September 5, 2025 • 27 mins
The 9/11 terrorist attacks left nearly 3,000 people dead and it traumatized the nation. It also reshaped U.S. immigration policy forever. Today, as the Trump administration targets non-citizens in unprecedented ways, we revisit some of the major changes and events that over the past 20 years altered the U.S. stance towards immigrants through the lens of this one catastrophic day.
Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.
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This episode originally aired in 2021.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Dear let you know USA listener.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Before we start, you should know that if you want
to listen to this episode ad free, just join plus
and you can join for as little as seven dollars
a month. Joining also gets you behind the scenes access
and yes, some cheese may so click the link in
the episode description and after you do that, then click play.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Let's go to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
In just a few days, we are going to honor
the twenty fourth anniversary of the September eleventh terrorist attacks.
Almost three thousand people for more than ninety countries died
on that day. Thousands more are still dealing with lasting injuries, depression,
and like me, still PTSD. Nine to eleven was an
(01:04):
event that would go on to have reverberating effects in
ways we could have never imagined. And so what are
some of the biggest after effects from nine to eleven
that we are witnessing today. Well, ice raids, ramped up
immigration enforcement, travel bands, even that pesky real ID requirement
that is causing a lot of confusion at airports. It
(01:26):
all ties back to nine to eleven. So, dear listener,
we're going to bring you an episode that we first
aired in twenty twenty one that feels more relevant today
than we could have ever possibly imagined from futro media.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
It's Latino Usa. I'm Mariao Hosa today.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
The legacy of nine to eleven we look at how
one catastrophic day permanently altered the US stance towards immigration.
It led to the creation of the Department of Homeland
Security and an inforce system that continues to wreak havoc
in immigrant communities today. One thing that we all immediately
(02:13):
knew on September eleventh was that this event was going
to resonate across time and borders very quickly. A new
political reality emerged from fear. In that moment. People found
themselves willing to grant the government control over just about
anything that could be tied back to national security, believing
(02:36):
that was the way to keep Americans safe from terrorism.
And soon after that, the panic over keeping the country
safe evolved into an ugly ongoing debate over yes immigration.
But to really understand just how much nine to eleven
(02:56):
changed the entire narrative around immigration in the United States,
we've got to go back a bit further. Our producer
Alejandra Sata said, is going to take it from here.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
The first year of the New millennium was one for
the history books. After surviving the Y two K computer scare,
we had the Sydney Summer Olympics, the first crew to
live on the International Space Station, And in November, following
a historically close and contentious election, just no longer is
Evin three four or Vice President Gore.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Thirty seven days after Americans went to the polls, and
now we have a winner, President elect Bush.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Bush was elected with thirty five percent of the Latino vote,
the highest LATINX turnout for a Republican since Ronald Reagan
in nineteen eighty four. Latinos represented a rapidly growing voter
block that couldn't be easily ignored anymore. Capitalizing on this
political moment, the Bush administration introduced an agenda that indicated
(03:58):
pro immigration reform was in the works, especially to help
and benefit Mexicans. In February two thousand and one, a
joint US Mexico panel released recommendations for future immigration policy,
including streamlining the process for Mexicans to attain visas and
legal status in the US.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
We exchanged ideas about safe and orderly migration, a policy
that respects individuals on both sides of the.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Border, and according to reports from July two thousand and one,
the White House was even considering offering permanent residency to
undocumented Mexicans. In the US Congress was deliberating several bills
to offer protections and citizenship opportunities to immigrant farm workers,
but come fall, the bills were shelved nine to eleven.
(04:46):
Had ushered in a new political atmosphere where pro immigrant
legislation just didn't stand a chance. Instead, issues like securing
borders and gathering intelligence became top priorities. For example, the
Transportation Security Administration was created TSA. The US Patriot Act
(05:07):
was passed only forty five days after the attacks. It
gave the government power to monitor your phone records and
your Internet use, and access your personal records like individual finances.
This was all done in the name of fighting terrorism.
The idea that people born outside of this country could
become its biggest threat turned into a mainstream policy priority
(05:30):
almost overnight.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete
shutdown of.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Muslims entering the United States until our countries represent.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Remember Donald Trump's Muslim ban. One of the most obvious
precedents for it was the Bush Administration's National Security Entry
Exit Registration System end SEERS for short. It was established
within a year of nine to eleven.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
It was a special registration program for certain individuals that
came from countries that had historic tie to terrorism.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
For nearly a decade, non citizens entering the US had
to register with the federal government. All men sixteen years
in older from a list of twenty five countries were
forced to participate in the NCIERS program. Twenty four of
those countries were a majority Muslim. Over eighty thousand men
and boys were registered, and more than thirteen thousand were
(06:26):
put in the pipeline for deportation. Now, this endeavor ultimately failed.
The program didn't result in a single terrorism related conviction,
not one. ENSEERS was suspended in twenty eleven and ended
in twenty sixteen. Under the Obama administration, for the past
twenty years, immigration and terrorism have been handled within the
(06:49):
same federal organization. Not even a month after nine to eleven,
the Bush administration created the Office of Homeland Security. It
became a cabinet leveled apartment a year later with the
passage of the Homeland Security Act.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
The Homeland Security Act of two thousand and two takes
the next critical steps in defending our country.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
DHS is in charge of national cybersecurity, the Coast Guard,
the Secret Service, and the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office,
just to name a few. But this is also the
same department that processes and polices new immigrants to the
United States. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aka ICE didn't exist
(07:33):
until two thousand and two. It's also a part of DHS.
The agency's responsibilities include enforcing border security, regulating immigration, and
removing quote criminal non citizens from the United States. This
isn't to say that immigration enforcement wasn't happening before nine
(07:55):
to eleven, but with all these new security policies and agents,
immigrants became obvious mainstream targets.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
ICE will attack thousands of families, separating children from parents.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Passionate protesters today in Chicago joined those in cities around
the nation. ICE has only become more powerful over the years,
(08:31):
with record level detainments and deportations over the past decade
under the Obama and Trump administrations, and the entire reason
for its existence is based on a single idea that
immigrants pose an ongoing threat to this country, an idea
that was crystallized after nine to eleven and that we're
still grappling with to this day.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Coming up on that, you say more on the repercussions
of the nine to eleven attacks on immigrant communities, and
we learn about real ID, a seemingly innocuous federal legislation
that risks pushing hundreds of thousands of undocumented drivers into
a colliding path with ice. Stay with us, Yes, hey,
(09:36):
we're back. Before the break, we heard about the creation
of the Department of Homeland Security, but that was just
the beginning. At the other end of the new quote
unquote anti terrorism policies, the people most affected would once
again be immigrant families. So how did September eleventh pave
(09:59):
the way for something known as the real ID? Let
you know, USA producer Julieta Martinelli is going to pick
up the story from here.
Speaker 6 (10:08):
In August two thousand and eight, Sulema, my mom received
a letter in the mail.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
My friend Chui had got a letter before me, so
I knew that it might happen to me too.
Speaker 6 (10:21):
The letter came from the Department of Drivers Services in Georgia,
where we had lived since nineteen ninety seven, when my mom,
my older brother, and I immigrated from Argentina. We knew
immediately it was bad news. The letter said that her
license was about to expire. Georgia at the time granted
driver's licenses for ten years. My mom had gotten hers
(10:42):
in ninety eight when she still had a tourist visa,
just months after arriving. The letter said in order to
renew it, she would need to go to the DMB
and provide documents proving that she was living legally in
the US.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
It was like the end of the world because I
knew that there was no way I could provide that number.
Speaker 6 (11:05):
The problem was, for nearly eleven years we've lived in
the US undocumented.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
You feel like the will is opening on your feet
because you know they're on since we were going to
be different, and I felt really very bad.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
Now being undocumented affected our daily lives in endless ways.
We couldn't travel, We hadn't seen our family in years,
and just a couple of years earlier, my mom had
gotten laid off. But my mom being able to drive
in suburban Georgia was huge and necessary. A driver's license
meant that she could drive to clean houses daily, that
she could go and get groceries. She was a lifeline
(11:58):
for our family.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
It was a risk that we had to run. There
was no other way if it was like put your
life in an a permanent stop if you couldn't drive.
Speaker 6 (12:11):
Like my mom, non citizen drivers all over the state
with licenses set to expire that year received similar letters.
In two thousand and three, Georgia had started to verify
the legal status of all applicants by requiring immigration paperwork
and running it through various databases. That's why my brother
and I had never been able to apply for a license.
(12:32):
We were just too young before the cutoff. But my
mom was one of the last holdouts people who had
received their driver's licenses before the state's more stringent policies.
Plus Georgia was streamlining. On January first, two thousand and eight,
the Georgia Department of Drivers' Services officially began using a
program called safe. It was used to confirm people's identities
(12:54):
and lawful presence in the country in order to grant
driver's licenses. Around the same time, the Georgia legislature began
considering a bill to make driving while unlicensed a felony
a felony. Any felony would later need to be disclosed
(13:17):
to Uscis. If an opportunity ever arose to legalize status,
it was scary.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
It was really scary, and we were running like playing
hide and seek. That was it with the police, with
the immigration things. It was very hard time.
Speaker 6 (13:37):
By the end of two thousand and eight, my mom
was on her first of many years driving unlicensed, and
so was I, But neither of us realized just how tired.
What was happening in our present was through an event
that had shaken the whole nation nearly a decade earlier.
(14:04):
But how was life before ninety eleven changed it completely?
Things weren't all that better. There were thousands of undocumented
people like me and my family who were living in
states that did not grant driver's licenses. Some of them
traveled to states like Washington, North Carolina, or Tennessee, where
a proof of legal status was not necessary. There you
(14:25):
could get a driver's license and register your vehicle so
you had a valid tag. In other places, like Virginia,
the state allowed waivers that identified resident drivers as non
citizens but still allow them to legally drive. The American
Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, which represents the state agencies
that issue licenses, had even begun urging Congress to issue
(14:48):
uniform rules regarding the granting of licenses to undocumented people
instead of leaving it to each state, and there were
a lot of good reasons to do it.
Speaker 7 (14:57):
Advocates say it would make the roads safer and raise
millions of dollars in revenue.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
It would be good for the state, good for the
undocumented individuals who could get the licenses, good for safety.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
And some states for making progress. Undocumented people in places
like New York City were close to finally being able
to get legal IDs and driver's licenses. September eleven ended
those conversations completely. Immediately after the terrorist attacks, as information
trickled out slowly, the twenty four hour news cycle was
(15:28):
dominated by stories of the terrorists who had been able
to do what they did because they had been able
to obtain legal identifications. The federal government was under mounting
pressure to publicly address this quote vulnerability in the system.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
All but one of the nine to eleven commission hijackers
acquired some form of US identification document, some by fraud.
Acquisition of these forms of identification would have assisted them
in boarding commercial flights, renting cars, and other necessary activities.
That's the commission.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
Report traumatized nation needed some semblance of security of control,
and this was one of the things the government could
actually tell citizens that they were trying to reign in.
The real ID Act of two thousand and five was
passed with bipartisan support. It found a way to force
(16:21):
states to update their laws by mandating that DMBs require
proof of citizenship to grant real ID driver's licenses and
ID cards, among other measures. This was a huge blow
to undocumented people because it meant the federal government had
succeeded in forcing the hand of states that had at
least been friendly, and was empowering the states that hadn't,
(16:43):
like Georgia, to restrict access even further.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
A provision known as real ID passed in the House
of Representatives. It would impose federal standards on driver's licenses
and also make it harder for emigrats to seek asylument.
Speaker 6 (16:57):
Real ideas are simply identifications that have passed a quote
higher level of security. People's data has been checked against
a number of federal databases to house information about the applicants.
Any state that did not comply with the minimum regulations
could still provide drivers' licenses to their residents, but by
a set period of time when the law would go
(17:18):
into effect, those citizens would be blocked from accessing federally
controlled areas. Of course, the one most people cared about
was the ability to fly. This was really what forced
all fifty states to start complying with real IDE legislation.
(17:38):
But it was hard and expensive. Although there was a
lot of pushback from states who did not want the
federal government to shape their laws, changes were eminent, and
back home something else was happening at the same time.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
There were tons of police cars, like thirty or forty
police cars in a very in the street, and then
big buses picking up people from their cars and taking
them into the bus to take them to the prison.
And that was just because it didn't have a driver's license.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
We'll be right back, Hey, we're back.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Before the break, we learned how the real ID law
was passed and a new danger that soon would follow.
Senior producer Julia Ta Martinelli continues, there was.
Speaker 6 (18:44):
A new boogeyman. It was no longer just about dodging
police cruisers that hit behind bushes or staked out drivers
at the bottom of hills. It was the beginning of
the roadblocks.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Remember the roadblocks.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Yeah, all the time, all the time. That was great.
That time was so difficult. But the good thne that
I remember is that our people got organized. They we
text each other and we knew there was a road
block over that area. So I called to my husband
and say, Hey, don't go to that street because there
is a road block.
Speaker 6 (19:17):
Two eighty seven G was a new program, a collaboration
between local police department and ICE. Anyone who was arrested
and booked into a local jail that participated in the
program would have their legal status checked immediately. If they
were undocumented, they would be referred to ICE, and if
ICE confirmed they were not here legally, they could be
(19:37):
put into deportation proceedings. In Winnett County, where I grew up,
the local sheriff joined to eighty seven G. It effectively
granted his deputies the power of ICE agents. The county
jail could detain immigrants on federal retainers.
Speaker 7 (19:52):
A message that's being sent loud and clear in Gennette County.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
If you are in the country illegally and you commit
a crime, you could be reported.
Speaker 6 (20:01):
So close was that partnership that the Winnett County Detention
Center allowed ICE agents to install an office in there.
In fact, well ICE holds and when I peaked in
twenty twelve, a Mother Jones investigation found that still between
twenty seventeen and July twenty nineteen, the primary charge for
(20:22):
nearly half of the people held for ICE at the
Winnett County Jail was for driving without a license or
another minor traffic violation.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
So it's much scary. We just went to work and
we didn't go to the store. And Liz, you really
need it, because the most what you wanted to get
is just get home. Get home.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
It was so prevalent that eventually everyone in my household
had been booked at the Winnett County Jail at least once.
I remember the first time you ever got pulled over,
and I remember I.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
Cried, no, no, that was all. That was an awful day.
I was passing next to the lake and I was
looking at the lake and I said, what such a
beautiful morning. And when I looked, I saw police stopping
me because I was a really speeding. I didn't realize
it was twenty five that area and it was thirty.
They told me, well, I'm sorry, ma'am put your hands
(21:20):
behind and I felt so bad at that moment.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
We were lucky though all of us were out in time,
but not everyone in our community could say that. Real ID,
which began as a way to tighten IDEA laws, once
coupled with other policies, actually opened the path for increased
immigration enforcement and deportations. In many places. It turned people
into criminals. Moms, dads deals. Now they all had records,
(21:49):
their names were in the system. They'd all been in
a cell, many undocumented people who otherwise would have never
had contact with police or DHS. Nearly a decade after
September eleventh, the counseling of driver's licenses and the decision
of local police departments across the country to participate in
two eighty seven g coused a perfect storm in communities
(22:12):
like mine that anxiety in many ways became a baseline.
It's just how things were. The fear never really goes away,
It just dolls. See, you get choosed to the situation.
You feel that everything is normal and until something.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
Bad happens, and then it's when it comes the end
of the world for the family.
Speaker 6 (22:42):
My older brother, after a number of arrests and exhausted
from the constant risk, decided to go back to Argentina
in twenty fourteen. My mom, who had experienced the pain
of being away from her parents for over a decade,
now had to learn to be away from her son
and her only grandkids. Couldn't return to the US. It
was yet another separation in our family. If nine to
(23:08):
eleven was an atomic bomb that caused so much pain
and destruction on impact, what came after was the radiation
that infested but couldn't be seen, the deadly repercussions that
hit the unseen, the law, the persecution, the laws. There
was no way to know when it would end, if
it would end. Each day the waves kept coming, and
(23:31):
most of us just try to stay afloat. Georgia still
does not grant licenses to people without legal status, driving
without a permit, and the state can land you in
jail for up to a year. In twenty seventeen, I
became a US citizen, and the following year I was
able to petition for my mom. We drive in peace now,
(23:59):
but the repercussions in our family are permanent. My brother's gone,
my stepfather is at risk. People can and are still
persecuted for their legal status, and often it still starts
with a driver's license.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
If you see a neighbor or a friend that you
know doesn't have a driver's license, you always tell them
call me if you need a drive, because now I
am on the other side.
Speaker 6 (24:29):
That's what happens in our community. The system that could
append the lives of our loved ones never rest, and
that means neither do the rest of us.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Our episode, originally aired in twenty twenty one, was produced
by Alejandra Salasad, Julieta Martinelli and Victoria Strava, with help
from Rinaldo Leanos Junior, Maria Eskinka and Oscar Leo. It
was edited by Andrea Lopez Gruzado and mixed by elba
Etou and JJ Carubin. The Latino USA team also includes
(26:08):
Roxana Guire, Julia Caruso, Jessica Ellis, Stephanie Lebau, Luis, Luna Firi,
mar Marquez, Monica Moreles Garcia, Adriana Rodriguez, and Nancy Trojigo.
Fernanda Echavari is our managing editor. Benni Le Ramirez and
I are executive producers, and I'm your host. Mariao Josa
Latino USA is part of Iheart's Michael Dura podcast Network.
(26:32):
Executive producers at iHeart are Leo Gomez and Arlene Santana.
Join us again on our next episode. In the meantime,
I'll see you on all of our social media. Remember,
dear listener, don't forget to join Futuro Plus. You'll get
to listen to the episodes. Add Free Plus, you'll get
bonus episodes and lots of cheese made behind the scenes.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Also, you will support the kind.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Of reporting that you love here at Latino USA and
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Speaker 1 (26:59):
Do it now, that's not Approxima.
Speaker 7 (27:01):
Joe Latino USA is made possible in part by the
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(27:25):
fifty years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a
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Dear let you know USA listener.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Before we start, you should know that if you want
to listen to this episode ad free, just join plus
and you can join for as little as seven dollars
a month. Joining also gets you behind the scenes access
and yes, some cheese may so click the link in
the episode description and after you do that, then click play.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Let's go to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
In just a few days, we are going to honor
the twenty fourth anniversary of the September eleventh terrorist attacks.
Almost three thousand people for more than ninety countries died
on that day. Thousands more are still dealing with lasting injuries, depression,
and like me, still PTSD. Nine to eleven was an
(01:04):
event that would go on to have reverberating effects in
ways we could have never imagined. And so what are
some of the biggest after effects from nine to eleven
that we are witnessing today. Well, ice raids, ramped up
immigration enforcement, travel bands, even that pesky real ID requirement
that is causing a lot of confusion at airports. It
(01:26):
all ties back to nine to eleven. So, dear listener,
we're going to bring you an episode that we first
aired in twenty twenty one that feels more relevant today
than we could have ever possibly imagined from futro media.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
It's Latino Usa. I'm Mariao Hosa today.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
The legacy of nine to eleven we look at how
one catastrophic day permanently altered the US stance towards immigration.
It led to the creation of the Department of Homeland
Security and an inforce system that continues to wreak havoc
in immigrant communities today. One thing that we all immediately
(02:13):
knew on September eleventh was that this event was going
to resonate across time and borders very quickly. A new
political reality emerged from fear. In that moment. People found
themselves willing to grant the government control over just about
anything that could be tied back to national security, believing
(02:36):
that was the way to keep Americans safe from terrorism.
And soon after that, the panic over keeping the country
safe evolved into an ugly ongoing debate over yes immigration.
But to really understand just how much nine to eleven
(02:56):
changed the entire narrative around immigration in the United States,
we've got to go back a bit further. Our producer
Alejandra Sata said, is going to take it from here.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
The first year of the New millennium was one for
the history books. After surviving the Y two K computer scare,
we had the Sydney Summer Olympics, the first crew to
live on the International Space Station, And in November, following
a historically close and contentious election, just no longer is
Evin three four or Vice President Gore.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Thirty seven days after Americans went to the polls, and
now we have a winner, President elect Bush.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Bush was elected with thirty five percent of the Latino vote,
the highest LATINX turnout for a Republican since Ronald Reagan
in nineteen eighty four. Latinos represented a rapidly growing voter
block that couldn't be easily ignored anymore. Capitalizing on this
political moment, the Bush administration introduced an agenda that indicated
(03:58):
pro immigration reform was in the works, especially to help
and benefit Mexicans. In February two thousand and one, a
joint US Mexico panel released recommendations for future immigration policy,
including streamlining the process for Mexicans to attain visas and
legal status in the US.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
We exchanged ideas about safe and orderly migration, a policy
that respects individuals on both sides of the.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Border, and according to reports from July two thousand and one,
the White House was even considering offering permanent residency to
undocumented Mexicans. In the US Congress was deliberating several bills
to offer protections and citizenship opportunities to immigrant farm workers,
but come fall, the bills were shelved nine to eleven.
(04:46):
Had ushered in a new political atmosphere where pro immigrant
legislation just didn't stand a chance. Instead, issues like securing
borders and gathering intelligence became top priorities. For example, the
Transportation Security Administration was created TSA. The US Patriot Act
(05:07):
was passed only forty five days after the attacks. It
gave the government power to monitor your phone records and
your Internet use, and access your personal records like individual finances.
This was all done in the name of fighting terrorism.
The idea that people born outside of this country could
become its biggest threat turned into a mainstream policy priority
(05:30):
almost overnight.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete
shutdown of.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Muslims entering the United States until our countries represent.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Remember Donald Trump's Muslim ban. One of the most obvious
precedents for it was the Bush Administration's National Security Entry
Exit Registration System end SEERS for short. It was established
within a year of nine to eleven.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
It was a special registration program for certain individuals that
came from countries that had historic tie to terrorism.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
For nearly a decade, non citizens entering the US had
to register with the federal government. All men sixteen years
in older from a list of twenty five countries were
forced to participate in the NCIERS program. Twenty four of
those countries were a majority Muslim. Over eighty thousand men
and boys were registered, and more than thirteen thousand were
(06:26):
put in the pipeline for deportation. Now, this endeavor ultimately failed.
The program didn't result in a single terrorism related conviction,
not one. ENSEERS was suspended in twenty eleven and ended
in twenty sixteen. Under the Obama administration, for the past
twenty years, immigration and terrorism have been handled within the
(06:49):
same federal organization. Not even a month after nine to eleven,
the Bush administration created the Office of Homeland Security. It
became a cabinet leveled apartment a year later with the
passage of the Homeland Security Act.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
The Homeland Security Act of two thousand and two takes
the next critical steps in defending our country.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
DHS is in charge of national cybersecurity, the Coast Guard,
the Secret Service, and the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office,
just to name a few. But this is also the
same department that processes and polices new immigrants to the
United States. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aka ICE didn't exist
(07:33):
until two thousand and two. It's also a part of DHS.
The agency's responsibilities include enforcing border security, regulating immigration, and
removing quote criminal non citizens from the United States. This
isn't to say that immigration enforcement wasn't happening before nine
(07:55):
to eleven, but with all these new security policies and agents,
immigrants became obvious mainstream targets.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
ICE will attack thousands of families, separating children from parents.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Passionate protesters today in Chicago joined those in cities around
the nation. ICE has only become more powerful over the years,
(08:31):
with record level detainments and deportations over the past decade
under the Obama and Trump administrations, and the entire reason
for its existence is based on a single idea that
immigrants pose an ongoing threat to this country, an idea
that was crystallized after nine to eleven and that we're
still grappling with to this day.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Coming up on that, you say more on the repercussions
of the nine to eleven attacks on immigrant communities, and
we learn about real ID, a seemingly innocuous federal legislation
that risks pushing hundreds of thousands of undocumented drivers into
a colliding path with ice. Stay with us, Yes, hey,
(09:36):
we're back. Before the break, we heard about the creation
of the Department of Homeland Security, but that was just
the beginning. At the other end of the new quote
unquote anti terrorism policies, the people most affected would once
again be immigrant families. So how did September eleventh pave
(09:59):
the way for something known as the real ID? Let
you know, USA producer Julieta Martinelli is going to pick
up the story from here.
Speaker 6 (10:08):
In August two thousand and eight, Sulema, my mom received
a letter in the mail.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
My friend Chui had got a letter before me, so
I knew that it might happen to me too.
Speaker 6 (10:21):
The letter came from the Department of Drivers Services in Georgia,
where we had lived since nineteen ninety seven, when my mom,
my older brother, and I immigrated from Argentina. We knew
immediately it was bad news. The letter said that her
license was about to expire. Georgia at the time granted
driver's licenses for ten years. My mom had gotten hers
(10:42):
in ninety eight when she still had a tourist visa,
just months after arriving. The letter said in order to
renew it, she would need to go to the DMB
and provide documents proving that she was living legally in
the US.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
It was like the end of the world because I
knew that there was no way I could provide that number.
Speaker 6 (11:05):
The problem was, for nearly eleven years we've lived in
the US undocumented.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
You feel like the will is opening on your feet
because you know they're on since we were going to
be different, and I felt really very bad.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
Now being undocumented affected our daily lives in endless ways.
We couldn't travel, We hadn't seen our family in years,
and just a couple of years earlier, my mom had
gotten laid off. But my mom being able to drive
in suburban Georgia was huge and necessary. A driver's license
meant that she could drive to clean houses daily, that
she could go and get groceries. She was a lifeline
(11:58):
for our family.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
It was a risk that we had to run. There
was no other way if it was like put your
life in an a permanent stop if you couldn't drive.
Speaker 6 (12:11):
Like my mom, non citizen drivers all over the state
with licenses set to expire that year received similar letters.
In two thousand and three, Georgia had started to verify
the legal status of all applicants by requiring immigration paperwork
and running it through various databases. That's why my brother
and I had never been able to apply for a license.
(12:32):
We were just too young before the cutoff. But my
mom was one of the last holdouts people who had
received their driver's licenses before the state's more stringent policies.
Plus Georgia was streamlining. On January first, two thousand and eight,
the Georgia Department of Drivers' Services officially began using a
program called safe. It was used to confirm people's identities
(12:54):
and lawful presence in the country in order to grant
driver's licenses. Around the same time, the Georgia legislature began
considering a bill to make driving while unlicensed a felony
a felony. Any felony would later need to be disclosed
(13:17):
to Uscis. If an opportunity ever arose to legalize status,
it was scary.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
It was really scary, and we were running like playing
hide and seek. That was it with the police, with
the immigration things. It was very hard time.
Speaker 6 (13:37):
By the end of two thousand and eight, my mom
was on her first of many years driving unlicensed, and
so was I, But neither of us realized just how tired.
What was happening in our present was through an event
that had shaken the whole nation nearly a decade earlier.
(14:04):
But how was life before ninety eleven changed it completely?
Things weren't all that better. There were thousands of undocumented
people like me and my family who were living in
states that did not grant driver's licenses. Some of them
traveled to states like Washington, North Carolina, or Tennessee, where
a proof of legal status was not necessary. There you
(14:25):
could get a driver's license and register your vehicle so
you had a valid tag. In other places, like Virginia,
the state allowed waivers that identified resident drivers as non
citizens but still allow them to legally drive. The American
Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, which represents the state agencies
that issue licenses, had even begun urging Congress to issue
(14:48):
uniform rules regarding the granting of licenses to undocumented people
instead of leaving it to each state, and there were
a lot of good reasons to do it.
Speaker 7 (14:57):
Advocates say it would make the roads safer and raise
millions of dollars in revenue.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
It would be good for the state, good for the
undocumented individuals who could get the licenses, good for safety.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
And some states for making progress. Undocumented people in places
like New York City were close to finally being able
to get legal IDs and driver's licenses. September eleven ended
those conversations completely. Immediately after the terrorist attacks, as information
trickled out slowly, the twenty four hour news cycle was
(15:28):
dominated by stories of the terrorists who had been able
to do what they did because they had been able
to obtain legal identifications. The federal government was under mounting
pressure to publicly address this quote vulnerability in the system.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
All but one of the nine to eleven commission hijackers
acquired some form of US identification document, some by fraud.
Acquisition of these forms of identification would have assisted them
in boarding commercial flights, renting cars, and other necessary activities.
That's the commission.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
Report traumatized nation needed some semblance of security of control,
and this was one of the things the government could
actually tell citizens that they were trying to reign in.
The real ID Act of two thousand and five was
passed with bipartisan support. It found a way to force
(16:21):
states to update their laws by mandating that DMBs require
proof of citizenship to grant real ID driver's licenses and
ID cards, among other measures. This was a huge blow
to undocumented people because it meant the federal government had
succeeded in forcing the hand of states that had at
least been friendly, and was empowering the states that hadn't,
(16:43):
like Georgia, to restrict access even further.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
A provision known as real ID passed in the House
of Representatives. It would impose federal standards on driver's licenses
and also make it harder for emigrats to seek asylument.
Speaker 6 (16:57):
Real ideas are simply identifications that have passed a quote
higher level of security. People's data has been checked against
a number of federal databases to house information about the applicants.
Any state that did not comply with the minimum regulations
could still provide drivers' licenses to their residents, but by
a set period of time when the law would go
(17:18):
into effect, those citizens would be blocked from accessing federally
controlled areas. Of course, the one most people cared about
was the ability to fly. This was really what forced
all fifty states to start complying with real IDE legislation.
(17:38):
But it was hard and expensive. Although there was a
lot of pushback from states who did not want the
federal government to shape their laws, changes were eminent, and
back home something else was happening at the same time.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
There were tons of police cars, like thirty or forty
police cars in a very in the street, and then
big buses picking up people from their cars and taking
them into the bus to take them to the prison.
And that was just because it didn't have a driver's license.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
We'll be right back, Hey, we're back.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Before the break, we learned how the real ID law
was passed and a new danger that soon would follow.
Senior producer Julia Ta Martinelli continues, there was.
Speaker 6 (18:44):
A new boogeyman. It was no longer just about dodging
police cruisers that hit behind bushes or staked out drivers
at the bottom of hills. It was the beginning of
the roadblocks.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Remember the roadblocks.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Yeah, all the time, all the time. That was great.
That time was so difficult. But the good thne that
I remember is that our people got organized. They we
text each other and we knew there was a road
block over that area. So I called to my husband
and say, Hey, don't go to that street because there
is a road block.
Speaker 6 (19:17):
Two eighty seven G was a new program, a collaboration
between local police department and ICE. Anyone who was arrested
and booked into a local jail that participated in the
program would have their legal status checked immediately. If they
were undocumented, they would be referred to ICE, and if
ICE confirmed they were not here legally, they could be
(19:37):
put into deportation proceedings. In Winnett County, where I grew up,
the local sheriff joined to eighty seven G. It effectively
granted his deputies the power of ICE agents. The county
jail could detain immigrants on federal retainers.
Speaker 7 (19:52):
A message that's being sent loud and clear in Gennette County.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
If you are in the country illegally and you commit
a crime, you could be reported.
Speaker 6 (20:01):
So close was that partnership that the Winnett County Detention
Center allowed ICE agents to install an office in there.
In fact, well ICE holds and when I peaked in
twenty twelve, a Mother Jones investigation found that still between
twenty seventeen and July twenty nineteen, the primary charge for
(20:22):
nearly half of the people held for ICE at the
Winnett County Jail was for driving without a license or
another minor traffic violation.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
So it's much scary. We just went to work and
we didn't go to the store. And Liz, you really
need it, because the most what you wanted to get
is just get home. Get home.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
It was so prevalent that eventually everyone in my household
had been booked at the Winnett County Jail at least once.
I remember the first time you ever got pulled over,
and I remember I.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
Cried, no, no, that was all. That was an awful day.
I was passing next to the lake and I was
looking at the lake and I said, what such a
beautiful morning. And when I looked, I saw police stopping
me because I was a really speeding. I didn't realize
it was twenty five that area and it was thirty.
They told me, well, I'm sorry, ma'am put your hands
(21:20):
behind and I felt so bad at that moment.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
We were lucky though all of us were out in time,
but not everyone in our community could say that. Real ID,
which began as a way to tighten IDEA laws, once
coupled with other policies, actually opened the path for increased
immigration enforcement and deportations. In many places. It turned people
into criminals. Moms, dads deals. Now they all had records,
(21:49):
their names were in the system. They'd all been in
a cell, many undocumented people who otherwise would have never
had contact with police or DHS. Nearly a decade after
September eleventh, the counseling of driver's licenses and the decision
of local police departments across the country to participate in
two eighty seven g coused a perfect storm in communities
(22:12):
like mine that anxiety in many ways became a baseline.
It's just how things were. The fear never really goes away,
It just dolls. See, you get choosed to the situation.
You feel that everything is normal and until something.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
Bad happens, and then it's when it comes the end
of the world for the family.
Speaker 6 (22:42):
My older brother, after a number of arrests and exhausted
from the constant risk, decided to go back to Argentina
in twenty fourteen. My mom, who had experienced the pain
of being away from her parents for over a decade,
now had to learn to be away from her son
and her only grandkids. Couldn't return to the US. It
was yet another separation in our family. If nine to
(23:08):
eleven was an atomic bomb that caused so much pain
and destruction on impact, what came after was the radiation
that infested but couldn't be seen, the deadly repercussions that
hit the unseen, the law, the persecution, the laws. There
was no way to know when it would end, if
it would end. Each day the waves kept coming, and
(23:31):
most of us just try to stay afloat. Georgia still
does not grant licenses to people without legal status, driving
without a permit, and the state can land you in
jail for up to a year. In twenty seventeen, I
became a US citizen, and the following year I was
able to petition for my mom. We drive in peace now,
(23:59):
but the repercussions in our family are permanent. My brother's gone,
my stepfather is at risk. People can and are still
persecuted for their legal status, and often it still starts
with a driver's license.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
If you see a neighbor or a friend that you
know doesn't have a driver's license, you always tell them
call me if you need a drive, because now I
am on the other side.
Speaker 6 (24:29):
That's what happens in our community. The system that could
append the lives of our loved ones never rest, and
that means neither do the rest of us.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Our episode, originally aired in twenty twenty one, was produced
by Alejandra Salasad, Julieta Martinelli and Victoria Strava, with help
from Rinaldo Leanos Junior, Maria Eskinka and Oscar Leo. It
was edited by Andrea Lopez Gruzado and mixed by elba
Etou and JJ Carubin. The Latino USA team also includes
(26:08):
Roxana Guire, Julia Caruso, Jessica Ellis, Stephanie Lebau, Luis, Luna Firi,
mar Marquez, Monica Moreles Garcia, Adriana Rodriguez, and Nancy Trojigo.
Fernanda Echavari is our managing editor. Benni Le Ramirez and
I are executive producers, and I'm your host. Mariao Josa
Latino USA is part of Iheart's Michael Dura podcast Network.
(26:32):
Executive producers at iHeart are Leo Gomez and Arlene Santana.
Join us again on our next episode. In the meantime,
I'll see you on all of our social media. Remember,
dear listener, don't forget to join Futuro Plus. You'll get
to listen to the episodes. Add Free Plus, you'll get
bonus episodes and lots of cheese made behind the scenes.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Also, you will support the kind.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Of reporting that you love here at Latino USA and
Futuro Mediaturo Plus.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Do it now, that's not Approxima.
Speaker 7 (27:01):
Joe Latino USA is made possible in part by the
Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of
social change worldwide, the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,
and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for more than
(27:25):
fifty years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a
better world. At Hewlett dot org.
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