Memorandum Of Misunderstanding, Fatal ICE Shooting, Paramount Merger Suit

[00:00] The U.S. and Iran are attacking each other to prove who has control of the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway was supposed to be open after they signed a memorandum of understanding. Is vague language causing a misunderstanding? I'm Michelle Martin. That's A. Martinez. And this is Up First from NPR News. [00:18] an ice officer shot and killed a person in maine yesterday it's the second fatal shooting by an ice agent in the past week where an agent shot someone in a moving vehicle local officials have questions they want answered and a dozen states filed a lawsuit to prevent paramount from merging with warner brothers discovery the justice department previously cleared the deal how much influence did president trump have in that decision stay with us we've got news you need to start your day [00:45] Bye. [00:50] This message comes from MidiHealth, a virtual care platform for women in paramenopause and menopause. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kathleen Jordan shares the wide range of symptoms they work to address for women in midlife. [01:03] There's dry eyes, dry hair, dry skin, there's dry mouth, trouble sleeping, panic and anxiety attacks. When we ask patients about common symptoms, on average, they report six. MidiHealth, committed to helping women in midlife with paramenopause and menopause care. Accessible via telehealth visits. [01:21] at joinmidi.com. [01:25] This message comes from Mint Mobile. If you're tired of spending hundreds on big wireless bills, bogus fees, and free perks, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans at mintmobile.com slash switch. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.

[01:42] For a third night in a row, the U.S. and Iran attacked each other, fighting over who controls the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump said Monday the U.S. military will return to another act of war. We're putting the blockade back, and it's a blockade not for anybody but Iran. The military says that blockade will be going into effect later today. This comes after a week of the U.S. and Iran trading heavy airstrikes, and a month after both sides signed a memorandum of understanding that was meant to end the conflict. [02:12] over the status of the key waterway. NPR's international affairs correspondent, Jackie Northam, has been following all this. Jackie, so another blockade and more fighting overnight over the strait. [02:21] Right, and this is largely about control over the Strait of Hormuz. It's considered an international waterway, but since the start of the crisis, Iran has claimed it's in control and has insisted ships get permission and follow approved routes. And it's been attacking ships if they don't. On Monday, President Trump pushed back, saying that going forward, the U.S. will be known as the guardian of the Hormuz Strait. [02:51] even though his administration has said charging fees violates international law. Iran lashed out at this, saying under no circumstances will it allow the U.S. to interfere with the management of the strait. [03:04] So Iran and the U.S. signed an agreement last month that was, I thought, supposed to resolve all this. Why is this all happening? Yes, it was a memorandum of understanding. And you're right, it was meant to help in the fighting and, equally important, open the Strait of Hormuz. And this is particularly crucial for President Trump ahead of the midterm elections. One of the big complaints by the deal's numerous critics was that it was quickly cobbled together with the idea that, you know, the details would be worked out later on.

[03:34] And therefore, it's open to interpretation. And, you know, that's led to confusion and ultimately the renewed fighting. So kicking up as an example of that. [03:43] Sure. Take paragraph five. It says Iran would make arrangements using, quote, its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vehicles. That's pretty vague. And the Trump administration sees that as, OK, Iran will open the Strait of Hormuz and ships can pass freely. Iran views that paragraph as it decides which ships can pass. In other words, Iran is in control of the Strait. [04:13] policy. And he says these types of documents are often left deliberately vague to allow both sides to claim victory. Here he is. Here, I think the wording, you know, he was much more to what Iran wanted to get out [04:26] of that understanding because it seems to place responsibility for the Straits in Iran's hands, [04:32] rather than reinforcing that this is an international waterway. And so this is a document which I think could have been negotiated better. And Singh says if the agreement had been negotiated better, perhaps we wouldn't be seeing some of the instability we see now. All right, so where does this leave things? I mean, is the strait open or is it closed? Well, it's unclear. You know, the number of ships trying to pass the strait yesterday was just reduced to a trickle. And Singh believes sometimes these things have to be worked out through a combination of both talking [05:02] fighting at the same time, which is what we're seeing now.

[05:06] That's NPR's international affairs correspondent, Jackie Northam. Jackie, thanks. [05:10] Thank you, A. [05:11] Music [05:18] An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Colombian immigrant in Maine on Monday. This is the second time ICE agents shot and killed someone in a week, and at least the ninth time since President Trump launched his immigration crackdown. The Department of Homeland Security said agents were watching the address of an immigrant with a deportation order when someone drove away and an officer eventually shot him. Some elected officials in Maine say the victim was not even the target of an ICE warrant. Reporter Ari Snyder with Maine Public has been following this. [05:48] Ari, so what's known so far? Yeah, so the shooting took place Monday morning in Biddeford. That's a small city about half an hour south of Portland. The victim is a 26-year-old Colombian man. That's according to immigrant rights groups here and Maine's independent senator Angus King. [06:03] While we don't have official confirmation on the victim's name, community members are telling me it was a man named Joanne Sebastian Guerrero. They're also telling me he had a wife and a young child. His immigration status isn't yet clear, but immigrant rights groups are saying that he did have authorization to work in the U.S. [06:21] So do we know if ICE was in fact targeting this particular person for arrest and deportation? Yeah, so that part's not totally clear yet. A spokesperson for Senator King's office said the victim was, quote, not the target of the warrant, end quote. The spokesperson says that information comes from the head of the agency, DHS Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen. In an email after that, an ICE spokesperson said the shooting happened after a driver left a house they were surveilling.

[06:48] but did not definitively say if the driver was who they were looking for. The spokesperson told us agents were surveilling the last known address of, again, quoting here, an illegal alien with a final order of removal. The ICE spokesperson says, quote, the vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon. [07:09] So now Maine's Attorney General says his office is investigating what happened, and Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins says, [07:16] said in a statement that DHS's inspector general is also looking into this, investigating in cooperation with the FBI. [07:23] So what are you and your colleagues hearing as you've been talking to people in Biddeford? [07:27] Yeah, so Biddeford is a small city, a little over 20,000 people, and it's got deep immigrant roots, in part because it was a mill town that drew a lot of French Canadians. These days, it's got growing immigrant communities from all over the world, in part because we're seeing people getting priced out of Portland. The reaction there was swift, and many residents said they're in shock that something like this would happen in what really feels like a small town. [07:57] downtown. Protester Kelsey Cummings says she's tired of politicians ignoring requests to rain in ice. [08:03] And we don't need the thoughts and prayers. This was so preventable. We've been screaming about this. This is just crazy. All of us are here because we live a block away in each direction. This is affecting all of us. And then last night, there were vigils both in Biddeford and in Portland that each drew hundreds of people.

[08:22] What does ICE enforcement look like in Maine in recent months? Yeah, so something that's very present in people's minds right now, and certainly for immigrant communities, is this sudden surge in federal immigration enforcement that happened in January when 200 people were arrested in less than a week, according to numbers from the Deportation Data Project. That was a huge escalation from what we saw during the first months of the second Trump administration. [08:52] now. [08:53] Okay, that's reporter Ari Snyder of Maine Public. Ari, thank you very much. Thank you. [09:04] That blockbuster merger of two Hollywood giants might not happen. A dozen states filed a lawsuit Monday to block Paramount from taking over Warner Brothers Discovery. California Attorney General Rob Bonta says the takeover would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television. Let's now turn to NPR media correspondent David Folkenflake. [09:28] Warner create? Well, Bonta said yesterday the merger would kill competition between two of the nation's five largest studios, the five largest studios of Hollywood. It would be a Titanic merged studio. In fact, the studios that brought us Titanic and franchises like Star Trek and Harry Potter and classics like Casablanca and Sunset Boulevard. But it's not just about the studios. It's about other things as well. It's about streaming platforms, Paramount Plus

[09:58] CNN and CBS News. It's about 50 cable channels and the CBS broadcast network all under the same roof. What Bonta says is the Justice Department declined to file a lawsuit, so the states are stepping in. [10:11] Why did the Justice Department decide not to sue? So the Justice Department undertook an eight-month review. It investigated and concluded publicly that the merger would be good for competition, especially against these giant streamers like Netflix, Amazon, and even Apple, which is part of the logic that Paramount has put out there for it. I think we cannot in any way dismiss or negate the influence, whether direct or indirect, of President Trump's. [10:41] Co-founder of Oracle, one of the richest people on the planet, his son, David, the Hollywood producer. They only took over Paramount a year ago with Trump's strong approval and recommendation. Trump arranged for Larry Ellison to take a controlling stake in TikTok U.S. And he's also an advisor to the president. In this case, you know, the Wall Street Journal reported that the top officials, the Justice Department, were clearing a path for this deal to happen, even as career lawyers wanted to file suit. [11:11] That's not the case. So what does Paramount say in response to the lawsuit? Well, they put out a statement yesterday saying this is a fundamental misreading of antitrust law, that, in fact, if you do look at those huge digital titans like Netflix, like Amazon, the market has expanded beyond what you think of as the traditional Hollywood studios. They note that Disney bulked up in 2019 to complete a deal to take over most of the entertainment holdings of Fox.

[11:41] for that as he called his buddy Rupert Murdoch who controls Fox and said you know are you holding on to Fox News Murdoch said yes and Trump said you go right ahead that's great so you know [11:51] Paramount is saying we need to do this, that it will hurt workers to block this deal. I will say that's something that the attorneys general and that the Writers Guild of America and others who are on the labor side of things dispute. They're worried that with fewer employers, prices will be driven down for those who create all this and driven up for those of us who pay for these services. David, I got a feeling this is not going to be resolved anytime soon. [12:21] And that can get really expensive for the company. Paramount has a deal with Warner Brothers Discovery that for every 90 days after October 1st, that the deal isn't consummated. It owes an extra $650 million to Warner Brothers Discovery shareholders. And if the deal never goes through, it owes $7 billion as a breakup fee. [12:51] court. [12:52] That is NPR's David Fulkenflake. David, thank you. You bet. And we should note, Paramount and Warner Brothers are financial supporters of NPR. [13:04] And that's up first for Tuesday, July 14th. I'm Amy Martinez. And I'm Michelle Martin. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Eric Westervelt, Emily Kopp, Miguel Macias, Alice Wolfley, Mohammed Elbardisi, and Zia Budge. It was produced by Paige Waterhouse and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas.

[13:22] engineering support from Nisha Hines. Our technical director is Carly Strange, and our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow. [13:37] *music* [13:49] Support for this podcast and the following message come from Vanguard. Every day, shareholders meet to discuss important matters about the companies you invest in. Now you can make your voice heard too. Vanguard Investor Choice makes it easy to set your proxy voting preference for your eligible Vanguard index funds. Visit Vanguard.com slash Investor Choice to learn more. Vanguard investors own shares of their index funds and those funds [14:19] distributor. [14:20] Want to hear this podcast without sponsor breaks? Amazon Prime members can listen to Up First sponsor-free through Amazon Music. Or you can also support NPR's vital journalism and get NPR Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.