Daniel Morales  00:00

All right, and so then, now we're going to move to the more general questions. Okay, so this is the second interview, because he did the first interview for the immigrant success stories. So how did you come to be employed for CASA?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  00:28

So my dad's friend from back home, he was already working at CASA in Maryland, and so he found out that, you know, we were migrating to United States, especially to the sea. And so when he found out that we were here, he reached out to my dad and asking for every, everybody you know. And so we met up with him. And so I that was my first time meeting him, because I didn't, didn't know who he was. And my sister ended up like getting recruited into CASA de Maryland to do organizing work in Maryland by him, and then in 2012 toward the ends of 2012 there was an opportunity to expand services and organizing from CASA de Maryland to CASA Virginia. And my dad's friend from back home, the one that recruited my sister, she had an opportunity to recruit new members to do like an average program here in Virginia. And my sister ended up, like, you know, recruiting me into that group. It was going to be temporary. But then, out of like, you know, out of nine people that were working temporary, I was hired to become a CASA employee, permanent CASA employee. And so that's how I ended up like joining CASA 2012 2000 Yeah,

 

Daniel Morales  02:03

okay, what was that first campaign that you worked on? 

 

Eduardo Zelaya  02:14

It wasn't a campaign. I wouldn't say that it was a campaign. It was the immigration bill at the federal level, but like a campaign, campaign, I think it was Trust Act in Fairfax County.

 

Daniel Morales  02:26

What is that?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  02:27

Trust Act is the collaboration, pretty much like it's at the time Fairfax County had the 280 7g in place. It was a local policy. And so the Trust Act, pretty much is an, is a – is a policy, a local policy, that the Board of Supervisors in Virginia ended up, like adapting to get rid of it to a 20 7g program. So essentially, it means it's like, you know, it's a, it's an act that will build trust between community and in in the police department or the, you know, any any federal or county organization that was that belongs to Fairfax, right? And so that's pretty much what it is like, getting rid of any legal, legal agreements between ice and localities.

 

Daniel Morales  03:21

So was it Fairfax specific, or was it across the state? 

 

Eduardo Zelaya  03:28

Fairfax. that was my first campaign. Yes, okay,

 

Daniel Morales  03:28

Okay

 

Eduardo Zelaya  03:29

That was my first campaign. Yes.

Daniel Morales  03:34

Okay, could you give me an overview of CASA itself and its history? Okay? Because we know that it's an organization that was in Maryland and then moved over to Virginia in the past decade

 

Eduardo Zelaya  03:46

Yeah, so it started back in 2005 originally, CASA started, and still is an organization. Well, at the time, it was an organization that was helping Central Americans, laborers that were placed displaced in Maryland. And when I mean these places, because there was a massive immigration number that migrated from Central America to the area, and so CASA de Maryland started providing, you know, job opportunities to these labor, workers that were pretty much displaced, right and jobless at the time because of their status and situations, they didn't know anybody here. And so you started like, pretty much like in the basement of the church. And that's all pretty much like ended up like evolving and becoming a national powerhouse that we call it. And essentially, um. Um, you know, in 2012 Well, in 2012 years, the first like, I guess, pilot program of like, expanding from Maryland to Virginia, was an idea originated because of the demand from Virginia members that were traveling to Maryland to get services. And so that, pretty much, like, told, you know, like it was like a signal that the leadership at the time ended up like, you know, evaluating and thinking at the time 2012 that it was a great opportunity for the political landscape, landscape that was happening at the federal level, to explore, you know, instead of like, letting members to drive Maryland. They ended up like deploying community, you know, services, and also organizing and grassroots operations here in Virginia, so and then So Virginia was the first successful, I guess, expansion program. And then from there, same thing happened in Pennsylvania. And then two years after, you know, that was a a opportunity to also start CASA in Georgia and so, and but then after that, then CASA became a, you know, like organization that have members in 48 states, including Puerto Rico. So that's how we ended up, like, evolving into a national powerhouse with the footprint, like physical footprint, in the states that I just mentioned, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Georgia.

 

Daniel Morales  06:22

Okay, and what is your current role for CASA.

 

Eduardo Zelaya  06:26

I'm the director of organizing and CASA in action.

 

Daniel Morales  06:31

Okay and I want to describe the role.

 

Eduardo Zelaya  06:36

How do I describe the role? Oh, my role. It is the way that I could describe my role. Is a role that serves as as a pillar in Virginia to the national members and any that interconnects, you know, realities from, from, you know, Virginians into what's happening right now at the national level. So I guess the way that I can describe it essentially could be, man, I don't know. That's a great question. Nobody have asked me this before within CASA context. Yeah, I think that it does it like my role has like, I'm the director of the organizing in Virginia, but I oversee two departments, organizing and advocacy, but at the same time, I'm the director of electoral programs when it comes to electoral two cuts in action. But at the federal level, I am the point person that serves as the representative in National Coalition for immigration related, immigration related issues at the federal level. So I don't know if that describes, yeah.

 

Daniel Morales  08:06

Okay, so the next second, we'll talk about legislation and different levels of legislation. Okay, the so let's start with 287(g). Okay, so the first part of this question is, could you give us an overview of the 287(g) landscape when you started back then, 10 years ago, and how it has evolved in the past 10 years.

 

Eduardo Zelaya  13:53

It's 287(g) well, so the 287(g) program, back in the days, it was a very non program that locales already had but nobody was aware of. But then it became more more and more exposed as the federal level, policies and politics were triggering it at the state level and local level, and so at least in the northern area of Virginia. We ended up like knowing that this, this policy was in place when Trump took office in 2016 I believe. And so we ended up like finding through partners and allies and members and faith leaders in Fairfax County that there was a collaboration internally, people that were dissenting within the Fairfax County. They were like, reporting and talking about, like, this program, right? Like, how I knew and was working in collaboration with the police. Department in Fairfax about the rates, like in coordination, and, you know, like, pretty much like launching rates in sensitive places in Fairfax. And so that's how, pretty much like we knew, at least in the northern area. But then Fairfax County was an example, and kind of like, ended up like exposing and alerting organizations like CASA to explore the connections of these programs in other localities, like in other counties, and that's how we ended up like knowing that also Latins win a county, low income County, had all these 287(g) programs in place, and they were like, pretty much like, in coordination, like local they were allocating local resources, like county resources, to collaborate with federal agencies, in this case, ice and so to the point where now we had an example, Now that the current administration, Youngkin administration ended up by utilizing, you know, his executive power to to do it, to be to make Virginia into our 287(g) state right now, this is, it wasn't through his executive power. It wasn't like, you know, like, you know, a legislation that was put in place and became a law, but it was still, you know, the idea of the 287(g) in Virginia was heavily at the time, and still is right now, because there is still some counties, especially the start Southern and out West Virginia, locales that still have all these shoes to have these programs to align with the Trump administration, pretty much, that's the end of it.

 

Daniel Morales  11:37

So going, going all the way back to that first administration, yeah, part of it is the landscape. There were, I think, nine counties that had agreements across the state, and there was a bunch of campaigns to try to pressure local cities to get rid of those. And looked at these at first like that might happen. Were you involved with some of those campaigns?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  12:06

Yes, I was sorry, but I'm texting my wife because now my dog is up and he's making noises so she can take him out. I'm sorry. Can you repeat the questions again?

 

Daniel Morales  12:18

Oh, were you involved with some of the campaigns, for example, of Prince William and some of the other cities to point to end county agreements,

 

Eduardo Zelaya  12:28

Yes, and so, and then the other component, yes, I was still part of the Prince William County one too. And also part of the other component that I, I ended up forgotten, is that the trust, Trust Act was at the county level, working with the county departments. But at the same time that evolved to the school system too, like we utilize the Trust Act as an example that we could do the same thing in the public education system, like in Fairfax County, we also ended up like working on the trust, School Trust, which is that, like you know, like you know, putting made through the school board of Fairfax County, we ended up by working with them so that we can help the school system to be immigrant friendly, right? Like, for example, I'll give you a clear example. And we're working now in Prince William County with the same one, but it's taking a little longer Prince William County, but essentially, they used to have this form where the first thing that they will ask to a community member that will register a kid that use, you know, came in a documented form, right? They will ask if their parents were US citizen, that was the first question, and if the kid was a US citizen too. And so part of this school trust policy was to get rid of all this language that was later share share with ice right to identify where the parents and document the parents used to live or will live, so that they can conduct they could conduct more race accurately, right? And so that was a that's, that's how I'm sorry I can't focus on my my dog is crying. Hey buddy, Mommy's gonna come get you soon. Hold on. Can you wait a second? Doctor, I am going to go with.

 

Daniel Morales  14:49

Um, sure. yeah. 

 

Eduardo Zelaya  14:50

Yeah, 30 seconds?

 

Daniel Morales  15:04

So we’re recording. 

 

Eduardo Zelaya  15:06

Yes I think I was saying, go ahead. 

 

Daniel Morales  15:10

Yeah, you were talking about school boards and the work that you had been doing in Prince William County and other school boards to make them more immigrant friendly. 

 

Eduardo Zelaya  15:18

Yeah. And also part of that initiative of, like, working for the Trust Act. It wasn't only CASA, right? It was a coalition. It was like, you know, different type of organization that we're working towards making a perfect County, an immigrant friendly County, I guess. And so the same dynamic happened in the school system. So we identified that a lot of these languages that these school schools would use to register students, pretty much were like, you know, being used for ice operations, right? And they were the data was being shared with them to target it parents and students, like kids, pretty much that will answer these questions were pretty much highlighted their status, right? The immigrant status, and so thankfully, you know, like, we were able to pass it in Fairfax County. So now Fairfax County, pretty much like we got rid of the 280 7g programs or any type of like legal operation between ice and Fairfax County in general, right? And the same thing is happening in Prince William County. But that's what like the difference is pretty much like played a role in this, because policy and politics sometimes don't match. And in this case, in Prince William County, the leadership in this county tends to be more complicated when it comes to immigrant issues, right? And so to the point where, like, the Trust Act hasn't been able to it has been a slow process, as well as the school trust policy. So those are the differences that you know, like it's been more than a decade, I think, like about eight years since we passed, six years since we passed the Trust Act and School Trust policy in Fairfax, and we have been working with Prince William County right after that to do the same thing in their county based on like the demographics and how heavily immigrants are present in the county. And still, up to this date, we haven't been able to pass or move forward with a local campaign.

 

Daniel Morales  17:51

Okay, how do you, how would you describe the shifts in state politics in the last decade, thinking from when you started to today?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  18:10

I like to see, like the differences really, on the way that policies and politics have been evolved into this divisive language and so inhumane language. So I think the way that I can describe it, not only from the human perspective, but also from like the impact that it has in the community, I would describe it as like, Man what would be the word for this? That's a great question. Mandy's question. I should have kept like you know, how can I describe this politics now, from when I started in in this day, um, would it be toxic? Would it be a way to describe this like, Yeah, I think so, yeah. I think toxic. Toxic because I feel like new generations, and that's part of what I want to I want to do something about this is a new generation, especially like students have been, they felt less left out like the they don't have room in politics and. Policy like politics, not only at the state, but also federal level, because they don't, they don't, they don't like that language. Like we come from countries where, like, they use this divisive language and so and it got me like, you know, you have leaders from public offices talking about demonizing X, Y and Z, and so they don't feel connected to that, because it's toxic, like that's pretty much like sharing and quoting some of the stories that I, that I was able to collect, I guess this past November from Virginia borders.

 

Daniel Morales  20:28

Do you think there was more room to work with conservatives and moderates 10 years ago than today?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  20:40

Yes at the state level, yes, like the privileged card man, I'm on record on this, Dr Morales, but the privilege card, diving privilege card in Virginia, one of the main delegates from the House of Delegate in Virginia was a Republican that now serves as an executive director of the Department of Energy in Virginia. And so he was from Norfolk area, and he was a Republican, conservative, and, and he became an ally of the immigrant families because he was supporting like, like, publicly supporting the driver license privilege card bill at the time. So at the state level now, after you know, yeah, and I can say the same now in Virginia, after the Youngkin or during the Youngkin administration, yeah,

 

Daniel Morales  21:53

Well, let's go back to driver's privilege cards. So first, could you give me a brief history of how driver's license cards used to exist and then how they went away for the undocumented after 9/11?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  22:10

I want to– I want to talk a little bit more about by the time when I start working on it, and not going to that far away, because I wasn't here in United States when that happened, but I'm aware. But one of the things that I think the driver license privilege car was pretty in Virginia was pretty much adopted or replicated from Maryland State. And Marylanders at the time, they were successful, you know, like with the driver and driver license privilege card in Maryland. And so some of the legislators in Virginia were actually like, you know, asking for support on language in the policy that Marylanders ended up like, you know, successfully passing Maryland. And so, yes, and then, but then during the crossover time of the legislation, there was a lot of like arguments between the legis–, you know, like the Democratic Party, pretty much there was a lot of back and forth, because some of us were pushing to get rid of the language the Driver License privilege car, because we thought that it was already like, you know, discriminatory, it was a discriminatory, pretty much a language putting, like, the word privilege, you know, like in it. And so we wanted to make it to be a driver license that for, all right, like an inclusive type of like language within the legislation, but pretty much like we were told from the leadership at the time that it was either like driving license privilege card or nothing. And so obviously, you know, from my perspective, I thought that it was that gave me an idea of how purple the party was at the time, and how immigration related issues wearing their top priorities, even though we had the trifecta at the time and so. So for me, that was a, a it a very unique experience, like experiencing talking to this legislators being honest about something and being transparent about why they believe that you know, the privilege card language in that legislation was going to be more successful than, you know, drive a license for all and so, yeah, to give you a little bit of context of what that, what that was.

 

Daniel Morales  25:00

Okay, um, who were the sponsors of the legislation?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  25:06

Man, that because we had different ones. Man, I can, I can give you the names from the House and the Senate. I don't remember Glenn Davis. I think he was from the– from the delegate, but he's no longer. I don't remember, to be honest.

 

Daniel Morales  26:43

How long did– How long was the bill introduced until it passed?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  25:42

Like there were a couple of bills, but then it became one. But I think it was two years in. So after one formal bill, like, all the bills were gathered and then ended up became one, like they merged all the language and, yeah, it was two years, yeah, but this, this idea of the driver license privilege has been introduced since 2015 Yeah, 14-15, something like that. But it wasn't successful, because we, you know, at the time, it was like heavily Virginia was controlled by the Republican like, I wouldn't say Republicans again, but they were controlled from the majority was pretty much like not pro immigrant, right? Because I don't believe that even the Democrats are pro immigrant. Or, yeah,

 

Daniel Morales  26:43

Could you tell me a little bit about the campaign to pass it, to create public pressure to be a part of?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  26:52

So and that I take a lot of– I think the public, like the community members, play an important role, because, you know, I was the one in charge of that. But then, pretty much, like community members, the majority from CASA, CASA members from different areas in Virginia, the strategy was be, the strategy was to get as many community members as possible involved in every decision and every meeting, that public meeting that the House of Delegates was holding at the time When they were talking about this legislation. So to me, I believe, like the that's where I believe that the organizing, grassroot work was really important because of the public pressure that all these organizations not only cast about, mainly CASA. You or the organization were able to do with organizing community members to advocate for the for the building specific. Now I know that there was a lot of mobilization, which is one thing, but that was a lot of organization happening at the time. So the the way that I the reason why I'm describing these two terms is because there were a lot of people mobilizing, you know, to the capital to show support, but not many organizations were doing the organizing work during the during the legislation process. And so I believe that for those organizations that organized during that time, they were able to successfully to they were able to organize and mobilize community members to advocate for a more inclusive, you know, moment that included not only the driver license privilege card, but also the issues that were happening, such as, you know, the minimum wage legislation and so CASA was one of the organizations that were including the messaging and inclusive messaging about immigrant communities and how and how many legislation. At the time, we had the opportunity to advocate not only for one, but many. And so it was a more inclusive messaging that ended up like giving the community a bigger hope at the state level in Virginia. And I believe that as a result of that hope, we ended up like. Building a lot of relationship with different tiers of leadership within two parties, you know, the two parties in Virginia. So, yeah, I don't know if I answered your question.

 

Daniel Morales  30:03

You said that you guys will gather up a lot of people and go to the Capitol?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  30:08

Yeah

 

Daniel Morales  30:12

Okay, were you part of the march that happened as well? 

 

Eduardo Zelaya  30:16

Yeah

 

Daniel Morales  30:18

Can you talk a little bit about that?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  30:21

Yeah, so, um, so it was a march that was part of like pretty much all it was the pollution, the drivers union forward coalition that ended up like organizing that March. And the idea was to again put that public pressure right on the at the time for this legislation. And it was really a time where community, where I didn't feel like a lot of information had to be distributed in the community for for us to help community members to see the tunnel right in the light towards the end of the tunnel, which was this legislation, the private Virginia, the the privileged car legislation, and so I'll give you an example. We were able to move to that March. We were able to move community members from the coast of Virginia, like the Eastern Shore area, the northern area, also Richmond, in the out West Virginia, which is like the Winchester area too. And it was really motivating seeing community members, you know, getting organized within their own communities to a point where we knew that we were, like, really, like, short on resource, resources, but community members ended up like, you know, partnering with churches to to to ask them for, Like, the their transportation right that they use to move community. You know, their their their church members right around and so to me, it was very motivating seeing you know community members from different areas, faith leaders, you know, teachers, some nurses, groups were also, like, working, and then, you know, getting mobilized for this March, and so, yeah, and then just seeing, pretty much like, community members advocating for their own issues. I think that was very, you know, that's pretty much like, that's where I felt like it was my job in that process was done, right? Community members doing their job, and not us, you know, like talking on behalf community members, but like working together and and organizations coming together, and community members, you know, like, pretty much being the front liners of this March. He was, pretty much like the the, what I can remember, it was a long time ago, but, yeah, so that's what happened. He was a lot of, it was a lot of a lot of planning, a lot of coordination, a lot of also a lot of stressful moments, because we want to know a lot of people not ended up by showing up, because they didn't have way to mobilize right from different areas, remote areas in Virginia. But social media, that's what I knew, that social media was really important in this type of events, because we ended up, like connecting with different type of communities via social media. And yeah, so that's what happened for the March.

 

Daniel Morales  34:01

Okay, were you in those years? There was also a push to pass a couple of different bills for colleges, for students, DACA and undocumented students to go to college. Were you involved with those? 

 

Eduardo Zelaya  34:18

Yes

 

Daniel Morales  34:01

Can you tell me a little bit about how that the process and your involvement

 

Eduardo Zelaya  34:26

with that? So the process was the same. Now, in these we ended up like asking the one of the offices, the Secretary offices, to get more involved in, in, in, to serve as the advisor in this legislation, more because, you know, it has to do with the. You know, with the institution more like, the more specific legality was more like legal than something else, because of, like, how Virginia is structured, right, and the access that the universities have from different type of students, right, right? And so the idea of this institution, legislation was pretty much to allow any student to be credited as a student from Virginia regardless their status, right? And so. And then my involvement through that process was because, at the time, I was organizing and working with a lot of students from the northern area of Virginia, universities and colleges. Nova was one of them, just Mason and others. And so in the way that I got involved as an organizer at the time, it was because universities, these groups of like, Latino students in Virginia that were like, you know, they had back at the time, or they were undocumented, or they knew people that were undocumented were in school, these groups ended up by reaching out to me because they knew my role, and they knew me In the community, and they asked me to serve as, at the time, as like their organizer, right? And how to like, you know, advocate, how to how to they didn't know how to take request support on how to do a lobby day right, as a students. So I ended up by serving as that connection between the students, and also legislation legislators for them to meet with them and then talk about who they were right, providing their stories about why they believe that this institution. Legislation was about not only about providing access to all students in Virginia, but also about how can this legislation was going to impact the economy of Virginia if students had access to to get, you know, like their degrees in Virginia, right? How most, most likely students were going to be able to project their life, the professional life, to work in the workforce in Virginia and pay taxes here, and also, like have a life in here. So it was from, not only from the educational company, but also, like the economy, the economic company also too, and the implications of like, having access to schools in Virginia, right, regardless of status. So, so that was pretty much like my involvement. And also, at the time, I was working really closely with the Secretary of Education of Virginia, and so that's how I ended up like, also like bringing in executive offices within the the the idea right of a student to become more active. And because I saw no I saw an opportunity for students to get more involved, right, like sometimes another, another example that I got from the experience working with students was that students at the time, they didn't feel like like just because they didn't have a they were in US citizen. They shouldn't be participating this civic engagement type of things, right? Because I felt like their involvement in this being, you know, daca holders, wasn't going to be as impactful, right? And so, but yeah, so that was pretty much my involvement through that process in the institution fight in Virginia. 

 

Daniel Morales  38:44

Okay, what other state campaigns or state laws have you been involved in in those years or the year since?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  38:54

Yeah, so I think it was the driver license privilege card, the minimum wage and the institutions, the one that I,  that I been heavily involved with throughout the years. I mean, we had many have many have been involved in many, but the ones that I actually like ended up like being 100% in were those,

 

Daniel Morales  39:25

Okay, the so in the last so the last four years have seen quite a big change. So how would you describe the changes since the young administration has come in?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  39:36

I don't think there were any changes, to be honest, but the way that I can describe it is like, you know. I felt like since Trump administration took office, and because I was also able to work with Youngkin indirectly, because I was working in a board Virginia, until advisory board at the time I was the secretary of the board, I also had that experience working under Northam Democrat and also Youngkin as a Republican. And I think the big change, I guess, started when Trump took office and Youngkin ended up by utilizing all the his executive power to to align with Trump right to kind of, like, save his and try to, like, you know, prove his political plans that didn't ended up happening right, like he lost the red wave, right? And so I believe that the when he, when he when he saw that, that opportunity, when Trump was running for office the second term last year, and he ended up like, kind of utilizing and replicating the languages, you know, appointing, or, you know, talking to his friends in Virginia to go and, do you know, work for Trump. That's when I knew that things weren't going to change for the good of Virginia. And then somehow we were losing the autonomy as a commonwealth, right? I felt like the executive body, one of them the most executive and powerful public bodies in Virginia, were aligning to a federal force that didn't have to do with anything in Virginia, for example, and as an example, in November, right? Like last November, two years ago, Virginia said that didn't want, they didn't want to, they didn't want nothing to do with Trump, right? But John King was a governor at the time, he wanted to prove himself to the mother base. He ended up like, adopting all these languages and trying to, you know, sending his friends to work for Trump campaign. And still, when, after he became the president, he still, you know, ended up like, you know, appointing his friends to go and serve under the Trump administration. So, so changes wasn't there weren't much changes, but I felt from the I felt that he, he did a great job, you know, letting Virginians know that a governor can actually give off our rights as a state, as a commonwealth, right to a president, just for political ambitions, or, I guess, for political, you know, agendas. And so even though, like Virginia's, we send that message to John King two years ago in November that we didn't have, we didn't want, sorry a year ago, that we didn't want anything to do with Trump. And so to me, that was pretty much like the change. And not only I felt that way, but also my friends, my colleagues at work, and also, you know, voters, new generations, like I talked to a lot of voters that they ended up like feeling that we were shifting to, I know, to to a more like we didn't. We're gonna, we were gonna give off our own constitution as a Commonwealth of Virginia, right? Just because Duncan wanted to please Trump and his political ambitions. So that's what the change was, I think, like the chief of the executive office, he lost, which, I think he was good, to be honest, that he ended up like lose a little bit of losing a little bit of focus on Virginia to align with Trump, and he didn't focus to damage via the via the Senate, in the house, trying to negotiate for things that were going to impact Virginians in the long run after he, you know, his turn. So that was, I think it was a positive, because he was doing a lot of things he was doing before Trump campaign ended up by picking up some momentum, momentum he was focusing on building relationship with across the aisle To have some bills and things to be passed, things that he wanted to pass and wanted to get to the table for him to sign and become a law. So I think it was a distraction. It was a good thing that he was ended up by doing that. But as a as a result, we also had, you know, him, deploying the National Guard in the region of soil, right? So for. Us. That was a something that triggered a lot, especially for those that come from countries where, you know the militarization of like our own countries, for you know, political oppressing, oppressing opportunities as a community like that, that was very triggering. So, yeah, I think that those were the changes that happened ever since, like John King became governor and Trump became president.

 

Daniel Morales  45:18

Okay, I did forget to ask you about your earlier experience being on the Hispanic board, yeah, with Northam and Youngkin, yes. So first, how did you come to be on the board, and what did you do when you were on the board?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  45:35

Yeah, so I became so how that worked. Virginia appeal Advisory Board is a board that serves as a board that make recommendations to the executive office, meaning to the governor directly, right? And so is a board that represent all Latinos in Virginia, regardless their status, their religion, etc. And how I became a Virginia Latino voice advisory board appointee was because the governor at the time, which was not tormented up like appointing me to serve in the Virginia University Board. And then so I accepted it, the nomination, and I became, I was sworn in to became part of the board, right? And so immediately, because of my experience with the community and working with housing issues, and also, you know, like the issues that we're working on at the local level in Virginia, in Fairfax, I ended up becoming the part of the Housing Commission within the board. And so we were, like four members that were like, working in working with other allies outside the board, like institutions like CASA, new Virginia minority, some other like organizations to get like their their languages to to put them in a, in a in a in a paper, right, and use that as a leverage to make the recommendations to the governor on why he should be also, you know, considering these issues right and what, and Also, like recommending in what other ways he could potentially help delegates and senators at the time to be more vocal about all these issues that Virginians were were having, right? Um, so that was, that was like the initial, my initial participation in the board. And then, as I was, like, growing and kind of like, you know, making those recommendations directly in the meetings with the governors. It was June till John King became governor, when the board body ended up, like nominating me to be part of the the executive body within the board, which is like, you know, the Chair, Vice Chair, and also secretary. And they nominated me, and then I accept the nomination. They vote for it, and then I became the secretary. And that's when I had more more experience working under John King administration, because I was the one in charge to, you know, present the the report to him directly, right? And the recommendations of the board were pretty much like working on throughout the year. And so, yeah, my experience pretty much like was, it was a, it was a very like to my for me, for myself, it was very like, I guess, humbling, because I was also able to bring and elevate, you know, not only like immigrant communities, but also like businesses, right into the conversation. And for me, was an opportunity to make an inclusive message that include Virginians as a whole. Because some of these businesses owners are Latinos, they also employ other Latinos, right? And so the angle was, you know, how white it was important to have, you know, Latino Latino, engaged in the workforce in Virginia, regardless of status, and also providing access to to, you know, providing like programs, access to programs so these Latinos don't want to be. Become more of a entrepreneurs, right? And so in how was at the time, it was an opportunity to also consider that. So for me, it was very, it was a very like unique experience, because I was actually work, you know, I was actually learned also, like the differences between, you know, the political mindset and also the administration, like the governors, right? And obviously, like the political alignment, what played a key role on how to like, how receptive the governors were when I was presenting the issues that we were working on on the board, right? So, um, so that was my experience, and that's how I became a board member.

 

Daniel Morales  50:33

Okay, how did you navigate the relationship with Youngkin?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  50:39

So it was easy. Like, I don't it was easy as of, like, maybe because I just saw him as a another politician, right, like, Man, this is bad, but I just saw him as as another politician, as an opportunity for me to, you know, like to To elevate our voices even more, right? Because I knew that his political agenda wasn't aligning with my political views. And also like who we, who I am as a person, and what I think and what the world that I see, we see two different worlds, right? And so for me, it was more challenging, but it was easier because it was more easier for me to use throw the ball in his court, in his you know, side of the court, without having to find the right word, right so for me, it was easy to manage that relationship And and to well as a board member, I it's not, it's not my role to to say or to favor a Democrat Republican, because the board isn't, is that non political right, non political entity. So, so it wasn't easy, but it was easy at the same time because of the political views and but then it caught me in terms of, like, the recommendations, I feel like they the levels of receptiveness. Wasn't wearing the same, they were in the same under Northam and also on the Youngkin. So, yeah,

 

Daniel Morales  52:31

Okay, so you've talked a little bit about how Trump has changed the politics in the country, or at least the state. Do you think he's brought How do you think he's affected the debates that happened in Virginia, or even nationally on the issues of immigration?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  52:55

How do I think that it affected Trump?

 

Daniel Morales  52:59

Not Trump affected, like how? So, for example, you were talking about how it was easy. It was relatively easy to work with moderate Republicans, to work with Youngkin, but then Trump was elected, and then all of a sudden, all those doors closed? 

 

Eduardo Zelaya  53:20

Yeah. So I feel like it has to do a lot with their personal views too, not only the political views, because my experience working with the different like, for example, during the example that I gave you with the delegate that was a Republican, it helped us a lot. I believe that the political landscape at the time, it wasn't the same as what it was today, with Youngkin right and so and also it was different type of like powers within the public, you know, like offices. So I believe that, in my view, I think I the doors were always had been, always closed, not only for the Republican Party in immigrant issues, but They had been more they have been they've been close, but not luck, and so in this case, with with with with, when Trump won, I felt like the Trump supporters. Then the Virginians of Youngkin, like, you know, like Youngkin supporters. I think. I don't know if I if I think, but I believe that that Youngkin ended up like doing what he, what he what he did. Because somehow I felt like he needed to apologize to the Republican Party aligning with Trump because he didn't win the red wave in Virginia, right? He did it. He proved to the part, like he wasn't successful. So in my view, he was somehow aligning even more, not only because he wanted to ask for forgiveness, but also because he needed to somehow please the Republican voter voting, or voters in the state of Virginia, and he utilized his his his seat, to do it and utilize our resources in Virginia to do it, right? So, yeah, I don't. I never. I never thought that John King had the door open for us to to work with him, because he wasn't, I don't think he was. He was and who he is on what he believes, like he's a business person. I don't think that he, he, he cared much about like, the the humane component of like Virginia, to be honest, more about his he was seeing everything from the business perspective. And yeah, and that was the difference between youngkin and in back in the days the delegate, and some delegates, like Jenny was one of them that he's no longer a delegate either he was Republican, that they were curious to get to know the immigrant community, right, and do something about that. I think personality had to do a lot with it.

 

Daniel Morales  56:58

Yeah, going back to 2024, election, a lot more Latinos than in previous elections, voted for Trump. What are your thoughts on to why that is?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  57:15

I think we – there is a lot of there's different components, but I think the main one is the our backgrounds. I believe that, you know, Latin America society has been involved, you know, like, you know, with the Bible under, under the arm, right? And so, I think that they could that was that, was that a specific connection with the Trump administration, 2014 that Latinos were like, okay, so he is a man of God. And then I'm quoting some of the people that I talked to, he is a man of God, and therefore my vote is going to go to him as a Latino, because I believe in family. I believe in Jesus. And so I don't hear other politicians talking about, you know, Jesus guiding their journey right in in politics. And so therefore I'm going to vote for for for him. And so that has been my experience talking to to Latino voters in 14– 20–, 2014, and 16, right? I'm even lost. I think it was 16. Was it 16 or 14?

 

Daniel Morales 58:35

Was the first election in 2024, in 2016 Yes.

 

Eduardo Zelaya  58:38

So I think that was the biggest, one of the biggest component, the religion component, of like, who we are as a society, within the US society.

 

Daniel Morales  58:56

Since being elected, Trump has deployed National Guards in DC, and a lot of ice has been deployed all throughout Nova, what have you and CASA been were doing or reacting to that in the last couple months?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  59:18

But we have been utilizing a lot the litigation processes, right? We have been partnering with a lot of law firms, immigration firms that are pretty much like doing a lot of litigations, right again, I mean, against the administration and so. So that has been one. But in terms of like preparing community members. To avoid becoming, you know, part of all these numbers that the administration wants to do, which is, like the deportations, we ended up like strategizing around communication, right, for example, what to do and what not to do when we are seeing eyes. And so we ended up like organizing community members to report all these like ice activity in their communities. For example, we ended up by name it, name this way of communicating the community, which essentially means that community members were going to be reporting to their organizers if they seen ice to confirm it, and organizer will deploy to the area when they saw ice to do wellness check, which means, like, you know, talking to community members and leaving know your right information right what to do and what not to do if they see ICE agents and how to avoid it not becoming contact with them by accident, right? Which, essentially, some numbers are showing that the majority of community members are being deported. Are not because there were ICE agents. Were looking for them directly, or they were like, you know, raiding their their communities. But it was because they accidentally opened the door when they were like, knocking on the door, right? So community members didn't know the right, that they're not, they didn't know that there's they're not supposed to open the door. And so we ended up like, you know, training community members on how to like, report it and how to like, you know, be more efficient when we see ice operations in their communities. So that was one way and the other way. Like I said, it was like litigation processes, right? Like, pretty much like, suing the government for the evaluation of like human rights. In this case, immigrant communities, right which some of them have had some success. The birthright citizenship has been one that we ended up like blocking it, not completely. The other one was the, you know, like student, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, knowing for for unlawful arrest in DC, right? Like so you know, ice were pretty much like kidnapping community members, using force regardless their status. They were not even like asking for anything their names or identifying themselves. And so we ended up like winning the lawsuit right now they have to have a word if they want to operate, or have, like ice operations in the DC area. So those are two methods, the Preventing method of like community members falling into or becoming in contact with ice agencies, and also the litigation processes that has been pretty much like the two ways that we have been somehow, you know, resistive from the government, from the Trump administration, okay,

 

Daniel Morales  1:03:16

What are there– there was recently a new election for governor in Virginia, and Spanberger won, and then there's a much bigger democratic assembly, 15 new seats. What are your plans and hopes for the new session and the new governor in the next year?

 

Eduardo Zelaya  1:03:42

And the word hope is really important, because the hope which was part of the language that some of the top of the ticket candidates were using when they were campaigning. They hope, and my hope, and I think many, many others hopes. It's that we're going to have an administration, one that represent every Virginia in in Virginia regardless the status their religion. So that's one two a administration that will help Virginia heal for the past four years. What's happened in the past four years, especially after the elections, the Trump selection and three an administration that will be open to work with every sector of in Virginia right not only like the nonprofit sector, but also like. You know, you know all the other other sectors, like aid administration that will allow community members to do their job as a residency in Virginia, right, and not to an administration that will help heal. You know, like different communities in Virginia, and obviously, my hope is that those will be reflected in the policies that we are going to be working on as a Virginians and also with the legislators right and so we know that is not going to be easy, but we know that we are going to be in better shape now that the new administration won, because we had the second risk. Youngkin was one of them. I even wrote a paper on this, an op ed Youngkin was the first risk that Virginia's took, and then the other Sears was going to be the second risk. And I don't think that we were able to afford a second risk in Virginia on the Trump administration. And so, you know, the hope is that Virginians are going to be feeling safe. Resources in Virginia are going to be allocated for the good of the people the economy are going to be better for everybody in the community in Virginia, which pretty much like is one of the things that voters ended up by voting on right and so and most importantly, the opportunity that Virginians have to elect the next governor to be an immigrant in an immigrant woman. I think that's the most valuable thing that I that I hope that we will be able to do in the next after the next, I'm thinking after this administration, but during this administration, I think the the party, the leadership in Virginia, the Democratic Party, has sent a message to to to the nation, that we can be a party of the people, and that's the hope. Ultimately, that's my hope.

 

Daniel Morales  1:07:17

Okay, so now I'm getting towards the end of the interview. Okay, so thinking back on your last 10 years of doing politics in Virginia and DC. What? How would you describe your thoughts on this issue, right, this issue of immigration, and how it's kind of become a major issue for state politics and national politics in these years.

 

Eduardo Zelaya  1:07:53

How would I describe it? Hope? I think the way that I can describe it is like a way that we can hope for. You know, the way that I describe it, like, in these 10 years, it's like, clearly, an opportunity for us as immigrants to realize that it's not about an immigration status anymore. I think the Trump administration has proven that this is not about an immigration status anymore. And I feel like a lot of community members, especially like immigrants regardless of status, are realizing that it's evident that it's not about oligo status anymore, right? And so I believe that that's the way that I can describe and then that my learning lesson has been the conclusion that ultimately, is not about my legal status, you know, just because of having an accent or the way I look or I can be stopped in the streets by ICE agents, right? So, is that about is that an immigration issues and immigration status issues from both or or is it about something else? And I feel like now a lot of Latinos and immigrants, regardless their country where they're coming from, regardless of status, they're realizing that Trump wasn't never about, you know, deporting the, quote, unquote, you know, the whatever he called us, right? It wasn't about that. It was about more than just status, legal status in this country. So that's how I can describe it.

 

Daniel Morales  1:09:44

Okay, I. Okay, so that's sort of the the formal interview. So, so I'm just going to ask you so, permission, questions, yes, the first question again, is your email gonna stop the recording? Mm.