With DACA and the Dreamers poised to be back in the center of the national conversation, Latino USA revisits this episode about what it means to be young and undocumented in the United States today. In 2013, a group of young undocumented activists known as the Dream 9 staged one of the riskiest protests in the history of the immigration rights movement. They willingly left the U.S. to Mexico, and then demanded to be let back into the country despite lacking legal status. Their efforts landed the...
Nov 24, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week Latino USA brings you an episode of Future Hindsight. Host Mila Atmos is joined by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, the Policy Director at the American Immigration Council, a non-profit organization that strives to strengthen the United States by shaping immigration policies and practices. They discuss how out-of-date immigration laws are and why the only cure is comprehensive immigration reform from Congress. U.S. immigration laws have not changed since the 1990s. The current border enforcemen...
Nov 22, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Maria Hinojosa sits down with award-winning Mexican actors Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal to talk about their latest projects together—"La Máquina", Hulu’s first original Spanish language series and "State of Silence," a Netflix documentary about the threats and dangers Mexican journalists face while reporting in their country. Diego and Gael also discuss how they foster their lifelong friendship, and how the two create politically powerful art. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to ...
Nov 17, 2024•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Paloma, a second-generation Mexican-American trans woman, was attending Maria Hinojosa’s class at Barnard College, she was using they/them pronouns. Back then, she was downcast and barely spoke a word. Years later, Maria started seeing Paloma’s social media posts as a fabulous and outgoing drag performer. How did that happen? In this episode, we follow Paloma in her journey to womanhood—a journey that started in her family home in the Bay Area and continues today, after months of Hormone Re...
Nov 15, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast A week after the re-election of Donald Trump, Maria Hinojosa is joined by ITT all-stars Imara Jones, journalist and founder of Translash Media, and Karen Attiah, Washington Post Opinion columnist. They dive into the far-reaching implications of Trump’s victory for our communities and what it means for the future of American democracy. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage ....
Nov 14, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Latino USA brings you the first episode of The Tenant Association, produced by Los Angeles Public Press. The series follows a group of tenants who came together and fought back against their landlord. It’s a story about neighbors—elderly, young, immigrant, working class renters. Many of them are Latine and Asian and had lived for decades in an apartment complex in LA’s Chinatown. Until they got a rent increase that was basically an eviction notice… and decided to fight to stay in thei...
Nov 12, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast To cap off our 2024 election coverage, The Latino Factor: How We Vote, Latino USA teamed up with Futuro Media’s political podcast In The Thick to bring you a special episode. In the election that many Americans said was “the most important of their lifetimes,” Maria Hinojosa spends the day speaking to voters, students, journalists and movement leaders across the country. Later Maria is joined by journalists Paola Ramos, Jean Guerrero and Jamil Smith to unpack why Trump won the elections—includin...
Nov 08, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since 1986, there has been an enduring 26-point gap in youth voter turnout in presidential elections. And as the Latine population continues to grow in the US, they are making up a large portion of new young eligible voters. So, in this election, both parties aggressively courted young Latinos for their votes. We follow two young Latinos who have been hand-picked by the parties to get out the youth vote, on the ground– in battleground states and all over social media. This story is part of our s...
Nov 03, 2024•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast In The Thick hosts Maria Hinojosa and Paola Ramos are joined by LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, and Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of the Hispanic Federation to discuss voter suppression in Black and Latino communities. They break down the legal, social and political methods being used by the far-right and reveal how these misunderstood voting blocs could decide the outcome of the 2024 election. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the t...
Nov 01, 2024•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast The 2024 presidential election has seen a rise in Spanish-language misinformation and in the content creators making a living by pushing out false content. For months, Futuro Investigates in collaboration with Latino USA, tracked how lies and conspiracies about the election and the candidates that originated in English soon found their way to Spanish-speaking audiences, amid the expanded monetization of tech platforms and the rise of technologies like AI. We meet face to face with social media i...
Oct 27, 2024•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week Latino USA shares an episode of The In Thick podcast. Maria is joined by co-host Paola Ramos, author of “Defectors: The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America,” to examine the growing support for extremism in America and why Latinos can be especially susceptible to far-right ideologies. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our homepage ....
Oct 25, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Latino USA shares the conclusion of Futuro Investigates podcast series USA v. García Luna . The day finally arrived. Genaro García Luna, one of Mexico’s former most powerful government officials, has been sentenced to serve more than 38 years in prison by a court in New York. In the last episode of our series, Maria Hinojosa and Peniley Ramírez tell us what happened inside the courthouse and also reveal to us that this isn’t the end of the judicial problems for García Luna in the Unit...
Oct 24, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ever since he can remember, music has been part of Paquito D’Rivera’s life. The 76-year old jazz pioneer has played on stages across the world and is still winning awards across genres. In 2023, he received Latin Grammys for Best Latin Jazz Album and Best Contemporary Classical Composition. In this conversation with Maria Hinojosa, Paquito talks about the places music has taken him, the people he’s met along the way, and the ways he’s improvising his way into the next chapter of his life. Follow...
Oct 20, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Argentinian composer and guitarist Jacinta Clusellas didn’t expect that she would end up writing musicals when she moved to the United States to study music. Jacinta is part of the all-female creative team behind “Azul,” a bilingual musical in which the characters sing both in English and Spanish. In this episode of Latino USA, Jacinta tells us about the creative process and the inspiration behind this musical, and her personal connection to it. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our...
Oct 18, 2024•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the U.S., Columbus Day is a federal holiday in honor of the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus—and it’s a day of Italian-American celebration. But not everyone is on board with celebrating Columbus. His colonization led to the bloodshed of Indigenous people and while he did arrive to the Americas, he never set foot in North America. Over the past few decades, there has been a growing movement to officially replace the holiday with a day of recognition for Indigenous people. Latino USA exp...
Oct 13, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Being a new parent comes with a series of challenges—one being the decision whether or not to teach your child a second language. Latino USA explores the world of bilingual parenting through the story of two Dominican-American siblings growing up in the South, one who was drawn to Spanish and the other who never wanted to speak it. Both of the siblings are now parents and faced with the question: to teach your kids Spanish or not to teach your kids Spanish? Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subs...
Oct 11, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast After Elián’s rescue he was released to relatives in Miami. Just a day later the Cuban government sent a note: the boy’s father and Fidel Castro wanted Elián back. Tensions between the two countries had long been high, and relations were about to be tested to the extreme as the Thanksgiving miracle became an international custody battle. Just over a week after his rescue, on Dec. 6, 1999, Elián turned six years old. That same day Fidel Castro sent an ultimatum to the U.S. to return the boy to hi...
Oct 06, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast It was Thanksgiving of 1999 when two Florida fishermen rescued a little boy from the sea. His name was Elián González—a Cuban 5-year-old who had survived a journey across the ocean. His mother and others drowned. His survival made global headlines, and soon Elián would be put in the middle of a dramatic battle for his custody between members of his family and two nations: Cuba and the United States. “ Chess Piece: The Elián González Story ” is a new podcast from Futuro Studios and iHeartMedia’s ...
Oct 04, 2024•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1945, 20-year-old Anthony Acevedo was held in captivity with other American soldiers inside a Nazi concentration camp called Berga. There, the soldiers were used as slave laborers, building tunnels for underground fuel factories. It was during this time that the Mexican-American medic kept a secret diary and documented the horrors he witnessed inside the camp. Acevedo held on to his war diary until 2010, when he donated it to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, ...
Sep 29, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rubén Blades is a singer, songwriter, actor, lawyer, and politician, born in Panama and a New Yorker since 1974. After four decades in the public eye, 17 Grammy Awards, and some of the best-selling records in salsa history, his unique storytelling across music styles has kept him relevant to this day. He’s worked with a wide range of musicians including Héctor Lavoe, Willie Colón, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Sting, Michael Jackson, and Calle 13. He has also kept a presence back home - he ran for presid...
Sep 27, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast A few weeks from the November 2024, Maria Hinojosa brings together three super-star Latino journalists for a roundtable; John Quiñones, Maria Elena Salinas, and Paola Ramos. All four of these legends combined, have over 100 years of journalistic experience– they have seen it all. Amongst each other, they get frank and talk about the state of journalism, partisan politics, and which 2024 Presidential candidate will capture the Latino Vote. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsle...
Sep 22, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ernesto Londoño is a national correspondent with The New York Times, where he covers the U.S. midwest. He’s also the author of a new book named “Trippy: The Peril and Promise of Medicinal Psychedelics.” In this episode of Latino USA, Ernesto talks about his healing —and journalistic— journey with psychedelics and discusses the hopes and concerns the therapeutic use and industry of these substances generate. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube . Subscribe to our newsletter by going to the top of our ...
Sep 20, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Latino USA brings you the launch of In The Thick’s new popup season—to help you break down this unprecedented political moment and what it means for our communities and our futures. In this episode Maria Hinojosa is joined by her fellow co-hosts political scientist Dr. Christina Greer, journalist Paola Ramos and actress Judy Reyes. Together they help you decode this week’s presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. You can subscribe to In The Thic...
Sep 17, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast In recent years, rising grocery prices have shocked many of us, changing how we discuss inflation. For economists, inflation measures how quickly prices increase over a set period, but for most consumers, it’s a matter of affordability. We all have prices we track, like milk, pizza, and tacos. For our host Maria Hinojosa, a good taco tops that list. In San Diego, one of the U.S. cities hit hardest by inflation, she spoke with local taqueros and families about the rising cost of goods, and its im...
Sep 15, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Irene Vallejo never imagined she would become a global literary sensation. In 2019, the Spanish author and academic published an essay about a somewhat obscure topic: the ancient history of books. After a short literary career, she thought it would be the last book she published. Instead, “Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World” has become an international bestseller since then. It was translated into 38 languages, connecting Irene with millions of readers across the world. In this...
Sep 13, 2024•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Part 2 of The Moving Border, we visit Tapachula, Mexico in search of a young man whose life is in danger and we find a new frontier where refugees trying to make it to the U.S. are increasingly stuck thanks to an international effort to make Mexico a destination state for asylum. The Moving Border series was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center, with additional support provided by the Ford Foundation. This episode originally aired in 2020. Subscribe to our newsletter by going to t...
Sep 08, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Making Movies is a band based out of Kansas City, Missouri that mixes Afro-Latino rhythms and psychedelic rock’n'roll. The group members have roots in Panama and Mexico. It’s composed by two sets of brothers, lead singer and guitarist Enrique Chi and bassist Diego, and Juan-Carlos and Andres Chaurand on percussion and drums. In this edition of our series “How I Made It," Latino USA sits down with Enrique and Juan-Carlos to discuss, "Locura Colectiva," one of the band’s most ambitious tracks. The...
Sep 06, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this 2-part investigation, The Moving Border from Latino USA delves into the increasing pressure put on refugees seeking safety in the United States via its southern border. It reveals the surprising support the Trump administration has received to create an impenetrable policy wall that pushes asylum seekers south, away from the U.S. In episode one, The North, we visit Juarez and tell the story of a mother and daughter who are mired in a web of changing policy and subjected to ongoing violen...
Sep 01, 2024•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast It was only a few years ago that Erik Rodriguez was attending medical school in his native Cuba, following his family of careerists’ footsteps. But then, when he heard James Brown’s "I feel good," he realized that he was meant for a different path. In this segment of “How I Made It,” Erik takes us through his transformation into Afro-Cuban artist Cimafunk—a Billboard’s “Top 10 Latin Artists to Watch”—and explains how someone who had never studied music before found the confidence to listen to hi...
Aug 30, 2024•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gun violence is a top voting issue for Latinos and Latinas this election cycle. So to explore how Latines are thinking about the topic, we traveled to Texas. The Lone Star State has more registered guns than any other state in the country, and it’s also home to some of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history — many of them directly targeting Latinos and Latinas. On this episode of Latino USA, producer Reynaldo Leaños Jr. travels to El Paso, Texas to speak with Latinx activists and gun owners ab...
Aug 25, 2024•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
