Voces For Change

Latinos were key to president-elect Joe Biden´s victory, even  in places like Arizona and Nevada. However, there won´t be a honeymoon period and his progressive agenda likely hinge on whether or not Democrats capture Senate control in a runoff election in Georgia on January 5th.
In this episode, Kenneth Romero, executive director of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, discuss how  important it is that Biden names at least 5 Latinos to his Cabinet, and what advocacy groups can to push for pressing issues like immigration reform next year. 

On the eve of Election Day, more than 93 million people have already voted, either in person or by mail, but millions more will come out on Tuesday, November 3rd.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed the lives of close to 230,000 people, health and the economy are the top issues driving voters to the polls.
Immigrant rights activist and breast cancer survivor, Adela De La Torre voted by mail because of her medical condition, and is using her experience to urge people to come out and vote, to preserve health coverage for those who risk losing it next year. 
This election, she says, is a matter of life and death. 

In this episode, Salvadoran TPS holder, Yanira Arias, an activist with Chicago-based Alianza Américas, discusses the risks of deportation roughly 2.2 million immigrants face next year, including herself, if the next president does not offer them "deferred enforced departure", a temporary legal remedy while Congress works on a long term solution. 
Her group joined more than 200 other like-minded organizations last Friday in sending letters to President, Donald Trump, and Democratic presidential hopeful, Joe Biden, urging either one to help these vulnerable immigrants. 
Arias, who was granted TPS some 21 years ago, says El Salvador is still a dangerous place to live and work in, and it´s not ready to absorb the thousands of Salvadorans that would likely be deported once their permits expire. Unless Congress or the White House act fast next year. 

In a wide-ranging phone interview in Spanish, Dr. Oscar Franco, prolific author and Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard´s School of Health, discusses the progress and hurdles in the ongoing battle against COVID-19, in light of President Donald Trump´s recent diagnosis.
Franco gives some historical perspective on pandemics and gives listeners a hopeful message: "we´ll get through this."
Photo credit: https://www.twenty20.com/photos/5df53a67-92f3-4df1-8100-6d79816439fb/?utm_t20_channel=bl

ICE has already faced lawsuits and allegations of medical neglect, abuse, and unsafe confinement conditions. A new whistleblower complaint, now under DHS investigation, claims that many migrant detainees at an ICE facility in Ocilla (Georgia) had hysterectomies and other procedures without their full knowledge and consent. 
In this episode, Jamille Fields Allsbrook, director of Women´s Health and Rights at the Center for American Progress, explains the seriousness of the allegations, the past history of forced sterilizations in the US, and the need for congressional oversight. 

In this episode, I decided to do something a bit different, given that, next Wednesday, we´ll be exactly two months away from the elections. I interviewed Charles Stewart, a political analyst and expert on elections at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He explains the current political landscape, debunks the myth of the mail-in vote fraud, and describes possible escenarios after November 3rd. 

In episode 14, Dr. Erika Sutherland, an Associate Professor in Spanish at Muhlenberg College, in Allentown (Pennsylvania),  speaks about her efforts to train bilingual poll workers to help Latino voters at the polling stations. 
There´s an alarming shortage of poll workers worsened by this year´s COVID-19 pandemic. But that´s not the only hurdle voters are facing this year: in addition to long lines and delays, activists fear voter intimidation and suppression, and unprecedented delays in getting and sending mail-in ballots.
The US Postal System, led by a Trump supporter, has adopted controversial cost-cutting measures that, according to Sutherland and other experts, can spell trouble at the ballot box. Sutherland, who´s also worked as a poll worker in the past, is training bilingual workers so Latino voters can get the help they need in November. 

In this episode, I interview Helena Olea, a international human rights lawyer and currently an Associate Director for Programs at Alianza Americas, a Hispanic advocacy group in Chicago (Illinois), about the current landscape for the Latino vote in 2020. 
Around 32 million Hispanics are eligible to vote this year, and it´s a fact that´s not lost on Biden´s and Trump´s campaigns, as they´re both courting Hispanics aggressively through radio and TV ads and surrogates.
Helena argues that Hispanics have now had almost four years of Trump´s policies and they´re motivated to head to the polls, driven by his immigration crackdown, the pandemic, and high unemployment, among many bread and butter issues. 
Hispanics are revved up but many still lack information about voter registration and, in the midst of the pandemic, how to vote by email, so that´s one area many groups like Alianza Americas are now aggressively targeting. 

This episode will be different because of the first anniversary of the shooting outside a Walmart in El Paso (Texas), which left 23 dead. I interview Mr. Gilberto Anchondo, who lost his youngest son, André Pablo, and his daughter-in-law, Jordan, in the massacre. 
The Anchondos are now helping to raise Paul Gilbert, the victims´ youngest son, whom they shielded with their bodies and saved his life on that fateful day. 
Activists are using the anniversary as a call to action to come out and vote against racism in November. 
In the interview, Mr. Anchondo works through memories from the day, the tough road ahead towards closure, and the many challenges of raising his grandson. 

In this episode, I interview Robert Lopez, a community organizer with the Texas Civil Rights Project, one of several groups suing the Department of Homeland Security to stop it from detaining unaccompanied minors in hotels and deporting them without a court hearing. 
Activists like Lopez charge that the Trump Administration is using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to expedite the deportation of children and asylum seekers at the border. Deportation has long been a lucrative business for private companies under contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), from providing deportation flights to now allowing minors to be housed in hotels. 
Activists are calling these hotels "black sites", especially because ICE is not providing information about the whereabouts of children under federal custody. 
Since the story broke last week, the Hampton Inn & Suites is no longer doing business with ICE, according to the Hilton hotel chain.