S6 Ep9: Good Skews - Organizing Against Rural ICE Detention Facilities with Megan Kocher
Weekly Skews
Weekly Skews
4.9 • 652 Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Small towns across America are being flooded by plans for massive ICE detention centers, which Andrea Pitzer, in One Long Night, describes as concentration camps. In this episode of Good Skews, Producer Matt talks with rural organizer and former state House candidate Megan Kocher about what’s unfolding in Northeastern Pennsylvania and across the country, why warehouse sites are spreading into small towns with little local input, and how recent reporting on ICE misconduct raises urgent oversight concerns. We also discuss what real organizing looks like beyond protests — from building ICEwatch networks and mutual aid systems to leveraging zoning boards, local officials, and elections to slow or stop detention projects before they take root.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Matt Hildreth. |
| 0:09.5 | Welcome to another episode of Good Skews. |
| 0:12.2 | Over the last few weeks, small towns across America have been blindsided by plans for massive ice detention centers, what author Andrew Pitzer |
| 0:19.4 | calls concentration camps in her book, |
| 0:21.6 | One Long Night. Backed by more than $75 billion in new funding championed by Stephen Miller, |
| 0:27.9 | these facilities are already quietly being purchased in places like northeastern Pennsylvania. |
| 0:33.8 | At the same time, new reporting from the AP shows troubling misconduct inside ICE itself. |
| 0:40.4 | Today, we're asking what this means for rural communities and what can be done about it. |
| 0:45.1 | My guest is Megan Coker, a colleague of mine and a rural organizer in northeast Pennsylvania and former state house candidate. |
| 0:52.0 | She's helping build local networks of mutual aid |
| 0:54.9 | and leading a national push |
| 0:56.5 | to stop these warehouse detention deals. |
| 0:58.7 | We talk about what organizing looks like |
| 1:00.5 | beyond just protests, |
| 1:01.6 | how these facilities land in small towns |
| 1:03.9 | and practical steps communities can take |
| 1:06.2 | from zoning fights to local elections |
| 1:08.8 | to protect their neighbors. |
| 1:17.4 | Megan, thanks for joining us today. |
| 1:22.7 | You and I have worked together for a while now at rural organizing, |
| 1:24.3 | but for those who don't know you, |
| 1:28.9 | do you want to just start by telling us a little bit about who you are and where you come from and the community that you live in now? Yeah, absolutely. My name is |
... |
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