In the wake of 9/11, and in fear of another attack, members of Congress agreed to create a powerful new agency, the Department of Homeland Security. Now, more than 20 years later, the agency has exploded in size. It’s doubled down on detaining immigrants — sometimes in horrifying conditions. This summer, the Project On Government Oversight’s investigative podcast Bad Watchdog returns, with a new season focused on DHS. Host Maren Machles talks with people caught up in DHS detention, with advocates, investigators, and others sounding the alarm. Delving into POGO’s investigations of the agency, she asks: How did we get to a point where every undocumented person is seen as a possible national security threat? And what does that viewpoint cost us all?

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Bad Watchdog is a member of the Airwave Media network and a part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.