Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, Justice, and the Courts

Episode: The Concentration Camp Next Door
Date: February 14, 2026

Overview

This powerful episode tackles the explosive expansion of immigration detention under the second Trump administration—with deliberate historical parallels to concentration camps, both in structure and purpose. Host Dalia Lithwick and guests Professor Linus Chan (University of Minnesota Law) and journalist/historian Andrea Pitzer delve into the legal erosion enabling mass detention, the inhumane conditions being reported, and the transformative risk these camps pose to American civil liberties. They expose how these projects go beyond immigration enforcement, functioning as tools of authoritarian consolidation, and offer avenues for resistance.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. A New Era of Detention: Unprecedented Expansion and Cruelty

[00:44─03:49]

• Events Recap: Recent weeks have seen the federal government accelerating detention initiatives, highlighted by the deaths at Camp East Montana, ongoing detainee abuse, and deliberate deprivation of basic care.
• Quotable: “This is not the end point of how horrible suffering can happen... All of that is the start point.” — Andrea Pitzer [03:31]

2. The Legal Machinery: Eviscerating Protections

[03:49─28:10]

Attorney Access Restored at Whipple Detention (TRO)

• A court injunction required ICE to grant detained immigrants 72 hours to access counsel, rolling back newly draconian practices of rapid, covert transfers.
  • “It’s going to be a huge difference… Not as if the status quo was a paragon… but the ability for people to talk to their lawyers... is really important.”
    — Professor Linus Chan [06:24]
• The DOJ is expected to immediately appeal.

Pre-Trump vs. Now: Shattering All Norms

• Before, release and bond decisions were relatively stable and grounded in basic norms of risk and community ties; now, even lawful refugees are detained arbitrarily with no clear process, simply to fulfill quotas.
  • “What has changed… is that norms have been completely broken. People with lawful status, refugees—now detained, handcuffed at grocery stores, transferred with no warning or information.”
    — Professor Linus Chan [15:10]

Habeas Corpus: The Eroding “Great Writ”

• Congress and courts have gradually limited habeas relief for immigrants, culminating in logistical nightmares: transferred detainees effectively “disappear,” making timely legal challenges nearly impossible.
  • “You have to file habeas in the district where they are actually being detained… when they transfer people rapidly, families and lawyers often have no idea where the person is.”
    — Professor Linus Chan [24:47]
• The right to a day in court now often depends on luck and location—systematic thwarting of constitutional protections.

3. Judicial Power Thwarted: Nationwide Injunctions and Non-Compliance

[31:04─40:01]

• Courts sidelined: Supreme Court limits nationwide injunctions; administration openly ignores district court orders.
  • “We always say the constitutional crisis will come with some big event—but you have judicial power being thwarted, orders disregarded every day.”
    — Host (Mark Joseph Stern) [32:03]
• Chaos by Design: When class action relief is granted (via declaratory judgment), the administration simply ignores it, forcing chaotic, piecemeal habeas filings.

4. Detention as Weapon: The End, Not the Means

[40:01–45:22]

• Detention’s Purpose Shifted: Not to ensure appearance or safety, but to intentionally inflict fear, trauma, and encourage “self-deportation.”
  • “We have gotten so used to the idea that we can be detained… the justifications are just assumed… and the trauma imposed is never even apologized for.”
    — Professor Linus Chan [41:24]
• Normalization of State Power: Americans are being trained to equate detention with guilt, eroding foundational ideas of liberty.

5. Historical Parallels: Warehousification and the Camp State

[46:35–54:51]

Andrea Pitzer on American Detention as Global Outlier

• The US is surpassing even Nazi Germany (in 1940—seven years into the Third Reich) in the number of people detained in camps.
  • “We have more people in immigrant detention today than Nazi Germany did seven years into the Third Reich, which I think is just astounding.”
    — Andrea Pitzer [51:00]
• Warehousification: The procurement and conversion of over 100 warehouses into huge, impersonal camps echoes both early Nazi tactics and the Soviet Gulag—a chilling logistical infrastructure for authoritarianism.
• Not About Immigration: The aims are political—consolidating power, normalizing unchecked detention, and escalating toward broader forms of repression.
  • “It isn’t just going to be criminal detainees… We are already seeing people with documentation disappear, even US citizens… The objective is always the expansion and entrenchment of political power.”
    — Andrea Pitzer [58:56]

6. From The War on Terror to Today: Seeds of Authoritarian Detention

[63:17–68:55]

• Guantanamo as Template: The legal gray zones built for mass immigrant detention in the ‘90s became the ready-made solution for indefinite, rightless detention after 9/11.
• The post-9/11 legal climate normalized distinctions between “citizens” and “others,” paving the way for mass internment of today's “undesirables.”
  • “Guantanamo started out as a mass immigration detention facility for tens of thousands. The refusal to establish accountability then enabled so much that has followed.”
    — Andrea Pitzer [65:01]
• Warning: The current abusive conditions are not an endpoint: “We are laying the path, the infrastructure for much worse to come.”
  • “What we’re already seeing… All of that is the start point. From there, we are walking toward Auschwitz… Why on earth would you walk that direction?”
    — Andrea Pitzer [67:13]

7. Accountability, Resistance, and Civic Responsibility

[68:55–82:16]

Who Profits?

• Contractors, logistics companies, and political actors seeking power.
  • “Who ultimately benefits? Political actors who can then rule through dictatorship… but even the oligarchs should know eventually the machine will come for them, too.”
    — Andrea Pitzer [69:20]

Accountability

• Without robust investigations and prosecutions, abuses will continue; past failures (e.g., after the War on Terror) illustrate the dangers of impunity.
  • “The correct response to Dachau was not better training for the guards.”
    — Andrea Pitzer [74:44]

What Can Be Done: Action Steps for Communities

• Lay preemptive resistance: Make your city/town hostile to ICE and federal seizure—city councils can pass ordinances, pressure companies not to sell facilities to ICE.
• Support front-line communities: Partner with those in “targeted” areas, offer legal aid, resources, familial support, and protest infrastructure.
• Delay and disrupt: NIMBY resistance is valid and useful here, and can snowball delays. “Even partial wins are wins.”
• Target contractors: Make complicity “too expensive”—ostracize companies and individuals involved; push states to refuse licenses and employment to those complicit.
• Protest, observe, document: Keep vigils, support direct action and whistleblowers, and maintain public, visible dissent.
  • “Don’t let it just become a normal thing… even for those who can’t be on the streets, there are ways to contribute. Find your skills, plug in. Many doors will open through collective action.”
    — Andrea Pitzer [81:22]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Andrea Pitzer:
  • “We have more people in immigrant detention today than Nazi Germany did seven years into the Third Reich.” [51:00]
  • “This administration is deliberately using detention as the tool and as the weapon to try to push as many people out. And they are explicit about this.” [16:09]
  • “The correct response to Dachau was not better training for the guards.” [74:44]
  • “From there, we are walking toward Auschwitz—why on earth would you walk that direction?” [67:13]
• Professor Linus Chan:
  • “People are being detained and arrested and having their bond revoked—even long after proving eligibility and paying. That norm has been completely broken.” [15:15]
  • “We have gotten so used to the idea that we can be detained, that justifications are simply assumed. And the trauma imposed is never even apologized for.” [41:24]
• Host (Mark Joseph Stern):
  • “People have this fanciful idea that the constitutional crisis will come when someone rings a giant bell... but you have judicial power being thwarted and judicial orders disregarded every day in your world.” [32:05]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Federal crackdown recap/deaths in ICE detention: [00:44–03:49]
• Legal changes, habeas rights: [03:49–28:10]
• Judicial power and noncompliance: [31:04–40:01]
• Detention-as-policy, not practice: [40:01–45:22]
• Andrea Pitzer on historical parallels/warehouse camps: [46:35–54:51]
• Beyond immigration: authoritarian objectives: [59:19–63:17]
• From Guantanamo & War on Terror to today: [63:17–68:55]
• Accountability and resistance tool kit: [68:55–82:16]

Concluding Message

This episode issues a stark warning: the infrastructure and ethos of the American detention state have crossed from discreet enforcement into open, systemic authoritarian excess. The hosts and guests emphasize that the normalization of detention, the marginalization of due process, and the deliberate buildup of mass incarceration facilities threaten not just immigrants but the core of American democracy. Yet, they jointly insist: resistance is vital, and a blueprint exists—local action, public accountability, and direct confrontation with complicity can still “fireproof” communities and slow the machine. The time to act is now.

Further Reading:

• Andrea Pitzer’s newsletter “Degenerate Art” and her post, “Building the Warehousification of Detention and Initial Thoughts on Stopping it” (andreapitzer.com)