Michelle Jokisch Polo
Stateside ProducerMichelle Jokisch Polo is a producer for Stateside. She joins us from WKAR in Lansing, where she reported in both English and Spanish on a range of topics, including politics, healthcare access and criminal justice. Her stories have appeared on NPR, as well as WBUR's Here & Now and Marketplace. Michelle began her career as a journalist as the head reporter at El Vocero Hispano, the largest Hispanic newspaper in Michigan.
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![An editorial collage combining a black-and-white photograph of the Patrick V. McNamara Federal Building, home to the Detroit Immigration Court, with colorful torn-paper fragments of text clipped from immigration court bond hearing documents. The scraps — in pink, blue, and green — display partial phrases including "Granted" (with a checked checkbox), "Denied" (with a checked checkbox), "a flight risk," "Respondent is a flight risk," "the Immigration Judge denied Pe[titioner]," "(ICE), released Petit[ioner]," "under bond of $5,000," "bond of $15,000, with," and "Denied, because." The overlapping fragments visually contrast bond grants and denials, evoking the bureaucratic and high-stakes nature of immigration detention proceedings.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0595959/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1920x1070+0+5/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F75%2F7b%2Fa875b7d043b4b67d5862f5501af5%2Fbond-headers-5.png)
Los inmigrantes detenidos en Michigan demandaron al gobierno federal para intentar obtener su libertad. Las demandas funcionaron para cientos de personas, pero un nuevo análisis muestra que eso está cambiando. -
From the 1700s to today, the way we play euchre has evolved in so many ways. Today, we’re sharing stories from two listeners who have taken that tradition and made the game their own. -
It seems like everyone in Michigan knows how to play euchre — or has at least heard of it — but was the card game actually invented here, and what's the history behind it? -
Immigrants locked up in Michigan sued the federal government to try and go free. The lawsuits worked for hundreds of people, but a new analysis shows that’s changing.
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As the population in the privately-run North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin grew in September 2025, habeas corpus petitions started to show up in Michigan’s federal District Courts. Judges granted most of the hundreds of petitions they’ve ruled on. -
The Michigan Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of a former professor at Calvin University who was terminated after officiating a wedding of two LGBTQ+ people. -
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The average daily population at the North Lake facility in Michigan has ballooned to more than 1,300 people. This retired pastor visits each week. -
If you live in Michigan, it's very likely you’ve heard someone use the word “ope” more than once. But why do we say it and where does it come from? -
Kent County resident Joe Cedillo has been out of prison for a year. He spent nearly 40 years in prison for a crime he committed at 18. Stateside Producer Michelle Jokisch Polo caught up with Cedillo and his family at their home in Grand Rapids.
![An editorial collage combining a black-and-white photograph of the Patrick V. McNamara Federal Building, home to the Detroit Immigration Court, with colorful torn-paper fragments of text clipped from immigration court bond hearing documents. The scraps — in pink, blue, and green — display partial phrases including "Granted" (with a checked checkbox), "Denied" (with a checked checkbox), "a flight risk," "Respondent is a flight risk," "the Immigration Judge denied Pe[titioner]," "(ICE), released Petit[ioner]," "under bond of $5,000," "bond of $15,000, with," and "Denied, because." The overlapping fragments visually contrast bond grants and denials, evoking the bureaucratic and high-stakes nature of immigration detention proceedings.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c57a8e5/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1920x1070+0+5/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F75%2F7b%2Fa875b7d043b4b67d5862f5501af5%2Fbond-headers-5.png)
