WEBVTT - The Executive Order 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:13.080 Luis cort Do's r metals in the eighth grade in 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:14.840 San Francisco. 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:15.480 And he's excited. 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:18.000 He's waiting for his parents to come home so he 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:20.119 can tell them that he's raised enough money to go 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.799 on a class trip to Europe. When this trip first 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:27.479 came up, his mom said they couldn't afford it. That 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.920 didn't matter to Luis. He started slaying candy like a 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:35.080 middle school version of Willy Wonka, hustling harder than anyone 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:38.520 until he raised enough money to go on the trip. 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:43.920 He's thinking, I can't wait to see the Eiffel Tower 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:47.360 in person. It's no longer going to be just a picture. 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:52.239 His parents get home and Louise starts jumping up and 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.360 down telling them all about his hard work. 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:56.760 Their faces go. 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:03.280 White because they're about to crush his dream son. His 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:07.679 dad says, we're undocumented, which means you can't leave the 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:09.640 country because they won't let you back in. 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:12.800 Louise is devastated. 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:17.080 It's the first time he's felt a specific payg. 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:19.880 Of terror he could be deported. 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:26.200 Louise grew up afraid afraid of taking trips, afraid of 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:29.560 taking on the government, afraid to even dream of going 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:35.800 to college until one day he overcame his fears, and 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:40.520 thank god he did. Luis would take many trips, like 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:44.000 one of his first, to attend an affordable college in Idaho, 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:48.080 then law school, and even to the nation's capital, Washington, 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:51.640 d C. Where he would take on the government in 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:56.840 a big way. But before we get to that, we 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:01.160 have to go back to twenty twelve, pivotal year for 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:05.840 Louis and for the country. As President Obama urges Congress 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:09.480 to pass the Dream Act. He takes matters into his 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:13.560 own hands. But what did this actually mean for our 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:14.920 dreamers in their future? 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:19.519 I'm Erica Lindo and I'm Patti Rodriguez. 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.480 This is Out of the Shadows, a podcast about America's 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:27.720 tangled history of immigration. Last season, we tackled Ronald Reagan's 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:31.280 nineteen eighty six Amnesty Act. This season, we're tracing the 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:35.400 origins of DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:39.680 contentious executive order to protect undocumented young people from being. 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:43.600 Deported issued by former President Barack Obama in twenty twelve. 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:47.080 DACA was meant to be a temporary stop gap on 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:50.799 a broken immigration system. It was like putting a bucket 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:54.639 under a leaky roof, but with multiple Supreme Court challenges 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:58.720 and looming presidential elections, the roof feels like it may 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:03.400 collapse at any moment, impacting the US economy and American 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:04.800 culture as we know it. 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:10.720 Meanwhile, the future of millions of lives hangs in the balance. 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:14.760 Welcome to out of the shadows, dreamers. 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:24.639 They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in. 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:30.720 Every single way but one on paper, It makes no 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:35.640 sense to expel talented young people who, for all intents 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:40.840 and purposes are Americans, have been raised as Americans, understand 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:45.520 themselves to be part of this comfort effective immediately, the 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:49.040 Department of Homeland Security is taking steps to lift the 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:51.480 shadow of deportation from these young people. 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:56.440 On June fifteen, twenty twelve, President Barack Obama stepped out 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:58.560 of the White House in a dark suit and a 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:02.120 red tie with white pokad and walk up to electern 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.360 on the White House lawn in front of the American 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:06.839 flag to make a huge announcement. 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:11.480 Over the next few months, eligible individuals who do not 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:15.480 present a risk to national security or public safety will 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:20.560 be able to request temporary relief from deportation proceedings. 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:23.159 And apply for work authorization. 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:29.680 Let's be clear, this is not amnesty, this is not immunity, 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:32.800 this is not a path to citizenship. 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:35.719 It's not a permanent fix. 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:40.000 This is a temporary, stop deep measure that lets us 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:43.480 focus our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:49.720 and hope to talented, driven, patriotic young people. It is 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:54.640 the right thing to do, precisely because this is temporary, 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:55.880 Congress needs to act. 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:01.880 Obama's historic announcement of DACA became one of those landmark 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:06.000 moments where people remembered exactly where they were when it 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:06.800 was announced. 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:12.640 Film critic Carlos Aguilar was in community college at the 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:15.559 time and felt like he was stuck working a fast 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:17.120 food job to make. 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:21.160 And meet I remember clearly that they announced that guy 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:24.240 in June of twenty twelve. I want to say, I'm 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:26.120 almost one hundred person certain that the day that I 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:28.400 applied is the day that I was graduating from college, 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:31.000 which is kind of crazy. I didn't think that, you know, 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:33.159 working at a fast food place, I was going to 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:34.800 be able to put myself through like, you know, a 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.760 four year or to transfer to another school. So it 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:40.240 was kind of like pretty much at godsend, because at 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:41.880 that point I really didn't know what I was going 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:44.839 to do, because I had sort of like reached the 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:47.080 end of the road in terms of that community college 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:48.240 I was graduating from there. 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:53.960 Law student Luis Cortez rometto from earlier needed a miracle 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:57.480 in the news drop Louise was stuck in limbo with law. 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:00.720 School beforecards announced. 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:02.839 I'd called my mom and I told her that I 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:04.160 was going to drop out. 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:08.000 Before he dropped out, he went home during the summer 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:11.880 to visit his mom in California to decompress. He got 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.799 wayne to Obama's announcement and watched it with his mom. 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:17.599 I was sitting down, I had my laptop out on 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:17.880 the table. 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:20.360 She was standing next to me, and we're hearing it, 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:24.279 and she was grabbing my shoulders and was saying, I 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:28.520 can't believe it. And then a little bit of like dedih, 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:30.640 I told you, so, you know, a little bit of that. 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:31.600 There was a little bit of that. 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:33.560 But we were both just so excited, and I think 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:35.000 she was just there and then we hugged, and so 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:38.000 there was an excitement there. I waited a little bit 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:39.480 just to see if this was for real. 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:45.600 Eric Guerta, an organizer from Boyle Heights, recalls precisely what 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:47.440 he was doing the day the news came out. 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:49.479 He was battling Akruda. 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:53.960 Not to be an asshole, but I think I may 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:56.360 have one of the best stocker stories out of everybody 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:59.880 about when where were you on the day you found out? 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.799 So at the time when DAKA hit in twenty twelve, 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.280 in June, I was part of an internship program out 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:08.280 of the UCLA Labor Center called Dream Summer. 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:09.960 There's workshops you're. 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:13.200 Meeting like civil rights leaders and activists and folks doing 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:15.120 this work on the ground. We're going to be you know, 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.840 our supervisors and certain internships. So we were doing that 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:22.560 and the night before, you know, when the homies get together, 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:24.800 you know how we do. So we party it up 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:30.160 and like I fucking blackout drunk, just had to get 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:33.760 up the next day, go home and change. And as 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:36.000 I'm like waking up from the day in a fucking 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:39.720 corner at the bus stop next seven am, all hungover, 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:42.320 I'm looking at Twitter and I'm like seeing all this 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:46.160 shit about like President Obama signing different actions or Dreamers 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:47.560 and da da da da da, and it's like, oh, 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:50.840 shit like it's finally happening. We were happy, we were 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:53.520 just being in the moment and everybody was just like 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:58.600 finally right. We tried passing the Dream Act so many times, 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.560 but DAKA came from that defeat in twenty ten, where 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:03.800 folks are like, cool, we lost the dream like this year, 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:06.440 so we got to move on and think of something different. 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:08.280 And that's how Deferred Action was born. 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.840 And his organizing peeps knew the truth. Obamama passed the Action, 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.880 but it was their efforts that made this happen. It 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.000 was time to celebrate. 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.040 So my drunk, sober ass I had to go home, 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:26.800 take a shower, get dressed, and get and go to 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:29.800 downtown and just be out there and like showing people 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.680 that dad, this is what like, we made it happen, 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.079 not just because it was like Obama and all of 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:37.440 a sudden deciding, oh, should I need some brownie points? 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.199 Let me give this beaners like a couple of work permits. 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.520 It's like no, this food was pushed against the wall 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.800 to make this decision. So many people can't be named 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:48.559 that we're making this stuff happening behind the doors. But 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:51.000 folks like us who were in this you know, since 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:53.560 day one. We're out there in the streets when we 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:58.000 do best. The movement pushed Obama and his administration. 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:04.960 But thebration of Obama's announcement wasn't for Obama and it 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:08.720 didn't magically wipe away his reputation on deportations with immigrant 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:09.680 rights activists. 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:12.839 More on that after the break. 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:37.040 Former President Obama might have passed DAKA in twenty twelve, 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:40.920 But according to organizer Mohammed Moab the Lahy from the 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:45.600 last episode, he heard from close sources that the Dreamer 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:48.720 movement had a direct impact on Obama's order. 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.959 Yeah, one hundred percent, only because other people who were 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:55.480 in those rooms told us. But I feel like I 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:58.240 give all of the credit for Dhako to the really 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.319 the deportation cases on what I said, which it becomes unpopular. 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.920 Well, had been working on deportation cases for years, but 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:09.760 one case in May twenty twelve, a month before DHAKA 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:12.920 gave them the sense Obama was about. 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:17.719 To act like one pivotal case for me is I mean, 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:19.880 a lot of little things happened, but at some point 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.160 there was a group of kids from California that were 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:25.520 walking to DC, the Cadwalkers for Passage of. 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:26.120 The dream backed. 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:28.680 As these kids were walking through Utah, we did that 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:30.960 case and then they got to Colorado, and this was 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:35.440 late May of twenty twelve, and so I don't know 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:37.600 what it was, but I just had this weird like 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:42.840 inkling that like Obama was going to do something, and 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:44.439 so we wanted to just speed. 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:47.360 That up, and speed it up they did. 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:51.520 And so that's when we launched our Occupy the Obama 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:56.000 Campaign Offices campaign essentially, And so those kids, the Cadwalkers, 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:59.520 they essentially took over Obama's campaign office in Denver, Colorado, 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:04.880 essentially doing a sit in until there was We called 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:08.120 it an executive action to stop the deportation of Dreamers, 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:10.319 and we took over the Detroit. 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:11.920 Office with a few Dreamers. 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:15.880 We essentially had occupied like eight of his offices within 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:20.800 three or four days. This was election year time, and 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.600 so we expected them to arrest us within a day 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:25.920 or so. Not only did they not arrest us, they 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:28.520 all evacuated their offices and went to work in like 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.840 substitute offices because they knew it was just like so 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:36.800 unpopular to directly arrest and detain the Dreamers. And so yeah, 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:40.680 I mean, we took over his San Francisco office. Obama 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:43.280 didn't want to do anything on DACA until closer to 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.719 the election or right after the election, and so we 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:50.000 sped up his timeline to do it then in June 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:51.560 June fifteenth. 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:54.320 This is the kind of stuff that doesn't make it 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:58.680 into the history books. Sure Obama issued the order, but 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:02.040 there was so much going on behind the scenes he 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:09.240 could no longer ignore the pressure cooker activists. Erika and Diola, 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:12.600 chief advocacy officer of RAISIS and the big figure in 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:15.960 organizing spaces in Arizona, was on the front lines of 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.800 the DOCA fight and also in the room with the 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:24.440 Obama administration, lobbing for deferred action many times with no success. 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:28.680 From the very beginning, we started having meetings with administration. 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:31.319 I was part of some of those meetings, and I 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:36.360 clearly remember getting an answer from at that time Cicilia 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:39.800 Winos and a few other folks that was very clear, no, 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:41.720 the President. 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:41.880 Can't do this. 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:44.720 I remember one of the meetings at a church because 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:46.720 we couldn't go into the White House because we didn't 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.880 have papers right, they had us go into a church 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:51.560 that was right in front of the White House to 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:53.960 meet with Cilia Winos and a few other people in 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:57.959 the administration. We had some of our friends who one 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:01.400 of them actually literally had an incorporation. He was worrying 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:04.480 the Inco bracelet because he was in the iportation proceedings and. 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:06.960 Then coal monitor, and we took him there, you know. 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:07.680 He came with. 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:12.439 Us and we had a few other folks and we 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:15.040 got that answer from from from the administration was that 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:15.800 we can't do this. 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:20.600 But then they did do it. 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:21.880 I heard the rumors. 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:25.280 I started getting some text messages from some folks telling 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:28.920 me that there was something that was going to be announced, and. 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:32.959 In the most amazing way, Erica was probably dreaming. 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:33.760 When it happened. 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:35.800 I was still sleeping. 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:37.640 I was very early in the morning. 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:40.120 And I got a call from a reporter basically asking 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.440 me to. 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:43.080 Tell him what my reaction was. 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:44.920 And I was like, my reaction is that I didn't 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:49.000 even know that this was happening. I was very surprised. 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:52.360 And when I learned this happened right and I learned 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:56.880 that what the actual announcement was, I was I was 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:01.760 very proud because I remember when we started putting together 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:05.680 the demands, you know, of what we wanted. We had 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:07.240 five demands. 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.160 That and if I can remember, you know, some of 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:13.160 them was like the ability to drive, the ability to work, 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:17.040 the ability to travel, and that one, the ability to 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:21.400 travel outside the US was something that we're like, we're 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:22.960 going to add it, but we don't think we're going 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:24.440 to get it, but we're going to push for that. 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:28.480 We're going to add it to our demands. And yeah, 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:30.280 I mean, this gets announced and I'm. 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:30.840 Like, what's in it? 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:32.680 Like what what's what's you know, what are we going 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:33.440 to be able to do? 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:35.840 And it turns out that there was advanced role and 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:37.680 we were going to have the ability to travel and 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.360 it's very limited, but it's you know, it's it's something 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:42.600 that we can use. And it just made me feel 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:46.280 so proud of our movement that we had an objective, 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:48.920 we had a dream, you know, pun intended, but we 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:52.920 we had this aspiration to have all these rights that 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.240 were denied to us, and we pushed for them and 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:56.960 we want. 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:02.320 So Obama is u daka And like my parents and 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:04.960 Patty's parents had to do with ERCA in the eighties, 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:07.280 undocumented immigrants had to. 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:09.440 Apply to qualify for deferred action. 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.320 Applications started being accepted in August, and there was a 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:17.440 long list of criteria including applicants had to be under 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.280 thirty one as of Daka's announcement. They had to be 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:23.240 in the US before sixteen years old. They had to 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:28.000 have continuously resided here since June fifteenth of seven. 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:29.920 And this is a big one. 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:35.119 No felony convictions, no big misdemeanors, and they couldn't pose. 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:36.520 A threat to public safety. 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:41.640 To add to all that, the government was asking applicants 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:43.480 for all kinds of personal information. 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:47.280 I compared it to signing up to the fucking Mutant 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:50.320 Registration Act as the X Men in the nineties card scene, 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:53.360 right where the fucking government needs to know who you are, 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:56.200 where you live, where your grandma must say, what you 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.680 can do, when you did it, how you did it, 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:01.640 did you pick your nose? All these details that supposedly 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:04.920 didn't exist because I'm undocumented and I'm not in this country. 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:07.680 So it was a very weird space of like, I'm 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:11.000 willingly turning my information over to the government so they 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:14.560 know where I'm at. And also, since I'm not supposed 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:16.640 to be here, how am I supposed to prove that 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:18.440 I've been here all this time? As well? 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:22.200 One of the things the government was asking for was 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.520 proof of residency, and when it came time for Wadeta 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:30.200 to apply, he used media coverage of his organizing as 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:33.440 proof of residency for his DACA application. 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:39.760 And I was one of those folks at the time 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:43.000 who was doing the media work. So I was fielding 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:45.960 interviews on the ground and all the chanting and the 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:48.320 street closing was happening, and the cops are showing up, 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.640 and I was like, I'm kpcc LA times all these places. 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:54.000 And the funny thing too, is that when I actually 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:57.360 did sign up to apply for DACA, I use those 0:16:57.400 --> 0:16:59.520 same use clips as proof that I was here on 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:00.160 that day. 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:03.440 It was a similar story for our parents when they 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:06.439 applied for URCA in eighty six. They were hesitant to 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:09.479 turn in their information to the very same governing body 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:11.280 that didn't want them here. 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:12.000 In the first place. 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:20.040 And just like back then, the Dreamers had to decide 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:24.120 of giving the government all their personal info was worth it. 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:26.600 That's after the break. 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:52.040 For many, the announcement of DOCA was a good thing, 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:56.320 but the fine print required you to turn over information 0:17:56.440 --> 0:18:01.320 to the government that could be used against you. Film 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:05.639 critic Carlos thought giving up all his personal information to 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:07.359 the government was alarming. 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:15.960 Any interaction with with Homeland Security, it's always kind of 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:19.080 terrifying and nerve acking. I remember going the first time 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.720 because you know, for THATCA, once they approve your application, 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:25.879 you have to go for biometrics. You go to a 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:29.919 Homeless Security USCIS office and you know, you get your 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:33.600 fingerprints and you know, your photograph taken. And every time 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.400 I've had to have done it because you know, with ACCA, 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:38.520 you have to renew it every two years, and I 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:41.919 just always got this feeling of like they make you 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:47.520 feel like a criminal. It does always feel like you're 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.800 there and you know, it's a very unwelcoming environment and 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:53.080 like you know, they treat you like they're doing you 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:55.439 a favor, like you's down the service. And it was 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:59.760 a very uncomfortable experience going through that process, you know, 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:01.720 because of course you fill out your paperwork and you 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:03.720 send it, but once you have to actually go to 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:06.760 an office and they know exactly what. 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:08.080 The purpose of your visit is. 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.080 You know that you are requesting this thing, and even 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:13.480 if they mistreat you, even if they look at you, 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:15.680 you know, if they give you a dirty look, you 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.600 can complain you can really raise your voice because you 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:20.600 know they have the upper hand. And I feel like, 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:24.080 to me, that was perhaps the most sort of direct 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:27.480 sense of imbalance of power that I felt that. I 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:29.879 really felt like, you know, they can treat me however 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:32.479 they want, They can ask me whatever they want, and 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:36.560 I have to comply because I am requesting this thing 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:42.040 that they can just as easily deny. And you know, 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:44.840 I stand to lose more than to win if I 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:46.639 raise my voice, And so I feel like that, to 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:49.919 me was the most uncomfortable experience to really have to 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:52.840 go to the office and face the system face to 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:54.840 face and the people that work in that system. 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:59.080 Luis Cortes Romeo, the kid who wanted to go to 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:02.240 Paris from the start of the show, was also hesitant 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:02.760 to apply. 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:07.040 There was a little bit of skepticism because there was 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:09.159 also a part of there was a part of us 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:11.199 that said, or a part of me that said, like, 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:12.920 wait a second, you want me to give you all 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:15.639 my information and then just like trust that you're not 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:16.439 going to do anything with it. 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:22.679 Later, in its first month, they were close to one 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:25.880 hundred thousand applicants, and in one year that number balloon 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:30.440 to five hundred thousand. DOCTA had immediate effects like applying 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:36.840 for a driver's license. For some, like Louise, had life 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:40.679 changing effects. See, Louis didn't just go to college, he 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:41.879 also went to law school. 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:45.280 It was my last year, it was about to be 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:49.520 my last year year before I graduated, where I realized 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:51.720 that I wasn't going to be able to practice law. 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:53.639 I don't know why I didn't think about it before, 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:56.320 but I realized, like, you need a social Security number, 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:57.760 and you need a work permit, and you're like, you 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:00.159 need all these things if you want to take can 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:03.080 pass the bar exam and practice law. 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:09.280 But with DACA, everything changed for Luise and for his mom, 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.000 who was watching the announcement with her son. 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:17.080 And as soon as President Obama says effective immediately, we 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:19.840 were going to start a program that would allow young 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:23.520 people to have protections from deportation and a work authorization, 0:21:23.880 --> 0:21:24.320 I had. 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:24.879 My mouth open. 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:30.720 Although Louis wasn't participating in organizing, his acts of resistance 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:34.159 were personal, like figuring out how to secure funding for 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:37.200 law school or selling chocolates for that trip to Europe. 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:45.200 Louis closely understood the fear associated with being undocumented, but Ultimately, 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:48.080 he wasn't afraid to fight for what he believed in. 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:52.400 He'll go on to become an undocumented lawyer and one 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:54.800 of Docca's guardian angels. 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:58.560 Hi arguing hearing with Jig also that helped pave the 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:00.920 way for the injunction. And remember there was a time 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:03.800 where he asked like, how do you know where you know? 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:05.320 He's always ask to how do you know this information? 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:07.320 We're going to find this? And when I'm telling him 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:09.560 about the practical sides of the case, like you have 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:11.199 to go in and you to take your fingerprints and 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:13.240 they take your photo and all that, he asked like, 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:14.560 how do you know that? And I told him, like, 0:22:14.640 --> 0:22:16.679 I went through it. I'm a doctor recipient myself, and 0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:19.760