In this urgent solo dispatch, Mike Madrid unpacks the jaw-dropping implications of the newly passed federal budget — a bill that dramatically expands ICE and Border Patrol into what he calls a “paramilitary operation.” From scenes of federal agents detaining U.S. citizens in churches and Home Depots to the chilling rhetoric of “Alligator Alcatraz,” this episode explores how cruelty has become policy — and the American mythos is being rewritten in real time.

Madrid connects the dots between this moment and a long history of racial fear, anti-Latino sentiment, and political cowardice from both parties. He asks the hard questions: Is this really who we are as a nation? Or has this always been who we’ve been, just more polite about it?

With 2026 on the horizon, Mike challenges Latino voters to reckon with their power, their identity, and whether this country still belongs to all of us.

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Recorded Juiy 3, 2025.

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