 Welcome to the Valley Advocate Podcast, featuring interviews that take us deeper into the people and happenings on the local scene. For more podcasts and a closer look at what's going on in the valley, visit us at valleyadvocate.com. Hi, this is Dave Eisencettar. I am the editor of the Valley Advocate, and this is the Valley Advocate Podcast. I'm here with arts culture editor Gina Beavers. And we're here with Eduardo Semeniego. He is a youth worker and advocate for immigrant rights and workers rights here in Northampton. There we go. Okay. Yeah. Could have done that. Yeah. Well, okay. Good. Good. Good. Yeah. I'm so glad to be here. We are very happy to have you. Yeah. So much going on around this now. I mean, I think, so we're recording this on a specific day. It's going to come out in a different day. But I think one of these hard line immigration bills just went down in flames in the U.S. House. Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow and the next day. But all along, you've been kind of organizing here at the community and state level, trying to get people knowledgeable and interested and riled up about this topic. And maybe you could talk a little bit about how that's been going. Yeah. No, absolutely. Well, first of all, thank you for having me again. I'm so happy to be with you guys. And this is an incredible service so necessary to inform our community. Well, right now, the Worker Center is invested in a couple projects. One of them is our latest campaign for the four provisions that would ensure that immigrants in Massachusetts have the most basic rights to do process in our state. So that fight has been going on over the past few months here in our state. And so that's what my work has been part of. I've been able to organize about a couple hundred of students, community members and advocates from the pattern of value to come with us to the Boston State House or to the Massachusetts State House and urge our Speaker de Lille to take action and protect families here in our state. Because as much as, yes, there is a crisis at the border, there is also a crisis here in our homes. And it's not only such as Lucio Perez's family, you know, they've been separated for the past eight months. He's been living in this church. He doesn't have the opportunity to... In Amherst. Yeah, in Amherst, yes. And he doesn't have the opportunity to, you know, kids or children, his children good night to wake them up in the morning to drop them off at school. They're also separated. And so these four provisions at the hands of Speaker de Lille would ensure that immigrants such as Lucio, you know, when they're stopped by any routine, you know, checkpoint or, you know, even if they skip a stop sign and, you know, you know, the police officers in our state should not be invested in asking people about their immigration status. Their job is to make that our community is safe. And what are... So you said there's four things. What are they? Yes. So it basically, you know, the four provisions say a couple of things. One is that local police will no longer work with federal authorities. So all 287G contracts will be terminated in the state of Massachusetts. We know that the federal government too often uses this 287G contract to deputize local police members as very much, you know, part of ICE. And, you know, they are there in our communities looking for families to take. And so we want that to end. We also want our local police officers to not have the opportunity because it's not at all necessary to ask people about their immigration status for any reason. Third, we want to make sure that when immigrants are detained, they are read their rights and that they know they're informed that they have the right to have a lawyer when they speak with anyone from immigration. That's something that is not afforded to immigrants in our state today and that's something that these four provisions would do. As well as a couple of other things, for example, what the fourth would be very much a no registries for, you know, in terms of, you know, people's religion or race or gender nationality. We should not use people's information. We should not use people's information, you know, to go after them in our state. So that's what those provisions would do. It's super easy. Most basic things. This is a compromise that we really don't want because it's not enough. But it would be a start. And so we're pushing for that. Let me clarify something. Did you say the Miranda rights? So it's basically that when immigrants go into a detention center, an immigration officer can just come and ask them questions. And they're not told that they can have a lawyer with them before that happens. And so, you know, as we know for immigrants, because really they haven't committed any crime, you know, we, you know, when they come here, they're not really going through the criminal justice system. They're going through the immigration courts. And so in that case, they're not afforded a lawyer just like anyone else, you know, US citizen would. And so we want to at least in our state, you know, be able to tell them, you know, you can request a lawyer if you want to in order for us to ask you these questions, you know. And how and how is that going? I mean, how are you doing in enacting those four provisions, getting that getting that over the line? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, to be completely honest, I am incredibly disappointed in our elected officials. I have lived in a ruby red state, the state of Georgia before where Republicans controlled the three houses of government. And they obviously go after immigrants. But then I come here to the state of Massachusetts, where at one point we've had the three houses of government controlled by all Democrat representatives. And we have absolutely zero to show for, you know, in terms of immigrant rights here in our states. And so we're doing the best we can. Yesterday, we saw thousands of people pouring into the Capitol. We know that people are angry. People are frustrated with our elected officials. And yes, there are some of those who have come out and who have, you know, stated clearly that they do not stand with Trump, that they do not stand with Governor Charlie Baker and that they want every Massachusetts family to be protected. And yesterday, I saw the state of Massachusetts come out as I never seen it before. And I'm excited because for the first time, since I've been here in Massachusetts, I was shocked to see, you know, how people are so moved and so touched to go out there and knock on the doors of Speaker DeLio to demand that he protects families here. So tell us your story, Eduardo. Yeah. And you're an undocumented immigrant yourself. Yeah. Yes, I am. I came here when I was 16 years old. And, you know, for different reasons, I eventually lost my status. My family, you know, has never been here in the United States. What country? I came originally from Mexico to the state of Georgia. And, you know, I worked hard. I went to high school there in the state of Georgia. That's where I learned English. I was taken in by a pastor from the church in Kenesah, where I lived, you know, Pastor Agustin Vega. And he supported me through my life of high school. I eventually ended up graduating as a student body president of my high school, president of junior achievement, president of Hispanic honor society. But when I was finally ready to go to college, you know, I walk into my counselor's office and I have my application on hand to send to the University of Georgia. And I left that office of my advisor with tears in my eyes and just my dreams just shattered. Because that's when I found out for the first time that I actually didn't have a social security number. You didn't know? I didn't know, no. And she told me that, you know, the Georgia Board of Regents had just passed a new policy three months ago in 2010 and basically prohibiting everyone in the state of Georgia who doesn't have a social security number from even applying to the top five colleges in the state of Georgia. These are the same five colleges that during the 1960s prohibited even African Americans from applying to these same five colleges. So we are seeing history repeating in different ways and affecting our communities. I eventually, yes, was able to come here with a full red scholarship to Hampshire College because of so many people working together. But, you know, it's not enough. And so my work, you know, that's my work, you know, ensuring that we're pushing for access to education for people of color, that we are pushing for protections for immigrant families and that we make Massachusetts a more welcoming state for everyone. And you've also been working on an immigrant bill of rights in addition to the four provisions you were talking about before in terms of getting driver's licenses and in-state tuition. How's that going? And what kind of support or opposition have you perceived on those ideas? So I would say that before this, the latest fight that we were having in the nation was the DREAM Act. They pushed for the DREAM Act. And we know that from Massachusetts, we were able to turn out people from here to Washington, D.C., to New Hampshire to also support our neighbors in their states pushing their senators to support the DREAM Act. And so we know that the overwhelming majority of people support the DREAM Act, but at the moment, the Senate is controlled by Republicans and the House is controlled by Republicans and they have not been able to come to the table in compromise with just common sense measures. We have at the table people like Stephen Miller before it was Steve Banner. Yeah, Stephen Miller is one of the White House policy advisors who's a very hard line immigration kind of anti-immigration policy advisor. Well, we could call it an anti-immigrant white supremacist. That's why he is. And I think that there is no doubt about that. There has been so much context to his anti-immigrant stances since he went to UC Berkeley in California. And so in so many of his speeches, Stephen Miller, in stages in front of thousands of people would make fun of the people cleaning the college. He would request insane things, such as he would throw the trash right next to them and he would ask them to pick it up. So this dude is now running our immigration apparatus in the United States. And this is exactly why we're in this mess right now because of Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and Secretary Nielsen. Mm-hmm. Yes. It's a trifecta right there. It really is. But even in the state of Massachusetts, aren't there some things that our own state legislature could do to counteract what's going on at the federal level? So yes, I think that this is the opportunity that we have at the table right now where the Senate has already adopted these four provisions in their final budget proposal. Now, this budget from the Senate has to be conciliated with the House of Representatives. And so right now, they're debating it in the conference committee where senators and representatives write the final budget bill that they will send to Governor Baker, and the House representatives are holding hostage these four provisions. The Senate has already approved them, but representatives, House representatives, led by Speaker DeLio, have not come out to support these provisions. I don't know what we need to do to come to the point where they see that Massachusetts is in a whole different place and that they are stalling progress in our state, whether it is on criminal justice reform, whether it is on the minimum wage, whether it is on protections for immigrants. Those who fall dies in our state will say that, yes, we are continuing the progress that we've had for the past 30 years in Massachusetts. But as someone who is out there engaged with different communities, we know that that's not true. Our state is stalled, it's stuck, and we need to get out of there. And now is the time for our speaker and for our legislature to do the right thing and stand up to Trump by passing these four provisions in our state. I'd love to know what you make of the additional attention that this family separation policy has had. I mean, I think that for a long time, immigration has been an issue that people have thought about. But I think that the recent uproar we've seen has been a whole new level. And I wonder what it's been like for you to kind of observe that and what your thoughts are about that. Oh, yes, I have so many thoughts. OK, bring it on. What are they? I mean, this is one of the most horrendous images I could have imagined in my head. And to see children being separated from their mothers as young and three, four, five months old, being ripped away from a mother's arm, to be put in cages, to be able to have to be taken. These kids are being taken care. But other children of other immigrants, imagine that image, how this dressing, the cries, the calls for their mommies and their dads. This is the most horrendous thing that we could be having in our country right now. And one of the things that I take a bit of frustration with is with people saying things such as, and I quote, this is not the country I know. This is not America, because this is us. And we have seen it before. We have seen it. We have seen it when we took away the children of indigenous people. We have seen it when we took away the children of black slaves in our country. We have seen it when we had the internment camps in the 1930s. We have seen this before. And these images are horrendous and it will be a shame that we have to carry for the rest of our lives. That this happened under our watch. And so I think that now people are coming out. People are infuriated and they're furious because this is happening. But we have to take actual collective action and we have to move on from that narrative that this is not our country to we must defund the Border Patrol. We must abolish ICE and we must ensure that these agencies that we have created are not using our taxpayer dollars to go after our families, to go after our black and brown children, to go after mothers and fathers. We have to make sure that our taxpayers' money is not going to do what we've done for so many generations. Take out our anger on the most vulnerable. And so I think that's where we are today. And I feel there is hope that, my hope is for people to take action. At this moment, as an undocumented immigrant myself, this is no moment to ask for permission. This is no moment to be afraid. This is moment for courage and that's what I want my community to have. To have courage and to demand what is right. I think when we do that, we are doing our best. And right now, that's what we want Speaker Delia to do. To do what is right and to do what has been demanded of him by the great majority of Massachusetts residents. And that is passing these four provisions and sending a strong message that the state of Massachusetts does not wanna be complicit with what the Trump administration is doing at the border and across this country. And with the Pioneer Valley Workers Center and a lot of other activist groups, I understand that there's going to be another action at the end of the month, on the 30th. Is that right? Maybe you could talk a little bit about that. Yes, yes. So we'll have a couple different actions, but there is one in particular. This is the one on June 30th that you were mentioning. And basically in this action, we'll be talking about family separation at the border for sure, but also family separation within our own borders of Massachusetts. And what does that mean? That means that every day families are separated in Massachusetts because they cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment here in Massachusetts with our minimum wage. Families are being separated because their moms and dads are being sent to prison simply because they smoke weed on the street. Family separation for all those reasons and because of our immigration laws. And Lucio will be speaking at Fish Churches of Amherst on June 30th next to Congressman McGovern, who will be joining us on that day, as well as a couple of their community leaders and faith leaders across the Pioneer Valley. So we invite everyone to come on June 30th, Fish Churches of Amherst and it should be powerful and this is an opportunity for you to stand with us and we'll have action items for you to take action right there with us. And yeah, I think what we're doing is our very own community's effort and I think that's something powerful to see, so to change something. Yeah, what an exciting action that people can take part of. We'll have to make sure we have the address. Yes, please, yes, absolutely. Yeah, well, if it's Lucio, you know where to find him. That's true, yeah, I know who's there. Yeah, well, and as far as other actions, you yourself have walked, I think it was 250 miles. Maybe you could talk about how that went. I love that. I'd have never forget that. Yeah, oh my gosh. Let me just massage my legs a little bit because that hurt. Hi, was that from where you were? That was at the end of the year, actually, I think. At the end of the year. Right, we know you're right. Yes, you have the date. Yeah, it was cold, it was going to be great. Yes, it was definitely in favor, yes, that's right. And so for that, what we did is we created this action around the push for the Dream Act. And 11 of us walked 250 miles from New York to Washington, DC, 11 of us, why? Because there is 11 undocumented immigrants living in the United States. 11 million, right? Yes, 11 million. All 11 of you got together. No, I don't know, right? But yes, 11 million. And I think that that's often forgotten. We are diminished to numbers and statistics and quotes and books and press releases. And so I think that that walk was for that. So the community could see us face to face. We had different stops every day in different cities. We came to churches, synagogues. We stopped along the way and we talked about what we wanted our immigration system to look like. And it's nothing like it currently is. But you know. How was your reception in these different cities? I was overwhelmed, to be honest. That was, again, it's something that I always find. Yes, you are amazed and shocked sometimes by the support and the amount of people that comes out to these actions. But I guess I could share just one experience. There was a one point where we came to a neighborhood in southern Pennsylvania. This neighborhood welcomed us and let me tell you, they had food, they had clean clothes. They had, you know, their showers ready to offer for us. It was 18 families. 18 families that hadn't spoken to each other before that day. Wow. Because. People together. Exactly. This is what people do when you're asking for support and the support is legitimately coming from the people that are affected. And so these families came together for the first time to make sure that we had a place to stay, you know, for the night. And they told us, you know, when we heard that the dreamers were coming through here, we knocked on each other's door and we talked to each other for the first time and we came together and we make this happen. And I think that was like something that is honestly, we saw it in every step, you know. That's something that we saw it as so moving and so personal and so powerful because that's the power of people coming together. But then, you know, right there, I think, I'm reminded of the fact that yes, these people are out there and in very rural communities who support immigrants who are here in the United States. Dreamers and parents and families, but you will never see them on mainstream media. Yeah. You will never see the outreach of these families. But yes, you know, these mainstream outlets, you know, they go out there and they drive four or five, six hours into the darkest places and they find the most racist people and they go and they put them on a panel on primetime television so that they could say whatever the misinformation they've heard and they've been fed for the past so many years. And that angers me and that tells me there is something very, very wrong with the way that we're transmitting information. It's very upsetting. I mean, as people. And I wanna hear from you guys. Yeah, well, as people who are, you know, we've got, you know, we know people who do that. Yeah, right. Like, it's just, it's super disappointing. And I think that immigration really, there's an opportunity for it to, as you described, be a topic that brings people together, really shows our shared humanity, people learning each other's stories from different places. And it's something that we lose in this echo chamber of just, you know, hatred that gets amplified as you're describing. There's this rise of the culture wars. Yes. In the United States in the last few years that people are, these people are playing to the worst inclinations. And there are a lot of people with the worst inclinations. And they seem to be much more vociferous right now. And it's not the first time. So, yeah, I watch CNN. I can't watch Fox, I mean, I cannot do it. But I'll watch CNN and I'll watch CNN. I don't recommend it. Yeah, right, don't break it, I know. It's kind of like, oh, if anybody just... Well, Disney's gonna buy them pretty soon, so maybe they'll have like some cartoon characters like on these panels too. One can only hope. Really, right? But I watch these people go at it, you know, head to head. And it's really no-holds-barred now. I mean, where there used to be some semblance of subject, objectivity, I should say. And professionalism, it doesn't exist anymore. There are things in the country, there are topics in the country of race and immigration that have, it's become a toxic situation that people cannot have. A lot of people cannot have civil conversations about it. I'd love to know kind of with that reality in mind, what you do as someone who is an undocumented person or undocumented resident where you're at, when you approach someone who may just be a middle-of-the-road person who doesn't pay attention or whatever in this environment where there's so much hatred and misinformation out there, how do you approach someone like that? How do you just kind of try to connect with somebody? Yes, and I think you know that right there, I think I would want anyone who's listening to pay attention right here. Because I have lived in the South. I have lived in the state of Georgia. This is a supermajority Republican. This is a Trump country where I lived. And I think that we've gone to the point where yes, the information that is being spread is not even the legitimate feelings of most people in these areas. But we've come to this point where we're trapped in this echo chamber that we can't escape. I remember when I came to this country going and sitting with my neighbors on their porch and drinking sweet-tweet. And this honestly, my neighbors were pretty racist. And I think that I would remember they would always tell me this. And back then I would not think about it, but now it's different. They would tell me things like this. We want you here. We like you. We're so glad that you're here. But we don't want other people here, you know? And so I think that there's that point where why is it that they were saying that to me? Because I was right next to them. I was their neighbor. They couldn't avoid me. They had to talk to me. I went to school with their children. I would hang out with their children. They would take me to their home and feed me. And I would do the same thing. I would invite my friends and my neighbors to come and eat and hang out at my house. And I feel that that connection little by little started to break that tension in that community where I lived. And not only with me, but with so many other people that were moving in, a lot of them Latinos in this small city of Kennesaw. And I realized that the misinformation that has been happening for the past many years here in the United States has detached just real people who might have conservative values into hating. We've talked them into hating people that they never met. And so once these people actually meet people who are different and that interact with them, but without the obvious, Fox News in the middle, things are very, very different. And I'm not saying that that's the ultimate fix. And I'm not saying that we should send people to go and convert racist. What I'm saying is that television and misinformation have poisoned people's minds. And we need to go back and do some work in our communities. Because at the end of the day, we see how black and brown communities, black white communities, brown white communities are struggling to find those legitimate ways to connect with each other. And we're seeing those connections happening at the leadership level in different organizations, but we want those conversations and that connections at the very bottom of our community. And so I think that's what we're doing here. We're being in the community. We're informing people of my priorities as an undocumented person. I would like to have the most basic rights to do process in our state and et cetera, et cetera. And I think those conversations are so important. And I think we can change a lot of things when we do act with determination to change something that we know is wrong. And I've never been afraid to call racism out. And I think that's what brought me here to Massachusetts. And I'm not afraid to continue to do that as long as I'm here. So we have a long fight in Massachusetts, but that fight is being fought everywhere. We just gotta pay attention and take leadership from amazing people that have done this before and who have succeeded. Well, Eduardo, thank you for your work. Thank you for your courage in telling your story. And thanks for coming and joining us. Thank you. I'm so glad to be here with you guys. Thank you. Thanks for listening. And don't forget to visit us at valleyadvocate.com.