A youth group in Chaparral decided to highlight the struggles and challenges that face mixed status families and children living in the U.S.
New Gen Hope is a youth activist group that focuses on addressing the problems that the community in Chaparral faces. The group was started last year by Maty Gonzales when she noticed that the youth in Chaparral did not have a place to elevate their voices, or find empowerment and resources.
“I saw the need that they need time, and they need to realize the power that they have,” Gonzales said.
Emir Diaz was invited to the group by his friend and was skeptical when he first joined. But now he says that he enjoys it because it has helped him to see the problems in his community and how he can help.
“It’s pretty important to my life. It’s become a big part of what I do on a daily basis,” Diaz said.
Members canvas in Chaparral knocking on doors and informing businesses about their rights and voting. They have also spoken at Doña Ana County Commissioners meetings and Las Cruces City Council meetings advocating for their community.
Antonio Martinez said he joined the group because he enjoys community work.
“Most of the time the youth get ignored because it's like we don't care about the community. But that’s not true. Even the youth care about the community. I really really love my community,” Martinez said.
The group hosted an event called “Mixed United” where members of the group spoke about their experiences living in mixed status families to bring awareness and promote unity.
About 20,000 families were of mixed status in New Mexico in 2023 according to the Migration Policy Institute.
The Otero Processing Center is in Chaparral. It has capacity to house over 1,000 immigrant detainees.
There has been an active ICE presence in Chaparral since last year, Gonzales said.
“They are taking people; families and children are staying behind. The youth talk and share their stories amongst themselves and share how they feel. We wanted to do something keeping in mind that they are U.S. citizens but at the same time they feel abandoned because their families are getting destroyed, and of friends and people they know.”
During this year's legislative session, New Gen Hope joined other organizations to advocate for the Driver Privacy and Safety Act and the Immigrant Safety Act. That included public comments from Santiago Gonzalez gave who said seeing how ice has affected his peers has inspired him to speak out for his community.
“Basically, a reminder to our community that we need an active service, with our immigration. Not a lot of people know how to protect themselves. And when immigration interacts with them. And we wanted to share our story as youth on how it impacts us,” he said.
Although many of the stories shared by the youth were about their fears and struggles, Mixed United showed how there is hope for these families. Maty Gonzalez said it is especially important in rural communities to have events like these to show that there are resources available for families. Many mixed status families are afraid, she said, but wants to encourage them not to be afraid to ask for help.
