“Family separation was torture, in the words of Physicians for Human Rights. And in the book Separated, I call it ‘inside an American tragedy’ because it’s a chapter in the ignoble parts of our history, and it will be remembered, I guarantee you, with slavery, Native American genocide, Japanese American incarceration, the turning around of the MS St. Louis back to the Holocaust and on and on and on.”
-Jacob Soboroff, episode 446 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
Journalist and author Jacob Soboroff (MS Now) has spent the better part of a decade reporting from inside America’s fractured immigration system. He joins us this week, fresh off the plane from Minneapolis, where he’s been on the ground covering the ICE raids that continue to sweep across the city (and the nation).
We discuss the evolving operations (3:00) and protests on the ground (6:00), the gulf between conservative media’s portrayals of unrest and the reality he’s witnessed (14:00), and the potential for accountability in the shootings of Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti (23:00).
Soboroff then offers an abridged history of immigration enforcement (31:00), dispatches from his 2018 visit to a family separation facility in Texas (38:00), and insights on ICE’s online recruitment campaign (46:00). To close, we unpack the next phase of ICE (1:01:00), Jacob’s reporting on the LA wildfires in his new book Firestorm (1:05:00), and whether Bad Bunny’s call for unity will be heard (1:11:00).
As always, our email— talkeasypod@gmail.com.
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Show-notes:
- Jacob’s new book, Firestorm, is available through HarperCollins.
- Read his previous book, Separated: Inside an American Tragedy wherever you do your reading.
- Caitlin Dickerson’s Pulitzer Prize–winning piece in The Atlantic on family separation is essential reading.
- Follow Jacob on Instagram.
- For more, our recent episodes with David Remnick and George Saunders.
- Order your Talk Easy mug in cream and navy or our vinyl record with Fran Lebowitz.
Illustrations by Krishna Shenoi. Reference photograph by Simran Malik.
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