Immigration MIC

Welcome Dive Master/ Educator/ Activist and Long Island hometown girl Friends Of Melissa Figueroa to The @HendelMedia #ImmigrationReform Project!

Melissa is passionate about advocating for quality education, which derives from her parent’s work ethic, her Puerto Rican heritage/ experiences, and about local issues that affect the Hempstead immigrant community.

College was always in her plans, and initially planned to study psychology, however, she switched over to communications and that decision prepared her for the career she has built!

Hear about her mishap as an intern at HBO Latino, Hempstead Public Schools, her experience working at Goldman Sach’s, how she began engaging in activism, and how she was into conspiracy theories online! Also: see Melissa’s passion for her experience working and traveling in Mozambique, which is very dear to her heart.

I ask Melissa the all important question: with local politics and elections becoming so ugly, why/ and how should young people get involved? Hear Melissa’s answer which definitely inspired me - love her passion!

I found her singing Mexican ballads and standing up for immigrants, on Instagram, so welcome Josie to The @HendelMedia #immigrationreform Project!

From the state of Illinois, Josie grew up in the United States since she was a year old, and wishes she were able to experience Mexico firsthand, however, she stays close to her culture through the music!

There were few resources for her growing up navigating the system for a person in her position - one of the funniest moments was when she tells us how when even telling her friends repeatedly that she can’t partake in the same things, they are still misinformed about the immigration process.

She’s a huge Taking Back Sunday, Dashboard Confessional, Destiny’s Child fan, which is totally awesome!

She talks to me about the stresses her parents faced growing up regularly - “being in that fear is not living”, and the rigorous application process for Obama’s program that asks for everything you can and can’t imagine.

Her advice to people at the moment in the same situation: hold on to the one thing that makes you happy - Josie is here to stay and I’m inspired by her resilience and her infectious personality and her determination to use what people call “a bad dream” to continue fighting for justice for others!

Skyping from Minnesota, Luz is a young woman that has blazed her own trail to build her American Dream - that is now in danger of collapse because of the shifts in the nation’s immigration policy.

Originally from Mexico, she tells the story of her family being detained at the border, witnessing South American children in the detention center her family was also held at, the moment her brother was separated from the group, and how their group walked through the desert and drank dirty water to survive.

Luz is a Minnesotan through and through - she talks to me how she went from being an unmotivated student to being extremely involved in high school. She was about to return to Mexico for college, when she found out that a Minnesota university would be accepting undocumented students at in-state tuition. From there, she continued hustling through her college years, waiting tables, working factory and office jobs, and now works at a company in a job that she is proud of and enjoys!

Here’s where the interview becomes emotional: Luz describes how the danger her DACA status is in can lead to her losing/ selling the house, and how the gov’t will say goodbye to her mortgage, credit, 401K, ect. that she will take with her.

She talks about the devastation she experienced on November 8th, and how her mother came to get room at 4AM and apologized to her for having brought her to the United States - I started crying on camera when she told me this. (Luz’s mom was also crying off camera in the room next door.)

Luz talks to me about how she hasn’t been an active part of the immigration movement, and how she admires the people that have been fighting for DACA, and how she has benefited from their work: and is determined to step forward and help make her own mark with her voice and her story!

From the middle of musical rehearsals - Welcome Alfredo to The @HendelMedia #ImmigrationReform Project!

A video of Alfredo on Twitter caught my attention - he was speaking passionately at a rally, in a way that was very motivating - so I had to reach out and bring him on!

Alfredo is from Mexico: He talks to me about the opportunities his family was seeking in the US to build a home in Mexico, the language barriers his parents faced, and the challenges of living in apartment complexes with other recent migrants families.

He is a southerner for sure - his drawl and love for southern food are part of who he is!

Alfredo credits the public education system for having the opportunity to succeed, and feels a deep commitment to always give back to the community, which is why at the Day Without Immigrants rally, he spoke directly to the youth in a way he felt they needed to hear. He loved that the video of him speaking received such great reception and ovation from people online that he didn’t know - fulfilling his goal of reaching out to people beyond the choir.

Alfredo uses his story to introduce the reasons why people should learn more about the nation’s evolving immigration policies - and to the people in his undocumented community he has a single message - keep fighting, something he’s taken from his mom and is using every day.

Welcome Berenice- Living in Sweden, from Ohio, originally from Guanajuato, Mexico - and now on The @HendelMedia #Immigration Reform Project!

Stories, on stories, on stories - Berenice has had one hell of a journey, and she shares it all with us!

From her father losing his job in Mexico standing up for his rights, to the three attempts of her family to cross into the United States - one being a The Fast and the Furious car chase, one ending up at a detention center where she saw/experienced the awful conditions, and finally crossing the border after walking for 24 hours, Berenice and her family are a testament to what immigrants will go through for refuge.

Growing up in Ohio, Berenice talks about the importance of Welcoming Centers which helped her adapt, the incredible story of how she ended up at Columbia University in the City of New York after applying as an international student, not knowing what Ivy League schools were, and how when being there, never having revealed her undocumented status, how she was introduced to the NYS Youth Leadership Council by another student - and seeing for the first time how DREAMers were advocating for immigration reform.

When President Obama announced his legislation, she had already prepared to make her decision to work abroad in Europe, which she decided to go through; she expresses her frustration at the administration’s decision to have done it so close to election time.

I talk to her about her experience living in Sweden/ Europe - she gives me an honest assessment of the challenges she’s faced living there, and whether she recommends it as an option during the current political moment, also acknowledging the potential crisis her family may experience in the future due the current political moment.

She was recently on CNN taking Speaker Paul Ryan to task, and now she’s on Immigration MIC!

Angelica from Oklahoma joins me for an interview you don’t want to miss: we discuss her motivations behind becoming active in the immigrant rights movement in 2006, discuss our struggles with mental health, how her ambitions to earn her degree were almost thwarted by anti-immigrant legislation, and her work with disability advocacy, youth soccer coaching, and working with Make A Wish!

She also tells us the story of what she was really thinking at the CNN’s Paul Ryan Townhall - how she felt used by the network by placing her after a tragic story, how Paul Ryan “didn’t answer the damn question”, and tells us what she really wanted to say to him - seeing how such incidents like Guadalupe’s deportation last night shows that he’s going back on his words.

We also discuss how anti-immigrant legislation evolved in Oklahoma, how her daughters have been targeted by blatant acts of racism, but how through it all Angelica is motivated to continue sharing her story, organizing her community, and working to push back against the attacks on the undocumented community.

Stephanie, from Las Vegas is speaking out for the first time, exclusively on my show!

Her family resettled in Nevada after an incident in Mexico where her mother was held up at gunpoint; her family leaving behind their well established lives. She speaks with admiration of her father’s work ethic, no longer working his dream job in accounting, and instead opting to work difficult jobs to provide for the family. Her anecdote about her father’s calloused hands and desire for her to learn English so she wouldn’t struggle with an accent is something poetic to listen to.

She’s a multitalented woman: she learned Japanese, played the cello, and has a fascination with all sorts of insects and reptiles - very unique interests! It was also during this time in high school when she was unable to travel to Japan that she began understanding the ramifications of being undocumented. “That year I spent painting, angrily” - she’s is also an artist inspired by Frida Kahlo.

It took her a lot to step forward to do this interview, having never been involved in activism out of concern for her family’s safety and has decided that ‘enough is enough’ - and listen to her heartfelt anecdote thanking all the immigrant rights activist for all the work that she’s benefitted from - and she’s ready to step up and join the fight. She tells us that there is real fear in Nevada communities - Clark County is setting sanctuaries at schools for immigrants.

Maribel is in the process of the post-production phase of her upcoming film, but she takes the time to let us get to know her road to deciding to put her life on screen!

Ambitious, and resilient, Mexican born, LA- raised Maribel once envisioned herself climbing the ranks of corporate America, but has decided to use her story’s strength to help others in the same position of struggle she finds herself in. She relates the story of how her family decided that they would stay in the U.S - and the ‘magical’ sights she saw when she arrived.

We dive into some heavy topics, including how through experiences in middle school and high school brought on shame of being referred to as not having ideal status, how she planned to move to Washington State to obtain a license, how she wasn’t excited about the announcement about deferred action and how she’s been on ‘survival mode’ since high school.

More topics we cover include real-time bullying of immigrants, her activism for immigration reform since she was 18, even arriving at the office of-then Senator Obama. Also, the anxiety from this past weekend regarding the potential repeal of President Obama's legislation is discussed.

She’s currently working on her second film, a full length look into her recent journey back to Mexico, which she emotionally recounts to me, and describes her ambitions for using her upcoming film to teach in schools and universities!

My guest this week on The @HendelMedia Project was recently on Seriously.TV killing it with the comebacks, welcome Angel!

A fellow LI organizer, born in Peru, in a years time, I’m proud to see his storytelling abilities having developed so much (listen to his take on Glen Cove either being The Wonder Years or Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America.)

Overstaying Angel has faed several challenges within a few years a SCPD routine traffic stop led to the deportation of a family member, and family separation, forcing him to grow up fast.

Hear how he was first introduced to Ani Halasz - how he then became a member of Long Island Immigrant Students Advocates - and became a part of the immigrant rights movement, advocating for the NYS DREAM ACT, to the two incredibly successful conferences he’s helped to organize, and his ambitions with his forthcoming alternative rock band!

He’s looking forward to the future in coalition building of people being affected and targeted by the new presidential administration: he warns that hiding at this time, instead of standing to fight back, will usher in governments in the future that he describes as “even more dangerous.”

She's desi, from Queens, NY: fighting for change at the University of Notre Dame!

From India, a TacoHut aficionado, and a recent immigration reform activist, she's looking to break the misconception about immigration only being a Latinx issue using her story to educate others.

Explaining the moment she found out about deferred action and seeing how people happy were at her mother's grocery store, to moments hiding from potential deportation, to being at the front lines of protests this past semester, Gargi is fully committed to using her passion for the immigration movement!

She schools me on the US's diversity visa lottery, and provides me with an inspiring story of how one of her educators was also in the same situation and the tremendous impact it had on her high school years.