Hundreds Of Immigrants Arrested In Chicago Lack Criminal Records
The NPR Politics Podcast
NPR
4.5 • 24.9K Ratings
🗓️ 19 November 2025
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode: voting correspondent Miles Parks, immigration correspondent Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, and senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson.
This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye.
Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Josh from Richmond, Virginia. I'm not in any exotic locations. I'm not about to engage in any feats of athletic endurance. I'm not proposing to anyone. And I'm not standing on the precipice of any major life events. I'm just an ordinary guy about to drive home from work listening to the NPR Politics Podcast. |
| 0:20.1 | And we are glad you are. |
| 0:22.0 | This podcast was recorded at... |
| 0:23.8 | 137 p.m. on Wednesday, November 19th, 2025. |
| 0:28.3 | Things may have changed by the time you hear it. |
| 0:31.0 | Here's the show. |
| 0:35.8 | Josh, you're still special. You're special to us. Hey there. It's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Miles Parks. I cover voting. |
| 0:44.1 | I'm Mara Liason, senior national political correspondent. An NPR immigration correspondent, |
| 0:49.4 | Serio Martinez Beltran, is also here. Hi, Serio. Thanks for being here as always. And today on the show, |
| 0:56.1 | we're talking about the Trump administration's recent immigration enforcement efforts. |
| 1:00.4 | Sergio, you have been spending some time reporting in Chicago. Tell us a little bit about what's been |
| 1:05.4 | going on there. Yeah, you know, Miles, the tactics we saw federal agents use in Chicago, we haven't seen it anywhere else. |
| 1:13.7 | I mean, federal agents with ICE and Border Patrol arrested people on the streets, they chased them down into businesses. |
| 1:20.0 | There's one particular enforcement operation that we covered that I believe is emblematic of the Trump administration's harsh tactics. In September, |
| 1:29.4 | in the South Shore neighborhood in Chicago, immigration agents raided a residential building, |
| 1:34.4 | and it was like a movie. A Border Patrol Black Hawk helicopter hovered over the building, |
| 1:40.5 | heavily armed and mass agents rappeled down from it, and they busted the doors of many residents. |
| 1:47.0 | More than 30 people were arrested that day. |
| 1:49.9 | Only two, according to the Hs had ties to criminal gangs. |
| 1:52.8 | And even U.S. citizens, including at least one Air Force veteran, were handcuffed and detained for hours. |
| 1:58.1 | And of course, the Trump administration, as it has done in the past, |
| 2:02.0 | took this and other opportunities in Chicago to create made-for-TV moments, right? They published |
... |
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