Latino USA

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.

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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.

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In Part 2 of “The Moving Border,” our award-winning series from 2020, we visit Tapachula, Mexico in search of a young man whose life is in danger. And we find a new frontier where refugees trying to make it to the U.S. are increasingly stuck, thanks to an international effort to make Mexico a destination state for asylum.

The Moving Border series was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center, with additional support provided by the Ford Foundation.

This episode was first broadcast on May 27, 2020.

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It was only a few years ago that Erik Rodriguez was attending medical school in his native Cuba, following his family of careerists’ footsteps. But when he heard James Brown’s "I Feel Good," he realized that he was meant for a different path. In this 2020 segment of “How I Made It,” Erik takes us through his transformation into Afro-Cuban artist Cimafunk (a Billboard “Top 10 Latin Artists to Watch”) and explains how someone who had never studied music before found the confidence to listen to himself and be listened to by others.

This episode was first broadcast on December 20, 2020.

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In this award-winning two-part investigation from 2020, "The Moving Border" from Latino USA, we delve into the increasing pressure put on refugees seeking safety in the United States via its southern border. It reveals the surprising support the former Trump administration received to create an impenetrable policy wall that pushes asylum seekers south, away from the U.S.

In episode one, "The North," we visit Juárez and tell the story of a mother and daughter who are mired in a web of changing policy and subjected to ongoing violence. And we find evidence of how Mexican authorities are working hand-in-hand with the U.S. at the border.

“The Moving Border” series was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center, with additional support provided by the Ford Foundation.

This episode was first broadcast on May 20, 2020.

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For some years now, mezcal, Mexico’s other national spirit, has been in a cultural spotlight outside of the country, but its unseen devastating consequences have had a profound impact on the people making it. In this episode of Latino USA, we take a journey to understand mezcal’s production process and how to become a better consumer.

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Steven Canals of 'Pose' and Linda Yvette Chavez of 'Gentefied' are making waves in Hollywood, an industry in which Latinos are disproportionately absent. In this episode, the two series creators break down their on-screen portrayals of Latino individuals and communities. They dissect notable scenes from their shows, discuss the goals that laid the foundation for their characters and storylines, while sharing the fears and questions they reckoned with along the way. As they dive into their creative processes, we learn about some of the origins of each show’s most defining elements.

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Latino USA visits one family in south Texas who is dreading something that President Joe Biden said they should no longer fear: border wall construction. Advocates and land owners on the border have called on the Biden administration to withdraw and cancel several land condemnation lawsuits against property owners for the border wall that were initiated before Biden took office, but have spilled over into his presidency and are still making their way through the courts.

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This October marks 15 years since the Secure Fence Act of 2006 was passed. This act paved the way for hundreds of miles of border wall to be built along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Latino USA looks back at one case from south Texas where a pioneering Latina took on the federal government to stop border wall construction on her university campus.

This case is a reminder of the fights that some continue to wage against an opponent almost impossible to defeat.

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While the United States and other wealthy countries have secured enough COVID-19 vaccines for their citizens, other nations haven't been so fortunate. Latin America specifically has seen a lackluster vaccine rollout. And while global initiatives aim to get doses to everyone who needs them, a vaccine inequity crisis still looms over the world.

In this episode, we hear from Latin Americans who traveled to the U.S. to get vaccinated and from experts on how the country can contribute to fix this crisis.

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