Speaker 1: High listeners, just a quick heads up out of the
Speaker 1: shadows tell stories of people fleeing and living in sometimes
Speaker 1: violent environments. It is the winter of in A group
Speaker 1: of six bright eyed ten year old girls from Del
Speaker 1: Rae Elementry hop in their school bus for a short
Speaker 1: drive to Fresno State to compete at the annual Peach
Speaker 1: Blossom Festival. Their teacher, Mrs Arrenas, is excited for her group.
Speaker 1: These girls keep each other on their toes if they
Speaker 1: respect each other, but they're also competitive toward each other,
Speaker 1: something missus Arrenas strongly encourages. This is the third time
Speaker 1: Marcella has participated in the annual Peach Blossom Festival. Marcella,
Speaker 1: and honor student, is no stranger to this stage. Spend
Speaker 1: every Sunday of her life singing hymns in front of
Speaker 1: her church, wearing a long sleeved blue satin dress with
Speaker 1: white ribbon around her waist and collar bone that her
Speaker 1: mother spent hours making just for the occasion. Marcella walks
Speaker 1: up to the stage, her head raised up high, her
Speaker 1: hands clasped together, and begins to recite her oral presentation
Speaker 1: to the amazement of everyone in attendance. All six of
Speaker 1: Mrs Arna's students, including Marcella, when their presentations so surprised
Speaker 1: that a reporter from the local paper asks the group
Speaker 1: to pose for a picture. Mrs Arna's gathers the girls,
Speaker 1: pulling them closer to her, the tallest in the back,
Speaker 1: the three shortest in the front. Okay, everyone, I want
Speaker 1: to see big smile the girls nor Mrs senas safe
Speaker 1: for one. Give him that big smile. There is no
Speaker 1: gloating here, no hands on hip. Instead, you see a
Speaker 1: humble group of girls from a small immigrant town, looking
Speaker 1: out of place in this big city. And if you
Speaker 1: look closely at this picture, you will see something else.
Speaker 1: Marcella is hiding behind her close mouthed smile. She is afraid.
Speaker 1: She's afraid she won't have the opportunity to share this
Speaker 1: win with her parents. Marcella is afraid she's going to
Speaker 1: burst into her home and find it empty. Y I'm
Speaker 1: Patti Rodriguez and I'm Mary Glendo, and this is out
Speaker 1: of the shadows. Children of eighty six Immigrants and their
Speaker 1: children have long lived in the shadows of America. Their
Speaker 1: destinies aren't just shaped by where they come from, but
Speaker 1: by their particular place in history, The lives of millions
Speaker 1: of immigrants and their children were changed by one lucky
Speaker 1: stroke of a pen by an unlikely ally, President Ronald Reagan.
Speaker 1: This podcast will examine the ripple effects that bill had
Speaker 1: on first generation kids of immigrants who are navigating intergenerational
Speaker 1: mobility and transforming the cultural landscape. This is an untold
Speaker 1: story of luck, timing, triumph, opportunity, survival, and of course hope.
Speaker 1: Doing research for this podcast, I came across the letter
Speaker 1: that I'm holding here now, and it feels like fate.
Speaker 1: The Reagan Library digitized and saved this letter written by
Speaker 1: a ten year old little girl from Fresno who was
Speaker 1: pleading for sympathy from the President to help her dad.
Speaker 1: The only leverage she had was her good grades. Dear
Speaker 1: President Reagan, my name is mart Sella Sanchez. I'm ten
Speaker 1: years old and I live in del Rey, California, with
Speaker 1: my parents, Jose and Romilia Sanchez, three sisters and one brother,
Speaker 1: and the oldest of us five and I studied at
Speaker 1: Delray Elementary. Imagine that a little kid who felt so
Speaker 1: compelled to protect her family that she decided to write
Speaker 1: a letter to America's boss trying to prove that her
Speaker 1: family deserved to be American. She went straight to the top.
Speaker 1: I was so inspired by this letter that I decided
Speaker 1: to try and find a little girl who wrote it. Yes,
Speaker 1: they were recording. Now, okay, great, thank you so much. UM. Sure,
Speaker 1: I cannot believe it, UM, And I did. That's Marcela
Speaker 1: Sanchez who sent the letter to President Reagan forty years ago.
Speaker 1: To be exact. She still lives in Fresno County and
Speaker 1: it's now a corporate finance manager. Do you remember writing
Speaker 1: that letter. I do remember writing it, especially the part
Speaker 1: about the report, because I was very proud of my
Speaker 1: grades back then. I'm enclosing a copy of my report Carden,
Speaker 1: some pictures of me in the newspaper, and some awards.
Speaker 1: I was born in Mexico with another sister of mine.
Speaker 1: My sisters and brother were born in California. My father
Speaker 1: and mother came here to find a better way to live.
Speaker 1: Since nineteen seventy four, my father has worked as a
Speaker 1: gardener janitor, but since October night he has been working
Speaker 1: in the police department in president It's nineteen seventy four
Speaker 1: and Marcella Sanchez is only three years old. She and
Speaker 1: her mom dad and little sister. The entire family is
Speaker 1: packing to leave their home in the Mexican state of
Speaker 1: Vera Cruz. A few days later, led by her father Jose,
Speaker 1: the family finds themselves in del Rey, a small country
Speaker 1: town in Fresno County, California. Soon the family becomes six
Speaker 1: and the Santances get to work on building a new
Speaker 1: life and despite being undocumented, and Romelia do their best
Speaker 1: to shield their children from the everyday struggles. They never
Speaker 1: go without food, they always have a roof over their heads.
Speaker 1: Bromelia makes Marzilla and her three sisters dresses. Did they
Speaker 1: get to wear to church every Sunday? You know, I would.
Speaker 1: We always had clothes, but it was not until um
Speaker 1: I started, you know, paying attention. Because a parent can
Speaker 1: only shield a child for so long before they begin
Speaker 1: to ask questions, before they begin to pretend to be
Speaker 1: asleep to eavesdrop in those late night conversations, before their
Speaker 1: problems begin to eat at their own children. I remember vividly,
Speaker 1: like late at night listening to my parents talk about
Speaker 1: their finances, talk about their struggles, and they were they
Speaker 1: were very, very discreet in their room, but I was
Speaker 1: always rolled nose and roll you know I knew a lot.
Speaker 1: When I was ten years old, my parents to shield
Speaker 1: me from the everyday struggles, though it was almost impossible.
Speaker 1: We lived in a small backhouse the size of a garage.
Speaker 1: There was absolutely no place to hide anything. My mom
Speaker 1: was working for a clothing company, then in the evening
Speaker 1: she was doing night school. My dad was teaching her
Speaker 1: to drive on the weekends because taking the bus so
Speaker 1: early in the morning was becoming too dangerous. Both my
Speaker 1: parents worked long hours. My mom would get home from
Speaker 1: school at PM, and on most nights, as exhausted as
Speaker 1: she was, will prepare us. We was comfri Coles for dinner.
Speaker 1: She never wanted us to go to bed combre and
Speaker 1: we would only see her for an hour. Maybe my dad,
Speaker 1: we rarely saw him. He worked the night shift, sometimes
Speaker 1: even longer. Most of the struggles my parents were shielding
Speaker 1: us from was the fear of how we're going to
Speaker 1: pay this bill, the rent, my braces, Where were we
Speaker 1: going to get that money for my mom's car. I
Speaker 1: would go to bed praying to God to make me rich.
Speaker 1: I would daydream what life would be if I found
Speaker 1: a bag full of money on my way to school.
Speaker 1: Maybe my mom would work less. Maybe my dad would
Speaker 1: get a job where he can pick us up from school.
Speaker 1: Maybe my mom wouldn't have to worry anymore about my braces.
Speaker 1: And if only I could get the money to buying
Speaker 1: from my parents so they can learn English, maybe, just
Speaker 1: maybe we could live as care free as the families
Speaker 1: I watched on TV. After my parents both got their
Speaker 1: green card, I slowly stopped worrying if my dad would
Speaker 1: make it home. By then, I had slowly forgotten the
Speaker 1: fear of the word migra. They had a feeling of
Speaker 1: my entire body working against me at the fear that
Speaker 1: my dad's work would get rated. That a feeling was
Speaker 1: suppressed in the depths of my subconsciousness along with the
Speaker 1: days I worried if my dad was going to come home.
Speaker 1: So while for me that fear was behind me, for Marcella,
Speaker 1: it is beginning again. Out of the shadows will be
Speaker 1: right back. Oh, now, back to the show. My mother
Speaker 1: is afraid about my follow's job on the economic security
Speaker 1: of my family because we were one of the many
Speaker 1: dammies under the Silva versus Viva jacket control. I asked
Speaker 1: my mother who could help us, and she told me
Speaker 1: God and President Reagan. Then I got to write to
Speaker 1: you to ask you to please help us with this
Speaker 1: one thing. Are we Go residents. In the late sixties
Speaker 1: onto the mid seventies, undocumented immigrants in Western Hemisphere countries
Speaker 1: like Mexico and Watemala with the U S born children
Speaker 1: could apply for legal permanent residency. When the immigration law
Speaker 1: changed in ninete, no more baby case immigrant visa numbers
Speaker 1: could be issued. Many undocumented immigrants were then immediately subject
Speaker 1: to deportation orders. However, Terry fear Tag, a Chicago immigration lawyer,
Speaker 1: soon discovered that the State Department had wrongfully issued nearly
Speaker 1: one and fifty thousand Western Hemisphere immigrant visa numbers to
Speaker 1: Cuban refugees. Mr fear Tag organized a small team of
Speaker 1: lawyers who quickly filed a class action lawsuit Silva versus Levi,
Speaker 1: arguing that the immigrant visa numbers given to Cuban refugees
Speaker 1: had been done without lawful authority, limiting spots that otherwise
Speaker 1: could be available for immigrants of other Western Hemisphere countries.
Speaker 1: Mr Feartag successfully argued the case. Here he is describing
Speaker 1: that day that was the magic day the Immigration Service
Speaker 1: and somebody from Washington to argue for the government. I
Speaker 1: argued for our side, and it went on for an hour,
Speaker 1: and it was like watching someone on a chapeese because
Speaker 1: the judge would ask questions that an answer is swing
Speaker 1: this way, swing that way, anyway. Bottom line is at
Speaker 1: the end of it, he said, motion for temporary standing
Speaker 1: order is granted. We then draft an order which includes
Speaker 1: a provision that everybody in the class would be entitled
Speaker 1: to the issuance by the Immigration Service of eight what
Speaker 1: then became known as a silver letter, which essentially said,
Speaker 1: this is the person with a ticket in line and
Speaker 1: they are given permission to remain as long as you
Speaker 1: know this injunction is in existence and they have employment authorization. Essentially,
Speaker 1: anyone who was in line by the end of ninety
Speaker 1: six could get a notice known as the silver letters,
Speaker 1: giving them the right to be here and to work
Speaker 1: while the complex legal case worked its way through the courts.
Speaker 1: And then of course it meant that families were protected,
Speaker 1: you know, the kids and the spouse. That's the person
Speaker 1: who was vulnerable was the worker and he had work
Speaker 1: authorization now or she had work authorization now, and the
Speaker 1: immediate family remain. Those silver letters expired in November of
Speaker 1: both Marcella's mother and father no longer had the protection
Speaker 1: the letters had offered them. Marcella's first ten years of
Speaker 1: her life when a little something like this, she went
Speaker 1: from living in the shadows to having one foot in
Speaker 1: the shadows and the other foot tasting a little bit
Speaker 1: of freedom with the silver letters, to then be thrown
Speaker 1: back into the shadows all over again when those silver
Speaker 1: letters expired for her parents. And I just remember that
Speaker 1: and that, I remember my mom always praying and always
Speaker 1: say no, you know, hopefully they don't kick us out
Speaker 1: or thinking parted off something, you know, say. She was
Speaker 1: always worried about that. Many times, when I see my
Speaker 1: two children, Alexander and Olie, I think of how lucky
Speaker 1: they are to go to bed every night without being
Speaker 1: afraid of tomorrow. I remind them that when I was
Speaker 1: just a toddler, I crossed the border with my parents.
Speaker 1: I tell them that at their age, I get home
Speaker 1: from school, fire up a pan and make my brother
Speaker 1: Stacos the bacon because we were just starving. I end
Speaker 1: up sounding like my mother and my kids. They asked questions,
Speaker 1: was grandma scale, what was grandpa? Are you a baby Mama,
Speaker 1: Grandma had then how did they find you? But to them,
Speaker 1: these are just stories that happened once upon a time.
Speaker 1: To them, these stories I now tell are not any
Speaker 1: different than reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Her privilege
Speaker 1: Mazilla and I did not have because we had to
Speaker 1: grow up fast. We had to learn to carry the
Speaker 1: weight our parents carried. I think, what what I remember,
Speaker 1: like I said, dizzily, with my dad and his job.
Speaker 1: But it was also like remember like them always worried
Speaker 1: about the paperwork, like there, you know, they get stopped,
Speaker 1: they're still security, They're all that. We didn't have any
Speaker 1: of that. So my parents were always extra careful as
Speaker 1: far as following the traffic laws, paying their taxes, all
Speaker 1: of that. I remember them always talking about that stuff
Speaker 1: and how they just you know, followed them to the
Speaker 1: law because they didn't want to stand out. They didn't
Speaker 1: want to call any attention to themselves, and which kind
Speaker 1: of like led me to be that way as far
Speaker 1: as like in school, like it it made me want
Speaker 1: to do better in school and not stand out and
Speaker 1: be bad or not to not to rock the boat
Speaker 1: in any way because it was always scary like that.
Speaker 1: We would be somehow found out that it was my parents,
Speaker 1: you know, that had to had to struggle and to
Speaker 1: you know, carry that burden of not being documented. You know,
Speaker 1: Marcella's worst fear wasn't so much her getting deported. For
Speaker 1: some reason. I was thought, well, we didn't have to leave,
Speaker 1: but my siblings would have to stay here, and who
Speaker 1: are they gonna stay with? You know. I remember thinking like, well,
Speaker 1: me and my sister are gonna have to go back
Speaker 1: because we're the Mexico. But you know, my other sisters
Speaker 1: are not, and my brothers not. That they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to stay here, and that means we're not gonna be
Speaker 1: able to see them. I used to be afraid and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh god, we're gonna get separated because
Speaker 1: they belonged to America, we belong to Mexico. The weight
Speaker 1: is so heavy. It's so heavy that it trickles on children,
Speaker 1: you know, and like you said it, like your parents,
Speaker 1: we're trying to be discreet, but nonetheless, you think the
Speaker 1: oldest and at that age you're curious and inquisitive, and
Speaker 1: do you hear things like kids are really smart and
Speaker 1: they hear everything. You think. Kids are not listening but
Speaker 1: they are. Marcella will sit with her mother as she
Speaker 1: watched the news, so afraid that her dad may not
Speaker 1: walk in through their door that night. She will pull
Speaker 1: apart her mom's prayers and realize something that I find odd.
Speaker 1: Her mother was including President Reagan and her prayers. My mom, Um,
Speaker 1: she would always tell us to pray for the president
Speaker 1: because you know, Um, we may have an opportunity. You know,
Speaker 1: to to to to do this. You know, she had
Speaker 1: to get this, this big opportunity. Marcella was now on
Speaker 1: the mission. She had to find a way to get
Speaker 1: a hold of the only person that can help her family.
Speaker 1: So she did what any ten year old would do.
Speaker 1: Out of the shadows will be right back now, back
Speaker 1: to the show. I remember that there was a teacher
Speaker 1: in school. This wasn't She was a an lingual teacher,
Speaker 1: and I remember talking to her about it, and I
Speaker 1: asked her, how do you get ahold of the president?
Speaker 1: How how can you talk to the president? And because
Speaker 1: that kids right to the president all the time acting
Speaker 1: this because you wanted to get a hold of the presidency.
Speaker 1: I wanted to get a hold of somebody. And my
Speaker 1: mom told me that the pregnant is the only one
Speaker 1: that can make this decision. To me, it was like, okay, well,
Speaker 1: let me talk to the president. I thought it was
Speaker 1: just as simple as you know, let me come up.
Speaker 1: And I remember talking to missus Vana and she told me, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can write to the president. And it was kind
Speaker 1: of like it was so non salant, is what I'm
Speaker 1: trying to say, Like I didn't. I think it was
Speaker 1: like writing to the president was just like like nothing,
Speaker 1: like like writing to your grandma. So in January, Marcella
Speaker 1: writes a letter addressed to President Reagan. In the letter,
Speaker 1: she attaches to honors letters signed by her school principle,
Speaker 1: along with the newspaper clipping of the photo of her
Speaker 1: participation and win at the Peach Blossom Festival. Ten year
Speaker 1: old Marcella wanted to prove to the president that her
Speaker 1: family deserved to be American. In the timing of this letter,
Speaker 1: I also find fascinating Reagan just marked his one year
Speaker 1: in office. Two was also the year when the first
Speaker 1: draft of the immigration bill was introduced to Congress, and
Speaker 1: it was also the year Congress chose for irka's cut
Speaker 1: off date immigrants arriving after January one. Two. We're not
Speaker 1: eligible to apply, And the fact that out of all
Speaker 1: the letters Reagan received during his presidency, this is one
Speaker 1: he saved. Idea this letter existendential. Now I don't. I mean,
Speaker 1: I remember the letter now, but I'm like I said, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't. I guess I pushed that letter back into
Speaker 1: the back of my mind. It makes sense that Marcella
Speaker 1: doesn't remember writing this letter, just as it makes sense
Speaker 1: for me growing up gradually suppressing my own memories of
Speaker 1: crossing the border with my parents, or suppressing the fear
Speaker 1: of immigrant raids. Being a child of immigrants, whether born
Speaker 1: here or not, does not exempt us from the fear.
Speaker 1: The fear we oppressed to survive, And just like Marcella's
Speaker 1: parents are, immigrant parents go above and beyond to try
Speaker 1: and make our lives as normal as possible, even when
Speaker 1: they are carrying their own pain. Like that beautiful quote
Speaker 1: by Damian Leone, immigrant parents with their wings cut still
Speaker 1: teach their children to fly. My parents did such a
Speaker 1: good job of shielding us from a lot of it,
Speaker 1: not in a way that like made us forget or
Speaker 1: take programmed what it was. It was more of like
Speaker 1: protecting us um from like the bad part of it.
Speaker 1: I guess it was. But they play instilled in us
Speaker 1: like be grateful for what we have, be grateful that
Speaker 1: we get to be here and that we get to
Speaker 1: well whatever we have, like I remember it like to
Speaker 1: this day, like I don't. I don't ever remember thinking
Speaker 1: I was poor. You know, we lived in the projects
Speaker 1: in Sorry, I don't remember ever feeling poor. My parents
Speaker 1: have always did touch a great job. And she'll beam
Speaker 1: as from all that. Like I tell you, the only
Speaker 1: reason I knew it because I was nosy and I
Speaker 1: stayed up late that by listening to their conversations. You're
Speaker 1: a part of history. You don't even and you don't
Speaker 1: even know it. No, really I know, and I'm kind
Speaker 1: of embarrassed because I'm my god, I took so much
Speaker 1: for granted. No, I wouldn't say it's for granted. I
Speaker 1: would say maybe you suppressed a lot of these feelings
Speaker 1: because filled with fear. Right now you're laughing because you
Speaker 1: know it's it's it's almost like little still, you know,
Speaker 1: Penio gar asking, you know, how can I get a
Speaker 1: hold of President? But I'm sure Tim you old Marcella,
Speaker 1: we'll kind of make it a way. Yeah, too, had
Speaker 1: a mission too, for you have the courage to to
Speaker 1: write this letter, because still this fear that you had,
Speaker 1: you know, and me, I'm sure little Marcella was really scared.
Speaker 1: In Marcella's family received legal residency. And I remember my
Speaker 1: dad saying, you know, pray God, like we've been praying
Speaker 1: for this, and we've been it's been so long coming.
Speaker 1: And I remember it's even the people from church we
Speaker 1: used to have us. My dads have a best friend,
Speaker 1: another pastor friend of his and and he and I
Speaker 1: remember my dad calling him and telling them that we
Speaker 1: got it, and everybody was just happy. It just changed
Speaker 1: the mood of my parents, like and I think by
Speaker 1: that time, that's when my mom was like, oh, well
Speaker 1: now I can get a job, like start working and helping.
Speaker 1: And it just changed the whole the whole vibe, the
Speaker 1: whole environment. So what happened to Marcella a lot. And
Speaker 1: you know, it's funny. In high school and my sister
Speaker 1: when we remember like we had a resident Alien cards.
Speaker 1: And I was another thing too, because your friends carry
Speaker 1: around their social securities, their ideas and everything, and we
Speaker 1: had to carry around our resident Asian card and and
Speaker 1: all that stuff. And and back then you with It's
Speaker 1: kind of was an embarrassing thing. I guess it was
Speaker 1: for us because you're like, there was a stigma behind
Speaker 1: all that you're legal, you're illegal even though you're Mexican,
Speaker 1: and just like your other friend was Mexican, but the
Speaker 1: fact that you were born in Mexico and not born
Speaker 1: to California, you were different. You just felt like you
Speaker 1: had that stamp on your back. And I always thought that,
Speaker 1: always thought that until the day I became a citizen,
Speaker 1: and then after that it was just like, Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: like everybody else. And um, I've been married now for
Speaker 1: thirty years, which and then I have I have two kids,
Speaker 1: I have two grandkids and one on the way. I
Speaker 1: have a master's degree in health administration and I worked
Speaker 1: for a three hospital system here in Presido, California. I'm
Speaker 1: a finance manager, so I manage um of wh I
Speaker 1: started managing a program and I manage a department that
Speaker 1: saves our hospital about fifty million a year, which in
Speaker 1: turn helps programs for indigent people, like because our hospital
Speaker 1: is like a it's a safety net hospital, so we
Speaker 1: use those savings to help people without insurance, people without document,
Speaker 1: you know, without deep immigrants that don't have insurance, or
Speaker 1: that comes to our hospital seeking medical care and don't
Speaker 1: have a way to pay for it. This program saved
Speaker 1: dollars that are used to pay for for for this
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So I come full circle. Do you
Speaker 1: think little Martella m would have believed this? I don't know,
Speaker 1: you know what I have left and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: don't want to cry. But honestly, I was blessed with
Speaker 1: two parents that I believed. Hey, first of all, believe
Speaker 1: the God and believed in the American system. They believed
Speaker 1: in it to this day, like my parents are or
Speaker 1: my dad passed away, now my mom. I mean, they
Speaker 1: believed in democracy, they believe in America. They followed the laws,
Speaker 1: you know, And I think that that I think back
Speaker 1: then writing that letter, even though I was a kid,
Speaker 1: I believed. I believe that it would make a difference.
Speaker 1: Like I really did. I believe that, Hey, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: right to the president. He why not, Like he's gonna listen,
Speaker 1: you know, he he has an office. He's gonna open
Speaker 1: my letter. He's gonna listen. I think part of me
Speaker 1: always believed that it could it could be. But that's
Speaker 1: thanks to the way I was raised and the way
Speaker 1: my parents believed. Wow, Kelly was talking to you, that's like,
Speaker 1: I mean, wow, that's just amazing, Like you don't know how,
Speaker 1: you don't know like how this has made my week,
Speaker 1: my my year. Probably what do you think of her?
Speaker 1: M A. Regan? You know what? Honestly, besides Um Carter,
Speaker 1: he was my favorite. And it's funny because I'm not
Speaker 1: a I'm not a Republican, I'm not a Democrat. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm out not a liberal. I'm an independent. I have
Speaker 1: my own thoughts, I have my own beliefs and everything.
Speaker 1: And Ronald Reagan was actually one of my favorite presidents
Speaker 1: and I just still like, you know, he did a
Speaker 1: lot for for the for America, and he did a
Speaker 1: lot he I mean, he's set the president with this
Speaker 1: honesty program and that I believe that's a lot of people. Now,
Speaker 1: you know, there's always the bad, and honestly, it's it's
Speaker 1: shameful sometimes to to to hear that some people would
Speaker 1: take that opportunity and just wasted. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, we're human and we had we
Speaker 1: got we have an opportunity, and everybody, whether you're born
Speaker 1: here or you're not. We all have the same opportunity
Speaker 1: and you just have to take it and that this
Speaker 1: this made it so much easier for our family and
Speaker 1: for me definitely, I have the opportunity that I've had.
Speaker 1: Your ten year old son should be very proud. I am,
Speaker 1: you know, And like I said, this came just right
Speaker 1: on time, like just this is amazing. I would love
Speaker 1: to chat with you more. Yeah, but renouncing my have
Speaker 1: take my fun to stop her. I mean, I'm not,
Speaker 1: but I I just want to say that it was
Speaker 1: It was an honor to have an able to trying you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I'm grateful if you can help us. I
Speaker 1: promised to study hard and become a good sis and
Speaker 1: never forget you in my price. I appreciate all the
Speaker 1: time you put into reading my letters. Thank you very much, Sincerely, yours,
Speaker 1: Sella Sanchez. In talking to Marcella, I wasn't able to
Speaker 1: prove with a hundred percent certainty that her letter convinced
Speaker 1: Reagan to sign URCA. That doesn't matter anymore as much
Speaker 1: as the proof of the resilience of first generation children,
Speaker 1: which is fully illustrated in a letter written in two
Speaker 1: by a ten year old Mexican American girl in realizing
Speaker 1: that she does not remember writing this letter to Reagan
Speaker 1: In Marcella has lived the last forty years unaware that
Speaker 1: she may have had something to do with the events
Speaker 1: leading to the signing of URCA in eighty six. She
Speaker 1: lived unaware that in the courage she found to protect
Speaker 1: her family, she protected mine too. That next time on
Speaker 1: Out of the Shadows, Children of eighty six, we'll take
Speaker 1: a look at what it was actually like to apply
Speaker 1: for Erica. You'll hear from the people who were on
Speaker 1: the ground helping folks apply. Folks were like, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to be the first. I'm not going to be
Speaker 1: the person. The experiment on the amnesty was clearly a
Speaker 1: good thing. We'll break down Erica finally going into effect
Speaker 1: and the scramble for proof to qualify all that and
Speaker 1: more on the next episode of Out of the Shadows.
Speaker 1: If you love this podcast, please help us get the
Speaker 1: word out by following, rating, reviewing, and sharing it with
Speaker 1: your friends. Out of the Shadows is written by Caesar Hernandez.
Speaker 1: It's also written, edited, posted, an executive produced by Patti
Speaker 1: Rodriguez and Eric G. Lindo. It's produced by Bett Cardanas,
Speaker 1: Karen Lopez and Gabby Watts. It's sound design mixed and
Speaker 1: mastered by Jesse Nice Wander. Our studio engineer is Clay
Speaker 1: Hill and Burn. Karen Garcia That's Me is our announcer.
Speaker 1: Out of the Shadows is the production of Seeing the
Speaker 1: Other Productions and School of Humans in partnership with My
Speaker 1: Heart's Michael Dura podcast Network. The podcast is also executive
Speaker 1: produced by Giselle Bantes, Virginian Prescott, Brandon Barr, and Chad Crowley.
Speaker 1: Our marketing and our team is led by Jasmine Meheia.
Speaker 1: Original music by a Arenas and if you loved his
Speaker 1: cover of Los Caminos la vida this podcast theme song,
Speaker 1: you can listen to it on all music platforms. Historical
Speaker 1: audio for Out of the Shadows comes from the Reagan
Speaker 1: Presidential Library and the National Archives. Special thanks to Ian Bargas,
Speaker 1: Alex and Ali, Caitlin Becker, gob Chabran, Daisy Church, Angel Lopez, Galindo,
Speaker 1: Julianna Gamiz, Ryan Gordon, Brian Matheson, Claudia Marti Corina, Oscar Ramidez,
Speaker 1: John Rodriguez, Juan Rodriguez, Joshua Sandoval, Eric Sclar, Tony Sorrentino
Speaker 1: and Megan Tana. This baby