Stepping Out of the Shadows

In this episode, America discusses the health care expansion to include DACA recipients and Florida’s new anti-immigration bill.  Then, she proceeds to dive into the topic of DACA by sharing her personal stories of growing up as an undocumented student. 

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Help shape future episodes!

Leave a voicemail or shoot us a text. I actually wanna hear from you! I like constructive criticism. 

Follow along on social media.

IG: @lachismosadelvalleoffical, @la_ameriquita 

Tik Tok: @lachismosadelvalle

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hi, I'm America Castillo, a story that is most of the vaide, a first generation DACA recipient with just enough journalism training that make me sound legit. Here I want to have honest conversations and make it a space to learn and connect about everything from culture and entertainment to tech and politics. So let's just start talking. Hi guys! Thank you guys so much for tuning in to our very first episode that premiered last month. And I know it's been a couple of weeks, but thank you for tuning in to our second episode. As you can probably hear, this episode is a little bit different because I am on my own. She's been out of town. I have deadlines to meet. That's totally okay. That's gonna happen sometimes. But you know what? The show must go on. So you guys are stuck with me for the next 10 to 15 minutes. So hopefully I can keep you guys well entertained. And if not, then I should probably reconsider my position as a host. So it's actually totally okay that I'm alone in this episode because this episode is all about me. Yes, I did get an audio of my sister saying that. This episode is not all about me because I want it to be. It just so happens that I'm a Docker recipient and a dreamer, and with all the crazy news that's going on right now, I feel like it is my duty to educate you guys. So before we get started, let's get started on some news because there's actually a lot going on in immigration news right now. Yes, I know the sound effect was a little dramatic, but it will do for now. So last month the Biden Harris administration announced a plan to expand health coverage to include DACA recipients. What is DACA? DACA stands for deferred action of childhood arrivals, which we will get into in a bit. According to the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services will propose a rule amending the definition of lawful presence for Medicaid and Affordable Care Act. At the moment, DACA recipients are denied access to federally funded health insurance because they don't qualify under lawful presence, even though technically we are legally allowed to work here and we pay taxes. We may be eligible for Medi-Cal, but it depends on the state we live in. I qualify for Medi-Cal in my state and I took it because I need it for my mental health, which is a completely different episode. But I actually have met a couple of Docker recipients who, even if their state does offer some sort of health insurance, they will not take it. They don't take it not because they don't want to, but because they fear that it will be used against them if they ever try to apply for a green card or any visa because of the public charge rule. So this is good because hopefully it will encourage Docker recipients to want to seek health insurance. I mean, this shouldn't even be a debate. This one's a little hard to report because I know that as a journalist, I'm supposed to just and keep an unbiased opinion, but it's a little hard when it affects my people. So basically, Florida has passed an anti-immigration law, SB 1718. Now I want to get deeper into this, but it's gonna require so much time. So this is what I do know about the bill. This bill basically will make it harder for undocumented immigrants to work in the state because it will require companies of 25 or more employees to use the federal e-verify system when hiring workers. They will also be able to conduct audits on any business that is suspected of hiring undocumented workers. It will also increase criminal penalties for human smuggling. Okay. Driver license issues to non-citizens will be barred from use in Florida. I'm kind of confused on what that means for me being out of state, but okay. Hospitals will also be able to obtain status information from their patients. This is because they want to know how much money they are spending on undocumented immigrants. And this one makes me just mad. It will be a felony to bring an undocumented immigrant into Florida across state lines. Well, that goes my road trip to Walt Disney World. I mean, this is just going backwards, and this is just proof that people do not want us here, and and exactly why I feel the need to share my story. Where do I even start? Okay. What is DACA? Who's a dreamer? Is there any difference? But there is. You could be a dreamer but not qualify for DACA. So under the Dream Act, a dreamer is anyone between the ages of 12 and 35 at the time that the law is enacted. They have had to arrive in the United States before the age of 16 and reside in the US for at least five consecutive years since their date of their arrival. And now for DACA, there's several requirements. Now the what DACA does is that it gives us a work permit, it allows us to get a social security and lawfully work in the United States. We just have to renew it every two years. There are some qualifications for DACA, and the first one is you had had to be under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012. June 15, 2012 is when former President Barack Obama made the announcement of DACA. You also had to be in the US before reaching your 16th birthday. You have had to reside in the US since June 15, 2007. You also had to be physically present on June 15, 2012. You had to have no status on June 15, 2012. You also had to be enrolled in school or have graduated or obtained some sort of GED or even been in the military. And most importantly, not have a convicted felony or misdemeanor. So yeah, I actually remember where I was June 15, 2012. My mom called me and was like, you need to turn on the news, and I turned on the news, and I was just grasping everything that was going on. So they were not passing the DREAM Act, which is what we originally wanted, but we were getting duck up, which was at least something, you know. I don't know. I had a lot of feelings because I just remember turning on and watching Obama make a speech about us. And this was really important because I was 17 and entering my senior year of high school, and I was getting so depressed and anxious because it seemed like everybody was getting ready to follow their dreams, and mine were slowly ending. I really wanted to go to art school at the time, but my mom was very real with me about my status situation and how expensive college was gonna be for me, and how there was basically no help for me. And she sat me down and was like, You're basically gonna be a janitor or a housekeeper, and you're gonna have to be okay with that. And that made me really sad because at the time I really wanted to be a graphic designer, and I just wanted to go to art school and you know, live my best artist life, and I don't know, I felt at the time like I couldn't do that. Then I started to learn that you could do freelancing with graphic design, and that actually helped. Um, that's actually what ended up getting me started in journalism, just doing design for the college newspaper. But, anyways, there was nobody really in high school to guide me on things. I was failing my classes and nobody asked why. And I feel like if there was a guidance counselor that like sat down with me and was like, What's going on? Why are you failing? I would have told them, Hey, I'm undocumented, and I feel like I have no dreams, like there's no reason for me to do well in school because I can't even get into the college I want to, you know. And this was also a different time. I didn't know many people who were undocumented, actually didn't know anybody who was undocumented. Um, and if they were undocumented at my school, like we weren't talking about it. This was during a time where like nobody was really undocumented and unafraid. People were still living in the shadows. College became a little different for me because um they had a dream center there, and community college was a little hard for me to find people who were undocumented still, and I think it's just because I lived in the you know more conservative white area, and people were probably more hush-hush about it. But um, in state college, I really started to find people who also had a similar experience as me, and that was very comforting. I started to feel less alone, and it started to empower me to do more. Oh, a little bit of where I was born. I was born in Quechua, Puebla, Mexico. I probably totally butcher that, and I'm so sorry to my people. Um, I came here when I was four, I was alone, my parents were already in the US. Um, I don't remember anything. Um, I don't remember anything, and sometimes maybe I think that's for the best, but sometimes it gives me really like bad anxiety. I just remember being told that my name was Sydney and that if anything happened, that my name is Sydney. That was it. And apparently I did a good job because I made it. I did have, you know, Survivor's Guild as I got older and started to process the trauma that comes with crossing the border, especially as a kid and alone. Um, and I think it really hit in 2019 when I saw that picture of the little girl and her dad, you know, dead at the border. I got really bad survivors' guild, and I was just like, How am I alive? Why am I here? Like, how could this happen? You know, I was alone. It was giving me so much anxiety that I had to just eventually stop, you know, thinking about that and just move on and just accept the fact that I I made it alive here. Growing up, I had to lay low, I had to learn to assimilate so no one suspects of my status. Um, it was kind of lonely. Often I was told that I was whitewashed, but I feel like they weren't understanding that I really had to assimilate, you know. The Trump era was very interesting because I started to feel like more people started to become aware of the situation. Um, I just remember in high school trying to make people aware of the situation or being afraid to be so vocal about the situation, and then suddenly everybody cared, and you know, I came out of the shadows and became more vocal about it, and kind of learned like it's really important to have my voice out there, especially right now when we don't have much re representation out there, which is so sorry if I'm sound so annoying when I'm like, Yeah, I'm a dreamer, I'm a Daka. Just because like yeah, I used to be super shy about it, and now I'm learning to take up spaces in white spaces, in spaces that you know I'm not wanted in. Um, and I'm just learning to be okay and confident in myself, just for my people. I didn't participate in much clubs growing up, not because I didn't want to, it's because when I would go to like undocumented centers, I would be the only kid in my age group. Everybody was either older or younger, and the pressure was too real. I was like, oh my god, I don't know if I could do this by myself. Um, and honestly, I'm kind of glad that I took the time to, you know, heal myself uh and go to therapy and deal with the trauma of crossing the border because it it is traumatic, because now I feel like I'm in a place where I can actually talk about it. Because before I used to cry. I used to cry so much, I didn't even know why. And now I can sit here and record this episode without a tear. In fact, just feeling more empowered. And if you're wondering, gee, America, why don't you just get a citizenship? Well, it's not that easy. If it was easy, we would not be having this conversation. At the moment, the only way to get a citizenship is by Mary is citizen, and let me tell you, that was not fun to hear when I was growing up that I had to marry someone for my status. So we want the Dream Act Pass, we want a pathway to citizenship. That is the goal. Um, but in the meantime, DACA will do. Thank you guys so much for listening to my story. I know sorry if I felt like a little rushed, um, but you know, we are wrapping up on time. And thank you guys so much for listening and being understanding. If you're wondering what you could do to help in the meantime, one, if you know anybody, it doesn't have to be me, um, who is undocumented and you're like, hey, how can I help with your like filing fee? You know, any, you know, 20 bucks, not even 20 bucks, a dollar helps, you know, uh, with anything. Uh, sometimes the bills will get too much because we don't get the same assistance as others. So, you know, anything that helps pitch in, and not that's not like the I'm not even saying for me, I'm saying like for other people, because I at least know I have some privilege with my DACA. Others, you know, do not have that. So help them out, you know? And of course, be aware of what's going on in your community because they do want us out. Uh, as you can see with the Florida bill, they want us out as soon as possible. And yeah, that's not gonna happen because, well, I don't know. This this country has a lot of history, and it you know, we have more of a right to be here. I'll leave you guys with this. You guys should listen to Somos Más Americanos by Los Tigres del Norte that will give you just a little little Mexican-American history. Uh, you know, Mexican-American history is American history, so listen to that song. Um, have fun listening to that song. And um, yeah, just thank you guys for giving me a chance to talk and be there, be kind. I don't want to say be kind to one another because it's like Ellen's generous thing, but in the meantime, just you know, help take care of your undocumented friends and peers. Uh, we will be back next week with another episode and hopefully with my sister. Thanks for tuning in. If you enjoyed the cheese mint, share it. Send it to a friend, post it online, or just talk about it with someone. However, you spread it, I appreciate it. And if you want updates, behind the scene cheese made or to stay in the loop, keep an eye out for my email newsletter. Follow or subscribe for more episodes of Let's You Smoke South the Viag. Catch you next time.