880: What Is Your Emergency?

About this episode

The episode features unique 911 calls and stories about immigration enforcement in America.

911 calls unlike any we’ve heard before, and other stories about immigration agents sweeping through America. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Prologue: A collection of 911 calls where you can hear immigration enforcement moving through different cities and leaving chaos in their wake. (9 minutes) Act One: More 911 calls, including people on the line with dispatchers as ICE is chasing them, trying to puzzle out their next moves. (22 minutes) Act Two: Home Depots keep getting raided over and over again in Los Angeles. And day laborers are still showing up in store parking lots to find work every day. So what’s that like? Months and months of that cat and mouse? Anayansi Diaz-Cortes went to find out. (11 minutes) Act Three: Memo Torres tries to build an archive of every person taken by federal agents in Southern California. (11 minutes) Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org This American Life privacy policy. Learn more about sponsor message choices.

People in this episode

Host: This American Life

Guests: Anayansi Diaz-Cortes, Memo Torres

Topics covered

• 911 calls
• immigration
• enforcement
• chaos
• day laborers
• Los Angeles

Keywords

• 911 calls
• immigration agents
• chaos
• Home Depot raids
• day laborers
• Southern California

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ICE

More episodes of This American Life

• 888: Not Today, Hades! · June 7, 2026 · 59 min
• 137: The Book That Changed Your Life · May 31, 2026 · 1h 1m
• 676: Here’s Looking at You, Kid · May 24, 2026 · 1h 3m
• 887: Two Is One, One Is None! · May 17, 2026 · 1h 1m
• 886: Blackout · May 3, 2026 · 1h 3m
• Ira (Reluctantly) Gives a Graduation Speech · May 1, 2026 · 8 min