Episodes

  • Behind two high-profile deportation cases, a legal crisis grows

    Behind two high-profile deportation cases, a legal crisis grows
    Apr 18 2025
    This week, two federal judges handling separate immigration cases escalated their attempts to get the Trump administration to comply with court orders.

    One case involves President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act, the 18th-century wartime law, to deport migrants without due process.

    The other is about the wrongful deportation, also without due process, of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and the government's refusal to bring him back to the U.S.

    The growing conflicts point to a potential constitutional crisis, where the president openly defies the country's highest court — or at least, as one legal scholar maintains, a crisis at the Supreme Court.

    Our guest is University of Virginia professor Amanda Frost, who specializes in immigration and citizenship law.

    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    NPR Privacy Policy
    Show more Show less
    10 mins
  • Raising kids is costly; Tariffs will make it even more expensive

    Raising kids is costly; Tariffs will make it even more expensive
    Apr 17 2025
    When it comes to the cost of raising a child from infancy to the age of 17 in the United States – it's hard to settle on a precise figure.

    There's one thing we do know – it's going to be expensive.

    By some estimates, raising a kid, who was born in 2015, could cost a middle class family close to $320,000 over 17 years.

    That money goes to childcare, healthcare, food, clothes, education, transportation, activities, toys, and a lot more. All of those things will be affected – one way or another – by the Trump administration's tariff policy.

    And the companies that sell products geared at those raising kids – they're going to feel the pinch as well. One CEO argues it could even mean certain products will become unavailable.

    Being a parent in the U.S. is already expensive. Slapping tariffs on the products kids use could make it more so.

    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    NPR Privacy Policy
    Show more Show less
    9 mins
  • Can the U.S. banish its citizens?

    Can the U.S. banish its citizens?
    Apr 16 2025
    The Trump administration's move to send immigrants to a maximum security prison in El Salvador is the subject of multiple on-going fights in court.

    But in an Oval Office meeting with the Salvadoran president this week, President Trump was already looking ahead.

    "We also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they're not looking, that are absolute monsters. I'd like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country," Trump said.

    Trump later clarified that by "homegrown criminals" he meant U.S. citizens.

    No president has tried to do exactly what Trump is proposing.

    In this episode, we hear from someone who argues it's wildly unconstitutional.

    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    NPR Privacy Policy
    Show more Show less
    12 mins
  • Did DOGE take sensitive labor data?

    Did DOGE take sensitive labor data?
    Apr 15 2025
    President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency team, or DOGE, appears to be grabbing sensitive data from all over the government.

    A whistleblower has come forward by filing an official disclosure to Congress about concerning activity on the systems at one independent federal agency, the National Labor Relations Board.

    Elon Musk says DOGE is searching for savings throughout the government. But is the data being accessed valuable?

    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    NPR Privacy Policy
    Show more Show less
    8 mins
  • Vaccine expert worries child measles deaths are being 'normalized'

    Vaccine expert worries child measles deaths are being 'normalized'
    Apr 14 2025
    Measles is an extremely contagious disease. It's also extremely preventable. There's a vaccine. It's highly effective.

    For decades it has made measles outbreaks in the U.S. relatively rare, and measles deaths rarer still. But the U.S. has now seen more than 700 measles cases this year, and 3 deaths so far with active outbreaks across six states.

    The federal response is under scrutiny because Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has made a career spreading false information about vaccines.

    What are this administration's views on vaccines, and what do they mean for what is already one of the worst U.S. measles outbreaks this century.

    Kennedy publicly promised he would support vaccines. Dr. Peter Marks, who was forced out as the nation's top vaccine regulator says his department isn't doing enough.

    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    NPR Privacy Policy
    Show more Show less
    11 mins
  • Why one deportation case has legal scholars afraid for even U.S. citizens

    Why one deportation case has legal scholars afraid for even U.S. citizens
    Apr 13 2025
    The Trump administration admitted that it wrongfully deported a man named Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

    It had also been arguing that courts cannot compel the U.S. government to return him to this country.

    The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously determined the government must "facilitate" his release from the El Salvador prison where he is being held, but the Department of Justice has so far only confirmed his presence at that prison.

    If he is not returned to this country to face due process, people following this case point out a troubling implication: The government could potentially send anyone to a foreign prison – regardless of citizenship – with no legal recourse.

    Harvard University emeritus professor of constitutional law Laurence Tribe explains his argument.

    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    NPR Privacy Policy
    Show more Show less
    12 mins
  • Big law in Trump's crosshairs

    Big law in Trump's crosshairs
    Apr 12 2025
    For weeks, President Trump has been targeting certain law firms with executive orders. Some have fought back, but others have cut deals to avoid the damage.

    For our weekly Reporter's Notebook series, we dive into this legal drama with NPR's Justice Correspondent Ryan Lucas, to see how this use of executive power is changing the landscape of the American legal system.

    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    NPR Privacy Policy
    Show more Show less
    12 mins
  • How Trump's immigration policy changes who gets arrested and detained

    How Trump's immigration policy changes who gets arrested and detained
    Apr 11 2025
    During his second Presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed to carry out the largest deportation program the U.S. has ever seen.

    And true to his word – Trump's administration is arresting, detaining and deporting immigrants without legal status.

    But as part of the crackdown on illegal immigration, legal immigrants are getting caught up in the mix.

    And then there's people like Amir Makled – a U.S. Citizen and lawyer. Makled was detained by Border agents at a Detroit airport as he returned from a family vacation in the Caribbean.

    How is the Trump administration's immigration policy changing who is getting arrested and detained?

    For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

    Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    NPR Privacy Policy
    Show more Show less
    11 mins
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_webcro768_stickypopup