No One Is Illegal

if you could

would you ensure that your loved ones

received the covet vaccine

if you could would you support hourly

workers receiving a minimum wage

if you could would you change the

injustices of our systemic racism

if your child had a learning disability

would you propose the best learning

opportunities for them

if your parents were a nursing home

wouldn’t you want to ensure they were

secure

and comfortable if the answer to any of

these

is yes then you have the power to be an

advocate to be a defender

an influencer advocacy is a powerful

notion

that converts the what is to the what

should be

to advocate is to have courage and

commitment for the things that matter to

us

it comes from within our own personal

experiences or from the empathy

we feel from others or for lucky

sometimes from both

its effect is to influence decisions in

political economic and social systems

by influencing individuals communities

and institutions

as advocates we can change the world

around us

but it doesn’t mean changing the whole

world it just means changing the world

you live in we best use advocacy when we

are fueled by

focus and joined by allies all while

understanding

our historical context of the change we

seek let me tell you about my historical

context

and the passion that fueled my focus

along with the allies that supported my

advocacy

journey in recent years when i am asked

what i do for a living

i smile and answer truthfully i keep

families together

now that response usually yields a

positive one

but when there’s a follow-up question to

my actual title

not so much when i share that i am an

immigration attorney i usually get one

of two responses

the first and the most common has been

oh great the second

has been oh my you must be exhausted

bless your heart

while i prefer the latter i am not

discouraged by the former

you see being an immigrant advocate has

been a part of my identity since i was a

child

i just didn’t realize it until much

later on in my adult life

this is why maya angelou’s words

resonate so deeply with me

you cannot really know where you are

going until you know where you have been

the root of my commitment to immigrants

can be summarized in two vivid childhood

memories

the first i was six years old in

kindergarten my sister and i had just

arrived from colombia

we were living in rocky hill connecticut

and it was no secret we were the only

foreigners in that school

one day during recess my sister who was

in the second grade was pushing me on

the swing set

when out of nowhere jason and his

friends stood directly in front of us

with a mean look on his face he told us

to get off his swing

the natural-born rebel in me looked to

the right

and i looked to my left and after seeing

empty swings on both sides

i said no we’re not leaving

at that time as celia cruz used to say

our english

was not very good looking and so it gave

him ample opportunity

to mock our broken english

after he finished his slew of insults

and his face had transformed

his eyes had squinted his forehead had

crinkled

his face all red he yelled get out of

here you spicks

that hateful phrase was immediately

followed by his spit landing on my

forehead

my six-year-old forehead

i may have been young and i need to

understand the racist meaning of that

word but i

instantly felt the disgust in his voice

and to this day i can still feel the

fury of hate in his words

i just remember feeling helpless and

dirty

the second memory occurred when i was 13

years old

living in hagerstown maryland i was at

the grocery store with my family

when i had wandered off and overheard a

woman speaking spanish to the cashier

i immediately smiled finding another

person that spoke spanish

in public in that town was like finding

a unicorn

there weren’t that many of us and if we

were seeing we quickly disappeared

i could see that she was using her young

daughter to translate the cashier’s face

of contempt

told me otherwise at that time

my english had dramatically improved and

so i was overwhelmed with the desire to

go and help her

and so i did i invited my inquisitive

self into that conversation

and began translating as if i had been

there the entire time

the woman’s eyes gave a sigh of relief

i don’t remember the cashier but i have

never forgotten

the gratitude shining through that

woman’s smile

it is one of my earliest memories of

what it feels like to have a true moment

of connection

with a complete stranger and what

empathy has felt like for me

ever since as an immigrant child

i did experience the initial bouts of

racism but that faded as i eventually

thrived

i excelled in high school went to

college on a scholarship

there i studied and worked full time and

i volunteered at the human rights center

translating for immigrants and refugees

my senior year in college i took a

course in international human rights

and one might say this is where the

trajectory of my present life

began the professor

who was a priest that had later become

an immigration and

international human rights attorney

exemplified a love for humanity

that transcended his lectures and all of

his worldly travels

his raw and compassionate teachings were

so infectious

they ignited in me a spark i didn’t know

i had

but as i got older i realized that spark

had actually been there

all along it had been there since i was

a child it just needed to come into

focus

his teachings bridged the gap between my

personal immigrant experiences

and the realization that i had privilege

even as an immigrant

yeah i had suffered severe childhood

traumas and i had to work

multiple jobs to sustain myself but

nonetheless i came to understand

that i had been afforded opportunities

my immigrant counterparts had not

this awareness fueled me all the way to

law school where i specifically pursued

a field in law

that stemmed from the very discomfort i

had first felt

as my 6 and 13 year old self

as an immigrant adult i’ve been

fortunate to have incredible role models

first in undergrad then in law school

and now in my present day

they have supported my ideas they have

encouraged my creativity

and they have challenged my thought

process

their actions have showed me the impact

of advocacy

i’ll never forget the time that my law

school mentor

purchased an entire washer and dryer set

for her immigrant client

who with her minor child had just

escaped an abusive relationship

it wasn’t so much the purchase that left

an impression on me

as it was the fact that in different

ways she always

showed up for her clients my role models

have had one thing in common

and that is that they have consistently

and selflessly

showed up as an adult i have tried to

intentionally

surround myself with those type of

people

people who are kind who are wise who are

selfless

leaders who know how to follow

organizers with infectious energies

empowering women and the men that

support them

people of color who refused to be

silenced

survivors who became fearless

marginalized people

who found their voice resilient

immigrant and refugees and if there was

ever a time

that the world needed more of these

allies and of these advocates and their

collective love

it is now we need them now more than

ever

the development of my advocacy journey

has led me here today

to my core i believe this fundamental

truth

no human being is illegal i

say it i breathe it i live it

so much so that it’s the guest wi-fi

password at my office

i have shattered it at the top of my

lungs at every march and rally i have

attended

and i correct every immigrant that calls

themselves an illegal

because here they’ve only known

themselves to be illegal

to be less than to be dirty

illegal alien is an important phrase

that is neither accurate

nor neutral it is offensive and

dehumanizing

and in recent years has been

intentionally polarizing

human beings cannot be illegal

mass shootings are illegal rape and

sexual assault

are illegal discrimination

tax evasion bribery wire fraud

abuse of power those acts

are illegal immigrants

whether documented or not have names and

families

they have hopes and dreams just like you

and i do

they want better for themselves just

like you and i do

they bleed the exact same red blood that

you and i bleed

they are human just like you and me

the woman who after 13 years of enduring

horrific abuse at the hands of her

husband

who was subjected to rapes and beatings

and thus

miscarriages who had no protection from

her

destabilized government who fled in

order to just

breathe that woman and her child

are human just like you and me

the man who arrived 10 20 years ago

looking for better opportunities

but who stayed who built a life and a

family here

who has worked here and paid taxes who

has been an otherwise

outstanding citizen that man

is human just like you and me

but when they are forcibly their country

due to the ongoing persecution

of corrupt governments or the wars and

civil wars and the devastating aftermath

or the violence of criminal

transnational organizations

or the deadly political unrest

or the severe economic despair

they are cast aside as subhuman and

generalized as criminals

that hateful phrase of illegal alien can

be countered with the power of accurate

and compassionate words because as we

know

words are so powerful they can either

unite a nation or cause an insurrection

they are so powerful they can start a

movement where they can leave a lifetime

impression

words are transformational

as an immigrant advocate i believe that

undocumented immigrants

are americans just like you and me

so where can your advocacy journey begin

how can you help your family or your

neighbor

we’ll start with this basic concept in

what settings or circumstances

does your heart pull you to do more or

make you mindful

of doing better perhaps you heard

something

that made you emotional perhaps seeing

someone suffering

drew you to want to help or protect them

maybe

an experience left you suddenly

uncomfortable and you didn’t know why

pay attention to that reaction and that

discomfort in your gut

talk to it listen to it identify it

for it might be how your passion can

come into focus

the magnitude of your advocacy does not

have to be huge

gandhi said it best when he said do not

look for

big things just do small things with

great love

the smaller the thing the greater must

be our love

so identify what moves you what sparks a

flurry of ideas and thoughts

and after that interest emerges then put

it into focus by seeking your allies

search amongst your friends your

colleagues your community contacts

look at your leaders and the movers and

shakers that work in and around that

interest

you will find much happiness building

and organizing with them

their knowledge will polish your ideas

and they will connect you with even

more diverse thinkers and you will

evolve

this is how you can begin to change the

world you live in

from the what is to the what should be

it is how your

if i could can become the i did

it is how you can become the advocate

this world needs

jk rowling said we do not need magic to

change the world

we have all the power inside us already

we have the power to imagine better

i imagine a world where no one is

illegal

will you join me

you