Latino USA

This year marks the 10th anniversary since the policy of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was put in place. It has been described as “extraordinarily successful,” benefiting more than 800,000 people. However, it still doesn’t offer a pathway to legal permanent residency or citizenship. This instability has driven many young immigrants to return to their countries of origin, even if it means abandoning the life they knew. In this episode of Latino USA, you will hear the untold stories of forced return through the voices of Maggie, Madaí and Esme, three women who are trying to form a life in Mexico after growing up in the U.S. and who found their community where they least expected it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When 8-year-old Relisha Rudd disappeared from a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C. in 2014, nobody noticed. By the time police appeared at the homeless shelter where Relisha lived with her family, 18 days had passed since she’d been seen at school or in the shelter. Click here to subscribe for more episodes of Through the Cracks.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the Latino USA archives, producer Marlon Bishop travels to the Dominican-Haitian border to unpack the history of what happened during the Perejil Massacre of 1937—and what are the consequences today. This episode originally aired on October 6, 2017.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a Zapotec and Maya Ch’orti’ environmental scientist, Dr. Jessica Hernandez has always found academia to be a hostile place. She had looked forward to sharing what she learned from her grandmother and father about nature as an undergraduate student, but her lived experiences and knowledge were dismissed and sometimes mocked by her professors. Now, Dr. Hernandez is working to change how we think about environmental sciences by centering Indigenous science to heal our planet, because she knows Western conservationism isn’t working.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If some Latinos hear "la doctora," it doesn’t evoke the image of a medical doctor. Instead, it’s that of a Cuban American attorney-turned-show host who sings her own theme song. In 2001, Doctora Polo had been practicing family law for over 20 years in Miami when she was hired to host a new court show on Telemundo that would later become "Caso Cerrado." It often aired for multiple hours a day on Telemundo and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy. In this episode of "Latino USA," Doctora Polo reflects on her role as a Latina entertainer and the phenomenon of "Caso Cerrado" in Latinx pop culture.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Futuro Studios and Sonoro Chalino grew up surrounded by violence in a humble town in Sinaloa. But his life takes a turn for the worse when a group of men attack his sister. That day he promises to avenge her. Years later, when he is given his first pistol, Chalino is believed to have stalked one of the attackers at a party. This event gives rise to the first theory about who could have killed Chalino. For more episodes, subscribe here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Futuro Studios and Sonoro Narcocorrido superstar Chalino Sánchez sings to a sold-out crowd for the first time in Sinaloa. It's the best night of his career until someone hands him a note. His face turns pale and his smile slowly disappears. That night, after the show, Chalino will be executed. But who killed him and why? We begin a journey to understand Chalino's life and impact, and the theories behind his unsolved murder. For more episodes, subscribe here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Latino USA is featuring a recent Latino Rebels Radio episode where host Julio Ricardo Varela welcomes Chilean historian and journalist Camila Vergara to discuss Chile’s historic elections and how new political mechanisms will be required to loosen the grip of reactionary forces in an effort to radically redraft the Constitution. For more Latino Rebels Radio shows, subscribe here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It has been over seven years since 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College in Guerrero, Mexico, were taken by armed men in the middle of the night. They were never seen again. Their disappearance sparked mass protests, as the 43 became symbols of Mexico’s unchecked human rights abuses. In recent decades, tens of thousands of people have gone missing in Mexico, and almost no one has been held accountable. The culture of impunity is so ingrained that families often don’t go to police for help, believing they’re either corrupt or too afraid to investigate. In the first part of a three-part investigation of the Ayotzinapa case, Reveal’s Anayansi Diaz-Cortes and Kate Doyle from the National Security Archive take us inside the investigation into the attack on the students. For parts two and three, go to the Reveal podcast feed.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Veronique Medrano is a Tejano and Spanish Country singer from Brownsville, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley. Veronique finds inspiration as an artist from her experiences living on the border, her Mexican-American identity and her everyday life. On this How I Made It segment, Veronique walks us through the origins and diversity of Tejano music, being a woman in a male-dominated industry and the importance of archiving and preserving the genre for future generations.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two boys, Mexican-American, 1987, El Paso, Texas… and they fall in love. That’s the pitch behind Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s bestselling young adult novel, “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.” Nearly a decade later, Benjamin would release the book’s sequel, “Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World,” to wide acclaim. For both books, Benjamin drew inspiration from his life growing up near the border in New Mexico. But he didn’t immediately begin writing full-time—Benjamin was a priest for several years until he left the order just before turning 30. He eventually followed his calling to be a writer and moved to El Paso, where he would write several award-winning books including “Aristotle and Dante.” The novels would become a massive, queer young adult hit that spoke to hundreds of thousands of readers around the world. Benjamin, a gay Latino man himself who came out just a few years before the book was published, found solace in the characters, too. On this episode of Latino USA, Benjamin talks about his journey from the borderlands to the priesthood and back to El Paso again. He also discusses “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe”—the book that he says saved his life and became a surprise international phenomenon along the way.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For this special Latino USA presentation of In The Thick, Maria and Julio are joined by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, historian, writer and professor at Princeton University, and Adam Goodman, professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, for a conversation about the deep-rooted history of white supremacy in this country. They discuss their chapters in a new anthology titled A Field Guide to White Supremacy, and also get into how white supremacy manifests in our society today, from the immigration system to policing. You can subscribe to In The Thick here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Juan Castillo escaped the Civil War in El Salvador and fled to the U.S. in search of freedom. He was barely a teenager when he arrived and soon fell into the wrong crowd. After being accused and convicted of a murder he denies having committed, he’s been striving to make a life in prison for the last 26 years. Now, as ICE is trying to deport him, he’s fighting to not only find freedom again, but remain in the only country he knows. Juan tells the story of how he transformed his life, became a religious guide for fellow prisoners and detainees, and relied on art and literature to reach beyond the bars that confine him.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

José Hernandez began modeling a couple years ago after a photoshoot of his went viral in 2018. The main image showed him holding a rooster, glammed up in a look that can only be described as Queer Chicano Chic, with glowing skin, a tight fade, cowboy boots, and a luscious mustache. Since then José has been booked and busy. He’s worked with brands such as NYX Cosmetics, Facebook, and Grindr, and walking down the runways at LA and New York Fashion Week. Though beauty standards in the modeling industry are among the most narrow in fashion, José is challenging those preconceptions and embracing his own aesthetic in his modeling, influenced by Mexican rancheros and 90s L.A. street style. In this episode of Latino USA, José Hernandez speaks about beauty, community, and representation—not only on the runway, but behind the scenes, where he believes it truly matters.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While tango is usually pictured as a dance between a white man in an elegant black suit and a white woman in high heels, and a tight red dress, the reality of tango goes much deeper. Born in the brothels and dance halls of Buenos Aires’ lower caste, this music and dance is actually rooted in Argentina’s African and queer subcultures. Before it became the defining music of Argentina, tango was actually condemned by elites and the Catholic church, which saw it as obscene and transgressive. The dance’s reign was also threatened by the worldwide phenomenon of rock n’ roll and then all but buried by Argentina's Dirty War. When tango began its revival in the 1980s and 90s, a new era of tango artists began challenging rigid norms established in the early half of the 20th century. Breaking from traditional gender roles and shining a light on the Black history of tango, these artists aimed to invoke tango’s past to make way for a more inclusive future. In this episode, we travel to Argentina and meet three women who will help us to understand the controversial roots of tango and how they are helping to give new life to a dance very much rooted in tradition.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chicago is a breeding ground for diverse sounds: it is the birthplace of house music and has a thriving indie hip-hop scene. One of the city's up-and-coming artists is Kaina Castillo. Known simply as KAINA, the 23-year-old singer-songwriter blends genres like soul and rock, creating dreamy soundscapes. A Latina of Venezuelan and Guatemalan descent, she writes about struggling with her identity, all while uplifting her immigrant roots. In this "How I Made It" segment, KAINA tells us about what it was like growing up with a small family, making a name for herself in Chicago’s vibrant music scene and the inspiration behind her music. This podcast originally aired on October 8, 2019.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Armando Christian Pérez —better known as Pitbull— is a rapper, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, brand ambassador and has a whole host of other job titles. As his nearly two-decade-long career has diversified, his image and brand have solidified. He rose to prominence off bilingual records hits like "Culo" and "Toma" in the early 2000s and became a household name thanks to wedding and quinceañera classics like "Give Me Everything" and "Time of Our Lives." Today, the Latino demographic that helped catapult Pitbull to the top music charts is facing greater open discrimination than at any other point during Pitbull's career. During a day with Pitbull, the Cuban-American entertainer opens up about his thoughts on the state of immigration, why he won't stop making music with Chris Brown, and how country music is not just for white folk. This podcast episode originally aired on October 11, 2019.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The musical genres most people associate with the Dominican Republic are merengue and bachata. Yet, there's another set of rhythms that are essential to the spirit of the country, and that's Afro-Dominican roots music. That's where the band Yasser Tejeda & Palotré come in. They blend some of the country's black roots rhythms like palo, salve and sarandunga, with jazz and rock to bring a new spin to local sounds—and to reimagine what it means to be Dominican. In this segment of "How I Made It," the band's frontman Yasser Tejeda walks us through the inspiration behind their latest album "Kijombo," and the making of the single "Amor Arrayano," which is all about love across the Dominican-Haitian border. This podcast episode originally aired on February 25, 2020See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Latino USA and Black Public Media bring you Alzheimer’s in Color, a 2021 Gracie Awards winner. It’s the story of Ramona Latty, a Dominican immigrant, told by her daughter Yvonne, and it mirrors countless other families of color navigating a disease that is ravaging the Latino community. It’s been four years now since Ramona was diagnosed. Four years of the lonely journey, which in the end her daughter walks alone, because her mom has no idea what day it is, how old she is or where she is. Ramona lives in a nursing home and COVID-19, and months of separation have accelerated the disease, and Yvonne’s despair. This podcast episode originally aired on September 11, 2020.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When vocalist, composer and multi-media performance artist Stefa Marin Alarcon — also known as STEFA — takes the stage, it feels like walking through a portal into somewhere that is both past and future. Born and raised in Queens, NY to Colombian immigrant parents, STEFA’s music explores themes such as reconnecting with their ancestors and falling in love under capitalism. On this How I Made It segment, Stefa talks about their journey as a multifaceted artist creating their own origin stories as a non-binary, indigenous person trying to find home in their body.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mexico is the most dangerous place for journalists in the world. And Lydia Cacho —a Mexican investigative journalist who worked in the country for over 30 years— knows this first hand: in 2005, she was kidnapped and tortured after uncovering an international child trafficking network. But that didn’t stop Lydia; she continued working, denouncing violence against women and children. Those after her didn’t stop either. In 2019, after they struck yet again, Lydia was forced to flee Mexico. In this episode of Latino USA, Lydia opens up about this latest attack, what it’s like to live and work in exile, and how she takes care of her mental health as a journalist.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For this special Latino USA presentation of In The Thick, Maria and Julio are joined by Al Letson, host of Reveal and the new podcast series, “Mississippi Goddamn: The Ballad of Billey Joe.” Billey Joe Johnson Jr. was a Black high school football star who was found dead in Lucedale, Mississippi in 2008 after being pulled over by a white cop. They get into his story, the problematic history of investigations when it comes to suspicious deaths of Black people in Mississippi, and journalists’ responsibility when covering these tragic stories.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lupe Salazar is a grandmother in Chimayó, northern New Mexico on a mission to disrupt the cycle of opioid addiction and the trauma caused by it in her rural community. The region has long been an epicenter of drug overdose deaths – long before the national opioid epidemic was declared a national emergency. After her son began using heroin in jail when he was 18, Lupe realized the systems in place were doing a better job keeping him incarcerated than helping him access treatment for addiction. So, Lupe went back to college to learn for herself about addiction and how integrating holistic healing, like curanderismo, could help her community heal. In this episode of Latino USA we follow Lupe’s mission to help heal a community fractured by generations of opioid use and overdose, dismantle the stigma shrouding addiction and treatment and reintegrate the with traditional and indigenous healing practices – all while trying to address her son’s ongoing opioid use and keep him alive.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the late 2010s, dreamy, nostalgic music produced from the homes of young, independent artists became hugely popular, especially online. This style of music would be called bedroom pop, and today, a quick search on streaming sites comes up with hundreds of hits. Even bedroom pop is a new term for you, chances are you might recognize songs or artists in this genre—including a lot of the young Latinx artists who are pioneering the bedroom pop sound. Among them is Victor Internet. Victor has been outspoken about their career and insists that there’s more behind bedroom pop than meets the eye: making music from home is a real struggle, especially as a young person of color with limited access to money and resources. And as bedroom pop blows up, they want to make sure the reality for so many musicians like him doesn’t get lost. On this episode of Latino USA, we dive into the making of Victor’s bedroom pop stardom and break down the challenges of making it as a young independent artist today.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For Dr. Miguel Cardona, growing up in a Puerto Rican household in Meriden, Connecticut —straddling two languages and two cultures— uniquely prepared him for his role as Secretary of Education. He comes to the department at a moment when education in the country has both new and long-lasting challenges: systemic inequities that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this conversation, Secretary Cardona shares what it was like to grow up in a Latino home in Connecticut, the possibility of bilingual education for all students, and what the Department of Education is doing to meet the challenges of returning to school amidst a continuing global pandemic.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Las Cafeteras are a band out of East LA that met while doing community organizing. They began playing at the Eastside Cafe, where they discovered Son Jarocho, traditional Afro-Mexican music from Veracruz. They quickly began to adapt the music to their realities fusing it with hip hop, rock, ska, and spoken word. They are known for their politically charged lyrics, speaking out against injustices within the immigrant community and their experiences as Chicanos in East LA. For this “How I Made It” segment, we sat down with members of the group to discuss how they got started, and their work to tell and preserve brown stories. This story originally aired on November 10, 2020.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On March 14, 2020, Martha Escudero and her two daughters became the first of a dozen unhoused families to occupy one of over a hundred vacant houses in El Sereno, Los Angeles. Some call them squatters, but they call themselves the Reclaimers. The houses the Reclaimers occupied actually belong to a state agency that purchased the houses in the 1960’s in order to demolish them and build a freeway through this largely Latinx and immigrant neighborhood. This is the story of one of these houses, and its residents, past and present, who have fought to make it their home. This story originally aired on November 6, 2020.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Latino USA presents another episode from the new season of Port of Entry, which focuses on artists and musicians who’ve turned pain into superpowers. Mexican musician Javier Bátiz could very likely have been world famous had he headed north of the border with his good friend and bandmate Carlos Santana back in the 1960s. But instead, Javier went south to Mexico City, where he built a successful career in the country he loves. In this new episode of Port of Entry, we look into how Javier’s life, decisions and decades-long musical career have brought him internal peace and fulfillment he says is far more important to him than reaching the high-level fame his friend Carlos found. Subscribe to Port of Entry here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How does technology affect labor? How are tech corporations like Uber and Lyft redefining what it means to be a worker in the United States? California has been ground zero for cementing the “gig work” business model of these companies into law. A year ago this month, the state passed Proposition 22 to allow app-based firms like Uber and Lyft to classify their drivers as contractors instead of employees. In this episode of Latino USA we follow a group of drivers who are mobilizing across California – and using their own technology to take on Big Tech. Their fight is not only about their own labor protections as drivers, but a battle to prevent this labor model from spreading to other sectors of the U.S. economy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before winning not one or two, but 15 Emmy’s for television writing, and before she became one of the first Latinas on television when she took on the role of “Maria” on Sesame Street in 1971, Sonia Manzano was a curious and imaginative little girl growing up in the South Bronx, a working class neighborhood in New York City. On this “How I Made It” segment, Sonia talks about discovering her love for television writing, and her new animated show: “Alma’s Way.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the 1960s and 70s, a community of Latinx poets in New York City created a movement. They called themselves the Nuyorican poets. Together, they broke barriers and built a cultural institution: the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. The Nuyorican Poets Café began as an informal literary salon in Miguel Algarín’s apartment living room, one of the movement’s founding poets. But soon after, Miguel and his fellow writers realized that they needed to expand to accommodate the growing roster of artists who frequented the space. They moved into a new venue nearby, and by 1981 they relocated again to the Nuyorican’s current location in New York City’s Alphabet City. Today, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe is a haven for Black and Latinx writers and performers. In this episode of Latino USA, we stage a spoken history of the cafe featuring several artists from its storied past. We hear from poets Poet Jesús “Papoleto” Meléndez and Caridad de la Luz, known as “La Bruja,” playwright Ishmael Reed, and artist and archivist Lois Elaine Griffith.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For Ayodele Casel, tap dancing is magic. As a young high school student, she dreamed of one day dancing like Ginger Rogers as she recreated Ginger’s moves in her bedroom–but it wasn’t until Casel was a sophomore at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts that she took her first tap dancing class. That was her entry point into the art form which would eventually lead to a more than 20-year career as a professional tap dancer. As a Black and Puerto Rican woman, Casel didn’t see herself reflected in the mainstream image of tap dancers because the form has been largely whitewashed through systematic racism. For that reason, she works tirelessly to remind her audiences that tap is deeply rooted in Black art and culture. In this “How I Made It” segment, Casel takes us through her tap journey and reclaims tap dancing as a Black art form.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the late 1800s, Teresa Urrea was a superstar. She was a “curandera,” (a healer), a revolutionary, and a feminist. At only 19 years old. she was exiled from Mexico by dictator Porfirio Díaz, who called her the most dangerous girl in the country. She moved to El Paso, Texas. Urrea also had a miraculous power: she could heal people through touch. Her vision of love and equality for all people regardless of gender, race, and class inspired rebellions against the Díaz dictatorship, earning her the title of the “Mexican Joan of Arc.” In this episode of Latino USA, we follow Urrea’s life and honor the legacy of a revolutionary woman decades ahead of her time.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On August 13, 1521, a few hundred Spanish conquistadors, led by Hernan Cortés, declared the fall of the Aztec Empire. On the 500-year anniversary of that invasion, director Rodrigo Reyes presents 499, a film —part documentary, part fiction— that explores the violent legacy of the Spanish conquest. In 499, an anonymous conquistador is shipwrecked on the shores of present-day Mexico. After discovering that he is in the 21st century, this ghostly figure starts to retrace the steps he walked five centuries before—only now he is forced to witness the brutal consequences of hundreds of years of colonialism.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The social distancing measures put in place during the pandemic have exposed how vital – and hard – it is to take care of children, the elderly, sick and disabled people. And if that wasn’t enough, families had to look after their own homes without any external help. It's women who are bearing the heaviest burden of caregiving labor – especially Latinas. Latinas are dropping out of the workforce at a higher rate than any other group during the pandemic. Latinas are also overrepresented in paid caregiving and domestic work, and the covid-19 lockdowns left the majority of them out of work. How essential is caregiving for a society to properly function? Is it in fact as vital as roads, bridges, and light posts? And should governments invest in caregiving the same way they invest in infrastructure? In this episode, we dive into the high cost of caregiving labor for so many women, through the story of Daniela Contreras.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In July, massive protests erupted in Cuba against the one-party government that has ruled for over 60 years. One protester died and thousands were detained. In this Latino USA episode, we look at the root causes behind the protests and how the left is being redefined in a conversation with Carolina Barrero, an art historian based in Havana who is part of a movement of dissident artists, and who has been in house arrest for more than three months.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lifting weights and being physically strong has long been culturally associated with men. But within strength sports, there’s a category that’s become increasingly popular among women too: powerlifting. Powerlifting, which consists of lifting the heaviest weight possible in the squat, the bench press and the deadlift exercises, has exploded onto the regimens of beginner to experienced gym goers. Women are making a big impact in the sport and challenging all notions of what it means to be strong. In this episode of Latino USA, we follow Denise Juarez and Jasmine Idrogo, two elite Latina powerlifters who take us on their journey to qualify for the 2021 national powerlifting competition – and show us how they break stereotypes, battle machismo, and own your power, all while lifting some serious weight.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Latino USA is proud to present a preview of a new podcast by Futuro Unidad Hinojosa, the newest editorial division from Maria Hinojosa and Futuro Media. Starring Emmy award-winning actress Karrueche Tran, We Imagine… Us: The Long Way Around is Futuro's first-ever fiction podcast series. It tells the story of a Black American father and his Black Vietnamese American daughter who set out across the United States in hope of rebuilding their lives. Offering a clear-eyed look at real-world struggles many communities in our country face today, its core message is that through solidarity we can make change. In this episode, Albert "Bumpy" Watkins, after serving three years in prison, is released into a post-Covid America, where he has to navigate his new status as a formerly incarcerated person and his new role as a single parent to teenager Mercy Watkins. We Imagine... Us: The Long Way Around premieres October 27. Subscribe here to enjoy full episodes, a companion factual series and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

August 7, 2019 forever changed the lives of many immigrants in Mississippi. Almost 700 people were taken by ICE that day in the largest single state immigration raid in the country. Latino USA continues its reporting in Mississippi and heads back to the state to follow-up with some of the people we met in last year’s episode, After the Mississippi Raids, to see what’s changed and what hasn’t in their lives and their communities. We also dive into the racial history behind the chicken processing business in the South and the vicious cycle of an industry that continues to exploit the most vulnerable.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Throughout the year, Latino USA will begin to feature podcasts from independent Latino and Latina creators as a way to shine a light on the work they do by passing the mic on to them. The first show we are featuring on our feed is Locatora Radio—an independent podcast based out of Los Angeles that blends humor, pop culture analysis and interviews with artists to engage listeners in nuanced discussions about feminism, sexual wellness, arts and culture for a modern Latinx audience. In this episode of Locatora, hosts Mala and Diosa dive into the topic of “Faketinas,” or a person without roots in Latin America who masquerades as Latinx in order to obtain jobs, scholarships, titles and opportunities meant for people of Latin American descent.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

August 7th, 2019 was the day that tore apart an unlikely community of Guatemalan immigrants in central Mississippi. A year ago, hundreds of ICE agents arrived at seven chicken processing plants and arrested 680 workers. Many of them were fathers and mothers whose kids were left behind for days, weeks, or even months. Today, many families are still dealing with the consequences of those arrests, many remain unable to work, as they grapple with the traumatic psychological repercussions. Latino USA traveled to the heart of Mississippi to hear about the long term effects of the largest single-state immigration raid in U.S. history. This episode originally aired in August of 2020.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Roller skating has experienced a resurgence during the pandemic with videos of people dancing on roller skates blowing up on tik tok, but many do not know where these moves come from, and the role that Black skaters and skaters of color have played in keeping roller skating alive and accessible for their communities. For Amy Collado, founder of Butter Roll- a New York based social enterprise focused on Black, Indigenous and POC wellness through roller skating & the arts- the history of roller skating is personal. Amy recalls her mother’s memories of coming of age on the roller rinks back in 1970’s Brooklyn- memories that connect her to a legacy of joy, resistance, and community.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we report on the origins of privately-run immigration detention centers and ask: “Are these places actually necessary?” The unprecedented health crisis created by the coronavirus forced the release of thousands of migrants across the country, plunging the number of people detained in immigration facilities to a historic low. And despite the dwindling detention numbers, the immigration court system never collapsed. So this begs the question: did we ever need detention facilities in the first place?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of In The Thick, Maria and Maria and guest co-host Jamilah King, deputy inequality editor at BuzzFeed News, are joined by Lina-Maria Murillo, assistant professor of gender, women’s and sexuality studies, and history, at the University of Iowa, and Veronica Martinez, journalist covering gender and immigration, for a conversation about reproductive justice. They unpack the latest on the Texas abortion ban and Mexico’s Supreme Court ruling that decriminalizes abortion, and also get into how people historically have crossed these borders for abortion care. To subscribe to In The Thick, click here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a new migration reality, women and children are requesting asylum in Mexico at higher rates than men. But even as more women are crossing borders in long and dangerous journeys, many hoping to ultimately reach the United States, we rarely hear about their stories and what it’s like to migrate undocumented when you’re a woman. For women, their body takes a central role when they’re in transit, regardless of their age. Some are forced to disguise their gender for protection, others end up using it for survival, and many are victimized because of it. Many are also mothers and carry their children with them. In this episode of Latino USA, we travel to Mexico’s southern border and meet several migrant women in different stages of their journey north–from a teenage Honduran traveling alone to a Cuban woman who was sexually abused and a Guatemalan single mother who survived domestic violence.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sandy Fleurimond, a first generation Haitian-American student at Temple university in Philadelphia, was looking forward to her senior year of college. She dreamed of studying abroad and graduating on a field full of friends and family. But being a college student in 2020, meant that many of these long-awaited milestones didn't go according to plan. In collaboration with Philly Audio Diaries, Sandy shares her story of loss and growth after the pandemic flipped her senior year of college upside down.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

LOUD is a new podcast from Futuro Studios that tells the story behind Reggaeton. In this episode, El General arrives in Brooklyn in the mid-80s to find a booming dancehall scene underway and links up with Jamaican producers who start recording and promoting Panamanian artists. Around the same time, a Spanish-language hip-hop revolution is taking place as mixtapes fly back and forth from NYC and Puerto Rico, led by legendary rapper Vico C.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Going for Broke is about Americans on the edge. They’ve lost jobs, lost their homes and sometimes lost the narrative thread of their lives. It’s hard stuff but you’ll find hope in the people themselves. And later in each episode, you’ll hear solutions that come from lived experience rather than conventional experts. In this special preview episode exclusive to Latino USA, famed reporter Ray Suarez tells the shocking story of how his illustrious career fell apart in middle age. It revealed to him firsthand the crisis facing older workers. It also gave him insights into how to fix our condition. Going for Broke is a new podcast series premiering in October from the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Nation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The September 11th attacks left nearly 3,000 dead, many more injured and an entire nation traumatized. The 24-hour news cycle that followed focused endlessly on the identity of the terrorists: non-citizens who had been able to exploit “vulnerabilities” in the system. The United States government responded with harsh policy changes in the name of national security, including the Patriot Act, but it also focused the weight of policy making on curving immigration, funding astronomical budgets to further tighten borders, and toughening enforcement against non-citizens — including Muslims, Latinos, and others with zero ties to terrorism. In this episode, we explore major changes and events over the past 20 years that forever changed the U.S. immigration system through the lens of this one catastrophic day.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Latino USA is proud to present another Futuro Media show that Maria Hinojosa co-hosts: In The Thick, a podcast about politics, race and culture from a POC perspective. In this episode of In The Thick, Maria and co-host Julio Ricardo Varela are joined by Norma Flores López, Chief Programs Officer at Justice for Migrant Women, and Reyna Lopez, Executive Director of Oregon’s largest farmworker union. They dive into how the record heat waves are affecting farmworkers, how the history of farming is rooted in slavery and what is needed to provide protection as well as a pathway to citizenship for farmworkers. To subscribe to In The Thick, click here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.