Up First from NPR
Justice Department Shakeup, Guantanamo Migrants Lawsuit, Immigration Crackdown Poll
Fri, 14 Feb 2025
Multiple prosecutors have resigned from the Justice Department after refusing to drop a corruption case against the New York City mayor and legal aid groups are demanding attorneys for migrants being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Also, results from an NPR/Ipsos poll show growing support for some restrictions on immigration. Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Krishnadev Calamur, Barrie Hardimon, Eric Westervelt, Janaya Williams and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis and our technical director is Carleigh Strange. Our Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What caused the mass resignations at the Justice Department?
There are mass resignations at the U.S. Justice Department.
Yeah, senior prosecutors have quit, others put on leave. They refused to drop the case against the New York City mayor. Was the decision from the DOJ to drop it political?
I'm Michelle Martin, that's Leila Fadal, and this is Up First from NPR News. Legal aid groups are demanding that migrants taken to Guantanamo Bay get access to attorneys.
These immigrant detainees are now being held... in a situation with less rights than even the alleged enemy combatants.
And according to a new NPR Ipsos poll, Americans support stronger immigration restrictions than they did just a few years ago. But when it comes to hardline policies like sending migrants to Gitmo or detaining people at schools and churches, that support drops. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
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Support for NPR and the following message come from Bowlin Branch. Change your sleep with Bowlin Branch's airy blankets, cloud-like duvets, and breathable sheets. Feel the difference with 15% off your first order at bowlinbranch.com with code NPR. Exclusions apply. See site for details. Mass resignations are shaking up the U.S.
Justice Department. Three senior prosecutors, along with three others, have quit after they were directed to drop a case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The episode amplifies concerns about whether politics is influencing decisions at the Trump Department of Justice.
NPR's Keri Johnson is following the story, and she's here now to talk about it. Good morning, Keri. Good morning, Leila. Okay, so who exactly quit their jobs at the Justice Department, and what drove them to quit?
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Chapter 2: Why are migrants being held at Guantanamo Bay?
Chapter 3: What does the NPR/Ipsos poll say about immigration?
And according to a new NPR Ipsos poll, Americans support stronger immigration restrictions than they did just a few years ago. But when it comes to hardline policies like sending migrants to Gitmo or detaining people at schools and churches, that support drops. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
This message comes from Wise, the app for doing things in other currencies. Sending or spending money abroad? Hidden fees may be taking a cut. With Wise, you can convert between up to 40 currencies at the mid-market exchange rate. Visit wise.com. TNCs apply.
Support for NPR and the following message come from Bowlin Branch. Change your sleep with Bowlin Branch's airy blankets, cloud-like duvets, and breathable sheets. Feel the difference with 15% off your first order at bowlinbranch.com with code NPR. Exclusions apply. See site for details. Mass resignations are shaking up the U.S.
Chapter 4: How is the Justice Department's handling of the Eric Adams case controversial?
Justice Department. Three senior prosecutors, along with three others, have quit after they were directed to drop a case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The episode amplifies concerns about whether politics is influencing decisions at the Trump Department of Justice.
NPR's Keri Johnson is following the story, and she's here now to talk about it. Good morning, Keri. Good morning, Leila. Okay, so who exactly quit their jobs at the Justice Department, and what drove them to quit?
The acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan resigned after she faced a lot of pressure to drop a case against Democrat Eric Adams, the New York City mayor. Danielle Sassoon had only been on the job for about three weeks, but she had a strong record. of prosecuting major defendants.
She wrote a letter to DOJ saying there was really no good reason to dismiss the Eric Adams case, and in fact, prosecutors were going to add a new charge of obstruction against him for allegedly destroying evidence. She wrote that she attended a meeting with Adams' lawyers and a senior Justice Department leader in late January.
And at that meeting, the defense lawyers for Adams said he would help DOJ with its tough immigration enforcement campaign if they drop criminal charges against him. Sassoon wrote, that sounded an awful lot like an unlawful quid pro quo. And the DOJ leader in the meeting admonished one of her team members for taking notes and wanted those notes after the meeting ended.
Eric Adams quitted crime, she wrote, and there's no good faith way to walk away from that case.
I mean, if this is true, what they're saying, it sounds like it sets a dangerous precedent. But what is the Justice Department in Washington saying about all this?
For now, nothing but Emil Bovee, one of Donald Trump's former defense lawyers and the second in command at the DOJ right now. He wrote that Danielle Sassoon had been insubordinate. He was in that meeting with Adams' lawyer, and he says he was worried about those notes because of leaks to the media.
He placed two other prosecutors in the Adams case on administrative leave while they undergo an investigation by their own Justice Department. NPR has learned one of those prosecutors won two bronze stars in the military and that he clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts.
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Chapter 5: What legal actions are being taken for migrant rights at Guantanamo?
NPR's Sasha Pfeiffer has read the lawsuit that lays out those demands and joins me now. Good morning, Sasha. Good morning, Layla. Okay, so these groups are suing the government.
What does the suit say? It says that ever since the migrants were shipped to Guantanamo, they've been held, quote, incommunicado without access to attorneys, family, or the outside world.
And the lawsuit alleges this isolation is not a coincidence, that the point of flying these migrants to a remote Caribbean island is to make it especially difficult for them to communicate with lawyers, lawyers who could explain their legal rights and possibly challenge their detention. Here's something that the lead attorney in the lawsuit, League Alert of the ACLU, said to me.
One has to wonder if they're doing it so they don't have access to counsel, so that they can be held without rights, and so that the government can have these photo ops.
And by photo ops, I'm assuming he's referring to the recent pictures we've seen of handcuffed men being loaded on and off military planes.
Correct. Those images were released by the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. And the ACLU says some of the migrants' family members learned their relatives had been sent to Guantanamo because they saw them in those photos. Wow. They recognized a brother or a son. And now several of those family members are plaintiffs in this legal case.
What exactly is the lawsuit asking for?
It wants lawyers to be able to go to Guantanamo and meet with the migrants, but the suit acknowledges that traveling there will be arduous, will be hard to get to. So it asks that at a minimum, attorneys be allowed to communicate with the migrants by phone or video conference or email.
The ACLU lawyer, Galert, points out that the suspected foreign terrorists who've been held for up to two decades at Guantanamo do have access to lawyers.
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