Speaker 1: Hi 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. There's an old, faded photo of me that
Speaker 1: captures a moment at a party in Mexico, my birthday party,
Speaker 1: to be exact. My mouth is slightly open, I am
Speaker 1: wearing pigtails in a fluffy blue dress. I'm in my
Speaker 1: dad's arms and he's carrying me and my little brother John.
Speaker 1: The moment is filled with movement. My uncle in the
Speaker 1: back claimed the accordion. Other kids running around could be
Speaker 1: my cousin's standing off to the side, trying to peek
Speaker 1: over my dad's shoulders, and one of them is just
Speaker 1: staring at the camera like a deer in headlights. And
Speaker 1: right as the camera shutters, my dad blinks. The back
Speaker 1: of that photo is stamped November. I didn't know it yet,
Speaker 1: but back in the States, that same date that is
Speaker 1: stamped on the back of that photo, November. The most
Speaker 1: unlikely allied to immigrants just signed IRKA, the Immigration Reform
Speaker 1: and Control Act, into law, allowing millions of immigrants and
Speaker 1: their children and their children's children to plant roots in
Speaker 1: this country. I've had this realization that my life, my
Speaker 1: parents life, and possibly even your life wouldn't have been possible.
Speaker 1: Oh hey, Eric, So I've been thinking about our lives, Hey, Patty,
Speaker 1: and it's starting to make sense. So I need you
Speaker 1: to hear me out. I think our lives would have
Speaker 1: been impossible without Ronald Reagan. El Salvador is nearer to
Speaker 1: Texas than Texas is to Massachusetts. Yeah. That guy, damn.
Speaker 1: That's my co host and also best friend, Eric Eric Glendo.
Speaker 1: We've known each other since we were eighteen selling shoes
Speaker 1: at J. C. Penny. You know, back then we didn't
Speaker 1: have people to look up to, and now we're a force.
Speaker 1: I'm Patty Rodriguez and I'm Eric Glendo. And this is
Speaker 1: Out of the Shadows Children of eighty six. Immigrants and
Speaker 1: their children have long lived in the shadows of America.
Speaker 1: Their destinies aren't just shaped by where they come from,
Speaker 1: but by their particular place in history. In nineteen eighty six,
Speaker 1: the lives of millions of immigrants and their children were
Speaker 1: changed by one lucky stroke of a pen by an
Speaker 1: unlikely ally, President Ronald Reagan. This podcast will examine the
Speaker 1: ripple effics the bill had on first generation kids of
Speaker 1: immigrants who are navigating intergenerational mobility and transforming the cultural landscape.
Speaker 1: This is an untold story of luck, timing, triumph, opportunity, survival,
Speaker 1: and of course I hope I never thought of asking
Speaker 1: my parents why they came here. I mean, I knew
Speaker 1: they came here to the u S undocumented, and I
Speaker 1: also knew that at some point they got a green card,
Speaker 1: and the green card mint being legal, legal to be
Speaker 1: here in this country without fear of being deported. Yeah. Same,
Speaker 1: I mean I knew it happened, and I was thankful,
Speaker 1: But as a kid, I had never really asked my
Speaker 1: parents how or why they came here, right, I mean
Speaker 1: I never I never sat down and reflected on how
Speaker 1: it happened, or or the wild fact that both my parents,
Speaker 1: my deals, my theas, and millions of other people, including
Speaker 1: your parents, erk received legal residency all at the same time.
Speaker 1: And thank god they did, because this country as we
Speaker 1: know it today wouldn't be the same because Latinos, Latinas, Latino, Hispanic,
Speaker 1: latin X, whatever you want to call us, we're here.
Speaker 1: When my grandmother got here, she never could have imagined
Speaker 1: one of her grandsons would be standing with you here
Speaker 1: today to say these words. I am a candidate for
Speaker 1: President of the United States of America. For the first
Speaker 1: time in history, no candidate and no political party could
Speaker 1: reach the White House without the Hispanic port. Latinos play
Speaker 1: a key role in economic growth, as their buying power
Speaker 1: jumped to more than one point seven trillion dollars in
Speaker 1: the last ten years alone. The number of Latino business
Speaker 1: owners has grown compared to just three for all others.
Speaker 1: It's a momento, its momento, this is our moment. There's
Speaker 1: no better example of the success of Latinox people than
Speaker 1: Boulevard Market in l A Boulevard Market is a food
Speaker 1: hall made of converted shipping containers. It's just east of
Speaker 1: downtown Los Angeles and Manabello, the heart of l as
Speaker 1: San Gabriel Valley. It opened in and it's so special
Speaker 1: to me. It's a place where Latin X families come
Speaker 1: every day to spend money on tackles, fresh Cevie chick
Speaker 1: and melt in your mouth bush. But it's so much
Speaker 1: more than food. There's life, music, art, culture, and most
Speaker 1: importantly community. Thousands of people come here every month to
Speaker 1: live their best life. It's a reminder of how far
Speaker 1: We've come that we can have spaces that are built
Speaker 1: by us and for us. You got Cafe Santo that's
Speaker 1: from Wakaka. You have Vitos that are Salvadorian past Cantina
Speaker 1: which is coastal Mexican. You have Nola, which is New
Speaker 1: Orleans food. You have which is Mexican and Guatemalan. Tacos
Speaker 1: there fused together. This is Barney Santos. He owns Boulevard Market.
Speaker 1: He's giving us a tour of the place. You know,
Speaker 1: as simple as this idea sounds, it's kind of It
Speaker 1: was kind of a radical one when we started it right,
Speaker 1: like to say like, okay, we're gonna build this hybrid
Speaker 1: entrepreneurship social enterprise that lie is Latino owns that focuses
Speaker 1: on black and brown founders. That creates a platform. Growing up,
Speaker 1: we used to create our own spaces and parks, dirt
Speaker 1: lots or swap meats wherever we could find it. Really
Speaker 1: nothing was permanent. Everything felt fleeting. All of that is here,
Speaker 1: living and breathing and eating tacos at Boulevard Market. Being
Speaker 1: here feels like establishing permanent. Like now we own our
Speaker 1: own spaces. It's a big deal. Barney's an entrepreneur, hustler,
Speaker 1: and he got his entrepreneurial spirit from his parents, who
Speaker 1: immigrated to the US from El Salvador. Like, just to
Speaker 1: come to this country is entrepreneurial in itself right, and
Speaker 1: then being in this country, like my mother and my
Speaker 1: father both were always doing something some side hustle, selling perfume,
Speaker 1: selling clothes. My dad would make bracelets and I would
Speaker 1: go with him to Sign of Monica to sell them
Speaker 1: to people. You know, So I learned about like sales
Speaker 1: and entrepreneurship from them. I would and be who I
Speaker 1: am if it wasn't for that entrepreneurial spirit that they had,
Speaker 1: and for the opportunity that we were able to even
Speaker 1: just be here in this country because of everything that
Speaker 1: happened politically in the eighties. So my mother became a
Speaker 1: citizen because of the amnestatment. Standing in Boulevard Market, when
Speaker 1: I see all of this, I think of two unbelievable things.
Speaker 1: The first one is that I own a small piece
Speaker 1: of this me a first generation daughter of immigrants from Lynnwood,
Speaker 1: from Southeast LA. I invested in this place, and wow,
Speaker 1: it belongs to us. And the second thing I think
Speaker 1: about is that none of this would be possible if
Speaker 1: it weren't for Ronald Reagan. That's right, the guy who
Speaker 1: is considered a god in conservative circles and a devil
Speaker 1: in most of Latin America. This is why this is
Speaker 1: so complicated. He created a type of poverty and the
Speaker 1: war on drugs that devastate my community. But also in
Speaker 1: six he signed a bill that would eventually grant amnesty
Speaker 1: to three million undocumented people. That's three million people that
Speaker 1: came out of the shadows and built the America we
Speaker 1: are seeing today. We weren't supposed to come out of
Speaker 1: the shadows, but we did. Out of the shadows. Will
Speaker 1: be right back now, back to the show. So what
Speaker 1: exactly is Irka? Eric? Can you break it down for us? Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, because basically what I like to think of
Speaker 1: as the street name for the Immigration Reform and Control
Speaker 1: Act of six If you're wondering why congressional bill has
Speaker 1: a street name, well, ship was monumental on the streets.
Speaker 1: It's the first comprehensive immigration reform law of its kind
Speaker 1: in US history. But Urka is like an M. C.
Speaker 1: Scher painting. What you see when you look at it
Speaker 1: may depend on your reality. On one hand, Ker gave
Speaker 1: three million people, many of Latino dissent amnesty. That means
Speaker 1: three million green cards, establishing a pathway to citizenship for
Speaker 1: undocumented immigrants, a way to establish roots without the constant
Speaker 1: fear of deportation. But there was one catch. You had
Speaker 1: to prove that you were in the US before. But
Speaker 1: Urka was an effort to curb the flow of immigration
Speaker 1: by providing sanctions to employers who hired undocumented immigrants. It
Speaker 1: was not that amnesty plus heavy fines and strict border
Speaker 1: enforcement would stop the flow spoilers. No sanctions were issued,
Speaker 1: the flow didn't stop, and enforcement has only gotten more punitive.
Speaker 1: You see, America has his unchecked addiction to cheap labor.
Speaker 1: Most of that comes from undocumented immigrants. Most of them
Speaker 1: come from Mexico and Central America to pick and harvest
Speaker 1: our produce, make our clothes, and clean the homes of
Speaker 1: middle class and wealthy Americans. Despite how vital immigrant laborers
Speaker 1: to our industries, agricultural ak, the food we garment, the
Speaker 1: clothes you wear, domestic the people who landscape, clean and
Speaker 1: build your houses, and raise and take care of your children.
Speaker 1: That's not even mentioning the contributions to the economy. Despite
Speaker 1: how vital immigrant labors to our industries, this country refuses
Speaker 1: to recognize them as citizens, should even as residents. To
Speaker 1: put it in a different way, the US needs the
Speaker 1: cheap labor of immigrants, but won't allow them to be
Speaker 1: part of this country. So Urica was supposed to be
Speaker 1: a one time deal, the immigration reform to end all
Speaker 1: immigration reform, but it wasn't that simple. On this podcast,
Speaker 1: you're gonna hear from some of the people who they're
Speaker 1: like Alan Simpson, one of the principal sponsors of IRKA
Speaker 1: in the Senate, in let's not do a story for
Speaker 1: the audience. Let's just do an honest story, and then
Speaker 1: the audience will either pick it up or understand or
Speaker 1: they won't, but we'll get into that later. Nonetheless, for
Speaker 1: millions of undocumented sons, daughters, deals Primosa's parents, IRKA was
Speaker 1: a chance, a shot of becoming American and stepping out
Speaker 1: of the shadows. And two of those people where my parents.
Speaker 1: And it all started with my mom and a wild,
Speaker 1: terrifying chase to the Sonoran Desert. My name is Paula,
Speaker 1: and I'm hearing that you say. For forty two years,
Speaker 1: is you no one? And whatever you do? You remember?
Speaker 1: Do you remember you arrived for the first time? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I remember. The first time my mom came to this
Speaker 1: country was in nine when she crossed the river. My
Speaker 1: dad was already here working for a few years, and
Speaker 1: my mom, who was sixteen at the time, came to
Speaker 1: meet him. She came with nothing more than a backpack
Speaker 1: full of clothes and dreams of becoming a mariachi singer.
Speaker 1: Oh we crossed the river at night, uh, and the
Speaker 1: water covers meet up to my shoulders. After she crossed,
Speaker 1: my mom lived into who managed musicians. She take care
Speaker 1: of my cousins on weekdays and sing mariachi on weekends.
Speaker 1: It was like made me very happy to sing, you know,
Speaker 1: in public with a mariachi. A few years later I
Speaker 1: was born. She got a job in the gartment in
Speaker 1: the street through a family friend. She liked to employers
Speaker 1: and told them she was eighteen. I used to live,
Speaker 1: party and bed in order to to be a better person,
Speaker 1: you know, to have his skills, because in this country
Speaker 1: it worked so hard to to find a job. You
Speaker 1: don't have a good English, or you do speak English,
Speaker 1: you know with my but English. But they gave me
Speaker 1: the opportunity. My mom was trying to finish night school,
Speaker 1: but then she got pregnant again and had my brother John,
Speaker 1: the one from the photo. Around this time, my dad
Speaker 1: got into an accident. He couldn't work, needed medical attention,
Speaker 1: and was scared of being deported, so we all went
Speaker 1: back to Mexico. After all that, crossing the river, dodging lamigra,
Speaker 1: struggling with two kids in that country where they didn't
Speaker 1: know the language, they just went back home. But my
Speaker 1: parents were actually happy in Mexico. They bought a house.
Speaker 1: My mom had dreams of starting her own business. Us
Speaker 1: I was a toddler and John was just a baby.
Speaker 1: But my mom had her parents there to help, something
Speaker 1: she didn't have here in the States, so there was
Speaker 1: no need to give up her dreams. There was no
Speaker 1: need to stop her education or quit jobs for us.
Speaker 1: You know, I was very happy because it was maybe
Speaker 1: the mhm. The house are you know my my dreams?
Speaker 1: You know, it was big. So this brings us back
Speaker 1: to that photo I mentioned on the top of the show.
Speaker 1: Life seemed good for my parents, and then I got
Speaker 1: sick m hm. So the doctor told me, you need
Speaker 1: to go back to what you say, because she's gonna
Speaker 1: die here. So we we just took a bass to
Speaker 1: t J to try to know to pass do you
Speaker 1: say again? To Los Angeles once again. My mom decided
Speaker 1: to sacrifice her life in Mexico, sacrifice her home, her
Speaker 1: dreams for a better life for her kids, to literally
Speaker 1: save my life. So in November, my dad, my mom,
Speaker 1: my brother John, and I take a bus to Tijuana
Speaker 1: to meet. We were told to meet at a house
Speaker 1: in the desert and when we got there, it is
Speaker 1: packed with people just like us who are all going
Speaker 1: to cross. I remember there were a lot, a lot
Speaker 1: of people in the house, you know, sleeping on on
Speaker 1: the floor, and and me and my kids as well,
Speaker 1: John and Patty. They had a big bend and they said,
Speaker 1: we are going to cross the border and the band
Speaker 1: so you you guys, so we are going all that way.
Speaker 1: You know, we're going to dry you know that way
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles. We're not going to stop. But my
Speaker 1: mom had this plan. Since my brother and I are
Speaker 1: natural born citizens, we don't need to cross through the
Speaker 1: desert with them. I don't want you to to put
Speaker 1: in a risk, you know, because I knew already the
Speaker 1: first time. How dangerous it was. My dad calls his
Speaker 1: cousin in Los Angeles to pick us up, but he
Speaker 1: never shows up. So we call Saraho and he said, no, no,
Speaker 1: I can't. He had a recent Probably, oh, he wasn't scared,
Speaker 1: because at the time, you know a lot of people
Speaker 1: who wasn't scared of everything. A stranger in the house,
Speaker 1: here's what's going on, and offers to cross me and
Speaker 1: my brother with our birth certificates. She promises my mom
Speaker 1: she'd meet her on the other side, and my mom desperately,
Speaker 1: in naively agrees to hand over her children to her. Yeah,
Speaker 1: out of the shadows, will be right back now, back
Speaker 1: to the show. My mom can't imagine her children crossing
Speaker 1: the desert, but as she's walking away, something doesn't feel right.
Speaker 1: Maybe God, oh I don't know, put in mind in
Speaker 1: my mind and I say, oh, no, I cannot give
Speaker 1: you my my kids. Imagine every time I remember that,
Speaker 1: I could ask my my Patty and John if something happened.
Speaker 1: Something is going to happen. But I want them by you,
Speaker 1: by me, with me by my side. And here we are,
Speaker 1: all four of us, And I remember this so vividly
Speaker 1: when it was our turn. My family got in the van.
Speaker 1: It was raining that night, and we're packed in this
Speaker 1: white cargo van that was never made to drive through
Speaker 1: the desert, packed just like Sardine's. The smell of fear, uncertainty,
Speaker 1: and yes, even hope. It was permading throughout. As we
Speaker 1: begin our track through the mountainous desert terrain, Our heads
Speaker 1: and bodies bang against the cold, thin walls every time
Speaker 1: the wheels drive over muddy potholes and slippery rocks. The
Speaker 1: rain has transformed the ground into a swamp. Suddenly the
Speaker 1: van stops. Everyone looks around as panic starts to sit in.
Speaker 1: I can tell something's wrong. Okay, let's think about this.
Speaker 1: I'm three years old. Because when kids are at that
Speaker 1: age and they see stuff they don't they can't really
Speaker 1: process what's going on, but they feel that something doesn't
Speaker 1: feel right. Like I'm looking around and no one's really
Speaker 1: assuring me that things are okay. We hear the driver's
Speaker 1: being on the gas, the sound of the revving engine,
Speaker 1: but we're not moving. The sound of rain hitting meadow
Speaker 1: heightened the anxiety. My brother's diaper is soaked and he's crying.
Speaker 1: Women are praying. My mother's praying. My dad and a
Speaker 1: couple of other men are forced to get out and push.
Speaker 1: I follow him, the rain falling heavy on all of us.
Speaker 1: When we noticed one of the tires is very deep,
Speaker 1: the spinning wheels flapping mud everywhere. Back in the car,
Speaker 1: somebody screams lamiger, and I feel my entire body turning
Speaker 1: against me. I'm only three years old, but I know
Speaker 1: what that word means. How do they find us? Maybe
Speaker 1: they sense the fear radiating from all of us, like
Speaker 1: sharks drawn to blood. So men are pushing you think
Speaker 1: their entire weight, so it being on the mud and
Speaker 1: loosing their footing. The rain and prayers grow louder. This
Speaker 1: is now or never, and one last push and the
Speaker 1: rear left wheel is eventually free from the mud pit.
Speaker 1: We only have seconds to jump back in. We are
Speaker 1: being followed. One man aren't with herbs and prayers, tells
Speaker 1: everyone to wear the herbs and pray. They'll protect us.
Speaker 1: He says, but the roads are not kind to the
Speaker 1: border patrol either. After we put a mile of distance
Speaker 1: between them, we lose them. It was hard, I mean
Speaker 1: for them, because probably they didn't want to ris themselves.
Speaker 1: And uh and for a my leg or something. They
Speaker 1: stopped following us, and after that everything was good to hear.
Speaker 1: To this day, we will never know if the herbs
Speaker 1: and prayers worked, but my mom seems to think it did.
Speaker 1: It is because of my mom's courage that I'm even
Speaker 1: here today telling her story. But that was just the
Speaker 1: beginning of my mom's fight to be here. I think
Speaker 1: back on that photo of my dad holding me and John.
Speaker 1: My mom must have taken that, and I don't think
Speaker 1: my parents knew back then that President Reagan had just
Speaker 1: gotten a bill on his desk that would create a
Speaker 1: path towards citizenship for millions of families like ours. We
Speaker 1: were on the verge of coming out of the shadows.
Speaker 1: But it wouldn't be easy. And just like that first
Speaker 1: time when she held all her dreams slung over her
Speaker 1: shoulders while crossing the Raging River, are shot at the
Speaker 1: American dream would all hinge on documents in a backpack
Speaker 1: she carried. When I asked my mom why she had
Speaker 1: that backpack, she said, in the most innocent tone, I
Speaker 1: just say, well, maybe just like to remember it. I
Speaker 1: was here, but we weren't alone. It was amazing things.
Speaker 1: The more I've learned about it since, like talking to
Speaker 1: Patty about it back in the day, Like I was
Speaker 1: just diving deep into it more and more talking to
Speaker 1: my mom about it, getting her sort of like perspective
Speaker 1: on it. The more I was like, Wow, this is
Speaker 1: kind of like it was a serendipitous moment that happened
Speaker 1: in time that kind of allowed a lot lot of
Speaker 1: us to kind of build on, you know, that legacy
Speaker 1: and to do amazing stuff here in the country. The
Speaker 1: Immigration Reform and Control Act of would end up changing
Speaker 1: the lives of countless of people in birth the circumstances
Speaker 1: for a Latinos renaissance in this country, Latini that would
Speaker 1: wind up shaping American culture, saving its aging economy, and
Speaker 1: shifting the paradigm. And we're going to tell you how
Speaker 1: and why it all happened this season and out of
Speaker 1: the Shadows, we will explore the legacy of Urka through
Speaker 1: the eyes of the folks who lived it. How one
Speaker 1: bill is signed by the man responsible for devastating land
Speaker 1: America also gave three million immigrants a piece of hope.
Speaker 1: What did it take to pass the bill? And why
Speaker 1: was Ronald Reagan the person to do it? This season
Speaker 1: on out of the Shadows. Out of the Shadows is
Speaker 1: written by Caesar Hernandez. It's also written, edited, hosted, an
Speaker 1: executive produced by Patti Rodriguez and Eric Galindo. It's produced
Speaker 1: by Bets Cardanaz, Karen Lopez and Gabby Watts. It's sound design,
Speaker 1: mixed and mastered by Jesse nice Longer. Our studio engineer
Speaker 1: is Clay Hillenburg. Karen Garcia That's Me is our announcer.
Speaker 1: Out of the Shadows is the production of Seeing Me,
Speaker 1: Other Productions and School of Humans in partnership with I
Speaker 1: Hearts Michael Dura Podcast Network. The podcast is also executive
Speaker 1: produced by Giselle Banzes, Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr and Chad Crowley.
Speaker 1: Our marketing and our team is led by Jasmine Mehia.
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 Vargas,
Speaker 1: Alex and Ali Caitlin, Betger gob Chabran, Daisy Church, Angel
Speaker 1: Lopez Galindo Julianna Gamis, Ryan Gordon, Brian Matheson, Claudia Marty Corina,
Speaker 1: Oscar Ramidrez, John Rodriguez, Juan Rodriguez, Joshua Sandoval, Eric Sclar,
Speaker 1: Tony Sorrentino, and Megan tan Or more podcasts, visit the
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows