When Mauricio Hernández was a kid growing up in Mexico City, he says he had two dreams: work on cars and be on TV. He crossed the California border as a teenager and started out sweeping the floor of a body shop in LA. Mauricio eventually ended up working at West Coast Customs, a body shop that did custom work for celebrities like Sylvester Stallone, Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton -- and eventually became the setting for the MTV reality show “Pimp My Ride.” Mauricio was living out his childhood fantasy on national TV. But he was also living in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant. Reporter Levi Bridges brings us the first part of his documentary, Mauricio Across the Border.
A version of this story first aired on the KCRW podcast UnFictional.