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Speaker 1: Futuro Investigators, Puturoturo Investida.

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Speaker 2: You know Reggaeton, but do you know the whole story?

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Speaker 3: Hi, I'm Gini Montardo, senior producer and sound designer of

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Speaker 3: loud The History of Regheton. Did you hear the news?

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Speaker 3: Loud is backed by a popular demand. Listen to all

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Speaker 3: ten episodes that break down the beats, politics, and power

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Speaker 3: behind the genre, hosted by like Cata herself Evie Queen.

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Speaker 3: Listen now only on Spotify.

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Speaker 4: I'm in Shimatinango, Watemala. It's about thirty miles west from

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Speaker 4: the country's capital of Watemala City. The road to get

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Speaker 4: here was very windy, wet, gain some altitude, and it

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Speaker 4: was also the morning rush hour. And yeah, I'm outside

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Speaker 4: the building and in typical me fashion, I'm a little early.

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Speaker 4: I'm here to meet Lisan Seattle Jose Gabriel Ortiz, a

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Speaker 4: local activist, and I'm going to embark on a trip

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Speaker 4: with him. That's what brought me here, more than three

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Speaker 4: thousand miles away from New York City. The street I'm

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Speaker 4: standing in is muddy. The houses around me are painted

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Speaker 4: in bright shades of pink, yellow, green, and orange.

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Speaker 2: When Gabrielle opens the door. He looks startled when numerous Gabriel.

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Speaker 4: He welcomes me in and we walked through his sprawling

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Speaker 4: courtyard towards his office. Gabriel is wearing a baby blue

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Speaker 4: colored shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

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Speaker 4: His hair is peppery. Gabriel says there's been a series

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Speaker 4: of break ins at his office. Someone stole computers and archives,

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Speaker 4: so things have been a little tense. He believes it's

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Speaker 4: related to his work. He's a labor lawyer and an economist.

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Speaker 4: Gabriel is also part of an international network of human

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Speaker 4: rights defenders. Part of what they do is search for

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Speaker 4: families throughout Mexico and Central America who are separated at

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Speaker 4: the US Mexico border under the first Trump administration. Their

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Speaker 4: hope is to help them reunify with their children who

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Speaker 4: remain in the US. And that's why I'm here to

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Speaker 4: see him today, to learn about these separations that happen

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Speaker 4: under what's known as zero tolerance. He says, this policy

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Speaker 4: should have never happened.

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Speaker 5: Alas familias is summa mempe.

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Speaker 4: You'll probably remember this. The zero tolerance policy began in

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Speaker 4: May twenty eighteen under the first Trump administration. It basically

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Speaker 4: upended immigration law, prosecuting every person entering the US who

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Speaker 4: was undocumented, even those presenting at ports of entry as

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Speaker 4: asylum seekers, without giving them a chance to make a claim.

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Speaker 4: Nearly three thousand children were separated from their parents during

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Speaker 4: a six week period. The parents were detained and criminally prosecuted,

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Speaker 4: and their kids putting cages. Some parents were deported before

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Speaker 4: they could be reunited with their kids. Trump stopped the

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Speaker 4: policy in June twenty eighteen after public backlash, but the

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Speaker 4: damage was done. A congressional report from twenty twenty one

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Speaker 4: says at least a thousand additional children were separated even

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Speaker 4: after the policy ended. This brought the total reported number

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Speaker 4: of separated children under Trump to more than five thousand.

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Speaker 4: The trauma and impact of zero tolerance are still felt today.

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Speaker 4: There's hundreds of families who remain separated more than seven

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Speaker 4: years later, according to the federal government, and the US

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Speaker 4: generally didn't keep track of where the parents or children were.

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Speaker 4: That's why Gobde's work of trekking across Whatatemala means so

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Speaker 4: much to him and to the families that he's trying

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Speaker 4: to help reunite.

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Speaker 5: A Saliva and.

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Speaker 2: Ala Parsona.

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Speaker 4: Gabriel is taking me on a journey to meet a

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Speaker 4: father who was separated from his son and is now

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Speaker 4: in the process of trying to reunite with him in

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Speaker 4: the US.

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Speaker 6: From Futuro Media, It's Latino USA. I'm Maria jo Josa.

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Speaker 6: Today we traveled to Guatemala to meet a father who

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Speaker 6: was separated from his son under the first Trump administration.

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Speaker 6: We'll learn how a group of volunteers are hoping to

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Speaker 6: finally help them reunite, and how Trump's second term is

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Speaker 6: making those reunifications even more complicated. That you just heard

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Speaker 6: from Latino USA. Producer Renaldo Leanos Junior Rinaldo traveled to

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Speaker 6: Guatemala to report this episode, and I'm going to pass

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Speaker 6: the mic back to him for the rest of the story.

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Speaker 4: I mean, Gabriela and I are about to make a

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Speaker 4: day and a half long journey towards the mountains of Watemala.

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Speaker 4: We're going to meet a father who I'm calling Theodoro.

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Speaker 4: He was separated from his son, who were calling Miguel,

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Speaker 4: and we're not revealing the real names or location to

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Speaker 4: protect their safety. We climb into Gabriel's gray four by

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Speaker 4: four truck and start heading north. Theododo was separated from

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Speaker 4: his son in early twenty nineteen, more than six years ago,

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Speaker 4: when Miguel was fourteen. Afterwards, they were never told that

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Speaker 4: there was a pathway for reunification, and that's how Gabriel

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Speaker 4: comes into the picture. Part of his job is to

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Speaker 4: help track down people like Theodoro, to let them know

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Speaker 4: that this is an option. We drive for a few

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Speaker 4: hours and the landscape changes. It goes from dry terrain

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Speaker 4: to rolling trees of deep green. It's a beautiful mix

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Speaker 4: of an open sky, winding roads, snaking up and down mountains,

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Speaker 4: and zooming by small towns along the way. But as

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Speaker 4: I admire the scenery, Gabriel reminds me that all of

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Speaker 4: this beauty is just one side of the coin.

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Speaker 5: Is the Baiss.

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Speaker 4: The region's population is indigenous, mostly Mayan. It's one of

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Speaker 4: the poorest areas in the.

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Speaker 5: Country, Silimax, Torado or Brimannia.

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Speaker 4: There aren't a lot of work opportunities here at schooling

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Speaker 4: usually ends by sixth grade.

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Speaker 5: Lack to be that principal is subsistence.

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Speaker 4: Most people here live off of subsistence agriculture, mostly corn

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Speaker 4: and beans. The road is like a relic. It holds

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Speaker 4: memories of the past with zig zag avoiding potholes.

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Speaker 5: It's that damos males con It's the so poster conflict.

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Speaker 2: Gabriel says.

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Speaker 4: This road has been damaged since Watemala's armed conflict. It

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Speaker 4: lasted thirty six years, from nineteen sixty to nineteen ninety six.

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Speaker 5: Is that hung for Lambasam.

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Speaker 4: This region was one of the most affected ones. Entire

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Speaker 4: communities were disappeared, killed, or displaced by the Civil War,

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Speaker 4: a civil war in which the US played a big role.

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Speaker 7: True to its commitment of fighting communism at all costs,

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Speaker 7: the CIA provided intelligence, training and armed support to the

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Speaker 7: Guatemalan government throughout the war.

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Speaker 4: Right before the war started, the US back to coup

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Speaker 4: that toppled a democratically elected president in Watemala, spinning the

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Speaker 4: country into chaos. Gabriel reminds me, people haven't forgotten what

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Speaker 4: happened during the war.

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Speaker 5: Mucho de los palade is the famili separados bibierum el

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Speaker 5: conflicto emuchos aeosmili.

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Speaker 4: Many people here lost their loved ones. They were massacred.

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Speaker 5: Iotros and lasier Rakimino is convenience comendo raises Commundo.

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Speaker 4: All has others were hiding in the mountains for years,

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Speaker 4: living off of just plants because they were scared to

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Speaker 4: start a fire, fearing that they'd be spotted. Even today,

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Speaker 4: he estimates that a lot of mass graves here still

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Speaker 4: have not been found. There are families here who still

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Speaker 4: hope that one day their loved one will be found,

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Speaker 4: and now they're living through a new trauma. Some of

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Speaker 4: those same families were separated at the US Mexico border

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Speaker 4: and yearned to be reunited with their children.

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Speaker 5: I don't know that was the Partamentos Gibas exports migrants

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Speaker 5: a CI.

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Speaker 4: A lot of the separated families left here because of

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Speaker 4: the conditions, partly caused by the war. It's a land

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Speaker 4: who's past and present go hand in hand. Over the hours,

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Speaker 4: the moon replaces the sun, time speeds up and slows down,

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Speaker 4: and then we sleep somewhere and restart our journey at

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Speaker 4: the crack of dawn. Gabriel points to one of the

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Speaker 4: mountains nearby. That's where the separated father lives.

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Speaker 2: He says, now.

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Speaker 4: We're finally arriving. The town looks poor, but there's still

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Speaker 4: a lot of life and color around.

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Speaker 5: Let's know what I'm sad.

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Speaker 4: I am all right, So we're just parking. We're about

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Speaker 4: to get down and go meet with the father. As

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Speaker 4: I walk through the market, I hear a mixture of

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Speaker 4: Spanish and various Mayan languages thousands of years old spoken

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Speaker 4: around me. Merchants sell grains of corn in elaborate woven baskets,

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Speaker 4: and I see an assortment of bright fresh fruit and

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Speaker 4: their slabs of meat hanging on hooks in the open air.

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Speaker 4: After a few minutes, I finally meet Theodoro. He's in

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Speaker 4: his early fifties, about my same height and skin tone,

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Speaker 4: the light shade of brown. Gabriela and I walk with

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Speaker 4: Theodoro to nearby restaurant for breakfast. We want him to

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Speaker 4: feel comfortable because what we're going to be talking about

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Speaker 4: today is traumatic. It's about his son, Miguel and the

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Speaker 4: moment they were separated.

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Speaker 6: Coming up on Latino USA, our producer Renaldo Lanos Junior

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Speaker 6: speaks with Deo Doorro about what happened when they met

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Speaker 6: immigration officers at the US Mexico border, and later we

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Speaker 6: hear how the Trump administration is making it harder for families.

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Speaker 2: To reunite stay with US.

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Speaker 6: Yes, welcome, back to Latino Usa. I'm Maria no Josa.

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Speaker 6: When we left off, producer Renaldo Lanos Junior had just

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Speaker 6: met up with Deo Doro, who was separated from his

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Speaker 6: son Miguel back in twenty nineteen. Rinaldo is going to

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Speaker 6: pick up the rest the story now from Guatemala.

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Speaker 5: Well, Robert, where was Robert?

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Speaker 4: Gabriel is reading the breakfast menu to Theodoro. Therefore, Theodoro

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Speaker 4: can speak Spanish, but his main form of communication is

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Speaker 4: a Mayan language. Theodoro settles on a plate of eggs

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Speaker 4: and beans after he orders. He tells me Spanish can

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Speaker 4: sometimes trip him up. Grew up very poor during the

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Speaker 4: Civil War, he says. He and his family fled to

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Speaker 4: the mountains, so he didn't get a chance to go

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Speaker 4: to school. His father and grandfather were killed, so he

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Speaker 4: became responsible for his family. After we eat, we drive

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Speaker 4: further up the mountain and find a private place to talk.

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Speaker 4: Gabriel unlatches the bed of his truck so that Theodoro

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Speaker 4: and I can sit on it side by side for

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Speaker 4: our interview. We get comfortable. There's a luscious leafy landscape.

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Speaker 4: We're enveloped between mountains of green, overlooking the small town

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Speaker 4: that we just came from. There's a thin mist in

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Speaker 4: the air, but buses, motorcycles and cars zoomed through it

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Speaker 4: on the road next to us. And there's a chili

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Speaker 4: breeze rustling from a leaf to leaf that settles onto

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Speaker 4: our skin.

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Speaker 8: This is a pot de mio sit in the quando

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Speaker 8: en Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Diod shows me an old photo of his son Miguel

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Speaker 4: on his phone. He has a baby face. He was

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Speaker 4: only fourteen when they left what Themala and traveled to

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Speaker 4: the US Mexico border. Ye quel il leguta studiar theodoro reminisces.

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Speaker 4: On those early days, Miguel would wake up, drink his

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Speaker 4: coffee and go to school. He'd loved to study, and

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Speaker 4: when he get home, he'd happily do his homework.

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Speaker 1: With I.

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Speaker 8: Alerm Us toy Kongel.

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Speaker 2: When his son was with him, they were happy.

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Speaker 8: This is look Maraquero.

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Speaker 4: Never did he imagine that their journey to the US

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Speaker 4: would be the last time they would physically be together.

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Speaker 4: They left Whatatemala in early twenty nineteen with very little,

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Speaker 4: but at least they had each other.

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Speaker 8: Look at ye yeg comihu that is suey studio.

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Speaker 4: All Theodoro could think about on the road was that

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Speaker 4: they needed to get to America.

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Speaker 8: Together Ia di Yegora.

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Speaker 4: He wanted to work in the US and his son

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Speaker 4: wanted to study. Their travel was anything but easy. They

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Speaker 4: sometimes walked the entire day under the blistering sun. They

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Speaker 4: got hungry, thirsty, and they slept outside. It was about

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Speaker 4: a twenty day journey. When they finally got to the

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Speaker 4: border in Texas, Miguel was trembling.

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Speaker 8: Diego Moodoro embraced Miguel.

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Speaker 4: He held his hand, and he told him not to

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Speaker 4: be afraid. They had arrived. They believed that they were

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Speaker 4: now safe with immigration officials, but they were taken into custody.

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Speaker 4: Even then, Deodordo kept thinking God and praying that they'd

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Speaker 4: soon be released and allowed to enter the country.

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Speaker 8: See psalm.

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Speaker 4: See Diodoro begins to cry as he relives this moment.

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Speaker 4: When they arrived at the immigration facility, Diodoro says he

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Speaker 4: gave officials their documents. Soon after, he was separated from

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Speaker 4: Miguel slu Miho. At some point, Theodoro says he spoke

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Speaker 4: with an immigration official and told him that if they

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Speaker 4: released him, he wanted to be released with his son.

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Speaker 4: The official told him that he'd be transferred to another

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Speaker 4: facility first, then soon after his son would join him.

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Speaker 4: After some time, Theodoro was allowed to communicate with his

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Speaker 4: son one time to explain what was going to happen.

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Speaker 4: He recalls telling Miguel, don't be sad, be patient, my son,

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Speaker 4: But when Miguel heard that his father was leaving, he

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Speaker 4: began to cry, Why are you going to leave me?

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Speaker 4: Miguel asked, they don't allow us to go together. Theodoro

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Speaker 4: said the plan was never to leave. You will be

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Speaker 4: together soon, but his son never arrived. Soon after, Theodoro

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Speaker 4: was deported back to Watemala alone. When he arrived back home,

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Speaker 4: Theodooro eventually was able to get in contact with Miguel,

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Speaker 4: who was still in the US. Miguel said, Dad, I'm

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Speaker 4: here now, so I want to stay and study. It

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Speaker 4: wasn't an easy choice, but Theodoro talked to an attorney,

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Speaker 4: finished paperwork, and it was settled. Miguel was eventually released

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Speaker 4: from an office a refugee resettlement facility and into the

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Speaker 4: country to live with the sponsor.

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Speaker 6: We'll be right back, Hey, We're back. Producer Renaldo Lanos

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Speaker 6: Junior continues with our story.

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Speaker 4: There were many cases like Miguel's and Theodoro's, thousands of

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Speaker 4: children separated from their families. While this was happening with

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Speaker 4: Theodoro and Miguel, there was litigation brought to court trying

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Speaker 4: to stop the US government from separating families. Then, when

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Speaker 4: Biden came into office in twenty twenty one.

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Speaker 9: He issued in executive order creating a Family Reunification Task

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Speaker 9: Force that was created to identify and reunify the families

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Speaker 9: that had been separated, to provide support to those families

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Speaker 9: and help them have a successful reunification and address the

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Speaker 9: trauma that they had gone through.

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Speaker 4: That's Michelle Brenney. She let the Interagency Reunification Task Force

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Speaker 4: under the Department of Homeland Security. It was a multi

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Speaker 4: agency effort created by the Biden administration to locate and

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Speaker 4: reunite the separated families.

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Speaker 9: Close to a thousand families were reunified through the task Force.

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Speaker 4: Michelle ran the task Force for about three years. She

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Speaker 4: left her post in mid twenty twenty four. By then,

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Speaker 4: there were still hundreds of families who had not been

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Speaker 4: found and reunited.

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Speaker 9: We didn't know where they were. Most cases, the parents

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Speaker 9: had been deported or removed from the United States, and

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Speaker 9: there's no follow up once that happened.

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Speaker 4: Like Theodoro, once he was deported, no one really kept

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Speaker 4: track of him, even though his son was still in

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Speaker 4: the US.

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Speaker 9: The reunifications were much more complicated, both logistically just in

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Speaker 9: terms of finding the parent and finding the child figuring

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Speaker 9: out how you were going to get them back together.

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Speaker 4: But she and others were concerned that Trump would win

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Speaker 4: the twenty twenty four election and undo their work or worse.

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Speaker 4: Then Trump was elected president again. On inauguration Day in

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Speaker 4: twenty twenty five, Trump signed an executive order on immigration

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Speaker 4: and eliminated the Reunification Task Force, but still some of

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Speaker 4: the work of the task force had to continue. That's

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Speaker 4: because the court ruled in late twenty twenty three that

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Speaker 4: the federal government needed to carry out certain promises for

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Speaker 4: the separated and reunified families. It was known as the

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Speaker 4: Missell Settlement Agreement. The settlement was the result of a

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Speaker 4: class action lawsuit against the US government filed by the

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Speaker 4: ACLU on behalf of the separated families. Some of the

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Speaker 4: obligations in that agreement included.

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Speaker 10: The families have access to a parole status to be

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Speaker 10: present in the US to reunite with their children. There's

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Speaker 10: a modest housing benefit, there's some counseling available, some medical benefits,

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Speaker 10: and then access to legal services.

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Speaker 4: That's Nan Shivoni. She's a legal director with Justice and Motion.

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Speaker 4: This organization is working with people like Abriel the activists

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Speaker 4: from Chimadinango through their Defender network to help find remaining

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Speaker 4: separated families like Theodoro and Miguel. And the parole status

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Speaker 4: mentioned above is important. It allows the parent a temporary

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Speaker 4: status of sorts to be in the country to reunite

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Speaker 4: with their separated child. The agreement also powers some of

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Speaker 4: the work of the International Organization for Migration known as

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Speaker 4: the IOM, in order to help carry out those reunifications.

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Speaker 4: This work is funded by the US government under the settlement,

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Speaker 4: but soon after Trump took office.

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Speaker 7: They stop getting paid.

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Speaker 2: This summer.

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Speaker 4: IOM's contract also briefly expired.

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Speaker 9: When there's no IOM contract, families aren't able to submit

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Speaker 9: a parole request unless they do so with private support.

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Speaker 4: This is Michelle Breney again from the FORMERDHS Task Force.

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Speaker 4: Michelle says that without government funds, IOM can't do their

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Speaker 4: job helping with travel and logistical arrangements.

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Speaker 9: Purchasing an airline ticket, and helping them through the process

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Speaker 9: of going through a port of entry. None of that

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Speaker 9: happens without IOM's support.

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Speaker 4: Eventually, IOM's contract was reinstated and they were funded again.

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Speaker 4: The work continued, but valuable time was lost. Both Michelle

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Speaker 4: and nan stress that these types of setbacks slow down

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Speaker 4: the entire reunification process for families. That's why it's important

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Speaker 4: that Justice and Motion and other organizations work with people

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Speaker 4: like gabriel who are from the region and can connect

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Speaker 4: on the ground with these families like Theodoros.

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Speaker 2: Here's Nanagan, the.

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Speaker 7: Father didn't know about the lawsuit or the settlement benefits,

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Speaker 7: including the ability to reunite with his son in the US,

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Speaker 7: until the Justice Emotion defender Gabrielle found the father this year.

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Speaker 4: That was six years of not knowing that they even

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Speaker 4: had an opportunity to reunite. But people working with families

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Speaker 4: like Theodoro's are wary of the future under this administration.

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Speaker 4: After all, the Newtrump government has already violated the terms

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Speaker 4: of the Misseell settlement agreement at least twice, according to

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Speaker 4: court documents. For weeks, mental health and legal services were

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Speaker 4: not provided to these families despite being required by the

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Speaker 4: settlement until a federal court ordered the administration to continue

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Speaker 4: and remedy the damages. Advocates worry that the administration will

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Speaker 4: keep trying to skirt around the settlement and throw in

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Speaker 4: more roadblocks to these families who are already traumatized. It's

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Speaker 4: now been six years since Theodoro has seen his son Miguel.

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Speaker 4: He's now twenty.

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Speaker 8: One me who is the Rawajano ilies.

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Speaker 4: Miguel is working in the US. He's happy, Theodoro says,

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Speaker 4: but without his dad's support, he wasn't able to study

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Speaker 4: like he hoped.

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Speaker 8: Papa Melico Munca's log for me O Kip was luar.

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Speaker 4: Deodoro hopes he'll finally be able to join him and

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Speaker 4: help carry the load. The Trump administration will eventually decide

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Speaker 4: if Theodoro can enter the US and reunite with Miguel.

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Speaker 4: It's an administration that put them in this situation in

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Speaker 4: the first place and came back even tougher on immigration

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Speaker 4: this time around.

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Speaker 2: But Theodoro is still hopeful.

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Speaker 8: To pa Abermhu.

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Speaker 4: Theodoro says, if God allows, one day, I'll see him again.

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Speaker 6: That was Latino USA producer Ronaldo Leannos Junior. We did

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Speaker 6: reach out to the Department of Homeland Security with some

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Speaker 6: questions about family reunifications under this administration and about the

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Speaker 6: termination of the Family Reunification Task Force.

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Speaker 2: We did not hear back before we go.

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Speaker 6: I want you to know that even if Deo Dooro

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Speaker 6: and Miguel are reunited, things aren't always exactly a happy

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Speaker 6: ending for these reunified families.

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Speaker 9: We have had cases of families that were separated under

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Speaker 9: Zero Tolerance Version one that have been re separated as

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Speaker 9: a result of the second Trump administration's policies, and even

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Speaker 9: families that have been deported.

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Speaker 6: Reunified families are experiencing new issues under the Trump administration

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Speaker 6: because the federal government is increasing ice enforcement and there's

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Speaker 6: been fallout from the skirting around the miss l Settlement Agreement.

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Speaker 7: We believe that hundreds of class and family members have

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Speaker 7: lost their parole status.

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Speaker 6: We're going to keep reporting on this issue as part

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Speaker 6: of our show. Our episode was produced by Renaldo Leanos Junior.

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Speaker 6: It was edited by Julietta Martinelli. It was mixed by

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Speaker 6: Julia Caruso and Lea Shaw Damaran. Fact checking by Troxanna

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Speaker 6: Aguire Fernando Echavarri is our managing editor. Special thanks to

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Speaker 6: Raoul Hernandez of Gotham Production Studios. This story was co

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Speaker 6: published in partnership with Elfaro English. The Latino USA team

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Speaker 6: also includes Jessica Ellis, Trevec Gaibara, Stephanie Lebau, Andrea Lopez Gruzsado,

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Speaker 6: Luis Luna, Glodi, mar Marquez, Monica Morales, Garcia, Jjkrubin, Adriana

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Speaker 6: Rodriguez and Nancy Trujillo. Bennilee Ramidez and I are executive producers.

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Speaker 6: I'm your host Barria jo Josa. Latino USA is part

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Speaker 6: of Iheart's Mike w Urdura podcast Network. Executive producers at

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Speaker 6: iHeart are Leo Gomez and Arlene Santana. Join us again

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Speaker 6: on our next episode, and in the meantime, look for

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Speaker 6: us on all of your social media. I'll see you

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Speaker 6: on Instagram, and dear listener, don't forget to join Fuduro Plus.

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Speaker 1: Do it now.

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Speaker 11: MacArthur Foundation, and Michelle Mercer and Bruce Golden