Politics and views in the United States.

The shooting of two National Guardsmen leads to sharp immigration action by the Trump Administration. Nursing degrees are becoming harder to obtain and Medicaid cuts force parents to stock up on medications.

TRANSCRIPT

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

I'm proud of each and every one of them.

I pray for each and every one of them today, and in particular for these two young service members who are willing to go above and beyond and pay whatever price our nation has to them.

Brigadier General Leland Blanchard says the National Guard remains committed to keeping the nation's capital safe.

Two members of the West Virginia Guard were shot last week, one died and the other is still in critical condition.

Afghan refugee Rahmanullah Lakhanwal has been charged with first-degree murder.

Lakhanwal fought with a covert unit that reports describe as a CIA-run targeted assassination squad during the Afghanistan war.

Several reports describe him as suffering profound mental health problems.

According to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, he was "radicalized" while in the U.S. and the FBI says the shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism.

After the attack, the administration halted asylum decisions.

The U.S. vets all asylum seekers, although the system faces a backlog exacerbated by cuts and policy changes.

Locke and Wall was vetted extensively when working with the CIA and had his status approved under this administration.

A court has ruled against President Donald Trump's use of the National Guard for crime reduction in Washington, D.C., but he's going ahead with a deployment to Memphis.

He credits the Memphis Safe Task Force with making the city safer, but Earl Fisher of the group #UpTheVote901 says crime was already declining and questions what defines success.

So if I say we gonna lower crime by 5 percent, 10 percent, there's gonna be violent crime, there's gonna be discount crime, there's gonna be property crime, and if you just say all kinds of crime.

But in what amount of time?

In five months, in five weeks, in five days, in five years?

A bipartisan group in Congress is questioning if top military officials committed a war crime by ordering the killing of survivors of an attack on an alleged drug boat.

The Washington Post reports Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth gave a verbal order for everyone on the vessels to be killed.

The paper says the military made a second attack on survivors after one boat in the Caribbean had already been struck.

Meanwhile, a federal change would make it harder to become a nurse.

The education department is removing nursing programs from those that says offer professional degrees making it harder for students to get financial aid and loan forgiveness.

The agency says nursing students don't need the loans.

Janelle Matthews is a registered nurse at New York City's Brooklyn Hospital and also teaches nursing.

She says her students are panicking.

What if they decide now that because there's no funding for the education to continue that they're going to drop out?

That increases the deficit that we're already seeing at the bedside.

Some parents are bracing for looming reductions in Medicaid.

Wisconsin mother Megan Lowe says she fears the trillion-dollar cut planned over the next will jeopardize crucial care for her 17-year-old daughter, Nora, who has a rare neurological disorder.

Lo has health insurance through her husband's employer, but it doesn't come close to covering everything their daughter needs.

She says they rely on Medicaid for thousands and thousands of dollars worth of medical supplies, treatments, and respite care a month.

Families that we know through our Rett Syndrome network, they're stockpiling syringes and feed bags and diapers.

We're just stockpiling everything because we don't know when the rug is going to be pulled out.

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

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