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Bio: Eleazar Castellanos
July 19, 2012
Eleazar Castellanos has lived in Tucson, AZ since 1996. He studied computer programming and technical analysis in Nogales, Sonora, and moved to the U.S. when he completed his studies in order to have more economic opportunities for himself and his now-adult daughter. He works as a day laborer, and has watched his wages fall dramatically as the economic crisis and anti-immigrant climate in Arizona worsen. He watches people in his community be racially profiled by Border Patrol every day, and so, for the last year, he has been a member of a group of day laborers in Tucson organizing to fight for their rights. He says, “I am going on the bus to come out of the shadows, to make the President hear our community’s voice, and so that we can move forward and make all of our lives better. We all deserve jobs with justice and dignity.”
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Bio: Gerardo Torres
July 19, 2012
Gerardo Torres is a self-employed handyman and community health promoter who has lived in Phoenix, AZ for the last 18 years, after staying after the time limit of a tourist visa. He is a member of the Puente Human Rights Movement and 3rdSpace, a group of queer brown migrants working to make their community visible. “I want people to know that the queer undocumented community is also affected by these laws. I want people in my communities to let go of their fear and to learn how to defend their human rights. It is a time for a change in the immigration laws: the status quo is not an option anymore. We have to move because we are in crisis, what is happening is not working anymore.
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Bio: Isela "Chela" Meraz
July 19, 2012
Isela Meraz (Chela) has lived in Phoenix, AZ since 1991. Chela was 8 years old when she came to the US with her parents who wanted a better education and life for their family. She is active in the community, from organizing in the streets, participating in hunger strikes and spiritual fast, to organizing art shows for queer cultura, 3rdSpace, and working with PUENTE. This is Chela’s first time doing a civil disobedience action. “I’m doing this for my parents. For the sacrifice they made bringing me here. To let them know that the obstacle I have encountered are the system’s fault and not theirs. I want people to not be afraid anymore, to know that even though we are undocumented we have rights. We need to tell our stories with pride.”
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Bio: Miguel Guerra
July 19, 2012
Miguel Guerra has lived in Phoenix, AZ, since 1998, with his wife and his three children. He works in construction, and has been a volunteer with the Puente Human Rights Movement since shortly after the passage of SB1070, when the organization helped him recover stolen wages from an employer. That same year, he was racially profiled and pulled over by Phoenix PD for an alleged traffic violation and had his car impounded, because as an undocumented immigrant he cannot get a driver’s license. He says that he is willing to take action and risk deportation for dignity. “We want to come out of the shadows. We want President Obama to see that we are no longer afraid and that that we are demanding that he take action to solve our community’s problems.”
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Bio: Leticia Ramirez
July 19, 2012
Leticia Ramirez lives in Phoenix, AZ. She is a community organizer and health promoter with the Puente Human Rights Movement. She came to the United States in 1994 when she was 9 years old because her father found better work here than he was able to in Mexico. She has three U.S. citizen children, and watches her family and her community experience racial profiling every day. She says, “I am a cake decorator and I can’t even find work doing what I like because I don’t have papers. I want to open the community’s eyes and show them what it looks like to not be afraid, to come out the shadows, and stand united.”
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Bio: Natally Cruz
July 19, 2012
Natally Cruz has made her home in Phoenix, AZ for the last 16 years, since she was seven years old. She has been a part of the Puente Human Rights Movement for over two years, learning and educating others about the rights of undocumented people. Over the same period of time, five members of her family have been harassed or detained by Arpaio and his collaborators. Her main motivation to fight for her community is her 7-year-old son. She says, “We have to come out of the shadows just like the students did: we have to let people know that we are tired of being stepped on. We are not scared anymore. Enough is enough.”
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Bio: Maria Cruz Ramirez
July 19, 2012
Maria Cruz Ramirez arrived in Phoenix, AZ with her three children just a few months before September 11, 2001 to be with her husband. She worked as a stylist in our own salon in Hidalgo, Mexico, and had hoped to have better opportunities for work in the U.S. She has been unable to find work for the last eleven years because she is undocumented. Two of her three children participated in a coming out of the shadows civil disobedience in Phoenix in March. She has been a member of the Arizona Dream Guardians, a group of parents of DREAM Act-eligible youth who fundraised for their children’s educations, and she hopes to start a new parents’ group in the future that is a community defense committee and a way to increase their children’s education opportunities. She says, “Me and my children, we give each other strength, and we struggle together. I’m going on the bus because I want a life with dignity and a just job for myself, for my family, and for my people. I fight for those who come after me.”
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