AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
And we'll turn now to NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram. Good morning, Deepa.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Hey, good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So the president is federalizing those 2,000 guardsmen over the objections of the governor, as we just heard. Talk to me more about that.
SHIVARAM: Yeah, so, you know, just to reiterate the context of all of this. You know, as you just heard on Friday, ICE started conducting these big raids, and that resulted in these contentious protests, right? And so President Trump was really critical of leaders in California, including LA Mayor Karen Bass, California Governor Gavin Newsom. He posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, last night and said that if those two - Bass and Newsom - didn't do their jobs, then the federal government would step in, and that is what ended up happening, right? Trump called in 2,000 of the California National Guard, which went against what Newsom, you know, wanted.
And he had said - Newsom said that the move would only escalate tensions. He said that Trump was doing this just to cause a spectacle. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement late last night that Trump deployed the National Guard to, quote, "address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester." And she called California's Democratic leaders, quote, "feckless." And I will just note that Trump posted again this morning on Truth Social, thanking the National Guard and again being critical of those Democratic leaders.
RASCOE: It's rare, though, for a president to call in the state's National Guard, right?
SHIVARAM: Yeah, this isn't exactly something that happens every day. It is not something I would say is common, but I will say it is a power that the president does have. The White House released a memo yesterday outlining the deployment of the National Guard troops, and it says that the duration of their duty will be for 60 days or at whatever length is determined by the secretary of defense.
RASCOE: So, you know, Donald Trump won the presidency, I mean, really, both times, promising mass deportation. What is the general public opinion on these ICE raids and the istration's other immigration actions so far?
SHIVARAM: Yeah, it's interesting. So NPR and Ipsos conducted a poll a few weeks ago. This was, like, mid-May, and it shows that 40% of respondents , quote, "mass deportation of everyone who is in the country without legal status." And in that same poll, 42% of respondents oppose that. And that's pretty much the same divide as when NPR and Ipsos asked that exact question in February. So not much shift thus far. But here is where it gets a little bit interesting. There's a bit of a decline in for mass deportations among independent voters. And in February, 44% ed, you know, President Trump's actions on this. Now it's just 37%. That drop of 7 points is still within the poll's margin of error, but it's a notable finding and could kind of suggest here that there are some people who were originally ive of the president's deportation plans, who are now, you know, maybe seeing how some of it is playing out and having some second thoughts.
RASCOE: The president's tax and spending bill, which includes provisions relating to immigration enforcement, is in the hands of the Senate, but it does not look like it's coming up for a vote anytime soon. What's your read on that situation?
SHIVARAM: Yeah, there's still a lot to debate over in the Senate. You know, this is such a huge bill. It has a ton of elements, including tax cuts that the president has been a huge advocate for, border spending like funding for more security, of course. We know that's a big issue for him. Debates over Medicaid funding are going on, as well. Lots going on. Senate Republicans, I will say, aren't fully all on the same page. I just did some reporting, for example, this past week on a provision about artificial intelligence in the bill that has some certainly very divided. So there's a lot to debate over, and at this point, I will say it's unclear. You know, there was that July 4 deadline that Republicans wanted to have Trump sign the bill by. Not really clear if that's going to be met.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Deepa Shivaram. Deepa, thank you so much.
SHIVARAM: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
