Cristina Jiménez’s journey from formerly undocumented immigrant to prestigious 2017 MacArthur Fellowship winner began with a dream. An honors student throughout high school, Jiménez had higher education goals but was warned by an advisor that her immigration status would be a roadblock. Jiménez was devastated, but not deterred.
Upon enrolling at Queens College, Jiménez saw she was not alone after meeting other classmates who were also undocumented. This sparked her activism and put her on the path to co-founding United We Dream, the pivotal force in the people-powered movement to win the DACA program in 2012. Today, UWD has affiliates in 25 states and more than 300,000 members. For Jiménez, the MacArthur Fellowship is the thread that connects her early life to her fight today for all undocumented families.
In a Q&A with Daily Kos, Jiménez discussed her activism, what the MacArthur Fellowship distinction means to her, and what we can do as the Daily Kos community to help ensure undocumented immigrant youth can stay right here, in the only country they’ve ever known as home.
First of all, congratulations! How did you react to the news?
It was unexpected! I saw the call from the MacArthur Foundation while I was in one of our Dream Act campaign calls and thought they were calling to discuss the termination of DACA and ways to support undocumented youth. I couldn’t imagine it would be a call about the Fellowship. I thought to myself, “is this really happening?”
Once they told me, I immediately thought of my parents and their courage to leave everything behind in Ecuador to come to this country seeking a better life for our family.
I also thought of the thousands of immigrant youth and families I have worked with over the last 12 years to empower our community and fight back against policies that criminalize and deport immigrants and people of color. This award is a recognition of the courage, resilience and the strength of my parents, our families and communities. In this current political climate, many young people, particularly people of color and immigrants, are courageously dedicating their life to organize for justice and dignity for all immigrants. I hope seeing a social justice organizer, who is a proud woman of color and a former undocumented immigrant, win this fellowship inspires them. I hope it inspires them to continue the important work to advance justice and dignity for immigrants and people of color.
I want them to know that there is a future in choosing this path. I want to see immigrant youth, who are taking to the streets right now to make sure their voices are heard, win the MacArthur Fellowship in the future.
For folks who may not be familiar with your activism, can you tell us why the fight for justice and dignity for immigrant youth and families has been personal for you?
From the beginning, I have been fighting for my life and for my family. My parents fled poverty and violence in Ecuador to bring me to the U.S. in 1998. They wanted to make sure I would not only survive, but also get a chance to pursue dreams that were not possible in Ecuador.
I firmly believe any parents in that situation would have done the same. We settled in New York City, in a diverse immigrant neighborhood in Queens full of people from Latin America and other parts of the world. That connection to a larger network of immigrants gave my family a certain sense of relief, but our lives were still marked by fear and anxiety.
When it was time for me to register for school, the big question was about which address to use. We used my aunt’s address because she was a legal permanent resident.
Once in school, I didn’t see my own story in the history of the United States I was learning. The declaration of independence I was taught stood in stark contrast to the struggles of my family and my own life as a young teenager. There was no independence for us to declare. No freedom to celebrate.
I didn’t yet have the analysis or concepts to express it, but I knew a lot of what was happening around me and to my parents was wrong and unjust. My dad had called around asking about how to set up a bank account, but he had few wages to deposit. For a while, he wasn’t getting paid at all.
He was working at a car wash but his wages were being stolen by his boss.I went with my dad to help him fight for his back wages. My English was better than his and I could raise my voice of indignation for him. My dad and his co-workers fought together to get the money they were owed.
That’s when it started to become clear to me how comfortable this country is with the exploitation of immigrants. My dad was put in a terrible and unfair position: either let his boss keep mistreating him or lose his job and forfeit his financial ability to support us. There was no good option for him.
As I made my way through high school, I wanted to honor the sacrifice of my parents. I decided the least I can do is go to college and fulfill the dreams they envisioned for me. So when my college advisor initially said I couldn’t pursue higher education, because of my undocumented status, I was shattered and angry. My mom said to me: you can’t give up—you have to figure this out.
I came out as undocumented to my ESL teacher who was also an adviser to the Key Club. She helped me research scholarships for undocumented students, and I was able to enroll at Queens College.
I soon found a large community of other undocumented students, not just at Queens College but at other colleges that are part of the City University of New York system. I discovered that young undocumented immigrants had been pushing for in-state tuition for several years. There had been hunger strikes and a number of campaigns to push for passage of the Dream Act, which had been around since 2001 but had not yet passed.
My own individual experience and perspective began to expand as I started organizing other undocumented college students. The idea for United We Dream emerged after seeing the Dream Act get sidelined in Congress and realizing a new strategy was needed.
The legislative process was defining what immigrant youth could do and it was limiting us. It was time to lead with our stories and our power as directly impacted young people who are advancing real solutions.
We made it clear that we would not politicians play with our lives or define the terms and conditions of debate. We were going to take control.
From what I understand, the MacArthur Foundation considers very few people each year for this distinction. What does it mean to you to have been selected?
For me, this award illustrates the resilience and strength of my parents and all the immigrants who have made America their home. To receive a Fellowship at this moment in our country is also poignant for me and the work of United We Dream. Our immigrant community, our families are under attack.
There are those in power who want to deport my family. I ask the country to see me, see my brother, my parents, and the generations of immigrants who’ve come before. This recognition symbolizes the pathways we take to survive and thrive. I hope that it inspires Americans of all backgrounds to stand up to racism and urge our lawmakers to pass a clean Dream Act immediately.
Would you like to share any plans you have for the grant you’ve been awarded by the MacArthur Foundation?
I will use the grant to drive the vision I have been building and cultivating with United We Dream, a vision of change, of dignity and culture. We want to cultivate a country where immigrants and people of color can thrive and live without fear. A country where my parents and my brother, who is a DACA beneficiary, can be treated with dignity. A country where young people are transforming communities locally and nationally. To do that, we must invest in young people, in people of color and in immigrant youth.
This is a battle that our nation’s immigrant families should not have to fight alone. It is incumbent upon all who believe in the American Dream and call themselves immigrant rights allies to stand in solidarity with undocumented communities. Together, we must ensure that immigrants and their families have the right to live their lives in dignity, in peace, and with justice. Many in the Daily Kos community have asked about how exactly they can help, so I wanted to conclude our Q&A by asking Jiménez how we can be most effective as allies.
“We cannot have people be spectators anymore, not during a time when our communities and way of life are under attack,” she said. “If you’re a person of conscience, if you’re an undocumented youth yourself, or know someone who is, take to the streets to demand Congress pass a clean Dream Act. There is a real urgency to pass the Dream Act by December. Immigrant youth can’t afford to wait any longer. Each day that passes in one more immigrant youth that loses their DACA protections, and it's one more day where their livelihood is threatened and they become prey for Trump’s mass deportation agents.”
She continued: “We need immigrant youth, we need our allies and all people of conscience to reject the idea that we must hurt and risk the lives of the rest of the immigrant community in order to protect immigrant youth. In Washington D.C. and across the country, we will be hosting Operation Dream Act Now on November 9. Text ‘Dream Act Now’ to 877-877 to get updates on the action and learn how you can join.”