November 2, 2025 • 48 mins
“The hunting of Latinos.” That’s how the mayor of Los Angeles described the last few months of increasingly violent immigration raids. They’re the brainchild of a Border Patrol chief who went rogue.
In response, these tactics have created a swell of anti-ICE pushback, including from the highest levels of government, and support for the communities affected. With politicians running up against the full force of the federal government – with the backing of the Supreme Court – community is what protects you.
This is a special collaboration with CalMatters. (Hay una versión en español en este feed)
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.
Follow the show to get every episode.
Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Futuro investigates Investiga.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
So we're going about what like ten twelve, maybe fifteen
miles an hour down neighborhood streets like these are homes.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yes, this is historic South Central Oh.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
My goodness, it's just after six am. The sun isn't
out yet on this dewey morning.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
We're looking right now for like vehicles. They're usually American
made vehicles. They're definitely like have super dark tinted windows,
so you'll find the agents are double parked.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Immigration Enforcement agents, Border patrols. Nice men because they're mostly
men in unmarked cars, often in plain clothes, who're waiting
to get out and take people. It's been four months
since Los Angeles saw an unprecedented attack on Latinos and
Latinas and immigrant communities. The attacks haven't stopped, and this
(01:18):
morning Latino USA is managing editor Fernando Echavarri and I
are in the back seat of this ride along as
the Ugnon del Barrio neighborhood patrol begins and then some of.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
The cours that look I see too that you can
tell that they're not because sometimes they have that customization,
you know, like a rasa. It's not like ice, but
they love to get that tinted look, you know.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Unon Delaro is a grassroots community group that is responding
to the ice rates by patrolling neighborhoods. Lupe Carrasco Cardona
is driving. She's a teacher at a middle school nearby.
She has her hair pulled back and is wearing a
brick colored blazer. Clement Navalos in the passenger seat, wearing
the classic black and white checker advance. She's the one
(02:05):
that gets out of the car to get a closer
look at any vehicle that looks suspicious. Clement is a
school psychologist. They also each have impeccable manicures with bright
blue and reddish orange nails.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
We became little private investigators, and you do you kind
of right, I would say.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Big, not little, Like everything that you're talking about is
very strategic, and you have really honed the work of
having to be osa look met to the Vienno. Main
that is the fact that you're having to patrol your
neighborhoods at six and them fourteen in LA. That's where
I'm just like, oh my god.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
The idea here is to blow the agent's cover to
warn the neighbors when they find agents on their street
and to post it live on Instagram so people who
are commuting can avoid the area.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I'm really worried.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
For this morning. There are four cars in this patrol.
Each team has a walkie talkie. Most of them are
educators or work in public schools and they're doing this
before they start their workday.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Tim in a check all clear on twenty five Griffith.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
We're trying to keep up with all the clues. Loope
and clemen are looking for.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
See how they have the like the sunrisers.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Sometimes they do that to hide themselves.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
But yeah, there's no one in there. How can you
tell thee Yeah, it takes.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
No.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
They don't know that we've been doing this.
Speaker 6 (03:25):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
I feel like it is a big American flagon in
front of the house.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
So that could either be a super patriot or a decoy.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
They're trying to protect themselves.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
You know, we've been driving for about half an hour
when Clement spots a heavily tinted Dodge charger and looks
of their customers, loops around the block and comes back slower.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Okay, do you want to call back up?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Stopping right next to the car.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And so anybody near thirty eighth and Griffith. They can
come about the car and back up. We see a suspicious,
suspicious charger, super dark tinted windows.
Speaker 7 (04:00):
Hello.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Clemen gets out and knocks on the window, then peeks
through the very tinted windshield, and just as the other
drivers start to make their way over to us, Clemen
gets on the walkie and calls it off. Oh mind,
there's nobody in the car. False alarm.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
By now, it's been almost an hour and none of
the volunteers have spotted ice agents. Loope and Clemen tell
us that this is a good thing, but unfortunately, she says,
they often receive photographs of agents setting up in the
areas where they had just patrolled the day before. It's
a mix of chance, of luck and of being at
(04:35):
the right place at the right time.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
They tell us, this is what it looks like when
there's protection and community.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
It feels like just another day on patrol. But there's
always that heaviness in the back of our minds, like
that our community is under attack and we just wanted
to We want our people to be safe. So, like
I think that's always in the back of our minds.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yeah, honestly, it's exhausting, but I would be more tired
and more exhausted if the community was left unprotected. This
is the minimum that can be done.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
From Futuro Media, It's Latino USA. I'm Maria Ino.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Josa and I'm Fernande Chavarri.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Today we bring you a special episode in collaboration with
the investigative reporting team at cal Matters.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
First, we take you to La ground zero of the
ramped up raids.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Or, as the Mayor of Los Angeles told us recently,
the hunting of Latinos.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
What can local and state officials really do to stand
up to having masked agents take over their cities? We
ask California Governor Gavin Newsom. We're fighting fire with fire.
We're not rolling over this forty plus lawsuits.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
We're also going to meet the man behind this effort,
because it's not just those in the White House Order Patrols.
Gregory Bovino, and he's living for this moment to.
Speaker 8 (06:04):
Just go ahead and self deport because the Green Team
is on the job.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
And it's game on.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
We'll go to Chicago, where Bovino's tactics have spread.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Ice, lies, and people die.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
We'll also go to Mexico to ask President Claudia Shanebaum
about Mexico's role in all of this.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Senor, can you please respond to this question of psychological
terror that is being unleashed.
Speaker 9 (06:29):
No este mosi cordo costa for male We found that
about seventy two percent of those in ice custody right
now have no criminal record none.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
So while the administration's messaging continues to be about protecting
the country from.
Speaker 8 (06:45):
Those that are perpetuating murder and rape, terrorist cartel members.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
The worst criminal illegal alience, what we're seeing is that
this is really about picking up anyone anywhere based on
how they look, where they were, for the language they speak.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Something that the Supreme Court has said is totally okay
to do.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
The racial profiling supported by the Supreme Court. My god,
So stick around because if there's anything you need to
hear to get a full picture not only of what's
going on, but of what's to come, it's this. Let's
read that Dalla Villa. So she lives in a walk
(07:27):
up in a complex.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
It's not really called a walk up in la.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Oh, my god, what's it called.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
It's just a two story apartment. Bill. Okay, we're in
a working class neighborhood in Los Angeles to meet with
a woman we're going to call d She's undocumented and
asked us to protect her identity.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Today she greets us with a big smile and welcomes
us into her small apartment.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
We're here because her thirty one year old son, Mauricio,
was one of the first to be detained when the
raids led by border patrols Gregory Bovino began this summer,
and the perspective of the many mothers, friends, family members
who have had someone go missing without any information about
where they may be.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
The tackling the violent raids, We've seen that all over
social media and the news. But what Mauricio can tell
us is what happens after Latino's Mexican and Central American
migrants are handcuffed.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
For this episode, we're making a conscious decision to not
play any audio of the gut wrenching weeps, the cries
for help, or the desperate screams from the many people
being detained.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
It was a Sunday, June eighth, to be exact, that
previous Friday and Saturday chaos had erupted in La. Immigration
Enforcement agents began very public, very militarized raids across the city,
and d had been paying attention.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Mauricio had a bad feeling. He was scared, but he
had to go to work. He worked cleaning apartment buildings
and was on the payroll, paying income.
Speaker 10 (09:19):
Taxes and not in anyone the little must.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
He has no criminal record, and his mom tells us
that he's the type of guy that just goes from
work to home and home to work.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
So after his shift he headed home as usual, and
as you waited for the thirty three bus, an unmarked
truck pulled up in front of him and the other
handful of people waiting for the bus. A couple of
men in jeans and baseball caps got out of the
truck quickly and held up a piece of paper with
(09:52):
a man's photos.
Speaker 11 (10:01):
Malissando.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
The men asked if they knew who the man in
the photograph was, because he was a wanted man, but
nobody did. Nobody even knew who.
Speaker 6 (10:09):
That was YEA.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
When a couple of the other people waiting for the
bus started to run, so did Mauricio. The man chasing
Mauricio tripped them and he fell on his knee. Mauricia
says it wasn't clear who was who. None of the
men showed him a badge, nobody said anything. All Malisia
heard was some of the plain clothes men speaking pretty
(10:37):
good Spanish, no accent. He says. The men took them
in based only on the way they looked. They can
tell we have dark skin and that were shorter. He says, who.
Speaker 11 (10:52):
Wastos?
Speaker 4 (10:53):
I saw this as racist, Mauricio tells us, but.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
So there he was handcuffed, shackles around his ankles. Agents
then take his phone away.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Meanwhile, at home, his mother d starts to worry. She
hasn't heard from her son since the last message two
hours ago, and he always responded to her messages right away.
Speaker 10 (11:15):
Mikhom three hours four hours and according to what's app,
her son hadn't even seen her messages. Intos's thoughts spiral.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Had her son been robbed? Was he hurt? Was in
the hospital?
Speaker 10 (11:40):
Hospitales Andyaria aa l Masalo.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
D didn't sleep that night and toss and she reached
out to a neighbor who tried to file a missing
person's report with the police, but the cops told them
it was too soon. There was no trace of Mauricio
even in immigration detention records.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Mauricio was first taken to a detention camp an hour
south of Los Angeles. Then at five am that next morning,
he was put on a plane. He was shackled, He
had absolutely no idea where he was going. They were
(12:25):
taken to an ice tent camp. Mauricio's knee was causing
him a lot of pain, making it almost impossible for
him to walk.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Three days past since Mauricio had been levantado kidnapped, a
word that in Mexico has a heavy significance. This is
the term used for cartel related kidnappings or state sanctioned disappearances.
And Mauricio knows this. It's precisely why he's using that term.
Speaker 11 (12:53):
Espress and I was picked up by people in playing clothes,
he tells us, no uniforms, no badges, no arrest order.
Speaker 10 (13:06):
It was almost.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
It was now day five. He still hadn't been allowed
to make, not even one phone call. His mother de
still in anguish, with no idea, no trace of her
son anywhere. Yes, finally, Mauricio says, Immigration agents at the
(13:31):
El Paso detention facility tell him and the other men
in the holding cell that they can make one phone call,
but only after they sign a document that says that
they're volunteerily deporting themselves. Legal experts have called this conditioning
of phone access blatantly illegal, saying the government is essentially
(13:54):
pressuring people in detention to give up their rights to
do process, wave their opportunity for an asylum hearing or
a date in front of an immigration judge, just to
get a call. Aurisio showed us the document he was
told to sign. It's in English and in Spanish, and
Mauricio checked the box that said.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
I denounced my right to a hearing in an immigration
court and I wish to go back to my country
as soon as my departure is available.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Government officials are essentially dangling a carrot of a phone call.
They warned detainees that even if they try to fight
their deportation, they could be held in terrible conditions for
months and months.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
So on June tenth, five days after he was taken,
Mauricio signed the form, and so did most of the
other men who were detained with him. That day, he
was released in Quads and it was then he got
his phone back. He turned it on to many miss
(15:00):
calls and messages. Then he called his mom d answered.
Speaker 10 (15:07):
The phone, Mamma gentle Stovian.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
She got to hear her son's voice telling her that
he was okay and not to worry.
Speaker 11 (15:20):
I mean, what is mom in Mexico from.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
That's when his mom broke down and started crying. She
was relieved to know that at least he was okay.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
The Olivia coming up after the break, we meet the
man behind this new reign of terror if.
Speaker 8 (15:53):
They crossed the border illegally, and then they're coming with us.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And later we'll go to the presidential Palace in Mexico
to ask President Claudia Shamebaum about Mexico's role in all
of this. Stay with us at the Yes, Welcome back
(16:27):
to Latino, USA. I'm Maria no Josa.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
And am fernand Chari. Before the break, we heard how
these seemingly random ICE rates are sowing uncertainty and immigrants
and their families.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
The way ICE and Border Patrol have been conducting these
detentions shows that they're working from a new playbook, one
that relies on the thinnest pretext for taking people. And
then on September eighth this year, the Supreme Court essentially
made that legal officers can now stop people based on quote,
(16:59):
the totality of circumstances, things like who you are, where
you are, the language that you speak, even the job
site where you work. Civil rights lawyers say all of
this adds up to legalized racial profiling.
Speaker 12 (17:14):
And this ruling basically turned the actions of a rogue
border patrol chief into policy. Gregory Bavino had previously used
Kern County, California, as a test run, and the Supreme
Court gave him a green light to keep it going.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
This is Setyo Almost. He's an investigative reporter with cal
Matters and our partner in all of this. La is
his home and he's been covering this story NonStop for months, NonStop.
Speaker 8 (17:39):
Is right joining me?
Speaker 6 (17:40):
Now?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Is Sergio Almost?
Speaker 6 (17:41):
I want to bring Sergio Almost into the neighborhood Sergio Almost.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Last Sunday he was struck while filming.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
An officer opened fire, said you husband at the center
of the protest and courtrooms and all over southern California
reporting on this story. And when Maria and I were
in La, the three of us went to a news
conference with California Governor Gadernism thank you.
Speaker 12 (18:02):
Newsom was signing into law. A bunch of measures meant
to push back against Trump's immigration agenda. This legislation is
like banning the mass that immigration agents wore around LA
push back, I mean the public season Newsom and lawmakers
in California are standing up to Trump. But in this
case it's not a power they have. Federal officials came
out right away and said they'll just ignore the mass law.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
It's only nine months in under President Trump. Can you
tell us what you're expecting and what are you preparing
to do for what might becoming? We make doesn't believe
in the royal alive believes in the rule of dawn,
period full stop.
Speaker 13 (18:37):
We're pushing back.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
We're using our formal authority and we're using our moral
authority in a.
Speaker 12 (18:42):
State, California's governor has become a national politician resisting the
Trump agenda. He's taken the Trump administration to court more
than just about any other governor, and he's winning the
case challenging Trump's deployment of the California National Guard to
the streets of Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Good to see you see, how are you?
Speaker 4 (19:00):
We asked Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass about this when
we sat down to speak with her.
Speaker 7 (19:04):
No we absolutely are limited. However, we still must push back.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
So is there more a reign of terror? Feared terror
to get I don't know it to what end, but
to create a state of terror in your city?
Speaker 7 (19:20):
Well, I mean that's exactly what it has been. I mean,
when you have masked men driving up and down the street,
cars tented windows, jumping out with rifles and just snatching
people off the street, that absolutely creates a sense of terror.
When you have people who are afraid to go to school,
people who are afraid to go to work. You have
entire sectors of our economy that have been crippled because
(19:43):
they are dependent on immigrant labor.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Although immigration enforcement.
Speaker 7 (19:49):
Has always happened, it's nothing new. I do not recall
in my lifetime saying it is this brutal.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
As we were wrapping up our conversation with Mayor Back,
we asked not about the politics or her actions, but
about how this invasion of her city makes her feel.
Speaker 7 (20:07):
It feels terrible that I cannot protect people to the
extent that I would like to.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
And her response to the recent Supreme Courts ruline that
we've been talking about.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
That basically legalized racial profiling, or as I say, the
hunting of Latinos.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Right, Cecho. So this is a good moment to pass
the mic over to you, because over the last few
months you've essentially become an expert on one.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Man, Gregory Bavino.
Speaker 12 (20:39):
I first came across Bavino back in January, before Trump
had taken office for the second time. Immigration agents had
just stormed into Kerrent County, California's agricultural heartland. Bavino was
the border patrol chief leading these raids. He started posting
on x and commenting on Facebook about it. From that moment,
it became clear to me and my editor that Bavino
(21:00):
was auditioning for a bigger rule. Thanks so much for indviting.
So I interviewed him in his office.
Speaker 8 (21:04):
Well, Sergeia, thank you for coming.
Speaker 12 (21:06):
And there were a handful of armed agents standing behind
me the whole time.
Speaker 8 (21:09):
We do call ourselves the premier sector. So please let
those other chiefs know that we said that.
Speaker 12 (21:15):
I wanted to know if the Kerrent County operation was
targeted or if it was an indiscriminate raid of people.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
What was the goal of that operation.
Speaker 8 (21:23):
We had a predetermined list of targets, many of which,
as you say, were prior to deports, already had immigration history,
criminal history.
Speaker 12 (21:32):
The question of going to the gas station where field
workers show up, the home depot where labors are. When
someone like a growers association says that they feel like
labors were targeted, these are places where people gather to
go to work or look for work. Is this that
you were also looking for, just generally people who might
be in the country legally.
Speaker 8 (21:49):
We didn't go to the citrus fields, we didn't go
to any of the other fields. We did not conduct
farm and ranch check. So I think for US targeting
agricultural workers at their job, absolutely not that has no merit.
But when border patrol comes into contact with illegal aliens,
you're going to get arrested.
Speaker 12 (22:09):
Out of the people you arrested, how many of those
people had criminal convictions.
Speaker 8 (22:16):
Every single one of the seventy eight that we arrested
were criminals. When you cross the border illegally at USC
thirteen twenty five illegal entry into the United States, So
they were all criminals. Let's get that one out of
the way here, right out of the box, Sergey. Every
single one of them were criminals. Many of those did
have prior criminal convictions apart from their illegal entry into
(22:40):
our country.
Speaker 12 (22:41):
It turns out that wasn't true. According to documents that
we obtained from Customs and Board Protection, they had no
knowledge of criminal or migration history for seventy seven out
of the seventy eight people they arrested, only one person
had a prior deportation order.
Speaker 8 (22:57):
We're going after bad people in bad things hard as
we can possibly go, and we're going to do it
on our time with our approach.
Speaker 12 (23:03):
But I think the general public does see a difference
between the palalatto or the citrus worker and the fentanyl
dealer that they are not both on the same field.
Speaker 8 (23:12):
If they cross the border illegally, then they're coming with us.
They are under arrest, and they're coming with us. Every
single one of them was arrested for one crime or another.
Whether they were convicted or not is a moot point here.
That's not important.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
So this becomes the basis for all the sweeps that
we've seen. US government isn't using these violent raids to
go after violent criminals. They're using this force to go
after anyone they think maybe in the country without permission.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
And we saw this play out when Bovino and his
team went to LA with full force.
Speaker 13 (23:49):
Tactical officers on things like bear cant.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Vehicles, patrolling on horses, tanks.
Speaker 8 (23:55):
A lot of bad things are in our country now,
including Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
He's truly taken a very public role as the leader
of all of these attacks.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
And we need to pause and talk about the social media,
about the official videos and images produced by the Department
of Homeland Security.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
All of these efforts paid for with our tax dollars.
Speaker 12 (24:15):
Customs and Border Protection won't tell us how much they're
spending on this effort. We've asked, But one thing is clear,
but Vino is cultivating this image of a hardline, righteous enforcer.
Speaker 8 (24:25):
There is no such thing as a sanctuary city. There's
no such thing as the sanctuary state we are here conducting.
Speaker 12 (24:33):
These are highly polished hype videos of massed and heavily
armed officers set to songs like Kendrick Lamar's DNA I
got in another video. But Vino is Darth Vader. He
slashes the rebels who are labeled as sanctuary cities, fake news,
and human smugglers.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
These are wild and they're incredibly damaging. They're adding to
the depiction of immigrants as the enemy. They are endangering
every day working people who anti immigrant folks might think
just look or sound foreign. We've reported on the damage
that this type of rhetoric has done. It is very real.
Speaker 8 (25:11):
But we're taking this show on the road to a
city near you.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Forget well new.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Some baths and even federal judges seem almost helpless. Bovino
is the one with the power. The Supreme Court made
it official.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
And Bovino has now taken that power to Chicago. In
an interview with a WBEZ reporter, Bovino basically admitted to
racial profiling.
Speaker 8 (25:34):
Then obviously the particular characteristics of an individual, how they look,
how do they look compared to say you.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
What's your name again?
Speaker 14 (25:41):
Chip, Chip?
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Hey Chip?
Speaker 5 (25:43):
You or other folks?
Speaker 4 (25:45):
How do they appear.
Speaker 8 (25:47):
In relation to what you or other people look like?
Speaker 12 (25:50):
So a lot.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
By the way, We requested another interview with Bovino, and
after a couple of emails, we did not get it.
Speaker 12 (25:58):
Bakersfield was the test for LA was ground zero. Chicago
followed the playbook, but it doesn't end there. Truthfully, we
don't know how it ends. Federal agents are now in Washington,
d C. Portland, and the Trump administration has said they're
just getting started.
Speaker 13 (26:13):
We should use some of these dangerous cities as training
grounds for our military National Guard.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
But according to the latest data, immigration agents have arrested
more than seven thousand people in the LA area since
the raids began this summer.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Immigration is the veneer to exert power. Nice.
Speaker 12 (26:40):
I was just telling you, I think Illinois nice.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
He's like, Illinois's nice, It's pretty.
Speaker 12 (26:47):
I think that would be so sunny.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
We're in Chicago now, which is the second major city
where Bovino decided to take his troops.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
And in Chicago, it starts with a death.
Speaker 8 (27:01):
The following breaking news out of the Chicago area, Homeland
Security official say an ICE operation left an enforcement officer
severely injured.
Speaker 15 (27:08):
The Department of Homeland Security initially claimed the agent fired
the gun out of a fear for his life, the
agency adding the officer was seriously injured, Yet in that footage,
the agent himself can be hurt, telling police his injuries
were quote nothing major.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
We're actually like on a major through way in Franklin
Park and it was on this major through way that
see radio was shot by ice.
Speaker 12 (27:39):
Thirty eight year old Silverdio Viegas Gonzalez was shot and
killed on September twelfth.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
He was a working man, a father, and a Mexican
immigrant from the state of metrok gun Seed Radio was
reportedly driving to work after dropping off his two children
at daycare when he got pulled over by ice.
Speaker 12 (27:58):
The makeshift vigil for st is along the highway.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
There are candles that are lit. There's roses, flowers, carnations,
white flowers, Mexican flags, a Mexican flag intertwined with an
American flag.
Speaker 12 (28:13):
It's a small vigil, perhaps a sign of the times.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
That probably if he had been killed under any other circumstance,
more people might have shown up. But I think people
are afraid.
Speaker 12 (28:28):
Elected officials in the US and even Mexico demanded answers
about this killing. Illinois Governor JB. Pritzker condemned it.
Speaker 13 (28:35):
Our people have been subjected to violence, intimidation, and harassment.
They have struck fear in our communities, including notably fear
in the hearts of US citizens. Trump and the thuggery
that his agents have brought has actively made us less safe.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
So said he, I know how you said that la
is like your city. Well that's the way I feel
about Chicago. I mean, I grew up here, right. I
witnessed the local grassroots politics, the politics that led to
a black and Latino coalition electing the first black mayor here,
basically the lead up to the Obama era of Yes
(29:21):
we can So. Yeah, Chicago's a big city like La
but it's got its own vibe for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 12 (29:28):
And I saw this in the people in Chicago that
we talked to, like Server Tracy Kinionis, who says they're
not going down quietly.
Speaker 6 (29:34):
We're not only being hunted down by the way we
look and the way we speak and our culture, but
now we're being murdered for it in cold blood by
his gestapo. So I'm here because I will fight for
the rights of myself always and for the immigrants in
my community who are welcome here, who make America a
(29:57):
great country. Without our immigrants, this country wouldn be anything.
Speaker 12 (30:04):
Baveno brought camera crews to document their mission in Chicago,
and they produce what can only be described as a
trailer for a big action film.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
In the weeks since we left Chicago, Texas deployed the
National Guard to that city under the urging of the
White House.
Speaker 7 (30:28):
It's probably worse than almost any city in the world.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
And Illinois is now fighting those orders in the courts.
Speaker 13 (30:36):
There is no invasion here, there is no insurrection here.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
There are protesters out in the streets clashing with border
patrol agents, and.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Much like in La and cities across the country, activists
there are blowing the whistle every time they see Ice
threatening their neighborhoods. So when I see Ice, I blow
the whistle. I mean literally blowing whistle. So when people
hear the whistle blow, we know that Ice is around.
But the Bovino machine continues to plow through Chicago those assaults.
Speaker 8 (31:11):
There's riots, that violence against federal officers that happens every
day here in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
More than a thousand immigrants and even some American citizens
have been detained in Chicago.
Speaker 6 (31:23):
So far.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
The message from the Trump administration seems to be watch out,
We're coming for you. Be it in Chicago, in LA
and Portland, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
And the trauma caused by this terror is continuing. It's
affecting not just undocumented people but also their families. Many
of them have US citizen children.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
The trauma is something that Lupe and Clemen talked about
during the Neighborhood patrol in south central La Clemen remember
is the school psychologist with a black and white checker advance.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
What I've noticed is that we're getting a lot of
referrals for older kids. They're like acting up, and teachers
are like, this is weird because they weren't like this
last year. What's going on. One parent was like, oh,
you know what, like he his grandfather hasn't left the
house in months because he's scared, right, So that's one
of the reasons that we suspect he's starting to act
(32:19):
up and wants.
Speaker 6 (32:20):
To go home.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Another little girl, her mom, so stamlas on the street
and she was like, I want to call my mom.
I want to call my mom, Like I need to
hear my mom. And so like, you know, like our
kids are coming to school like they're worried. They don't
have the words to be able to say like, oh,
I'm worried because you know, Ice is on the.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Streets coming up. We're going to Mexico to speak with
President Claudia Schambaum to ask her how the Mexican government
is reacting to these terror tactics.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Provoca and Milo.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Mexican and to see what happens after Ice sends people
back alacente. Is this new reality making more people want
to leave before risking being taken? Stay with us. Welcome
(33:35):
back to Latino USA. I'm Maria Josa.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
And I'm Fernando Chavarri, and we're going to take you
straight to Mexico City, now to the presidential Palace to
be exact in the city's Socalo.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Every morning Mexico's President, Claudia Shanbaum holds a news conference.
It's known as La Magnanea del Pueblo, which is the
Mourning of the people. After weeks of dealing with bureaucracy,
a lot of phone calls and messages, we were told
that we would be allowed in, but that didn't guarantee
we'd be able to ask a question.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
We were pretty far back, and even though Maria kept
raising her hand and standing up, no luck until she yelled.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
From US media about a question about immigrants. Until finally
what was the yes? So Maria, no hostas and your
presidenta represent Latino USA. This dows tonidos Concuba and less
puss in Espanol jaqu in restrum.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
Maria told the President that we'd be asking our questions
first in English, and then in Spanish.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
I did witness the unleashing of a reign of psychological
terror that Trump has unleashed on Latino immigrants, specifically Mexican communities.
Can you please respond to this question of psychological terror
that is being unleashed on Latinos.
Speaker 16 (34:57):
And latinas nista forma re trato nasquan do qumas milo
isosbra and las.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
Mexican President Shane Baum said that she doesn't agree with
the way Mexican immigrants are being treated in the US
and with the way that the raids are being handled, which,
as she put it, are causing a fear effect.
Speaker 16 (35:26):
Que partio tanto comunicados parti de noa diplomaticas what.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Are we doing about it? She says, well, she's expressing
her concerns by sending diplomatic notes directly to US Secretary
of State Marco Rubio, and then she says she's spoken
to him about it personally.
Speaker 16 (35:46):
As the personal mentelo plante Marco Ruvio celodje personal.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
MENE. President Shane Baum says that she has also strengthened
resources at Mexican consulates across the United States and built
up a twenty for seven hotline to provide assistance to
Mexican citizens caught up in the raids.
Speaker 16 (36:05):
Is Los Cacilo in consuls.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
Now, from what we've seen in our reporting, people who
are detained have not had access to consular help at all.
Remember Mauricio, the thirty one year old in La who
was told that the only way to make a phone
call would be by signing a voluntary deportation order. Well,
while the Mexican government has these extra resources available, the
US government is making it really hard for people to
(36:36):
access them, nearly impossible.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
Incident that, personally, in your heart, how are you processing
all of this is to uta process and to this
qui pasa and it's an injustice, Shenebaum tells me. Of
(36:59):
course it hurts impersona.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
She wants Mexican citizens in the US to know that
her administration and the president herself is trying to support
them and if and when they come back to Mexico
they will be welcomed with open arms. You program Mexico
Mexico Brasa Mexico Embraces You is what the official name
of the program would translate.
Speaker 16 (37:25):
To the Zaxi Saviivienna the ZAK program as a Vinista
I m Pleo.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
To better understand the Mexico TRASA program, we took a
look at Maurisho's experience after being held by ice in
custody for five days. Mauricia tells us that once he
was sent across the border to what Is, he was
finally able to have warm meals, showers, and to get
assistance from Mexican officials.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Okay, Comida est.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
Mozilla mouseim.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
They treated as well, he says, and that's what we've
gathered from our reporting too. Maurisio and other people are
receiving one hundred and twenty dollars in pesos to make
their way home, which for Maurisio was in the outskirts
of Mexico City, So from what Is to his hometown
that's about as far as from Florida to New York.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
And while the Mexican government is trying to provide some assistance,
there is plenty of criticism that it is not doing enough.
We spoke to representatives from a couple of nonprofit organizations
in Mexico. We're working with folks who have recently been deported,
and they told us that while the Mexican government is
providing folks with immediate assistance at the border. There is
(38:54):
a lot more that they could be doing long.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
Term, especially when it comes to addressing mental health.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Other government officials we spoke to in Mexico acknowledged that
their program doesn't include any counseling or access to mental
health care long term, but they do have a psychologist
onside at the border to tell people as soon as they're.
Speaker 14 (39:16):
Deported aisicologos cicologas at the end, then alas personas paracontenegeria
and crisis and MS analysts.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Those therapists are they on location twenty four to seven at.
Speaker 14 (39:29):
The Riserardos Totalos Services stam Beni Puetro cost Central attentions, the.
Speaker 4 (39:40):
LA mayor, the governor of California, and the Mexican President.
They're all saying something similar that they're trying to do
what they can, but how effective are their efforts. One
thing that kept coming up in the reporting for the
story is the very very real trauma that the current
Bovino style machine is causing. And as the school psychologist
(40:02):
told us as we were driving through doing the patrol
in south central l A, kids and teens are lost
in the anguish confusion, the mental health challenges, and trauma
of seeing their communities, their family members being hunted.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
We saw this trauma and frankly felt it when we
were talking to Maurisio and his mom. You know, those
harrowing five days of not having any idea where her
son was, and the physical and emotional torment that Maurishu
experienced when he was picked up at the bus stop
waiting to go home.
Speaker 10 (40:36):
Seems.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
She says, psychologically she's not okay. She's now extremely paranoid.
She's having trouble sleeping, and she says she's afraid of
agents coming to her apartment and kicking her door down.
She's trying to stay home as much as possible. She says.
(41:09):
There have been times when she's needed something from the
store from home depot, but she definitely won't step foot there.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
And her son, Mauricio, who is eighteen hundred miles south,
oh yeah, he has nightmares of cop cars and helicopters
chasing him in La Patrias we visit Maurisio's modest and
(41:43):
sparkly clean home where he lives with his wife and
two daughters, two hours north of Mexico City, it's about
eleven am, and he hasn't gone to bed yet because
he works an overnight shift. Throughout our visit, it seemed
to us that Mauricio is both very matter of fact
about what happened to him and also very hurt. He
(42:04):
mentioned that he had left his wife and kids in
Mexico to be able to work in the US and
send his family money to finish building their homes. He
wasn't able to fulfill his dreams, and he feels like
he let his family down. But at least, he says,
he's with his daughters and his wife again, and with
(42:28):
the five dogs that are also part of their family.
The tall hound dog, the noisy pug, the very chill
black lab, the extra fluffy mud and the tiny Chihuahua
wiener dog makes Chiki, whom Mauricio's daughter says, is of
course the most mischievous of all.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Back in Los Angeles, in Maursio's old apartment where he
lived with his mom, d she tells us that she's
lost a big part of her income over the last
few months. She cleans homes, but many times she just
hasn't felt safe enough to even make the commute to work. Noo.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
If this country doesn't want us here, she says, then
we'll leave, as she points to a box near the
TV stand, big enough to fit a stove.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
That that box is pretty huge. It's like is he
and yeah, yeah, and the box is filled with clothing, shoes, dishes.
Speaker 4 (43:44):
This constant, physical, giant representation of what happened to her
son and what could happen to her Americo. She's going
to mail this box to her son's home in Mexico,
where we visited Mauricio and where she once lived twenty
years ago.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
If things don't get better, maybe I should just go Alacente.
He saw what happened to her own son, how quickly
(44:25):
and without any morning he was picked up by masked
men at a bus stop on his way home from work,
disappeared for five days, with no communication whatsoever with his families, lawyers,
or Mexican consular officials.
Speaker 4 (44:42):
She has been in the US for about twenty years.
She doesn't have anything in Mexico anymore, and if she's taken,
she wants this big box to be there so that
at least she will have some of her belongings.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
This is a very glee moment in history.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
We want to end this episode where we started patrolling
the streets of south central La with Unon del Barrio
and the teachers who are volunteers, you know, the ones
with the perfectly manicured, bright nails.
Speaker 4 (45:16):
It's just after seven am and they're wrapping up their shift.
They got to go to work, and later today other
groups are going to take over the afternoon patrolling shift.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
But really for loupe Clement and the other folks here
early this morning, their work continues at their schools, then
in their own neighborhoods ICE agents because in a sense,
it's like they're constantly on patrol now.
Speaker 4 (45:41):
Because in a time when politicians at every level are
running up against the full force of the federal government
with the backing of the Supreme Court, it's community that
protects you.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
There are times when, like when the sun is it
starts to go up, and if we're at you know,
the grocery, start parking lot, et cetera. Sometimes you'll see people,
they'll honk, they'll cheer, they'll.
Speaker 10 (46:05):
Tell you, oh, you know, we know who you are.
Speaker 3 (46:08):
The community really does feel safer, of course, not to
the degree that is necessary to one.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
Did you see that back home?
Speaker 2 (46:57):
That's it for Today. This episode is the work of
Fernando Chavari, Rebecca Barra, Serio, Almost Pennile Ramirez, Andrew Donahue,
Wendy Frye, Mary Franklin Harvin and myself. It's a collaboration
between Latino USA and cal Matters and it comes to
you via Futuro Investigates. We also have a special version
(47:21):
of this episode En Espanol a Scuccadlo budes in contrad
Estepisodio and Donzcuccis two's podcasts and you can practice your Spanish. Everyone.
Now back to our credits. Our episode was mixed by
Julia Caruso and Lea Shaw Damaran special thanks to guilled
Mootejeva Early, leanad Riz and Christopher Rojel Blanquet. The rest
(47:44):
of the Latino USA team includes Roxanna Guire, Jessica Alis,
Renaldo Leanoz Junior, Stefanie Lebau, Andrea Lopez Gruzzado, Luis Luna,
Flori Mard Marquez, Julieta Martinelli, Monica Morlis Garcia, Adriana Rodriguez
and Nancy Truji. Benille Ramirez and I are executive producers.
I'm your host Maria Josa for even more reporting on
(48:06):
this story, check out latinousa dot org and you know
what I'm gonna tell you, Chao.
Speaker 5 (48:15):
Funding for Latino USA is coverage of a culture of
health is made possible in part by a grant from
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Latino USA is made possible
in part by California Endowment building a strong state by
improving the health of all Californians, and the John D.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
And Catherine T.
Speaker 5 (48:34):
MacArthur Foundation.
Futuro investigates Investiga.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
So we're going about what like ten twelve, maybe fifteen
miles an hour down neighborhood streets like these are homes.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yes, this is historic South Central Oh.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
My goodness, it's just after six am. The sun isn't
out yet on this dewey morning.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
We're looking right now for like vehicles. They're usually American
made vehicles. They're definitely like have super dark tinted windows,
so you'll find the agents are double parked.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Immigration Enforcement agents, Border patrols. Nice men because they're mostly
men in unmarked cars, often in plain clothes, who're waiting
to get out and take people. It's been four months
since Los Angeles saw an unprecedented attack on Latinos and
Latinas and immigrant communities. The attacks haven't stopped, and this
(01:18):
morning Latino USA is managing editor Fernando Echavarri and I
are in the back seat of this ride along as
the Ugnon del Barrio neighborhood patrol begins and then some of.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
The cours that look I see too that you can
tell that they're not because sometimes they have that customization,
you know, like a rasa. It's not like ice, but
they love to get that tinted look, you know.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Unon Delaro is a grassroots community group that is responding
to the ice rates by patrolling neighborhoods. Lupe Carrasco Cardona
is driving. She's a teacher at a middle school nearby.
She has her hair pulled back and is wearing a
brick colored blazer. Clement Navalos in the passenger seat, wearing
the classic black and white checker advance. She's the one
(02:05):
that gets out of the car to get a closer
look at any vehicle that looks suspicious. Clement is a
school psychologist. They also each have impeccable manicures with bright
blue and reddish orange nails.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
We became little private investigators, and you do you kind
of right, I would say.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Big, not little, Like everything that you're talking about is
very strategic, and you have really honed the work of
having to be osa look met to the Vienno. Main
that is the fact that you're having to patrol your
neighborhoods at six and them fourteen in LA. That's where
I'm just like, oh my god.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
The idea here is to blow the agent's cover to
warn the neighbors when they find agents on their street
and to post it live on Instagram so people who
are commuting can avoid the area.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I'm really worried.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
For this morning. There are four cars in this patrol.
Each team has a walkie talkie. Most of them are
educators or work in public schools and they're doing this
before they start their workday.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Tim in a check all clear on twenty five Griffith.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
We're trying to keep up with all the clues. Loope
and clemen are looking for.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
See how they have the like the sunrisers.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Sometimes they do that to hide themselves.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
But yeah, there's no one in there. How can you
tell thee Yeah, it takes.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
No.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
They don't know that we've been doing this.
Speaker 6 (03:25):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
I feel like it is a big American flagon in
front of the house.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
So that could either be a super patriot or a decoy.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
They're trying to protect themselves.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
You know, we've been driving for about half an hour
when Clement spots a heavily tinted Dodge charger and looks
of their customers, loops around the block and comes back slower.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Okay, do you want to call back up?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Stopping right next to the car.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And so anybody near thirty eighth and Griffith. They can
come about the car and back up. We see a suspicious,
suspicious charger, super dark tinted windows.
Speaker 7 (04:00):
Hello.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Clemen gets out and knocks on the window, then peeks
through the very tinted windshield, and just as the other
drivers start to make their way over to us, Clemen
gets on the walkie and calls it off. Oh mind,
there's nobody in the car. False alarm.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
By now, it's been almost an hour and none of
the volunteers have spotted ice agents. Loope and Clemen tell
us that this is a good thing, but unfortunately, she says,
they often receive photographs of agents setting up in the
areas where they had just patrolled the day before. It's
a mix of chance, of luck and of being at
(04:35):
the right place at the right time.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
They tell us, this is what it looks like when
there's protection and community.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
It feels like just another day on patrol. But there's
always that heaviness in the back of our minds, like
that our community is under attack and we just wanted
to We want our people to be safe. So, like
I think that's always in the back of our minds.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yeah, honestly, it's exhausting, but I would be more tired
and more exhausted if the community was left unprotected. This
is the minimum that can be done.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
From Futuro Media, It's Latino USA. I'm Maria Ino.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Josa and I'm Fernande Chavarri.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Today we bring you a special episode in collaboration with
the investigative reporting team at cal Matters.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
First, we take you to La ground zero of the
ramped up raids.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Or, as the Mayor of Los Angeles told us recently,
the hunting of Latinos.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
What can local and state officials really do to stand
up to having masked agents take over their cities? We
ask California Governor Gavin Newsom. We're fighting fire with fire.
We're not rolling over this forty plus lawsuits.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
We're also going to meet the man behind this effort,
because it's not just those in the White House Order Patrols.
Gregory Bovino, and he's living for this moment to.
Speaker 8 (06:04):
Just go ahead and self deport because the Green Team
is on the job.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
And it's game on.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
We'll go to Chicago, where Bovino's tactics have spread.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Ice, lies, and people die.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
We'll also go to Mexico to ask President Claudia Shanebaum
about Mexico's role in all of this.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Senor, can you please respond to this question of psychological
terror that is being unleashed.
Speaker 9 (06:29):
No este mosi cordo costa for male We found that
about seventy two percent of those in ice custody right
now have no criminal record none.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
So while the administration's messaging continues to be about protecting
the country from.
Speaker 8 (06:45):
Those that are perpetuating murder and rape, terrorist cartel members.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
The worst criminal illegal alience, what we're seeing is that
this is really about picking up anyone anywhere based on
how they look, where they were, for the language they speak.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Something that the Supreme Court has said is totally okay
to do.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
The racial profiling supported by the Supreme Court. My god,
So stick around because if there's anything you need to
hear to get a full picture not only of what's
going on, but of what's to come, it's this. Let's
read that Dalla Villa. So she lives in a walk
(07:27):
up in a complex.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
It's not really called a walk up in la.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Oh, my god, what's it called.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
It's just a two story apartment. Bill. Okay, we're in
a working class neighborhood in Los Angeles to meet with
a woman we're going to call d She's undocumented and
asked us to protect her identity.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Today she greets us with a big smile and welcomes
us into her small apartment.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
We're here because her thirty one year old son, Mauricio,
was one of the first to be detained when the
raids led by border patrols Gregory Bovino began this summer,
and the perspective of the many mothers, friends, family members
who have had someone go missing without any information about
where they may be.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
The tackling the violent raids, We've seen that all over
social media and the news. But what Mauricio can tell
us is what happens after Latino's Mexican and Central American
migrants are handcuffed.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
For this episode, we're making a conscious decision to not
play any audio of the gut wrenching weeps, the cries
for help, or the desperate screams from the many people
being detained.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
It was a Sunday, June eighth, to be exact, that
previous Friday and Saturday chaos had erupted in La. Immigration
Enforcement agents began very public, very militarized raids across the city,
and d had been paying attention.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Mauricio had a bad feeling. He was scared, but he
had to go to work. He worked cleaning apartment buildings
and was on the payroll, paying income.
Speaker 10 (09:19):
Taxes and not in anyone the little must.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
He has no criminal record, and his mom tells us
that he's the type of guy that just goes from
work to home and home to work.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
So after his shift he headed home as usual, and
as you waited for the thirty three bus, an unmarked
truck pulled up in front of him and the other
handful of people waiting for the bus. A couple of
men in jeans and baseball caps got out of the
truck quickly and held up a piece of paper with
(09:52):
a man's photos.
Speaker 11 (10:01):
Malissando.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
The men asked if they knew who the man in
the photograph was, because he was a wanted man, but
nobody did. Nobody even knew who.
Speaker 6 (10:09):
That was YEA.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
When a couple of the other people waiting for the
bus started to run, so did Mauricio. The man chasing
Mauricio tripped them and he fell on his knee. Mauricia
says it wasn't clear who was who. None of the
men showed him a badge, nobody said anything. All Malisia
heard was some of the plain clothes men speaking pretty
(10:37):
good Spanish, no accent. He says. The men took them
in based only on the way they looked. They can
tell we have dark skin and that were shorter. He says, who.
Speaker 11 (10:52):
Wastos?
Speaker 4 (10:53):
I saw this as racist, Mauricio tells us, but.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
So there he was handcuffed, shackles around his ankles. Agents
then take his phone away.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Meanwhile, at home, his mother d starts to worry. She
hasn't heard from her son since the last message two
hours ago, and he always responded to her messages right away.
Speaker 10 (11:15):
Mikhom three hours four hours and according to what's app,
her son hadn't even seen her messages. Intos's thoughts spiral.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Had her son been robbed? Was he hurt? Was in
the hospital?
Speaker 10 (11:40):
Hospitales Andyaria aa l Masalo.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
D didn't sleep that night and toss and she reached
out to a neighbor who tried to file a missing
person's report with the police, but the cops told them
it was too soon. There was no trace of Mauricio
even in immigration detention records.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Mauricio was first taken to a detention camp an hour
south of Los Angeles. Then at five am that next morning,
he was put on a plane. He was shackled, He
had absolutely no idea where he was going. They were
(12:25):
taken to an ice tent camp. Mauricio's knee was causing
him a lot of pain, making it almost impossible for
him to walk.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Three days past since Mauricio had been levantado kidnapped, a
word that in Mexico has a heavy significance. This is
the term used for cartel related kidnappings or state sanctioned disappearances.
And Mauricio knows this. It's precisely why he's using that term.
Speaker 11 (12:53):
Espress and I was picked up by people in playing clothes,
he tells us, no uniforms, no badges, no arrest order.
Speaker 10 (13:06):
It was almost.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
It was now day five. He still hadn't been allowed
to make, not even one phone call. His mother de
still in anguish, with no idea, no trace of her
son anywhere. Yes, finally, Mauricio says, Immigration agents at the
(13:31):
El Paso detention facility tell him and the other men
in the holding cell that they can make one phone call,
but only after they sign a document that says that
they're volunteerily deporting themselves. Legal experts have called this conditioning
of phone access blatantly illegal, saying the government is essentially
(13:54):
pressuring people in detention to give up their rights to
do process, wave their opportunity for an asylum hearing or
a date in front of an immigration judge, just to
get a call. Aurisio showed us the document he was
told to sign. It's in English and in Spanish, and
Mauricio checked the box that said.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
I denounced my right to a hearing in an immigration
court and I wish to go back to my country
as soon as my departure is available.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Government officials are essentially dangling a carrot of a phone call.
They warned detainees that even if they try to fight
their deportation, they could be held in terrible conditions for
months and months.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
So on June tenth, five days after he was taken,
Mauricio signed the form, and so did most of the
other men who were detained with him. That day, he
was released in Quads and it was then he got
his phone back. He turned it on to many miss
(15:00):
calls and messages. Then he called his mom d answered.
Speaker 10 (15:07):
The phone, Mamma gentle Stovian.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
She got to hear her son's voice telling her that
he was okay and not to worry.
Speaker 11 (15:20):
I mean, what is mom in Mexico from.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
That's when his mom broke down and started crying. She
was relieved to know that at least he was okay.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
The Olivia coming up after the break, we meet the
man behind this new reign of terror if.
Speaker 8 (15:53):
They crossed the border illegally, and then they're coming with us.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And later we'll go to the presidential Palace in Mexico
to ask President Claudia Shamebaum about Mexico's role in all
of this. Stay with us at the Yes, Welcome back
(16:27):
to Latino, USA. I'm Maria no Josa.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
And am fernand Chari. Before the break, we heard how
these seemingly random ICE rates are sowing uncertainty and immigrants
and their families.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
The way ICE and Border Patrol have been conducting these
detentions shows that they're working from a new playbook, one
that relies on the thinnest pretext for taking people. And
then on September eighth this year, the Supreme Court essentially
made that legal officers can now stop people based on quote,
(16:59):
the totality of circumstances, things like who you are, where
you are, the language that you speak, even the job
site where you work. Civil rights lawyers say all of
this adds up to legalized racial profiling.
Speaker 12 (17:14):
And this ruling basically turned the actions of a rogue
border patrol chief into policy. Gregory Bavino had previously used
Kern County, California, as a test run, and the Supreme
Court gave him a green light to keep it going.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
This is Setyo Almost. He's an investigative reporter with cal
Matters and our partner in all of this. La is
his home and he's been covering this story NonStop for months, NonStop.
Speaker 8 (17:39):
Is right joining me?
Speaker 6 (17:40):
Now?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Is Sergio Almost?
Speaker 6 (17:41):
I want to bring Sergio Almost into the neighborhood Sergio Almost.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Last Sunday he was struck while filming.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
An officer opened fire, said you husband at the center
of the protest and courtrooms and all over southern California
reporting on this story. And when Maria and I were
in La, the three of us went to a news
conference with California Governor Gadernism thank you.
Speaker 12 (18:02):
Newsom was signing into law. A bunch of measures meant
to push back against Trump's immigration agenda. This legislation is
like banning the mass that immigration agents wore around LA
push back, I mean the public season Newsom and lawmakers
in California are standing up to Trump. But in this
case it's not a power they have. Federal officials came
out right away and said they'll just ignore the mass law.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
It's only nine months in under President Trump. Can you
tell us what you're expecting and what are you preparing
to do for what might becoming? We make doesn't believe
in the royal alive believes in the rule of dawn,
period full stop.
Speaker 13 (18:37):
We're pushing back.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
We're using our formal authority and we're using our moral
authority in a.
Speaker 12 (18:42):
State, California's governor has become a national politician resisting the
Trump agenda. He's taken the Trump administration to court more
than just about any other governor, and he's winning the
case challenging Trump's deployment of the California National Guard to
the streets of Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Good to see you see, how are you?
Speaker 4 (19:00):
We asked Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass about this when
we sat down to speak with her.
Speaker 7 (19:04):
No we absolutely are limited. However, we still must push back.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
So is there more a reign of terror? Feared terror
to get I don't know it to what end, but
to create a state of terror in your city?
Speaker 7 (19:20):
Well, I mean that's exactly what it has been. I mean,
when you have masked men driving up and down the street,
cars tented windows, jumping out with rifles and just snatching
people off the street, that absolutely creates a sense of terror.
When you have people who are afraid to go to school,
people who are afraid to go to work. You have
entire sectors of our economy that have been crippled because
(19:43):
they are dependent on immigrant labor.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Although immigration enforcement.
Speaker 7 (19:49):
Has always happened, it's nothing new. I do not recall
in my lifetime saying it is this brutal.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
As we were wrapping up our conversation with Mayor Back,
we asked not about the politics or her actions, but
about how this invasion of her city makes her feel.
Speaker 7 (20:07):
It feels terrible that I cannot protect people to the
extent that I would like to.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
And her response to the recent Supreme Courts ruline that
we've been talking about.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
That basically legalized racial profiling, or as I say, the
hunting of Latinos.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Right, Cecho. So this is a good moment to pass
the mic over to you, because over the last few
months you've essentially become an expert on one.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Man, Gregory Bavino.
Speaker 12 (20:39):
I first came across Bavino back in January, before Trump
had taken office for the second time. Immigration agents had
just stormed into Kerrent County, California's agricultural heartland. Bavino was
the border patrol chief leading these raids. He started posting
on x and commenting on Facebook about it. From that moment,
it became clear to me and my editor that Bavino
(21:00):
was auditioning for a bigger rule. Thanks so much for indviting.
So I interviewed him in his office.
Speaker 8 (21:04):
Well, Sergeia, thank you for coming.
Speaker 12 (21:06):
And there were a handful of armed agents standing behind
me the whole time.
Speaker 8 (21:09):
We do call ourselves the premier sector. So please let
those other chiefs know that we said that.
Speaker 12 (21:15):
I wanted to know if the Kerrent County operation was
targeted or if it was an indiscriminate raid of people.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
What was the goal of that operation.
Speaker 8 (21:23):
We had a predetermined list of targets, many of which,
as you say, were prior to deports, already had immigration history,
criminal history.
Speaker 12 (21:32):
The question of going to the gas station where field
workers show up, the home depot where labors are. When
someone like a growers association says that they feel like
labors were targeted, these are places where people gather to
go to work or look for work. Is this that
you were also looking for, just generally people who might
be in the country legally.
Speaker 8 (21:49):
We didn't go to the citrus fields, we didn't go
to any of the other fields. We did not conduct
farm and ranch check. So I think for US targeting
agricultural workers at their job, absolutely not that has no merit.
But when border patrol comes into contact with illegal aliens,
you're going to get arrested.
Speaker 12 (22:09):
Out of the people you arrested, how many of those
people had criminal convictions.
Speaker 8 (22:16):
Every single one of the seventy eight that we arrested
were criminals. When you cross the border illegally at USC
thirteen twenty five illegal entry into the United States, So
they were all criminals. Let's get that one out of
the way here, right out of the box, Sergey. Every
single one of them were criminals. Many of those did
have prior criminal convictions apart from their illegal entry into
(22:40):
our country.
Speaker 12 (22:41):
It turns out that wasn't true. According to documents that
we obtained from Customs and Board Protection, they had no
knowledge of criminal or migration history for seventy seven out
of the seventy eight people they arrested, only one person
had a prior deportation order.
Speaker 8 (22:57):
We're going after bad people in bad things hard as
we can possibly go, and we're going to do it
on our time with our approach.
Speaker 12 (23:03):
But I think the general public does see a difference
between the palalatto or the citrus worker and the fentanyl
dealer that they are not both on the same field.
Speaker 8 (23:12):
If they cross the border illegally, then they're coming with us.
They are under arrest, and they're coming with us. Every
single one of them was arrested for one crime or another.
Whether they were convicted or not is a moot point here.
That's not important.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
So this becomes the basis for all the sweeps that
we've seen. US government isn't using these violent raids to
go after violent criminals. They're using this force to go
after anyone they think maybe in the country without permission.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
And we saw this play out when Bovino and his
team went to LA with full force.
Speaker 13 (23:49):
Tactical officers on things like bear cant.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Vehicles, patrolling on horses, tanks.
Speaker 8 (23:55):
A lot of bad things are in our country now,
including Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
He's truly taken a very public role as the leader
of all of these attacks.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
And we need to pause and talk about the social media,
about the official videos and images produced by the Department
of Homeland Security.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
All of these efforts paid for with our tax dollars.
Speaker 12 (24:15):
Customs and Border Protection won't tell us how much they're
spending on this effort. We've asked, But one thing is clear,
but Vino is cultivating this image of a hardline, righteous enforcer.
Speaker 8 (24:25):
There is no such thing as a sanctuary city. There's
no such thing as the sanctuary state we are here conducting.
Speaker 12 (24:33):
These are highly polished hype videos of massed and heavily
armed officers set to songs like Kendrick Lamar's DNA I
got in another video. But Vino is Darth Vader. He
slashes the rebels who are labeled as sanctuary cities, fake news,
and human smugglers.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
These are wild and they're incredibly damaging. They're adding to
the depiction of immigrants as the enemy. They are endangering
every day working people who anti immigrant folks might think
just look or sound foreign. We've reported on the damage
that this type of rhetoric has done. It is very real.
Speaker 8 (25:11):
But we're taking this show on the road to a
city near you.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Forget well new.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Some baths and even federal judges seem almost helpless. Bovino
is the one with the power. The Supreme Court made
it official.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
And Bovino has now taken that power to Chicago. In
an interview with a WBEZ reporter, Bovino basically admitted to
racial profiling.
Speaker 8 (25:34):
Then obviously the particular characteristics of an individual, how they look,
how do they look compared to say you.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
What's your name again?
Speaker 14 (25:41):
Chip, Chip?
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Hey Chip?
Speaker 5 (25:43):
You or other folks?
Speaker 4 (25:45):
How do they appear.
Speaker 8 (25:47):
In relation to what you or other people look like?
Speaker 12 (25:50):
So a lot.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
By the way, We requested another interview with Bovino, and
after a couple of emails, we did not get it.
Speaker 12 (25:58):
Bakersfield was the test for LA was ground zero. Chicago
followed the playbook, but it doesn't end there. Truthfully, we
don't know how it ends. Federal agents are now in Washington,
d C. Portland, and the Trump administration has said they're
just getting started.
Speaker 13 (26:13):
We should use some of these dangerous cities as training
grounds for our military National Guard.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
But according to the latest data, immigration agents have arrested
more than seven thousand people in the LA area since
the raids began this summer.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Immigration is the veneer to exert power. Nice.
Speaker 12 (26:40):
I was just telling you, I think Illinois nice.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
He's like, Illinois's nice, It's pretty.
Speaker 12 (26:47):
I think that would be so sunny.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
We're in Chicago now, which is the second major city
where Bovino decided to take his troops.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
And in Chicago, it starts with a death.
Speaker 8 (27:01):
The following breaking news out of the Chicago area, Homeland
Security official say an ICE operation left an enforcement officer
severely injured.
Speaker 15 (27:08):
The Department of Homeland Security initially claimed the agent fired
the gun out of a fear for his life, the
agency adding the officer was seriously injured, Yet in that footage,
the agent himself can be hurt, telling police his injuries
were quote nothing major.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
We're actually like on a major through way in Franklin
Park and it was on this major through way that
see radio was shot by ice.
Speaker 12 (27:39):
Thirty eight year old Silverdio Viegas Gonzalez was shot and
killed on September twelfth.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
He was a working man, a father, and a Mexican
immigrant from the state of metrok gun Seed Radio was
reportedly driving to work after dropping off his two children
at daycare when he got pulled over by ice.
Speaker 12 (27:58):
The makeshift vigil for st is along the highway.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
There are candles that are lit. There's roses, flowers, carnations,
white flowers, Mexican flags, a Mexican flag intertwined with an
American flag.
Speaker 12 (28:13):
It's a small vigil, perhaps a sign of the times.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
That probably if he had been killed under any other circumstance,
more people might have shown up. But I think people
are afraid.
Speaker 12 (28:28):
Elected officials in the US and even Mexico demanded answers
about this killing. Illinois Governor JB. Pritzker condemned it.
Speaker 13 (28:35):
Our people have been subjected to violence, intimidation, and harassment.
They have struck fear in our communities, including notably fear
in the hearts of US citizens. Trump and the thuggery
that his agents have brought has actively made us less safe.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
So said he, I know how you said that la
is like your city. Well that's the way I feel
about Chicago. I mean, I grew up here, right. I
witnessed the local grassroots politics, the politics that led to
a black and Latino coalition electing the first black mayor here,
basically the lead up to the Obama era of Yes
(29:21):
we can So. Yeah, Chicago's a big city like La
but it's got its own vibe for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 12 (29:28):
And I saw this in the people in Chicago that
we talked to, like Server Tracy Kinionis, who says they're
not going down quietly.
Speaker 6 (29:34):
We're not only being hunted down by the way we
look and the way we speak and our culture, but
now we're being murdered for it in cold blood by
his gestapo. So I'm here because I will fight for
the rights of myself always and for the immigrants in
my community who are welcome here, who make America a
(29:57):
great country. Without our immigrants, this country wouldn be anything.
Speaker 12 (30:04):
Baveno brought camera crews to document their mission in Chicago,
and they produce what can only be described as a
trailer for a big action film.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
In the weeks since we left Chicago, Texas deployed the
National Guard to that city under the urging of the
White House.
Speaker 7 (30:28):
It's probably worse than almost any city in the world.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
And Illinois is now fighting those orders in the courts.
Speaker 13 (30:36):
There is no invasion here, there is no insurrection here.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
There are protesters out in the streets clashing with border
patrol agents, and.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Much like in La and cities across the country, activists
there are blowing the whistle every time they see Ice
threatening their neighborhoods. So when I see Ice, I blow
the whistle. I mean literally blowing whistle. So when people
hear the whistle blow, we know that Ice is around.
But the Bovino machine continues to plow through Chicago those assaults.
Speaker 8 (31:11):
There's riots, that violence against federal officers that happens every
day here in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
More than a thousand immigrants and even some American citizens
have been detained in Chicago.
Speaker 6 (31:23):
So far.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
The message from the Trump administration seems to be watch out,
We're coming for you. Be it in Chicago, in LA
and Portland, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
And the trauma caused by this terror is continuing. It's
affecting not just undocumented people but also their families. Many
of them have US citizen children.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
The trauma is something that Lupe and Clemen talked about
during the Neighborhood patrol in south central La Clemen remember
is the school psychologist with a black and white checker advance.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
What I've noticed is that we're getting a lot of
referrals for older kids. They're like acting up, and teachers
are like, this is weird because they weren't like this
last year. What's going on. One parent was like, oh,
you know what, like he his grandfather hasn't left the
house in months because he's scared, right, So that's one
of the reasons that we suspect he's starting to act
(32:19):
up and wants.
Speaker 6 (32:20):
To go home.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Another little girl, her mom, so stamlas on the street
and she was like, I want to call my mom.
I want to call my mom, Like I need to
hear my mom. And so like, you know, like our
kids are coming to school like they're worried. They don't
have the words to be able to say like, oh,
I'm worried because you know, Ice is on the.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Streets coming up. We're going to Mexico to speak with
President Claudia Schambaum to ask her how the Mexican government
is reacting to these terror tactics.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Provoca and Milo.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Mexican and to see what happens after Ice sends people
back alacente. Is this new reality making more people want
to leave before risking being taken? Stay with us. Welcome
(33:35):
back to Latino USA. I'm Maria Josa.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
And I'm Fernando Chavarri, and we're going to take you
straight to Mexico City, now to the presidential Palace to
be exact in the city's Socalo.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Every morning Mexico's President, Claudia Shanbaum holds a news conference.
It's known as La Magnanea del Pueblo, which is the
Mourning of the people. After weeks of dealing with bureaucracy,
a lot of phone calls and messages, we were told
that we would be allowed in, but that didn't guarantee
we'd be able to ask a question.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
We were pretty far back, and even though Maria kept
raising her hand and standing up, no luck until she yelled.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
From US media about a question about immigrants. Until finally
what was the yes? So Maria, no hostas and your
presidenta represent Latino USA. This dows tonidos Concuba and less
puss in Espanol jaqu in restrum.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
Maria told the President that we'd be asking our questions
first in English, and then in Spanish.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
I did witness the unleashing of a reign of psychological
terror that Trump has unleashed on Latino immigrants, specifically Mexican communities.
Can you please respond to this question of psychological terror
that is being unleashed on Latinos.
Speaker 16 (34:57):
And latinas nista forma re trato nasquan do qumas milo
isosbra and las.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
Mexican President Shane Baum said that she doesn't agree with
the way Mexican immigrants are being treated in the US
and with the way that the raids are being handled, which,
as she put it, are causing a fear effect.
Speaker 16 (35:26):
Que partio tanto comunicados parti de noa diplomaticas what.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Are we doing about it? She says, well, she's expressing
her concerns by sending diplomatic notes directly to US Secretary
of State Marco Rubio, and then she says she's spoken
to him about it personally.
Speaker 16 (35:46):
As the personal mentelo plante Marco Ruvio celodje personal.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
MENE. President Shane Baum says that she has also strengthened
resources at Mexican consulates across the United States and built
up a twenty for seven hotline to provide assistance to
Mexican citizens caught up in the raids.
Speaker 16 (36:05):
Is Los Cacilo in consuls.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
Now, from what we've seen in our reporting, people who
are detained have not had access to consular help at all.
Remember Mauricio, the thirty one year old in La who
was told that the only way to make a phone
call would be by signing a voluntary deportation order. Well,
while the Mexican government has these extra resources available, the
US government is making it really hard for people to
(36:36):
access them, nearly impossible.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
Incident that, personally, in your heart, how are you processing
all of this is to uta process and to this
qui pasa and it's an injustice, Shenebaum tells me. Of
(36:59):
course it hurts impersona.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
She wants Mexican citizens in the US to know that
her administration and the president herself is trying to support
them and if and when they come back to Mexico
they will be welcomed with open arms. You program Mexico
Mexico Brasa Mexico Embraces You is what the official name
of the program would translate.
Speaker 16 (37:25):
To the Zaxi Saviivienna the ZAK program as a Vinista
I m Pleo.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
To better understand the Mexico TRASA program, we took a
look at Maurisho's experience after being held by ice in
custody for five days. Mauricia tells us that once he
was sent across the border to what Is, he was
finally able to have warm meals, showers, and to get
assistance from Mexican officials.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Okay, Comida est.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
Mozilla mouseim.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
They treated as well, he says, and that's what we've
gathered from our reporting too. Maurisio and other people are
receiving one hundred and twenty dollars in pesos to make
their way home, which for Maurisio was in the outskirts
of Mexico City, So from what Is to his hometown
that's about as far as from Florida to New York.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
And while the Mexican government is trying to provide some assistance,
there is plenty of criticism that it is not doing enough.
We spoke to representatives from a couple of nonprofit organizations
in Mexico. We're working with folks who have recently been deported,
and they told us that while the Mexican government is
providing folks with immediate assistance at the border. There is
(38:54):
a lot more that they could be doing long.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
Term, especially when it comes to addressing mental health.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Other government officials we spoke to in Mexico acknowledged that
their program doesn't include any counseling or access to mental
health care long term, but they do have a psychologist
onside at the border to tell people as soon as they're.
Speaker 14 (39:16):
Deported aisicologos cicologas at the end, then alas personas paracontenegeria
and crisis and MS analysts.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Those therapists are they on location twenty four to seven at.
Speaker 14 (39:29):
The Riserardos Totalos Services stam Beni Puetro cost Central attentions, the.
Speaker 4 (39:40):
LA mayor, the governor of California, and the Mexican President.
They're all saying something similar that they're trying to do
what they can, but how effective are their efforts. One
thing that kept coming up in the reporting for the
story is the very very real trauma that the current
Bovino style machine is causing. And as the school psychologist
(40:02):
told us as we were driving through doing the patrol
in south central l A, kids and teens are lost
in the anguish confusion, the mental health challenges, and trauma
of seeing their communities, their family members being hunted.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
We saw this trauma and frankly felt it when we
were talking to Maurisio and his mom. You know, those
harrowing five days of not having any idea where her
son was, and the physical and emotional torment that Maurishu
experienced when he was picked up at the bus stop
waiting to go home.
Speaker 10 (40:36):
Seems.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
She says, psychologically she's not okay. She's now extremely paranoid.
She's having trouble sleeping, and she says she's afraid of
agents coming to her apartment and kicking her door down.
She's trying to stay home as much as possible. She says.
(41:09):
There have been times when she's needed something from the
store from home depot, but she definitely won't step foot there.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
And her son, Mauricio, who is eighteen hundred miles south,
oh yeah, he has nightmares of cop cars and helicopters
chasing him in La Patrias we visit Maurisio's modest and
(41:43):
sparkly clean home where he lives with his wife and
two daughters, two hours north of Mexico City, it's about
eleven am, and he hasn't gone to bed yet because
he works an overnight shift. Throughout our visit, it seemed
to us that Mauricio is both very matter of fact
about what happened to him and also very hurt. He
(42:04):
mentioned that he had left his wife and kids in
Mexico to be able to work in the US and
send his family money to finish building their homes. He
wasn't able to fulfill his dreams, and he feels like
he let his family down. But at least, he says,
he's with his daughters and his wife again, and with
(42:28):
the five dogs that are also part of their family.
The tall hound dog, the noisy pug, the very chill
black lab, the extra fluffy mud and the tiny Chihuahua
wiener dog makes Chiki, whom Mauricio's daughter says, is of
course the most mischievous of all.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
Back in Los Angeles, in Maursio's old apartment where he
lived with his mom, d she tells us that she's
lost a big part of her income over the last
few months. She cleans homes, but many times she just
hasn't felt safe enough to even make the commute to work. Noo.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
If this country doesn't want us here, she says, then
we'll leave, as she points to a box near the
TV stand, big enough to fit a stove.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
That that box is pretty huge. It's like is he
and yeah, yeah, and the box is filled with clothing, shoes, dishes.
Speaker 4 (43:44):
This constant, physical, giant representation of what happened to her
son and what could happen to her Americo. She's going
to mail this box to her son's home in Mexico,
where we visited Mauricio and where she once lived twenty
years ago.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
If things don't get better, maybe I should just go Alacente.
He saw what happened to her own son, how quickly
(44:25):
and without any morning he was picked up by masked
men at a bus stop on his way home from work,
disappeared for five days, with no communication whatsoever with his families, lawyers,
or Mexican consular officials.
Speaker 4 (44:42):
She has been in the US for about twenty years.
She doesn't have anything in Mexico anymore, and if she's taken,
she wants this big box to be there so that
at least she will have some of her belongings.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
This is a very glee moment in history.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
We want to end this episode where we started patrolling
the streets of south central La with Unon del Barrio
and the teachers who are volunteers, you know, the ones
with the perfectly manicured, bright nails.
Speaker 4 (45:16):
It's just after seven am and they're wrapping up their shift.
They got to go to work, and later today other
groups are going to take over the afternoon patrolling shift.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
But really for loupe Clement and the other folks here
early this morning, their work continues at their schools, then
in their own neighborhoods ICE agents because in a sense,
it's like they're constantly on patrol now.
Speaker 4 (45:41):
Because in a time when politicians at every level are
running up against the full force of the federal government
with the backing of the Supreme Court, it's community that
protects you.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
There are times when, like when the sun is it
starts to go up, and if we're at you know,
the grocery, start parking lot, et cetera. Sometimes you'll see people,
they'll honk, they'll cheer, they'll.
Speaker 10 (46:05):
Tell you, oh, you know, we know who you are.
Speaker 3 (46:08):
The community really does feel safer, of course, not to
the degree that is necessary to one.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
Did you see that back home?
Speaker 2 (46:57):
That's it for Today. This episode is the work of
Fernando Chavari, Rebecca Barra, Serio, Almost Pennile Ramirez, Andrew Donahue,
Wendy Frye, Mary Franklin Harvin and myself. It's a collaboration
between Latino USA and cal Matters and it comes to
you via Futuro Investigates. We also have a special version
(47:21):
of this episode En Espanol a Scuccadlo budes in contrad
Estepisodio and Donzcuccis two's podcasts and you can practice your Spanish. Everyone.
Now back to our credits. Our episode was mixed by
Julia Caruso and Lea Shaw Damaran special thanks to guilled
Mootejeva Early, leanad Riz and Christopher Rojel Blanquet. The rest
(47:44):
of the Latino USA team includes Roxanna Guire, Jessica Alis,
Renaldo Leanoz Junior, Stefanie Lebau, Andrea Lopez Gruzzado, Luis Luna,
Flori Mard Marquez, Julieta Martinelli, Monica Morlis Garcia, Adriana Rodriguez
and Nancy Truji. Benille Ramirez and I are executive producers.
I'm your host Maria Josa for even more reporting on
(48:06):
this story, check out latinousa dot org and you know
what I'm gonna tell you, Chao.
Speaker 5 (48:15):
Funding for Latino USA is coverage of a culture of
health is made possible in part by a grant from
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Latino USA is made possible
in part by California Endowment building a strong state by
improving the health of all Californians, and the John D.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
And Catherine T.
Speaker 5 (48:34):
MacArthur Foundation.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com