[logo sonoro] [música dinámica] PATRICIA ÓMEZ: Hola, soy Patricia Gómez y les doy la bienvenida.

En este episodio de adelante, el fiscal del Estado de Wisconsin, Josh Kaul, se une a la oposición de otros estados contra la orden ejecutiva del presidente Trump, que niega la ciudadanía por nacimiento a ciertos niños nacidos en los Estados Unidos.

Issis Macías, una artista nacida en LosÁngeles, canaliza sus experiencias en abstracciones intuitivas.

Karen Steinbach, de La Causa, habla sobre el programa de foster care que ofrece esta organización.

[logo sonoro] PATRICIA ÓMEZ: El Procurador General del Estado de Wisconsin, Josh Kaul, se une a otros estados en oposición a la orden ejecutiva del presidente Trump que niega la ciudadanía por nacimiento a ciertos niños nacidos en los Estados Unidos, incluyendo a aquellos de madres sin documentos.

[música] PATRICIA ÓMEZ: To begin, can you share your role in the coalition of states that are opposing some of President Trump's executive orders, particularly the one concerning birth citizenship?

JOSH KAUL: Absolutely.

We work together with our AG colleagues in other states on a number of different issues.

And sometimes we do that in a bipartisan fashion, like when we work to fight the opioid epidemic and hold pharmaceutical companies accountable.

But we also sometimes work together with certain subsets of AGs.

And since President Trump has been in office, other Democratic AGs and I have been actively involved in making sure that we're protecting the rights of Wisconsinites and ensuring that our laws are upheld.

One of the places where we've been doing that was with the President's executive order that would take birthright citizenship away from kids who are born in the United States.

We believe that that is clearly unconstitutional.

The Constitution contains language that specifically provides for citizenship for people born in the United States.

And it's also inconsistent with the U.S. Supreme Court precedent and federal law.

So a day after the President issued his executive order that reduced birthright citizenship, we filed a lawsuit.

And so far that case has been very successful.

We've gotten an order that blocks the administration from moving forward.

But that case continues to make its way through the court process.

And we're going to continue litigating it because I don't want to see the citizenship rights of kids who are born in this country taken away from them.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: Sources have linked this executive order of President Trump to the point against women who are undocumented and their newborns.

What is your comment on that?

JOSH KAUL: Well, the president had said, even before he was sworn in, that he was going to work to reduce birthright citizenship and that he would be taking action, so when he signed that executive order on his first day in office, we were not shocked to see that.

We were prepared to respond with litigation.

And what's happened so far is that the courts have been clear that the president's executive order is unconstitutional.

So it has no effect because it's been blocked by court orders.

Now, there's going to be ongoing litigation over this.

But right now, except in extremely rare circumstances, when children are born in the U.S., they're U.S. citizens, and both the federal government and the state government have an obligation to provide appropriate documentation for those kids because they are citizens of the United States.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: And you are telling me that's the current status of that issue?

JOSH KAUL: That's right.

We've gotten an order from the court that specifically bars the administration from implementing its executive order, but that is still in the court process.

It's important to know that there's going to be further litigation over this issue, and I think there's a good chance that this will ultimately end up before the US Supreme Court, but I'm very optimistic in our case.

Again, the US Constitution specifically provides that that folks were born in this country are US citizens and that's consistent with over a hundred years of Supreme Court precedent, so we have very strong arguments, and it's important that as attorneys general We are acting to protect the rights of our citizens, and that's what we're doing in this case.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: Another issue you've been involved in is stopping Elon Musk and DOGE unauthorized access to the Treasury Department's central payment system.

Could you explain your position in this matter and its impact?

JOSH KAUL: As I think all Americans have seen at this point, Elon Musk has been very active in going from agency to agency and taking a number of actions that threaten to harm American citizens.

One of the things the federal government has done is stopped payments that it's legally obligated to make.

Another thing that's happened is that Musk's team at DOGE has tried to access confidential data at the U.S. Treasury Department.

Now the reason that's so concerning is that the Treasury Department has all sorts of data that could be used to compromise people's identity and could lead to identity theft.

It could be used for other problematic purposes.

And the U.S. Treasury Department is where huge amounts of money are issued from the U.S. government.

If somebody were to mess with that system in a way that made that system not work, it could have major harmful consequences for the economy.

I don't want to see that happen.

I don't think any Americans want to see that happen.

So other AGs and I filed suit seeking to block Musk's DOGE team from having access to the Treasury data.

We believe that they're not lawfully allowed to have that access.

And again, we got an order from the court that blocks that access.

So far when we have filed cases, the other Democratic AGs and I have been very successful in getting orders.

And the reason that keeps happening is because the Trump administration has been ignoring federal law, it has been trying to subvert the Constitution.

And because of that, when we've gone to court, we've been able to get relief that stops some of the most extreme actions the administration has taken from moving forward.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: Governor Evers has supported a proposal for Democratic legislators to limit collaboration between State entities and ICE.

Recently, a proposal has emerged from Republican legislators that is totally the opposite.

How do you view this shift, and where do you stand on this issue?

JOSH KAUL: Well, I think it's important that the approach that law enforcement agencies take is based on what's in the best interest of public safety.

At the Department of Justice, we investigate and prosecute serious crimes that can include things like drug trafficking or homicides or fraud or a number of other offenses.

But our focus is always on how we can keep our communities safe.

One thing that's important as part of that is to make sure that members of the public know that if they have information about criminal activity that they feel safe reporting it.

So if we're investigating a case, for example, involving human trafficking and we have a bureau that's focused on human trafficking and internet crimes against children, our focus in those cases is on investigating and hopefully prosecuting the human traffickers, the people who are causing real harm to our communities.

And I want to see those decisions about how to best pursue public safety being made by law enforcement professionals, our investigators and our police chiefs and our sheriffs and not by politicians in the Wisconsin state legislature.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: Attorney General, there are probably 70,000 undocumented Latinos living in Wisconsin, and most of them are hardworking people.

Most of them may be working on their legal status.

Would you have a message for them?

JOSH KAUL: Well, my message to all Wisconsinites is I know that there's a lot of rhetoric out there from the president and his administration, but what I think it's important for people to know is that we do have a system with legal protections in place.

And look, the reality is that the federal government has authority to enforce our immigration laws, and the president will make decisions, and his administration will make decisions about how those laws are enforced.

But my message to his administration and my message to those who are concerned about public safety is that our priority as we are enforcing our immigration laws or other laws should be on public safety and how we can best serve the interests of public safety.

I don't think that those interests are best served by, for example, going after Dreamers who are in this country and who have worked hard and done everything they can do to build a life in the United States.

I don't think it makes sense for the administration to go into schools to conduct immigration raids.

So I'm going to use my voice and to accept that people's rights are impacted, like where there was an effort to reduce birth rights citizenship availability.

We're committed to taking action, and I know that there are others around the state who are as well.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: Attorney General Josh Kaul, thank you so much for being with us today.

JOSH KAUL: Thanks for having me.

[música] PATRICIA ÓMEZ: Issis Macías, una artista nacida en Los Ángeles, canaliza sus experiencias en abstracciones intuitivas que hablan al espíritu humano.

Descubra con nosotros el arte y la trayectoria de Issis Macías, finalista del Premio de Arte Forward 2023 y beneficiaria de la beca de la artista Mikaela Salinas.

[musica] ISSIS MAÍAS: Fue durante el 2012 cuando empecé a darme cuenta de lo valioso que es el arte.

Durante ese tiempo estaba yo pasando por momentos difíciles y en el centro de LosÁngeles conocí a un grupo bohémio de artistas.

Su forma de en que vivían ellos y se expresaban fue algo que nunca había visto en mi vida porque desde muy pequeña todo fue muy estricto y el enfoque en ir a la escuela, estudiar, terminar una carrera.

Entonces en ese momento que conecté con el arte sentí por fin apoyada.

En el 2016 me moví a Madison, Wisconsin, con mi esposo.

Durante ese tiempo todavía usaba el arte como mi consuelo pero en el 2018 mi amiga durante ese tiempo era chef y dueña de un restaurante.

Entonces ella me animó y me dijo ¿Por qué no pintas?

Y haces muchos cuadros y aquí los ponemos en mi restaurante y si alguien los quiere comprar que los compren.

Y no se me olvida la fecha, fue agosto 8 del 2018 cuando me llamó mi amiga y me dijo ¿Qué crees?

Se vendió tu pintura y fue cuando sentí que lo más amor que le metes a algo, especial más el arte es curioso cómo ves la reacción de las personas, se transmite.

Me siento mexicana porque mis papás emigraron de México, mi papá es de Jalisco, mi mamá de Zacatecas.

Las abuelitas fueron luchadoras con grandes corazones, una fortaleza increíble porque ellas fueron las que se sacrificaron y vinieron a este país para que mis papás, mis tíos, mis tías y también nosotros tuviéramos una mejor vida.

No hace mucho que realmente me acordé de mi abuela de lado de mi papá.

Ella tenía una inmensa creatividad y mi papá nos cuenta historias cuando estaba en México y no tenían que comer, era la que siempre usando su creatividad para hacer la vida mejor.

Crecí en una ciudad pequeña en el condado de LosÁngeles y mi mamá pues su trabajo era cuidarnos.

Ella tenía el deseo de exponernos al arte.

Éramos cinco mujeres, la más pequeña vino y yo tenía 12 años y siento como que mi niñez como que se me apagó porque ya tenía que tomar más responsabilidad, y ayudar, y lavar y todas esas cosas.

Y no era fácil.

Como crecí en un hogar que eran estrictos, entendían el valor de la educación, ¿verdad?

porque mis papás no tuvieron esa oportunidad.

Fui a la Universidad de California LosÁngeles y ahí estudié ciencias políticas, también estudios latinoamericanos.

Quería una carrera donde yo podía ayudar a la comunidad.

Terminé trabajando para una utilidad de agua.

Mi posición era de proteger el agua, de cuidar el agua.

En el 2020, el 5 de marzo, nació mi hija.

Creo que fueron 5 o 6 días después el mundo se cerró.

Sí fue muy difícil, pero no no más por lo obvio, de que estábamos encerrados y que no teníamos acceso a la comunidad, que normalmente te apoya, ¿verdad?

cuando tienes a un bebé.

Y lo que fue más difícil para mí y para Inés fue que el parto fue muy difícil.

Casi nos moríamos las dos.

Soy mamá, pero lo único que sabía porque miraba a mi mamá cuando mis hermanas estaban chicas era de que tenías que cuidar el bebé.

Yo no sabía cómo cuidarme, cómo sanarme, cómo regresar a una normalidad.

Entonces el arte fue mi consuelo, fue mi terapia.

Pintaba cuando Inés se dormía.

Y a veces fueron los momentos tan difíciles que sentía como que el lienzo hasta me abrazaba porque era lo único que podía hacer durante esos momentos.

INEZ: Mamá!

ISSIS MAÍAS: ¿Mamá enseñó?

INEZ: Yeah ISSIS MAÍAS: Como ya tengo un papel de madre y ese papel de madre pues es el principal.

El arte abstracto me deja relajarme y me deja ser libre en crear.

No me tengo que enfocar en los detalles y me puedo divertir y envolverme en los colores.

Entonces la forma de arte que yo practico se llama abstracción intuitiva, que quiere decir es que cuando pinto no tengo plan.

Simplemente voy al estudio y empiezo con colores y cuando estoy en el proceso me pierdo totalmente.

Entonces juego con los pasteles de oleo.

Ese paso es importante porque haz de cuenta que agarro el pastel y lo rayo como un niño que ve una pared blanca y tiene un marcador y dice Oh, ¿qué voy a hacer acá?

Esa parte del proceso me trae mucha alegría porque me conecta a mi niña de interior donde mi niña de interior por fin puede jugar.

[musica] ISSIS MAÍAS: Desde bebé ha estado acostumbrada a estar con las pinturas y los cuadros, pero es tan hermoso verla crear y también ser una pequeña artista.

Para mí es mi musa.

Con ella veo esta luz que se transmite a mis pinturas y por eso es que son coloridas y aunque esté triste no estoy pintando con negro o tonos oscuros, a veces termino con una pintura amarilla llena de vida y de felicidad porque es como mi arte me recuerda y me dice, "No estés triste porque eso va a pasar."

Todos somos artistas.

Es importante poner atención a qué es lo que nos trae alegría y hay tantas formas de arte.

Puede ser apreciar el arte, ¿verdad?

Puede ser participar en grupos o eventos donde se celebra el arte de otras personas.

[musica] ERICA WILKINSON: One of the things that somebody had an idea for last year was to do a connective thing where we can really explore how all aspects of the arts interconnect.

So how performances and visual arts can come together, and we were really excited we got a grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council that provided us with the opportunity to take a performer who is already coming.

We had Arturo O'Farrell come who's a seven-time Grammy Award winning Afro Latin Jazz musician.

So we already had him coming and then when we found the grant opportunity it gave us the ability to really reach into the community and bring things together.

So I connected with Latino Arts downtown and that helped connect me to the Macondo project and that's how we got them into our gallery space.

So now we've got the Latin Arts performer, the Latin artwork, um through the magic realism lens in the space and then the grant provided us to go even further than having the performance and having the artwork.

We were able to have an artist talk where all of the seven members were able to come and have a panel discussion where we can invite members from the community, some of who are familiar with Latino culture and some who've never been exposed to it before and have a really wonderful cultural conversation.

ISSIS MAÍAS: Pero lo importante es la comunidad, especialmente ahorita y de darse cuenta que aunque a veces la vida es difícil y nos sentimos solos, todos tenemos, esa posibilidad de crear algo y que seguir buscando, que seguir mantener la curiosidad para la vida y seguir adelante y apoyarnos, especialmente durante momentos difíciles.

[música] PATRICIA ÓMEZ: De los 9.812 niños en Foster Care en Wisconsin, 10% son latinos.

En el condado de Milwaukee, 205 niños han sido identificados como hispanos.

Para hablarnos de este programa, está con nosotros la directora de servicios sociales de La Causa, Karen Steinbach.

[musica] KAREN STEINBACH: Our mission is to always put children and families first and the mission of the foster care program is to recruit and license foster parents who are available to take in children who are removed from their homes for safety related reasons who cannot go to other family members or relatives and to provide them a safe place to reside, to live, until it is safe for them to return to their families.

So that's the mission of our program.

We're out here to try to spread the word that more foster parents are needed especially in the Hispanic and Latino community as we have a lot of children who need to feel like they are still in their, can be with their culture, be seen, be heard.

So in 2023, the numbers were a little over 6,100 kids in the whole state of Wisconsin that were placed in out-of-home care.

That number decreased from 2022, which is a very good sign.

Of those 6,100 kids, a little over 1,700 of those were from Milwaukee County.

Two hundred, approximately, 205 of those children identified as Hispanic/Latino.

The good news is that a lot of those children were able to be placed with relatives, so they were able to stay within their communities with family members.

The children that could not be placed with families.

That's where our foster parents come in.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: You comment of a very successful home that is housing several siblings.

KAREN STEINBACH: Yes, we have a new foster parent actually, she was just licensed within the last year, who happens to be bilingual, and because of that we were able to keep a sibling group of children together which is very important.

Based on her ability to speak both Spanish and English, it has allowed her to engage with engage with family members, and also to help the children feel like they're again seen and heard and can speak whatever language they're comfortable speaking and that has really allowed them to stabilize in their placement seeing that the foster parent is working towards a relationship with their family of origin and working to reunify them because that is the goal.

The goal is not to keep kids into foster care.

The goal is not to adopt them out.

The goal is always reunification.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: Do you see these kinds of opportunities for those parents who are looking to adopt a child in within the foster care program?

KAREN STEINBACH: So since I've been at La Causa over 17 years, we've had over 50 children adopted within our program.

So while that's not the main goal because returning home is the main goal, foster parents are put in positions where they can choose, if a child needs permanency, they can choose to keep them as a permanent member of their home.

Children are a full-time job, and when children come into care, they are also dealing with some trauma because just the fact that you're taking them out of their homes, we're traumatizing them because they're taken away from their family, their friends, their community, in addition to any other safety issues that were occurring in the home.

So it takes a great deal of patience.

It takes a great deal of care.

It takes a sense of humor, you got to be humble because we're all human, we all make mistakes, and it's also incredibly rewarding.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: What is the average of homes that you serve in La Causa in any month or year?

KAREN STEINBACH: So right now we have 20 foster homes that we license.

We're a small program.

The largest we've ever gotten was 34 homes over my 17 years, and we've always been quality over quantity.

It's really our goal to provide the best foster homes possible versus having a very large number of homes.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: If people would like to know more about this program and to become prepared to be or licensed to be a foster home, where do they, can find information?

KAREN STEINBACH: They can go to our website that www.LaCausa.org.

If you go to our website, you'll be able to find a lot of information.

If you're interested, there is an inquiry that you can submit, and we will call you immediately to talk to you about this journey.

[musica] PATRICIA ÓMEZ: Y con un "Hasta Pronto", nos despedimos invitándolos a que nos dejen saber sus comentarios por el teléfono 414-297-7544, a que visite nuestro sitio de internet en MilwaukeePBS.org y en las redes sociales.

Soy Patricia Gómez, deseándole paz y bendiciones.

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