She's a U.S. citizen, he's undocumented: A love story.
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 27 June 2024
⏱️ 33 minutes
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Summary
Last week, President Biden announced an executive action that could change everything for DACA recipient Javier Quiroz. But it could all be undone in November. Today, we discuss Biden’s and former president Donald Trump’s takes on immigration.
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Once again, immigration is a big focus on the presidential campaign trail. President Biden’s recent policies restricting asylum aim to decrease migration at the southern border. He also recently issued an executive action that assists undocumented spouses who want to apply for U.S. residency. Former president Donald Trump proposes employing the military to deport migrants en masse, among other hard-line measures.
Among those watching how this will all play out is Javier Quiroz, an undocumented immigrant who has lived most of his life in the United States. His wife and high school sweetheart, Haleigh, is a U.S. citizen. They found it difficult to plan ahead in their life together –– until last week, when Biden announced the executive action that would change everything for them.
Martine Powers speaks with immigration reporter Maria Sacchetti about Javier and Haleigh Quiroz and their love story. They are among the more than 500,000 couples whose lives could change under Biden’s new policy. But come November, their lives could change back depending on who becomes the next president.
Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy, with help from Ali Bianco and Trinity Webster-Bass. It was mixed by Sean Carter, and edited by Monica Campbell. Thanks to Dominic Anthony Walsh.
Subscribe to The Washington Post here and check out the newest season of the “Try This” audio course.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, a quick note before today's show. |
| 0:05.0 | As you may know, President Biden and former President Donald Trump are debating Thursday night, tonight. |
| 0:11.0 | It starts at 9 PM Eastern, and you can watch it all live at Washington Post.com. |
| 0:16.8 | This is going to be a pivotal campaign moment. |
| 0:20.4 | And speaking up, if you listen to the campaign moment, we are recording a late night episode |
| 0:25.5 | right after the debate with all the takeaways that you need. |
| 0:28.8 | Look for that in your podcast feed, first thing Friday morning. All right, on to today's show. Back in |
| 0:37.1 | college, Javier Quiroz and his girlfriend Haley Seyfert had a routine. |
| 0:42.8 | They'd start their days commuting together to campus |
| 0:45.8 | to Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. |
| 0:49.0 | I lived a little bit further out than Nashville. |
| 0:51.4 | He was a little bit closer to the university so in the morning I would drive to his |
| 0:56.8 | parents home where he was and then we'd get in the car together and I'd drive us to the school and then back. |
| 1:03.4 | That was their routine and |
| 1:10.6 | Haley would always be the one driving, even though it was Javier's car. |
| 1:15.0 | It was an old Beige Mitsubishi sedan, and he could never be the one in the driver's seat. |
| 1:21.0 | I am a big fan of cars and automobiles |
| 1:25.1 | and it felt like a cruel joke that I can't even, you know, |
| 1:27.8 | drive one. |
| 1:28.8 | Even if I do have a car, and I do have a car insurance, |
| 1:31.8 | I'm not supposed to drive it because I don't have a |
| 1:33.6 | driver. |
... |
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