Public Employee Press

Immigrant Activist

Miguel Ramirez builds bridges to
the Big Apple for Latino immigrants.

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

Human Rights Specialist Miguel Ramirez extends his “heart and a hand” to immigrants from disparate lands in Central and South America and South Asia who now make their home in Jamaica, Queens.

“I know what its like to come here with nothing,” said Ramirez, who was born in a small impoverished town in El Salvador. “I always questioned why there was so much poverty.”

Ramirez attended university, became a student activist and through social programs that linked labor unions and churches, helped bring literacy and vaccinations to Salvadorans in the 1970s.

“I survived a student massacre on July 30, 1975,” he recalled. “We were protesting against the government. The National Guard and Army used machine guns on us. I was one of the lucky ones who survived.”

Ramirez arrived in New York in 1979. He spent more than a decade exposing El Salvador’s oppressive

government and changing America’s foreign policy toward his homeland. Thirty years later as a member of Local 154 and Queens community activist, he is still on the front lines.

“The most important aspect of my job with the Human Rights Commission is to get immigrants to realize that New York has laws against discrimination,” said Ramirez, who is married with three grown children. He spreads that message in workshops at schools, churches, and community groups.
“Anti-immigrant sentiment makes immigrants fearful today,” said Ramirez. Right-wingers recently introduced a bill that would make it a felony to be undocumented; another would rob U.S. citizenship from children born to undocumented parents.

Ramirez is president of Centro Hispano Cuzcatlán, a community organization that focuses on housing, immigration and organizing. The group recently won its long battle against a landlord who harassed and threatened immigrant tenants.

U.S. Congress member Gregory Meeks, and the Eastern Queens Democratic Club have recognized Ramirez’s community activism.

“I came to the U.S. with a responsibility to welcome others, with hands ready to help,” said Ramirez. “My most important role is to educate immigrants regarding their rights and responsibilities. It’s about community empowerment.”