Welcome Carlos Saavedra as the new National Coordinator of the United We Dream Network! (Pictured above at the very left wearing a white shirt and giving a thumbs up).

For the last couple of years, Carlos has been the lead organizer of the Student Immigrant Movement (SIM) in Massachusetts. He was born in Peru and immigrated to the U.S. along with his family when he was 12 years old. Despite the usual setbacks that our immigrant families usually face, Carlos is now a Permanent Resident of the United Sates.

Since 2004, Carlos led the growth of SIM from a small group of students in Greater Boston to a statewide organization for immigrant youth. During his involvement with the organization, SIM led campaigns for in-state tuition, and successfully fought against the deportation of a DREAM Act student in the “Keep Mario Home” Campaign. This year, SIM targeted their entire congressional delegation for the DREAM Act, and all 10 congressional representatives have now co-sponsored the bill. Carlos’ ample organizing training is highlighted by his participation in the “Organizing for People, Power, and Change” program with Marshall Ganz at Harvard University, as well as trainings with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and the Industrial Areas Foundation. He has done raid-response work in New Bedford (MA), Postville (IA), and Providence (RI). This year, he traveled alongside SIM to the state of Arkansas, where he met with members of the Little Rock 9, who encouraged the work of immigrant youth across the country.

In hiring Carlos, we not only found a capable leader to help lead us to the next level, but we grew as a coalition. The hiring committee charged with selecting a National Coordinator was as diverse as the pro-immigrant movement itself. It included two men and three women who come from youth-led organizations such as the New York State Youth Leadership Council, DreamActivist, Students Working for Equal Rights, and IDEAS at UCLA, and whose family heritage is in Mexico, Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. During the search, we were privileged to know how much talent there is out there whose roots are in undocumented student organizing, and how excited people are about the possibility of building a national organization for immigrant young adults, students, and teenagers.

Please drop Carlos a line here and wish him good luck in his new position. And get excited, the immigrant youth movement continues to grow!