meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

The Concentration Camp Next Door

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

Slate Audio

News Commentary,, Government, News

4.6 • 3.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2026

⏱️ 80 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The machinery to enable Stephen Miller’s darkest deportation dreams is both tangible and legal. In this week’s show, Dahlia Lithwick explores the statutory and regulatory foundations of the Trump administration’s expanding network of detention camps, plus the historical background of the vast warehouse system they are using to imprison tens of thousands of migrants. First, she speaks with Linus Chan, who represents Minnesotans detained by ICE, he teaches law at the University of Minnesota School of Law. Chan describes how the most basic right of habeas corpus has been whittled away by the courts to a filament when it comes to immigration law, allowing the federal government to weaponize brutal detention against ordinary Americans. 

Next, Dahlia is in conversation with Andrea Pitzer, about her chilling and urgent new piece, Building the camps: The warehouseification of detention and initial thoughts on stopping it. It is essential reading (and listening!) in light of the billion dollar detention camp system being built in warehouses near you in cities around the nation. 

If you want to check if your town is on the list, Andrea recommends checking out Project Salt Box.



Want more Amicus? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes with exclusive legal analysis. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is Amicus Slate's podcast about the courts and the law.

0:09.1

I'm Dahlia Liffbeg.

0:11.3

The past week has displayed the full spectrum of cruel and unusual government.

0:18.5

To recap, may I answer?

0:21.0

Attorney General can respond?

0:21.9

I find it interesting that she keeps going after President Trump, the greatest president

0:26.4

in American history.

0:28.1

The nation's highest law enforcement officer appeared before Congress this week and took

0:32.4

the opportunity to accuse lawmakers of neglecting to prosecute sexual predators,

0:37.8

while neglecting to answer why she, who, unlike them, is an actual prosecutor,

0:43.8

has not prosecuted, indeed has redacted the names of Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirators.

0:50.5

Amicus Plus members can join us in the bonus episode to hear a little bit more about that.

0:56.4

On Thursday, the White House border czar, Tom Homan, announced again that DHS is scaling down its presence in Minnesota, aka Operation Metro Surge,

1:08.5

aka laying siege to the people of Minnesota and murdering two of them.

1:13.2

There were some issues here, and we addressed those issues.

1:16.5

But I'm not going to sit here and say anybody did anything wrong and that, you know, they were, you know, unprofessional.

1:22.9

Also this week, Trump's EPA simply deleted the U.S. government's ability to respond to climate change,

1:29.5

repealing an EPA rule that classified carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases as a threat to public health.

1:37.3

The single largest deregulatory action in American history.

1:42.8

And running alongside all of this, dual state style,

1:47.5

has been a pattern of legal changes in the immigration context

1:51.1

that has outstripped the rest for scale, money spent, speed, and yes, always cruelty.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Audio, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Audio and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.