What a great podcast. Thank you for sharing

Each Episode was beautifully written. The script was a time portal. You can see and feel each scene. It’s like Mr. Kidd is personally showing you around. The sound effects was an excellent complementary to Mr. Kidd’s storytelling. The themed music was amazing. Got you pumped! It made you want more. Anything with trumpets will be awesome. The host’s voice could have been a little louder. But still an outstanding job by her. You guys should collaborate again and write a book with Mr. Kidd. Now when my Mom and I go to our quarterly trips to Mexicali to visit her family, those hills and mountains will look differently thanks to American Coyote. And if you look closely you might see Mr. Kidd’s spirit waving at you.

This is a very entertaining, well done podcast! What a great story!

Seriously a great tale, told so greatly! I loved the last episode so much, even tears of joy for the bride and her parents.

Binge worthy! Loved the podcast!

The podcast is well done. Is a story about a human. He was a hero to many. A complicated figure for others. Yes, there are legal ways to cross the border. But they are difficult, expensive, time consuming, and inaccessible to many. It is particularly difficult for women to be be sitting ducks in encampments where predators know they can get away with abuse. We need an overhaul of our system—and more funding for that legal process, rather than just billions for walls and thermal scopes and such. Interesting story and well told as a podcast.

This story is great. What a good person and God bless him for seeing the absence of humanity in the exploitation of these poor ppl. Why not work with the “good guys”. These are people! They need help! We need to stop treating them like animals.

Interesting story but it’s too bad the host injected her liberal opinions the entire series. Trying to portray a law breaking border jumping criminal as a hero is a bit much. There is a process to enter this country and these ppl are no more special or important than the immigrants who enter the right way.

Mr Kid’s poor family is put through the wringer as his self-serving, selective morality drives him to engage in illegal activities. Yes, I was rooting for him, but he is no hero. He is the Walter White of human smuggling.

After the first episode I was hooked and had to subscribe! I love how the podcast includes interviews, and clips from different media sources. Such an amazing story.

Not really rating low the show but rating low the whole situation with elden kidd. Some Orta are hard to listen to with him being so dumb and selfish in so many ways. He ruined his family who are a nice, wholesome, and faithful family who appear to have forgiven elden despite the horrible situation he put his family in. He’s a selfish traitor to our country’s laws and standards. He put his own needs for a thrill seeking job above the laws of the land, his better judgment, and even the best interests of others. He was a “successful” coyote many times except for the times he was caught and imprisoned . The show passes him off as smarter than law enforcement even though he’s a low level idiot thinking that his scammer tactics were ingenious. He was a scammer his whole life. He started scamming tourists and clients who paid him to be a tour guide. He couldn’t cut it on his mission as an LDS missionary either. It’s sad how his “successes” as a coyote and human smuggler are resulting in false hopes for others who also try and cross the border, albeit unsuccessfully. He doesn’t think about how much good he could have done by helping those who had already crossed the border by helping transition them, or helping asylum seekers, or even those going through hardships. Just getting people across the border for a self indulging illegal career is hardly admirable despite the justification for his actions. Crossing illegally and side stepping those waiting in line for legalization into the US should be deported immediately. Furthermore, despite 3 years in jail and his wife and family waiting for him, he turned again to the illegal people smuggling life. This resulted in him ultimately losing his family. Makes me sad hat he hurt so many people Including his family, but his wife should have been arrested as well as an accomplice. There is a propaganda feel to the podcast with the host hinting that our immigration laws are bogus and that anyone should just be able to cross the border whenever they want, unchecked. She herself came over to the us illegally but still has a sense of Mexican pride although not one strong enough to want to live in Mexico. There are many people who make a great life for themselves in Mexico- but many don’t want to put the work in. They would rather leave to come do it in the US leaving Mexico to become what it is. Finally, glad that the podcast provides a great deal of secrets that hopefully border patrol get wind of and not fall for the cheap tricks that elden got away with.

We need more of these stories had me hooked went work go by so fast 100% recommended

So exciting. Loved it!

The real story: A man cheats on his wife many times while being a coyote. He abandons his wife. Abandons his own young children. Then he remarries a Mexican woman with two infant children and has the balls to say, “I have a very maternal instinct”, which is laughable of course since he abandoned his first family. But you won’t learn this till the last episode when they casually slip it in and give the host Andrea Lopez-Villafaña the embarrassing task of delivering a cringeworthy line of dialogue about his first wife being the “unsung hero” of this entire podcast! Incredible. Completely disingenuous since they just spent 9 episodes glorifying this loser for not growing up and taking care of his family and instead choosing to abandon his family.

This world has gone insane, supporting illegal activity in any way, a hero-you have lost your sanity

For several years now I have listened to numerous podcast shows. This one had me most intrigued. Sitting at the edge of my seat wanting to hear more.

Intriguing, informative, and intense full. Not sure how anyone can rate it any less than 5 stars. Didn’t want it to end

Funny, intriguing, gut wrenching.

Propaganda

I’m not sure if this story is believable but it is a good story. It could be true but Eldon comes across as a blowhard so I’m not sure. 🤷‍♀️

He followed his calling, right or wrong, not for us to judge.

Too many ads, but Good job

Having exposure to experiences that few of us are familiar with is vital for personal growth, thank you for opening up and sharing these experiences

Thank you for digging deep and taking me on this adventurous journey! Excellent storytelling and production.

Thank you for this! He is a first rate human!

I just finished episode six & I can’t stop listening Eldon’s story is incredible & Andrea does a great job helping tell his amazing journey. I definitely recommend this podcast to everyone. I also love the fact that unlike a lot of other great podcasts it plays every episode in order. Thank you for knowing how to set up your episodes!!!!!

This was a great podcast that told an amazing story from different views. For those saying this gets political, well yes, it would be almost impossible to tell the story without referencing the politics at play affecting the outcome of this man’s story. However I never felt that the political discussion was biased, but very straightforward in how it relates to the story. Not until the last 20 minutes of the last episode do you get the narrator’s story and why she felt the life of Elden Kidd was so important to tell to others.

Listened to this during a road trip throughout the southwest. It was wild, it sparked some good conversation about immigration and the situations that people are thrust into as we passed an endless stream of border patrol vehicles.

This podcast was very captivating, well put together, well written and the different points of view from each character kept your imagination going. It’s almost unbelievable and yet each episode kept you wanting more!! I love this piece/podcast, it’s so interesting and intriguing that I would recommend it to all my friends and family. It’s so good I would listen to it again!!

Thank you for such awesome work with this story. I love how different aspects were covered during each episode, having similar experiences told from multiple points of view was a brilliant approach. Looking forward to hearing more of your podcasts!

This is one of the most interesting stories I’ve heard ever. Have no idea how it doesn’t have a 5 star rating. Fantastically told and detailed without being dark or gory.

Can’t we just tell stories without the blatant political agenda?

Great story and great narrator.

Good show til episodes 9 & 10 where a hidden agenda started to show. Politics do not need to be involved in everything. Also, if you’re going to pronounce “coyote” do it the same each time. Sometimes it was perfect English, sometimes perfect Spanish and sometimes English with Spanish flair.

I do deliveries so it can get pretty boring. This podcast made my trips way better. I was entertained the whole time. Gracias por contarnos esta historia ❤️🥰

Since when did human trafficking (slave trade) make someone a hero ?

Well produced. Great story. Exposing our flawed immigration system isn’t unpatriotic.

Over the top excepts for the ads. Long ads during the podcast, not just at the beginning. So I was going to give 4 stars. But then I saw that the only low ratings were front right wing conspiracy theorists, my rating changed to 5. Do not miss out out on the excellent storytelling and production. 5 stars well deserved. And I write few reviews.

Love the complexity built into this flawed-hero narrative and the novel take on an oft-politicized issue. Also as a side note, to everyone who can’t listen to this because of the young female host’s voice... GET OVER IT! She’s young and doing more than you are. Also, literally every young woman who hosts a podcast gets that critique “I didn’t like her voice for some reason...” Perhaps y’all just hate the sound of young women’s voices? That’s quite sad for you! Props also to the show for recognizing and exploring the pain of the family whose lives were upended by the “heroics” of their father/husband. And for the people who believe that all laws are meant to be obeyed...slavery was legal, Jim Crow was legal, laws barring women from voting were legal. So yeah, “it’s illegal” is not always the BEST way to make your argument stick. But real cute for trying! Also FYI google CIA intervention in Latin America to get some history lessons on why there’s such a migrant crisis at our southern border. ❤️🤷‍♀️

Don’t waste your time. Seriously.

Episodes 9 & 10 are especially powerful. US citizens should really be made aware of what the real effects are of dumping more and more money into building walls, border enforcement agencies and dehumanizing people who cross the border for asylum and an opportunity to support themselves and their families financially.

This is a great podcast. Well told and beautifully written. The US border is a mess a trump and his scum republikkkan agenda has made it 1000x worse. Elden is a hero for having compassion and caring about human beings. Love love love this and hope trumpers can learn some compassion while listening to it (but I doubt it)

I thought he was being extremely naive about transporting things across the border in his “friends” motor home. At that point, he had been in the game long enough to know how things worked. Therefore I think he was either naive or knew what was going on. Thank goodness marijuana is being legalized in many places so people don’t have to suffer anymore for using it.

Sometimes in life, you run across the story or someone who was willing to lose it all for the good of others and whose conscience would not give him peace until he helped the last one. I find it challenging to blame the historically insufficient and poorly manages US immigration policies on the immigrants. As a mom, I would do anything to provide for my children, including but not limited to finding a place to be safe and to live and thrive. The eternal optimist 🙂

Just over the top with political/personal agenda. He is a criminal in 2 countries and the podcast is written and edited to make him a hero and victim. Would have been much better without the personal agenda, and presented as a true account of events.

I enjoyed the main story of Elden Kidd, however I’m not impressed with some of the side plots - episode nine features a former border patrol’s experience, while her story is tragic it seemed very irrelevant to the rest of the podcast and seemed it was used to through the border patrol in an unfair light. Perhaps it would be good to turn the side story into a separate podcast?

first i want to respond to some of the other reviews because i don’t believe they’re fair. this podcast does not push “liberal ideas”. human decency and having compassion for others is called being a good person, stop trying to make it political. also, the background information about the political climate of the country at that time is very pertinent to the story. so yes karen those political facts are important. anyways, this podcast is beautifully written. i was a bit skeptical at first about the narrators voice - i will admit - but after an episode i was hooked! what an amazing opportunity this is to be able to see the world through this point of view. my parents were crossed over when they were young, so getting some insight on what was like for the people who did this regularly and how it worked is so insightful. this podcast made me smile, want to cry, angry and hopeful. i love the story, and i wish Elden all the best in life.

This was so compelling I couldn’t turn it off so I just binged it. I thought the narrator in the beginning I found her voice to be a little distracting but as time went on and the story got more and more compelling her narration just seem to fit it perfectly. I give her five stars as well and then to find out at the end it’s a personal story. This is the teacher that we should be more compassionate and the people that have risked everything including their lives to come here are the ones we should listen to to gain an appreciation for our country. It’s hardly perfect here but you never hear of anybody trying to sneak in to Russia. Thank you for this great listen.

It’s like I was in 3D movie, the story telling was impressive.

Really enjoyed this one. His story is fascinating and a tru me testament to the good nature that (hopefully) still exists in our society. Highly recommend!!