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Today, Explained

The kids in ICE detention

11 Mar 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What are the experiences of children detained by ICE?

0.554 - 11.855 Sean Rameswaram

Out in McAllen, Texas, there's a band that goes by Mariachi Oro. They're so good, they got invited to the White House and were congratulated on the floor of Congress.

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12.356 - 16.784 Unknown

I am honored to have the students and directors here today.

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17.085 - 39.486 Sean Rameswaram

Just eight months later, two teenage brothers in the band were detained along with the rest of their family by ICE. Most of the family ended up at a detention center in Dilley, Texas, and there was immediate outrage. This is a family that came here through the legal process. For all we know, there are great, great kids doing mariachi and enjoying life.

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39.927 - 66.378 Sean Rameswaram

And yet, the Trump administration has them sitting in a prison in Dilley, Texas. All that outrage got the entire family out early. Less lucky are the kids who don't end up with massive campaigns to get them out of detention. On Today Explained, we're going to find out what it's like to be a kid detained at Dilley. Chances are your favorite websites used to depend on Google for traffic and money.

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66.899 - 77.878 Sean Rameswaram

But that's not really working anymore. Now publishers are scrambling for new lifelines. Neil Vogel, who runs People Inc., says his company figured it out a couple years ago.

77.858 - 83.649 Unknown

You would think, given what everyone said about us, that we would be the guys that would be doing the worst now. We're kind of the guys doing the best now.

Chapter 2: How did a family of musicians end up in ICE detention?

83.949 - 94.028 Sean Rameswaram

I'm Peter Kafka, the host of Channels, the show about tech and media and what happens when they collide. You can hear my conversation with Neil Vogel now, wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

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97.552 - 109.631 Ariana V.

Hello, my name is Ariana V. I'm 14 years old and I'm from Honduras. I've been detained for 45 days and I have never felt so much fear to go to a place as I feel here.

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110.493 - 119.307 Micah Rosenberg

I met Ariana when she was detained in the Dilley Immigration Detention Center in South Texas.

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119.287 - 127.098 Ariana V.

I've been in this country for almost seven years, and in those seven years, my mom and I found a home and made a bigger family.

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127.138 - 151.578 Micah Rosenberg

She was a high school freshman in New York, and she went in with her mom for their regular ICE check-in, which they had actually been doing for years last December. And they went in in the morning, and by that evening, they were sent across the country to Texas to a detention center.

151.958 - 158.17 Ariana V.

Since I got to this center, all you will feel is sadness and mostly depression.

158.15 - 176.531 Micah Rosenberg

I had been corresponding with her mother and who actually has two U.S. citizen children, a toddler who's almost two and a five-year-old. And they were left behind because this particular detention center, you know, can't hold U.S. citizens.

176.691 - 185.001 Ariana V.

I have never been separated from my siblings. And it's honestly sad because they're little and they need their mom and their sister.

184.981 - 208.39 Micah Rosenberg

They ended up in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, which is the nation's only immigration detention center that's operating right now for families. The Biden administration actually ended the practice of family detention in 2021. But when Trump was reelected, he quickly reopened this facility for families.

Chapter 3: What is the emotional impact of detention on children?

311.085 - 315.569 Unknown

Hello. I am Ender, and I am 12 years old. I have been at this center for two months.

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315.589 - 342 Micah Rosenberg

My name is Usage F, and I'm nine years old. They didn't understand why they were there. They said that they weren't criminals, and, you know, they thought that the administration would be going after criminals. ICE used me to catch my mom, and now I am in jail, and I'm sad, and I have fainted two times here inside. When I arrived, every night I cried, and now I don't sleep well. Antonia, age 9.

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342.701 - 353.042 Micah Rosenberg

They missed their friends, they missed their teachers, they missed their homes. I don't want to be in this place. I want to go to my school. I miss my grandparents. I miss my friends.

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353.022 - 354.103 Noelle King

Me at age seven.

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354.123 - 366.337 Ariana V.

I have a home and school. I get bored a lot and I don't know what to do. Gabby, age 14. Kids are being damaged mentally. They witness how their parents and other people are being treated.

366.737 - 393.234 Micah Rosenberg

So this facility, you know, at the time that I was meeting her there, was holding hundreds of people, parents and families together, where up to 12 people are sharing a room together. Some of the families told me about, you know, food where they said that they found worms in the food or that it was moldy. The food is bad. I feel so much sadness and depression of not being able to leave.

393.554 - 430.023 Micah Rosenberg

They don't give me my diet. I'm vegetarian. I don't eat well. There's no good education. And I miss my best friend, Julieta. Another kid that I met was Alexander Perez, a 15-year-old from the Dominican Republic. He told me about what it was like to go to school at Dilley. He said school was limited to, you know, an hour a day.

430.084 - 451.634 Micah Rosenberg

It was in these classes that were mixed with a bunch of different ages and were capped at 12 kids. There was, you know, handouts and worksheets that, you know, were sort of too simple. So, you know, a lot of boredom, a lot of, you know, sickness because so many kids were packed together.

451.654 - 460.688 Ariana V.

To get any medicine, pill or anything, it takes a while. There are various viruses in here. People are always sick.

Chapter 4: What conditions do children face in the Dilley detention center?

1051.156 - 1072.139 Sean Rameswaram

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1072.56 - 1096.914 Sean Rameswaram

You can go to trustandwill.com today and get 20% off. That's trustandwill.com today to get your 20% off. Trustandwill.com today. Noelle King. Hey. Do me a favor. Give me like three reasons why you make Today Explained. I give you one. One? Wait, if you do one and I do one, that's two and that's compromise, right?

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1096.934 - 1105.532 Noelle King

All right. I make Today Explained because the world is a very big and confusing place, Sean Rama's firm, and we want to help people understand it. Simple as that.

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1105.512 - 1127.571 Sean Rameswaram

That's a really good reason. Okay, in addition to that one, to make it two, like I wanted a compromise, I like the idea of there being a news show that feels like the experience of going through the news, that feels like it's made by your fellow human who wants to understand the news and not like it's made by some all-knowing, almighty force. And I like to think that our show is that show.

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1127.551 - 1130.276 Noelle King

I love that. What's the best way to support us, Sean?

1130.517 - 1136.588 Sean Rameswaram

You can support Today Explained by going to Vox.com slash members.

1137.029 - 1141.577 Noelle King

You get perks, ad free versions of the show and all Vox podcasts. Who could ask for anything more?

1148.122 - 1153.075 Sean Rameswaram

Reese Gorman reports on politics at NOTIS. And if you're like, who do you work for?

1153.476 - 1156.765 Unknown

Notis. Who? Notis. I don't know what the hell that is.

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