American Refugee

They came here as young children, brought illegally into the country.

They've since grown up here, been educated here, work here, the children of undocumented immigrants who are still considered illegal.

They are the Dreamers, an estimated 750,000 of them, protected by deferred action stopping ICE from deporting them.

But that deferral might come to an end. Soon.

You're about to hear what's at stake for children of undocumented immigrants who've been dreaming for so long to finally be called American.

This is American Refugee.

FEATURING:

Carlos Reyes Roja, Dreamer

Eleazar VillaGomez, Dreamer

Veena Iyer, Executive Director, ILCM

Mackenzie Heinrichs, Equal Justice fellow, ILCM

Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, United We Dream

Juli Graber, lawyer, sister, sage

León Rodríguez, former Director, USCIS

Gwyn Moss, Community Program Manager, Ruckus Entrepreneurs

Written, Engineered & Produced: Sam Graber

Music: Rare Medium, New Sound Underground, Purple Funk Metropolis

Recorded: Northfield, MN; Minneapolis, MN

Original Release: November 2021

https://odaction.com/americanrefugee

He's a black man with a pit bull.

You're about to join Sam Reeves, a black man from Northside Minneapolis, walking his pit bull in Southside Minneapolis, where the white community lives.

What could go wrong?

Since the murder of George Floyd, a country of 330M has turned its collective eye to Minneapolis, specifically Northside Minneapolis, where the black community lives.

And where they walk their dogs. If they can.

You're about to take a walk down the boulevard of racism, holding the leash of America.

This is American Refugee.

FEATURING:

Sam Reeves, music director, Liberty Community Church

Annie Olson, director of customer service, Minneapolis Parks & Rec

Juli Graber, lawyer, pit bull owner, sage

Reverend Doctor Alika Galloway, co-pastor, Liberty Community Church

Rachel Mairose, Executive Director, Secondhand Hounds

James Evans, Chief Executive Officer, CARE

Shannon Glenn, Executive Director, My Pit Bull Is Family

Written, Engineered & Produced: Sam Graber

Music: Sam Reeves, Rare Medium, New Sound Underground, Purple Funk Metropolis

Recorded: Minneapolis, MN

Original Release: September 2021

https://odaction.com/americanrefugee

During the Vietnam War, The CIA coopt the Hmong in Laos to fight communism. The American people aren't told. An estimated 300,000 Hmong die during the Secret War.

The Hmong who survive escape genocide and become refugees, awaiting to come to America, to the country they fought for.

As our country today struggles with being the world's shining knight of democracy, how do we weigh the human cost of toppling communist regimes with secret wars?

You're about to hear from the highest-ranking Hmong military official still alive who worked directly for the CIA.

You're about to hear the Hmong ultimately resettle in the America they fought for, the discrimination and rejection they face here.

From the mountains of northern Laos to the refugee camps in Thailand, from the streets of Minneapolis to the White House in Washington, D.C., you're not only about to go there, you're about to hear a secret.

This is American Refugee.

Written, Engineered & Produced: Sam Graber

Recorded: Minneapolis, MN; Washington, D.C.

Original Release: June 2021

https://odaction.com/americanrefugee

Because invasive species are, right now, endangering our habitat, water and food systems on which we Americans depend to survive.

To 'Stop The Spread' our incredible scientists have asked the general public to be on the lookout for such foreign invaders as the Asian Carp and Mexican Evil Weevil.

But how does conditioning the public to find and remove foreign-named species imperil a national immigration attitude which already tends to reject the outsider?

And invasive...native...who decides what that even means?

You're about to wade into the moral habitat of history, biological imperative and the language of survival.

This is American Refugee.

Written, Engineered & Produced: Sam Graber

Music: Purple Funk Metropolis, Rare Medium

Recorded: South Florida; Utah; Minneapolis, MN

Original Release: June 2021

https://odaction.com/americanrefugee

Minneapolis has become America.

The murder of George Floyd. The killing of Daunte Wright. A country of 330M turns its collective eye to Minneapolis.

This city has become the tinderbox of long hot summer streets exploding into a final reckoning with the dark winter nights of American racism.

You're about to go on a journey through the injustice which has plagued Minneapolis for far too long.

Pastor Galloway of Liberty Community Church takes you to the frontlines of the desperate struggle the black community faces each day in North Minneapolis.

This is American Refugee.

Reverend Doctor Alika Galloway, co-pastor, Liberty Community Church

Reverend Doctor Ralph Galloway, co-pastor, Liberty Community Church

Reverend Cyreta Oduniyi, program director, Northside Healing Space

Written, Engineered & Produced: Sam Graber

Music: Sam Reeves

Photography: Mike Madison - @bumpopera, www.instagram.com/bumpopera

Recorded: Minneapolis, MN

Original Release: May 2021

https://odaction.com/americanrefugee

This episode is about a different kind of displacement - rock musicians forcibly removed from doing the only thing they know how to do.

Live rock is the nation within our nation, and the coronavirus pandemic stopped it cold.

How have musicians survived in exile? What are the ways rockers have exercised their expressive spirit after physical connection with live audience is removed from the rock equation?

You're about to delve into a music industry changing by the minute. You're about to get inside the human mind of performance artists; their lives, their hearts and their ideals. You're about to hear from celebrities who have been the backbone of the Minneapolis music scene.

And you'll be there in the end when one rocker, against all the setbacks placed before him, attempts to make his big comeback.

Get ready to rock.

This is American Refugee.

Mike Michel, rock guitarist

Brian Liebeck, Icehouse, club owner

Nathan Krantz, First Avenue, booking agent

Chuck Surack, CEO, instrumental retail

Tom Garneau, studio engineer

Jacob Slichter, musician and author

Youa Vang, journalist and promoter

Written, Engineered & Produced: Sam Graber

Music: Mike Michel

Recorded: Minneapolis, MN

Original Release: April 2021

https://odaction.com/americanrefugee

To circumvent the final and busiest immigration checkpoint in Texas, Central American migrants illegally crossing into the United States go on a 20-mile walk through backcountry brush.

And every night at least one migrant dies attempting to make this 20-mile walk across the merciless terrain of Brooks County, Texas.

They die of dehydration. They die because they are weak, confused, lost and thirsty. They die because death is here.

But one man is fighting death. In the borderlands, Eddie Canales is putting out water stations for migrants to drink and survive the deadly crossing.

And when you hear the horrifying story behind today's humanitarian crisis, you just might think it an all-too-real indicator of a death that very soon may be coming for you.

This is American Refugee.

Eddie Canales, South Texas Human Rights Center

Sheriff Benny Martinez, Brooks County Sheriff's Department

Dr. Kate Spradley, Department of Anthropology, Texas State University

Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, 15th District Texas, U.S.. House of Representatives

Matt Lohmeier, San Antonio Region Justice For Our Neighbors

Written, Engineered & Produced: Sam Graber

Music: Ryini Beats

Recorded: Brooks County, Texas; Minneapolis, MN

Original Release: March 2021

https://odaction.com/americanrefugee

They come on temporary visas to do academic research at major U.S. universities. They're now responsible for creating more American patents than their U.S. student counterparts.

But the problem is - there's a lot less of them here.

They are America's immigrant scholars. And for the past several years America has erected barriers to keep them out. In the global arms race of talent superiority, America has started to fall behind.

Who are these immigrant scholars? What are they working on? And how have so many of the amazing gadgets in our hands and comforts in our lives come from their research?

Get ready to go on campus! From the hallways of higher learning to the border of thought leadership, the immigrant scholar is about to speak.

This is American Refugee.

Written, Engineered & Produced: Sam Graber

Music: Rare Medium, Purple Funk Metropolis, Ryini Beats

Recorded: Minneapolis, MN

Original Release: February 2021

https://odaction.com/americanrefugee

He came to the United States when he was 9 years old. He's now a U.S. Marine leading the most intense online fitness workouts.

Today, he's known as the Iron Wolf.

During the pandemic, everyone has been worried about their health. Maintaining it, supporting it with exercise, staying active. Everyone has a fitness story.

Well get ready to hear a wild one! You'll meet the celebrity breakout stars of digital fitness, you'll get coached by immigrant Olympians, you'll be with me as I do 25,000 burpees with the Iron Wolf, and you'll be there in the end when I go toe-to-toe with the reigning burpee world record holder.

But you won't have to break a sweat. All you have to do is listen.

This is American Refugee.

Written, Engineered & Produced: Sam Graber

Music: Rare Medium, Purple Funk Metropolis, Ryini Beats, Schvilkus

Recorded: Minneapolis, MN

Original Release: January 2021

https://odaction.com/americanrefugee

A young mother from Guatemala, victim of domestic violence, takes her kids on a perilous journey to the US where Mom applies for asylum.

Mom makes it here only during the coronavirus pandemic to be quarantined in a Minneapolis home where she again becomes physically assaulted at the hands of another man.

One local woman goes to astonishing lengths to help Mom, to save a life.

You're not only about to hear their touching story, but you're also about to hear how escaping domestic violence is like playing an escape room.

You're about to escape the room.

This is American Refugee.

Written, Engineered & Produced: Sam Graber

Music: Purple Funk Metropolis, Ryini Beats

Recorded: Minneapolis, MN

Original Release: September 2020

https://odaction.com/americanrefugee