Speaker 1: Here.
Speaker 2: Lisa Martinez Rosas is standing in the security line at
Speaker 2: the airport in a border town. She an undocumented immigrant,
Speaker 2: so she's understandably nervous, but she has her doga card
Speaker 2: with her. It'll be fine, she reminds herself. An IE
Speaker 2: agent glances at her, so she looks away. When she
Speaker 2: looks again, he's walking directly toward her. Her body goes stiff,
Speaker 2: and she grips her DOCA card in her pocket, hoping
Speaker 2: he's walking towards someone else. Excuse me, ma'am, the agent says.
Speaker 2: She pretends to ignore him. He taps her shoulder and said,
Speaker 2: can I see your identification? Like a reflex, she immediately
Speaker 2: pulls out her card and hands it to him. He
Speaker 2: takes a look, scanning it, darting his eyes between it
Speaker 2: and her. Oh, he says, like he's realizing something. You're
Speaker 2: a criminal. You need to come with us. This was
Speaker 2: gray SA's worst nightmare, especially now that Donald Trump is
Speaker 2: in office, and she was living it. She was detained
Speaker 2: for eight hours. Her mind was racing, thinking about everything
Speaker 2: that could go wrong, but then instinctially, her training kicked in.
Speaker 2: This might be gray SA's first time being detained, but
Speaker 2: she was familiar with this song and dance. You see,
Speaker 2: Gray Sa' is an active and she knew how to
Speaker 2: fucking tango. She spent the better part of her youth
Speaker 2: organizing on behalf of undocumented immigrants, building their cases to
Speaker 2: prevent removal proceedings. A sense of calm washes over her.
Speaker 2: She knew that she had a team. She knew that
Speaker 2: the organization she worked with, United We Dream had her back.
Speaker 2: She'd be out of no time. They'd go to the
Speaker 2: ends of the earth to ensure her release, and if not,
Speaker 2: she'd go back to Mexico, hug her family and perhaps
Speaker 2: become an organizer there. Or maybe she'll start a new life,
Speaker 2: maybe in Canada as an undocumented immigrant that was just attained.
Speaker 2: She was oddly zen about it all. This was all
Speaker 2: part of her coaching as an organizer. Social movements, after all,
Speaker 2: start from within. In the midst of this strange moment
Speaker 2: of mental clarity, she starts singing Amazing Grace, How sweet
Speaker 2: the sound. Even the border agents were confused. She was
Speaker 2: eventually let go, just like she knew she would be.
Speaker 2: She faced her deepest fear head on with calm and
Speaker 2: a little bit of harmony.
Speaker 1: This is Out of the Shadows a podcast about America's
Speaker 1: tangled history of immigration.
Speaker 2: Rodriguez I America Lindo.
Speaker 1: Last season, we tackled Ronald Reagan's nineteen eighty six Amnesty Act.
Speaker 1: This season, we're tracing the origins of DACA, or Deferred
Speaker 1: Action for Childhood Arrivals, a contentious executive order to protect
Speaker 1: undocumented young people from being deported.
Speaker 2: Issued by former President Barack Obama in twenty twelve. DACA
Speaker 2: was meant to be a temporary stop gap on a
Speaker 2: broken immigration system. It was like putting a bucket under
Speaker 2: a leaky roof, But with multiple Supreme Court challenges and
Speaker 2: looming presidential elections, the roof feels like it may collapse
Speaker 2: at any moment, impacting the US economy and American culture
Speaker 2: as we know it. Meanwhile, the future of millions of
Speaker 2: lives hangs in the balance.
Speaker 3: Welcome to Out of the Shadows Dreamers. DACA only extended
Speaker 3: protection to a little under a million people, leaving out
Speaker 3: millions for reasons of age, felony status, or just plain
Speaker 3: bad luck. After the Obama administration kept hearing concerns about
Speaker 3: all the people that were left out of the program,
Speaker 3: the president had to do something. The biggest concern was
Speaker 3: for the parents of Dreamers and DACCA recipients. Organizers demanded
Speaker 3: that the president extend protection to them. Two years after
Speaker 3: issuing DACA, there was a spark of hope. In twenty fourteen,
Speaker 3: a few days after the midterm elections, President Obama announced
Speaker 3: an expansion of deportation protection for undocumented immigrants, later known
Speaker 3: as DAPPA or the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans.
Speaker 3: An estimated five million could qualify for this new protection.
Speaker 3: But here's the video of that speech from the White
Speaker 3: House's archives, where Obama reminds the public that undocumented immigrants
Speaker 3: broke the law.
Speaker 4: Now here's the thing. We expect people who live in
Speaker 4: this country to play by the rules. We expect that
Speaker 4: those who cut the line will not be unfairly rewarded.
Speaker 4: So we're going to offer the following deal.
Speaker 1: Lupita Riola recalls the day Obama made the announcement. She
Speaker 1: tuned in with a lot of her friends and they
Speaker 1: all watched, hoping, as a parent of a Dreamer for
Speaker 1: some good news.
Speaker 5: Mio mbids perandokes.
Speaker 1: Lupito was excited at the prospect that she'd be able
Speaker 1: to qualify for protection, but Her excitement was short lived
Speaker 1: as she kept watching.
Speaker 4: If you've been in America for more than five years,
Speaker 4: if you have children who are American citizens or legal residents,
Speaker 4: if you register, pass a criminal background check, and you're
Speaker 4: willing to pay your fair share of taxes, you'll be
Speaker 4: able to apply to stay in this country temporarily without
Speaker 4: fear of deportation. You can come out of the shadows
Speaker 4: and get right with the law. That's what this deal is.
Speaker 6: Who cannot la.
Speaker 1: Like the previous executive decision, DAPPA would defer deportation and
Speaker 1: granted work permit for three years, but not to the
Speaker 1: parents of Dreamers, only to those parents of American citizens
Speaker 1: or permanent residence. When Obama said no protections for people
Speaker 1: like her, Lupita says they started crying thinking about what
Speaker 1: could have been another example of the constant moving goalpost
Speaker 1: in the American immigration machine. When we come back more
Speaker 1: on DAPA.
Speaker 2: At the top of the show, we told you about Graisa.
Speaker 2: She's the doctor recipient I was detained by ICE together
Speaker 2: with United we dreamed Gaysa actually had a direct hand
Speaker 2: in getting DAPA to Obama's desk.
Speaker 7: DAPA was the first campaign that I ever led it's
Speaker 7: like the campaign that was the campaign of my dreams.
Speaker 7: I was the director of the campaign in the field,
Speaker 7: organizer for it, and it was this idea that like,
Speaker 7: if we had just went DACA and we've seen like
Speaker 7: how beneficial it was for ourselves in our community, like
Speaker 7: we should also expand that to our families, because they
Speaker 7: are the original dreamers, as we talked about.
Speaker 2: Greisa was part of a mixed status family. She was
Speaker 2: born in the Mexican state of Iago, the oldest of
Speaker 2: four sisters, to Elia Rossas and Luis Martinez. When she
Speaker 2: was just seven years old, her parents brought the family
Speaker 2: to Dallas to pursue better futures for their daughters.
Speaker 7: I still remember crossing the border and we had to
Speaker 7: cross the Rio Grande, and I remember what it felt like,
Speaker 7: how cold the water was and how scary it was.
Speaker 7: But you know, my parents told me that on the
Speaker 7: other side was safety opportunity. So we made that we
Speaker 7: held hands tight, and we made it to the other side.
Speaker 2: And the investment in Graysa's prospects looked bright. In high school,
Speaker 2: she led walkouts to raise awareness for undocumented immigrants. She
Speaker 2: became a community activist, fighting for people like her parents,
Speaker 2: like herself and her three younger sisters. At Texas A
Speaker 2: and M, where she went to college, Gadisa founded the
Speaker 2: first undocumented student group on campus. After college, she rose
Speaker 2: through the world of grassroots activism to lead the immigrant
Speaker 2: rights advocacy group United We Dream, where as a dreamer herself,
Speaker 2: she helped pave the way for DAPPA. The future was
Speaker 2: promising for Graysa and her family. Her work on DAPPA
Speaker 2: was like a form of repayment to her mom for
Speaker 2: all her struggle. If DAPPA was successful, her mom would
Speaker 2: be eligible to receive deferred action. It was unbelievable to
Speaker 2: see it come to life.
Speaker 6: I was on cloud nine.
Speaker 7: I remember calling my mom that day and she started
Speaker 7: making plans about the business and she was going to
Speaker 7: open and the house that she was going to buy.
Speaker 7: I remember, we had learned so much about implementing DACA.
Speaker 7: We'd implemented DACA to ensure that millions of undocumented young
Speaker 7: people and their families had access to the applications, and
Speaker 7: so we knew exactly what to do because we had
Speaker 7: just done it.
Speaker 2: While Obama made certain strides to address immigration, his administration
Speaker 2: ramped up RAID campaigns in twenty fifteen and twenty sixteen
Speaker 2: in response to a huge surge of immigrants from Central America.
Speaker 2: It was a hard time for people who had benefited
Speaker 2: from some of Obama's policies but who saw how their
Speaker 2: community was being impacted by the raids.
Speaker 7: I had a lot of things to say about that moment,
Speaker 7: and I remember being called to the White House to
Speaker 7: just process with people that had been supportive of us
Speaker 7: in that space. And as we were going into the
Speaker 7: White House, all of a sudden, I found myself sitting
Speaker 7: across the table from President Obama.
Speaker 2: Imagine sitting across from the guy who's at the head
Speaker 2: of all of this DACA now DAPPA, but also at
Speaker 2: this time is deporting a shitload of people. That's where
Speaker 2: Todaysa found herself right across from Obama, and she wasn't happy.
Speaker 7: He saw how.
Speaker 6: Devastated we were.
Speaker 7: And the only thing that I could think of in
Speaker 7: that moment was to say, you know, we're going to
Speaker 7: do our work to build political power to protect our
Speaker 7: people and to have more wins like this that cannot
Speaker 7: be pushed back by lawsuits. But like you missed, President,
Speaker 7: need to stop these raids.
Speaker 6: And I was like, the most shaking thing that I've
Speaker 6: ever die like.
Speaker 7: It was the most scary, scariest moment in my life
Speaker 7: at that point. But he heard me, and he understood,
Speaker 7: and you know, I was a reflection of the work
Speaker 7: that United Region has been doing for more than a
Speaker 7: decade now of stopping deportations and releasing people from the
Speaker 7: tension and ensuring that we're using our power and our
Speaker 7: voice and our privilege.
Speaker 2: Another organizer he met with was Lupita's daughter, activist Erica Andiola,
Speaker 2: who also aired out her frustrations with his administration's constant
Speaker 2: raids and the New programs shortcomings, and Erica wasn't exactly
Speaker 2: polite when she encountered the president. Lubita says she and
Speaker 2: Erica met with Obama and Miami, and Erica was bold, rude,
Speaker 2: even challenging the President on Life TV, demanding to know
Speaker 2: what would happen to her mom Lupita now that she
Speaker 2: didn't qualify for DAPA protection. When Erica's mad, Lupita says
Speaker 2: she might even cuss out the president.
Speaker 6: Programmatas President.
Speaker 2: Lubita says that when it was all over, Erica was
Speaker 2: still pissed and didn't want to shake Obama's hand. So
Speaker 2: when the President extended his hand to Erica gave him
Speaker 2: the cold shoulder, but Lubita elbowed her and reminded her
Speaker 2: of her manners, and Erica took his handshake begrudgingly. For
Speaker 2: the administration, these moments served as a reminder that issuing
Speaker 2: DACA and now DAPPA are both double edged swords for
Speaker 2: the undocumented community. These executive orders didn't go far enough,
Speaker 2: and since Obama acted unilaterally when he issued the DAPPA
Speaker 2: expansion program, conservatives thought Obama was going too far and
Speaker 2: they worked quickly to strike it down. Here's ASA again.
Speaker 7: And then we saw the Republicans and they filed their
Speaker 7: lawsuit against the program, and it just was a stand still.
Speaker 7: And that's when we first learned to fight through the
Speaker 7: courts at United Redream and so we put out like
Speaker 7: a big campaign to defend the DAPPA program in at
Speaker 7: the Supreme Court.
Speaker 2: Texas among other states, quickly challenged DAPA in the courts,
Speaker 2: claiming that it violated the Constitution. A year later, in
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen, DAPPA was blocked while the suit continued. Then
Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen, in a split four or four court decision,
Speaker 2: the block remained.
Speaker 7: Today all right.
Speaker 6: Solicer General's standard ext to me argued the case strongly
Speaker 6: for the rule of law.
Speaker 2: Crowds of organizers showed up to protest the decision. One
Speaker 2: reporter asked the Texas Attorney General if you wish the
Speaker 2: protesters showed up on behalf of them. He smugly answers,
Speaker 2: we're here.
Speaker 4: Defending the constitution, and so whether we have people out
Speaker 4: here or not is not relevant.
Speaker 1: Seeing DAPPA stricken down was a huge blow for Graysa
Speaker 1: who had to watch all her work being torn down
Speaker 1: by the courts.
Speaker 7: Unfortunately, our Republicans won. I still remember the day of
Speaker 7: the decision, being outside of the Supreme Court and hearing
Speaker 7: the news of the outcome of the case and calling
Speaker 7: my mom and how sad she was and crying with
Speaker 7: her on the phone. It was also at the same
Speaker 7: time where during the Obama administration there were mass rates
Speaker 7: happening across the US.
Speaker 2: Then, at the end of twenty sixteen, Donald Trump gets elected,
Speaker 2: sending a collective chill down every immigrant spine. Docca's future
Speaker 2: was immediately called into question. Trump had run on a
Speaker 2: platform of anti immigration, but confusingly sent mixed messages about DOCA.
Speaker 2: This is how Luis Cortes rometto, a lawyer and DACA beneficiary,
Speaker 2: remembers it.
Speaker 8: So that was right when President Trump was inaugurated, and
Speaker 8: you know, we were all trying to see what he
Speaker 8: was going to do, because he said a lot of
Speaker 8: really anti immigrant things, but then he was going back
Speaker 8: and forth on DACA. He kept saying, you know, I'm
Speaker 8: going to treat dreamers with heart. I remember that selling,
Speaker 8: which he used because I was like, that's weird for
Speaker 8: him to say. We were trying to see what was up,
Speaker 8: but people still felt some type of way.
Speaker 2: Aline Ronnie, author of Crossing Borders, was astounded by the
Speaker 2: manipulative way Trump used immigration.
Speaker 9: I think President Trump's willingness to weaponize DACA just really
Speaker 9: mess with lives of hundreds of thousands of young people
Speaker 9: was probably it was probably the second ugliest thing that
Speaker 9: he did in the context of immigration. The ugliest thing
Speaker 9: is the cold hearted ruthlessness of separating families at the border. Right,
Speaker 9: that's far and away the worst thing. But the time
Speaker 9: and time again used DOCA recipients as some sort of
Speaker 9: a a chip to be played in a poker game.
Speaker 2: It was really really disgusting, even celebrated legendary journalists. Maria
Speaker 2: Ina Jsa was uncertain about how things would play out
Speaker 2: with Trump in office.
Speaker 10: I try not to be afraid of anything, really, but
Speaker 10: I was very clear that during the time that Donald
Speaker 10: Trump was president that at any time there could be
Speaker 10: a knock at my door.
Speaker 2: In the first few months of Trump's tenure, in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 2: his Secretary of Homeland Security, John F. Kelly, formally rescinded DAPPA,
Speaker 2: leaving DACA in place for the moment. Out of the shadows.
Speaker 2: We'll be back after the break. Losing DAPA was heartbreaking
Speaker 2: for Graysa. Gisa sacrificed so much to make DAPA real
Speaker 2: for her mom, only for it to be stricken down
Speaker 2: by conservatives. She sacrificed her youth, her sanity, and she
Speaker 2: never got to see her mom, Elia Rossa's get protected status. Tragically,
Speaker 2: Elia died of non Hodgkins lymphoma in twenty eighteen. Despite
Speaker 2: it all, Graysa remains centered like she did when she
Speaker 2: was detained by Ice. She knew it was never going
Speaker 2: to be easy.
Speaker 7: I used to have that meriss and now I mostly
Speaker 7: have dreams. Mary Kava talks about the discipline of hope.
Speaker 7: You have to practice it, and it's not something that
Speaker 7: just comes at you. That hope is not shiny, pink,
Speaker 7: bubbly thing, but like hope has like mud on her
Speaker 7: face because she's been on a fighter too that she
Speaker 7: has like has to have felt strength. And so it's
Speaker 7: unfortunate that we have to be this resilient.
Speaker 1: So that brings us to the end of Trump's first
Speaker 1: year in office, when he's finally made up his mind
Speaker 1: on what to do with DACA, and now our documented
Speaker 1: lawyer Luis Cortes Romelo is about to embark on a
Speaker 1: battle with the administration and the Supreme Court, taking up
Speaker 1: sword and shield on behalf of dreamers.
Speaker 8: President Trump gets elected, he gets sworn in, and then
Speaker 8: at the beginning of February, so like a few weeks later,
Speaker 8: I get a call and it's from this guy named
Speaker 8: Tony and he said, hey, my brother Daniel, he has
Speaker 8: DACA and he just got picked up by ice outside
Speaker 8: President Trump and DOCCA. For everybody, now, the question is
Speaker 8: can the government in DACA just like that for hundreds
Speaker 8: of thousands of people.
Speaker 1: That's next time on out of the shadows. Out of
Speaker 1: the shadows. Dreamers is a Semelo Production in partnership with
Speaker 1: Iheartsmichael Duda podcast Network. It's created, hosted, and executive produced
Speaker 1: by me, Patti Rodriguez and eric A Lindo. This show
Speaker 1: was written by Sessa Hernandez and executive produced by Jaselle Bancis.
Speaker 1: Our supervising producer is Arlene Santana. It's produced and edited
Speaker 1: by Brianna Flores. Our associate producer is Claudia Marti Gorena.
Speaker 1: Sound design, mixing and mastering by Jessica Cranechitch and a
Speaker 1: special thanks to all our Dreamers. Remember to subscribe to
Speaker 1: the podcast and share it. For more Michael Duda podcasts,
Speaker 1: listen to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.