Indefensible

A lot has happened since the series was released this past summer--in particular there's been a lot of talk about DACA: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The program has protected thousands of undocumented people from deportation. But recently the Trump Administration announced it would phase out DACA in March 2018. I wanted to see what the recent news means for Eddy Arias, the subject of Episode 1.

To conclude the podcast series “Indefensible”, we created this podcast extra for listeners. It’s a conversation between Will Coley, the independent radio producer who created the series, and Mizue Aizeki, the Immigrant Defense Project’s Deputy Director. Will and Mizue talk about the larger context for the series. It’s been twenty years since the U.S. Congress made changes to the nation’s immigration system with the Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Act and and how you as a listener can get involved. To get the most out of the discussion, we recommend listening to the previous episodes.

Long-time resident, community activist, father, and husband, Ravi Ragbir, has fought against permanent exile from life in the U.S. for over 11 years. For Ravi and his family, it’s been a fight to take back control over their lives.

Patrick Thaxter’s story is emblematic of the particular struggles of Black people caught between our discriminatory criminal legal and immigration systems -- from policing to punishment. It speaks to the ways in which multiple forms of injustice intersect to criminalize and funnel Black immigrants, in particular, into the detention and deportation machine.

In 2016, William Diaz Castro was arrested at his home in New Orleans by ICE agents who were looking for someone else. He was charged with “illegal reentry” because he had been deported to Guatemala before. But this time, William’s wife Linda and their son witnessed the traumatic arrest. William is a leader with the Congreso de Jornaleros/Congress of Day Laborers, an organization of immigrant workers founded by day laborers who helped rebuild the city after Hurricane Katrina, and drove a grassroots campaign for his release from inside the detention center.  

Lundy and Linda Khoy are sisters who both got in trouble with the law. They were arrested separately for ecstasy when they were in their teens. Both say they were rebelling against their strict immigrant parents in Virginia. But the similarities end there. The fork in their destinies can be traced back to where they were born.

Eddy Arias remembers the night he was pulled over by the Houston Texas police. It was first time he had ever interacted with law enforcement since he’d moved to the U.S. from Mexico as a child. He still remembers every moment. When Eddy realized he’d been racially profiled, he stood up for his Constitutional rights. But what happened next drew him into a much larger debate about police enforcing immigration laws.

Indefensible is a limited podcast series brought to you by the Immigrant Defense Project. Over five episodes, we'll bring you stories from people who are standing up and holding out; fighting to be with their families. They say they’re here to stay.