- I was 13 when I came
from El Salvador.
I began to realize
that I was different,
that my status was different.
I was able to become
an American.
So if you ask me today,
this is my country,
this is my state
and these are my people.
- Long Island is my house.
And anything that happens
to Long Islanders that’s negative,
it happens to me.
New York shaped me
to be that tough
immigrant that came in
and decided to thrive
based on what I witnessed
and lived in El Salvador.
My sister and I witnessed
a lot of bodies mutilated
on the streets
on my way to school.
No child should have ever
witnessed what we did.
When people leave their countries,
they have to be in such
a desperate situation.
And that’s the people
that I come from.
We don’t see people here
as undocumented.
We see them as people.
I wish government would have
treated them the same way.
We quickly realized
that the radio stations
had the ability
to reach the masses,
specifically
the undocumented population.
I would say I've received
5,000 calls,
people asking for food.
And to this day,
we've taken care of
over 10,000 people.
And these are the things
that bother me the most.
Because the policies
that are being driven
from the federal level
are putting these people
deeper into the shadows.
She doesn’t want to apply for
food stamps.
We’re going through a pandemic.
And she’s not requesting
benefits for herself.
She’s requesting benefits
for her kids,
who are U.S. citizens.
It angers me because,
you know,
the basic human right
is food.
And as Americans,
we should have the ability
to feed
any American
that qualifies for anything,
not because of their parents,
but because of their birthright.
People have died
at home
because of the fear of persecution
by federal authorities.
People have died at home
because they didn’t have health care.
You literally took a community
that’s in the dark.
Not only did you shut the light
and shut the windows,
you literally put
a nail in their coffin.
And the number of people
that we have lost
in the pandemic
in the minority communities
should have never happened.