{"id":25286,"date":"2025-06-29T19:51:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T19:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/25286\/"},"modified":"2025-06-29T19:51:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T19:51:10","slug":"his-parents-taught-him-to-speak-out-and-take-action-when-he-saw-injustice-hes-spent-more-than-20-years-advocating-for-immigrant-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/25286\/","title":{"rendered":"His parents taught him to \u2018speak out\u2019 and \u2018take action\u2019 when he saw injustice. He\u2019s spent more than 20 years advocating for immigrant rights."},"content":{"rendered":"

Pedro Rios was a student at the University of San Diego in the 1990s when Californians voted in favor of Proposition 187<\/a>, a ballot measure denying access to public services, including public education and health care, to anyone \u201csuspected\u201d of being undocumented. The bill also instructed people in public service positions (teachers, medical professionals) to report anyone \u201csuspected\u201d of being undocumented.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time, I was concerned about the implications this would have on friends, family, or people generally. I started looking into what organizations were doing and how to get involved. It was at that moment that I became involved in a student group called M.E.Ch.A.,\u201d he says of Movimiento Estudiantil de Chicanos\/Chicanas de Aztlan, a student-based Chicano organization formed in the late 1960s. Joining the organization allowed him to participate in the work against the legislation, which he says represented the power of the anti-immigration movement at the time (although the proposition passed in a vote of nearly 59% to 41%<\/a>, it was later ruled unconstitutional in the court system). \u201cSo, my interest in immigrant rights issues became a personal interest and also a political interest, and it was at that moment that I decided that I would work on immigrant rights issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Due to his decades of work and commitment in organizing educational workshops, analyzing border-related legislation, advocating on immigration cases, and coordinating support and resources for immigrants, he\u2019s been recognized as one of two recipients of this year\u2019s Nancy Jamison Fund for Social Justice Award<\/a>. Jamison was president and CEO of Catalyst of San Diego and Imperial Counties (formerly known as San Diego Grantmakers), a collective of organizations, businesses, and individuals connected with groups and programs focused on social change; she died in 2021. Rios, along with fellow recipient Ramah Awad, executive director of Majdal Arab Community Center of San Diego<\/a>, will each receive an unrestricted $50,000 grant to advance their work.<\/p>\n

Rios is the director of the U.S.-Mexico Border Program at the American Friends Service Committee<\/a>, working on advocacy, human rights, documenting civil rights abuses, and allying with other organizations for more than 20 years. He took some time to talk about his work, particularly with the more recent protests and detainments around immigration, and the history of advocacy he carries with him. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity. )<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0<\/strong>Considering your work with migrant communities and around immigration policy, I just want to take a moment to check in with you on how you\u2019re doing right now as you deal with the onslaught of detainments, raids and protests.<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> Yeah, it\u2019s been incredibly busy and taxing, both on the amount of work that I have and that my colleagues have, and the amount of emotional expense, I would say, also takes a toll. My phone sometimes doesn\u2019t stop beeping or ringing because of people that want to check in about whether something that they\u2019ve observed or heard from somewhere is an immigration enforcement operation, or there\u2019s someone that\u2019s reaching out because they were a victim of an ICE raid and they want to know about legal resources that might be available to them.<\/p>\n

Just this morning, for instance, there were two requests to document incidents where there might have been immigration raids \u2014 one in North Park and one in Oceanside. Two other people called about wanting to volunteer for immigration court support. So, it\u2019s nonstop, in that sense, in terms of the amount of activity that is taking place and the volume. Our work has just increased tremendously.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0<\/strong>Where did your interest in, and commitment to, this kind of work begin? What first created that spark in you to pursue making the world more equitable and just?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>I would say that I had good role models in my parents. Even though the type of work did differ in terms of how they did their altruistic work \u2014 they were much more connected to the Catholic church and their work tended to revolve more around charity, but that\u2019s not to minimize the importance of the work that they did at any level \u2014 they provided an example of when there is an injustice, then one has a responsibility to speak out. When someone is being harmed, and if one has the ability to say something, then one must take action. That\u2019s what my parents cemented in me as a child.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0<\/strong>Your bio says that you are \u201ca steering committee member and board member of several organizations that advocate for humane and dignified policies for the Southern Border.\u201d In thinking about the policies and responses currently happening at U.S. borders right now, what would humane and dignified border policies ideally look like, from your point of view?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>There would have to be a commitment from policymakers to begin a departure from the policies that seek to further militarize border communities and to seek to obliterate basic protections for people that are seeking safety from harm. What I mean by that is that a lot of people, when they talk about immigration reform, they point to President Reagan and the amnesty bill that he signed (the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986<\/a>, penalizing employers who knowingly hired undocumented immigrants and offering permanent residence to qualified applicants, leading to \u201can estimated 3 million individuals-mostly of Hispanic descent-gained legal status through IRCA\u201d) and that there hasn\u2019t been any sort of immigration reform since then. I beg to differ because I would say that there has been reform, but it\u2019s been toward militarizing communities. It\u2019s been toward slowly reversing the protections that migrants have, the ability for state agencies to not have to abide by constitutional protections of people with whom they are in contact. For me, to begin having dignified policies around border and immigration, there would have to be a commitment from state actors that human rights need to be a priority in how policies are developed. There has to be a responsibility to take action when humanitarian needs are not being met, and protection of constitutional rights and civil liberties need to be at the front end of any policy making that Congress, for instance, would be considering around immigration reform.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0<\/strong>What is it about this kind of work-documenting human rights violations, advocating for policy change-that has continued to resonate with you over the years?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>I believe that immigrants and refugees and asylum seekers are in a much more vulnerable relationship with the state. When the state, elected officials, or politicians start a campaign to target them for political purposes or for political expediency, it\u2019s a cowardly thing to do, especially when they know that many people who are in that horrible state do not necessarily have the mechanisms or the resources to push back in a way that would ensure that their rights and their dignity are not being violated at the same time.<\/p>\n

On a much more personal level, my parents migrated to the United States. My paternal grandparents were born in Los Angeles, but during the 1930s, during the (Mexican repatriation<\/a> in which government agencies and private entities \u201cundertook an aggressive program to forcibly remove persons of Mexican ancestry from the United States,\u201d including American citizens and legal residents), even though they were U.S. citizens, they were deported to Mexico. It\u2019s this lived experience, both what I was seeing on a contemporary level, and continue to see, but also on a historic and a personal level, based on what happened to my family, I felt a commitment and a responsibility to use the resources that I\u2019ve had, the skills that I\u2019ve learned over the course of time, to work in the immigrant rights arena in whatever capacity I was able to. Again, I\u2019ve been extremely fortunate that my professional career has been in that field and I\u2019m able to meld together my passion for working around immigrant rights and human rights, and being able to do it with organizations that I believe have a really good set of principles about why they do the work that they do.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0<\/strong>Congratulations on receiving a 2025 Nancy Jamison Fund for Social Justice Award. What does it mean to you to be recognized for your work in this way?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>It means a lot. On the one hand, I always want to acknowledge that the work I do is never done as an individual. There are a lot of processes of consultation work that I do with my colleagues with whom I work at the San Diego program, together with all the other people in other organizations where we do this work jointly and in coalition. It\u2019s important to acknowledge that it\u2019s never the work of a single individual. On the other hand, though, I do feel honored and privileged and humbled that I would be recognized for what I think has become a legacy of doing this work since the mid-\u201990s; never for the purpose of gaining recognition, but because there is real harm that people are experiencing when bad policies are put in place. My hope is that I can continue doing this work for as long as I\u2019m able to, knowing that I\u2019m closer now to retirement than what I might have been 20 years ago, but still (doing this work) with enough passion and within this political context, even more committed to moving forward with work that honors and values human life, especially those that are in extremely vulnerable circumstances because they lack a specific immigration status.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0<\/strong>What are your plans for the $50,000?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, I do have some plans for them. I intend to use part of it for a sabbatical, probably next year. I am due a sabbatical, and it\u2019s always easier to take time off when one can have some bit of funding to pay for a trip somewhere. I also do a lot of photography. A lot of my photos are showcased in different places. In fact, the U-T had an article (on June 8) where they used one of my photos<\/a>. So, I need to upgrade my camera equipment.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0<\/strong>What\u2019s been challenging about your work in the realm of social justice?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>What\u2019s extremely challenging, for me, is to see that few changes have occurred that are positive. When I think of Martin Luther King\u2019s quote<\/a> about (\u201cthe arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,\u201d) I don\u2019t always see that arc moving in that direction, especially in our current context. It seems that we are, as a society and even globally, that the movement is toward harsher, regressive policies that will exacerbate human suffering, and that is very frustrating for me.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0<\/strong>What\u2019s been rewarding about it?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>I really find it rewarding to work with people and develop relationships with people who also become my teachers. They instruct me about life, they teach me about being resilient and about being able to persevere, in spite of so many challenges. That also then teaches me about privilege and the privilege I have as a person with U.S. citizenship status. It\u2019s rewarding, almost on a selfish level, but also on a more human level, that in spite of these artificial designations about who belongs and who doesn\u2019t belong and who merits belonging to a nation state, that, ultimately, it\u2019s human-to-human relationships that we develop that matter most about why we should take stances that defend our neighbors, that uphold the basic rights of those that are making impossible journeys to save their lives and save the lives of their children. It\u2019s rewarding for me to understand and comprehend that people\u2019s willingness to survive is greater than the destruction that other people that are not well-intentioned seek to do, especially when there is a power imbalance involved.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> What has this work taught you about yourself?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>I guess I can say that my work has taught me how to be a much more patient person, and the importance of being compassionate toward people who might hold opposing viewpoints. I guess that\u2019s what it\u2019s about, the ability to be compassionate when it\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: June 29, 2025 at 6:00 AM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pedro Rios was a student at the University of San Diego in the 1990s when Californians voted in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1073,1370,728,50,3546,3549,3550,7264,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-25286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-columns","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-people","16":"tag-san-diego","17":"tag-san-diego-county","18":"tag-sandiego","19":"tag-top-stories-sdut","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114768398613450505","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}