Out of the Shadows is a podcast about America’s tangled history of immigration. Last season, we tackled Ronald Regan’s 1986 amnesty act, season 2 will trace the origins of DACA or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a contentious executive order to protect undocumented young people from being deported. Issued by former President Barack Obama in 2012, DACA was meant to be a temporary stop gap on a broken immigration system. Hosted by award-winning New York Times writer Erick Galindo and entrepreneur and best-selling author Patty Rodriguez, welcome to season 2 of Out of the Shadows: Dreamers. 

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The legacy of IRCA is complex but is it worth trying to do it again? Hosts Patty Rodriguez and Erick Galindo search for answers with special guest US Senator Alex Padilla. 

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The children of 86 face new challenges in a post-IRCA world. A look at how immigration status and assimilation impact our mental health. 

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Three million immigrants and their children come out of the shadows and start to build their own America.

ADVISORY - This episode contains stories and language about assault that can be traumatic or uncomfortable for some people. 

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Central American refugees paid the price for Reagan's Latin American proxy wars.

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Now that IRCA is the law of the land, immigrants scramble to prove they qualify for amnesty.

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A 10-year-old girl pens a letter to the president pleading for amnesty.

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On the eve of IRCA's historic signing, "President Ronald Reagan" reflects on his legacy.

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The bill that would be IRCA is proposed by a priest but the bill dies almost immediately setting up a battle between a no-nonsense senator named Alan Simpson and most of Congress. Meanwhile, ICE-style raids haunt immigrant communities. 

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Hosts Patty Rodriguez and Erick Galindo's families were just some of the millions who migrated to the United States during the great migration, a period of circular movement across the border fueled by the Bracero program and shaped by America's wars.

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