WEBVTT - Imperfect Paradise: Return to Mexico 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:05.200 O La Latino USA listener, Gomo Tuta, So today we're 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:09.320 gonna shure an episode from Imperfect Paradise A Return to Mexico, 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:13.120 a show by our colleagues over at LAist. The show 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:17.000 tells the story of Danielle Samora, who remade his life 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:21.599 after being deported from the US to Mexico. Throughout the series, 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:24.960 we'll learn about Danielle's journey from the time he spent 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:29.040 as a teenager without his parents in Rio Blanco and 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:32.960 then coming of age in Los Angeles and Iowa, and 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:37.639 finally focusing in on his current life Insula Juarez as 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:43.680 a retornado or returnee. Hosted by reporter Lorenardos, the show 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:49.240 dissects the narratives around deportation as failure and the alternate 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:54.560 lives that immigrants leave behind and construct anew Here's episode 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:59.960 one of Imperfect Paradise Return to Mexico and dear listener, 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:03.400 there is talk of suicide ideation in this episode, so 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:04.399 please take care. 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.880 Back in twenty twenty one, reporter Lorena Rios traveled to 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:12.080 Suda Juarez to meet up with a man named Danielle 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:14.240 Samora in a small cafe. 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:20.399 And the place is tiny a super cozy, a little 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:25.800 bit dark, so Danielle and I sat by the window 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:27.559 so that we could get a little bit of light. 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:33.679 I wanted to meet Danielle because he's a returnado or returnee. 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:37.720 A returney can be someone who either by force or 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:41.040 by choice, goes back to their country of origin after 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.680 being a migrant somewhere else. This is a global concept, 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:47.760 but in this case, Lorena was interested in how return 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:51.520 migration happens for Mexican migrants between the US and Mexico. 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:56.600 I was interested in the return ye community from a 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:00.480 journalistic standpoint, But once I met Danielle and I started 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:05.200 asking questions, I realized that the questions that I had 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:09.120 for him were questions that I had about my own 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:11.800 experience of return. 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:15.560 In d Nielle's story, Lorena heard echoes of her own. 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.960 Lorena grew up in Monterrey, Mexico, until she was seventeen. 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:22.240 For economic reasons, her family had to move to Texas 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:24.840 in two thousand and seven. She would go to college 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.720 in the States and then grad school where she pursued journalism, 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:30.600 but eventually, at the age of twenty eight, for a 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:33.920 complicated mix of reasons, she would find herself back in 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:35.960 Mexico for me. 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:39.480 Ever, since I came back to Mexico five years ago, 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:44.920 I felt disconnected from my home country, from my hometown, 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:49.000 and unsure about where I want to be and my 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:51.000 relationship to Mexico. 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:54.799 So in that cafe in Juarez back in twenty twenty one, 0:02:55.080 --> 0:03:01.160 Lorena was wrapped by d Nill's story. In a lot 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:05.320 of narratives about immigration, there is an underlying message that 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.280 migrants come to the US because life is better here, 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:13.320 that it's more economically comfortable, more fulfilling, more free. But 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.040 Danian's story questions that assumption. 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.840 Can you describe your relationship to Sua Quarees? 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:26.119 Once I accepted my reality, I came to understand that 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:27.680 beauty was wrong around me. 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:31.640 Danian's story spans from the cornfields of Iowa to the 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:35.760 call centers of Guadis to the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France. 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:38.960 It's about what it's like to leave everything you know 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:41.840 and come back to a place that doesn't feel like home, 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.760 and it all starts with a love story. This is 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:51.920 episode one of Imperfect Paradise Returned to Mexico. Lorenarios takes 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:57.040 it from here. 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:09.440 It was two thousand and eight and Daniel Samora had 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:13.840 just graduated with an art degree from Grennell College in Iowa. 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:19.080 The look was buzz cut, graphic tees and Chuck Taylor's. 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.640 His plan was to move home to la and get 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:26.160 a job, but his car had other ideas. 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:30.440 My jip had some transmission problem. I was able to 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.440 go forward, but not back. I knew that I would 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:35.440 have to stay a couple of more days. 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:39.720 So Danielle took his car to the shop, and while 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.280 waiting for it to be fixed, he went out. 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.680 A friend invited me over to go to a bar 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:51.839 in De Moin. We went to a gate bar called 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:57.719 the Blazing Saturn. I was outside of the bar smoking 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:00.680 and I met A Rick Miller. 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:06.920 It was nighttime. I think we're in the parking lot area, 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:10.760 and I guess is romantic as that sounds, and I 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:15.160 thought he was the most handsome guy, an outgoing type 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:16.200 of a people person. 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:21.719 Eric is these very handsome men from Michigan. He had 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:24.919 this more like nerdy look, the little button down shirt, 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:29.200 as white as he can get, blue eyes, gorgeous smile, 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:30.719 trovit blonde. 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:33.920 So I just had the courage and just want to 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:34.840 start talking to him. 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:39.480 Daniel's version is slightly different. 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:42.719 A friend of Eric came over to me and he 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:46.880 told me, hey, my friend thinks you're cute. And I 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:50.000 looked over to him and I'm like, well, tell him 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.040 to tell me so right. I've always thought that if 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:55.080 you want to say something, say it to someone right. 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:57.920 Doesn't send someone else to do your dirty work. 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:02.000 I mean, very well. Could have happened. Like I said, 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:03.279 it was a long time ago. 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:08.920 We went back inside, we danced a little bit and 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:17.240 we kissed. Perhaps it was they dancing and you know, 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:20.360 all this smoke. I don't know, but every single piece 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:21.640 fell in the right place. 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:25.200 And that was it. 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:31.520 Daniel's car got fixed, but he'd be staying in Iowa 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:35.760 with Eric. Un Less than two months after meeting that night, 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:40.680 they moved in together. In the next two years, Danielle 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:44.080 and Eric built their lives as a couple. They got 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:47.680 a calico kitten and named her Bibi, decided to move 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:52.520 to Austin, Texas, found jobs, made friends, and settled into 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:57.680 the daily rhythms of life. Daniel liked imagining his American 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:01.040 life with Eric, stretching into the future. 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.240 He would come home and there would be apple pie baked, 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.039 and that would be with him until we growled. He 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:10.960 made me feel safe, and I knew that as long 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:13.840 as I was with him, I would be okay. I 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:19.400 almost forgot where I had come from. I was living 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:29.720 in a bubble, and the bubble felt really nice. 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:34.960 One summer weekend in twenty eleven, Daniel and Eric decided 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:38.280 to go on a getaway to visit friends on South 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.920 Padre Island, a resort town in Texas. 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:45.480 It was a gravel road, It was kind of dusty, 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.440 it was hot, very humid. I think they were just 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:53.080 kind of like large open spaces, like maybe ranches. Everything 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:54.640 was kind of like light green. 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:59.840 I was laying down, the music was playing. He was 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.080 I mean, I didn't have a care in the world. 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.600 I was just waiting for us to get to the beach. 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:09.680 I woke up because the road was feeling kind of bumpy. 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.880 So I remember waking up, opening my eyes and the 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:17.280 first thing that I saw was that we were kind 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.240 of in the middle of the bushes. We were on 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:26.600 a dirt road, and I asked Derek, what are we doing? 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.160 Where are we going? I said, Oh, I just want 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:31.000 to see the wall. 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:41.360 The wall, the artificial boundary that separates the us from Mexico. 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:44.360 For Eric, it was a curiosity. 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:48.439 I was kind of interested, you know, the border and 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:51.400 the river and seeing what it was like, and I 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.120 was like, Oh, let's go on this road. I remember 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:58.480 seeing the wall, big iron slats, and I think they 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.760 were constructed on such a that you couldn't squeeze through them. 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.120 He could feel a little bit through them, but the. 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:08.360 Wall meant something very different to Danielle. 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:11.800 I felt like the time stood still for a second. 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:20.760 I felt afraid. 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.960 Daniel had crossed into the US at sixteen without papers. 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:29.640 His parents had worked with a lawyer to get documentation 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:33.600 for the family. Danielle says, as far as he knew, 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:35.560 the process was still moving along. 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:38.640 He and Eric didn't talk. 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:45.040 About it, so Eric had no idea that Danielle was undocumented. 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:50.840 As they drove, they realized they weren't alone on the road. 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:58.960 And suddenly all of these border patrol trucks start showing 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:03.760 up parks in front of us, and two more pull 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:07.920 up behind us. I kept on telling myself that everything 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:10.080 was going to be fine. Eric told me that everything 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:12.640 was going to be fine. It was a routine check. 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:18.280 The officers asked Danielle and Eric what they were doing there, 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:22.360 asked them to show their ideas. Danielle says he wasn't 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:26.720 given a reason for why they'd been pulled over. Normally, 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:31.160 the Fourth Amendment protects you from arbitrary searches and seizures, 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:35.920 but because of national security justifications, within one hundred miles 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:42.640 of the border, those rules don't apply. The officers focused 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:44.439 their attention on Danielle. 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:49.479 The police officers starting struggling a little bit with my identity. 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:51.959 They started going back and forth to figure out who 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:55.040 I was, and they kept on pressuring me, telling me 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:57.720 that I had just crossed the border, and I kept 0:10:57.720 --> 0:10:58.439 on telling them no. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.200 Officers told Danielle that they couldn't find him in the 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:05.720 system and that he had to go with them to 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:06.320 the station. 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:08.840 Eric was confused. 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:12.800 I thought maybe there was some sort of a some 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:13.720 sort of a mistake. 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:19.000 I was told to face the car and put my 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:22.880 hands behind my back. I was handcuffed, and as I 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:30.000 was being led to the border patrol truck, I just 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:33.079 looked back and I saw Eric, and I wanted to 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:39.559 say something, and I couldn't. I just remember that my heart. 0:11:39.480 --> 0:12:07.079 Stopped in that arid stretch of South Texas. Danielle says 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:10.679 he was handcuffed by border patrol and driven to an 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:15.840 immigration processing office in McAllen. Danielle says he was asked 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.280 to sit at a big, semi circular desk. 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:20.439 The desk was a fake. 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:24.319 Yellow wood color, and behind it, Danielle could see holding 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:29.720 cells with people in them. Across the desk, various officers 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:33.400 were typing away trying to find records of him in 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:34.240 the database. 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:36.959 They kept on going back and forth, back and forth, 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:40.880 back and forth, until an officer to him, like, you 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:44.560 know what, I can't find anything. This other officer came 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:46.880 back and he said, like, let me have a go. 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:52.280 Daniil remembers waiting for an hour, sitting on a cold 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:56.880 concrete bench until eventually, he says, one of the officers 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.959 looked up and told daniel that he'd found a room 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:07.559 move order against them, meaning he could be deported. Daniel 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:12.240 was confused. He knew he was undocumented, but he thought 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.160 he was on track to being documented in some way. 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:18.200 But at the border processing. 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:21.839 Center, Daniel found out this was not true. 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:23.000 According to a. 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:26.480 Document we got from the Board of Immigration Appeals, his 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:29.680 parents had lost their case back around two thousand and four. 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:34.000 The family had been put under a deportation order, but 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:39.280 they did not leave the US. Danielle says he didn't 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:42.400 know about it, and his parents didn't talk. 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:46.200 To us for this story. But this deportation order. 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.320 That's what must have shown up in the database. 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:52.360 At the station. 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:57.320 Danielle was anxious, and as the gravity of the situation 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:04.600 started to sink in, he was presented with two impossible options. 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:07.840 When they told me that I would have to be 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.200 removed from the country, and I told him, like, well, 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:14.120 you know, can I call a lawyer? And they said 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:18.480 very clearly, now, like you have two choices. You can 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:23.080 either stay in jail until an immigration judge can see you, 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:25.520 but that can take months and I'll make sure that 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:31.440 it takes a long time. Or I could leave and 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:33.040 I could apply for re entry. 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:37.160 We tracked down a lawyer who would end up helping 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:41.920 Danielle pro bono, and she explained it this way. Basically, 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:46.320 Danielle was in a loose, loose situation. He could either 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:48.840 be put in the attention and wait for a court 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.440 date or be deported. 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:56.720 I foolishly thought that I would be able to come 0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:00.320 back as soon as I said for the Medica kind 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.080 of be able to reapply for ranger in the US 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:05.240 or within a couple of years, you know, and I 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:07.600 would be reunited with my family once again. 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:18.720 At the office in South Texas, Danielle was alone, no lawyers, 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:23.200 no parents, and no information about his rights or how 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:28.840 the immigration legal system even worked, which researchers and lawyers 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:33.840 say is not uncommon in these types of situations. Danielle 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:37.920 was conflicted, and he was being pressured to make a 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:39.320 decision quickly. 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:44.240 I have this picture in my head of trying to 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:47.960 put a house together made out of rocks, but there's 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:51.080 no mortar or there's no glue holding the rocks together, 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:54.680 and then suddenly you are putting the last rock up, 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:58.400 and everything looks fine and it looks beautiful, but suddenly 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:01.920 it just fonts and there's nothing you can do to 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:05.480 stop it because there's no clue and nothing is holding 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:06.000 it together. 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.880 The first rock that made up Danielle's American life was 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:35.000 Los Angeles. 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:41.600 I honestly think that my life started when I moved 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:42.280 to Ala. 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:46.480 Danielle's parents had immigrated to the US from Mexico to 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:50.160 find work. They didn't have papers, and when he had 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:54.640 just turned sixteen, Danielle says he joined them, crossing by 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.880 himself with a coyote. As soon as he got to 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:02.040 Los Angeles, he threw himself into his new life and 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:04.560 the American teenager experience. 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.080 I took the Metro for the first time. My mom 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.320 took me down to Los Co Johones in LA right 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:15.800 the Allies in Fashion District, and we would go to 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.160 the ninety nine cent store and I had my first 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:24.720 McDonald's breakfast. LA felt like the most wonderful place on earth. 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:29.160 That's what I think Disney England feels like. To people 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:32.600 who visited, it felt welcoming. 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:37.080 You said you knew like two three phrases in English. 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:38.840 Do you remember what those were? 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:44.920 I actually do. Hello. My name is Danielle. I live 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:48.640 in Mexico. And I used to say, like, how much 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:50.440 is it? That's as much as I knew. 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.680 Danielle says he worked really hard to learn English so 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:57.200 he could go back to school. 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:01.120 I would come back home and I would literally sit 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:05.600 down with the newspaper, the La Times, and my dictionary 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:09.080 and a notebook, so I would literally have to translate 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:13.240 every single word in that newspaper. And I would do 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:16.720 that for one or two hours every day. As you 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:20.760 will learn from other migrants. We learned English and we 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:24.320 learn how to speak it very quickly, not because we 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:25.879 want to, but because we need to. 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:31.120 Daniel enrolled in high school as a freshman. He sent 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:35.320 us some photos of himself from this time, oversized teas 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:40.479 and jeans, white sketchers, races, and a livery copy of 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:44.919 Harry Potter. Daniel says he got good grades and he 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:49.040 also started making friends, and he would end up finding 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:53.719 most of his friends in his favorite part of high school, theater. 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:01.400 He started learning all about vocal exercise and doing plas 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:06.360 after school. Daniel says that he wasn't really outgoing before, 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:10.000 but being a part of the theater, being on the stage, 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:13.480 it made him more comfortable to be true to himself 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:18.680 and his sexuality. There's one moment in particular that felt 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:22.280 pivotal when he got cast in the musical. A funny 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:25.919 thing happened on the way to the forum. There's a 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:29.879 scene where his character wears a dress, and Danielle remembers 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:32.240 looking for his mom in the audience. 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:37.280 I was wearing a dress and a wig, and I 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:40.000 walk out on stage and I look at my mom's 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:44.000 face and I was expecting to see shock. I was 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:47.800 expecting to see disappointment or something. I all I saw 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:51.520 was a smile on her face, and she started laughing 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:55.439 hysterically when she saw me like that, and everybody started 0:19:55.480 --> 0:20:02.600 laughing hysterically. It felt wonderful. And when I started wearing 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:10.400 a rainbow belt rainbow bracelet, it was fine. No one 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:14.760 criticized me or ostracized me for being gay. I would 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:18.560 have never thought, living in Mexico that I could be 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:19.200 that frame. 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:31.679 As high school came to an end, he had to 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:36.680 think about what came after, about college, and for the 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:41.440 first time, he says, his immigration status came up as 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:42.640 a real obstacle. 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:46.520 I knew the situation that I was in, and I 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:50.639 knew what I couldn't have, and what I couldn't have 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:52.359 was the American dream. 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:55.960 But why why couldn't you have that? 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:03.639 Because I needed to have more privileges that I wasn't 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:08.239 able to access. My dream at that point was just 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:12.520 to have an education, but I couldn't because I was 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:15.320 strapped by my resources. 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:20.560 Because he was undocumented, he couldn't get federal financial aid. 0:21:21.040 --> 0:21:24.560 He said his parents were not making enough money. 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:25.400 To pay for college. 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:29.000 His dad worked at a warehouse and his mom worked 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:34.560 as a cleaner. But then Danielle's teachers nominated him for 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:38.919 a competitive scholarship, which pays for low income kids to 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:43.119 go to top private colleges across the country, and Danielle, 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:47.960 with his good grades, charm and determination, got the scholarship. 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:50.840 I felt like I could taste a little bit of 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:54.119 like that American dream, that American life that some other 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:56.520 classmates were seeing. 0:21:57.119 --> 0:21:59.920 And that's how Danielle ended up in Iowa. 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:04.919 When I got to the college, I felt like I 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:09.040 was illegally blonde. When she walked into Harvard and she 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:10.399 sees these great holes. 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:15.880 Danielle went to Grennell College, a school of about fifteen 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:19.200 hundred students at the time, About a thousand of them 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:24.640 were white, and only fifty five were Hispanic. Danielle says 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:28.240 he used his theater skills to make friends with everyone, 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:31.320 and he felt like the world opened up. 0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:36.080 It was my first time actually interacting all the time 0:22:36.640 --> 0:22:40.600 with people who had a life that was to a 0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:45.880 certain extent ful of privileges. Friends who vacations were in Aspen, 0:22:46.280 --> 0:22:48.560 or who were going to Paris Fashion Week. 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:52.520 He decided to make the most of it. He studied 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:59.320 art and took all sorts of classes like sculpture, dance, painting, 0:22:59.680 --> 0:23:01.680 print making, and photography. 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:06.840 I wanted to explore beauty, to actually explore every single 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:10.800 aspect of my life, of my body, of my perspective 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:13.280 of the world, and put her on paper. 0:23:13.920 --> 0:23:18.280 It all culminated in a solo art exhibit at his graduation. 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:22.960 Daniel's parents flew out and got to see the piece 0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:27.879 he made called twelve Moons, a wedding dress that was 0:23:27.960 --> 0:23:31.040 torn apart and coiled up to look like the moon. 0:23:31.840 --> 0:23:35.360 It was dedicated to his mom, who had never had 0:23:35.359 --> 0:23:39.080 a wedding, and it was accompanied by a poem. 0:23:39.080 --> 0:23:43.040 And it's talking about how my mom I see her 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:45.040 as a moon, that even though she's not with me 0:23:45.200 --> 0:23:48.240 or she's not close to me, I always keep her 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:51.359 in mind, in my heart, and whenever I need to, 0:23:51.480 --> 0:23:53.679 I can reach out and I can see her there. 0:23:53.960 --> 0:23:57.480 So it was very beautiful to have my parents there 0:23:57.480 --> 0:24:01.400 and I I am for are grateful and they were 0:24:01.440 --> 0:24:04.760 able to see in one stage and get that diploma. 0:24:05.800 --> 0:24:09.160 Danielle finished school in two thousand and eight, the year 0:24:09.440 --> 0:24:17.600 Obama became president. Danielle told us he canvassed for Barack Obama, 0:24:17.720 --> 0:24:21.679 who was campaigning on what is still known as La Promessa. 0:24:21.840 --> 0:24:26.880 Obama a promise to Latino voters that he delivered comprehensive 0:24:27.080 --> 0:24:33.240 immigration reform, including a legal path for millions of undocumented 0:24:33.320 --> 0:24:38.600 immigrants in the US. While we work to strengthen our borders, 0:24:38.600 --> 0:24:41.600 we need a practical solution for the problem of twelve 0:24:41.640 --> 0:24:44.280 million people who were here without documentation, many of whom 0:24:44.480 --> 0:24:45.160 have lived. 0:24:44.920 --> 0:24:45.919 In work here for years. 0:24:46.640 --> 0:24:49.080 That's why we need to offer those who are willing 0:24:49.160 --> 0:24:51.520 to make amends a pathway to citizenship. 0:24:52.200 --> 0:24:55.280 In a lot of ways, Danielle was graduating into a 0:24:55.359 --> 0:24:59.160 landscape of optimism for immigrants in America. 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:03.040 I fought for you in the Senate, and I will 0:25:03.080 --> 0:25:05.360 make it a top priority in my. 0:25:05.400 --> 0:25:08.800 First year as President of the United States of America. 0:25:10.920 --> 0:25:13.840 But all of that would soon sour. 0:25:18.200 --> 0:25:21.200 Maybe my biggest disappointment was this Dream Act book. 0:25:22.240 --> 0:25:25.520 By the time that Danielle was driving along the Texas 0:25:25.560 --> 0:25:29.600 border with Eric in twenty eleven, there had been no 0:25:29.760 --> 0:25:34.760 comprehensive immigration reform. The Dream Act, which aimed to grant 0:25:34.880 --> 0:25:38.520 legal status to young people brought by their parents without 0:25:38.560 --> 0:25:43.080 papers to the US, failed to pass Congress. It was 0:25:43.119 --> 0:25:47.240 a bill meant to protect people like Danielle who had 0:25:47.280 --> 0:25:50.920 spent their formative years in the US and who felt 0:25:51.000 --> 0:25:57.480 America was their home. In twenty twelve, President Obama established 0:25:57.600 --> 0:26:01.920 the Third Action for Childhood or RIDE or DACA through 0:26:01.920 --> 0:26:04.600 executive action, but it would be too. 0:26:04.520 --> 0:26:05.720 Late for Danielle. 0:26:06.280 --> 0:26:10.360 La Promessa did not come to pass, but enforcement did 0:26:10.480 --> 0:26:15.960 ramp up as Obama faced criticism from border hawks, expansions 0:26:16.000 --> 0:26:21.560 of ICE, border Patrol and CVP, and record numbers of 0:26:21.680 --> 0:26:25.800 deportations every year of Obama's first term. 0:26:26.200 --> 0:26:31.119 We have more of everyone, ice, border patrol, surveillance, you 0:26:31.240 --> 0:26:31.560 name it. 0:26:32.000 --> 0:26:36.479 For us. This president has been the deporter in chief. 0:26:36.760 --> 0:26:39.920 The majority of the deportations seventy two percent were migrants 0:26:39.920 --> 0:26:40.560 from Mexico. 0:26:40.800 --> 0:26:45.119 Removals immigrants formally expelled and barred from returning, have risen 0:26:45.119 --> 0:26:46.280 to an all time high. 0:26:47.520 --> 0:26:53.040 Under the Obama administration. Nearly three million people were deported 0:26:53.080 --> 0:26:58.280 from the US, and Danielle was about to become one 0:26:58.320 --> 0:27:14.080 of them. At the Border Patrol station, daniel spent five 0:27:14.320 --> 0:27:18.040 hours trying to figure out what to do, whether he 0:27:18.160 --> 0:27:21.800 wanted to risk spending months in a detention center. 0:27:22.880 --> 0:27:25.440 I just felt like I wasn't going to be able 0:27:25.480 --> 0:27:29.480