Latino USA

In February 2026, The Mariachi Brothers, a musical group of 3 teenage boys, were detained by ICE during a scheduled court check-in. After their release, the brothers were invited by Country music star Kacey Musgraves to open her shows in New Braunfels, Texas. Continuing the legacy of Tejano Music, that in many ways is the story of Texas, migration, and the tension of assimilation. 

In this episode, two years after the death of icon Johnny Canales, we look back at the origins of Tejano music. And  how Canales, the man known as the Oprah of Tejano music, changed the genre forever.

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.

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It’s been a time of growth at Futuro – we’ve been breaking news and bringing rigorous in-depth journalism at Latino USA, creating ambitious podcasts at Futuro Studios, and sharing some awesome behind the scenes moments and stories at Futuro+ with our subscribers.

In this week's special episode, Futuro Studios Executive Editor and host Maria Garcia is joined by Managing Editor of Latino USA Fernanda Echavarri, and Grammy-nominated Senior Producer Jeanne Montalvo to bring you a sneak peak of some of the incredible projects we have in the works!

The Futuro Plus Team includes associate producer Liliana Ruiz, production managers Victoria Estrada and Jessica Ellis, marketing manager Luis Luna, and development manager Danetsy Len. Mixing by Multitude Productions.

Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Latino USA and all our podcasts.

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This week, we’re presenting the first episode of “The Network,” a series that Latino USA co-produced with NPR’s Embedded.

In the mid-1980s, an OBGYN in Brazil noticed that far fewer pregnant women at his hospital were dying from abortion complications. It wasn’t a coincidence. Brazilian women had made a discovery that allowed them to safely have abortions at home, despite the country’s abortion restrictions. That discovery eventually spread across the globe and transformed access to abortion for millions of women, including women now in the United States.

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.

Follow the show to get every episode.

Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Latino USA and all our podcasts.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Caitlin Dickerson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at The Atlantic. She has become one of the leading voices on immigration coverage for more than a decade. In this episode, Caitlin talks about her recent reporting exploring why some mixed-status families are choosing to “self deport,” what that actually looks like and why we should all consider the impact of what gets left behind. Later, she breaks down the latest on what children and their parents are experiencing in the troubled Dilley family detention facility in Texas.

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.

Follow the show to get every episode.

Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Latino USA and all our podcasts.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two years after her untimely death, Cecilia Gentili remains a legendary trans icon. As International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia approaches, we celebrate it by revisiting our conversation with Gentili. 

In 2022 she spoke to Latino USA about her memoir, “Faltas,” written as a series of letters to people in her hometown in Argentina. 

Cecilia goes back to her youth, growing up in the 1970s and 80s, a time when few people in her community understood her gender expression. She also recalls the people who healed her, like her grandmother, and others who hurt her.

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.

Follow the show to get every episode.

Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Latino USA and all our podcasts.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Grammy award-winning Mexican artist Julieta Venegas just released an album and a memoir all about being a Norteña. But like many growing up in the north of Mexico, near the U.S. border, she was also heavily influenced by music and pop culture in English. She loved The Cure as much as she loved Juan Gabriel. 

Listen to Julieta Venegas talk about her iconic sound, strict Mexican dads who get softer with time, the unusual choice to pick up the accordion while writing angsty 90s songs, and how her roots are always at the border despite not living there. 

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.

Follow the show to get every episode.

Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Latino USA and all our podcasts.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Governments worldwide are restricting press freedom, with the U.S. experiencing a drastic decline under the second Trump administration. Funding cuts to public media, lawsuits, federal censorship, and confrontations with ICE have become the norm. Journalists of color, Latino and immigrant journalists are disproportionately impacted. In this episode, we are joined by Maritza Félix, the founder and director of Conecta Arizona, and José Zamora, the regional director for the Americas at the Committee to Protect Journalists to discuss the state of press freedom and what it means for our democracy. 

This story is part of our democracy and election coverage: The Latino Factor: How We Vote.

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.

Follow the show to get every episode.

Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Latino USA and all our podcasts.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Estefany Rodríguez, a Nashville-based journalist from Colombia, was arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement this past March. In this episode, Estefany gave Latino USA a shocking account about her detention and the inhuman conditions she experienced and witnessed. Estefany’s lawyers argue that her detention was retaliation for her reporting on immigration enforcement and ICE operations.

We discuss what Estefany’s case shows about the conditions of immigration detention, and what it means that immigrant journalists could be targeted for their reporting in the United States.

This story is part of our democracy and election coverage: The Latino Factor: How We Vote.

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.

Follow the show to get every episode.

Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Latino USA and all our podcasts.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this intimate reflection, Colombian-American producer Tasha Sandoval takes listeners with her as she returns to her native Colombia, after a lifetime of living in the United States. For a few years, Tasha has had a growing desire: to find out what life would be like if she relocated to the country her parents left, to go back to her homeland. And she’s not the only one– Latin American diasporas in the U.S., including many U.S.-born Latinos, are seeking connections to their ancestral homes  Tune in as Tasha tries to answer a question: What happens when you are willing to return home?

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.

Follow the show to get every episode.

Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Latino USA and all our podcasts.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After World War II, Puerto Ricans began settling in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, drawn by economic opportunities among Mennonite farming communities. Several generations later, they’re honoring their history and reclaiming their identity as “Dutchiricans” within the Mennonite church—and beyond. 

Tune in to listen to the story of a Dutchirican matriarch —from her family’s migration from Puerto Rico to their adoption of the Mennonite faith— and how spirituality, work, and resilience forged a new cultural identity.

Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.

Follow the show to get every episode.

Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Latino USA and all our podcasts.

Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.