Code Switch

Though there’s a massive backlog of immigration cases that need rulings, the Trump administration has been firing immigration judges. Ximena Bustillo, NPR’s immigration and DHS reporter, has spotted a trend – many of the judges let go have previous experience in immigration defense. At the same time, the Trump administration has allocated $3 billion to beef up ICE as an agency and hire “deportation judges.” Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

For the millions of Americans that celebrate Thanksgiving, it's a time when many people reflect on the things and the people in our lives that they appreciate. But according to Dr. Laurie Santos, psychology professor at Yale and host of the podcast, The Happiness Lab, a practice of gratitude can improve our lives year-round. This week on the pod, we're bringing you a conversation from our friends over at It's Been A Minute. Host Brittany Luse chats with Dr. Santos about the surprising science of how gratitude can affect our brains — and how it leads us to be more generous with our future selves. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

As we enter "cozy season," we're revisiting our conversation with Ada Limon, who just wrapped up her tenure as the U.S. Poet Laureate. She talks to us about loss and grief and evolving identity -- like becoming a "fall person" after a lifetime of identifying as a "summer person" -- and the power of poetry to navigate it all. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Today on the show, NPR immigration reporter Jasmine Garsd introduces us to two families in Washington, D.C.. One has made the difficult decision to set up "emergency guardianship" for their son, in the case that the parents are deported to Guatemala. The other has agreed to take that son in, should anything happen. It's the second part in Jasmine's reporting series looking into how immigrant families are preparing for the worst under the Trump administration's current immigration crackdown. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Today on the show, NPR immigration reporter Jasmine Garsd takes us into the dimly lit living rooms of immigrant families — families trying to figure out how to stay safe as they navigate the overwhelming fear of being detained by ICE. These fears have long existed, but for many, they've become stronger and more omnipresent during this Trump administration, with its strong focus on deportation. So parents across the country are finding different ways to exist, protect themselves, and look out for their children. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

On October 1, 2025, public radio stations lost all of their federal funding -- and for Black and Native American community stations, the cuts hit hard. Case in point, KYUK in Bethel, Alaska, which was the first Indigenous-led public radio station. They lost 70% their budget after federal public media cuts, and will be shrinking from 10 full-time staffers, to 4 people. We speak to Esther Green, a Yupik elder, and her co-host Diane McEarchren of KYUK's spiritual wellness show, Ikayutet, and station general manager Kristin Hall, about what the future looks like for the station. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College has classes on everything from Native American studies to gardening to equine sciences to the Hidatsa language. Like other tribal colleges and universities (aka TCUs), it's a space where students can get their degrees while steeped in Indigenous traditions and learning techniques. But since the start of this presidential administration, funding for these colleges has been precarious, and tribal college administrators have been left scrambling to make sure they can continue with business as usual. So this week on the show, we're diving deep into what makes tribal colleges unique — and what these spaces mean to the students, faculty and staff who work there. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Around 42 million people in the United States get SNAP benefits each month to cover basic needs like eggs, bread, and infant formula. Because of the government shutdown, most of those benefits have lapsed, and despite a judge's ruling that the Trump administration release contingency funds to cover the program, the White House will now only offer partial funding. On this episode, we're revisiting our 2019 reporting on how one woman became the symbol for anti-welfare politicians to turn the public against government programs for the poor. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Fights over free speech have taken up a lot of space in the zeitgeist lately. People on both the left and right claim to be the defenders of free speech, while pointing fingers at the other side for censorship and encroachments. So what is actually going on? This week on the podcast, we explore where the idea of free speech comes from, how the concept has changed meaning in the hands of different people, and why fights over freedom of speech are often actually fights about power. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Zohran Mamdani has become one of the most popular and polarizing politicians in the last year. How did the New York City mayoral candidate go from a relatively unknown Democratic Socialist to becoming the frontrunner in the election for the U.S.'s largest city? In this episode, we unpack how Mamdani has energized unlikely voters and, for some, symbolized a fight for the soul of the Democratic party. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

What do conservatives like JD Vance and tech executives like Elon Musk have in common? They, like other pronatalists, want to “save civilization” by having more American babies. But it wasn’t that long ago that some people wanted to save the world by limiting the number of kids being born. This week on the pod, we explore the surprising way eugenics plays a role in these two seemingly opposite fears. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

After midnight on September 30th, helicopters hovered above a large Chicago apartment building, and heavily armored agents rappelled from the choppers onto the roof. What unfolded became a spectacle that swept up both undocumented migrants and U.S. citizens alike. We’re looking at one of the most high-profile and aggressive raids in President Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown —and what it means for other big cities that might be on the business end of operations like it. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

How do we define slurs like the N-word? Whether it’s heated debates about racist or ableist slurs, arguments about gender, or even new kinds of profanity, dictionary editors have been at the center of these fights for a long time. We're joined by Stefan Fatsis, the author of Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary, for a deep dive on divisive words and how the word nerds at America's premier dictionary wrestle with what to do with them. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Even since before October 7, 2023, American Jews have found themselves grappling with what it means to speak out against Israel and the rifts in their communities over their political views. And despite a new ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the division among Jews in the U.S. about Zionism and anti-Zionism could go on for years to come. In this episode, we revisit our conversations with some people experiencing that division first hand, and we dive deep into the long history of Jewish criticism of Israel with Marjorie Feld, professor of history at Babson College, and author of Threshold of Dissent, A History of American Jewish Critics of Zionism. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Stacey Abrams is one of the most high-profile voting rights activists in the U.S. She says whether we have an actual democracy might literally depend on protecting voting rights in the next election cycle or two. How to prevent that? Keep an eye on the 10 steps from democracy to autocracy. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

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Why is Malala Yousafzai so revered in the West while being much less popular in her home country of Pakistan? On this week's Code Switch, we unpack how Pakistani skepticism of Malala extends from a suspicion of U.S. and other foreign interests. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

This week on the pod: author Edgar Gomez talks about what it was like growing up poor, queer, and Nicaraguan Puerto Rican in Florida. His new memoir, Alligator Tears, chronicles his dreams of making it big, the various mini-scams he got into along the way, and his realization that a rich life might not ever come with bundles of money. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

This week: why the term "genocide" matters when talking about Israel's actions against Palestinians in Gaza. On Tuesday, a UN commission said it found that Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, as more people, groups and countries are alleging the same. We break down what the word genocide means on both a personal and geopolitical level, why it’s understood very differently by different people, and what that designation requires of the rest of the world. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Calls to ban “third world immigration” in favor of “remigration” -- or, mass deportation -- went from fringe ideas in far right circles to ones pedaled by mainstream conservatives. Now, those ideas are mirrored in government policy. On this week's Code Switch, we track how these ideas got their start among white nationalists and neo-Nazis in the U.S. and Europe and found their way into the language of popular right-wing influencers and Trump administration advisers. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy