Before this year's midterms, ICE told a federal judge it had no records on any plans to send agents to polling places. That wasn't true.

In this episode of The Raid, John Carlos Frey traces what actually happened when two Homeland Security agents walked into an active polling site in Syracuse, NY, to pressure a poll worker over a months-old social media post — and how that incident became the evidence that forced ICE to admit it's sitting on more than 11,000 pages it had denied existed.

We go inside the Syracuse confrontation, the earlier enforcement actions in Texas and California that set the pattern, and the ongoing court fight over documents the public still hasn't seen — plus what election-security experts say this kind of incident does to voter turnout, whether or not it's ever repeated.

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/ice-agents-polling-places-documents-democrats-foia-demand/

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/judge-trump-troops-voting-democrats-information-request/

https://theraidpodcast.org/

Disclaimer:

The statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants on this program are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of the distributor of the program and any person or entity affiliated with said distributor ("distributor's affiliates"). The distributor and distributor's affiliates are not responsible for, and shall not be liable for, the statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants, or for any content that appears on the program.

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In this urgent, unfiltered conversation, host John Carlos Frey sits down with Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (IL-03) — the first Latina elected to Congress from Illinois and the Midwest — to confront the escalating violence of America's immigration enforcement system.

Rep. Ramirez, a member of the Homeland Security Committee and the only member of Congress in a mixed-status family, doesn't hold back. She and Frey discuss the recent deaths linked to ICE and Border Patrol operations, the $70 billion appropriation given to DHS after the government shutdown, and why she believes promises of "reform" — including body cameras — are hollow gestures from an agency she says needs to be abolished.

This is a raw, emotional exchange between a journalist and a sitting member of Congress about power, accountability, and what justice really means in America right now.

https://ramirez.house.gov/

https://theraidpodcast.org/

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John Carlos Frey tells the story of Gabriel Cariaco's arrest in Bellevue, Nebraska — a legal asylum seeker who fled Venezuela, accused of being a member of the gang Tren de Aragua, and charged with attempted murder of a federal agent. Frey traces how the government's account changed within 24 hours of the arrest, how a tattoo meant to honor his son's birthday became "evidence" of gang membership, and how bystander video ultimately contradicted the sworn federal complaint filed against him.

A year later, a federal judge called the original report "at worst a misrepresentation and at best complete negligence" — and said, from the bench, that he had doubts about trusting law enforcement in this case. This is a story about how a false narrative gets built, how fast it travels, and what it takes to unravel it once it's already made headlines.

https://theraidpodcast.org/

https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/a-venezuelan-man-was-accused-of-attempting-to-choke-an-ice-officer-to-death-in-bellevue-bystander-video-tells-a-different-story/

https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-slams-feds-for-distorting-nebraska-ice-arrest-but-still-sentences-suspect-to-14-months/

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/06/20/ice-arrests-criminal-illegal-alien-tren-de-aragua-gang-member-attempting-murder-ice

Disclaimer:

The statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants on this program are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of the distributor of the program and any person or entity affiliated with said distributor ("distributor's affiliates"). The distributor and distributor's affiliates are not responsible for, and shall not be liable for, the statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants, or for any content that appears on the program.

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Three men are dead in fourteen days — Houston, Biddeford, St. Augustine — all in encounters with ICE. In the same week, border czar Tom Homan told Fox News that ICE agents are "well-trained in vehicle stops," then said he'd personally requested the agency's training curriculum to review it. Both things can't be true even though the president vetoed the review.

John Carlos Frey goes on the record about ICE's budget, its oversight, and its body count — and why an agency now funded at nearly seven times its historic budget, with more money than the FBI, DOJ, and Bureau of Prisons combined, still can't execute a routine traffic stop without someone ending up dead.

This one's personal.

https://theraidpodcast.org/

Disclaimer:

The statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants on this program are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of the distributor of the program and any person or entity affiliated with said distributor ("distributor's affiliates"). The distributor and distributor's affiliates are not responsible for, and shall not be liable for, the statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants, or for any content that appears on the program.

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John Carlos Frey sits down with Jennifer Huerta, a sixth-grade language teacher in Bakersfield, California, and a recipient of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). Brought to the U.S. from Michoacán, Mexico at just two years old, Jennifer grew up not fully understanding what it meant to be undocumented — until college applications and financial aid forms made the distinction painfully clear.

Jennifer walks through her journey: applying for DACA as a teenager, navigating a separate, more difficult path to higher education than her U.S.-citizen peers, graduating debt-free from Cal State Bakersfield through state aid and private scholarships (since DACA recipients don't qualify for federal aid), and eventually becoming the teacher her parents — both farmworkers — always hoped she'd become.

The conversation covers the cost and burden of reapplying every two years, the ripple effects on students, families, and communities when DACA recipients in critical roles (teachers, nurses, attorneys) lose their status, and what it feels like to build a life in the only country you've ever known — only to watch it hang in the balance as DACA approvals have been increasingly delayed.

https://theraidpodcast.org/

@heyitsmisshuerta

Disclaimer:

The statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants on this program are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of the distributor of the program and any person or entity affiliated with said distributor ("distributor's affiliates"). The distributor and distributor's affiliates are not responsible for, and shall not be liable for, the statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants, or for any content that appears on the program.

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Ten people. Ten families still waiting for someone in the U.S. government to be held responsible for their deaths. In this episode, John Carlos Frey goes case by case through ten people killed by ICE and Border Patrol this year, including the most recent ICE relating killings. Frey relies on his original reporting about the Border Patrol's "Critical Incident Teams," internal units whose own stated mission was "mitigation of civil liability" rather than the truth.

The Southern Border Communities Coalition has documented 377 deaths at the hands of ICE and Border Patrol since 2010. Almost none have resulted in an on-duty conviction. This episode is about making sure that number has names attached to it.

https://www.southernborder.org/

https://substack.com/@jennbudd https://theraidpodcast.org/

Disclaimer:

The statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants on this program are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of the distributor of the program and any person or entity affiliated with said distributor ("distributor's affiliates"). The distributor and distributor's affiliates are not responsible for, and shall not be liable for, the statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants, or for any content that appears on the program.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Every unaccompanied immigrant child facing deportation is legally entitled to a lawyer — it's the law, not a favor. But the federal contract funding that representation for over 20,000 children expires this month, and instead of an open replacement process, reporting from the Texas Tribune reveals a series of phone calls: the Trump administration quietly asking Texas's Attorney General's office, then the ten-person Texas Indigent Defense Commission, to take on the job — an agency with no experience, no funding, and no legal authority to do it.

John Carlos Frey breaks down the facts.

https://theraidpodcast.org/

https://www.texastribune.org/2026/07/03/trump-texas-doj-indigent-defense-unaccompanied-immigrant-children/

https://www.tpr.org/border-immigration/2026-07-06/trump-administration-asks-texas-for-help-providing-legal-services-to-immigrant-kids-facing-deportation

https://www.sacurrent.com/news/texas-news/trump-administration-asks-texas-for-help-providing-legal-services-to-immigrant-kids-facing-deportation/

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John Carlos Frey talks with Nicole Locklin — a Miami attorney and first-time candidate now running as the Democratic nominee for Florida's 26th Congressional District against 24-year incumbent Mario Diaz-Balart.

Locklin explains what pushed her into the race. She explains the district's dramatic post-redistricting shift, the role of ICE and Stephen Miller in the current wave of immigration raids, the financial toll of the "Alligator Alcatraz" detention facility, and her platform centered on affordability, government accountability, and abolishing ICE.

The conversation closes with a frank look at her odds in a historically red-leaning, minority-majority district and how her campaign plans to combine political organizing with direct community aid.

https://locklinforcongress.com/

https://theraidpodcast.org/

Disclaimer:

The statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants on this program are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of the distributor of the program and any person or entity affiliated with said distributor ("distributor's affiliates"). The distributor and distributor's affiliates are not responsible for, and shall not be liable for, the statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants, or for any content that appears on the program.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.