Libbie Luevanos-Herrera has been active in activism before, particularly in the area of teen suicide.
But the 28-year-old recently joined SOMOS, a training program run by the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho to promote Latino leadership and advocacy and combat immigration narratives in the run-up to the presidential election.
Luevanos-Herrera said she wanted to connect more with her community, and immigration has touched her life. She is a DACA child — short for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a federal program that protects children brought to the United States by their parents at a young age without permanent legal status.
DACA “governs her entire life,” she said. Luevanos-Herrera essentially lives in two-year cycles of applying for reapproval to keep the program’s protections in place for her.
Latino activism “is becoming more and more popular,” Luevanos-Herrera said, standing in a hallway at the Idaho Hispanic Community Center. “I feel like the younger generations are seeing what their parents went through or what they went through, and they understand what power looks like. They understand that they can control narratives.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Pew Research Center, Idaho’s Hispanic population has grown 36 percent since 2010. Nationally, the population has grown 26 percent during the same period.
And many immigrants face rhetoric labeling them as evil or criminal, as seen recently in Eagle during a campaign to make the city a nonsanctuary city. This kind of rhetoric also causes fear among U.S.-born Latinos, according to previous reporting.
That day in early August, staff members stood before about two dozen people in a conference room at the community center during the ACLU of Idaho event as part of the SOMOS trainings.
On two white pieces of paper taped to the wall, participants first discussed the general public’s perception of immigrants, often in what they described as negative terms. Then they wrote down what they thought immigrants actually were: hard workers, taxpayers, family-oriented. The group agreed that immigrants were not seen enough in that more positive light.
“How do we get that power back?” one of the employees asked the group.
Part of the goal of the program is for people to understand and heal their past while also becoming involved in the community.
Leonardo Gonzalez, 25, says the program made him realize that much of his past behavior stemmed from a feeling of not being accepted.
“I felt like I was just part of a system that didn’t want me to be successful,” Gonzalez said. “I actually wish I was more involved. … I didn’t even know this existed.”
Idaho has a long and rich history of advocacy and activism for Latinos, from the fight for a minimum wage for farmworkers and marches for immigrant rights in 2006 to protests against a possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Jerome in 2017.
“I don’t think it ever went away,” said Irene Ruiz, executive director of the Idaho Organization of Resource Councils. “We were more reactionary when it came to the Trump administration.”
But Latino activism in Idaho is expanding to more facets, Ruiz said.
Estefanía Mondragón, director of PODER in Idaho, said there were immigration issues that needed to be addressed during the two recent presidential administrations. She agreed that Latino activism is expanding into areas such as environmentalism.
There are many issues that “we can be part of and should be part of,” Mondragón said.
“It’s amazing. There’s a renaissance going on here in Idaho, of Latino voices, Latino art and Latino culture in the state,” Mondragón said. “It’s like an identity building for Latinos here in Idaho.”
Annai Aguilera Gonzalez, 20, attended the SOMOS program sessions. She said she got her start in activism in high school, when she saw young students worried about ICE patrols.
There are great organizations to join, Aguilera Gonzalez said, and more are emerging as Latino communities seek to make their voices heard.
“I have a lot more hope for (activism),” Aguilera Gonzalez told the Statesman. “Especially after attending shows like this. … It’s going to be strong.”
