NPR News: 12-16-2025 9PM EST
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Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theschmidt.org.
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. President Trump has already paused immigration applications for migrants living in the U.S. from 19 countries the government deems high risk. And today, he put new limits on travel from another 20 nations. NPR's Sergio Martinez Beltran reports Trump has also paused all asylum decisions.
Trekkers at Syracuse University say there are around 2.3 million immigrants awaiting hearings or decisions. They are all affected by this freeze. Some have been waiting for years. Immigration lawyers say this keeps people who may not qualify for asylum waiting around in limbo, while people who may qualify are not getting their cases adjudicated either. President Trump has also ordered DHS to review again the cases of around 200,000 refugees admitted under the Biden administration. This follows the shooting of two National Guard members last month. The suspect is an Afghan national who was granted asylum by the Trump administration earlier this year. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, Austin.
More than a dozen states are suing the Trump administration over a federal freeze on funds for electric vehicle chargers. The suit alleges that the Trump administration's halt on funding violates the separation of powers because Congress had ordered the funds distributed, as NPR's Camilla Dominovsky reports.
Billions of dollars for EV chargers have been stuck in limbo, unspent, which these mostly Democratic-led states say is unconstitutional. Here's California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
These programs were created by statute. Federal agencies have a duty to faithfully execute those statutes. That means spending the money.
Even, he says, if the president disagrees with the statute. A similar coalition of states previously sued over a freeze on funds for EV chargers along highways. That suit was a success, and those funds have been unfrozen. The funds in the new suit aren't just for highway chargers, but things like neighborhood chargers, heavy truck chargers, and charger maintenance. Camilla Dominovsky, NPR News.
The U.S. gained 64,000 jobs in November but lost more than 100,000 in October in Amid federal cutbacks by the Trump administration, the unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent, the highest since 2021. As NPR's Scott Horsley explains, hiring has been hobbled by uncertainty in the economy.
It is a significant slowdown from the pace of hiring earlier this year. And economist Sarah House of Wells Fargo notes, it's only a handful of industries that are actually adding jobs, mostly health care, some construction. But factories, financial services, delivery companies, they all cut jobs last month.
I think overall we're seeing a jobs market that is struggling to maintain its current traction. It's still harder for everyone who wants a job to get a job right now.
The Federal Reserve has been worried about weakness in the job market, which is why the central bank decided to cut interest rates last week. And this report more or less confirms that the Fed was right to be concerned.
Scott Horsley reporting. This is NPR News. The European Union is moving to dial back its total ban on cars with gas engines by 2035. The proposal would replace a total reduction of emissions to a 90 percent reduction. That would leave a little room for cars with internal combustion engines, but most cars would still be all electric or hybrid. Officials north of Seattle in Snohomish County say a person has died as floods continue to cause damage in Washington state. About 10,000 people across the state are still under evacuation advisories. Natalie Akana-Newcomb from member station KUOW reports.
Firefighters north of Seattle and Snohomish County were not able to save a person who they say drove past a road closure sign and onto a flooded street early this morning. Rescue swimmers found the vehicle fully submerged in a ditch under six feet of water.
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