Jacob Soboroff (Extended)

Summary

Podcast Episode Summary

Podcast: The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert
Episode: Jacob Soboroff (Extended)
Date: January 31, 2026
Host: Stephen Colbert
Guest: Jacob Soboroff, Senior Political and National Correspondent for MSNBC, Author of Firestorm

---

Episode Overview

This episode features journalist Jacob Soboroff, who discusses his reporting on U.S. immigration policy under the current Trump administration, his coverage of recent ICE raids in Minneapolis, and his new book, Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster, which chronicles the devastating wildfires that struck Los Angeles and their broader implications for America’s future. The conversation is candid, sobering, and powered by Soboroff’s frontline experiences, providing listeners with an inside view of contemporary immigration enforcement and climate disaster recovery.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Immigration Policy Under the Current Trump Administration

• Soboroff’s Coverage of ICE Raids in Minneapolis

  • He describes the reality of recent raids, emphasizing that authorities are "doing anything but" targeting the "worst of the worst" and often detaining regular people seeking a better life.
  • Quote: “These are people who want to come in for a better life. And you've got people like Greg Vino going around in military costumes, throwing tear gas canisters at people, taking little kids who just want to go to school and sending them to detention centers in Texas. It is. It's awful, quite frankly.” (01:59 – 02:25)
  • Despite the grim enforcement, Soboroff finds hope in public protests:
    • Quote: “The people in the streets are what has given me extraordinary hope. And that's what kicked Greg Medino out of Minneapolis.” (02:44)

• Comparison: Trump I vs. Trump II Immigration Policy

  • Soboroff characterizes the current policy as a “supersized version” of family separation, with mass deportation effectively continuing family separations at a larger scale.
    • Quote: “Mass deportation is family separation by another name.” (03:15)
  • He notes historical references, citing a 1954 program and describes present policies as deadlier, with recent incidents leading to the deaths of immigrants and American citizens.
    • Quote: “Now they're not just deporting, they're killing immigrants and American citizens like Renee Nicole Goode and Alex Preddy.” (03:42)

• Escalation and Lack of Checks

  • Stephen Miller is described as the chief architect of current immigration policy with fewer internal checks than prior administrations.
    • Quote: “Stephen Miller is effectively the president when it comes to immigration policy right now.” (04:32)
  • The discussion reveals how extreme voices now hold the most powerful positions, with raids set up to provoke conflict, potentially enabling invocation of the Insurrection Act.
    • Quote: “These clashes that Tom Homan has sort of telegraphed are set up to have the invocation of the Insurrection act so we can have military troops on American streets.” (05:31)

• Public Pushback and Political Stakes

  • Soboroff and Colbert highlight the impact of sustained citizen protest:
    • Quote (Soboroff): “Look at how they're showing up, man. Look at how they're showing up. It's unbelievable.” (06:23)

2. Firestorm: Los Angeles Fires & “America’s New Age of Disaster”

• Personal Connection & Future Outlook

  • Soboroff transitions to discuss his new book, focusing on the fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena. He describes the experience as personal and emblematic of an impending reality for more Americans.
    • Quote: “I thought I was looking into my past ... But it turns out ... what I was looking at was the fire of the future, not a look into my past. It's the world that we'll all inhabit.” (07:13)
  • He highlights the emotional toll and the challenge of grieving publicly:
    • Quote: “I didn't know how to grieve publicly on camera and in real time as I watched my beloved community go.” (07:45)

• Scale of Destruction

  • Fires destroyed 16,000 structures, killed 31 people directly, with far more likely dying from indirect effects.
    • Quote: “Enormous. 16,000 structures burned. 31 people died as a direct result of the flames ... three times the size of Manhattan burned in the largest, most populous county in the United States of America.” (08:34)

• Rebuilding & Housing Crisis

  • A year later, only 12 structures have been rebuilt—a stark indicator of the difficulties survivors face.
    • Quote: “16,000 structures burned down a year later. How many of those have been rebuilt?” —Colbert
      “12.” —Soboroff (09:04–09:13)
  • Affordability and insurance are major barriers, with many lots purchased by corporations rather than displaced residents:
    • Quote: “40% of the homes that are selling, the lots are being sold to corporations now, not to Californians.” (09:33)
  • Working and middle-class survivors often cannot return:
    • Quote: “People cannot afford to live. The insurance policies don't pay out enough. The premiums are going up and people don't have enough money just from their jobs. And so they're going to have to find, you know, a life elsewhere outside of Los Angeles.” (09:40)

• Human Stories

  • Soboroff makes it clear the book is about people as much as policy or climate; he highlights stories like Kate Hennigan (JPL engineer), Herman & Loyda Wilson (UPS workers), and the resilience and hardship of survivors:
    • Quote: “They worked at UPS for 36 years, fell in love and have had to move 10 times, 10 times since the fire because they can't afford to stay in their home.” (10:22)
  • Ends on a note of inspiration:
    • Quote: “I found so much ... inspiration from the people that are coming back from these fires because they really, you know, they're not taking no for an answer. And Louisiana will rebuild.” (10:34)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On escalated immigration enforcement:

  “Stephen Miller is effectively the president when it comes to immigration policy right now.”
  — Jacob Soboroff (04:32)

• On mass deportation’s human cost:

  “Now they're not just deporting, they're killing immigrants and American citizens like Renee Nicole Goode and Alex Preddy.”
  — Jacob Soboroff (03:42)

• On the wildfires’ warning for America:

  “What I have learned is that what I was looking at was the fire of the future, not a look into my past. It's the world that we'll all inhabit.”
  — Jacob Soboroff (07:13)

• On the struggles of rebuilding:

  “16,000 structures burned down a year later. How many of those have been rebuilt?”
  — Stephen Colbert
  “12.”
  — Jacob Soboroff (09:10–09:13)

• On resilience:

  “I found so much ... inspiration from the people that are coming back from these fires because they really, you know, they're not taking no for an answer.”
  — Jacob Soboroff (10:34)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction & ICE Raids in Minneapolis: 01:32 – 02:47
• Comparing Immigration Policy: Trump I vs. Trump II: 02:47 – 04:09
• Escalation and Power Dynamics: 04:09 – 06:17
• The Role of Public Protest: 06:17 – 06:39
• Wildfires and Firestorm - Personal and Social Impact: 06:39 – 08:34
• Destruction and Rebuilding Challenges: 08:34 – 10:00
• Personal Stories and Hope: 10:00 – 10:42

---

Tone & Style

The episode adopts a serious and empathetic tone, with Colbert's characteristic blend of clarity, probing questions, and respectful humor. Soboroff is direct, passionate, and occasionally emotional, especially when discussing the consequences of policy and disaster on real people and communities. The conversation is informative, unflinching, and ultimately hopeful about collective action and resilience.

---

Conclusion

In this wide-ranging episode, Jacob Soboroff offers urgent, on-the-ground insight into the evolution of harsh U.S. immigration enforcement policies and the daunting realities of disaster recovery in Los Angeles. Both subjects are unified by Soboroff’s conviction that ordinary people’s courage and resistance make real change possible—whether in the face of political overreach or climate catastrophe. His new book, Firestorm, connects these themes, highlighting the intersection of human stories, politics, and the inescapable realities of our era.

Transcript

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

Well, the holidays have come and gone once again. But if you've forgotten to get that special someone in your life a gift, well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless. So here's the idea. You get it now. You call it an early present for next year.

[Stephen Colbert]

What do you have to lose?

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

Give it a [e-mail] Switch limited time.

[Mint Mobile Terms Announcer]

50% off regular price for new customers. Upfront payment required $45 for 3 months, $90 for 6 month or $180 for 12 month. Plan taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes per month when network is busy.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

See terms.

[School Spirits Promo Voice]

How do you make chicken nuggets like 7,000% better? Short answer, you let Taco Bell make them. Long answer, Start with all white meat chicken nuggets, bread them in crunchy tortilla chips and serve them with Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch. Yep, that's Hidden Valley Ranch mixed with Taco Bell Diablo sauce. It's exactly what it sounds like and somehow even better. Simple math, spicy results, crispy chicken nuggets from Taco Bell, a brand new classic at participating US Taco Bell locations for a limited time only while supplies last.

[Jacob Soborov]

It's the LATE SHOW Poncho with Stephen Colbert.

[School Spirits Promo Voice]

Folks.

[Stephen Colbert]

My next guest is the senior political and national correspondent for Ms. Now. He has just written a new book, firestorm, the Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster. Please welcome back to THE LATE show. Jacob Soborov, Welcome back.

[Jacob Soborov]

Thank you for having me.

[Stephen Colbert]

Nice to see you. Always nice to talk to you. I want to get to your book Firestorm in just one moment. But before we get into the book, you just got back from Minneapolis.

[Jacob Soborov]

I did.

[Stephen Colbert]

Where I know among other things, you were covering the ice raids and you spoke with Governor Tim Walz. And we've heard a lot this week about some talk of de escalation and changing of some changing of leadership and policy there. What's the reality on the ground? What are things like there this week?

[Jacob Soborov]

I think the first thing that everybody needs to understand is when they say they're going after the worst of the worst, they are doing anything but. And frankly, it's depraved. What I have seen not just in Minneapolis, but in Los Angeles, in Charlotte, in Chicago, in the hallway of 26 Federal Plaza here in New York City. These are people who want to come in for a better life. And you've got people like Greg Vino going around in military costumes, throwing tear gas canisters at people, taking little kids who just Want to go to school and sending them to detention centers in Texas. It is. It's awful, quite frankly. But I will say the people in the streets are what has given me extraordinary hope. And that's what kicked Greg Medino out of Minneapolis.

[Stephen Colbert]

The people's response. I know the first time, the first time we ever spoke actually had to do with your covering of immigration closely in the first Trump administration. And you wrote a best selling book about his family separation policy. And I'm just curious now, compare Trump's immigration policy now to Trump won. What is different? What's the same? How is it amplified?

[Jacob Soborov]

I would call it a supersized version of the family separation policy. Mass deportation is family separation by another name. It's not family separation at the border.

[Stephen Colbert]

And family separation itself was one of the most shameful things I can imagine from the first administration.

[Jacob Soborov]

The Republican appointed judge who stopped the policy called it one of the most shameful chapters in the history of our country. And Stephen Miller, you know, they separated 5,500 children deliberately from their parents. Then he wanted to do 25,000. This program that they're doing now is modeled after a 1954 program that deported a million Mexicans and some Americans. And now they're not just deporting, they're killing immigrants and American citizens like Renee Nicole Goode and Alex Preddy. And that's why we have to be in these cities. That's why I continue to go there. That's why we continue to spotlight this. And that's why I think, as I said again, it is so extraordinary to watch American people push back on this.

[Stephen Colbert]

As horrifying as it was the first time, and it was, it was shocking to watch this during the first Trump administration. How is he able to do more now? What is the difference? Is it, is it Noem? Is it Bevino? We had Homan the first time already. What makes the difference this time around?

[Jacob Soborov]

I think that there are far fewer checks. You know, whether or not you like John Kelly, he was a check on Stephen Miller in the first term. Stephen Miller is effectively the president when it comes to immigration policy right now. As much as I think it pains me, and I think probably all of you to hear that, but. And the other thing is you've got Tom Homan. Tom Homan went in and he replaced Gregory Beveno. Tom Homan said to me on the second day of the raids, someone is going to die. That was seven months ago in Los Angeles. They knew that this is exactly the plan. And the people who are the most Extreme voices within the administration have the most powerful positions today.

[Stephen Colbert]

What did he mean, do you think, when he said that someone is going to die? Did he say this is going to lead to a conflict that will lead to violence? Like this amount of pressure on a community is going to lead to someone lashing out? And was he meaning like someone is going to kill an ICE officer or what did he think was going to happen?

[Jacob Soborov]

I think he meant someone is going to get killed because of the tone and the tenor of the aggressiveness of the operations will lead to people pushing back. And that clash, you know, when I talk to Gavin Newsom or when I talk to JB Pritzker or when I talked to Tim Walls yesterday, they all, they all say the same thing. These clashes that Tom Homan has sort of telegraphed are set up to have the invocation of the Insurrection act so we can have military troops on American streets. And I think that that's why they are so terr of the people that are coming out into the streets. That's why they're so terrified of the movement that is pushing back. Remember, in the first Trump term, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people came out all around the world and they stopped the policy. The Pope spoke out. It wasn't even an English speaking Pope from Chicago like we have now, who was pushing back, who has also spoke.

[Stephen Colbert]

Spoken out about this.

[Jacob Soborov]

Incredibly, incredibly. And now I think that the movement that you are seeing is the scariest thing possible for the Trump administration because they are realizing that this plan. I stood on the floor of the Republican convention with the signs mass deportation Now.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah. No one can think that this is a surprise. No deportation printed up signs distributed throughout the entire convention center.

[Jacob Soborov]

But I don't think that they ever thought that the. I think that they thought that people would want to know less, that people would walk away after the first Trump term and the Biden administration. And look at how they're showing up, man. Look at how they're showing up. It's unbelievable.

[Stephen Colbert]

You were here a year ago to talk about the wildfires in your hometown of Pacific Palisades. This is a picture. It's also on the back of Firestorm. This is you very close to your childhood home.

[Jacob Soborov]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

In Pacific Palisades. And now, as I said earlier, you have the new book, Firestorm, the Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster. What perspective has this last year given you on what happened and what the future might be for that?

[Jacob Soborov]

When I was covering the Palisades burning down and we should also mention Altadena, you know, dozens of miles away on the other side of town. I thought I was looking into my past, watching my childhood neighborhood carbonized before my eyes, watching my home that I grew up in until I was five, incinerate. But it turns out, I think what I have learned is that what I was looking at was the fire of the future, not a look into my past. It's the world that we'll all inhabit. And I think when you read the book, it reads in some ways like almost like a sci fi thriller, but it is the lived, real experience, not just Evangelinos, but of so many people around the country and around the world who are going to experience natural disasters like this. And so that's the story that I wanted to tell also. Nobody has dealt with the topic of grief, I think more openly and more profoundly than you. And for me, this was a. I mean, I didn't know how to grieve publicly on camera and in real time as I watched my beloved community go. And so this was a project for me to connect with myself and other people and in a way that I never had before.

[Stephen Colbert]

And again, as I look at the image on the COVID of this book, which is so extraordinary, and this was all over Los Angeles, all over the area, it was this extreme everywhere. Where the fire hit, remind us now a year later, because I think we've lost perspective on this. How big were these fires? How large was this destruction?

[Jacob Soborov]

Enormous. 16,000 structures burned. 31 people died as a direct result of the flames. They say maybe 400 with excess mortality. You know, not the direct connection to the fires themselves. Three times the size of Manhattan burned in the largest, most populous county in the United States of America. And again, two distinct neighborhoods entirely wiped off the map. Pacific Palisades and then Altadena. More historically diverse working class. And the recovery is equally difficult.

[Stephen Colbert]

So 16,000 structures burned down a year later. How many of those have been rebuilt?

[Jacob Soborov]

12.

[Stephen Colbert]

No, 12.

[Jacob Soborov]

It's not good. And I think, you know, one of the things you read in the book is that whether it's immigration or covering these fires, mass casualty events, the fissures underneath society become so obvious. And one of them is affordability. Louisiana is the most unaffordable city and the most unaffordable state in the country. And people who want to build back 40% of the homes that are selling the lots of are being sold to corporations now, not to Californians.

[Stephen Colbert]

So what is the upshot of that?

[Jacob Soborov]

People cannot afford to live. The insurance policies don't pay out enough. The premiums are going up and people don't have enough money just from their jobs. And so they're going to have to find, you know, a life elsewhere outside of Los Angeles.

[Stephen Colbert]

So will homes be built on this? And then they'll end up being rental properties.

[Jacob Soborov]

Rental properties are sold as spec homes or to people that can afford to pay millions of dollars, much more than the, the working class. And this is a book about people as much as it is about politics or climate change, all of those things. And you read about people like engineers. 300 engineers from Jet Propulsion Laboratory Caltech lost their homes in Altadena. You read about people like Kate Hennigan, extraordinary JPL senior engineer, or Herman Loyda Wilson, her neighbor on McNally Avenue. They worked at UPS for 36 years, fell in love and have had to move 10 times, 10 times since the fire because they can't afford to stay in their home. But I found so much just like, just like with being on the streets at the immigration protests. So much inspiration from the people that are coming back from these fires because they really, you know, they're not taking no for an answer. And Louisiana will rebuild.

[Stephen Colbert]

Jacob, thank you so much for being here. Good to see you again. Firestorm is available now. Jacob Soborov, everybody. Thank you for listening to the Late Show Pod show with Stephen Colbert. Just one more thing.

[Jacob Soborov]

If you want to see more of.

[Stephen Colbert]

Me, come to Late Show YouTube channel for more clips and exclusives.

[School Spirits Promo Voice]

I'm back.

[Jacob Soborov]

I'm really back. School Spirits returns.

[School Spirits Promo Voice]

Why am I here? Not dead, right?

[Jacob Soborov]

This place is an absolute death trap.

[School Spirits Promo Voice]

We need to get out of here now.

[Jacob Soborov]

School Spirits new season, now streaming only on Paramount.

[School Spirits Promo Voice]

Plus, everything you've done has come to this.

[Stephen Colbert]

The biggest and wildest mission yet is now streaming.

[School Spirits Promo Voice]

I need you to trust me one last time.

[Stephen Colbert]

Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible the final reckoning rated VT13, now streaming on Paramount Plus.