“What the Trump administration is trying to do to Mr. Khalil is a blueprint, and if they are able to get away with it, then they will replicate it.” On March 8th, Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil was taken by immigration agents to a detention facility in Louisiana—without charges. He was taken because of his pro-Palestine activism on campus. Khalil is a legal permanent resident of the United States with a valid green card. Maria Hinojosa talks with his lawyer about the case and the chi...
Mar 30, 2025•27 min
On the first days of his migration journey, “Juan” posed for a photo outside a bus terminal to remember the moment. Two years and two thousand miles later, it landed him in the crosshairs of a recently-elected Trump administration determined to wage an all out war on immigrants, and on a plane to Guantánamo Bay. Today, the story of how one Venezuelan migrant ended up inside one of the world's most infamous prisons, and what he experienced while he was there. Plus, a conversation with one of the ...
Mar 28, 2025•27 min
Before it was the classic dress we all know and many still love today, the little black dress was mostly worn by working-class shopgirls and domestics. Monica Morales-Garcia began to research the origins of the L.B.D. to answer: How had so much changed, yet so much had stayed the same? Listen as Monica walks us through the decline of an industry and the rise of a garment. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage . This episode originally a...
Mar 23, 2025•35 min
Bella Lugosi's leading role in the creepy 1931 film Dracula made him a horror icon. But there's another, even better version of Dracula that was shot in Spanish using different actors on the same sets. We try to figure out why the Spanish movie ended up so much scarier— and sexier— than the original. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage . This episode originally aired in 2018. Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ fo...
Mar 21, 2025•21 min
In the news this week: We discuss Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele’s unprecedented and controversial offer: to jail U.S. citizens in El Salvador. Maria Hinojosa sits down with journalists Roman Gressier, editor of El Faro English and host of the podcast “Central America in Minutes,” and Lilia Luciano, CBS News correspondent, to discuss Bukele’s attempts to ally with Trump and the parallels between the two administrations. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to...
Mar 16, 2025•29 min
In this week’s news and reporting, we discuss the links between the booming business of human smuggling and U.S. immigration policies and much more. Maria Hinojosa sits down with renowned anthropologist and author Jason De León to discuss his latest book “Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope on the World of Human Smuggling.” Human smugglers are often hired by migrants to help them through inhospitable and dangerous routes on their way to the United States. But how do human smugglers, also known...
Mar 14, 2025•27 min
In the late 1800s, Teresa Urrea was a superstar. She was a ‘curandera,’ or healer, a revolutionary, and a feminist. At only 19 years old she was exiled from Mexico by dictator Porfirio Diaz, who called her the most dangerous girl in the country, and moved to El Paso, Texas. She also had a miraculous power: she could heal people through touch. Her vision of love and equality for all people regardless of gender, race, and class inspired rebellions against the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, earning...
Mar 09, 2025•49 min
For Ayodele Casel tap dancing is magic. As a young high school student, she dreamed of one day dancing like Ginger Rogers as she recreated Ginger’s moves in her bedroom. But it wasn’t until Ayodele Casel was a sophomore at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts that she took her first tap dancing class. That was her entry point into the art form which would eventually lead to a more than 20 year career as a professional tap dancer. As a Black and Puerto Rican woman, Ayodele Casel didn’t see herself re...
Mar 07, 2025•18 min
To say that the United States and Mexico have a complicated relationship is to put it lightly. We’re talking over 200 years of a complicated power dynamicAnd today more than ever, it’s hard to keep up with how much is constantly happening between the two. So for this episode we’ll bring OG border and immigration reporters Alfredo Corchado and Angela Kocherga to understand what it could look like now that an unpredictable macho man is in the White House and a cool-headed woman is leading Mexico? ...
Mar 02, 2025•26 min
Harvey Guillén talks with Maria Hinojosa about his role as Guillermo de la Cruz in the FX vampire comedy, What We Do in the Shadows. Harvey reflects on some recent tragic moments and some others from his childhood, none of which has stopped him from pursuing his dreams of being a Hollywood star. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage . Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peaks and behind...
Feb 28, 2025•27 min
As President Trump threatens to take the Panama Canal back, journalist Cristela Guerra recalls her childhood memories growing up between the U.S. and Panama. She tells us about the complicated history between the two countries and what’s at stake if the U.S. tries to take the canal back. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage . Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peaks and behind-the-sce...
Feb 23, 2025•22 min
Emilia Pérez has sparked significant controversy not only because of polarizing remarks from its director and lead star, but for its eccentric storytelling and what many call a downright “off” portrayal of Mexico. The film has received countless accolades and is nominated for 13 Oscars. We spoke to film thinkers in Mexico and the U.S. about what went wrong, what went right, and how critics and fans are responding. Listen to our conversation with Gonzalo Galván from El Heraldo de México , Fernand...
Feb 21, 2025•30 min
In the second episode of our new series "Hombre: Understanding Latino Men," Maria Hinojosa sits down with two young Latino voters from Texas. Alejandro Flores, from Dallas, cast his ballot for Kamala Harris in 2024. First-time voter Alexis Uscanga, from the Rio Grande Valley, chose Donald Trump. This roundtable gets into the issues that informed both Alexis’ and Alejandro’s vote. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage . Want to support o...
Feb 16, 2025•27 min
Author Cristina Rivera Garza’s memoir received the Pulitzer prize in 2024. In Mexico, the book sparked a feminist movement demanding justice for gender-based violence. In “Liliana’s Invincible Summer,” Cristina delves into the “emotional archive” of her sister, who was allegedly killed by her boyfriend 30 years ago, when Liliana was only 20. In this conversation, Cristina Rivera Garza and Maria Hinojosa discuss their own journeys to find the words and power to talk about gender-based violence an...
Feb 14, 2025•28 min
When you enter the Caribbean Social Club, or Toñita’s, it feels like you could be in your grandmother’s living room. And that’s exactly what its owner, Maria Antonia Cay, —better known as Toñita— was aiming for when she opened the club in the 1970s as a gathering place for the local baseball team. 50 years later, Toñita’s is still standing in Los Sures, the south side of Williamsburg—the most gentrified neighborhood in New York City. Yet over the years, Toñita has faced ever greater challenges t...
Feb 09, 2025•42 min
This week on Latino USA, we're sharing an episode from Code Switch. We bring you a different kind of immigration coverage. We're telling a New York story: one that celebrates the beautiful, everyday life of the immigrant. Code Switch producer, Xavier Lopez, and NPR immigration reporter, Jasmine Garsd, spend a day at Flushing Meadows Corona Park. You can subscribe to Code Switch here . Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage . Want to supp...
Feb 07, 2025•39 min
Amid the chaos generated by Donald Trump’s first days back in the White House, Maria Hinojosa sits down with someone who has sounded off on the former and current president for years: New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. AOC tells us what, in her opinion, went wrong for Democrats in 2024 and how the party can win back voters. She also highlights the beauty and value immigrants bring to the U.S., analyzes the new geopolitics of Latin America and more. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube ....
Feb 02, 2025•35 min
In 1939, a Mexican-American high school basketball team shocked the world. Basketball, at the time, was considered a white man's game. Until Lanier High School, with their all Mexican-American basketball team, won the 1939 San Antonio city championship. But at the moment of their greatest triumph, things suddenly took a turn for this worse. This episode originally aired in 2016. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage . Want to support ou...
Jan 31, 2025•17 min
“Latinos are not a monolith” is something we hear whenever politicians want to court Latino voters, and no one understands the nuances of this community quite like journalist and author Marie Arana. She’s the author of “LatinoLand: A Portrait of America’s Largest and Least Understood Minority," which explores the complexities, histories and cultures of Latinos in the United States. In this moment of political change, Maria Hinojosa sits down with Marie Arana to discuss just how wide-ranging Lati...
Jan 26, 2025•31 min
Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, signing sweeping executive orders targeting climate, trans rights and immigrants. We hear reactions from a diverse range of those affected, including a Venezuelan migrant at the border, a trans activist in Arizona, and an undocumented domestic worker in New Jersey. Then, host Maria Hinojosa sits down with Princeton Professor of African American Studies and author Dr. Eddie Glaude and Senior Political Reporter for Vox Nico...
Jan 24, 2025•26 min
This week on Latino USA, listen to those directly impacted by the devastating wildfires across Los Angeles County, where at least 25 people have died, thousands were displaced, and communities completely destroyed. Guest host Fernanda Echavarri is joined by Antonia Cereijido, host and reporter at LAist, to talk about the situation on the ground and the community solidarity that has sprung from this disaster. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our...
Jan 19, 2025•34 min
As a Zapotec and Maya Ch’orti’ environmental scientist, Dr. Jessica Hernandez has always found academia to be a hostile place. She had looked forward to sharing what she learned from her grandmother and father about nature as an undergraduate student, but her lived experiences and knowledge were dismissed and sometimes mocked by her professors. Now, Dr. Hernandez is working to change how we think about environmental sciences by centering Indigenous science to heal our planet, because she knows W...
Jan 17, 2025•20 min
Much has been said about Latino men after the presidential election, but a lot of it lacks context. In order to deepen our understanding of Latino manhood and its influence in the United States at this moment, we are launching a new series, "Hombre: Understanding Latino Men" today. The series features nuanced conversations with a diverse group of hombres latinos. Our first guest is political consultant and Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha. He sits down with Maria Hinojosa to unpack why Latino m...
Jan 12, 2025•34 min
Netflix has brought Gabriel García Márquez’s iconic novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" to life with a two-part limited series spanning over 16 hours of television. The Colombian masterpiece tells the multi-generational saga of the Buendía family, who establish the utopian town of Macondo. The story captures their struggles with love, war, curses, and solitude, intertwined with the magical realism that defines García Márquez’s literary style. We spoke to Alex García López, one of the series’ d...
Jan 10, 2025•20 min
Nachos: They’re one of the most popular snack foods in the United States, and the name is instantly recognizable worldwide. Bright yellow nacho cheese is now a staple at countless sports events and movie nights, serving as a flavor of nostalgia to many. But nachos’ immense popularity over the years has overshadowed their true history. The first nachos weren’t invented in ballparks or designed for concession stands. They were created 80 years ago in a small town in Mexico, along the south Texas b...
Jan 05, 2025•48 min
For Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Ileana Cabra — known by her stage name, iLe — music has always been a way to reflect and comment on the world around her. iLe began her musical career singing with her brothers in their renowned rap group Calle 13. But in 2016, iLe decided to go solo. She would go on to release three studio albums, using those platforms to explore many musical genres with deep roots in Latin America and the Caribbean: from boleros and salsa, to pop and reggaeton. As a songwrite...
Jan 03, 2025•20 min
On May 3, 2017, a young woman was found dead on the campus of a prestigious university in Mexico City. Soon after the Mexico City Attorney General's office sent out a series of tweets—that would be picked up by the Mexican media—that characterized the 22-year-old as a dropout and alcoholic. The response online was immediate: many women saw these tweets and media reports as an attempt to discredit the woman as a victim and in response, thousands of women started to tweet with the hashtag #SiMeMat...
Dec 29, 2024•30 min
Filmed over six years, "The Silence of Others" reveals how survivors and their families have struggled to cope in the aftermath of Spain’s 40-year dictatorship under General Franco. The film, executive produced by Pedro Almodóvar, follows the victims as they organize a groundbreaking international lawsuit and fight a “pact of forgetting” around the crimes they suffered. Survivors of the dictatorship and human rights lawyers built a case in Argentina that Spanish courts refuse to hear. Maria Hino...
Dec 27, 2024•24 min
The Yakama Indian Reservation in Eastern Washington is home to 11,000 Native Americans and almost three times as many Latinos. Over recent decades, the reservation has attracted Mexican farmworkers and their families who made the valley their home. Despite shared indigenous roots, living side by side hasn't been easy, and tensions between the two groups are high. On this collaboration with Northwest Public Radio, Latino USA dives into the dynamics of the reservation, exploring how two communitie...
Dec 22, 2024•51 min
Javier Zamora was nine years-old when he made the journey from El Salvador to the U.S.-Mexico border. Last year, nearly 20 years later, he returned to the country where he was born, to apply for a visa that will allow him to continue to live in the U.S. In this award-winning episode from our vault, we follow Javier's return in his own words: through audio diaries, archival family tape, and interviews. "The Return" is an intimate portrait of what gets left behind when we immigrate and what we can...
Dec 20, 2024•34 min
