August 31, 2023 • 27 mins
Hosts Patty Rodriguez and Erick Galindo return for an all-new season of the iHeart podcast, Out of the Shadows, this time to tell the story of the Dreamer Movement and the origins of DACA or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
On the first episode of the season, they explore the many influences that led to former President Barack Obama's executive order. One theory dates back to the 70s and a guy named John Lennon.
Welcome to Out of the Shadows: Dreamers.
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 (00:09):
Most people think that the origins of President Obama's twenty
twelve executive ordered DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,
started with the Dream Act and the Dreamer, and it did.
But in many ways, the seeds for DACA were planted
way back. Picture this. It's nineteen seventy two and there's
(00:34):
this guy, let's call him John, nervously walking down the
streets of New York with this lady and they each
got one eye over their shoulders, hair annoid. See. John's
in trouble. He's got a big mouth, a drug possession charge,
and normally it would be okay, especially in nineteen seventy two,
(00:58):
for a white dude to run his mouth and smoke
a little weed. But this saint no ordinary white dude.
John's an immigrant with no legal status, and he's afraid
that the nineteen seventy two equivalent of ICE is going
to scoop him up and deport him. John and his
(01:20):
lady get to their destination and knock on the door.
They're a few minutes late and it's locked, so John
knocks again, louder, looking over his shoulder one more time
as the door opened. Finally, this big shot immigration lawyer
is upset that John is late. Take it easy, man,
(01:42):
I'm under enough pressure as it is. The lawyer, a
guy named Leon Wilde, apologizes. They don't know it yet,
but these two white dudes are about to get into
a big fight with the US government that will change
the course of history for a bunch of black, brown
immigrants decades later, because Leon and John are gonna fight
(02:06):
for John's right to stay in this country using deferred action,
just like the Daka kids, the precedent that probably paved
the way for Obama's executive action to save the Dreamers
from deportation. And there's something oddly poetic about that, because
maybe you've never heard of Leon Wilds, John's lawyer, but
(02:29):
you've probably heard of John.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not
the only one. Yeah that John, as in the Beatles,
John Lennon, that fool was a dreamer in more ways
than his often quoted lyrics on imagine would lead us
to believe. John Lennon and his lawyer, Leon fought hard
(02:53):
in the courts and won using a secret program Leon
found called prosecutorial discretion, which basically says that immigration officials
could prioritize certain cases. John Lennon's deportation was paused indefinitely,
and that case became the basis for DACA. But as
(03:13):
inspiring as that story is, this is in John Lennon's story.
John Lennon uses fame and fortune to hire lawyers to
beat the system. The undocumented immigrant dreamers from my generation
had to become lawyers and publicists and pr agencies themselves
to fight the system. And not just lawyers, but undocumented lawyers,
(03:38):
fighting the very system that's trying to kill their dreams
and deport them from the only home they know. Two
lawyers in particular played a pivotal role in daca's formation
and survival. Being an undocumented lawyer gave them intimate knowledge
to help and serve their clients. They knew how to
(03:59):
help those who were to because they themselves were once detained.
These two and the larger collective of undocumented folk fought
and are fighting still so that the generation after them
doesn't inherit their struggle. They do well Lenin didn't with
all his millions in fame. They fight collectively so that
(04:20):
even someone more famous than Jesus won't be deported. This
is their story I America, Lindo.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
And dom Patti Rodriguez. This is Out of the Shadows,
a podcast about America's tangled history of immigration. Last season,
we tackled Ronald Reagan's nineteen eighty six Amnesty Act. This season,
we're tracing the origins of DACA, or Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals, a contentious executive order to protect undocumentedy young
(04:52):
people from being.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Deported issued by former President Obama in twenty twelve. DACA
was meant to be a temporary stop gap on a
broken immigration system.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
It was like.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Putting a bucket under a leaky roof. But with multiple
Supreme Court challenges and looming presidential elections, the root feels
like it can collapse at any moment, impacting the US economy,
American culture as we know it. Meanwhile, the future of
millions of lives hang in the balance.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Welcome to Out of the Shadows Dreamers. Hi, Eric, Hey,
I haven't seen you since yesterday. We're back.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Hello everyone. This is season two of Out of the Shadows,
and as you know, season one we talked about the
children of eighty six, our families, our parents who in
nineteen eighty six, received amnesty after President Ronald Reagan signed
a bill that allowed us to come out of the Shadows,
giving hope and opportunity to millions of our parents, millennials us,
(06:12):
giving us the opportunity to go after our dreams, raise
families without fear of deportation that for many years our
parents carried. And that's quite a privilege, absolutely, and that
is why we're here today to do season two of
(06:32):
Out of the Shadows. Because the immigration system was not
fixed in nineteen eighty six, there's still so much to
be done. For years, families have escaped war, poverty, violence,
and many times traveling with their children. And those children
are now adults who have made this country home, just
(06:53):
like you and I living in limbo in this country.
And for the last twenty years, they've been fighting to
stay in discuss try as they should because this is
their home. And for those listening, we know them as dreamers,
and we're here to tell their story.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yes, the dreamers DACA. If you don't know what DOCA is,
it's basically a piece of paper that allows you to
work and if you are a model citizen, they won't
deport you. But you're still undocumented. It's a very weird
(07:33):
in between ambivalent status that is constantly at risk of
going away and.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Eric, we've talked about the survivor's guilt. Maybe that's the
right word. If that pen hadn't touched that paper in
nineteen eighty six, we would still more than likely be
living in the shadows. But that wasn't our fate. We're
both aware that this immigration system is still very much broken,
(08:03):
and we have a responsibility to give our community. I
don't want to say the voiceless, because we're not voiceless,
give our community the platform to share their stories and
to understand that while there's more to us than immigration,
immigration is very much part of our community and we
(08:24):
can't ignore it because there's millions of undocumented individuals in
this country that make this country so beautiful. Yet they
don't have the privileges that you and I have because
of a freaking piece of paper.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yes, that is correct, I agree one hundred percent. You know,
last season, those stories were told by the people that
lived them, and I think it's important for the story
of Daca to be told by the people that live them,
and so that's what we're going to do this season.
We're going to tell the history of DACA as it's
unfolded and it continues to unfold, because, like I said,
it's a moving target. So we're going to tell that
(08:59):
history on this season. You ready, I'm ready, and go ahead,
let's go.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
In twenty twelve, President Obama issued the DOCA Executive Order,
changing the lives, at least for now, of close to
one million young undocumented individuals. It granted a two year
protection from deportation and a work permit. And while DOCA
has its flaws, which we'll definitely get into, it has
(09:32):
been around for over a decade. It has transformed millions
of people's lives. DOCTA recipients are our neighbors, your doctors,
your classmates, your co workers, your children's teachers, your lawyers. Currently,
DOCA is in very serious jeopardy. That's immigration lawyer Luis
(09:54):
Cortez Romero. I think the realistic probability is that the
doc is going to be oversea. Louise knows a lot
about DOCCA, since he's one of the people fighting to
save it again. See, over the course of its life
has been killed and brought back to life. And he's right,
DOCA is in constant danger. There are a bunch of
(10:14):
states suing the government to end it. Like right now
as we're recording this podcast, DOACA could end at any
minute because DOCA is not really in action. It's a pause,
and pauses usually get on paused. But in the decade
that DOCA has paused deportation for countless dreamers, they've become
(10:35):
an integral part of our communities, our economies, and our
very way of life. In other words, DOACA is a
pause that's kind of too big to fail.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
In some ways, DOCA is a direct result of the
nineteen eighty six amnesty bill known as ERCA that we
covered in Season one of Out of the Shadows. But
that was a story about a bill that would not die.
The story of DACA is about a generation of dreamers
that refuse to be ignored, people who refused to hide
in the shadows and fought a very public fight to
(11:07):
be recognized. But it's also because of a path opened
up by the nineteen eighty six law that gave our
parents a path toward a better life in the United States,
a path that opened up the American promise of upward
mobility to millions of immigrant families and that included a
bunch of kids who wanted nothing more than to get
(11:29):
a fair shot at an education. It's honestly hard to
pinpoint the exact beginning of DACA, but there's a couple
of places to start. One is the Dream Act, where
education became the most visible way to see immigration and
as unbelievable as it sounds. Another starting point is that
(11:49):
John lennoncase, and we'll get into it after the break.
Even though daca's story is in John Lennon's story, the
(12:09):
case we told you about at the top of the
show was influential in doca's creation as a law When my.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Dad met with John and you have to get his
book to believe this, and this is the liturgy in
my family.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
That's Michael Wilds. His father is Leon Wilds, John Lennon's
lawyer we told you about.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
He had no idea who John was. He came home
to my mom. My mom said, who were the heavyweights
he met with tonight? Leon, And he said, some actor
or singer, Jack Lennon and his wife Yoko Moto. You
have no idea how naive dad was.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Leon may have not known who John Lennon was, but
a lot of people did, including the president at the time,
Richard Nixon.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Lennon was placed in deportation proceedings by the Nixon administration.
The reason for the urgency to remove him at the
time was at nineteen seventy two, again, eighteen to twenty
one year olds were first enabled to vote in national elections.
Lennon was advocating that we get out of the Vietnam War,
and a great number of young people were listening. John
(13:14):
and Yoko were looking for a child that Yoko had
that was absconded by a prior husband, and the Beatle
wanted to live in the United States and exercise a
prosecutoral discretion. Was discovered when my dad sued the government
under the Freedom of Information Act and discovered this whole program.
It was like an iceberg. Most of it had been
(13:36):
hidden at the time.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Basically, what that means is that immigration officials could decide
whether or not to remove immigrants. Mike's father, Leon was ecstatic.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
My father used the word jubilation is now ninety when
eighteen hundred and forty three such a proof. Cases of drugsters, mobsters, burglars,
people who had done bad things were often led by
immigration to the ions in those days as a discussionary
tool to avoid removal for deportable aliens who had been
(14:12):
who had some special humanitarian reasons for remaining.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Michael believes that President Obama used that quote unquote Lenin
doctrine half a century later, and there.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Was a president forty five years later. It's now fifty
years but then forty five years later, President Obama rested
his hat on the hook that was placed by a
dreamer and a scholar, by John Lennon and my father,
Leon Wilds, because of that discovery in that case, there
are about a million people in the United States that
have the right to be here. You can say I'm
(14:50):
a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. That's a
famous stanza in the imagined song.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Yeah, he truly wasn't the only one. Because maybe the
Lenin case created the seeds for a deferred action plan
that was able to grow and help propel the hopes
of a bunch of undocumented kids who wanted to go
to college. They were called the dreamers.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
But not everyone agrees that the Lenin story is where
the story of Daka starts. Here's legendary journalist hor He ramos.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
I tend to see it separately. I mean, even though
they have many influences, and we can spend hours and
hours talking about the influences for the Dreamers, I wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Go back that far.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
I mean I would go back to twenty ten, to
the walk that three Dreamers and another immigrant made from
Miami to Washington, d C. I think that was incredibly important.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Ramos is referring to what's known as the Trail of Dreams.
Were Felippe Matos, Gai Pacheco, Carlos ro and Juandrodriguez, who
were college students in Miami Dade County the fifteen hundred
miles to Washington, d C. To raise awareness and support
for the Dream Act.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
From my point of view, everything started with that walk,
and then everything every single day. I still remember we
were reporting about them and they were still here, and
then the next day and they were still here, and
they were getting closer to DC and they were still
here and they were not deported. So actually they were,
I believe, testing the system. They were testing the waters,
(16:28):
they were testing the political system to see how far
they were willing to go. And I think they found
this new energy and new strategy that showed them that
things could change, and they were absolutely right.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Lizbeth Matteo came to the States when she was fourteen
years old and had the hope of being an attorney
one day.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
That was very naive, thinking that it would be easy
because counting and they hear her a couple of years
and go to school for a couple of years and
then go back to all have that and continue my
life and my dream will becoming an attorney.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
In many ways, Lizabeth's stream of being a lawyer is
like everyone's stream of doing something big. A lot of
her classmates wanted to be doctors and lawyers, but she
wasn't like a lot of her classmates.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
And once I finish high school, the role was I'm
going to go to college here.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
But dad dream seemed to vanish in an instant when
she went to apply to universities.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
And I remember my that try and telling me I'm
so sorry. It took me a second to realize why
he was saying sorry to me, and he said I'm
sorry that I brought you to this country and that
you'ren't documented.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
But Lizabeth was determined.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
I connected with other undocumented students and realized organizing is
an option. Here and maybe the only option to actually
changing things and realize we have to get involved to
actually change laws. Back when I first heard about the dream.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
At the Dream Act is how you guessed it. The
Dreamers get their name, And again it's not John Lennon's
song that gave birth to the Dream Act. It actually
started with a nondocumented person of color named Teresa Lee.
Out of the Shadows, We'll be right back. Teresa Lee
(18:38):
was born in Brazil to South Korean immigrants, before she
and her family landed in Chicago, where little Teresa Lee
began to attend American schools, make American friends, and dream
of who she would become when she grew up. But then,
when she was seven years old, her dad called her
and her brother into the living room were a very
important family meeting. He said, I have a secret to
(19:02):
tell you. Teresa was undocumented. Her status created a sharp
sense of fear and anxiety. She'd have nightmares about immigration
officials raiding her home and deporting her family. That fear
isolated her from others, and the only thing that calmed
her nerves was a piano. It brought her joy and purpose,
(19:27):
and she was really good at it. She was awarded
a scholarship to study music. She won a competition and
let a concert with the Chicago Symphony. Once it was
time to apply for college, she always told teachers and
mentors as she wouldn't apply, but one teacher insisted she
at least fill out some applications, and she did, except
(19:50):
she purposely left one box blank, the social security When
the teacher noticed a gap of information and brought up
to Teresa, she burst into tears. She had never told
anyone outside of her family her secret, her family secret.
This teacher helped her and led Teresa to the office
(20:13):
of a local politician who could help, Senator Dick Durbin.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
This all started the stream Act all started with this
young lady, Theresa Lee Korean, brought to the United States
the age of two, grew up in a poor family
in Chicago, and had an amazing musical talent. Was accepted
at the Manhattan Conservatory Music and the Juilliard School of Music,
and because she was undocumented, had no place to go.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
After hearing Teresa's story in the stories of other undocumented students,
Senator Durbin drafted a bill named the Development, Relief and
Education for Alien Miners Act, also known as a Dream Act,
bill would grant temporary residency, a work permit, and a
pathway to citizenship. It had the potential to be one
(21:08):
of the biggest immigration reforms since ERCA. The only problem
was that the Dream Act was introduced in two thousand
and one, the year that everything about the America Teresa
Lee knew changed Today. We've had a national tragedy.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center, and
an apparent terrorist attack on our.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Country nine eleven quickly changed the trajectory of how people
saw and treated immigrants, especially the undocumented ones. The public
was afraid of anyone perceived as an outsider, and after
the attacks on the Twin Towers, any foreign born person
could potentially be a terrorist. Tragically, the Dream Act failed
(21:56):
to pass, but activism continued.
Speaker 7 (22:00):
Today to ensure that this country continues to march towards
human rights for all. We are here today to say
that there must be a limit to how working people
are treated in this country. See say blood It, see
say plood it.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
C rights activists have long wielded public attention like a
blunt object. In the nineteen sixties, black civil rights organizers
use mass media to get their messages out and images
of violence against the black community were often held up
as a mirror showing America's ugly racism. There was power
(22:47):
in making a struggle visible, but if you're an un
documented immigrant, visibility means danger. Most immigrants are told to
hide their identity from the world like a shameful curse.
The shadows were dark, but they were safer than being seen.
Back in the late eighties, ERCA applicants were terrified to
(23:08):
apply because they would have to admit to La Migra
that they were living in the US illegally. But the
next generation of undocumented immigrants in the late two thousands
were astonishingly brave. They risked being seen by the world
and put themselves in danger of deportation to fight for
(23:28):
their humanity. The Dreamer movement is where undocumented peoples in
this country demanded in a very public way to be
recognized and given rights, forcing this country to see another
ugly side of itself.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
One of those at the heart of the Dreamer movement
was Lisbeth. Despite her status, she became more involved, participating
incidents and various protests. She put herself at risk because
she felt like she had no other choice, and this
put a tunne of st and her father.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
I remember telling me that, don't ever say that, because
it's not your fault, like you and my mom made
a decision to bring this year because he wanted to
give a better life, and we're going to get that
life right now. It's just, you know, we have to
work to make things better so that we get to
a point where we can actually fly. Yes, we're survival
more right now, but we're going to thrive someday.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Daca was born out of the Dream Act, and that
wouldn't have happened without Lizabeth Thereca, ly and countless other
people's willingness to come out of the shadows and declare
to the world I am undocumented and I deserve a
path to citizenship because, like the civil rights marches before them,
(24:46):
even like Lenin's immigration battles, the fight to create and
save Daca was a result of people who are supposed
to be the victims being the heroes of their own stories.
And this season and out of the Shadows, we're going
to tell you how it all went down, why the
situation remains a constant battle in the courts, and how
(25:09):
this generation of undocumented Americans are just built different.
Speaker 5 (25:16):
We get in kind of McCain's office, and we will
use to leave under something will change. And so we
were arrested as a results, not.
Speaker 8 (25:23):
Just because it was like Obama all of a sudden deciding, Oh,
should I need some brownie points? Let me give this
leaders like a couple of work permits. It's like no,
this fool was pushed against the wall to make this decision.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
I realized that I wasn't going to be able to
practice law.
Speaker 9 (25:37):
And I think that's where it gets dangerous, because I
feel like the whole notion of a dreamer, of like
who deserves, you know, to be granted, you know, permanent
status and whatnot, is always very much attached to this
idea that the dreamer is a perfect immigrant.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
This piece of paper really will change your life. Out
of the Shadows Dreamers is a se Medo production in
partnership with Iheart'smichael Duda podcast Network. It's created, hosted, and
(26:12):
executive produced by me Patti Rodriguez, and Eric Galindo. This
show is written by Sessa Hernandez and executive produced by
Jaselle Bancis. Our supervising producer is Arlene Santana's produced and
edited by Brianna Flores. Our associate producer is Claudia Marti Gorena,
sound design, mixing and mastering by Jessica Cranchich, and a
(26:34):
special thanks to all Our Dreamers. Remember to subscribe to
the podcast and share it. For more Michael Duda Podcast,
listen to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
Most people think that the origins of President Obama's twenty
twelve executive ordered DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,
started with the Dream Act and the Dreamer, and it did.
But in many ways, the seeds for DACA were planted
way back. Picture this. It's nineteen seventy two and there's
(00:34):
this guy, let's call him John, nervously walking down the
streets of New York with this lady and they each
got one eye over their shoulders, hair annoid. See. John's
in trouble. He's got a big mouth, a drug possession charge,
and normally it would be okay, especially in nineteen seventy two,
(00:58):
for a white dude to run his mouth and smoke
a little weed. But this saint no ordinary white dude.
John's an immigrant with no legal status, and he's afraid
that the nineteen seventy two equivalent of ICE is going
to scoop him up and deport him. John and his
(01:20):
lady get to their destination and knock on the door.
They're a few minutes late and it's locked, so John
knocks again, louder, looking over his shoulder one more time
as the door opened. Finally, this big shot immigration lawyer
is upset that John is late. Take it easy, man,
(01:42):
I'm under enough pressure as it is. The lawyer, a
guy named Leon Wilde, apologizes. They don't know it yet,
but these two white dudes are about to get into
a big fight with the US government that will change
the course of history for a bunch of black, brown
immigrants decades later, because Leon and John are gonna fight
(02:06):
for John's right to stay in this country using deferred action,
just like the Daka kids, the precedent that probably paved
the way for Obama's executive action to save the Dreamers
from deportation. And there's something oddly poetic about that, because
maybe you've never heard of Leon Wilds, John's lawyer, but
(02:29):
you've probably heard of John.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not
the only one. Yeah that John, as in the Beatles,
John Lennon, that fool was a dreamer in more ways
than his often quoted lyrics on imagine would lead us
to believe. John Lennon and his lawyer, Leon fought hard
(02:53):
in the courts and won using a secret program Leon
found called prosecutorial discretion, which basically says that immigration officials
could prioritize certain cases. John Lennon's deportation was paused indefinitely,
and that case became the basis for DACA. But as
(03:13):
inspiring as that story is, this is in John Lennon's story.
John Lennon uses fame and fortune to hire lawyers to
beat the system. The undocumented immigrant dreamers from my generation
had to become lawyers and publicists and pr agencies themselves
to fight the system. And not just lawyers, but undocumented lawyers,
(03:38):
fighting the very system that's trying to kill their dreams
and deport them from the only home they know. Two
lawyers in particular played a pivotal role in daca's formation
and survival. Being an undocumented lawyer gave them intimate knowledge
to help and serve their clients. They knew how to
(03:59):
help those who were to because they themselves were once detained.
These two and the larger collective of undocumented folk fought
and are fighting still so that the generation after them
doesn't inherit their struggle. They do well Lenin didn't with
all his millions in fame. They fight collectively so that
(04:20):
even someone more famous than Jesus won't be deported. This
is their story I America, Lindo.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
And dom Patti Rodriguez. This is Out of the Shadows,
a podcast about America's tangled history of immigration. Last season,
we tackled Ronald Reagan's nineteen eighty six Amnesty Act. This season,
we're tracing the origins of DACA, or Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals, a contentious executive order to protect undocumentedy young
(04:52):
people from being.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Deported issued by former President Obama in twenty twelve. DACA
was meant to be a temporary stop gap on a
broken immigration system.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
It was like.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Putting a bucket under a leaky roof. But with multiple
Supreme Court challenges and looming presidential elections, the root feels
like it can collapse at any moment, impacting the US economy,
American culture as we know it. Meanwhile, the future of
millions of lives hang in the balance.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Welcome to Out of the Shadows Dreamers. Hi, Eric, Hey,
I haven't seen you since yesterday. We're back.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Hello everyone. This is season two of Out of the Shadows,
and as you know, season one we talked about the
children of eighty six, our families, our parents who in
nineteen eighty six, received amnesty after President Ronald Reagan signed
a bill that allowed us to come out of the Shadows,
giving hope and opportunity to millions of our parents, millennials us,
(06:12):
giving us the opportunity to go after our dreams, raise
families without fear of deportation that for many years our
parents carried. And that's quite a privilege, absolutely, and that
is why we're here today to do season two of
(06:32):
Out of the Shadows. Because the immigration system was not
fixed in nineteen eighty six, there's still so much to
be done. For years, families have escaped war, poverty, violence,
and many times traveling with their children. And those children
are now adults who have made this country home, just
(06:53):
like you and I living in limbo in this country.
And for the last twenty years, they've been fighting to
stay in discuss try as they should because this is
their home. And for those listening, we know them as dreamers,
and we're here to tell their story.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yes, the dreamers DACA. If you don't know what DOCA is,
it's basically a piece of paper that allows you to
work and if you are a model citizen, they won't
deport you. But you're still undocumented. It's a very weird
(07:33):
in between ambivalent status that is constantly at risk of
going away and.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Eric, we've talked about the survivor's guilt. Maybe that's the
right word. If that pen hadn't touched that paper in
nineteen eighty six, we would still more than likely be
living in the shadows. But that wasn't our fate. We're
both aware that this immigration system is still very much broken,
(08:03):
and we have a responsibility to give our community. I
don't want to say the voiceless, because we're not voiceless,
give our community the platform to share their stories and
to understand that while there's more to us than immigration,
immigration is very much part of our community and we
(08:24):
can't ignore it because there's millions of undocumented individuals in
this country that make this country so beautiful. Yet they
don't have the privileges that you and I have because
of a freaking piece of paper.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yes, that is correct, I agree one hundred percent. You know,
last season, those stories were told by the people that
lived them, and I think it's important for the story
of Daca to be told by the people that live them,
and so that's what we're going to do this season.
We're going to tell the history of DACA as it's
unfolded and it continues to unfold, because, like I said,
it's a moving target. So we're going to tell that
(08:59):
history on this season. You ready, I'm ready, and go ahead,
let's go.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
In twenty twelve, President Obama issued the DOCA Executive Order,
changing the lives, at least for now, of close to
one million young undocumented individuals. It granted a two year
protection from deportation and a work permit. And while DOCA
has its flaws, which we'll definitely get into, it has
(09:32):
been around for over a decade. It has transformed millions
of people's lives. DOCTA recipients are our neighbors, your doctors,
your classmates, your co workers, your children's teachers, your lawyers. Currently,
DOCA is in very serious jeopardy. That's immigration lawyer Luis
(09:54):
Cortez Romero. I think the realistic probability is that the
doc is going to be oversea. Louise knows a lot
about DOCCA, since he's one of the people fighting to
save it again. See, over the course of its life
has been killed and brought back to life. And he's right,
DOCA is in constant danger. There are a bunch of
(10:14):
states suing the government to end it. Like right now
as we're recording this podcast, DOACA could end at any
minute because DOCA is not really in action. It's a pause,
and pauses usually get on paused. But in the decade
that DOCA has paused deportation for countless dreamers, they've become
(10:35):
an integral part of our communities, our economies, and our
very way of life. In other words, DOACA is a
pause that's kind of too big to fail.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
In some ways, DOCA is a direct result of the
nineteen eighty six amnesty bill known as ERCA that we
covered in Season one of Out of the Shadows. But
that was a story about a bill that would not die.
The story of DACA is about a generation of dreamers
that refuse to be ignored, people who refused to hide
in the shadows and fought a very public fight to
(11:07):
be recognized. But it's also because of a path opened
up by the nineteen eighty six law that gave our
parents a path toward a better life in the United States,
a path that opened up the American promise of upward
mobility to millions of immigrant families and that included a
bunch of kids who wanted nothing more than to get
(11:29):
a fair shot at an education. It's honestly hard to
pinpoint the exact beginning of DACA, but there's a couple
of places to start. One is the Dream Act, where
education became the most visible way to see immigration and
as unbelievable as it sounds. Another starting point is that
(11:49):
John lennoncase, and we'll get into it after the break.
Even though daca's story is in John Lennon's story, the
(12:09):
case we told you about at the top of the
show was influential in doca's creation as a law When my.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Dad met with John and you have to get his
book to believe this, and this is the liturgy in
my family.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
That's Michael Wilds. His father is Leon Wilds, John Lennon's
lawyer we told you about.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
He had no idea who John was. He came home
to my mom. My mom said, who were the heavyweights
he met with tonight? Leon, And he said, some actor
or singer, Jack Lennon and his wife Yoko Moto. You
have no idea how naive dad was.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Leon may have not known who John Lennon was, but
a lot of people did, including the president at the time,
Richard Nixon.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Lennon was placed in deportation proceedings by the Nixon administration.
The reason for the urgency to remove him at the
time was at nineteen seventy two, again, eighteen to twenty
one year olds were first enabled to vote in national elections.
Lennon was advocating that we get out of the Vietnam War,
and a great number of young people were listening. John
(13:14):
and Yoko were looking for a child that Yoko had
that was absconded by a prior husband, and the Beatle
wanted to live in the United States and exercise a
prosecutoral discretion. Was discovered when my dad sued the government
under the Freedom of Information Act and discovered this whole program.
It was like an iceberg. Most of it had been
(13:36):
hidden at the time.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Basically, what that means is that immigration officials could decide
whether or not to remove immigrants. Mike's father, Leon was ecstatic.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
My father used the word jubilation is now ninety when
eighteen hundred and forty three such a proof. Cases of drugsters, mobsters, burglars,
people who had done bad things were often led by
immigration to the ions in those days as a discussionary
tool to avoid removal for deportable aliens who had been
(14:12):
who had some special humanitarian reasons for remaining.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Michael believes that President Obama used that quote unquote Lenin
doctrine half a century later, and there.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Was a president forty five years later. It's now fifty
years but then forty five years later, President Obama rested
his hat on the hook that was placed by a
dreamer and a scholar, by John Lennon and my father,
Leon Wilds, because of that discovery in that case, there
are about a million people in the United States that
have the right to be here. You can say I'm
(14:50):
a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. That's a
famous stanza in the imagined song.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Yeah, he truly wasn't the only one. Because maybe the
Lenin case created the seeds for a deferred action plan
that was able to grow and help propel the hopes
of a bunch of undocumented kids who wanted to go
to college. They were called the dreamers.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
But not everyone agrees that the Lenin story is where
the story of Daka starts. Here's legendary journalist hor He ramos.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
I tend to see it separately. I mean, even though
they have many influences, and we can spend hours and
hours talking about the influences for the Dreamers, I wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Go back that far.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
I mean I would go back to twenty ten, to
the walk that three Dreamers and another immigrant made from
Miami to Washington, d C. I think that was incredibly important.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Ramos is referring to what's known as the Trail of Dreams.
Were Felippe Matos, Gai Pacheco, Carlos ro and Juandrodriguez, who
were college students in Miami Dade County the fifteen hundred
miles to Washington, d C. To raise awareness and support
for the Dream Act.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
From my point of view, everything started with that walk,
and then everything every single day. I still remember we
were reporting about them and they were still here, and
then the next day and they were still here, and
they were getting closer to DC and they were still
here and they were not deported. So actually they were,
I believe, testing the system. They were testing the waters,
(16:28):
they were testing the political system to see how far
they were willing to go. And I think they found
this new energy and new strategy that showed them that
things could change, and they were absolutely right.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Lizbeth Matteo came to the States when she was fourteen
years old and had the hope of being an attorney
one day.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
That was very naive, thinking that it would be easy
because counting and they hear her a couple of years
and go to school for a couple of years and
then go back to all have that and continue my
life and my dream will becoming an attorney.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
In many ways, Lizabeth's stream of being a lawyer is
like everyone's stream of doing something big. A lot of
her classmates wanted to be doctors and lawyers, but she
wasn't like a lot of her classmates.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
And once I finish high school, the role was I'm
going to go to college here.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
But dad dream seemed to vanish in an instant when
she went to apply to universities.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
And I remember my that try and telling me I'm
so sorry. It took me a second to realize why
he was saying sorry to me, and he said I'm
sorry that I brought you to this country and that
you'ren't documented.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
But Lizabeth was determined.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
I connected with other undocumented students and realized organizing is
an option. Here and maybe the only option to actually
changing things and realize we have to get involved to
actually change laws. Back when I first heard about the dream.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
At the Dream Act is how you guessed it. The
Dreamers get their name, And again it's not John Lennon's
song that gave birth to the Dream Act. It actually
started with a nondocumented person of color named Teresa Lee.
Out of the Shadows, We'll be right back. Teresa Lee
(18:38):
was born in Brazil to South Korean immigrants, before she
and her family landed in Chicago, where little Teresa Lee
began to attend American schools, make American friends, and dream
of who she would become when she grew up. But then,
when she was seven years old, her dad called her
and her brother into the living room were a very
important family meeting. He said, I have a secret to
(19:02):
tell you. Teresa was undocumented. Her status created a sharp
sense of fear and anxiety. She'd have nightmares about immigration
officials raiding her home and deporting her family. That fear
isolated her from others, and the only thing that calmed
her nerves was a piano. It brought her joy and purpose,
(19:27):
and she was really good at it. She was awarded
a scholarship to study music. She won a competition and
let a concert with the Chicago Symphony. Once it was
time to apply for college, she always told teachers and
mentors as she wouldn't apply, but one teacher insisted she
at least fill out some applications, and she did, except
(19:50):
she purposely left one box blank, the social security When
the teacher noticed a gap of information and brought up
to Teresa, she burst into tears. She had never told
anyone outside of her family her secret, her family secret.
This teacher helped her and led Teresa to the office
(20:13):
of a local politician who could help, Senator Dick Durbin.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
This all started the stream Act all started with this
young lady, Theresa Lee Korean, brought to the United States
the age of two, grew up in a poor family
in Chicago, and had an amazing musical talent. Was accepted
at the Manhattan Conservatory Music and the Juilliard School of Music,
and because she was undocumented, had no place to go.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
After hearing Teresa's story in the stories of other undocumented students,
Senator Durbin drafted a bill named the Development, Relief and
Education for Alien Miners Act, also known as a Dream Act,
bill would grant temporary residency, a work permit, and a
pathway to citizenship. It had the potential to be one
(21:08):
of the biggest immigration reforms since ERCA. The only problem
was that the Dream Act was introduced in two thousand
and one, the year that everything about the America Teresa
Lee knew changed Today. We've had a national tragedy.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center, and
an apparent terrorist attack on our.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Country nine eleven quickly changed the trajectory of how people
saw and treated immigrants, especially the undocumented ones. The public
was afraid of anyone perceived as an outsider, and after
the attacks on the Twin Towers, any foreign born person
could potentially be a terrorist. Tragically, the Dream Act failed
(21:56):
to pass, but activism continued.
Speaker 7 (22:00):
Today to ensure that this country continues to march towards
human rights for all. We are here today to say
that there must be a limit to how working people
are treated in this country. See say blood It, see
say plood it.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
C rights activists have long wielded public attention like a
blunt object. In the nineteen sixties, black civil rights organizers
use mass media to get their messages out and images
of violence against the black community were often held up
as a mirror showing America's ugly racism. There was power
(22:47):
in making a struggle visible, but if you're an un
documented immigrant, visibility means danger. Most immigrants are told to
hide their identity from the world like a shameful curse.
The shadows were dark, but they were safer than being seen.
Back in the late eighties, ERCA applicants were terrified to
(23:08):
apply because they would have to admit to La Migra
that they were living in the US illegally. But the
next generation of undocumented immigrants in the late two thousands
were astonishingly brave. They risked being seen by the world
and put themselves in danger of deportation to fight for
(23:28):
their humanity. The Dreamer movement is where undocumented peoples in
this country demanded in a very public way to be
recognized and given rights, forcing this country to see another
ugly side of itself.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
One of those at the heart of the Dreamer movement
was Lisbeth. Despite her status, she became more involved, participating
incidents and various protests. She put herself at risk because
she felt like she had no other choice, and this
put a tunne of st and her father.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
I remember telling me that, don't ever say that, because
it's not your fault, like you and my mom made
a decision to bring this year because he wanted to
give a better life, and we're going to get that
life right now. It's just, you know, we have to
work to make things better so that we get to
a point where we can actually fly. Yes, we're survival
more right now, but we're going to thrive someday.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Daca was born out of the Dream Act, and that
wouldn't have happened without Lizabeth Thereca, ly and countless other
people's willingness to come out of the shadows and declare
to the world I am undocumented and I deserve a
path to citizenship because, like the civil rights marches before them,
(24:46):
even like Lenin's immigration battles, the fight to create and
save Daca was a result of people who are supposed
to be the victims being the heroes of their own stories.
And this season and out of the Shadows, we're going
to tell you how it all went down, why the
situation remains a constant battle in the courts, and how
(25:09):
this generation of undocumented Americans are just built different.
Speaker 5 (25:16):
We get in kind of McCain's office, and we will
use to leave under something will change. And so we
were arrested as a results, not.
Speaker 8 (25:23):
Just because it was like Obama all of a sudden deciding, Oh,
should I need some brownie points? Let me give this
leaders like a couple of work permits. It's like no,
this fool was pushed against the wall to make this decision.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
I realized that I wasn't going to be able to
practice law.
Speaker 9 (25:37):
And I think that's where it gets dangerous, because I
feel like the whole notion of a dreamer, of like
who deserves, you know, to be granted, you know, permanent
status and whatnot, is always very much attached to this
idea that the dreamer is a perfect immigrant.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
This piece of paper really will change your life. Out
of the Shadows Dreamers is a se Medo production in
partnership with Iheart'smichael Duda podcast Network. It's created, hosted, and
(26:12):
executive produced by me Patti Rodriguez, and Eric Galindo. This
show is written by Sessa Hernandez and executive produced by
Jaselle Bancis. Our supervising producer is Arlene Santana's produced and
edited by Brianna Flores. Our associate producer is Claudia Marti Gorena,
sound design, mixing and mastering by Jessica Cranchich, and a
(26:34):
special thanks to all Our Dreamers. Remember to subscribe to
the podcast and share it. For more Michael Duda Podcast,
listen to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
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.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.