Assassination suspect arrested after fatal attack on Minnesota lawmakers | The Excerpt
On Monday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: A suspect has been arrested in the fatal shooting of Minnesota lawmakers over the weekend. Iranian missiles struck Tel Aviv and Haifa before dawn on Monday. 'No Kings' organizers say protests drew large crowds. How large? Plus, Republican Sen. Rand Paul criticized the military parade backed by President Donald Trump. Paste BN Money Reporter Bailey Schulz discusses what some economists are saying about the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. President Trump directs ICE to expand deportations in large Democratic-run cities. Paste BN National Correspondent Deborah Barfield Berry tells us how families are reflecting on the Charleston church massacre a decade later.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Monday, June 16th, 2025. This is The Excerpt. Today, a man has been taken into custody after a fatal attack on Minnesota lawmakers. Plus, the latest on Iran's pre-dawn strikes on Israel. An economist warned that fewer immigrants could prompt labor shortages and slow economic growth.
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The man suspected of shooting two democratic lawmakers, killing one, was taken into custody, authorities announced last night. The suspect, identified as 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, was taken into custody about 50 miles away from Minneapolis, according to the superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. He was arrested after State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were shot and killed and State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were shot multiple times and wounded in Brooklyn Park and Champlain, two neighboring suburban cities 10 to 20 miles outside Minneapolis. The US Attorney's Office is reviewing whether the suspect will face federal charges. The suspect had posed as a law enforcement officer to gain access to the Minneapolis area victims' homes in the pre-dawn hours on Saturday, officials said. Authorities said he and police officers exchanged gunfire before he fled on foot.
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Iranian missiles struck Tel Aviv and Haifa in Israel before dawn, killing at least eight people while destroying homes. Several residential buildings in a densely-populated neighborhood in Tel Aviv were destroyed in a strike just hundreds of meters from the US Embassy branch in the city. The US Ambassador said the building sustained minor damage. The latest deaths in Israel, reported by Israel's National Emergency Services, raised its death toll to 23 since Friday. Israeli attacks in Iran have killed at least 224 people since then, according to Iran's Health Ministry. That country's Revolutionary Guard said the latest attack used a new method that caused Israel's multi-layer defense systems to target each other and allow Tehran to successfully hit many targets. Israel's Defense Minister warned that Tehran residents would pay the price, and soon. Before leaving for the G7 summit yesterday, President Donald Trump was asked what he was doing to de-escalate the situation. He said, "I hope there's going to be a deal. I think it's time for a deal. Sometimes they have to fight it out."
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Organizers of the No Kings rallies that swept across the nation Saturday said the protests drew large crowds that marched against the Trump administration. The American Civil Liberties Union, a part of the coalition that put on the demonstrations, said in a statement that more than 5 million people participated in over 2100 rallies and protests. Meanwhile, a military parade was held the same day, and backed by President Trump, marking the 250th anniversary of the US Army. While some defended the parade as a celebration of Army history and pride, others criticized it. That included GOP Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who said it was too expensive for the country and glorified weapons. You can read more from the weekend's events with a link in today's show notes.
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Amid the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, economists warned that fewer immigrants could prompt labor shortages and slow economic growth. I spoke with Paste BN Money reporter Bailey Schulz, about the potential impact in California and beyond.
Thanks, as always, for joining me, Bailey.
Bailey Schulz:
Yeah. Thank you for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So for this piece, you spoke with some experts who said the US really is immigrant-dependent. How so? What did you hear from them?
Bailey Schulz:
So we are just seeing that immigrants make up a pretty significant chunk of the US workforce. Nationwide as of 2024, foreign-born workers account for about 19% of the US civilian labor force. In California specifically and in certain states, we're seeing just an even larger share of the workforce is made up of immigrants. So in California that share is about one-third of the workforce. And this is even more prevalent when you dive into certain industries within those states. So once again, in California, for example, I found one report found immigrants make up about 44% of manufacturing jobs, 40% of construction jobs.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, critics say these workers are lowering wages for Americans or taking away jobs. What does the data tell us, Bailey?
Bailey Schulz:
So the answer from the data is a little more murky than that. We're seeing some studies indicate that immigrants may reduce wages for native-born Americans with competing skillsets, but we're seeing research show that immigrants increase overall wages for native-born citizens. And as far as the concern about the immigrants taking away jobs, that's something that we haven't really seen borne out in the data that experts pointed me to. On the other end, they're actually helping fill out jobs in industries that are struggling to hire, that would otherwise be vacant.
Taylor Wilson:
What cost do immigrants add for the government, and how do they also raise revenue?
Bailey Schulz:
So I think it's true that when you see an influx of immigrants, you're seeing more people coming to the United States. That means more costs for things like public education, for example. But at the same time, you're seeing these people moving to the country are paying taxes, they're buying goods and services, they're working in the country, and so we're seeing revenue generated there as well. And research shows that at the federal level, we see more of that revenue generation than the costs added.
On the state local level, we do see that there are more costs associated, just because at that level you're seeing more money go toward things like education. But the expert I spoke to said, on the aggregate, when you take a step back, the rise in immigration tends to be a net benefit for revenue generation.
Taylor Wilson:
Bailey, this immigration crackdown that we're seeing under the Trump administration, what happens to this conversation around some of these economic factors, if it continues?
Bailey Schulz:
The thought is that this crackdown could lead to fewer documented and undocumented immigrants altogether, since those trend together, which in turn would mean a tighter labor market here in the United States. So for workers, that could mean higher wages, but at the same time, that would slow overall economic growth. And we saw this play out during Trump's first term and when the unemployment rate in 2019 dropped to the lowest level since 1969.
As far as the effects of that, one economist told me that that has ripple effects across the economy, such as driving up the cost to produce certain items, for example. He also mentioned that companies may be more inclined to import cheaper goods to save costs, and that would be happening at a time when we're seeing the Trump administration really pushing for more US manufacturing through tariffs.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Folks can click on the link in today's show notes to get the full version of this story. Bailey Schulz covers money for Paste BN. Thanks, Bailey.
Bailey Schulz:
Yeah. Thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
Meanwhile, President Trump is directing immigration and customs enforcement officials to ramp up efforts to detain and deport migrants from large democratic-run cities. Trump called for an expanded deportation blitz in an evening post yesterday on Truth Social, challenging ICE officers to do all in their power to "achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest mass deportation program in history."
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Tomorrow marks 10 years since a white supremacist gunned down Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. And as Paste BN National correspondent Deborah Barfield Berry told me, the families hope commemoration events spark action.
Hello, Deborah.
Deborah Barfield Berry:
Hello, Taylor. How are you?
Taylor Wilson:
I'm well, thanks. Thanks for hopping on on this important work here. So let's just go back first, if we could, to that just awful day 10 years ago. Can you just give us a refresher, Deborah, on what happened in this Charleston Church?
Deborah Barfield Berry:
It was the evening of June 17th, members of the church were holding a Bible study, and a guest came and it was some point during the prayer when the shooter pulled out a gun and killed nine of the churchgoers. And five survived. It would happen to be at a historic Black church, and the shooter was a white supremacist.
Taylor Wilson:
How have the victims been commemorated since the awful massacre?
Deborah Barfield Berry:
They have had commemoration programs almost every year. Whether it was at church, whether it's communities, whether lawmakers, they've always had different programs to remember and honor them. But in addition to that, there are benches near the church that have their names on it. There are memorial gardens. One building, a library, is named after Cynthia Graham Hurd, who was a librarian. There are all different kinds of ways that they try to remember and honor the folks who were lost that day.
And then there's also a memorial that's under construction right now, they're still trying to raise money, that will be next to the church. And the church officials say it's supposed to be a place that would help give people peace and to pray, and that's part of the healing of this tragedy. And no one says that everything is all good and everything is well now. In fact, some folks are feeling in some way that even after the community and the country rallied behind the community, there's still shootings and attacks and killings since then. And some of them are based on race, some of them are based on ethnicity, some are based on faith. So they're really disappointed and rattled by the fact that it's still happening. And these days, they're actually demanding action so that this doesn't happen to another family.
Taylor Wilson:
You write about forgiveness in this piece, Deborah, and of course the mourning process is different for everyone. In speaking with family members of these victims, how do they approach this shooting here 10 years later?
Deborah Barfield Berry:
So some of the family members publicly forgave the shooter a couple of days after. There's some who took a little longer, particularly a pastor I just talked to. It took her a couple of years before she felt like God had moved her to say she forgave him. Now, she said she still struggles with that from day to day, but in the end she did. But there are some members, including Melvin Graham who lost his younger sister, Cynthia, who says, ah, nah, they're nowhere near forgiving the shooter. If anything, he says he's spending his energy and his passion working to make sure that his sister and the other eight are not forgotten, and that he's working hard to make sure that this doesn't happen to another family. He says forgiveness is between him and God.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, what exactly do they hope for on that point, Deborah? And how do they frame this violence 10 years ago within the moment we're currently seeing in America?
Deborah Barfield Berry:
So some of them have called for and supported bills locally and federally that address or try to address hate crimes, gun violence. There are some efforts underway there, and they're pushing and lobbying for those kinds of measures. But they've also testified at local hearings. They've testified at federal hearings. They're still trying to make sure that their attention. That's why they have these commemoration programs every year. And so they have week-long, actually there are some commemoration programs that are happening through the month. They're calling it Acts of Amazing Grace at the church.
But what they also are particularly alarmed by is that this is 10 years after that hate crime. They're worried about, particularly in this climate where there's a lot of rhetoric around race, there's a lot of rhetoric around faith, a lot of rhetoric around diversity. They're really pushing hard to have some kind of healing and some positive talk in the midst of all of this. They're really worried about the divisiveness that's happening now, and hoping that keeping the attention and focus on how the community and the country rallied behind Charleston then, that maybe there could be some ways that they rally around making sure that there's good vibes, good feelings, good rhetoric going forward.
Now, some of them say it's going to be a hard fight, and this is an uphill challenge, but particularly pushing and relying on their faith, they're hoping that this will make a difference.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. This was another beautiful piece from you, Deborah, joining me here on the 10th anniversary of this Charleston shooting. Deborah Barfield Berry is a national correspondent with Paste BN. Thank you, Deborah.
Deborah Barfield Berry:
Thank you.
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Taylor Wilson:
And coming up later today, a new episode of Forum.
David Bradfield:
Today, if you are very appreciative of your father and mother, go and give them a big hug and tell them that. And I think that will make all the difference in their world.
Taylor Wilson:
That's David Bradfield, a 38-year-old home appraiser from Roswell, Georgia. You can hear more people sounding off about what they want their dads to know in the episode you can find right here on this feed today, beginning at 4:00 PM Eastern Time.
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And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio. And as always, if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from Paste BN.