[logo sonoro] [música dinámica] PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Preparese para un nuevo y poderoso episodio de Adelante!.

Nos sumergimos en dos de los temas de inmigración más críticos de la actualidad.

Primero, Timothy Muth, abogado senior del personal de la Unión Americana de las Libertades Civiles, ACLU, quien nos hablará sobre su revelador informe acerca de como 13 oficinas de sheriff de Wisconsin están ayudando al servicio de inmigración y control de aduanas ICE.

Luego, se nos unirá a la abogada Gabriela Parra de la Asociación Americana de Abogados de Inmigración.

Ella desglosará el nuevo proyecto de ley de gastos de inmigración de 150 mil millones, una ley que ha sido calificada como un plan para la deportación masiva y el miedo.

Además, para una dosis de inspiración presentaremos un segmento especial que destaca la fascinante historia del artista Erico Ortiz.

No se pierdan estas importantes conversaciones.

[logo sonoro] PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Una investigación de la Unión Americana por las Libertades Civiles expone un hallazgo alarmante.

Trece oficinas de Sheriff en Wisconsin actúan no como protectoras de sus comunidades, sino como eslabones clave en la cadena de deportación de ICE, dice este documento.

Esta establece que también es una historia de lucros, de acuerdos financieros y erosión de la confianza pública.

Para desglosar este explosivo informe, tenemos con nosotros a Timothy Muth, abogado senior de la ACLU de Wisconsin.

[music] TIMOTHY MUTH: We have found in our studies of how law enforcement in Wisconsin is cooperating with ICE is there are two main ways.

One way is sharing information with ICE and we see that ICE is actually buying data on immigrants who are held in jails across the state, and then the other way that law enforcement agencies are helping ICE is by providing ways for ICE to detain immigrants who are in their counties.

And so we studied the practices of the sheriffs all across the state and found an increasing amount of cooperation with ICE and that ICE is now funding some of that cooperation in different ways.

Waukesha County was the first in 2018 and then another group joined in 2020.

But then this year we've seen six more counties including one just two weeks ago and Calumet County signed another partnership agreement with ICE that we call 287G agreements.

These agreements that are sort of partnership agreements between ICE and a local sheriff's department, they send a message to the sheriff's deputies that immigration enforcement is part of what we do in this county.

That's a dangerous message to send, and it creates fear in the immigrant communities in those counties, discourages people from cooperating with local law enforcement, and it helps fuel the deportation machine.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Tell us about the funds, the money involved on the different parts of these processes.

TIMOTHY MUTH: One program that's called the state criminal alien assistance program, we just call it SCAAP, is a program where if a jail holds an undocumented person after they have been convicted of two misdemeanors or a felony, then the justice department reimburses the jail for the cost of incarcerating that person.

But it's more than that, it's buying information about here's an undocumented person who's been held in jail, here's their last known address, here's what they look like, here's where they can be found.

So that's one way that ICE is buying information from jails about undocumented people.

The other financial incentive we have found is that there are county jails that are now renting out cell space to ICE to detain persons who are in the process of being deported, who've been picked up by ICE and are being held.

Brown County has one of these agreements, Sauk County has an agreement and then Dodge County has long been an immigration detention center in the state.

We call it the jail-to-deportation pipeline because that has been the main way that persons in Wisconsin might end up being deported traditionally as some contact with the criminal justice system in the state.

The statistics that have been released from ICE through different organizations making freedom of information act requests have shown that in fact the majority of people who have been arrested by ICE during the second Trump administration have not been people with criminal records or people get picked up out of jails while their cases are still pending.

So they've been arrested but they haven't been convicted of anything yet and yet ICE will pick them up out of jails and deport before they've even had a chance potentially to prove their innocence.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: What is the picture that the ACLU wants communities to see in this report?

TIMOTHY MUTH: Very often these partnerships between ICE and local sheriffs are done in secrecy without public oversight.

A sheriff will enter into these agreements and not tell the public about it.

And one of the things we've been working on over the last 8, 9, 10 years at the ACLU of Wisconsin is shining a light on these partnerships between local law enforcement agencies and ICE so that citizens can say to their local sheriffs, who they elect, and to the county board, who's in charge of the sheriff's budget, for example, we don't want this kind of cooperation with ICE.

And so each one of these agreements is, it's county by county, it's very local, and we encourage people to find out what is the practice of your local sheriff?

How is he or she cooperating with ICE?

One example which is there's a process of what we call detainers.

A detainer is a voluntary request from immigration enforcement to a jail and ICE says hold on to that person for an extra 2 days or longer while we come and pick them up.

That practice we believe at the ACLU of Wisconsin is illegal for a sheriff to honor what is a purely voluntary request from ICE.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: There is always the threat of retaliation by the federal administrations against these sheriff offices that are making the constitution rights to be in front.

So have you seen on that?

TIMOTHY MUTH: The current administration believes that people who know their rights, people who insist on their rights, are getting in the way of their project to remove hundreds of thousands or millions of people from the country.

And so they're doing things like threatening counties with a loss of federal funds for all sorts of purposes unrelated to immigration if they don't roll over and do what ICE wants them to do.

Our organization at the ACLU of Wisconsin or like Voces de la Frontera are fighting and we back and support those local governments who are saying of our community that we stand up for the right.

Everybody has rights -- citizens, non-citizens, documented, undocumented.

They all have rights, and we need to respect them regardless of what the person in power in Washington may be saying.

One of the most important things that gets done is helping people know what their rights are.

Very often I see examples of people who don't know that they have the right to remain silent.

And very often it is the person who says, "Yes, I have no papers.

Yes, I am undocumented."

That then gives them a reason to arrest you that if you had simply never answered the question.

So one of our main efforts is educating the undocumented people and then we also try to educate the allies.

TIMOTHY MUTH: So people can go to our website at aclu-wi.org.

There is also an inquiry form on our website that if you have questions you can submit questions through there.

You go to that website and there are certainly places that ask, "Are you interested in volunteering?"

All help is gratefully accepted.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Tim, we are very thankful for the crucial information that you continue providing for our communities.

TIMOTHY MUTH: Thank you for inviting me again and for elevating this issue for all of your viewers.

[music] PATRICIA GÓMEZ: La abogada Gabriela Parra es miembra de la Asociación Americana de Abogados en Immigración.

Ella nos hablará del impacto del nuevo proyecto de ley de gastos de inmigración de 150 mil millones, una ley que ha sido calificada como un plan para la deportación masiva y el miedo.

GABRIELA PARRA: Este bill pasó muy apenas.

Estaba empate, 50-50, el vicepresidente tomó el voto y los desempató y pues pasó esto.

De ese bill se le va a otorgar $59 mil millones de dólares a la patrulla fronteriza.

En específico, $47 mil millones va a ser para el muro.

$7 mil millones va a ser para agentes de la patrulla fronteriza, sus vehículos.

Y $5 mil millones va a ser para instalaciones para la patrulla fronteriza.

Luego tenemos $45 mil millones de dólares que va a ser para detención de familias y de adulto.

Ya sea incrementar los contratos que tienen en diferentes lugares para aumentar las camas que existen ahí para poder detener gente, al igual que las construcciones de detenciones.

Eso no implica los diferentes costos que pasaron para ciertos beneficios inmigratorios.

Hay un diferente costo si lo estás haciendo con la oficina de inmigración que se llama USCIS o U-S-C-I-S.

Y hay un diferente costo ahora si lo estás haciendo con la corte de inmigración.

Y estamos en este ambiente que están poniendo a muchas personas en proceso de deportación y van a tener que pagar casi el doble que si lo están haciendo con la oficina de USCIS.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: El proyecto está siendo catalogado por tu organización, la Asociación Nacional de Abogados de inmigración como un proyecto de ley draconiano, un proyecto creado para establecer el miedo, un proyecto excesivo para un gasto de este tamaño.

¿Qué podrías decirnos sobre esto?

GABRIELA PARRA: Claro que sí, se están quitando recursos de salud, recursos para el ambiente, recursos...No directamente para los inmigrantes sino para los ciudadanos americanos o residentes.

En las últimas detenciones de los últimos siete meses, casi el 70% que ha sido detenido y puesto en un centro de detención no tiene antecedentes penales.

Tiene antecedentes civiles por haber entrado ilegalmente, pero no antecedentes penales.

No es de que esta gente está cometiendo crímenes, sino ellos están criminalizando algo que era civil, una ley civil.

Entonces ahora estamos en una situación donde están deteniendo gente que lleva 30, 40 años aquí, que nos dieron sus hijos, que ahora estaban participando en la economía.

Y el problema es de que no solo es de detención a la gente que digamos entró indocumentada y pues la agarraron, sino es gente que legalmente los dejaron entrar.

Por ejemplo, asilo político.

Tienes que presentarte a nuestra frontera, Estados Unidos, no lo puedes solicitar en ningún otro lado.

Biden trató de controlar eso con el parole, donde entra gente de Cuba, Haití, de Nicaragua y Venezuela, donde entraban legalmente, hacían todos los chequeos que se requerían para asegurar que no tenían antecedentes penales y todo.

Les daban autorización de un permiso de trabajo y podían rápidamente participar en la economía y de un de repente corta todo y ahora evita a estas personas que lo están haciendo legalmente, las está poniendo en proceso de deportación gente que ya está en la corte, sin tener ningún antecedente penal y incluso gente embarazada y las están poniendo en centro de detención y forzándolos a proceder con su caso detenidos.

Un caso detenido puede tardar hasta seis, ocho meses.

Es lo que están pidiendo dinero para poder cubrir estos costos de gente que lo hizo bien, de gente que no tiene antecedentes penales, de gente que ha vivido en Estados Unidos por más de 10, 15, 20, 30 años.

Por ejemplo, en nuestro estado solo tenemos un centro de detención con ciertas camas disponibles.

Ahorita, Dodge en los últimos meses ha estado tan lleno con gente que no debería estar detenida que lo que pasa es los empiezan a mover a Luisiana, a Kansas, a Oklahoma.

En todo eso conlleva dinero y no solo eso, el acceso al abogado es más difícil cuando te están moviendo de estado en estado.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Están realmente rompiendo toda posibilidad de que esas personas continúen un proceso legal constitucional.

// Sí.

// Hay también muchas quejas de que cuando una persona es detenida lejos de su familia, toma tiempo saber dónde están.// Sí.

// Como si hubieran sido secuestrados.

GABRIELA PARRA: Sí.

Hay unos casos que lamentablemente inmigración no indica en qué centro de detención está, ni al abogado.

Los primeras 72 horas a veces no están en un centro de detención, están en un centro de procesar.

Entonces, por ejemplo, aquí la cárcel de Waukesha, allí los pueden mantener hasta 72 horas mientras buscan a dónde los van a llevar.

Una de las cosas más importantes que siempre, aunque lo recalquemos, siempre existe el problema, tener acceso a las cuentas bancarias.

Asegurar de poner todos tus documentos importantes en un solo lado y que alguien sabe dónde están esos documentos.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: ¿Cuáles serían los más importantes?

GABRIELA PARRA: Que llevas aquí más de dos años, porque la orden de deportación expedita, que es una orden donde te quita muchos de tus derechos, los que estarían sujetos a eso es gente que lleva aquí menos de dos años.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Entonces, si tienes dos años, tienes más derechos.

GABRIELA PARRA: Sí, si tienes dos años, tienes la oportunidad de estar enfrente de un juez para aplicar para algún tipo de beneficio diferente.

Si estás en un proceso expedito, solo tienes derecho de tener que pasar un miedo creíble y si lo pasas, te dejan ver a un juez, pero solo para aplicar para asilo.

PATRICIA GÓMEZ: ¿Qué documentos demuestran, abogada Parra, que has estado aquí más de dos años?

¿Qué es válido?

GABRIELA PARRA: Los impuestos, si has ido al doctor por cualquier razón, los bancos, documentos que demuestran que has alquilado, si has pagado una casa, la comprastes de 10 años, esos documentos que has pagado, talones de cheques, cartas de empleadores donde dicen sí, esta persona trabajó aquí de estos años, de las actas de nacimiento que tuvistes hijos en ciertos años.

Entonces, esos son los más comunes y los más importantes que... PATRICIA GÓMEZ: ¿Qué dificultades ves tú entre los diferentes condados?

GABRIELA PARRA: El problema con los condados es que exista esta dinámica entre el sheriff y entre la policía local.

Y, por ejemplo, en Milwaukee, este, si te agarra la policía local, no van a... dependiendo del arresto, no van a compartir esas huellas o información a ICE, pero si te procesan al condado de Milwaukee en la cárcel, ellos sí van a compartir esa información con ICE.

Una de las cosas que puedes hacer es pedir tu documentación y todo tu archivo que tiene ICE o inmigración de ti, y se llama un proceso de FOIA.

Tarda unos meses, a veces hasta un año, pero si te detienen, ellos no me van a dar seis meses para que procesen tu FOIA, ellos inmediatamente te quieren deportar.

Nosotros tenemos una organización de AILA, somos miembros de esa organización, básicamente es nacionalmente, y la razón por qué quieres ir a una organización establecida nacionalmente es porque estos cambios son rápidos.

Y yo la mejor forma que me mantengo activa, mientras estoy en el centro de detención, horas en la oficina de inmigración, es a través de esta organización que nos dice, "ok, ya cambió, así tenemos que enfrentar este cambio."

[music] PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Desde su trabajo en las artes escénicas hasta las artes visuales y desde sus días como maestro hasta el establecimiento de su propia galería de arte, el artista Erico Ortiz continúa forjando un legado perdurable.

Acompáñenos en una historia más de nuestro colega productor y director de The Art's Page de Milwaukee PBS, Adam Lilly.

ERICO ORTIZ: My life is all about the arts.

[placid music] ERICO ORTIZ: I have a degree in Spanish, and so I taught Spanish, and I used the arts as part of that.

I used my guitar to teach Spanish.

I used theater, I used acting, I used all sorts of things like that.

I mean, all of that, all the antics.

I mean, I'm the kind of guy who jumped on the table to make sure kids were doing whatever they needed to pronounce things properly, you know, playing with that voice and that sort of thing.

So it's always been there, but in terms of how children learn, the arts are all about problem solving.

Apply that to any part of your life, and you're successful.

Relationships don't fade.

If you've built them properly, if you foster them properly, they don't fade.

They grow, they continue to grow.

Now I call it inspiration studios.

It used to be called Skubal and Slattery Funeral Home.

But when I came out and I looked at the building, I walked in, I thought, we had checked a few store fronts and whatnot, and I walked in and I said, oh yeah, this is it.

I knew immediately this was it.

At the time when I got the place, there were a few theater companies in the area, but not as many as there are now.

There are so many, and several have started here.

Lots of companies, lots of people want to do theater, and lots of people want to, they have an idea for their own company.

So it's cool, it's growing, but there's so many.

There's so many, which is good.

I never expected this place to become this popular, and it really is popular.

So this is the hub of the arts in West Allis, which is kind of cool, really cool, really cool.

And it's leading to more and more bigger things.

ERICO ORTIZ: So I've got the Martini girls have two rooms back here that's their studios.

One is a small tabletop stuff where they can work at tables and they each have their own table and they do tabletop art.

And then the other room next to it, they've covered it in plastic and covered the floors.

That's the place where they can throw paint and do big, big, big, big projects.

This place has encouraged lots of emerging artists.

That was one of my goals.

Emerging artists.

I wanted people who don't have an opportunity to exhibit their art in galleries because the galleries are sometimes expensive or not welcoming.

So emerging artists, emerging theatre companies.

[music] ERICO ORTIZ: I was born in Puerto Rico and I was raised here.

I came here as a baby and there were nine of us and then three more were born here.

As a rough childhood, one of those poverty-stricken families, we got the food stamps, we got the church baskets at Christmas and Easter, that sort of thing.

The one place I felt safe and comfortable was at school, always.

It was the one place.

And so it became my refuge, my... you know, the place I always wanted to be.

[music] ERICO ORTIZ: That's that's what my life became.

As a teacher, I knew that my life was to help high school students to live a better life and to become anything that they could become and to dream and to and to foster those dreams and that sort of thing.

Sorry, that's what happens when I talk about this.

It was an amazing career.

I mean, I think it was great, with kids, I think I was, I don't, I think I was a good teacher.

I think I was, you know, I made my mistakes, of course again like anybody else did, but I loved teaching, and I know that my kids loved having me as their teacher, many of them still do and contact me all the time.

There's one who came to the gallery here a couple of weeks about a month ago because he hadn't seen me since he graduated from high school, and one of his, he'd been wanting to see me since then to thank me for saving his life.

I cry at the drop of a hat.

That's why I'm good on stage.

You put me in a production where I've got a cry, where I've got to be emotional, whatever.

Oh my gosh!

Oh my gosh!

Oh, I've done stuff.

I tell people bring tissue, bring tissue.

In terms of visual art, that's the one area that I never explored until I retired.

I was drama director at the school where I was a teacher.

I was choir director at my church.

I had a dance troupe that I was the director of.

I went and bought a guitar and learned to play guitar just so I can direct a Spanish choir.

You see that.

That was my last, latest piece that I created.

It was part of an exhibit that was, that was here by the Rogues Artist Group.

It was an exhibit of 20 artists and the title of the exhibit was "Being Transparent".

And at the time something was, ah, you know, I am a very emotional guy as you know that by now.

And something was going on where I was having, I was struggling with the weather, and with life, and relationships or friendships, that sort of thing.

There's just some sad stuff going on.

I struggle sometimes with artists who come to me saying, "Well, but, are people going to buy it?

Are people going to buy it?"

You don't make art to sell it.

I mean, you don't.

You make it so it's an expression of you.

You know, it's an expression of who you are.

I mean, that's what it should be.

Somebody is interested in it, they're going to connect to it, and they're going to want it.

They're going to want to buy it if they connect to it.

But that shouldn't be your goal is to make art that people are going to buy.

This is my legacy.

This is what I want to leave behind.

And so that's what keeps me going.

The energy is there because that's kind of the ultimate goal, I think, is just to make sure that this doesn't die, and this doesn't just end.

It's like, yeah, as things grow, that inspires me to have more things happen.

It fosters more.

But the more people learn about this place, the more they want to use it, which is really cool.

It becomes home to a lot of people.

They just, they love coming here.

[music] PATRICIA GÓMEZ: Y con un hasta pronto nos despedimos invitándolos a que nos dejen saber sus comentarios por el teléfono 414-297-7544 o a que visite nuestro sitio web en milwaukeepbs.org y nuestras redes sociales.

Soy Patricia Gómez, deseándole paz y bendiciones.

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