Reveal Podcast: “Taken by ICE”

Date: September 6, 2025
Host: Al Letson
Episode Focus: Explores the wide-reaching, deeply human consequences of aggressive ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) actions under the Trump administration – through personal stories of those detained, deported, and those left behind.

Episode Overview

This episode investigates the intensification of ICE raids and detentions in the United States, focusing on their profound impact on individuals, families, and communities. Through gripping personal accounts, the show examines themes of family separation, fear within immigrant populations, business disruption, and the challenge to fundamental rights and due process.

Key Segments & Insights

1. Surging ICE Raids: Setting the Scene

(01:29–04:10)

• Host Al Letson describes disturbing viral videos of masked, armed men (ICE agents) violently detaining migrants, often in public spaces and without uniforms or clear identification.
• Quote:
  “No one shows this petite young woman holding onto a tree...while this older man...grabs her arm, twisting it behind her back.” – Al Letson (01:42)
• These scenes have become increasingly common, driven by policy shifts and an enlarged ICE budget, with agents detaining people in front of children, schools, churches, and during routine check-ins.
• Data Highlight: Only a third of those in ICE detention have criminal convictions; many are swept up solely for their immigration status.

2. Family Separation: The Story of Josue & Jose Trejo Lopez

(04:22–20:08) | Produced by Katie Mingle

• Profiles:
  Josue and Jose Trejo Lopez, El Salvadoran brothers, deported shortly before Josue’s high school graduation.
• Their family fled extreme gang violence in El Salvador when the boys were 10 & 11; they thrived in the US despite language barriers and legal limbo.
• Despite denied asylum (2018), the family stayed, partly to care for their disabled US citizen brother (Mateo), while seeking other legal routes.
• Routine Check-Ins Turned Trap:
  In spring 2025, both brothers are detained in Manhattan during a standard ICE check-in; their attempts at legal pathways (special immigrant juvenile status) are dismissed by officers.
• Emotional Toll:
  “When they put the handcuffs in me, I was like, is this really happening to us? Like, we had never been put in handcuffs because we had no, like, problems with the law. I couldn’t express the feelings that I was feeling at that moment because I felt like a criminal.” – Jose (13:30)
• Deported to a Place They Barely Remember:
  Watching his graduation online from El Salvador, Josue breaks down in tears as his name is called (17:29), underscoring the persistent trauma of forced separation.
• On the Future:
  “Being separated from our family is actually one of the biggest trauma that we have right now...I want to go back to the country that I call my home.” – Jose (18:55)

3. Ripple Effects on Business: Suya Joint’s Crisis

(20:40–33:06) | Reported by Julia Lurie (Mother Jones)

• Focus: How the detention of a single person—Paul, restaurant manager and key family member—can imperil a whole enterprise.
• Restaurant Owner: Cecilia Lazott, a Nigerian immigrant and James Beard Award-nominated chef, describes losing her brother Paul, who was detained by ICE en route to church, even as his asylum case (from Boko Haram persecution) was ongoing.
• Quote:
  “It’s almost like where do I throw up?...It’s terrible.” – Cecilia (25:02)
• Legal & Financial Strain:
  Paul’s old minor DUIs came up in his bond hearing—used as rationale to deny his release (28:21).
• Community Support vs. Personal Breakdown:
  “We’ve been receiving a lot of support from customers ... but me, the owner, is breaking in.” – Cecilia (31:38)
• Cecilia contemplates abandoning her restaurant and returning to Nigeria, showing the deep psychological impact on immigrants even with strong community ties and citizenship.

4. Activism and Information: La Taco’s Battle Against ICE Raids in LA

(33:06–49:49) | Reported by Steven Rascon

• The LA Context:
  After the escalation of ICE operations in June, local news outlet La Taco pivots from food coverage to real-time documentation of raids and their community impact.
• Newsroom Transformation:
  “I’ve been going through hundreds of DMs where they’re being spotted...The theme is working Latinos, so be careful. Mi raza. Keep your bootstraps tight.” – Memo Torres, La Taco (38:44)
• La Taco becomes the city’s unofficial ICE watch, using Instagram to crowdsource and verify reports of raids at restaurants, job sites, and public spaces.
• Roving Patrols & Profiling:
  A federal judge rules the government must stop such tactics, citing evidence of racial profiling. Yet, La Taco and sources document continued violations (49:07).
• Notable Incidents:
  • US citizens are mistakenly detained (41:42–49:49), including Adrian Martinez, tackled and arrested for protesting a janitor’s detention at his workplace, facing federal conspiracy charges despite lack of evidence he acted violently.
  • “They didn’t have arrest warrants, they didn’t have search warrants...It was a roving patrol and they admitted in the complaint.” – Pedro Chavez, immigration lawyer (48:55)
• Impact:
  The newsroom’s work fuels protests and national attention. “People are traumatized. These people, these immigrants, they're not criminals. They're our neighbors.” – Memo Torres (49:37)

Notable Quotes

• “No one shows this petite young woman holding onto a tree...while this older man...grabs her arm, twisting it behind her back.”
  – Al Letson (01:42)
• “It’s almost like where do I throw up? ... It’s terrible.”
  – Cecilia Lazott on Paul's detention (25:02)
• "When they put the handcuffs in me...I felt like a criminal."
  – Jose Trejo Lopez (13:30)
• “People are traumatized. These people, these immigrants, they're not criminals. They're our neighbors.”
  – Memo Torres, La Taco (49:37)
• "How can you not be angered at the cruelty of it, the barbarianism of it."
  – Memo Torres (49:22)
• "I want to go back to the country that I call my home."
  – Jose, deported to El Salvador (18:55)

Timestamps for Core Segments

• Opening and Background on ICE Raids: 01:29–04:10
• Trejo Lopez Brothers’ Story: 05:26–20:08
• Restaurant Owner Cecilia’s Story: 20:40–33:06
• La Taco & LA ICE Raids Coverage: 33:06–49:49

Tone & Style

The episode is measured yet highly emotional, driven by direct personal testimony and empathy. The reporting is rigorous but foregrounds human experience—stories of hope, heartbreak, and resistance woven through investigative detail—making the crisis and its consequences powerfully real for listeners.

Conclusion

“Taken by ICE” reveals not only the political and bureaucratic mechanisms behind a nationwide deportation campaign, but the raw, lasting devastation it inflicts on ordinary lives—students, siblings, business owners, workers, and even citizens. It is a call to understand the people behind the headlines, illuminating the profound need for transparency, reform, and compassion.