The 911 Calls Inside ICE Detention Centers
Uncanny Valley | WIRED
WIRED
4.1 • 570 Ratings
🗓️ 4 July 2025
⏱️ 20 minutes
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Summary
Leah Feiger speaks with WIRED’s Dhruv Mehrotra about an exclusive WIRED investigation into how serious medical incidents are increasing at some of the country’s largest immigration detention centers.
Articles mentioned in this episode:
- ‘They're Not Breathing’: Inside the Chaos of ICE Detention Center 911 Calls
- How to Protect Yourself From Phone Searches at the US Border
- The WIRED Guide to Protecting Yourself From Government Surveillance
- Here’s What Mark Zuckerberg Is Offering Top AI Talent
Join WIRED’s best and brightest on Uncanny Valley as they dissect the collision of tech, politics, finance, and business, from Alexis Ohanian's newest tech venture to the effects of inaccurate information from artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on social protests.
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, this is Leah. Do you have a tech-related question that's been on your mind or just a topic that you wish we talked about more on the show? If so, you can write to us at uncanny valley at wire.com. And if you listen to and enjoy our episodes, please rate it and leave a review on your podcast app of choice. It really helps other people find us. And a heads up that this episode deals with sensitive content like |
| 0:21.8 | suicide attempts and sexual assault. Please take care while listening. |
| 0:30.1 | Welcome to Wired's uncanny Valley. I'm Wired's senior politics editor Leah Feiger filling in |
| 0:35.1 | today for Zoe Schiffer. Today on the show, an exclusive |
| 0:38.5 | wired investigation on how serious medical incidents are increasing at some of the country's |
| 0:43.1 | largest immigration detention centers. By looking at data from 911 calls, Wired reporters |
| 0:49.2 | Drew Mahotra and Del Cameron found that in at least 60% of the ICE centers they analyzed, |
| 0:54.7 | there were reports of serious pregnancy complications, suicide attempts, or sexual assault |
| 0:59.2 | allegations. |
| 1:00.4 | Their findings show how these detention centers have quickly become overwhelmed, |
| 1:04.3 | following the administration's immigration crackdown and its mandate for more frequent |
| 1:08.6 | and often indiscriminate arrests. |
| 1:11.1 | To dive into the show, I'm joined by Wired's Drew Vajara. |
| 1:14.1 | Drewv, welcome. |
| 1:15.7 | Hi, thanks for having me. |
| 1:19.2 | So, Drewf, talk me through how you went about reporting this. |
| 1:23.4 | What prompted you to look at the 911 calls from ICE detention centers? |
| 1:28.4 | And most importantly, what did you find? at the 911 calls from ICE detention centers? And most importantly, |
| 1:34.3 | what did you find? Well, immigration detention centers are largely black boxes, right? |
| 1:41.1 | Attorneys can't see living areas and advocates told us that, like, even tightly controlled tours have mostly stopped getting approved by ICE. At the same time, arrests are |
| 1:45.9 | surging, and we've been hearing reports about deteriorating conditions. So, you know, what we really |
| 1:52.1 | wanted to know here was what's actually happening inside of these overcrowded facilities right now. |
... |
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