Katie Mingle (3:36)

Let me introduce you to these brothers. There's Josue, the graduate, and his brother Joseph, who's older, but just by a year. Their mom wanted them to have similar names. They told me, because she always liked the idea of having twins. She also had them wearing matching outfits all through their childhood and well into their adolescence, until finally it occurred to them that it might be nice not to do this anymore.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (4:01)

We were like, you know what? Why are we dressing the same?

Katie Mingle (4:06)

This is Jose. He's the older one.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (4:09)

And I told my brother, I want to dress differently than you. I don't want people to see that we are wearing the same shoes, the same shirt, the same pair of pants. I want to have a different style. It was like around the age of 15 to 16, and I told my mom, and she was like, okay, that's fine. If that's what you want, you can do it. So my mom started buying, like, different type of clothes. It was like, the same, but it was like a different color. At least. At least it was a different color. We were not looking the same.

Katie Mingle (4:38)

Now the brothers are 19 and 20, and they look different. Jose has glasses and Josue doesn't. Josue has recently been sporting a long handlebar mustache that Jose is always telling him to trim. But still, they're very close.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (4:54)

Like, something happens to him. Well, I will care about it. I'm there for him. If something happens to me, he's there for me.

Katie Mingle (5:00)

That's Josue. And Jose has something to add.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (5:04)

Well, what he's basically trying to say is that we are really supportive to one another. I will call our brother relationship like best friends. We are always together. And, like, if I buy a pair of shoes and he doesn't buy one, I don't buy mine because I'm like, you know what? I feel bad.

Katie Mingle (5:23)

Josue and Jose left El Salvador with their mom when they were 10 and 11. It was 2016, and El Salvador had recently recorded the highest murder rate of any country in the Western Hemisphere. Jose told me gang members had started approaching kids at school, offering them cell phones to join up. The boy's mom Wanted to bring her sons to a place where they'd be safer and have a chance at a better future. Plus, a lot of their relatives were already in the U.S. so the family took a long journey through Guatemala and Mexico, crossing the border into Texas and eventually making their way to Georgia. Their aunt was living in a suburb of Atlanta, and they moved in with her and her kids. Jose remembers how different it felt from

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (6:07)

El Salvador and now going to a country where you see kids playing basketball, playing soccer, playing or riding a bike in the street, you see all those beautiful houses. Even the grass, you know, the green grass, the landscape, it was so beautiful to me. And I was like, dude, I love this. I really like this type of life.

Katie Mingle (6:29)

School was a different story, though. A foreign country in and of itself. The brothers didn't know what their teachers were saying. Jose said he used Google Translate to try to do his homework. Not speaking English was such an immense barrier that it sometimes felt to Jose like the only barrier.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (6:47)

And I remember I used to tell myself, hey, when I learn the language, I'm not going to have, like, bad grades. I'm going to have, like, A's and B's.

Katie Mingle (6:55)

Their cousins told the boys to download duolingo, and they did. They also watched TV and movies in English. And slowly they got better at the language and started to fit in.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (7:05)

At the end, I was like, dude, this is what, like, basically feeling an American is like having friends graduating from high school, good grades.

Katie Mingle (7:16)

In their early years in the country, an attorney had encouraged the boys and their mother to apply for asylum in 2018. Their claim was denied, and Josue, Jose, and their mom, Alma, all received deportation orders since coming to the U.S. alma had given birth to a third son, Mateo, a US Citizen with significant disabilities. Alma didn't believe Mateo could get the health care he needed in El Salvador, so she kept her family in the US and began looking into other pathways to remain here legally. In the meantime, they always went to their check ins with ice, even when they interfered with other things.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (7:56)

I remember one time that we had a check in during the finals, and I was like, what can I do about it? Like, how am I gonna, like, deal with these two things going on at the same time? If I miss the final, I'm gonna get a zero. If I miss the check in, I'm gonna be in a big deal with ice. You have to go. I went to the check in. I missed my final.

Katie Mingle (8:21)

Jose graduated from high school in May of 2023 and moved to New York City to live with a Family friend Josue should have graduated in the spring of 2024, but he was behind on credits. He was determined not to have to do a whole extra year of high school, though. And his teacher told him he'd need to do a bunch of extra credits on top of his regular load of classes to be able to finish in December.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (8:45)

She told me, look, you need to do 11 credits.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (8:48)

I was like, Jesus, 11 credits.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (8:50)

But tell myself, y' all don't do this, I'm never going to get out of here. I even start playing video games. I just focus in school.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (8:59)

I did three credits in one month.

Katie Mingle (9:02)

Josue told me he worked harder than he'd ever worked, and he did it. He finished all of his high school credits in December of 2024, and he joined his brother in New York. His plan was to return to Georgia to walk in his high school graduation ceremony in May of this year. But that's not what happened. In March, the boys went to a routine check in at an ICE field office in Manhattan. Their mom had traveled from Georgia to go with them. When they got there, they were told that the building was full and they'd have to send an email requesting another check in. And then an ICE officer said something strange to Jose.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (9:41)

He told me, good luck. I was like, wait, that's kind of strange to me because during this whole time that I have go to check ins, never. An ICE officer had told me to block.

Katie Mingle (9:52)

The boys were hoping their next check in would be in maybe six months or a year. But when they got the email, it said they should report back in two days. This is the point where some people might have chosen not to show up, just lay low and hide out. But Jose told me they never considered this. They wanted to follow the rules. When they returned to the ICE office two days later and were called up to the counter, the officer asked if they knew they had a deportation order.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (10:19)

And I was like, yes, I know. And he was like, okay, and are you doing something about it? And I was like, yeah, yeah, I have all my papers that my attorney gave me. It was like, like, like this big. It was for the especially juvenile status.

Katie Mingle (10:34)

The previous year in 2024, the boys had begun the process of applying for special immigrant juvenile status. If they got it, the status would allow them to remain in the country legally. Theirs was exactly the kind of situation that didn't used to be a priority for ICE in previous administrations. Even in Trump's first term, it was generally the case that if you had a deportation order, but you could prove you were pursuing some kind of legal remedy. ICE wouldn't detain you. This was especially true if you didn't have a criminal record. And Jose and Josue have never been in trouble with the law. But none of this seemed to matter to the ICE officer who was looking at their paperwork.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (11:16)

He only looked at the first page, and then he was like, this is not going to help you. This is worth nothing, basically, and gave it back to me. And he was like, okay, give me a minute. I'm going to talk to my supervisor.

Katie Mingle (11:28)

The boys went to sit down. They were nervous. Eventually, the officer came back and asked Jose and Josue to follow him to another area, away from their mom and little brother, who they'd come with.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (11:40)

And then he told me, okay, you're being detained by ice and you're going to be putting in removing proceedings. If you have anything that you want to give it back to your mom, your phone, your wallet, give it to me right now so I can bring it to her. I look back, and my brother was in handcuff. When they put the handcuffs in me, I was like, is this really happening to us? Like, we had never been putting handcuffs because we. We had no, like, problems with the law. I couldn't express the feelings that I was feeling in that moment because I was.

Katie Mingle (12:10)

I felt like a criminal, just like Jose and Josue. More than half of all people arrested by ICE in New York City in the first five months of the Trump administration had no criminal record, according to data gathered by the New York Times. And according to federal data, half of those arrested were detained just like this during routine check, INS and court appearances.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (12:35)

They didn't let us say at least bye to our mom, not to our little brother.

Katie Mingle (12:40)

The boys were taken to a detention facility in Buffalo, New York.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (12:44)

And I told the ICE officer, hey, can you keep us together at least? Like me and my brother together in the same. To the same detention facility on the same unit. He was like, yeah, I'm gonna try. But I guess he didn't try because we were separated when we. As soon as we got to the

Katie Mingle (13:00)

detention facility after a couple weeks, their lawyer filed a petition and they did get to be together. Jose, with the authority vested in his single extra year on this planet, tried to be strong for his younger brother.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (13:13)

Basically, I was the pillar. I was the one holding

Memo Torres (13:19)

everything.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (13:19)

At that moment. I told my brother, hey, bruh, like, don't cry or don't, like, act up. Just relax. We're gonna go through this either way. If we don't like it, we're gonna go through it.

Katie Mingle (13:31)

Jose only cried once, he told me, alone in the bathroom where Josue couldn't see. Josue, for his part, tried to keep the mood light.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (13:41)

I was just trying to make this guy laugh.

Katie Mingle (13:47)

On May 7, both boys were deported back to El Salvador. They hadn't been there in almost 10 years and they had no close family or friends still in the country. Their mom, Alma, is still in the us it's possible she's been spared from deportation thus far because she's the sole caretaker for her disabled son Mateo. I asked Alma if, knowing what she knows now, she regretted bringing Jose and josue to the U.S. she told me she doesn't. Her sons had so many more opportunities here than they would have had in El Salvador. But she told me that she does regret allowing them to go to that final check in appointment with ice. A distant family friend who the boys had never met, picked them up from the immigration office in El Salvador and let them live in his house for their first few months in the country. His name is also Jose, which is maybe why they always call him the old man.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (14:46)

Well, he's an old man. He's already 60, 69 years old. So he's older.

Katie Mingle (14:51)

It was from the old man's apartment near the capital city of San Salvador that Josue watched his high school graduation ceremony on a live stream.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (14:59)

We made it.

Cecilia Lazotte (15:00)

From freshman jitters to senior celebrations, we

Al Letson (15:03)

have navigated some of the most defining years of our lives.

Katie Mingle (15:08)

Josue had planned to be there with his friends. He already had his cap and gown. Instead, he watched on YouTube as his former classmates names were called and one by one, they walked across the stage to get their diplomas, honors.

Cecilia Lazotte (15:22)

Congo.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (15:24)

I was just watching to see my friends walking.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (15:27)

I did that.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (15:28)

They're not going to call my name.

Katie Mingle (15:30)

But then they did call his name.

Cecilia Lazotte (15:33)

Josue Neftali Trejo Lopez

Katie Mingle (15:39)

older brother Jose was in another room and he could hear Josue watching the livestream.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (15:45)

I was hearing him like watching the ceremony and then they called his name and then he came out. I have a video of it because I was like, I'm gonna record it just to have like, as a memory that this happened to us.

Katie Mingle (15:58)

Jose holds up the phone, selfie style, and films while his brother lays his head on his stomach and sobs. Did they say your name at the graduation? Jose asks his brother.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (16:13)

Yeah, yeah.

Katie Mingle (16:18)

The good thing is that you got your diploma, Jose tells him. You managed to graduate. That's good. At the end of the graduation ceremony, a student speaker emphasizes that it isn't just the end of one chapter, it's the beginning of another. It's time to embrace the changes ahead, she tells the crowd and walk confidently toward the future. But when I ask Jose to imagine what a future might look like in El Salvador, he's at a total loss.

Cecilia Lazotte (17:05)

I have no.

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (17:06)

Like, I don't have an answer to that yet or soon. Because it is hard. It is hard to think about. I don't know if we're gonna start looking for jobs. I don't know if we're gonna start thinking about future in here first. Cause it's just gonna be me and my brother, right? Being separated from our family,

Memo Torres (17:31)

it is

Jose or Josue Trejo Lopez (17:31)

actually one of the biggest trauma that we have right now. Because, you know, who is going to be supporting us, who's going to be directing us in this country when we don't know how the system works? I really want to go back to my family. I want to go back to the country that I call my home.

Katie Mingle (17:48)

Before they were deported, Jose and Josue both imagined they might attend a trade school of some kind, become mechanics or welders, or help support their mom and their little brother, and eventually have families of their own. Now they're just hoping some way, somehow, they get back to the country where that future still exists.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (18:18)

That story was produced by Katie Mingle. Since it first aired in September, it was. Katie has stayed in contact with the two brothers. They tell her that they're still living with the old man in El Salvador. Younger brother Josue recently started a job working a couple days a week at a call center. His older brother Jose says that on the one hand, his life makes him feel sad and alone, but on the other, he's happy to be healthy. And at least he and his brother are together. When we come back, we'll meet a restaurant owner trying to figure out how to keep her business open after her brother is detained by ice.

Cecilia Lazotte (18:58)

It's becoming almost like it's not sustainable for me to just keep operating the way I'm operating. Like I did not include my brother being picked up by ICE in my business plan.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (19:10)

You're listening to Reveal. From the center for Investigative Reporting and prx. This is Reveal. I'm Al Letson. Like a lot of restaurants these days, the Nigerian restaurant Suya Joint in Boston has an Instagram account. Scrolling through their posts is a mouth watering experience. Pictures of stir fried tofu and jollof rice, glistening fried plantains, pineapple upside down cake but in late June of last year, there was a different kind of post. The owner of the restaurant, Cecilia Lazotte, wrote a note to her followers that began, dear Suya Joint family, help us bring Paul home. The note went on, being forced apart like this is tearing through the heart of our home and community. Cecilia's brother Paul, the manager of the restaurant, had been detained by ICE on his way to church. When Mother Jones reporter Julia Lorre saw that Instagram post last summer, it made her wonder, what is it like for the people left behind? What's it like to run a restaurant or really any business when a key employee who happens to be your brother suddenly disappears?

Al Letson (20:32)

I went to eat at Suya Joint for the first time in May with a reporter friend of mine who'd been raving about. Was just a few weeks later when I saw the post on Instagram. The owner, Cecilia, would later refer to it as a cry for help. And that's what it seemed like to me. Her post was basically saying, I'm not sure if I can handle this. It made me want to know more. So I headed back to Suya Joint.

Cecilia Lazotte (20:53)

So it seems like this is where all of us have.

Memo Torres (20:55)

Hi. Hi. Hi.

Al Letson (20:57)

Hi. Yep, that's Cecilia greeting a kitchen full of cooks prepping for dinner.

Cecilia Lazotte (21:02)

It smells so good in here. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.

Al Letson (21:06)

Cecilia learned to cook from her grandmother, who ran a little restaurant in central Nigeria. After she came to Boston in 1999, she started catering out of her home, which eventually led to opening Suya Joint as a brick and mortar. Now she has two locations and a food truck. And in 2024, Cecilia was a semifinalist for the prestigious James Beard Award. Maybe inside, just a little quieter, we duck into a storage room away from the commotion to talk about Paul. Cecilia and her brother balance each other out. Cecilia is the outgoing one, loud, chatty, wears chunky jewelry and bold colors. Paul, meanwhile, is quiet, attentive, the go to guy for critical behind the scenes jobs. It's Paul who picks up ingredients from New York, who comes in to fix the plumbing in a pinch or waits tables when Cecilia's short staffed.

Cecilia Lazotte (21:57)

When I see him coming through the door, it's like I feel really, really safe. It's like, yes, you're here.

Al Letson (22:03)

Paul was on his way to church on Father's Day when he was picked up by ice. When I asked ICE about Paul's case, a representative said that he'd been unlawfully residing in the United States since August 2019 when he violated the terms of his lawful admission Records show that Paul came to the US on a visitor visa in 2019 and applied for asylum later that year. When he was arrested, his case was ongoing. He had a Social Security number and work authorization that's valid until 2029. Under previous administrations, people like Paul wouldn't have been a high priority for ice. But things are different now. When he was arrested, Paul asked officers if he could make a phone call to his sister.

Cecilia Lazotte (22:45)

I felt like someone just sucked my blood, my air, anything like, how do you live?

Al Letson (22:49)

Yeah, right. There's not like a playbook for someone in your situation.

Cecilia Lazotte (22:52)

No, there's absolutely not a playbook. You wake up one day, you feel energized, and then within a twinkle of an eye, it's almost like, where do I throw up? Like, it's that bad. It's like, it's terrible.

Al Letson (23:05)

There's an eerie familiarity to Paul's detention. The year before he came to the States, he was kidnapped by Boko Haram. The militant group was targeting journalists, and at the time, Paul was working as a crime reporter for the Nigerian Television Authority. Paul talked about the kidnapping in a BBC documentary back in 2019.

Memo Torres (23:25)

I was scared. I was really, really scared because I.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (23:31)

I started to imagine the trauma my

Memo Torres (23:35)

family members were going to go through.

Al Letson (23:38)

Paul and Cecilia's mom got the call from Boko Haram telling her he'd been kidnapped. Cecilia says her mom was literally speechless, kept fainting because of the news. The family scrambled to come up with the nearly $13,000 to free him, according to Paul's asylum application. They even sold most of their property to make it happen. After four hellish days, Paul was released. Nigerian police told him they couldn't guarantee his safety, advised him to leave the country. In his asylum application, Paul wrote, this is why I'm here in the United States where I can feel safe and have my freedom guaranteed.

Cecilia Lazotte (24:15)

And now in Boston, in America, literally right now as we speak, I just feel like here's another second kidnapping. He's been picked up, and here we are at the mercy of everybody.

Al Letson (24:31)

When I met with Cecilia, Paul had been sitting in a detention center in Dover, New Hampshire for two weeks. She seemed to be running on adrenaline, moving 1,000 miles a minute. I had the sense that talking to a reporter was just one more item on her mile long to do list, which in a way it was. She had to collect character statements for Paul's upcoming hearing. She had to be there for her daughters, for her staff, for her relatives in Nigeria who were distraught about what was happening. And then there was Paul's lawyer, who could call at any moment looking for documents.

Cecilia Lazotte (25:01)

Like, before they can finish asking the question, I already know kind of the answer and I know exactly where to find it. And then, here you go, here you go.

Al Letson (25:08)

Right now, Cecilia's top priority is getting ready for the bond hearing, when a judge will decide if Paul can be released from detention while his asylum case is ongoing. Cecilia knows he faces an uphill battle. In 2024, Paul was charged with two misdemeanors for operating a vehicle under the influence. Both times, he was found sleeping in his stopped car, keys in the ignition. According to police reports. Cecilia says he was in a dark place at the time, grieving the sudden loss of their mother and pulled over to sleep. In both cases, a judge sentenced Paul to a year long probation. He also had to pay a fine and complete a program for impaired drivers. Typically, if you complete the terms of the sentence in a case like this, the charges can be dismissed.

Cecilia Lazotte (25:55)

We all have our own dark, whatever moments that we're living with. This guy came out and he's like, okay, you know what? This is not it. And he's been like, in therapy, he has done so much extensive things to make sure that he's doing the right things.

Al Letson (26:14)

When I left the restaurant, Cecilia seemed overwhelmed, but also focused. She had a mission, which was getting ready for the bond hearing. We agreed we'd check in after it was over. On the day of the hearing, I call Cecilia. No answer. No response to text either. A few days later, I call again and she picks up sounding exhausted. Paul's bond was denied. Paul's lawyer told cecilia that the DUIs had come up in the hearing and the judge wasn't convinced Paul should be released. So how are you doing with this news?

Cecilia Lazotte (26:45)

Thank you. It's crazy.

Al Letson (26:53)

How, how is it for you to be working? Like I'm, I'm imagining it would be kind of hard to be. Yeah, it is, you know, like positive and stuff like that around, around customers.

Cecilia Lazotte (27:04)

I know, know this is very, very difficult. And I think like when I met with you, I was hopeful I was doing okay, but then as time goes on, I'm just getting more and more defeated. Just very, very much getting sick, like, mentally, emotionally. It's becoming almost like it's not sustainable for me to just keep operating the way I'm operating. Like, I did not, I don't think anybody, like, say, okay when I'm writing a business plan included this. So I did not include my brother being picked up by ICE in my whole entire business plan. I'm not able to operate the establishment, basically because it's just. It's crazy.

Al Letson (27:42)

Cecilia told me she's having trouble sleeping, she's crying a lot. And this sounds like a bad metaphor, but it's actually quite literal. Cecilia, the award winning chef, has lost her appetite.

Cecilia Lazotte (27:53)

Like, it's just little nibbles, like cat. And I'm like, no, this is not good.

Al Letson (27:58)

One of the many things weighing on Cecilia are all of the expenses. There are the legal retainers, $2,500 for the bond hearing, $13,000 for the asylum hearing, and then there's all the cost of living that Paul normally would have paid for himself.

Cecilia Lazotte (28:13)

We are now left with paying all his rent, insurance, car payments, phone bills. It adds up, it piles up.

Al Letson (28:25)

This may sound naive, but I never really thought about all the recurring normal life expenses that pile up when a person suddenly disappears. It's not like when someone dies and there's no question you cancel their rent and their phone bill. This is different. Cecilia has to decide, does she keep paying his $1,300 rent in hopes that he comes back, or does she go clean out his apartment? And Paul, of course, hates that she's been put in this position.

Cecilia Lazotte (28:51)

He was very, very devastated, upset with the fact that all those things that now is put on the family is something that he is strong, capable of doing what she's been doing all this time. So he's very much distraught.

Al Letson (29:05)

Ever since news broke of Paul's arrest, donations have poured in. Within two weeks, a GoFundMe for Paul's legal expenses raised $32,000. Sometimes customers leave little notes of support in the delivery instructions of takeout orders. Cecilia shared one with me that said to leave the order in the lobby and then went on. I am so disgusted to hear about Paul Dahme. I'll do anything to help. Thank you for being my comfort food for the last five years.

Cecilia Lazotte (29:31)

And we've been receiving a lot of support from customers that we've never seen before, based on what they've heard, maybe on the news or they've read on the newspaper, just to make sure that the establishment is sustained and it's going. But me, the owner, is breaking in

Al Letson (29:49)

moments when she's feeling down. Cecilia seriously considers abandoning the life she's built here, closing down the restaurant, going back to Nigeria. Even though she's a US citizen, her daughters and employees hate when she talks like this. They're holding onto her and they want her to stay strong for them. But Cecilia's like, I'm trying to stay strong. But without Paul, who am I holding onto? Cecilia talks to Paul almost every day. During one of their recent calls, a friend Paul made in detention got on the phone.

Cecilia Lazotte (30:21)

Then he explained to me how, like, Paul is. Almost like they call him the President. Like, they're like, you're our president. Any question they have, go to Paul. Anything that they, any way for them to feel some sense of a comfort, go to Paul, go to Paul. I was joking with Paul. Like, you can't leave because you have a lot of, like, almost like followers that are looking up to you for, to make this whole entire thing make sense.

Al Letson (30:50)

Cecilia, of course, knows exactly how they feel.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (30:59)

That was Mother Jones reporter Julia Lorre. Since we first aired this story, last September, Paul was granted asylum. He was released from custody after spending more than three months in ICE detention. It happened late at night, and Cecilia went to pick him up.

Cecilia Lazotte (31:16)

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I got my brother in the middle of the night. I don't know.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (31:22)

The asylum ruling means that Paul can stay and work in the U.S. it also means he should be able to apply for a green card. But in December, Trump announced that the Department of Homeland Security was pausing its reviews of immigration applications, including green cards from several quote unquote countries of particular concern. This list includes Nigeria, where Paul is from. You can't talk about the federal government's deportation efforts without talking about Los Angeles. And even though the spotlight has moved on from that city, immigration raids continue there.

Memo Torres (32:00)

I've been going through hundreds of DMs where they're being spotted, so be careful. Me, Raza. Keep your bootstraps tight.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (32:07)

That's next on Reveal. Stay with us. From the center for Investigative Reporting and prx, this is Reveal. I'm Al Letsin. Let's go back to last summer, when Trump's massive deportation agenda first took hold. It started with raids at a clothing factory and a Home Depot in Los Angeles. And after protests erupted, Trump called in the National Guard, then the Marines. Soon, ICE was everywhere. It was something no one had seen before. Masked officers with military style weapons snatching up people at bus stops, car washes, food trucks. People were being racially profiled and arrested, even some U.S. citizens. A federal judge eventually ordered ICE to stop these tactics in Los Angeles, but the Supreme Court paused her order, allowing them to continue. As all of this was unfolding. Last year, we checked in with a scrappy news organization that made it their mission to document what was happening. Louisiana Taco covers food, culture and the news. And since the immigration raids, they've shifted their focus, using their reporting to try and protect their community.

Memo Torres (33:27)

It's June 20th and this is your daily memo as to what's been going on in LA today. And boy, has it been busy. ICE has been everywhere.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (33:35)

Each day, reporter Memo Torres would go on Instagram to tell followers where ICE was spotted.

Memo Torres (33:41)

They were at the Home Depot and a car wash in Huntington park downtown on 16 grand, taking people.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (33:48)

Many of the restaurants and taco stands, LA taco featured over the years were now ice targets people they knew were getting rounded up.

Memo Torres (33:57)

I've been going through hundreds of DMs where they're being spotted and it's a pretty general theme. The theme is is working Latinos, so be careful. Miraza, keep your bootstraps tight.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (34:08)

Over the following months, thousands of people, mostly Latinos, would be taken and arrested in Los Angeles. National media would pour into the city to capture the start of what would soon spread to Chicago, New Orleans and most recently, Minneapolis. But what we're learning is that just because the focus shifts, it doesn't mean things go back to normal. Because ICE is still in L. A and so is Memo.

Memo Torres (34:36)

Today is Wednesday, January 28th, and it's day 236 of this escalation that's without a doubt doubling down with signs that it's about to get exponentially worse.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (34:44)

His daily memos are still alerting people, letting them know where ICE has been seen.

Memo Torres (34:49)

They were not Hamburg, Boyle Heights, Chinatown,

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (34:52)

who federal agents have been targeting.

Memo Torres (34:54)

Border Patrol continued their news streak of following and arresting community watchers.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (34:58)

And how many people ICE has taken away.

Memo Torres (35:01)

So thanks to the community, what could have easily been over 50 people taken from us today was reduced to about 20.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (35:08)

Memo has deep roots in his community. He's a third generation landscaper and used to own his own landscaping business. In fact, he's seen some of his former employees get rounded up by ice. His daily memos have become a way for him to advocate for immigrant communities in LA and fight back. And since LA just doesn't get that much attention anymore, we wanted to check back in with him. So we asked Memo to come back and talk to us. Memo, how you doing?

Memo Torres (35:38)

I'm doing okay, man. Got a little rest this weekend after the marches and the protests and all

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (35:43)

that, but yeah, the work never ends.

Memo Torres (35:46)

It never stops, man.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (35:47)

So tell me, what's LA been like? Like what's going on in LA now? Because the focus nationwide right now is on Minneapol. But things are still happening in la.

Memo Torres (36:00)

Yeah, I mean, we've been seeing a Slow escalation. I feel like while allies are in Minneapolis, people tend to forget that they've never left Los Angeles. I've even had to go on and clarify to different people who believe that Border Patrol and ICE left Los Angeles a long time ago. And that's never been the case. Just actually, last week we had about 50 incidents reported in one single day, which is outrageous compared to their previous record, which was about 30 incidents. And we used to do like 30 or 40 incidents a week. They blew that out of the water in one day. And we also saw in Adelanto, they have about 28 vehicles, brand new vehicles still with dealer tags there, the same type of vehicles they use for their raids. And so we're expecting for those to be included on their patrols.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (36:45)

So the spotlight has moved on from your city, even if the raids themselves have not. What's it like for residents to keep living under this oppressive force for so long?

Memo Torres (37:01)

I mean, every single day we're verifying raids. We get all these videos. We confirm activity through responders, community watch, and sometimes we call people. And I think one of these calls, I called the car wash to confirm activity and how many people were taken, because all we got was a report. So we didn't have any, like, actual video footage evidence. So I called this car wash, it was the owner of a car wash, to ask him if they were there. And he told me, yeah, man, they took about four of my employees. Okay, cool. Do you know if it was ICE or cbp? He's like, it was the guys with the green suits. I'm like, okay, that's cbp. And then at the very end, when I said, thanks, man. He's like, hey, man, I appreciate what you do. And said, like, yeah, man, we live and work in fear every day. And that's something, like, he put it best, and it's something that other people had elaborated, but just not that simple and concise. Every night after I finish my daily memos, I go to a taco stand somewhere in LA and I ask people how they're doing. And they've all told me different ways. That same expression. They'll tell me, like, look, what are we supposed to do? Like, if we don't go out to work, we either get kicked out of our home or we get kicked out of the country. Like, either way, we're screwed. So we have to get out here and risk it.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (38:13)

So you've been watching this play out for more than 200 days. Have you seen federal agents change their tactics? Have you seen resistance from the community shift. How's that been working?

Memo Torres (38:24)

Yeah, it's like a big cat and mouse game. The community response has developed tactics to try to stop the border patrol raids, and then border patrol will adjust their tactics to try to get around the rapid responders. Recently we've been seeing border patrol specifically get super agitated and frustrated when, you know, their raids get foiled because of the community watchers. And so those. They've started going after community watchers a lot. We've seen several instances where they. They followed a young lady in their car, pulled her out, and hold her hostage for like, three hours.

Al Letson (38:55)

You're breaking my window, guys.

Cecilia Lazotte (38:56)

I'm a u. S. Citizen.

Memo Torres (38:57)

Insane.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (38:58)

Maria sente is a u. S. Citizen.

Al Letson (39:01)

She's also a community observer and believes that has made her a target of ICE, her detention.

Memo Torres (39:06)

We had another gentleman because ICE Melter 93, who in Compton, was recording them, and they, they rushed him, they tackled him, they tased him, they beat him, They held him at the metropolitan detention center for the whole day. Nobody knew where he was until he was released. We saw la hoodlove, another community watcher who was also following the patrol. They called bell pd, bell police department to have him arrested, and they arrested him, and community came out to kind of pressure bill pd to let him go. And he was let go after that. So you're seeing this escalation of border patrol agents getting frustrated, and then, you know, more. More cases of pulling their guns out at these people, harassing them, calling police departments. So you're starting to see frustration escalate.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (39:55)

So in order to inform the public on what ice is doing and stop them from taking people, you guys have created a pretty advanced system.

Memo Torres (40:06)

Yeah, it's a pretty advanced, I would say, counterintelligence, counter surveillance system that just monitors border patrol activity, strategies their presence, their movements, and alerts the community as to how they're moving, if they're changing strategies, and just kind of just a visual observation, not interfering, not impeding, just kind of, you know, an alert system. You know, all this starts in the early morning where the community watch group called harbor peace patrol goes out to terminate island, where border patrol sets up in the morning, and then as they leave, they take pictures of the vehicles and the license plates, because border patrol will change out their license plates every single day. And in some instances, like five cars have one similar license plate tag. And then they'll alert the whole community, and then the community members will share that with their local response groups and community watch groups. And they're the ones Going around and keeping an eye out in their neighborhoods.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (40:57)

So who are these people who are alerting these communities?

Memo Torres (41:01)

So these community watch groups, they're basically just folks. Just folks like out in the streets, they live in the neighborhoods. They're organizing themselves into group chats, patrolling their, their local home depots, car washes, street corners, their residential neighborhoods, their school drop offs, and just kind of staying on the lookout for border patrols, raids or ICE doing a targeted attack.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (41:25)

So when community members spot ICE in their neighborhoods, they often pull out their phones and record. Right. And since this started in la, people have sent you a ton of videos. You've become like a repository. How many do you think you've collected and verified so far?

Memo Torres (41:43)

I am getting close to about 5 terabytes right now, filling up my hard drive. Wow.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (41:48)

I can't even imagine how many videos that is.

Memo Torres (41:51)

Yeah, no, I'm in the thousands. I'm easily like in the 3, 3 to 5,000 range.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (41:55)

Most of the videos that you have right now are masked ICE agents. If you're looking to hold them accountable, do you think you're going to have a hard time identifying who these agents are?

Memo Torres (42:07)

Not really. Actually we're starting to get good at identifying which agents are which, especially their body styles. These are not like the, you know, like soldiers bodies, you know, which are all fit and kind of similar. They're all quirky. Some are fat or lanky or chicken legged or duck feet. You know, we have nicknames for a lot of these different agents so we can recognize who's who. Short of doxing and saying what their names are and their addresses and identifying the actual agent, we do recognize them. And when somebody does get doxed and their identity gets revealed, we're able to go back and like figure out, oh, that's he was. At this rate, that's him. And then, you know, and piece it together.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (42:48)

Memo, I know that people are really watching these videos, even some Los Angeles City Council members.

Al Letson (42:54)

He has hundreds of hours of records that he has documented that I hope

Katie Mingle (43:00)

will be the tools that will be

Al Letson (43:02)

the reckoning that will hold the individuals accountable that have been.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (43:06)

They even invited you to speak at a hearing last December.

Al Letson (43:10)

And so, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome my guest, Memo Torres.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (43:14)

And at that hearing, you took it as an opportunity to call elected officials out. Let's listen in.

Memo Torres (43:20)

It shocks me to know that politicians, our people, our leaders aren't paying attention to the issue. And I don't know why this isn't going away. I can tell you that it's escalating you know, who's out there, doing the real fight and doing the standing up. The people. It's our rapid responders. They're out there daily using their gas, their time, taking time away from work, organizing themselves, doing counterintelligence, surveillance, and trying to be out there in the streets to prevent more people getting taken. And they are effective, but they need support. Yeah, it's crazy to hear that playback. It's like, damn, I said that.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (44:03)

You did, sir. You did.

Memo Torres (44:06)

It was in the heat of the moment, honestly. Council member Monica Rodriguez invited me to come through and testify as to what's going on with ICE and the raids. So in my head, I thought I was going to sit down and they were going to ask me questions. I was just going to, like, respond and kind of inform them on things. Instead, what happened is that, like, as a city council session was starting, she introduced me and said, here, Mama, here's the mic. Say something. I'm like, I had nothing planned. I didn't know what was going to say. So I stepped up to the mic and I was like, I'm going to call you guys out. Like, you know, what the hell are you guys doing? Like, this is happening every single day. Our mayor's not paying attention. Our civic leaders aren't really doing as much, and not all of them. There's some council members that are doing the work. There are some people in the county border doing the work, but for the most part, it's very few of them. So, yeah, I just felt like, I'm going to call you guys out. Thanks for giving me the mic and the stage.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (44:59)

How was that taken?

Memo Torres (45:01)

After that, I went to the back and, like, some of the council members came up to thank me for saying this and speaking up. The ones doing the actual work, a couple other ones. One of them came up to me and she was like, you know, I just want to say, you know, calling me out for, like, not doing anything. I just want you to know that I am doing something, but I'm not doing it publicly. I'm going to hit him because I'm being doxed and I'm afraid for my life. I'm like, well, get the fuck off the seat. Like, we're all, like, putting our life on the line. All these, your. Your constituents, our community members are putting their lives on the line. Like, what the hell are you doing then if you're not ready to, like, represent? Like, you literally were elected to be the face and representing the voice of people. I didn't say that to her, but like, how that's what I went through.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (45:39)

But that's what you're feeling. Yeah, yeah.

Memo Torres (45:40)

And so it's just like. Yeah, I haven't really seen much. Like, I just don't see the city uniting. Like, the mayor, all the city council members, you know, the police commission, to, like, unite and be like, this is our city, we're going to protect it.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (45:52)

I mean, when you look at Minneapolis, it feels like Minneapolis has, on a whole, come together to at the very least, let it be known that, like, this type of action shouldn't be happening in Minneapolis.

Memo Torres (46:06)

Exactly.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (46:07)

Whereas, like, you don't feel like that's happening in LA now.

Memo Torres (46:10)

No.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (46:12)

Do you think that is because the cameras aren't there anymore?

Memo Torres (46:15)

I don't know. I don't know what it is. Maybe they're representing areas that they're afraid their constituents are pro ice or pro Trump. I don't know what it is, but I don't know. Just, it's. It's beyond me.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (46:27)

How are you doing? Like, this is your community, your people. What's it been like for you?

Memo Torres (46:32)

You know, it's, it's. It's a worldwide of emotions. But I like to say that I think my life has prepared me to be able to handle this moment and grab it by the horns and be able to, you know, fight it like a bullfighter. I don't let it get to me. I know how to compartmentalize. I know how to handle my emotions. And for me, like, it's just. It's motivation to keep going, to keep doing what I want. When I see something happening, that's that, you know, angers me or I'm out there and people are filling me with gratitude and support and. And appreciation. All of that just fuels me to continue doing what I'm doing. It's gone from, like, trying to understand what's happening and dealing with, like, a crisis every single day to now becoming a daily part of life, you know, which is insane now. It's like every day you wake up like, okay, we're gonna go back to covering nice rays, where they're gonna be at. We have a routine. We've grown. We've been able to, like, formalize our procedures here at La Taco. I got some more support now. Four of us covering the raise now. So, yeah, it's weirdly become something that we've systemized. You know, whether. How we process our emotions, how we. The raids happen, how we record them, how we verify. It's sadly become a part of daily life now.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (47:51)

Yeah. Memo Torres, thank you so much for coming onto the show and talking to me again.

Memo Torres (47:57)

Yeah, no problem. And thank you guys for keeping attention to this. Appreciate you guys.

Narrator/Host (Reveal) (48:01)

That was Memo Torres from La Taco, a publication that covers food and the news. You can find Memo's work on La Taco's Instagram and their website, lataco.com we reached out to the President of LA's City Council, Marquise Harris Dawson. A spokesperson said the council member sympathizes with Memo and that the City Council has been trying to limit what ICE can do, but keeps running into legal challenges. Recently, though, LA's mayor signed a directive that bans ICE from using city property to stage operations. The new rules also require LAPD to collect and preserve evidence during immigration raids as a way to hold federal agents accountable. We also reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and in a statement, DHS said since June 2025, it's made 12,000 arrests in LA despite, quote, violence from rioters and demonization by sanctuary politicians. The department did not say when operations would end in Los Angeles. That story was produced by reveal's Steven Rascone. Our lead producer for this week's show is Katie Mingle with help from Michael I. Schiller. Brett Myers and Cynthia Rodriguez edited the show. Thanks to Susan Beatty, Priya Patel and Lauren Markham for their help with the the show and to UC Berkeley's deportation data project. Artis Cheriskis is our fact checker. Victoria Baranetsky is our general counsel. Our production manager is Ulema Cobb. Score and sound design by the dynamic duo Jay Breezy, Mr. Jim Briggs and Fernando My Man Yo Arruda. That help from Claire C. Notemullen. Taki Telenides is our deputy executive producer. Our executive producer is Bret Myers. Our theme music is by Camarado Lightning. Support for reveals provided by the Riva and David Logan foundation, the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, the park foundation, the Schmidt Family foundation and the Hellman Foundation. Support for Reveal is also provided by you our listeners. We are a co production of the center for Investigative Reporting and prx. I'm Al Letson and remember there is always more to the story.

Cecilia Lazotte (50:34)

From prx.