In The Thick

Back in February, Maria and Julio sat down with immigration activist Ravi Ragbir, who had endured what a federal judge called an "unnecessarily cruel" detainment and was threatened with a scheduled deportation. Since then, Ravi has been granted a stay from a New Jersey judge. But earlier this month, he was back in court in New York, fighting to be granted a second stay in hopes of preventing his n...

In 2008, ICE agents descended on a small rural town in Iowa for their largest operation in the history of the United States. As a result, the population of Postville was slashed almost in half and its economy collapsed. Maria and Julio talk to  Almudena Toral  and  Ronny Rojas , two of the journalists behind a new documentary from Univision detailing the aftermath of the raid.   ITT Staff Picks Wa...

A year after the tragedy of Charlottesville and just days after the Unite The Right 2 Rally, Julio talks with returning ITT guest Mike German, a former FBI agent who once infiltrated white supremacy groups undercover.   ITT Staff Picks The Atlantic  on how white nationalists are winning. Unite The Right 2 could be called a failure, but it's not time to claim victory,  according to a former NYPD of...

Maria and Julio talk about the work of Michael Avenatti (Stormy Daniels' attorney...and future 2020 presidential candidate, maybe?) to reunite immigrant families. His clients are parents who have been deported, and whose kids are still in the U.S., so his approach is to send the kids back to their home countries to be reunited. This is a controversial strategy that has been criticized by many long...

Maria and Julio catch up with all-star Terrell Jermaine Starr, senior reporter at The Root, and Jane Coaston, senior politics reporter at Vox. They talk the latest with conspiracy theories, Paul Manafort's white male hubris, Unite the Right 2 and how Omarosa's drama could threaten cybersecurity.    ITT Staff Picks:  Jane's  latest for Vox  about what the Unite the Right 2 rally tells us about whit...

Maria and Julio talk about the role of POC journalism in the Trump era including the latest revelations on the death toll in Puerto Rico caused by Hurricane Maria, the National Association of Black Journalists' latest resolution and the silent departure of one of the few Latinx in The White House.   Want more? - If you don't know her, you should absolutely  read this New York Times obituary of Ida...

Maria and Julio catch up with immigration organizers  Cristina Jiménez,  executive director of United We Dream, and  Grecia Lima,  national political director of The Center for Community Change. They talk about the latest court decision on DACA, the recent white supremacist rally in Portland and The Washington Post's problematic coverage of white minorities in rural Pennsylvania.  Want more? The N...

This week, the American Immigration Lawyers Association reported that a migrant toddler died shortly after being released from an ICE detention center in Dilley, Texas. There are 11,000 kids are living in these detention facilities across the country. Maria and Julio talk with immigration attorney,  Amy Maldonado  about the immigration detention centers and what she calls our immigration "kangaroo...

Maria and Julio talk about the news with two all-stars:  Callie Crossley,  host of Under the Radar on WGBH Radio, and  Gabby Rivera,  writer, artist, activist and our resident nerdberger. They discuss midterm elections, the latest on immigration policy and the spike of racist hate crimes in the United States. Want more? According to the ACLU,  migrant parents were forced to sign papers  that they...

It all started with deadly, violent protests against the Nicaraguan government, but did it really? In this special ITT EXTRA, Julio catches up with Latino USA producer Sayre Quevedo to hear the behind the scenes of his reporting for  his latest explainer .    Want to read more? The crisis in images, from the  BBC . Nicaragua is near a catastrophe, according to  The Washington Post . The New York T...

Four weeks ago, no one knew her name, but now she gives hope for progressives across the country (and around the world). Julio and Maria talk to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about why she decided to run for Congress and what the future will bring for her and the Democratic Party. Want to read more? Are Alexandria's endorsements of Democratic insurgents  paying off ? How some Democrats are rethinking t...

She was the first Latina to run for vice president with the Green Party in 2008, but  Rosa Clemente  has long been organizing for political and social change. Maria and Julio talk to Rosa about her organizing work, the rap industrial complex and her independent reporting on the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.   Want to read/watch more? Rosa  talks to Rolling Stone  about why she didn'...

Julio catches up with all-star guests  Raquel Cepeda , filmmaker and author, and  Wajahat Ali , TV host and contributor to The New York Times, about all the latest threats to U.S. democracy. They talk about the meeting between Trump and Putin in Helsinki, the rise of the Abolish ICE movement and what might happen with the new SCOTUS nominee. We also find out "Where's Maria?" who was –literally– on...

We've seen the crying and suffering of children being torn apart from their parents at the U.S. border, but what is happening in these kids' brains and what is the neurological long-term impact of trauma? Maria calls up a badass neuroscientist from UCLA,  Dr. Gina Poe , to understand the science behind the trauma of family separation.   Want to read more? A list of the organizations helping childr...

Donald Trump has nominated Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court and many are fearing that this will lead to an overturn of Roe v. Wade. Maria and Julio talk to  Tannia Esparza , executive director of the organization  Young Women United , and  Regina Mahone , VP/managing editor of  Rewire. News  about the impact of reproductive rights restrictions on wom...

Pati Navalta Poblete went from being a columnist and journalist to being in the news when her son died due to gun violence in 2014. Maria and Julio speak with Pati about how she has turned her grief into activism and her memoir  A Better Place .    Want to read more? From The Mercury News,  'In wake of her son’s murder, Pati Navalta Poblete charts a course to peace.' Visit the site of the  Robby P...

Maria and Julio meet up at Aspen Ideas Festival with Dr. Brittney Cooper (aka Professor Crunk), associate professor at Rutgers University and co-founder of the Crunk Feminist Collective blog and Dr. Michael Kimmel, founder and director of the Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities at Stony Brook University. They explore why everyone seems to be mad as hell, how anger has transformed our pol...

This Sunday July 1, Mexicans will choose thousands of political positions, from mayors to the new president. Maria and Julio talk with Mexican journalist  León Krauze  about what to expect from the front-runner and if this election can really change the future of the country.   Want to read more? Dissent magazine's  profile on Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the front-runner. El Universal explains  (...

While immigrant families are still separated after Trump's zero tolerance policy, the Supreme Court upheld his travel ban. María and Julio talk with ITT All Star  Wajahat Ali , op-ed contributor for The New York Times, about what this decision means and what we can expect in the future.   Want to read more? Mother Jones'  Must-Reads From Justice Sotomayor’s Dissent on Trump’s Travel Ban . Vox on ...

She has worked as a correspondent in Israel, Syria and Libya, but Latin America is very much in her heart.  Lulu García-Navarro , host of NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday, joins María and Julio to talk about the elections in Colombia and Mexico, and why we should pay more attention to Brazil.   Want to read and see more of Lulu? The Washingtonian profiled Lulu  in this piece. Lulu  interviews John Moo...

  The government keeps defending its policy of separating migrant families at the border and the Supreme Court makes a decision that will impact voting rights for the next election. Maria and Julio discuss the latest headlines with In The Thick All Stars,  Jamilah King , race and justice reporter with  Mother Jones , and  Jamil Smith , senior writer with  Rolling Stone .   Want to read more? Jamil...

Maria and Julio sit down with  Alicia Rose DelGallo , editor and co-founder of  ProSoccerUSA.com  to discuss fútbol (aka soccer)! They chat about the politics of the World Cup, diversity in U.S. soccer and whether or not pro players are using their platform to speak up for justice. Want to read more? From The Guardian,  an article about diversity in the MLS and around the coaching system in the U....

Maria and Julio talk about the damaging effect of separating parents and their children at the U.S.-Mexico border. They are joined by  Sandy Santana , executive director of the national legal non-profit  Children’s Rights , part of a group of organizations challenging this policy. Also with them,  Tina Vasquez , immigration reporter at  Rewire. News .   Want to read more? Tina's article  on how Je...

In our weekly news roundup, Maria and Julio share the latest about the Hurricane Mara death count in Puerto Rico. They also discuss immigration news that's not making the front pages: from the largest recent workplace raid under Trump at an Ohio company to the story of Pablo Villavicencio Calderón, who was detained by ICE after delivering pizza to a military base in Brooklyn. They end the show by...

In the final part of In The Thick's LIVE series at DePaul University, Maria and Julio discuss the immigration detention machine. According to the Prison Policy's 2018 report, there are 34,000 immigrants detained by ICE, 13,000 more people in federal prison for criminal convictions related to federal immigration laws and 13,000 immigrants being held pre-trial by U.S. Marshals. David Hernandez, Assi...