Jonathan Blitzer

speaker

342 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 14 Jul

Jonathan Blitzer’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.

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Fresh Air · Uncovering abuse inside America's largest ICE detention center · 14 Jul 2026 podcast

And so when I saw him in April, all of these tensions were apparent, but they've actually grown much more acute.

Since then, you know, there have been stretches where he's gone without food because he doesn't feel like he can impose any more on his wife to send money because she's maxed out north of the border.

And so you basically have two people who are spun in totally different directions and.

and who are consumed by their own respective traumas and tragedies.

Yeah, it's January morning, 5.45.

Lydia works or worked at the time as a cleaner at a retirement home in a town in Minnesota, maybe about 30 miles outside of Minneapolis.

And she realizes suddenly that there are two ICE cars behind her.

And she gets pulled over.

And she happens to be on a Zoom while she's driving.

It's piping in through her car speakers.

You know, it's on Bluetooth or whatever.

And it's a morning prayer session that she does with her husband and a number of other community members and a group of nuns.

And actually, the way she informed her family that she was being arrested was she said on this Zoom, I'm being arrested.

And her husband, who was already at his job working – this is 5.45 in the morning – hears that and calls their son.

So Lydia has –

Three kids.

One has DACA.

Two are U.S.

citizens, but one is a minor.

And the oldest son, Alexis, who's 21 and a U.S.

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