Today, Explained - The kids in ICE detention

Episode Date: March 11, 2026

The Trump administration's immigration policies are taking a toll on families. No sign that the new pick running the effort will be any more moderate. This episode was produced by Peter Balonon-Rosen, edited by Miranda Kennedy, fact checked by Andrea Lopez-Cruzado, engineered by Patrick Boyd and David Tatasciore, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Image courtesy of Mica Rosenberg/ProPublica. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. New Vox members get $20 off their membership right now. Transcript at ⁠vox.com/today-explained-podcast.⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. I am honored to have the students and directors here today. 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 kids doing mariachi and enjoying life. 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. Hello, my name is Rory. 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. I met Ariana when she was detained in the Dilley Immigration Detention Center in South Texas. 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. 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. Since I got to the center, all you will feel is sadness and mostly, depression. 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 can't hold U.S. citizens. I have never been separated from my siblings, and it's honestly sad because they're little and they knew their mom and their sister.

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. There's an increasing number of families

that are like Arianez, who are, People who've been living in the United States for years and are getting swept up in these broad immigration arrests all around the country. Since the day my mom and I got detained in Manhattan, New York, my life was instantly paused. My name is Micah Rosenberg, and I'm an investigative reporter at ProPublica. So I was able to meet Adiana and her mother in person. After I met with them, Adiana sat down and wrote me a letter. about what she was going through.

Not a lot of people know what is happening in the centers where immigrants are placed that I haven't been getting any school time either or the other kids in here. She later recorded herself reading her letter to me so we could hear it in her own voice. Every single person in here had their jobs. They had their lives. They aren't any danger for this country.

I was able to speak with people via video calls as well. One thing that we were really trying to accomplish with this reporting was to really get that perspective of the children who, you know, you really don't hear from very often. You know, one of the things that we asked is if the kids would be interested in writing us letters or sending us drawings about what they were actually experiencing. Hello. My name is Gabby M&M. I'm 14 years old. I'm from Columbia. Hello, I am Ender, and I'm 12 years old. I have been at the center for two months.

My name is H. F. and now I'm nine years old. They didn't understand why they were there. They said that they weren't criminals, and they thought that the administration would be going after criminals. Ice used me to catch my mom, and now I'm 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 nine. 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, me at age seven. 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 all their

people are being treated. 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. 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. 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. To get any medicine pill or anything, it takes a while. There are various of viruses in here. People are always sick. One baby who I met who on video call was, you know, waving at me and blowing kisses. Her name was Amalia. She was 18 months old.

And, you know, she was really adorable to look at on the call. But she had just recently ended up being hospitalized. She was diagnosed with COVID and RSV and it developed into pneumonia and bronchitis. And she was in a very serious state. after more than a week in the hospital, that family was transferred back into detention. Serious situations happen and the officers can't take them serious enough. They don't even care. Some of the parents told me about more difficult instances of, you know, kids who had actually tried to harm themselves or talked about suicide. The Trump administration and ICE and Core Civic, the private prison operator, that,

that runs the facility, they said that, you know, no one is denied medical care and that they, you know, take health and safety standards, you know, is the most importance. But this was the experiences that we heard from the detainees inside. Are there legal limits that protect children in these situations or can they just be detained indefinitely? So there is this long-standing legal settlement that's basically been in place since the 1990s. It's called the Flores Agreement. And it gives sort of general guidelines that children shouldn't be held in immigration detention for longer than 20 days. After nearly two years of work by the Department of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services professionals, the Trump administration has established a new rule to respond to the realities of current immigration flows. The Trump administration has argued that this settlement is outdated, that there's new rules and regulations that govern the detention of children and families that, you know, are now in place and that this settlement should be terminated.

The Florida settlement agreement is operationally outdated and does not respond to the current immigration crisis. The families who have been detained at Dilley, there's hundreds of them that we found through our analysis, have been held past, you know, past that limit. They told me I could only be here 21 days, but I have already spent more than 60 days waking up and eating the same repetitive meals. 50 days in Dili immigration processing center. 113 days in detention and I miss my friends. I feel that they're going to forget me. And what about the kids you spoke with? What about Ariana and all the rest?

Are they still in Dilley, Texas, or have they gotten out? So a lot of the people that we spoke with, especially after we asked the administration, about specific cases have been subsequently released. Some of them have been released into the U.S., others have been deported. There's not a clear pattern to who was released and who wasn't. The center really sort of burst onto the public stage after the arrest of Liam Conejo-Ramos, the five-year-old who was arrested in Minnesota and his little blue bunny hat. And, you know, Once he was taken there, there was a lot of public outrage. You know, Congress members started trying to visit there,

and the detainees themselves staged a protest in the yard. One of the things that we heard from detainees, after all of that happened, is that they had experienced guards confiscating art supplies, like colored pencils and crayons and paper and things that they had used to write these protests, and the letters. In past weeks, you know, some of their communications like Gmail and Google services were cut off. After I met with Ariana and her mother in Texas, they were released, and I was there after

they were reunited with their family in New York. It was really quite moving, obviously, and I think one thing we've been seeing in our reporting is not only the effect that these detentions are having on the kids who are actually detained, but then on, you know, the kids who are left on the outside. Adiana's little siblings, in the case of Jacob, he was afraid to go to kindergarten in the morning because he was worried that his mom and his sister wouldn't be there when he came home. You know, he finally was convinced to go back to school, but he wanted to spend the whole night in there in her bed and, you know, was really affected by their sort of sudden disappearance from their

lives. You know, a lot of the kids said that, you know, there wasn't a whole lot to do at Dilley. A lot of them ended up, you know, playing sports. And one of the things that was there was a volleyball net. And so, you know, Adiana told me that she ended up playing a lot of volleyball in Dilly. When she ended up going back to her high school in New York, she was playing volleyball in gym and realized that she had actually gotten a lot better and was better than some of the kids at the school. And so she was thinking about signing up for the volleyball team. Find Micah Rosenberg's investigation, the Children of Dilley at Propublica.org. FYI, we had people read the letters kids that Dilly wrote Micah, except for Arianna. That was her voice.

Regime change is underway at the top of the Department of Homeland Security. We're going to ask if the new guy is going to run detention and deportation any differently when we're back on today explained. Support for the show comes from Indeed. When you're looking for talent, Indeed, sponsored jobs can be just the boost you're looking for. Indeed says you can save lots of time searching and instead get matched with quality, candidates that meet your specific criteria like skills, certification, or location. I'm always looking for people with skills. According to their data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report

a higher than non-sponsored jobs. You can spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes, less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this can be a job for indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75-sponsored job credit to help get your job, the premium status. It deserves at Indeed.com.com slash podcast. You can just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you've heard about Indeed on this podcast.

That's Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring. Do it the right way with Indeed. Work, school, chores, bills. Those are just a few of the things that act like energy vampires throughout your day. It can be hard to try and get everything done when you're running on empty. That's why there's IM8's Daily Ultimate Essentials. It's an all-in-one wellness drink that gives your body the support it needs without juggling a bunch of different supplements. IMA's Daily Ultimate Essentials is the go-to for getting the benefits of 16 different supplements in one tasty drink.

Co-founded by David Beckham and crafted with insight from experts at Mayo Clinic, Cedar Sinai, and a former Nassachew scientist, It simplifies your wellness routine and is loaded with 92 nutrient-rich ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, adaptogens, co-Q10, MSM, and pre-pro and postbiotics. Plus, it's vegan, gluten-free, and non-GMO. Feel your best self every day with IM8. Go to IM8health.com slash explained and use code explained for a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, plus 10% percent.

off your order. That's I-M-N-N-E-A-L-T-H dot com slash explained. Code explained. For a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets plus 10% off your order. IM8Health.com slash explained. Code explained. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Support for the show comes from trust and will. Will I know? Trust I'm not familiar with. Estate planning isn't exactly most people's idea of a good time. True say, it can be stressful and overwhelming knowing where to even start. But if you're a parent, homeowner, spouse, or caring for older parents, now may be a great time to start thinking about the future. And trust and will says they can help. You create an estate plan in as little as 30 minutes to protect guardianship of children and pets, asset distribution, and health care directives. Trust and Will says their products are attorney. designated state-specific and customized to your needs, and they say their plans are designed to grow with you

so you can update your life plan at any stage or transition. You don't have to wait until it's too late. You can protect your loved ones today, tomorrow, and beyond, with trust and will, a trusted name and online estate planning. You can go to trustinwill.com slash today and get 20% off. That's trust and will.com slash today to get your 20% off. Trustinwill.com slash today. Hey everybody, Ested Herndon here.

I wanted to let you know that Vox Media is returning to South by Southwest in Austin for live tapings of your favorite podcasts. Join us from March 13th through March 15th for live tapings of Pivot, Teffey Talks, Professor G's Markets, Where Should We Begin with Esther Perel and the special live taping of Today Explained, hosted by yours truly? The Vox Media podcast stage will also feature sessions from Brne Brown and Adam Grant, Marcus Brownlee, Keith Lee, Vivian 2, Robin Arzone, and more. Visit voxmedia.com slash south by southwest to pre-registered

and get a special discount on your South by Southwest Innovation badge. That's voxmedia.com slash south by southwest. Hope to see you there. Reese Gorman reports on politics at notice, and if you're like... Who do you work for me? Notice. Who? Nouris.

I don't know what that. Notice that's for news of the United States. So it's a little play on POTUS, SCOTUS, all that good stuff. Get yourself real. So the new pick for the Secretary of Homeland Security is Mark Wayne Mullen, a senator from Oklahoma, the junior senator. He was elected in 2022. He is a staunch conservative. He is a staunch Trump supporter, a staunch Trump ally.

And this really kind of all led to him getting this position following Christy Nob's ouster. And before we spent half of our episode talking about him today, how likely is he to be confirmed by the Senate. I would say it's about 99% chance. Okay, well, in that case, let's talk about him. And we have to start with his name, Mark Wayne. Where does that come from? So his two uncles were named Mark and Wayne, and they combined the names to Mark Wayne. And at some point, he, those parents thought that they would drop one of them, but he just kept him. And it's just a very Oklahoma name, Mark Wayne Mullen. Okay. And what's his origin story? How do you get into politics? So Mark Wayne Mullen is a member of the Cherokee Nation, one of the few Native American citizens in Congress.

That is something that he is really proud of, that he talks a lot about. He is also from Stillwell, Oklahoma, which is one of the poorest cities in the United States. He grew up there, and he never graduated college. He has an associate's degree. He started a plumbing company. Hi, I'm Mark Wayne Mullen with Mullen Plumbing at the Red Ritter. So you have a stool that just doesn't flush right? And as someone who went to college there and worked there for a while,

when I was just a student in Oklahoma, you would see mull and plumbing vans all over the state. Huh. That's one of the biggest plumbing companies in the state. And he decided to run for Congress as this outsider, where his, because literal, his tagline, his cards were not a politician, a businessman. I got fed up when I realized that my biggest competitor isn't my competition.

It's the government. And in the Senate and in the House, He has a reputation for being something of a fighter, which comes from his reputation from being an actual fighter. He was an actual professional MMA fighter. He is big into wrestling. And one of the most viral moments of his career is when Teamsters president, Sean O'Brien, testified before Senate committee. And Mullen being from Oklahoma, which is famously not a very friendly state to labor unions. If you want to run your mouth, we can be to consenting adults.

so we can finish it here. Okay, that's fine. Perfect. Team surprise Shot O'Brien and him were going back and forth. You want to do it now? I'd love to do it right now. And Mullen told him to, quote,

stand your butt up. You stand your butt up then? And then Sean O'Brien responded. You stand your butt up. Oh, hold that. Oh, stop it. Is that your solution every pull it? Mullen then stood up.

Sit down. And started taking off his rings as if he was about to get in a fight. And then Bernie Sanders basically was like, You're a United States Senator. No, no, you're a United States Senator. Act. Okay.

Sit down, please. And his voice, like, You act like it. And it was one of the most viral moments of, definitely of his career, I believe. You're not pointing me. That's disrespectful. I don't care about respecting you at all. I don't respect you at all.

So, hold it. Let me. Hold it. No. Okay, but most pertinent to our conversation today is that President Trump likes this guy. President Trump has a soft spot for this hard dude from Oklahoma. How did their relationship develop? Their relationship developed really early on.

Mark Wayne has, as some of the job. that, to his credit, is really good at building relationships. And so in Trump's first term, I mean, that was no different. He was really close with Trump. The relationship grew when Mark Wayne Mullen's son had a really traumatic injury, an almost life-threatening injury from wrestling. He had to go. He had to be flown out to California, to a specialty hospital to be operated on. It was a really scary moment for Mullen, his family. Trump would visit his son at one point and would routinely call weekly to check in on Mullen and his son. Wow.

And Mullen really credits that to his growing relationship with Trump. Didn't know the president was out there checking on people like that. That being said, as you earlier, you know, let us know, this was not a guy who had a lot of experience in, say, I don't know, law enforcement, defense, security, anything of the sort. He was a plumber, a radio host. an MMA fighter. Does he have the typical resume for Secretary of the Department

of Homeland Security? I mean, if you look, if you're compared to Chrissy Nobs, it's pretty similar. I mean, Noem equally did not have a glowing resume, but if you look at a lot of Trump's cabinet secretaries, he doesn't really go

with the most qualified choice at times. Trump really tends to pick people who he likes and who he thinks will be good at the job and also just who would give him loyalty. And that tends to be one of the best. the main things that Trump's looks for when appointing people to the cabinet. And what was it that turned Trump against Mark Wayne's predecessor or potential predecessor,

Christy Knoem? The straw that broke the Campbell's back was her answer to a hearing question last week by Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, where he asked if Trump had approved of this $220 million ad campaign, which looked almost as though a political ad. And she said that Trump had signed off on it. The president approved ahead of time you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently. Yes, sir. We went through the legal processes.

Did it correct? Did the president know you're going to do this? Yes. He did? Yes. Okay. Which incensed Trump. He was adamant that he did not approve this.

Have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski? Mr. Chairman, I am shocked that we're going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today. When she was asked about her alleged affair with her advisor, Corey Lewandowski, and she did not say no. She just completely just dodged the question, said she was appalled that it was even being asked. And that was something that also infuriated Trump. But she didn't say no because she is having an affair with Corey Lewandowski, right? That is the rumor. No one's really been able to prove it.

but I mean, they've been seen together. I was at Trump's watch party last in 2024 when he won. There's a group of reporters and I, we were sitting at the pool, and who walks down to Corey Lewandowski and Christy Noem, just hanging out by the pool, and we're just looking like, they're not even trying to hide it. They're poor spouses. They're both married.

And the thing that's crazy is when Christy Noam was asked about her alleged affair with Lewandowski, her husband was sitting right behind her while she was denying to answer the question. Has Mullen said how he wants to run DHS differently than, you know, Christy Noem did? Following the death of Alex Prattie when he was shot and killed by Border Patrol, Mullen statement was not much different from Chrissy Knowles. He said, an individual, a deranged individual that came in to have to cause max damage with a loaded pistol with an extra mag that was completely loaded, was shot and killed.

How much more does this got to go on before they, Democrat leaders there take responsibility for their words. And so that he didn't go as far as say he was a domestic terrorist, as Noam had said. From that sense, I think that you won't necessarily see a lot of change, maybe in the rhetoric or the mission of deporting people who are here illegally. But what I think you might see is more loyalty to Trump. Noam was constantly on TV, getting ahead of the administration, and was really obsessed with the visuals of it all. And so I think maybe some of that might change, the more visuals of it.

But the actual overall mission is still going to be to this mass deportation effort of people who are here illegally. And as much as Republicans in Congress may have wanted leadership change at the Department of Homeland Security, they haven't yet come out and said, we want a policy change from the White House. Not at least publicly. There's definitely members who I talk to on a daily basis who are, do express some. reserve about the administration's efforts right now. But they are afraid to go on the record publicly. Being a Republican and criticizing the administration is, it's not great for your political success. And so a lot of these members are afraid to criticize this publicly. But it is a real concern that a lot of them have, especially vulnerable members. The optics of this are really

not good. Reese Gorman, notice.org.org. He also hosts the on notice podcast. you can't get enough Reese. Peter Ballin-on-Rosen made our show today. Miranda Kennedy edited. Andrea Lopez-Cruzado fact-checked. David Tadishore and Patrick Boyd mixed. I'm Sean Ramos firm, and this is today explained.