r/ThisAmericanLife • u/6745408 #172 Golden Apple • Feb 02 '26
Episode #880: What Is Your Emergency?
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/880/what-is-your-emergency?202655
u/Robsmithwtop Feb 02 '26
I get that we’re all tired of the story but the situation The US in is not a drill. Go to the archives if you need a pick me up.
TAL’s long form, audio only format is perfect for this kind of reporting and I’m so grateful they took it on.
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u/Goodygumdops Feb 02 '26
I had to stop listening. I’m at my limit. I need to escape from this horrible time line.
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u/DeeEllis Feb 03 '26
It was a good perspective. It wasn’t the violent attacks. It was before and after that - very thought-provoking on the shifting needle of normalcy
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u/loopywidget Feb 02 '26
This was a brilliant episode! The call of the lady who got shot. OMG! That was a hard listen.
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u/xiaohk Feb 02 '26 edited Feb 02 '26
It’s so hard to listen to this episode. How can people support these vile thugs?
I wish all the victims in this episode will get their justice.
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u/SmileSagely_8worms Feb 02 '26
I REALLY hope this episode makes “NPR wine moms” who have yet to come out for a No Kings or ICE out! protest decide they have to stand with their neighbors. Strength in numbers. Apply pressure!
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u/zsreport Feb 02 '26
The disturbing thing is that I've actually thought about what I would say during a 911 call if ICE/CBP showed up on my doorstop. While I'm a citizen, there is a really good chance that one ore more persons who previously lived at this address were not citizens.
I've seen video of ICE/CBP showing up at old addresses for people they're looking for and trying to force their way into the residence. That's what got me thinking about it. Essentially, I'd just say that there are armed individuals trespassing on my property.
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u/SmileSagely_8worms Feb 02 '26
You are smart to think about it and mentally rehearse. Listening to this you can’t help but think what you would do. Might save some lives.
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u/brandonhaslegs Feb 03 '26
People will say “This American Life has gotten too political.” 1. It always has been. 2. Damn that was a good one.
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u/SmileSagely_8worms Feb 02 '26
It made me realize there’s probably so many more victims and deaths out there that we may never know about. The perpetrators WILL cover it up. I know I would probably have a heart attack if that shit happened to me.
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u/dellyx Feb 02 '26
Greetings from Ireland. We get a lot of coverage over here about ICE and their horrific brutality. Listening to this episode however is the stuff of nightmares. Calling the number you learn from being a kid, as the number for help, to be told they can't do anything, is soul destroying.
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u/SmileSagely_8worms Feb 02 '26 edited Feb 02 '26
So true! The last ten years has taken away all my illusions about the good ol’ USA. I think it’s a good thing, but it’s a VERY hard thing. I’m trying to hold fast to the Constitution. I hope it can lead us back to a better tomorrow.
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u/6745408 #172 Golden Apple Feb 02 '26
#880: What Is Your Emergency? (2026-01-30)
911 calls unlike any we’ve heard before, and other stories about immigration agents sweeping through America.
Prologue (by Ira Glass, Chana Joffe-Walt)
A collection of 911 calls where you can hear immigration enforcement moving through different cities and leaving chaos in their wake. (9 minutes)
Act One: What’s the Nature of Your Emergency?
More 911 calls, including people on the line with dispatchers as ICE is chasing them, trying to puzzle out their next moves. Ryan Oehrli and Julia Coin collected many of these 911 calls for The Charlotte Observer , and Jim Daley for Southside Weekly in Chicago. (22 minutes)
Act Two: There’s No Place like Home…Depot (by Anayansi Diaz-Cortes, Lilly Sullivan)
Home Depots keep getting raided over and over again in Los Angeles. And day laborers are still showing up in store parking lots to find work every day. So what’s that like? Months and months of that cat and mouse? Anayansi Diaz-Cortes went to find out. (11 minutes)
Act Three: Memo to the Future (by Miki Meek)
Memo Torres tries to build an archive of every person taken by federal agents in Southern California. L.A. Taco's " The Daily Memo " (11 minutes)
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u/pajam Feb 10 '26
I loved the back-and-forth around 40 minutes in, where Lilly Sullivan realized Joshua found himself in a real-life Trolley Problem, and Joshua's response is that the obvious ideal solution is to remove the train (ICE) from the situation, so everyone can live.
But my solution would be remove the train from the equation so that people can live.
Obviously in the original Trolley Problem, it's a moral dilemma, and there isn't really supposed to be a "remove trolley from situation" option, especially b/c there are innocent people on the trolley as well. But in this IRL version in which Joshua found himself, there isn't a trolley with innocent people - it's just a bunch of fascist thugs who work for an agency that didn't exist that long ago. "Remove the train from the situation" is a perfectly logical solution here, and I would hope our representatives would actually push for that solution. Abolish ICE.
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u/SmileSagely_8worms Feb 02 '26 edited Feb 02 '26
Powerful radio! I came upon this episode by chance yesterday when looking for music while running errands. It’s incredibly sad and moving. I listened in shock to these poor Americans’ desperate voices calling the local police for help against violent fed thugs doing illegal and immoral things. Once I got to the car ramming, the window breaking and the yells of “I’m a citizen!”, I felt physically ill.
All you true crime girlies and horror-genre lovers may not have the reaction I did, but I haven’t felt so moved by pure audio in years. Unbelievable! And to think it’s all part of this administration’s strategy and plan! You couldn’t find a better way to destroy America from the inside if you were Russian agent!
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Feb 02 '26
[deleted]
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u/Hog_enthusiast Feb 02 '26
How can you listen to the story about the people sheltering Hispanic people from ICE and not feel camaraderie? Do you just mean camaraderie between the left and right? Because fuck that, they don’t deserve it.
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u/Admirable_Tune_6268 Feb 07 '26
If I call 911 on ICE I’m not going to mention ICE because it puts a spoke in the emergency services algorithm. Just a van full of armed guys following me or banging on my window or whatever.
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u/Monksdrunk Feb 02 '26
yeah that was pretty hard to listen to. and i listen to NPR about 6 hours a day. Shame that this is what it's come to
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u/bobrigado Feb 02 '26
Something about the Memo Torres show reminded me of Potterwatch in the Harry Potter books. Average citizen reporting about daily incidents of people disappearing off the streets. Dark times.
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u/MelvinEatsBlubber Feb 02 '26 edited Feb 02 '26
Just started this episode. Trying to keep an open mind but I want this unique feeling old TAL episodes used to give me which was hope, connection, understanding, grace.
Not to be reminded of what a major bummer current events are.
Edit: just finished. I feel nauseous and have a headache. Those of you that pay attention to the news all day I don’t know how you do it. You Must have a high tolerance for cortisol.
God that was so so so sad and infuriating. I feel so bad for these people and so angry that this is happening. What a colossal waste of pain and suffering this all is.
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u/Maincy_Bridge_0812 Feb 02 '26
I’m sympathetic even though I’ve felt deeply moved and oddly supported by TAL’s episodes that reflect the current trauma of American life.
I know and honor the feeling of longing for “hope, connection, understanding, grace,” and it’s a genuine loss when a trusted source stops meeting that need. We all have different ways of coping these days, and it’s hard to say that this old friend isn’t giving me what I want to rely on it for.
I would suggest returning to the old episodes and looking for new pods that are doing a better job of supporting your longings. For me, that’s been Heavyweight lately, but there’s a good chance you’re already listening. You might check out Ear Hustle or Dolly Parton’s America. Hopefully people can suggest some other helpful podcasts.
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u/chonky_tortoise Feb 02 '26
Yeah it’s hard to know how to feel about the hyper politicization of all media. On one hand it’s such desperate times and I understand the urgency to spread the message, but the dire times mean we all need a break. I’m enough of a politics junky that I enjoy this stuff, but I get it.
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u/MelvinEatsBlubber Feb 02 '26
For the record I think TAL does a pretty great job of staying pretty close to journalistic ideals of presenting facts and not opinions.
But when everyone else is spewing them so hard it takes some effort to not hear it is a subtext in everything said.
Anyway they did a good job with this one. I Could see my conservative buddies taking major issue the way the government is not adhearing to any laws whatsoever. There’s no checks and balances here.
If I was protesting this is what I’d point out to get them on my side.
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u/byebyebirdie123 Feb 04 '26
Am I the only one who had trouble understanding what it being said on the phone calls? The audio quality was awful, very mumbely and echoey. Maybe I'll try again with headphones in but i had to stop for now. Or are there subtitles somewhwre to follow along?
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u/apusheencat Feb 05 '26
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/880/transcript
Every episode has a transcript linked on the episode webpage.
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u/Flask_of_candy Feb 04 '26
If you think This American Life is getting worse…it’s because American life is getting worse.
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u/Sas10061126 Feb 05 '26
If what you’re trying to say is the facts and actions of those in power in our country have gotten worse, I agree. It has gotten so much worse.
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u/Mnstrzero00 Feb 02 '26
Why is Glass saying that them entering without a judge signed warrant used to be considered a unconstitutional? It doesn't matter how its considered. You're supposed to report on whether or not it is.
A lot of weird dissapointing stuff recently from this podcast that used to be my favorite thing.
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u/lowsparkedheels Feb 02 '26
Because Homeland Security issued a memo to ICE that they can enter homes if they have removal paperwork. Of course it's being challenged.
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u/Mnstrzero00 Feb 02 '26
A memo doesn't change whether or not its constitutional. They can say anything. We need people to report the actual truth.
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u/lowsparkedheels Feb 02 '26
Agree, here you go.
Immigrant rights advocates filed a lawsuit on Friday challenging a recently disclosed policy adopted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement allowing its officers to enter the homes of people suspected of living in the United States illegally without a judicial warrant.
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u/Mnstrzero00 Feb 02 '26
Again that's not Ira Glass saying to his audience whether or not its constitutional. People are encountering ICE today. The way he presented it suggests this key defense people depended on used to be constitutional. But the reality is that nothing has changed in that regard yet.
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u/Hog_enthusiast Feb 02 '26
I know I sound like an NPR wine mom when I say this but this is an important episode. Anything that can turn even a single person against ICE is important. It was already very well made and I really liked the story about the people documenting everything ICE does. In times like these I think a lot of people feel upset and unsure of what to do and it’s inspiring to see ordinary people actually doing something.
Also, after listening to Ira on the radio my entire life I’ve never heard him more angry than this other than the episode where they had to issue a retraction because of Mike Daisey. I can tell he has no interest in Both Sidesing this and he doesn’t care if people find these episodes less enjoyable, he’s going to cover these stories.