Speaker 1: Luis cort Do's r metals in the eighth grade in
Speaker 1: San Francisco.
Speaker 2: And he's excited.
Speaker 1: He's waiting for his parents to come home so he
Speaker 1: can tell them that he's raised enough money to go
Speaker 1: on a class trip to Europe. When this trip first
Speaker 1: came up, his mom said they couldn't afford it. That
Speaker 1: didn't matter to Luis. He started slaying candy like a
Speaker 1: middle school version of Willy Wonka, hustling harder than anyone
Speaker 1: until he raised enough money to go on the trip.
Speaker 1: He's thinking, I can't wait to see the Eiffel Tower
Speaker 1: in person. It's no longer going to be just a picture.
Speaker 1: His parents get home and Louise starts jumping up and
Speaker 1: down telling them all about his hard work.
Speaker 2: Their faces go.
Speaker 1: White because they're about to crush his dream son. His
Speaker 1: dad says, we're undocumented, which means you can't leave the
Speaker 1: country because they won't let you back in.
Speaker 2: Louise is devastated.
Speaker 1: It's the first time he's felt a specific payg.
Speaker 2: Of terror he could be deported.
Speaker 1: Louise grew up afraid afraid of taking trips, afraid of
Speaker 1: taking on the government, afraid to even dream of going
Speaker 1: to college until one day he overcame his fears, and
Speaker 1: thank god he did. Luis would take many trips, like
Speaker 1: one of his first, to attend an affordable college in Idaho,
Speaker 1: then law school, and even to the nation's capital, Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. Where he would take on the government in
Speaker 1: a big way. But before we get to that, we
Speaker 1: have to go back to twenty twelve, pivotal year for
Speaker 1: Louis and for the country. As President Obama urges Congress
Speaker 1: to pass the Dream Act. He takes matters into his
Speaker 1: own hands. But what did this actually mean for our
Speaker 1: dreamers in their future?
Speaker 2: I'm Erica Lindo and I'm Patti Rodriguez.
Speaker 3: This is Out of the Shadows, a podcast about America's
Speaker 3: tangled history of immigration. Last season, we tackled Ronald Reagan's
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty six Amnesty Act. This season, we're tracing the
Speaker 3: origins of DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a
Speaker 3: contentious executive order to protect undocumented young people from being.
Speaker 1: Deported issued by former President Barack Obama in twenty twelve.
Speaker 1: DACA was meant to be a temporary stop gap on
Speaker 1: a broken immigration system. It was like putting a bucket
Speaker 1: under a leaky roof, but with multiple Supreme Court challenges
Speaker 1: and looming presidential elections, the roof feels like it may
Speaker 1: collapse at any moment, impacting the US economy and American
Speaker 1: culture as we know it.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, the future of millions of lives hangs in the balance.
Speaker 3: Welcome to out of the shadows, dreamers.
Speaker 4: They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in.
Speaker 5: Every single way but one on paper, It makes no
Speaker 5: sense to expel talented young people who, for all intents
Speaker 5: and purposes are Americans, have been raised as Americans, understand
Speaker 5: themselves to be part of this comfort effective immediately, the
Speaker 5: Department of Homeland Security is taking steps to lift the
Speaker 5: shadow of deportation from these young people.
Speaker 3: On June fifteen, twenty twelve, President Barack Obama stepped out
Speaker 3: of the White House in a dark suit and a
Speaker 3: red tie with white pokad and walk up to electern
Speaker 3: on the White House lawn in front of the American
Speaker 3: flag to make a huge announcement.
Speaker 5: Over the next few months, eligible individuals who do not
Speaker 5: present a risk to national security or public safety will
Speaker 5: be able to request temporary relief from deportation proceedings.
Speaker 4: And apply for work authorization.
Speaker 5: Let's be clear, this is not amnesty, this is not immunity,
Speaker 5: this is not a path to citizenship.
Speaker 4: It's not a permanent fix.
Speaker 5: This is a temporary, stop deep measure that lets us
Speaker 5: focus our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief
Speaker 5: and hope to talented, driven, patriotic young people. It is
Speaker 5: the right thing to do, precisely because this is temporary,
Speaker 5: Congress needs to act.
Speaker 3: Obama's historic announcement of DACA became one of those landmark
Speaker 3: moments where people remembered exactly where they were when it
Speaker 3: was announced.
Speaker 1: Film critic Carlos Aguilar was in community college at the
Speaker 1: time and felt like he was stuck working a fast
Speaker 1: food job to make.
Speaker 6: And meet I remember clearly that they announced that guy
Speaker 6: in June of twenty twelve. I want to say, I'm
Speaker 6: almost one hundred person certain that the day that I
Speaker 6: applied is the day that I was graduating from college,
Speaker 6: which is kind of crazy. I didn't think that, you know,
Speaker 6: working at a fast food place, I was going to
Speaker 6: be able to put myself through like, you know, a
Speaker 6: four year or to transfer to another school. So it
Speaker 6: was kind of like pretty much at godsend, because at
Speaker 6: that point I really didn't know what I was going
Speaker 6: to do, because I had sort of like reached the
Speaker 6: end of the road in terms of that community college
Speaker 6: I was graduating from there.
Speaker 1: Law student Luis Cortez rometto from earlier needed a miracle
Speaker 1: in the news drop Louise was stuck in limbo with law.
Speaker 4: School beforecards announced.
Speaker 7: I'd called my mom and I told her that I
Speaker 7: was going to drop out.
Speaker 1: Before he dropped out, he went home during the summer
Speaker 1: to visit his mom in California to decompress. He got
Speaker 1: wayne to Obama's announcement and watched it with his mom.
Speaker 4: I was sitting down, I had my laptop out on
Speaker 4: the table.
Speaker 7: She was standing next to me, and we're hearing it,
Speaker 7: and she was grabbing my shoulders and was saying, I
Speaker 7: can't believe it. And then a little bit of like dedih,
Speaker 7: I told you, so, you know, a little bit of that.
Speaker 4: There was a little bit of that.
Speaker 7: But we were both just so excited, and I think
Speaker 7: she was just there and then we hugged, and so
Speaker 7: there was an excitement there. I waited a little bit
Speaker 7: just to see if this was for real.
Speaker 1: Eric Guerta, an organizer from Boyle Heights, recalls precisely what
Speaker 1: he was doing the day the news came out.
Speaker 2: He was battling Akruda.
Speaker 8: Not to be an asshole, but I think I may
Speaker 8: have one of the best stocker stories out of everybody
Speaker 8: about when where were you on the day you found out?
Speaker 8: So at the time when DAKA hit in twenty twelve,
Speaker 8: in June, I was part of an internship program out
Speaker 8: of the UCLA Labor Center called Dream Summer.
Speaker 4: There's workshops you're.
Speaker 8: Meeting like civil rights leaders and activists and folks doing
Speaker 8: this work on the ground. We're going to be you know,
Speaker 8: our supervisors and certain internships. So we were doing that
Speaker 8: and the night before, you know, when the homies get together,
Speaker 8: you know how we do. So we party it up
Speaker 8: and like I fucking blackout drunk, just had to get
Speaker 8: up the next day, go home and change. And as
Speaker 8: I'm like waking up from the day in a fucking
Speaker 8: corner at the bus stop next seven am, all hungover,
Speaker 8: I'm looking at Twitter and I'm like seeing all this
Speaker 8: shit about like President Obama signing different actions or Dreamers
Speaker 8: and da da da da da, and it's like, oh,
Speaker 8: shit like it's finally happening. We were happy, we were
Speaker 8: just being in the moment and everybody was just like
Speaker 8: finally right. We tried passing the Dream Act so many times,
Speaker 8: but DAKA came from that defeat in twenty ten, where
Speaker 8: folks are like, cool, we lost the dream like this year,
Speaker 8: so we got to move on and think of something different.
Speaker 8: And that's how Deferred Action was born.
Speaker 1: And his organizing peeps knew the truth. Obamama passed the Action,
Speaker 1: but it was their efforts that made this happen. It
Speaker 1: was time to celebrate.
Speaker 8: So my drunk, sober ass I had to go home,
Speaker 8: take a shower, get dressed, and get and go to
Speaker 8: downtown and just be out there and like showing people
Speaker 8: that dad, this is what like, we made it happen,
Speaker 8: not just because it was like Obama and all of
Speaker 8: a sudden deciding, oh, should I need some brownie points?
Speaker 8: Let me give this beaners like a couple of work permits.
Speaker 8: It's like no, this food was pushed against the wall
Speaker 8: to make this decision. So many people can't be named
Speaker 8: that we're making this stuff happening behind the doors. But
Speaker 8: folks like us who were in this you know, since
Speaker 8: day one. We're out there in the streets when we
Speaker 8: do best. The movement pushed Obama and his administration.
Speaker 1: But thebration of Obama's announcement wasn't for Obama and it
Speaker 1: didn't magically wipe away his reputation on deportations with immigrant
Speaker 1: rights activists.
Speaker 2: More on that after the break.
Speaker 3: Former President Obama might have passed DAKA in twenty twelve,
Speaker 3: But according to organizer Mohammed Moab the Lahy from the
Speaker 3: last episode, he heard from close sources that the Dreamer
Speaker 3: movement had a direct impact on Obama's order.
Speaker 9: Yeah, one hundred percent, only because other people who were
Speaker 9: in those rooms told us. But I feel like I
Speaker 9: give all of the credit for Dhako to the really
Speaker 9: the deportation cases on what I said, which it becomes unpopular.
Speaker 3: Well, had been working on deportation cases for years, but
Speaker 3: one case in May twenty twelve, a month before DHAKA
Speaker 3: gave them the sense Obama was about.
Speaker 9: To act like one pivotal case for me is I mean,
Speaker 9: a lot of little things happened, but at some point
Speaker 9: there was a group of kids from California that were
Speaker 9: walking to DC, the Cadwalkers for Passage of.
Speaker 2: The dream backed.
Speaker 9: As these kids were walking through Utah, we did that
Speaker 9: case and then they got to Colorado, and this was
Speaker 9: late May of twenty twelve, and so I don't know
Speaker 9: what it was, but I just had this weird like
Speaker 9: inkling that like Obama was going to do something, and
Speaker 9: so we wanted to just speed.
Speaker 3: That up, and speed it up they did.
Speaker 9: And so that's when we launched our Occupy the Obama
Speaker 9: Campaign Offices campaign essentially, And so those kids, the Cadwalkers,
Speaker 9: they essentially took over Obama's campaign office in Denver, Colorado,
Speaker 9: essentially doing a sit in until there was We called
Speaker 9: it an executive action to stop the deportation of Dreamers,
Speaker 9: and we took over the Detroit.
Speaker 4: Office with a few Dreamers.
Speaker 9: We essentially had occupied like eight of his offices within
Speaker 9: three or four days. This was election year time, and
Speaker 9: so we expected them to arrest us within a day
Speaker 9: or so. Not only did they not arrest us, they
Speaker 9: all evacuated their offices and went to work in like
Speaker 9: substitute offices because they knew it was just like so
Speaker 9: unpopular to directly arrest and detain the Dreamers. And so yeah,
Speaker 9: I mean, we took over his San Francisco office. Obama
Speaker 9: didn't want to do anything on DACA until closer to
Speaker 9: the election or right after the election, and so we
Speaker 9: sped up his timeline to do it then in June
Speaker 9: June fifteenth.
Speaker 3: This is the kind of stuff that doesn't make it
Speaker 3: into the history books. Sure Obama issued the order, but
Speaker 3: there was so much going on behind the scenes he
Speaker 3: could no longer ignore the pressure cooker activists. Erika and Diola,
Speaker 3: chief advocacy officer of RAISIS and the big figure in
Speaker 3: organizing spaces in Arizona, was on the front lines of
Speaker 3: the DOCA fight and also in the room with the
Speaker 3: Obama administration, lobbing for deferred action many times with no success.
Speaker 10: From the very beginning, we started having meetings with administration.
Speaker 10: I was part of some of those meetings, and I
Speaker 10: clearly remember getting an answer from at that time Cicilia
Speaker 10: Winos and a few other folks that was very clear, no,
Speaker 10: the President.
Speaker 4: Can't do this.
Speaker 10: I remember one of the meetings at a church because
Speaker 10: we couldn't go into the White House because we didn't
Speaker 10: have papers right, they had us go into a church
Speaker 10: that was right in front of the White House to
Speaker 10: meet with Cilia Winos and a few other people in
Speaker 10: the administration. We had some of our friends who one
Speaker 10: of them actually literally had an incorporation. He was worrying
Speaker 10: the Inco bracelet because he was in the iportation proceedings and.
Speaker 11: Then coal monitor, and we took him there, you know.
Speaker 8: He came with.
Speaker 10: Us and we had a few other folks and we
Speaker 10: got that answer from from from the administration was that
Speaker 10: we can't do this.
Speaker 3: But then they did do it.
Speaker 11: I heard the rumors.
Speaker 10: I started getting some text messages from some folks telling
Speaker 10: me that there was something that was going to be announced, and.
Speaker 3: In the most amazing way, Erica was probably dreaming.
Speaker 2: When it happened.
Speaker 4: I was still sleeping.
Speaker 8: I was very early in the morning.
Speaker 10: And I got a call from a reporter basically asking
Speaker 10: me to.
Speaker 8: Tell him what my reaction was.
Speaker 10: And I was like, my reaction is that I didn't
Speaker 10: even know that this was happening. I was very surprised.
Speaker 10: And when I learned this happened right and I learned
Speaker 10: that what the actual announcement was, I was I was
Speaker 10: very proud because I remember when we started putting together
Speaker 10: the demands, you know, of what we wanted. We had
Speaker 10: five demands.
Speaker 11: That and if I can remember, you know, some of
Speaker 11: them was like the ability to drive, the ability to work,
Speaker 11: the ability to travel, and that one, the ability to
Speaker 11: travel outside the US was something that we're like, we're
Speaker 11: going to add it, but we don't think we're going
Speaker 11: to get it, but we're going to push for that.
Speaker 10: We're going to add it to our demands. And yeah,
Speaker 10: I mean, this gets announced and I'm.
Speaker 8: Like, what's in it?
Speaker 11: Like what what's what's you know, what are we going
Speaker 11: to be able to do?
Speaker 10: And it turns out that there was advanced role and
Speaker 10: we were going to have the ability to travel and
Speaker 10: it's very limited, but it's you know, it's it's something
Speaker 10: that we can use. And it just made me feel
Speaker 10: so proud of our movement that we had an objective,
Speaker 10: we had a dream, you know, pun intended, but we
Speaker 10: we had this aspiration to have all these rights that
Speaker 10: were denied to us, and we pushed for them and
Speaker 10: we want.
Speaker 1: So Obama is u daka And like my parents and
Speaker 1: Patty's parents had to do with ERCA in the eighties,
Speaker 1: undocumented immigrants had to.
Speaker 2: Apply to qualify for deferred action.
Speaker 1: Applications started being accepted in August, and there was a
Speaker 1: long list of criteria including applicants had to be under
Speaker 1: thirty one as of Daka's announcement. They had to be
Speaker 1: in the US before sixteen years old. They had to
Speaker 1: have continuously resided here since June fifteenth of seven.
Speaker 2: And this is a big one.
Speaker 1: No felony convictions, no big misdemeanors, and they couldn't pose.
Speaker 2: A threat to public safety.
Speaker 1: To add to all that, the government was asking applicants
Speaker 1: for all kinds of personal information.
Speaker 8: I compared it to signing up to the fucking Mutant
Speaker 8: Registration Act as the X Men in the nineties card scene,
Speaker 8: right where the fucking government needs to know who you are,
Speaker 8: where you live, where your grandma must say, what you
Speaker 8: can do, when you did it, how you did it,
Speaker 8: did you pick your nose? All these details that supposedly
Speaker 8: didn't exist because I'm undocumented and I'm not in this country.
Speaker 8: So it was a very weird space of like, I'm
Speaker 8: willingly turning my information over to the government so they
Speaker 8: know where I'm at. And also, since I'm not supposed
Speaker 8: to be here, how am I supposed to prove that
Speaker 8: I've been here all this time? As well?
Speaker 2: One of the things the government was asking for was
Speaker 2: proof of residency, and when it came time for Wadeta
Speaker 2: to apply, he used media coverage of his organizing as
Speaker 2: proof of residency for his DACA application.
Speaker 8: And I was one of those folks at the time
Speaker 8: who was doing the media work. So I was fielding
Speaker 8: interviews on the ground and all the chanting and the
Speaker 8: street closing was happening, and the cops are showing up,
Speaker 8: and I was like, I'm kpcc LA times all these places.
Speaker 8: And the funny thing too, is that when I actually
Speaker 8: did sign up to apply for DACA, I use those
Speaker 8: same use clips as proof that I was here on
Speaker 8: that day.
Speaker 1: It was a similar story for our parents when they
Speaker 1: applied for URCA in eighty six. They were hesitant to
Speaker 1: turn in their information to the very same governing body
Speaker 1: that didn't want them here.
Speaker 2: In the first place.
Speaker 1: And just like back then, the Dreamers had to decide
Speaker 1: of giving the government all their personal info was worth it.
Speaker 2: That's after the break.
Speaker 3: For many, the announcement of DOCA was a good thing,
Speaker 3: but the fine print required you to turn over information
Speaker 3: to the government that could be used against you. Film
Speaker 3: critic Carlos thought giving up all his personal information to
Speaker 3: the government was alarming.
Speaker 6: Any interaction with with Homeland Security, it's always kind of
Speaker 6: terrifying and nerve acking. I remember going the first time
Speaker 6: because you know, for THATCA, once they approve your application,
Speaker 6: you have to go for biometrics. You go to a
Speaker 6: Homeless Security USCIS office and you know, you get your
Speaker 6: fingerprints and you know, your photograph taken. And every time
Speaker 6: I've had to have done it because you know, with ACCA,
Speaker 6: you have to renew it every two years, and I
Speaker 6: just always got this feeling of like they make you
Speaker 6: feel like a criminal. It does always feel like you're
Speaker 6: there and you know, it's a very unwelcoming environment and
Speaker 6: like you know, they treat you like they're doing you
Speaker 6: a favor, like you's down the service. And it was
Speaker 6: a very uncomfortable experience going through that process, you know,
Speaker 6: because of course you fill out your paperwork and you
Speaker 6: send it, but once you have to actually go to
Speaker 6: an office and they know exactly what.
Speaker 2: The purpose of your visit is.
Speaker 6: You know that you are requesting this thing, and even
Speaker 6: if they mistreat you, even if they look at you,
Speaker 6: you know, if they give you a dirty look, you
Speaker 6: can complain you can really raise your voice because you
Speaker 6: know they have the upper hand. And I feel like,
Speaker 6: to me, that was perhaps the most sort of direct
Speaker 6: sense of imbalance of power that I felt that. I
Speaker 6: really felt like, you know, they can treat me however
Speaker 6: they want, They can ask me whatever they want, and
Speaker 6: I have to comply because I am requesting this thing
Speaker 6: that they can just as easily deny. And you know,
Speaker 6: I stand to lose more than to win if I
Speaker 6: raise my voice, And so I feel like that, to
Speaker 6: me was the most uncomfortable experience to really have to
Speaker 6: go to the office and face the system face to
Speaker 6: face and the people that work in that system.
Speaker 3: Luis Cortes Romeo, the kid who wanted to go to
Speaker 3: Paris from the start of the show, was also hesitant
Speaker 3: to apply.
Speaker 7: There was a little bit of skepticism because there was
Speaker 7: also a part of there was a part of us
Speaker 7: that said, or a part of me that said, like,
Speaker 7: wait a second, you want me to give you all
Speaker 7: my information and then just like trust that you're not
Speaker 7: going to do anything with it.
Speaker 1: Later, in its first month, they were close to one
Speaker 1: hundred thousand applicants, and in one year that number balloon
Speaker 1: to five hundred thousand. DOCTA had immediate effects like applying
Speaker 1: for a driver's license. For some, like Louise, had life
Speaker 1: changing effects. See, Louis didn't just go to college, he
Speaker 1: also went to law school.
Speaker 7: It was my last year, it was about to be
Speaker 7: my last year year before I graduated, where I realized
Speaker 7: that I wasn't going to be able to practice law.
Speaker 7: I don't know why I didn't think about it before,
Speaker 7: but I realized, like, you need a social Security number,
Speaker 7: and you need a work permit, and you're like, you
Speaker 7: need all these things if you want to take can
Speaker 7: pass the bar exam and practice law.
Speaker 1: But with DACA, everything changed for Luise and for his mom,
Speaker 1: who was watching the announcement with her son.
Speaker 7: And as soon as President Obama says effective immediately, we
Speaker 7: were going to start a program that would allow young
Speaker 7: people to have protections from deportation and a work authorization,
Speaker 7: I had.
Speaker 4: My mouth open.
Speaker 1: Although Louis wasn't participating in organizing, his acts of resistance
Speaker 1: were personal, like figuring out how to secure funding for
Speaker 1: law school or selling chocolates for that trip to Europe.
Speaker 1: Louis closely understood the fear associated with being undocumented, but Ultimately,
Speaker 1: he wasn't afraid to fight for what he believed in.
Speaker 1: He'll go on to become an undocumented lawyer and one
Speaker 1: of Docca's guardian angels.
Speaker 7: Hi arguing hearing with Jig also that helped pave the
Speaker 7: way for the injunction. And remember there was a time
Speaker 7: where he asked like, how do you know where you know?
Speaker 7: He's always ask to how do you know this information?
Speaker 7: We're going to find this? And when I'm telling him
Speaker 7: about the practical sides of the case, like you have
Speaker 7: to go in and you to take your fingerprints and
Speaker 7: they take your photo and all that, he asked like,
Speaker 7: how do you know that? And I told him, like,
Speaker 7: I went through it. I'm a doctor recipient myself, and
Speaker 7: I went through it. And I think it dawned on him, like, Oh,
Speaker 7: there's somebody right in front of me who this matters to.
Speaker 7: This isn't just an abstract legal issue or something that
Speaker 7: is going to impact the people outside. This is going
Speaker 7: to impact somebody who's arguing in my court right now.
Speaker 3: Next episode, we'll talk about the effects of DOCA on
Speaker 3: people's lives, good and bad.
Speaker 10: One of the wake up calls from me or a
Speaker 10: reminder that we weren't done. Was literally the same day
Speaker 10: that I got the job in Congress. I came back
Speaker 10: from my interview and talking to my former boss and
Speaker 10: telling me that I got the job. I came back
Speaker 10: to the house and that same night, we get a
Speaker 10: knock at the door and I took my mom and
Speaker 10: my brother.
Speaker 4: And it's still.
Speaker 10: Unclear whether it was any type of retaliation or if
Speaker 10: it was something that happened because of other reasons. Because
Speaker 10: you know, they were deporting a lot of people at
Speaker 10: that time under President Obama, so she might have been
Speaker 10: one of those folks who was targeted.
Speaker 3: That's next time on Out of the Shadows. Out of
Speaker 3: the Shadows Dreamers is a se Medal production in partnership
Speaker 3: with Iheartmichurdura podcast Network. It's created, hosted, and executive produced
Speaker 3: by me, Patti Rodriguez, and Eric Galindo. This show was
Speaker 3: written by Sessa Hernandez, an executive produced by Joselle Bancis.
Speaker 3: Our supervising producer is Arlene Santana. It's produced and edited
Speaker 3: by Brianna Flores. Our associate producer is Claudia Martigna. Down design,
Speaker 3: mixing and mastering by Jessica Cranechitch and a special thanks
Speaker 3: to all our Dreamers. Remember to subscribe to the podcast
Speaker 3: and share it. For more Michael Duda podcasts, listen to
Speaker 3: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 3: your favorite shows.