June 14, 2025

The Big Picture: Striking A Balance

Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images

Political messaging on immigration goes well beyond whether people in the country generally agree that immigrants in the U.S. without permanent legal status should be deported.

There’s a big difference, for example, in advocating for stronger border security and that hardened criminals should be booted from the country versus deporting cooks and construction workers — and sending the Marines into cities in response to protests (when local officials didn’t ask for it).

Polling is sparse — and somewhat conflicting. In general, people support Trump’s immigration policy more than his economic ones. And multiple polls have clearly shown in the past year that people trust Republicans more to handle immigration.

But surveys out this week showed differing results, especially in light of the response to the protests.

— A CBS poll, conducted before the protests in Los Angeles, found 54% approve of his deportation policies.

— A Quinnipiac survey, on the other hand, taken this week, showed 56% disapprove of those policies.

— AP/NORC found 46% approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, higher than his overall approval.

— Reuters/Ipsos showed that by a 50%-35% margin, people disapproved of Trump’s response to the protests so far — though by 48%-41%, more thought Trump should deploy the military to bring order to violent protests. By 49%-40% margin, they also said he’s gone too far with arrests of immigrants.

The numbers can be sliced a number of different ways, but it’s a pretty good rule of thumb to look at members of Congress in competitive districts to see how they’re responding.

One of those members, Rep. David Valadao, a Republican from California, said he was “concerned” about the Trump administration’s deportation policy shift beyond criminals. That was echoed by other congressional Hispanic Republicans.

That may be why Trump hinted at dialing back, suggesting farmworkers should not be a target, for example.

It shows the politics of this can be tricky. While there’s general support for decreasing immigration after a period in the last couple of years that saw increased border crossings, it doesn’t mean people overall want to see immigrants treated inhumanely.

For Democrats, there are challenges, too, but that said, some are starting to feel that they are coalescing around an immigration message in opposition to Trump. Of course, that does not mean that they have settled on a unified vision for how to deal with immigration in the future if they were put back in charge.

— Domenico Montanaro, NPR’s senior political editor/correspondent

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ICYMI: Top Stories

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Israel strikes Iran: Israel launched air strikes into Iran early Friday, targeting the country’s nuclear facilities and killing top military leaders, officials and nuclear scientists. The strikes came days before international talks on Iran’s nuclear program were planned to take place Sunday, and hours after President Trump said he did not want to see any military action while the negotiations continued. The attack prompted Iranian retaliatory strikes as the region braced for further military escalation.

Trump retains California guard, for now: A federal district court ruled Thursday evening that President Trump had overstepped his authority in deploying the California’s National Guard to address protests in Los Angeles without the consent of the state’s Democratic governor, Gov. Gavin Newsom. Then, an appeals court swiftly put that ruling on hold. That means Trump commands the California Guard until a hearing can be held Tuesday.

U.S. senator removed from DHS briefing: California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a Homeland Security press conference with Seretary. Kristi Noem Thursday. Video shows Padilla identifying himself as a senator before federal agents forced him to the ground and briefly handcuffed him. The incident sparked outrage from Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who demanded an immediate investigation into what happened.

Winners and losers in GOP megabill: The nation's highest-paid workers would be the biggest winners from a massive Republican tax and spending bill, while middle-income families would see smaller gains and those at the bottom of the income ladder will be worse off, according to a new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office. Congressional Republicans have of late been attacking the CBO, a nonpartisan body that analyzes the budgetary impacts of bills, over its projection that their signature legislation would increase the federal budget deficit by about $2.4 trillion over a decade. NPR’s Barbara Sprunt brings us this deep dive of the agency that now (and often) finds itself in the hot seat.

Just a political party…..standing in front of a boy…. asking him to vote for them again.

— Lexie Schapitl, NPR Politics producer

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Going Deeper: A Grand Parade -- and Planned Protests

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It’s been decades since Washington, D.C., hosted a full-scale military parade – with rows of tanks rolling and soldiers marching through the streets of the nation’s capital.

There’s one in D.C. later today. It’s tied to a day of celebration marking the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary, which also happens to fall not only on Flag Day, but on President Trump's 79th birthday. Also planned for Saturday -- outside of Washington -- are large nationwide protests organized against the president’s policies. They cap a week that saw the Trump administration, as Domenico notes, call on the National Guard and active-duty Marines to guard federal buildings and protect immigration agents in Los Angeles amid anti-immigration enforcement protests there.

As for Saturday’s celebration in D.C., the Army has been preparing for over a year -- there will be events around the National Mall as well as parachute jumps, flyovers and fireworks -- but the idea of a parade came into the picture more recently. NPR’s Juliana Kim writes that although Trump's birthday is not officially linked to the festivities, a large-scale military parade has been on the president's wish list since his first term.

🔢: By the numbers: the Army's 250th anniversary parade

🎧 and 📷: A look at 1991's Victory Celebration when, as NPR's Ron Elving notes, there was very little controversy

📱: Follow NPR on Saturday to watch the parade and also for coverage of nationwide protests

— Heidi Glenn, NPR digital editor

The Shot: June's Dazzling Strawberry Moon

Petros Karadjias/AP

You may have been lucky enough to look up this week and see June’s full moon. It’s called the “strawberry moon” – a name that comes from the Algonquin tribes to mark the peak of ripening strawberries in the northeastern U.S.

If you missed it, here’s a look at June’s strawberry moon as seen across the globe.

— Heidi Glenn, NPR digital editor

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