Legal History of Mandatory Immigration Detention

Sarah Longwell and Elliot Williams explain a series of legal fights that go to the core of how the country operates—from whether birthright citizenship could actually be undone, to a new immigration detention policy that could keep people locked up for years.

They also discuss the Pentagon’s escalating clash with the press and what it means for the First Amendment and the surreal push to rewrite the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

Correction (March 31, 2026, 9:20 p.m. EDT): Elliot Williams mistakenly mentioned San Antonio, Texas as the location of a court conducting legal proceedings involving abortion pills; in fact, the court is in Amarillo, Texas.