Caitlin and Trent talk to Clay Jackson, a litigator from Dallas, Texas. Clay describes the disconcerting experience of having secret police show up to his door the same day he gave boilerplate know-your-rights information to some neighbors who were concerned about being targeted by ICE. They discuss the rapidly escalating war on immigrants being waged by the Trump administration, the ways ICE and CBP try to cross boundaries of legality and privacy, and what’s next for Clay after his workplace failed to stand behind him and commit to the idea that due process is for everybody.

Resources:

Clay’s story in The Watch: https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/the-courage-to-be-decent

Clay’s update in Popular Info: https://popular.info/p/fortune-500-company-abruptly-fires

Clay’s Substack: https://clayjak.substack.com

ICE press release: https://ice.gov/100days

Uncles in Crocs: https://newrepublic.com/article/193820/kristi-noem-ice-libs-tik-tok

Rumeysa Ozturk: https://www.npr.org/2025/05/07/g-s1-64726/federal-court-rules-student-rumeysa-ozturk-detention-vermont-challenge

Mohsen Madhawi: https://abcnews.go.com/US/mohsen-mahdawi-columbia-student-freed-ice-feared-citizenship/story?id=121485222

Rebecca Burke: https://theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/05/i-was-a-british-tourist-trying-to-leave-america-then-i-was-detained-shackled-and-sent-to-an-immigration-detention-centre

Ksenia Petrova: https://pbs.org/newshour/show/russian-born-harvard-researcher-describes-detention-at-ice-facility-and-deportation-fears

Definition of ‘criminal’: https://axios.com/2025/01/28/trump-immigrants-criminals-white-house-briefing

Trump’s first-term violations: https://cnn.com/2021/09/23/politics/cbp-targeted-us-citizens-caravan-concerns

Americans disapprove of Trump’s actions: https://washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/04/25/trump-immigration-approval-ratings-drop-poll/

Trump can bring Abrego Garcia back: https://newrepublic.com/article/194815/trump-accidentally-sabotaged-case-abrego-garcia

Trump “doesn’t know” if he has to follow Constitution: https://npr.org/2025/05/05/nx-s1-5386643/when-asked-if-he-needs-to-uphold-constitution-president-trump-says-i-dont-know

March 22 Executive Order: https://nytimes.com/2025/03/22/us/politics/trump-memo-lawyers.html

Rubio calls students “lunatics”: https://reuters.com/world/us/rubio-says-us-may-have-revoked-more-than-300-visas-2025-03-27/

Justice Brandeis quote: https://charterforcompassion.org/arts/arts/online-exhibits/americans-who-tell-the-truth/appointed-and-elected-public-figures/justice-louis-brandeis.html

Thumbnail images:

Border wall by Wonderline https://flickr.com/photos/71401718@N00/3370155351

Scales of Justice by DonkeyHotey https://flickr.com/photos/47422005@N04/7468312536