Former Undocumented Immigrant Receives Prestigious Genius Award And $625k

“This conversation is about human rights, it’s about racial justice, it’s about the right of everyone to fulfill their dreams,” said social justice organizer Cristina Jimenez Moreta, the co-founder and executive director of United We Dream. The 33-year-old activist just became one of the 24 extraordinary “geniuses” to receive the 2017 McArthur Fellowship grant of $625,00 for her work towards the immigrant community.

This distinction, which is awarded to exceptional and inspirational Americans, could very well serve as a “cachetada con guante blanco” to President Donald Trump who has based his whole presidency around the criminalization of minorities, especially Hispanics. “What inspired me to do the work that I do, is in one word, survival, I grew up as an undocumented immigrant in New York City,” said Cristina, who along her family came to the country in 1998 from Ecuador, with the hopes of seeking a better life.

“When you’re undocumented you grow up with a lot of stigma and shame, you face discrimination and that brings a lot of fear, in United We Dream what we do is transform that fear into finding your voice,” says Cristina who started the advocacy group in 2008. Whose work has made long strides in ensuring fair access to education and healthcare, among other things to undocumented immigrants.

“United We Dream empowers young people to develop their leadership, their organizing skills and to develop their own campaigns to be able to fight for justice and dignity for immigrants and all people.”

The program has also helped to humanize immigrants, especially those who were brought to the country as children, which United We Dream always puts on the forefront of every immigration discussion. “Putting a human face on the plight of long-term resident children and young adults transformed the negative public discourse around immigrants,” Reads Cristina’s profile on the MacArthur Foundation.

“Regardless of what Trump or anyone has to say, this award recognizes our courage, our sacrifices of the community, our humanity, and that this is our home,” Said Jiménez Moreta to ThinkProgress in a phone interview. “This award and this journey really reflect that community [of undocumented immigrants] and the power and courage that comes with it when you’re dreaming together of what you want to achieve.”

“The Deferred Action for Child Arrival’s program or DACA was really the most significant victory for immigrant communities in the last 30 years. President Trump decided to terminate the DACA program, which protects close to a million young people from deportation, so all of our efforts right now are focused on ensuring Congress passes a solution that will permanently protect young people from deportation and provide them with a pathway to citizenship,” said Cristina about the future of United We Dream.

According to the New York Times, since the inception of the McArthur foundation in 1981, approximately 21.7% of its fellows were born outside the United States. To date, 989 Americans have been awarded the grant.

This article was inspired by ThinkProgress // Meet Cristina, a former undocumented immigrant who just received a MacArthur ‘genius’ award