STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Almost 100 days into the Trump administration, we have a chance to check in on one of the president's signature goals.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Yes, the president promised mass deportations, as many as a million people per year. It's hard to judge how they're doing, but one outside analysis gives some perspective. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that the number of arrests is up, but the pace of deportations is, so far, down from the last fiscal year under President Biden.
INSKEEP: There have been some high-profile cases, of course, including one over the weekend. Federal authorities say they arrested more than 100 people at an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs - people authorities say lacked legal status. NPR's Joel Rose has been following all of this. Joel, good morning.
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: What happened in the nightclub?
ROSE: The Drug Enforcement Administration shared video and details about this raid that took place at what the DEA called an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs in the early morning hours of Sunday. The DEA says several hundred people were in the club at the time, including 114 immigrants without legal status, who were arrested. And if true, this would be one of the largest single enforcement actions since President Trump took office. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a social media post on Sunday that the club was, quote, "frequented by TdA and MS-13 terrorists," unquote, which is apparently a reference to Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang that the administration has recently designated as a foreign terrorist organization. NPR could not immediately verify the legal status of those who were arrested or whether there's any evidence of gang membership, though authorities also said that they recovered drugs and guns from this raid.
INSKEEP: OK, so that is one case that has developed over the weekend. I want to ask you about another one in recent days. We're told that a 2-year-old American citizen was deported last week. What happened?
ROSE: Yeah. This involves a family in New Orleans. The mother does not have legal status, but her 2-year-old daughter, who was born in Louisiana, is a U.S. citizen. The mother was going to her regular check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week, according to a lawsuit filed by her attorney, when she and her two children were detained. Her lawyer says immigration authorities held her and her children without allowing them to speak with anyone, even her partner. The children's father was only able to speak to her for less than a minute before the mother and two children were deported to Honduras. The judge in this case, who was appointed by President Trump, seems concerned about how this was handled. And he has now set a hearing for next month with the goal of dispelling his, quote, "strong suspicion that the government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process," unquote. According to the ACLU, this is one of three U.S. children deported from the U.S., along with mothers without legal status last week.
INSKEEP: Well, what has the administration said?
ROSE: Tom Homan, the White House border czar, was asked about these cases yesterday on CBS's "Face The Nation," and here is some of what he said.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FACE THE NATION")
TOM HOMAN: Having a U.S. citizen child after you enter this country illegally is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. It doesn't make you immune from our laws. American families get separated every day by law enforcement.
ROSE: But critics say these families did not have a meaningful chance to make major decisions about their children's futures. They say the administration is in such a rush to drive up deportation numbers to make good on President Trump's promise, that the administration is making mistakes and deporting people with no criminal records, and in some cases, deporting very young U.S. citizens.
INSKEEP: Well, how popular is all of this?
ROSE: To some extent, that depends on the poll. There's a CBS YouGov poll that shows 56% of Americans approve of President Trump's program to deport immigrants in the country illegally. Another Washington Post ABC Ipsos poll, though, found that only 46% now approve of Trump's handling of immigration, 53% disapprove.
INSKEEP: NPR's Joel Rose with an update on almost 100 days of Trump's immigration policy. Thanks so much.
ROSE: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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