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This episode was recorded Oct. 2, 2026.
Diego Mendoza-Moyers: Today: ICE arrests have surged in El Paso this year.
So far in 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have arrested 3,500 people in the El Paso area (as of Aug. 5), part of a nationwide increase in immigration arrests this year as federal agents have detained 255,000 people nationwide, including 50,000 in the month of July alone.
The surge in arrests is part of the Trump administration’s stated target of deporting 1 million immigrants per year. Since President Trump entered office in January 2025, his administration has deported 1.1 million people.
It’s easy to get lost in those numbers, though. Who are these people being forcibly deported? How is the legal system working for people facing deportation? And is the U.S. government truly initiating an exodus of criminals out of the country? Or is the story more complicated?
I’m Diego Mendoza-Moyers, a reporter with El Paso Matters. In a minute, I’ll speak with Cindy Ramirez, editor of El Paso Matters and our reporter covering immigration.
Cindy spoke with numerous individuals facing deportation. Their stories are all very different. But, for me, the good-evil binary we too often apply to people fails to capture the reality of the situation when it comes to migration policy in America. And I think Cindy’s stories are illuminating for anyone trying to understand border life and migration.
Before I speak with Cindy, this El Paso Matters podcast episode is brought to you by our podcast title sponsor, Tawney, Acosta and Chaparro, truck crash and injury attorneys. Their team of local, seasoned trial attorneys are ready to help if you’ve been injured in a crash.
Also, you can subscribe to the El Paso Matters podcast on YouTube or read our free reporting at elpasomatters.org. And many thanks to El Paso Community College Valle Verde campus for the use of their podcast studio space.
Now, on to our conversation.
Cindy, thanks for joining me.
Cindy Ramirez: Thank you for having me.
Diego: So, I don’t have a ton of questions for you on this episode. I just kind of want you to talk about your reporting experience and some of these different stories that you became familiar with and told and maybe what that says about our immigration policy and situation with immigration generally in the nation.
But start off by telling us the situation of a young woman. We use a pseudonym. We called her Sofia in the story, and we also talked about her mother, Sonia. Just talk about that story and what played out there with those two women.
Cindy: Sure, thank you.
So, we were reporting the increase in ICE arrests across the nation, but particularly in Texas and in El Paso, where we saw a big surge of arrests this past year, particularly over the summer.
And in telling the story, I was able to talk to about three or four women and a couple of men who had either been detained themselves or whose family members had been detained by ICE. And who were part of the 3,500 people who were apprehended (in the past) year.
So, Sonia was or is a woman from Ciudad Juárez. She had come to El Paso with her young family about 15 years ago. They actually came over at a time where crossing back and forth was commonplace. And she happened to come over on a Halloween night when her daughter was 10. And they came over to trick-or-treat just like many families did. My family did that a lot as well.
And they had a medical emergency that night that left them in the hospital, or one of their family members in the hospital for a while. So, long story short, they ended up staying here for what they thought was going to be just a couple of days to kind of take care of some of their medical issues. And they, 15 years later or so, they’re here.
And, so, the daughter, Sofia, was leaving work on a night shift break when ICE agents surrounded her vehicle and ultimately arrested her. At the time that was happening, she was on the phone with her mother and was having just a regular conversation with her and then happened to say, “Hey, I think I’m being followed. It’s ICE.” And, so, they went into a panic mode a little bit.
And, so, the mom was hearing everything happening with the daughter, including her panicking, the ICE agents knocking on her car window, demanding that she get out. So, while this was happening, she was able to get in her car and drive to her work site and was met there when the arrest was happening.
READ MORE: ‘Why are you taking her?’ ICE arrests surge in El Paso region as families feel the impact
Diego: She had children too, right? Sofia, the woman who was arrested. She had children, the grandchildren of the lady Sonia, is that right?
Cindy: That’s correct. Her mom was actually watching the grandchildren at that time, and they stayed home, didn’t witness this. But Sonia describes it as kind of a moment of grace amid this chaos that the ICE agents allowed her to hug her daughter before they took her away.
They had an ICE warrant. It wasn’t the type of warrant that was signed by a judge. And, so, she didn’t have any kind of criminal background or anything like that. And one of the ICE agents allegedly told the mom that when she asked, “Why are you taking her?” that he said, “Well, she doesn’t have anything.” Like, there’s no record of any criminal activity, but they did have that paper. And, because she was here unlawfully, she was undocumented, so they detained her.
Diego: And she had a husband who was a U.S. citizen, is that right?
Cindy: Her husband is a U.S. citizen. Unfortunately for the family, they had undergone some trauma because he had died not long ago in a car accident. And, so, she was here without him and the children were already traumatized by their father’s death and grieving that. And then they lost their mom for a while while she was in detention.
Diego: And after she was arrested, then what happened to Sophia?
Cindy: So, she spent a good amount of time in detention.
Diego: Here in El Paso?
Cindy: I believe actually she was in Otero (County). I’ll have to check my notes on that. But she may have gone to Otero in southern New Mexico.
But she was eventually released. But she had a court date at some point later. And I don’t know the exact – what exactly happened. But, for now, she is back home with her children and her mom. I believe that she’s still under deportation order, so she is wearing an ankle monitor and has an ongoing case.
Diego: And, so, the children are somewhat in limbo, would you say?
Cindy: Definitely, the whole family is. Yeah.
They had talked a little bit about “What happens if one of us were to be deported?” Like, would everybody leave? But the children grew up here. They don’t really speak any Spanish. They hardly ever have been to Juárez. Or anywhere in Mexico.
So, if they were to be deported, it’d be going to, like, a country that they’ve never been to, that they are unfamiliar with and that speaks a language that they’re not familiar with either.
Diego: I just thought it was a very powerful story of just one individual going through this situation.
I wonder, too, some of the other stories that you found were similarly powerful. And I want to kind of go back and kind of have a collective conversation on all these individuals. But talk about the lady Maria. She had a very interesting story as well that went back to, I think, the violence in Juarez that we’re all familiar with about two decades ago, right, that was really intense. Just tell us about her story and what you learned about this lady Maria.
Cindy: So, Maria, again, using the pseudonym, is 39. She had lived in El Paso for about 18 years. She also came from Ciudad Juárez on a visitor visa.
So, she would also travel back and forth, to shop, to eat, to play. And it was part of what we know on the border. You just kind of live on both sides of it.
Her husband was a naturalized U.S. citizen. He was a doctor practicing in Juárez, but they lived here. So, when she came over and stayed – obviously, overstaying her visa, but stayed here was when there was some violence, when a lot of the cartels were targeting doctors and lawyers and people who made money and were extorting them for a certain percentage or a certain amount of money monthly, saying “We’ll leave you alone if you pay this quota” of sorts. So, they were escaping that.
And they had four children or have four children here. So, she was in the process of getting her paperwork settled. I think she had spent about $17,000 on processing and legal fees over the past seven years. And while she was going through that process, she actually was wearing a GPS bracelet because she had gone and was following the rules.
She was checking in when she was supposed to. She was going to court. She was wearing the GPS tracker. I remember that she was saying like, she learned to just live with it, whether it was taking a shower, going in the pool, going shopping. It was just something that was part of her for several years. And she was kind of living her life here, trying to become naturalized.
Diego: And then she was detained, right?
Cindy: She was detained in September of last year. She dropped off her children at school and she actually had a check-in with immigration that morning. And she went in and she – because some of the laws in immigration court have changed, she was supposed to go in and appeal her case so that her removal order could be removed or paused.
But when that happened with some of the changes that the administration was doing, you are no longer protected. So, even though she went through her hearing and everything was fine for the moment, it wasn’t so. When she stepped out, it was one of those courthouse arrests where agents in plain clothes, but face masks, approached her, arrested her, put her handcuffs and took her away.
Diego: And what happened to her after that?
Cindy: She was locked up for quite a while. I think she spent most of her time at the ICE processing center, which is off of Montana near the airport. Ironically, in her case, she did say that it was just blocks from her home.
So, she was fortunate, she said, because her family had the ability to visit often. But she was unable to spend holidays with them and weekends with them and things like that. And, so, she felt like she was detained in this place that was so close to home, but she was not free to leave.
SEE ALSO: Wife of Fort Bliss sergeant deported to Honduras under Trump’s immigration crackdown
Diego: Wow. And you wrote, I think, in your story that she’s kind of become an advocate, right, for immigrant women in particular. And she had an interesting quote in your story that I thought was fairly powerful where she said, like, the experience made her value her liberty and her family and her life and things like that, right?
Cindy: Her freedom. She had worked with the Border Network for Human Rights and had gone, before all of this happened, had gone through one of those “Know your rights” courses and she kind of became an advocate herself.
She had – and I forget what exactly type of degree that she had, but she was well-educated in Mexico.
So, she understood a lot of what was happening. And she said that, when she was locked up, there were a lot of women in particular who were not. So she kind of became an advocate and teaching what she had learned on the outside to the women who were still locked up and trying to advocate for them to make sure that they were given access to their lawyers and to their families and things like that.
Diego: And do you know what ever happened to this woman named Maria? Was she released and is she sort of OK, I guess, now? Or what’s her story as of now?
Cindy: She was eventually released and is still wearing a monitor, an ankle monitor this time, and her case will continue in the courts for a while. But she still has an order of deportation. She’s just fighting it at the moment.
Diego: Wow, so even raising children here, living here for years, trying to do the legal process right, and she’s still was detained. I mean, that’s the takeaway, right?
Cindy: Yeah. And one of the things that she said was, she said that she spent seven years doing this and people say, “Well, why not sooner?” But it is a long process to save up the money and to find attorneys. There’s not enough of them to go around for the need to get your case even heard, takes many years.
And I think she had said she spent like $17,000. So there’s always the argument of, “Why didn’t you start sooner?” But then when you do, at this point in time, it’s still, even if you are doing your check-ins and going through the right way, the process, you’re still able to be arrested.
Diego: Yeah. And, so, I want to move on to one more story, and then I’ll have a few questions.
I guess, tell us the story about Antonio Frometa, right? And this man from Cuba, been in ICE detention for quite some time. And he added some complexities to his story. I think the other two women were in some ways, like, a little bit simpler stories, I guess.
But tell us about Frometa and what you came to learn from interviewing him?
LEARN MORE: A year in ICE detention: Cuban man’s case tests Supreme Court detention ruling
Cindy: Well, one of the things that complicated his story is that he already had an order of removal back many years ago. And he did have – unlike the women who had no criminal history – he did have a bit of a criminal history. He had done some time for assault. But he had completed his time and his record had been clean, albeit for a lot of traffic tickets.
Diego: In Miami, right? Or it was in Florida. It wasn’t in El Paso, right?
Cindy: That was in Miami. So, he is a Cuban who came to the United States in the 90s during the Clinton era. So, he actually spent some time in Guantanamo Bay before he was brought to Florida processed, given documents to work here. And he had a social security number, he had a job, he had a work authorization. And he was raising his family in Florida.
Diego: And then he just was detained one day going to work, right?
Cindy: Yeah. So, in August of last year, he was on his way to work. He did landscaping, tree removal type of work. Very proud of his work. And he was detained by, actually, city police, I believe, or state police, who then turned him over to ICE.
Diego: It was kind of a statewide initiative by Florida?
Cindy: Correct, correct.
So, then he ended up doing some time at Alligator Alcatraz before he was transferred to Camp East, Montana. Because he was Cuban and Cuba is not taking US deportees, his other option was to go to Mexico. But, because of some of the violence against Cubans in that country that’s been documented, he has refused to go.
And, so, he’s kind of in limbo, being unable to be deported because Mexico will only take people who are deported from the US if they agree to be deported there.
Diego: So, he’s been locked up for about a year in ICE detention, which there are questions about whether that’s even legally appropriate, right?
Cindy: A big question in the courts right now. But there is a precedent that was set by the Supreme Court. And that ruling said that it established that ICE cannot detain an immigrant with a final removal order for longer than a period of about six months. And, so, it prohibited their indefinite detention. So, for Mr. Frometa, it’s already been more than a year. And his case is still not moving anywhere. It’s just kind of been stuck.
Diego: And you interviewed him at Camp East Montana, is that right?
Cindy: He was at the processing center, actually.
Diego: Yeah, nearby, kind of near Montana, right?
And, so, talk about your experience interviewing him and then talk about the death that he witnessed, right? Just kind of talk about the conditions there, right, and that whole situation and what it was like to actually interview him there.
Cindy: So, the processing center allows for family and media, attorneys to visit the detainees. So, I hadn’t been there in more than a decade or so. But it was an area that you walk into and of course you have to leave all your belongings in a little locker. You’re not allowed to take even a pen or paper in with you. They provide it for you if you ask.
And, so, it was just – I could describe it as, like, a cubicle with a plexiglass window and you talk over the telephone, as you see in the movie, so to speak. It was quite an experience, a very crowded room.
I remember being there and there were families waiting their turn because there’s only a certain amount of windows and there were families waiting their turn to see their loved ones.
There was a man in uniform, probably in his 30s, who was there to see, I believe, his father. There was a young family with four young – I think it was, like, three young boys and a little girl – who were waiting also to see their dad. There was a family there who had a newborn baby, in her pink little dress, who was going to meet her dad for the first time. And there was another family there that was there to see their daughter.
And, so, waiting in that area, you saw these different families who had relatives who got swept up in this increased effort.
And then talking to him, he’s very well spoken. He, Mr. Frometa, was very much wanting to tell his story. He very much acknowledges his criminal background, but he was also very adamant that he should not be there for this long and that the government needed to do something.
His hope was that he would be released and be let back to Florida. But he was saying, “Even if I have to remain released,” – I mean detained – “perhaps I can be detained in Florida so my family could come visit me.” He had a granddaughter that he hasn’t met. And, so, he’s just kind of waiting to see what happens in the courts.
Diego: And talk about the death that happened at the – he called it an assassination, right? But just talk about the situation was very startling to read about.
Cindy: Another thing that complicates this case and that raises questions about why he’s still being detained, because for the short while that he was at Camp East Montana was when he witnessed a struggle between some of the guards there and a gentleman who ended up dying shortly after that. He did use the word “lo asesinaron,” like “they killed him, they assassinated him.”
It was the case of Mr. Campos, I believe, whose case was called a homicide.
Diego: By the medical examiner?
Cindy: By the medical examiner. Thank you. Right.
And, so, he was witness to that and he testified or gave a testimony to the family of the man who died because they are now suing the government over that death.
Diego: Wow. And he was asthmatic and Frometa said that this man who died was seeking his medicine, something like that, right? That was the context.
Cindy: That was a context of it, definitely. One of the big complaints at Camp East Montana is, of course, that there’s not adequate medical attention. And this gentleman had some health issues that were not being addressed. And, ironically, Mr. Frometa had also – this other gentleman was a Cuban who had also been at Guantanamo. So, he had known of him and known him from a distance because of that association.
And, so, they had kind of become friends. And he had even called – Mr. Frometa – had even called the gentleman’s wife after he saw what happened, just to kind of check in. And it was the wife who told them, “Well, he died.”
Diego: Wow. I mean, just very horrible experience there, being detained and seeing somebody die.
One other anecdote I wanted you to touch on, Cindy – there was an instance of neighbors calling the authorities, right, on a man in central El Paso, is that right? And there was a boy who was detained as well. Just talk about that anecdote.
Cindy: Yeah. So, there’s been a couple of cases. And I will say also that, in the case of Sonia and Sofia, that they believe that someone also called ICE on them. And the story that we reported previously was a young boy who was 11 or is 11 and his dad were out working on their car when they were approached by ICE and detained and then separated. In that case, a neighbor also called ICE on them.
READ MORE: Children being separated from parents as ICE arrests in El Paso surge
Diego: Wow. I want to talk about kind of the legal aspect here, Cindy. But can you just touch on the idea that the U.S. government is seeking to deport criminals, right? And seeking to deport “the worst of the worst” and stuff like that is their language.
I just wonder what you make of that – the sort of, like, stated goal of “Let’s rid the country of these bad people,” versus what you’re seeing on the ground and your reporting and talking to these people that are facing these deportation proceedings?
Cindy: Well, there’s been a number of organizations, including the Deportation Data Project, whose numbers we used in our reporting that signal that between, I believe – some figures are like 65% to 70-some percent of the people who are arrested have no criminal records, have no convictions, have never been arrested or have no kind of a criminal record on them.
And much of this information comes from ICE itself. And, so, the administration keeps talking about “the worst of the worst” and so forth. But the numbers that are provided by the federal government itself show otherwise.
Diego: That was a really interesting data point. And I think the anecdotes, I guess, reinforce that data of just kind of people – the working person going to work and getting detained.
And I suppose, of course, in these migrant populations, of course, there may be somebody with a criminal background. Just like if you pull, got any group of Americans, there probably would be some with a criminal background or something, some sort of checkered past, if you will.
And, so, I just thought that was an interesting contrast between the data that’s available. Although I guess the government was calling the data into question a little bit, right?
Cindy: They were. So, the government itself hasn’t been very good about putting out data as they are required to do. And when they do put out data, it’s usually put out in different formats and calculated in different ways. So, we’re not always comparing apples-to-apples.
The information that we had for some of the numbers that we’ve reported from the Deportation Data Project, that project got them through an open records request. So, they had to literally sue the government to release that data to them, and then they make it available to the public to parse through and figure out from their own cities or whatever the data that they want to pull from it.
Diego: Just interesting project and data source.
I wonder, Cindy, can you talk about the legal representation in situations like this? I thought it was interesting that Mr. Frometa was pro se, representing himself, I think, at least in one proceeding. We’ve spoken before about the Trump administration seeking to sort of cancel funding for some of the legal aid groups like Estrella del Paso that offer these representation of migrants. And also we’ve spoken about how many children wind up in court with no representation as well.
But, so, in these cases where you met with these or you spoke with these adults, what was their legal situation like as far as representation?
Cindy: So, in the case of Sonia and Sofia, for example, they had an attorney who helped them out in the beginning when – in the beginning, when she was first arrested. But that attorney represented (her) only for a short amount of time, and it was a paid attorney.
And when she had to go to court a second time and faced immediate deportation at that time, they were very concerned that they were not going to have an attorney. They just couldn’t afford one. They exhausted calling all kinds of organizations that offer free legal help or discounted legal help because all of those organizations no longer have the federal funding that they had or are just tied up with so much work that they’re not taking any new cases.
I think that, in that case, the family was very lucky and were able to come up with a little bit more money and an attorney – I don’t know if it was the same one – but an attorney was able to represent her in this case.
Mr. Frometa, in his case, he did represent himself initially. I think eventually, as time went on, he was able to secure an attorney through an organization that does pro bono work. I think primarily because of the complexity of his case, that he was able to get that help.
Other families, not so much. So, in the case of Maria, she had an attorney helping them with paperwork. But a common complaint is, “We just can’t afford it.” And they charge you so much to take your case to a certain point, but then after that, you lose that person who is helping you because you can no longer afford them, or that person doesn’t have a specific specialization or expertise in certain areas. And, so, they’re left to fend for themselves.
Diego: That seems to be a common theme in your reporting of people facing immigration proceedings in court.
Cindy: Yeah. I think it’s happening nationwide. And it is a big problem because it’s a – I mean, immigration law is just so complicated to understand. And whether you’re 11 years old or 40 years old, to sit before a judge who’s deciding your future without you really understanding what’s happening is probably very difficult.
Diego: Yeah. One thing too, Cindy, that I want to ask, just to, I suppose, play devil’s advocate. But what is your thought on the idea that – and I’m sure there are many people who hold this view – like, “Hey, these people were here illegally,” right? Or in the case of Sonia, “Hey, she brought her daughter over here illegally. They should have left.” Mr. Frometa, when he came, it was a different time, but he has a criminal record. “Why should we show sympathy for this person?”
I just wonder how you think about that question of illegality and they did break a law. How do you think about that as you’re talking to these people and understanding and learning about these cases?
Cindy: I think it’s a fair question to ask. I think it’s something that we ask of everybody that we interview, right? Like “How did you end up here? Are you documented?”
But then that’s also when you get into the weeds of everybody’s case is different and everybody’s story is different. Even if we say 65%, 70% of people have no criminal records, that still leaves the other 30%, 35% who do. So, it is a fair question.
And I think a lot of people do fall in this gray area or in this area where it’s like, “Well, they do have a criminal history.” Depending on the severity of their crime, then they have to go through this process also and be deported or whatever the case might be.
But I think what’s at question is that process – the legal process that’s supposed to be afforded to everybody in the country, whether you’re here legally or not, whether you’re documented or undocumented.
And I think that that’s where a lot of the advocacy organizations and attorneys and lawmakers will say “We’re not saying that people should not be detained, they shouldn’t be deported. But we’re saying that because everybody’s case is different, everybody’s case needs to be heard individually. People should have the right to go before a judge with an attorney and make their case.”
And rather than doing kind of like this blanket, whether you’re here 18 years or 18 months and whether you had work authorization or not, as DHS often says, we reserve the right to just arrest you and deport you.
And that’s what’s being fought in the courts right now. And a lot of circuit courts are arguing whether you should be given a bond hearing, whether the government can detain you indefinitely. And there’s just a lot of cases that are making their way up through the courts on that.
Diego: Yeah, I appreciate that explanation. I think that’s a good perspective.
I guess, too, just two more questions here, Cindy and then we’ll wrap up. But can you talk about – like, I appreciate that perspective on the legal side and kind of, “Hey, you’ve got to ask people what’s your background and look into that aspect of it.”
But can you talk about the disruption? You had some interesting quotes in your recent reporting about, like, the disruption that the deportations cause where your parent maybe gets sent off, or just, like, in general, talk about what you heard from people about the disruption to their lives that this sort of stuff causes?
Cindy: Well, one thing I’ll say is that nobody’s saying “I deserve to be here”, right? Nobody’s saying, “Yeah, I came here legally and I deserve to be here.” I think everybody’s saying – most people that we talk to – say “I want the opportunity to be here. I want to go and follow this process that has been set out in prior years and try to become documented and maybe earn residency, a citizenship”, whatever the case might be.
But I think what’s happening a lot is that families are being separated, particularly families here in the border where we’ve kind of lived between these two cities for a very long time.
In the case of, like, Sofia and Sonia, the kids had just lost their U.S. citizen dad. And, so, the family would have to make a choice if she was to be deported, even if it was just to cross the border. I mean, they would actually leave her deeper into Mexico. She might be able to make her way back up to Juárez. The family would have to make a decision, like, do the children remain here with the grandmother? Does everybody move back to Juárez? Like, what do they do, right?
And in some cases, like, there might be children who are now teenagers who have, like I said earlier, they don’t speak Spanish. They have never even really been to Mexico and uprooting from their home, their friends, their church, everything else to go live elsewhere because of this circumstance could really break up that family.
And it’s a tough decision that the family has to make. A couple of them that I’ve talked to have said, “Well, we’ve already decided that if one of us gets deported, that the whole family’s going.” Others have said no.
I talked to a family sometime back who had said, “If one of us were to get deported” – I think it was the parents who were here unlawfully or undocumented that they had already talked with relatives and said, “If something were to happen to us, we’re going to leave our children with you because we want them to finish school here.” And then once they graduate, they can decide what to do from there.
But it is really breaking up a lot of families. The case of the 11-year-old that I mentioned, he came here from Venezuela and leaving his mom behind, came here with his dad. He was enrolled in school for a couple of years and the boy ultimately decided to be voluntarily removed. So he’s going to be returned to Venezuela and be with his mom. But, in doing so, then he’s separated from his dad here and his other siblings.
Diego: Yeah, well, just powerful impacts.
Last thing, Cindy, I mean, I know I’ve asked you this kind of question before, but you have these very personal stories that you have to tell and engage with these people who are going through a tough time. Like, how do you – how does it affect you or how do you think about this kind of reporting?
I mean, I think before, like I said, we’ve spoken about the children that are in court, like, medicated with no representation. I just wonder how you think about this really just kind of poignant topics?
Cindy: Everybody’s different, right? And, in the case of Mr. Frometa, he was very straightforward. He owned up to his wrongdoing. He was very forthcoming with his story. He didn’t really get too emotional. He had some strong words to say about the government and he had some strong words to say about how he was being treated. But that was his story to tell.
And it differed from somebody like Sofia and Sonia. In talking to the mom, she broke down crying and telling her story, even though in telling it, she was very, very strong, very forthcoming. But then there were times where she just – her voice cracked and she just started crying.
And, so, you’re seeing the human impact of that face-to-face as they tell their stories. And it can be very emotional. But, I think, like I said, every story is different and every person is different. And, so, you relate to them in trying to say, “OK, well, this is their story. How do I tell it in a fair way?”
In the case of Mr. Frometta, for example, explaining that yeah, he had a record. But in this other case, then we had to say, there was emotions involved in explaining those little details of the ICE agents allowing her to hug her daughter one last time before she was detained. In the case of Maria and saying, “I value my freedom and not being able to spend the holidays with my family because I’m locked up and they’re just blocks away from me.” It could be very tolling.
Diego: I was just going to say, does it weigh on you being so intimately familiar with these challenges people are facing in the El Paso area?
Cindy: Very much so, very much so. And then I think to step away from it for a little bit and say, “Well, we’re reporting a handful of stories.” I mean, in this story where we’ve been talking about three or four cases, but there were 3,500 people in the past year through August who were detained in El Paso.
And, so, there’s thousands of stories more. Maybe some of them were criminals. The majority of them were not. Or had a criminal record, I should say.
But I grew up here, I’m from El Paso. I grew up here. I have family in Juárez. And we did the back-and-forth on Sundays to go see my grandma. And we did the back and forth on Halloween and Christmas and things like that.
And, so, in talking to them, there’s always somebody that, “Oh, this sounds like, you know, I relate to the story because it’s pretty much what my cousin went through.” Or the way that somebody presents themselves reminds you of a relative or something like that.
So, you do kind of get that connection. But, at the end of the day, you have to kind of, like, step away from that and put together a story that gives both sides of the story. And we get the comments from the government and how they’re perceiving laws and policies that are being passed and things like that. So we do our best to present those stories fairly and accurately, but they definitely can be very emotional.
Diego: Yeah, it’s powerful reporting, Cindy. We’ll go ahead and leave it there. Just wanted to have you on to share some of these stories and anecdotes and your reporting experience. It’s really powerful. And I think people ought to look to your reporting to understand the on the ground impacts of some of these federal policies. So, just appreciate you taking the time to share your reporting with us, Cindy.
Cindy: Well, thank you. It’s happening everywhere and we try to – it moves fast. So we try to keep up as much as possible. Thank you for having me.
Diego: Thanks.
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