Feet In 2 Worlds

Surveillance At Your Front Door

Government agencies, law enforcement, and retail businesses are increasingly making use of surveillance technologies like license plate readers to monitor and track members of the public. While privacy rights advocates critique the way these institutions can abuse the data they’re collecting, some individuals opt to use these technologies in their own homes.

Producer Ahmed Ashour explores the relationship between immigrants and consumer home surveillance devices like Ring cameras. Do immigrants feel that these technologies keep them safe? And how have attitudes towards these devices changed in recent years?

The People Who Show Up: Inside a Community’s Effort to Respond to ICE Raids

Today’s story comes from reporter Sophie Sleep with the Los Angeles Reporting Collective.

What does it take to mobilize when ICE arrives? This story follows Proyecto Pastoral, an organization running one of L.A.’s rapid response networks in Boyle Heights, as volunteers learn how to respond to and confront the emotional toll of immigration enforcement. At the heart of it: a community trying to care for families — and for one another.

Fighting for the Future of Flatbush’s African Burial Ground

The largest known colonial burial ground for people of African descent in the United States — both free and enslaved — is in New York City. That burial ground in Lower Manhattan is a national park and monument that commemorates the forgotten and brutal history of slavery in New York City. But it’s far from the only site of this complex past.

Producer Leina Gabra takes us to Flatbush, Brooklyn in New York, where a group of community activists are uncovering the history that laid below a corner of their neighborhood.

Introducing: Subtitle

While we work on more upcoming stories from Feet in 2 Worlds, we want to share some great episodes from other podcasts we think you’ll like.

This episode comes from Subtitle, a podcast about languages and the people who speak them.

In this episode, Subtitle tells the inspiring, heartbreaking story of Radio Haiti. For several decades, the station broadcast not just in French, spoken by Haiti’s elite, but also in Kreyòl, spoken by rich and poor alike. The Kreyòl-language programs communicated directly with the rural poor—popularizing issues of inequity and corruption.

Introducing: Proof

While we work on more upcoming stories from Feet in 2 Worlds, we want to share some great episodes from other podcasts we think you’ll like.

This story comes from our friends at Proof from America’s Test Kitchen. It’s a podcast that dives deep into the unexpected backstories behind food and drinks, while examining the human stories that intersect along the way. 

This episode follows the journey of the Shinta and Kawahara families — from immigration, to incarceration, to the present day. Proof reporter Hannah Kirshner travels to Watsonville, California, to report how Japanese-Americans — through their resilience — used ingenuity to help turn strawberries from a seasonal fruit to one that's available year-round. The episode was hosted by Proof’s previous host, Kevin Pang.

Introducing: Disrupting Peace

While we work on more upcoming stories from Feet in 2 Worlds, we want to share some great episodes from other podcasts we think you’ll like.

This episode is from Disrupting Peace from the World Peace Foundation. The show explores why peace hasn’t worked and how it still could. 

The episode we’re sharing is titled, “Why Addressing the Climate Crisis Will Increase Peace” from their first season. It explores the question: What if the inequalities and exploitation that are destroying the environment are also driving conflict?

The Shifting Immigrant Hustle

In the last episode of the season, host Shaka Tafari speaks with three women who work at the intersection of labor and immigration. They discuss the most pressing threats to immigrant workers, as well as the ways immigrants can resist these threats and support one another.

Our guests include: Mary from Mujeres Inspiradas en Sueños, Metas, y Acciones (MISMA); Saba Waheed, director of the UCLA Labor Center, and Jessica E. Martinez, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH).

A People United and Represented

In the early 20th century, Chicago became a city powered by a strong immigrant working class. As U.S. industry grew, immigrant workers demanded a say in their economic, social, and political conditions. 

Producer Sophia Ramirez revisits the career of Adolph J. Sabath, a Bohemian Jewish immigrant whose constituents elected him into Congress 24 times.

The Ghosts of Rock Springs

In 1885, white miners brutally murdered 28 Chinese miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

In 2025, producer Harrison Vijay Tsui goes to Rock Springs to unearth this dark chapter of U.S. history — and to ask: what does it cost to remember, and what does it cost to forget? We’ll hear from Chinese Americans in Rock Springs today and the descendants of the Massacre scattered across the country.

Working 9 to 5 to 9

Chinese home care workers in New York City are fighting to end an exploitative labor practice known as the 24-hour rule, where they are only paid for 13 out of 24 hours worked. However, they face resistance from officials and non-profits, and insufficient union support.

Producers Aria Young and Leina Gabra take us inside the reality of 24-hour work and why it has been so difficult to change this policy.

In the Weeds

When New York State legalized recreational cannabis, officials did so with the promise to give those affected by the War on Drugs the first opportunity to sell cannabis legally. But while the state has celebrated the growth of its newest legal economy, many feel left out — no one more so than non-citizen immigrants.

Producer Iggy Monda takes us through the streets of New York City to talk to formerly incarcerated business owners hoping to find a place in the industry, city and state officials who believe New York is on the right path, and experts who say immigrants should probably stay away from cannabis altogether.

Cracked Open

In 1938, San Antonio was the center of the pecan shelling industry and one man, known as the Pecan King, controlled 50% of pecan production. The shellers were mostly Hispanic women and children. When the Pecan King slashed their pay, they took to the streets to strike against the injustice.

Producer Avery Thompson takes us to San Antonio, Texas to tell the story of the 1938 Pecan Shellers’ Strike.

Colorado Welcomed Venezuelans. Many Now Live in Fear.

Over the past couple of years, around 40,000 Venezuelans arrived in Denver fleeing political and economic instability, eager to work while their immigration statuses played out. Initially, with help from the city and non-profit organizations, many were able to find stable housing and jobs. However, with all the recent changes in immigration policy, they now face an uncertain future and finding work has become more difficult.

Producers Ann Marie Awad and Andrés Pacheco-Girón explore how the rules of the hustle have changed for one Venezuelan couple in Denver.

Read more at fi2w.org.

The Hustle: Coming April 2025

Feet in 2 Worlds is back with our newest podcast series, The Hustle. On The Hustle, we share stories about the ways immigrants navigate a changing economy — today and throughout history.

The series premieres on April 22, 2025.

Each episode of The Hustle dives into a specific industry or moment in history when immigrant workers demanded changes during economic, social, and political shifts. These stories explore both the triumphs and tragedies of their attempts to stand up to big industries and fight for better pay and working conditions. The series will feature stories from Denver, San Antonio, Chicago, Wyoming, and New York. 

We’ll explore questions such as: how are immigrants navigating their need to work and an economy that relies on their labor when anti-immigrant policies are targeting them directly? Can immigrants participate in NYC’s recently legalized recreational cannabis industry? What does justice look like for the descendants of the 1885 massacre of Chinese railroad workers? What policies are needed to protect home healthcare workers today?

Feet in 2 Worlds’ The Hustle can be found on all major distribution platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Pocket Casts, and Spotify.

How NYC Dollar Vans are Adapting for the Future

Thousands of New Yorkers rely on an unofficial transit system to get around — a system entirely outside of the MTA. Dollar vans are a DIY immigrant innovation that have served riders for half a century, but their future is unclear.

Producer Andrés Pacheco Girón speaks with riders, drivers, and entrepreneurs all navigating what comes next for these dollar vans.