On the 44th episode of Immigration Today!, Angeline Chen welcomes Claudia Yoli Ferla. Claudia is the Executive Director at MOVE Texas, a nonprofit organization working to build the social, cultural, and political power of young people in Texas. She is a dedicated community organizer born in Venezuela and raised in El Paso, Texas. A proud DACA recipient and community organizer, Claudia draws from her personal experiences to amplify the voices of young people and immigrants in Texas, a state at...

On the 43rd episode of Immigration Today!, Angeline Chen welcomes Dr. Pierre R. Berastain. Dr. Pierre Berastaín is the Interim Executive Director of the Centre for Public Impact (CPI). CPI was founded in 2015 as a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to improving the effectiveness of governments and public institutions worldwide. Dr. Berastaín joined the CPI team as Regional Director for North America in 2023. In 2024, he became the Interim Executive Director of the organization. He is also th...

On the 42nd episode of Immigration Today!, Angeline Chen welcomes Jessica Lander. Jessica Lander is an award-winning teacher, author, and advocate. She is currently a teacher at Lowell High School in Lowell, Massachusetts. She teaches history and civics to recent immigrant students and has won several teaching awards, including being named a Top 50 Finalist for the Global Teacher Prize in 2021, a 2023 MA Teacher of the Year Finalist, and the 2023 Massachusetts History Teacher of the Year. She...

On the 41st episode of Immigration Today!, Angeline Chen welcomes Antonio Arellano. Antonio Arellano is the VP of Communications at NextGen America, the nation’s largest youth voting organization which mobilizes millions of young voters every year. He is also a 1st generation immigrant and a former DACA recipient. He has been organizing communities of color in Texas for over a decade. Antonio has worked at some of the most notable newsrooms in America. While at the Houston Chronicle, Antonio ...

On the 40th episode of Immigration Today!, Angeline Chen welcomes Dr. Jason De Leon. Dr. Jason De León is a professor of Anthropology and Chicana/o Studies and director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is also the Executive Director of the Undocumented Migration Project, a 501(c)(3) research, arts, and education collective that seeks to raise awareness about migration issues globally while also assisting families of missing migrants to re...

On the 39th episode of Immigration Today! Angeline Chen welcomes Megan Thomas, president & CEO of Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial Counties. Megan has a passion for helping people and she joined Catalyst because it sits at the intersection of philanthropy and social good. Catalyst is a network of a couple hundred funders and grant makers with a mission to help educate, lead and invest in environmental issues, food security, border issues and more, to promote social c...

On the 38th episode of Immigration Today! Angeline Chen welcomes Celia Valdez and Nora Phillips. Celia Valdez has been working in health outreach for over 25 years. As the Outreach and Education Director with Maternal and Child Health Access (MCHA), she has worked diligently with local and state government groups ranging from community-based organizations to government agencies to improve access to free and low-cost health insurance programs. She has advocated on behalf of hundreds of clien...

On the 37th episode of Immigration Today! Angeline Chen welcomes Efrén C. Olivares, Director of Strategic Litigation at The Southern Poverty Law Center. Olivares is a civil rights lawyer who has represented clients before federal courts and international human rights bodies for over a decade. His work focuses on ending immigrant detention and providing pro bono legal representation to detained immigrants at immigration detention centers in the deep South. Efrén and his team also d...

On the 36th episode of Immigration Today! Angeline Chen welcomes Faisal Al-Juburi. Faisal is a strategic partnerships specialist with more than a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector. He currently serves as the Chief External Affairs Officer for RAICES, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency founded in 1986, and the largest immigration legal services provider in Texas. Faisal is the son of Iraqi immigrant parents. He was born in Cincinnati and grew up in Little Rock and D.C. His parents taugh...

On the 35th episode of Immigration Today!, Angeline Chen welcomes Eliza Brennan, Senior Program Officer for Education and Migration at International Community Foundation (ICF). ICF is the nonprofit foundation of choice for U.S. donors who are passionate about protecting the environment and improving the quality of life in Baja California, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Eliza has been passionate about international work from a young age as her parents always fostered a life of ...