WSIU News Morning Update November 19, 2025 in Carbondale, IL

This is Morning Edition. I'm Leah Lerner reporting WSIU News. U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth has fired a Belleville-based staffer that the Department of Homeland Security accused of misrepresenting himself as an attorney. Last week, Homeland Security said the Democratic Senators' employee identified himself as a lawyer for a Staunton, Illinois man detained by immigration and customs enforcement last month. In a letter sent to DHS on Monday, Tammy Duckworth says she and her staff were unaware and did not direct the conduct described by the federal government. She wrote that she terminated the employee on Monday. An attorney for the former staffer declined to comment Tammy Duckworth's office could not be immediately reached. The employee has been accused of intervening in the case of Ismail Ayuzzo Sandoval. ICE detained him last month for violating four deportations and also having a 2008 DUI conviction. After a week of criticism over his vote on a measure ending the government shutdown, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin maintains it was the right decision. Alex Degman reports. Dick Durbin was one of seven Senate Democrats who okayed a continuing resolution that will fund much of the government through January 30th. Dick Durbin says Democrats tried to get Republicans to negotiate and it didn't work. Part of the reason it didn't work. is Donald Trump could give a damn if he has to cut snap benefits. He just doesn't care. And I don't think it'll ever reach a point where he will. On a congressional level, they were backing him up. So it looked to me like we, at this point, we're running the very real risk that we wouldn't reach our goal on a lot of innocent people would suffer. Democrats had been holding out for an extension of health care subsidies, but instead got promised a vote would be held on the matter by mid-December. I'm Alex Dagman. Starting today, Illinois residents can store their driver's license or state ID on their iPhones wallet. Secretary of State Alexei Janulia says residents can pull up their IDs on their phones or Apple watches and present them in person and online. That includes the TSA checkpoints at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports. The program will soon expand Google and Samsung Wallets for Android users. You can learn more at WSIU.org.