answer your questions. visit booktv.org for more information. book tv's in depth program live with david corn on january 6. >> hello, everybody. what are you doing? great. thank you for coming out. and during this weather. it's a bull day outside and we're inside a nice shaded area. so, thanks for coming out and

being with us here today. i'm so, so thrilled to be here with these two amazing ladies, but my name is jessica reeves, the coo at votto latino where -- thrilled to be here with you all. but with that, i would love to give a very brief introduction to these wonderful authors. we're going to talk about their books, about -- i have some questions i'm dying to ask, but also love to reserve the last ten, 15 minutes for questions from the audience. so, definitely if you have any burning questions, save those to the end. we will make some time for everybody to get to, also interact and talk to our friends here. but love to start by introducing sayu bhojwani, the author of people like us, the new york city russ first commissioner of

immigrant affairs and the founder of south asian youth action, community based organization in queens. since 20010 she has served as the founder and president of the new american leaders project which i'm a huge fan of so thank you for everything you do there. which is based in new york city. and immigrant of indian descent, grew up in bellies and lives in new york sid st. wherever i husband and child. illinois credibly short intro for this lovely lady, let's give hear round of applause. [applause] >> and next to my right here we have laura wides-munoz, how a group of young undocumented immigrant grant changed was i means to be american. he she was vp for an a project at fusion tv and was a statist write are he "associated press" for more than a decade. where i hear she got a lot of these stories and ideas from. she has reported from cuba and throughout central america and

has been published in "washington post," the guardian, the miami herald, los angeles times and many other outlets. laura developed the idea for this book threw 2013 foundation journalism fellowship and currently'ses in washington, dc. so with that, we'd love to keep the conversation -- thank you, also round of applause for laura. thank you. >> so with that i would love to actually give a little space to have you talk about your books and share really where the ideas came from, a bit about them, and any insights that you can share and maybe we won't be able to get anywhere else. i'd like to hand today laura. >> thank you for being out here on this very hoot day. reminds plea offer being in miami so i feel like i'm at home nut in miami where is the book start. i was november of 2009, and i was snuck the office, looking for ideas for the holiday season because on new year's business

is slow and i need node are? and i got this press release about group of young people who are going to walk from miami to washington, dc' in the middle of winter and sounded kind of crazy but i decided to go to this little church where they were holding a meeting in little haiti and check it out. and didn't expect much but when i got there, and i sat there, and i heard these four young people start talking, about feeling like they had grownup this country and now that they were adults, they felt like they were literally being turned into ghosts, erased, from their community, from their neighborhood, and there was something filipe, one of my main characters, he had this determination, little teenage bravado, swagger, and also this vulnerability, and so i captured them walking and -- they didn't even have coates, had to stop a day or two in to buy winter coats and shoes. it was all a little bit spur of the moment. but they ended up by the time

they got to washington in april it had become a national story and rear invigorated the immigrant rights. movement and y the end of of 20 so the got the first vote on the dream act in the senate and house since it had been propiece decade before. fell five votes short and then two years late their movement was able to get the obamas a norths provide temporary protection so they could go to school, work, and live and not be turned into what what they called goads and i just at that point felt like this is something, this is a movement, something i hadn't seen in nearly a dozen and a half years of covering issues in our country before, and i wanted to document it for posterity, and not just because of the immigration connection, but also because i saw in a way i'd never seen before, young people, civically engaged, trying to get involved in our political system, and changing our

cultural and civic and political dialogue. here we are. >> i don't really think we give enough credit to the dreamers sometimes who when we talk about young people not getting engages and not being involved and not voting but a group of young people who sometimes don't have the able to vote. actually really harnessing that political power and making a huge difference not just for themselves but for all young people and for immigrants across the country. thank you. laura. sayu, you have an equally inspiring and amazing story to share and look at political power building in the immigrant community from a different angle. >> thank you. i also want to echo lawyer's thanks to you for being here and choosing this amongst the many other exciting options. i myself am -- though happy to be here, really envious of the fact that jones is speaking in another tent so thank you for choosing it, i think the genesis for hi book is about ten years

old, when i first started the organization that i now run called new american leaders and the short version of the organization toes recruit first and second generation americans to run for political offers, and in the eight years i had been doing the work, i became more and more aware of these amazing stories of immigrants who were involved in their communities and then were deciding to run for offers and so i wrote the book for two reasons, one, because their stories are so inspiring and often what we hear about immigrants is that they're taking something away from our country, or that they're making an economic contribution, and there's so little told about how these candidates are inspiring new voters, are fighting on behalf of immigrant communications and i wanted to lift up those stories. but the format of the book, which highlights some of the problems in our democracy,

caming to after the 2016 election in particular because what i started to feel was that people were connecting all the problems in our democracy to donald trump, and it was clear to me and do the people i writes about in this book that these problems in our system existed long before him and will continue to exist long before him and you asked but a couple of insights and i'll just share one of the most striking things for me once i started working in this space was understanding how shroud jouet dade it our -- outdated our log it system is for modern american. the founds fathers created a sometime where it made sense for example in texas for a bunch of legislators to meet every 18 months and make decisions about the country, and that's just a formula that doesn't work for murder america. your legislators you want them to be available throughout the year, you want them to be

fighting for you throughout the year, but if we're creating a system in which a bun of folks come together every 18 months, first of all, who are those types of people who are going to be able to do that? who can take six months out of their job every 18 months, who can live on that salary, and then what kind of decisions are being made by those people? so for me the whole role of money, not just as it relates to campaigns, but as it dictates who gets to run and who gets to govern and what kind of policy is made is one of the most striking things and very quickly, the other more personal insight how emotionally isolating it is, we see these meters and we -- leader and we think they have so much power and they gets to decide everything but actually a lot of people in my book talked about kind of loneliness that comes from being to the only person of their background in office, or the only person in their family

who was politically involved. the kind of personal attacks that -- it's an incredibly lonely experience and that struck me as a through line among all the stories. >> specially when our representation, our governments don't reflect what our country looks like. they're going back into the field and talking to constituents and not being able to kind of have those same conversations. so, my next kind of question is, around -- a little more around the political climate right now. immigration has become a dirty word. when it is a part of the foundation of this country. the country was built on and with immigrants as a backbone, and it's been politicized from data -- daca rescind, forward recipients up in the air, just right now, refugee caravan of

asylum seekers being politicized ahead of the mid-term elects. through through your stories and coveringses with these constituents and these groups, what narrative do you find that are -- what narrative can help bring our countrying to and bring us week in idea that immigration is the backbone of this drown and its a positive thing, not a negative thing. >> well one reason i wanted to write this book was i had seen stories, individual stories about these shining young immigrants who were leaders, the dreamers, perfect immigrant, and i had also seen sort of these long think tank books on policy and it felt like they were having two disjoint conversations and creating these

sort of false narratives about perfect individuals who are making change. so, the kids in the book, tip legal pay, marie gonsalez, from missouri, guerrero who gets into harvard, all -- they're real people that i can identify with and i home the audience can as well and one of the reasons i wanted to do that is because i think when we think about this issue, we think of these sort of political leaders as you're talking about but they're human beings and i give you one example of filipe when they were done with the march to washington and now had this national attention and going in and all along they had gotten support from church groups and others who were volunteering to help them and give them maybe a basement to sleep in, some food, and as they're in virginia this, come to this church where filipe, who has recently come out as gay, is told, i don't

want to see you holding hands or having any affection withor boyfriend who who he had been dating on the walk because it's upsetting to people in the church and you al alienate our supporters and this had been going on for 0 long time but they felt when shape came out is a image documented immigrants and then to be told to go back in the encloses set, even for this bigger cause, just felt really destructive inside and so this group of four people, gabby and isabella and filipe and carlos sit together and decide we'll speak up on this, and he gets up in church that morning and he is going to talk and the girl who goes before him is a young woman whose family is fought be deported, and she is standing up and is asking the church community to support her and maybe to write letters to the representatives, and fill help pay is making a calculation if i stand up and tell my truth and speak out, i may illen

ailant yet all these people who want to help this girl's family and her life is in my hands and i can make a great speech because i've done it they'll way or be true to myself and my partner and he gets up there and he done speak up. and he tells another story. and the girl is very appreciative to him, and as he walks back to his seat, his boyfriend looks it's him and just whispered quietly, you betrayed me and i think that tells you the broad story of so many thing that are happening at every calculation, every moment, as young people are trying to engage civically and make change. >> really powerful. i think that there is no question that we are in one of the most difficult periods of our political time and particularly as it relays to civil rights very broads lie,

including immigration. when i thought about the title of the book, you'll see that it doesn't -- it's here in case you're looking for it. it doesn't mention immigrants, even though every story in the book is about someone who identifies closely with the immigrant experience so there people -- true stories of people who are third and fourth generation last teen know. when i those the title i wanted to connection to everyone and i think each of these stories tells something that is very specific and individual, but that allows all of us to connect to those folks as everyday americans and i think a through-line of the work that we're doing and this book is that our political leadership is not representing everyday americans and whether that means

you identify with immigrant experience or don't if you're your lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender q0 identified or not or your male or female, anybody who is not wealthy and well connected doesn't see themselves reflects and represented on a daily basis and so to me that is the kind of common narrative of our american democracy, that our system is broken, except for the types of people who are similar to who our founding fathers were, and then i think the other piece of this is to really lift up the issue of resilience and commitment to american democracy, i say that immigrants are the most optimistic americans you can find because wore going through the type of things and stilt willing to put ourselves on the front line and willing to put our families on the front lines in order to fight for what we believe in and i think that for me this is a

narrative not about proving how american immigrants are, but about demonstrating the characteristics we want to see in our leaders. people are who rye sillent and accountable and people who are willing to fight on behalf of their communities , those are the characteristics we want in our leaderred and it's my hope that if we can unify around problem affecting all of us, and hurt all of us, that we can create a more positive narrative for our country, and then the other couple of thing is want to say there are two stories in this book of people who are formerly undocumented and who benefited from the last big immigration reform in 1984. i always want to say 1986. i don't know why. and both of them are now holding office. one is jose moreno, who came to the united states at the age of four, actually his parents told

him that -- his family told him that it they were going to california to go to disneyland, and that's how they got him to leave mexico because he was really tied to this family there, and then in like a story that can only happen in america, he went on to run for office in 2016, and was outspent by disney, by exponentially. spent over a million dollars trying to defeat him because of their corporate interests and their interests in preserving pro disney council members. so, that is a quint quint send sal story that can only indian america and another woman was formerly undocumented and in fact was a republican because after she got elect -- after she got her citizenship in 1984, was

on the process, in the process of citizenship she felt -- a bill signed by ronald reagan and she felt that the republican party was a party that took care of her in america, and it took years before -- of anti-immigrant policy in arizona before she decided to become a democrat and then in 2016, she ran for office and is now in the state legislature in arizona, and one of the things she talk about doing is bringing undocumented students into the state capitol and n phoenix to have them be part of the civic life and to feel like this is a place that represents them, and so these are things that can happen here and i think that's a narrative that we don't want to lose track of. that no matter what is happening, that there was in fact a comprehend -- not comprehensive but a significant immigration reform bill that was passed in 1984. signed by a republican president

and that changed the course of lives for millions of americans and so i will close with this, people ask me about the mid-term elections and i say that whatever happened, we're not going to change the system by this one election. but what we will see are people who get elected and those individuals, although they cannot fundamentally change the system overnight, what they represent is a positive -- the possibility of america. when i see that we are going now have two muslim american women in congress, one from michigan and one from minnesota, they have already won their democratic primaries, in safe democratic districts, young muslim women around the country can see them in office and feel there is a possibility and that's not something that we can discount. the truth is that the thing that keeps us going as americans is the possibility of america, not so much always the reality. right? >> that's a great point about kind of tying this to our

future, and what we hope to kind of achieve and in texas you're mentioning the first muslim representative, but women in texas, we have never had a latina congress woman and this year, there are two running for office that could potentially mean we good from zero ever in the history of texas to two latina. one of the most latina heavy states in the country. actually with that, laura, we talked a little bit before about social movements and impact on long-term civic engagement. do you want to talk about that? >> sure. one thing that -- one of the rains wrote the book is to disspell myths because i -- we're talking past each other so many times and i got sick of talking to certain group that was always understood and one of the myths is how social change happens and first of all it

happens in lot-of-pockets and one of the part-of-my book is actually a ut austin, a young nursing student named hule ya, and she was sort of just tired of every time she -- her friends would say why don't you take this internship or this job she said, i don't want to do anything on nursing in my off hours just want to be a waitress or clean hours. it's because she didn't have papers and she sent out an e-mail blast and was floored by the response. not just sympathetic response from her friends waitings me, too, me, too, and sufferedly she had this group that as one of the founding groups and there were sprinkles happening in california and all around, and that changed led some the political change we saw but for me what was interesting is more than even those specific political changes, is the cultural conversation has shifted. you're seeing on main stream media, you see depixs of young

immigrants more in a 360 degrees. themes on grey's anatomy about undocumented immigrants and when the case in texas, when they were trying to overturn even further expanded efforts by the obama administration to protect certain individual, when they finally argued at the supreme court, it was brought -- the case brought by texas, jose antonio vargas was invited inside as an undocumented immigrant to sit in and hear the arguments. there's been this cultural -- >> such a huge deal because the white house wouldn't allow undocumented people into -- in the day, yes, would an i -- >> inside. and even now, people say another sort of myth is people saying, these young people didn't get the dream act. that's over. daca is on lifeline, that temporary protection, and what happened to this movement?

but what if have seen this mom has transformed it and is, a., work more strong live we other groove of group us fighting for their rights and also interestingly, they are some of the most active get out the vote folks who are going door to door and how can your argue with somebody saying issue can't vote, i please you your us storgessal right and all throughout florida and other states where their so many who aren't registered ore haven't vote. these young people are knocking on doors and doing that. don't see the movement as going away anytime soon. but i do see it evolving and the other thing that i think is interesting is that even as daca may end, the notion that these young people would be turned back into ghosts, i don't see them going quietly and not only i do not see them going quietsly back into the shadow, i don't see their parents and families and their friends going quietly back into the shadows.

many of their siblings and their parents who are energized and empowered by seeing these young people and their involvement in our system and their efforts to contribute, and not by faking votes. that's we're talk can about just doing what is legal in terms of knocking on doors, asking people if they're registered, getting them signed up, automatic the things that anyone can do. i see all the changes as a good thing for our democracy as more people who are living here are involved and civically engaged. so, i continue to see the movement, evolutioning and i look forward to seeing where it goes next. >> pick up on that. one thing i want to say is we -- whatever happens in terms of major historic wins in ten days, is largely going to be driven by grassroots activity, not just by dreamers but by others.

it's really when you look at and -- drew gilliam in florida, or stacy abrams in georgia, sure, the democratic party of the states is somewhat involved, but really, there is this incredible moment by grassroots organizations to change the equation by bringing new voters to the table and that voters including people who are family members of these undocumented folks and the majority of those organizers are young people who are immigrants and people of color, and that investment is coming through the grassroots organizations rather than political party structures. >> regardless of party, 2014 had one of the lowest rates of participation from young people, and so -- >> since the '40s. >> this is not a -- how can we not want our young people to be showing up and be voting and engaged, and when i see a young group that is influencing that and encouraging it, it's really

interesting and encouraging to see. >> so many grassroots organizations, i think, and somebody who does organizing and digital organizing in particular issue don't think i've ever seen this much excitement in my decade of doing this work. as we're seeing now. the turnout in places likes texas and other states that aren't actually even battleground states is above what's the turnout was during the 2016 presidential so the fact nat young people organizing immigrant groups organize, all these folks going to talk to their neighbors, talk to folks to get out the vote, is really creating that investment or political parties or candidates or people have not created that investment before because they think, i think very falsely so that these groups are not going to turn out. not that they're not going to turn out. it's that our traditional system of politics don't talk to these groups.

latino decisions and -- a poll that said over 60% of latinos had nonbeen touched or reached out of to by any campaign, politician or party, this mid-term. so, i think that is a great point but all this infrastructure being built by groups organizing on the ground, who are really doing it out of necessity. i think. and i'll kick off with our last question. then maybe hand it off to the audience. what role do you think -- since we're talking about immigration, as one of the kind of key points of this conversation, what role will that play in the mid-term election in ten days? >> clearly it's on the news all the time, it's an emotional issue for many people on many sides, and it gets played in a way that plays into fear, but i hope that -- if you think this

he. this system is broken you want to understand how and why and i sort of see that between the narratives in my book. but i also think that there are really two issues in some ways. there's the issue of what happens when people get to our borders, and there's a lot to be said on that and that's a whole nuther panel and also the issue of people who lived in our country for 20 years who have grown up here, speak the language, said the pledge of allegiance every day in our schools, have worked here, and those people are living and working without any legal protection here, and that's not -- it's not good for a country when you have people living in the shadows. on so many -- so many layers and so having our country try to get some kind of immigration reform, which gets to getting people on both sides of the compile congress who are willing to reach compromise, is a huge part of that, but the issue of those who are here and who are already

part of our fabric and looking at way to make that official, is in some ways different than the issue of how we march further, and the two really aren't connected. people come no matter what. come because of outside forces and regardless of the crackdown. >> i feel that they way seen phobia and racism is being used as a dog whistle is obviously responding to a certain segment of american voters and i a large p.o.w. number of voters including people who have nod felt like they had reason to vote or were not motivated to voter going to come out in response so the climate that we see in our country. also think that immigrants who are running for office and who are turning out. i voter and turn ought new and

low ever cassie voters going to play a big role in the election and already have. you're talking but high voter participation in texas and georgia and arizona is not happening -- it's happening because of a demographics of the states and because of who is motivating those people to run, and so i think that is not going change the policy environment that fundamentally. >> not right away. >> sire. >> not right away. >> i think we need to be supportive of the people we elect to give them the time that it's going to take to turn things around, but i think in terms of -- i think the main effect that immigration is going to have on this election is on turnout and who gets elected. >> thank you so mump, ladies, everybody please give. the a round of applause. [applause] >> with that i would love to open it up to audience questions if anybody would like to step up to the mic in the middle of the

aisle here. anybody has anything they'd like to ask about? don't be shy. >> if you don't mind saying your name and where you're final case, i'm carol butler. i came in after y'all started but it made by just hearing the topic, made me think of an interview i heard on public radio within the last week about research on factors influencing elections in this country, and it sounds like really thorough search and the conclusion of this author was immigration is the most important factor for citizens who are here and for immigrants, and their conclusion was that in the future, latin

america em. is who are here are going to vote being influenced by their experiences when they were here before -- now. but that sets them up to favor people who were more favorable for immigrants now. i.e., democrats. i'm a little skeptical because i think the ruling party is might find different angles 20 years from now, but i thought that was really interesting that the most important factor they found in elections was immigration. >> so maybe to turn that into a question, do you think that immigration is the most important factor in this mid-term election and what do you think maybe it will play into in future elections. >> i would say, we have already talk but the current election. as far as future elect is think

you raise an important point which is that there's an assumption that latino immigrants will vote democratic, but there's many reasons why people vote, and they vote for their interests, economic, social, et cetera and i think the motion that you legalize this group they'll vote from cubans to dominicans to mexicans, it's just very simplistic and i don't think it holds up, and darrow wants to be a famemaker and don't harvard and people think he can just get -- someone can just hire him and adjust his status and he can't. lease in the same boat. so as people who couldn't even go to college and are here. but once he illegalized, my guess he will end up voting like many other people who are in film and there's just an incredible diversity of people who are here and shouldn't lose

sight of that. >> i already mentioned one of the people who are write about, there's another person in the book, sam, who is state representative in georgia, who also -- because he grew up in the south and his family vote republican, he vote republican, many vietnamese americans are republican size think just like with latinos, asian americans and other people of color really vote along their own individual social and economic interests, and so to the extent that immigration is a big issue -- i think first of all, we say immigration. it means so many different things. it means our immigrant experience, it means immigration policy. there are people -- many people who, like i said, who became legalized in 1984, under pratt reagan's bill and feel allied with the republican party and so i would echo what laura is saying, it's fairly complex issue and one of the reasons

that when i started the organization, i wanted it to be nonpartisan is because i don't think we ick take party affiliation for grant especially for newcomer. heard someone say yesterday that we don't necessarily know the difference between elephants and donkeys. we're here think can what do we -- i was appoints by a republican mayor as commissioner of immigrant affairs. although i was a registered democrat. so what does that mean just means i wanted to work on behalf of immigrant issues and i did that in the way i could, so i think there's a lot more complexity and nuance that we'll discover once immigration stops becoming the one thing that is so prominently dividing the republican and democratic party. >> another question here. >> john fitzpatrick, live near austin. when i think but the last 60 years of the civil right movements and other movements of

disenfranchised populations they're business a couple of different venues, strategies, and opportunities. there's been universities and university students, there's been churches, there's been nonprofits, and then there's been organizations around schools, around the environment. but there's been a lot of different both certain of vehicles and topics. when you think about this generation that is coming up now, do you see any particular type of way they're organizing themselves and any specific topics separate from integration that is immigrant basketballing their lives lives thats that you project over the next decade or two. >> if you're talking about venue, this is a little flip but i would say social median that's where so much happens. and in fact the other day when there karr gnaw hearing and jeff flake was stopped the elevator

that, at that time tick reminded me of the early tactics used be the undocumented youth to get attention and they'd stop a lawmaker and talk and film. that's huge one. if you're talking but issues, again, there's certain issues that are going to be common because they of the age but it's vie terse and i think the one this that is changing is that this generation is in some ways more segregatessed but some ways just because of the way our country is, there's much more people are much more used to talking to people who look slightly different from them, who came from somewhere else, that isn't the same place they're from, and so i do think overall that some of this is generation ya and that is younger people are elect into office that doesn't mean they'll completely change their immigration policies but just

their perspective is shaped with the lived lives. >> i would add to this, then generation is is the most diverse especially generation z, born after 2000. which are going to be voting for their first time these year in 2018. they're the most diverse general separation they are on track to be bigger than the baby-boomers. so, the fact they're growing in this incredibly politicized environment, i think, yes, die very range of issues but i think you can kind of take out the parkland kid as a really great example of taking an issue that directly affects them and really, really becoming leaders in that space. but i think the point we were talking about earlier in terms of grassroots organizations and infrastructure, really kind of leading the way for this movement, i think parkland is an example of a well-resourced school who had an incredibly powerful or successful debate program, where they had actually

talk about gun control in their class, and that had been a topic of conversation, so when the moment came for them to unfortunately need to become leaders in this space, they were prepared, they had the talking points and they strongly -- they also had their personal narrative which is a big point in a lot of these folks is humanizing and introducing you to the people behind these issues. but i completely agree with laura, these are a range of issues but young people are stepping up around, not just immigration, gun control, the environment, reproductive right. >> it's interesting they then took and used their voice to go to areas in chicago, where people had been talking about gun violence in their schools for years and no one wag pace attention because it wasn't such a well-resourced community and i think there's more -- a little bit more awareness of it. not saying we're all kumbiya but

you see that in this generation. >> thank you for your question. anyone else? i have one more question i want to ask the authors. in terms of the census, that's an issue i'm working on at voto latino. this mid-term will have a huge effect who we put into office is going to determine how our districts and how our congressional lines are redrawn after the 2020 census. there has recently been a question around immigration and immigration status. proposed to be put on the census that is going to be debated in court this week, i believe. what kind of effect do you think that will have on people participation in the census as another form of being civically

engaged? because we talk abouten documented people being able to turn people for elects, running for office, for all these other things. how do you think that it might affect turnout on the census and do you think that will matter or be important. >> i do think it will matter and i think we're going to see undercount in the communes that are always undercounted anyway. that said i do think that the funding community is talking about the census much earlier than in the past. i don't remember that foundations were having these conversations two to three years before the census in 2010, so i think we're all preparing the ground for it in terms of grassroots organizations and funding, but i do think way'll see an undercount and i think it's not unintentional. theirwe're going to draw districts based on who is in the districts and be miami in the

districts are scared to be counseled, it is going to have an effect on our representation so i think what it -- what it calls on all of us to do is to be good neighbors and supportive and vigilant but what is happening in those communes because it will take everybody paying attention just like it's doing with voter suppression and voter burns. we all have to be super vigilant in order for people to feel supported and to get more people to vote and more people counted. >> well, i think that is the -- she made a lot of points and you work in the area. i do think that there is a legal process that is this is going to have to go through and it will be interesting to see in the coming few years where the decisions come out in the supreme court. >> great. well, on that note, thank you all so much for being here. want to give a huge round of

applause to our authors again. [applause] >> thank you. >> if you want to catch them, get their book, and have it signed, they will be in the author's book signing tent shortly. so thank you all so much for beg here, appreciate your time. ... >> and now on c-span2's booktv, more television for serious readers. >> and now it gives us great pleasure to introduce this evening's guest. our interviewer this evening is allison padilla