Latino Usa

As the coronavirus spread in New York City and reached its peak in April, some disturbing statistics were revealed: Black and Latino patients were disproportionately affected by the disease, and they were dying at twice the rate of other patients. Even after the peak of the outbreak in New York, intensive care units in hospitals across the city are still busy caring for COVID-19 patients. In this episode of Latino USA, we go inside the frontlines in Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital, part of the NYC Health + Hospitals system, where we learn about the Latino patients fighting for their lives against COVID-19.

In this two-part investigation, "The Moving Border" from Latino USA, we delve into the increasing pressure put on refugees seeking safety in the United States via its southern border. It reveals the surprising support the Trump administration has received to create an impenetrable policy wall that pushes asylum seekers south, away from the U.S. In episode one, "The North," we visit Juárez and tell the story of a mother and daughter who are mired in a web of changing policy and subjected to ongoing violence. And we find evidence of how Mexican authorities are working hand-in-hand with the U.S. at the border. "The Moving Border" series was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.

For our latest episode of Latino USA, we partnered up with Documented, a nonprofit news site that covers immigrants in New York City, to get a behind the scenes look at the experience of trying to navigate the immigration courts as an asylum-seeker under the Trump Administration. Maria Hinojosa sat down with co-founders of Documented, Max Siegelbaum and Mazin Sidahmed, to talk about what they observed in New York's immigration courts, and how federal policy changes have impacted the people moving through them.

In this episode of Latino USA we partner up with Documented, a nonprofit news site that covers immigrants in New York City, to get a behind the scenes look at the experience of trying to navigate the immigration courts as an asylum-seeker under the Trump Administration. We follow the story of Wendy and Elvis, Guatemalan newlyweds who flee violent extortion threats only to find themselves in a maddening and punishing U.S. court system that is now the norm for immigrants seeking safety.

The COVID-19 shutdown has changed the lives of many across the country, including small business owners who are struggling to pay their rent, meet their payrolls and stay afloat. Texas has one of the highest rates of Latino-owned businesses in the country. Maria Hinojosa checks in with entrepreneurship reporter Paul Flahive of Texas Public Radio, who has been covering this story across Texas. He shares the story of two Latino-owned businesses who have been trying to access relief funds and have come up short in a very crucial moment for their businesses.

Felipe Coronel, aka Immortal Technique, is a legendary underground hip-hop artist known for his skills on the mic and his raw, highly political lyrics. Today, Immortal Technique spends his time working on philanthropic causes. Much of his work has been centered in Harlem, especially in the past two months of the coronavirus pandemic. Along with donating to various charity organizations, he is going out in the neighborhood to deliver food and run errands for those unable to go outside due to COVID-19. Between his runs, Immortal Technique is still writing music and hitting the studio, as fans hold their breath for the release of his first album in over a decade. We sit down with Immortal Technique to get a deeper sense of what it was like growing up in Harlem and how his rage has played into his successful music career. Part of this episode originally aired in January of 2019.

Enrique Bunbury is a rock legend in Spain and Latin America, and he's been touring in the United States for years. A pioneer of the "rock en español" movement, Bunbury's eclectic solo career spans decades. During this time he has taken his loyal fans on a musical journey from cabaret to electronic music, all driven by his rock and roll ethos. In this episode Bunbury sits down with Maria Hinojosa to talk about his most recent album, titled "Posible", his self-described "impossible tour" in the U.S., and what keeps him going after all these years.

New York City continues to be the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, but the state with the third most coronavirus cases —after New York and New Jersey— is Massachusetts. And just across the river from Boston is a city that has the highest per capita rate of infection in that state. It's the city of Chelsea. For generations, its residents have been primarily Latino or newly-arrived immigrants who commute to Boston to work. Maria Hinojosa sits down with Boston-based reporter and co-host of the In The Thick podcast Julio Ricardo Varela to talk about why this outbreak began and the healthcare response to it.

The 1970s were a golden age for soccer in Peru, one that producer Janice Llamoca only heard about growing up in Los Angeles in the '90s. The Peruvian soccer team went to three World Cups in that era. But after that, the team did poorly for decades — failing to qualify for the World Cup year after year. Then, in 2017, Peru qualified for the World Cup after 36 years — giving the Llamocas the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to Russia to see their team play on soccer's biggest stage. This story originally aired in July of 2018.

In recent weeks, many of us have had to adjust to living and working remotely. It's a necessary precaution to keep yourself and your community safe during the coronavirus pandemic — but it's not always easy to do. John Paul Brammer, author of the popular advice column "Hola Papi," gets it. He's been getting lots of questions from readers about how to make it through life in self-quarantine, from navigating romantic relationships to creating your own space in a busy home. On this week's Latino USA, Brammer answers listener questions about these strange, uncertain times, and talks about how to give advice during a historic pandemic.

The 2020 census is underway, which counts everyone living in the U.S. and its five territories including Puerto Rico. The form consists of questions like name, age, sex and race, but some of these answers are complicated. One example is the race question. In Puerto Rico, residents choose "Puerto Rican" to describe their Hispanic origin, but historically residents have overwhelmingly identified as white on the census, despite the island's rich African history. In this segment, journalist Natasha S. Alford takes us through her reporting of Afro-Puerto Ricans and how activists are fighting to have their communities seen on the census.

Latinos could play a decisive role in the swing state of Pennsylvania in November's presidential election. In 2016 Trump won the state by about 44,000 votes, and the campaign of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders had been courting Latino voters there for months. Now that Sanders has dropped out of the presidential race, many wonder if former Vice-President Joe Biden will be able to win them over. In this episode of Latino USA, Maria Hinojosa speaks with reporter Gisele Regatao, who has been on the ground in Pennsylvania following Latino voters.

Light your candles and schedule your limpia because today's episode is all about the power of intuition. Reporter Cindy Rodriguez talks to scientist Galang Lufityanto about his research into intuitive decision-making. Then, we head to the Brooklyn Brujeria festival, and learn about how intuition has been part of a growing Latinx feminist movement. Finally we hear about Cindy's journey to accept her own sense of intuition, through her relationship to her mother.

There are currently over 35,000 immigrants in detention in the United States, and most of them are in centers under the control of ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. As the spread of COVID-19 overwhelms some areas of the country, the situation that many immigrants in detention are facing has become an urgent concern. ICE has already started to report that some immigrants and employees have tested positive for the virus. In this episode of Latino USA, we speak with Noah Lanard, a journalist who has reported on the conditions in these detention centers for Mother Jones magazine, and Joaquin Castro, Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Medellín, Colombia, is lauded as one of the most innovative and tourist-friendly cities in the world. But 30 years ago, the city was the world's cocaine capital—ravaged by the cartel war led by Pablo Escobar. Latino USA travels to Medellín to hear how the city's violent and narcotic history changed the lives of one family and how Medellín went from being one of the most dangerous places in the world to the "model city" it is today. This story originally aired in June of 2018.

A few months ago, we aired a story in which we spent 72 hours at CommunityHealth, a free health clinic in Chicago that only serves people without health insurance, and that's run primarily by volunteers. As the number of cases of COVID-19 rises rapidly, free health clinics are an important line of defense against the disease. The communities they serve, like older patients, patients with chronic conditions, and undocumented immigrants, are particularly vulnerable to the disease. For this episode, we check back-in with CommunityHealth and one of their patients, about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Public health experts are urging people to stay at home during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic — but not everyone can afford to. Here in the United States, low-income immigrant communities are facing high risks during the outbreak. Many migrants are still working in essential retail, labor, and service industry jobs. Getting access to healthcare is also a challenge, especially after the Trump administration enacted a new policy measure limiting certain immigrants' access to federal benefits like Medicare. In this week's Latino USA, we explore the obstacles migrants face as the coronavirus threat grows.

In February, Netflix premiered a comedy-drama series that features a Mexican-American family from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights. The show is called 'Gentefied' and it's a blend of two words: "gente", the Spanish word for people, and "gentrified." In Latino USA, we wanted to get the community's perspective on the show, so we reached out to the Boyle Heights Beat—a bilingual community newspaper produced by youth reporters—and handed them the mic. The result is a conversation that takes on gentrification, stereotypes and what it's like when a new show is set in your backyard.

Over the last few years, as immigration has become a heated topic of discussion, there are more and more stories about racist comments and instances of violence against Latinos. And that's reflected in FBI data on hate crimes—a 2018 report showed that personal attacks motivated by bias or prejudice had reached a 16-year high and that hate crimes specifically against Latinos and Latinas were rising. To better understand these trends, on this episode of Latino USA, Maria Hinojosa goes with reporter Angelina Mosher Salazar to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where they dive into one violent attack on a Peruvian immigrant and U.S. citizen.

In January 2019, the Trump administration began enforcing the Migrant Protection Protocols, more widely known as the "Remain in Mexico" policy. It forced an estimated 60,000 people, many of them Central American, to remain in Mexico while U.S. courts decide their fate. While the door has essentially been shut on newly arrived migrants, a few who are deemed "vulnerable" are still being allowed to enter. Mother Jones reporters Fernanda Echavarri and Julia Lurie went to Santa Fe, New Mexico to talk to some of the few people allowed into the U.S. And, in this episode of Latino USA, Fernanda takes us on a ride-along to meet two newly arrived families trying to make a life, while stuck in limbo.