February 7, 2026 - Letters from an American

Episode Overview

Podcast: Letters from an American
Host: Heather Cox Richardson
Episode Date: February 7, 2026
Summary Date: February 8, 2026

In this episode, Heather Cox Richardson narrates her recent "Letters from an American" newsletter, focusing on the Trump administration’s new mass detention policy for non-citizens. Richardson examines the legal, humanitarian, and historical implications of the rapid expansion of immigrant detention camps in the U.S., including the role of private prisons, lack of medical care, and growing public opposition. She draws significant historical parallels, invoking deep ethical questions about collective responsibility.

Key Topics and Discussion Points

1. Judicial Approval of Mass Detention Policy

Policy Overview: Two right-wing circuit judges approved a Trump administration policy allowing mass detention of non-citizens without the right to release until deportation.
Legal Pushback: The vast majority of U.S. judges, across political appointments, held that the policy likely violates both law and due process.
- “In more than 700 cases, at least 225 judges appointed by all modern presidents, including 23 appointed by Trump, have ruled that the new policy likely violates both the law and the right to due process.” (01:00)
Handpicked Court Ruling: The administration selected the Fifth Circuit to rule on the policy, where Judges Edith Jones and Kyle Duncan allowed detained immigrants to be denied release on bond, even if they have no criminal record or risk of flight or public safety.

2. Expansion and Conditions of Detention Centers

Dramatic Increase in Detainees:
- Before the policy: ~40,000 detainees/day
- After: >70,000 in 224 facilities (104 more than pre-Trump)
Children Detained: Facilities are holding minors.
Private Prisons: Corporate-run, federally contracted, including the $1.2 billion Camp East Montana at Fort Bliss, Texas.
Deaths and Health Crisis:
- Major recent deaths (Geraldo Lunas Campos, Victor Manuel Diaz, Francisco Gaspar Andres), including suspected homicide and medical neglect.
- ICE ceased paying for third-party medical care for detainees since October 2025; no new claims processed until at least April 2026.
  - “ICE said it could not provide dialysis, prenatal care, oncology, and chemotherapy... loss of care as an absolute emergency that needed an immediate solution to prevent any further medical complications or loss of life. But it did not get solved.” (06:50)

3. End of VA Medical Support

Cause: Political push and legal action by right-wing actors ended the historic arrangement for the VA to supply medical coverage for ICE detainees unable to get it in-house.
Consequences:
- “On October 3, Legum discovered the VA abruptly and instantly terminated its agreement with ICE, leaving it with no way to provide prescribed medication or access off-site care.” (05:55)

4. Corruption, Contracts, and “Warehouses” for Humans

Questionable Contracting:
- Camp East Montana contract for $1.24 billion to a company with no immigration facility experience.
“Amazon Prime for Deportation”:
- Acting ICE director: “We need to get better at treating this like a business. He called for a deportation process like Amazon Prime, but with human beings.” (07:50)
Republican Budget Support: $45 billion added for ICE detention.
“Mega Centers”:
- Plans for large-scale processing and holding facilities (some up to 10,000 people each), skirt public competitive bids, and are expanding rapidly across the country.

5. Public Outrage and Local Resistance

Surprise, Arizona:
- ICE bought a warehouse-sized facility without local notice or consultation.
- Over 1,000 citizens attended a city council meeting to oppose the new federal detention center.
- The city has no legal jurisdiction to prevent federal use, provoking worry and anger among local officials and residents.
  - “Federal projects are not subject to local regulations such as zoning.” (10:10)

6. Historical Parallels and a Call to Collective Responsibility

Ordruf Concentration Camp Story:
- A resident compares the current crisis to the liberation of Nazi camps, echoing U.S. invocations of German complicity for atrocities committed nearby.
  - “They were to blame… this was done by those that the German people chose to lead them and all are responsible.” (10:33)
- The speaker challenges city officials and listeners: Even if you lack direct agency, “we are all responsible for what happens in our community.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Due Process:
“In more than 700 cases, at least 225 judges appointed by all modern presidents, including 23 appointed by Trump, have ruled that the new policy likely violates both the law and the right to due process.” — Heather Cox Richardson, (01:00)
On Detainee Health Crisis:
“ICE said it could not provide dialysis, prenatal care, oncology and chemotherapy... loss of care as an absolute emergency that needed an immediate solution to prevent any further medical complications or loss of life. But it did not get solved.” — Heather Cox Richardson, (06:50)
On Profit Motive:
“We need to get better at treating this like a business. He called for a deportation process like Amazon Prime, but with human beings.” — Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, as quoted by Richardson, (07:50)
On Community Responsibility and History:
“Because in his heart he knew, as we do, that we are all responsible for what happens in our community.” — Heather Cox Richardson (11:07), reflecting on the Ordruf liberation story

Timestamps for Key Segments

00:00–03:00 — Judicial approval of mass detention and legal challenges
03:00–05:54 — Increase in detention centers, private prison role, detainee deaths
05:55–07:49 — Ending of VA medical support, ICE health crisis
07:50–09:10 — “Amazon Prime for deportations,” budgets, mega center plans
09:11–10:09 — Facility acquisitions, city response in Surprise, Arizona
10:10–11:07 — City council protest, Ordruf Nazi camp analogy, moral responsibility

Tone and Style

As is her hallmark, Richardson approaches the episode with a measured, fact-driven tone, grounding present-day events in their historical context and offering a sense of urgency about the erosion of civil and humanitarian protections. The episode closes with a poignant appeal to listeners’ collective conscience, invoking history to underline the stakes of inaction.

For Listeners

This episode offers a comprehensive and often sobering account of the current state of U.S. immigrant detention policy, juxtaposed with historical precedent. It challenges the listener not only to understand factual developments but to reflect on personal and communal responsibility in the face of institutional injustice.

Transcript

A (0:00)

Foreign. February 7, 2026 Yesterday, two right wing circuit judges signed off on the Trump administration's new mass detention policy, the extraordinary assertion that vast numbers of non citizens throughout the country can be arrested and held in detention centers without the right to release until they are deported. As Steve Vladic explained in December in one first, this new policy dramatically expanded the number of immigrants suddenly subject to arrest and long term detention. U.S. judges overwhelmingly rejected the new policy. Vladet quoted POLITICO's Kyle Cheney, who reported that in more than 700 cases, at least 225 judges appointed by all modern presidents, including 23 appointed by Trump, have ruled that the new policy likely violates both the law and the right to due process. But the administration hand picked a right wing circuit to rule on the policy. And last night, as Vladek explained today in one First, Judge Edith Jones and Judge Kyle Duncan of the U.S. court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit okayed the Trump administration's new rule denying detained immigrants the right to release on bond. That includes, as Vladek wrote, millions of non citizens who have been here for generations, who have never committed a crime, and who pose neither a risk of flight nor any threat to public safety. It is likely the plaintiffs will appeal the decision. This policy has dramatically increased detention of immigrants. Before it, the US held about 40,000 people on any given day. Now, according to Laura Strickler and Julia Ainslie of NBC News, the United States is currently holding more than 70,000 immigrants in 224 facilities across the nation, 104 more facilities than it had before Trump took office. Those detainees include children. Private prison companies under contract with the US government operate these detention facilities, including the 1.2 billion doll camp East Montana, located at Fort Bliss Army Base in Texas, where a medical examiner recently ruled the death of detainee Geraldo Lunas Campos a homicide. The cause of the January death of Victor Manuel Diaz there remains unclear, although officials claim it was presumed suicide. A third man, Francisco Gaspar Andres, died in December after being transported from the camp to an El Paso hospital for treatment for a serious medical condition. On January 20, Judd Legum of Popular Information reported that ice stopped paying third party providers for medical care for detainees on October 3, 2025, and that it would not start even to process claims again until at least April 30, 2026. It told medical providers to hold all claims submissions until then. A source in the administration told Legum that some medical providers are now denying detainees medical care from 2002 to 2023. The Department of Veterans affairs or VA helped to make sure detainees had medical care if an ICE facility couldn't provide it, with ICE paying the VA for the coverage. But in 2023, Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville lied that President Joe Biden was robbing veterans to pay off illegals. And on September 30, 2025, a small right wing nonprofit sued to get documents from the Trump administration about the VA's role in detainee care. On October 3, Legum discovered the VA abruptly and instantly terminated its agreement with ice, leaving it with no way to provide prescribed medication or access off site care. According to Legum, ICE said it could not provide dialysis, prenatal care, oncology and chemotherapy. ICE officials described the loss of care as an absolute emergency that needed an immediate solution to prevent any further medical complications or loss of life. But it did not get solved. Douglas MacMillan, Samuel Oakford N. Kirkpatrick and Aaron Shaffer of the Washington Post reported that, according to ICE's own oversight unit, Camp East Montana at Fort Bliss, Texas has violated at least 60 federal standards for immigrant detention. The contract for the $1.24 billion project was awarded to a small business that operates out of a residential address and has, as Lyndon German of VPM News reported, little to no publicly available record of managing immigration facilities. Last April, at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Arizona, acting director of ice, Todd Lyons told attendees, we need to get better at treating this like a business. He called for a deportation process like Amazon prime, but with human beings. In the Republicans July 2025 budget reconciliation bill, which they call the One Big Beautiful Bill act, they put $45 billion into additional funding for ICE detention. In November and December, NBC News and Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration was considering mega centers for detaining people. Fola Akinibi, Sophie Alexander, Alicia A. Caldwell and Rachel Adams heard of Bloomberg reported that in November, ice issued a $29.9 million contract just below the threshold of $30 million that would require open bidding to KPB Services LLC for due diligence services and concept design for processing centers and mega centers throughout the United States. In December, Douglas McMillan and Jonathan O' Connell of the Washington Post reported that the administration was working to put in place a national detention system that would book newly arrested detainees into processing sites before sending them to one of seven warehouses that would hold 5,000 to 10,000 people each. McMillan and O' Connell reported that 16 smaller warehouses would hold up to 1500 people each. From there, people would be deported. These will not be warehouses. They will be very well structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards, a DHS spokesperson wrote to Angela Kocherga and Diane Solis of KERA News in Texas. It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the US and is actively working to expand detention space. Strickler and Ainslie reported Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security has already secured at least three facilities. It paid $87.4 million for one outside Philadelphia and $37 million for another outside San Antonio. A warehouse of nearly 640,000 square feet. ICE bought a building the size of seven football fields in Surprise, Arizona, outside Phoenix for $70 million. But there is increasing criticism of the new warehouses as Americans mobilize against the violence and abuse of ice and Border Patrol officials from Surprise answered concerns about the federal facility with a statement saying the city was not aware that there were efforts underway to purchase the building, was not notified of the transaction by any of the parties involved, and has not been contacted by DHS or any federal agency about the intended use of the building. It's important to note federal projects are not subject to local regulations such as zoning. On Tuesday, February 3, more than a thousand people turned out for the Surprise City Council meeting to oppose the establishment of the Federal Detention Center. One of the speakers reminded the council of Ordruf, the first Nazi camp liberated by U.S. troops on April 4, 1945. He said the U.S. army brought the leading citizens of Ordruf to tour the facility, which turned out to be part of the Buchenwald network of concentration camps. A U.S. army colonel told the German civilians who viewed the scenes without muttering a word that they were to blame. One of the Germans replied that what happened in the camp was done by a few people and you cannot blame us all. And the American, who could have been any one of our grandfathers, said this was done by those that the German people chose to lead them and all are responsible. The morning after the tour, the mayor of Ordruf killed himself. And maybe he did not know the full extent of the outrages that were committed in his community, but he knew enough. And we don't know exactly how ICE will use this warehouse, but we know enough. I ask you to consider what the mayor of Ordruf might have thought before he died. Maybe he felt like a victim. He might have thought, how is this my fault? I had no jurisdiction over this. Maybe he would have said this site was not subject to local zoning. What could I do? But I think when he reflected on the suffering that occurred at this camp just outside of town, that those words would have sounded hollow even to him. Because in his heart he knew, as we do, that we are all responsible for what happens in our community.