ANGELICA SALAS
Executive Director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
"We have shared humanity and must engage with a common understanding that we are responsible for each other. We must see in the eyes of others’ children our children, and protect them with all our will and human capacity. The moment we turn away from others’ pain and suffering we diminish ourselves, but when we provide refuge and care we become more human."
Biography
Angelica Salas is executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) and is widely regarded as one of the most gifted activists and organizers in the country today. Since becoming CHIRLA's executive director in 1999, Salas has spearheaded several ambitious campaigns locally, statewide, and nationally that have led to wins in California such as: in-state tuition for undocumented students, establishment of day laborer job centers, and driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants. Nationally, Angelica and CHIRLA have been integral in the success of the Dream and Promise Act of 2019, a bill to protect Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status, and Deferred Enforced Departure holders.
An immigrant herself, Salas first came to the U.S. from Mexico at the age of 5 to reunite with her family. She is now president and board chair of the CHIRLA Action Fund, executive committee member of Fair Immigrant Rights Movement (FIRM), and a board member at California Wellness Foundation, America’s Voice, National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), UNITE-LA, and Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE).