[3] Alcaraz was born in 1964 in San Diego, California, and grew up on the U.S.–Mexico border, giving him a dual outlook on life (not "Mexican" enough for his relatives, not "American" enough for some in the U.S.).

[4] He attended San Diego State University, where he received his bachelor's degree "With Distinction" in Art and Environmental Design in 1987.

He also served along with Gustavo Arellano as producer on comedian Al Madrigal's TV special for Fusion, Half Like Me.

Alcaraz is also a performer, voicing an angry mariachi in Coco, and has portrayed a Mexican bounty hunter named "Royce Vargas" in the 2017 Bill Plympton/Jim Lujan animated feature film Revengeance.

[22] In 2012, Daniel D. Portado returned to the headlines as a result of Mitt Romney's call, during his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, on undocumented immigrants to exercise "self-deportation.

Governor, honors from the Los Angeles City Council, The California Chicano News Media Association, the UC Berkeley Chicano Latino Alumni Association, the United Farm Workers of America, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, and The Rockefeller Foundation.