Introducing This Week on ICE 🎙️

A weekly podcast hosted by global affairs journalists Kelly Kimball and Matthew Kendrick.

The news overwhelm is real. And it’s by design.

When it comes to coverage of the U.S. Donald Trump Administration’s hardline immigration stance and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the volume, velocity and volatility of headlines can leave us disillusioned and disoriented.

But if we’re going to move forward — toward accountability, progress and justice — we need to understand what’s happening and why. We’re not here to offer a comprehensive explainer on the entire U.S. immigration apparatus. Instead, you can think of us as your anchor points and a resource to have your most important questions answered by experienced, multilingual reporters.

So, allow us to introduce ourselves and what we’re making:

We are global affairs journalists Kelly Kimball and Matthew Kendrick, the founding hosts of This Week on ICE (TWOI).

TWOI is a weekly podcast covering the most consequential developments in the Trump administration’s mass deportation policies. With unflinching detail, we bring you sharp analysis, original reporting, and expert insight from the halls of power to the communities most directly affected.

Each week, we’ll break down the biggest headlines, surface reporting that may have flown under your radar, and speak with guests who can help us understand what’s next amid rapidly expanding immigration activities marked by aggressive enforcement tactics, family separations, and removals to third countries and foreign detention facilities.

Here’s what we’re bringing to the table:

Kelly Kimball is a Webby- and Shorty Impact Award-winning journalist, journalism law, ethics & safety professor, and documentary photographer fluent in decoding international politics, global women’s rights, the geopolitics of climate change, and the consequential ripples of global flashpoints. She comes from a loud and loving family of immigrants who raised her with the values of doing right by the stories she covers and uplifting narratives of dignity and humanity that don’t often make the top fold. Through her work — as seen in Foreign Policy Magazine, The 19th News, More to Her Story, The Poynter Institute, Heat Map News, the San Francisco Chronicle, and others — she has been invited to share remarks on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly, the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and (forthcoming) Yale University through the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism.

Matthew Kendrick was raised in Chile’s Atacama desert and spent his teen years in rural Arizona. He started his career in China and South Korea, then cut his teeth producing CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, where he was nominated for an Emmy award, before launching global affairs newsletters at Morning Consult and GZERO Media. His reporting centers around great power competition, human rights abuse, and migration and refugee affairs. An avid linguist, he speaks fluent Spanish and Mandarin, good French, and basic Korean, Japanese, and Turkish.

Why this podcast — and why now?

Because immigration enforcement is now central to how the Trump administration is consolidating power in the United States. Basic constitutional and human rights are being tested, and America’s image at home and abroad is at a tipping point, with lives hanging in the balance. The scale and speed of events demand sustained attention.

We both bring a specific set of skills shaped by years of reporting on power, geopolitics, and human rights, and we believe those skills can rise to meet this moment. Our aim is clarity without sensationalism. Accountability without cynicism. And rigor without losing sight of the human stakes.

If you believe in this kind of independent coverage, and if you believe sustained reporting on immigration enforcement matters, we hope you’ll come along with us on this ride. Subscribe. Share. Send us your questions and tips at thisweekonice@gmail.com. This is a conversation, not just a broadcast.

We’re so glad you’re here.

See you on the airwaves.

— Kelly and Matt