Who Gets To Belong When Papers Decide Your Worth

A joke about winter melts into a hard look at power, identity, and safety. We trace how ICE took shape after 9/11 and why its tools now reach deep into neighborhoods, protests, and private lives. As two adoptees, we connect policy to the body: the feeling of carrying a passport everywhere, the dread of a missing file, and the reality that some intercountry adoptees never received citizenship because the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 left an age‑based gap. When paperwork defines belonging, a missed signature can become exile.

We share the human cost behind the headlines: friends who came home from war changed, marches drowned out by flashbangs, and a parent forced to draft a contingency plan in case of deportation. Along the way, we examine how radicalization creeps in—from bathroom‑stall graffiti that read “Nazis = America’s Taliban” to recruitment pipelines that prey on economic despair. Then we follow the data: geofencing, license plate readers, stingrays, facial recognition, and the shadow economy of brokers that turn ad clicks into raid plans. If your phone knows your routine, so can an operation.

This isn’t just analysis—it’s a toolkit. We break down concrete steps to shrink your digital footprint: limit location to “while using,” disable ad IDs, block cross‑app tracking, cut unneeded permissions, and rethink routine check‑ins. We offer community safety ideas that focus on warning, not escalation—shared signals, and documentation. And we make the case for an adoptee‑inclusive citizenship fix that honors the promises made when children were flown across oceans and told they were home.

Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs both context and steps they can take today, and leave a review with your take: What protects belonging—policy, protest, or both?

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Transcript

Opening Banter And Winter Jokes

SPEAKER_03 0:19

Hi, this is Meg.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

And this is Billy. And we are The Adopt Twins.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

Welcome to a podcast from two adoptees who are navigating life, loss, moving on, and growing up.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

For our adopted friends, we hope to bring you a familiar point of view. And for our friends who aren't, welcome to the complicated jungle of how we get on.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

We're starting with it's a it's a very fun topic, near and dear to a lot of people's hearts. Hopefully, it's a completely antiquated topic by the time it releases. That would be nice.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

That would be really nice because hopefully there's not too much winter left.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Yeah. I don't know. That groundhog came out. He said, you know what, buddy? You're gonna get some more. You're gonna get it whether you like it or not.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

Yeah. Then put his little red hat on and went back in his burrow.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Yeah, exactly. Just bury your head, you little fing groundhog.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

I learned recently that a groundhog is the same thing as a woodchuck.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Oh, really? Yeah, didn't know that. How about that? I guess, yeah, they they do look like they're both little fuzzy burritos.

SPEAKER_04 1:35

Mmm.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yeah, I like that. I don't know if they taste like fuzzy burritos.

SPEAKER_04 1:39

Oh, that's unfortunate.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Like, I don't know. They could. Possible they do. Like the dream can stay alive. So we could try that. Yeah, we could try it. Can't cook it. Gotta taste it raw.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

Like sushi.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Like sushi.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Like I've heard of sushi burritos.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

They exist. They're in Chicago. They're delicious. They're they were one of they were something that you could easily remark upon Chicago being a destination for until other things became what people talked about when it came to Chicago.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

Yeah, there's a lot of snow and ice there, I've heard.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Yeah, that's it's stuck around.

From Ice To ICE: Defining The Agency

SPEAKER_03 2:22

Can you tell me what exactly this ice is that's there in Chicago? Like, is it the kind that comes with the snow and it's like, you know, you can slip and fall on your ass or not paying attention, or is it like something else?

SPEAKER_00 2:36

I think this type of ice just doesn't know how to come anymore. But we're talking I think that's probably one of the major defining characteristics of this particular agency. It's actually an agency, Meg. It's the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. It's a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security that's responsible for enforcing immigration laws, investigating transnational crimes, and managing the detention and removal of undocumented individuals. Or, as other people have put it, illegal aliens are taking her gerb. Or they're eat they're eating her pets. They're eating her pets. They're eating them. Sorry. It does operate through major branches, including Homeland Security investigations and enforcement and removal operations. Pretty cool, huh?

SPEAKER_03 3:33

It sounds great. I mean, you know, the whole not coming thing seems like a little sad on their part, you know.

SPEAKER_04 3:43

But I mean, is it not being not coming, or is it that they just don't have the opportunity to because nobody likes them and isn't inviting them to the party?

SPEAKER_00 3:56

You say tomato, I say domestic terrorism. Um yeah. But like the thing is, they've been around since the formation of our country, right?

SPEAKER_03 4:09

I mean, you know, from what I've heard recently that the the rebels over during the Boston Tea Party were actually domestic terrorists.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

They were? Oh no, that's well, okay. The thing is, though, a lot of immigrants came in and muddied the water after the Boston Tea Party.

SPEAKER_03 4:30

So You mean like all those black and brown people?

SPEAKER_00 4:34

No, I was talking about the Irish, but oh, I forgot there was a lot of black and brown people that were brought over here against their will.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

Yeah, I I've actually heard about that recently. That was in the triangular trade route, where in the Americas they grew raw materials like cotton and had lumber, and they'd ship it to Europe, and Europe would make it into things like clothing and furniture, and they would send it back to the Americas and to Africa, and then Africa would send people to work and get the raw materials without being paid.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Right. You know what they should have done? They should have just taken the native culture, they should have said, hey guys, we got great news. We've got this new thing called jobs. All right, it sucks. Where are you going? Why are you leaving? Get back here. That didn't work. I can actually see how that did not work out so well. That's why they had to bring in other people that were different than them.

SPEAKER_04 5:44

Uh, but why couldn't their own people do it?

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Their own people. Yeah. See, here's the difference between you being a transnational adoptee and me being a white adoptee. You you just uh eh, I don't wanna. Like that's like the whole, that's the white vibe. Yeah, that looks hard. I don't wanna, I don't wanna. I don't wanna, but I don't like it, how it's done either. I don't wanna do it though. You know, that's that's the the big impression that I can give right now that I guess makes sense. I don't, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 6:18

Oh, I see. I get it. Because like I was was brought up by a white family, so I very much say all those things like I don't wanna, but because of my face, I'm made to do things that I don't want to do.

Post‑9/11 Origins And Personal Fallout

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Yeah, it's yeah, sorry about that. We're the we're the absolute worst. Here's I want to give a quick aside. Because like this department was was founded not at the beginning of America. No, it was founded, it was founded at the beginning of the new America, which was after 9-11 when they said, let's see what we can get away with, guys. I bet we can I bet we can create a surveillance state. What do you think? I'm pretty sure we can. And so that's how kind of ICE was formed, the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which I mean, I'll I don't know if you remember that, but I remember not agreeing with it when they decided to to implement it.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

Yeah, so that was a time in my life where a lot of things were happening. I was going to school at three different schools in one day.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 7:23

Every day of the week. I'd have to travel an hour, I'd have to then like do all these things, and it was pretty terrible. And my my adoptive father lost his job that year, and I was left like running this organization that was about like like being against like school violence and all this stuff happened. And then I was getting calls from all these people asking me how I felt about the terrorist attacks. And I'm like, I was just saying that we shouldn't like call people names at school. So it was a lot, but you know, by 2002, that was when a lot of my friends who didn't do so well in school decided it would be a good idea to join the military instead of trying to go to college.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:12

I mean I remember thinking that after what had happened and what was currently happening, that was not a great idea. So I don't specifically remember exactly that happening, but I just remember just thinking everything was bad.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Yeah. They did not have a good time, your friends. I mean, I had a few friends who went as well, and they came back with a mile-long stare and the an il inability to uh even get into law enforcement because they were injured out on duty, and you know, it was a bad time.

SPEAKER_03 8:50

The war on terrorism.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

The war on terrorism. But what comes a roar goes a war. So now we're the terrorists.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

The population of the United States of America. I haven't experienced being in the presence of a time traveler often. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

But only a couple times. You have?

SPEAKER_03 9:18

Well, you said you haven't often, so only a couple times?

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Yeah, only only a couple times, and only once that I can pinpoint that relates to the ICE. So back in 2009, I remember going to the restroom over at Stafford Springs Motorway. Um up in Connecticut. Yeah. And it was it was a fine bathroom, I guess. Plenty of stalls, not a lot of people in there. It was fine.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

W was I by chance there as well?

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Yeah, I think you were.

SPEAKER_03 9:50

Oh, I think I know where this is going. Okay, please continue.

Time Traveler Graffiti And Radicalization

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Yeah. As I was in a stall, I saw a sentence that made absolutely no sense in my brain. It was, it created almost a spiral that had no, as I tried to make sense of what it was trying to say, and the only logical explanation for why somebody wrote this sentence down was they were a time traveler coming back to that moment to warn us. And what was scribbled down was the words Nazis equal America's Taliban. Now in 2009, one Nazis were not in fashion. Okay. They were plastered all over video games as the bad guys you kill.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

There was a lot of movies out there saying Nazis are a thing of the past.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

And America's Taliban was the Taliban, right? Right. Like we had friends that we were just talking about who were out in the middle of nowhere taking on the Taliban. They were America's Taliban. And now, all those years later, yeah, that time traveler, they knew what they were talking about because the, I mean, the ICE was created as it seems like an almost boutique offshoot of the home Department of Homeland Security. But I believe there's enterprising racists who found a way to use it as a homegrown militia that is completely dependent on the whims of the current administration that we have.

SPEAKER_03 11:47

Oh, and and what's our current administration like here in the United States? It's run by pedophiles.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Aren't those bad people? To some. To pedophiles, apparently not. Apparently they're great. Good guys that can help each other get each other a job. And also a nice weekend when it's time to relax. So this new push that recently happened was a recruiting push that involves taking the most desperate who have been affected by the I would say economic policy of the current pedophilia administration. And sorry, alleged pedophilia. Sorry, I can't, I don't have the receipts. It's just I I'm I don't have the other three million documents on hand to really un-redact it and show the proof. So once again, this is all alleged. They are alleged pedophiles, the current administration, people that my family voted for. Yeah. Not all of them, not the whole family, but enough of them to make it be like I guess we're not friends on Facebook anymore.

SPEAKER_03 13:11

Yikes.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Yeah. So so they decided to disenfranchise as many people as humanly possible by creating scarcity of work through not only government jobs having layoffs and corresponding industries, but then creating a tariff situation that makes things that you can't aff you can't afford things. They're unaffordable. Things are unaffordable.

SPEAKER_03 13:40

So looking at the current administration, the alleged pedophiles, they created this situation of the whole no jobs and not enough money to get the things you want.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

They did their darndest to make it a reality. Now, is it like across the board true? No. But apparently it's true enough where they came in and sprinkled an opportunity to make$50,000 with the opportunity to make an additional$50,000. Oh, how do you see that? You sign up for the ICE. You join the fight. You take a look at all of these really cool targeted ads on your Facebook, on your Instagram that have a lot of Nazi iconography. And you go, I'm going to sign up. And so they sign up a bunch of people, they poorly train them, and they let them loose with complete stated immunity to just go do whatever you want to do.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

That doesn't sound like a great idea. I mean, do whatever you want to do, like in what sense, in what regard? What are they doing?

SPEAKER_00 14:51

I don't Well, they're walking into bathrooms with opposite gendered presenting folks after they've been detained. I'm a fellow who likes to watch a lady take a urine just like the next guy. And that is something that I could, it's been caught on video, I could do if I wanted to as an officer of the ICE. Or more specifically too, the the border enforcement. What is it, customs and border enforcement?

SPEAKER_03 15:20

I have some questions about that.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

I'm taking questions. What's what's your first question? Is it about the following an of uh somebody who is uh who's who's who's female as a male into a porter god?

SPEAKER_03 15:37

Yeah, I'm not really sure why the US Customs and Border Protection Agency would want to do that. I mean, I I don't feel anything uh good could come from that.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

No?

SPEAKER_03 15:51

No. Am I wrong? Can something good come from this?

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Let's do a quick brainstorm. So you've got the opportunity to see a lady's private parts as a guy, which is awesome. You know what I mean? Like, it's great. It's the biological imperative. So, like, that's pretty cool.

unknown 16:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

They could be they could be smuggling a bazooka, you know?

SPEAKER_03 16:12

What wait, the ladies?

SPEAKER_00 16:14

The ladies, yeah. Of course they could be smuggling a bazooka.

SPEAKER_03 16:16

Who has?

SPEAKER_00 16:17

I there's many orifices, Meg. I sorry, Dina, there's many orifices. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

Okay, I I get that, but like I feel like a bazooka is rather large. Like, I don't know much about like handguns or any of that stuff, but like I feel like the 10 millimeters are like smaller, and I feel like, you know, that that would make more sense for the private parts. Am I wrong here? Well, or am I just getting off track? Is this the wrong point?

SPEAKER_00 16:41

The the issue for both of us is that we haven't had the extensive 45-day training that these people have had in order to make the decision to follow somebody that you shouldn't be following into a bathroom. But I'm sure it was part of their 45-day training from man, I can't believe Blockbuster shot down. I'll never have a job again to, well, it's time to follow you into a bathroom, you know? Yeah. So I can only guess as to the reasons they would do it based off of my limited scope.

SPEAKER_03 17:20

Um Yeah, I don't think there's any good reasons at all.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Well, I guess you would know more, because as as somebody who I'm guessing would feel uncomfortable if a man followed them into their bathroom stall. You do you you don't think that there's any explanation in that moment that would say, hey, this is okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

No.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Yeah. So that's just w one example of the nightmare. And that was an example that was, I would say, moderately early in the occupation that's underway. Well, I was curious for you because I heard a nasty little rumor that there is becoming a possible concerted effort to deport transnational adoptees. You've heard it hit my algorithm. There was somebody who was not too happy about it. So I'm curious to know what information you have on that and to know how you're feeling about that.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

From what I've heard, between January 20th, when he took office in 2025, to December 10th, there's been a deportation of 605,000 people. And that's not including the 1.9 million that have voluntarily self-deported. Unfortunately, though, there was also the over those first nine months, 170 incidents where federal agents actually held U.S. citizens. I'm not really sure why they would hold U.S. citizens.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

The customs and border people.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

What would make them think that they were not U.S. citizens?

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Oh, is it is it the color of their skin?

Fear Of Deporting Transnational Adoptees

SPEAKER_03 19:05

Actually, yeah. From what I can tell, from what I've read, it seems like it's been a lot of black and brown people. And bringing it back to what you had asked me about the transracial adoptees, obviously there's been many that have come from Africa and South America, so they are included in this as well. First, there's that whole fact where they're looking at, you know, like denaturalizing some citizens. So that's one concern that we trans-racial, transnational adoptees have had, which uh the whole I came here legally, I did it the right way thing. So I did not come here of my own accord. I was sold and bought and put on a plane to come here. And luckily, my adoptive parents did get me citizenship. I guess that falls under the I did it the right way.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Yeah, you made the right choices. That's what will be the size of the law.

SPEAKER_03 20:04

So that's the first thing that's worrisome to many adoptees, because that could affect any of us. But then the other thing is that a lot of transnational adoptees don't actually have citizenship.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

That's a nightmare.

SPEAKER_03 20:17

Yeah. So there's there's this thing that happened in 2000 where everyone thinks everything's fine, the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, but there was an age limit on that. So what that did was it automatically granted citizenship to most of the foreign board adoptees that were under the age of 18 and living in the US on or after February 27, 2001. However, those that were over the age of 18 at that point, they were excluded.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Okay. Okay. So what you're telling me is there is a lot of people out there that are very fearful, thinking that their situation, while maybe not necessarily the most secure in terms of what the paperwork can say, the history of America has proven that they're not in danger of being shipped to a country they've never lived before.

SPEAKER_03 21:21

Um, well Okay. I guess I kind of gotta let you know on a couple of things. Yes, this is a wonderful lesson we are having today. So let's give some history to some people that may not know. As far as adoptees go, there is unfortunately due to the trauma we have. What do we have trauma from? I mean, we are we are grateful and we have better lives and we are lucky. But as much as people say that, there's also the whole trauma of being taken from our birth families. Ties severed from our actual knowledge of our families. And when it comes to the transracial and transnational side, then we're also losing our culture, our language, our food, people that look like us, et cetera, et cetera. So for whatever reason, I because those, I guess, are not real reasons, adoptees they can exhibit higher rates of conduct problems and attachment issues and behavioral challenges.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 22:30

So there's been studies that indicate higher incidences of externalizing disorders and the conduct problems, which some people say may, maybe, maybe not, stem from early childhood trauma, loss, and attachment issues. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

Yeah. I mean, how can we know?

SPEAKER_03 22:52

Yeah, who knows? So then there's unfortunately some adoptive parents, they don't get the right preparation, loving and taking care of a child who has that trauma and loss and those attachment issues from early childhood. And without having that right support, there's actually been many instances where the adoptive families then put the kid into the system, back into the system, because they can't handle it. They don't want to handle it.

The Child Citizenship Act’s Gap

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Welcome to another wave of trauma.

SPEAKER_03 23:22

Yes. So if you're going through all of these situations that could possibly maybe cause you some trauma, apparently, as you get older, you can act out in ways that could potentially land you in trouble with law enforcement.

SPEAKER_04 23:39

Right.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

And it's not great when you have to deal with law enforcement. And it's you don't have to be adopted, obviously, to have those issues. And there are plenty of adoptees that have not had those issues. But with those higher rates of behavioral issues and trauma and all of that, it kind of makes sense, at least in my brain, but maybe I think a little weird, but that people that have those histories would have more trouble with the law.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Right. Yeah. No, that makes perfect sense. It's if you don't have the tools to deal with it, it's going to be very, very, very difficult to see the forest through the trees, especially if you're reacting in the moment and you're used to just kind of having that survival instinct kick in.

SPEAKER_03 24:25

Exactly. And so unfortunately, a lot of times they end up some major crimes that have happened. And it has led to some deportations previously. The thing is, at least for for me, I grew up thinking that not only did my family not want me, but my country didn't want me.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:48

So my people, those that looked like me, didn't want me.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:53

So to then have to go through all that trauma that you've had through your life to then be told you're being sent back to this country where you don't speak the language, where you don't have any friends, where you don't have a job, where you don't have a home, where you don't have a family, and where you have all these feelings of resentment towards. Hi, that's that.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Yeah, that's a nightmare. That's a nightmare scenario.

SPEAKER_03 25:26

Absolutely. We have been trying for years now to have another law passed that'll grant citizenship to all adoptees in the United States. But a lot of lawmakers are trying to exclude those that have already been deported. But we feel that they should have the right to come back. They should have a right to have citizenship because if they were birth children of those people, even if they committed whatever crimes, they would still be allowed to be in this country.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

Overall, which which which which lawmakers? Is it like of a particular party that doesn't agree with this act of compassion?

SPEAKER_03 26:08

You know, I'm not exactly sure as far as like that particular piece of it, but the bill itself, I will say, has been a bipartisan bill for the last five years or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 26:20

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

So it's just it's waiting on a vote.

SPEAKER_03 26:25

Yeah, it always has to be unfortunately attached to a larger bill.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Right.

Adoptee Trauma And Legal Risk

SPEAKER_03 26:30

And um, it it just hasn't been able to pass at all yet. It passed the House, I think, back in 2020, and then it sat in the Senate, and then time ran out on it. So, with that though, there's a lot of adoptees who, whether they were put into the system by their adoptive parents, whether as they got older they cut ties with their adoptive parents through moves, through uh fires, through whatever reasons, they don't necessarily have their record. And right now they're really nervous to even go and try to get it from the government because just in case they aren't citizens, because some of them may not know if they haven't been in touch with their adoptive families, they don't want it to signal that they are not citizens. So they're you know, they're very much in between a rock and a hard place. And I myself, through the Freedom of Information Act, requested all of my paperwork. And I have my passport, I have my naturalization certificate. I'm lucky with those things, but I just wanted to see if I could find out any other information about my life. And it came back, it was 112 pages. 67 of them were completely redacted. The next, there was, I think, 32 or 33 of them had partial redactions, and then the rest were either just blank sheets that were in between that I got obviously the full blank sheet of, or there was a photo on it, and that was it. So there were probably only 10 pages that were not redacted at all.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

I see. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:08

So they're really removing a lot of the files. I'm safe. I still carry my passport everywhere I go.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

What a time.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

And Chicago.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

Oh, in Chicago. I mean, right now, as we are talking, it's it's too cold for them to come here or something. I don't know. They're still doing it. People are still protesting them, but we do have a presence here, and we do have a collective trauma from when they were here earlier in the year. They gassed Halloween walks. I would say two or three stops away from where I live. Friends of mine who I work with, they just look out their window all of a sudden they're hearing flash banks going off in the middle of the day.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

And the the the footage of, I mean, for me, I thought that shooting a priest in the head a couple times would probably disqualify you from ever holding a gun ever again.

SPEAKER_04 29:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

But they popped that off a couple times. And that and then and then they just moved on to the next. So I am very, very concerned about what the summer is going to be like. I I can't believe, I mean, I'm we're gonna see if I get a new job where I'm gonna be out and about in the public. I cannot believe that I'm potentially gonna have to ask them what the protocol is going to be once America's Taliban shows up to start rounding up the Browns. Hey, do we shut down before they start shooting? Do we shut down like when the gas comes, or do they enter the premises so we can all be safe? And then just trying to figure out how to keep a team of people just trying to pay their rent safe.

SPEAKER_03 30:28

Like Billy, you're white. I mean, are are they doing anything to white people?

SPEAKER_00 30:39

Yeah, they're shooting him in the head. They're shooting him in the head. They are shooting the whites in the head. Yeah. If you get a little mouthy, you get shot in the head. That's the new rule.

SPEAKER_03 30:50

So it doesn't matter what color you are anymore.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

No, it doesn't matter what color you are. All that matters is that you're totally cool with alleged pedophilia.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

Oh.

Family, Belonging, And Deportation Horror

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Simple as that. So, you know, it's a pretty quick transition in anybody's mind, I think. I'm having a hard time with it, honestly.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

It's uh you know, as someone who was essayed as a child, that's that's not an easy pill for me to swallow.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

Yeah, I know. It seems like it's not an easy pill for a lot of people to swallow, which is why they're in the streets screaming at the top of their lungs to these former personal trainers, these Call of Duty cosplayers, these unintelligent, unemployable masses that got a pass and a paycheck to say do whatever you want. And the good news is they are getting a lot of training on how to really feel like it's a us versus them mentality. And the them is now the people who are standing up for freedom.

SPEAKER_03 32:08

It's a hard one for me. I went to my first protest when I was five years old. I remember being on the state capitol lawn and like with everyone around me, and we were all shouting and chanting. And then I remember, you know, I planned my first protest when I was 15. I've gone to protests most of my life. The my most recent one being President's Day of last year. But now I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place. My child has been to one, two, three, four, at least four protests, because I want him to know that we as Americans have that right to stand up and peacefully protest. But when they are coming after and deporting people based off of what they look like and me being a single parent, that's not a risk that I can take. But I also don't want him to think that you let these people get away with it. And I have not figured out how to yet handle this. But what I have handled is last summer I spoke with the court-appointed person and my son's father to come up with a plan. If I were to get deported, what would happen with my son?

SPEAKER_02 33:31

What's the plan? What what what a horrible conversation to have.

Citizenship Bill Hurdles And Records

SPEAKER_03 33:38

Yeah, yeah. And the plan is if I have time to self-deport to Korea, go to Korea, and then my son would stay here because it would be hard enough to lose. And I made this choice. I did. Because I just I didn't have it in me to fight either on this, and I knew that it would be sort of the right choice. It's hard enough to lose either parent. So whether he went with me or he stayed here, he'd be losing one of his parents. But if he went with me, he'd also be losing the rest of his family and his friends and the activities that he knows and the classes that he goes to and the doctors that he goes to. And I just didn't think that that would be right to do. And he's the only blood relative that I have. So that was a really hard choice to have to make. And I pray that it never comes to that. But he would come and visit for the summer. And once he got older and he could fly in his own for longer breaks from school, he would visit as well.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

I'm so sorry, Bina.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

Like these are not conversations that we should have to be having.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

No.

SPEAKER_03 35:01

So what the hell can any of us do to even stay safe in any way? Even the smallest way.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

There's people out there who are documenting all of ICE's movements, and at the end of the day, the evidence will be there so that a harsh a harsh hit from justice comes down, and it will make people think twice before ever attempting something like this ever again.

SPEAKER_03 35:33

But it keeps happening. So we're gonna have our own Nuremberg trials one day. Like that wasn't that long ago.

SPEAKER_00 35:41

It wasn't. It wasn't. So the question is was when is enough enough? And I don't know. What do we do? Hope for the midterms?

SPEAKER_03 35:51

That they're all trying to steal, anyways.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

We'll see. I mean, they're doing a doing a pretty good job of creating a feeling of hopelessness with the folks who can't it's just what they want, right? And it's it's a tactic, it's a tactic that has sometimes worked. I don't know how well it will continue to work. I think that there are particular people that are involved in this that are probably not long for this world health-wise, and if they were to graciously be picked up by the hand of the Lord Almighty while they're sleeping restfully one night, I think the entire house of cards comes crumbling down. I think that's that's it.

SPEAKER_03 36:47

But they're tracking people, they're tracking whole neighborhoods.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:53

I don't know how many people know this, but they have this surveillance that they can track people, they can identify people, and what's annoying is there's some laws around it with trackings and stuff like that, but like they've paid all this money to use commercial data and like mobile data that's just out there that we just give them freely.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

Yeah. Yeah. They can get access to geofencing, they they've got the flock cameras that are in place. This is the double-edged sword of technology that it can be used for evil purposes.

SPEAKER_03 37:29

Yeah. They're using penlink, tangles, and web block. They're using data brokers, they're using the geofencing as you mentioned. They're using uh cell cellbrite, gray key, paragon, social net, they're using fivecast onyx, they're using biometric facial recognition, they're using uh cell site.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

Oh, cell site simulators?

Protests, Violence, And Safety Dilemmas

SPEAKER_03 38:01

Yes, the stingrays, AI-powered dossiers, they're using license plate readers, and this all just is so that they can track the information and basically figure out where you live and where you hang out and where you work and where your doctor's offices are because of how where you're going, and they're seeing that so that they're able to recognize the patterns. Like, oh, they usually get home around this time so that they can go and actually pick people up.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Yep, they can plan an entire raid so that there can be the least amount of visibility for it, or the most amount of visibility, whichever they want.

SPEAKER_03 38:40

Basically, everything that we do is on our phones nowadays. Everything. So these cell companies or whatever, these advertisers are just giving this information to these people.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

Oh, yeah. They're getting money. They're like, okay, whatever. Give us money for it. Give us an obscene amount of money. And they said, we've got obscene amounts of money. It does not even matter. So what can can we do?

SPEAKER_03 39:05

There's some right. We can vote and we can hope that the elections are still on the up and up. But there are some things that we can actually do with our phones.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

Such as?

SPEAKER_03 39:15

So many apps ask you if they can have your location. And like a lot of them need it. If you're trying to buy something at Target, you want it to pop up with the local Target. I get it. But you can set it so that it only finds your location when you're using the app. Or for some apps, you don't allow it at all. Why does Facebook need to know where you are? Oh, so you can check in to whatever location you want to. Well, if you type it in, you can still check in there, which right now I don't really think saying where you are is the safest thing, anyways. But so you can set it to don't allow or location to only when in use. Oh, that's good. With all of your apps. And then you can also disable advertising IDs on your phone. That's information that they're buying from these people. So on an Android, what you want to do is you want to go to your settings in your phone, you want to go down to privacy and ads and delete your advertising ID.

unknown 40:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 40:16

On the iPhones, it is going to settings, privacy, tracking, and turn off allow apps to request to track.

SPEAKER_00 40:27

Great.

SPEAKER_03 40:29

And then there's the thing where a lot of apps ask to use other apps on your phone. So on allow apps to track your activity across other companies' apps and websites, you want to hit do not allow or ask app not to track.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Great. And then we just have to get over the guilt of those nice companies not making money off of our data.

SPEAKER_03 40:57

Yeah. Oh, God forbid. So I hope that we're all able to stay safe out there, and us, of course, as well. And it's all we can do is try to find the humanity in the world and try to get everyone to get back to that somehow.

SPEAKER_00 41:20

Grab a whistle. Yep. That's that's what you can do. If we're talking about immediacy, grab a whistle. You see some stuff going out, get out there and blow the whistle. Remember, the whistle is not there to be a weapon against the people of ICE or the customs and border patrol. The whistle is there to warn your neighbors. So as hard as you can if you see something happening, blow that whistle. But know that the intention is not to cause harm to the agents. It's to warn your neighbors five miles away.

Surveillance Tech And Data Brokers

SPEAKER_03 41:58

So I am not going to throw my whistle at them.

SPEAKER_00 42:01

No, you're going to use every single possible. What do they call those things in the lungs? Arolys? Man, I was thinking that's too much.

SPEAKER_02 42:12

I always said areola.

SPEAKER_00 42:14

Yeah, I was so close to saying it too. And I'm like, nope, no, it ain't right. It ain't right. Don't even try.

SPEAKER_02 42:20

Nope. Nope.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

I'm sorry, Dr. Babbitt. I was so bad at biology. But yeah. Really go down deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, past the COVID layer and even deeper. And go ahead and blow into that whistle with all your might so that your friends and neighbors who may be affected know. All right. I'm just going to stay inside and draw the windows, please.

SPEAKER_03 42:45

This is why ice can't come anymore.

SPEAKER_00 42:47

The ones that people won't let them.

SPEAKER_03 42:52

If you liked this episode of the Adopt Wins, I urge you to pull over if you're driving or stop what you're doing and take one minute to take out your phone and text someone you know that you think would also like the Adopt Twins. Send them a text that says, Hey, I've been listening to this podcast and I think you'd like it. Let me know what you think and send them a link to the show. Word of mouth is the best way to spread the hilarity of the Adopt Twins. So stop gatekeeping us and let someone else know. We'll catch you all soon.