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Jane Coaston: It’s Thursday, September 25th, I’m Jane Coaston, and this is What a Day. The show that learned Jimmy Kimmel’s return to ABC late night after a suspension by Disney garnered more than 6.3 million viewers on broadcast television. And as of the time of this recording, more than 16 million views on YouTube and counting. Thanks, Trump administration! [music break] On today’s show, more than 100 countries at the United Nations General Assembly agree to mitigate climate change sans the United States. And the federal government is asking scores of employees who lost their jobs thanks to Elon Musk to pretty please come back. But let’s start with immigration. The Department of Homeland Security issued a major announcement on Tuesday. In a statement, the agency said that, quote, “two million illegal aliens have been removed or have self-deported since January 20th.” In an interview last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem praised the mass deportation effort because of course she did. 

[clip of Kristi Noem] That has sent a clear message. It’s sent a clear message to everyone um that the boss has changed. There’s somebody new in the White House that’s very different than the last president. And this president cares about safety and security. 

Jane Coaston: Wow. It’s wild how I don’t feel any safer or better having learned that information. Actually, I feel way, way worse. The machinery of mass deportations has been operating both in plain sight and out of view since President Donald Trump took office back in January. As millions of people are being deported, thousands more are stuck in detention facilities across the country. In fact, the exact number of people in immigration and customs enforcement detention right now is 58,766, according to ICE data. The vast majority have no criminal record, but the Trump administration is denying them bond at an astounding rate, forcing them to stay in dirty and decrepit detention facilities for months on end with no hope of getting their day in court. I should mention that on Wednesday, a gunman opened fire on an ICE facility in Dallas. According to the New York Times, one detainee was killed and two others were critically injured. There’s a lot we don’t know about this shooting as of our recording time on Wednesday evening Pacific time. And there’s a lot we don’t know about the immigration system as it’s operating right now. So to talk more about what immigration policy really looks like on the ground, I spoke to Katie Blankenship, an attorney who represents clients going through the immigration process. Katie, welcome to What a Day.

Katie Blankenship: It is so great to be back. Thank you for having me. 

Jane Coaston: Last time we spoke to you back in July, you were talking about how difficult it was to get in touch with your clients after they were put in ICE detention centers and how bad the conditions were in a lot of those centers. Has that situation changed at all? 

Katie Blankenship: It’s gotten worse. [laugh] It’s gotten worse. What we see is that, and this was beginning the last time we were talking, it was around the time of the opening of what’s called Alligator Alcatraz. And as we feared, that’s sort of been the first of many to come since then in Florida, the Baker Correctional Institute has opened. It’s literally just a recipe book. They just did the exact same thing they did with the Everglades camp. And they’re having all the same issues. Um you know I had to fight with a guard yesterday about the concept of legal mail. So it’s not getting much better. 

Jane Coaston: And I wanted to actually ask about that Everglades facility. I had read recently that because a judge ordered it to be shut down, there are tons of people there who no one knows where they are. 

Katie Blankenship: So this has been an issue with these camps that they open up like this. And uh you cannot find them on the ICE locator. For those that don’t know, the ICE Locator is a public database. You can go find your people that way. You need certain information, but it’s user-friendly. It’s for all of us. You can’t find them there, though, which is which by law, ICE is supposed to be able to have this tracking system so you know who’s in ICE custody. You can’t find them on the court website. You can’t file documents for them in court the way you can for other clients. Um. And they’re literally being disappeared from their families. You know when we had a client who was actually deported to Mexico, um it took about eight days for his family to even hear from him. And we said, what happened during this transit? What’s going on? He said, I’m just in this detention limbo without any access to a phone, anybody to speak to. Being held in mysterious places on the border, over the border. And it just continues to be this huge mess and human rights abuses. 

Jane Coaston: And NPR reported on Tuesday that nearly 20 immigration judges were fired this month via email. And that’s in addition to the over 80 judges that have already been cut by President Trump this year. Can you explain what this means for the immigration system? Like doesn’t the Trump administration need judges to hear cases if their goal is to deport people who don’t have legal status? Like that was something you know I’ve been reading conservative outlets where they were talking about, oh, we should actually be hiring way more judges. 

Katie Blankenship: Well, every part of the system is not only at a crucial breaking point, it’s broken. These systems are not working right now. The one of the biggest issues that we’re seeing about this is in detention, where judges’ calendars are so backlogged and the government has basically canceled bond and all parole, you are stuck in there. And then you don’t have enough IJs to hear the cases and people are trapped in detention. But you know all of this is a problem of intentional making, right? Like look at what happened in San Francisco. San Francisco just had a slew of their immigration judges fired. They were fired if you look at them on their denial rates, meaning the Trump administration basically said, you’re granting too much asylum. And just based on those numbers, we’re canning you, like you’re gone. Which is bizarre on so many levels, but it also means that you are just blatantly politicizing these offices. And then you take that with the memo of, oh, we’ll put anybody now as an IJ. We’ll take any lawyer can now be an immigration judge. You don’t have to have immigration experience. It’s these are becoming political appointments and squashing as much as they can, all rights to relief for immigrants. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah, like the Trump administration is reportedly recruiting hundreds of military lawyers to sit as immigration judges because the government says they need more judges to handle this backlog of cases and speed up Trump’s mass deportation mission. But also, as to your point, it just seems like the administration is replacing more experienced judges who know what asylum is and how to grant it with lawyers who don’t have experience, who are just going to deny every single claim and make sure more people are deported. 

Katie Blankenship: Yes, and and this is another critical piece that people have to remember, and that they are maintaining them in detention for as long as possible, right? There’s a lot of narrative of how they want to deport everyone. Kind of. Kind of, they want that. They also want to lock as many people up as possible for as long as possibly because you and I and every taxpayer in this country pay about 200 bucks a day per person. 

Jane Coaston: And you alluded to this in San Francisco, but we’ve also seen reporting that a lot of the immigration judges who haven’t been fired yet are facing pressure from their bosses and the Trump administration to dismiss more cases, which means their clients are no longer awaiting trial and therefore can be deported without said trial. In your experience, are more of your cases being dismissed? 

Katie Blankenship: All right, so this is such a critical point of understanding where there are pressure points. There are plenty of immigration judges out there that are very happy to get on the Trump train, right? There are plenty of immigration judges who are here because they’re immigration experts and have very good, great reasons for wanting this job. But what happens, even in those courtrooms, you see their denial rates skyrocket up. I’m losing cases on such strong asylum claims that I was winning three months ago, even under the Trump administration, I’m losing cases for clients that people who have very clear risk of torture and death in Haiti, places where it is well documented, where they can show evidence of specific persecution at the hands of gang affiliated police members. And that is that’s terrifying, right? That’s life and death. That’s not just, oh, it’s a data point. That means somebody is likely getting deported and will be killed because of it. Whereas weeks ago, this country said, absolutely, you cannot safely return here without finding yourself a corpse. And now we say goodbye. And if you don’t like that, then we’ll fire you and find a military officer who will sit in your cloak and do it for us. 

Jane Coaston: Um and we’re also learning um from some sources that Department of Homeland Security lawyers are showing up in person to their hearings, more often filing motions to dismiss. Have you seen this occur on any of your cases in immigration court? 

Katie Blankenship: This is the other thing that’s a big change is that so most people know how the criminal justice system works. You work with attorneys on other sides. They’ll talk with you about the case. You’ll try to find an equitable way to move forward. That’s always been a little bit more difficult in dealing with the immigration system. But today it is no, no, no, and if you win anything, even the most even the most just blanket this person deserve to win, we will appeal it. So everything they can do to stymie it. They’re appealing bond. So even if you win bond now under this tiny window where you can get it, the government’s like, oh, guess what? We’re appealing and staying it. So no. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah. And the Trump administration has told judges they can’t offer bonds to anyone who has entered the country illegally. Those people are now ineligible for that, which means they can’t go back to their jobs or families or do anything while they await trial. They’re just in detention. And as you mentioned, they could be in detention for–

Katie Blankenship: Months and months. 

Jane Coaston: –who knows how long.  

Katie Blankenship: It is typical under this administration. What I’ve seen is the clients that I have had since January are still there today, unless they were on a deportation flight. 

Jane Coaston: It seems like all of this, intimidating current judges, taking away due process for detainees, the judicial dismissals, the horrible conditions in detention centers is just anti-immigrant animus made into policy by the Trump administration. Do you have any sense of what they’re going to do next? Because, I mean, my, my interpretation of their end goal is no more immigration. Just that’s it. No more. No one’s allowed in. That’s it and anyone who tries in any way, even if it’s legal. Even if they are, you know, trying their best to follow the law, even if they are seeking asylum because they’ve experienced discrimination or experiencing death threats for being a Christian or something like that. It’s still like, nope, fuck you. Sorry. 

Katie Blankenship: 100% and it is all of this anti-immigrant animus fueling everything for profit, right? It is much more about the political power and the profit than even the racism. It is the way that those in power have tried to fuck us from the beginning, right? We’re going to use racism as a political tool. Oh, it gives us political power. We get to do all this stuff to drum up all this racism and anti-immigrant animus. So we’re gonna fuel everybody up and make them hate the other. By the way, we just gave ourselves 43 billion dollars. By the way, geogroup is laughing to the bank. You know that that– 

Jane Coaston: Yeah. 

Katie Blankenship: So the question, well, where do where do they go from that? They will keep going as far as they can possibly go to lock more people up. They’re not going to want to completely somehow, you know, close all immigration. What’s scary is that if they actually have what they want and where they can clear the country of immigrants or whatever they want to do, like who’s going in those detention centers they’re building because they ain’t closing them all. 

Jane Coaston: Right. And who’s going to go into the private detention centers. 

Katie Blankenship: It, yes. 

Jane Coaston: And who is going to get all the money they’re getting from vendors that are, you know, supposedly feeding people in those centers and putting in beds and paying for the walls and paying for the construction. Katie, I know that this work is so important that you do. Thank you so much for your time and for joining me. 

Katie Blankenship: It’s a pleasure to be here as always. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with immigration attorney Katie Blankenship. We’ll link to her organization in the show notes. We’ll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: Here’s what else we’re following today. 

[sung] Headlines. 

[clip of Dr. Mehmet Oz] If you have a high fever, as you point out, if you’ve got significant issues of that nature, you ought to be talking to a doctor anyway, because the cause of the high fever is worrisome. The doctor’s almost certainly gonna prescribe you something. Tylenol might be one of the things they give. That’s not the problem. 

Jane Coaston: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, Dr. Mehmet Oz, just said the magic words, you ought to be talking to a doctor. Let’s back up a second. Remember Trump’s Monday announcement that taking Tylenol while pregnant can be associated with an increased risk of autism while offering no real credible evidence? Trump added pregnant women should, quote, “fight like hell not to take it,” unless medically necessary. Even though it’s the only over-the-counter medication they can take for high fevers. Now Oz, who was at that unhinged press conference, is sharing his thoughts on acetaminophen, AKA Tylenol, in a rambling interview with TMZ on Tuesday. 

[clip of Dr. Mehmet Oz] There’s lots of literature that would cast doubt on the assumption that you should be taking acetaminophen willy-nilly. Take it when it’s appropriate. We don’t have a lot of other options as pregnant women know. 

Jane Coaston: Do you know any pregnant women who take anything willy-nilly? But in an opinion that actually matters, the World Health Organization is also pushing back on Trump’s Tylenol is linked to autism claims. That’s in addition to, you know, the studies that don’t prove the claim. The WHO said in a statement Wednesday, there’s, quote, “no conclusive scientific evidence confirming a possible link between autism and use of acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol, during pregnancy.” And again, take medical advice from your doctor. Not the President of the United States. The federal government is asking hundreds of employees laid off, AKA DOGE-ed, from the General Services Administration to come back to work, according to an internal memo obtained by the Associated Press. The GSA is the independent agency that manages government buildings and office spaces nationwide. It was a big target of the Department of Government Efficiencies cost-cutting crusade. Days into Trump’s second term, the GSA sent out orders to terminate about 7,500 federal leases across the country. Then, starting in March, thousands of employees left the GSA, either accepting government offers to resign or retire early, or getting a pink slip. In the middle of all this, efficiency, 131 leases expired without the government vacating, racking up expensive fees from landlords which the government so kindly passed on to taxpayers. Thanks, Elon. So it makes sense the Trump administration is changing its tune, especially when some of its laid-off employees have continued to receive their paychecks. Again, efficiency! An independent congressional watchdog is looking into all of this and expects to issue findings in the next few months. But in the meantime, any employees who accept the government’s offer must return to work by October 6th. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] The carbon footprint is a hoax. No more global warming, no more global cooling. All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong. They were made by stupid people that have cost their country’s fortunes, and given those same countries no chance for success. 

Jane Coaston: The theory of global cooling hasn’t been a thing since 1975 since it, you know, didn’t happen, so Trump being mad about it checks out. And actually, world leaders are feeling pretty smart about their commitment to fighting climate change, thank you very much. Earlier in the week, in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Trump railed against clean energy policies. Yes, windmills were, again, a target. But on Wednesday, heads of more than 120 nations gathered at a UN climate summit to talk about how they would do their part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And that included the president of China, which is the world’s largest polluter. In a video address, President Xi Jinping told the group that China was going to step up its efforts and cut emissions 7 to 10% by 2035. China spews about a third of the globe’s carbon dioxide emissions, so that’s saying something. After years of trying to rally other nations to fight global warming, the U.S. now stands as one of the few holdouts, something that isn’t lost on China. In his remarks, Xi took a not-so-veiled swipe at Trump’s climate policies. Saying, quote, “while some countries are acting against it, the international community should stay focused on the right direction.” Hmm, that does not feel great. Brace yourselves. YouTube is clearing the way for creators who were banned for peddling conspiracies, like FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, to make a comeback. According to parent company Alphabet, YouTube will offer creators a way to rejoin the platform if they were banned for violating COVID-19 and election misinformation policies that are no longer in effect. The move comes as congressional Republicans look into whether former President Joe Biden’s administration pressured tech companies to censor online content. In a letter submitted to the House Judiciary Committee, attorneys for Alphabet wrote, quote, “no matter the political atmosphere, YouTube will continue to enable free expression on its platform, particularly as it relates to issues subject to political debate.” This is the latest in a cascade of content moderation rollbacks from tech companies that cracked down on disinformation during the pandemic and after the 2020 election, but have since faced pressure from Trump and other conservatives who argue they unlawfully stifled right-wing voices in the process, even as those same conservatives want to stifle left-wing voices. Oh, the irony. And that’s the news. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review. Watch in horror as the President of the United States writes a lengthy essay about an escalator and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading, and not just about how Trump and First Lady Melania Trump got stuck on a broken escalator at the United Nations General Assembly, and it turns out Trump is really, really, really upset about it. Like, really, upset about. On Wednesday, he wrote on Truth Social, quote, “This wasn’t a coincidence. This was triple sabotage at the UN. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. I’m sending a copy of this letter to the Secretary General, and I demand an immediate investigation. No wonder the United Nations hasn’t been able to do the job that they were put in existence to do. All security tapes at the escalator should be saved, especially the emergency stop button. The Secret Service is involved.” Like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston. And again, this was about an escalator that temporarily became stairs. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producer is Emily Fohr. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Megan Larsen, Gina Pollack, and Jonah Eatman. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our senior vice president of news and politics is Adriene Hill. We had help today, from the Associated Press. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.  [music break]

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