Politics and views in the United States.

Americans voice objections to administration's aggressive immigration crackdown. Grassroots candidates hope to gain traction in Western states. The new budget law slashes rural energy funds, Brazil faces steep tariffs, and only select African leaders are invited to White House summit.

TRANSCRIPT

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Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

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We're here today to demand freedom for Jeanette Vizguera

She's been imprisoned by the Trump administration for exercising her First Amendment right of free speech and to speak out for the unjust detentions of people like her and other immigrants across this country.

Nate Casa with the Party for Socialism and Liberation outside of Colorado ICE facility, where longtime Denver labor and immigration activist Jeanette Vizguera has been detained since March.

ICE says Vizguera faces deportation after entering the U.S. without permission.

Her supporters say there is a broad pattern of homeland security targeting political activists.

Before the election, Americans said they wanted action on immigration.

But a new Marist poll shows well over half of Americans say the aggressive enforcement has gone too far.

The Florida Supreme Court won't revive a law criminalizing the entry of undocumented migrants into the state.

That leaves in place a lower court ruling against the law.

In Texas, the search continues for the missing after the worst inland flooding disaster in half a century.

The governor says a special legislative session starting in two weeks will consider flood response.

President Donald Trump hosted five African heads of state at the White House for a private lunch focused on commercial opportunities.

The event excluded most of the continent, and Trump's comments to Liberia's president drew attention.

"Such good English, such beautiful.

Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?

Were you educated?

Where?

In Liberia.

Liberia was founded by free African-Americans before the civil war, and English is the primary official language.

Wednesday, Trump also said he would impose massive tariffs on Brazilian imports in response to the prosecution of the right-wing former president.

Jair Bolsonaro faces charges that he attempted to lead a coup to stay in power.

The Justice Department is reviewing misconduct accusations against officials who investigated Russian election interference, including former directors of the FBI and CIA.

Alaska's rural energy providers say Trump's budget cuts critical support for renewable power, leaving remote communities stuck with expensive diesel fuel.

Pierre Lonewolf with the Kotzebue Electric Association Power Co-op says their projects would have lowered bills.

That has put the kibosh on our wind project, which we are partnering with the local tribe to install two more one-megawatt wind turbines and another megawatt or so of solar.

Alaska's Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski supported the mega bill after securing funding for tribal whale hunters and modest renewable carve-outs.

Organizers across the Dakotas and Mountain West want to help everyday people enter public service.

Gwen Lackholt with the Western Organization of Resource Council says the strategy is already paying off.

In 2024, we saw 12 seats that were flipped in the state of Montana by your very ordinary Montanan.

I'm Farah Siddiqi for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.

One month they were eligible and the next month they weren't.

And that was getting individuals removed from the Medicaid roll.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is nominating President Donald Trump for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

He credits the president with brokering the Abraham Accords during his first term and with ceasefire and hostage releases in Gaza more recently.

Netanyahu praises Trump for peace through strength, including the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities.

"The resolute decision of President Trump to act with us against those who seek to destroy Israel and threaten the peace of the world has made a remarkable change in the Middle East."

The Supreme Court is allowing Trump's plan to downsize federal agencies to move forward, at least for now.

Associate Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson was the lone dissenting voice, saying this will the federal government as Congress created it.

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

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.