WEBVTT - The Dream Nine 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:14.680 This is Out of the Shadows, a podcast about America's 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:16.080 tangled history of immigration. 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:19.560 I'm Patti Rodriguez America LINDO. 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:24.080 Last season, we tackled Ronald Reagan's nineteen eighty six Amnesty Act. 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:28.000 This season, we're tracing the origins of DACA, or Deferred 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:32.479 Action for Childhood Arrivals, a contentious executive order to protect 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:34.400 on documentary young people from being. 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:38.360 Deported issued by former President Barack Obama in twenty twelve. 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.919 DACA was meant to be a temporary stop gap on 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:45.560 a broken immigration system. It was like putting a bucket 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:49.440 under a leaky roof, But with multiple Supreme Court challenges 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:53.520 and looming presidential elections, the roof feels like it may 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:58.160 collapse at any moment, impacting the US economy and American 0:00:58.240 --> 0:00:59.600 culture as we know it. 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.480 Meanwhile, the future. 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:05.480 Of millions of lives aims in the balance. 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:26.640 Welcome to Out of the Shadows, Dreamers. In twenty thirteen, 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:31.039 a year after DOCA was announced, many people, including those 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.520 who fought to get President Obama to issue the DOCA 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:39.360 executive order, felt the administration wasn't doing enough to stop deportations. 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:46.000 Enter Lisabet Matteo, Lulu Martinez, Marcos of Adra, and Mohammed 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:51.040 mo Abdullahi. After months of planning and years of organizing, 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:57.080 this daring group of undocumented organizers embarked on their biggest 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:02.800 and most dangerous demonstration yet. 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:08.720 The mission bring home six undocumented dreamers who are now 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:14.520 living in Mexico and could not benefit from DACA, Adrea Navias, Sefreno, 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:25.480 Santiago Glaviamao, Luis Leone, and Maria Yes Venice. The campaign 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:30.480 was called hashtag bring Them Home and was designed to 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:35.040 accomplish its goals using the pressures of the press, social media, 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:40.240 and some good old fashioned do the right thing. Mohammed 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:42.720 stayed back in the US to coordinate the mission, and 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:44.920 the rest of the group met at the Tomales, Mexico 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:48.240 border dressed in cap and gowns to bring attention to 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:52.079 the immigration crisis and those who were left out by DACA. 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:57.520 They were all arrested and held in captivity for seventeen days. 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:00.760 This is their story. 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:07.799 Told by them. 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:12.160 My name is Mohammed, usually just go by Mo only. 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:15.600 My name is Claudia Amado. I am from Tijuana, Mexico 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:18.240 and I lived in Wichita, Kansas. 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:22.360 My name is lisped Matteo. I was born and raised 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:25.560 in Wahaka, Mexico, in a small town called Fantomaslant. I 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:29.320 lived there until I was fourteen. Ever since I can remember, 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:31.360 I will always tell my parents I want to be 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:34.280 an attorney. And even though we grew up in a small, 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:37.840 you know, ural community, and I had never met an 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.480 attorney in my life, my parents always said, yes, you're 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:42.760 going to be someone attorney. They never said no. They 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:45.920 never encouraged me. But of course I grew up and 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:48.280 they realized it's going to be impossible for us to 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:54.680 pay for this. I knew it was a document. I mean, 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:56.920 I knew how that I have papers. I crossed the 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:01.720 border and it was an as pleasant experience, right, But 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:07.000 I didn't understand how difficult life was going to be 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.120 being an adostmenter person. I mean I became an dostment 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:12.880 at Agel fourteen. What led to the dream nine, I 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:17.440 think was years and years of organizing and trying different 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:21.200 things and being, you know, playing the game of I'm 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.240 going to tell you my story and hopefully that's going 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:26.799 to make you feel something, and I'm going to beg 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:31.040 and I'm going to really show how American I am 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:35.840 so Dream nine is or was a project that was 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.359 organized by the National Thing within us alives. So the 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.400 National Resuth Alliance was an organization that came out of 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:46.160 United with Dreams. I was at that first meeting when 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.800 United Dream was performed of an organization. That's where I 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:53.920 met Muhammad and other adoption media and people. 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:59.560 Our goal was in power, educate, escalate. Our focus was 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:03.920 undocumented folks, those directly affected by the issue. The goal 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.760 was all these like anti immigrant laws and legislations that 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:12.359 were passing. If those members in the state houses or 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:15.960 wherever actually had a population of undocumented folks that were 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:18.520 not afraid of them, that would confront them, that would 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:22.279 be in their office, this type of legislation would not exist. 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:24.880 Maybe that was our goal around that time, was to 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:28.520 get more folks on actually fighting making everyone undeportable. 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:35.360 Dreams ended up sailing in twenty ten, so a month 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:39.960 later we formed the National Movietic Alliance. We had already 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:44.160 done a student or actually several students. We're undocumenting young 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:48.839 people essentially force the government to arrest us. We knew 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:52.320 that then documenting young people, the community that we have 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:55.440 formed was ready to fight and could actually stop our 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:59.640 own deputation. So as a result of that, we continue 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.480 to do more more and more people will call it radical. 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.160 I don't necessarily like that works. Other people will be 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:08.279 anything radical about it. We were just kind of dramatizing, 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.520 but was already happening in our community. Young people were 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:16.440 being detained and deported, parents will betained and reported in families. 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:19.279 The entire time was was being destroyed. So we wanted 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:22.520 to use the privilege that we had as undocumingly young 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:26.720 people and share our stories. There were a lot of 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:33.240 promises and different presidents and lected officials that will come 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:36.279 and talk to us about immigration about how they wanted 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:38.720 to pack the dream at and all kinds of things, 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:42.360 and then really nothing happening except thousands of thousands of 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:46.599 dipretations that some of them touched us personally, including my family. 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:49.160 So I think we just said, Okay, we're going to 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:52.760 we're going to go and stuff support and bring back 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.040 other Dreamers. So I wanted to come home because this 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.000 is their home and we're going to prove a point 0:06:57.080 --> 0:06:59.680 and we're going to pressure the government and getting more. 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:02.400 Yeah. 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:05.880 So Dream nine. The way that we operated was every 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:08.680 action that we did sort of led to the next action, 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:12.920 and so the concept of asylum became something that we 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:17.200 started becoming more familiar with, like the different like levers 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:22.440 within requesting asylum that acted sort of as discretion or 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:25.280 stay of removal sort of in that same concept. And 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:29.920 then through doing that work, we also started having we 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.440 were very like angry people, I got to say that 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:35.840 of like, we had some cases that got deported that 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:38.680 we were really fucking pissed off about of how dare 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:42.160 the Obama administration deport X Y Z person? And so 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:47.440 those personal grudges really is what drove us to find solutions. 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:50.800 And so we fell on this sort of concept after 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:54.040 doing like three or four infiltrations of different detention centers 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:57.800 of like what happens to someone when they are deported 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:00.560 from the US. And so, yeah, we set up this 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:03.760 campaign where we could find dreamers in Mexico or other 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:06.520 parts of the world that wanted to come back to 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:08.760 the US and we would sort of do this public 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:11.720 action traditional caps and gowns. And in order to make 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:14.480 this action successful, we would have to send some of 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:18.200 our folks from the US to self deport essentially, because 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.960 we very much believed and we can't ask anybody else 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:23.280 to do something that we're not willing to do ourselves 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:25.240 and take those risks personally ourselves. 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:34.440 In twenty thirteen, they reach out to me and they 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:36.880 asked me if I wanted to join us Emble disobedience, 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:38.680 which I immediately say yes. 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:40.880 They called me one Thursday and. 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:42.920 A Friday morning, I was already on a plane with 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:45.920 my son, who is a US citizen, flying to a Nogalist, 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:52.120 Arizona or Mexico. First, even though my identity is one 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:55.199 of those like the Dreamers, because of my age, politically 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:59.040 didn't fit into it. So nobody expected my case to 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:03.760 be successful when DAKA came up, even some of my 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:06.240 sisters are worked the US by one year. 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:11.480 They instead part of that action was inspired on like 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:13.720 why are many of us left out? 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:18.000 I mean that the goal was directed to President Obama 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:20.439 right where at the time that he was saying like 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:22.320 we're only deporting criminals, and. 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.439 Then we were just like bringing the fact that that 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:26.200 wasn't true. 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.760 I mean at that time, like looking back, yeah, we 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:33.360 were some brave kids. 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:49.360 When we come back, the Dream nine arrived in Nogles, 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:54.120 Mexico to stage one of the most dangerous demonstrations in 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:58.520 the history of the immigration rights movement. That's after the break. 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:23.720 It's late July and twenty thirteen, and the dream Nine 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.719 are preparing to launch one of the riskiest acts of 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:31.400 civil disobedience and immigration rights history. They walk arm in 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.480 arm to the US point of entry in Nogales, Mexico. 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:38.800 They wore the graduation caps and gowns, an un official 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:42.200 symbol of the Dreamer movement, meant to expose the flaws 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:46.959 in the current immigration system. Here's Lizabeth Matteo again. 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.439 They were taking a successity right away. So when we 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:55.760 present ourselves, you know, we were actually had a pie style. 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:58.400 We had something to obviously legally entry to the US, 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:01.240 and so we said no, we have this letter basically 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:04.920 saying hey, like we're here to speak humanitarian role, we 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:06.920 have family in the US, we want to go back 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:09.400 to homes, blah blah blah. As soon as each one 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:11.760 of us arrived at the gates, they offered their roll 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:17.559 taper clapping down in pancafes. So we were basically changed 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:21.120 and put in a an a van. There evans are 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:23.400 ready to wait for us, right, so we didn't really 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:27.480 have to stand there and see what you know, see, 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:29.240 the guards tried to figure out what was going on. 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:31.360 They were prepared, you know, we kind of gave their 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:35.120 heads up by doing a press release and then media 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:39.679 also reached out to them asking for comment. So it 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:42.960 was it was super fast, it was super quick. They 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:45.760 didn't they didn't really say anything. They didn't they didn't 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:47.920 really question us. They didn't. I don't want to say 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.800 they went along with it, but I think they wanted 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:53.439 just to remove us from the from all the media 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:57.160 attention and all that, you know, supporters as quickly as possible. 0:11:57.160 --> 0:11:59.040 So we just put up an event and drove us 0:11:59.080 --> 0:11:59.640 another place. 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:06.320 We spent several hours at the processing center at the border, 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.640 and then probably close to midnight, I want to say, 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.120 they took us out and to the icebox or they 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:17.320 called the berretta very uncomfortable kind of like a minivan 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:21.800 with no seats. The girls were taken in one of those, 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:24.959 and the boys were taking in a different one, and 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:30.520 we were handcaffed super cold. And then they will like 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.320 drive like crazy. They will like we need the tracks. 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.400 So we were moving very uncomfortable. We bumped our heads. 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.559 We will ask them to please turn off the AC 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:42.880 and they will just start laughing or like turn the 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:53.200 music up. It was a really bad experience. It felt 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:56.679 like it was an eternity. Then later we found out 0:12:56.720 --> 0:13:00.760 that it was a couple hours. First night they took 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:04.640 us to Florence in Arizona and that detention center where 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:08.559 we only spent that night. What we heard is that 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:11.360 the ladies they were not allowed to talk to us, 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:13.560 so they blocked communications. 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:16.959 So the Dream nine we declared hunger strike. 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.199 And then I think some of the women in other 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:25.960 parts they hear that in the TV and they decided 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.200 they were going to join us, and that was hard 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:32.079 for the for the detention center, like they were not 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:37.199 happy at all, So most of us were placed in isolation. Unfortunately, 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:41.839 some of us just couldn't handle it that long. I 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.320 think some of us started like little by little, leaving 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.600 that hunger strike. In my case, my sugar. They had 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:49.680 to take me to the nurse because my sugar levels 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:53.480 went pretty low and I had to quit that. And 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.319 the only one that really was for like five days 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:58.080 in hunger strike was. 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:05.920 This that so I refused to eat. So we did 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:08.600 a hunger strike because we didn't have asked to our 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:11.000 phone or to the phone every time we try to 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:14.079 place a phone call, it wouldn't go through. And I 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:16.280 wanted to talk to my family. I wanted to talk 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.880 to you know, to someone outside, and no, I'm okay, 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:22.640 because I was worried about my parents. I was worried about, 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:25.280 you know, my family. Eventually I was able to see 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:29.560 them on TV. Because then my parents became very public 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.640 and started organizing and then going around and doing interviews. 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:34.920 Is talking about their daughter and why she should bring me, 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:37.000 she should come home, which is not something that we 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:40.000 planned or that I asked them to do. I actually 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:42.400 told them not to do any effect, but they said, no, 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:46.000 we're gonna fight. We're gonna fight for you. So because 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:48.480 I did the hunger strike, I refused to eat for 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.160 like five days. So I was I was placed in 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:56.160 solitary's confinements and the guards will come and bring me food, 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.960 and they well started making popcorns, which is not something 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.320 they do, but they will, you know, they will bring 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:04.800 like a little car and make popcorns so that I 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.600 would smell the food and they will, you know, make 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:14.320 me eat. But I refused. I only ate ut because 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:16.760 I had to do an interview with Emmigration the next 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:19.840 day so many attorneys said you have to leave, you 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:22.120 have to be loosing, you have to be strong, and 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:23.120 I said, okay, I'll eat. 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.720 I think she lost like ten percent of her body 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:29.520 mass or something. 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:30.480 She was. 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:34.360 I mean, she's little by mighty. I totally admire her. 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:37.400 And I remember things were getting like so out of 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:38.920 control that I am. 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:40.680 I used to see her. 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:42.680 We couldn't talk, so I used to see her and 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:45.680 I just make sience like cut the hunger straight. 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:46.120 We need you. 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:48.760 So how long were you entertaining? 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:50.440 Seventeen days? 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.600 We were talking to a lot of folks, young people 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:04.080 that had been deported or had self deported, and in 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:08.360 Mexico or in other countries, they were not treated as equals. 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:11.440 They couldn't go to school because they had lived in 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:13.880 the US, they couldn't get a job, their accent, they 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:16.920 were targeted by cartels, and so this sort of like 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:20.600 concept of being American was what was creating a target 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:23.800 on their backs. We came up with this idea of 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:29.280 there's an asylum. There's five essentially race, religion, sexual orientation, 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:31.920 particular social group. If you're a part of sort of 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:36.160 these categories, you can claim asylum. And so we wanted 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:39.520 to create Dreamer as a particular social group. The fact 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:43.240 that people living in Mexico get affiliated with being American, 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:47.320 therefore they get targeted for cartel violence, other things. 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:53.040 So what are at Turney West ask and it was 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:57.600 humanitarian for all and they didn't move in that direction, so. 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:02.760 They started the attorney decided that we asked for asylum, 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:05.200 and like you know, my father. 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:09.400 Was killed, my husband's brother was killed by police officers 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:11.800 in Mexico, and my husband was kidnapped. 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:15.400 My husband's last name is never in common in Mexico, 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.000 so we were like a target for them. 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:20.399 So we had a lot of brands, so that we 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:22.960 moved into the asylum case and then we were taking 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:27.520 one day to Florence to those interviews that they do, 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:31.480 the credible fear interviews, and apparently all of us past 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.560 those credible fear interviews and that's when they order our release. 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:45.600 After the break, the dream nine is released from the tension. 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:50.399 But what happened after and was it worth it stay 0:17:50.440 --> 0:18:16.600 with us? After spending seventeen days in a detention center, 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:22.159 the dream Nine were finally released. Here's Claudia Amado, the 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:26.080 oldest member in the group and the only mother remembering 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:28.680 what it was like to be reunited with her family 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.760 and reflecting on her life as an organizer. 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:38.200 We were released and they took us into the Greyhound 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:41.960 bus station and some family members, my mom, my son 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:44.920 definitely was the war there. And then after that, I 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:48.520 remember we were received, They took us to a restaurant, 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:54.080 they fed us, and then I remember was split. I 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:57.240 don't remember all the details, but I remember a group 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:00.159 went to a place and we were still working on 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:06.560 the organizing side. My perspective from organizing is just like 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:09.040 just by sharing my story right and being like even 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:11.240 when I still talk to people and they asked me 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:14.560 about detention, immigration attention is like, it's just giving them 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:17.399 my perspective that not even an immigration attorney's going to 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:19.080 keep like what happened inside. 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:20.480 I didn't detain two times by. 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:23.840 Immigration, so I know exactly like you know that they 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:26.160 give you a three second, three minute call. 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:28.840 I know that you have to have your ain numbers, 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:31.840 so all those things that you have to know. 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:34.920 And how different it was the first time that the 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:37.960 detainment detained me. Even though it was only one night, 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:40.800 it was like a nightmer for me than when I 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:42.560 was already prepared. 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:52.520 Personally. Like I said, my son's life is totally different. 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:55.480 Now he's married. I'm going to be a grandma. And 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:59.600 he had to go through a lot of therapy in Mexico. 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:01.480 His healthier here. 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:06.600 He has a good social life and normal life that 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:08.640 I don't think he would have it in Mexico. 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:10.000 And again, I love. 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:14.160 Mexico, but it just wasn't for us anymore. And then 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:19.560 I had been able to move from just being an 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:23.000 activist or being seen as an activist, as a respected 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:26.240 woman of business here and which in our community, and 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:29.159 people know my story, people know I'm still undocumented in 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:29.520 a way. 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:32.280 People will call me all the time, Hey, my husband 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:33.520 was arrested, What should I do? 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:36.440 And just being able to help them, giving them the 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:40.040 calm and some tools for them to fight for their cases. 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:41.760 That just huge for me. 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:44.720 And again, all of that I learned through the action 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:46.159 that we didn't jord Night. 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:52.760 This incredible action by the Dream nine highlighted the urgency 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:57.359 of addressing their legal status and demonstrated their power, contributing 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:00.840 to the national conversation, which was covered up close and 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:05.680 personal by two legendary journalists. One of those was Mariaino 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:07.560 Hosa Hostel Latino, USA. 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:12.840 I just remember hearing about the Dream nine at the 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:16.520 very beginning and again just thinking like, wow, what kind 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:19.600 of extraordinary human being an activist does it take to 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:25.000 risk everything? What they did is really extraordinary. I don't 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:30.120 like to make comparisons in terms of civil rights actions 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:35.480 because each one of them is so important. But to me, 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:40.840 the Dream nine have not been recognized yet. I know 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:44.719 they will be. But they are like the people who 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:48.840 participated in the Montgomery bus boycott. They are people who 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:53.439 crossed the bridge in Selma, Alabama. They are the people 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:58.240 who you know, protested the murders of the little girls 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:01.280 in Little Rock. So we are all part of a 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:03.800 country that says it believes in democracy. And so the 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:07.760 dream that I just simply were carrying on that tradition. 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:12.440 The other was Ramo's renowned journalist. 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:16.480 I think that's incredibly important because when you were born 0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:20.240 in a house, in a family in which your parents 0:22:20.280 --> 0:22:23.480 and your grandparentsslitos, it was papass when they tell you, 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:27.960 mikho miha, be silent, Please be silent, because that's the 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:31.400 only way to survive. And you know something, they were right, 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:36.000 because back then you needed to be silent in order 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:38.840 to survive in this country, because if you didn't, then 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:41.240 you would be detained and you would be deported. So 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:45.720 the idea of being silent and being invisible was very important. 0:22:46.240 --> 0:22:50.560 But the big change was to realize that the political 0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:54.440 momentum had changed, that there was the possibility to present 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:57.200 themselves to the country in a different way, and that 0:22:57.320 --> 0:22:59.840 that strategy wasn't going to work anymore. I mean, for 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:03.040 how long can you sustain a policy of being invisible 0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:08.159 and being silent and succeed And so being unafraid and 0:23:08.520 --> 0:23:13.320 being openly undocumented I think was incredibly important because it 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:17.000 gave them a sense of identity. So the fact that 0:23:17.160 --> 0:23:19.880 they were out and they could tell the world I'm 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:23.119 undocumented and I need your help and this has to change, 0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:25.400 I think was incredibly important just to be out there. 0:23:27.040 --> 0:23:29.560 Well, the Dream nine demonstration brought a lot of attention. 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:32.600 It was also a double edged sword for this Beth, 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:35.800 who I dreamt of being a lawyer. Her participation in 0:23:35.880 --> 0:23:38.600 the Dream nine meant that she was banned from applying 0:23:38.680 --> 0:23:39.160 for DHAKA. 0:23:40.760 --> 0:23:43.600 So I did qualify for data and I you know, 0:23:43.720 --> 0:23:47.040 I still say that I qualify for that, but I 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:49.359 didn't apply for it because I knew I was going 0:23:49.440 --> 0:23:52.359 to end up being at a point, so I I 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:54.240 just said, I'm going to wait, I'm not going to 0:23:54.240 --> 0:23:56.720 apply for DATA. I'm going to go do this thing. 0:23:57.080 --> 0:24:00.679 And that would be basically that's it, because I had 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:03.480 been trying to stay away from organizing for a while, 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:07.120 but I just couldn't. And then I decided to apply 0:24:07.240 --> 0:24:08.800 to law school, and I said, Okay, well this is 0:24:08.880 --> 0:24:10.399 going to be it because I have to go to 0:24:10.520 --> 0:24:13.920 lawsuit now I have to concentrate on myself in my dream. 0:24:14.359 --> 0:24:17.840 So I didn't apply to DOCTA because I knew I 0:24:17.920 --> 0:24:21.320 was going to be leaving and doing the whole, the 0:24:21.320 --> 0:24:25.800 whole dream nine experience. So when I came back, I 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:29.320 was pacing a more proceeding. Then my remote proceedings for 0:24:29.400 --> 0:24:32.679 that Natury week close, and then I applied for DACA. 0:24:34.160 --> 0:24:36.240 Finally was for that one. Was in law school and 0:24:36.359 --> 0:24:39.080 I waited over a year to hear I think over 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:41.879 a year to hear from USCIS, and I heard from 0:24:42.000 --> 0:24:45.960 us AS the week after I graduated from law school. 0:24:46.480 --> 0:24:48.440 As I was studying for the bar, as I was 0:24:48.600 --> 0:24:51.760 starting my bar press, I just this letter from UCAS 0:24:51.840 --> 0:24:53.680 saying that they hadn't intend to be nine. That's that 0:24:53.800 --> 0:24:57.359 because I left, but that I could explain why I 0:24:57.400 --> 0:25:02.480 should still be granted that. Spent about eight months after that, 0:25:03.480 --> 0:25:10.359 up until January twelfth, trying to trying to fight to 0:25:10.440 --> 0:25:12.800 get that guy. At some point I heard that it 0:25:12.880 --> 0:25:14.920