TANIA: I'm American-- I've had to hide for so long.

AKIM (speaking German): NATASHA DEL TORO: The struggle to belong can be harsh.

MIMAN (speaking German): AKIM (speaking German): DEL TORO: "From Here," on America ReFramed.

♪ ♪ CROWD: Four, three, two, one!

BOY: Come on!

(crowd cheers) ♪ ♪ WOMAN: Immigration is the future.

You cannot work and live in a globalized world without moving populations.

MAN: So briefly, there you are in Germany.

Isn't the situation there indicative of the rest of the European continent?

WOMAN 2: Over 1,000 attacks against refugee shelters were registered in Germany last year.

WOMAN 3 (speaking German): (people chanting in German) AKIM (speaking German): MIMAN (speaking German): BARACK OBAMA: Immigration is our origin story.

WOMAN: It's an invasion.

It's absolutely an invasion of our country.

MAN: Our weak border is not an illegal immigration issue only.

It is a national security issue.

WOMAN: I am trying to preserve an endangered culture that is being overwhelmed by 30 million illegal... (siren blaring) CROWD (chanting): You will not replace us!

You will not replace us!

You will not replace us!

SONNY: Where is home?

I mean, technically, of course, I am an American.

I feel pretty disconnected from that term.

Though obviously, like, growing up in this country has made me who I am.

But I don't really believe in, in nationalism.

♪ ♪ TANIA: Who is American and what is America?

America is not just blonde hair and blue eyes.

When somebody asks you, "Where are you from?

", you're just, like, "Wait, what does that mean?"

♪ ♪ TANIA: Have a seat, have a seat, have a seat.

Yeah, just, you guys want to sit down?

Hi, I'm Tania.

You better be loud, that Obama can hear you all the way in D.C. (all laughing) ALL (chanting): Up, up with education!

Down, down with deportation!

Up, up with education!

Down, down with deportation!

(cheering and applauding) TANIA: My name is Tania Mattos.

I came to this country when I was four years old.

We came on a visa from La Paz, Bolivia, and we overstayed our visa.

And through all that time, I remained undocumented, and I never told anyone.

Because you were not supposed to say anything.

And I didn't think anyone else was going through my experience.

But then when I saw the Y.L.C., I ran down there and I just, I haven't left since then.

I put everything to the side and I said, "I'm going to dedicate myself to this completely."

And I didn't feel alone anymore.

(car horn honks) I've just come out that I'm undocumented and not being in denial, coming out, that was just the most liberating feeling in the world.

I mean, I have cultural and social citizenship to this country, but I don't have legal citizenship, which means a lot.

I can't legally work, I can't travel, I can't drive, get any healthcare, any government assistance.

You have to be very, very crafty about how to make it, but you get tired.

I'm American, but I'm in this situation, and because of this I've had to hide.

I've had to hide for so long, but I've, I'm going to have to...

I have to let it out, I can't take it anymore.

I can't live like this anymore, and I exist.

♪ ♪ CROWD (chanting): Hell, no!

Hell, no!

Down, down with deportation!

Up, up with education!

Down, down with deportation, up, up with education.

(chanting continues) (cheering) We are an undocumented-youth-led organization, and we're not going to wait for the government to provide us for relief.

We're going to take this matter into our own hands.

Nadia Habib and her mother face deportation in a few minutes.

The immigrant community is not gonna stand by and watch them get deported.

Nadia is an honors student at Stony Brook University, and her mother raised four beautiful children that are U.S. citizens.

They are a working-class family, and they don't deserve to go through this nightmare.

No one deserves to go through this.

I'm going to ask Nadia to say a few words.

MAN: Nadia, how confident are you that there could be any sort of change of heart?

- I can't say I'm confident in anything right now.

MAN: How strongly are you hoping for a miracle?

NADIA: Yeah, at this point, it would be a miracle.

- Nadia, are you afraid?

Are you, are you scared?

(man talking in background) - I'm sorry, we have to go.

Aygul, pull her out.

She has to leave.

MAN: She has to be up there at 11:00.

(crowd chanting) MAN: What are the real issues at hand here, Tania?

- The real issue at hand is our broken immigration system right now.

There are millions of people in the same situation.

Families are torn apart or on the brink of being deported.

The Obama administration says that they are not going to deport non-criminals, but as you see, Nadia and her family are non-criminals and they're an intact family that's perhaps being ripped apart right now.

- And where do you go to school?

Are you a student?

- Oh, I graduated already.

I have my master's from Brooklyn College in political science.

Yeah.

- Good for you.

- Thank you.

- (laughing) (car horn honks) TANIA: I got my first hate mail.

(chuckles): And it was addressed to me, personally!

It says "Tania Mattos," but they spelled my last name wrong.

"Matos, you (muted).

"Take that freaking illegal (muted) "and go the (muted) back from where you both slimeballs "came from.

"(muted) and (muted) have disintegrated America.

Drop dead, (muted)."

That's it.

I'm very proud of it-- we're speaking out and they're hearing us.

And they're watching and they're listening because we're loud enough.

I feel very strong.

I feel very strong in, in this area of my life.

(laughs) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (makeup case snaps) (people talking in background) TANIA: The work that I do in the Y.L.C.

is full time, but it's unpaid-- I have to take other jobs.

If I wasn't living with my parents, I would not be able to pay rent, and it's frustrating.

I would love to fall in love with someone, but I just, I never told anyone I was dating about my immigration status.

Because I don't want them to think that I just want papers.

I'm 27-- I want to build my life.

(talking in background) I just got out of my restaurant job and I'm pretty tired-- it was very busy.

It got busy towards the end of the night.

It's about midnight and I'm going to try to maneuver our way through the streets of Halloween night.

Um, to go home-- tomorrow is a busy day, so... (talking loudly in background) MAN: Hello!

WOMAN: Hey!

(club music playing) MAN (speaking German): AKIM (speaking German): MAN: AKIM: ♪ ♪ (siren blaring in distance) AKIM: MAN: Delete!

AKIM (laughs): ♪ ♪ MAN and AKIM: MAN: AKIM: MAN: AKIM: No.

AKIM (speaking German): MAN: AKIM: (paint can spraying) Wow.

AKIM (speaking Vietnamese): (woman speaking Vietnamese) - (speaking Vietnamese) MAN (speaking German): AKIM (speaking German): (laughing) - (speaking German): - (speaking German): - (speaking German): - (speaking German): (speaking German): ♪ ♪ AKIM: (woman talking in background) AKIM (speaking German): (murmuring) (trilling) (Miman speaking German) (birds chirping) MIMAN and WOMAN: (talking in background) WOMAN (speaking German): - (speaking German): (boy speaking German) MIMAN: (all laughing) (birds chirping, people talking in background) WOMAN (speaking German): (Miman exhales heavily) MIMAN (speaking German): (speaking Romani): (machine whirring) WOMAN (speaking Romani): MIMAN (speaking Romani): - Ah.

(speaking Romani): MIMAN (speaking Romani): (woman speaking Romani) DENIS (speaking German): - (speaking German): (Denis speaking German) MIMAN (speaking Romani): DENIS and MIMAN (in German): DENIS (speaking German): MIMAN (speaking German): DENIS: MIMAN: (rain falling) (tattoo gun buzzing) ♪ ♪ (buzzing) (playing fast-paced rock) (song continues) (song ending) SONNY: We're here at Flood Studios getting ready for our first Outernational show in a really long time.

You know, we've been working on our album for an eternity now.

I'm mostly excited about fans.

Like, the last time we played at the Knitting Factory, people climbed up the rafters to the balcony and were jumping off the balconies.

(chuckles) (percussion playing) (trumpet playing) I started playing music in gurdwaras, which are Sikh temples, playing harmonium and tabla and, like, singing spiritual Sikh songs.

Harmonium-- so nice how they label it.

(man speaking in background) SONNY: Through Outernational, I feel like I get to bring my whole self to it.

The lyrics are very much speaking to what's going on in the world today.

Trying to forge a culture of resistance, you know?

(tuning) We signed to a major label and we just recorded our first album, which was produced by Tom Morello, who's from Rage Against the Machine.

It's pretty cool and it's pretty exciting.

(percussion playing) (playing solo) (trumpet continues) MAN: Yeah!

(trumpet continues) (trumpet fades) SONNY: It just dawned upon me, like, what it would mean for, like, Sikh kids to see a Sikh person singing and playing in a rock band.

This country has never really seen a, a dude with a turban in popular culture.

MAN (over loudspeaker): ...bigotry and Islamophobia.

You know, it's no accident that this hate campaign is taking place in our nation's deepening economic crisis.

(crowd jeering and booing) - September the 11th, the ninth anniversary of those attacks, has really brought into sharp focus the debate about the proposed Islamic Cultural Center, which, if built, would just be a couple of hundred meters down there.

And the debate is playing out on each side of the block.

A couple of hundred of meters away are thousands of people saying it absolutely shouldn't go ahead, but here, on the other end of the street... WOMAN (over loudspeaker): Stand up, brothers and sisters.

We have to stand up for what is righteous and what is correct.

Stand up against racism!

(man calling out) MAN: Jesus said he is the only way!

Where's Muhammad now?

- Ai-yi-yi!

And America was founded, in God we trust.

And in God we still trust, and with that, the Lord will bless this country again with tradition, courage, and a people for the people.

Conclusion, P.S., we do want our country back.

She's not very good at racism.

Too-- really, really too vague.

Who's the we and who is the... Who are you taking the country back from?

Pieces of (muted)!

Just a matter of time to get heckled.

- The world should be like you, right?

- (chuckles) (talking in background) WOMAN: Muslim people are under, are under attack.

What do you do?

CROWD: Stand up, fight back!

WOMAN: Muslim people are under attack.

SONNY: You just, like, get out of the subway and make a right, and then it's pretty much right there.

WOMAN (on phone): Okay.

SONNY: Hello!

- Hey!

- Why don't I grab... Let's, let's go in the kitchen and I'll grab this stuff that I have, too, and we'll make a meal out of it.

- Okay.

- I think it'll go well with Indian food.

That's me and my brother, that's... We used to celebrate Christmas when we were kids, as you can see.

- Oh!

SONNY: My dad first came here in 1969 to do his master's degree in engineering.

It was really easy to get student visas for educated people in South Asia at the time to come to this country.

Growing up in, in Charlotte, North Carolina, looking the way that I looked-- which was kind of like I look now, but smaller and no beard-- um, was, was a challenge, to say the least.

By, like, no exaggeration, my brother and I were the only two Sikh boys, so that was, like, really isolating and difficult.

Early musician... - Look at your bowtie!

Very impressive-- He-Man.

- A friend of my mom's drew this.

It's He-Man on a piece of paper, then my mom put it on the cake.

- Oh, yeah, the axe.

- I was really into He-Man, ironically.

In the fifth grade, some kid pulled off my turban on the playground.

Like, that was the first time that happened, um... And so, this, and, and at that point, I didn't even know how to put on a turban myself, you know?

So I was walking around school the rest of the day, like, with my turban, like, hanging off of my head.

I mean, talk about humiliating.

I also remember filling out this worksheet in school, and I remember my top wish was, "I wish I could cut my hair."

There was a real desire to be White.

Like, I wanted my name to be, like, John, and I wanted to, like, have a nice haircut and, like, play basketball, you know, like, that... That, that's how I felt, you know?

And it's, and it's, it's hard to admit that.

I had no courage to stand up for myself or my people at that point.

♪ ♪ "Jesse, Leo, and Miles, "I have decided to leave Outernational.

"This has been an extremely painful "and challenging decision, "as we have spent four years building this together.

"However, I cannot commit my life to a band that I can't put all my heart and soul in."

Yeah, so, I quit the band, just a few days ago.

(taps drum) Outernational was a really politically charged band, and that was totally the basis on which the band formed.

You know, there was always political differences, but differences that I thought were not significant enough to tear us apart.

In a new song that the lyricist wrote a few months ago, basically the lyric was saying, "If you believe in God, "you're living on another planet, and you shouldn't believe in God."

That's just such a narrow and arrogant thing to say.

Three against one is not a good way to have an equal conversation.

It just got to a point where I couldn't do it.

I'm not going to say I'm never gonna, like, be a full-time musician again, and having that kind of opportunity is super-, super-rare.

But to have a overtly religious-looking person up there on stage, a person of color up there on stage, while you're saying these things about religious people who believe in God, I'm being tokenized.

Like, hell, no.

(playing drum) (drumming fades) (Akim speaking German) - (speaking German): AKIM: MAN: AKIM: ♪ ♪ (people talking in background) AKIM: The black box here.

The, the corner here.

This is yours?

(cackles) Your dad will come out with an axe?

(both laughing) MAN: This is Akim, Akim, this is Father.

AKIM: Guten Tag, hello, nice to meet you, guten Tag.

- Chào.

- Chào, xin chào.

Yeah.

Oh, you also a Vietnamese veteran?

- Toi bi, um... AKIM: Toi bi.

- Uh, toi bi... What?

- Toi bi ban?

- Uh, yeah, well... - "I was shot"?

- No, no.

(laughs) - No, no, toi bi ban.

- (groans) What shall I say?

- Oh, this is young fellow.

(television playing) But it's so many years.

- Yeah.

- It's now already 44.

(both speaking Vietnamese) AKIM: Bong-bong.

Ah, yeah, see?

I speak Vietnamese with Rudolf.

It's great.

MAN: Yeah.

How about I show him upstairs?

I'm going to start cooking some food.

AKIM: Nice, we see each other in a few days.

But don't shot me in case you go crazy, yeah?

I'm not a Viet Cong, yes?

- (laughing): No, no!

- Yeah, we were running away from them.

Yeah-- now I running from my parents.

MAN: You take the bag and bring it up to the room.

I'll show you the room first, and then I'll show you the studio.

This right here I built with my father and my brother.

AKIM: Wow.

So, yeah, you didn't mention it.

You didn't tell me that Rudolf was in the war.

That he's a veteran.

- He is a veteran.

♪ ♪ AKIM (speaking German): (people talking in background) (dog barking in distance) Over there is a Vietnamese store.

They have good stuff.

Eat.

Eat to remember.

(sirens blaring in distance) (woman speaking German over P.A.)

MAN (speaking German): MIMAN (speaking German): MAN: MIMAN: MAN: (camera shutter clicks) (mouse clicking) (both laugh) (speaking German): (chuckles) (laughs) (water boiling) (laughs) MAN (speaking German): MIMAN: MAN: MIMAN: MAN 2 (speaking German): (man 1 responds in German) (talking softly) MIMAN: ♪ ♪ (knock at door) (breathing rapidly) MIMAN (whispering): (whispering): Ja, hallo.

(shushing) ♪ ♪ What is it that we need in our lives that are basic necessities?

One is work authorization.

Right?

Everyone needs to work.

Everyone needs to, to earn a decent living wage, okay?

Two, access to a driver's license or state I.D.

I don't have an I.D., it's really difficult.

Many of us know exactly what that's like, right?

The simplest things that no one can think of.

We can't even go to the post office to take out a package.

So those are the basic things that we are asking for, and we feel these are basic necessities.

So the New York Senate, we need 38 Democrats and two Republicans to pass the New York DREAM Act, so... (laughs): It's a lot of work.

It's a lot of work.

But we were just, like, okay, we're going to, we're going to do this, right?

We're gonna push, as a nation, as undocumented youth across the nation, we are honoring all the past immigrant waves.

We are honoring our parents' hard work and sacrifice.

With hard work, there is reward.

♪ ♪ (chuckling) I was such a fat baby!

This is another one of me in Bolivia.

My family came to the United States in the late 1980s.

This is my dad in the army.

This is when the U.S., the C.I.A., infiltrated into the Bolivian army, and they were trained by them.

Because of international free trade and experiments done on politically weak countries, which was Bolivia at the time, my father, he was a college graduate.

But he had to work three jobs.

But it still wasn't enough for us to survive, basically.

We didn't leave because we wanted to leave.

We had to leave Bolivia because of the American policies.

For my own sake, I don't have a place where I feel I belong.

I feel I belong in Jackson Heights!

(laughs) Which is, like, the most diverse city in, in the world.

(music playing) (people singing in Spanish) (song continues) (music fades) TANIA: I spoke to a lawyer.

I have two options.

Either have a child over the age of 21 to petition for me.

Um, which I don't have right now.

(chuckles) Yeah, or get married.

Uh, which is something that I had the opportunity to do at 21, um, and I didn't do it because...

I wasn't in love.

Even though we were together five years, I wasn't in love with him and he was abusive.

And I always thought there would be some kind of reform by the time I graduated college or by the time I, you know... One more year, and I always thought, you know, "It'll happen, it'll happen," and it never did.

PROTESTERS: Not deportation!

WOMAN: Education, not deportation!

ALL: Education, not deportation!

WOMAN: Undocumented!

ALL: Unafraid!

WOMAN: Undocumented!

(group shouting) (people talking in background) TANIA: I'm still-- you know, when the arrests happen, we're gonna be here answering phone calls.

When you're inside, and you think that nobody's outside, remember we're outside.

(chuckling): And because we've been there before, we're not gonna leave you there.

(people talking in background) We came down 12 hours to North Carolina, driving on the bus, because we've heard of what's happening in North Carolina.

And any undocumented youth across the country that's being threatened is a threat to every undocumented youth across the country!

CROWD: Immigrants are marching here!

No papers, no fear!

Immigrants are marching here!

WOMAN: Undocumented!

ALL: Unafraid!

WOMAN: Undocumented!

CROWD: Unafraid!

- This is what democracy looks like!

CROWD: This is what democracy looks like!

Education, not deportation!

Education, not deportation!

CROWD: Education, not deportation!

WOMAN: Education, not deportation!

Undocumented!

- Unafraid!

- Undocumented!

Unafraid!

WOMAN: Undocumented!

Unafraid!

WOMAN: Undocumented!

- Unafraid!

WOMAN: Undocumented!

ALL: Unashamed!

I am the person who babysat your kids.

I am the person that if given the chance... WOMAN: Education, not deportation!

WOMAN: Education, not deportation!

(crowd shouting) Education, not deportation!

Education, not deportation!

Undocumented!

PROTESTERS: Unafraid!

- Undocumented!

PROTESTERS: Unashamed!

MAN: Undocumented!

- Unashamed!

MAN: Undocumented!

- Unafraid!

MAN: Undocumented!

- Unashamed!

MAN: Undocumented!

- Unafraid!

(crowd continuing chants) - Undocumented!

PROTESTERS: Unafraid!

WOMAN: Undocumented!

- Unafraid!

(sighs) ♪ ♪ REPORTER (on TV): It was part rally, part protest, all involving undocumented immigrant students who want the same rights as others.

Those in the Mecklenburg County Jail face the possibility of being deported.

TANIA: It was top of the news, top of the hour!

That was awesome!

(talking in background) That's crazy, I... Wow.

It'll be on again in the morning, too!

Yay!

Top of the news in North Carolina.

(sighs) (chuckles) ♪ ♪ It's scary, but we have to be the ones to do it.

I mean, it wasn't the men that went out there and fought for the women's rights.

It's the same thing in the immigrant rights movement.

The undocumented people have to be the ones to demand their human rights.

This is my home.

I belong here.

I'm gonna fight to stay.

I should wash that.

(faucet running) It's, it's so interesting, given the context through which I left Outernational, but I applied for a job as a community organizer at this organization called the Sikh Coalition.

So I was reading the job description.

I was, like, "Wow, this could be really cool."

And then, and then, under requirements, it says, "Punjabi language skills required," and I'm, like, "Oh, (muted)."

(laughs) So anyway, I applied nevertheless.

Before my second interview, they asked me to, like, map out a whole plan about how I would get my Punjabi skills up to par.

So that would probably mean going to Punjab, living there for a month or two.

So that would be just wild and the last thing I expected to be doing any time soon.

It's kind of weird, it's like fear of the known, or something, like, 'cause I'm so used to being the Token Sikh Guy, like, wherever I am.

♪ ♪ (men singing in Punjabi) (Sonny speaking Punjabi, kids respond) So my name is Sundeep Singh.

You can call me Sonny, if you want to.

I'm from the Sikh Coalition and one of the big issues that we've been concerned with, because it's a huge concern to our community, is bullying in schools.

The kind of bullying that we're talking about in this room is what we call bias-based bullying.

It's when you're bullied because of how you look or because of your culture, or your gender, or a host of things.

Raise your hand if you've ever been teased, harassed, threatened, called, called names, made fun of.

Kids in my class ask me why do I have that thing.

I have told them, like, a million times, but they never, like, stop asking.

- So even though you explain it to them, they still keep asking you.

- Yeah.

BOY: I was in school.

Somebody pulled my patka off.

SONNY: Someone pulled your patka off, wow.

- I always just say stop.

They keep on, like, bullying me.

Just because, just because I have long hair.

Like, boys can have long hair.

- Of course.

- Even in wrestling I saw.

GIRL: Once, I, I saw someone, they went behind me.

Like, you know, the bottom of my guth.

They were trying to cut it off.

SONNY: Wow, that's horrible.

And that's, that's one of the worst things you can do to a Sikh, right?

Cut their hair against their will.

And, and sadly, that's happened to a lot of us.

Don't keep this stuff inside.

You know, don't let it bring you down.

That's what I did when I was a kid, and, and that's not good for you, and it's not good for your family, it's not good for, for anyone, really.

If you're not comfortable talking to anyone else, give me a call anytime, and, and I'm here to talk.

And finally, we want to know what's going on in your schools, so we have a survey for all students who go to public schools in New York City so we can make sure they're doing better.

We'll start passing out these surveys, so... (speaking Punjabi) (talking in background) SONNY: Well, I think in, like, exactly ten days, I'm getting on an airplane and going to India to work on my Punjabi.

So I'll be there for about a month taking sort of informal one-on-one classes every day.

It should be interesting.

♪ ♪ See that guy down there?

In Punjab, it's, like, a big thing, like, really match your turban with your shirt.

Look at that color coordination!

Come out from behind the tree, man, I'm checking you out.

(both speaking Punjabi) - Right, right, right.

I think when I was really young, I used to speak a decent amount, like, more like a Punjabi-Hindi mix, but I lost it real quick when I started going to school.

I remember being embarrassed when my parents would be speaking Punjabi out in public.

(speaking Punjabi, both laughing) - (shrieks) SONNY: Hello!

(man chanting in Punjabi over loudspeaker) SONNY: These are bullet holes from when Darbar Sahib was attacked by the Indian government in 1984.

(chanting continues) I guess one would think that if I'm going to feel comfortable and at home anywhere in the world in terms of, like, not having people stare at me, you would think I'd be, like, feeling totally at home.

But not really.

People totally were staring at me and, and Gurminder as we would walk down the street.

That kind of exacerbates Punjab feeling not at all like, like home.

I, you know, I feel like such a foreigner.

You know, like, such a, such a tourist watching it from the outside, from an, from an American perspective or something.

Not so much disconnected from Sikhism.

I think I feel more connected to that than I ever have.

(man chanting over loudspeaker) (Sonny and others join in chant) (speaking German) (clears throat): (baby babbling) (growls, laughs) (water splashing) (growls, laughs) (speaking softly) (in German): (grunts) (birds twittering) (birds twittering) MAN: Oh, it's a boat!

AKIM: It's a model of a boat.

- A model of a boat.

- I built that, yeah.

(laughs) - Oh, that's pretty cool-- great.

- I have no idea if it functions, but I want to try it.

MAN: Is that part of the project, you have to do it yourself?

- No, but... - Do you need more... - Huh?

- Do you want a hand?

- Yeah, if you... - Yeah?

- It's just, I'm just stuck... ♪ ♪ Thank you!

- Yup.

♪ ♪ If you sit on that, it would be cool, but... Uh-oh!

♪ ♪ In ancient time, boat people travel with the boat, and when they arrive the land, they go on land, and they, they put it upside down, and it's, the boat is become this kind of shelter, the roof, and they live, used to live under it.

And so the idea of using the boat outside and then putting the boat in the gallery is to use it and to turn around.

♪ ♪ Wow, it's here.

(drill running in distance) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (people talking in background) TANIA: The phone conference, yeah, today.

About the DREAM Act, there was supposed to be an announcement, right?

What?

(caller speaking indistinctly) (chuckling): But you don't know what happened?

OBAMA: This morning, Secretary Napolitano announced new actions my administration will take to mend our nation's immigration policy, uh, to make it more fair, more efficient, and more just.

Specifically for certain young people sometimes called "Dreamers."

Over the next few months, eligible individuals who do not present a risk to national security or public safety will be able to request temporary relief from deportation proceedings and apply for work authorization.

Let's be clear-- this is not amnesty.

This is not a path to citizenship.

(sighing): Oh, my God.

So, if we get caught, that means they're not gonna deport us.

TANIA: Are there guidelines?

Do we have to apply?

Like... MAN: Are we going to be registered in the system?

(man murmuring) TANIA: I have to fill out everywhere I've ever lived.

Initially, I was really scared to apply.

But I'm applying for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

It would give me the opportunity to work, to have a driver's license.

But this is very different from having a visa or having a Green Card, or being a citizen.

It's not at all permanent.

You know, if another administration comes in, they can completely end the program.

That puts us at a huge, huge risk of being deported.

They have all our information, all our families' information, and it's, it's scary, but you have to weigh... You have to weigh your options.

MAN (speaking German): MIMAN (speaking German): MAN: MIMAN: MAN: MIMAN: Richtig.

MIMAN: MAN: (Miman responding in German) Mm-hmm.

MIMAN: (laughing) MAN: MIMAN (laughs): MAN: MIMAN: MAN: MIMAN: MAN: MIMAN: (laughs) MAN: ♪ ♪ (lighter clicks) MIMAN (in German): ♪ ♪ (turnstile beeps) SONNY: I feel like, in the last months, for some reason there's been a bigger spike in the harassment.

Sometimes multiple times a day.

When it happens, it's not only just happening right now, it's triggering hundreds of memories.

I have, like, mental images of a group of people standing next to me, ripping off my turban, and running.

Feeling safe is something that is not that common for me.

Sikhism is the fifth-largest organized religious group in the world.

Core beliefs, just to sort of sum up: God is one.

We're actually talking about a divine force that exists in all the universe between all living beings and all of God's creation.

Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, and then soon to be his followers, were actually saying caste doesn't exist.

And it's not merely a declaration that caste doesn't exist, but it's a revolution to obliterate it.

Walking down the street, you know that I'm a Sikh because of the way that I look.

And, and why is that?

Sikhs were being slaughtered.

Sikhs were being forced to convert.

And rather than saying, "Keep a low profile," Sikhs said, "We're going to stand up proudly."

And in fact, out of a crowd of 10,000, if there is one Sikh, you're going to recognize him or her.

Because we're not going to cut our hair and we're going to wear turbans, which was a sign of royalty up until that point.

So now you have a bunch of peasants reclaiming that.

I, I think it was a revolutionary act to say, "No, we're not going to hide."

(playing traditional song) (singing in Punjabi) (song continues) (song fades) MAN: We mourn the loss of the members of our family.

SONNY: Yesterday, there was a shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.

A guy walked into a gurdwara and went on a shooting rampage, basically.

What we know so far mostly is that six people are dead.

I'm, I'm at a loss.

(crowd speaking Punjabi) (speaking Punjabi) ♪ ♪ (woman singing in Punjabi) (song continues) (drumming starts) (group singing) (song continues) (song fades, trumpet playing) TANIA: It went very good.

Yeah, it went really good.

Well, they didn't offer me the job right there, but I was in there for an hour, you know?

When I went for my first-ever real interview after receiving DACA, in every other interview, I've always been extra-nervous because of my status.

But I, I went into the, into the interview, like, really calm.

I wasn't, like, so...

I wasn't queasy.

(laughs) I wasn't nervous for that reason.

You're just judged on your skills, not on your immigration status.

(chuckles) (people talking in background) So what you're going to do in the, in the meetings is talk about why you're here.

These are very important meetings, because a lot of them are Republicans.

So we wanted to know if the senator would be able to sign onto that.

MAN: I really couldn't give you her answer on, on if she support or oppose based on the current language.

- Okay, so we've, we've finalized the language of the bill.

Perhaps we can meet with the senator at her office and really talk about strategy and getting it into the executive budget if she really does want to support her constituents.

All right, great job, everyone.

Hey... (chuckles) ♪ ♪ DONALD TRUMP: The U.S. has become a dumping ground.

When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best.

They're sending people that have lots of problems.

They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am officially running for president of the United States.

(crowd cheering) REPORTER: Donald Trump was elected 45th president of the United States in a stunning upset that reverberated around the world.

REPORTER: In Europe, the concern now is that the Trump win will further spread far-right sentiment across the region.

REPORTER: A weekend of protests over President Trump's immigration crackdown.

That order signed Friday leading to instant chaos and confusion.

REPORTER: President Trump will announce tomorrow that he is keeping a campaign promise and ending DACA.

That is the Obama-era program that protects undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

TANIA: What he's doing is not normal.

He is terrorizing the immigrant community.

The first population that he's going after is us.

♪ ♪ (softly): There's just so much to do.

We're going to do this, okay.

(people talking in distance) MIMAN (speaking German): ♪ ♪ (all speaking Romani) (laughing) (conversations continue) MIMAN'S SISTER (in German): (Miman chuckles softly) MIMAN (speaking German): MIMAN'S SISTER: MIMAN: MIMAN'S SISTER: MIMAN: MIMAN'S SISTER: MIMAN: MIMAN'S SISTER: MIMAN: MIMAN'S SISTER: MIMAN: Mm-- mm.

MIMAN: MIMAN'S SISTER: MIMAN: ♪ ♪ REPORTER: Following an historic election in Germany, the AfD is set to enter parliament not only for the first time, but as the third-strongest party.

It's also the first time a far-right political party has entered the Bundestag since the end of the Second World War.

The party says immigration jeopardizes Germany's culture but denies that it's racist or anti-Semitic.

REPORTER: Far-right populists are grabbing the headlines and seem to be on the rise across Europe.

REPORTER: They have entered the parliaments of 20 member states-- anti-immigration, anti-Islam, anti-Europe-- all across the continent harnessing fears.

♪ ♪ MIMAN: ♪ ♪ (woman speaking German over P.A.)

(piano playing in distance) (woman shrieks, laughs loudly) AKIM (speaking German): ♪ ♪ (Akim gasps) (muted) (blowing out) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (talking softly in background) (people talking in background) (reverse signal beeping) WOMAN: Let me show you what I prepared.

I just was going to have this in front of me.

- Okay.

- Just in case the judge asks about, like, when certain things happened.

- Okay.

- I'm going to be bringing whatever original documents we have, and you have your passport, and your marriage certificate?

I, I don't think that she's going to ask for it at all, but it's nice just to have that just in case they want to see it.

- Okay.

It's already been determined that your marriage is bona fide.

- Yes, correct.

- That doesn't need to be relitigated today, okay?

- Okay.

- Want to practice?

- Yes.

- All right.

(Tania clears throat) Nice-looking papaya.

MAN: I got it.

I got it.

TANIA: Do you want me to cut it?

- No, I'm good, baby.

I got this!

- Okay, it's... (laughing): Okay.

Look, at the... Look, come here.

So this is what it looks like.

You see, there's where the judge is.

- Mm-hmm.

- There is where me and Lizzie sit.

There is where the ICE attorney sit, and this is where everyone else is gonna sit.

That's how it looks like.

- Yeah, I just was thinking it was gonna be different.

That I was going to be next to you.

I don't want to see you there.

- (laughs) - I wanna be with you there.

- I know, but according to the government, I am a criminal.

I mean, it's not my first time going to court, um, but last time it was, it didn't turn out so well.

And I remember being really young and just didn't understand anything that was really happening.

Many people have traumas, like, crossing the border, but my trauma is in the courtroom.

It's not comparable, but, going through, like, life and death physically, but it was not an easy process.

- Hm.

- We didn't give up.

- Right.

- (exhales) - Okay.

- Mm-hmm.

- Mm.

♪ ♪ TANIA: Waiting for change to happen... You know, change happens very slowly.

And the ultimate goal, is it to have citizenship?

Or is it to be treated like a human being?

We're seeing now, like, how the system does not think of us as human beings.

I feel very strongly that more people like me are going to make a change.

Can't leave people behind.

SONNY: The way that I originally did it, the call had no trumpet and the response had, like, three trumpets playing all the harmonies, as well.

So that's, that's, gives you that effect, you know?

- Yeah.

(Punjabi song plays) Starting at the beginning of that section... (singing tune) (song plays) Yeah, right there.

(song continues) ♪ ♪ (song fades) - Wassup, bro?

- Whoa!

Wassup?

- How you doing, man?

- Good!

Been a while.

(both speaking Punjabi) - How has your trip and music been?

- Been a long time.

Also interesting that years ago, I wouldn't have known a single person here.

♪ ♪ How you doing?

(people talking in background) Where's everyone else?

- I heard you were, you were gonna quit someday.

- (chuckles) No, I didn't quit, but I'm working just part-time now.

- Yeah.

- Because I'm focusing more on music, also.

- Yeah.

- But I'm still with the Sikh Coalition, too.

- Yeah, could I get your email account?

- Yeah, here, I'll give you...

I have it on a card.

- So when you, so, like, when, when you are a, when you're a musician, right?

- Yeah.

- Like, I could still talk to you?

- Of course, you could talk to me anytime-- that's my email.

- Okay, cool.

- See ya!

- Bye.

(man speaking on loudspeaker) SONNY: In a society like this, where there's so much of a push to assimilation, I think it really is important for us as second-generation immigrants to celebrate where we're from.

What I take issue with is turning culture into something that has to be, like, preserved and put in a vacuum.

But if all of us that are committed to social and economic justice walk away from our communities 'cause we think they're conservative, who's going to be, like, challenging our communities to do better?

And that means acting out of love.

That's how you build solidarity.

♪ ♪ Two, three... (group cheering) ♪ ♪ (crowd cheering) MC: We've got one more.

(band playing) Brooklyn, put your hands together!

(fast-paced song playing) (singing in Punjabi) (song continues) (song continues) (song continues) (Sonny resumes singing) (song continues) We are challenging what it means to belong.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪