Gladys Molina Alt was born in El Salvador during its Civil War in the 1980s and was brought to the U.S. as a child.

That experience informed her decision to become a lawyer and advocate for migrant children.

Work that has included representing kids in immigration court, juvenile court, and at the highest

levels of the system before the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Gladys and I dive into her new role as the executive director of the Young Center, her advocacy for a best

interest of the child standard for young advocacy for a best interest of the

child standard for young immigrants facing deportation, and how she does this incredibly emotional

and complex work, always mindful of her own trauma. Gladys, thank you so much for doing this.

You're welcome.

Gladys, I want you to take me back if you are willing to growing up in El Salvador and what it is that you remember from the first 10 years of your life?

Well, the first thought that comes to mind are rivers and nature and dirt.

I remember the rain and the smell of Adobe walls after the rain.

And I also remember men and green uniforms during the war.

And I remember helicopters.

And I remember seeing dead bodies.

I remember going to get tortillas and then just having to stay there for a few hours or the night until the gunfighting stopped so that I can get back to my

grandmother's house. And I remember Christmases. I remember the wood oven where my grandma and my

aunts would make pan de torta. November was like the most beautiful and sweet time during the year from me because there was a wind that came.

And I just remember just like feeling so giddy inside when that wind would come and there would be fogones is what we would call them.

Around town things would be lit up and wood would be burnt.

So, yeah, it's a mix of the beautiful surroundings where I grew up, family, and a sense of normal life, food, holidays.

And there is this also, like, holidays, and there is this also like traumatic events and sites that I remember

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