WEBVTT - The Sit-In 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:17.080 It's May seventeen, twenty ten, a sweltering, dry Monday in Arizona. 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:22.239 By noon, the temperature climbed to ninety degrees, pretty typical 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:25.520 weather for the Sonoran Desert. But this is not your 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:29.680 typical day, because something incredible is about to go down. 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:34.879 In Senator John mckein's office in Tucson, five brown college 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.159 kids dressed in blue caps and gowns enter his office 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.680 and stage an old school sit in. It's a bold move. 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.800 They are essentially trespassing and at risk of getting arrested 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:53.360 or even worse. The pressure is so much that one 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:58.160 of the protesters bows out, leaving just four Braula Caraca, 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:05.520 Lisbeth Matteo, Mohammed mo Abdullahi, and Jahira Ca. They sit 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:11.480 smiling with legs crossed, urging Senator McCain to support the 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:15.160 Dream Act, a bill that would, among other things, create 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:21.160 a pathway to legalization for undocumented immigrants. You see, McCain 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:25.720 had previously supported the bill, but at this point it's 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.640 considering a run for president, and pulled his support to 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:34.440 try and please the Republican's conservative base. The protesters refuse 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.120 to leave until McCain agrees to flip flop back to 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:41.920 supporting the bill, even when security comes, even when the 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:44.360 police come, they hold. 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:45.640 Their position. 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:56.240 Until finally the four college kids are arrested. It's a 0:01:56.280 --> 0:02:00.720 powerful move and a brave one because three of the 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:04.280 four protesters risking their safety for the rights of immigrants 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:12.200 are themselves undocumented. Lizbeth, mo Yahida, all of whom are undocumented, 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:16.359 knew that they could be arrested. They knew they might 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:21.480 get deported. They planned for it. They knew how it 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:26.720 would look to deport peaceful students demanding rights. And it's 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:29.799 not that they weren't scared, but it was their way 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:33.720 of telling the world to care about their struggle. They 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:37.200 wanted people to pay attention to the Dream Act and 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:41.520 how it could change their lives. It was a tool 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:47.200 to create pressure on elected officials to please God, do something, 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:53.640 do something about this country's broken immigration system. 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:56.520 I'm Patti Rodriguez and I'm Mary Glendo. 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:01.080 This is Out of the Shadows, a podcast America's Tangled 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:05.720 History of immigration. Last season, we tackled Ronald Reagan's nineteen 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:09.960 eighty six Amnesty Act. This season, we're tracing the origins 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:14.800 of DACA, or Deferred Action for childhood arrivals. A contentious 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:18.680 executive order to protect undocumented young people from being. 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:22.720 Deported issued by former President Obama in twenty twelve. DACA 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.400 was meant to be a temporary stop gap on a 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:29.720 broken immigration system. It was like putting a bucket under 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:33.880 a leaky roof, But with multiple Supreme Court challenges and 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:38.440 looming presidential elections, the roof feels like it can collapse 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:43.640 at any moment, impacting the US economy, American culture as 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:48.520 we know it. Meanwhile, the future of millions of lives 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:54.360 hang in the balance. Welcome to out of the shadows, Dreamers. 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:02.000 Eric. 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:04.200 Do you remember March in two thousand and six. 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:08.040 Yeah, I was covering it from my community college newspaper, 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:10.000 the Talent Marks. Yeah. 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:12.840 And I was there too, covering it for the radio 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:16.680 morning show. And for those who don't remember, the protests 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:20.760 began in response to a proposed legislation that would raise 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:26.720 penalties for legal immigration and classify undocumented immigrants and anyone 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:29.680 who helped them enter into the US as felons. 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:31.800 I didn't even know that back then, to be honest, 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:33.600 all I knew was it was a day without a 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:38.080 Mexican and we were all going to go to downtown La. 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:39.240 Oh, and we all came together. 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:41.160 That's right, over one. 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:43.880 Million people just in downtown Los Angeles. 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:45.920 It was just in LA So it was all over 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:47.040 the country. They were doing it. 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:51.839 Yeah, and this is written in history as the largest 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:57.120 protest ever because these are the parents of the Dreamers 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:01.719 who were fighting for their humanity. I believe these marchas 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:06.040 in two thousand and six is what inspired the Dreamers 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:11.320 to see the power in numbers, to see that they 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:14.520 were not alone in this fight, and maybe in a 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:18.240 way gave them the courage to come out of the 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:19.320 shadows themselves. 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:27.559 Yeah, it was definitely a moment for sure. The history 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:31.200 of immigrants organizing during that time was like a Gordian knot, 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:35.200 or like pulling out wired headphones from your pocket. It's tangled. 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:36.479 Well. 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.280 The Dreamer movement is so closely tied to the Dream 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:42.880 Act and education. The Six Marches were like an incubator 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:47.119 for the movement. Sure, people marched to end a different bill, 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.600 but it was a coalition of immigrants of all kinds, 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:53.240 a united front of millions. 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:57.440 The Dreamers had already they had already been coalescing as 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:58.080 a community. 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.760 That's the one and only Mightysa, a Mexican American Pulitzer 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:06.200 Prize winning journalist and host of the hit PRX radio 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:07.799 show Latino USA. 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:13.800 Why because what would happen is that you know, they 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:16.200 would end up in college if they were able to. 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:21.000 And then their identification, whether they were from Africa or 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:31.080 Korea or Venezuela or Argentina. One of their primary identifiers 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:35.480 was to be an undocumented student. And they formed those 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:43.280 allegiances right across ethnicities, race, cultural backgrounds, national identities. And 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:46.040 this to me is kind of extraordinary about the Dreamer movement. 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:50.560 It is, yes, in many ways a Latino Latina LATINX 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:57.320 movement in Tendido, but it is also encompassing of all immigrants, 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:01.080 right and refugees, and there's no race upon which that 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:04.800 is only dedicated to them, right, So I think that 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:06.520 was really really powerful. 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.960 Laganan Mancha was like someone sent out a bat signal 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:14.760 to the Latin diaspora across the US. 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:23.040 And I think that again, the marches in like Chicago, Dallas, LA. 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:27.200 The marches that stood out half a million people in Chicago, 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:32.320 half a million people in Dallas, Dyosmil. I think it 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:34.080 was close to a million in LA. 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.760 In New York. It was smaller, but what it was 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:39.440 in New York was Dodo. 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:43.440 Mundo laganon Mancha helped kill a bill that would have 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:47.560 made undocumented people in the US felons. And it showed 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:51.160 the power of community and of organizing a little fire 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:54.600 that many people hope would change immigration policies in a 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:59.480 big way, maybe even lead to the dreamac passing. But 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.640 as we say, history isn't that simple. 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.560 What I'm really haunted and obsessed by is the capacity 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:21.240 of this country, and it's in humanity towards people who 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:23.680 were simply were not born in this country. And then 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:27.440 you have a reality in terms of the immigrant experience, 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:30.559 which is that you are not only less than human, 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.520 but you are also labeled illegal. 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.560 In two thousand and seven, on the anniversary of the 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:43.640 Six Marches, hundreds of thousands of immigrants still shut up 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:47.840 to protest on May Day in California. The protest ended 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:52.200 with police attacking peaceful protesters, many of whom were families 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:57.400 with children. So just imagine for a minute, you're pleading 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:03.120 for humanity, peacefully holding your innocent child's hand, and the 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:05.920 police respond with swinging batons and a rapid fire of 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:18.120 rubber bullets. The protesters were pleading for a solution on 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:20.880 the issue of immigration and demanding the end of workplace 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:24.840 raids and deportations. By two thousand and eight, the protesting 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:28.600 flames started to dim a bit, but thousand still marched 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:34.400 in May, especially in Milwaukee. Messages plastered on signs demanded 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:37.839 the end of raids. The US supported close to three 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:42.319 hundred thousand people in seven, close to a fifty percent increase. 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:47.160 The protestant marches also flirted up anti immigrant groups such 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:51.400 as Numbers USA, whose membership numbers went from one hundred 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:57.319 thousand to six hundred thousand. But the marches had an impact, 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:00.680 as Antonio vi Ja Ragosa, Eli's may at the time 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:05.000 asked DHS to end the workplace rates, citing in a 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:08.560 study that fifty percent of those deported we're working in 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.800 local industries and could create further harm on the economy. 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:15.840 By two thousand and nine, the protesters took it to 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:20.640 a more sophisticated level by coordinating civil disobedience through Internet 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:25.320 communities and text messages. Again, I want to emphasize that 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:29.439 the undocumented students let the fight for immigration reform for themselves, 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:32.680 and they were bold Mahmie. 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:35.199 Eric Guadata was one of those organizers. 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:38.960 We called ourselves Dreamers because you were trying to pass 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.319 lesislation that was called the Dream Act. 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:43.560 So it made it easier and it made it ring 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:46.600 in people's minds, right, especially when you're talking of politicians 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:49.000 who are always getting yelled at for so many different 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:52.280 things that oh shit, I remember those who Those are 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:53.559 the dreamers. 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:55.760 Who came to my office and got arrested. Those are 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:59.760 the dreamers who came here when they were like babies 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:04.000 and they assimilated to society, but they're still undocumented. So 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:06.840 it was it was a double edged sword because for 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:09.000 so many years in the beginning of the movement, we 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:11.880 were pushing the dream bag right, like this is the legislation, 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:13.559 this is the bill that is going to fix everything, 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.120 all the way up until twenty ten. So up after 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:20.840 twenty ten, like that just became part of the lexicon. 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:24.040 He went, is the dreamer movement grow in real time 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.920 and the organizing became more and more frequent. 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:30.880 So in terms of the way the movement grew, in 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:34.520 terms of like doing non violent actions and figure out 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.280 different ways to get people's attention or just to put 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:38.120 people's day up. 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:41.040 We escalated over the years in terms of cool, We're 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:42.960 gonna have a teaching cool, We're gonna have a community 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.240 media cool, We're gonna have an open house. 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:48.160 Each time the event gets bigger and bigger and bigger 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:49.160 and more and more. 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:52.440 Personal, to the point that when documented students started about 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.680 doing civil disobedience and getting arrested, and that's when like 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:57.439 should just stop off in terms of like. 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:00.600 Now we are thinking about what's going to happen. 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.320 At one point the organizers started worrying that they were 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:07.000 being watched by the cheese muscles at the FBI. 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:11.680 Were you going to be monitored? And in many ways 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:12.560 I think we were. 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:15.160 Especially just because of the nature of things when, especially 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:18.800 when you get arrested in front of the federal headquarters 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.120 in the West Side, when you start fucking with like 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:25.320 the FBI and at the time too President Obama and 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:27.960 the presidential office, you're gonna have eyes on you no 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:28.360 matter what. 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:31.640 So whether anything happened from that, I don't know. 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:35.160 But there were instances right where we could just like 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:36.880 point to each other and be. 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:38.800 Like, your phone's not working right, Yeah, no, my phone 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:42.480 sounds weird, Like we're not getting any reception, you know, 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:46.000 weird phone calls things like that, like trying to trying 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:48.839 to figure out if we've seen that person before a meeting. 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:49.720 Before and who are they? 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:53.360 And as many you know, news organizations have proved over 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:55.640 these last couple of years, especially with the Black Lives 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:59.640 Matter movement, that there is a modern day hotel pro happening, 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:03.640 and you know, activist spaces are being metiltrated and they 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:07.280 are being you know, turned into against folks to criminalize them. 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.040 So it wasn't the same as it is today, but 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:12.280 for sure it was a concern to be monitored. 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:22.240 But even still, what all these fears and pressures, Maria, 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.880 I know, hoos success. They put themselves in harm's way 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:31.720 to fight. When I saw the activists do that ridiculously 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:36.520 bold move of going over and taking over brock Obama's 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:44.120 campaign offices, whoa I mean, talk about putting your body 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:49.840 on the line, talk about giving it your all selflessness, 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:53.679 of sacrifice for the greater good, and of a brilliant 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:55.880 political move. 0:13:56.400 --> 0:14:00.079 Frankly was extraordinary. 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:03.320 A year later, in twenty ten, the Dream Act was 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:07.440 up for a vote again. That same year, dreamers showed 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:11.720 up at the offices of politicians to demand its passage. 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:15.440 We'll hear from them after the break. 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.000 Twenty ten was a huge year for the Dreamer movement. 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.680 The Dream Act was up for a vote again. It's 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:43.560 still guaranteed a path to legalization for immigrant children who 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:47.280 got here before the age of sixteen. This was going 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:49.600 to be the year it passed, and the Dreamers did 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:54.000 everything in their power to ensure that. Lizabeth Matteo, one 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:56.720 of the undocumented protesters from the top of the show, 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:01.040 had been organizing for years advocate for the bill, and 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:04.160 her involvement grew when she found her community. 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:10.480 I was at that first meeting when United was being 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:14.200 was formed as an organization. That's where I met Muhammad 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:16.680 and other undocumented against people. 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:21.120 She's referring to. Mohammed mo Abdullahi, another one of the 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:24.120 protesters who donned a cap and gown with Lizabeth. 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.120 I got involved in immigration stuff just sort of from 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:32.200 like a selfish place, which is I needed something that 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:35.040 would help myself as someone who was undocumented lived here 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:36.200 since I was three years old. 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:40.920 Moe's an undocumented immigrant from Iran. He and his family 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:43.520 have been living in an arbor since he was three. 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.520 His fear of deportation was even more pronounced because he 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.440 feared he'd face a worse fate in Iran as a 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:51.000 gay man. 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:53.800 I think the first time, my mom just told me 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:56.200 that there's something called the Dream Act, but not to 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.000 google it because the police would find us. And so 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:00.840 the first thing I did is I googled it and 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:04.400 found out that there was a community of folks just 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:07.280 like myself that were online trying to advocate for the 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:07.920 Dream Act. 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:13.240 Yet despite that anxiety, he still felt compelled to get involved. 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:17.800 It was scarier to be left in limbo. Mo became 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:21.520 an activist after he applied to enroll at Eastern Michigan 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:26.600 University and wasn't accepted because of his status, even though 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:29.520 he had saved up enough money that led him to 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:33.040 become a Dreamer, although they weren't calling it that yet. 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:36.000 So when I found out about dream BacT, it was 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:41.200 two thousand and seven, maybe late two thousand and six, Yeah, yeah, 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:42.680 it was close to the end of two thousand and 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:44.880 six is when I first found out about it and 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.040 sort of got involved, just online, sort of a community 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:52.240 talking to other undocumented folks, not too much activism and 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.720 the Dreamer name. We were initially calling it Dreamy with 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:02.480 an Ie and then point it turned into Dreamer. One 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:05.640 of the first projects that we undertook was we sort 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:08.959 of recognized the importance of telling our stories and so 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.840 we just reached out to other Dreamers. Hey, this can 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:15.480 be anonymous, you can use whatever nickname you want. It's 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.879 important for people to know that we exist and that 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:22.600 were their friends, coworkers, neighbors, and so that was sort 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:26.399 of like the first project that we took up in 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:27.119 the Shadows. 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:37.879 After Mo and Lizbeth met, they strategized on how to 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.600 get people to care about the bill. But there was 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:44.919 one moment that inspired that McCain action. One of the 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:49.400 United with Dream members, Matias Ramos, was detaining the Minnesota Airport. 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:53.280 It became a crisis and eventually he was released from 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:58.080 removal proceedings to different action. Moe wanted to recreate that 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:03.080 anxiety and blis size it to the world, which brings 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.800 us back to McCain's office. 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:09.760 I remember calling Lizabeth, I think one day, saying like, hey, 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:14.240 let's get ourselves arrested and let's like recreate this moment 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.320 of fear with everyone where they think, like, oh my god, 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:19.520 these folks are going to get deported, what can we do? 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:23.359 And so being in control of the action, our plan 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:26.040 was we were going to tell everyone ignore us, call 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.240 for the passage of the Dream Act. And so yeah, 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:32.040 we essentially put together a plan of let's find people 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:34.840 that are regionally diverse from different parts of the country 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:37.320 that are leaders, and the five or six of us, 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:41.880 let's get arrested and essentially put ourselves into deportation. Proceeds 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:44.280 to recreate sort of that like Matias simulation. 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:50.000 The protesters were intentional with their messaging. They knew what 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:53.880 kind of message the cap and gowns would send. It 0:18:53.920 --> 0:19:00.439 was calculated symbolism that wisdom. 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:04.760 Now you're resting students, you know, Now you're arresting people 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:07.040 that just want to study, that want to go to college. 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:11.280 I mean, if you present this sort of image to 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:18.080 you who present this story, as long as there's media attention, 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:21.600 as long as people are connected and organizing, because that's 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:24.440 the point that we wanted to make. If you've become involved, 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.479 if you organize, you're going to be more safe as 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:29.440 opposed to if you item it yourself. 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:34.400 There's power in numbers and hiding and playing sight. 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:37.680 Because if I come knocking on your door, no one 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:40.600 is going to know, but we'll use that symbolism because 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:44.960 that is something that I think grabs people's attentions to 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:47.240 just saying, okay, this is where we start to start 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:50.040 with the young people. Look with this government is doing. 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:53.760 Look what this country is doing, tearing families apart. Now, 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:57.600 obviously we're adults, we're not we're not children anymore. But 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:01.359 using that they happen down was just symbols. 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:03.720 But they were still arrested. 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:07.919 Some of us were put in remotle proceedings. But the 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:10.560 reason we did that was because we knew that. And 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:13.760 then documenting young people, the community that we have formed 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:16.959 was ready to fight and could actually stop our own vacation. 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:24.040 Now it was up to Congress. The Dream Act made 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:25.840 it through the House, but it was blocked by a 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:31.159 Republican dominated Senate, and once again the bill died flailing 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:34.720 on the Senate floor. The final vote was fifty five 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:39.800 to forty one and needed five more votes to clear 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:47.560 the sixty vote threshold. Five bruh no moments that created 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:52.000 even more pressure for immigration reform. Shit was about to 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:55.879 get very real for Elizabeth and mow. They knew they 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:57.760 had to keep the pressure up. 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.800 When the Dream Act vote failed. We were all very 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:05.439 sort of like content. It was like we knew this 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:07.919 was going to happen. I know there was people in 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:11.960 our group that were obviously disheartened and sad, but I 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:15.320 think our take on it was like this is never 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:18.119 going to pass, and we need to focus on something 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:21.719 that's essentially what became the base of NIA for empowerment, 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:25.000 education and escalation, and not so much being focused on 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:28.919 legislation per se, but rather creating sort of the community 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:32.600 that can surpass anything, including getting legislation. 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:36.000 The McCain sit in was like a soft launch for 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:36.800 their own group. 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:41.719 A month later, we formed the movie Aliance. We had 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:46.120 already then a student or actually several sit ins. We're 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:51.280 undocumented young people essentially forced the government to arrest us. 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:55.400 In my course, I mean like weak challenge. So as 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:57.840 a result of that, we continued to do more and more. 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:00.399 I think we will call it radical. I don't necessarily 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:03.359 life dot work. We were just kind of dramatizing what 0:22:03.520 --> 0:22:06.760 was already happening in our community. Young people were being 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:11.000 detained and deported, parents were being detained and reported in families, 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:14.719 the entire family was being destroyed. So we wanted to 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:18.200 use the privilege that we had as a documently young people. 0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:21.720 This is before back off first and know that we 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:25.720 were a more sort of protected class. If, if you will, 0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:29.200 if we were actually willing to organize and share our. 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:36.359 Stories, it was time for Obama to act out of 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:59.240 the shadows will be back after the break. After losing 0:22:59.359 --> 0:23:06.160 Congressional support following Obamacare, Obama conceded on the issue of deportation. 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:10.560 The administration couldn't get the Dream Act through in twenty ten, 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:15.159 and Congress members started to press for some relief of Dreamers. 0:23:16.840 --> 0:23:20.200 In twenty eleven, John Morden, the Director of ICE, issued 0:23:20.240 --> 0:23:26.600 a memo announcing a highlight program expanding prosecutorial discretion. Remember 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:29.720 that from the first episode. That's the secret policy that 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:35.159 John Lennon's lawyer, Leon Wilds found. While prosecutorial discretion is 0:23:35.280 --> 0:23:40.960 legalese for deferred action anyway, scholars referred to it as 0:23:40.960 --> 0:23:44.480 the Morton Memo, but it wasn't just one memorandum, but 0:23:44.560 --> 0:23:47.960 a series of them. By twenty twelve, the reviews from 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:51.760 the pilot program in Denver and Baltimore revealed that most 0:23:51.800 --> 0:23:56.560 undocumented cases were low priority and focus could be shifted 0:23:56.680 --> 0:23:59.199 to more serious offenders or criminals. 0:24:00.119 --> 0:24:03.960 Obama's team discussed with immigrant organizations and advocacy groups on 0:24:04.000 --> 0:24:07.240 how to best implement different action on a larger scale. 0:24:07.560 --> 0:24:12.160 Critics called it backdoor amnesty. Obama couldn't get the dreamac 0:24:12.200 --> 0:24:16.520 through Congress because Republicans controlled Congress, but with so many 0:24:16.560 --> 0:24:21.720 immigrants in limbo, the pressure cooker was swhistling aggressively. 0:24:23.600 --> 0:24:28.679 What this country witnessed with the movement of the Dreamers 0:24:29.000 --> 0:24:32.600 really is extraordinary. It is not, in any way, shape 0:24:32.680 --> 0:24:36.080 or form given the credit that it deserves in terms 0:24:36.160 --> 0:24:39.840 of being an essential part of the greater civil rights 0:24:39.880 --> 0:24:41.440 movement of the United States of America. 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:44.960 You know, folks are getting arrested. Folks who are pushing 0:24:45.000 --> 0:24:48.000 people that they're in their offices, were getting arrested in 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:52.080 campaign offices, were doing everything they could to pressure Obama 0:24:52.200 --> 0:24:54.399 behind the scenes and in front of the cameras and 0:24:54.440 --> 0:24:56.919 the part of public opinion to push them to be 0:24:57.000 --> 0:24:59.800 like you've been reporting all these people, you know, try 0:24:59.840 --> 0:25:02.119 to say, save your reputation, try to do something right. 0:25:02.000 --> 0:25:03.159 With that power you have. 0:25:03.880 --> 0:25:06.280 I am very disappointed Congress wasn't able to pass the 0:25:06.359 --> 0:25:08.800 Dream Act so we can stop punishing kids for the 0:25:08.840 --> 0:25:11.879 actions of their parents and allow them to serve in 0:25:11.920 --> 0:25:14.800 the military or earn an education and contribute their talents 0:25:14.840 --> 0:25:16.560 to the country where they grew up. 0:25:17.400 --> 0:25:20.400 On the next episode of Out of the Shadows, Obama 0:25:20.400 --> 0:25:26.960 announces DACA, But who really made it happen? We explore 0:25:27.000 --> 0:25:34.280 that and more next time Out of the Shadows. Dreamers 0:25:34.480 --> 0:25:38.879 is a Semelo production in partnership with Iheartsmichael Duda podcast Network. 0:25:39.359 --> 0:25:44.080 It's created, posted, and executive produced by me, Patti Rodriguez, 0:25:44.080 --> 0:25:47.800 and Eric Galindo. This show is written by Sessa Hernandez 0:25:47.880 --> 0:25:51.879 an executive produced by Jiselle Vancis. Our supervising producer is 0:25:52.000 --> 0:25:56.439 Arlene Santana. It's produced and edited by Brianna Flores. Our 0:25:56.480 --> 0:26:01.080 associate producer is Claudia Marti GRENA sound is so mixing 0:26:01.200 --> 0:26:05.239 and mastering by Jessica Cranechitch and a special thanks to 0:26:05.280 --> 0:26:09.080 all our Dreamers. Remember to subscribe to the podcast and 0:26:09.160 --> 0:26:13.119 share it. For more Michael Duda podcasts, listen to the 0:26:13.160 --> 0:26:16.639 iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:26:16.680 --> 0:26:17.399 favorite shows.