Latest / Justice Team Podcast / Building Up LA in the Face of ICE with Cynthia Santiago
Transcript
- 0:02Hey, it's Bob Simon taking a break to tell you about CallRail.
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- 0:34Welcome to this episode of the Justice Team Podcast on the Justice Team Network.
- 0:37I'm your host, Bob Simon, and today we're gonna be talking about some
- 0:39very important issues in Southern California, but now across the
- 0:43nation, and that's about immigration.
- 0:45The rights of those people affected, and we have on.
- 0:48The Cynthia Santiago.
- 0:49How are you Ms. Santiago?
- 0:51I'm good.
- 0:52I'm good.
- 0:52You know, chaotic times, but you know, good spirits.
- 0:55Yeah.
- 0:56And I know you do a lot of media, a lot of interviews.
- 0:58People reach out to you because of your knowledge in the space and being
- 1:01boots on the ground and for helping.
- 1:03Um, and I mean.
- 1:05How do people reach you?
- 1:06First of all, I'm sure you have a lot of people reaching out to
- 1:09you, but how do they find you?
- 1:10Yeah, so I, I always suggest like, uh, social media, AGA Santiago is the
- 1:15handle, A-B-O-G-A-D-A, Abada, Santiago.
- 1:18Um, but also people just call our office or they reach out through,
- 1:23um, texting us at our office as well.
- 1:26We try to be very.
- 1:28Present for different needs because if I can't handle it, I
- 1:31know somebody that will be able
- 1:32to.
- 1:33Yeah.
- 1:33And I think that's important 'cause we do the same thing.
- 1:34I know we, yeah.
- 1:36We're big on finding the best warrior for that specific issue.
- 1:40Um, I mean, I don't do any immigration, so I just literally will text.
- 1:43Santiago here.
- 1:44But you know, one thing, and I think people need to recognize is, you know,
- 1:48you're a mom, you're balancing life.
- 1:49I mean, two of your kids are outside the studio right now.
- 1:51It's summer break, but you, you still have to fight every day.
- 1:54Yeah.
- 1:55You know, I think that, um, since I opened up the practice in 2012, I. My mission
- 2:00has always been, um, fighting for my community because of the impact that it's
- 2:05had growing up, uh, with immigrant parents and the community I, I RA was raised in.
- 2:10But also, um, there was a big component of why I opened up my own firm is to
- 2:15do know your rights because even if we didn't have an immediate threat in
- 2:19our face back then in 20 12, 20 13.
- 2:22I wanted my community to leave with information and knowledge
- 2:26on how to protect themselves.
- 2:28Yeah.
- 2:28And let's, let's talk about knowing your rights.
- 2:30You know, right now, mid-June 2025, a lot of chaotic times.
- 2:37What are you telling people out there?
- 2:38What are some suggestions you have for, for folks that either are employers or
- 2:42people that are, that may be affected?
- 2:44Yeah.
- 2:45You know, it really is a complicated issue because.
- 2:49While I appreciate the know your rights information that we're hearing so much
- 2:53in social media and in the news, a lot of these things are not a one size fits all.
- 2:58A lot of people have so many different factors in their case that it's
- 3:02important that if they can reach out to an attorney and or a nonprofit
- 3:07and get an individualized assessment.
- 3:10Then they're gonna know what they can do on the spot at that moment.
- 3:14Or they can try to do affirmatively now while like, you know, they're
- 3:18not under any risk and they can file something to kind of get ahead of this,
- 3:23which is what I've been telling folks, like, you need to know where you stand.
- 3:27If you have previously been deported, then asking to see a judge isn't
- 3:32gonna happen because you have an an order against you already.
- 3:35So you're under a different process of being expedited, removed, or reinstated.
- 3:40So there's just like so many layers of complications with these cases that,
- 3:44um, that assessment is the first step.
- 3:46Um, the know your rights advisors are good general concepts, but there's
- 3:51nothing, you know, that will, um, you know, there's, there's nothing better
- 3:56than to have an a person than an attorney.
- 3:59That's what I do at the end of every consultation is we
- 4:01do a Know your rights prep.
- 4:03Mm-hmm.
- 4:04If you're picked up, what are you gonna do?
- 4:06What are you gonna say?
- 4:06What are you gonna argue to see?
- 4:09Because you're not gonna have an attorney there.
- 4:11You've gotta argue for yourself.
- 4:12And I want each of my consultations clients to leave knowing like,
- 4:16okay, I'm gonna be able to handle this if this happens.
- 4:19And worst case scenario, this is gonna happen, and my attorney then
- 4:22will be called and then she'll respond and come and support me.
- 4:26Yeah.
- 4:26So let's go through, I mean, do you have like those general blocks of
- 4:29categories of folks from like the asylum seekers to perhaps kids, to folks
- 4:34that may have had a deportation issue?
- 4:36I. Or folks that have been just waiting in line for a decade.
- 4:39Yeah.
- 4:40Or two.
- 4:40What are Or two.
- 4:41Two or two.
- 4:41Decades?
- 4:41Two.
- 4:42But I mean, let's talk about that first.
- 4:43Like Yeah.
- 4:43Yeah.
- 4:44I hear, we hear on social media all the time.
- 4:45Well, my parents came here legally, so these people have to do it too.
- 4:48And
- 4:49now you gotta go.
- 4:50Yeah.
- 4:51Um, then we would start with the concept of.
- 4:54Our immigration system from its inception in the 19, like even in the 19 hundreds,
- 4:59you would see like the great wave where millions of people were allowed
- 5:03in because of the conditions that they were fleeing and and their country.
- 5:07And, you know, uh, we're in a position where our immigration laws were very
- 5:12open borders, and then in the eighties and nineties became more about reform
- 5:17and control and, um, punishing folks.
- 5:22And so that's.
- 5:24I think the principle issue is that understanding the history
- 5:26of immigration law, it has not always been about getting in line.
- 5:30It's been about, you know, opening up the doors and people come and see.
- 5:33And that's
- 5:33been, and people don't realize in the last decade or two, it's been very difficult.
- 5:37Yeah.
- 5:38I mean, I know people that have been here paying taxes, members
- 5:41of the community that have been just waiting in line for 20 years.
- 5:44Yeah.
- 5:45Um, I just did a presentation with a large organization, executives and
- 5:49whatnot, uh, and employees and they.
- 5:52And I went through the history and the 1980s was the last time
- 5:55Congress actually did an immigration like amnesty type project.
- 5:59Yes.
- 5:59Process.
- 6:00And then we get into 1996 when Congress did do the illegal Immigration Reform Act.
- 6:08And so that is one to punish individuals who enter the United
- 6:12States without permission.
- 6:14So it's 1996 all, and it's been, yes, it's been
- 6:17more about control, punishing consequences, and it's going to continue
- 6:22to get that way unless we make immediate changes to our immigration system.
- 6:26Yeah, and
- 6:26that's what, you know, and it's, you know, we see that, I've seen the video of
- 6:29Ronald Reagan who granted amnesty to me.
- 6:31It's just why would you not just say, Hey, if you've been a member of the
- 6:36community, you, you've been paying taxes, you've an upstanding person.
- 6:41Why not try to find a path to citizenship for those folks that are
- 6:44contributing so positively to everybody?
- 6:46Why would that be so hard?
- 6:48Yeah.
- 6:48Well, the, the wave that we have now under this administration, um, doesn't have
- 6:54that perspective of seeing individuals that are others, uh, seeing individuals
- 6:59of diverse backgrounds, uh, as, um, you know, as people that deserve, or
- 7:06that people that are humans that have.
- 7:08Uh, a family that have done a lot to contribute this admission
- 7:13doesn't see that in individuals.
- 7:15They see them as, um, criminals and they, they have a whole nother perspective,
- 7:21um, mostly having to do with the southern border and who's coming and, and so
- 7:25I think that's the, the reality of it that we have to just also acknowledge
- 7:29that this administration does not see.
- 7:32The immigrant community the same way they see them as less of lesser.
- 7:36So are, are people, are people getting ra racially profiled?
- 7:40Yes.
- 7:40Please describe.
- 7:41Yes.
- 7:41So, you know, simply driving, um, and out in public or being in a, you
- 7:47know, location that's very open, like the car wash workers, uh, um, day
- 7:52laborers at the Home Depot centers.
- 7:54The simple, like just the approach is, uh, the simple way to describe
- 7:59it is that they're looking at folks that look of a certain race ethnicity.
- 8:04Latino, for example, has been the majority of individuals picked up,
- 8:09but they, it's not like they're seeking a specific person.
- 8:11That's not like they're saying, oh, they have no idea this person's
- 8:14background.
- 8:14And that's why, you know, unfortunately citizens were getting picked up.
- 8:17This just happened close to us here in the South Bay.
- 8:21Oh, I just wonder, I mean, if you could explain to people
- 8:22like, yeah.
- 8:23I hear folks say, you know, back Midwest, east coast.
- 8:27Yeah.
- 8:27That doesn't happen.
- 8:28They're not picking up people that are here illegally.
- 8:30They're only getting criminals.
- 8:31Yeah.
- 8:31Yeah.
- 8:32I mean that was, um,
- 8:33true or not true.
- 8:33That was the slogan during the campaign.
- 8:36And, um, once, you know, he came into office and we know there shouldn't
- 8:41individuals in that office that are very vocal about who they should be enforcing
- 8:46immigration laws against and who.
- 8:48No, they're not touching.
- 8:49But the, the reality is that it's, it's a very, the situation that's happened
- 8:55in LA is a very, uh, detain them first and then ask questions later.
- 9:01Whoa.
- 9:01But that's that.
- 9:02I mean, are they allowing due process through this?
- 9:05Um, there's so much going on with once a person is detained, I don't
- 9:10think they had a plan or strategy.
- 9:11Like they don't even have places to detained first.
- 9:14Ask questions later.
- 9:15Yeah.
- 9:15Detained first, ask questions later.
- 9:17What we've been seeing is, um.
- 9:20People are getting detained and being put into the immigration, like, uh, the
- 9:26immigration offices where they're not equipped to house people overnight, so
- 9:30they're sleeping on the floor, they're not being fed properly, and then they're
- 9:34trying to determine where to send people that have bed space for them.
- 9:38And so a lot of individuals from LA were are in El Paso, Texas.
- 9:42They're in, uh, Florida, they're in other states.
- 9:45Um, really there's an yes there.
- 9:48There was about two or three days a lot of families couldn't find
- 9:51their family member and we were able to locate them in another state.
- 9:55A completely, because it's creates, lemme guess, creates chaos so that then
- 9:58they don't have access to attorneys.
- 10:00Yeah.
- 10:00Because they're also now in another state, they don't have access to their
- 10:04family as easily and it degrades their mental state to wanna fight the case.
- 10:11And, I mean, and let me guess, these are private prison centers
- 10:14that are also benefiting bigley.
- 10:18Yeah.
- 10:18On retaining folks.
- 10:21Yeah.
- 10:21We trace back to billions of being made from the detention centers
- 10:25and opening up new contracts.
- 10:26But specifically there is, uh, uh, agreement called 2 87 G. It's a, it's
- 10:32a contract that local law enforcement agencies can make with the federal
- 10:37government so that they can be housing.
- 10:39Uh, people that are detained.
- 10:41So, uh, my good friends, a lot of good friends that cover investigative
- 10:45work, they've covered these, um, stories of when a new contract is open,
- 10:50it's public information and you're starting to see, you know, when they
- 10:53get approved and they, they get money.
- 10:55They get money, local law enforcement's agencies, and, um,
- 10:59in states like, you know, states way far away from Los Angeles and.
- 11:04Um, that's what happened in Glendale recently as well.
- 11:07They, Glendale had had a grandfathered contract with the federal government
- 11:12to house folks, and then there was public outcry and it was canceled.
- 11:16It was canceled.
- 11:16I saw that.
- 11:16Yeah.
- 11:17So, but, but this is not gonna happen in, you know, the, you know, some
- 11:21random city in Texas or Georgia, you know, just locations where, um, some
- 11:28of the individuals are ending up.
- 11:29Yeah.
- 11:30So they're trying to, they're trying to financially benefit in.
- 11:34With their strategic partners of where they're sending people
- 11:37wrongfully or not detained.
- 11:39Yeah.
- 11:39Just doesn't matter.
- 11:40Yeah.
- 11:40And I mean also, like we've seen it before in the, per one of the folks
- 11:43you were mentioning, Stephen Miller, who used to be a professor of yours.
- 11:46No,
- 11:46no, no.
- 11:47We used to be classmates.
- 11:48Classmates.
- 11:48You were classmates with Stephen Miller.
- 11:50I was gonna say professor.
- 11:51Ugh.
- 11:52But
- 11:53so, so, uh, I went to Santa Monica High School.
- 11:56Mm-hmm.
- 11:56Um, I didn't know him in middle school, but I'm, you know, that's
- 11:59where a lot of people believe that this started, this, uh.
- 12:04You know, historical, mental, like, uh, campaign of wanting to promote
- 12:12a society that was assimilated, that didn't celebrate diversity, that
- 12:16everyone had to be a certain way.
- 12:18Yeah.
- 12:18And English only things to that
- 12:21I've seen effect.
- 12:21I mean, you've seen videos of him in high school saying that these,
- 12:23they should be cleaning our food.
- 12:24We should be, I was on
- 12:25stage at the same, same time.
- 12:27Yeah.
- 12:27So I, I ran for student body president.
- 12:30Uh, he was running for Speaker of the House, which, uh, was unfortunately,
- 12:34uh, you know, that the articles didn't specify that, but I was
- 12:37running for student Body President.
- 12:39He was running for Speaker of the House, another position.
- 12:41So we were all on stage getting ready to do our speeches,
- 12:44and ours was the last one.
- 12:45So I heard that speech.
- 12:47The entire crowd of students were like.
- 12:49Anywhere from ninth graders to 11th graders booing him for that,
- 12:54and he was taking off the stage.
- 12:56Well just tell everybody what happened.
- 12:58You know, he, he simply was like, he, he was being who he was on campus.
- 13:02That's why I wasn't surprised that something like that, it
- 13:05was not approved previously.
- 13:07He went off and did his own statement as to, you know, why should we pick up after
- 13:12ourselves if we have janitors to do this?
- 13:16It's, yeah, I've heard some horror stories, but, and
- 13:19I know I had classes with him.
- 13:20I don't remember every particular detail.
- 13:23'cause obviously high school was a long time ago, but I, I, I had,
- 13:26um, interactions where, you know, as someone that was involved in my
- 13:30student body, my campus, um, always, you know, doing, promoting diversity
- 13:36events and cultural awareness events and promoting, um, you know, just.
- 13:42People's mental, like social justice issues that, you know,
- 13:46a lot of the students embraced.
- 13:48Um, he was, you know, very.
- 13:53Limited.
- 13:54There wasn't a lot of people that shared that belief.
- 13:56It was very, it was a very small, like it was him and maybe like five
- 13:59other friends that shared that belief.
- 14:01Wow.
- 14:01And they would try to promote, you know, that assimilation English only, um,
- 14:07you know, highly criticized the welfare programs, social social services programs.
- 14:13Uh, cri criticize affirmative action.
- 14:14He criticized a lot of the, the, the things that are good for our
- 14:18community, our social wellbeing.
- 14:21Um, and I ended up being the first Latina student body president of my campus.
- 14:26Congratulations.
- 14:27Yeah.
- 14:27Yeah.
- 14:27Thank you.
- 14:28And like it just so
- 14:29he's Yeah.
- 14:29He probably has it out for you.
- 14:30No, he doesn't.
- 14:31He,
- 14:31he was like this since middle school is what, what has been the picture.
- 14:35And I've the speeches
- 14:35where he is like, get the quotas up.
- 14:37You know, where they're at.
- 14:37Seven 11, they're at Home Depot.
- 14:39Go get 'em.
- 14:40I mean, this isn't like the campaign promise of going to your criminals.
- 14:43I mean, true or false, are they out there?
- 14:45The folks that they're picking up, the people that you're helping, are these
- 14:47these hardened criminals that were here?
- 14:49Yeah.
- 14:49I mean
- 14:49the, the latest statistics I saw was like 10% of the people that were
- 14:53picked up had a criminal history.
- 14:55Um, but in their agenda and their campaign, uh, coming to
- 14:59the country without permission is the criminal aspect that they're,
- 15:04that's it.
- 15:04And that's not even a criminal charge.
- 15:05It's civil.
- 15:06Yeah,
- 15:06it's a civil issue.
- 15:07But it, that's what the, the campaign and the.
- 15:11You know, the, the motive out there that what they're pushing for the community.
- 15:15I mean, I, I've never seen an administration do so much social
- 15:19media and so much media, uh, well, it's called propaganda commercials.
- 15:23Yeah.
- 15:24And, and that really, um, is to incite, that is to incite this fear
- 15:29and terror into communities and I, and we're not gonna take it.
- 15:32And we've seen that the community is out there, but now
- 15:35we know why they've been doing the DEI thing.
- 15:37Mm-hmm.
- 15:38Where they're saying, mm-hmm.
- 15:38They're taking your jobs.
- 15:40This is all a big lead, and it is a scare factor to tell people
- 15:43things that just aren't true.
- 15:45Like I don't see people lining up to go, uh, cook in the kitchens
- 15:49where they took the cooks.
- 15:49I don't see people lining up to go to the warehouses.
- 15:51I don't see people out on the fields.
- 15:53Yeah.
- 15:53Where the migrant workers are.
- 15:55Nope.
- 15:55Yeah.
- 15:55You know, and, and then that's the other thing too, like we.
- 16:00We do, um, have a, a narrative of like, you know, these workers are, or these
- 16:07people are taking your jobs and they, they're taking our system and they're
- 16:11abusing of our system and whatnot.
- 16:14But we also have to understand like we have a huge majority of
- 16:20folks that are foreign born that live in the country, entrepreneurs.
- 16:23Mm-hmm.
- 16:25Um, the DACA recipients were essential in the, the pandemic situation.
- 16:29A lot of, uh, the daca, sorry, the DACA students were workers in the
- 16:33pandemic situation, so it just, it's.
- 16:36Our, also, our role in society as, um, children of immigrants or immigrants
- 16:42is threatening to them as well.
- 16:44It's not just the farm workers and our, our, our day laborers that are,
- 16:49are doing the, the grit work in our society, but it's like we are also a
- 16:53threat if you have a a degree, if you have some type of a Yeah, and that's
- 16:58because they teach you.
- 16:59It's like didn't earn it, quote unquote.
- 17:02I say now they think anybody that.
- 17:05Is of a certain color that they didn't earn the job that they got to.
- 17:08It's crazy.
- 17:09Yeah.
- 17:09That's what they, what they put in people and I don't think people
- 17:11realize how many healthcare workers
- 17:15mm-hmm.
- 17:16Are undocumented or foreign born.
- 17:18Yeah.
- 17:18Or foreign born a lot.
- 17:19From physicians to nurses, to people that are taking care of
- 17:22our elderly and our children.
- 17:24Yeah,
- 17:24it's a lifeblood and people just do not realize it.
- 17:26My mom was a home care worker.
- 17:28My mom was a nanny.
- 17:31My, you know, my, my mom did that, that work in, um, in taking care of others.
- 17:36And I think that if we change our narratives to show more visibility
- 17:42of who, who are the immigrants in our country and what we do, then.
- 17:47Then the, I think that would open up also people's eyes because I think
- 17:51that, um, all this spreading of, of an image of someone, uh, in a certain
- 17:57way is what really there's, there's people in our United States, we have
- 18:00to understand there's people in the United States who have never seen.
- 18:03Somebody of, you know, certain background, uh, undocumented parents,
- 18:07immigrant parents, like they've just never seen somebody to understand
- 18:10what their background and history and how much they contribute in.
- 18:13So what
- 18:14can, what can lawyers do that are watching or listening?
- 18:17How can they get into help if they're not?
- 18:19They don't do immigration, they're not doing criminal defense.
- 18:21Maybe they're in another state.
- 18:23How can they help?
- 18:24Yeah, so I mean, just educating yourself on the immigration situation,
- 18:29um, assessing your own client base.
- 18:32I, I've been talking to a lot of personal injury firms and just.
- 18:35How to assess your clients, like where they stand in the immigration picture, and
- 18:40not that you're gonna necessarily give 'em a consultation, but just know where they
- 18:45and their family are so that you know if they are vulnerable to be picked up and
- 18:48they have a court case or a deposition.
- 18:51That you are also protecting them as a whole in a holistic way.
- 18:56Right.
- 18:56And their families.
- 18:57I've spent the past week speaking to like at least 150 of my clients.
- 19:03Mm-hmm.
- 19:03And, and understanding who's missing work, who's not able
- 19:06to go to, to leave their home.
- 19:08Yeah.
- 19:08I saw
- 19:09you at a post where you can actually donate so that people
- 19:11can stay home if they feel like they're gonna go get picked up at.
- 19:14At work or even church, right?
- 19:16So,
- 19:16yeah, no, yeah.
- 19:17Thankfully for Jose from who's like, um, reached out and we both are kind of just.
- 19:23Took the lead to try to help as many folks as possible.
- 19:25He's, he's, um, helping a lot with, with that.
- 19:28And a lot of people are, are jumping in, which is inspiring.
- 19:31A lot of people want to help out somebody that they know is
- 19:34So how, like, so how do people watching or listening, should they just reach
- 19:37out to you to be put in touch with just helping folks so they don't have to feel
- 19:40scared of getting detained illegally?
- 19:42Yeah, I mean, people can reach out to me and then Jose from Easylinks and, and I
- 19:46are talking and, and trying to match up.
- 19:50A family to someone who is willing to support them.
- 19:53Um, you know, we're not really posting about all this too much either
- 19:56because they are put in a vulnerable position and we're trying to make
- 19:59sure that we take care of them.
- 20:01And, you know, they're, they're open to it.
- 20:04But, you know, he, he has received the calls and I, I've sent him the calls
- 20:09and, and he's, you know, people are, are so scared to leave their home and
- 20:15to go and, and they don't know how they're gonna get through the month.
- 20:18Another organization I work with a lot is called Ello.
- 20:21They work with a lot of indigenous immigrants, indigenous
- 20:24undocumented community.
- 20:26And um, the effort there has been to deliver grocery boxes and to also help
- 20:32folks with, um, you know, any needs that they have for the month to get
- 20:35through the month for their family.
- 20:37Wow.
- 20:37So,
- 20:38and uh, I know you have, I mean, when we talked on Sunday, you had pulled
- 20:42together, I mean, you have, do you have a group of community of lawyers that are
- 20:45like-minded that you guys are trying to.
- 20:48Talk to each other, make sure that, that everything's moving forward.
- 20:51Yeah, I mean, in, in this time we, we as immigration attorneys are
- 20:56receiving a lot of the secondary trauma, but also personal trauma.
- 20:59Like we, we've been through experiences of deportation, maybe in our own
- 21:04immediate families or, or loved ones.
- 21:06And so, um, the weight is a lot and so we.
- 21:11On Sunday morning, I, I just, I previously had spoken to a group of us
- 21:15and I said, well, let's just do a, a zoom check-in and all of us just tap
- 21:19in with each other and check how we're feeling, what we can do to support
- 21:23each other, and how we can link up.
- 21:24And if I can't take a case up north, you can step in and, and
- 21:29support each other with that.
- 21:30And so I think that's, um, essential for our communities is that we also.
- 21:36Take care of, um, ourselves so that we can keep fighting back and, and be rested.
- 21:42So I, I also, you know, did go to the boxing this weekend with my
- 21:46husband because I needed, my family was like, you need to go and sleep.
- 21:50Yeah.
- 21:50Because it was like a week of not really sleeping and not having a sit down
- 21:54meal just because it was back to back.
- 21:56Yeah.
- 21:56And I encourage all lawyers out there to.
- 21:59Anybody that calls your office if they have an issue, get them
- 22:02quickly to an immigration lawyer.
- 22:03Yes.
- 22:03So they can raise their hand.
- 22:05I know an attorney share, we waived all fees for that.
- 22:07So people can easily just automate going directly to somebody that can help.
- 22:12Um, one question I had, you know, we're hearing a lot about the kids and what's
- 22:16happening to the kids and foster kids, and again, people just want to know.
- 22:21Can I donate money somewhere?
- 22:22What can I do to help?
- 22:24Like, can you give any advice to folks like that?
- 22:26Yeah, I just, I would also just make sure you, you kind of, uh, look at the,
- 22:31the organization and their history and that they're, um, an organization that's
- 22:37been around for many years and the work that they, they do in the community.
- 22:42One of the organizations that I've worked with a lot over the past
- 22:46years is MD Immigrant Defenders.
- 22:48They're based here in la.
- 22:49Hmm.
- 22:50Um, but they just, we gotta be careful as well that we we're
- 22:54working with organizations that are doing the on the ground work.
- 22:57A lot of my friends are at MD. They're either at,
- 23:00is it M-D-E-F-M-M?
- 23:02Sorry.
- 23:02I am MM Defenders.
- 23:04M Defenders.
- 23:05Oh, okay.
- 23:06I am M Defenders.
- 23:07Yeah, I am just for the captions later on the show.
- 23:09Make sure we nail that one.
- 23:10And so, um, they, uh, you know, they're at the detention centers right now.
- 23:15They're talking to families, they're.
- 23:17Um, stepping up for the kids.
- 23:19Um, you know, a lot of the organizations also were representing kids that
- 23:24were unaccompanied and they've taken a big hit right now with, um, that
- 23:29those services, because the kids are also being put back into proceedings.
- 23:34Um, they're other trauma for these kids.
- 23:36Yeah.
- 23:36Mean, come
- 23:36on.
- 23:36They finally found probably a safe place with a foster family or somewhere.
- 23:39Now it's ripped out again.
- 23:40Yeah.
- 23:41Um.
- 23:42And then we're also seeing this in, uh, immigration court.
- 23:45Among the last number I looked at was at 3.7 million cases are backlogged
- 23:49in immigration court across the US And, um, they recently started to
- 23:54do this wave, the DHS attorneys, uh.
- 23:57Started, uh, copying, pasting, mass producing, uh, motions to re calendar
- 24:02cases that have been sleeping under administrative closure for 10 to 15 years.
- 24:08And they're doing this in an attempt to then not be able to locate the attorneys
- 24:12either not be able to locate their clients or the clients having moved.
- 24:16And so now there's gonna be a hearing set and the person is going to miss it
- 24:21because they didn't get their notice.
- 24:23So they, they're doing this other effort that just started
- 24:26about a week and a half ago.
- 24:27That's so disgusting.
- 24:28So that I flew back from ne um, sorry, from Nevada to be able to
- 24:32file emergency opposition motions because, you know, they just,
- 24:36that's just sad.
- 24:37Yeah.
- 24:38They're just trying to do any, anything possible to meet the quota.
- 24:42Yeah, just to meet the quota s is about quotas all, it's
- 24:45about that quota.
- 24:46So then that way they can continue their, uh, campaign trail and say, look
- 24:51what we did while we were in office.
- 24:53Yeah.
- 24:53And then look at all the money we funneled to our friends of the private detention
- 24:57centers that are also donating to our campaign, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
- 25:00It's just, yeah,
- 25:00it's a circle.
- 25:01It's like, it's, it's a whole mix up and, and unfortunately like our
- 25:04community's at the forefront of this, our undocumented community.
- 25:09Um, but I also.
- 25:11I'm also inspired to see how many people are stepping up and finally talking
- 25:15about immigration because for many years we continue to leave immigration
- 25:19on the, you know, back end of the list.
- 25:22We have other issues to talk about.
- 25:23We have other things.
- 25:24No, we need like a real, real, uh.
- 25:28Good conversation and actual like legislation and, and changes
- 25:32to our immigration system that will include these families.
- 25:36We, we sure.
- 25:36Hope so.
- 25:37Well, Cynthia, thanks for coming on.
- 25:38Um, big fan of yours and you're really like up there changing things and well,
- 25:42thank you for watching and listening to this episode, the Justin podcast.
- 25:45Um, you can reach out to, at Ms. Santiago on.
- 25:49Aga Santiago.
- 25:50Yeah.
- 25:50Aga
- 25:51Santiago.
- 25:52Aga Santiago, uh, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok.
- 25:55I almost gave your email away.
- 25:56We were close.
- 25:57It's fine.
- 25:58Um, yeah.
- 25:58Well, thank for watching listening, Cynthia.
- 26:00Always a pleasure.