Justice for All

This year, you helped persuade the Cambridge City Council to keep its status as a "sanctuary" for immigrants, including the undocumented. Is that a symbolic designation?

The Cambridge resolution is about establishing an environment so people can walk into stores, schools, hospitals, and restaurants and not feel that they are being accused of something, that people are suspicious of them. That's not symbolic.

So are experiences like that common?

Recently, one member of our organization called the electric company to have the electricity put on. She was asked if she was legal. It is happening everywhere.

Where is the movement going?

Many of us are focusing on the electoral process. It is a fallacy to think that everyone in our community is undocumented. There are many of us who have been here for a long while and can vote.

What brought you here from El Salvador?

When I was younger, I was a classical pianist. My father felt that for me to continue growing in my art, I needed to go to the US. I came alone. They put me on a plane to LA. All the relatives were there. Thirteen by itself is a time of a lot of change, regardless of where you are. If you add the change of migration, that makes it even more complex. When you are a teen, there is so much angst, drama. It wasn't a piece of cake, but you are resilient, you can adapt. . . . I moved to Boston [a year after college graduation] and got a job at a nonprofit that did family planning. I . . . could actually make a living by doing something good.

You're now executive director of an advocacy group. How did you make that change?

In 1992, I went back to school and got a PhD in public policy from UMass-Boston. While I was there, I found Centro Presente. We do legal services and have English and citizenship classes, but the core of our work is to help bring change in civil society. It has given me so much of what I lost in the process of migration - my history, my roots, being connected with people.

Why is there so much hostility around the immigration issue?

It has something to do with scapegoating: "We are going to divert attention from real issues and tell you, if you are feeling insecure about your job or your economic situation, it's because these people are stealing jobs." And the rhetoric, it's awful: "We are being invaded by millions of criminal aliens!"

But some studies show immigrants taking low-wage jobs away from citizens.

The problem is that the economy is not producing jobs that give people the kind of economic security they had 20 years ago. There is a whole menu of stuff that is creating that anxiety in people. It is much easier to say to them: "There is competition for janitorial services or competition for changing linen at a hotel." Do you really think the problem is about that?

So I'm guessing you despise the term "illegal immigrant"?

Actions are illegal; breaking the law doesn't make you illegal. We don't call people "illegal" who steal or who launder money. There is a real intention in the way words are used to dehumanize, to denigrate a group of people. "Undocumented" is not like the best. But it is better.