Established in the wake of September 11, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was entrusted with protecting the U.S. from national security threats. Since then, much of the agency’s focus has been on the southern border.

Host Maren Machles learns more about people’s experiences in ICE detention by talking with formerly detained activist Berto Hernandez and traveling to El Paso, Texas, to hear directly from people who were recently released from ICE facilities.

Maren follows the story of Berto Hernandez, who recounts their detainment at ICE’s Adelanto Detention Center and the treatment and conditions they faced inside.

The Department of Homeland Security is a very large, very powerful federal agency. It’s also extremely secretive. Who monitors the agency and holds it accountable for the actions it takes as part of its mission to protect the homeland?

 In this episode, Maren gets into the conditions in ICE detention and raises the question: What needs to change for this broken system to be fixed?

In the season finale of Bad Watchdog, we return to where we started, with the DHS’s counterterrorism mission.