Senate Republicans Push Immigration Funding, Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Renewed, Trump Alters Federal Worker Status

Today's top stories

Senate Republicans are moving forward to attempt to pass funding for immigration enforcement through the end of President Trump's term. Senators left Washington last month without passing the GOP-backed measure over concerns about the Trump administration's nearly $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche recently told Congress that the administration had scrapped its plans for the fund. But Trump later avoided confirming Blanche's claim.

🎧 Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said the only way to guarantee the fund is dead is "for Congress to put a stake through it." Republican lawmakers have proposed two amendments to permanently block the fund. But NPR's Sam Gringlas tells Up First that even if these amendments gather enough votes to pass, it's not clear whether Senate rules will allow lawmakers to include them in the unrelated $70 billion funding package for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. Republicans' recent actions, including a vote in the House to end the war with Iran, have shown frustration with the president at a time when Trump has shown he is happy to get rid of people within his party he deems insufficiently loyal. Gringlas says more Republican lawmakers are beginning to question whether it is worthwhile to try to maintain loyalty.

Israel and Lebanon agreed yesterday to renew a ceasefire that has struggled to effectively take hold. Their diplomats negotiated new terms during meetings in Washington. This week, Trump also spoke with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The president confirmed that he called Netanyahu "crazy" and used an expletive during a tense phone call about Netanyahu's planned attacks on Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.

🎧 The ceasefire holds significant potential if it works, but NPR's Greg Myre says there are plenty of reasons to remain skeptical. The agreement is between the Israeli and Lebanese governments, and the militant group Hezbollah was not part of the negotiations. The deal calls for Hezbollah to stop its fire and withdraw all its forces from southern Lebanon. The agreement doesn't address Israeli forces leaving Lebanese territory. A Hezbollah official, speaking to NPR on condition of anonymity, said that they told Lebanon's president that Israeli forces must depart from southern Lebanon for the truce to take hold. A successful agreement would benefit both Israel and Lebanon and could remove a barrier to a potential resolution of the Iran war, Myre says.

Trump issued an executive order yesterday that transforms around 8,000 federal workers into at-will employees. This move will allow the government to fire them without providing a reason. It's the latest move in efforts Trump began in his first term to strip a vast number of federal employees of their civil service protections, which are designed to shield their work from political interference. These protections are designed to shield their work from political interference. Most of the 8,000 affected people are at the highest level of the civil service, GS-15. The Trump administration characterizes these roles as carrying significant influence over policy. They include leaders of policy offices, senior public affairs officers and heads of regional offices.

The men's soccer World Cup starts next week at 16 stadiums in North America, coinciding with the arrival of potentially dangerous summer weather in many host cities. An NPR analysis reveals that millions of fans, players and workers are at risk for potential exposure to harmful heat. NPR found that more than one-third of World Cup matches carry a high risk of dangerously hot and humid conditions. Many additional matches may also experience a moderate heat risk. The high-risk events include multiple high-profile games, including the match that determines which team takes home third place and the World Cup final.

Today's listen

Musicians Renée Fleming and Béla Fleck have joined forces for a project that took more than 20 years to finalize. Fleming, a five-time Grammy Award-winning singer, is best known for her performances in some of the world's most prestigious opera houses. Her latest venture is an Appalachian bluegrass album, Fiddle and The Drum, with banjo player Béla Fleck. He has won 18 Grammys and a Latin Grammy. The album features mountain songs, ballads and folk hymns that celebrate traditional American music. The songs are loosely organized around themes of loss and war. Dolly Parton even makes an appearance in the soul-piercing duet, "In The Pines." In an interview with Morning Edition host Michel Martin, Fleming and Fleck discussed their new music, their initial meeting and Fleming's decision to resign from her position as artistic adviser at the Kennedy Center following Trump's takeover. Listen to the interview and snippets of the songs or read the article here.

Deep dive

The Trump administration has vowed to increase citizenship revocations for some naturalized Americans as part of a broader push for stricter immigration enforcement. The messaging raises concerns among immigrant advocates, legal scholars and naturalized Americans about the potential for abuse. But the cases filed so far indicate that they are more limited than the rhetoric suggests, underscoring the legal and practical constraints on broader application of this measure. NPR examined 34 publicly announced denaturalization cases that the Department of Justice filed or resolved as of last month, including 11 citizenship revocations. Daniel Kanstroom, a law professor specializing in immigration at Boston College, said he is not "seeing a major surge of worrisome denaturalizations." Here's what NPR learned from its review:

➡️ Cases so far show the challenges the administration faces in pursuing mass denaturalization, according to Kanstroom and other immigration experts. Unlike the quick detentions and deportations in the broader deportation agenda, naturalized U.S. citizens have stronger legal protections.

➡️ The 34 cases largely involve allegations of fraud, child sexual abuse, terrorism-related activity, war crimes and drug trafficking.

➡️ In court documents, the DOJ suggests the defendants hid actions that would have disqualified them from proving the "good moral character" needed for citizenship.

➡️ In many of the reviewed cases, the defendants lacked legal representation. Several of these cases led to denaturalization, with defendants making few or no court appearances.

3 things to know before you go

Barry Manilow is recovering from lung cancer and rehabilitating his singing voice in hopes of returning to the stage to promote his first album of new songs in nearly 15 years, What a Time.

In this week's edition of Far-Flung Postcards, NPR's Esme Nicholson takes readers to souvenir shops in Porto, where linen scarves, cotton aprons and more decorate the entrances. Many of these shops are run by Bangladeshis, whose home country shares a rich textile manufacturing tradition with Portugal.

The value of copper is increasing, leading to a rise in thefts as criminals strip it from phone poles, streetlights, and electric vehicle chargers. The repairs for such damage could cost companies tens of thousands of dollars. Frustrated with the ongoing issue, AT&T executives invited NPR to join them on a ride-along to witness the problem firsthand.