How The Coast Guard Keeps Prisoners On The Open Sea

Journalist Seth Freed Wessler joins us to discuss his new investigation in The New York Times Magazine produced in partnership with The Investigative Fund: “The Coast Guard’s ‘Floating Guantánamos’.”  He explores how the United States Coast Guard has been patrolling international waters in the Pacific Ocean in search of drug smugglers, who are often Colombian, Ecuadorian and Guatemalan fishermen. After they are caught, the smugglers are shackled to decks and transported to America to stand before a judge. Freed Wessler explores the conditions on these ships, and why these detainees are held on the high seas for weeks or sometimes months.