Mayra Hidalgo Salazar
Originally from Naranjo, Alajuela, Costa Rica, Mayra immigrated to the United States with her family when she was 6 months old. She is undocumented and has dedicated her life to the immigrant movement in Florida. She lives in Lakeland, Florida where she is an organizer for Students Working for Equal Rights (SWER), a grassroots organization founded by undocumented immigrant youth in Florida, and serves of the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) and United We DREAM (UWD) Board of Directors. She helped start an immigration legal clinic in her community that offers free legal immigration consultation to low-income immigrants and currently serves as the Clinic Coordinator. She also serves as the Migrant Scholar Advocate for Scaffold the Scholar, a professional development initiative for former farm-worker women working in early childhood in Florida’s migrant communities and is a member of the Polk County School Board Diversity Council. She was a project manager for the Trail of Dreams campaign in 2010, a 1,500 walk from Miami, FL to Washington, D.C. demanding that President Obama stop the deportation of undocumented students. Currently a student at Polk State College, she aspires to earn a law degree specializing in immigration law so she can continue to serve the community that taught her to persevere against all odds.
Marisol Valero
Marisol received her Bachelor’s Degree in Public Relations in 2008 from the University of Houston. A year prior to her graduation, she became an integral part of Campos Communications, Houston’s leading Latino political consulting firm. Through her college years and her work at Campos Communications, Marisol has proved to be an active advocate of the Latino Community. In 2009, she was instrumental in putting together the first Houston Area Latino Summit, which brought elected and appointed officials, business and professional organizations, civil rights, immigration and education groups, non-profits, and community activists together for the purpose of advancing the Latino Community. Since then, there have been two summits, including a Mayoral Debate and a summit focusing on Immigration Reform.
In 2010, as a member of the board for Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha (F.I.E.L.), Marisol helped to promote and create Houston’s annual “We Have A DREAM Summit,” which consistently hosts over 200 immigrant youth in an effort to expose them to higher education opportunities in the state of Texas. During her 2011 tenure as part of the National Coordinating Committee of the United We Dream Network, Marisol helped form a statewide coalition of DREAM youth and was a vital representative of all undocumented youth in the state of Texas within the committee.
Most recently, Marisol was selected to lead United We Dream’s largest event, the “United We DREAM 3rd National Congress” held in Dallas, Texas, which hosted over 400 undocumented youth from 30 different states. As a DREAMer herself, Marisol is an avid promoter of education for everyone and is devoted to the undocumented youth movement.
Isabel Vargas
Originally from Bonao, Dominican Republic. Isabel immigrated to the United States at the age of 8 with her family. She is now a sophomore at Salem State University where she is pursuing a B.A in Political Science and Latin American Studies. Isabel has been a member of the Student Immigrant Movement(SIM) a youth led organization in Boston that fights for the rights of immigrant students. She got involved with SIM at the age of 16 after she graduated from high school and noticed all the injustices that were facing her.
Isabel is now one of the organizers of the Student Immigrant Movement. She hopes to attend law school and become an immigration attorney in her future.
Erika Andiola
Erika is originally from Durango, Mexico but immigrated to Mesa, Arizona when she was 11 years old together with her family. She graduated from Arizona State University in 2009 with a B.A. in Psychology. Erika is one of the co-founders of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition (ADAC), which is an umbrella organization of groups and individuals across the state of Arizona who are interested in fighting for the welfare of immigrant students. Erika was voted to be the first President and lead organizer of the coalition where she had the opportunity to help mobilize hundreds of students to fight for the passage of the DREAM Act legislation. Erika is also part of Cadena, which is a group of educators and students whose main purpose is to protect undocumented students from deportation and to promote the passage of the DREAM Act in Arizona.
Erika is also a member of the National Coordinating Committee.
Ada Fuentes
Originally from Siguatepegue, Comayagua Honduras, Ada immigrated to the United States with her Mother when she was 8 months old. She currently lives in Boston, Mass where she is a Leader of The Student Immigrant Movement and a member of the National Coordinating Committee.
Ada, First became involved in the Student Immigrant movement in 2007 when she was faced with losing her status as a Junior in High School. The Student Immigrant Movement is one of the only Immigrant youth Led organizations in Massachusetts that believes in the development and empowerment of Undocumented youth to fully become engaged in all aspects of their lives. Ada also serves as a board member for the United we DREAM Network.
Ada’s future goal is to continue her work with-in the Immigrants rights movement and the broader Social Justice Movement long after relief is brought to DREAMers. Ada, will be attending Community college this fall to finish her associates in Liberal arts in hope of getting her Bachelors in Ethnic Studies.
Ada is also a member of the National Coordinating Committee.
Walter Barrientos
Originally from Guatemala, Walter has lived in the United States since the age of 11. Walter attended Baruch College (CUNY), where he obtained a BBA in Industrial Organizational Psychology, minoring in Communications. Currently, Walter is a full-time graduate student at the School of Public of Affairs, Baruch College.
Walter joined the immigrant rights movement in April of 2004. His work has focused on developing immigrant youth leadership and creating the organizational infrastructure where immigrant youth and their allies can galvanize their power and influence for progressive immigration and education policies. Walter serves on the founding board and governance committee of the United We Dream Network, a national network lead by immigrant youth working to pass the DREAM Act and Immigration Reform. Walter co-founded the New York State Youth Leadership Council (NYSYLC) and served as a core member for four years.
Josh Bernstein
SEIU Immigration Director
Mr. Bernstein is responsible for directing, developing and leading the Union’s activities to build power for its immigrant members and their families through national lobbying, grass roots activism, and internal capacity building. Mr. Bernstein joined SEIU’s staff in January of 2009, after more than 14 years at the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), where he most recently served as Director of Federal Policy. At NILC, he was a trusted national leader on immigration reform and immigrant worker rights issues.
Before joining NILC, he served as a judicial clerk to the Hon. Harry Pregerson of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. His organizing and advocacy on behalf of low-income workers dates back to 1982, when he was Director of Californians for a Fair Share, a grass roots statewide coalition of low-income families and their allies that was formed to combat welfare cuts. He subsequently served as a welfare advocate for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and the Inner City Law Center, a Los Angeles skid row legal clinic, providing direct services to homeless families and coordinating a coalition pressing for improved city and county services. Mr. Bernstein holds a Juris Doctor from the University of California (Boalt Hall).
Cesar Vargas
Cesar Vargas is a nationally recognized leader and innovator at the forefront of the groundbreaking DREAM Act movement. Cesar brings a unique and varied government and political background that extends to the three branches of our government including experience in Congress, Kings County’s District Attorney Office, and the New York State Supreme Court. However, the opportunity to work with exceptional political and community activists is what brings real vigor to his experience. Cesar graduated with honors from the philosophy program at St. Francis College. A recent magna cum laude law school graduate, Cesar Vargas, quickly learned that his commitment to serve his community reaches far beyond the courtroom. From Brooklyn to Washington D.C, he has actively been involved in the fight for the DREAM Act. In fact, he was one of the leading advocate during the 2010 lame duck session to push for the DREAM Act. Cesar was also the original drafter and advocate of a novel piece of legislation in New York State.
Jorge Gutierrez
Jorge Gutierrez is Queer, Undocumented and Unafraid. He was born in El Cora, Nayarit, Mexico and immigrated to California at the age of 10. Jorge received his B.A. in English from California State University, Fullerton in 2008. He is part of the Orange County DREAM Team and it was in this organizing space that Jorge was politicized and empowered to participate in a hunger strike and a civil disobedience action in DC. Also, Jorge helped to create DeColores Queer Orange County in order to create intentional spaces for Queer and Undocumented immigrant youth. He understands the importance of making our dream movement inclusive in order to empower Queer Undocumented youth across the nation.
Jorge is also a member of the National Coordinating Committee.
Erin Howard
Since 2005, Erin Howard has served as the Latino Outreach and Services Coordinator for Bluegrass Community and Technical College. She earned a Master’s of Arts in Spanish from the University of Tennessee and completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish from Tennessee Technological University. Erin also studied at la Universidad Nacional Autónoma in Costa Rica.
The Latino Outreach Office at BCTC provides educational outreach programs; college admissions, scholarship, and financial aid support; and student support services and leadership development including academic advising, career counseling and activities via the Kentucky Dream Coalition and other university or community groups. Exemplary programs include the Latino/Multicultural College Fair that to date has served 4,000 youth and the Latino Leadership and College Experience Camp that boasts at 79% college going rate among past participants. These programs provide meaningful and relevant spaces for Latino and immigrant youth to explore their educational opportunities.
Under Erin’s leadership, The Latino Outreach Program has been recognized nationally by Excelencia in Education as an Example of Excelencia Finalist in 2006 and in a 2010 publication of the College Board titled, “The Financial Aid Challenge: Successful Practices that Address the Underutilization of Financial Aid at Community Colleges.” In addition, BCTC is a member of the Blue Ribbon panel for the Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education and was recently awarded a Lumina Foundation for Education Latino Student Success grant.
Erin has been an advocate for the DREAM Act since 2003 and has worked hard to maintain Kentucky’s current in-state tuition policy allowing undocumented youth who graduate from KY high school’s access to the state’s public colleges and universities. In 2006, Erin worked with the Migrant Network Coalition to create the “Achieving DREAMS Scholarship” for youth who do not qualify for federal financial aid. Along with Dream youth, Alexis Meza, Erin co-created the Kentucky Dream Coalition (KDC).
Kevin Kang
Kevin Kang started his activism for immigrant rights at the age of 15 in the MinKwon Center for Community Action, a local Korean American community organization based in Flushing, NY. For the past 8 years, Kevin has been an ardent advocate and organizer around immigrant youth issues in the NYC Asian American community. For the past 4 years, Kevin founded and directed the MinKwon Center’s Youth Empowerment Project, a program that trains dozens of Asian American youth per year to become organizers around immigrant youth education and economic justice issues. He is currently serves the Program Associate at the MinKwon Center. Mr. Kang is an undergraduate at CUNY Queens College double majoring in Political Science and Economics.
Carlos Alfonso Amador
Carlos Amador emigrated with his family from Mexico in 1999 at the age of 14. He has lived in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant until recently when he received conditional permanent residency. Carlos has been active in the undocumented immigrant youth movement in California and nationally since 2006. He co-founded the Alliance of Students for an Equal Education at California State University, Fullerton. He was also an active member of the Orange County DREAM Team where he helped build the foundation for the California Dream Act campaign. Presently, he is a member of Dream Team Los Angeles, an organization which was instrumental in the passage of the California Dream Act of 2011. He has participated in national actions to pass the federal DREAM Act and stopping deportations of undocumented youth as well as fighting against anti-immigrant legislations like Secure Communities and 287(g). Carlos recently graduated from UCLA with a Masters of Social Welfare, where he was honored with the Outstanding Student of the Year award. As the project coordinator of the Dream Resource Center at the UCLA Labor Center, Carlos coordinates leadership development, policy research and education programs that affect undocumented immigrant youth across the country. Carlos recently got elected to the board of the United We Dream Network, the largest network of undocumented immigrant students. Carlos and his wife live in Los Angeles, California.
Sofia Campos
Sofia Campos was born in Peru in 1989 and came with her family to the United States in 1996. This June, Sofia will graduate from UCLA with Bachelors Degrees in International Development Studies and Political Science. As a student, she was a teaching assistant with the Labor and Workplace Studies Minor Program, was a Resident Advisor for the Hispanic Youth Institute, and taught UCLA’s first “Undocumented Student Experience” seminar. Sofia was also co-chair of Improving Dreams, Equality, Access and Success (IDEAS) at UCLA from 2010-2011, and helped host its largest annual Immigrant Youth Empowerment Conference to over 1,000 immigrant youth, families, and academic counselors.
She is a Young People For (YP4) Fellow and has interned with various labor unions, the University Religious Conference, and the UCLA Labor Center. Sofia cares deeply about the empowerment of our communities, and is committed to helping cultivate the immigrant youth movement.