Speaker 1: From Fudromidia and PRX. It's Latino USA. I'm marian no
Speaker 1: Josa Today the story of the Dream Nine, a group
Speaker 1: of young undocumented activists who in twenty thirteen staged one
Speaker 1: of the riskiest protests in the history of the immigration
Speaker 1: rights movement in the United States. Welcome to Latino, USA.
Speaker 1: I'm Maria no Josa. For the so called Dreamers, undocumented
Speaker 1: young people, life in the United States is a constant limbo.
Speaker 1: They arrived in the United States as children and made
Speaker 1: this country their only home, many times even unaware that
Speaker 1: they were undocumented. Today, a lot of Dreamers are enrolled
Speaker 1: in a program known as DHAKA, or Deferred Action for
Speaker 1: Childhood Arrivals, which has allowed them to work, study, and
Speaker 1: live in the United States dates with identification and less
Speaker 1: fear of deportation. But in twenty seventeen, then President Donald
Speaker 1: Trump tried to fulfill his campaign promise of rescinding the
Speaker 1: DOCA program entirely program established by his predecessor, President Barack
Speaker 1: Obama in twenty twelve, after the case reached the Supreme
Speaker 1: Court in twenty twenty, Trump was unable to terminate the program. Then,
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one, President Joe Biden's administration renewed DACA,
Speaker 1: but following that renewal, a Texas District court ruled that
Speaker 1: DOCA was unconstitutional. In September of twenty twenty three, the
Speaker 1: Texas Court found the program illegal once again, and while
Speaker 1: advocates have tried to reverse this ruling, the Fifth Circuit
Speaker 1: Court of Appeals has also deemed DOCA unlawful, so the
Speaker 1: case could end up back at the Supreme Court. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: as Dreamers keep fighting to keep DOCA alive with legal challenges,
Speaker 1: the program is allowed to continue. Well, we hear at
Speaker 1: Latino USA wanted to revisit an episode that we originally
Speaker 1: ran in the year twenty fifteen, just about a decade ago.
Speaker 1: It's about a group of activists known as the Dream Nine,
Speaker 1: and while the Dream Nine are not DACA recipients, we're
Speaker 1: going to tell you why. Their story shows what's at
Speaker 1: stake for a lot of young people who have grown
Speaker 1: up in this country and continue to dream of a
Speaker 1: life in the United States and now with a very
Speaker 1: uncertain future.
Speaker 2: Hirawan, this is Lisa bed I'm making this video from Mexico.
Speaker 2: I know it's going to sound a little crazy and
Speaker 2: to be honest, I still can't believe that I'm here.
Speaker 1: This is a YouTube video posted in the summer of
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen. In the video, Lisbette Matteo is looking straight
Speaker 1: at the camera wearing a shirt that says the Dream
Speaker 1: is Coming in big block letters.
Speaker 3: I came to.
Speaker 2: Tahaka knowing that the US govern might not allow.
Speaker 4: Me to go back.
Speaker 1: Lisbeth was brought to the US as a fourteen year
Speaker 1: old kid without papers, which means that visiting Mexico leaving
Speaker 1: the United States could put her at risk for never
Speaker 1: being able to come back, to come back to her studies.
Speaker 1: She was putting it all on the line, going to
Speaker 1: Mexico for the first time in fifteen years to take
Speaker 1: part in one of the most daring displays of activism
Speaker 1: in over a generation, something that would take the immigration
Speaker 1: debate to brand new territory, something called the Dream Nine.
Speaker 1: The young immigrants known as the Dream Nine remain in nine,
Speaker 1: if they've come to be known, were brought here as
Speaker 1: childrenn as the Dream nine, or arrested last month after
Speaker 1: crossing the border from Mexico. On July twenty second, twenty thirteen,
Speaker 1: Lisbeth and eight other undocumented young people walked up to
Speaker 1: immigration officers in Nogles, Arizona, asking for re entry into
Speaker 1: the United States. The young activists formed a line, arms linked,
Speaker 1: wearing their graduation caps and gowns, the unofficial symbol of
Speaker 1: the Dreamer movement. They were asking for political asylum, but
Speaker 1: the action landed all nine in an immigration detention center.
Speaker 1: Today's show, we're spending our entire hour on the story
Speaker 1: of the Dream Nine, basically a bunch of kids who
Speaker 1: were willing to risk everything to make a very bold
Speaker 1: political statement. Our producers Antonia Serejido, Marlon Bishop, and I
Speaker 1: traveled across the country to interview members of the Dream Nine.
Speaker 1: You'll be hearing from them throughout the episode.
Speaker 5: Hey Maria, So our story starts not at the border,
Speaker 5: not with Lizabeth, but many years before in Mexico City,
Speaker 5: when it ten year old girl named Maria Ines Benice
Speaker 5: boarded an airplane a stuffed animal cradled in her arms.
Speaker 6: I bigly remember we landed in Texas like I had
Speaker 6: three backpacks across my chest, a roly backpack in Trumpita's
Speaker 6: my elephant.
Speaker 1: Marine's parents were struggling in Mexico City.
Speaker 5: Then her dad got an opportunity through a friend to
Speaker 5: come to the States and work at a restaurant in
Speaker 5: the Boston area.
Speaker 1: They came on a tourist visa, but with intentions to stay.
Speaker 1: Little Maria wasn't pleased.
Speaker 6: But my mom asked me to give it a chance,
Speaker 6: and I knew that the Backstor boys were from here,
Speaker 6: so I was like, Okay, maybe I'll give it a try.
Speaker 5: The family settled in Revere, a working class suburb of Boston.
Speaker 5: At first, Marianez hated it.
Speaker 6: Everybody looks down at me because I'm in the bilingual class,
Speaker 6: so I didn't like it.
Speaker 1: But eventually, as kids do, Maria Nez adapted. She learned
Speaker 1: English and started doing really well in school. Soon she
Speaker 1: was on the honor roll, taking ap classes and she
Speaker 1: had friends.
Speaker 6: Now I can say this, I lived the golden era
Speaker 6: of reggaeton.
Speaker 7: So.
Speaker 6: Back then it was cool to be Latino. Everybody wanted
Speaker 6: to learn how to dance reggaeton and speak in Spanish
Speaker 6: because like, oh my god, like you're speaking to each
Speaker 6: other in another language that the adults don't understand, and
Speaker 6: we were like mm hmm.
Speaker 5: During this time, Maria had no idea that she was undocumented.
Speaker 6: I think that by the time I hit eighth grade,
Speaker 6: I already felt like, this is my country, this is
Speaker 6: my language, and this is my friends.
Speaker 5: So it was cool.
Speaker 6: Yeah, my Regaton Golden era was cool.
Speaker 1: When did things start to not be so cool?
Speaker 6: So this would be junior year of high school.
Speaker 5: Her dad lost his job and at the same time,
Speaker 5: her mom became really sick and had to stop working.
Speaker 5: Suddenly there wasn't any money coming into the household, and
Speaker 5: I was like.
Speaker 6: Okay, Dad, well I want to get a job. I
Speaker 6: want to help you guys out. But I've been looking
Speaker 6: at places and they're asking me for my Social Security number.
Speaker 8: That's when we had.
Speaker 1: To talk money. I went down to East Boston and
Speaker 1: bought a fake social Security card. Then she took those
Speaker 1: fake papers to McDonald's and got an after school job
Speaker 1: as a cashier.
Speaker 5: And this whole time, she had a plan finish high
Speaker 5: school and go to college.
Speaker 6: I was going to move to New York City and
Speaker 6: go to Marymount Manhattan College, and I would watch Sex
Speaker 6: and the City every night before going to sleep. I'm like, yes,
Speaker 6: I am going to be this like independent, like strong
Speaker 6: American woman. And I got it like that.
Speaker 5: Maria and Ness didn't really understand how big of a
Speaker 5: deal it was that she was undocumented. To her, it
Speaker 5: just meant she had to go through a different process
Speaker 5: to get a job, that's all. It finally dawned on
Speaker 5: her when it was time to apply for college.
Speaker 1: She went to meet with her guidance counselor to talk
Speaker 1: about the application process, and the counselor told her she
Speaker 1: needed a Social Security number in order to apply for
Speaker 1: financial aid.
Speaker 5: And then, in just a few words, the counselor destroyed
Speaker 5: her world.
Speaker 6: We're so sorry, Maria, it looks like college is not
Speaker 6: going to be an option for you. And I was
Speaker 6: really upset on my parents. Why didn't you tell me
Speaker 6: this before? Why didn't you try to do something sooner?
Speaker 8: Why? Why why didn't you do anything? And then I
Speaker 8: called Mary Mount Manhattan. They were like, well, if you
Speaker 8: have thirty six thousand dollars in your bank account showing
Speaker 8: us that you're going to be able to pay for school,
Speaker 8: then well we'll see you in the fall. If not,
Speaker 8: let us know when you have that. And then out
Speaker 8: of the blue, a teacher reach out to me.
Speaker 1: A recruiter from Pine Manor College in the Boston area
Speaker 1: was at the school and had scholarships available for undocumented students.
Speaker 5: Shortly after, Maria Ynes and her dad went into the
Speaker 5: financial aid office to talk about a plan for how
Speaker 5: they could possibly pay for school.
Speaker 6: My dad was just like looking at me, and I
Speaker 6: was looking at my dad, and I was like, Dad,
Speaker 6: I really want this, Like Dad, this is.
Speaker 8: Such a good opportunity for me.
Speaker 6: And we were on the campus, you know, so we
Speaker 6: had seen the campus. I was like that, like, I
Speaker 6: really want to go here. He's like, I don't know.
Speaker 6: I don't know, Mikha, let's see, let's see until I guess.
Speaker 6: My dad just broke down and he didn't know what
Speaker 6: to do, and he told the lady, listen, my family's undocumented.
Speaker 6: It's really hard for me to pay all of this.
Speaker 6: But if you won, I can come and clean bathrooms.
Speaker 6: My wife and I can come and just do you know,
Speaker 6: like clean or do whatever you want us to do.
Speaker 6: We just want our daughter to come here.
Speaker 1: The financial aid officer was really moved and offered Marie
Speaker 1: Nis one of the biggest scholarships available at the school.
Speaker 1: She started in the fall.
Speaker 5: Maria Yes loved college, but after a year and a half,
Speaker 5: her dad broke the news to her that they wouldn't
Speaker 5: be able to pay for it anymore.
Speaker 1: Suddenly it felt like the walls were closing in on
Speaker 1: the family. Marie Nis then brought up an idea to
Speaker 1: her parents.
Speaker 6: Why are we struggling to get by to survive. Why
Speaker 6: don't we just go back to Mexico. Why don't we
Speaker 6: go back. I'll try to make my sex in the
Speaker 6: city in Mexico.
Speaker 1: Soon the family was on a plane headed to Mexico City,
Speaker 1: loaded down with suitcases.
Speaker 6: Once more, as soon as I stepped out of that
Speaker 6: airport and we were driving to my uncle's house, I
Speaker 6: saw the houses in Mexico. I felt out of breath
Speaker 6: and started crying, like I cried in the car and
Speaker 6: I was like, Mom, what.
Speaker 8: Do we do?
Speaker 6: Look around? Where are we?
Speaker 8: And she was just like, no, no, Mikai, it's okay.
Speaker 5: Marianes found a job at a call center helping Americans
Speaker 5: fix their WiFi over the phone. She was making very
Speaker 5: little money. She and her parents were still struggling.
Speaker 1: Things in Mexico kept getting worse. First, she was sexually
Speaker 1: assaulted by one of the managers at work. Then at home,
Speaker 1: a cousin's husband tried to molest her and afterwards he
Speaker 1: was having people follow her around the city.
Speaker 5: Maria Ess had hoped Mexico would feel like home, but
Speaker 5: it didn't. She says she felt very afraid all the time.
Speaker 1: And then she got a call.
Speaker 5: It was from a friend back in Boston. She had
Speaker 5: heard that some activists were planning something big at the
Speaker 5: border to try and bring undocumented students like maria Es,
Speaker 5: the so called dreamers, back into the United States. She
Speaker 5: gave Marines a number to dial. A guy picked up.
Speaker 6: He was like, Okay, I can't tell you much because
Speaker 6: people's lives at a risk. Blow I can tell you
Speaker 6: is that if you want to be part of this,
Speaker 6: we're gonna try to bring you guys back home. You
Speaker 6: need to be in Noga Les, Mexico tomorrow morning. And
Speaker 6: I was like, holy crap, what am I going to
Speaker 6: tell my mom?
Speaker 1: It sounded crazy, but Marinez was miserable in Mexico. All
Speaker 1: she wanted was to get back to the life she
Speaker 1: had in the US.
Speaker 5: That same day, the activist bought marian As a plane
Speaker 5: ticket to travel to the border. She made an excuse
Speaker 5: to get out of work and went home to say
Speaker 5: goodbye to her family.
Speaker 6: I had already spoken to my mom and the phone
Speaker 6: about it, and she was like, you were insane. You're
Speaker 6: crazy if you think I'm gonna let you go. So
Speaker 6: I opened the door and my mom's sitting in the
Speaker 6: living room and I'm like, Mom, I'm here. I came
Speaker 6: home to say bye to you and to pack some
Speaker 6: underwear because I'm doing this. And she was like, no,
Speaker 6: you can't do this to me. You can't sleeff like that.
Speaker 6: And I'm like, Mom, I love you, and I'm really sorry.
Speaker 6: And I promised that if this doesn't work, I'll give
Speaker 6: up on the US model, but you have to give
Speaker 6: me this last chance. She's like, okay, all right.
Speaker 1: Damn, and then she was off to the airport and
Speaker 1: on her way to Nogales on the US Mexico border.
Speaker 1: What she would find there, she had no idea. Coming
Speaker 1: up on Latino USA and our piece that originally ran
Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen, we find out what awaits Marie Nez
Speaker 1: at the border. Stay with us, Yes, welcome back to
Speaker 1: Latino USA. I'm Maria no Josa. We're going to continue
Speaker 1: the story about the Dream Now, which is a group
Speaker 1: of young undocumented activists who decided to push political buttons
Speaker 1: by doing something no immigration activists had ever done before,
Speaker 1: leaving the country in order to get purposely detained at
Speaker 1: the border. And when we left off, one of the
Speaker 1: Dream nine, Marie Nez Benice, had just told her parents
Speaker 1: she was leaving to take part in this risky direct
Speaker 1: action form of protest. So let's get back now to
Speaker 1: our episode that originally aired in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 6: At first, it was sad saying bye to my family
Speaker 6: because I didn't know what was going to happen. But
Speaker 6: at the same time, I didn't think anything was going
Speaker 6: to happen. I was like, I'm gonna go there. They're
Speaker 6: going to say no to me, They're going to deport me.
Speaker 6: I'll probably have a ten year ban and that's that.
Speaker 6: But at least I tried.
Speaker 1: Madia flew to the border town of Nogales, Mexico to
Speaker 1: meet up with the rest of the group. Before crossing
Speaker 1: into the United States.
Speaker 6: I met Lulu, Lisbeth, and Marcos, which were the kids
Speaker 6: that had come from the US to Mexico.
Speaker 1: Lulu Martinez, Lisbeth, Matteo and Marcos Savedra. They were all
Speaker 1: part of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance known as NIA.
Speaker 1: NIA was the organization behind the Dream Nine. Like Mariegnez, Lulu,
Speaker 1: Lisbeth and Marcos were undocumented, but unlike her, they had
Speaker 1: voluntarily left the US and flown into Mexico just for
Speaker 1: this action. In other words, while Marinez had already left
Speaker 1: her life in the US behind, these activists had everything
Speaker 1: to lose, their homes, their friends, their whole lives. In
Speaker 1: the days leading up to the action, the Dream Nine
Speaker 1: gathered in Novalis for a kind of activist boot camp.
Speaker 1: They stayed together in a shelter and did all sorts
Speaker 1: of trainings, what to say to the media, how to
Speaker 1: interact with immigration officials.
Speaker 6: Like we did this spiritual thing where everything was by candlelight,
Speaker 6: and it was like, remember your ancestors, remember the people
Speaker 6: that have fought for you to be here.
Speaker 1: They even had a legal team to help them through
Speaker 1: the process. The NIA members were excited. This was going
Speaker 1: to be their biggest protest yet. Our producer Antonia sa
Speaker 1: Rihido went to Los Angeles to visit with Lisbethe Matteo.
Speaker 1: Yes I did, Hey Antonia, Hey Madia. So we heard
Speaker 1: from Lisbet at the top of our show. She was
Speaker 1: one of the very first members of the National Immigrant
Speaker 1: Youth Alliance or NIA.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 7: And what struck me so much about Lizabeth in talking
Speaker 7: to her is that she is the stone cold warrior.
Speaker 7: I mean, she has never doubted a single decision she's
Speaker 7: made in her life. Like she came out of the
Speaker 7: womb self asshired.
Speaker 2: You know, most kids play with like dolls and make
Speaker 2: food or playing with things like that. I was paying
Speaker 2: more like, Okay, I'm a doctor or I'm an attorney.
Speaker 1: But to be those things, she needed to go to school,
Speaker 1: and like Marie Anez, she struggled to find financing or
Speaker 1: a job.
Speaker 2: I think I became active and started organizing out of necessity,
Speaker 2: not because I wanted. I don't think I ever had
Speaker 2: that idea I want to change the world or I
Speaker 2: want to make the world a better place. I think
Speaker 2: I just I was really frustrated with my situation and
Speaker 2: that of my family.
Speaker 7: Lizabeth was one of the many young people who took
Speaker 7: up organizing around twenty ten and what became known as
Speaker 7: the Dreamer movement.
Speaker 1: The term Dreamer comes from the Dream Act, a bill
Speaker 1: that would help to create a pathway to legal status
Speaker 1: for young people who were brought to the US as children.
Speaker 9: Both the House and said it could begin debate this
Speaker 9: week on legislation known here in Washington as the Dream Act.
Speaker 9: The bill would create a path to citizenship for un.
Speaker 1: Lisbeth was one of the millions of young people who
Speaker 1: could have benefited from the bill.
Speaker 2: I met a group of undocumented students that had been
Speaker 2: organizing online.
Speaker 7: One of those students was Mohammed ABDULLAHI.
Speaker 2: When I'm Muhammed, who was the shyest person ever, but
Speaker 2: he really grew out of his shell. He has all
Speaker 2: these crazy ideas. That's sometimes I feel like he doesn't
Speaker 2: really realize that they're crazy.
Speaker 1: Mohammed is also undocumented. He and his family are from Iran.
Speaker 1: He told us he didn't know any other undocumented kids
Speaker 1: growing up, so when he found out about the Dream Act,
Speaker 1: he wanted to learn more, but his parents told him
Speaker 1: that if he googled it, the government would deport them.
Speaker 9: And so, of course, the first thing I did is
Speaker 9: I googled the Dream Act, and I sort of found
Speaker 9: out that there was other undocumented folks.
Speaker 1: Immediately, Lisbeth and Muhammad found they had something in common.
Speaker 1: They weren't afraid to sleep.
Speaker 6: The next Mars and.
Speaker 10: I'm Heatherawas we told you just moments ago. Protesters stirring
Speaker 10: things up in downtown Tissan at this hour. This is
Speaker 10: a live picture just outside Senator John McCain's office. Inside
Speaker 10: five protesters, all reportedly illegal immigrants, are refusing to leave,
Speaker 10: demanding that the Senator support the Dream Act.
Speaker 7: In May of twenty ten, Lizbeth and Muhammad participated at
Speaker 7: a sit in in Senator John McCain's office, wearing their
Speaker 7: caps and gowns. Lizbeth and Muhammad were hopeful that the
Speaker 7: organizing they were doing was going to lead to change.
Speaker 1: There was momentum building in the Dreamer movement rallies in DC, Chicago,
Speaker 1: New York City.
Speaker 11: I was a really incredible time. I think we were
Speaker 11: meeting in documented US from other parts of the country.
Speaker 7: This is Lulu Martinez, who also met Lizabeth and Muhammad
Speaker 7: during this time.
Speaker 11: The people that we had either started to be friends
Speaker 11: with through social media or had no or knew about
Speaker 11: by name, like, we were meeting them in person.
Speaker 1: And finally, in December twenty ten, a huge victory born
Speaker 1: of the activism, the Dream Act passed in the House.
Speaker 4: On this vote, the yeas are two hundred and sixteen.
Speaker 1: The nays are one hundred and ninety eight. The man
Speaker 1: forgot him. But two days later, major blow for those
Speaker 1: pushing for immigration reform for younger undocumented immigrants today, the
Speaker 1: Senate voted against.
Speaker 6: The Dream Act. It would have offered a path to citizens.
Speaker 1: It failed in the Senate. The activists were devastated. Without
Speaker 1: the Dream Act as a clear shared goal, the dreamer
Speaker 1: movement began to s A lot of Dreamers were disillusioned,
Speaker 1: not to mention, confused about what to do next. So
Speaker 1: Lisbeth and Mohammad helped found the National Immigration Youth Alliance
Speaker 1: or NIA, and they wanted to do things differently.
Speaker 9: We were sort of naive about it in the sense
Speaker 9: that we thought if only people heard our stories, then
Speaker 9: they would Careen we sort of came to this joint
Speaker 9: conclusion that things don't change because people hear stories. Things
Speaker 9: change because people feel like they have no other choice
Speaker 9: but to make something happen.
Speaker 7: That meant more direct actions, more sit ins, more hunger strikes,
Speaker 7: and not taking politicians at their word.
Speaker 1: In twenty twelve, two years after the Dream Act had failed,
Speaker 1: feeling pressure to get something done, President Obama used his
Speaker 1: executive powers to create DAKA deferred action for childhood arrivals.
Speaker 7: And DACA was basically a diet version of the Dream Act.
Speaker 7: It allowed undocumented youth to receive two year work and
Speaker 7: stay in the US legally, but it wasn't a path
Speaker 7: to permanent legal status for.
Speaker 11: The all the undocumented youth and undocumented people that up
Speaker 11: to this point had not been part of organizing efforts
Speaker 11: or had not been able to find a good job,
Speaker 11: that that was an opportunity for them. The rest of
Speaker 11: us who were part of organizing, DOCA was just not gonna.
Speaker 11: Was just not enough.
Speaker 1: NIA wanted to go beyond DACA. They wanted to stop
Speaker 1: all deportations, shut down all the detention centers, and challenged
Speaker 1: the very notion that a border could keep them out.
Speaker 9: I remember calling Elizabeth and just asking her if if
Speaker 9: she was interested in doing something crazy, and she as
Speaker 9: always says yes.
Speaker 1: The organization was getting tweets and Facebook messages from young
Speaker 1: people who had moved back to Mexico, like Mariaynes Benice,
Speaker 1: but who would have qualified for DACA. Now they wanted
Speaker 1: to come.
Speaker 7: Back, so they devised a plan. NIA members were going
Speaker 7: to voluntarily leave the US, go to Mexico and come
Speaker 7: back with these people.
Speaker 1: They were going to walk up to immigration officers and
Speaker 1: ask for asilum.
Speaker 7: They would call it to bring Them Home campaign.
Speaker 2: It was almost a joke. I mean, I think we
Speaker 2: were just start talking about it. We didn't think it
Speaker 2: was going to happen.
Speaker 1: But once Lisbeth was on board, others followed, including Lulu.
Speaker 11: On a personal level too, I just I really wanted
Speaker 11: to know Mexico. I really wanted to go back and
Speaker 11: see where my where my parents were from.
Speaker 1: And before anyone could think twice, they were doing it.
Speaker 11: Everything was just happening like one step at a time.
Speaker 11: I was packing my bags, I was making my way
Speaker 11: to the airport. I was on the plane. I landed
Speaker 11: in Mexico.
Speaker 1: They recorded videos from Mexico to generate a buzz around
Speaker 1: the action.
Speaker 3: My name is a New Martinez. And then here in Lastula,
Speaker 3: in Mexico. I still can't believe that I'm here, and
Speaker 3: part of you really really happy. I got to see
Speaker 3: where I was born, I got to see where my
Speaker 3: dad grew up, Mama, Papa, but Monad, I'm gonna come home.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna come home.
Speaker 1: And so On July twenty second, twenty thirteen, the Dream
Speaker 1: nine walked arm in arm up to the border and
Speaker 1: demanded to be let back in.
Speaker 11: And then it was just it was everything was really
Speaker 11: fast and really surreal. We got into our caps and gowns.
Speaker 2: And it was it was amazing. There were a lot
Speaker 2: of people, a lot of media, chanting and marching with us.
Speaker 11: I mean there were like large pieces of equipment like
Speaker 11: over us, like taking pictures, taking video.
Speaker 2: One by one started making a cross to the photo
Speaker 2: entry and so we're asked for our IDs, if we
Speaker 2: had visa or some kind of permit to cross.
Speaker 7: They were asked if they had documentation to enter the
Speaker 7: United States, and they said no, and then they handed
Speaker 7: in their asylum paperwork.
Speaker 1: After many hours of intense questioning, they were loaded into
Speaker 1: a van and driven a few hours north to their
Speaker 1: new temporary home, the Eloyd Detention Center. Producer Marlon Bishop
Speaker 1: and I had a chance to visit the detention center.
Speaker 5: That's right, we did, and it's a sixteen hundred bed
Speaker 5: facility located basically in the middle of nowhere, in a
Speaker 5: small desert town midway between Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. It's
Speaker 5: exclusively used to detain immigrants, including asylum seekers.
Speaker 1: Like the Dream Nine, and even though the people held
Speaker 1: here are not violent criminals, it looks very much like
Speaker 1: any other prison, the squat, concrete buildings, the razor wire fences,
Speaker 1: except here there's no color, no life. The living quarters
Speaker 1: are divided into pods, each with showers, a small living area,
Speaker 1: and cells where the detainee sleep at night. The windows
Speaker 1: are mostly blacked out.
Speaker 5: When the Dream Nine arrived, the men and women were
Speaker 5: separated and housed in different pods. They were given a
Speaker 5: toothbrush and dark green jumpsuits to change into. Here's Lulu
Speaker 5: and the smell.
Speaker 11: I think the smell specifically, and the smell of the
Speaker 11: pods was what stuck with me for a very long
Speaker 11: time because it was this like nasty cleaning smell. I
Speaker 11: don't know, I remember being really disgusted while being.
Speaker 1: In there at CCA.
Speaker 10: Do you Rolling Detention Center? This calumn is such a
Speaker 10: true recording.
Speaker 9: As on the chart.
Speaker 6: Hi'm this is Maria, Maria. I'm fine. They showered us
Speaker 6: and we've already been a friend the room and everyone's okay.
Speaker 5: This is sound from a video posted by Nia. You
Speaker 5: might recognize the voice. It's Maria Yez, the Dreamer from Boston.
Speaker 5: Who we met earlier. NIA was taping conversations with members
Speaker 5: of the Dream Nine while they were in detention. This
Speaker 5: was taped the day the Dream Nine arrived at ELOI.
Speaker 6: Oh see you soon, sure, yeah, fye, thank you, thank you,
Speaker 6: thank you, bye.
Speaker 12: Good bye.
Speaker 1: The Dream Nine were thrust into the tedium of prison
Speaker 1: life your time, meal time, sleep, repeat. When Mariaez first arrived,
Speaker 1: she was in pretty high spirits.
Speaker 6: I remember making jokes of all being shackled, and I
Speaker 6: was like, look at this new jewelry. I'm rocking.
Speaker 1: But that soon went away.
Speaker 6: NIA just told us that we were going to be
Speaker 6: the tame and then all of a sudden we find
Speaker 6: ourselves when all of our belongings taken out, given uniforms
Speaker 6: and put in a cell. We freaked out.
Speaker 5: But NIA did have a plan on the outside. Mohammed
Speaker 5: would keep the story in the press as long as possible.
Speaker 9: So every single day for the two weeks they were there,
Speaker 9: we would have folks from community, from Tucson or from
Speaker 9: Phoenix come down and we would have protests there.
Speaker 1: Nia also put pressure on politicians. Representative Luis Gutires of Chicago.
Speaker 3: Speaker I asked unanimous consent to insert this letter to
Speaker 3: the President of the United States asking for the release
Speaker 3: of the Dream Nine held in detention in Arizona.
Speaker 5: Meanwhile, on the inside, the Dream Nine would agitate however
Speaker 5: they could and collect information about the detention center from
Speaker 5: other detainees.
Speaker 1: Marieynez and the rest of the Dream Nine women were
Speaker 1: housed in a pod with about ten other people, older women,
Speaker 1: mostly mothers, who had taken the trip across the desert,
Speaker 1: but they were separated from the rest of the population.
Speaker 6: Being in contact with the other detainees the other women,
Speaker 6: listening to their stories made me see the bigger picture,
Speaker 6: made me realize that this is bigger than myself.
Speaker 5: Maria Ines had never been an activist before, but she
Speaker 5: decided she wanted to find a way to help the women.
Speaker 11: Lulu joined her, so Maria Anes and I decided, like, yeah,
Speaker 11: we're going to do it. We're going to encourage them
Speaker 11: to fight their cases, and we're going to give them
Speaker 11: this hotline to the attorneys that are working in our case.
Speaker 6: We literally spend the whole night writing the same number
Speaker 6: over and over again, and the little pieces of paper
Speaker 6: so we could like hand them out to the women.
Speaker 5: The dining hall was the area where they had contact
Speaker 5: with the largest number of other detainees. So one day
Speaker 5: during meal time, Marieez stood up on a stool in
Speaker 5: the middle of the dining hall and gave kind of
Speaker 5: a speech.
Speaker 6: And I started telling the women, you know, there's a
Speaker 6: lot of people that care about us, there's a whole
Speaker 6: legal team that wants to support you, but we need
Speaker 6: to hear your voices, we need to know your cases.
Speaker 6: I know you're scared, I know people are intimidating you,
Speaker 6: but we're here, and that's all I said. And then
Speaker 6: people started hitting on the tables and just chanting, and
Speaker 6: then I was like, well, might as we'll do it too,
Speaker 6: So I started chanting with them.
Speaker 11: And then they're calling for other people to come there
Speaker 11: thro their like walkie.
Speaker 6: Talkie, and that's when the guards pulled Lulu at me
Speaker 6: off the chairs and took us out of the cafeteria.
Speaker 6: And they were really mad, and they were like, you're
Speaker 6: gonna regret do wind this.
Speaker 11: Yeah, you're gonna get in a lot of trouble, and
Speaker 11: like we're like.
Speaker 6: Okay, well, what's the worst they can do.
Speaker 1: As punishment, Mariaz and Lulu were taken into a different
Speaker 1: pod and given bright orange jumpsuits in place of the
Speaker 1: green ones they were wearing. At first. The new colors
Speaker 1: signified they were classified as dangerous detainees. After all, in
Speaker 1: the detention center's view, these women had just tried to
Speaker 1: start a riot.
Speaker 5: They were kept in separate cells, alone, and not allowed
Speaker 5: to communicate with anybody. They described this experience as solitary confinement.
Speaker 5: De Tension center officials call it disciplinary segregation.
Speaker 6: The first day was fine. The second day, I was
Speaker 6: starting to feel numb, and I remember thinking of just
Speaker 6: turning on the faucet and letting the hot water run
Speaker 6: and use like leaving my hand there and feeling like
Speaker 6: this thing of the hot water, to at least feel something.
Speaker 1: Lulu was kept right next door to Marie Anez, but
Speaker 1: that didn't make things easier.
Speaker 6: They would give us spatten food, spoiled milk, so you
Speaker 6: would be really hungry, and all I would do is
Speaker 6: just lay in my bed and think about food and
Speaker 6: not even think about how it would taste. This just
Speaker 6: like the texture of food, the color of food, the smell.
Speaker 5: On the third day, Maria Ynez told the guards that
Speaker 5: she was feeling suicidal.
Speaker 6: There was a guard that would pass by like every
Speaker 6: two hours, and I told her that I wanted to
Speaker 6: hurt myself and that I was really afraid in that
Speaker 6: I wanted to talk to my mom.
Speaker 1: At first, she said it to try to convince them
Speaker 1: to let her call her mom.
Speaker 6: But then when I knew there was no way out,
Speaker 6: then it just became a reality.
Speaker 1: Was that the first time in your life that you
Speaker 1: had said or thought that you wanted to hurt yourself.
Speaker 6: I was just afraid. I was twenty one. I just
Speaker 6: wanted to come back home.
Speaker 1: And the only thing that mad Yinez could do in
Speaker 1: solitary all day long was to read the Harry Potter
Speaker 1: books she had taken out from the detention center library.
Speaker 6: Harry Potter, Help me not kill myself.
Speaker 5: That was all I had.
Speaker 6: And that was also all I had when I was
Speaker 6: growing up and I had to learn English so I
Speaker 6: would stop getting bullied. So it was like a nice
Speaker 6: reminder of home. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Why are you apologizing, Mamita.
Speaker 13: Because I'm an Estic Warrior? Estic Warriors don't cry.
Speaker 1: On Latino Usa. Will the Dream nine get out of detention?
Speaker 1: Stay with us?
Speaker 12: Yes?
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Latino USA. I'm Maria no Josa Today
Speaker 1: with producers Antonia, Serejilo, and Marlon Bishop. When we left off,
Speaker 1: a group of undocumented student activists called the Dream Nine
Speaker 1: were being held at a detention facility in Arizona.
Speaker 7: Here's Antonia, So Maria Nis and Lulu were placed in
Speaker 7: solitary confinement, and Madiais was struggling with daily thoughts of suicide.
Speaker 7: They had no idea when they'd be let go, and
Speaker 7: they were losing hope quickly.
Speaker 1: Outside Nia, the activist group that organized the action was
Speaker 1: making calls for their release.
Speaker 7: Lulu says it came out of nowhere. Guard took her
Speaker 7: out of her cell and into a room with the
Speaker 7: other Dream Nine women.
Speaker 11: We changed back into our clothes and then we were
Speaker 11: driven about an hour outside of Eloi, and then we
Speaker 11: were released in a parking lot, a random parking lot.
Speaker 7: So called Dream Nine walking out two weeks later wearing
Speaker 7: the same graduation gowns they wore with.
Speaker 11: The way in which we were released was really weird.
Speaker 11: We weren't sure if that was the regular process for
Speaker 11: people being released, but it was also kind of incredible.
Speaker 7: Asylum seekers are generally kept in detention for a few months,
Speaker 7: some are kept for years. The Dream Nine spent a
Speaker 7: total of seventeen days behind bars. Some believe the Obama
Speaker 7: administration wanted to get them out to avoid the story
Speaker 7: from blowing up.
Speaker 1: That's because this whole thing was going on while the
Speaker 1: debate on comprehensive immigration reform was raging in Congress.
Speaker 7: The Senate passed a bill that would have provided a
Speaker 7: path to legalization for immigrants, but it wasn't clear if
Speaker 7: the House was even going to put the bill up
Speaker 7: for a vote.
Speaker 1: Some felt that the Dream Nine were stirring the pot
Speaker 1: at a bad time.
Speaker 14: Well, I support the Dream Nine.
Speaker 5: I support their passion, their commitment to immigration reform.
Speaker 4: That wasn't my issue.
Speaker 5: I took issue with the tactics.
Speaker 6: You know, you saw that.
Speaker 7: That's David Leopold, the former president of the American Immigration
Speaker 7: Lawyers Association. He felt the Dream Nine could hurt efforts
Speaker 7: to get immigration reform through Congress, that they made the
Speaker 7: movement look too radical.
Speaker 1: But from Lulu's perspective, allies suddenly became enemies.
Speaker 11: It was really upsetting to see that actually we counted
Speaker 11: on Latin far fewer people than what we thought.
Speaker 1: But ultimately members of NIA were not going to wait
Speaker 1: to see what Congress would decide they were actually going
Speaker 1: to get people back into the US, and they had
Speaker 1: already proven that they could do.
Speaker 7: That, and this allowed NIA to dream bigger for their
Speaker 7: next action. Now that the Dream nine had been released,
Speaker 7: they decided to do the Dream thirty.
Speaker 4: We're in graduation gowns.
Speaker 1: Some thirty Mexican activists who were rised in the United
Speaker 1: States walked across the Rio Bravo Bridge, crossing between Mexico
Speaker 1: and the United States, and one of the Dream thirty
Speaker 1: participants was a young woman named Marcella Espinosa Diegos, who
Speaker 1: goes by Marseille. She wanted to return from Mexico to
Speaker 1: her family in Chicago, where she grew up.
Speaker 7: Lulu is also from Chicago, although the two had never met,
Speaker 7: but as an organizer with NIA, Lulu spent a lot
Speaker 7: of time on the phone with Marseille while she was
Speaker 7: in detention.
Speaker 1: Now the truth is, we thought that those conversations might
Speaker 1: be deep political conversations for support, but in fact, Antonia,
Speaker 1: so you're in detention and you're calling Lulu for some
Speaker 1: source of support.
Speaker 8: And talk about cats.
Speaker 1: They talk about cats. The steaks are super high. She
Speaker 1: doesn't know whether she's going to get out or get deported.
Speaker 15: And then we would talk about like the perks of
Speaker 15: bank a cat person, right like that we could recognize
Speaker 15: like they're different meals, like the scratches, like literally like
Speaker 15: the whole nine yards or like being cat people, and
Speaker 15: that's what we would talk about during our extensive phone calls.
Speaker 1: And they kind of fall for each other well I don't.
Speaker 11: Know, maybe look and then it was like yeah, it.
Speaker 15: Was like it was like it was like friendly flirting.
Speaker 1: After Marse was finally released from the tension and got
Speaker 1: back to Chicago, she and Lulu started dating and now
Speaker 1: they're a couple. But five of the Dream thirty didn't
Speaker 1: make it. They were refused asylum and deported.
Speaker 7: But with that success rate, NIA members thought no even bigger,
Speaker 7: and so they went all out for their third campaign,
Speaker 7: the Dream one fifty.
Speaker 1: This time it wasn't just about young students, it was
Speaker 1: adults too.
Speaker 7: But the Dream one fifty was much less successful than
Speaker 7: the previous bring Them Home campaigns.
Speaker 11: After the third campaign, there were a lot of bridges
Speaker 11: that were burnt. I think it's a certain extent simple
Speaker 11: auticians just didn't want to work with MO Specifically, NIA
Speaker 11: gained a negative reputation.
Speaker 1: The most public flame out was between NIA leader Mohammad
Speaker 1: Abdulahi or MO and Congressman Louis Gutiris from Chicago. Guthiras
Speaker 1: had been a major supporter and even spoke on the
Speaker 1: floor of Congress on behalf of the Dream nine, but
Speaker 1: during the Dream thirty, Gutirrez's office put out a statement
Speaker 1: saying they would be cutting ties with NIA.
Speaker 7: He accused NIA of being racist, putting young people in
Speaker 7: harm's way, and even manipulating the families they work with.
Speaker 1: NIA members shot back in their own statement, basically calling
Speaker 1: Luis Gutiriz a sellout who doesn't actually care about Mexicans.
Speaker 7: That he is the quote Moses of Latino's as long
Speaker 7: as they are the humble kind that work in US kitchens.
Speaker 7: But if they have a voice and challenge him, then
Speaker 7: he stops caring. To this day, Mohammad really doesn't see
Speaker 7: any problem with his tactics.
Speaker 9: I don't consider any of the work that we've done
Speaker 9: controversial myself as controversial, and I think the reality is
Speaker 9: is that sometimes people are just not ready to understand.
Speaker 7: After the Dream one fifty, with support for NIA petering out,
Speaker 7: the campaigns ended and.
Speaker 1: In the wake of the Dream Actions, the Dream nine,
Speaker 1: the Dream thirty, and finally the Dream one fifty, there
Speaker 1: was kind of a question mark about what just happened.
Speaker 1: Was this good or bad for the immigrant rights movement? Marlon,
Speaker 1: you spoke with somebody tied to the Dream nine.
Speaker 5: That's right. I spoke with Margot Cohen, who was the
Speaker 5: Dream nine's lawyer, and this is what she said.
Speaker 12: We have never figured out a statutory scheme that deals
Speaker 12: with the admission of non citizens in a way that
Speaker 12: makes sense.
Speaker 5: That's lawyeries for saying. Our immigration system has never functioned
Speaker 5: in a way that's realistic. There have always been more
Speaker 5: people who are living and working here than the official
Speaker 5: rules have allowed for. Margo explains that once every generation,
Speaker 5: the government has granted legal status to large numbers of
Speaker 5: undocumented people what today is called amnesty. It happened in
Speaker 5: forty eight and seventy six, and then finally the famous
Speaker 5: Reagan Amnesty of nineteen eighty six, which gave two point
Speaker 5: nine million people legal status.
Speaker 12: Every generation, we have to regularize everybody, and we haven't
Speaker 12: done it for now more than a generation, because the
Speaker 12: last time we did it was in eighty six. So
Speaker 12: this is the first time that we have US produced thinkers,
Speaker 12: activists who just happened to not be American, but for
Speaker 12: all intents and purposes are Americans and think like Americans.
Speaker 12: Christian government like Americans.
Speaker 5: And Marco's point is that the Dreamers also protest like Americans.
Speaker 5: They kind of feel entitled, as young Americans do, to
Speaker 5: demand rights.
Speaker 7: And if you talk to people who follow the immigration
Speaker 7: debate closely, they'll tell you that the dreamer activists made
Speaker 7: a big impact.
Speaker 4: I mean, the only thing that's really happened in immigration
Speaker 4: in the last few years has been because of their
Speaker 4: sit ins and because they're brazen tactics.
Speaker 7: This is Cindy Gargamo, an immigration reporter for the La Times,
Speaker 7: And looking back.
Speaker 4: I think that you will see the dreamer movement as
Speaker 4: instrumental in anything that really does happen.
Speaker 1: And there are a lot of people who feel like
Speaker 1: the Dreamers were able to make the issue more relatable
Speaker 1: to non Latinos and non immigrants.
Speaker 5: Exactly because it's kind of like this could be your son,
Speaker 5: this could be your daughter. You know, they're just like
Speaker 5: all other Americans in a way, right.
Speaker 7: But there's also a flip side to that, which I
Speaker 7: talked about with Cindy. The one big critique within the
Speaker 7: immigrant rights movement of the Dreamers is that they created
Speaker 7: a pretty narrow definition of who should be allowed to
Speaker 7: stay in this country.
Speaker 4: The activists really pushed this mold this like perfect child,
Speaker 4: What a waste of a mind? Right, And because they
Speaker 4: really pushed this so hard, they left a whole contingent
Speaker 4: of people behind.
Speaker 7: People like mothers or families, or people with low level offenses.
Speaker 7: I mean, the idea is either you're like the valedictorian
Speaker 7: of a school, or you shouldn't be.
Speaker 6: In the US.
Speaker 1: The irony now is that Dreamers, these young people who
Speaker 1: were able to achieve a kind of legal status through dhaka,
Speaker 1: now they're worried that they might be targeted pecifically since
Speaker 1: the government has their paperwork. But what about the Dream nine.
Speaker 1: Was it effective?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 5: There were those who said no, this was radical, it
Speaker 5: was poorly thought out, but there were a lot of
Speaker 5: supporters as well. And Margot Cohen, who was the lawyer
Speaker 5: for the Dream nine, well, she says the action was
Speaker 5: exactly what the movement needed at the time.
Speaker 12: In a democracy, when you installed public policy, you have
Speaker 12: to ignite it, and that's what these young people, did
Speaker 12: you know? And if you think you're just going to
Speaker 12: sit back and it's going to come your way, well
Speaker 12: I don't know where you live, because that's not the
Speaker 12: way democracy works.
Speaker 1: And if you ask Mohammed whether the Dream nine was effective,
Speaker 1: he doesn't give a big lofty speech about immigration policy.
Speaker 9: It delivered everything I was supposed to deliver because those
Speaker 9: nine individuals who partook in it are now moving on
Speaker 9: with their lives.
Speaker 5: And yes, it's true the Dream Nine are in the
Speaker 5: United States, but their situations are really complicated.
Speaker 11: I have my next merits hearing, which is when I
Speaker 11: present like the arguments or my asylum case, and that's
Speaker 11: April twenty five, twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: So if Lulu hadn't left the country to take part
Speaker 1: in the Dream Nine, she actually at this point would
Speaker 1: have been eligible for DAKA, which would have given her
Speaker 1: permission to stay in the country. But instead, now she's
Speaker 1: got a fight for her asylum case, and the chances
Speaker 1: that she's going to get it they're not great.
Speaker 5: Lulu's legal strategy now is to keep delaying her hearing
Speaker 5: and hoping immigration reform happens someday in the future.
Speaker 1: So was it worth it?
Speaker 11: I would like to think that it was worth the
Speaker 11: entire action. Was worth it to witness firsthand the conditions
Speaker 11: of the detention center, to go back to Mexico to
Speaker 11: see my family. Yeah, I think it was worth it.
Speaker 7: But at the same time, the experience kind of soured
Speaker 7: her on activism.
Speaker 11: I wouldn't consider myself an organizer anymore. I think after
Speaker 11: I came back from Eloy, I had a lot of
Speaker 11: processing to do. I didn't like how I was feeling,
Speaker 11: and I think at that point too, where I realized
Speaker 11: how unhealthy organizing could be and I just could not
Speaker 11: be on that path anymore.
Speaker 1: And Lulu's not the only one. In fact, Lisbeth has
Speaker 1: also stepped back from her organizing work.
Speaker 2: So I'm studying my third year of law school, so
Speaker 2: I'm just kinda concentrated on that for now and then
Speaker 2: taking the bar and hopefully passing it the first time.
Speaker 7: Muhammad is still working in immigration, but he's dialed it
Speaker 7: down a lot.
Speaker 9: There is nothing pleasurable about being an activist. I don't
Speaker 9: enjoy being an organizer, being active in the immigrant world,
Speaker 9: and I wish I had never googled the Dream Act.
Speaker 9: Part of the reason why there haven't been any great
Speaker 9: wins in the immigrant rights movement in decades. Is because
Speaker 9: people become active for a year, get really pumped up,
Speaker 9: get really involved, get defeated, get beat up, and then
Speaker 9: they move on.
Speaker 7: These activists did this big thing, and now they feel
Speaker 7: really defeated and discouraged.
Speaker 1: But on the other hand, there's Maria Nis. So this
Speaker 1: is Shirley As.
Speaker 6: This is Shirley A.
Speaker 1: Recently, Marlon Antonia and I went to Revere, Massachusetts to
Speaker 1: see how Maria Inis is doing these days. Ravera is
Speaker 1: a suburb of Boston where Mariais grew up, and walking
Speaker 1: around with her was like walking around with the mayor.
Speaker 1: She seems to know everybody.
Speaker 8: Hidja go in the WII office.
Speaker 6: Okay, this is Maria Maria.
Speaker 8: This is station Hi.
Speaker 6: Sure true, I will talk to you by.
Speaker 5: When Maria Ni first got back to Boston, she had
Speaker 5: a rough start, no money, crashing on couches, but she
Speaker 5: did have a college scholarship, and now she's found a
Speaker 5: job she really loves.
Speaker 6: On the left, hidden behind this wall.
Speaker 8: Is my office.
Speaker 1: Maria Nis has a job as a community organizer working
Speaker 1: with immigrant and refugee women.
Speaker 7: Before she was part of the Dream nine. Maria Nis
Speaker 7: wasn't very politically minded. She was just a girl who
Speaker 7: wanted to go to college. But everything she went through
Speaker 7: at the detention center gave her a new perspective and
Speaker 7: a new purpose.
Speaker 6: I think the main concept of fighting for was right,
Speaker 6: even if it means putting your life at risk. That's
Speaker 6: something that I've learned from my country. That's something that
Speaker 6: I've learned from the United States, and that's why I'm
Speaker 6: doing the work that I'm doing.
Speaker 5: But detension has left scars on Marius as well. She
Speaker 5: still gets panic attacks. She's been diagnosed with PTSD.
Speaker 1: I asked marias the same question that I asked Lulu.
Speaker 1: Was it all worth it? Leaving her family, the fear,
Speaker 1: the solitary confinement, the panic.
Speaker 6: Attacks, Everything I have right now would have not existed
Speaker 6: if I would have not made that decision of going back.
Speaker 6: And yes it's horrible, Yes I'm still digesting it and
Speaker 6: fighting my demons, but I was meant to stand up
Speaker 6: in that cafeteria and give out those phone numbers, and
Speaker 6: I won't ever take that back.
Speaker 1: Is there a part of you that thinks back and says,
Speaker 1: how could NIA have done that? How could they have
Speaker 1: involved you. A kid essentially didn't know a whole lot.
Speaker 6: I don't blame them. We were all kids and we
Speaker 6: did what we thought was right. If I had lose
Speaker 6: Weevo's that Muhammad had to do that, I think I
Speaker 6: would have done that too.
Speaker 1: Mariaeynez is moving forward in her life, but her future
Speaker 1: in the United States still remains uncertain.
Speaker 5: And that's true for all the Dreamers DAKA the Diet
Speaker 5: version of the Dream Act we talked about that Obama
Speaker 5: created by executive order. It's not a pathway to citizenship.
Speaker 5: It's temporary relief from deportation and a work permit. The
Speaker 5: next president could get rid of it with the snap
Speaker 5: of their fingers, just as Obama created it with the
Speaker 5: snap of his.
Speaker 7: And even if some version of the Dream Act passes
Speaker 7: one day, it would not protect their parents. All the
Speaker 7: Dreamers can do is have faith that somehow it will
Speaker 7: all work out in the future.
Speaker 1: Before we left Revere in Massachusetts, Marinis took us to
Speaker 1: see something.
Speaker 8: So the mural is it's kind of surely.
Speaker 1: Have It's a mural where are you?
Speaker 6: I am all the way over here?
Speaker 1: It's a panorama of Revere in Massachusetts. The stores, the
Speaker 1: seashore in the distance, and the people that make up
Speaker 1: the town.
Speaker 6: Wait, so this is you graduating since they remember me
Speaker 6: crossing the border. We're in my cap and gown. They
Speaker 6: decided to drew me. We're in my cap and gown.
Speaker 6: So that's me reaching out to community and like just
Speaker 6: advocating and talk about immigrants' rights. Now that I'm back
Speaker 6: in Revere and I'm working and I'm doing the same
Speaker 6: job that the mural is saying that I should be doing.
Speaker 6: I feel proud coming every morning getting off from the
Speaker 6: tea and having that remembrance every day of like, remember
Speaker 6: why you're here, remember where you're back. How many people
Speaker 6: can say that they're in a mural in the city
Speaker 6: where they grew up.
Speaker 1: For Maria Nis, Revere is home. The US is home.
Speaker 1: It's where she wakes up every day and where she
Speaker 1: dreams every night. But it's a home that as of now,
Speaker 1: isn't sure it wants her there. When it will make
Speaker 1: up its mind, nobody knows. For now, Maria Nis is
Speaker 1: living in limbo, just like she always has. This episode
Speaker 1: was produced by Antonie Rihido and Marlon Bishop. It was
Speaker 1: edited by Lida Hartman and Daisi Rosadio. It was mixed
Speaker 1: by Stephanie Lebau with engineering support from jj Krubin, and
Speaker 1: our thoughts go out to the family of Lida Hartman,
Speaker 1: who we sadly lost this year. The Latino USA eighteen
Speaker 1: also includes Julia Caruso, Jessica Ellis, Victoria Stradra, Renaldo leanoz Junior,
Speaker 1: Andrea Lopez Crusado, Luis Luna Rooni, mar Marquez, Marta Martinez,
Speaker 1: Nor Saudi and Nancy Trujiro. Benilee Ramirez is our co
Speaker 1: executive producer I'm your Host and co executive producer Marino Fossa.
Speaker 1: Join us in on our next episode. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: I'll see you on all of our social media, especially
Speaker 1: on Instagram. En acuerda dee asta approxima note bajas jao.
Speaker 14: Latino USA is made possible in part by the Ford Foundation,
Speaker 14: working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide,
Speaker 14: the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and funding
Speaker 14: for Latino USA is Coverage of a culture of health
Speaker 14: is made possible in part by a grant from the
Speaker 14: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.