NPR News: 01-18-2026 2AM EST
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman.
What recent actions has President Trump taken regarding Greenland?
President Trump is continuing to escalate his threats to take control of Greenland. On Saturday, he announced a 10 percent tariff on any European countries that oppose his efforts. There's a bipartisan group of U.S. senators and House members in Denmark this weekend trying to bring down the tension. Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware says European nations are unhappy.
The folks we've met with are respectful but alarmed. We heard compelling comments about how families across Greenland can't sleep at night. Children are crying to their parents. But here in Denmark, in Copenhagen, the serious seasoned leaders we've met with, prime minister and defense minister, they're taking this very seriously.
The Department of Homeland Security is facing a backlash from immigration advocacy groups who accuse it of trying to recruit local police to join ICE. MPR's Windsor Johnston has more.
The American Immigration Council says the DHS is actively working to expand its ranks in parts of the country where enforcement is ramping up, including Minnesota. Naina Gupta is the group's policy director. She says her organization has been contacted by local law enforcement officials in the state who are frustrated by the recruitment effort. Heard directly from local police chiefs and local police departments who are enraged by this attempt to poach local police officers. The DHS tells NPR that ICE has received more than 220,000 job applications in recent months and is on track to hire thousands of new officers. Windsor Johnston, NPR News.
The U.S. is planning to close a camp in Qatar that shelters hundreds of Afghan refugees. As NPR's Quill Lawrence reports, many of the refugees say they helped U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan, while others are relatives of U.S. citizens.
Camp Asalia has housed more than a thousand Afghans since the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Kabul in 2021. Many say they can't return home because they helped American forces during the war and would face reprisals by the ruling Taliban. Advocates say about 150 people there are related to U.S. troops. A State Department spokesman confirmed there are family of U.S. citizens at the camp and said they may apply for U.S. visas once resettled in a third country. No such country has been identified. The spokesman said there is no plan to return them to Afghanistan but the camp will be closed by March 31. Support for Afghan former allies was once bipartisan, but the Trump administration has all but shut it down and stopped processing visas for Afghans.
Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
Iraqi officials say U.S. forces have completely withdrawn from an air base in the western part of that country. The action is part of a 2024 agreement between Washington and Baghdad to wind down a U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq. A small unit of U.S. military advisers and support personnel, though, are remaining because of the situation in Syria. This is NPR News. NASA has rolled out the spaceship it plans to use to send Americans around the moon. The ship's journey from Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B was broadcast live on Saturday, and Pierre's Elena Weiss has more.
How is the Department of Homeland Security expanding its recruitment efforts?
The 11-million-pound rocket stack was slowly carted across the Kennedy Space Center over the course of several hours. Though the journey is only four miles, NASA says the process could take up to half a day. The trek is one of the major stages needed to eventually launch the craft into space. which could happen as early as February. The next step is a wet dress rehearsal, an intensive practice run that stops just short of throttling the craft into the skies. The goal of the mission, Artemis, is to soon return Americans to the moon for research and observation. Eventually, astronauts hope to make missions to Mars. The lunar orbit is scheduled to last around 10 days and will include three American astronauts and one Canadian.
Alana Wise, NPR News.
The U.S. launched another round of strikes in Syria on Friday. In a social media post Saturday, the U.S.
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