Politics and views in the United States.

Some in Congress question the legality of Trump's Iran strikes, as he announces a ceasefire. Gen Zers filter their college choices by politics, and Islamophobic rhetoric surfaces in NYC's tight mayoral race.

TRANSCRIPT

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

I asked for a Gang of Eight briefing.

It has yet to occur.

And it's not clear to me what the administration is hiding from the Congress and from the American people.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York is criticizing the White House for failing to brief lawmakers after airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Iran replied by striking a U.S. airbase in Qatar Monday, with no reported injuries.

That retaliation seemed designed to allow for de-escalation.

President Donald Trump posted on social media that Iran gave early notice of the missile strike.

He then announced a ceasefire in the air war between Iran and Israel.

That may reduce momentum for a war powers resolution, Congress asserting its sole constitutional right to declare war.

Speaker Mike Johnson is calling that unnecessary.

Some of the president's isolationist America First base may still be alienated by his decision to join a Mideast war.

But that reaction could also be muted by an end to fighting.

Security officials are so far still voicing concern about potential domestic threats, including cyberattacks and possible acts of terrorism.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

My responsibility is to secure the homeland, to do all I can to make sure that we're identifying threats that may be here, what we can do to get in front of them before anything could happen to the population that live here in the United States.

The administration has long argued without evidence that illegal immigration puts the U.S. at risk for terrorism.

In a Monday hearing on the Justice Department's budget, Attorney General Pam Bondi was asked about border security and potential threats from Iranian nationals.

I don't have the number of the conviction, but it's well over a thousand have entered our country.

And I can tell you we are on high alert and everyone is looking at that very closely.

A new Supreme Court decision will temporarily allow the Trump administration to deport migrants from Cuba, Vietnam and Laos to South Sudan, an African nation in deep crisis.

The court's liberals argued against sending migrants to countries other than their homes.

Polls in the New York mayoral race show a close contest between Socialist Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Some of Mamdani's online critics in the tense contest are using anti-Muslim rhetoric.

New college application data show political leanings are influencing students' decisions about where to attend.

Nearly 30 percent of Gen Z students say they factored in a school's politics, according to Pam Royale of EAB, which conducted the study.

They're eliminating certain institutions that they believe are misaligned with their political values, either because they're too conservative or they're too liberal, they're in a blue state or a red state.

Royale says students told them it's less about choosing like-minded institutions and more about avoiding those that feel out of sync.

She adds students are watching how colleges handle protests.

I'm Farah Siddiqui for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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