Luis Cortes Romero (00:00:35):

Chuy, how are you, man?

Jesus "Chuy" Salcido (00:00:35):

I'm good.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:00:36):

Good. It's good to see you. Thank you for making time for us. Appreciate you. So, I know we talked a little bit about what we wanted in the position. Initially, I was thinking about having it go down like that, but I don't know. What do you think?

Jesus "Chuy" Salcido (00:00:48):

I think across would be better.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:00:49):

Yeah. Okay, let's do that, then.

Jesus "Chuy" Salcido (00:00:51):

Let's do it. Go ahead and have a seat right here. Do me a favor, make sure it is spelled correctly.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:00:57):

Yeah.

Jesus "Chuy" Salcido (00:00:57):

All right, let's do this one first.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:01:01):

Go. I can tolerate pain, so go as hard as you want.

[Spanish 00:01:04] No me agüito. (I won’t wimp out.)

Jesus "Chuy" Salcido (00:01:02):

[Spanish 00:01:06] ¿No agüitation? (No wimpiness?)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:01:08):

No, no.

[Spanish 00:01:07] No agüitation. (No wimpiness.)

[English] I say that right now-

Jesus "Chuy" Salcido (00:01:19):

So, what's up with you? What do you do?

Luis Cortes Romero (00:01:21):

I work as a lawyer for immigrants. You meet a lot of people from a lot of different areas. You hear a lot about what brought them here. Some of them,

[Spanish 00:01:30] querían venir, (wanted to come,)

[English] Some of them, they had to come, they got forced out. It's rewarding work. A lot of people who need help.

Jesus "Chuy" Salcido (00:01:41):

Where'd you study?

Luis Cortes Romero (00:01:42):

I went to community college first, and then I went to San Jose State, and I studied Chicano studies. That was dope. I loved it. One time I was

[Spanish 00:01:52] en un pleito con una novia, (in an argument with a girlfriend,)

[English] and she was like, "You like to argue so much, you should be a lawyer." And I was like, "Oh, shit, maybe I should be a lawyer." It was like the first time I heard it out loud. And then so I looked into it, because I didn't even know what the process was or anything like that, you know?

Jesus "Chuy" Salcido (00:02:07):

You got to be a

[Spanish 00:02:08] chingón (badass)

[English] to be a lawyer, bro. You know what I mean? Not a lot of people can do that.

Protestors (00:02:12):

We all live here! We all live here! We all live here! We all live here! We all live here! We all live here! We all live here!

Luis Cortes Romero (00:02:28):

This was a historic moment. We defended DACA at the Supreme Court.

Protestors (00:02:32):

We all live here!

Luis Cortes Romero (00:02:33):

If they wanted to rescind this program, they have to give reasoned decision making and explain all of the reasons as to why it did it, and that it considered the real human stakes that are here. This case really highlights how badly we need overall comprehensive immigration reform. We're hoping that we get a decision soon, so that people like myself and other DACA recipients feel a sense of stability.

MUSIC (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:02:58] De aquí, de allá. De aquí, de allá. (From here, from there. From here, from there)

Lourdes Romero (00:02:54):

Hey, Luis. Hi!

Luis Cortes Romero (00:02:54):

Hey.

Evelia Vargas Margallan (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:03:30] ¡Hola! (Hi!)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:03:31] Hola. ¿Cómo estás? (Hi, how are you?)

Evelia Vargas Margallan (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:03:33]. Hola, mijo, ¿cómo estás?  (Hi, son, how are you?)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:03:35] Bien. Por suerte, la alcancé. (I’m good. I almost missed you.)

Evelia Vargas Margallan (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:03:38] Ay, qué bueno. (Oh, that’s good)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:03:40] Por poco no la alcanzo. Les traje unas flores. Usted se va mañana, ¿verdad? (I almost missed you. I brought you some flowers. You leave tomorrow, right?)

Evelia Vargas Margallan (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:03:41] Sí, yo me voy mañana, papi. (Yes, honey, I leave tomorrow.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:03:44] ¡Feliz día de la madre! (Happy Mother’s Day!)

Evelia Vargas Margallan:

[Spanish] ¡Gracias, papá! (Thank you, sweetie.)

Lourdes Romero (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:03:45] Qué bonito. ¿Cómo estuvo tu viaje? Bueno, vamos adentro. Vamos a cocinar. (So nice. How was your trip? Let’s go in. We’re going to cook.)

Evelia Vargas Margallan (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:03:45] ¡Luis! Él quería ver a Luis. (Luis! He wanted to see Luis.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:03:59] ¿Cómo está? (How are you?)

Evelia Vargas Margallan:

[Spanish] Dice: “Me voy a ir y no voy a ver a Luis.” ([Grandpa] said he thought he might

leave without getting to see Luis.)

Luis Cortes Romero:

[Spanish] No, no, para eso vine. ¿Cómo está? (No way, that’s why I’m here. How are you?)

Lourdes Romero:

[Spanish] Ajá, qué bueno, mijo. (That’s good, son.)

Luis’s grandfather (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:04:02] ¿Cuándo llegaste? (When did you arrive?)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:04:03] Ya vine ahorita. (I just got here.)

Lourdes Romero (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:04:07] Deja poner las flores en agua. (Let’s put the flowers in water.)

Evelia Vargas Margallan (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:04:09] Son bastantes años. Como 30 años sin verlas a mis hijas. Yo no conocí a los demás nietos, nada más a Luis, pero cuando tenía un año. Gracias a Dios, él nos ayudó a arreglar la visa para poder venir a verlos. (It had been many years. I hadn’t seen my children in about 30 years. I hadn’t met any of my grandchildren. Just Luis and he was only 1 year old. Thank God [Luis] helped us get the visa so we could come see them.)

Lourdes Romero (00:02:54):

[Spanish 00:04:25] ¿Qué Pingüino? ¿Qué pasó? ¿Querías ver qué te trajeron a ti también? (What’s wrong Pingüino? You want to see if he brought you something, too?)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:04:32):

It's some mixed emotions, because on the one hand, there's a sense of relief that my mom was able to see her parents. The other side of it is, is that it's a reminder of just the memories and relationships that we could have had.

(00:04:47):

[Spanish 00:04:51] Sí, se ve bueno. (Yep, looks good.)

Lourdes Romero (00:04:47):

[Spanish 00:04:53] Sí. A ver, ¿alguien lo quiere probar a ver cómo está de sal? A ver, Luis. No te vayas a quemar. (​​Do you want to taste it and see if the salt is right? Careful, Luis.  Don’t burn your tongue.)

Luis Cortes Romero:

[Spanish] ¡Quema! (Hot!)

Lourdes Romero:

[Spanish] ¡Te dije! (I told you!)

Luis Cortes Romero:

[Spanish] Está bueno, está bueno. (That’s good, it’s good.)

Lourdes Romero:

[Spanish] ¿Está bueno? Bien, entonces, vamos a calentar las tortillas. (Is it good? Well, then, let's warm up the tortillas.)

Luis Cortes Romero:

[Spanish] Está caliente. (It’s hot.)

Lourdes Romero:

[Spanish] Sí, bueno y caliente. (Yes, good and hot.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:05:18):

My mom had to spend a significant amount of time without her parents because of a division, an imaginary line, and some arbitrary laws that won't allow us to see each other.

Lourdes Romero (00:05:29):

[Spanish 00:05:31] Lo necesito cerquita,  para apretarlo. (I need it close enough to squeeze it.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:05:33):

It's no way to build a relationship. You try as best as you can, but there's a loss of time.

Lourdes Romero (00:06:10):

[Spanish 00:06:10] Cuando Luis empezó a ir a la escuela, el primer año, él me quería enseñar inglés, él quería enseñarme lo que él aprendía porque Luis sabía que yo no hablaba inglés. Y lo que él aprendía en la escuela venía y me lo enseñaba, pretendiendo que él era el maestro. Y a mí me gustaba. Luis iba a una escuela superdotada. Solamente iban estudiantes que eran recomendados por sus maestros.

(When Luis started going to school the first year, he wanted to teach me English, he wanted to teach me what he was learning. Because Luis knew that I did not speak English. And what he learned in school, he came and taught me, pretending that he was the teacher. And I liked it. Luis went to a school for gifted kids. You had to have a teacher's recommendation.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:06:11):

And this is the school, actually, that organized a trip to Europe. It was a class about European history. We learned about the Magna Carta, like King Henry and all that shit. It was dope, I loved it. And so we were going to go to Europe, and go check out what we had read. That's how bomb the school was.

Lourdes Romero (00:06:43):

[Spanish 00:06:44] Luis vino bien entusiasmado con una caja bien grande de chocolates. Y le dije: “¿Qué vas a hacer con eso?”, y me dijo: “Voy a vender chocolates ​​porque voy a ir a Europa”. Y a mí se me hizo divertido: “Oh, sí”. No sé cuántos chocolates vendió, pero sí sé que fue el que más vendió en la clase.

(Luis came home very excited with a huge box of chocolates. I said, What are you doing with those? He said, I'm selling chocolate to go to Europe. I thought that was funny. Yeah, right. I don't know how much chocolate he sold. But I know that he sold more than anyone in his class.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:06:52):

And one night they're like, "Yeah, you can't go, because you weren't born here."

Lourdes Romero (00:06:54):

[Spanish 00:06:57] “¿Por qué no?”, dijo, “Si yo vendí los chocolates”. “Es que, Luis, tú no tienes documentos”. ”¿Cómo que no tengo documentos?” ”No, tú no tienes documentos, Luis. Tú no eres ciudadano”.

(Why not? he said. I sold the chocolates! Luis, it's just that, you don't have papers. - How can I not have documents? - You don’t have documents, Luis. You aren't a citizen.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:07:08):

I was just super bummed out. I remember I was crying. I got made fun of for crying.

Lourdes Romero (00:07:14):

[Spanish 00:07:16] En ese momento fue cuando él se dio cuenta que era indocumentado, y me dijo: ”¿Por qué no te viniste antes para que yo naciera aquí? ”¿Por qué te esperaste?”

(That’s when he realized he was undocumented. He said, Why didn't you come here earlier so I would have been born here? Why did you wait?)

 

Lourdes Romero:

[Spanish] Cuando nos movimos a Estados Unidos desde México, yo no terminé mi carrera, pero mi esposo estudió una carrera de ingeniero mecánico que él terminó allá. Pero aquí él trabajaba en un restaurant de comida rápida. También trabajaba en la construcción. Para él tener tiempo para Luis y Erick, él se iba a las 4:00 de la mañana y terminar temprano y poder disfrutar el día con ellos.

(When we came to the U.S. from Mexico, I didn't finish my studies. But my husband studied to be a mechanical engineer and he finished his degree there. But here he worked in fast food and construction. To make time for Luis and Erick, he started work at 4 AM, and ended early to have time to play with them.)

 

Lourdes Romero:

[Spanish] Mira. (Look.)

Jessica Romero (00:07:24):

When we'd go fishing.

Lourdes Romero (00:08:25):

Yes, [Spanish 00:08:26]. Aquí Luis ya empezaba a tomar clases de natación. Tu papá no sabía nadar, y Luis traía el salvavidas. (Luis was already taking swimming lessons, and your dad didn't know how to swim, but Luis had the life jacket.)

Jessica Romero (00:08:25):

[Spanish 00:08:26] ¿Sí? (Yeah?)

Lourdes Romero (00:08:25):

[Spanish 00:08:26] Tu papá y Luis eran mucho mucho cercas. (Your dad and Luis were very close.)

Jessica Romero (00:08:26):

Yeah, he was hands on.

Lourdes Romero (00:08:27):

[Spanish 00:08:28] Oh, sí, todo el tiempo. Aquí es cuando te bautizamos a ti. Erick estaba sosteniendo tu biberón. (Yes. All the time. This is when we baptized you. Erick was holding your bottle.)

Jessica Romero (00:08:27):

[Spanish 00:08:28] Mira, Luis con su pastel. (Look, Luis with his cake.)

Lourdes Romero (00:08:27):

[Spanish 00:08:28] ¿Sabes qué? Este es Erick. (You know what? This is Erick.)

Jessica Romero (00:08:27):

[Spanish 00:08:28] ¿Sí? (Yeah?)

Lourdes Romero (00:08:27):

[Spanish 00:08:28] Sí. Y yo no estaba contenta con lo que Luis le hizo. ¿Y si ves la felicidad de Luis? ( Yes. And I was not happy with what Luis did to him. And if you see how happy Luis was?)

Jessica Romero (00:08:28):

Oh, yeah. He's so happy.

Lourdes Romero (00:08:38):

[Spanish 00:08:48] Luis con su mano siempre detrás. Y lo empujó bien duro y el niño lloró. Sí me recuerdo. Pobre Erick. (Luis with his hand always behind. And he pushed him hard and the child cried. I do remember. Poor Erick.)

Jessica Romero (00:08:57):

Yeah. You could never trust Luis near the cake.

Lourdes Romero (00:09:00):

No.

Jessica Romero (00:09:01):

Never trust Luis near the cake.

(00:09:14):

Luis was really someone I looked up to and really helped me out, and I guess coming of age things.

Fatima Romero (00:09:21):

I would always go to him because he was the oldest. I thought of him as an adult most of my life. He would be protective and keeping me from doing stupid mistakes.

Barack Obama (00:09:40):

It makes no sense to expel talented young people who, for all intents and purposes, are Americans. They've been raised as Americans.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:09:50):

Getting DACA, that was a game changer. And I got my driver's license. I don't know if people have ever been on dates, and you get carded for a drink, and then you have to go through this whole explanation of why you don't have a fucking ID. It's the worst. It really kills the date, by the way. I'll just tell you that it's not romantic.

 

Text Card:

DACA is a 2012 federal program that permits undocumented young people, known as “Dreamers”, to live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation.

 

(00:10:22):

DACA is not a pathway to a green card. It's not a green card. It's technically not even a legal status. All it is, it's a temporary measure where we give the Department of Homeland Security all of our information, they vet us, and if they deem us to be a non-priority and a non-threat to the community, they'll give us permission to stay in the United States for two years at a time. It was the first time that I felt safe, at least temporarily. I became much more open about my status, because now I felt that there wasn't going to be that direct repercussion that someone could just call ICE because they disagreed with me. It took this weight off of me that I didn't realize how heavy it was until it was off of me. I remember thinking like, "Okay, well, I can't waste this."

Speaker 11 (00:11:15):

I am super excited to introduce our speaker, Luis Cortes Romero. Luis was the first attorney I had ever met who was a DACA recipient just like myself. And looking forward to your presentation.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:11:41):

All right, thank you so much, everybody. I am very excited to be here. Today, we'll be talking a little bit about what is DACA, how we got it, because I think that's important, to think about the origin stories, the grassroots...

(00:11:53):

I think DACA, by its nature, creates this narrative of the good immigrant versus the bad immigrant. In terms of DACA recipients, there were people who were brought here as children who graduated from high school, or are in the armed forces, or in school. But it leaves out a lot of the working class population who may have not had the opportunity to finish high school, but who are hard workers, or started their own businesses instead.

(00:12:16):

And I think really the way we got to start of how this phenomenon of Dreamers and DACA recipients really came into play is, we got to start where we start usually, which is in the beginning.

(00:12:35):

2001 is where the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors, the DREAM Act, took place. The DREAM Act was a way for folks who were brought to United States as children can have a pathway to a green card and eventually US citizenship. The DREAM Act never made it out of Congress. It's been proposed time and time again. It was one of the things that was created by the activists for the activists, and it was a hard-fought, hard-sacrificed battle. I think that's important, that DACA wasn't a gift from Obama, it was a political concession from the heavy pressure by activists and from young people. The DREAM Act, although unsuccessful in legislature, it did provide a foundation and a name for a generation that will ultimately change the world.

(00:13:37):

There's a frustration about not being able to be directly involved in the political process, like being able to vote, but I am encouraged about the people who come together and try to do something about it. I've been very, very lucky that, from the beginning, I started working with a group of amazing people, from community organizers to the lawyers, to nonprofits, to activists, and we've been trying to mobilize our community in and outside the courtroom, in and outside the law, working with and against the law, in order to really effectuate some change.

Paul Quinonez (00:14:17):

We're in a very unique place in time where we can take and push farther beyond what people would've been comfortable with before, and really trying to build a new system that undocumented people can actually access, but that's better.

Alejandra Perez (00:14:30):

And that's why I think the biggest and most important thing that we have to do is how do we organize locally, right? Really making meaningful fights that are actually going to support undocumented folks.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:14:41):

Have you seen any cross-coalition building?

Kamau Chege (00:14:44):

Yeah, I remember we created UndocuBlack Network in response to just how Latino-focused the narrative was. And now that network's grown, but also you see Black immigrants in Congress, a lot of Asian immigrant leaders. And so the movement is so much bigger and more diverse. There's going to be a lot more accountability because there's so much more power.

Lourdes Romero (00:15:41):

Come on. Time to come out.

[Spanish 00:15:42] Aquí, en el área donde estamos, en los tiempos atrás, había muchas redadas. Ibas a la tienda a comprar y había una redada ahí. Eso es. Ese es uno de los temores porque no estás listo para irte, especialmente si tienes hijos pequeños. ¿Qué va a pasar con ellos?

(Here in this area, in the old days, there were many raids. You'd be shopping in a store, and there would be an [immigration] raid. This was one of our fears, because we’re not ready to go. Especially if you have little children. What’s going to happen with them?)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:15:47):

My dad had to go before an immigration judge, and immigration judge told him despite you don't have criminal history, despite you have US citizen kids here, despite that you've paid your taxes the whole time, and despite all of that, judge said he had to go.

Lourdes Romero (00:15:59):

[Spanish 00:16:06] A mi esposo lo deportaron. Fue muy difícil para toda la familia, el cambio brusco que tuvimos, porque no lo esperábamos.

(They deported my husband. It was very hard for the whole family. We weren't expecting that sudden change.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:16:20):

Once I found out the deportation, I kind of just tossed in the towel. Math seemed to not matter as much when you have a family member who's going to be exiled. I'm like, "What sense does that make?" Shit takes a toll. And it was these benches right here. I remember just sitting down, I didn't even go to my next period. I just kind of sat here.

(00:16:59):

I didn't understand how there was a system that worked that way.

Jessica Romero (00:17:05):

And I don't think my parents ever really explained it to me fully, what had happened. All I knew is just that all of a sudden, my mom was a single mom who didn't really want to be. She had her teenage sons, she had a toddler. Sorry.

Fatima Romero (00:17:23):

It's okay.

Jessica Romero (00:17:30):

Luis and Erick were kind of going through their-

Fatima Romero (00:17:33):

Rough patch.

Jessica Romero (00:17:34):

Their rough patch, a little bit of a... Definitely rebellious phase. My mom couldn't handle us all. The family unit that we once had was just like... It just wasn't there anymore. Yeah.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:18:00):

My brother and I were only about a year and a few months apart, but there was some significant differences between him and I. The kind of glaring one was the fact that he was born here and I was not. That was definitely a source that I think put a wedge in how we saw the world. And so he was much less risk-adverse, because he knew that he couldn't get deported, because he was born here.

(00:18:27):

The problem with immigration status isn't just the fear of deportation, it's the exploitation of immigrants often leads people to be stuck in low socioeconomic statuses. That pushes you into what zip codes you can live in, and ultimately the zip codes you live in dictate a lot of what your life is going to look like, what you're exposed to. We had a lot of traumas that we had gone through. Living in poverty brings a ton of traumas, lots of violence, alcohol abuse, and things like that. Some of these traumas that then ultimately led him to use controlled substances. He was trying to find, I think, a chemical solution to an emotional problem, and ended up dying from it.

(00:19:24):

It's around this time too that my outside appearance started to really match what I was feeling inside. I went through this weird identity crisis, because I really felt like the US was my home, right? And I identified so much with it, so I wanted to get away from my Mexican identity, because that's the identity that gets people deported. So, I started piercing my ears. I pierced my nose too. I started hanging out with other people who looked like that. That punk rock style was a very American thing, and I ran to that. It was really aggressive music, and it all kind of just sounds like noise, but it's the only type of music that definitely sounded how I was feeling. At that point, always felt very dichotomous, that you can only be one or the other. There's a Mexican culture and then there's an American culture. In a lot of ways, I found it very difficult to reconcile both. And in some ways, it was contradictory, and it felt like I wasn't enough of one or the other, and neither of them.

Lourdes Romero (00:20:24):

[Spanish 00:20:27] ¡Imposible! Más que nada, que vengo de una cultura muy tradicional, soy muy conservadora. Eso no entraba para mí. Se rasuró las orillas de la cabeza y se levantó un pelo bien grande, una mohawk. Se la pintó de colores. Eh, y oía esa música horrible. Yo dije: “Dios mío, ¿qué me pasó? ¿Dónde está mi hijo?” Si alguna persona me hubiera dicho: ”No te preocupes, un día Luis va a ser un abogado y él va a estar bien”, yo le hubiera dicho: “¡No!”.

(Impossible! I come from a very traditional culture. I am very conservative. That did not work for me. He shaved the sides of his head and left the hair long on top to make a mohawk. He dyed it colors. And I’d hear that horrible music. I said, My god, what's happening? Where is my son? If someone had said to me, Don't worry. One day Luis will be a lawyer and he'll be fine. I would have said, No.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:21:07):

I started law school before DACA, and undocumented students can't get financial aid, and that was a big issue, because law school is expensive. And then I realized that it was cheaper to pay out-of-state tuition than to pay in-state tuition in California. I ended up going to the University of Idaho, and I had resigned myself in the first year that I was not going to be able to practice law, and because I knew I didn't have the authority to work and I didn't have a Social Security number, so I just figured I was going to go back and do what my parents did, which is work blue collar jobs. Respectable blue collar jobs, but not practice law. So, I called my mom and I said, "I'm packing up my stuff and I'm leaving because I'm not going to get to practice law, so why do this at all?"

Lourdes Romero (00:21:55):

[Spanish 00:21:56] Y le dije: “Oh, no. Ya empezó, ahora termina. Si no puede practicar, no importa, pero empezó algo, termínelo”.

(I told him, No. You finish what you start. It doesn't matter if you can't practice, but once you start something, you finish it.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:22:04):

She hella yelled at me. And she said that I wasn't allowed to come back. That even if I didn't get to practice law later, whatever I learned in law school, they couldn't un-teach me, and that we don't get to these spaces often. And I remember crying in my car in the snow, being like, "Okay, I guess I'll just stick around." And so then when I was going into my last year and DACA was announced and I told her, one of the first things she said was, "You know this is going to allow you to practice law?" And I said, "Yeah, I think so." The next thing she said was like, "I told you so."

(00:22:40):

Hi, can you see me?

Luis's Client (00:22:49):

Yes, sir.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:22:49):

Okay, cool. So, the reason that I'm calling is because we finally heard back from the 9th Circuit today, and they have granted you the deferral, and now we're just going to be working on you getting released. The case is all over.

Luis's Client (00:23:02):

So, I get to go home?

Luis Cortes Romero (00:23:04):

You'll be getting out.

Luis's Client (00:23:07):

Luis, you serious, Luis?

Luis Cortes Romero (00:23:08):

I'm serious. The case is done.

(00:23:11):

The times that I'm feeling very much undocumented, it's not when we lose, it's when we win.

(00:23:17):

They can get you out right away.

(00:23:18):

One of us is walking out with legal status, and it's not the lawyer.

(00:23:22):

You're going to go home. The case is over.

Luis's Client (00:23:25):

Thank you very much, thank you.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:23:27):

And I'm like, "I'm so happy for you, that you've got your green card!" But I'm also a tiny bit salty and envious, and I want to celebrate that too.

Colleague (00:23:37):

They don't have socials. It makes no sense.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:23:39):

It is hard. I don't think I feel it every day. It's after a little while that it starts compounding, and then I start feeling the real weight of it. And I think part of that too is that when you're there and you're with your clients, you're there to be their North Star, and there's not a whole lot of room for your feelings, and so I've gotten pretty good about putting those away.

 

Text Card:

June 16. 2015

Donald Trump announces his candidacy

Donald Trump (00:24:07):

I will immediately terminate President Obama's illegal executive order on immigration. Immediately.

 

Text Card:

January 20, 2017

Donald Trump becomes president

Mark Rosenbaum (00:24:26):

We knew that President Trump was using DACA as a stalking horse for immigration policies. He was attempting to use DACA recipients as pawns, as sacrificial lambs, to get those policies through.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:24:44):

There are some DACA recipients who already have a deportation order, and DACA is the only thing stopping ICE from deporting them. They're going to lose their homes, they're going to lose their ability to feed their kids.

(00:25:02):

If DACA goes away, we're going to see health implications, mental health implications of people who are all of a sudden realizing like, "Oh no, I may have to be separated from my family, and leave a place that I've spent decades in." Back in my day, back in my undergrad, I would've loved something like this. Have a place to go.

Bianca Barrius (00:25:23):

Yeah. That's our pamphlet of what we do.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:25:28):

Financial support. That is a huge one. My biggest stressor was how I was going to pay the school, and that really stressed me out. What kind of mental health concerns are you seeing with students? I'm assuming people are stressed out.

Bianca Barrius (00:25:42):

They're really stressed, but they come with a lot of trauma.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:25:47):

Yeah. When I talk to students, they're talking about just not moving forward anymore, because DACA might end, or they are super afraid of getting deported, or their family members recently got deported. And so it's a lot. It's a lot.

 

Text Card:

Only 3 weeks in office, the Trump Administration arrests a DACA recipient, Daniel Ramirez.

News Reporter 1 (00:26:16):

Even though Ramirez had DACA documentation, an ICE agent told him, "It doesn't matter, because you weren't born in this country."

Protestor (00:26:22):

Free Daniel! Free Daniel! Free Daniel!

News Reporter 1 (00:26:28):

The lawyers are now suing Homeland Security.

Mark Rosenbaum (00:26:32):

Daniel's case was particularly important because it was the first, and if the government got away with that prosecution, it would open the door to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:26:44):

I figured that this was going to be the end of DACA by a thousand cuts, where, slowly but surely, they will start detaining DACA individuals and then not care about their DACA status.

Daniel Ramirez (00:26:57):

[Spanish 00:26:59] Me dijeron que yo era un pandillero,  que por el tatuaje. Les dije que no era pandillero. Les dije: “No soy pandillero. No soy nada”. Y ellos me dijeron: “No, sí eres. Vamos para allá”, y así.

(They said I was a gang member because of my tattoo. I told them, I'm not a gang member. I know nothing about that. They said, Oh yes you are. We're taking you in.)

Daniel's Brother (00:27:03):

They did not have a warrant for my brother. They're not supposed to take him. He is from here.

Daniel Ramirez (00:27:17):

[Spanish 00:27:21] Solo que es muy fuerte esto. Sí. No sé por qué hacen eso. (This is really hard. I don't know why they're doing this.)

[Spanish] Empecé a trabajar en el field de la uva cuando tenía 17 años para poderle ayudar a mi mamá a trabajar, pues, no nos alcanzaba con los gastos. Si yo estoy en México, no lo voy a poder ver [mi hijo]. Yo pienso que no voy a poder. Mi hijo, Daniel Jr., ya va en primer grado. Él va bien en la escuela. Jugamos, siempre jugamos. Lo saco pues para los parques o a las tiendas o a la playa también hemos ido. Andar juntos siempre. Yo nada más quiero que esto se resuelva ya.

(I started working in the grape fields when I was 17. So I could work and help my mom, because she wasn’t able to pay the bills. If I’m in Mexico I won’t be able to see [my son]. My son, Daniel Jr., is now in the first grade. He’s doing well in school. We play - we’re always playing. I take him out to the parks or to the stores. We’ve also gone to the beach. We always hang out together. I just want this to be over.)

 

Luis Cortes Romero (00:28:25):

I got a phone call from Daniel's brother, who was very panicked, on a Friday afternoon, saying, "They took my brother, he has DACA." And I was like, his fifth call. He had already called other attorneys, but because it was Friday afternoon, they're like, "Oh, he's at the detention facility? We'll see him on Monday." But I immediately knew that something was wrong. That if he had DACA and he hadn't done nothing wrong, they should not be detaining him. And I have DACA, and I was imagining how I would feel, which is very freaked out, if they all of a sudden said, "That doesn't matter, you're coming with me." Later that night, I put it out on a few Listservs, some immigration law Facebook groups, about is this the new normal? The next morning, I get a Facebook message from this guy named Mark from Public Counsel.

Mark Rosenbaum (00:29:10):

A colleague of mine called me and said, "Do you know that the government is prosecuting DACA recipients?" And I was astonished.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:29:22):

The next day, I was supposed to fix my car, there was something wrong with it. And so I was just waiting around, and I get a phone call from Mark. And he said, "Hey, do you have a few minutes to talk about the case?" I said, "Yes." He goes, "Great, because I just flew up here from Los Angeles. I'm in Seattle."

Ethan Dettmer (00:29:35):

The government said, "Because you have a tattoo, and because you're Mexican, you must be a gang member." Very early on, they knew that was not true, but they kept saying it anyway. They said it over and over again and-

Luis Cortes Romero (00:29:46):

Daniel would make the worst gang member. Yes, he's the sweetest person. Yeah, I would hate to have him in my gang. So, this matters a lot to me, because they're saying that it's a tattoo problem. We know about the criminalizing of brown identities. He has DACA, and I'm brown, I have DACA, and I have tattoos. This could have very well been me. And I remember lifting up my arm and showing Ethan, and Ethan saw kind of the seriousness of it, and he says, "Yeah, we have to do something." This is Sunday night. "We have to file first thing tomorrow morning, at eight o'clock in the morning." I legit laughed, because I thought they were kidding.

Mark Rosenbaum (00:30:24):

ICE, acting with the authorization of the executive branch, was determined to turn DACA into a nonentity. It was clear that we were going to need more firepower. I called an acquaintance of mine, worked with the Gibson, Dunn law firm. They assembled some of their very best lawyers. I called law professors who had the scholarship, the research, and the clout, and we also talked to a top immigration lawyer in the Pacific Northwest. So, we had the team that we felt could put together a case, prosecute that case, and hold the government accountable.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:31:04):

And so we were brainstorming, we figured out a plan, and next thing you know, we're working through the night to save Daniel. It just goes to show you that one case can really change your career. There's always a million reasons not to do something. "It's too late, we're too tired, it's too early."

Ethan Dettmer (00:31:23):

Got to fix your car.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:31:24):

"Got to fix my car." But knowing how to recognize opportunities is important, and as you're becoming lawyers, these opportunities can take you really far.

Law Student 1 (00:31:33):

Hi, how's it going?

Luis Cortes Romero (00:31:34):

Good, how are you?

Law Student 1 (00:31:35):

Doing well, nice to meet you. So, I just wanted to say I really appreciate the work that you do. I want to do immigration and criminal defense and all that.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:31:43):

Good. Yes. It was so nice to meet you. Yes, yes.

Law Student 2 (00:31:45):

Thank you, thank you. By the way, I love-

Journalists (00:31:48):

Guys, if you're listening back there, he's coming out, he's coming out. He's coming out.

(00:31:51):

Luis, give us a few words, how you're feeling?

Luis Cortes Romero (00:32:00):

Obviously, it's a very emotional day. A very, very, very long road. So, we're going to take some time to decompress, talk next steps, and we promise we will make a more fuller statement really, really soon with Daniel. I'll have Daniel just say a few words.

Daniel Ramirez (00:32:42):

[Spanish 00:32:42] Pues, estoy bien y estoy bien agradecido con todos, con toda la gente que me apoyó y a todos los Dreamers también. Muchas gracias.

(I'm okay, and I'm so grateful for everyone who helped me, and for the Dreamers too. Thank you very much.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:32:44):

Thank you, guys.

Journalists (00:32:45):

[Spanish 00:32:45] Gracias, chicos. (Thanks, guys.)

Daniel Ramirez (00:32:45):

[Spanish 00:32:45] Luis es buen abogado. Y que también tiene, pues, DACA, igual que yo. Por eso yo me siento seguro con él. Daniel Jr sabe que yo hablo con el abogado y todo, pero aun así, no le he explicado bien cómo está todo. Pero, él… Es que no le quiero decir que nos pueden separar porque él no… yo pienso que no le… Está chiquitito todavía para que sepa eso.

(Luis is a good lawyer. He has DACA, like I do. So that’s why I feel safe with him. Daniel Jr. knows that I speak with a lawyer. But I haven't told him everything. Because I don't want him to know

that they can separate us. I think he's too little to hear that.

News Reporter 2 (00:32:47):

But Daniel Ramirez's fight to stay in the US is far from done.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:32:51):

There's still a long road ahead for Daniel.

News Reporter 3 (00:32:53):

They say Ramirez still has hearings in immigration court and in federal court over the February arrest.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:33:03):

I closely identify with Daniel. I can relate to some of his background and how he was profiled.

Daniel Ramirez (00:33:13):

Go right there.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:33:16):

Right after we started taking Daniel's case, it came out that I was also a DACA recipient.

Daniel Jr. (00:33:23):

No, that green thing.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:33:24):

I received a number of racist comments, threats. One day I came to work and I found this note, and it said something along the lines of, "You better watch out spik". And I remember they used the word spic because they spelled it wrong. I was worried that the person was going to come back, maybe with a gun, so we did think about closing the office. But we made the decision to continue doing the work that we were doing, and not be intimidated by this note. I also get nervous sometimes about what can happen with some of the work that we're doing, because ICE has a history of targeting activists.

(00:34:13):

My identity was really shaped by what I saw happening in my community. I had seen and experienced a lot of community issues, from ICE raids to the criminalization of our communities, having the police there, and I feel like being hypervigilant when we weren't doing anything, the very crowded living situations. And what I started to internalize was that this was a problem in our community because of who we are. Because I would go to school and I would have white friends, and I don't remember them having these issues, at least from what I saw.

(00:34:54):

One of the last times I was here, they just had this huge, it just said Redwood City 650, the area code. It was dope. I'm excited to see what it's going to look like next time.

(00:35:10):

Growing up undocumented, there was always a sense of like, "Well, maybe today's the day that I get picked up by ICE." Wrong place, wrong time.

(00:35:17):

You wouldn't tell anybody about your status. You tell the wrong person, you're giving them a lot of information that they can then use to retaliate, so you kept it quiet. When I first started getting ink done, I started with some of the Day of the Dead themes. I have a big sugar skull that is embraced by the Chicano culture. Typically, Indigenous communities are perceived to be easy to take advantage of, but when you give a strong community that's rooted in their beliefs, and you give them modern day weaponry, they're unstoppable. And I got these close to when I was going to law school because to me, books were a modern day weaponry.

(00:36:02):

Once I started working as a lawyer, there's always these concepts of like, "Well, you have to find middle ground. There's a civility that needs to happen." What kind of shit is that? ICE is destroying communities. They're not police officers where they're putting people in jail. ICE is only really terrorizing communities and separating from their families. And so I was like, "No, no, no, no, no. Fuck ICE."

 

Text Card:

September 5, 2017

Jeff Sessions (00:36:39):

The program known as DACA that was effectuated under the Obama administration is being rescinded. This unilateral executive amnesty contributed to a surge of minors at the southern border-

Luis Cortes Romero (00:36:53):

Oh my fucking God.

Jeff Sessions (00:36:53):

... that yielded terrible humanitarian consequences. It also denied... It is my duty to ensure that the laws of the United States-

Luis Cortes Romero (00:36:58):

When the announcement was made that DACA was over, I was really pissed. I was pissed. And it was frustrating to hear, because it was objectively not true. Very quickly, the same team that was working on Daniel's case got together, and we started looking for DACA recipients who were going to be our plaintiffs. I remember talking to different ones and saying, "Hey, this is the situation. We're going to try to save DACA. And I don't mean to pressure you, but you got until tonight to call me."

(00:37:30):

Dulce Garcia, who was one of the first persons I thought about, she's the type of person who we needed to lead us in this fight. Our plaintiffs include two teachers, a medical student at Harvard, an immigration lawyer, and a law student getting ready to graduate. We're not only looking at plaintiffs who showed a tremendous amount of resilience, but also the serious detriment that will come to the community, not just them, if their DACA is rescinded and they're ultimately deported.

Mark Rosenbaum (00:38:09):

This was a struggle that went beyond just those who were in DACA. This was a struggle in which every sector of the population had a stake. And so when 143 corporations said, "You cannot do this to our society." They were saying economically that if DACA were to go to away tomorrow, that it would cost the country billions and billions of dollars all the way into the future.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:38:50):

I asked, "Do you want to be part of this case?" And they said, "Let me make sure that I'm understanding what you're asking of me. You're asking me to sue the most powerful government in the world, the US government, put myself out there and my life out there in order to advance immigrants' rights?" I'm like, "Yeah, that's basically what I'm asking. No big deal."

Mark Rosenbaum (00:39:10):

Luis insisted that this case be presented in a moral way that would not permit the society, the American public, to divide DACA as the "worthy" immigrants and others as the "unworthy" immigrants.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:39:40):

One of the things that I remember, the conversations that we had in the very beginning was like, "I don't know if we're going to win. We don't know if we're going to win. We might lose and we might lose big, so I can't guarantee you win." But what I was going to guarantee is that they were going to hear our stories. We weren't the only ones to try to act quickly. There were other cases that were filed in the state of California and across the country that also filed lawsuit on behalf of employees and our students, but our case was unique because we were the only ones that were made up of all DACA plaintiffs. Eventually, a judge in San Francisco consolidated all the cases that were brought in his court into one case called the UC Regents case.

 

Text Card:

January 10, 2018

Elaine Quijano (00:40:27):

Judge has blocked the Trump administration from rolling back DACA. The decision comes... "Outrageous" is the word the White House used today to describe the injunction-

Luis Cortes Romero (00:40:36):

I was stoked. A San Francisco federal judge found that the Trump administration acted unlawfully. And not just in our case; other judges across the country who found that the Trump administration couldn't just end the program that hundreds of thousands of people had relied upon without actually giving a concrete reason why. But Trump was not taking no for an answer, so he appealed right away, and our next battle was at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

 

Text Card:

May 15, 2018

Mark Rosenbaum (00:41:02):

The DACA program began with a promise that if we choose to recognize that you get DACA status, you will be able to renew that status so long as you play by the rules. The government never said that at the end of two years, we can take that welcome mat that we put out for you, and use it as the rug that we're going to pull out from under you. The government never called-

Luis Cortes Romero (00:41:36):

And so the 9th Circuit ultimately ruled in our favor, and Judge Wardlaw started the decision by saying, "It is no hyperbole to say that Dulce Garcia embodies the American Dream." I remember seeing the first line of the opinion, and it's hard not to get choked up on the first line.

(00:41:57):

It was a short-lived victory. The Trump administration presumed that they had the votes and wanted to bypass normal protocols and get this case up at the Supreme Court as quickly as possible. What was even more unusual was that the Supreme Court went along with it, and they fast-tracked the case before the other appeal courts made their decision. This was a court that already expressed skepticism over the DACA program, so we were worried.

(00:42:25):

One of the things that DACA did is that it really made this conversation part of the larger discourse, and I think it introduced people to the concept, in many places, that maybe weren't so immigrant-friendly, and it got them to move a little bit. So much so that we have one of the most conservative lawyers, Ted Olson, come and join our fight.

Ethan Dettmer (00:42:50):

Ted has represented presidents, he's represented some of the most powerful corporations in the world. This will be his 65th argument in the Supreme Court.

Ted Olson (00:43:00):

I was very moved when I was asked whether I'd represent the DACA recipients in the Supreme Court. Every single one of them has a very touching, moving story, and I thought it was insane for this country not to give them an opportunity to work and support themselves, and I wanted to help.

(00:43:22):

This is where I do the work.

(00:43:25):

Preparing for this kind of a case, it was necessary to speak to them, to listen to them, to earn their trust. They have to believe in you. If they don't want you to be the person to do it, then you shouldn't be doing it.

(00:43:40):

For a while these are-

Luis Cortes Romero (00:43:42):

There was pushback from the immigrants' rights community. They thought someone who was conservative couldn't tell our stories correctly, or that there was an ulterior motive. I don't know. I thought it was going to be helpful. And I think the name of the game is to win, and we knew the composition of the court, we knew that there was more conservative justices than not, and I think sometimes what's just as important as the message is the messenger.

Ted Olson (00:44:07):

Ronald Reagan once said, "You can go to Japan but you can never become Japanese. Or you can go to Norway and never become Norwegian. But you can come to America and become an American." We've all come to this country in various different ways from various different places.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:44:31):

I'll be honest, there are moments where sometimes that weight feels a bit heavier than other days. But I'm reminded of what brought about some of the most serious change in America. It's the direct action by people. Not Congress, by people. So, I do feel inspired that even if the decision goes the other way, that we're in a moment where we're shifting America to the promise that it's supposed to be.

Lourdes Romero (00:45:26):

[Spanish 00:45:26] Yo no podía creerlo cuando me dijo: “Mamá, voy a ir a la Corte Suprema para lo de DACA”. Sí, dijo: “Así que a ti que te encanta mucho orar… ¡ponte orar desde ahorita!

(I couldn't believe it when he called and said, Mom, I'm going to the Supreme Court for DACA. He said, You like to pray, so… start praying, now.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:45:27):

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear our arguments at 10:00 AM. I've heard the tough arguments on this case, and the points where this case can fall apart. I'm very nervous.

 

Text Card:

November 12, 2019

Protestors (00:45:59):

One, we are the people. Two, a little bit louder. Three, we want justice for our people. One, we are the people. Two, a little bit louder. Three, we want justice for our people. One, we are the-

Mark Rosenbaum (00:46:03):

There's a myth in this country that you only win in the Supreme Court based on brilliant Supreme Court advocacy by lawyers. That's not true. The greatest civil rights victories were won not by lawyers, but by the individuals whose stories those lawyers were privileged to tell. By the time this case got to court, everyone knew the story of DACA, and Luis was the one who really choreographed that. He was that story, too.

DACA Plaintiffs (00:46:40):

[inaudible 00:46:39].

(00:46:40):

Woo!

Chief Justice John Roberts (00:46:40):

We'll hear argument first this morning in case 18-587. Mr. Olson?

Ted Olson (00:46:46):

Thank you, Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the court. The decision...

(00:46:51):

Luis is the first DACA recipient ever to be a member of the Supreme Court bar. To have him sitting next to me in that court was a statement to me, and it was a statement to the justices, and it was a statement to everyone else that was watching or listening to that argument, that this is what this case is all about.

(00:47:17):

The government's termination of DACA triggered abrupt, tangible, adverse consequences and substantial disruptions in the lives of 700,000 individuals, their families, employers, communities, and armed forces.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh (00:47:36):

Do you agree that the executive has the legal authority to rescind DACA?

Ted Olson (00:47:41):

Yes.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor (00:47:43):

The current president telling DACA-eligible people that they were safe under him and that he would find a way to keep them here, and instead he's done this. And that, I think, has something to be considered before you rescind a policy. Not just saying, "I'll give you six months to do it, to destroy your lives."

Protestors (00:48:06):

Home is here! Home is here! Home is here! Home is here! Say it loud and say it clear! Immigrants are welcome here! Say it loud and say it clear! Immigrants are welcome here!

Luis Cortes Romero (00:48:27):

The stakes couldn't be higher, for not just the 700,000 DACA recipients, but the communities. We're talking about millions of people, billions of dollars of impact in the economy. I'm hoping that Congress really hears the roars of the community. We have thousands of people here, and this is really what made DACA exist. The activism leads and then the law follows.

Letitia James (00:48:47):

This court should understand that this is a nation of immigrants, and that all of us should uphold the beliefs and the values of our country, and that is that immigrants are here to stay. And we should protect, again, these 700,000 individuals who came here for opportunity, for education, and for freedom.

Ted Olson (00:49:04):

These individuals have become part of the community. They've had jobs, they've supported themselves. If we are successful, and I believe we will be, the court will say that decision was not justifiable, it was not consistent with the rule of law. You can't justify it that way.

Pete Williams (00:49:22):

Now, it's pretty clear that the court's four liberals are going to say that DACA is valid and should remain, and the court's four most conservative justices probably will disagree. The question is, where is Chief Justice John Roberts? Now, I wouldn't make a guess here, I think it's going to be a very close case. And I also think it's going to be a long time before we find out what the court does. Probably we won't hear-

Jorge Ramos (00:49:45):

[Spanish 00:49:46] Gracias, Luis. (Thank you, Luis.)

Jorge Ramos (00:49:45):

[Spanish 00:49:48] Gracias. (Thanks.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:49:48):

Just so my mom could freak out a little bit. I'm here with Jorge Ramos!

Jorge Ramos (00:49:52):

[Spanish 00:49:53] Hola, mucho gusto. (Hi, good to meet you.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:49:55):

Thank you so much, Jorge.

Jessica Romero (00:49:56):

It was a bit surreal, but it was also kind of like, of course Luis did that. That's some Luis thing to do.

Fatima Romero (00:50:02):

My friend will text me and be like, "Dude, I saw your brother."

Jessica Romero (00:50:04):

Yeah.

Fatima Romero (00:50:05):

"I saw your brother on TV. I saw him the other day at your house."

Jessica Romero (00:50:08):

Yeah, yeah. Like, "By association, I know him."

Fatima Romero (00:50:24):

Yeah, "I know him."

Lourdes Romero (00:50:24):

[Spanish 00:50:25] Le mandé un mensaje. Le dije: “Yo quiero saber cómo te sientes”. Y yo le dije: “Te felicito. No entiendo como es que tú estás ahí, por qué te escogieron a ti, pero… gracias a Dios que estás ahí”.

(I texted him and asked how he was feeling. I congratulated him. I don't understand how you got here, why they chose you, but, thank God you're here.)

 

Text Card:

March, 2020

4 months after the Supreme Court hearing

Luis Cortes Romero (00:50:46):

From Sunday to Monday, it is typically a very restless, sleepless night, worrying about not just what the decision's going to be, but how the decision's going to be written. As soon as I know what the decision is, either condolences, and we're going to make sense of what's going to happen next, or congratulations, and then have some time to just sit with the decision. I wake up early, and I'm just hitting refresh and refresh and refresh and refresh, and I know I'm in communication with others who are also waiting on the decision, also hitting refresh and refresh. And once 10 o'clock hits and we're hitting refresh on our webpages and nothing's popping up, we start thinking, "Okay, maybe not today." And then once the decision day passes and we don't get a decision, it's a bit of a sigh of relief, but the later in the term it gets, the more nervous I am about it being a negative decision.

(00:51:40):

All right. How's everybody doing?

Speaker 41 (00:51:49):

Good.

Speaker 42 (00:51:49):

Good.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:51:50):

Good.

(00:51:51):

When COVID-19 happened, state courts, federal courts all shut down, except in the immigration courts. The immigration courts insisted in moving forward.

Speaker 42 (00:52:03):

And a lot of people that have a pending asylum case, they want reassurance we're trying our best, and-

Luis Cortes Romero (00:52:06):

Sure.

(00:52:07):

ICE is still holding people in detention centers, where there's significant risk of people being exposed to and contaminated with COVID-19.

(00:52:14):

Here we go.

(00:52:18):

We have to go down there and talk to our clients.

(00:52:21):

Do you need a mask?

Speaker 43 (00:52:24):

I don't.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:52:24):

Okay. What's this leaflet about? Oh, commercial cleaning.

Speaker 43 (00:52:27):

Will they disinfect racism?

Luis Cortes Romero (00:52:28):

Yep.

(00:52:32):

As of a week and a half ago, DHS, they weren't giving gloves, they weren't giving masks to the people who are detained there. And so we're trying desperately to try to get as many people out as we can, so as to try to stop the exposure in what experts are calling a tinderbox effect. We're put at risk, the people we live with are put at risk. There's no sheltering in place for us, really, when we have to go down there and do this work.

(00:53:01):

We're here to visit some clients. We're going to have to do some trial prep over the glass partition on the phone. We also have a client who has a 9th Circuit oral argument tomorrow, and he's been here for two years... No, close to three years, so we got to talk to him too. They're in a big room, we're in a big room. There's no privacy around, so it's hard to talk about the things that are confidential when there's other people in the room.

 

Text Card:

Soon after this visit, Luis is hospitalize with Covid-19.

 

Luis Cortes Romero (00:53:30):

I thought when the body aches and the headaches were gone, I'm like, "Okay, I went through the worst of it." But then when the oxygen started going down, I started to get dangerous. And then I started coughing up, it was phlegm but it was bloody. Can't think. You can only really think of the next thing in front of you.

Lourdes Romero (00:53:54):

How are you feeling? Are you better?

Luis Cortes Romero (00:53:54):

I've been eating everything. Now that I have my taste back, I was like, "Oh yeah, I forgot that food is amazing." So, I'm now gaining the 20 pounds that I lost. [inaudible 00:54:04] take them back.

Lourdes Romero (00:54:05):

[Spanish 00:54:08] Qué bueno. Tu voz se oye mejor. Ya no te oyes cansado. (Your voice sounds better. Not so tired.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:54:12):

Yeah, yeah. That's the other part of the tube, that I wasn't able to talk for a long time.

Lourdes Romero (00:54:15):

[Spanish 00:54:16] Tu apariencia física está mejor, también. Ya no tienes los ojos caídos y no estás… Estabas bien blanco de tu cara.

(You look better too, your eyes aren't so droopy. Your face was very pale.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:54:15):

Okay, I looked horrible, I get it. Yes, I don't look as horrible. Yes, I know, I know, I know. I looked really horrible. Describe all the ways I looked horrible.

Lourdes Romero (00:54:32):

[Spanish 00:54:35] Qué bueno que estés bien. No, así estás perfecto, Luis. Qué bueno que estés bien. Me da gusto, mijo. Cuídate mucho. Ahora sí toma vitaminas, eh. Ahora sí.

(You look perfect. I'm glad you're well. Take care, my dear. Now take your vitamins!)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:54:32):

I know! I know.

Lourdes Romero (00:54:32):

[Spanish 00:54:43] Y, cuídate mucho. Te quiero mucho. (And take care of yourself. I love you very much.)

Luis Cortes Romero (00:54:54):

My sense, and I think everybody else sense, was is that there's a chance that this could not go well. The Chief Justice was the justice that we think was going to persuade the ultimate vote, and he did not seem very enthusiastic about our arguments when we were presenting. There's so much riding on this.

Ted Olson (00:55:17):

The reports express some skepticism about whether we're going to be successful, and that's discouraging. On the other hand, I've been in many arguments in the Supreme Court that have come out differently than the pundits have predicted. We know how hard we work. We know that we are right in this case. It doesn't mean you're going to win.

 

Text Card:

June 18, 2020

Luis Cortes Romero (00:56:13):

I was so unprepared for the decision to come yesterday that I was not even remotely dressed. So, I didn't even have my pants on. It's like 74 pages. I'm so nervous, and I have such anxiety that I am not thinking clearly, I'm not even really sure what I'm looking at. So, I'm scrolling through it, and as I'm scrolling through it, I'm in page now 25, so I'm trying to scroll back and I can't like physically function, I'm so nervous. Eventually, I get to where the decision part is, just the bottom line, and it says...

(00:56:43):

"The decision to rescind DACA was arbitrary, capricious under the APA." Fuck yes!

(00:56:50):

I think we won, but I am such in disbelief that I think that maybe I'm reading the dissent, or something must be wrong.

(00:57:00):

Ethan!

Ethan Dettmer (00:57:00):

I can't even believe it.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:57:02):

Oh my god! I can't believe it, I can't believe it, I can't believe it.

Ethan Dettmer (00:57:06):

God, man, I'm crying, literally.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:57:07):

Yeah!

Ethan Dettmer (00:57:07):

I was reading it. I was like, "This has got to be a joke." I can't believe we won, and we won.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:57:15):

Oh my God, we won, we won, we won, we won. Oh my God. I was expecting the fucking worst.

Ethan Dettmer (00:57:19):

Oh, me too, man.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:57:20):

Oh my God.

Ethan Dettmer (00:57:21):

So awesome. Wow.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:57:24):

I promise not to keep you all for too long. This is just for us, right? There's nobody else joining the call. I just wanted to see how you guys were doing now that we fucking got the decision. We're still reading through it super quick. They said that the way that the president took off the program is illegal. I'm glad you guys stuck through it. I'm so proud to be part of representing your stories, and thank you for letting me do that. Fuck, okay, I'm getting a trillion calls.

(00:57:52):

It does leave the door open for other programs like this to exist in the future. A DACA 2.0 that protects more people. And so it's a huge legal win for the immigrant rights community, because it will give us some leverage with Congress too to do something more permanent.

Jorge Ramos (00:58:07):

[Spanish 00:58:08] Gracias, Luis Cortés por estar con nosotros. y espero que les haya dado tiempo de disfrutar o celebrar por lo menos unas horas. Gracias.

(Thanks to Luis Cortes for joining us, and I hope you give yourselves at least a few hours to celebrate. Thank you.)

Lourdes Romero (00:58:08):

Jorge Ramos. Wow. [Spanish 00:58:17] Con mi hijo. (With my boy!)

 

Text Card:

1 Month Later

News Reporter 4 (00:58:42):

In apparent defiance of a recent US Supreme Court order, the Trump administration moved to shut down any new applications to DACA.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:58:50):

I don't think any of us saw this happen before. We didn't know what to do when the executive branch doesn't listen to the Supreme Court.

 

Text Card:

5 months later

Determined to crush DACA, opponents continue to hurl attacks.

News Reporter 5 (00:59:05):

Texas and eight other states are suing, arguing the DACA program drains state, educational, and healthcare resources.

 

Text Card:

2021

Norah O'Donnell (00:59:13):

In a major ruling tonight, a federal judge in Texas dealt a blow to young immigrants known as Dreamers, saying the DACA program is unlawful.

 

Text Card:

This federal court ruling blocks hundreds of thousands of Dreamers from getting DACA.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:59:24):

When we're dealing with all of the oppressive obstacles that weigh on you, you think about it, like, "Maybe I should leave." But I do consider the US my home. It's the place where I grew up.

 

Text Card:

2024

Donald Trump (00:59:38):

I will begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.

Luis Cortes Romero (00:59:44):

It's the place where I've had my first loves, my first kiss, my first dance, the first time got into trouble when I did dumb things with my friends. This is the place where I've had some of the most memorable moments of my life, and that's what I think really goes into where home is, and home is always worth fighting for.

Jesus "Chuy" Salcido (01:00:07):

[Spanish 01:00:09] Esto lleva acento, ¿no? (This has an accent, right?)

Luis Cortes Romero (01:00:11):

Yes.

Jesus "Chuy" Salcido (01:00:12):

We'll double check it, yeah, yeah, just in case I don't remember it. I spent 10 years in Mexico, and I don't remember how to spell words. You know how many friends I know that were born in Mexico, but because they were bought over here at a young age, and then they got deported, and they live in Tijuana now and they don't speak Spanish, bro.

Luis Cortes Romero (01:00:33):

It happens. I've seen it a lot, man.

MUSIC (01:00:34):

[Spanish 01:00:36] De aquí, de allá. (From here, from there.)

Luis Cortes Romero (01:00:40):

Thank you so much.

Jesus "Chuy" Salcido (01:00:41):

Think it's good?

Luis Cortes Romero (01:00:41):

That's good. Appreciate it.

 

Epilogue 1:

Daniel’s attorneys were able to get the Government to drop all gang charges. But it refuses to reinstate his DACA status.

Photograher (01:00:57):

Okay, here we go. Everybody's looking right here. One, two, and three.

 

Epilogue 2:

After 35 years, the family is reunited and Luis’s parents finally have permission to stay legally in the United States.

 

Epilogue 3:

Luis is the only member of his family who is undocumented. Like his clients, without DACA protection, he is at risk of deportation.

 

Epilogue 4:

In Loving Memory

Erick Cortes Romero

December 8, 1989 - October 5, 2018

 

Credits roll

 

Evelia Vargas Magallan

May 6, 1948 - August 10, 2022

Protestors (01:01:07):

When do we want it?

Luis Cortes Romero (01:01:08):

Now!

Protestors (01:01:08):

What do we want?

Luis Cortes Romero (01:01:08):

Citizenship!

Protestors (01:01:08):

When do we want it?

Luis Cortes Romero (01:01:08):

Now!

Scott Green (01:01:37):

Please join me in welcoming Luis Cortes Romero.

Luis Cortes Romero (01:01:42):

First, don't quit. Even if the road ahead seems uncertain and unattainable. Two, do not waver, even if the odds seem against you. Three, moms are usually always right. Graduates of 2022, the world is waiting for you. Good luck, and congratulations.

MUSIC (01:02:03):

[Spanish 01:02:03] De aquí, de allá.

(01:02:03):

A Dreamer, I will always be.

(01:02:18):

I'll always be dreaming until I'm free.

(01:02:26):

I'ma tell you how it is, DACA, it be for the kids.

(01:02:28):

What I want to do is live.

(01:02:29):

All I see are walls, are they going to fall?

(01:02:31):

Freedom for us all, can you hear the call?

(01:02:33):

Where we going to go?

(01:02:34):

We want you to know that we have a soul.

(01:02:35):

I just want a home so that I could grow.

(01:02:37):

Warrior for those walking on the road.

(01:02:39):

We were here before.

(01:02:40):

Living in two places at the same time.

(01:02:41):

And I got two cultures in my mind.

(01:02:43):

My duality is a part of me.

(01:02:45):

Weaponize the knowledge so that you can see.

(01:02:47):

I know it's a hard pill to swallow.

(01:02:48):

Activism leads and the law follows.

(01:02:50):

Flying out my cage like I was a swallow.

(01:02:52):

I'm a Dreamer till the end.

(01:02:53):

And you can watch my culture blend.