Through Immigrant Eyes
Amplifying the voices and realities of the immigrant community.
Season 3 is out now!
S3 E3: From Shadows to Sunshine: Overcoming Mental Health Challenges as an Immigrant w/ Karina Martinez
In this episode, we delve into the mental health struggles of Immigrants. Karina Martinez, a DACA recipient, shares her personal journey and insights into the emotional toll of living with uncertainty. We explore the impact of immigration policies on mental health and discuss strategies for coping and seeking support.
Videographer & Editor: Ilario Donoe
S3 E2: Breaking the Silence Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Undocumented Communities
In this episode, we sit with Laura Murphy Garcia, LCPC, to discuss mental health in immigrant communities. We discuss the realities that many immigrants face before and after migrating.
Videographer and Editor: Ilario Donoe
S3E1: Beyond the Ballot w/ Celeste Flores
Join us for our first episode of season three. With elections coming up, we spoke with Celeste Flores about the 2024 election, voting, and leadership in Lake County, Illinois.
Videographer and Editor: Ilario Donoe
S2E5: DACA Recipients Share Advance Parole Experience Traveling Abroad
Shareny Baba, Ana Cossio, and Sandra Diaz share their experiences applying for Advance Parole as DACA recipients and traveling abroad for the first time in 20+ years.
Some themes include: feeling like a tourist in your country of origin, advocating for ourselves at every turn, realizing the end goal is beyond citizenship, and a failing immigration system.
We encourage you to listen to their stories and share your own in the comments.
S2E4: The UndocuQueer Intersectionality, Andrea's Story
These movements intersect in the fight for social justice, and they are especially real to the undocumented folks who also identify as queer. Living in this intersection can mean surviving societal and familial rejection and learning to live in multiple worlds at once. It is important we listen to the stories of people living this reality every day and realize the power we can hold when working together, across movements.
I am very excited to have Andrea Montanez with us to share her experience working with communities at the intersection of immigrant and LGBTQ. Andrea is a formerly undocumented transwoman and is the Director of Advocacy at Hope CommUnity Center in Florida.
S2E3: The Post-DACA Generation
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was created 12 years ago. Throughout the years it has gone through a legal uphill battle consisting of the program only accepting renewals and rejecting new applicants which caused many eligible undocumented people to be left out of the program. There is, however, an even larger population of undocumented people who have never and will never qualify for the program due to the current eligibility cut-off date of DACA, creating the post-DACA generation.
This program was never a solution but rather a band-aid for the much larger wound that is the immigration legal system in the US.
In this episode, we speak with Oscar Cornejo Casares, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Sociology at Northwestern University, about the post-DACA generation.
S2E2: The UndocuQueer Intersectionality and the Value of Education
Of the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States today, hundreds of thousands identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. These movements intersect in the fight for social justice, and they are especially real to the undocumented folks who also identify as queer. Living in this intersection can mean surviving societal as well as familial rejection and learning to live in multiple worlds at once. It is important that we listen to the stories of people living this reality every day and realize the power we can hold when working together, across movements.
In this episode, we speak with Jesus Ruiz, Dean of CLC Lakeshore Campus, on the intersection between undocumented and queer and the value of education to achieve the American dream.
S2E2: Listen on Spotify
S2E2: Watch on YouTube
S2E1: Texas’ Inhumane Busing of Migrants to the Chicago Area and the Community’s Response
In April 2022, nearly two years ago, Texas Governor Greg Abbott began what his administration has very inhumanely referred to as 'the busing strategy.' He has regularly sent buses of recently arrived migrants, seeking asylum at the southern border, to major cities across the United States, including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and others.
In this episode, we talk to Irma Barrientos, Program Manager at Mano a Mano Family Resource Center, a nonprofit organization in Lake County that has been supporting newly arrived community members as they settle into their new homes. We also speak with Helena Olea, Deputy Director at Alianza Americas, a transnational organization working to provide a more dignified and just way of life for all people living in the Americas.
S2E1: Listen on Spotify
S2E1: Watch on YouTube
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