Good morning. Immigration is still dominating the news. A man attacked Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, at a town hall in Minneapolis last night, spraying her with a syringe filled with strong-smelling liquid after she said, “We must abolish ICE for good.” Omar was unharmed and the man was arrested. And the federal government is responding to the killing of Alex Pretti, who was protesting ICE. President Trump promised a “very honorable and honest investigation” into his death, but he again blamed Pretti for legally carrying a firearm. We have more news below. But first, let’s visit a country that’s handling the issue of undocumented migrants in a starkly different way.
Welcome to SpainAfter a military coup in his native Mali in 2022, Sady Traoré said he fled the country for the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa. Now 28, he works in the citrus groves of eastern Spain. He hasn’t been able to secure an appointment to apply for Spanish asylum. Traoré, and hundreds of thousands of other undocumented workers in Spain, got good news yesterday. The Spanish government will give many of them a way to apply for renewable residency permits. It will turn its illegal immigrants into legal ones. “It brings me closer to my dream, and the dream of many others like me,” Traoré told our reporter, José Bautista. The government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, a Socialist, described the measure as critical to Spain’s economic future. Migrant labor plays a large part in the country’s economy. Spain’s minister for migration said it would have an impact “on our social cohesion, well-being, and also on the economy.” Spain’s opposition leaders largely disagreed. Vox, a far-right party, said it would take the government to court over the decision. Its leader said Sánchez was “accelerating an invasion.” An outlierSpain’s decision is at odds with the posture toward immigration taken by many Western governments, with widespread public support. Britain recently tightened its rules surrounding refugees. Italy declared that it wanted to detain asylum seekers in Albania while it reviewed their claims. Greece jails those who remain in the country after it rejects their claims. And in the United States, Trump has vowed to arrest and deport millions of illegal immigrants, ordering a crackdown in order to do so. Illegal crossings at the border have almost stopped, but enforcement elsewhere has led to fatal violence, strife and protests in those places, most notably Minneapolis. “In the current international context, marked by the rise of anti-migration discourse, Spain’s decision represents a counterweight,” a migration researcher at Pontifical University of Comillas in Madrid told The Times. How it happenedSpain has legalized waves of undocumented people before, and tried to present itself as a beacon for immigrants. There have been eight campaigns to do so in the country since the mid-1980s, and they’ve rolled out under both progressive and conservative governments. They helped keep Spain’s population from shrinking — the way other European countries have. At least a million migrants benefited, too. Then came the coronavirus pandemic, when lockdowns in Spain laid bare the importance of migrant labor. A 2021 petition to revive the immigration debate, signed by more than 700,000 Spaniards, went nowhere. Until Monday, when Sánchez’s government brokered a deal with Unidas Podemos, a smaller left-wing party, in exchange for the support of the Socialists in Parliament. Traoré, the worker in the citrus grove, told José what that meant for him. The measure provides a chance, he said, “to live in peace and work with dignity to support our families.” You can read more in this story. Now, let’s see what else is happening in the world.
What is the meaning of this image? Evan Gorelick, one of our writers here on The Morning, can tell you: Last week, I called the Department of Homeland Security to ask about an ICE recruitment ad that said, “WE’LL HAVE OUR HOME AGAIN.” That’s also the name of a song embraced by some white supremacists. I was reporting a story about government accounts that have pointed to neo-Nazi literature, ethnic cleansing and QAnon conspiracies. A spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, told me that it would be “morally repugnant” if the Homeland Security post were quoting the white-supremacist anthem. But, she said, it was unrelated: “There are plenty of references to those words in books and poems.” Yet when I opened the post on Instagram, it played audio from the song’s chorus. When I pointed this out, McLaughlin said I was participating in a left-wing conspiracy theory and “mainstreaming racism” by drawing a false connection. Less than 40 minutes later, the post had been erased. To some people, these messages sound patriotic. But those well-versed in the language of right-wing extremism hear klaxons. Read more about the posts in my latest story.
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The United States needs more energy to get through the cold snaps of the future. The government should help people switch to electric heat pumps, Robinson Meyer writes. Here’s a column by Bret Stephens on punishing the Iranian regime. Introducing Crossplay Go word to word in our first 2-player game. Spell. Score. Outsmart your opponent. Download app
The sourdough secret: A remarkable number of home bakers have turned the pandemic bread boom into a thriving business. Some are making as much as six figures. High and dry: Some people who give up alcohol in January are enjoying nonalcoholic THC-infused beverages instead. Your pick: The most-clicked link in The Morning yesterday was a video of our reporter describing what he saw after the shooting of Pretti. A hidden figure: Gladys West, a Navy mathematician, led a team that calculated the precise shape of Earth using early computers. Her work was critical for the development of GPS. She died at 95.
28,000,000,000— That’show many liters of water Microsoft said it would use for its data centers in 2030, according a report obtained by The Times. The company had promised to cut its water use, but big tech companies are guzzling water during the A.I. frenzy.
Coaches: The former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick |
