Fear is keeping people from the polls. On this episode of The Raid, investigative journalist John Carlos Frey talks with former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa about A Count You Can Trust, a new nonpartisan coalition he co-chairs to explain how votes are counted and correct false claims with facts.

Villaraigosa has been on the ballot 21 times and says he has never seen tension like this. With talk of ICE agents at voting centers, an immigration enforcement surge in Los Angeles, and claims from Washington that California’s elections are rigged, he explains why so many voters, Democrats and Republicans alike, are worried, and why Election Night leads can flip once mail-in ballots are counted.

He walks through every way to vote without setting foot in a polling place, how to check your registration and track your ballot, why L.A. County, which counts more votes than 41 states, takes time to finish, and how anyone can watch the count in person. He also explains how you can join the coalition. His message: vote for whoever you want, but vote, because your ballot will be counted.

https://www.acountyoucantrust.org/

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 talks with Nick Miroff, staff writer at The Atlantic, 2026 Pulitzer Prize finalist, and George Polk Award winner, about what’s really happening inside ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.

He explains why the White House keeps doubling down on mass deportation, including how a pause on ICE traffic stops was reversed within 24 hours. He also walks through his reporting showing that violent crime is falling fastest in the same sanctuary cities the administration is targeting.

A candid conversation with two top journalists about the mass deportation machine.

https://www.theatlantic.com/author/nick-miroff/

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 Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice, to talk about what mass deportation is doing to immigrant families, U.S. citizens, and the country itself.

Cárdenas came to the U.S. from Bolivia at 14. Today she’s having the same conversation with her own U.S.-born kids that Latino families across the country are having: what to do if ICE pulls you over. Her cousin now carries a copy of her U.S.-citizen daughter’s passport, just in case. Relatives with legal status ask whether carrying their papers is enough.

They talk about racial profiling and whether this crackdown is about enforcement or about who people are. Despite everything, Cárdenas practices what she calls “the discipline of hope.”

https://theraidpodcast.org/

https://americasvoice.org/staff/vanessa-cardenas/

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 2018, Jess Morales Rocketto helped put people in the streets of hundreds of cities to stop family separation. Now she says the deportation machine has gotten smarter, and that pushing back still works.

John Carlos Frey sits down with the organizer behind Families Belong Together and the co-founder of Maremoto, which builds Latino power through politics, media and culture. Morales Rocketto began her career in anti-genocide activism. She explains why she believes the United States is at stage four or five of the ten recognized stages of genocide, what has changed since 2018, and why public resistance in Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Chicago made a difference.

ABOUT THE GUEST
Jess Morales Rocketto is co-founder and executive director of Maremoto. She co-founded Families Belong Together, Care in Action and Supermajority, served as political director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and worked on the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris. TIME named her to its 100 Next list in 2019. She is from Norwalk, California.

https://www.instagram.com/jesslivmo/?hl=en

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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Weeks before the November 3 midterms, Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) joins John Carlos Frey to talk about ICE raids in her district, the detention center that refused to let her in, and whether immigration agents could show up at polling places.

Chu represents Pasadena, Altadena, and the West San Gabriel Valley, a district hit first by the Eaton Fire and then, five months later, by immigration raids. She describes constituents who carry their passports everywhere, people arrested at the very appointments meant to legalize their status, and masked agents detaining day laborers at a Pasadena bus stop.

Then, the vote. Chu explains how legal teams are preparing for 150 things that could go wrong this election, why she is urging people to vote early, and what a Democratic Congress could do on immigration reform and a path to citizenship.

https://theraidpodcast.org/

https://chu.house.gov/

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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ICE agents stopped a work van outside Albany, Georgia. Three men ran. One of them, 28-year-old Edgar Cabrera-Gómez, ended up pinned beneath an ICE agent's Dodge Charger in the grass median of the Liberty Expressway.

The Georgia State Patrol says the agent was driving in the median. ICE says Edgar "lost his footing and slid under" the car. His family says he was run down while running away, and that the first story they were told was that he jumped out of the van and hurt himself.

John Carlos Frey investigates what happened on that median and why the body camera footage that could answer questions may never be released.

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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What happens when people who have lived in the U.S. legally for decades are suddenly made undocumented? Host John Carlos Frey sits down with Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, the policy organization working on immigration and criminal justice reform. Todd explains what he calls the "de-legalizing" of immigrants: the unprecedented revocation of DACA, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and other protections that could leave an estimated 3.5 million previously lawful residents without status by 2028.

Todd also lays out what advocates should demand from 2028 presidential candidates on day one, the role of faith and community in the pushback, and how you can get involved.

https://www.fwd.us/

https://www.fwd.us/news/losing-status-projections/

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 February 2026, ICE's acting director told the U.S. Senate under oath there was "no reason" for immigration agents to be at polling places. Within months, armed agents made an arrest outside a San Antonio polling site, showed up at a voting location in Simi Valley, and confronted a poll worker in Syracuse, New York, in the middle of her shift.

With a federal judge ordering documents about these incidents be released before Election Day, more than 8,000 pages are still scheduled to stay hidden until after the votes are counted. John Carlos Frey goes through the details.

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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