The Children ICE Left Behind — and the US Ignores Them

A Crisis Facing Immigrant Children in America

Host John Carlos Frey speaks with Rachel Jordan, Managing Attorney at Safe Passage Project, a New York City-based nonprofit organization providing free legal representation to immigrant and refugee children facing deportation. The conversation covers who unaccompanied minors are, why they come to the U.S., and the legal protections that were designed to shield them — protections now being systematically dismantled by the current administration.  Rachel explains that most of Safe Passage's clients are children fleeing gang violence, gender-based persecution, abuse, or extreme poverty in Central America, with a growing number coming from Venezuela, Ecuador, and West Africa. Many are eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), a designation requiring a court finding that a child has been abused, abandoned, or neglected — yet the administration has worked to strip these children of work permits, deferred action, and legal stability, leaving them in prolonged economic and legal limbo.  https://www.safepassageproject.org/  https://theraidpodcast.org/ Disclaimer: The statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants on this program are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of the distributor of the program and any person or entity affiliated with said distributor ("distributor's affiliates").  The distributor and distributor's affiliates are not responsible for, and shall not be liable for, the statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants, or for any content that appears on the program.    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Children ICE Left Behind — and the US Ignores Them

The Trump administration has detained 400,000 immigrants from interior arrests since January 2025. But how many children did it leave behind?  In this episode of The RAID Podcast, John Carlos Frey breaks down a landmark May 2026 study from the Brookings Institution and Georgetown University — the most detailed estimate yet of how many children in America have been separated from their parents by ICE detention. The numbers are staggering and the government? It's keeping no reliable count.  Source: "How many children are affected by parental immigrant detention?" — Brookings Institution, May 2026 https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-many-children-are-affected-by-parental-immigrant-detention/  https://theraidpodcast.org/ Disclaimer: The statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants on this program are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of the distributor of the program and any person or entity affiliated with said distributor ("distributor's affiliates").  The distributor and distributor's affiliates are not responsible for, and shall not be liable for, the statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants, or for any content that appears on the program.      Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Border Wall Construction Bulldozes Indigenous Sacred Site

The Raid host, John Carlos Frey speaks with Professor David Martinez — director of the Institute for Transborder Indigenous Nations at Arizona State University and an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community — about the recent bulldozing by border wall construction of Las Playas, a thousand-year-old geoglyph sacred to the Hia-Ced O'odham people of the Sonoran Desert. Professor Martinez explains the deep spiritual and ceremonial significance of the site, which he describes as a "compass" oriented north-south and linked to the O'odham salt-gathering ceremony — a ritual considered equivalent in importance to war. Martinez expresses righteous anger at the destruction, calling it entirely avoidable, while offering hope rooted in centuries of O'odham resilience: "We've survived centuries of colonization… and we'll be here for another thousand years."  https://theraidpodcast.org/  https://search.asu.edu/profile/1099665 Disclaimer: The statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants on this program are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of the distributor of the program and any person or entity affiliated with said distributor ("distributor's affiliates").  The distributor and distributor's affiliates are not responsible for, and shall not be liable for, the statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants, or for any content that appears on the program.    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

170 Cases and Counting: Inside the Sexual Misconduct Crisis at CBP and ICE

In this deeply personal and investigative episode of The Raid, host John Carlos Frey sits down with former Border Patrol agent and whistleblower Jenn Budd to expose what she describes as a systemic culture of sexual misconduct within U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Border Patrol, and ICE. Budd, who joined the Border Patrol in 1995, opens by recounting her own sexual trauma during training at the federal law enforcement academy in Glynn County, Georgia — an experience she kept secret for over 15 years, even from her wife.  From her personal trauma, the conversation broadens into a sweeping indictment of a deeply entrenched institutional culture. Budd and Frey walk through a documented list of over 170 agents with allegations or convictions for serious sexual crimes — including rape, child pornography, and sexual assault of migrants. https://theraidpodcast.org/ https://www.amazon.com/Against-Wall-Journey-Immigrant-Activist/dp/1942762933 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Border Patrol Impunity on Display

A Tucson Sector Border Patrol agent has been indicted on 29 felony charges including ten counts of child sex trafficking. But the case of Bart Conrad Yager isn't just about one agent. It's about a federal agency that had warning signs more than a decade ago and looked away. In this episode, John Carlos Frey breaks down the Yager indictment, the 2014 rape allegation CBP never investigated, and a mounting pattern of sexual misconduct cases against CBP employees. With oversight mechanisms weakening and hiring surges accelerating, Frey asks the question no one at DHS wants to answer: who else fell through the cracks?  https://tucson.com/news/local/border/article_5e596767-4575-485b-88e8-0a6265e5bb41.html  https://www.kjzz.org/fronteras-desk/2025-07-23/former-tucson-border-patrol-agent-indicted-on-10-counts-of-child-sex-trafficking-other-felonies  https://theraidpodcast.org/ Disclaimer: The statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants on this program are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of the distributor of the program and any person or entity affiliated with said distributor ("distributor's affiliates").  The distributor and distributor's affiliates are not responsible for, and shall not be liable for, the statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants, or for any content that appears on the program.    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.