logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2025
27m 39s

The autocrat's prison

Vox
About this episode

The US is deporting alleged members of the gang Trén de Aragua and paying El Salvador to house them in a mega-prison. But we don’t know if the deportees are actually gang members at all.


This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy and Amanda Lewellyn, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Noel King.


Further reading: Inside El Salvador's notorious CECOT mega-prison. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast

Support Today, Explained by becoming a Vox Member today: http://www.vox.com/members


More than 250 suspected gang members deported from the U.S. arriving in El Salvador's mega-prison. Photo by El Salvador Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next
Oct 10
The campus resistance
In this special feed drop of On with Kara Swisher, Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber talks about standing up to Donald Trump and what free speech on campus really looks like. This episode was produced by Cristian Castro Rossel, Kateri Jochum, Michell Eloy, Megan Burney an ... Show More
53m 47s
Oct 9
Saudi Arabia is no joke
The Riyadh Comedy Festival was billed as “two weeks of laughs in the desert” but has comics asking, “At what cost?” This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Adriene Lilly, and hosted by Noel King. A poster f ... Show More
26 m
Oct 8
Trump deploys the National Guard
The president is attempting to send the National Guard into two American cities for two (seemingly) different reasons with two (for now) different results. This episode was produced by Denise Guerra and Danielle Hewitt, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard and K ... Show More
25m 55s
Recommended Episodes
May 2025
Trump’s bromance with the ‘world’s coolest dictator’
More than 200 migrants from the US are being held in a high-security prison for terrorists in El Salvador, accused of being gang members. How did El Salvador become the repository for US deportees? And what does the friendship between President Bukele and President Trump tell us ... Show More
36m 15s
Mar 2025
What Trump’s Alien Enemies Act means for the US today
By invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, United States President Donald Trump launched a constitutional showdown and sent aspiring Americans to El Salvador to some of the worst prisons in the world. After putting the law on pause, a federal judge is questioning the legality of ... Show More
17m 55s
Apr 2025
Trump Says They’re Foreign Gang Members. Are They?
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has deported hundreds of Venezuelan migrants by quickly labeling them as gang members and foreign enemies, and boarding them on planes to El Salvador. It’s sidestepping their rights to a court hearing where anyone might be able to scrutin ... Show More
29m 10s
Sep 29
‘Alligator Alcatraz’: where are the missing detainees?
Hundreds of migrants have vanished from official records after being held at Florida’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz,” leaving families and lawyers in the dark. With reports of abuse, secretive contracts, and mounting legal challenges, the state-run detention center has become a ... Show More
23m 49s
Sep 24
Why Eswatini said yes to US deportees
The US has now struck deals with five African countries to accept deportees convicted of crimes. The individuals aren’t sent to their countries of origin, but to a third country. Eswatini took five men who aren’t its citizens. With Ghana, Rwanda, South Sudan and others signing on ... Show More
20m 40s
Sep 13
Full Episode: Friday, September 12, 2025
Following the horrific assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Matt Gutman reports on the arrest of 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson, Pierre Thomas has details on what we’re learning about the suspect and Jon Karl has more on Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s stark warning a ... Show More
23m 44s
Apr 2025
American Children Sent to Honduras, and A.I. on the Battlefield
 Plus, teaching student athletes how to go viral.On Today’s Episode: 2 American Children Were Sent to Honduras With Their Undocumented Mother, by Rachel NostrantWisconsin Judge Arrest: What We Know, by Isabelle TaftRubio Says Trump Will Decide This Week on Continuing Ukraine War ... Show More
10m 41s
Aug 24
The prison chief linked to organised crime - the Sunday Story
Bobby Cunningham was 31 when he became Head of Security at Wandsworth Prison, Britain’s most notorious jail, where he was tasked with fighting corruption. The Sunday Times's Whitehall editor Gabriel Pogrund reveals his dealings with organised crime.This podcast was brought to you ... Show More
38m 35s
Sep 10
Full Episode: Tuesday, September 09, 2025
Ian Pannell reports on Israel’s an unprecedented attack in Qatar targeting Hamas leaders in Doha amid discussions to end the war in Gaza. Qatar says it got warning from the U.S. 10 minutes after the attack; Pierre Thomas goes inside the ICE immigration crackdown in Chicago, where ... Show More
24 m
Sep 12
FBI releases photos of 'person of interest' in hunt for Charlie Kirk's killer
The FBI has released images of a person it's trying to find in connection with the murder of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a university in Utah on Wednesday. They show a figure dressed in black and wearing sunglasses. The gunman is still on the run. Also: Brazil’s for ... Show More
29m 20s