This American Life #868 — “The Hand That Rocks the Gavel.”
Reporters spend weeks inside New York’s immigration court, where ICE detains people in courthouse hallways as immigration judges describe unprecedented pressure from the DOJ to dismiss cases and defer to enforcement. The episode reveals policy memos, mass firings, and new precedents that narrow asylum and prioritize detention—culminating in the fast-track deportation of “David,” an Ecuadorian asylum seeker who never got a full hearing. It’s a rare, behind-the-bench look at how judicial independence and due process are being strained in America’s immigration system.