June 18, 2025 • 5 mins
Californian lawyer Oliver Ma joins us to chat about the TRUTH about the ICE detention facilities.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
My Heart podcasts here, more Gold one on one point
seven podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Playlists and listen live on the free iHeart app.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Jersey and Amanda jam Nation, Well.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
We've seen the rights taking place in LA. It's all
about an immigration policy that's been targeting migrant workers, some
student activists, even tourists with visa issues. Raids are taking
place in hotels, in restaurants, on farms. Oliver Maher is
a civil rights lawyer based in Los Angeles who visits
men of these migrants in detention. He joins US Now Oliver.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hello, Hey, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
What we're seeing is quite extraordinary, and immigration officials have
been instructed to hit a daily quota of three thousand arrests.
This is ten times more than the average last year
during Joe Biden's administration. I know this was a big
election promise from Donald Trump, but what's the real motivation
behind all of this?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yeah, this is something that people here in the US do.
I really know. So I go and I volunteer in
these detention centers every month, and I speak to the
people who are detained inside to give them legal advice.
And I remember last month I met a man we'll
call him Surgery. That's not his real name, but his
story is real. He had followed all of the rules
(01:26):
to come here legally through a CBP one appointment, which
is the system set up by the US government for
people to come here legally. And when he came here,
he came at the time in place that the border
told him to come. He had his credible fear interview
where they determined his fear of going back to his
home country was credible, and then they locked him up
(01:47):
in an immigration detention center, which is where a lot
of these immigrants who are being picked up in the raids.
Thousands have been taken, and these centers are really prisons.
To see him, I have to pass through seven layers
of barbed wires and gates just to see him. This
is a man who didn't do anything illegal. He followed
all the rules, and after speaking with him, I had
(02:08):
to tell him he was be in that center for
about a year to two years as his legal process
plays out. Wow, people who come here legally through that
process are never eligible for bombs, So no matter how
much money they pay as a promise to come back
for their immigration court hearings, they're never released and during
that time, he's working for a dollar a day, which
is a lot of the folks in these detentionsitters are doing.
(02:31):
That's I think a real motivation for these immigration rates.
You know, Trump is saying they're only targeting criminals, they're
going after drug dealers, but really they're picking up hard
working farm workers, day laborers, and the people who follow
the rules to come to this country. We've seen thousands
of people with US citizen kids get arrested as well,
and they're all being taken into these prisons to work
(02:53):
for a dollar a day.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
So, Serge, when he came into the country, did he
come in about or something like that, from a country
of hardship? And so he came into the country and
he said, look at these guys. If I got back home,
they're going to kill me, as you said. And then
they said, yep, no worries, and then they put him
in the detention center.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Yep. So he actually came to Mexico and the border
told him on this day and time, you can come
to the US border for your appointment. He came, and
then after his appointment they locked him up. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Right, But if he knew all that, he wouldn't have
gone in. He would have said, Okay, I'll probably did
it legally. Yeah, but you know what I.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Mean, certainly I think I think a lot of people
don't realize this who are coming in a lot of
Americans don't know this. And another thing to mention is
for each person who is detained in the center, these
private they're run by private, for profit prison companies and
they charge you, as taxpayers, one hundred and twenty thousand
dollars for each person detained for a year.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
So who's benefiting from this? So obviously the private prisons
are they're being paid to take these people in and
then they're working for a dollar a day. So who's
so who's financial benefit is all this for?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
So a lot of it is for these private prisons.
And the folks who work for a dollar a day
in these private prisons can work a variety of jobs.
Sometimes they actually work as are firefighters. There's a group
of them that work as state firefighters in California. They
work when they're in prison, and then when they're released,
they're not allowed to work as firefighters because if they
have criminal convictions. And then a lot of these for
(04:26):
profit companies they end up donating massive, massive amounts of
money back into our political system. So GEO, who's one
of the main culprits of this one of the for
profit prisons, they donated I believe, four million dollars in
the twenty twenty four election, and so that's how they
end up getting even bigger contracts. When Trump won back
in November of last year, their stocks went up about
(04:48):
two hundred percent, I think, from around twenty five dollars
to about seventy five dollars because they know they're about
to make a lot more profit.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And on Piper, it just looks as simple. You get
rid of the Mexican gangs, you get rid of the
drug deals, you get rid of the ripest and all
that stuff. And for me, you go, yeah, fair enough.
If those people are going to come into my country
and do that, I don't want them here either. But
if you're ran people who undocumented illegals as they call them, yeah,
who working in bread shops for the last year, paying
(05:15):
tax and paying their tax, and.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Taking them out of communities in front of their kids,
that's a very different story.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Yeah. I want to loss you against the US government
over their raids. Back in April, while we won a
preliminary injunction and one of our clients. He had lived
in the US for twenty years, no criminal convictions for
US citizen kids, always worked as a farm worker, and
they picked them up and a few hours later they
deported him. So what happens with those kids. They don't
(05:43):
have their father around anymore. Yeah, their unanswered for it. Well,
well a story.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
It's fascinating, all of it. And thank you for popping
up in our algorithm, which is how it happened.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yeah, we saw you on social media and we could
not believe the stories you were telling. Extraordinary story.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Thanks so much for having me and for caring about
this story.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
All of them are there coming to his life from Bakersville.
This is the world that we're living in.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah, the world we're seeing on the Telly
My Heart podcasts here, more Gold one on one point
seven podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Playlists and listen live on the free iHeart app.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Jersey and Amanda jam Nation, Well.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
We've seen the rights taking place in LA. It's all
about an immigration policy that's been targeting migrant workers, some
student activists, even tourists with visa issues. Raids are taking
place in hotels, in restaurants, on farms. Oliver Maher is
a civil rights lawyer based in Los Angeles who visits
men of these migrants in detention. He joins US Now Oliver.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hello, Hey, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
What we're seeing is quite extraordinary, and immigration officials have
been instructed to hit a daily quota of three thousand arrests.
This is ten times more than the average last year
during Joe Biden's administration. I know this was a big
election promise from Donald Trump, but what's the real motivation
behind all of this?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yeah, this is something that people here in the US do.
I really know. So I go and I volunteer in
these detention centers every month, and I speak to the
people who are detained inside to give them legal advice.
And I remember last month I met a man we'll
call him Surgery. That's not his real name, but his
story is real. He had followed all of the rules
(01:26):
to come here legally through a CBP one appointment, which
is the system set up by the US government for
people to come here legally. And when he came here,
he came at the time in place that the border
told him to come. He had his credible fear interview
where they determined his fear of going back to his
home country was credible, and then they locked him up
(01:47):
in an immigration detention center, which is where a lot
of these immigrants who are being picked up in the raids.
Thousands have been taken, and these centers are really prisons.
To see him, I have to pass through seven layers
of barbed wires and gates just to see him. This
is a man who didn't do anything illegal. He followed
all the rules, and after speaking with him, I had
(02:08):
to tell him he was be in that center for
about a year to two years as his legal process
plays out. Wow, people who come here legally through that
process are never eligible for bombs, So no matter how
much money they pay as a promise to come back
for their immigration court hearings, they're never released and during
that time, he's working for a dollar a day, which
is a lot of the folks in these detentionsitters are doing.
(02:31):
That's I think a real motivation for these immigration rates.
You know, Trump is saying they're only targeting criminals, they're
going after drug dealers, but really they're picking up hard
working farm workers, day laborers, and the people who follow
the rules to come to this country. We've seen thousands
of people with US citizen kids get arrested as well,
and they're all being taken into these prisons to work
(02:53):
for a dollar a day.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
So, Serge, when he came into the country, did he
come in about or something like that, from a country
of hardship? And so he came into the country and
he said, look at these guys. If I got back home,
they're going to kill me, as you said. And then
they said, yep, no worries, and then they put him
in the detention center.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Yep. So he actually came to Mexico and the border
told him on this day and time, you can come
to the US border for your appointment. He came, and
then after his appointment they locked him up. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Right, But if he knew all that, he wouldn't have
gone in. He would have said, Okay, I'll probably did
it legally. Yeah, but you know what I.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Mean, certainly I think I think a lot of people
don't realize this who are coming in a lot of
Americans don't know this. And another thing to mention is
for each person who is detained in the center, these
private they're run by private, for profit prison companies and
they charge you, as taxpayers, one hundred and twenty thousand
dollars for each person detained for a year.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
So who's benefiting from this? So obviously the private prisons
are they're being paid to take these people in and
then they're working for a dollar a day. So who's
so who's financial benefit is all this for?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
So a lot of it is for these private prisons.
And the folks who work for a dollar a day
in these private prisons can work a variety of jobs.
Sometimes they actually work as are firefighters. There's a group
of them that work as state firefighters in California. They
work when they're in prison, and then when they're released,
they're not allowed to work as firefighters because if they
have criminal convictions. And then a lot of these for
(04:26):
profit companies they end up donating massive, massive amounts of
money back into our political system. So GEO, who's one
of the main culprits of this one of the for
profit prisons, they donated I believe, four million dollars in
the twenty twenty four election, and so that's how they
end up getting even bigger contracts. When Trump won back
in November of last year, their stocks went up about
(04:48):
two hundred percent, I think, from around twenty five dollars
to about seventy five dollars because they know they're about
to make a lot more profit.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And on Piper, it just looks as simple. You get
rid of the Mexican gangs, you get rid of the
drug deals, you get rid of the ripest and all
that stuff. And for me, you go, yeah, fair enough.
If those people are going to come into my country
and do that, I don't want them here either. But
if you're ran people who undocumented illegals as they call them, yeah,
who working in bread shops for the last year, paying
(05:15):
tax and paying their tax, and.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Taking them out of communities in front of their kids,
that's a very different story.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Yeah. I want to loss you against the US government
over their raids. Back in April, while we won a
preliminary injunction and one of our clients. He had lived
in the US for twenty years, no criminal convictions for
US citizen kids, always worked as a farm worker, and
they picked them up and a few hours later they
deported him. So what happens with those kids. They don't
(05:43):
have their father around anymore. Yeah, their unanswered for it. Well,
well a story.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
It's fascinating, all of it. And thank you for popping
up in our algorithm, which is how it happened.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yeah, we saw you on social media and we could
not believe the stories you were telling. Extraordinary story.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Thanks so much for having me and for caring about
this story.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
All of them are there coming to his life from Bakersville.
This is the world that we're living in.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah, the world we're seeing on the Telly
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