The 'Rule Of Law' In Minneapolis

According to government data, at least 3,800 children were detained by U.S. federal immigration forces in 2025 alone, including 20 infants. On today's show: Elora Mukherjee, professor at Columbia Law School and director of its Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, talks about what these children and families are experiencing right now.

Across a number of ongoing stories, the Trump administration has taken actions in the name of enforcing certain laws, while seemingly skirting around others. On Today's Show:Andrew Weissmann, professor of practice at NYU School of Law, co-host of the podcast Main Justice and and the co-author of The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary (W. W. Norton & Company, 2024), offers legal analysis of the news of the day, including the DOJ's release of the rest of the Epstein files, the DOJ's civil rights investigation into the Pretti killing and more.  

The federal budget us under negotiations again, with funding for Trump's controversial DHS playing a key role in negotiations. On Today's Show:Siobhan Hughes, a reporter covering Congress from The Wall Street Journal's Washington bureau, talks about the latest from Congress, and whether a deal or a partial shutdown of the federal government is more likely.

Some members of the GOP are worried about how the Trump administration's actions in Minneapolis could impact the midterm elections later this year. On Today's Show:Russell Berman, a staff writer at The Atlantic, talks about how Republicans in Congress are speaking out against the deportation operation (and the fatal shootings), in a rare intra-party rebuke to President Trump. 

Journalists have spoken to forty-five current and former FBI employees. Many say that leadership is  undermining the agency and making America less safe. On Today's Show:Emily Bazelon, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, co-host of Slate's "Political Gabfest" podcast and Truman Capote fellow for creative writing and law at Yale Law School, and Rachel Poser, features editor at The New York Times Magazine, discuss their reporting on the The Federal Bureau of Investigation under the directorship of Kash Patel.  

As tensions continue in Minneapolis between federal agents and locals, what does the law say about how ICE or CBP are allowed to act?On Today's Show:Michelle Hackman, Wall Street Journal reporter covering U.S. immigration policy, talks about the legality of the tactics ICE agents are using in Minneapolis and elsewhere, including entering people's homes without warrants, and the ways they are dealing with bystanders in the wake of the two recent fatal shootings in Minnesota.

ICE agents shot and killed Alex Pretti during a protest in Minneapolis, and the Trump administration is pushing a version of events that clashes with video evidence. On Today's Show:Reid Forgrave, state and regional reporter for the Minnesota Star Tribune, reports on the latest and the community response.

A judge recently ruled that the Staten Island and Brooklyn congressional district now held by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R) should be redrawn.On Today's Show:Brigid Bergin, WNYC's senior political correspondent, discusses what that would mean for local representation and, potentially, control of congress. 

As Trump and other world leader meet in Davos, international relations and global geopolitics are at the forefront of our political conversations.On Today's Show:Robert Kagan, contributing writer to The Atlantic, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and the author, most recently, of Rebellion: How Antiliberalism Is Tearing America Apart—Again (Penguin Random House, 2024), offers his take on how President Trump is trying to rearrange the world order to look more like the 19th century and the dangers that lie ahead if continues to succeed.

As world leaders in Davos meet to discuss the future of international relations, many were relieved to hear that President Trump's recent rhetoric about Greenland would remain rhetorical. On Today's Show:Amy Davidson Sorkin, staff writer at The New Yorker, looks back at the first year of President Trump's second term, and where we are now.