Latest / This Week On ICE / 15 Minnesotans charged with conspiracy, DACA under pressure, ICE threats at midterm polls, and two key SCOTUS cases wrapping up

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15 Minnesotans charged with conspiracy, DACA under pressure, ICE threats at midterm polls, and two key SCOTUS cases wrapping up · This Week On ICE

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to This Week On ICE for June 19, 2026.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Kelly Kimball.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm Matt Kendrick.
• 0:32
  Who you just heard was former President Barack Obama during the
• 0:35
  opening ceremony of
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: his new Presidential Center in Chicago on Thursday.
• 0:40
  He praised the bravery of Minnesotans who stood up to ICE
• 0:43
  officers during their
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: immigration crackdown earlier this year during Operation Metro Surge.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: This week,
• 0:49
  federal prosecutors charged 15 people with impeding the Trump
• 0:53
  administration's
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: crackdown,
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: accusing them of conspiracy.
• 0:57
  Matt will talk about what these unprecedented charges mean in
• 1:01
  terms of its threats
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: to the First Amendment,
• 1:03
  as well as what it says about national security enforcement in
• 1:06
  Trump's America.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Then,
• 1:09
  this week marks the 14th anniversary of forming the Deferred
• 1:12
  Action for Childhood
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: Arrivals program,
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: also known as DACA.
• 1:15
  The program was created during the Obama administration to
• 1:18
  protect undocumented
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: immigrants who came to the U.S.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: as children from deportation,
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: but today it's
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: future remains uncertain.
• 1:25
  Kelly will talk about the challenges in DACA's future and its
• 1:28
  impact on migrant children.
• 1:30
  She'll also briefly discuss the final weeks of the Supreme
• 1:33
  Court's current term and
• 1:34
  two specific court cases that are the most consequential to
• 1:38
  immigrants in the U.S.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: today.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: After the break, have you been watching the World Cup?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Are you preparing to vote in the midterm elections in November?
• 1:47
  Stay tuned because we're talking about the major ways
• 1:50
  immigration enforcement may
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: affect these two arenas.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Lots to talk about.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Stick with us.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, Matt, let's talk about Minneapolis.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: What are these Minneapolis citizens being charged with and why?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so the government charged 15 people this week.
• 2:11
  They're being charged with conspiracy to impede officers'
• 2:15
  enforcement activity.
• 2:17
  The really important part of that is the conspiracy aspect
• 2:21
  because that allows
• 2:23
  these charges to be brought for what people may have said in
• 2:27
  private group chats,
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: what they may have said to one another outside of a group chat,
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: not necessarily having taken any action.
• 2:35
  One of these people who's been charged has basically been
• 2:38
  accused of writing an
• 2:39
  angry letter in a group chat saying that they wish to cause
• 2:43
  harm to an ICE agent,
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  SPEAKER_02: right?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: Now, did they go out and actually hurt an ICE agent?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: No, they didn't.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: attorney for this group of people who've been charged,
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: Bruce Nestor,
• 2:53
  is saying that the government is essentially accruing them of
• 2:56
  thought crimes.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: And he described these charges as,
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: quote,
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: an act of political retribution designed to quell dissent.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, what the
• 3:05
  the government has done here may have involved the use of an
• 3:08
  informant in other
• 3:09
  words someone who is a member of these more radical groups or
• 3:12
  not even radical
• 3:13
  groups in Minnesota who turned over to the government logs of
• 3:18
  these secure chats
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: like for example
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: for example, Signal Chats.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: You and I use Signal.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: Almost every journalist I know uses Signal.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's a really smart idea,
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: I would say,
• 3:27
  for everyone in the United States to use an encrypted app like
• 3:30
  Signal or WhatsApp
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: is also encrypted,
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: although it's not necessarily as safe as Signal.
• 3:35
  because it's so difficult for the government to access your
• 3:38
  messages on this.
• 3:39
  So if they're trying to accuse you of something like conspiracy
• 3:43
  to impede law
• 3:43
  enforcement or they're trying to figure out what a journalist
• 3:46
  is reporting on so
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: that they can get in front of that story,
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: using Signal makes it very difficult.
• 3:51
  So basically they've been accused of cooperating with Antifa in
• 3:56
  order to stop ICE
• 3:58
  agents from carrying out enforcement activities during the
• 4:02
  crackdown in Minnesota
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  SPEAKER_02: earlier this year.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: We do know a ton about the individuals who are being charged.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: We do know that of the 15 people,
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: 12 were arrested on Tuesday,
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  SPEAKER_02: one was already in custody,
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  SPEAKER_02: and two people remain at large.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: We don't know where they are, but they have not been
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: It Was Quite A Scene
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: So we're still waiting on this.
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  SPEAKER_02: As I said,
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: the lawyer for many of these demonstrators,
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  SPEAKER_02: Bruce Nestor,
• 4:43
  feels they have a very strong case and basically is saying that
• 4:47
  these folks have
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: First Amendment rights.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: They can think and say whatever they want.
• 4:51
  And there's no evidence that they took part in any actual
• 4:55
  action to impede the
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: actions of immigration enforcement.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:00
  And for those that may not be familiar,
• 5:03
  let's remind everybody,
• 5:04
  what is Antifa?
• 5:06
  And why are immigration authorities using Antifa in association
• 5:10
  with Antifa as
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: their main defense here?
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  SPEAKER_02: is a deliberate misrepresentation that the government is carrying out.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: Antifa comes from 1930s Germany, and it was a philosophy.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: There's no organized one group that is Antifa.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: It just means anti-fascists.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: So in Germany,
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: in Italy,
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  SPEAKER_02: in Spain,
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  SPEAKER_02: during the rise of fascism in the 1930s,
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  SPEAKER_02: left-wing groups,
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: including trade unions,
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: including academics and intellectuals,
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: would organize these groups to protect individual communities from
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: brown shirts walking into their community from,
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  SPEAKER_02: in Spain,
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  SPEAKER_02: fascist groups breaking into factories,
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  SPEAKER_02: etc.,
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: etc.
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  SPEAKER_02: And so after that,
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: it's become a mindset,
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: an ideology among left-wing groups that favors direct action,
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: that favors mutual aid,
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: and in some cases favors militant resistance to the government.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: But there is no group
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: that is called Antifa, right?
• 6:06
  So the fact that the government is using this label of Antifa
• 6:10
  is part of a broader
• 6:11
  sort of rhetorical strategy that the Trump administration has
• 6:14
  used in which they
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: accuse people who just zealously oppose
• 6:18
  shows the encroachment of the Trump administration onto civil
• 6:23
  liberties and
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: individual liberties as Antifa or anti-fascists.
• 6:28
  It's an easy way to apply a shorthand and label widely
• 6:34
  decentralized resistance
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: efforts as one domestic terror organization that Trump has categorized,
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: quote unquote,
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: Antifa as a domestic terror organization,
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: even though,
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: like I said,
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: there is no organization called Antifa.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: There never has been.
• 6:50
  and the prosecutor in charge of these specific charges did not
• 6:54
  define what Antifa
• 6:55
  was and said it went quote beyond the scope of that indictment
• 6:58
  that he issued so
• 7:00
  it's very very strange very weird kind of way to do things and
• 7:04
  I think a key
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: weakness in their case
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: The next time I want to cobble together an argument,
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'll just say it goes beyond the scope and go from there.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's a real catch all lazy argument.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: So the government is arresting citizens for being associated with Antifa.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious, have we seen anything like this before in U.S. history?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, both recently and in the past.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: In the recent past,
• 7:35
  there was an accusation against six people known as the
• 7:38
  Broadview Six who were
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: arrested outside of an ICE facility in Illinois.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: Very famously, this included Kat Abugazi.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: who used to be a
• 8:04
  is a lot of prosecutorial misconduct in those cases and
• 8:10
  ultimately the government
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: didn't move forward with those charges.
• 8:14
  Given the apparent weakness of the charges in Minnesota and the
• 8:17
  kind of fuzziness
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: of these conspiracy things,
• 8:20
  I think it's possible that we could see a dismissal of charges
• 8:23
  against this.
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  SPEAKER_02: But conspiracy charges in general are
• 8:28
  is historically a way for the government to get around a lot of
• 8:31
  First Amendment protections.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like I mentioned,
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: for a conspiracy to happen,
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: you do not need to actually carry out whatever crime you're accused of.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: So removing this from the context of
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: you can be charged with conspiracy to
• 8:58
  this is how we're going to distribute them this is how we're
• 9:01
  going to protect them
• 9:01
  even if you never carry any of that out if the government has
• 9:05
  feels that they have
• 9:06
  sufficient evidence that you were very serious about carrying
• 9:08
  that out and you were
• 9:09
  conspiring to carry out this crime they can bring those charges
• 9:13
  against you
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: Similarly, conspiracy charges have been used against organized crime.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: Oftentimes,
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: people at the top of an organized crime organization,
• 9:21
  they're never going to touch guns or money or illegal
• 9:23
  substances or trafficked
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: people.
• 9:26
  And so the charges that they wind up being brought up on are
• 9:29
  conspiracy charges.
• 9:30
  And so those are probably more legitimate uses of like a
• 9:33
  conspiracy charge,
• 9:33
  right?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: Trying to get inside these very,
• 9:35
  very difficult to access criminal organizations and show that
• 9:39
  there's a structure,
• 9:39
  a command structure that leads back to higher ups even if they
• 9:44
  never carry out
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: crimes themselves.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: But in this specific case that we're talking about in Minnesota,
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: there doesn't appear to be any sort of similar structure,
• 9:53
  any sort of similar sort of kingpin calling the shots on how
• 9:57
  they should target ICE
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: officers or anything like that.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like Bruce Nestor said, you can basically be accused of a thought crime.
• 10:02
  You can basically be accused of thinking and telling your
• 10:06
  friends that you don't
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: think it's okay what ICE agents are doing.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's apparently a crime now.
• 10:11
  Well,
• 10:11
  I guess we're going to have to wait and see if these charges
• 10:14
  will stick.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: We will
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: pay attention to this case as it develops.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Really important stuff, Matt.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for these updates.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: Kelly, let's turn to you.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: So this week is the 14th anniversary of DACA.
• 10:25
  This is a program that has protected over half a million
• 10:28
  children and young adults
• 10:29
  from deportation who came to this country with no real choice
• 10:32
  in the matter.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: So Trump has tried to end this program during his first term.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: He was stopped by a Supreme Court ruling.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: But today, under the second term, the program's facing new threats.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: So can you tell us what's been going on?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes,
• 10:44
  what's happening right now is really a retranslation or a new
• 10:47
  calculus for the
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: second Trump administration in terms of what it wants to do with DACA.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: And as a reminder,
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: DACA is a program that launched during the Obama administration,
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: and it stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: Recipients of DACA are called DREAMERS, which I love.
• 11:04
  It's a U.S.
• 11:04
  immigration policy that basically allows undocumented
• 11:07
  individuals to
• 11:09
  who were brought to the U.S.
• 11:10
  as children to receive temporary protection from deportation.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: It also makes them eligible for work permits.
• 11:17
  And recipients of DACA,
• 11:18
  these dreamers,
• 11:19
  they can apply for renewal every two years.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: And when they apply for this renewal,
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: it usually takes anywhere from 15 days to over a month maximum.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: And when they renew, it allows them to maintain their work permit.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: They could also get an education.
• 11:36
  they could have incredible careers they could attend university
• 11:38
  to go to medical
• 11:39
  school and obviously prevent deportation this is what's
• 11:43
  happening right now is that
• 11:45
  there are numerous cases that dreamers are still waiting to get
• 11:49
  their renewals
• 11:50
  after four five six seven months it's an unprecedented
• 11:55
  extension of this renewal
• 11:57
  process and it's risking them losing their work permits and
• 12:00
  then falling out of
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: status
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's extremely significant.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Todd Skolte,
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: who is president of FWD.US,
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: this is a bipartisan advocacy organization,
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: this is what he told CNN,
• 12:14
  is that he's seeing somewhere between a 400% to 1,000% increase
• 12:19
  in processing times
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: around the country.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: This impacts over half a million Dreamers that are currently in the U.S.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: from over 200 different countries.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: So what's the impact of these delays?
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: Does this mean that folks might end up getting deported?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: How serious is this for them?
• 12:36
  In the short term,
• 12:37
  they lose their jobs because they don't have a work permit.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: When they lose their jobs, they have to eventually
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: withdraw from school, withdraw from anything tied to a work permit.
• 12:47
  I saw this one report in The Guardian that interviewed a
• 12:49
  student in medical school
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: who wanted to be a pediatrician,
• 12:53
  and he asked to withdraw from medical school because he doesn't
• 12:55
  have a work permit
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: that would allow him to pay off his loans eventually.
• 12:58
  And now he's kind of in limbo,
• 13:00
  and he's been in limbo since December of last year.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: And eventually,
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: if you don't have a work permit,
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: if you don't have a right to be here through this Dreamer program,
• 13:10
  you can face a heightened risk of deportation and as we have
• 13:15
  seen so far over 260
• 13:18
  dreamers have been arrested by immigration enforcement and at
• 13:21
  least 80 have already
• 13:22
  been deported over the last year these delays in the renewal
• 13:28
  process we have yet to
• 13:30
  see the impact of that because these delays are starting
• 13:33
  dreamers are starting to
• 13:34
  feel the pressure of these delays 80 have been deported so far
• 13:37
  260 dreamers have
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: been arrested
• 13:40
  that may increase quite exponentially if these renewals are not
• 13:43
  processed expeditiously.
• 13:47
  So you mentioned that the Trump administration has a new
• 13:49
  calculus in its second term.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: Can you explain what that calculus is?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: So again and again on the show,
• 13:55
  we have described how the first Trump administration attempts
• 13:59
  to hit hard at the
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: courts with really,
• 14:01
  really trumped up lawsuits that try to shave away protections
• 14:06
  for immigrants across
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: a number of programs and policies.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: And we find again and again during Trump 2.0,
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: the second administration,
• 14:15
  they're shifting their calculus to attack the program and to
• 14:18
  atomize the program in
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: many different ways.
• 14:21
  Advocates are calling this kind of a multi-pronged dismantling
• 14:25
  of the Dreamer
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: program or effectively a death by a thousand cuts.
• 14:29
  Trump attempted to eliminate DACA during the first
• 14:31
  administration and it was
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: ultimately blocked by the Supreme Court in 2020.
• 14:36
  and Chief Justice John Roberts put it this way is that the
• 14:40
  decision or the attempt
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: to end the program was quote arbitrary and capricious.
• 14:46
  So Trump 2.0 is doing what advocates are calling a
• 14:49
  multi-pronged dismantling or a
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: death by a thousand cuts.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: So they're not trying to end the program.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: They're trying to make the program as difficult as possible to stay in.
• 14:59
  and these processing delays are happening with what the Trump
• 15:02
  administration is
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: calling stricter vetting,
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: background check procedures.
• 15:06
  Advocates are saying that this is actually chalked up to
• 15:09
  processing backlogs and
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: surges in overall USCIS workloads.
• 15:14
  Let's remember that the Trump administration laid off nearly 50
• 15:17
  workers at USCIS
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: earlier in his term,
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: right?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: So there are just backlogs.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: There isn't actually a heightened vetting process.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing is that Trump recently proposed a new rule
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: that would impose new work authorization restrictions on DACA holders,
• 15:32
  including a requirement that their employer be enrolled in this
• 15:36
  technical thing
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: called E-Verify.
• 15:38
  And the rule also prohibits DACA holders from obtaining
• 15:42
  commercial driver's license.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: So he's trying to find ways in to make DACA holders have a harder,
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: harder time of staying in the program and then getting employment,
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: even if they have the work permit to begin with.
• 15:55
  So it's kind of like forcing them into these situations where
• 15:59
  they essentially have
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: to break the law to survive.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's like a Jean Valjean situation to use the Les Miserables comparison.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: There is a massive economic impact on this that an independent,
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: a conservative,
• 16:14
  a Republican should be very aware of is that if we eliminate
• 16:18
  the DACA program,
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: DACA recipients contribute almost $17 billion to the U.S.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: economy annually.
• 16:24
  Wow Right There's half a million dreamers in this country from
• 16:27
  over 200 from 200
• 16:29
  countries as I mentioned previously over 90% of DACA recipients
• 16:34
  over the age of 25
• 16:35
  are employed they earn something like 27.9 28 billion dollars a
• 16:40
  year and that's
• 16:41
  according to the Institute of Taxation on Economic Policy they
• 16:44
  pay more than 2
• 16:45
  billion dollars in local and state taxes they contribute 2
• 16:49
  billion in social
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: security and medicare
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: So if we strip a work permit from these recipients,
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: if we deport them,
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: goodbye to $2 billion in Social Security and Medicare.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: Goodbye to $2 billion in state taxes.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: This is a unique impact also on the healthcare industry.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: There is a workforce of 37,000 healthcare personnel who are dreamers.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: So there's already a workforce shortage in the healthcare industry.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: Removing DACA workers from the labor force
• 17:20
  could eliminate up to $32 billion in projected lifetime
• 17:23
  earnings tied to DACA
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: recipients employed in healthcare.
• 17:28
  And so I found that specific report from the Coalition for the
• 17:31
  American Dream.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: And they also mentioned that even if we,
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: let's just say we deport every DACA recipient,
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: God forbid,
• 17:40
  if we then have to replace DACA recipients specifically for the
• 17:44
  healthcare industry
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: alone,
• 17:46
  that could incur more than $8 billion in additional recruitment
• 17:50
  and training costs.
• 17:52
  This is going to cost America billions of dollars if we
• 17:55
  eliminate the Dreamer
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: program and then deport half a million DACA recipients.
• 18:00
  And that is an economic argument that I would find very,
• 18:02
  very hard to shake.
• 18:03
  Yeah,
• 18:03
  it happens over and over and over again with these immigration
• 18:07
  themes that we talk about.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: It is just shooting yourself in the foot.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: It almost reminds me of Maoist China.
• 18:13
  It's just taking these decisions that are so bad for your
• 18:16
  economy for ideological reasons.
• 18:19
  And then the rest of the ordinary people have to suffer the
• 18:21
  consequences of it when
• 18:22
  you get sick and turn up to the hospital and your nurse is
• 18:25
  overworked and your
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_02: doctor is overworked.
• 18:27
  And it's going to take $8 billion and several years to train up
• 18:31
  their replacements.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's just...
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: So let's talk about the Supreme Court side of this.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: Supreme Court's wrapping up its term in early July.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: There's at least two court cases that are going to be really,
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: really consequential to immigrants.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: Kelly, tell us what's going on there.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'll make this quick.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Two major Supreme Court cases.
• 18:48
  Number one,
• 18:49
  the birthright citizenship Supreme Court case is called Trump
• 18:52
  v.
• 18:52
  Barbara.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: And number two, the temporary protected status case.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: So Trump is seeking to eliminate TPS
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: for 13 different countries.
• 19:00
  This is called Mullen v.
• 19:01
  Doe and also another Supreme Court case,
• 19:03
  Trump v.
• 19:04
  Myatt.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: So let's turn to the birthright citizenship Supreme Court case first.
• 19:08
  As we recall,
• 19:09
  the last time we heard arguments for this case was in the
• 19:12
  beginning of April.
• 19:13
  That was when Trump made a historic first time presidential
• 19:17
  appearance at the Supreme Court.
• 19:18
  It was the first time a president ever made an appearance
• 19:20
  during a Supreme Court case.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: He left a few minutes in or he left about an hour in to those hearings.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: The Trump v.
• 19:28
  Barbara case scrutinizes the executive order that was signed
• 19:32
  under President Trump
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: during his first day in office.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is Executive Order 14160.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: basically targets the citizenship status of children born in the U.S.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: to unauthorized immigrant parents or parents living in the U.S.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: temporarily.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so during that first April hearing,
• 19:50
  just based off of the arguments and the ways that the Supreme
• 19:53
  Court justices were
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: questioning the Trump administration's argument,
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: it doesn't look like he's going to win this case.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: There is not a lot of confidence among the chief justices.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: So
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: of the 20 cases that the Supreme Court justices are wrapping up,
• 20:08
  we're going to hear a deliberation on this particular case by
• 20:12
  the end of June or
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: maybe early July at the latest,
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: but it really could be any week now.
• 20:16
  This is a top priority and probably one of the most
• 20:19
  consequential for immigrants
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: right now in the United States.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: I'll be sure to cover that when the decision comes out.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's just going to have such an impact on
• 20:28
  So far there are 13 countries that have temporary protected
• 20:29
  status here,
• 20:30
  Haiti,
• 20:30
  Venezuela.
• 20:55
  Afghanistan used to be one of them but the Trump administration
• 20:58
  eliminated TPS
• 20:59
  status for Afghans earlier in his term so the last time we
• 21:03
  heard Supreme Court
• 21:04
  arguments for TPS was on April 29th and there was a recent
• 21:10
  update on Tuesday
• 21:11
  lawyers for Haitian immigrants filed a motion asking the
• 21:15
  Supreme Court to toss out
• 21:16
  the Trump administration's attempt to remove TPS for the
• 21:20
  330,000 Haitians that are
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: here under that status
• 21:24
  The group of TPS recipients claim that the Trump administration
• 21:28
  failed to follow
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: required legal processes before attempting to end those protections.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: So right now,
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: this is pretty unusual for the Supreme Court,
• 21:38
  but they agreed to hear that particular case before a lower
• 21:42
  federal appeals court
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: had the opportunity to even review it.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that is kind of in a discovery process right now.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to keep an
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to keep an eye on what these arguments will look like.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think an update on this case will happen really, really soon.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for these updates, Kelly.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_02: I really appreciate you.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to take a quick break.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: When we return,
• 22:04
  Matt and I will discuss the two most important arenas drawing
• 22:07
  the attention of ICE
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: enforcement right now,
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: election voting booths and the FIFA World Cup.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Stick with us.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: Hey guys, Matt here.
• 22:19
  We have just passed our three month anniversary of starting
• 22:23
  this week on ICE and we
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: are incredibly grateful for the response,
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: not just in the United States but from all across the world,
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: Mexico,
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: Germany,
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: Colombia,
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: the UK,
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: many other friends internationally.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I really wanted to talk about.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: When I was recently in China for a few months,
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_02: I had many interesting conversations with Chinese people,
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: with other travelers from outside of China and
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: The question that I was asked most frequently was about immigration,
• 22:51
  what it's like to live in the United States amid this crackdown
• 22:54
  that the whole
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: world is watching.
• 22:56
  So it is not just a story that affects us even though our
• 23:00
  communities in the United
• 23:01
  States are so deeply affected and traumatized by the violence
• 23:04
  inflicted on them by
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: the federal government.
• 23:07
  It is something that the whole world is watching and the whole
• 23:09
  world is worried about.
• 23:11
  and that's why I'm so proud to inform you that we've been
• 23:13
  awarded a seed grant by
• 23:14
  the Fund for Investigative Journalism that's going to help us
• 23:17
  deepen our original
• 23:18
  reporting and continue to hold power to account as the
• 23:22
  immigration crackdown
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: continues.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: That being said, we need your help.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: If the show has helped keep you informed,
• 23:28
  if it helps keep you feeling like you have a way to fight back
• 23:32
  against the violence
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: being inflicted on your community,
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: please consider sharing it with a friend.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: Give us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: Pledge to join us on Substack.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: We could really use your financial support.
• 23:45
  And it's your listenership and your support and your questions
• 23:48
  that are the engine
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: for our independent journalism.
• 23:52
  We really appreciate your support and we're counting on you to
• 23:55
  keep producing the show.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for listening.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to This Week On ICE.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: In this segment,
• 24:03
  we're talking about two major arenas where the Trump
• 24:05
  immigration crackdown is
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: becoming more and more prominent,
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: voter booths and the FIFA World Cup.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: So Kelly, why don't we start with the polls?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: We've just had local
• 24:16
  elections here in DC,
• 24:17
  primaries across the United States over the last several
• 24:20
  months.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_02: But as the midterm elections are approaching in November,
• 24:25
  we know that Trump believes millions of non-citizens are voting
• 24:28
  illegally.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: And he's often claimed falsely.
• 24:31
  That's why he lost the popular vote in 2016,
• 24:34
  lost the general election in 2020.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_02: There's no basis.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, there's no evidence for these claims.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: And yet we're seeing him persist with this falsehood.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: So what's the latest and how does ICE play into it?
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: So there are two prongs to this.
• 24:48
  One is ICE investigators are trying again and again to go
• 24:51
  straight to local
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: election officials for individual voter files.
• 24:56
  The second piece of this is that DHS and DHS Secretary Mark
• 25:00
  Wayne Mullen keeps kind
• 25:01
  of brandishing this weapon or this threat that ICE agents will
• 25:05
  be at the polls.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: It would be illegal for ICE agents to actually be at the polls.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: There is a really strict constitutional line where
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: states have to monitor the polls, not the federal government.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: So let me look at prong one.
• 25:19
  Axios earlier this week reported an exclusive and found that
• 25:22
  ICE investigators were
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: successfully able to obtain the voter records in Webb County,
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Texas,
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: and Forsyth County in North Carolina.
• 25:32
  We don't know yet what they will do with these files or what
• 25:35
  they may find,
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: but the fact that they were able to obtain these voter records is pretty
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: really, really unprecedented.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: And these are just the two counties that were reported by Axios.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Who knows if there are others?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: As we might recall,
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: earlier this year,
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: Trump sued 20 different states for not turning over voter files.
• 25:53
  It has yet to be seen if there may be more voter files obtained
• 25:56
  by ICE investigators.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's really the latest affront to voter rights,
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: and it's really an affront to the Constitution as well.
• 26:05
  seems like again and again with the first story we mentioned
• 26:08
  and the second story,
• 26:09
  there's an increasing conflict between this immigration
• 26:13
  enforcement and First
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: Amendment rights,
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: right?
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Our right of assembly, our right of speech, our right to vote.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: There's a direct
• 26:20
  contract conflict between what I consider the most important
• 26:23
  individual right that
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: we have in the U.S.
• 26:25
  Constitution and this effort to kick out millions and millions
• 26:29
  and millions of
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: people,
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: as well as terrorize citizens who are just caught up in the middle of it.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'm curious how you have been processing that, Kelly.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: You've been,
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: I think,
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: to more of these enforcement actions than I have been as a reporter,
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_02: as a photographer.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_02: In fact,
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: as I'm thinking about it,
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: like Delaney Hall,
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: we were talking about the First Amendment a lot.
• 26:51
  Do you have any thoughts on this conflict that's emerging as
• 26:53
  the theme in our
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: reporting over the last several months?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think something that I find really,
• 27:01
  really difficult to understand is the ways in which they're
• 27:06
  cherry-picking when the
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: Constitution applies and when the Constitution doesn't.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: For time immemorial, Republicans have been saying that
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: More rights need to go to the states.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: The states need to decide on maternal health care.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: The states need to decide on education.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: And here we are saying the Constitution grants the election.
• 27:27
  The Constitution grants states advisory over elections,
• 27:31
  not the federal government.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: And yet we're seeing many government officials saying we need ISAT polls.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: We need ISAT polls.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: We need ISAT polls.
• 27:39
  But this is what conservatives are even saying about the
• 27:42
  possibility of non-citizen voting.
• 27:44
  There have been documented cases of non-citizen voting in
• 27:48
  minuscule numbers.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: These are numbers from the Heritage Foundation, which made Project 2026.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: Is that what it was called?
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: Project 2025?
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's Project 2025.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: And just like people are contextualized,
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: the Heritage Foundation is the furthest right think tank that is socially
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: acceptable in Washington,
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: C.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: If you go beyond them to the right
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: You're talking with like actual Nazis, like actual fascists.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, go ahead, Kelly.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: So the thing is that,
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: again,
• 28:18
  this cherry picking of states' rights versus the federal
• 28:20
  government's advisory,
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: federal government's oversight.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: And here we are, the Heritage Foundation.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: They are a conservative think tank, hyper conservative.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: They have tracked convictions and court records of voter fraud.
• 28:31
  There have been only 100 documented cases of non-citizen voting
• 28:35
  between 1982 and 2025.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: So the idea,
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: this very,
• 28:40
  very frail argument that ICE needs to be at the polls to be
• 28:44
  sure that there are no
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: non-citizens voting at the polls is as fragile as it gets if the Heritage
• 28:50
  Foundation of all think tanks are saying only 100 documented
• 28:53
  cases of non-citizen
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: voting has existed in 40,
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: 50 years
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, let's contextualize that.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: That is hundreds of millions,
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: if not possibly over a billion votes cast in the last 43 years,
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: right?
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_02: And a hundred times,
• 29:07
  a hundred times they could prove that someone who wasn't
• 29:10
  allowed to vote voted.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_02: Unbelievable.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: It is not a problem.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_02: It is not a problem.
• 29:15
  And yet this is increasingly the justification for the
• 29:18
  deployment of ICE agents
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: into these voting booths.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to talk about the second prong of this.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: So we're talking about voter records of previous elections.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: We have midterm elections coming up in November.
• 29:29
  This is the news so far about what we think might happen at the
• 29:32
  polls in November.
• 29:34
  So senior administration officials and top allies have made
• 29:37
  repeated claims that
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: they may deploy ICE to poll sites.
• 29:41
  Advocates like the Brennan Center for Justice have argued that
• 29:44
  doing so of course
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: would be illegal.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: DHS Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin said on Sunday that ICE,
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: quote,
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: would only be deployed at polls during the midterms if a threat arises.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: But even if ICE is not even at the polls in November,
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: which would be illegal,
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: it already enforces a chilling effect.
• 30:03
  There's already this fear that may potentially intimidate
• 30:07
  immigrant voters and
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: discourage them from election turnout.
• 30:10
  And that,
• 30:11
  I think,
• 30:11
  is the real effect that DHS wants to have at the polls this
• 30:16
  November.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for that, Kelly.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_02: We will be, of course, monitoring that very carefully.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_02: And as the elections approach,
• 30:23
  we'll be giving you advice on how to protect yourself from ICE
• 30:25
  at the polls as we
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_02: see whether or not they're going to be deployed.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:30
  Well,
• 30:31
  Matt,
• 30:31
  let's end strong with a topic that is on everybody's mind,
• 30:34
  the World Cup.
• 30:35
  We know from a previous episode that SoFi Stadium workers in
• 30:38
  Los Angeles threatened
• 30:40
  to strike if ICE agents were deployed to the stadium during
• 30:42
  World Cup matches.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: So a couple weeks ago, SoFi workers won their negotiations.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: ICE was not deployed to the stadium.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: Workers are indeed operating at SoFi during the World Cup matches.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: But as we know, the World Cup is the biggest in FIFA history.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's taking place across Mexico, the U.S., and Canada.
• 31:00
  What is the latest when it comes to ICE activity across the
• 31:03
  World Cup match?
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: This is a rare opportunity for me to report some good news.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_02: Like you said, the SoFi workers won their negotiations.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_02: ICE was not deployed to that stadium in LA.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_02: Adarri Senor, our former guest, huge role in that.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_02: We really appreciate her coming on.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_02: And big, big ups to the workers in LA.
• 31:22
  like I said pretty much good news like we've not seen ICE
• 31:25
  arrest people at any
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: stadiums in the U.S.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_02: yet we have seen most people coming to visit for the U.S.
• 31:30
  have this great time you know famously the Scottish fans appear
• 31:33
  to have drunk all
• 31:34
  the beer in Boston that is a fact it's a fact they drank all
• 31:38
  the beer in Boston who
• 31:39
  knew I've also I was dying there was this Japanese guy who
• 31:43
  wrote on Twitter about
• 31:44
  going to a Mexican restaurant in the United States and he was
• 31:47
  just in awe of
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_02: getting free refills of chips and he was like there's a limit
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: well of salsa.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_02: What an amazing country.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: I think most people have been having a really good time,
• 31:56
  but I did want to talk about a couple of immigration-related
• 31:59
  incidents that I think
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_02: have highlighted the tension still in this World Cup.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_02: The first and most prominent one, there's a referee from some
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_02: that FIFA had hired to come in and referee these games.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_02: Just to give folks some context,
• 32:12
  it's incredibly difficult and competitive to become a FIFA
• 32:15
  certified referee.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_02: You have to really work your way up, take a ton of tests.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: You have to be very physically fit as well in order to oversee
• 32:22
  is one of the most important things that you can see in the
• 32:24
  United States.
• 32:43
  a bad optics incident where the Senegalese football team was
• 32:48
  patted down on the tarmac.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: There's been some confusion there.
• 32:51
  I think when these photos initially came out,
• 32:54
  it was this very stark image of this African team
• 32:58
  being physically handled by immigration agents the team has
• 33:01
  since clarified that
• 33:02
  this was actually an expedited procedure that would essentially
• 33:05
  allow them to enter
• 33:06
  the United States a little bit more quickly so the optics
• 33:10
  weren't good but I think
• 33:11
  there's some nuance there that the Senegalese have offered so I
• 33:14
  just wanted to make
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: sure that we were clear on that but for me the thing that that
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_02: kind of broke my heart more than anything.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_02: Did you see the Cabo Verde-Spain game a couple of weeks ago?
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_02: I saw highlights of it.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: I was watching this game.
• 33:29
  Initially,
• 33:29
  I had it on the background because I was like,
• 33:31
  Spain's going to run away with it.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_02: But the Cabo Verde-Ins kept it 0-0 the entire match.
• 33:38
  most exciting scoreless game I've ever seen by the end of it I
• 33:40
  was like riveted I
• 33:41
  was like come on hang on Cabo Verde and their goalie this guy
• 33:45
  he played an amazing
• 33:46
  game he was saving strikes you know no one knew the announcers
• 33:49
  didn't know his name
• 33:50
  no one knew who this guy was he was saving strikes from some of
• 33:52
  the best players
• 33:53
  anywhere in the world the Spain team cost hundreds of millions
• 33:56
  of dollars in
• 33:57
  contracts the Cabo Verdeans you know they're they're the best
• 34:00
  that their country
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: has country half a million people
• 34:02
  but not anyone famous and he just played the game of his life
• 34:06
  but after the game he
• 34:07
  broke down and he started crying because his mom was not able
• 34:10
  to witness him
• 34:11
  because she couldn't afford the $15,000 bond that the US
• 34:15
  requires for folks from
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: Cabo Verde to get considered for a visa.
• 34:19
  And so it's an example of US immigration policy sort of unduly
• 34:22
  burdening people from Africa.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: I do have a little bit of good news to report there,
• 34:27
  which is that the head of FIFA has put up his own money to bond
• 34:32
  a visa for the
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm rooting for Mexico
• 35:01
  I am rooting for Mexico I was I visited twice this year I went
• 35:07
  I spent a couple of
• 35:08
  weeks in Mexico in late February I'm sorry late January early
• 35:12
  February and
• 35:14
  completely fell in love with the country I loved it so much I
• 35:16
  came back in April
• 35:18
  and the country has stolen my heart has it's a beautiful
• 35:21
  country beautiful people
• 35:23
  and I think they deserve it they deserve to take it and I
• 35:25
  watched the game Mexico
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: versus South Korea last night yeah
• 35:29
  they played a hell of a game really and so that's who I'm
• 35:33
  rooting for I also have
• 35:35
  some good news to add on top of your good news is that the
• 35:39
  Somali referee which I
• 35:41
  would love to say his name is Omar Abdul Qadir Artan FIFA is
• 35:45
  going to pay the full
• 35:46
  fee that he was owed even though he was not reffing and that's
• 35:50
  what gives me some
• 35:51
  hope is that this is a beautiful beautiful game it is an
• 35:53
  international game and I
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: think to be reminded of the camaraderie of this beautiful sport
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: during these hard times is such an important reminder right now.
• 36:02
  And I'm really glad that the World Cup is happening in such a
• 36:05
  broad spread across
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: North America to remind everybody of that beauty.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 36:10
  I'm really happy that folks are able to witness the great
• 36:12
  things about the United
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_02: States,
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_02: even as we are not popular across the world,
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: as I'm sure you've been able to see on your travel.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_02: I think once you get into the United States, we're friendly people.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_02: We really, really like having visitors.
• 36:24
  And I can't wait to see more posts from Germans going to Waffle
• 36:28
  House for the first
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_02: time and being blown away by a stack of 15 waffles.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's the best.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, well, on that note, that is it for us this week.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening.
• 36:41
  You can reach us at thisweekonice at gmail.com with questions,
• 36:45
  comments,
• 36:45
  or tips.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: If you like this podcast, please go ahead and share it with a friend.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: Stay safe, look out for your neighbors, and we'll see you next time.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_02: See you soon.