On this edition of Your Call's Media Roundtable, we discuss After the Raid, an investigation by award winning journalist Jack Herrera about one of the largest workplace ICE raids in US history, which upended the Panhandle town of Cactus, Texas.
ICE agents raided Swift meat company plants in six states on Dec. 12, 2006, arresting nearly 1,300 workers. In the tiny town of Cactus, 297 workers were arrested— about 10 percent of the town’s population.
Jack Herrera writes that the 2006 Swift raids provide a model for the immigration enforcement that many of Trump supporters have been clamoring for—they were nationwide and high-octane, with hundreds of immigrants detained and deported. But the aftermath offers a less tidy example.
Guest:
Jack Herrera, award winning independent reporter covering immigration, refugees, matters of race, and human rights
Resources:
We also discuss the mass firings of government workers, according to CNN, the Trump administration broadened its effort to terminate thousands of probationary workers on Thursday, instructing agencies on a call to move forward with the layoffs.
Officials have set their sights on probationary workers, who have typically been employed for less than a year, or two years in some cases, because they have fewer job protections and lack the right to appeal.
More than 200,000 employees have worked within the federal government for less than a year, according to the most recent 2024 data from the US Office of Personnel Management, which conducted Thursday afternoon’s call.
Guests:
Jack Herrera, award winning independent reporter covering immigration, refugees, matters of race, and human rights
Chris Lehmann, DC Bureau chief for The Nation and author of The Money Cult: Capitalism, Christianity, and the Unmaking of the American Dream
Resources:
Texas Monthly: After the Raid
AP: US deports 119 migrants from a variety of nations to Panama
The Nation: Why Elon Musk and the GOP Have the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau in Their Crosshairs
