New nuclear talks between US and Iran begin in Geneva

The US president says he thinks Iran wants to make a deal, while Tehran believes Washington is moving to a more realistic position.

Military Veterans Are Among Americans Protesting ICE

Veterans have taken part in demonstrations against the federal crackdown on illegal immigration in Minnesota. “I believe in the institutions,” one said.

By Julie Bosman, Talya Minsberg and Jazmine Ulloa

ICE holds people in disgusting conditions. Now it’s turning warehouses into camps | Moira Donegan

The Trump administration has bought warehouses across the US that could hold thousands. But resistance is growing There is a vast building, reportedly the size of seven football fields, in Surprise, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix; ICE bought it for $70m. Another building, along the southern border in San Antonio, Texas, was valued at $37m; it’s 640,000 sq ft. In January, ICE bought a warehouse in Upper Bern Township, Pennsylvania, not far outside of Philadelphia, for $87.4m. In Williamsport, Maryland, outside Hagerstown, the cost of a facility on a nearly 54-acre plot was $102m. These are massive, industrial spaces, built for holding goods to be shipped elsewhere. Warehouses are drafty and difficult to heat, hard-floored and high-ceilinged, not meant for human habitation. But the Trump administration is aiming to convert them into vast detention camps for immigrants. Some of the buildings could house as many as 9,000 people at a time. The rapid slew of new warehouse purchases by deportation agencies brings to mind the words of the ICE director, Todd Lyons, who told a conference last year that he wanted the effort to operate “like Amazon Prime, for human beings”. Continue reading...

By Moira Donegan

Former deputy special envoy for Iran discusses US-Iran nuclear talks

As the U.S. and Iran continue to engage indirectly in nuclear talks, what challenges remain? NPR speaks with Richard Nephew, former deputy special envoy for Iran in the Biden administration.

By Steve Inskeep