Host Maren Machles learns more about people’s experiences in ICE detention by talking with formerly detained activist Berto Hernandez and traveling to El Paso, Texas, to hear directly from people who were recently released from ICE facilities. She explores how immigration laws and one anti-terrorism law from the 1990s influenced the current political landscape and helped create the conditions that led to the mass detention of migrants. And she unpacks an exclusive POGO investigation that reveals ICE’s dangerous overreliance on solitary confinement.

To dig into what it’s really like interacting with ICE, Maren talks with Berto Hernandez, Ouderwuil Esteban Marval Rivas, Joseph Olivas, and Diego Andres. She learns how activists are trying to help by meeting up with Las Americas Director of Cross Border Strategies Crystal Sandoval. Law professor César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, from The Ohio State University, breaks down how government policies altered today’s political landscape, and POGO Senior Investigator Nick Schwellenbach outlines his investigation on solitary confinement in ICE detention. 

If you enjoy Bad Watchdog, sign up for emails from the Project On Government Oversight to learn more about POGO’s mission and work.

Bad Watchdog is a member of the Airwave Media network and a part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.