mobile. If you're tired of spending hundreds on big wireless bills, bogus fees, and free perks, Mint Mobile might be right for you with plans starting from $15 a month. Shop plans today at mintmobile.com slash switch.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Upfront payment of $45 for a three-month 5-gigabyte plan required. New customer offer for first three months only. Then full-price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Twelve days ago, Israel began striking Iran, damaging its nuclear facilities and killing scientists and military officials, some in their homes. The conflict quickly escalated, and over the weekend, the U.S. got directly involved, dropping bunker-buster bombs on key nuclear sites.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Last night, President Trump announced on social media that there is a ceasefire. And shortly after, Vice President Pence was on Fox News trying to turn the page on the conflict.
--:-- Leila Fadel: I think the president really hit the reset button and said, look, let's actually produce long-term peace for the region. That's always been his goal.
--:-- Michelle Martin: But the situation at the moment is quite fluid. It is.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And joining us to talk through what's going on is senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith.
--:-- Tamara Keith: Hi, Tam.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So what can you tell us about the ceasefire?
--:-- Tamara Keith: Overnight, we got word that both Israel and Iran had agreed to the ceasefire. But right up to the time it was supposed to take effect, Israel intensified its strikes in Iran. And then, just as it should have been taking effect, Israel says Iran sent a barrage of missiles in its direction, something Iranian state media is denying.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Now, Israel's defense minister says he has ordered a forceful response involving, quote, intense strikes against targets in the heart of Tehran. So it looks like the firing hasn't ceased.
--:-- Tamara Keith: But the situation is often pretty dicey and uncertain at the start of any ceasefire.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Just after one in the morning President Trump posted on his social media site imploring in all caps please do not violate it.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Last night when he announced the ceasefire he said it should be called the 12 war already naming it in anticipation that this means the war is over.
--:-- Tamara Keith: Yeah, it feels like so much has happened in a matter of hours. I mean, yesterday people were glued to their televisions as Iran retaliated against the U.S. strikes in Iran with strikes of its own on a U.S. air base in Khadzad.
--:-- Michelle Martin: What impact did that have?
--:-- Tamara Keith: You know, Trump downplayed the significance of the Iranian retaliatory strikes, noting that the U.S. had gotten a heads up, which minimized the damage. There were no injuries. Trump called it weak.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Symbolic may be a better word for it, since the Iranians fired at an air base in Qatar where the president had delivered a speech to U.S. troops just last month.
--:-- Tamara Keith: And then shortly after those missiles streaked through the sky, Qatar played a key role in brokering this tenuous ceasefire.
--:-- Michelle Martin: OK, well, the White House has been saying that Iran's nuclear program is destroyed after the U.S. strikes.
--:-- Leila Fadel: You know, experts have questioned that.
--:-- Tamara Keith: Any updates on the impact there?
--:-- Michelle Martin: Right. As you say, outside observers say it is unlikely that it has been totally destroyed. Satellite imagery shows that U.S. missiles hit their targets with accuracy.
--:-- Leila Fadel: But what is less clear is whether the nuclear materials were there and whether they were destroyed.
--:-- Tamara Keith: Trump went after journalists reporting this as fake news with no credibility.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Last night on Fox News, Brett Baer pressed Vice President Pence on whether the administration knows where Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium is located now.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And Pence sidestepped.
--:-- Tamara Keith: Well, Brett, I think that's actually not the question before us. The question before us is, can Iran enrich the uranium to a weapons-grade level? And can they convert that fuel to a nuclear weapon?
--:-- Michelle Martin: Vance said the U.S. strikes destroyed Iran's ability to enrich the fuel to the level needed to make a weapon.
--:-- Leila Fadel: You know, at various points in this conflict, the president has issued threats to Iran's supreme leader, even floating regime change saying it wouldn't be a bad thing.
--:-- Tamara Keith: What is he saying now?
--:-- Michelle Martin: Well, now the White House is saying is that what Trump meant was that it's up to the Iranian people to decide.
--:-- Leila Fadel: In terms of actions being louder than messaging, the ceasefire agreement was reached with the existing regime.
--:-- Tamara Keith: NPR's Tamara Keith.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Thank you, Tam.
--:-- Michelle Martin: A U.S. Supreme Court ruling handed down last night makes it easier for the Trump administration to deport immigrants to countries that are not their own.
--:-- Leila Fadel: A federal judge in Boston had put that plan on hold, saying deportees were being denied due process. But the Supreme Court yesterday reversed that, enabling those deportations to continue.
--:-- Michelle Martin: It's a decision that is alarming many immigrants' rights activists.
--:-- Leila Fadel: NPR's Tovia Smith joins us now from Boston.
--:-- Tovia Smith: Good morning, Tovia.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So what do we know about the court's reasoning here?
--:-- Tovia Smith: Actually, not much, because the justices did not explain their reasoning at all in their order.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And that's not uncommon in an emergency request like this.
--:-- Tovia Smith: But the court's three liberal justices dissented, and they wrote 19 pages about their reasoning.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So I can tell you they have concerns about due process, and they worry that this decision basically rewards lawlessness, as they put it.
--:-- Tovia Smith: They say the Trump administration, quote, openly flouted court orders regarding deportations, and it, quote, has made clear that it feels unconstrained by law, free to deport anyone anywhere without notice or an opportunity to be heard.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And I'll just add a federal judge in Boston, Brian Murphy, who was appointed by former President Biden, he suggested in his case the government's behavior might amount to criminal obstruction.
--:-- Tovia Smith: Okay, so we know a lot about why the three justices dissented. What kind of reaction to this decision have you heard from outside the court?
--:-- Michelle Martin: Well, as you alluded to, a lot of concern from immigrant rights groups.
--:-- Leila Fadel: One called the ruling disastrous saying that thousands of migrants could now be sent to countries where they might be at risk of torture or inhumane treatment without a chance to challenge their deportation ahead of time.
--:-- Tovia Smith: I also spoke to one of the lawyers who started this case, Anwen Hughes. She represented eight men who were being deported to South Sudan, a country they had no ties to, and she argued they were denied their due process.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Now she says she's worried for many more. The risks of harm that people face are extreme. I mean, they include torture. They include death.
--:-- Leila Fadel: That harm cannot be undone. And I mean, it's terrifying, frankly.
--:-- Tovia Smith: So what does the Trump administration say to that?
--:-- Michelle Martin: Well, they argue that it's what they call activist judges who are overstepping what's lawful by imposing what they call onerous requirements that infringe on the president's authority.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The Department of Homeland Security hailed yesterday's Supreme Court order as a victory for their efforts to remove the, quote, worst of the worst undocumented immigrants.
--:-- Tovia Smith: In a social media post, DHS said the people being deported are, quote, convicted murderers, child rapists, and drug traffickers.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So uniquely barbaric, DHS says, that their own countries won't take them back.
--:-- Leila Fadel: DHS ends its post saying, quote, fire up the deportation planes.
--:-- Tovia Smith: Now, this isn't the end of this legal dispute, right, Tovia? What happens now?
--:-- Michelle Martin: That's right. Even though this order came from the Supreme Court, it's not the last word here.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The underlying issue of what is adequate due process for deportees is now pending in a federal appeals court.
--:-- Tovia Smith: Yesterday's Supreme Court order is just about what happens in the meantime.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And I'll note, this does not really change things for the eight migrants whose deportation started this case, the ones who were going to be sent to South Sudan but were diverted to Djibouti and East Africa.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The first few of them are now being given their due process by remote hearing from Djibouti.
--:-- Tovia Smith: Judge Murphy from Boston ordered that saying since DHS failed to do it before the deportations, DHS needs to do it now.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And last night, Judge Murphy made clear that order still stands.
--:-- Leila Fadel: So bottom line for those men, their due process rights appear more secure, at least right now, than they are for others who may face deportation in the future.
--:-- Tovia Smith: And PR's Tovia Smith.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Thank you for your reporting, Tovia.
--:-- Michelle Martin: New Yorkers are heading to the polls today to vote in the Democratic mayoral primary. There's a crowded field on the Democratic side, with the winner likely to become mayor of the country's largest city.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Joining us now to explain what's at stake is NPR's Sarah Ventry in New York.
--:-- Sarah Ventry: Hi, Sarah.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Okay, so Sarah, this is a primary, but today's election could actually determine the city's next mayor, right?
--:-- Sarah Ventry: Yes. So there's only one Republican candidate this year, and New York City is heavily Democratic. So whoever wins today's primary will go up against that one Republican candidate and current New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was elected as a Democrat and is now running as an independent.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Now, even though he's still in office, in September, Eric Adams became the first sitting New York City mayor to face criminal charges, including bribery and fraud.
--:-- Sarah Ventry: He denied those corruption charges, and they were dismissed by a federal judge. But his popularity has plummeted as a result.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So these Democratic candidates are front and center. There are a total of 11, and the two most talked about are current member of the New York State Assembly, so Ron Mamdani, and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Now, you might remember that Cuomo resigned as governor following sexual harassment allegations, which he denied, and it was uncovered that his administration undercounted the number of COVID deaths in state-run nursing homes by as much as 50%.
--:-- Sarah Ventry: He has also denied that.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Okay, so a lot of backstory there. Looking ahead, what are the issues that are coming up in this campaign?
--:-- Sarah Ventry: Well, affordability is a big one especially housing and the cost of living in New York. Also public safety and education.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Cuomo is campaigning as a centrist and Mamdani is much more progressive. He's a democratic socialist.
--:-- Sarah Ventry: Okay, and in New York, the voting is ranked choice. How does that work? If you could explain it, Sarah.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Okay, Layla, so this is New York. So just imagine for a second you're ordering a bagel.
--:-- Sarah Ventry: Okay. It's like telling the guy behind the counter, I want it and everything, but if you don't have that, I'll take a poppy. And if you don't have that, I'll take assessment.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Same with mayor. You get to choose your top five candidates in order.
--:-- Sarah Ventry: The votes are counted. And if one candidate has more than 50% of the vote, that person wins. If not, the candidate in last place is removed and the votes are counted again.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So if your everything bagel was eliminated, then your vote gets redistributed to your second choice, the poppy.
--:-- Sarah Ventry: And this continues until there are only two candidates left. At that point, the one with the most votes wins.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Okay, so people are hoping they'll get the bagel they like.
--:-- Sarah Ventry: How does this change campaigning? Well, it means there's an interesting twist where it can actually be strategic for candidates to endorse one another as a way to try to knock someone else out of the rankings.
--:-- Michelle Martin: So, for example, Zoran Mamdani cross-endorsed two other candidates, including Brad Lander.
--:-- Sarah Ventry: Here's a clip of them endorsing each other.
--:-- [Clip of Zoran Mamdani and Brad Lander endorsing each other]
--:-- Michelle Martin: Zoran, you've done a remarkable job building a historic grassroots campaign for a New York City all New Yorkers can afford.
--:-- Sarah Ventry: Brad, you've been a principled progressive leader in our city for years.
--:-- Leila Fadel: So that is not something you hear very often on the campaign trail. No.
--:-- Michelle Martin: But together, they are hoping that they can overpower Cuomo.
--:-- Sarah Ventry: NPR's Sarah Ventry in New York.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Thanks, Sarah.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And that's a first for Tuesday, June 24th. I'm Leila Fadel.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And I'm Michelle Martin.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Your next listen is Consider This from NPR.
--:-- Leila Fadel: We here at Up First give you the three big stories of the day, or consider this, colleagues take a different approach. They dive into a single new story and what it means to you.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Learn about a big story of the day in less than 15 minutes. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Today's episode of Up First was edited by Roberta Rampton, Gigi Douban, Andrea De Leon, Janaya Williams, and Alice Woelfle.
--:-- Michelle Martin: It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas.
--:-- Leila Fadel: We get engineering support from Zo van Ginhoven.
--:-- Michelle Martin: And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Join us again tomorrow.
--:-- Michelle Martin: This message comes from NetSuite.
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--:-- Michelle Martin: With real-time insights and forecasting, you're able to peer into the future and seize new opportunities.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at netsuite.com slash story.
--:-- Michelle Martin: This message comes from Mint Mobile.
--:-- Leila Fadel: If you're tired of spending hundreds on big wireless bills, bogus fees, and free perks, Mint Mobile might be right for you with plans starting from $15 a month. Shop plans today at mintmobile.com slash switch.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Upfront payment of $45 for a three-month 5GB plan required. New customer offer for first three months only. Then full-price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.
--:-- Leila Fadel: This message comes from Lisa.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Lisa mattresses are meticulously designed and assembled in the USA for exceptional quality. And each mattress is designed with specific sleep positions and feel preferences in mind.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Plus, they back it all up with free shipping, easy returns, and a 100-night sleep trial.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Visit Lisa.com for 25% off mattresses, plus get an extra $50 off with promo code NPR.
--:-- Leila Fadel: That's L-E-E-S-A.com, promo code NPR.
--:-- [Up First theme music fades in]
