The Ten News Deep Dive: ICE, Student Impact, and What Happens Next
A Ten News Deep Dive: Episode 628
đ Todayâs Ten News Special Report takes a closer look at ICE, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
đșđž Ryan and Pam break down what the federal agency does, the role it plays, and whatâs been happening across the country recently.
đ« Weâll also hear from special guest Cynthia Hernandez, a school social worker, about her experience supporting students during this time.
đ Plus, we know this topic brings up a lot of big feelings, so weâre sharing notes from our Tenâers to remind you that youâre not alone.
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Transcript:
INT. TEN NEWS STUDIO
<SFX: Office background noise >
RYAN: Wait - so the surge is ending?
PAM: Thatâs what officials are saying.
RYAN: The big ICE operation in Minnesota? The one with thousands of agents?
PAM: Yes, the federal government says they are starting to pull back the extra agents they sent into Minnesota.
RYAN: Thatâs a big deal, we need to talk about this and whatâs been happening with ICE.
PAM: Letâs get into it. Iâm Pamela Kirkland.
RYAN: And Iâm Ryan Willard.
PAM: This is a Ten News Deep Dive.
PAM: We have a lot to cover today but first letâs start off with a quick history lesson.
RYAN: Yeah, because ICE isnât really new but their tactics have changed significantly.
PAM: First we go back to 2001, <SFX: Rewind sound> After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the United States created a new government agency called the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS. Its job is to help protect the country from terrorism, secure borders, enforce immigration laws, and respond to natural disasters. A couple of years later, in 2003, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, was created under DHS. ICE focuses on enforcing immigration laws, including the removal of unauthorized people in the U.S. and to stop border crossing migrants.. At the time, ICEâs budget was more than $3 billion.
RYAN: And quick vocabulary check: A MIGRANT is someone who moves from one place to another, it could be within a country, or across international borders. One might migrate for work, education, or better living conditions. An IMMIGRANT is someone who moves to a new country that plans on settling there permanently. All immigrants are migrants, but not all migrants are immigrants.
PAM: Since 2003, ICE has operated under several different presidents, and over time, its budget has steadily increased. For example, in 2015, during President Obamaâs administration, Congress approved nearly 6 billion dollars for ICE. In 2018, during President Trumpâs first term, that number grew to about 7.4 billion dollars. And in 2024, under President Biden, ICEâs budget reached 9.8 billion dollars.
<SFX: cash register>
RYAN: And then a big change in 2025. In the first year of President Trumpâs second term, he and congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Under the Big Beautiful Bill Act, the ICE budget went from around $10 billion to $85 billion. <SFX: what?> Thatâs right. $85 billion. Thatâs a 750% increase. The $85 billion dollar budget makes ICE the highest funded U.S. law enforcement agency.
PAM: The number of ICE agents increased in size by 120%... from 10,000 ICE agents to 22,000 agents. This growth was part of President Trumpâs immigration crackdown. ICE agents were deployed all over the country, in greater numbers than ever before.
RYAN: And their tactics have changed. ICE officers started wearing masks and covering their faces, randomly stopping and questioning people, and detaining them without signed warrants from judges. Typically in any type of arrest or removal, a signed warrant, a legal piece of paper authorizing the action is needed.
PAM: As concerns around ICE agentâs action increased and the public started protesting, President Trump doubled down and in January of 2026, deployed over 3,000 ICE agents to Minneapolis, Minnesota to carry out the âlargest immigration operation ever.â
RYAN: It became chaotic as protesters stood against the masked ICE agents. It resulted in immigrants and U.S. citizens being stopped and detained without warrants. And eventually, two different U.S. citizens, Renee Goode and Alex Pretti, were shot and killed. And it was all captured on camera by spectators.
PAM: The response from the Trump administration was upsetting and frightening for many people. Kristi Noem, who leads the Department of Homeland Security, called both Goode and Pretti âdomestic terroristsâ and said her department supported the agentsâ actions. But others, including some people in the military and in law enforcement, criticized what happened. They said the use of force was extreme and should not have taken place.
RYAN: And the public spoke out - there was a national walk out on Friday, January 20th, that was mostly led by students. Congress was bombarded with phone calls from U.S. citizens pushing their representatives to do something and vote to block ICE from receiving even more money.
PAM: This brings us to today. Democrats in Congress say they will not vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security unless there are new rules and limits, sometimes called guardrails, on how ICE operates. Because of that disagreement, DHS is currently in a partial shutdown until lawmakers hold a vote. For now, the department can continue operating using its previously approved 2025 funding, so it is not in immediate danger of running out of money. And like we said at the beginning of the episode, Tom Homan, the administrationâs border czar, has said the recent surge is over and that many agents are being pulled back.
RYAN: But even with the agents leaving, families and students are still living with the fear and stress of what happened.
RYAN: Yeah Iâm still feeling all the feels about thisâŠ
PAM: Okay, first off Ry. itâs okay to feel all of those things.
RYAN: Thanks, I appreciate that.
PAM: Sasha, our Ten News Intern, is here to share what weâve heard from a few of our Tenâers.
RYAN: Sasha, what do you got?
SASHA: Alright, weâve got some letters from our Tenâers that wanted to express how theyâre feeling and share their point of viewâŠ
SASHA: And we also got a letter from Tupeloâ
RYAN: Wait, Tupelo Tupleo?! The Tupelo who did a Tenâer Takeover with Everett?
SASHA: The one and only⊠Hereâs what she wrote: here is how I, a student at a bilingual school in MN, is impacted. 1: a lot of my classmates are doing the online school option. 2: weâve had 3 lockouts so far. 3: We had no school on Thursday and Friday last week. 4: I am paranoid! 5: We've done a few deliveries to people who are afraid to leave their houses. 6: At my elementary school, ice has shown up twice.
RYAN: Wow. Thank you for sharing, Tupelo.
SASHA: We also heard from a few other Tenâers. Claire says: I live in Chicago and itâs really scary to hear what Ice is doing to people. Itâs also scary when my friends and I hear the helicopters over our school. And Staidol4510 wrote on our podcast page: I really hate ICE and I donât want them to come to my hometown because Iâm really scared of them hurting my family.
PAM: Thank you Sasha, and thank you Tenâers for writing and letting us know how you feel.
RYAN: Wait Sasha, what about you? Whatâs been going on at your school?
SASHA: âYeah, it's been a really big discussion at my school. There's a lot of students that are talking about it. I've seen posters a lot and about two weeks ago, there was a citywide walkout of all the high schools and some middle schools in San Francisco where students from across the city chose to walk out of their classes. , And their schools at around lunchtime, and we all marched to meet in this big park called Dolores Park, kind of near the center of the city. And it was really crazy to be a part of because me and my whole school, we walked together. It was about a 45 minute walk and everyone made posters, protesting ice and all the things that had been happening in Minnesota. There was songs, there was music, there was people dancing, and there was big speeches and just all different types of people, across all different ages. It wasn't just schools, but it was a lot of schools. And it ended with a march, um, towards the downtown part of our city.
PAM: Not everyone can participate in a walkout. How did you make the decision to do it?
SASHA: It was definitely a choice that I had to make with my family and that every person had to make, um, just like my parents wanted to make sure that. First of all, that like I was in it for the right reasons that like I wanted to be there because I want to use my voice and not just because all my friends are doing it or that kind of thing, but also that like I'm aware that like. Missing school of course has consequences. Like, I miss my science class and like, am I gonna be able to catch up? And like obviously it's very important to stand up for what you believe in and like stand up for what you think is right, but also like things have real life consequences. So I think that was like a big, IM like impact for a lot of the kids in my community too, to make sure that oh, maybe I won't be able to miss class. Like maybe I have a test or like something important that has to do. What else can I do that's like standing up for what I believe in? Can I talk to my family? Can I say something online? Can I spread awareness? Can I donate money? That kind of thing, because like protests aren't the only thing, and obviously they're not accessible to everyone.
PAM: Um, what would you want, what do you wanna see from. Are elected officials right now. âI mean, honestly, it, it would be really important I think for like all a lot of young people to get that kind of recognition of like, we see you and like we see all the work that you're putting into getting yourself heard. And just like that understanding, but also like, we're gonna try to make things better because this isn't fair to young people, whether you're in Minnesota or not Minnesota. Like, it's a really hard time to be a student. So definitely just that understanding that like it's a hard time to be a kid right now.
RYAN: What do you do when youâre feeling scared?
âSASHA: I mean, when I'm feeling scared, I remind myself of like all the good things that I have in my life. You know, the friends that I have to back me up or my family and that like, I'm not alone, but also that everybody's trying to make the world a better place and like you're not alone in the fight to try to make your world better. And it's a scary time, but it's not always going to be like this
<SFX: Music transition>
RYAN: I canât stop thinking about the families that are going through all of this. What does support look like for those families?
PAM: Iâm so glad you asked Ry. Schools arenât just places for math and readingâŠtheyâre also places where kids need to feel emotionally safe. So I talked with a school social worker Cynthia Hernandez about her experiences supporting students right now.
CYNTHIA: hi, my name is Cynthia and I currently work as a district school social worker down in Southern California.
PAM: Thanks for joining us Cynthia. What does a typical day look like for you?
CYNTHIA: Yeah, so what my day looks like is that I, um, kinda work with four different schools in my school district. Um, you know, I focus on elementary and middle school students, so. A lot of my work looks like, you know, if there's a kid who is having a rough day, you know, I might talk to them. We might do different activities together, like maybe we'll take a walk outside, maybe we'll do some art together. Um, I also work closely with a lot of your teachers and principals and assistant principals, um, to kind of ha um, learn how to build systems and just how to, you know, create better support for our students and families, like attend our schools.
PAM: What is your community like and whatâs been your experience?
âCYNTHIA: We actually have a pretty diverse community here. Um, we're a kind of like smaller, medium sized school district, so our whole district is made up of 23 schools total. Um, and yeah, social economically, our families are, um. Kind of all across the range. Yeah, so my schools, my district, we've created, uh, an immigration task force, which I'm part of. So what that kind of looks like is that we meet fairly regularly to kind of just create, like, what, how do we want our schools to respond to this new, event that is really impacting our families. We've come up with like a framework of like, as a school site, this is what you do If ICE comes to your school site, you know, we gotta look for warrants, we gotta make sure that we're protecting our student safety first, family safety first. We've created trainings for various school staff, which we've presented quite a few times to across. All over the schools in our district. That looks like, you know, as a teacher, what can you do to support your students and families as a principal? What can you do as just, um, front office staff? Like what can you do to support our students and families? We've also partnered with, um, various grassroots organizations in our, um, community, um, because they're really the ones doing a lot of like the boots on the ground work and we wanna make sure that we have a partnership with them so that we're, you know, in alignment. Um, and very often we're working with the same students and families as well. So that's just a little bit of what our district has done.
PAM: And what are your thoughts on what is happening?
CYNTHIA: I'd say we're in a very interesting time where. Looking at social media, for example, it's like you see videos of people being kidnapped, people being detained, this like horrible violence. And then the next video is like someone doing a dance challenge. So it's a very, like, I feel like a lot of the emotions are just all over the spectrum. Like you can go from having, you know, having trouble sleeping because of everything that's happening. Um. You know, the way it may impacting you yourself personally, or just the way it's impacting your people in your community, um, to then the next day just being really worried about the test that you have in second period. Um, so it's a very interesting time for, for our teens and students. I think they're, I think they're handling the, the, the best they can, but there's definitely a lot of like worries and anxieties and I think just like mental exhaustion from everything that's going on. We can't also just live frozen in fear forever.
PAM: What advice would you have for parents for how to engage with their kids about having a conversation and understanding what they're feeling?
CYNTHIA: Yeah, I mean, I. I feel like first I would say, you know, like take a deep breath is it's, it's uncharted territory for everyone. No one has a handbook of like, how to guide your child through this. Um, that, that doesn't exist unfortunately. Um, so yeah, taking a deep breath. I think recognizing that, like, not talking about it doesn't make it go away. Um, I think the feelings are there regardless. And I always tell kids, you know, it's better for those feelings to be out than in, um, I'll compare it sometimes to a volcano of like, you know, we keep it in, we keep it in, we keep it in, and then eventually something's gonna explode. Um, so I would, yeah, I mean, I would just encourage parents, you know. Kind of guiding the conversation, especially if they are on social media. It's like, oh, I'm curious, like, what have you heard about this on, like, what have you seen on social media? Um, have you talked to your friends about it? Have you heard anything about this at school? What are your thoughts on it? Um. It's okay to acknowledge that you yourself may be scared and worried about everything, about anything else. Um, I think kids actually feel very comforted to know that they're not the only ones feeling this way. Lots of kids who I've talked to, sometimes they feel like they're the only ones in their family that cares about this and that feel some type of way about it, and, and that can really increase their feelings of loneliness. Um. So knowing like ex, like showing that you yourself are a safe adult, that you can have these conversations with your kids and, um, you know, not invalidate their fears or their thoughts, um, I think can go a long way in just providing some comfort to kids. Um, we don't have to provide specific answers. We don't have the answers to everything, but just knowing that like, oh, someone's here with me, someone's in my corner, can go a really long way in making someone feel better.
PAM: How are different families in your district dealing with the situation?
CYNTHIA: I think a lot of kids, um, some of 'em are just trying really hard to keep themselves informed about with everything that's going on. Um, understandably so. Some of their parents may not want to talk about it or the reality of their situations that they don't have time to talk about it. Like they're busy working, they're busy trying to, um. Pay rent, pay their bills, pay everything. Um, so some of the students that I've talked to are doing their best to, they're, they've kind of taken on the role of kind of being the informed one in their families. Um, so when they hear information, you know, they're like, oh, I'm gonna tell my mom about this. I'm gonna tell my uncle about this. I'm gonna tell my cousins about this. And they've sort of become this like little, like, liaison within their family of like outside resources, community resources, and bringing that into their family and just keeping. Helping keep their families safe, um, from everything.
PAM: Any last pieces of advice for our listeners?
CYNTHIA: Yeah, I mean, again, it's, it's okay to feel scared. It's okay to feel worried. I think a lot of people are I, but. You know, being kind to one another, building friendships, building community. I think a lot of that is gonna take us a really long way in, um, surviving these couple of years and surviving this year. Um, and these skills that we're learning and things like that, they'll really help us in the long run. Just, um, not being alone, um, always reaching out a hand to the people who need it, um, and just being wi willing and open to learn. About each other so we can make sure that this doesn't happen again in the future.
PAM: Thank you, Cynthia, I hope your school district knows how lucky they are to have you, and thank you for joining us today.
CYNTHIA: Of course. Thank you. Thank you for having me.
INT. TEN NEWS STUDIO
RYAN: So even though ICE is ending the surge in Minnesota, the impact doesnât just disappear overnight.
PAM: Exactly And if youâre feeling scared, confused or overwhelmed. Thatâs okay. Talk to someone you trust. A parent, a teacher, a counselor.
RYAN: And keep writing to us, Tenâers. We are always listening.
<AD BREAK>
RYAN: Time for Ten News Snaps!
PAM: A Tenâer named the Elemental Master commented and said, âI want an episode on Space.â Okay, we will definitely put that on the list to explore! And a Tenâer named Zuri555 gave us an Apple review with 1 million stars and said, âCan you make more episodes of video games?â Ummm, Iâm sure Ryan will be happy to.
RYAN: OF COURSE I WILL. Also, a Tenâer named Archie said, âYou might remember me from August, I love the Ten News! But I wish they came out on Thursdays AND Fridays. Keep up the good work and I LOVE the gaming episodes!â Thank you so much Archie, I donât know if you know, but our deep dives come out once a month and usually drop on FRIDAYS. So, once a month we do have episodes on a Thursday and a Friday!
PAM: And two extra notes for the grown-ups, you can now get ad-free versions of our episodes when you join the Tenâers Club on our website.
RYAN: And if you want to help support the Ten News, you can make a tax-deductible donation at the link in our show notes. The whole team thanks you for your support!
PAM: âThe Ten Newsâ is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts, and part of the Airwave Podcast Network.
RYAN: The Ten News creative team is sending our love and support to all the families that are affected by the ICE storm and includes Tracey Not a Crooks, Adam the Great Bambino Bernard, Brian Not Ryan Douglas and Carson Not So Harry Potter. Big thanks to Owen, Not Slowin Down for Anybody.
PAM: Our Production Director is Jeremiah Tittle, and our Executive Producers are Donald Albright, Albright, Albright! and show creator Tracy Takes the Leeds Kaplan. Iâm Pamela Kirkland.
RYAN: And Iâm Ryan Willard, thanks for listening to the Ten News.
