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08-06-2025
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Full transcript of 'Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,' June 8, 2025
On this 'Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan' broadcast, moderated by Ed O'Keefe: Click here to browse full transcripts from 2025 of 'Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.' MARGARET BRENNAN: I'm Margaret Brennan in Washington. And this week on Face the Nation: Protesters and federal authorities clash in Southern California, as the Trump administration ramps up nationwide roundups of those who could be in the country illegally. President Trump's mandate to escalate detentions and potentially deportations set the scene for violent protests in Los Angeles this weekend. The president now says he's calling in the National Guard. We will have the latest. And we will speak exclusively with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Texas Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales will also be here. And we will tell you what Americans think of Trump's immigration and deportation policies. Then: As President Trump lobbies the Senate to get his big, beautiful bill passed, what impact will the Elon Musk factor have on some components of the bill that even Republicans don't like? We will talk with White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett and Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar. Finally, as efforts from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation continue to unravel, what kind of aid can get to the hundreds of thousands suffering? We will talk with the head of Save the Children, Janti Soeripto. It's all just ahead on Face the Nation. Good morning, and welcome to Face the Nation. We begin today in Southern California, a region that has now become the latest epicenter of the nation's contentious debate over immigration policy. A federal law enforcement official tells our homeland security correspondent, Nicole Sganga, that multiple federal officers were injured in confrontations with protesters in Los Angeles this weekend. CBS News immigration reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez has the latest. (Begin VT) CAMILO MONTOYA-GALVEZ (voice-over): Chaos erupted in the Los Angeles area over the weekend following increased activity across the country by ICE, the agency charged with carrying out President Trump's sweeping immigration crackdown. Videos captured a standoff between activists and heavily armed federal agents and people throwing projectiles at law enforcement vehicles. Late Saturday night, the president called up 2,000 National Guard troops to support ICE, saying the clashes constitute a form of rebellion against the authority of the U.S. government. California National Guard troops arrived this morning, gathering at a downtown federal building where immigrant detainees are processed. The move bypassed the authority of California's Governor Gavin Newsom, who denounced it as an inflammatory action. The large-scale immigration arrests in Southern California are part of a broader expansion of ICE operations following pressure from the White House for the agency to increase its arrest rate to 3,000 a day. Internal data obtained by CBS News shows that, over the past week, ICE averaged roughly 1,500 daily arrests, a 127 percent increase from President Trump's first 100 days in office. More than 54,000 detainees are now in ICE custody. (End VT) CAMILO MONTOYA-GALVEZ: ICE has been able to boost its arrest levels by taking more aggressive tactics like arresting migrants attending their court hearings or check-in appointments across the country. The federal agency is also receiving help and support from other agencies like the FBI, Border Patrol, and the Drug Enforcement Administration – Margaret. MARGARET BRENNAN: That's Camilo Montoya-Galvez in Paramount, California. And we are just receiving word from our L.A. bureau correspondent Nidia Cavazos that activists are calling for a – quote – 'mass mobilization' there later today. So we will continue to monitor the developing story. We go now to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who joins us from her home state of South Dakota. Good morning to you, Madam Secretary. KRISTI NOEM (U.S. Homeland Security Secretary): Good morning. Thank you for inviting me, Margaret. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we are seeing from the president's proclamation that he can federalize, he says, 2,000 California National Guard forces for 60 days under Title 10 authorities. Which units are being deployed? Are they military police, and exactly what are their orders? SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: Yes, President Trump is putting the safety of the communities that are being impacted by these riots and by these protests that have turned violent, and he's putting the safety of our law enforcement officers first. So these 2,000 National Guard soldiers that are being engaged today are ones that are specifically trained for this type of crowd situation, where they will be with the public and be able to provide safety around buildings and to those that are engaged in peaceful protests, and also to our law enforcement officers, so they can continue their daily work. MARGARET BRENNAN: So our CBS team is reporting that the California National Guard officers are at that Edward Roybal Center in L.A. This is a plaza with a federal building. Courtrooms are there, a processing center, a detention center, a veterans clinic. Are the soldiers going to remain around the federal building? Are you planning to have them go throughout the city of Los Angeles? SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: I won't speak specifically to all the locations where the National – National Guard soldiers will be deployed to or where they will be conducting different operations as far as security concerns. They're there at the direction of the president in order to keep peace and allow people to be able to protest, but also to keep law and order. That is incredibly important to the president. He recognizes he was elected to make sure that every single person in this country was treated exactly the same, and that we would enforce the laws. And that is what ICE is doing every day as they're out on our streets and working to go after bad criminals and people that have perpetuated violence on these communities. The gang members we have picked up in L.A. because of their hard work are horrible people, assault, drug trafficking, human trafficking. They are now off of those streets, and they are safer because these ICE operations are ongoing. Unfortunately, we've seen some violent protests happen, and that's why these National Guard soldiers are being utilized to help with some security in some areas. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, California's governor doesn't want the federalized system here. He says he's got it under control. There's no shortage of law enforcement, Gavin Newsom said. He's called in California Highway Patrol. He says the Trump administration is seeking a spectacle here. He's saying to protesters, don't get violent, don't engage. SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: Well, if he was doing his job, then people wouldn't have gotten hurt the last couple of days. We wouldn't have officers with a shattered wrist from bricks being thrown through their vehicles, their vehicles being burned, flags being burned in the street and Molotov cocktails being thrown. Governor Newsom has proven that he makes bad decisions. The president knows that he makes bad decisions, and that's why the president chose the safety of this community over waiting for Governor Newsom to get some sanity. And that's one of the reasons why these National Guard soldiers are being federalized, so they can use their special skill set to keep peace. We're not going to let a repeat of 2020 happen. And, if you remember, it all happened in Tim Walz's state, in Minneapolis (AUDIO GAP) neighboring state and a governor at the time. And Governor Tim Walz made very bad decisions… MARGARET BRENNAN: Well… SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: … and then tried to get the (AUDIO GAP) governors to send our National Guard in to bail him out when he let his city burn for days on end. We weren't going to… MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, he called the National Guard two days after the protests. But that was a point of contention, I know, in hindsight. President Trump – I'm sorry. (CROSSTALK) SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: … in California (AUDIO GAP) happen again. MARGARET BRENNAN: OK. President Trump said, masks will not be allowed to be worn at protests. Who's going to enforce? That and how? And how can you justify it when law enforcement officials have their faces covered? SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: You know, what I would say is that the law is going to be enforced, and that I – what the laws are in this country is what we are doing. And our ICE officers and our law enforcement officers out there that are in these situations where people have questioned why they have their faces covered, it's for the safety of those individuals or the work that they're doing as far as protecting their identity so they can continue to do investigative work, so… MARGARET BRENNAN: But are you tasking the National Guard soldiers with removing masks from protesters? I mean, are you trying to use them in that way? SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: National Guard soldiers are there to provide security for operations and to make sure that we have peaceful protests. So that's what their work is. And I won't get more specific on that, just because we never do when it comes to law enforcement operations. We're doing the same standard procedures we always do and have for years in this country with our National Guard and with our, you know, law enforcement folks that are on the ground working with these communities. MARGARET BRENNAN: So the defense secretary also tweeted last night that he put active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton on high alert. We know, since you mentioned 2020 that President Trump, during those Black Lives Matter protests at the time had wanted to use active-duty U.S. troops on the streets of a major city. The 82nd Airborne at the time was called up. They were not sent into the streets. What exactly do you set, as homeland security secretary, as your benchmark for when you would counsel the president of the United States to send active-duty troops in to police a domestic disturbance? SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: Well, my hope is always that we work with local leaders that would do their jobs. And that is what has failed in L.A., is that the mayor has refused to recognize the dangerous situation that she's perpetuating, as well as the governor. When we ask for backup in a situation, LAPD has waited hours to respond, and they've waited until we have an officer in a dangerous situation until they come in and help us bring peace. Oftentimes, in these cities, you have good leaders that help give backup to other law enforcement officers, but you have politicians who won't give that kind of resource when it's needed. Unfortunately, waiting several hours for LAPD to show up or telling them – them telling us that they're not going to back us up until they have an officer in a dangerous situation… MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes. SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: … is something that just isn't workable when you have violent protests going on, so I wish… MARGARET BRENNAN: The U.S… SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: (AUDIO GAP) work better with us, but that's one of the reasons that you've seen the National Guard come in and help us with those security operations. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the U.S. Attorney in L.A. told CBS that LAPD did help. LAPD does not… (CROSSTALK) SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: That what has (AUDIO GAP) Margaret, is hours later. They – they waited until we had officers in dangerous situations. Then they responded. Now, if that was my city and I was the mayor… MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes. SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: … I would be sending (AUDIO GAP) law enforcement in there to back up other law enforcement officers. That's what America's about is, is that we have rules and we have laws. If you don't like the laws, go to Congress and change them. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well… SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: Someone should go to Congress and say, change the laws if we don't like what's happening in this country. Do that, instead of throwing rocks and throwing Molotov cocktails and instead of attacking law enforcement officers. MARGARET BRENNAN: Understood. SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: We're just not going to (AUDIO GAP) anymore. This president cares deeply about family members that want to live in their communities and be safe. MARGARET BRENNAN: Back to the question, though, of active-duty troops, different from the National Guard, what is your personal counsel here to the president? Because it's you, the attorney general and the secretary of defense who are going to have a lot of responsibility here in implementing some of this call to do this. SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: Well, let me be clear about something. ICE and Homeland Security are running these operations right now. And the advice and counsel of the attorney general, the Department of Defense are extremely important to the president of the United States, and we never discuss our personal conversations and advice to the president of the United States. He makes the decisions. He is the president that sits in that seat, and we are all very proud to work for him. So I'm grateful for the leadership – leadership of Pete Hegseth and Pam Bondi. MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes. SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: And I get the chance to work with them. And as (AUDIO GAP) does their job today, we're thankful to have the partnership and the leadership of President Trump. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, some Republican senators, like Senator Lankford, has – have said active-duty Marines are not going to be put into local law enforcement. So there are Republican lawmakers questioning this. To the question about where we are seeing the National Guard troops centered around this Roybal Center, CBS is reporting undocumented immigrants attending their ICE check-ins were being detained and held overnight in the basement of that building. And there were lawyers for some of those detainees claiming it was illegal because the migrants were held in makeshift facilities with limited access to food and water. That was one of the sources of the protest. Can you vouch for these facilities? And do you understand what some of these protesters are concerned about? SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM: Well, these protests started long before we ended up in the situations that we saw when we were trying to secure these individuals and the law enforcement officers involved. What I would say is, is getting into individuals in and out of those facilities was extremely challenging when the violence broke out and when things were being thrown at vehicles, and people were rocking vehicles and shaking them, trying to break into them. In fact, we had to send a swift response team in to get a female officer out of her vehicle safely in those situations. So, we are following all the laws and procedures, as we always do. But when you have violence like that, the safety of everybody involved is incredibly important, and we'll make sure that we get people through them without injury as best to our ability. MARGARET BRENNAN: Secretary Noem, we're going to have to leave that there. Thank you for your time this morning. And we apologize to our viewers about any audio drops you may have heard there. I heard a few myself. Face the Nation will be back in one minute. Stay with us. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MARGARET BRENNAN: We are now joined by Texas Republican Representative Tony Gonzales. Good morning, and good to have you here. REPRESENTATIVE TONY GONZALES (R-Texas): Yeah, thank you for having me. MARGARET BRENNAN: You are always focused on immigration because of your district, but when you're watching what happens out there in L.A., and using federal authorities as they are being used here, are you comfortable with what the president is doing? REPRESENTATIVE TONY GONZALES: Yes, first, happy birthday to my mama, who's back in San Antonio. To your question, yes, I am comfortable with it. It's tragic to see what's happening in L.A. I spent 20 years in the military. I fought in two wars. I fought to give people the freedom to protest whatever the hell they want to, but what we're seeing in L.A. are not advocates. We're seeing anarchists. And the president of the United States should absolutely put down the mob as soon as possible. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. MARGARET BRENNAN: Are you comfortable with active-duty Marines being put on high alert for possible deployment to quell a civil disturbance? REPRESENTATIVE TONY GONZALES: If need be. But, you know, you always want to escalate… MARGARET BRENNAN: Against the will of the governor? REPRESENTATIVE TONY GONZALES: You always want to escalate to de-escalate. But it first starts where you have to have local law enforcement get engaged. But if local law enforcement is removed, and then you don't have the state law enforcement, then who is going to take care of the people? I want to see safety. I want to see safety and security all places, to include L.A. But, once again, this is the tip of the iceberg. We're talking about – we're talking about, you know, 100,000 people that have been deployed – or that have been deported. The numbers are about to go way up. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we have reached out to the state. We have reached out to the mayor. The LAPD, as I was reading there, the top federal prosecutor in that city said, LAPD did respond. The sheriff in Paramount said they aren't there to do federal law enforcement, but they did respond when federal authorities were in peril and asked for help. But bringing it to your district, you have a major city. You have San Antonio. You also have rural areas. Is the administration targeting blue cities with blue governors they don't like, or are you seeing similar actions in Texas? REPRESENTATIVE TONY GONZALES: I think what they're targeting is, they're trying to deport people as fast as they possibly can. What's going to happen is, they're going to – it's going to be across the country. And, once again, this is the tip of the iceberg. Joe Biden took a hatchet. MARGARET BRENNAN: What do you mean by that? REPRESENTATIVE TONY GONZALES: Joe Biden took a hatchet to the – to the – to an already broken immigration system. Right now, there's over 400,000 asylum seekers that under the last administration had their cases closed without adjudication. They weren't given a yes. They weren't given a no. They just had their cases closed. So, one could argue that these 400,000 people are in this country illegally and should be deported immediately. One could also argue that these 400,000 people did not get proper – you know, an opportunity to state their case, and they didn't – and they didn't have that ability. What I'm worried about is, this thing's going to escalate. It's not going to be just L.A. It'll be cities all over the country, as we continue to deport people. MARGARET BRENNAN: You said back in November the administration would fail if it began going after nonviolent migrants. You said: 'If the message is, we're here to deport your abuelita, this is not going to work well.' You heard our reporting. People are getting arrested going to court appearances, trying to abide by the law. We have these cases of, for example, a 19-year-old high schooler on his way to volleyball team practice in Massachusetts arrested because the student visa had expired, an Afghan soldier in Houston who used to guard American soldiers at bases with eight kids to his name arrested, even though he entered this country with legal status. Are these people the worst of the worst? REPRESENTATIVE TONY GONZALES: They're not. But – and this is what's going to happen, is, as – as these 400,000 asylum seekers that are in limbo, if you will, start to get deported – Maria, who's 23 years old, that was from Honduras, that was – was told to come to the United States for a better life, and has gotten married and has had children, as she gets ripped from that life and gets sent back to Honduras, it's going to be very painful for us. What I would like for us to do is focus on the – the convicted criminal illegal aliens. Last year, I asked the administration… MARGARET BRENNAN: But is that happening? Because, right now, it looks like they're trying to run up the numbers, frankly. REPRESENTATIVE TONY GONZALES: Last year, the – I asked the administration what that number was. It was 662,000. Last month, I asked – as of July of last year. Last month, I asked Secretary Noem, under – under oath, I asked her, has that number increased or has that number decreased? She – she responded that the number of convicted criminal illegal aliens has increased. So that means we have over 600,000. We should absolutely focus on that population, the worst of the worst, and make sure that those are the areas that get removed. Otherwise, it's going to take us down this route of constant civil conflict. MARGARET BRENNAN: The vice president used what's happening as an opportunity to say that this massive bill the president wants Congress to pass should get passed quickly. It's got about $46 billion for the border wall, other money for Border Patrol. The Homeland Security chair in the Senate, Rand Paul, was on this program last Sunday. He said, this is too much money. It inflates the cost of the wall eightfold. Should the Senate claw back some of the money that members of the House just passed? (CROSSTALK) REPRESENTATIVE TONY GONZALES: Well, I don't know if – I don't know if Rand Paul has ever found a bill he's ever liked. And he's probably not wrong, because every bill, it has flaws to it. But there's $168 billion in this bill for border security. That's important, but it's also important that we have oversight to this funds. You can't just write a blank check to the administration and expect them to go out and accomplish these – these are very complicated, difficult tasks. This is where Congress has to come alongside and make sure that those funds are going to the right places, that once again that we're going after these convicted – over 600,000 convicted criminal illegal aliens that everyone you know agrees that, you know, you take those people out of your out of your community, everyone gets safe. That's the area we should focus on. MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you voted for this bill… REPRESENTATIVE TONY GONZALES: Sure. Yes. MARGARET BRENNAN: … the last version of it that the Senate is now tweaking. You're also a fan of Elon Musk. You were on this program like – I think it was back in March, and you said he's like the prime minister of the United States. Sorry, December, I think. Musk said about this bill: 'This massive, outrageous, pork-filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. You know it was wrong.' Are you going to reconsider your vote after – vote after the Senate finishes its review? REPRESENTATIVE TONY GONZALES: Well, one, Elon has done more for humanity and is going to continue to do more. That's why I'm a fan of his. Two is, he speaks without a filter. He's not wrong. You know, that bill had a lot of issues to it. But I don't get it. You know, as a member, I get to say yes or no. I get to make it as best as possible. We got to see what the Senate does. What I'm really concerned is, what is – you know, are they going to touch Medicaid, right? The president has said, don't touch Medicaid. We've come out very early on, a lot of members on the House, to make sure you don't gut programs that work, and how do you give money to the resources where you need it, like border security. So, the Senate's going to do its part. I have got to wait to see the final product before I'm a yes or no, but I think we have a lot of work to do. MARGARET BRENNAN: Are you comfortable with what it does to Medicaid? REPRESENTATIVE TONY GONZALES: Right now, I mean, from where it was, yes. (CROSSTALK) REPRESENTATIVE TONY GONZALES: I'm OK with people having to work in order to – to get benefits. I don't want to see – what I don't want to see is, I don't want to see seniors have – you know, and the most vulnerable of our population have their – have their health care ripped away from them, and I think a lot of that has been clawed back. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we will watch the developing news on this front. Thank you, Congressman. REPRESENTATIVE TONY GONZALES: Thanks, Margaret. MARGARET BRENNAN: We'll be right back. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, who joins us from Minneapolis. Good morning, Senator. SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minnesota): Thanks, Margaret. MARGARET BRENNAN: You heard Secretary Noem say, what's happening in L.A. and the decisions being made about it at the federal level have to do with what happened in 2020 in Minneapolis and what she called the missteps of your governor, Tim Walz, at the time. You lived through all that. What would you advise Governor Newsom to do out in California now? SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: Every governor is going to make their own decisions based on the situation. In this case, Governor Newsom has made clear that he wants local law enforcement protecting the citizens, and he has asked the president not to inflame the situation. In Governor Walz's case, as you pointed out in the earlier segment, he did bring in the National Guard. I would also point out that, on January 6, I was there as well, and what I saw there was, the president didn't bring in the National Guard when over 100 police officers were injured or hurt or worse. And so I think it is quite, let's say, ironic probably doesn't fit this situation, when you have got administration officials talking about protecting police officers after what happened on January 6. And when I look at what's going on in California or across the country, of course, as the congressman said, you want to get dangerous criminals out of our midst, out of our communities. But when you look at where the American people are, they want to make sure you follow the law and that there's due process, and you don't want to inflame things by threatening to bring in the Marines or deporting people based on a mistake. MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator, we're going to take a quick break and continue this conversation. You have such a key role in oversight of law enforcement on the Judiciary. We'll be right back. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MARGARET BRENNAN: We will be right back with a lot more Face the Nation. Stay with us. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to FACE THE NATION. We return now to our conversation with Senator Klobuchar. Senator, it seems that the president's use of the National Guard, as he's federalizing them, is somewhat novel. It's the first time since 1965 a president has activated a state's National Guard without a request from the governor. SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): Correct. MARGARET BRENNAN: That's according to the Brennan Center for Justice. What concerns do you have about going in this direction? It's about 60 days that have been authorized in the proclamation he signed last night. SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: My concern, of course, is that this inflames the situation and that he is hellbent on inflaming the situations. Individual governors look at their states. They make decisions. But in this case, the president, time and time again, has shown this willingness to, one, violate the law, as we've seen across the country in many different situations outside of the immigration context. And two, inflame situations. So, what do I think he should be doing right now? Who do I think he should be bringing in? I think he should be bringing in economists to talk to him right now about what's happening with the debt and with his big, beautiful betrayal of the middle class, to be talking to him about what's going on with the tariffs and how they are hurting small businesses. I think he should be bringing in the people that I talk to every day, regular people, farmers whose markets are drying up, people who are worried about their moms or their grandmas getting kicked out of their assisted living because of his Medicaid cuts. When Josh Hawley calls this morally bereft, that it's immoral to make these Medicaid cuts, and when Elon Musk comes in and says that this is a disgusting abomination, this bill, and when it is now triggering, get this, Medicare cuts, something that hasn't been discussed yet, because it adds so much to the deficit that rural hospitals are going to get cut, I think that's who he should be listening to right now, instead of his constant effort for shock and awe and trying to distract people what they care about most, which is the economy and their family situation. MARGARET BRENNAN: We will – we're going to talk about some of those very issues with Kevin Hassett, one of the president's top economic advisers, shortly, including that idea of Medicare being touched, which is – is being floated, but we – we haven't heard from the administration on in detail. But – but the president's putting immigration front and center here. We've seen in our polling that at least before what happened in L.A. that this was broadly supported, 54 percent of Americans like his deportation policies. I'm – I'm worry – I'm wondering how much you worry that this puts Democrats on the back foot. That you are put in the position of defending someone like Abrego Garcia, who was just brought back to the United States from El Salvador and is now being charged by the Justice Department on these claims that he was involved somehow in human trafficking. This is that Maryland man who was, according to the Justice Department, wrongly sent to a prison in El Salvador on suspicion of being a member of a gang, which his family denied. SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: So, Democrats believe in public safety. As a former prosecutor, I spent a lot of my life work working with law enforcement. And that means you don't inflame things and make it worse. And that is that you make sure that violent criminals aren't in our midst. But even when you look at your own poll that just came out this morning, a – a strong majority of people believe that people should at least have – follow the rule of law and have due process so people aren't mistakenly deported. When I look at the Abrego Garcia case, I see two things. The first is that – that you have to follow the law. The second is, the charges will be dealt with in the justice system. That's how this works. And, of course, they should have done that at the get go and not wrongfully deported him and handled the charges in our country. But in the end, to me, this is about the rule of law and enforcing the laws. And again, when I look at your polling, 70 percent of the people said that while they – a number of them will support deporting violent criminals, I support that, OK. MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: But 70 percent of them said that these policies either don't help with the economy or they weaken the economy. They are not there. They want this president – they voted for him, a bunch of them in the middle, who in my state also voted for me, they want him to see bring down costs. MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes. SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: They don't want him to be kicking old people out of assisted living or cut the food assistance for veterans. They want him to be working on things that help them in their daily lives. That's what also comes out in your polling numbers. MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes. As you know, Republicans say they're not cutting Medicaid, they're making it more efficient. But – but we will talk to Kevin Hassett about some of the specifics of – of what you just raised there. In our poll, though, our – it also shows, among – among those polled, that congressional Democrats are overwhelmingly seen as ineffective in challenging Trump. Seventy-one percent of Democrats say their leaders are ineffective. You are in Democratic leadership. Why are they wrong? SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: So, when you look at what's happening here, Trump is doing some really bad things to people, right? Small businesses are closing down, the economy has retracted in the first quarter. And when I get out there talking to independents, Republicans or Democrats, they're basically saying the same thing, they're really scared of what's happening right now to their families and they want to see leadership. So, we cannot be the party of the status quo, that is for certain. And I'm actually really excited about our new candidates that are going to be running in the midterms. The recruiting is going on. And when you look at the actual facts, the actual numbers, look over at my neighbors over in Wisconsin for the Supreme Court race where ten Trump counties were flipped from red to blue because people have had it with this. Or look at some of the legislative races around the country, Margaret. Our constituents are standing up and we are by their side, whether they're Democrats, moderate Republicans or independents. They are showing up at rallies. They are voting. That's the number one most important thing. MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes. SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: Democratic attorney generals are bringing cases in court that the public supports. They don't want to see veterinarians eliminated – eliminated from the USDA or they don't want to see funding frozen for cancer trials. And then you look at Congress. We are holding them accountable with votes. All we need is four Republicans to stand up against what Josh Hawley calls immoral Medicaid cuts. Just four of them. All we need is four Republicans to stand up against these food assistance that throws millions of people, veterans, seniors, kids – 40 percent of the people that get food assistance are kids – to stand up against shifting money over to the states so Pennsylvania would suddenly get – MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes. SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: Would suddenly get a huge amount, millions of dollars, shifted over to them, or over in North Carolina. MARGARET BRENNAN: OK. SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: Where you've seen 500 – over 500 million shifted. People need to stand up. The Republicans need to stand up. To me, that's leadership. MARGARET BRENNAN: OK. SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: Not defending the status quo for our party, but moving forward with a forward-thinking agenda and – MARGARET BRENNAN: All right. SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: And new energy. MARGARET BRENNAN: All right. Understand. Senator Klobuchar, thank you your time today. We'll be right back. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MARGARET BRENNAN: We're joined now by the director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett. He joins us from the White House. Good morning to you. KEVIN HASSETT (Director, National Economic Council): Hey, Margaret. Good morning. MARGARET BRENNAN: So, I do want to allow you to respond to some of the very specific criticisms that Senator Klobuchar made. One of the things she brought up was something that, frankly, the Senate majority leader seemed to acknowledge was under discussion, and that was touching Medicare. Making some kind of adjustment. He said, anything we can do that's waste, fraud and abuse is open to discussion. Is the White House open to any discussion around Medicare? KEVIN HASSETT: Well, first of all, what's happening is that the senators, respecting the legislative process, are discussing what they think that they can put on the table. And the president has made it clear that ending waste, fraud and abuse and giving benefits to illegals and giving benefits to people who are able-bodied workers, those are his high priorities. If the Senate comes up with other things they'd like us to look at, I guess – I guess we would have a look at them. But there have been a lot of false stories about Medicare being on the table. And it's totally not on the table. The way that that was covered in the news a couple of weeks ago was that in the end, when the budget process ends, if they don't waive the budget caps, then there's going to be reductions across the board in spending. And that's what no one would intend and no Democrat would vote for that. But that was covered as our intent to go after Medicare, and that was a big, fake news story last week. MARGARET BRENNAN: OK, so Leader Thune and – and Leader Johnson have – and Speaker Johnson have said anything with waste, fraud and abuse. But you, right now, are taking – KEVIN HASSETT: Waste, fraud and abuse. Waste, fraud and abuse is – is the same (ph). MARGARET BRENNAN: But to be – understood. But you are taking Medicare off the table. The – the White House says, don't do it? KEVIN HASSETT: No, we – no. But – but – but – but I've not – I've seen a massive amount of waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid and I've not been briefed on Medicare waste, fraud and abuse. MARGARET BRENNAN: OK. KEVIN HASSETT: The – but if they find something, then, of course, we would look at it. MARGARET BRENNAN: You would look at it. KEVIN HASSETT: Of course. MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator Hawley was also brought up by Senator Klobuchar. And Missouri Senator has made it clear he wants to see changes to the increased co-payment requirements for Medicaid. That was in the House version that was sent over to the Senate. Are you comfortable with this House bill as it is written? What do you want to see done to Medicaid? KEVIN HASSETT: Right. Again, what we want to see done now is we want the Senate to pass the bill, and then we want the House and the Senate to work out their differences while negotiating with us. Right now, the Senate has to get the votes they need to pass the bill. And we're supporting them in that process. But you also need to be mindful when you're thinking about this that one of the things that we put out a report for the Council of Economic Advisers, that if the bill doesn't pass, then they estimate that this would cause a reduction of GDP by 4 percent. We'd be in a deep recession. We'd lose six or seven million jobs. And those people – almost all those people would lose their insurance. And so this idea that the only person who ever is going to get insurance is someone who's getting it from the government is just incorrect. And if we create the jobs that we have in the bill, then we're going to create a heck of a lot more insurance than what we're talking about in waste, fraud and abuse. MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you're open to what Senator Hawley is looking to change, though? That – that's what I understand. KEVIN HASSETT: I – I'd have to go see what he has and I'd want to look at the fine details before I say I'm open to it. MARGARET BRENNAN: OK. KEVIN HASSETT: And I also would want to talk to the president about this specific matter, which I've not done. MARGARET BRENNAN: OK. So, one of the other massive influences on the economy right now is the – the trade war, particularly with China. Tomorrow in London the Treasury secretary, the trade representative and the Commerce secretary are going to meet with Chinese officials. Treasury Secretary Bessent told us last Sunday that the recent tension was around exports of critical minerals. When will those exports resume, and what do you expect to come from tomorrow's meeting? KEVIN HASSETT: Right. Those exports of critical minerals have been getting released at a rate that is, you know, higher than it was, but not as high as we believe we agreed to in Geneva. And President Trump, being a dealmaker, talked with President Xi and he said, let's take, you know, our senior guys and the people who are the same level as you, let's have them meet somewhere and let's get these things cleared up and then we'll clear up what you don't like that we've agreed to release on our side, and we're going to shake hands about it. He literally said, I want to meet in London and I want to shake hands on it so we know we've got a deal. And then after that I think there was a very affable exchange about President Trump visiting China and President Xi coming here. MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes. KEVIN HASSETT: And so – and so I'm very comfortable that this deal is about to be closed. And it's going to be closed, not with a bunch of staffers and bureaucratic language, but with handshakes. So, that's the way President Trump operates. MARGARET BRENNAN: But – but – but same terms? Nothing new? KEVIN HASSETT: Well, I think that there – we can't talk about the terms that they're coming out with tomorrow because they're still working on it. But the point is we want the rare earth, the magnets that are crucial for cell phones and everything else to flow just as they did before the beginning of April. And we don't want any technical details slowing that down. And that's clear to them. MARGARET BRENNAN: So, our CBS News polling shows that most Americans don't like the tariffs and most Americans don't think the Trump administration has a plan. We're – we're also hearing from top economists, including the head of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve, who said the rules are really unclear and business leaders need certainty. When will they get that certainty from the administration? KEVIN HASSETT: Right. Well, you can be certain that there's going to be some tariffs. And the stuff that folks have been saying that's going to happen to tariffs is inconsistent with what you and I have talked about before, Margaret. So – so, what's going on, right, is that we've had a trade deficit with China forever and ever because they just want to sell stuff here so that they can create jobs in China and help, you know, control their government so that the people who are unemployed, then it's harder for a dictatorship to run. And so the point is just that – that if we put a tariff on them, then they're going to bear the tariff. So, what just happened? What just happened is that we had about $60 billion in tariff revenue in the U.S. MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes. KEVIN HASSETT: And inflation – inflation – every measure of inflation is the lowest that it's been for more than four years. And so, all of our policies together are reducing inflation and helping reduce the deficit by getting revenue from other countries. And how much revenue, I think that you might have covered it, the Congressional Budget Office put out a ten-year estimate that says that the tariff revenue that's already in place right now is going to raise $2.8 trillion over the next ten years. MARGARET BRENNAN: OK. KEVIN HASSETT: That's more than their own estimate, their own static estimate for the cost of this entire bill. MARGARET BRENNAN: Sure. KEVIN HASSETT: So, that – that's deficit reduction right there. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, I'm glad you brought up that stat because it – it made me wonder, you just said that one certainty is there will be tariffs. KEVIN HASSETT: Sure. MARGARET BRENNAN: You are saying tariffs are staying put. That this is a constant source of – of – of – KEVIN HASSETT: We're – we're – we're negotiating reciprocal – you've seen deals. MARGARET BRENNAN: Right, but – but – but I hear you on the – KEVIN HASSETT: You've seen deals. Yes, and exactly where they are, we're working it out and we're opening up markets so that U.S. – MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. Yes, but deals – this is – this is where I'm stuck because deals is about negotiating down the tariffs so that's a diminishing source of revenue over time. But are you saying that there will be blanket tariffs of what percent? KEVIN HASSETT: Last year – last year, before we got here, we were raising $80 billion a year in tariffs. Right now the CBO projects that we're going to get $2.8 trillion over the next ten years. Exactly where the number ends up is going to depend on how much foreign countries open up their markets to our products and how much – how well they treat our farmers. And – and we'll see. But – but – but revenue – MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you don't know how much revenue you're going to have? KEVIN HASSETT: Revenue was $80 billion last year. Revenue – tariff revenue is not going away, that's what I'm saying. MARGARET BRENNAN: But we – but we don't know what the tariffs are going to be? So – KEVIN HASSETT: We're negotiating them on a country by country basis. MARGARET BRENNAN: Exactly. KEVIN HASSETT: We've got a whole bunch of trade deals and we've got a trade deal with the U.K. that's already – you can see what the trade deal in the U.K. is now. MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. So, it's a fluctuating number. It's not – it's not a constant. But before I let you go, the Senate Finance chair, I know you were in this meeting at the White House this week. KEVIN HASSETT: Sure. MARGARET BRENNAN: He indicated quadrupling the state and local tax deduction, or SALT tax, is – is not something he's interested in doing. They don't have the politics in the Senate like they do in the House that would require it, right? So, is the White House committed to keeping this – – this quadrupling of the SALT tax deduction as it is? KEVIN HASSETT: The – the president has said that he supports changing the law, the state and local tax deduction. And this is a very – you know, it's a horse trading issue with the Senate and the House. And again, the president has listed his priorities on the tax bill and he – you know, it's no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. You know them all. And the Senate and the House, they're – they know that those priorities for the president are red lines. And then, on the other side, they're negotiating what they're going to negotiate because there's a differing level of support in the Senate than there was in the House. And in the end – MARGARET BRENNAN: OK. KEVIN HASSETT: The one thing we need and the president wants is a bill that passes, and passes on the Fourth of July. MARGARET BRENNAN: So – so, Senator Crapo needs to prepare himself that that is staying as the House wrote it? KEVIN HASSETT: He's got to work it out with the House. MARGARET BRENNAN: OK. Kevin Hassett, thank you for your time this morning. KEVIN HASSETT: Thank you, guys. MARGARET BRENNAN: We'll be back in a moment. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to the international efforts to alleviate the extraordinary humanitarian crisis in Gaza. And we're joined by the CEO of Save the Children, Janti Soeripto. Welcome back to FACE THE NATION. JANTI SOERIPTO (CEO and President, Save the Children U.S.): Thank you, Margaret. MARGARET BRENNAN: So, there are a million children in Gaza in desperate need. The U.N. says the 11-week Israeli blockade has caused the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition to triple. What are you able to get in to help? JANTI SOERIPTO: So, since March 2nd, Save the Children has been able to get nothing in whatsoever. MARGARET BRENNAN: Even though the blockade's over? JANTI SOERIPTO: Even though the blockade is formerly over, we haven't been able to get any of our – the 50 trucks that we have around Gaza, on the border, ready to go in, we haven't been able to get anything in. MARGARET BRENNAN: Why? JANTI SOERIPTO: So our staff are operating currently still with what we have. We have dwindling stocks, medical supplies, therapeutic malnutrition treatment for children, very young children. We're still working where we can and delivering goods while we can. But these talks are dwindling fast. MARGARET BRENNAN: What's the choke point? Why can't your trucks get in? JANTI SOERIPTO: We haven't gotten any authorization to get them in. MARGARET BRENNAN: From the Israeli authorities? JANTI SOERIPTO: Yes. MARGARET BRENNAN: Is the U.S. government helping at all? JANTI SOERIPTO: I think there is – there's an effort. I think there's a recognition that the humanitarian situation as it is is completely untenable, that we're looking at mass starvation of innocent civilians and above all very young children, as you said. So, there's attempts being made, we think, that those attempts currently are completely ineffective and – and inadequate. MARGARET BRENNAN: The director of al Shifa Hospital in Gaza told 'CBS THIS MORNING' that only a few hours remain before the generators in the hospital shut down because they don't have enough fuel to keep them going. JANTI SOERIPTO: Yes. MARGARET BRENNAN: What are your medical workers seeing on the ground? What happens if a hospital like that can't function? JANTI SOERIPTO: Yes, it's – I'm not surprised by that. It's completely abhorrent. We are hearing stories from colleagues in Gaza that are talking about children who have to undergo surgery and then they wake up during the surgery because there is not enough anesthetics. So, that is what's happening. That is what it looks like. MARGARET BRENNAN: That is horrific. JANTI SOERIPTO: It is. MARGARET BRENNAN: The U.N. office that oversees these efforts have warned as well that kids are – are leading households because their parents are gone. JANTI SOERIPTO: That's right. There's thousands and thousands of children who have lost one or more parents, lost their immediate family. So, yes, we'll have kids, young kids, taking care of their younger siblings, trying to survive. MARGARET BRENNAN: What does that do to a society? JANTI SOERIPTO: It – it – it's unbelievable what's happening to this generation of 2 million people in Gaza. You know, the trauma is hard to overestimate. We are hearing mothers tell us that now their children a essentially waiting their turn to die. MARGARET BRENNAN: How does your staff continue to function when they're told things like that? JANTI SOERIPTO: It's horrific, as you can imagine. So we have almost 200 staff there, almost all of them Palestinians, and can you imagine, they still go out every day – they have their own children to take care of. They can't feed their own kids adequately. They still go out every day trying to deliver, give medical assistance to – to kids and mothers where they can, hand out food when – whilst we still have it, trying to give people trauma counseling whilst we can – if we can reach them. But it is incredibly difficult. They're just trying to survive, almost, I think, pushing away, thinking about the trauma too much because otherwise it's very difficult, I think, to – to get up and – and go to work. MARGARET BRENNAN: So, your organization does help like this, emergency help like this around the world. The Trump administration has called on the U.N. to – to work with this new organization called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. It's got the Israeli government's support to deliver aid. We've seen a number of deadly shootings documented in proximity to their posts. A lot of criticism. They told the public yesterday that they'd received threats from Hamas, but then they didn't share details of that with CBS when we asked. Do you know what's happening? Because this is a U.S.-backed organization. JANTI SOERIPTO: It seems so. We have given a lot of input and – and – and shared our concerns. We and – and all the other operational agencies – operational in Gaza, shared our concerns with this new mechanism. We thought the existing mechanism worked just fine when we had the pause in fighting from January until March. If you recall, we got trucks and trucks of supplies in at scale. We were able to deliver. We treated children with malnutrition. We did vaccinations. We did medical care, et cetera. The hospitals were operating. There was fuel to operate the generator in al Shifa Hospital, and that worked. So, this current new mechanism doesn't seem to work. It – it – the failings seem to play out exactly in the way that we warned against. It is also a militarization of aid if you put men with guns near to a distribution point and then you ask a – a desperate, desperate, starving population to come and walk for miles to get boxes of food, you're going to create crowd control issues and – and increase risk of harm to an already incredibly desperate population. MARGARET BRENNAN: And boxes of food are not what you can give to a child who's in the midst of starvation. JANTI SOERIPTO: Exactly right. It's completely inadequate support as well. JANTI SOERIPTO: Thank you for having me. MARGARET BRENNAN: We'll be right back. (ANNOUNCEMENTS) MARGARET BRENNAN: That's it for us today. Thank you all for watching. Until next week, for FACE THE NATION, I'm Margaret Brennan. (ANNOUNCEMENTS)
Wakala News
07-06-2025
- Sport
- Wakala News
FIFA Club World Cup 2025: Stadiums, host cities, final venue
The FIFA Club World Cup starts on June 14, 2025, with the US-based tournament lasting for just under a month before the final in New Jersey on July 13. Here is a detailed breakdown of the 12 stadium venues and 11 cities hosting the event, which range from Philadelphia in the east of the country to Los Angeles on the west coast, to Atlanta in the deep south. Five of the Club World Cup venues – Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Hard Rock Stadium, MetLife Stadium, Lincoln Financial Field, and Lumen Field – will also host 2026 FIFA World Cup matches. US Host Cities and venues: 📍Where the #FIFACWC action will unfold. 🏟️ — FIFA Club World Cup (@FIFACWC) June 2, 2025 Stadium and host cities guide: FIFA Club World Cup 2025 1. Mercedes-Benz Stadium ⚽ 16/06: Chelsea vs LAFC (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽ 19/06: Inter Miami vs Porto (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽ 22/06: Manchester City vs Al Ain (9:00pm EDT/01:00 GMT) ⚽ 29/06: Round of 16 (12:00pm EDT/16:00 GMT) ⚽ 01/07: Round of 16 (9:00pm EDT/01:00 GMT) ⚽ 05/07: Quarterfinal (12:00pm EDT/16:00 GMT) This southern city of more than 500,000 people is famous for another kind of football (American college football), home to the Atlanta MLS team, and the site of undoubtedly the most space-age stadium architecture of the 11 host cities, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Eight FIFA World Cup 2026 fixtures will take place in Atlanta, including a semifinal and two other knockout ties. For the Club World Cup, the venue will hold six matches in total, culminating in a quarterfinal on July 5. This huge venue boasts a retractable roof and a 360-degree halo video display. It also hosts the professional NFL team, Atlanta Falcons, ice hockey and music concerts, with heavy metal band Metallica due to host a show shortly before the Club World Cup. 2. Bank of America Stadium Location: Charlotte, North Carolina Capacity: 75,000 Built: 1996 Fixtures: ⚽ 22/06: Real Madrid vs Pachuca (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽24/06: Benfica vs Bayern Munich (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽28/06: Round of 16 (4:00pm EDT/20:00 GMT) ⚽30/06: Round of 16 (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) Nestled on the edge of downtown Charlotte's many skyscrapers, Bank of America Stadium is one of the largest football venues on the East Coast of the United States. The all-blue seated arena is home to the MLS franchise Charlotte FC since 2022, as well as the NFL team Carolina Panthers, who have played home games here since the mid-1990s. Charlotte is the major centre of the US motorsports industry, housing the country's only Formula One team, Haas F1, and multiple NASCAR teams. 3. TQL Stadium Location: Cincinnati, Ohio Capacity: 26,000 Built: 2021 Fixtures: ⚽ 15/06: Bayern Munich vs Auckland City (12:00pm EDT/16:00 GMT) ⚽ 18/06: Pachuca vs Salzburg (6:00pm EDT/22:00 GMT) ⚽ 21/06: Mamelodi Sundowns vs Borussia Dortmund (12:00pm EDT/16:00 GMT) ⚽ 25/06: Borussia Dortmund vs Ulsan HD (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) Located near the Ohio River and just two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the state border with Kentucky, this relatively new and football-specific stadium is the home of MLS side FC Cincinnati. The stadium, which has the third-smallest seating capacity of the 12 Club World Cup venues at 26,000, has an intimate feel to it with spectators sitting close to the action. TQL Stadium has already hosted several matches for international teams, including in the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup. The US women's team has played at this venue twice, attracting more than 22,000 attendees on both occasions. Cincinnati, Ohio's most populous metro area, with more than 2.3 million residents, was nicknamed 'Porkopolis' during the 19th century due to the city's role in pork packaging, and was known to have thousands of pigs herded through its streets. 4. Rose Bowl Stadium Location: Los Angeles, California Capacity: 88,500 Built: 1922 Fixtures: ⚽ 15/06: PSG vs Atletico Madrid (12:00pm PDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽ 17/06: Monterrey vs Inter Milan (6:00pm PDT/01:00 GMT) ⚽ 19/06: PSG vs Botafogo (6:00pm PDT/01:00 GMT) ⚽ 21/06: River Plate vs Monterrey (6:00pm – PDT/01:00 GMT) ⚽ 23/06: Atletico Madrid vs Botafogo (12:00pm PDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽ 25/06: Urawa Red Diamonds vs Monterrey (6:00pm PDT/01:00 GMT) This iconic venue, the biggest and easily oldest ground in action at the Club World Cup, celebrated its centenary in 2022. For spectators, the sweeping seating throughout the circular arena provides an uninterrupted view of the playing field. Recognised as a National Historic Landmark, the Rose Bowl is best known as a college American football venue, specifically as the host of the annual Rose Bowl Game after which it is named. Five Super Bowl games, the third most of any venue, have been played in the stadium. It is also a well-known football venue, having hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup final, the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup final, and the 1984 Olympic gold medal match. Los Angeles and its metropolitan area are home to 11 top-level professional sports teams, including the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, the NBA's iconic LA Lakers and the winners of the most MLS Cups, the LA Galaxy. 5. Hard Rock Stadium Location: Capacity: 65,000 Built: 1987 Fixtures: ⚽ 14/06: Ah Ahly vs Inter Miami (8:00pm EDT/00:00 GMT) ⚽ 16/06: Boca Juniors vs Benfica (6:00pm EDT/22:00 GMT) ⚽ 18/06: Real Madrid vs Al Hilal (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽ 20/06: Bayern Munich vs Boca Juniors (9:00pm EDT/01:00 GMT) ⚽ 23/06: Inter Miami vs Palmeiras (9:00pm EDT/01:00 GMT) ⚽ 25/06: Mamelodi Sundowns vs Fluminense (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽ 29/06: Round of 16 (4:00pm EDT/20:00 GMT) ⚽ 01/07: Round of 16 (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) From hosting the NFL's famous Miami Dolphins, to being the epicentre of the annual Formula One Miami Grand Prix, to staging the Miami Open tennis tournament, the Hard Rock Stadium is the venue of choice for large-scale sporting events in this famous coastal city. Six Super Bowls, multiple major concerts and international football matches have taken place here, and it is also among the host venues selected for the FIFA World Cup next year. The Hard Rock Stadium will stage the opening fixture of the Club World Cup on June 14, where Lionel Messi's Inter Miami will face Egyptian club Al Ahly. 6. GEODIS Park Location: Nashville, Tennessee Capacity: 30,000 Built: 2022 Fixtures: ⚽ 20/06: LAFC vs Esperance (5:00pm CDT/22:00 GMT) ⚽ 24/06: Auckland City vs Boca Juniors (2:00pm CDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽ 26/06: Al Hilal vs Pachuca (9:00pm EDT/01:00 GMT) GEODIS Park is the largest football-specific stadium in the US and Canada, and fans throughout the ground are unusually close to the action, with the furthest distance from seat to touchline standing at just 150 feet (46 metres). The venue is home to MLS side Nashville SC and has also hosted several matches of the US men's and women's football teams. Located in Nashville, which is often referred to as Music City, GEODIS Park also serves as a major concert venue and has hosted popular American rock bands such as Guns N' Roses and Green Day. 7. MetLife Stadium Location: East Rutherford, New Jersey Capacity: 82,500 Built: 2010 Fixtures: ⚽ 15/06: Palmeiras vs Porto (6:00pm EDT/22:00 GMT) ⚽ 17/06: Fluminense vs Borussia Dortmund (12:00pm EDT/16:00 GMT) ⚽ 19/06: Palmeiras vs Al Ahly (12:00pm EDT/16:00 GMT) ⚽ 21/06: Fluminense vs Ulsan HD (6:00pm – EDT/22:00 GMT) ⚽ 23/06: Porto vs Al Ahly (9:00pm EDT/01:00 GMT) ⚽ 05/07: Quarterfinal (4:00pm EDT/20:00 GMT) ⚽ 08/07: Semifinal 1 (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽ 09/07: Semifinal 2 (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽ 13/07: Final (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) The MetLife Stadium, a huge multipurpose stadium which is currently home to the NFL's New York Giants and New York Jets, is the grand stage chosen to host the Club World Cup final, as well as both semifinals. The stadium hosted the 2016 Copa America Centenario final, which marked 100 years of South America's continental tournament. The venue will also host the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, on top of two further knockout ties and five group-stage matches. New Jersey has long been an important cultural area for original rock and rap music creation, and the MetLife Stadium has hosted many A-list performers such as Beyonce, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift. 8. Camping World Stadium ⚽ 24/06: LAFC vs Flamengo (9:00pm EDT/01:00 GMT) ⚽ 26/06: Juventus vs Manchester City (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽ 30/06: Round of 16 (9:00pm EDT/01:00 GMT) ⚽ 04/07: Quarterfinal (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) Located in Orlando, home to more than a dozen theme parks, including the popular Walt Disney World, the Camping World Stadium has been used by several teams, including the National Women's (NWSL) football side Orlando Pride. Opened as Orlando Stadium, it has also been known as the Tangerine Bowl and Florida Citrus Bowl. The stadium has undergone multiple expansions and renovations since it first opened almost 90 years ago, culminating in the 2014 redevelopment, which saw the creation of a 90 percent all-new stadium following a $200m investment in the arena. Apart from sports, the venue plays host to entertainment and musical events, with the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, and Elton John all taking to the stage, while WrestleMania XXIV wowed a venue-record crowd of 74,635 in 2008. 9. Inter&Co Stadium Location: Orlando, Florida Capacity: 25,000 Built: 2017 Fixtures: ⚽ 17/06: Ulsan HD vs Mamelodi Sundowns (6:00pm EDT/22:00 GMT) ⚽ 20/06: Benfica vs Auckland City (12:00pm EDT/16:00 GMT) A newer and smaller venue than Orlando's other Club World Cup 2025 venue at Camping World Stadium, the Inter&Co Stadium is known for its purpose-built football design. It is the home ground of MLS outfit Orlando City and NWSL's Orlando Pride, while both the US men's and women's football teams have featured here, including during the FIFA men's World Cup qualifiers and the SheBelieves Cup women's tournament. The 2022 Special Olympics USA Games Opening Ceremony also took place here. 10. Lincoln Financial Field ⚽ 16/06: Flamengo vs Esperance (9:00pm EDT/01:00 GMT) ⚽ 18/06: Manchester City vs Wydad (12:00pm EDT/16:00 GMT) ⚽ 20/06: Flamengo vs Chelsea (2:00pm EDT/18:00 GMT) ⚽ 22/06: Juventus vs Wydad (12:00pm EDT/16:00 GMT) ⚽ 24/06: Esperance vs Chelsea (9:00pm EDT/01:00 GMT) ⚽ 26/06: Salzburg vs Real Madrid (9:00pm EDT/01:00 GMT) ⚽ 28/06: Round of 16 (12:00pm EDT/16:00 GMT) ⚽ 04/07: Quarterfinal (9:00pm EDT/01:00 GMT) Home to this year's NFL Super Bowl champions Philadelphia Eagles, Lincoln Financial Field has also been selected to host five group-stage matches and a Round of 16 tie during the 48-team FIFA World Cup next year. Located on the banks of the Delaware River, the stadium's first ticketed event took place in 2003 when Manchester United defeated Barcelona 3-1 in a friendly in front of more than 68,000 fans. 11. Lumen Field ⚽ 15/06: Botafogo vs Seattle Sounders (7:00pm PDT/02:00 GMT) ⚽ 17/06: River Plate vs Urawa Red Diamonds (12:00pm PDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽ 19/06: Seattle Sounders vs Atletico Madrid (3:00pm PDT/22:00 GMT) ⚽ 21/06: Inter Milan vs Urawa Red Diamonds (12:00pm PDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽ 23/06: Seattle Sounders vs PSG (12:00pm PDT/19:00 GMT) ⚽ 25/06: Inter Milan vs River Plate (6:00pm PDT/01:00 GMT) This spectacular stadium is home to Seattle Sounders – who qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 as CONCACAF Champions League winners in 2022 – as well as the NFL's Seattle Seahawks and NWSL's Seattle Reign. Boasting a unique horseshoe shape with an open north end that gives a stunning view of the city skyline, the Lumen Field is also a venue for next year's FIFA World Cup and will host six matches. Located within a mile of downtown Seattle, the stadium is easily accessible by multiple freeways and public transport. 12. Audi Field Location: Washington, DC Capacity: 20,000 Built: 2018 Fixtures: ⚽ 18/06: Al Ain vs Juventus (9:00pm EDT/01:00 GMT) ⚽ 22/06: Salzburg vs Al Hilal (6:00pm EDT/22:00 GMT) ⚽ 26/06: Wydad vs Al Ain (3:00pm EDT/19:00 GMT) The US capital's stadium is the home of the Washington Spirit in the NWSL and DC United, who are tied with the LA Galaxy as MLS's most decorated team. The US men's and women's national teams have both played fixtures at this ground, as well as Arsenal's men's and women's teams, in friendly or competitive matches. Audi Field, which will host three matches during the Club World Cup, also serves as a regular venue for American football, rugby and lacrosse games. المصدر الكاتب:newsadmin الموقع : نشر الخبر اول مرة بتاريخ : 2025-06-07 12:11:00 ادارة الموقع لا تتبنى وجهة نظر الكاتب او الخبر المنشور بل يقع على عاتق الناشر الاصلي
Wakala News
07-06-2025
- General
- Wakala News
‘Open prison': The forced labour driving India's $5 trillion economy dream
Amid the relentless clatter of machinery, Ravi Kumar Gupta feeds a roaring steel furnace with scrap, blown metal and molten iron. He carefully adds chemicals tailored to the type of steel being produced, adjusting fuel and airflow with precision to keep the furnace running smoothly. As his shift ends about 4pm, he stops briefly at a roadside tea shop just outside the gates of the steel factory in Maharashtra state's Tarapur Industrial Area. His safety helmet is still on, but his feet, instead of being shielded by boots, are in worn-out slippers – scant protection against the molten metal he works with. His eyes are bloodshot with exhaustion, and his green, full-sleeved shirt and faded, torn blue jeans are stained with grease and sweat. Four years after migrating from Barabanki, a district in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Ravi earns $175 per month – $25 less than India's monthly per capita income. And the paycheques are often delayed, arriving only between the 10th and 12th of each month. Middlemen, who are either locals or longterm migrants posing as locals, supply labour to factories in Maharashtra, India's industrial heartland. In return, the middlemen skim between $11 and $17 from each worker's wages. In addition, $7 is deducted monthly from their pay for canteen food, which consists of limited portions of rice, dal and vegetables for lunch, as well as evening tea. Asked why he continues to work at the steel factory, Ravi responds with resignation in his voice: 'What else can I do?' Giving up his job isn't an option. His family – two young daughters in school, his wife and mother who work on their small plot of farmland, and his ailing father who is unable to work – depend on the $100 a month that he is able to send home. Climate change, he says, has 'ruined farming', the family's traditional occupation. 'The rains don't come when they should. The land no longer feeds us. And where are the jobs in our village? There's nothing left. So, like the others, I left,' he says, his thick, calloused hands wrapped around a cup of tea. Ravi is a cog in the wheel of the soaring dreams of the world's fifth-largest economy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has boldly spoken of making India a $5 trillion economy, up from $3.5 trillion in 2023. But as Modi's government woos global investors and assures them that it is easy today to do business in India, Ravi is among millions of workers whose stories of withheld wages, endless toil and coercion – telltale signs of forced labour, according to the United Nations' International Labour Organization (ILO) – provide a haunting snapshot of the ugly underbelly of the country's economy. Farm to furnace The Factories Act of 1948, which governs working conditions in steel mills like the one where Ravi works, mandates annual paid leave for workers who have been employed for 240 days or more in a year. However, workers like Ravi do not receive paid leave. Any day taken off is unpaid, regardless of the reason. Like many others, Ravi is required to work all seven days a week, totalling 30 days a month, despite the fact that Sundays were officially declared a weekly holiday for all labourers in India as far back as 1890. Workers in many Indian factories do not receive a salary slip detailing their earnings and deductions. This lack of transparency leaves them in the dark about how much money has been deducted – or why. Worse still, if a worker is absent for three or four consecutive days, their entry card is deactivated. Upon returning, they are treated as a new employee. This reclassification affects their eligibility for important benefits such as the provident fund and end-of-service gratuity. In many cases, workers are forced to rejoin under these unfair terms simply because their pending wages – either direct from the company or via the middlemen – have not been paid. Walking away would mean forfeiting their hard-earned money. In addition to all this, Ravi confirms that neither he nor his colleagues, both in his company and in nearby factories within the industrial area, have received any written contracts outlining their job roles or employment benefits. According to a 2025 study (PDF) published in the Indian Journal of Legal Review, many workers face exploitation through unfair contracts, wage theft and forced labour due to the absence of written agreements. These practices particularly affect more vulnerable groups like migrants, women and low-skilled workers, who often have limited access to legal recourse. Al Jazeera contacted the Maharashtra Labour Commissioner on May 20 seeking a response to concerns around forced labour in industries where workers like Ravi are employed, but has not received a reply. There is also the absence of adequate safety gear: Ravi works near the furnace, where temperatures cross 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). But workers aren't provided with protective glass. 'Neither the middlemen nor the employer gives us even the most basic safety gear,' he says. Yet, helplessness wins. 'We know how dangerous it is. We know what we need to stay safe,' he says. 'But what choice do we have? 'When you're desperate, you have no choice but to adapt to these harsh, uncertain conditions,' he said. 'If I get thrown out, what then?' In the port town of Kakinada, along India's Bay of Bengal coast – about 1,400km (870 miles) from where Ravi works – 47-year-old Sumitha Salomi earns even less than him. A shrimp peeler, Sumitha has no formal job contract with the factory where she works. Like many others, she has been hired through a contractor – a woman from her own village. The factory, a heavily fortified facility that exports peeled vannamei shrimp to the United States, employs migrant workers from the neighbouring state of Odisha and other regions. The premises are tightly guarded, and access is strictly controlled. But in the villages where the factory's workers live, a common story emerges: None of them have written contracts. No one has social security or health benefits. The only work gear they have are gloves and caps – not for their safety, but to maintain hygiene standards for the exported shrimp. India exported shrimp worth $2.7bn to the US in the 2023-24 fiscal year, according to official figures. Sumitha explains that her pay depends on the weight of the shrimp she peels. 'The only break we get is about 30 minutes for lunch. For women, even when we're in severe menstrual pain, there's no rest, no relief. We just keep working,' she says. She earns about $4.50 a day. She knows the precarity of her job. Her wages are handed to her in cash, without any payslip, leaving her with no way to contest what she receives. As a divorced mother, Sumitha carries the burden of multiple responsibilities. She's still repaying loans she took for her elder daughter's marriage, while also trying to keep her younger daughter in school. On top of that, she cares for her elderly widowed mother who needs cancer medication that costs about $10 a month. But she does not question the factory bosses about her working conditions or the absence of a written contract. 'I have a job – contract or no contract. That's what matters,' she says, her voice stoic. 'There are no other jobs here in this village. If I start asking questions and get thrown out, what then?' Unlike seasoned veteran Sumitha, 23-year-old Minnu Samay is still grappling with the harsh realities of her job in the seafood industry. Minnu, a migrant worker from the eastern state of Odisha, is employed at a shrimp processing factory located within the high-security Krishnapatnam Port area in Nellore, about 500km (310 mile) south of Kakinada. Migrant workers like Minnu are allowed to leave the factory just once a week for about three hours, mainly to buy essentials in Muthukur, a village 10km (6 miles) from the factory. As she hurries through the narrow market lanes, picking up sanitary pads and snacks during this brief window of freedom, she tells her story. 'I was 19 when I left home. Poverty forced me. My parents were deep in debt after marrying off my two sisters. It was hard to survive,' Minnu says. 'So when we met an agent in our town, he arranged this job here.' Slowly, she has learned while on the job, cutting and peeling shrimp. Minnu earns approximately $110 per month. 'We know we're being exploited, our freedom is restricted, we have no health insurance or proper rights, and we're constantly under surveillance,' she says. 'But like many of my coworkers, we don't have other options. We just adjust and keep going.' Most overtime work is not paid, she said. 'We're watched by cameras every moment, trapped in what feels like an open prison,' she says. On May 20, Al Jazeera sent queries to the Andhra Pradesh Labour Department, and on May 22, to the Indian Ministry of Labour, seeking responses to concerns over widespread forced labour in industries where workers like Sumitha and Minnu are employed. Kakinada and Nellore are in Andhra Pradesh state. Neither the Andhra Pradesh Labour Department nor the federal Indian Ministry of Labour has responded. Labour rights experts say that these stories lay bare the urgent need for enforceable contracts, the abolition of exploitative hiring practices and initiatives to educate workers about their rights – vital measures to combat forced labour in India's unorganised and semi-organised sectors. On March 24, India's federal Labour Minister Shobha Karandlaje told parliament that approximately 307 million unorganised workers (PDF), including migrant workers, were registered under an Indian government scheme. But researchers say that the true scale of India's unorganised workforce is likely even larger. 'Concealed' forced labour Benoy Peter, executive director of the Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID), a civil society organisation based in the southern Indian state of Kerala, cited a document (PDF) from India's National Sample Survey Organization, which said that the country's total workforce is approximately 470 million in strength. Of this, about 80 million workers are in the organised sector, while the remaining 390 million – more than the entire population of the United States – are in the unorganised sector. The UN International Labour Organization's India Employment Report 2024 (PDF) supports Benoy's observation, stating that low-quality jobs in the informal sector and informal employment are the dominant forms of work in India. The ILO report said that 90 percent of India's workforce is 'informally employed'. And many of these workers are victims of forced or bonded labour. India ratified the ILO's Forced Labour Convention 29 in 1954 and abolished bonded labour in 1975. Yet, according to the Walk Free Foundation, India has the highest estimated number of people living in modern slavery worldwide, with 11.05 million individuals (eight in every 1,000) affected. The real numbers, again, are likely worse. In 2016, the then Indian Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya informed Parliament that the country had an estimated 18.4 million bonded labourers, and that the government was working to release and rehabilitate them by 2030. But in December 2021, when Indian parliamentarian Mohammad Jawed inquired (PDF) about this target in parliament, the government stated that only approximately 12,000 bonded labourers had been rescued and rehabilitated between 2016 and 2021. The textile sector is among the worst offenders. According to a parliamentary document from March this year, the southern Tamil Nadu state led textile and apparel exports, including handicrafts, with a value of $7.1bn. Gujarat, Modi's home state, followed in second place, exporting $5.7bn worth of these goods. Thivya Rakini, president of the Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union (TTCU), says that in a decade of visiting factories to work with garment workers, she has, in almost all instances, seen at least one – and often multiple – indicators of forced labour as defined by the ILO. Those indicators include intimidation, excessive overtime, withheld wages, sexual harassment, and physical violence, such as slapping or beating workers for failing to meet production targets. India's textiles industry has around 45 million workers, including 3.5 million handloom workers across the country. 'Forced labour in the textile industry is widespread and often concealed,' Thivya says. 'It's not a random occurrence. It stems directly from the business model of fashion brands. When brands pay suppliers low prices, demand large volumes on tight deadlines, and fail to ensure freedom of association or basic grievance mechanisms for workers, they create an environment ripe for forced labour.' Women make up 60-80 percent of the garment workforce, she says. 'Many lack formal contracts, earn less than men for the same work, and face frequent violence and harassment,' she said. Many are from marginalised groups – Dalits, migrants or single mothers – making them even more vulnerable in a patriarchal society. Other sectors are plagued by forced labour too. Transparentem, an independent, nonprofit organisation focused on uncovering and addressing human rights and environmental abuses in global supply chains, investigated 90 cotton farms in the central state of Madhya Pradesh from June 2022 to March 2023 and released its final report (PDF) in January 2025, uncovering child labour, forced labour and unsafe conditions: Children were handling pesticides without protection. 'No choice but to tolerate exploitation' Between 2019 and 2020, the Indian government consolidated 29 federal labour laws into four comprehensive codes. The stated aim of these reforms was to improve the ease of doing business while ensuring worker welfare. As part of this effort, the total number of compliance provisions was significantly reduced – from more than 1,200 to 479. However, while many states have drafted rules needed to implement these codes, there has still not been a nationwide rollout of these laws. Supporters of the new labour codes argue that they modernise outdated laws and provide greater legal clarity. Critics, however, particularly trade unions, warn that the reforms favour employers and dilute worker protections. One of the codes, for instance, makes it harder to register a workers union. A union must now have a minimum of 10 percent of the workers or 100 workers, whichever is less, in an establishment to be members of a union, a significant rise from the earlier requirement of just seven workers under the Trade Unions Act, 1926. Santosh Poonia from India Labour Line – a helpline initiative that supports workers, especially in the unorganised sector, by offering legal aid, mediation and counselling services – tells Al Jazeera that if workers are barred from forming unions, that would weaken their collective bargaining rights. 'Without these rights, they will have no choice but to tolerate exploitative working conditions,' he says. To Sanjay Ghose, a senior labour law lawyer practising at the Indian Supreme Court, the problem runs deeper than the new consolidated codes. 'The real issue is the failure to implement these laws effectively, which leaves workers vulnerable,' he says. Ghose warns that India's stagnating job creation could compound the exploitation and forced labour among workers. India's top engineering schools, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), have long prided themselves on how the world's biggest banks, tech giants and other multinationals queue up at their gates each year to lure their graduates with massive pay packages. Yet, the percentage of graduates from the IITs who secure jobs as they leave school has dropped sharply, by 10 percentage points, since 2021, when the Indian economy took a major hit from COVID-19 – a hit it hasn't fully recovered from. 'Even graduates with high ranks from premier institutions like the IITs are struggling to secure job placements,' Ghose says. 'With limited options available, job seekers are forced to accept whatever work they can find. This leads to exploitation, unfair working conditions, and, in some cases, forced labour.' Pramod Kumar, a former United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) senior adviser, adds that weakened private investment and foreign direct investment (FDI) have made national growth largely dependent on government spending. Consequently, job opportunities are primarily limited to the informal sector, where unfair working conditions are prevalent, leading to exploitation and forced labour. Private sector investment in India dropped to a three-year low of 11.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in fiscal year 2024, down from the pre-COVID average of 11.8 percent (fiscal years 2016-2020), according to ratings firm India Ratings & Research. Additionally, FDI in India declined by 5.6 percent year-on-year to $10.9bn in the October-December quarter of the last fiscal year, driven by global economic uncertainties. Against that economic backdrop, Poonia, from the India Labour Line, says he can't see how the government plans to meet its ambitious target of rescuing 18 million bonded labourers in India. He said he expects the opposite. 'The situation is going to worsen when the ease of doing business is prioritised over human rights and workers' rights.'
Wakala News
03-06-2025
- Politics
- Wakala News
Why are humanitarian crises in African countries so ignored?
African countries have again topped the list of the world's most ignored crises, with nearly all of the worst-funded humanitarian challenges located in the continent in 2024, according to a new study out this week. Released on Tuesday, the report by the nonprofit Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) lists Cameroon, Mozambique and a host of other African nations as some of the most burdened by violence and displacement, but also the most invisible to donors. The news comes as the United States, formerly the world's biggest aid provider, massively cut development funding this year. Aid agencies received only half of what they needed in 2024, and experts say further shrinking aid will likely make 2025 even more bleak for people in need. Eight African emergencies were previously ranked as the most ignored in 2023 as well. What does the report say? Millions of people who have been displaced and face food insecurity or lack shelter are receiving little aid because of 'donor fatigue', poor media coverage and little-to-no political resolution, according to the NRC's 2024 Most Neglected Crises report. The report defined countries in crisis as those that host or have more than 200,000 displaced people, and which have been declared to be in severe crisis emergencies. Of 34 countries analysed, the most 'invisible' according to the NRC report were: Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Mali, Uganda, Iran, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras and Somalia. Aside from funding, there was little progress on effective conflict resolution, disaster prevention and diplomatic engagement in all the affected countries, the report added. In general, aid funding dropped overall in 2024, the NRC noted. 'The shortfall between what was required to meet humanitarian needs in 2024 and what was delivered was a staggering $25 billion, meaning over half of all needs went unmet,' the report stated. Why are African humanitarian emergencies ignored? 'Donor fatigue' and growing waves of nationalistic policies within traditional donor countries are causing the richest countries to reduce foreign aid funding, experts say. A lack of proximity to emergencies, analysts add, also affects attention. 'Too many crises across the continent remain in the shadows – ignored because they don't make headlines, or because they are not seen as of immediate strategic interest to international partners,' Christelle Hure, NRC's head of advocacy in West and Central Africa, told Al Jazeera. 'Crises that knock on Europe's door – as happened in 2015 (with mass immigration) – tend to receive the greatest media attention, while those far away remain not only out of sight but also out of mind,' Hure said. Which are the most neglected African emergencies? Cameroon The West-Central African nation tops the list of the world's most neglected crises in 2024. In the English-speaking northeast and northwest regions of Cameroon, a protracted civil war which began in 2017 is continuing. That year, thousands took to the streets to protest against the appointment of French-speaking judges, and in general, alleged discrimination from the Francophone-majority government. Heavy crackdowns to suppress the protests soon saw armed groups springing up, declaring independence. The government in Yaounde, in turn, declared war. Both the rebels and government forces have targeted civilians. Hundreds have died, and thousands more are displaced internally or have fled to neighbouring Nigeria. 'The violence there is largely ignored because it's not a direct threat to the central government,' Beverly Ochieng, a security analyst with United Kingdom-based intelligence firm Control Risks, told Al Jazeera, adding that little has been done to negotiate peace. 'There was a feeling initially that some of the secessionist leaders were trying to lobby Donald Trump to support their cause but they've just not received any attention.' Meanwhile, in the northern Lake Chad Basin region, also connected to Nigeria, violence by the armed group, Boko Haram, has continued for years, displacing thousands. A US-backed joint force of the Lake Chad Basin countries has largely collapsed since the military governments in Niger and Chad pulled out, leaving Cameroon, Nigeria and Benin. Washington's shrinking of security presence and operations in African nations is likely to further destabilise the arrangement. Cameroon itself hosts refugees fleeing Boko Haram in Nigeria, as well as those from the Central African Republic fleeing fighting between two political groups. Together, some 1.1 million people are internally displaced, and 500,000 are refugees. Despite this, Cameroon's displacement crisis was mentioned in fewer than 30,000 articles in English, Spanish, French and Arabic in 2024, compared with the Ukraine war, which was mentioned in 451,000 articles, according to the NRC. Only 45 percent, or $168m of the $371m required, was raised to fund aid in the various crises, according to the United Nations. The government, too, is under fire for seeming indifference: President Paul Biya, 82, and in power since 1982, is often criticised for spending most of his time away in Switzerland. Ethiopia The aftershocks of the Tigray war in the country's north (2020-2022) merged with new intercommunal fighting in the Oromia and Amhara regions, creating a potent mix of crises which has seen 10 million people pushed out of their homes nationwide, the NRC report noted. The Fano armed group, which claims to represent the interests of the Amhara people, one of Ethiopia 's significant ethnic groups, is fighting the federal army, which tried to disarm it after they both fought Tigrayan forces during the war. The Oromo Liberation Group, meanwhile, says it is seeking independence for the Oromo people, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group. Both groups have been met with force by the government in Addis Ababa, which has launched air strikes. Dozens of civilians have died in the fighting. In addition, drought and flooding have compounded food shortages. In the southern Gofa zone, heavy rains caused two landslides on July 21 that killed more than 200 people, the worst such landslides in the country. Mozambique The Southern African country appears on the list for the first time this year. Political upheaval following hotly contested October elections saw protesters who supported the independent opposition candidate, Venancio Mondlane, shot dead by Mozambican state security. About 400 people died in the violence, according to local media tallies. Separately, ongoing attacks by an armed group with affiliations to ISIL (ISIS-Mozambique) in northern, oil-rich Cabo Delgado flared up in 2024. Violence has continued there since 2022 and has seen thousands displaced, while also disrupting a billion-dollar oil and gas investment project. Government forces working with regional troops from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Rwandan soldiers were able to push the fighters back in 2023, allowing many displaced people to return. However, because the fighters are deeply embedded in local communities, the conflict has turned volatile again very quickly. Prone to cyclones due to its location in the Indian Ocean, Mozambique was hit by Cyclone Chido, which also devastated the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in December. The storm made landfall in the northern region of Mozambique, which is facing armed conflict. Some 120 people were killed, and about 155,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Burkina Faso and Mali Since 2015, more than two million people have been displaced in Burkina Faso because of the activities of violent armed groups like the Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which wants to create a caliphate. Several of those groups now control close to half of the country, despite efforts by the military-led government to push them back with support from Russian forces. The rebels have held civilians suspected of supporting government forces under siege for more than two years, blocking entries and exits to now nearly 40 towns and cities. Massacres of villagers, however, have been blamed on both armed groups and government forces who are accused of attacking civilians perceived to be aiding the fighters. Neighbouring Mali is ranked fourth on the neglected crises list and faces a similar situation. Analyst Ochieng attributes shrinking aid to the three military-led countries of the West African Sahel, including Niger, partly to the hostile stances towards Western powers of the leaders there. All three have cut off Western allies which previously provided both military and humanitarian aid, particularly France. Their hostility has extended to humanitarian groups, sometimes perceived as being tied to Western nations, further limiting aid. 'These military leaders are focused on economic development and they don't even want to be seen as not being able to provide for their people … that makes it very difficult for any donors to approach them to provide help, or even for aid agencies to assess what the actual needs are,' Ochieng said. Other African emergencies Uganda: Although the country itself does not face large-scale internal violence, Uganda is listed because it hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa – close to two million people from neighbouring South Sudan, Sudan and the DRC. Shrinking aid, the NRC warned, could escalate friction between local communities and refugees. Democratic Republic of the Congo: Decades of violence by a slew of armed groups vying to control the country's rich deposits of minerals, and more recently, offensives by the rebel M23 group, have seen hundreds of thousands displaced in eastern DRC between 2024 and early 2025. The outbreak of Mpox in the same region in 2023 contributed to disruption. The African Union and the US are currently leading peace talks between the DRC government and neighbouring Rwanda, accused of backing M23. Other deadly attacks from groups like the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) often go unnoticed. Somalia: Entrenched violence from the al-Shabab armed group, which has been active for decades, as well as drought, continues to displace people in the East African country. It received 'dangerously low' funding in 2024, the NRC said. Will Trump's aid cuts further affect these crises? US President Donald Trump's sweeping aid cuts after he took office in January, and his decision to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the agency that distributes it, have prompted fears that humanitarian emergencies could worsen in 2025. As the world's biggest aid donor, the US distributed about $70bn in foreign aid yearly, particularly for healthcare. In 2024, the most aid went to Ethiopia, Jordan, DRC, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria, South Sudan and Syria. With those funds either reduced or halted altogether, aid workers worry that emergencies on the African continent could worsen. Other major donors are also making cuts, observers warn. In February, the UK cut foreign aid by 0.2 percent, while the Netherlands will slash 2.4 billion euros ($2.72bn) in aid from 2027. France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden have all announced reductions to their aid budgets since. Hule of the NRC said the African Union (AU) must take the lead in resolving the continent's multiple crises through political negotiations. The bloc's Peace and Security Council, tasked with anticipating and mitigating conflict, has previously been criticised as being too slow to act. 'What is urgently needed today isn't just more funding – it's clear political commitment, not only from donors but crucially from the African Union and its member states,' Hule said. Countries, she added, also need to reduce administrative and regulatory barriers that hamper aid workers. 'Easing these constraints, in close collaboration with authorities and the African Union, would greatly enhance the efficiency and impact of our collective response,' she added.
Wakala News
02-06-2025
- Politics
- Wakala News
Colleges are slightly less diverse as admissions officers seek ways to adapt post-affirmative action
The full impact of the Supreme Court's June 2023 ruling that colleges can't consider race in admissions may not be known for years. But a CBS News analysis of enrollment records shows the first class of freshmen since the high court's order is a little less diverse than the class before it. College admissions experts say there are signs campuses will trend toward less diversity at the same time some universities are facing intensifying pressure from the Trump administration to eliminate diversity programs and remove international students. CBS News gathered first-year enrollment data from 116 colleges and universities, 76 of which considered race in admissions before the Supreme Court ruling. The data showed the share of underrepresented minority students among those schools decreased by about 2 percentage points from fall 2023 to fall 2024. Underrepresented minority students include Hispanic, Black, Indigenous or Pacific Islander students. These are groups that have historically had disproportionately lower rates of college admissions. Among the 35 schools that did not previously consider race in admissions, the share of underrepresented minority students remained roughly the same, suggesting the ruling may have influenced diversity on campus. Five schools did not report whether or not they considered race in admissions. CBS News found the drop in diversity was even sharper at the most elite colleges and universities. At 17 schools that accept less than 10% of applicants, the share of minority students fell nearly 5 percentage points. This includes schools like Dartmouth, Princeton, Cornell, Brown and Tufts. Despite this, the most selective schools still had a slightly higher share of underrepresented minority students than other institutions we collected data from. While the one-year drop itself seems small, the fall 2024 semester was the first time the percentage of underrepresented minority students had decreased since at least 2015. Black students experienced perhaps the most significant one-year shift. At the 76 schools that previously considered race in admission but no longer do, the average share of Black students dropped from 6.4% in fall 2023 to 5.3% in fall 2024, the lowest level in the data collected since at least 2015. Early data 'sends up a warning flag' Dominique Baker, an associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware, said it's still too early to draw any concrete conclusions from this data. 'We like to look at trends over a longer period of time, because in any given year, we could see a blip that goes up, a blip that goes down,' Baker said. But if the trend continues over four years — by the time these students are seniors — it could mean the campuses they attend will be significantly less diverse. For Baker, this 'sends up a warning flag.' 'We're now starting to see … early indicators that we might be seeing a negative trend developing in the share of students of color who are attending, particularly the underrepresented minority students that you all are talking about attending more selective institutions,' she said. She pointed to research out of California, one of the nine states that had banned affirmative action prior to the Supreme Court ruling. A 2020 study found that enrollment among Black and Latino students at UCLA and UC Berkeley, the more selective campuses in the University of California system, fell by 40 percentage points after voters outlawed race conscious admissions (the state ban passed in 1996 and went into effect in 1998). It concluded that California's ban on affirmative action exacerbated socioeconomic inequities among Black and Brown students. Desmond Kuhn, an 18-year-old sociology and urban studies major at Columbia University who identifies as African American, said the Supreme Court ruling happened as he was starting to apply for college. 'It's very discouraging and also makes it harder to reach a lot of these, especially private elite universities, because a lot of generally Black and Hispanic communities don't have the same resources as, say, White and Asian communities,' Kuhn said. He said he saw the difference in resources between his predominantly Black high school in the suburbs of Detroit and the predominantly White private boarding school where he retook his SAT. Columbia University published first-year enrollment numbers for fall 2024, but in a different format than the federal data collection, which we used in our analysis. In Columbia's reporting, the percentage of students who self-identified as Black or African American dropped from 20% for the class of 2027, to 12% for the class of 2028. (In this reporting method, students can identify with more than one race, whereas in the federal data, students could only pick one.) Columbia declined to provide CBS News data in the same format used for the analysis of other schools, so the university is not included in our overall findings. Other factors at play Across all schools, the share of students who did not report their race in enrollment records (and were classified as 'unknown') grew significantly — the largest spike since at least 2015. While the data suggests the start of a downward trend in the share of underrepresented minority students at colleges and universities, the jump in the 'unknown' category means the racial makeup of the class of 2028 could be different than what is being reported. If many of the students who did not report their race were White, then the share of White students would be higher than the reported data might suggest, lowering the share of underrepresented minority students. But if the students who did not report their race were Black or Hispanic, then the share of Black or Hispanic students may be higher than what is reported. 'That's part of the really, really big challenge of … charting and thinking through who is currently enrolling at colleges and universities after the Supreme Court decision,' Baker said. Tom Delahunt, the vice president for strategic recruitment and enrollment at Southwestern University in Texas, said the drop in underrepresented minority students could also be because of problems with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, that were at play while the future fall 2024 freshman class would have been making decisions about if and where to go to college. Typically, students can apply for the FAFSA on Oct. 1 each year. But in 2023, the form wasn't available until Dec. 30. As a result, schools couldn't offer financial aid on time because they did not have the FAFSA information, forcing students to wait for delayed offers. 'Delays, glitches, and other issues led to a 9% decline in submitted FAFSA applications among first-time applicants, and an overall decline of about 432,000 applications as of the end of August,' said a report from the Government Accountability Office. Delahunt said that many of the students who had delayed FAFSAs would likely only make decisions about schools if their families had the money to go ahead without knowing how much they were going to have to pay. But many underrepresented minority students may come from poorer families that could not afford to guess how much college would cost. Impact of diversity on campus Experts said studies have found diversity of all kinds, not just racial diversity, is essential to students' education. 'These studies don't say that students of color benefit from diverse learning environments. White students also benefit. Every student benefits from a diverse learning environment,' Baker, from the University of Delaware, said. Jennifer Levine, a first-year student at Stanford University who is half Asian and half Jewish, agreed. She participates in a residential humanities program, where she lives with the same students she takes classes with, a group she described as predominantly White. The uniformity, she said, makes for 'a worse learning space.' 'I think that all academic environments are made better with more opinions, more experiences, people who have different sets of knowledge,' she told CBS News. 'For me as someone who's not Black reading Toni Morrison, I can't offer my perspective on that in the sense of race.' Stanford's first-year class has roughly half as many Black students this year compared to last year. Austin Shaw, one of those Black freshmen, said he can see the difference. He lives in a dorm that is themed around the Black diaspora, so many Black students choose to live there. 'All of us are very tight because we're literally like half of the Black freshman population,' he said of his dormmates. 'But when you go out into class, it's a completely different vibe.' Shaw said that about half of the students in his high school in Los Angeles were Black. One of the reasons he chose Stanford over other California schools was that it had a higher proportion of Black students. 'You become an expert on the subject of being Black, or you feel like you have to represent, or you feel like you have to talk for your community,' he said. 'When I was in high school, where half of the class would be Black, you wouldn't have that expectation.' Other ways to ensure a diverse student body Delahunt, of Southwestern University, said this ruling, along with other restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, have made his job harder. He said his goal is to try to ensure that the student body reflects the community around it in Georgetown, Texas, just north of Austin. This is so 'when they leave … they are ready for the next step of entering into society as a contributing member of society, that they understand how to work together. That we're going to have differences, and that's OK. How to work through those differences, how to work together to solve problems,' Delahunt said. Now, without being able to see race and ethnicity on admissions forms, he must rely heavily on recruiting from high schools where he knows the population of the school is reflective of the mix of students he wants to come to Southwestern. 'Our job hasn't changed. Maybe the way we do it has to change a little bit. But our goals are the same,' Delahunt said. Richard Kahlenberg, director of the American Identity Project at the Progressive Policy Institute, said that if schools were to consider socioeconomic status instead of race, they could still increase diversity on campus. Kahlenberg testified on behalf of Students for Fair Admissions in support of the ruling ending affirmative action. With data obtained through the legal process, he and an economist ran dozens of admissions simulations and found that considering socioeconomic status and ending preferential admissions for legacy students could increase diversity at Harvard and the University of North Carolina while maintaining academic caliber. 'If there were some universities that did not see declines in racial diversity, as we know there were some, then it's incumbent upon those institutions that saw larger drops to learn what happened,' Kahlenberg said. He added that universities and colleges have argued that this method would be far more expensive, as it would increase the amount of financial aid the schools have to provide. 'It's not that race-neutral alternatives are ineffective, it's that they cost more money,' he said. Some schools have increased socioeconomic diversity. UNC increased the number of students with federal Pell Grants to nearly a quarter of the class. Both Yale and Dartmouth's first-year classes had the highest-ever share of first-generation and low-income students, all while increasing their share of underrepresented minority students. All diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are at risk As universities adapt admissions processes to maintain diversity, they risk butting heads with an administration that is seeking to end all diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The Department of Justice announced at the end of March that it is investigating four California universities to assess their compliance with the Supreme Court's ruling. University of California schools, which have not been allowed to use race as a factor in admissions directly since voters passed Proposition 209 in 1996, recently moved from using test scores and GPA for admissions to a ' comprehensive review ' process. That process looks 'at multiple factors beyond courses and grades to evaluate applicants' academic achievements in light of the opportunities available to them and the capacity each student demonstrates to contribute to the intellectual life of the campus,' according to the University of California's admissions website. UC admissions for underrepresented minority students has increased since the initial drop following Prop 209, with the nine universities admitting the largest share of underrepresented minority students in its history in 2021. But the schools' student bodies are still less diverse than the California population or the cohort of high school graduates who meet UC admissions requirements. Underrepresented minorities make up about 32% of the UC fall 2024 freshman class. But they make up 46% of Californians and more than half of the state's high school graduates who meet the minimum academic requirements to get into UC schools. However schools choose to adapt, ignoring race in wholistic admissions entirely is unrealistic, said Levine, the mixed-race Stanford freshman. 'Parts of your identity can't be separated from your field of study, from your interests, from what you do,' she said. 'My identity is tied to the kinds of things I'm interested in, what I wrote my essays about to get into college. Taking out my race from that is not going to take away the fact that that is part of who I am.'
