You can do WHAT with seaweed???
What if we let asylum seekers fix our immigration system?
Summary
As the daughter of a Guatemalan immigrant and a Cuban refugee, Conchita Cruz first got involved in immigrants’ rights work to support her own family. Today, she is the co-executive director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), the largest organization of asylum seekers in U.S. history, with over 500,000 members. Supporting people who have fled their home countries in search of safety and protection, ASAP provides resources to help their members navigate the legal system and advocates for a more inclusive country through litigation, policy, and storytelling. “Only an organized collective of asylum seekers has the power to fundamentally re-envision the asylum system and create a more welcoming United States,” Conchita says. “Their voices and stories must be centered in order to bring about transformative systemic change.”
In this episode, Conchita tells Dwayne about her family’s immigrant story and her own journey through law school; what inspired her to start ASAP; and about the change that’s possible when asylum seekers have the chance to tell their own stories. Plus, Dwayne reads a poem he wrote for Conchita.
All episodes
- Listen
- Listen
Want to protect democracy? Hug an election official.
- Listen
The marvelous connections between poetry and medicine
- Listen
The anti-slavery roots of America's public parks
- Listen
If farmworkers pick the food, shouldn’t they get a seat at the table?
- Listen
What the AIDS epidemic taught this nurse about keeping the world healthy
- Listen
Is it possible to build a great school in a prison?
- Listen
You—yes, you—can decide how the government spends money
- Listen
Following the data to a fairer criminal justice system
- Listen
How to teach history in a divided America? Let students think for themselves.
- Listen
Could virtual reality make us better coworkers?
- Listen
Native life is everywhere. Just look around.
- Listen
What’s possible when Black mothers have the financial freedom to dream?
- Listen
How does it feel to be known as a “felon” forever?
- Listen
Young people: here’s how to run for office—and win
- Listen
What you learn when you sail around the world without a compass
- Listen
This profoundly simple act can save the lives of millions of Black women
- Listen
Our buildings are making us sick. Can they heal us instead?
- Listen
How to tell ourselves the truth about the history of slavery