NPR News: 12-17-2025 12AM 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 Shea Stephens.
What new travel limits did President Trump impose and why?
President Trump is imposing new limits on travel from an additional 20 nations. this after pausing visa applications for migrants from 19 countries. As NPR's Sergio Martinez Bertran reports, asylum cases are on hold.
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.
Vice President J.D. Vance was in Pennsylvania today to highlight the White House's economic message. Vance's trip came as the Labor Department released a jobs report showing weak growth in November and higher unemployment. Details from NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben.
As a majority of Americans disapprove of President Trump's handling of the economy, Vance told the crowd that real wages are growing and that next year, policies like new tax cuts will provide a boost. In response to a reporter's question about the loss of more than 100,000 jobs in October, Vance noted that that was driven by government job losses.
That is, in a lot of ways, the entire story of what we're trying to do under President Trump's leadership. We want to fire bureaucrats and hire these great Americans out here. That's what we're trying to do.
Vance's speech in Pennsylvania comes as Trump has attempted to address the high cost of living, but has also called Democrats' talk of affordability a hoax. Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News.
32-year-old Nick Reiner is still being held without bail after being charged with killing his parents, Hollywood director Rob Reiner and producer Michelle Reiner. The couple were fatally stabbed in their home on Saturday.
How are asylum cases affected by the recent immigration freeze?
Steve Futterman reports that Nick Reiner will undergo a medical evaluation before his official arraignment.
A mental health defense is very, very possible. Nick Reiner, as we've learned, has been very open in discussing his struggles. And we know in recent weeks, his family had grown quite concerned about his behavior. And just hours before the killings, Reiner had a heated argument with his father, Rob, as they attended a Christmas party. So his mental state and capacity at the time of the killings could very likely play a key role in his defense. Steve Futterman reporting from Los Angeles.
U.S. futures are lower in after-hours trading on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrials fell 302 points. The Nasdaq index gained 54. The S&P shed 16 points. This is NPR. President Trump has left it up to his defense secretary. to decide whether to release unedited footage of a deadly strike on a boat off Venezuela. Trump says he would, but Hegseth says the footage will be shown only to key members of Congress and not to the general public. The video shows two people who survived an initial attack were killed in a second strike, insisting that the vessel was hauling narcotics. The U.S. strikes on more than two dozen alleged drug boats have killed nearly 100 people since September. Most Ukrainians say they oppose giving up any territory as part of a peace deal with Russia.
NPR's Polina Litvinova has details from Kyiv.
President Zelenskyy says Ukraine and the US haven't reached a consensus on the issue of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. Russia lost tens of thousands soldiers trying to take the region but didn't manage to fully occupy it.
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