October 17, 2025 • 7 mins
NewsNation National Correspondent Ali Bradley recaps her exclusive one-on-one interview with Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, covering immigration enforcement priorities, border operations, and how ICE is handling record migrant numbers nationwide.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's go to the hotline and bring in News Nation
Border correspondent Ali Bradley. You can watch her on NewsNation.
You can find her reporting NewsNation now dot com, and
you can follow her on x for more at Ali
Bradley TV. And Ali. You recently had a one on
one with Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons. What were some
of the headlines to come out of that interview.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yeah, I mean, one of the biggest things that we
wanted to talk with them, right was about this report
out of DHS that cartel linked networks in Mexico actually
have bounties on the heads of ICE officers and border
patrol agents, and he basically said, if you're going to
bring some kind of bounty like that, you're going to
face severe consequences. He talked about how in all fifty
(00:41):
states there are now homeland security task forces going after
these criminal networks, these gang members, these so called terrorists,
depending on which gang ent zy you're talking about, under
this administration. And so that was interesting to me to
learn that we have these task forces in all fifty states.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
That is new.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
They combine a lot of different task forces to make
one instead of having kind of a disjointed enterprise going on.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
So this is basically through DHS and.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
The FBI working together in a conjunctive effort so that
they can go after these criminal networks. Something else that
we wanted to talk to them about, of course, the
controversy over masks. That has been the conversation that we
have heard since we have started to see these immigration
enforcement actions taking place across the United States. The biggest
point of contention is the identity piece, right, why.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Aren't they showing their faces?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
You hear the protesters calling for them to unmask. You
see this every single day. Yesterday Tom Homan was on
talking about how the masks are there for their protection
and that is exactly what the ICE director also echoed,
saying that it is because the dosing incidents have escalated.
They are now putting flyers with ICE officers faces on
(01:55):
them in the porta potties of concerts, even asking hey,
do your kids go.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
To school with this ICE officer?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It's kids bringing the family into it, and so that
is a big piece here. And todd Lyon says, despite
the fact that he's not a big proponent of the
mass he doesn't like them. He says he is going
to continue to allow his force to use them because
we are seeing kind of inflammatory rhetoric coming out from
who they're saying or from elected officials. And then we
(02:22):
also have the protests and doxing happening as well.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
So those are two big pieces.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And then we also talk to him about the tactics
they're using to go after the worst or the worst,
again reiterating that the men and women of ICE, they
know exactly who they're going after each and every day.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
They have a target list.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Every day that they leave the office going after. And
then oftentimes what happens is will end up arresting a collateral,
someone who's in a vehicle with a target or maybe
living in the home with that target, and they're also
here illegally, so they end up arrested and in custody
as well.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
And todd lyon.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Saying a lot of that is because of sanctuary policies,
where they're not just earned over. After their release after
committing a crime or whatever it might be, they're released
back into the community, and that's where the federal agents
and officers have to go in and subsequently find them,
and that's where you end up with collaterals as well.
Something interesting there though he mentioned a lot of people
(03:16):
are talking about kidnapping and disappearing people off the streets,
and he said, no, what's happening is we can't hold
them in Chicago because Chicago and Illinois don't work with
the federal government and so they don't have long term
detention facilities. So they have to actually send them out
to states like Texas or Louisiana to be held in
long term detention facilities pending removals. So that is part
(03:38):
of that due process that they're going through right now.
But because Trump ended the catch and release policies these
people want, they get arrested, they will stay in detention
and tell their either release back to the community, whether
a judge determines that they aren't eligible for removal or
they are subsequently of course removed. Now we also got
this information, all of that you hear would maybe be
(03:59):
able to current right. Maybe hey, people don't want to
be docs, Maybe they don't want their families wrapped up
in this, Maybe they don't want to put themselves and
harms away every day. Well, that is not deterring anyone
from applying. Because todd Lyons told us one hundred and
eighty two thousand applicants put in their forms to work
for ICE. I mean, that is unprecedented. Just a couple
(04:19):
of weeks ago, we were talking about one hundred and
fifty thousand. Now that number has gone only up, and
so they're saying they're confident they'll be able to train
up that workforce as their standards call for. They are
now doing six days a week at the academy. They've
broughten a lot of retired instructors and retired officers and
agents to actually do that enforcement training. So they are
(04:40):
getting adequate training, and he believes that they'll be trained
up and ready to go to carry out the president's
missions and what he wants when it comes to this
immigration crackdown that we're seeing across the United States.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
But again, I mean we ran the gamut here.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
We really talked about a lot with the director. But
I think you know HSI. You know these task forces
in every state, the number of applicants that are coming in,
and then of course you know him saying I don't
like masks, but I'm going to allow them to continue
to wear. Just a couple of things that were interesting
to me. Now, something else that I thought was interesting
is they're keeping a track on other threats too, because
(05:18):
in places like Chicago, there are groups that are called
the Chicago Rammers. They're welding massive bumpers to the front
of their SUVs and their trucks, and they're calling on
people to gather and go and ram federal agents and
officers vehicles. And we've seen that we've seen vehicles being
used as weapons as of late, so there is some
(05:39):
concern there that this could materialize as well. So they're
keeping an eye on that and say that they're surging
resources towards any threat and they're not going to allow
any harm to come towards their agents or officers on
the ground.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
We're joined by News Nation Border correspondent Ali Bradley, who
recently had a one on one with Acting ICE Director
Todd Lyons. You can check out that interview at news
now dot com and you can see clips of it
too on x You could follow her at Ali Bradley TV.
One last question for you, Uh, did he talk at
all about the potential impact of the government shutdown on
(06:12):
these immigration enforcement operations?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You know, we didn't talk about that a lot, Ryan,
and it's because I kind of already know the answer,
and that is they're going to continue to do these
enforcement operations. My sources, they're all still working. Everyone is
still working. My sources with them. Border Patrol, though, tell
me that they will continue to get paid. That is
something that they negotiated within the union and something that
the Trump administration seems to be behind. So it does
(06:38):
look like Border Patrol will at least be being paid.
I would not be surprised if I follow suit as well.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
All Right, Ali Bradley, NewsNation Border correspondent with Grade one
on one again with Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons. Check
it out at newsnationnow dot com. Allie, always appreciate the
time and insight.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Thanks so much, Thank you, guys, God bless you. We'll
talk soon.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
The Ryan Gorman Show on NewsRadio WFLA. Follow us on
Facebook and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show, and find us
online at Ryangormanshow dot com.
Let's go to the hotline and bring in News Nation
Border correspondent Ali Bradley. You can watch her on NewsNation.
You can find her reporting NewsNation now dot com, and
you can follow her on x for more at Ali
Bradley TV. And Ali. You recently had a one on
one with Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons. What were some
of the headlines to come out of that interview.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yeah, I mean, one of the biggest things that we
wanted to talk with them, right was about this report
out of DHS that cartel linked networks in Mexico actually
have bounties on the heads of ICE officers and border
patrol agents, and he basically said, if you're going to
bring some kind of bounty like that, you're going to
face severe consequences. He talked about how in all fifty
(00:41):
states there are now homeland security task forces going after
these criminal networks, these gang members, these so called terrorists,
depending on which gang ent zy you're talking about, under
this administration. And so that was interesting to me to
learn that we have these task forces in all fifty states.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
That is new.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
They combine a lot of different task forces to make
one instead of having kind of a disjointed enterprise going on.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
So this is basically through DHS and.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
The FBI working together in a conjunctive effort so that
they can go after these criminal networks. Something else that
we wanted to talk to them about, of course, the
controversy over masks. That has been the conversation that we
have heard since we have started to see these immigration
enforcement actions taking place across the United States. The biggest
point of contention is the identity piece, right, why.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Aren't they showing their faces?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
You hear the protesters calling for them to unmask. You
see this every single day. Yesterday Tom Homan was on
talking about how the masks are there for their protection
and that is exactly what the ICE director also echoed,
saying that it is because the dosing incidents have escalated.
They are now putting flyers with ICE officers faces on
(01:55):
them in the porta potties of concerts, even asking hey,
do your kids go.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
To school with this ICE officer?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It's kids bringing the family into it, and so that
is a big piece here. And todd Lyon says, despite
the fact that he's not a big proponent of the
mass he doesn't like them. He says he is going
to continue to allow his force to use them because
we are seeing kind of inflammatory rhetoric coming out from
who they're saying or from elected officials. And then we
(02:22):
also have the protests and doxing happening as well.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
So those are two big pieces.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And then we also talk to him about the tactics
they're using to go after the worst or the worst,
again reiterating that the men and women of ICE, they
know exactly who they're going after each and every day.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
They have a target list.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Every day that they leave the office going after. And
then oftentimes what happens is will end up arresting a collateral,
someone who's in a vehicle with a target or maybe
living in the home with that target, and they're also
here illegally, so they end up arrested and in custody
as well.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
And todd lyon.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Saying a lot of that is because of sanctuary policies,
where they're not just earned over. After their release after
committing a crime or whatever it might be, they're released
back into the community, and that's where the federal agents
and officers have to go in and subsequently find them,
and that's where you end up with collaterals as well.
Something interesting there though he mentioned a lot of people
(03:16):
are talking about kidnapping and disappearing people off the streets,
and he said, no, what's happening is we can't hold
them in Chicago because Chicago and Illinois don't work with
the federal government and so they don't have long term
detention facilities. So they have to actually send them out
to states like Texas or Louisiana to be held in
long term detention facilities pending removals. So that is part
(03:38):
of that due process that they're going through right now.
But because Trump ended the catch and release policies these
people want, they get arrested, they will stay in detention
and tell their either release back to the community, whether
a judge determines that they aren't eligible for removal or
they are subsequently of course removed. Now we also got
this information, all of that you hear would maybe be
(03:59):
able to current right. Maybe hey, people don't want to
be docs, Maybe they don't want their families wrapped up
in this, Maybe they don't want to put themselves and
harms away every day. Well, that is not deterring anyone
from applying. Because todd Lyons told us one hundred and
eighty two thousand applicants put in their forms to work
for ICE. I mean, that is unprecedented. Just a couple
(04:19):
of weeks ago, we were talking about one hundred and
fifty thousand. Now that number has gone only up, and
so they're saying they're confident they'll be able to train
up that workforce as their standards call for. They are
now doing six days a week at the academy. They've
broughten a lot of retired instructors and retired officers and
agents to actually do that enforcement training. So they are
(04:40):
getting adequate training, and he believes that they'll be trained
up and ready to go to carry out the president's
missions and what he wants when it comes to this
immigration crackdown that we're seeing across the United States.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
But again, I mean we ran the gamut here.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
We really talked about a lot with the director. But
I think you know HSI. You know these task forces
in every state, the number of applicants that are coming in,
and then of course you know him saying I don't
like masks, but I'm going to allow them to continue
to wear. Just a couple of things that were interesting
to me. Now, something else that I thought was interesting
is they're keeping a track on other threats too, because
(05:18):
in places like Chicago, there are groups that are called
the Chicago Rammers. They're welding massive bumpers to the front
of their SUVs and their trucks, and they're calling on
people to gather and go and ram federal agents and
officers vehicles. And we've seen that we've seen vehicles being
used as weapons as of late, so there is some
(05:39):
concern there that this could materialize as well. So they're
keeping an eye on that and say that they're surging
resources towards any threat and they're not going to allow
any harm to come towards their agents or officers on
the ground.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
We're joined by News Nation Border correspondent Ali Bradley, who
recently had a one on one with Acting ICE Director
Todd Lyons. You can check out that interview at news
now dot com and you can see clips of it
too on x You could follow her at Ali Bradley TV.
One last question for you, Uh, did he talk at
all about the potential impact of the government shutdown on
(06:12):
these immigration enforcement operations?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You know, we didn't talk about that a lot, Ryan,
and it's because I kind of already know the answer,
and that is they're going to continue to do these
enforcement operations. My sources, they're all still working. Everyone is
still working. My sources with them. Border Patrol, though, tell
me that they will continue to get paid. That is
something that they negotiated within the union and something that
the Trump administration seems to be behind. So it does
(06:38):
look like Border Patrol will at least be being paid.
I would not be surprised if I follow suit as well.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
All Right, Ali Bradley, NewsNation Border correspondent with Grade one
on one again with Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons. Check
it out at newsnationnow dot com. Allie, always appreciate the
time and insight.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Thanks so much, Thank you, guys, God bless you. We'll
talk soon.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
The Ryan Gorman Show on NewsRadio WFLA. Follow us on
Facebook and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show, and find us
online at Ryangormanshow dot com.
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