From Here/From There (De Aquí/De Allá)

Seattle attorney and DACA recipient Luis Cortes Romero overcomes a challenging youth to make history as the first undocumented immigrant to help argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court as part of a formidable legal team fighting the Trump Administration's efforts to rescind DACA. Despite the DACA program's resounding success, the future of the policy, and the Dreamers it protects, faces urgent legal threats.

Q&A with the filmmaker Mo Morris and protagonist Luis Cortes Romero after the screening.

From Here, From There (De Aquí, De Allá) Teaser from mo morris on Vimeo.

From Here, From There/DeAquí De Allá interweaves the dramatic personal story of the charismatic attorney, Luis Cortes Romero, with the remarkable legal journey of the landmark DACA case that would protect hundreds of thousands of Dreamers and make Cortes Romero the first undocumented immigrant to appear before the Supreme Court.

Luis isn’t your typical member of the Supreme Court Bar. In the opening scenes, Luis skateboards to a tattoo parlor to add more ink his collection of body art. Accompanied by vibrant animation and an original score reflecting Luis’s dual identity, this story features an all-American kid with the dream of selling candy to finance a middle school trip to Europe – until his mother broke the news that he couldn’t go. He didn’t have papers.

Luis’s document-dependent world splintered even further when ICE deported his devoted father back to Mexico. His once close-knit family loses its center. Despite these tragic setbacks, Luis works his way through college where Chicano studies help him find his way back to himself, his culture, and to law school.

When working late one Friday in his Seattle law office, Luis is asked to take on the case of a racially profiled DACA recipient, Daniel Ramirez, being arrested and threatened with deportation despite the safety afforded him by the Obama era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Luis joins a powerhouse pro bono legal team to defend Daniel and sue the U.S Government.

A few months later the Trump administration rescinds DACA, threatening over 700,000 DACA recipients with exile, including Luis. The same legal team that defended Ramirez sues the Administration to restore DACA and the case goes all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. While thousands of DACA supporters cheer outside of the Supreme Court, Luis declares, “The activism leads, and the law follows!”

Against all odds, SCOTUS decides in their favor, but it is a short-lived victory. Nine conservative states mount another serious legal challenge to the DACA program and a federal court in Texas declares the program illegal, leaving the fate of hundreds of thousands of young people in limbo in the midst of a volatile presidential election year. Dreamers like Luis will continue to face the threat of deportation unless Congress acts to provide permanent protections.

What people are saying:

“As entertaining as it is informative." — Wall Street Journal

“Groundbreaking story” — Seattle Times

"Creative touches, including animation, lend vitality to this topical feature." — SF Chronicle

A co-presentation of Galewind Films, LLC and PBS’s Latino Public Broadcasting as part of the 2024 VOCES Series.

Ticket proceeds help filmmakers offer free community and educational screenings.