Frontline Voice with Rebecca Miles 8-1-25
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Larry Hamm, longtime New Jersey peace and justice activist, describes Chris Smalls’ homecoming at JFK on Friday morning. The founder of the Amazon Labor Union had been illegally seized off a humanitarian aid ship bound for Gaza by the Israeli military. He was held for several days. Multiple press reports recounted Smalls was the only member of the delegation singled out for a beating.
Rebecca speaks with Jason Rylander, Legal Director at the Biological Diversity Center’s Climate Law Institute, about Trump’s plan to roll back EPA emissions and the implications for public and planetary health.
Rebecca also debriefs Dr. Amanda Nguyen, Health Economist at GoodRX, which issued a report on the troubling trend of health deserts across the country.
HEADLINES
TARIFFS
President Donald Trump signed executive orders Thursday evening imposing tariffs of between 15 and 41 percent on goods shipped to the US from more than 67 countries. This ratchets up tariffs to the highest levels in more than a century.
The new duties won’t go into effect until August 7, giving another opportunity to negotiate them down.
Trump has promised that his new tax hikes on nearly $3 trillion in goods imported to the US will usher in newfound wealth, launch a slew of new factory jobs, reduce the budget deficits, and get other countries to treat America with more respect.
The tariffs risk America’s global standing as allies feel forced into deals. Taxes on raw materials used by US factories and basic goods threaten to create new inflationary pressures and hamper economic growth—concerns the Trump administration has dismissed.
Federal judges are skeptical about Trump’s use of a 1977 law to declare the long-standing US trade deficit a national emergency that justifies tariffs.
Concerns about inflation are reasonable. Personal Consumption Expenditures showed that prices climbed 2.6% over the 12 months ending in June. The US economy has 37,000 fewer manufacturing jobs than it did in April.
GAZA
Olga Cherevko, a staff member with the UN’s Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza, says that while Israel is now letting slightly more aid into the strip, it is not nearly enough to scratch the surface of the people’s needs.
At least seven people were killed and dozens injured while waiting for food near the Morag Corridor south of Khan Younis this morning.
At least 83 Palestinians—including 53 aid seekers—have been killed and 554 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
The total number of aid seekers killed since May 27, when Israel introduced a new aid distribution mechanism, has reached 1,383 with more than 9,218 injured.
Human Rights Watch called Israel’s use of starvation of civilians as a weapon of war a war crime.
"Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families," said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at HRW.
US-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have implemented a militarized, flawed aid distribution system that has turned aid drops into bloodbaths, she added.
HRW is calling on states to pressure Israel to stop using lethal force against Palestinian civilians and lift its restrictions on aid entry. It also urges the US and Israel to suspend the GHF distribution system.
In an interview with KPFA, Ralph Nader suggested the real number of Palestinians killed could be closer to 500,000, citing an earlier Lancet estimate of 200,000 a year ago.
In response to Israeli denial of aid and ongoing attacks, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Portugal have announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state. Currently, 142 out of 193 UN member countries either recognize or plan to recognize a Palestinian state.
IMMIGRATION
The Pentagon announced it will end the deployment of all but 250 National Guard troops originally sent to Los Angeles in response to protests over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered 1,350 National Guard members to leave this week. The rest will stay to protect federal personnel and property.
Roughly 4,000 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines were deployed to Los Angeles in early June over the objections of state and local officials. Half the Guard were pulled back two weeks ago, and the Marines were ordered to leave a few days later.
ICE
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, tasked with carrying out mass deportations under Trump, has made over 1,000 job offers following passage of the OBBB Act, which allocated $170 billion for border enforcement.
Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said many of the offers went to former ICE officers who retired under President Biden. Arrests have ramped up in courts, worksites, and neighborhoods. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said ICE now targets at least 3,000 arrests per day—up from 650 during Trump’s first term.
ICE will receive $76.5 million—nearly 10 times its current annual budget. About $45 billion will go to expanded detention capacity and nearly $30 billion toward hiring 10,000 new staff. ICE’s workforce will grow from 20,000 to about 30,000 employees. New hires are being offered a $50,000 bonus, student loan forgiveness, and significant overtime.
This expansion comes amid mass firings across federal agencies, including research scientists.
