Transcript of Zelenskyy and Peace Promises, Abrego Garcia Release, Indiana Rejects Redistricting

Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says he is willing to hold elections.

He is also willing to discuss giving up territory to Russia, but only if Ukrainians vote for it.

How would that work? I'm Michelle Martin with Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News.

A man illegally deported by the Trump administration in March and eventually returned, is now free from immigration custody. The Trump administration says it will appeal Kilmar Obrego-Garcia's court-ordered release.

Plus, Republicans in Indiana reject a redistricting proposal. President Trump successfully pushed other states to help Republicans win next year's midterm elections. So why did Indiana's Republicans break with the President? Stay with us for the news you need to start your day.

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Ukraine's President has an answer to pressure from the Trump administration.

The US wants Ukraine to surrender territory as part of a peace deal with Russia. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says for that to happen, the Ukrainian people would have to speak through a referendum. Zelenskyy and other Europeans are offering answers and alternatives to Trump's bid to end the war. The US approach seems to favor Russia, although Russia has not accepted that either.

Nprs, Joanna. Kikisis is in Kyiv as she has been through much of this war. She's with us now. Good morning, Joanna.

Good morning, Michelle.

Why would Zelensky talk about elections now?

Well, he is responding to pressure from President Trump, and he's also trying to work with Europeans. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday that they are proposing a ceasefire that would be backed by strong security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe. He also said that Ukraine is willing to discuss territorial concessions, but that Trump must understand that the final decision is up to Ukrainians. Here's Merz. He's saying it would be a mistake to force the Ukrainian President into a peace that his people will not accept after four years of suffering and death.

Then Zelensky says there would have to be a vote. Why say that?

Well, Zelensky has been walking something of a tightrope, but he is engaging with even the most painful proposals by the Trump administration to show that Ukraine is negotiating in good faith. At the same time, he knows giving up territory has always been a red line for Ukrainians.

This is interesting because Trump has been saying that Ukraine should hold elections. How does that fit in?

Well, Trump said recently that Zelensky's government is using the war to avoid elections. This echoes what the Kremlin has been saying, which they say Zelensky is not a legitimate president because his term expired last year. But there is also a good reason that there have not been Ukrainian elections. Ukraine is under martial law because of Russia's invasion, and Ukraine's Constitution forbids holding elections during wartime. Nevertheless, Zelensky said he is examining the possibility of elections over the next 90 days or even a referendum on giving up parts of Eastern Ukraine in exchange for ending the war. He's saying, if this is something our key partner in Washington wants, we have to look into it.

So could elections in Ukraine be imminent?

Well, there are many obstacles to that. Ivana Klimpushtan Sadeh, she's a member of Ukraine's parliament. She told me about a legal obstacle.

During the martial law, it is prohibited to change the Constitution. It's just purely stated in law and in the Constitution.

Then she says there are huge logistical challenges, like how 4 million Ukrainian refugees could vote or how soldiers on the front line could vote. Right.

To that end, imagine security is a major issue.

Yes, absolutely. Public opinion polls show Most Ukrainians think holding elections now is actually a terrible idea. Yulia Khrip, who works in customer service here in Kyiv, she told us Russia could attack voting precincts.

It's very possible that they attack because they attack us every day. We have to gather many people in one place. It's dangerous.

Now, Zelenskyy says elections could only happen during a ceasefire and with security guarantees from the West. And, Michal, if elections were held soon, sometime soon, public opinion polls showed that Zelensky would still come in first.

That is. And of course, Joanna Kikisis in Kyiv. Joanna, thank you so much.

You're welcome.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is walking free.

He is the man illegally deported by the Trump administration in March and eventually returned.

Abrego Garcia was released on Thursday. A judge ruled the government had not been able to produce a lawful order to remove him from the country. This ruling came just as lawmakers have been pressing the Homeland Security Secretary about President Trump's compliance with court orders.

Npr's Ximena Bustillo has been tracking this, and she is with us now. Good morning, Ximena.

Good morning.

Tell us about how the judge who presided over this case explained her decision.

Judge Paula Zini's of Maryland said that the government's arguments to keep him detained were, troubling, and that he had no current pending removal order to justify keeping him detained. Remember, this was a man who'd been living in the US for more than 10 years. In 2019, an immigration judge had ruled that Abrego Garcia could not be removed to El Salvador, where he had argued that he could be tortured or persecuted. Then he was arrested and detained by immigration officers in Maryland earlier this year. But the Trump administration deported him to El Salvador, sending him to a notorious prison there. After months of public outcry, the administration brought Abrego Garcia back and immediately charged him with human smuggling in a separate case. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges. Now, government lawyers have also tried and failed to convince Zini that they are trying to deport him to a third country like Uganda or Eswatini, but they done so.

What's next in his case?

The White House has said that it will appeal, and lawyers for Abrego Garcia called the order to release him an extraordinary victory for their client and for due process.

You know, Ximena, this seems like a lot of back and forth over one person. How has the government justified its actions?

A spokesperson for the Department of Homely and Security called the order, Naked Judicial Activism. Abrego Garcia has become one of the symbols of the Trump administration's fight with the judicial branch of government. Democrats say that it's an example of the administration going too far. Christie Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary, happened to be testifying yesterday at a congressional hearing on worldwide threats. But Democrats took the opportunity to press her on domestic immigration enforcement and the following of court orders. Representative Cherith Anadhar asked if she would comply with court orders, and here's how Nome responded.

The Department of Homeland Security and this administration complies with all federal court orders. We always have and we always-not true.

We will continue to appeal. The administration has consistently clashed with judges this year, especially on issues related to immigration.

I understand that lawmakers press Nome on other issues as well yesterday. What were they?

Democrats raised numerous examples about how they believe the administration has overstepped its authority. Present in the audience were family members of people who had been deported or put in detention, invited there by Democrats as examples of the impact of immigration enforcement. Nome at one point, turned to a man present at the hearing, and she said she would look into the case of his wife, an Irish woman who is detained. Democrats argue that she is in the US legally, and her only criminal record is writing a $25 bad check 10 years ago. The administration has said it wants to remove anyone with a criminal record. Noem and Republicans doubled down on the administration's policies. Noem said she believed that the biggest threat to national security are the immigrants who entered the US under former President Biden. Her Department Department is reopening the cases of refugees who were admitted under Biden and is calling for a review of asylum applications during that time, too. We're seeing enforcement focus on those here illegally and some legal categories, too.

That is NPRS Ximena Bustillo. Ximena, thank you.

Thank you. President Trump's nationwide effort to reshape the midterm elections in favor of Republicans has succeeded in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, but not in Indiana.

Yeah, Republicans in those other states obeyed the President's order to skew the elections in Republicans' favor. Republican state senators, in my home state, decided otherwise. The President and his allies threatened consequences for Indiana if they did not submit. After enough lawmakers ignored him, Trump minimized his defeat. Well, we won every other state. That's the only state. It's funny because I won Indiana all three times by a landslide, and I wasn't working on It was very hard.

Would have been nice.

I think we would have picked up two seats if we did that.

For more on this, we're joined by Ben Thorpe of WFYI in Indianapolis. Good morning, Ben. Good morning. You were there. So thanks for getting up early because you were there in the state capital pretty late. Tell us about the vote.

Yeah, it was very suspensful. There were protesters against redistricting in the capital, and you could hear them as senators debated for over three hours. The outcome, I think, was really unknown. In the end, the redistricting bill failed by a vote of 19 in favor and 31 opposed. It's important to mention that the Indiana Senate is heavily Republican, so of those 31 opposed, 21 were Republicans. Here's one of them. This is State Senator Spencer Deerey, who said that redistricting just to get political gain went against his conservative values.

I see no justification that outweighs the harms it would inflict upon the people's faith in the integrity of our elections and our system of government.

He said he'd fight with, quote, his last breath to prevent the federal government from bullying a state. Others just said their constituents did not want this.

That state senator called it bullying. The Trump administration probably called it trying to be persuasive. What did they do to try to steer this the president's way?

It started months ago. Indiana lawmakers were brought to the White House. Vice President Vance went to Indiana. In fact, during the debate, Vance tweeted that Senate President Pro-Tem Rajik Brahe, was being dishonest in trying to defeat this bill, and Brahe did ultimately vote against it. Trump and Republican governor Mike Braun here threatened to back primary challenges against senators who didn't get on board. The President's son, Donald Trump Jr, tweeted yesterday that he would come campaign here against them. You heard some of what Trump said there at the top. He also said he'd support someone to run against Bray. For his part, the governor, Braun, warned that, quote, decisions like this are going to carry political consequences.

What would this redistricting have done?

Yeah, the state has seven Republican members of the House and two Democrats now, this would have redrawn the lines to help flip those last two seats. Supporters said it was legal, even though redistricting is normally done after the census at the start of the decade. They said Democratic-led states have gerrymandered like that in the past, but opponents said it would have divided up minority voters here in Indianapolis and put them in districts where their votes would be outnumbered by suburban and rural voters, basically diluting their vote.

Where does President Trump's redistricting effort stand now?

So far Republicans have been able to tilt a couple more seats their way than Democrats. Texas redistricted to help the GOP win maybe five seats there, Missouri and North Carolina each did one seat. California Democrats have countered by tilting five seats their way. But the question now is whether Republicans in other states where this is being considered, like Florida and Kansas, will go ahead with redistricting.

That is Ben Thorpe in Indianapolis. Ben, thank you.

Thank you so much.

That's up first for Friday, December 12th. I'm Michelle Martin.

And I'm Steve Inskeep on the radio on Morning Edition. We're interviewing retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vinman about Ukraine's position on the battlefield, following up on the story you heard a moment ago.

Also, the topic of this week's Sunday Story is whether a platonic best friend can also be a life partner. Weekend Edition and Sunday Story host Ayesha Rosco has something to say about that. This year, she bought a house with her bestie, and together, they are co-parenting their five kids.

You know, some people say, Is it like the braided Bunch?

Well, a little bit because it really is a blended family.

This weekend on the Sunday Story, a conversation between Ayesha and author Reina Cohen about what happens when you put friendship at the center of your life. Listen to the Sunday Story right here on NPR's Up First podcast.

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