In partnership with
Andrea Flores
This is the 80th week of The Latino Newsletter, and I am writing a couple of hours after we held our biannual Board of Directors meeting. I write from a place of joy and gratitude for another incredible year and the prospect of what 2026 will bring.
The Latino Newsletter is in an excellent position to continue producing the high-quality, independent journalism our communities deserve. As Founder and Executive Director/Publisher, I am incredibly confident that our current core team will keep the bar high. To begin the process of sharing how we build The Latino Newsletter every day has been one of the most rewarding moments of my journalism career.
I believe that The Latino Newsletter is just getting started because of our core team. This week’s podcast episode, hosted by Michelle Zacarias, is a strong example. Her conversation with Andrea Flores, an immigration policy expert and attorney who served in both the Obama and Biden administrations, is excellent. The entire production team did a fantastic job.
Flores was deeply personal about her work, especially during a time when being a Latina in the Democratic political power circle felt isolating.
“Having worked in two administrations, sometimes I sit in rooms, and I can’t believe I’m talking about the same thing that I talked about when I just graduated from college. I can’t believe that we’re still having the same conversations, with the same barriers, with the same excuses. And it really speaks to how difficult it is to move this system, even when you’re inside it,” she says at one point.
The entire interview spans a wide range of topics, including the challenges of navigating a broken immigration system, the creation of DACA, and how the Biden administration may have paved the way for deportations under Trump. The conversation explores the evolving landscape at the U.S. border, the political complexities facing lawmakers, and the power of local communities to drive change when national leadership falls short.
For more about Andrea's work, visit her America’s Promise Substack.
Here is the episode. Let us know what you think.
This episode of The Latino Newsletter podcast was produced by me, Joaquin Cotler, Juan Diego Ramirez, and Michelle Zacarias. I edited the conversation. The music is by Cast of Characters via Soundstripe.
Season 2 of The Latino Newsletter podcast was made possible through individual donations and the Latino Media Consortium.
Help us reach our $50,000 goal by December 31 to power next year’s reporting, community storytelling, and a new audio documentary on Puerto Rico. We are just $30,000 away from our year-end goal!
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What We’re Reading
Trump and War in Venezuela: From NBC News, “President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is leaving the possibility of a war with Venezuela on the table. ‘I don’t rule it out, no.’”
Standing Up for Immigrants: From Adrian Carrasquillo at The Bulwark, “At the heart of mass deportation is the idea that all of these people are criminals, the worst of the worst; you shouldn’t care what happens to them, and you should want them deported. Americans, however, from Pennsylvania to Portland, from Los Angeles to Montana, have responded: No. These are my neighbors. These are my friends. We go to church together. She carpools my kids to school. Our children play soccer together.”
Julio Ricardo Varela is the founder of The Latino Newsletter. He is also its current part-time publisher and executive director. He edited and published this edition of The Latino Newsletter.
Consider donating to The Latino Newsletter. Any contribution, no matter how small, helps keep this newsletter free and accessible to all. ¡Gracias mil!