Politics and views in the United States.

A plan described as the basis for Trump's mass deportations served a very different purpose. Federal workers prepare to defend their jobs if they lose civil service protections, and Ohio enacts bathroom restrictions on transgender people.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2024 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

Mexicans, in terms of border crossers, they account for less than a third of all migrants crossing the United States without authorization.

To deport those people is much more complicated and much more expensive.

Katrina Burgess at Tufts University says President-elect Donald Trump's mass migrant deportations could be a logistical mess and cost the economy trillions.

She notes his plan's based on one used by President Dwight Eisenhower, but that smaller operation just aimed to get Texas ranchers to legally hire Mexican guest workers instead of underpaying illegal immigrants.

Undocumented workers represent about 5 percent of all employees.

They're especially concentrated in farm work, meatpacking, and construction at a time of labor shortages and high food and housing costs.

Federal workers are also bracing for what's next.

Trump says he wants to reclassify many as Schedule F, stripping them of civil service protections and making them subject to firing without cause.

Otis Johnson with the American Federation of Government Employees says the people who make sure Social Security checks go out and veterans get their health care can't be treated like Twitter employees.

We represent over 800,000 federal workers, and we can't remove 80 percent and still expect to be able to serve the American people with the same proficiency and knowledge that they have right now.

Breaking a promise not to, President Joe Biden is pardoning his son Hunter.

The younger Biden faced gun and tax charges dated to a time of drug addiction.

Trump says he's going to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray and replace him with close longtime loyalist Kash Patel.

Patel has promoted Trump's contention that his legal troubles are the result of Democratic conspiracies.

The Justice Department shut down a Russian-backed climate misinformation network, but a new report says that hasn't stopped the falsehoods.

Climate action against disinformation examined accounts tied to defunct company Tenet Media, which was funded by Moscow.

Researcher Sean Buckins says the right-wing influencers are still promoting conspiracy theories, such as when claiming the government is replacing livestock with lab-grown meat.

We know that this disinformation exists, but to have a disinformation operation on U.S. soil paid directly from Russia is a surprise.

Ohio is enacting restrictions on bathroom access for transgender people.

The law passed on a party-line vote requires schools kindergarten to college to designate lockers and bathrooms based on sex assigned at birth.

Supporters say it addresses privacy and safety, but state Senator Nikki Antonio calls it a civil rights issue for trans students.

There has been an effort to segment them off because they are the most marginalized, the most vulnerable, the most misunderstood.

Idaho advocates are waiting to see if they have the signatures for a 2026 ballot measure allowing access to abortion until viability.

Seven out of ten states just approved similar measures.

Melanie Falwell is with Idahoans United for Women and Families.

If there's anything that was clear in November's election, it's that abortion amendments and abortion laws, laws that expand access to reproductive options, do well at the ballot.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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