The U.S. at 250: The State of The American Dream

Hi, everybody.

How you guys? How's it going? [sighs]

Bien, bien.

It was-

Hi.

It's, it's difficult, right, after listening to what's happening in Venezuela, no?

It, it is.

It is.

And we're, we're speaking, you know, for the first time since February.

Uh, we talk every week obviously at our editorial meetings, but, um, [smacks lips] but this is the first time we've done a, a, an editorial episode where we, we, we chat together in public, uh, since, since I was in Cúcuta back in February, uh, on the border-

Yeah

... with Venezuela.

So it's, it's interesting timing.

I mean, how did you, uh, interpret sort of the, the, this kind of first- firsthand report from Mariana, especially in light of the most recent, uh, you know, uh, ruling at the Supreme Court against TPS? I think it's ...

The timing is kind of shocking, don't you think?

Yeah.

I mean, she said something that, that really stuck with me.

She said that it's, it's maybe the, the first time in, in her career where she's truly speechless.

Mm-hmm.

You know, where she really doesn't know what to say, what to do, um, where she feels paralyzed, and, and yet we know that after our conversation she had to, you know, pack her bags and go out there and, and report.

And then she also said something that, that, um, really resonated, which is she tried to, to describe the, the smell, you know, what, what the streets-

Mm

... smell like, um, in the aftermath of, of, of all of this.

You know, the, the smell of rubble, the smell of, of, of death.

A- and so that's what I was thinking about, too, you know, what, what it means, um, in, in the face of, of one of, one of three major immigration Supreme Court hearings, you know, which is essentially, um, forcing not just the 350,000 Syrians and Haitians, um, to essentially, um, no longer have TPS protections, but potentially opens the door for the over one million TPS holders, and that includes Venezuelans.