Undocumented and Unafraid: Student Advocates Speak Out for Immigration Reform

This episode of the Voices for Human Needs podcast features a panel discussion with young organizers and student advocates from the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC), in addition to the Korean Resource Center (KRC), based in Los Angeles, California. On September 21, 2021, thousands of immigration advocates from across the country marched in Washington D.C. to welcome Congress back from their August recess at the “Welcome Back Congress – March for Citizenship, Care, and Climate.” This group of organizers, all of whom are DACA recipients and/or undocumented, discuss how they found the confidence to become more involved in the movement for immigration reform and securing a pathway to citizenship for themselves, and other undocumented communities. 

Matthew Hernandez (KRC), Ferny Estrada (KRC), Hyunja Norman (Woori Juntos), and Hwangchan Yu (Hana Center) share more about the strength in intersectional organizing and making sure that all immigrant communities are represented in advocacy campaigns to finally secure a pathway to citizenship and permanent protections for undocumented immigrants. Rachel Koelzer, the Communications Manager at NAKASEC, also joins us and speaks to the benefits that a pathway to citizenship would have for the Asian immigrant community, specifically in being able to respond to increased incidents of hate and violence.

Read more about this episode’s topic, and actions you can take now, at the Voices for Human Needs Blog's Episode Summary: https://www.chn.org/voices/episode-6-student-advocates-immigration-reform/

Learn more about our other episodes and actions to take on ongoing policy and advocacy campaigns at: http://bit.ly/voices4humanneeds.

If you have any questions or comments regarding today’s topic or suggestions for future episodes, please go to https://anchor.fm/voices-for-human-needs/message and record a message. Your voice may then be included in the next Voices for Human Needs Podcast!

The full transcript of this podcast episode is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EPefi7Wh4ggYAfyvMC929qXJ5dsTWlUJ/view?usp=sharing

To learn more about the work being done by our speakers and the organizations mentioned in this episode, please see below:

Take action with the #WeAreHome campaign: https://www.wearehome.us/.

Rachel Koelzer, National Korean American Service and Education Consortium: https://nakasec.org/

Matthew Hernandez and Ferny Estrada, The Korean Resource Center in Los Angeles: https://www.krcla.org/

Hyunja Norman, Woori Juntos Pennsylvania: https://wooricenterpa.org/

Hwangchan Yu, Hana Center in Chicago, Illinois: https://hanacenter.org/

This podcast is produced by the Coalition on Human Needs: https://www.chn.org/.