The Dream 9

From Fudromidia and PRX. It's Latino USA. I'm marian no Josa Today the story of the Dream Nine, a group of young undocumented activists who in twenty thirteen staged one of the riskiest protests in the history of the immigration rights movement in the United States. Welcome to Latino, USA. I'm Maria no Josa. For the so called Dreamers, undocumented young people, life in the United States is a constant limbo.

Hirawan, this is Lisa bed I'm making this video from Mexico. I know it's going to sound a little crazy and to be honest, I still can't believe that I'm here.

This is a YouTube video posted in the summer of twenty thirteen. In the video, Lisbette Matteo is looking straight at the camera wearing a shirt that says the Dream is Coming in big block letters.

I came to.

Tahaka knowing that the US govern might not allow.

Me to go back.

Lisbeth was brought to the US as a fourteen year old kid without papers, which means that visiting Mexico leaving the United States could put her at risk for never being able to come back, to come back to her studies. She was putting it all on the line, going to Mexico for the first time in fifteen years to take part in one of the most daring displays of activism in over a generation, something that would take the immigration debate to brand new territory, something called the Dream Nine.

Hey Maria, So our story starts not at the border, not with Lizabeth, but many years before in Mexico City, when it ten year old girl named Maria Ines Benice boarded an airplane a stuffed animal cradled in her arms.

I bigly remember we landed in Texas like I had three backpacks across my chest, a roly backpack in Trumpita's my elephant.

Marine's parents were struggling in Mexico City.

Then her dad got an opportunity through a friend to come to the States and work at a restaurant in the Boston area.

They came on a tourist visa, but with intentions to stay. Little Maria wasn't pleased.

But my mom asked me to give it a chance, and I knew that the Backstor boys were from here, so I was like, Okay, maybe I'll give it a try.

The family settled in Revere, a working class suburb of Boston. At first, Marianez hated it.

Everybody looks down at me because I'm in the bilingual class, so I didn't like it.

But eventually, as kids do, Maria Nez adapted. She learned English and started doing really well in school. Soon she was on the honor roll, taking ap classes and she had friends.

Now I can say this, I lived the golden era of reggaeton.

So.

Back then it was cool to be Latino. Everybody wanted to learn how to dance reggaeton and speak in Spanish because like, oh my god, like you're speaking to each other in another language that the adults don't understand, and we were like mm hmm.

During this time, Maria had no idea that she was undocumented.

I think that by the time I hit eighth grade, I already felt like, this is my country, this is my language, and this is my friends.

So it was cool.

Yeah, my Regaton Golden era was cool.

When did things start to not be so cool?

So this would be junior year of high school.

Her dad lost his job and at the same time, her mom became really sick and had to stop working. Suddenly there wasn't any money coming into the household, and I was like.

Okay, Dad, well I want to get a job. I want to help you guys out. But I've been looking at places and they're asking me for my Social Security number.

That's when we had.

To talk money. I went down to East Boston and bought a fake social Security card. Then she took those fake papers to McDonald's and got an after school job as a cashier.

And this whole time, she had a plan finish high school and go to college.

I was going to move to New York City and go to Marymount Manhattan College, and I would watch Sex and the City every night before going to sleep. I'm like, yes, I am going to be this like independent, like strong American woman. And I got it like that.

Maria and Ness didn't really understand how big of a deal it was that she was undocumented. To her, it just meant she had to go through a different process to get a job, that's all. It finally dawned on her when it was time to apply for college.

She went to meet with her guidance counselor to talk about the application process, and the counselor told her she needed a Social Security number in order to apply for financial aid.

And then, in just a few words, the counselor destroyed her world.

We're so sorry, Maria, it looks like college is not going to be an option for you. And I was really upset on my parents. Why didn't you tell me this before? Why didn't you try to do something sooner?

Why? Why why didn't you do anything? And then I called Mary Mount Manhattan. They were like, well, if you have thirty six thousand dollars in your bank account showing us that you're going to be able to pay for school, then well we'll see you in the fall. If not, let us know when you have that. And then out of the blue, a teacher reach out to me.

A recruiter from Pine Manor College in the Boston area was at the school and had scholarships available for undocumented students.

Shortly after, Maria Ynes and her dad went into the financial aid office to talk about a plan for how they could possibly pay for school.

My dad was just like looking at me, and I was looking at my dad, and I was like, Dad, I really want this, Like Dad, this is.

Such a good opportunity for me.

And we were on the campus, you know, so we had seen the campus. I was like that, like, I really want to go here. He's like, I don't know. I don't know, Mikha, let's see, let's see until I guess. My dad just broke down and he didn't know what to do, and he told the lady, listen, my family's undocumented. It's really hard for me to pay all of this. But if you won, I can come and clean bathrooms. My wife and I can come and just do you know, like clean or do whatever you want us to do.

The financial aid officer was really moved and offered Marie Nis one of the biggest scholarships available at the school. She started in the fall.

Maria Yes loved college, but after a year and a half, her dad broke the news to her that they wouldn't be able to pay for it anymore.

Suddenly it felt like the walls were closing in on the family. Marie Nis then brought up an idea to her parents.

Why are we struggling to get by to survive. Why don't we just go back to Mexico. Why don't we go back. I'll try to make my sex in the city in Mexico.

Soon the family was on a plane headed to Mexico City, loaded down with suitcases.

Once more, as soon as I stepped out of that airport and we were driving to my uncle's house, I saw the houses in Mexico. I felt out of breath and started crying, like I cried in the car and I was like, Mom, what.

Do we do?

Look around? Where are we?

And she was just like, no, no, Mikai, it's okay.

Marianes found a job at a call center helping Americans fix their WiFi over the phone. She was making very little money. She and her parents were still struggling.

Things in Mexico kept getting worse. First, she was sexually assaulted by one of the managers at work. Then at home, a cousin's husband tried to molest her and afterwards he was having people follow her around the city.

Maria Ess had hoped Mexico would feel like home, but it didn't. She says she felt very afraid all the time.

And then she got a call.

It was from a friend back in Boston. She had heard that some activists were planning something big at the border to try and bring undocumented students like maria Es, the so called dreamers, back into the United States. She gave Marines a number to dial. A guy picked up.

He was like, Okay, I can't tell you much because people's lives at a risk. Blow I can tell you is that if you want to be part of this, we're gonna try to bring you guys back home. You need to be in Noga Les, Mexico tomorrow morning. And I was like, holy crap, what am I going to tell my mom?

It sounded crazy, but Marinez was miserable in Mexico. All she wanted was to get back to the life she had in the US.

That same day, the activist bought marian As a plane ticket to travel to the border. She made an excuse to get out of work and went home to say goodbye to her family.

I had already spoken to my mom and the phone about it, and she was like, you were insane. You're crazy if you think I'm gonna let you go. So I opened the door and my mom's sitting in the living room and I'm like, Mom, I'm here. I came home to say bye to you and to pack some underwear because I'm doing this. And she was like, no, you can't do this to me. You can't sleeff like that. And I'm like, Mom, I love you, and I'm really sorry.

Damn, and then she was off to the airport and on her way to Nogales on the US Mexico border. What she would find there, she had no idea. Coming up on Latino USA and our piece that originally ran in twenty fifteen, we find out what awaits Marie Nez at the border. Stay with us, Yes, welcome back to

At first, it was sad saying bye to my family because I didn't know what was going to happen. But at the same time, I didn't think anything was going to happen. I was like, I'm gonna go there. They're going to say no to me, They're going to deport me. I'll probably have a ten year ban and that's that. But at least I tried.

Madia flew to the border town of Nogales, Mexico to meet up with the rest of the group. Before crossing into the United States.

I met Lulu, Lisbeth, and Marcos, which were the kids that had come from the US to Mexico.

Lulu Martinez, Lisbeth, Matteo and Marcos Savedra. They were all part of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance known as NIA. NIA was the organization behind the Dream Nine. Like Mariegnez, Lulu, Lisbeth and Marcos were undocumented, but unlike her, they had voluntarily left the US and flown into Mexico just for this action. In other words, while Marinez had already left her life in the US behind, these activists had everything

Like we did this spiritual thing where everything was by candlelight, and it was like, remember your ancestors, remember the people that have fought for you to be here.

They even had a legal team to help them through the process. The NIA members were excited. This was going to be their biggest protest yet. Our producer Antonia sa Rihido went to Los Angeles to visit with Lisbethe Matteo. Yes I did, Hey Antonia, Hey Madia. So we heard from Lisbet at the top of our show. She was one of the very first members of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance or NIA.

Yes.

And what struck me so much about Lizabeth in talking to her is that she is the stone cold warrior. I mean, she has never doubted a single decision she's made in her life. Like she came out of the womb self asshired.

You know, most kids play with like dolls and make food or playing with things like that. I was paying more like, Okay, I'm a doctor or I'm an attorney.

But to be those things, she needed to go to school, and like Marie Anez, she struggled to find financing or a job.

I think I became active and started organizing out of necessity, not because I wanted. I don't think I ever had that idea I want to change the world or I want to make the world a better place. I think I just I was really frustrated with my situation and that of my family.

Lizabeth was one of the many young people who took up organizing around twenty ten and what became known as the Dreamer movement.

The term Dreamer comes from the Dream Act, a bill that would help to create a pathway to legal status for young people who were brought to the US as children.

Both the House and said it could begin debate this week on legislation known here in Washington as the Dream Act. The bill would create a path to citizenship for un.

Lisbeth was one of the millions of young people who could have benefited from the bill.

I met a group of undocumented students that had been organizing online.

One of those students was Mohammed ABDULLAHI.

When I'm Muhammed, who was the shyest person ever, but he really grew out of his shell. He has all these crazy ideas. That's sometimes I feel like he doesn't really realize that they're crazy.

Mohammed is also undocumented. He and his family are from Iran. He told us he didn't know any other undocumented kids growing up, so when he found out about the Dream Act, he wanted to learn more, but his parents told him that if he googled it, the government would deport them.

And so, of course, the first thing I did is I googled the Dream Act, and I sort of found out that there was other undocumented folks.

Immediately, Lisbeth and Muhammad found they had something in common. They weren't afraid to sleep.

The next Mars and.

I'm Heatherawas we told you just moments ago. Protesters stirring things up in downtown Tissan at this hour. This is a live picture just outside Senator John McCain's office. Inside five protesters, all reportedly illegal immigrants, are refusing to leave, demanding that the Senator support the Dream Act.

In May of twenty ten, Lizbeth and Muhammad participated at a sit in in Senator John McCain's office, wearing their caps and gowns. Lizbeth and Muhammad were hopeful that the organizing they were doing was going to lead to change.

There was momentum building in the Dreamer movement rallies in DC, Chicago, New York City.

I was a really incredible time. I think we were meeting in documented US from other parts of the country.

This is Lulu Martinez, who also met Lizabeth and Muhammad during this time.

The people that we had either started to be friends with through social media or had no or knew about by name, like, we were meeting them in person.

And finally, in December twenty ten, a huge victory born of the activism, the Dream Act passed in the House.

On this vote, the yeas are two hundred and sixteen.

The nays are one hundred and ninety eight. The man forgot him. But two days later, major blow for those pushing for immigration reform for younger undocumented immigrants today, the Senate voted against.

The Dream Act. It would have offered a path to citizens.

It failed in the Senate. The activists were devastated. Without the Dream Act as a clear shared goal, the dreamer movement began to s A lot of Dreamers were disillusioned, not to mention, confused about what to do next. So Lisbeth and Mohammad helped found the National Immigration Youth Alliance or NIA, and they wanted to do things differently.

We were sort of naive about it in the sense that we thought if only people heard our stories, then they would Careen we sort of came to this joint conclusion that things don't change because people hear stories. Things change because people feel like they have no other choice but to make something happen.

That meant more direct actions, more sit ins, more hunger strikes, and not taking politicians at their word.

In twenty twelve, two years after the Dream Act had failed, feeling pressure to get something done, President Obama used his executive powers to create DAKA deferred action for childhood arrivals.

And DACA was basically a diet version of the Dream Act. It allowed undocumented youth to receive two year work and stay in the US legally, but it wasn't a path to permanent legal status for.

The all the undocumented youth and undocumented people that up to this point had not been part of organizing efforts or had not been able to find a good job, that that was an opportunity for them. The rest of us who were part of organizing, DOCA was just not gonna. Was just not enough.

NIA wanted to go beyond DACA. They wanted to stop all deportations, shut down all the detention centers, and challenged the very notion that a border could keep them out.

I remember calling Elizabeth and just asking her if if she was interested in doing something crazy, and she as always says yes.

The organization was getting tweets and Facebook messages from young people who had moved back to Mexico, like Mariaynes Benice, but who would have qualified for DACA. Now they wanted to come.

Back, so they devised a plan. NIA members were going to voluntarily leave the US, go to Mexico and come back with these people.

They were going to walk up to immigration officers and ask for asilum.

They would call it to bring Them Home campaign.

It was almost a joke. I mean, I think we were just start talking about it. We didn't think it was going to happen.

But once Lisbeth was on board, others followed, including Lulu.

On a personal level too, I just I really wanted to know Mexico. I really wanted to go back and see where my where my parents were from.

And before anyone could think twice, they were doing it.

Everything was just happening like one step at a time. I was packing my bags, I was making my way to the airport. I was on the plane. I landed in Mexico.

They recorded videos from Mexico to generate a buzz around the action.

My name is a New Martinez. And then here in Lastula, in Mexico. I still can't believe that I'm here, and part of you really really happy. I got to see where I was born, I got to see where my dad grew up, Mama, Papa, but Monad, I'm gonna come home. I'm gonna come home.

And so On July twenty second, twenty thirteen, the Dream nine walked arm in arm up to the border and demanded to be let back in.

And then it was just it was everything was really fast and really surreal. We got into our caps and gowns.

And it was it was amazing. There were a lot of people, a lot of media, chanting and marching with us.

I mean there were like large pieces of equipment like over us, like taking pictures, taking video.

One by one started making a cross to the photo entry and so we're asked for our IDs, if we had visa or some kind of permit to cross.

They were asked if they had documentation to enter the United States, and they said no, and then they handed in their asylum paperwork.

After many hours of intense questioning, they were loaded into a van and driven a few hours north to their new temporary home, the Eloyd Detention Center. Producer Marlon Bishop and I had a chance to visit the detention center.

That's right, we did, and it's a sixteen hundred bed facility located basically in the middle of nowhere, in a small desert town midway between Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. It's exclusively used to detain immigrants, including asylum seekers.

Like the Dream Nine, and even though the people held here are not violent criminals, it looks very much like any other prison, the squat, concrete buildings, the razor wire fences, except here there's no color, no life. The living quarters are divided into pods, each with showers, a small living area, and cells where the detainee sleep at night. The windows are mostly blacked out.

When the Dream Nine arrived, the men and women were separated and housed in different pods. They were given a toothbrush and dark green jumpsuits to change into. Here's Lulu and the smell.

I think the smell specifically, and the smell of the pods was what stuck with me for a very long time because it was this like nasty cleaning smell. I don't know, I remember being really disgusted while being.

In there at CCA.

Do you Rolling Detention Center? This calumn is such a true recording.

As on the chart.

Hi'm this is Maria, Maria. I'm fine. They showered us and we've already been a friend the room and everyone's okay.

This is sound from a video posted by Nia. You might recognize the voice. It's Maria Yez, the Dreamer from Boston. Who we met earlier. NIA was taping conversations with members of the Dream Nine while they were in detention. This was taped the day the Dream Nine arrived at ELOI.

Oh see you soon, sure, yeah, fye, thank you, thank you, thank you, bye.

Good bye.

The Dream Nine were thrust into the tedium of prison life your time, meal time, sleep, repeat. When Mariaez first arrived, she was in pretty high spirits.

I remember making jokes of all being shackled, and I was like, look at this new jewelry. I'm rocking.

But that soon went away.

NIA just told us that we were going to be the tame and then all of a sudden we find ourselves when all of our belongings taken out, given uniforms and put in a cell. We freaked out.

But NIA did have a plan on the outside. Mohammed would keep the story in the press as long as possible.

So every single day for the two weeks they were there, we would have folks from community, from Tucson or from Phoenix come down and we would have protests there.

Nia also put pressure on politicians. Representative Luis Gutires of Chicago.

Speaker I asked unanimous consent to insert this letter to the President of the United States asking for the release of the Dream Nine held in detention in Arizona.

Meanwhile, on the inside, the Dream Nine would agitate however they could and collect information about the detention center from other detainees.

Marieynez and the rest of the Dream Nine women were housed in a pod with about ten other people, older women, mostly mothers, who had taken the trip across the desert, but they were separated from the rest of the population.

Being in contact with the other detainees the other women, listening to their stories made me see the bigger picture, made me realize that this is bigger than myself.

Maria Ines had never been an activist before, but she decided she wanted to find a way to help the women.

Lulu joined her, so Maria Anes and I decided, like, yeah, we're going to do it. We're going to encourage them to fight their cases, and we're going to give them this hotline to the attorneys that are working in our case.

We literally spend the whole night writing the same number over and over again, and the little pieces of paper so we could like hand them out to the women.

The dining hall was the area where they had contact with the largest number of other detainees. So one day during meal time, Marieez stood up on a stool in the middle of the dining hall and gave kind of a speech.

And I started telling the women, you know, there's a lot of people that care about us, there's a whole legal team that wants to support you, but we need to hear your voices, we need to know your cases. I know you're scared, I know people are intimidating you, but we're here, and that's all I said. And then people started hitting on the tables and just chanting, and then I was like, well, might as we'll do it too, So I started chanting with them.

And then they're calling for other people to come there thro their like walkie.

Talkie, and that's when the guards pulled Lulu at me off the chairs and took us out of the cafeteria. And they were really mad, and they were like, you're gonna regret do wind this.

Yeah, you're gonna get in a lot of trouble, and like we're like.

Okay, well, what's the worst they can do.

As punishment, Mariaz and Lulu were taken into a different pod and given bright orange jumpsuits in place of the green ones they were wearing. At first. The new colors signified they were classified as dangerous detainees. After all, in the detention center's view, these women had just tried to start a riot.

They were kept in separate cells, alone, and not allowed to communicate with anybody. They described this experience as solitary confinement. De Tension center officials call it disciplinary segregation.

The first day was fine. The second day, I was starting to feel numb, and I remember thinking of just turning on the faucet and letting the hot water run and use like leaving my hand there and feeling like this thing of the hot water, to at least feel something.

Lulu was kept right next door to Marie Anez, but that didn't make things easier.

They would give us spatten food, spoiled milk, so you would be really hungry, and all I would do is just lay in my bed and think about food and not even think about how it would taste. This just like the texture of food, the color of food, the smell.

On the third day, Maria Ynez told the guards that she was feeling suicidal.

There was a guard that would pass by like every two hours, and I told her that I wanted to hurt myself and that I was really afraid in that I wanted to talk to my mom.

At first, she said it to try to convince them to let her call her mom.

But then when I knew there was no way out, then it just became a reality.

Was that the first time in your life that you had said or thought that you wanted to hurt yourself.

I was just afraid. I was twenty one. I just wanted to come back home.

And the only thing that mad Yinez could do in solitary all day long was to read the Harry Potter books she had taken out from the detention center library.

Harry Potter, Help me not kill myself.

That was all I had.

And that was also all I had when I was growing up and I had to learn English so I would stop getting bullied. So it was like a nice reminder of home. I'm sorry.

Why are you apologizing, Mamita.

Because I'm an Estic Warrior? Estic Warriors don't cry.

On Latino Usa. Will the Dream nine get out of detention? Stay with us?

Yes?

Welcome back to Latino USA. I'm Maria no Josa Today with producers Antonia, Serejilo, and Marlon Bishop. When we left off, a group of undocumented student activists called the Dream Nine were being held at a detention facility in Arizona.

Here's Antonia, So Maria Nis and Lulu were placed in solitary confinement, and Madiais was struggling with daily thoughts of suicide. They had no idea when they'd be let go, and they were losing hope quickly.

Outside Nia, the activist group that organized the action was making calls for their release.

Lulu says it came out of nowhere. Guard took her out of her cell and into a room with the other Dream Nine women.

We changed back into our clothes and then we were driven about an hour outside of Eloi, and then we were released in a parking lot, a random parking lot.

So called Dream Nine walking out two weeks later wearing the same graduation gowns they wore with.

The way in which we were released was really weird. We weren't sure if that was the regular process for people being released, but it was also kind of incredible.

Asylum seekers are generally kept in detention for a few months, some are kept for years. The Dream Nine spent a total of seventeen days behind bars. Some believe the Obama administration wanted to get them out to avoid the story from blowing up.

That's because this whole thing was going on while the debate on comprehensive immigration reform was raging in Congress.

The Senate passed a bill that would have provided a path to legalization for immigrants, but it wasn't clear if the House was even going to put the bill up for a vote.

Some felt that the Dream Nine were stirring the pot at a bad time.

Well, I support the Dream Nine.

I support their passion, their commitment to immigration reform.

That wasn't my issue.

I took issue with the tactics.

You know, you saw that.

That's David Leopold, the former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He felt the Dream Nine could hurt efforts to get immigration reform through Congress, that they made the movement look too radical.

But from Lulu's perspective, allies suddenly became enemies.

It was really upsetting to see that actually we counted on Latin far fewer people than what we thought.

But ultimately members of NIA were not going to wait to see what Congress would decide they were actually going to get people back into the US, and they had already proven that they could do.

That, and this allowed NIA to dream bigger for their next action. Now that the Dream nine had been released, they decided to do the Dream thirty.

We're in graduation gowns.

Some thirty Mexican activists who were rised in the United States walked across the Rio Bravo Bridge, crossing between Mexico and the United States, and one of the Dream thirty participants was a young woman named Marcella Espinosa Diegos, who goes by Marseille. She wanted to return from Mexico to her family in Chicago, where she grew up.

Lulu is also from Chicago, although the two had never met, but as an organizer with NIA, Lulu spent a lot of time on the phone with Marseille while she was in detention.

Now the truth is, we thought that those conversations might be deep political conversations for support, but in fact, Antonia, so you're in detention and you're calling Lulu for some source of support.

And talk about cats.

They talk about cats. The steaks are super high. She doesn't know whether she's going to get out or get deported.

And then we would talk about like the perks of bank a cat person, right like that we could recognize like they're different meals, like the scratches, like literally like the whole nine yards or like being cat people, and that's what we would talk about during our extensive phone calls.

And they kind of fall for each other well I don't.

Know, maybe look and then it was like yeah, it.

Was like it was like it was like friendly flirting.

After Marse was finally released from the tension and got back to Chicago, she and Lulu started dating and now they're a couple. But five of the Dream thirty didn't make it. They were refused asylum and deported.

But with that success rate, NIA members thought no even bigger, and so they went all out for their third campaign, the Dream one fifty.

This time it wasn't just about young students, it was adults too.

But the Dream one fifty was much less successful than the previous bring Them Home campaigns.

After the third campaign, there were a lot of bridges that were burnt. I think it's a certain extent simple auticians just didn't want to work with MO Specifically, NIA gained a negative reputation.

The most public flame out was between NIA leader Mohammad Abdulahi or MO and Congressman Louis Gutiris from Chicago. Guthiras had been a major supporter and even spoke on the floor of Congress on behalf of the Dream nine, but during the Dream thirty, Gutirrez's office put out a statement saying they would be cutting ties with NIA.

He accused NIA of being racist, putting young people in harm's way, and even manipulating the families they work with.

NIA members shot back in their own statement, basically calling Luis Gutiriz a sellout who doesn't actually care about Mexicans.

That he is the quote Moses of Latino's as long as they are the humble kind that work in US kitchens. But if they have a voice and challenge him, then he stops caring. To this day, Mohammad really doesn't see any problem with his tactics.

I don't consider any of the work that we've done controversial myself as controversial, and I think the reality is is that sometimes people are just not ready to understand.

After the Dream one fifty, with support for NIA petering out, the campaigns ended and.

In the wake of the Dream Actions, the Dream nine, the Dream thirty, and finally the Dream one fifty, there was kind of a question mark about what just happened. Was this good or bad for the immigrant rights movement? Marlon, you spoke with somebody tied to the Dream nine.

That's right. I spoke with Margot Cohen, who was the Dream nine's lawyer, and this is what she said.

We have never figured out a statutory scheme that deals with the admission of non citizens in a way that makes sense.

That's lawyeries for saying. Our immigration system has never functioned in a way that's realistic. There have always been more people who are living and working here than the official rules have allowed for. Margo explains that once every generation, the government has granted legal status to large numbers of

Every generation, we have to regularize everybody, and we haven't done it for now more than a generation, because the last time we did it was in eighty six. So this is the first time that we have US produced thinkers, activists who just happened to not be American, but for all intents and purposes are Americans and think like Americans. Christian government like Americans.

And Marco's point is that the Dreamers also protest like Americans. They kind of feel entitled, as young Americans do, to demand rights.

And if you talk to people who follow the immigration debate closely, they'll tell you that the dreamer activists made a big impact.

I mean, the only thing that's really happened in immigration in the last few years has been because of their sit ins and because they're brazen tactics.

This is Cindy Gargamo, an immigration reporter for the La Times, And looking back.

I think that you will see the dreamer movement as instrumental in anything that really does happen.

And there are a lot of people who feel like the Dreamers were able to make the issue more relatable to non Latinos and non immigrants.

Exactly because it's kind of like this could be your son, this could be your daughter. You know, they're just like all other Americans in a way, right.

But there's also a flip side to that, which I talked about with Cindy. The one big critique within the immigrant rights movement of the Dreamers is that they created a pretty narrow definition of who should be allowed to stay in this country.

The activists really pushed this mold this like perfect child, What a waste of a mind? Right, And because they really pushed this so hard, they left a whole contingent of people behind.

People like mothers or families, or people with low level offenses. I mean, the idea is either you're like the valedictorian of a school, or you shouldn't be.

In the US.

The irony now is that Dreamers, these young people who were able to achieve a kind of legal status through dhaka, now they're worried that they might be targeted pecifically since the government has their paperwork. But what about the Dream nine. Was it effective?

Well?

There were those who said no, this was radical, it was poorly thought out, but there were a lot of supporters as well. And Margot Cohen, who was the lawyer for the Dream nine, well, she says the action was exactly what the movement needed at the time.

In a democracy, when you installed public policy, you have to ignite it, and that's what these young people, did you know? And if you think you're just going to sit back and it's going to come your way, well I don't know where you live, because that's not the way democracy works.

And if you ask Mohammed whether the Dream nine was effective, he doesn't give a big lofty speech about immigration policy.

It delivered everything I was supposed to deliver because those nine individuals who partook in it are now moving on with their lives.

And yes, it's true the Dream Nine are in the United States, but their situations are really complicated.

I have my next merits hearing, which is when I present like the arguments or my asylum case, and that's April twenty five, twenty eighteen.

So if Lulu hadn't left the country to take part in the Dream Nine, she actually at this point would have been eligible for DAKA, which would have given her permission to stay in the country. But instead, now she's got a fight for her asylum case, and the chances that she's going to get it they're not great.

Lulu's legal strategy now is to keep delaying her hearing and hoping immigration reform happens someday in the future.

So was it worth it?

I would like to think that it was worth the entire action. Was worth it to witness firsthand the conditions of the detention center, to go back to Mexico to see my family. Yeah, I think it was worth it.

But at the same time, the experience kind of soured her on activism.

I wouldn't consider myself an organizer anymore. I think after I came back from Eloy, I had a lot of processing to do. I didn't like how I was feeling, and I think at that point too, where I realized how unhealthy organizing could be and I just could not be on that path anymore.

And Lulu's not the only one. In fact, Lisbeth has also stepped back from her organizing work.

So I'm studying my third year of law school, so I'm just kinda concentrated on that for now and then taking the bar and hopefully passing it the first time.

Muhammad is still working in immigration, but he's dialed it down a lot.

There is nothing pleasurable about being an activist. I don't enjoy being an organizer, being active in the immigrant world, and I wish I had never googled the Dream Act. Part of the reason why there haven't been any great wins in the immigrant rights movement in decades. Is because people become active for a year, get really pumped up, get really involved, get defeated, get beat up, and then they move on.

These activists did this big thing, and now they feel really defeated and discouraged.

But on the other hand, there's Maria Nis. So this is Shirley As.

This is Shirley A.

Recently, Marlon Antonia and I went to Revere, Massachusetts to see how Maria Inis is doing these days. Ravera is a suburb of Boston where Mariais grew up, and walking around with her was like walking around with the mayor. She seems to know everybody.

Hidja go in the WII office.

Okay, this is Maria Maria.

This is station Hi.

Sure true, I will talk to you by.

When Maria Ni first got back to Boston, she had a rough start, no money, crashing on couches, but she did have a college scholarship, and now she's found a job she really loves.

On the left, hidden behind this wall.

Is my office.

Maria Nis has a job as a community organizer working with immigrant and refugee women.

Before she was part of the Dream nine. Maria Nis wasn't very politically minded. She was just a girl who wanted to go to college. But everything she went through at the detention center gave her a new perspective and a new purpose.

I think the main concept of fighting for was right, even if it means putting your life at risk. That's something that I've learned from my country. That's something that I've learned from the United States, and that's why I'm doing the work that I'm doing.

But detension has left scars on Marius as well. She still gets panic attacks. She's been diagnosed with PTSD.

I asked marias the same question that I asked Lulu. Was it all worth it? Leaving her family, the fear, the solitary confinement, the panic.

Attacks, Everything I have right now would have not existed if I would have not made that decision of going back. And yes it's horrible, Yes I'm still digesting it and fighting my demons, but I was meant to stand up in that cafeteria and give out those phone numbers, and I won't ever take that back.

Is there a part of you that thinks back and says, how could NIA have done that? How could they have involved you. A kid essentially didn't know a whole lot.

I don't blame them. We were all kids and we did what we thought was right. If I had lose Weevo's that Muhammad had to do that, I think I would have done that too.

Mariaeynez is moving forward in her life, but her future in the United States still remains uncertain.

And that's true for all the Dreamers DAKA the Diet version of the Dream Act we talked about that Obama created by executive order. It's not a pathway to citizenship. It's temporary relief from deportation and a work permit. The next president could get rid of it with the snap of their fingers, just as Obama created it with the snap of his.

And even if some version of the Dream Act passes one day, it would not protect their parents. All the Dreamers can do is have faith that somehow it will all work out in the future.

Before we left Revere in Massachusetts, Marinis took us to see something.

So the mural is it's kind of surely.

Have It's a mural where are you?

I am all the way over here?

It's a panorama of Revere in Massachusetts. The stores, the seashore in the distance, and the people that make up the town.

Wait, so this is you graduating since they remember me crossing the border. We're in my cap and gown. They decided to drew me. We're in my cap and gown. So that's me reaching out to community and like just advocating and talk about immigrants' rights. Now that I'm back in Revere and I'm working and I'm doing the same job that the mural is saying that I should be doing. I feel proud coming every morning getting off from the tea and having that remembrance every day of like, remember

For Maria Nis, Revere is home. The US is home. It's where she wakes up every day and where she dreams every night. But it's a home that as of now, isn't sure it wants her there. When it will make up its mind, nobody knows. For now, Maria Nis is living in limbo, just like she always has. This episode was produced by Antonie Rihido and Marlon Bishop. It was

Latino USA is made possible in part by the Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide, the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and funding for Latino USA is Coverage of a culture of health is made possible in part by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.