A Special Message from Jim about his dad, a Cuban refugee, and what the deportation of an 11 year old US citizen to Mexico says about America.

The Jim Acosta Show

Jim Acosta

News, Politics

4.9 • 634 Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

My interview with Congressman Joaquin Castro on Tuesday’s program got me thinking about my father’s immigrant experience when he came to the U.S. Castro recently visited an 11 year old U.S. citizen who had been deported with her undocumented parents to Mexico. The congressman recounted the family’s story and how the parents of the girl were given the option to leave the U.S. or face separation. Which is not really a choice at all. Add to that, she is being treated for cancer and it is all the more appalling. Is that who we are as a country, Castro asked. It may be who we are now. But that has not always been the case.

Some of you may have heard this before. But my dad’s story about coming to this country teaches us that America need not be the heartless and cruel place it has become since Trump returned to the White House. My dad, A.J. immigrated to the U.S. in 1962, three weeks before the Cuban Missile Crisis. He and my grandmother ended up settling in Vienna, Virginia - just outside Washington, D.C. My dad has told me about how one of his grade school teachers would pull him out of class every day to help him read and write. He likes to talk about how a presbyterian church gave him and my grandmother coats and sweaters so they could survive their first D.C. area winter.

He remembers people being kind and generous. That was back in the 1960’s. That is the America he thinks about when it comes to the immigrant experience. The Trump administration which has placed cruelty first is not who we are. It is not too late to be the country we should be - a place that welcomes the newcomer, leading with the heart, not heartlessness.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimacosta.substack.com/subscribe

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	hoops to make that happen. And so, you know, but one of the things that I think about when I think
0:08.0	about my dad, and it ties back to the conversation that I had with Joaquin Castro earlier,
0:14.8	Joaquin Castro mentioned that the little girl that he visited in Mexico, the family, was 11 years old, or is 11 years old.
0:24.5	U.S. citizen.
0:25.5	She's a U.S. citizen.
0:26.5	She was deported from this country, a U.S. citizen.
0:29.2	Just keep that in mind.
0:30.7	My dad, when he came to this country from Cuba back in 1962, this was three weeks before the Cuban Missile Crisis, was 11 years old. And back in those
0:42.5	days, and, you know, one has to think it was a more conservative time in this country, and so on,
0:47.5	John F. Kennedy was president. Perhaps things were a bit more progressive in that sense, but as a
0:52.5	country, it was just a different time, right?
0:56.4	When I talked to my dad about growing up in Northern Virginia, in Fairfax County, Virginia,
1:01.5	went to Vienna Elementary School. He talks about how he had a teacher who would pull him out of
1:06.7	the classroom every day, teach him how to read and write. This is a little Cuban kid, you know,
1:12.1	didn't know how to read, didn't know how to write at that point. And there was a teacher.
1:17.7	He would tell me about it, Vienna Elementary School, who would pull him out every day and spend
1:23.1	time with him so he could learn how to read and write. If you talk to him today, he does not even have
1:27.8	a Spanish accent, no Cuban accent at all. He came here early enough where I guess he adopted kind of an
1:32.7	American accent. And he talks so affectionately and lovingly about the community he grew up with
1:42.1	in Northern Virginia at that time. He talks about the Presbyterian Church in Vienna.
1:47.8	I've told some of these folks who were watching the story before. I've mentioned it on PBS and other places.
1:54.2	Talks about the Presbyterian Church in Vienna, Virginia, and how the people there, because my dad and my grandmother, when they came over,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jim Acosta, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jim Acosta and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.