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Speaker 1: This is Latino USA, the radio journal of news and

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Speaker 1: Kurturre Latino USC Latin Latino USA. I'm Maria Inojosa. We

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Speaker 1: bring you stories that are underreported but that mattered to you,

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Speaker 1: overlooked by the rest of the media, and while the

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Speaker 1: country is struggling to deal with these, we listen to

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Speaker 1: the stories of black and Latino Studios United, Latino Front,

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Speaker 1: a cultural renaissance organizing at the forefront of the movement.

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Speaker 1: I'm Maria Inojosa.

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Speaker 2: No bayan, hi listener, I am Patricia Subran and as

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Speaker 2: a producer for Latino USA, I gather tape and write

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Speaker 2: the scripts that later turn into the stories you listen

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Speaker 2: to on air. Thank you for your support and happy

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Speaker 2: thirtieth anniversary Latino USA.

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Speaker 1: Hey Latino USA listener. Here's a show from our archives

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Speaker 1: from Futuro Media and PRX. It's Latino USA. I'm Maria Inojosa. Today,

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Speaker 1: Texas student dreams of graduating, but as a student who's

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Speaker 1: also a migrant farm worker, he faces unexpected obstacles in

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Speaker 1: reaching that goal.

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Speaker 3: Junior year, I wouldn't really worry about it because I'll

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Speaker 3: be like, Nah, I can make it up next year.

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Speaker 3: I still have time to fix it. But this is

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Speaker 3: my senior year. It's gonna be pretty hard because if

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Speaker 3: I if I end up failing, like it's going to

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Speaker 3: affect me. I want to graduate. I'm like, I don't

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Speaker 3: want to be life in quarantine anything like that. I

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Speaker 3: want to be like everybody else when there's a lot

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Speaker 3: of people, and like when I get off the stage,

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Speaker 3: like I see my mom and everybody there, they tell me, oh,

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Speaker 3: good job.

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Speaker 1: You heard from a young man in Texas named Reyes.

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Speaker 1: He's a high school student and also a migrant farm worker.

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Speaker 1: Since he was nine years old, he's left school almost

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Speaker 1: every year in the spring to do far work in

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Speaker 1: Michigan over the summer and into early fall. More than

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Speaker 1: three hundred thousand farm workers in the US are students

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Speaker 1: like Reyes. Because agriculture is exempt from regulations that establish

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Speaker 1: things like minimum wage and age limits, children can legally

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Speaker 1: work in the fields starting at the age of twelve,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes even younger if they're working on a family farm.

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Speaker 1: And for those students, balancing schoolwork and the financial needs

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Speaker 1: of a family is often challenging, and of course now

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Speaker 1: COVID nineteen has thrown an extra wrench into things. This

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Speaker 1: past spring, as Reyes entered his last semester of his

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Speaker 1: senior year of high school and worked towards graduating. Reporters

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Speaker 1: Karen Coates and Valeria Fernandez have been following him, documenting

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Speaker 1: the upset and downs along the way. But first they

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Speaker 1: actually take us back to when they met prey Is

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Speaker 1: way back in twenty eighteen. Just to note, listeners, we

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Speaker 1: won't be using some people's last names in this story

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Speaker 1: because of their immigration status or their family's status. Valeria

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Speaker 1: tells us the story.

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Speaker 4: Edinburgh, Texas is a small city just north of the

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Speaker 4: US Mexico border. The city sits on the outskirts of

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Speaker 4: McAllen in the Rio Grande Valley, and the land here

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Speaker 4: is wide and flat. It's October and sugarcane season, and

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Speaker 4: the fields are full of workers. Among the farm fields

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Speaker 4: and new house and developments. Since Edinburgh High School. It's

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Speaker 4: a sprawling campus of twenty five hundred students, and inside

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Speaker 4: the school, in a conference room with no windows, a

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Speaker 4: group of eight young people gather around folding tables. Everyone

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Speaker 4: here has one thing in common. While other kids spend

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Speaker 4: their summer vacations going to come or at the community pool,

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Speaker 4: these students migrated north to work in agricultural fields.

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Speaker 5: Okay, who wants to go?

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Speaker 4: And they are all members or former members of the

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Speaker 4: Migrant Student Club at Edinburgh High. They gather today to

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Speaker 4: share their stories.

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Speaker 6: MY name is David and I'm seventeen right now. I'm

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Speaker 6: about to turn eighteen on Sunday. Thank you.

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Speaker 4: David is a smiley young man with shaved hair on

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Speaker 4: the sides, and he tells a room about his summer

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Speaker 4: working in Michigan's blueberry and strawberry fields.

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Speaker 6: I wake up four, five, six in the morning, and O, hey,

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Speaker 6: let's go make yourself a tackle, because that's all the

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Speaker 6: time that we have for And so we go out

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Speaker 6: and it's long and it's hard. I mean, to take

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Speaker 6: your hands out of the bushes, you'd have to wear

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Speaker 6: long sleeve, maybe a double long sleeve, because you rip

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Speaker 6: your shirt, you rip your skin, you know.

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Speaker 4: He says he thought he was a pretty quick worker

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Speaker 4: until he met other migrant workers.

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Speaker 6: I thought I was really really fast, you know. I

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Speaker 6: was like, you know what, like I'm a young guy.

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Speaker 6: I'm gonna be able to be like really really fast

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Speaker 6: at this you know, Like these old guys got nothing

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Speaker 6: on me. I'd finish one bucket and the guy next

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Speaker 6: to me finished last six.

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Speaker 4: Right next to David is Leslie, and she's a former student.

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Speaker 7: My parents have been migrant workers all my life. I

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Speaker 7: was two months old when they first started migrating in Iowa.

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Speaker 4: She actually graduated in two thousand and six and went

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Speaker 4: on to become a nurse. But she talks about how

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Speaker 4: going to class as a migrant farm worker was a struggle,

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Speaker 4: especially switching between her school in Texas and her school

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Speaker 4: in Iowa.

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Speaker 7: I felt so out of place because these weren't my friends.

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Speaker 7: It wasn't the people I was used to me, and

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Speaker 7: everybody looked at me like, what are you doing here?

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Speaker 3: You don't belong with us.

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Speaker 1: It's hard.

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Speaker 7: It's very different to go back and forth. You can't

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Speaker 7: take the same classes. You're never with the same people.

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Speaker 8: It was hard.

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Speaker 4: Just my name, yeah, Ramond. A young man in a

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Speaker 4: red T shirt is on the other side of the table.

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Speaker 9: He chimes in, I'm one of seven the younger ones

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Speaker 9: right there. This is my mother.

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Speaker 4: Many of the students or former students came here today

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Speaker 4: with their mothers. They wanted to give us a full

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Speaker 4: picture of what being in a migrant worker family is

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Speaker 4: like and we've.

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Speaker 9: Been going up to work for a good while, like

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Speaker 9: a family tradition. Once you turn thirteen, my grandfather would

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Speaker 9: take you and our mother would join us and they

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Speaker 9: would take us up and we'd go work in Minnesota

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Speaker 9: and North Dakota. But since I was a little bit

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Speaker 9: on the shorter side, I had to wait till I

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Speaker 9: was thirteen. And then when I was thirteen, then I

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Speaker 9: was able to join them.

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Speaker 4: He still remembers his very first year starting out in Fargo,

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Speaker 4: North Dakota, when he realized the farmer didn't use pesticides.

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Speaker 9: And I thought that was cool, until I realized that

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Speaker 9: that man, like all the weeds and all the like,

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Speaker 9: everything that didn't belong there, we had to take out

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Speaker 9: by ourselves.

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Speaker 3: So that was a tough.

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Speaker 9: Year to have us the first year, because that year alone,

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Speaker 9: the farmers like all of the weeds must go. And

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Speaker 9: since I was really new, I didn't know what was

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Speaker 9: weed or what was not weed.

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Speaker 4: As they kept talking, the discussion is lively, and there's

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Speaker 4: a lot of chit chat.

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Speaker 5: You know.

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Speaker 6: We'd get half an hour of lunch and put pix

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Speaker 6: and a foil, put it on the dashboard and Hopefully

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Speaker 6: it's warm enough so you can eat it for lunch.

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Speaker 9: Oh you want to go to the movies. I'm like,

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Speaker 9: you know what, maybe maybe not, because I know what

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Speaker 9: the value of this dollar was, and I don't want

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Speaker 9: to just spend it to sit down for no reason.

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Speaker 9: I'll wait till it comes out on DVD.

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Speaker 7: One time, a snake came out and I took it out.

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Speaker 10: I mean, I wasn't scared of it.

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Speaker 7: I would get it with the hand like frogs would

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Speaker 7: come out.

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Speaker 11: Rats.

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Speaker 4: But there's one student this whole time who has been

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Speaker 4: pretty quiet. He has done it a gray baseball cap

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Speaker 4: and on his face you can see the shadow of

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Speaker 4: his first mustache. As he begins to talk, We're struck

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Speaker 4: by his seriousness.

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Speaker 12: The spurgus, the smell is very like strong. Sometimes it

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Speaker 12: sticks on the clothes like it doesn't take off.

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Speaker 3: Sometimes.

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Speaker 4: Dreya's is sixteen, and he has been working in Michigan

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Speaker 4: for seven years.

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Speaker 12: And last time I had this bag that was dirty,

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Speaker 12: and when I came back, like all the stitch like smell,

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Speaker 12: I remember now the spurgus that we were pricking and

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Speaker 12: this and that, like the days.

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Speaker 4: Sitting right by his side and listening closely is his mom,

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Speaker 4: Maria Magdalena, and she begins talking.

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Speaker 13: Well as soon on my experience, yeah, Monita vian guru.

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Speaker 4: Maria Mgdalena first went to work in Michigan in twenty

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Speaker 4: eleven with Reggia's and her husband. She says the experience

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Speaker 4: was beautiful but.

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Speaker 13: Hardos lesparago, Travahama's el every hole, Travahamo's, la papamos, el mice.

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Speaker 4: They worked with asparagus, bean, potatoes, and corn. She ended

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Speaker 4: up only working in the fields that one year. Maria

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Speaker 4: Magdalena doesn't have papers and so she was worried about

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Speaker 4: being stopped and deported if she migrated north again. But

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Speaker 4: she says her son, Reggia's has still been going.

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Speaker 13: You know, Mi, I tole you and as she mentions him,

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Speaker 13: she's overcome with emotion.

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Speaker 5: And forget you're carried.

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Speaker 8: Alstatis.

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Speaker 4: Maria Magdalena says Regias decided to continue to work with

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Speaker 4: other relatives in the fields when she couldn't go. He

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Speaker 4: told her mom, I want to go so I can

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Speaker 4: help you. She said, are you sure and he said yes,

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Speaker 4: so she gave him permission to.

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Speaker 13: Do Itlos a jeva.

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Speaker 4: El Maria Magdalena says Regges has helped out a lot

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Speaker 4: by paying household bills, and he pays for all of

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Speaker 4: his own clothes, his shoes, and yet she knows it's

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Speaker 4: difficult work and there are times she doesn't really want

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Speaker 4: him to go back.

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Speaker 13: Then you don't know what.

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Speaker 4: And so this year she told him you won't go

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Speaker 4: to the fields. Hearing his mom speak opens up some

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Speaker 4: old wounds for Regges.

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Speaker 12: I started working when I was nine with my parents,

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Speaker 12: like she had said. And first when I was it

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Speaker 12: was hard for me because I was nine years old

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Speaker 12: in the field, like I don't know what I was doing.

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Speaker 4: He says. He felt alone without his mom and he

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Speaker 4: was bullied by other kids.

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Speaker 12: The first year, I saw her a lot, but I

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Speaker 12: didn't tell my mom. I don't want her to work.

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Speaker 12: So I was like, no, I'm not going to tell you.

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Speaker 12: They used to tell me because I was slow. My

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Speaker 12: first used to tell me. Names, used to tell me,

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Speaker 12: you can't do.

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Speaker 6: This, just quit for a lot.

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Speaker 3: But I was like, you know what I need.

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Speaker 12: My family like move on, because if I don't.

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Speaker 5: Do it, who is gonna do it.

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Speaker 4: My co reporter Karen has one last question for Radius

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Speaker 4: do you have a message.

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Speaker 14: To people who are sort of disconnected from the foods

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Speaker 14: that they're that you're working with.

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Speaker 12: Just try not to judge people that are doing your

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Speaker 12: like your food, because sometimes I would go to stores

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Speaker 12: and they'll look at me like weird, and I'll be like, oh,

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Speaker 12: I just came out of work, what do you expect.

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Speaker 12: I know, I'm dirty and all that. But sometimes we'll

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Speaker 12: eat in restaurants, they'll sit us like in a different place,

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Speaker 12: but we would be like, what's fine if we get

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Speaker 12: it were dirty, But like, just try to be in

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Speaker 12: a little more gentle.

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Speaker 4: This whole time, as we've been talking, there is a

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Speaker 4: man sitting off to the side on a falling chair

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Speaker 4: in the corner. He's been listening to all these stories,

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Speaker 4: occasionally jumping in with a few details of his own.

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Speaker 8: What they've gone through, the experience is still some of

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Speaker 8: those things that I experienced in my life, and I

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Speaker 8: can identify with them one hundred percent.

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Speaker 4: This is Roberto Garcia, the Edinburgh High Migrant student counselor.

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Speaker 4: Like many of the students here, he also grew up

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Speaker 4: in the Edinburgh area and as a kid he remembers

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Speaker 4: summers piling into a big truck to go work in

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Speaker 4: the fields with his family.

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Speaker 8: My mother was pregnant with child, and they would literally

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Speaker 8: have to pull over a couple of times where my

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Speaker 8: mother would deliver a child, I help other with the

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Speaker 8: assistants of other ladies, and then two or three hours

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Speaker 8: later they would put them back on the truck and

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Speaker 8: go on like the grapes of that type of said

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Speaker 8: what I saw and read the book, it reminded me

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Speaker 8: of my own family. As I was reading that book.

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Speaker 4: His mother had twenty one children in all. Roberto was

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Speaker 4: the eighteenth, and he credits his mom's strength for a lot.

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Speaker 8: What a life for this lady and then seeing her

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Speaker 8: have so many children and the life that she went

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Speaker 8: through she had so on and forth, really inspired me

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Speaker 8: to want to try to break away from that type

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Speaker 8: of that cycle and teach others as well how we

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Speaker 8: can break away from that micro life cycle.

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Speaker 4: He went on to become the first in his family

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Speaker 4: to graduate from high school and get multiple degrees, and

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Speaker 4: now he's part of the National Migrant Education Program, which

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Speaker 4: has supported migra students across the country since nineteen sixty six.

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Speaker 4: Roberto works with over one hundred students and he's essentially

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Speaker 4: the cheerleader.

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Speaker 8: I was not the smartest cooking. I had to study

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Speaker 8: three times harder than the other kids. But I was determined.

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Speaker 8: So if I if I did.

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Speaker 5: It, you can do it.

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Speaker 8: You can do it. You can do it.

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Speaker 4: Migrant students have these raptid schedules. They often leave school

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Speaker 4: in early spring and come back in late fall, which

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Speaker 4: means they miss out on staff like school dances or

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Speaker 4: joining a sports team. So Roberto started the Migrant Student

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Speaker 4: Club as a way for these kids to connect with

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Speaker 4: each other, and he keeps a close eye on them.

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Speaker 4: If they stop coming to school, he'll visit their homes

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Speaker 4: to bring them back. But one of his biggest roles

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Speaker 4: is helping migrant students navigate two school systems, the one

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Speaker 4: where they work and the one where they live in Texas.

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Speaker 8: I'll tell them, you know, one, when you get to Roanoque, Indiana,

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Speaker 8: I want for the counselor the principal or whoever to

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Speaker 8: call me, because you need to be in these classes. Well,

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Speaker 8: when they get there, they don't put them in those classes.

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Speaker 8: Then the students lose credit.

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Speaker 4: Migrant students can actually take classes in the towns where

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Speaker 4: they are working, but they don't all is enrolled, or

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Speaker 4: the school's don't offer the same classes.

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Speaker 12: This year, I left early and they didn't want to

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Speaker 12: give me four credits of mine. I went to school

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Speaker 12: with her, and they didn't have most of the classes

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Speaker 12: that I have here, so they didn't give me a great.

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Speaker 4: Frillic for example, that just tells us he left school

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Speaker 4: early in May and return in September. By then, he

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Speaker 4: had missed so much class that well he was supposed

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Speaker 4: to be a junior. He didn't technically have enough credits,

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Speaker 4: and so when I just returned that year from Michigan,

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Speaker 4: he went looking for Roberto for help.

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Speaker 12: When I came like a few weeks afterwards, he's like,

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Speaker 12: I got good news.

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Speaker 3: And I was like, what happened to her?

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Speaker 12: And he's like, I just got you your credits back.

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Speaker 4: It wasn't quite that easy. Roberto had to put him

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Speaker 4: in a special program to make up the class whom

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Speaker 4: he missed, and I just had to do some extra

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Speaker 4: work at home. But in the end he was allowed

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Speaker 4: to become a junior.

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Speaker 12: And you just keep pushing, keep pushing and make it

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Speaker 12: and get all your credits so you can be a senior.

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Speaker 12: I was like, thank you, sir, I appreciate very much.

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Speaker 4: This time around, Roberto was able to help Reiges. In

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Speaker 4: Register school district, only seventy one percent of migrant students

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Speaker 4: who started in the ninth grade made it all the

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Speaker 4: way to graduation in twenty seventeen. That's a lower rate

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Speaker 4: than some students who live under the poverty line. So

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Speaker 4: we wanted to follow Regis into his final year of

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Speaker 4: high school. It's a year that is intense for any student,

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Speaker 4: but in particular for Regis, who has the added pressure

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Speaker 4: of working and taking care of his family.

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Speaker 12: They going to help my grandpa. I don't want to

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Speaker 12: get my mom a better house too. I'm trying to

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Speaker 12: help all of his family.

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Speaker 4: When we started to check on him over a year later,

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Speaker 4: one thing was clear.

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Speaker 3: I want a better life than this. I don't want

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Speaker 3: to be doing the er rest of.

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Speaker 1: My life coming up on Latino USA. We fast forward

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Speaker 1: in time and check back in with Rayes over one

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Speaker 1: year later. Stay with US Latviaes.

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Speaker 11: My name is flore I'm in Houston, Texas. I'm originally

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Speaker 11: from Mexico. I have been in the US for thirty years,

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Speaker 11: as long as Latino USA has been on air. The

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Speaker 11: first time I listened to Latino USA was in twenty eighteen.

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Speaker 11: It was a very of an undesirable and the whole

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Speaker 11: story was just amazing. I'm very grateful to have a

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Speaker 11: program that gives light to our history. I love the

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Speaker 11: pronunciation in correct esyerosa de los lodos. We can't take

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Speaker 11: congratulations to everyone.

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Speaker 1: And we're back. It's now twenty twenty and Reyes is

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Speaker 1: closing in on his goal of graduating. He just started

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Speaker 1: the last semester of his senior year. Reporters Karen Coats

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Speaker 1: and Valeria Fernandez have been following him, and Valeria continues

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Speaker 1: with the story.

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Speaker 4: Now, it's been about a year and a half since

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Speaker 4: we last saw. Yes, we've been keeping in touch by

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Speaker 4: phone and text. He's now seventeen.

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Speaker 3: O t the end, how are you doing real?

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Speaker 4: And we call him in February. We want to see

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Speaker 4: what he's up to and what's on his mind.

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Speaker 3: Oh, today we went on a future to go see

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Speaker 3: your college in school.

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Speaker 4: Rayas went to Texas State Technical College, a community college nearby.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, they have a plastic that inside and they teach

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Speaker 3: our hands on welding. Are you doing just well? Like

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Speaker 3: inside the place that you don't have to be like

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Speaker 3: in the heat.

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Speaker 4: He's thinking maybe about going into welding or fixing engines

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Speaker 4: or even building airplanes.

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Speaker 3: Since I've been used to the field. I'm like used

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Speaker 3: to working with my hands. They said that I can

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Speaker 3: get a job here in the airport and the airport

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Speaker 3: there and hard engine, Like I actually even get a

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Speaker 3: job there, and they would be saying up to like

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Speaker 3: thirty five dollars an hour.

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Speaker 4: Well, ask him about what his family is doing, and

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Speaker 4: he brings up his grandpa. When Dross has money, it's

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Speaker 4: his grandpa. He likes to spend it on.

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Speaker 3: He likes going a lot to like the buffett And

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Speaker 3: I tell him, like, if you want, we can go.

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Speaker 3: We can go to eat today. And then he's like

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Speaker 3: are you sure? He's tell but like when I be lying,

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Speaker 3: I was like, yeah, thank you today.

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Speaker 4: His grandpa is the one who has been encouraging him

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Speaker 4: to look at college classes.

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Speaker 3: He's always like worries about me, even though sometimes he

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Speaker 3: does get like a little bit crouchy. He does worry

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Speaker 3: a lot about me and a lot about my cousins

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Speaker 3: because he wants the best for us. He's always giving

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Speaker 3: us advice and he's always telling me like just He's like,

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Speaker 3: you're gonna make it like for me go And I

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Speaker 3: know you are because you're being a hard working kids and.

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Speaker 4: You are small, but there's still a ways to go

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Speaker 4: to graduation. A few weeks later, we call up his

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Speaker 4: counselor Roberto, to us how Regius is doing in school?

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Speaker 15: Is it really disappointed me as far as his.

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Speaker 16: Is the grades?

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Speaker 4: He tells us Lately he has watched Reggis's grades sleep,

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Speaker 4: and he's worried.

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Speaker 17: Towards the end of last semester, I had some complaints

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Speaker 17: for some teachers that he was just like giving up,

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Speaker 17: and I called him in and we talked about it,

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Speaker 17: and he said that it was just he was getting

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Speaker 17: senior writists.

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Speaker 4: He was worried enough that he arranged some help for Regies.

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Speaker 15: So in terms of that, I had to put him

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Speaker 15: in a special class for migrant kids.

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Speaker 17: And he's having to make of some of the work

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Speaker 17: there because of his class best his.

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Speaker 4: Grades, Andreyas started doing extra work and catching up. But

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Speaker 4: then all of a sudden things get much harder for

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Speaker 4: Regies and all students. Just a few days either the

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Speaker 4: coronavirus hits Texas seventeen Idalgo County, which includes the city

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Speaker 4: of Edinburgh, the clearest state of emergency. We called Rechis's mother,

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Speaker 4: Maria Madalena, to see how they're doing.

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Speaker 18: Na then gover.

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Speaker 4: She tells us she was planning to go sell a

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Speaker 4: few things at the flea market over the weekend to

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Speaker 4: make extra money, but it's shut down. And she has

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Speaker 4: a part time job at a bakery, but that's shut

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Speaker 4: down too, And.

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Speaker 18: I and I I you I.

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Speaker 4: Maria Magdalena says there are shortages in the stores of

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Speaker 4: things like eggs, chicken, and toilet paper. And she says

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Speaker 4: she's worried about paying their mortgage. I know no, Maria

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Speaker 4: mcdalena told her husband that they need all the help

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Speaker 4: they can get from God. The bills don't wait, she says.

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Speaker 4: You may stop working, but the bills don't stop. But

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Speaker 4: even in the middle of this pandemic and the obstacles

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Speaker 4: it brings, she says, it's Reggia's she's thinking about.

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Speaker 18: Pesn't rem.

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Speaker 4: That he'll graduate and be able to go in the

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Speaker 4: career that he wants. After talking to his mom, we

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Speaker 4: want to check in with Reggias two.

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Speaker 5: Can you hear us? I resah how are you doing good?

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Speaker 9: Good?

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Speaker 4: He says, the Edinburgh Unified the school district has announced

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Speaker 4: that they will close until further notice due to COVID nineteen.

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Speaker 4: He had been catching up on school in the special

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Speaker 4: class Robert to put him in before the pandemic, and

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Speaker 4: when we talk, he seems concerned that all the work

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Speaker 4: he's put into raise his grades could be lost. Is

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Speaker 4: this making you angry?

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Speaker 3: Oh, not really angry. It's just that it makes me

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Speaker 3: like a little bit worried, like because I do want

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Speaker 3: to graduate, like with my whole class, Like I wouldn't

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Speaker 3: want to be like the one kid that like everybody

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Speaker 3: do walking on top and I'm always here still trying

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Speaker 3: to graduate, Like I wouldn't want to do that. I've

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Speaker 3: been trying to pass my classes with like eighties and nineties,

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Speaker 3: and I've been doing good and then for this to

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Speaker 3: like backfire on me. I can't call or I can't

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Speaker 3: take the teacher because like I don't know their number

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Speaker 3: or anything like that. You get me.

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Speaker 4: And in this moment when his family is tight on money,

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Speaker 4: he says he wishes he took a job at Walmart.

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Speaker 3: They're getting paid a lot, and now that I think

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Speaker 3: about it, I should have gotten a job there, like

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00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:54,480
Speaker 3: job up. My parents just kids, they needed help with anything.

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Speaker 4: Helping to students like him cope with financial pressures outside

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Speaker 4: of school is exactly why the National Migrant Education Program

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Speaker 4: was created in the first place. But it's around this

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Speaker 4: time in March that we also find out that the

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Speaker 4: program that supports students like Regis will be seriously cut

443
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:17,640
Speaker 4: back and fall.

444
00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:21,879
Speaker 15: We did get some bad news from the state and

445
00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,280
Speaker 15: our budget. In the state of Texas, the migrant ed

446
00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:26,200
Speaker 15: is going to be cut one third.

447
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:29,879
Speaker 4: Roberto is the one who tells us about this, So.

448
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:34,480
Speaker 15: There's going to be a lot less monies and possibly

449
00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:39,119
Speaker 15: a lot less migrant personnel from the national level.

450
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:42,960
Speaker 4: We asked Roberto, what does that mean for students next year?

451
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:47,679
Speaker 15: Very simple, there will be less resources for them in

452
00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:54,720
Speaker 15: terms of supplemental health supplies, clothing, college tours, a parent meeting.

453
00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:59,280
Speaker 15: It's going to be even less of an opportunity for

454
00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:02,040
Speaker 15: the microsc to get that additional help.

455
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:05,879
Speaker 4: By early April, remote learning has been going on for

456
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,800
Speaker 4: a few weeks and Roberto says it has been difficult

457
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:10,040
Speaker 4: for many of his students.

458
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:13,320
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, can you hear it?

459
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:16,120
Speaker 15: Okay, well, I can hear I can hear the three

460
00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:16,800
Speaker 15: of you and me.

461
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:18,440
Speaker 16: It's four, so there's four wars of the line.

462
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:20,400
Speaker 4: So he calls to I just to check in on him,

463
00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:22,800
Speaker 4: to talk about what he needs to finish in order

464
00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:23,480
Speaker 4: to graduate.

465
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:26,120
Speaker 3: Like I'll get on the computer for like an hour

466
00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:28,840
Speaker 3: a day, an hour or two and just try to

467
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:30,120
Speaker 3: finish as much as I can.

468
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:33,800
Speaker 4: Because of the coronavirus, Roberto says, some of his students

469
00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:36,359
Speaker 4: are not finishing all the credits they need, and so

470
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:39,560
Speaker 4: sometimes he's guiding them to finish a more basic diploma

471
00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:42,720
Speaker 4: than they had planned. It's a strategy the school has

472
00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 4: turned too since the pandemic.

473
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:45,840
Speaker 3: Your credits that you need to take.

474
00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:48,000
Speaker 19: And as a matter of fact, I had this Johnson

475
00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:50,560
Speaker 19: calling me right now, you all hold on, okay.

476
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:52,760
Speaker 4: And Glugs is on the line. Roberto actually gets a

477
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,879
Speaker 4: call from another counselor, missus Johnson. He puts her on

478
00:25:55,920 --> 00:26:02,080
Speaker 4: a speakerphone, how many credits that he completed. They talk

479
00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:04,840
Speaker 4: for a while about aas and look at his class work.

480
00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:07,560
Speaker 16: As counselor's I think that would be the best bet

481
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:11,040
Speaker 16: to advise the young man and not have to carry

482
00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:16,000
Speaker 16: on more classes than what he needs, right now yeah, okay,

483
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:20,359
Speaker 16: hold ones, yes, okay, Raes, did you hear miss Johnson

484
00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:23,320
Speaker 16: what she's saying that it's best for us to leave

485
00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:25,480
Speaker 16: you in the twenty two credit one because that's going

486
00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:26,840
Speaker 16: to accept you into the TSC.

487
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:30,160
Speaker 4: Anyway, they took for a while about Regis and look

488
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,680
Speaker 4: at his class work, and then Roberto tells Regis they

489
00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,159
Speaker 4: have figured out that if he can just finish the

490
00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:39,960
Speaker 4: rest of his current class work, he can get a diploma.

491
00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:42,960
Speaker 4: It won't be necessarily enough to get him into a

492
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:46,440
Speaker 4: four year university, but it will let him study welding

493
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:51,400
Speaker 4: ranged mechanics at a technical college like Texas State Community College.

494
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:52,359
Speaker 1: All that very.

495
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:57,240
Speaker 19: Require again, is just that a twenty two credit foundation program. Okay,

496
00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,919
Speaker 19: so you're okay, don't get stressed, You're going to be okay.

497
00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:06,439
Speaker 16: Okay.

498
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,280
Speaker 4: Then Regis as Roberto about graduation. He wants to know

499
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,560
Speaker 4: if he graduates, will the ceremony even happen? It may,

500
00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:15,240
Speaker 4: it may happen.

501
00:27:15,359 --> 00:27:19,359
Speaker 19: Raise don't get discertion like graduation like the walk my

502
00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:21,560
Speaker 19: mom was expecting from me, Like the walk, So.

503
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:26,800
Speaker 3: Like hopefully they do do a graduation like my mom's

504
00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:28,800
Speaker 3: doing that. I wanted to do it for it anyway.

505
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 4: At the end of the call, Roberto asked about Regis's

506
00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 4: plan for the summer. He had mentioned Corpus Christie, which

507
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:37,320
Speaker 4: is one hundred and fifty miles away.

508
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:39,920
Speaker 19: You're thinking about maybe going to Corpus What kind of

509
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:42,200
Speaker 19: work are you going to be doing over this electricity?

510
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:44,120
Speaker 3: Electrical work over there?

511
00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:46,960
Speaker 16: Okay, and nothing with my not the agriculture.

512
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:51,080
Speaker 3: No, but I might go to Michigan again. I don't

513
00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:51,280
Speaker 3: know you.

514
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:56,679
Speaker 4: Michigan means working in the fields again.

515
00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:08,960
Speaker 20: Yes, I just woke up today and it is Thursday.

516
00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:11,560
Speaker 4: For the rest of the month of April, we don't

517
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:14,240
Speaker 4: hear much from Reggas it turns out he got a

518
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:17,320
Speaker 4: full time ninety five job as a mechanic apprentice at

519
00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:19,880
Speaker 4: a car shop. But he does send us a few

520
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:21,000
Speaker 4: voice recordings.

521
00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:26,400
Speaker 20: Hopefully we don't have to do that, which today.

522
00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:27,879
Speaker 6: Just a couple of course.

523
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:33,520
Speaker 20: I just got home and I'm about to eat. My

524
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:35,920
Speaker 20: mom eats some food. I just went to the daughter

525
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,880
Speaker 20: right now. It was pretty packed. The virus thing is

526
00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 20: still going on. I guess I just finished like two

527
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,040
Speaker 20: or three of my assignments and I'm gonna go take

528
00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:46,840
Speaker 20: a shower right now.

529
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:48,080
Speaker 5: I gotta work in the morning.

530
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,360
Speaker 4: We don't hear from Roberto in May, who tells Reggis

531
00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:01,560
Speaker 4: has been a little difficult to read. He's so close,

532
00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 4: he says, just a few days of work and he'll

533
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:04,600
Speaker 4: be done.

534
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:12,120
Speaker 16: Hello, Hello, no, hey, how you let me go?

535
00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 4: In late May, the last week of reggia senior year,

536
00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:20,040
Speaker 4: Roberto gives Reggis a call with some important news. He

537
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:23,560
Speaker 4: tells him graduation will happen in person with social distancing

538
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:28,000
Speaker 4: measures later in the summer. And then okay, well guess what.

539
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:33,320
Speaker 15: You are fully certified with all the requirements to graduate.

540
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:40,920
Speaker 3: So congratulations, thank you. Yes, actually I'm yes.

541
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:42,880
Speaker 16: I'm so proud You're done.

542
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:44,480
Speaker 3: How that feel?

543
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:54,640
Speaker 4: Finally, he tells Roberto, now I don't have to struggle anymore.

544
00:29:58,560 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 16: Razes you.

545
00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:00,800
Speaker 15: Mama there she she hugging you.

546
00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 4: Yeah, And then his mom gets on the line. She

547
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:16,479
Speaker 4: says she asked God to help her son graduate and

548
00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:19,160
Speaker 4: that it will be her proudest moment to see him walk.

549
00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:27,040
Speaker 4: She says she loves him and she's so proud of him.

550
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:38,640
Speaker 21: The they just tell her he loves her too.

551
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:41,320
Speaker 4: He jokingly says that she won't have to grapple with

552
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:48,920
Speaker 4: him about school anymore. She no longer has to worry.

553
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,720
Speaker 4: He says, now he can really make money, and he

554
00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:55,720
Speaker 4: says he's so grateful to have her as his mother.

555
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:16,040
Speaker 5: I'm out of Bengo, Ma.

556
00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:25,600
Speaker 4: It's graduation day, Maria Magdalena films on her phone and

557
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:27,840
Speaker 4: she gets in her car with Regga's and his grandma

558
00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 4: to head to Edinburgh High School.

559
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:30,560
Speaker 10: Gas.

560
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:38,440
Speaker 4: She says she's been longing for this day to arrive.

561
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,520
Speaker 4: The six hundred students are all several feet apart. There

562
00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 4: is no hugging or touching, and each student wears a mask.

563
00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:52,560
Speaker 4: Reyas is much taller than when we first met him,

564
00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:55,320
Speaker 4: and today he's wearing his regalia and a green and

565
00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:57,760
Speaker 4: yellow cord that all the migrant students wear.

566
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:01,400
Speaker 14: And join me at remove our tassels from right to

567
00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:05,600
Speaker 14: left to signify that we are now official high school

568
00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:10,200
Speaker 14: graduates forck God through Dream four.

569
00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:16,320
Speaker 4: In just a few days, Dugas will be gone, already

570
00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:19,520
Speaker 4: off to Louisiana for a new summer job in construction.

571
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:22,840
Speaker 4: His plan is to save money for his family and

572
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,120
Speaker 4: to go to college in the fall, which means he'll

573
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:31,240
Speaker 4: be away from his family again. It's the irony, the

574
00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:35,280
Speaker 4: tragedy of my ron work. People often take these exhausting,

575
00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:39,520
Speaker 4: arduous jobs to help their families, and yet the work

576
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 4: often keeps them hundreds and thousands of miles away from

577
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:50,560
Speaker 4: the very people they're working for. One day, when he

578
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,280
Speaker 4: has the time and money and his mom finally has

579
00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:56,880
Speaker 4: her immigration papers, Regis has a dream and life.

580
00:32:56,720 --> 00:33:01,080
Speaker 3: Taker of day and letters in Michigan again, or like

581
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:04,680
Speaker 3: not to go work, but to go see it as

582
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:06,240
Speaker 3: like Michigan as.

583
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:09,080
Speaker 4: It is when she went before. She was too busy

584
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:11,720
Speaker 4: working in the sparagus fields to stop for a moment

585
00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:15,280
Speaker 4: to notice the trees, the birds, the scenery. And he

586
00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,400
Speaker 4: was working too, so they never had a summer vacation.

587
00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:21,560
Speaker 3: Of course that when you're working, you don't really get

588
00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:24,600
Speaker 3: to see that much, but if you're there to visit,

589
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:25,960
Speaker 3: it's a really beautiful case.

590
00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:30,200
Speaker 4: He wants to go north again, but this time he

591
00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:31,800
Speaker 4: wants them to go together.

592
00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:46,760
Speaker 1: Our things to raise his family and to his counselor

593
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:51,000
Speaker 1: Robert Varcia. Since reporting this story, Raise is back from

594
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:53,720
Speaker 1: working in Louisiana. He says at the end of August

595
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:56,080
Speaker 1: he plans to go to Wisconsin to work in the

596
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:58,960
Speaker 1: potato fields. He wants to save enough money to attend

597
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:23,279
Speaker 1: college and later open up his own family business. This

598
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:27,239
Speaker 1: episode was produced by Karen Coates and Valeria Fernandez, who

599
00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:31,239
Speaker 1: was edited by Sophia Parisaka and Antonia Serejuido. It was

600
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:34,840
Speaker 1: mixed by Stephane Lebou and Julia Caruso. The Latino USA

601
00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:40,719
Speaker 1: team includes Andrea Loquez Crusado, Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent, Daisy Contreras,

602
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:47,120
Speaker 1: Victoria Strada, Renaldo Leanos Junior, Patricia Sulvaran, and Elizabeth Lowenthal Torres.

603
00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:51,400
Speaker 1: Our editorial director is Fernandes Santos. Our associate engineers are

604
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:55,720
Speaker 1: Gabriel Abez, JJ Carubin. Our marketing manager is Luis Juna.

605
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:58,480
Speaker 1: Our theme music was composed by Zania Ruinos. I'm your

606
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:02,360
Speaker 1: host and executive producer Maria join us on our next episode.

607
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:05,040
Speaker 1: You can also find us on your social media and

608
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:07,480
Speaker 1: I Say No Joo.

609
00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:13,600
Speaker 10: Latino USA is made possible in part by Public Welfare Foundation,

610
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:19,279
Speaker 10: catalyzing transformative approaches to justice that are community led, restorative,

611
00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:24,239
Speaker 10: and racially just, the Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on

612
00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:28,920
Speaker 10: the front lines of social change worldwide, and the John D.

613
00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:30,960
Speaker 10: And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,