For Friday’s installment of CBS Evening News, correspondent Lilia Luciano decided to profile Brenda Martinez, a 28-year old California DACA recipient who has chosen to self-deport. Luciano framed the whole story as tragic as she wondered if Martinez was quitting too early, but she also claimed that an immigration judge greenlighting the deportation of anti-Semitic Hamas supporter Mahmoud Khalil means “she should be afraid.”
In the studio, co-host Maurice DuBois got the mourning started, “While the Trump administration is forcibly removing some undocumented immigrants, it is using different techniques to encourage others to leave on their own.”
Fellow co-host John Dickerson added, “Including taking away their Social Security numbers so they can't work and can't afford to live here. And using the IRS to track them down.”
Dubois then introduced Luciano’s segment, “Some are leaving because they fear an uncertain future. Lilia Luciano talked to an immigrant in Southern California.”
Luciano set her scene by declaring, “Brenda Martinez and her husband, Richard, are packing up to leave the only country they've called home.”
Martinez was then shown adding, “I'm not afraid of people knowing that I'm undocumented. I'm afraid of what they would do to me if they knew.”
Further along, Luciano reported that, “Her husband, who was born in the U.S., petitioned for her to get a green card, but that process can take years. So, she's been weighing her options with a lawyer.”
Recalling her decision to leave, Martinez claimed, “I see checkpoints coming up like everywhere, and that’s when I started to feel like the wall’s caving in. And then, just for a second, I was like, 'What if I just left?'”
Luciano followed up, “You feel your entire life is up to one agent or officer's hands?”
Martinez answered, “Yeah, I do. If, like, someone decided to not pay attention to my work permit, being detained terrifies me.”
That led Luciano to wonder if Martinez was giving up too soon. First, she reported, “So terrified, they are moving to Mexico, leaving behind family, friends, and their jobs. Searching for stability in a place she has no memories of” before asking, “Why not wait it out? I mean, you waited 26 years?”
Martinez concluded the video, “I want to live my life, but also, I grew up with a bunch of American children. They have, like, these amazing dreams that they've never been limited from.”
Back in the studio, Dickerson asked Luciano, “Lilia, how many other people like Brenda Martinez, who are leaving?”
Luciano estimated that “When it comes to DACA, there is a group that was advising Brenda and other people like her. They tell me in their Facebook group alone, that membership has doubled from 3,000 to 6,000 people who are seeking that guidance and resources to leave the country.”
DuBois then jumped in to add, “And Brenda's fears are not unfounded, right? I mean, they're other cases to make her just worry.”
Luciano concurred, “She is certainly worried, and today is a perfect example of that. The ruling on the Khalil case, who is a permanent legal resident of the United States, targeted and now possibly in the process for deportation, serves as evidence as to why she should be afraid.”
The easiest way to avoid deportation for being an anti-Semitic terrorist supporter who disrupts college campuses is not to be an anti-Semitic terrorist supporter who disrupts college campuses. As for DACA, giving protections to people who were brought to the country illegally as children only incentivizes others to do the same, but CBS wasn’t interested in that.
Here is a transcript for the April 11 show:
CBS Evening News
4/11/2025
6:34 PM ET
MAURICE DUBOIS: While the Trump administration is forcibly removing some undocumented immigrants, it is using different techniques to encourage others to leave on their own.
JOHN DICKERSON: Including taking away their Social Security numbers so they can't work and can't afford to live here. And using the IRS to track them down.
DUBOIS: Some are leaving because they fear an uncertain future. Lilia Luciano talked to an immigrant in Southern California.
BRENDA MARTINEZ: And then you don't want this?
LILIA LUCIANO: Brenda Martinez and her husband, Richard, are packing up to leave the only country they've called home.
MARTINEZ: I'm not afraid of people knowing that I'm undocumented. I'm afraid of what they would do to me if they knew.
That was me the year before we left.
LUCIANO: Martinez was born in Mexico and brought to California when she was two.
Why did you choose to talk to us?
MARTINEZ: There's a lot of kids in the shadows. They’re terrified.
LUCIANO: Now 28, she has been undocumented, temporarily protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
MARTINEZ: This folder also has every employment authorization.
LUCIANO: Since 2012, the program has given more than 900,000 young immigrants like Martinez work authorizations, but no legal pathway to citizenship.
MARTINEZ: This is not, like, permanent status. This is just a deferment.
LUCIANO: Her husband, who was born in the U.S., petitioned for her to get a green card, but that process can take years. So, she's been weighing her options with a lawyer.
MARTINEZ: Do you feel like a lot of what we are hearing now with, like, executive orders and everything, do you think it is just a bunch of noise?
LAWYER: With the release of the ICE agents into the community, we are seeing people being picked up, randomly.
MARTINEZ: I see checkpoints coming up like everywhere, and that’s when I started to feel like the wall’s caving in. And then, just for a second, I was like, “What if I just left?”
LUCIANO: You feel your entire life is up to one agent or officer's hands?
MARTINEZ: Yeah, I do. If, like, someone decided to not pay attention to my work permit, being detained terrifies me.
LUCIANO: So terrified, they are moving to Mexico, leaving behind family, friends, and their jobs. Searching for stability in a place she has no memories of.
Why not wait it out? I mean, you waited 26 years?
MARTINEZ: I want to live my life, but also, I grew up with a bunch of American children. They have, like, these amazing dreams that they've never been limited from.
DICKERSON: And Lilia Luciano joins us now. Lilia, how many other people like Brenda Martinez, who are leaving?
LUCIANO: That's a very good question, John. I mean, we have heard reports from the federal government that there are thousands of people who are allegedly voluntarily leaving through an app that the government changed to allow for that to happen. When it comes to DACA, there is a group that was advising Brenda and other people like her. They tell me in their Facebook group alone, that membership has doubled from 3,000 to 6,000 people who are seeking that guidance and resources to leave the country.
DUBOIS: And Brenda's fears are not unfounded, right? I mean, they're other cases to make her just worry.
LUCIANO: She is certainly worried, and today is a perfect example of that. The ruling on the Khalil case, who is a permanent legal resident of the United States, targeted and now possibly in the process for deportation, serves as evidence as to why she should be afraid.
DUBOIS: Yeah, he had a green card. Okay, Lilia Luciano, thank you so much.
