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United We DREAM's Cristina Jimenez Featured in Parade Magazine, Morning Joe: 'I'm Frustrated With All the Talk of Immigration And No Action'

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paradeSince the 2012 election, the Latino vote and how their influence dominated the ballot box has become a national headline, which is why PARADE Magazine has just announced that throughout 2013, they’ll be exploring the various and diverse ways Latinos are reshaping America.  After all, as Parade put it:

When Barack Obama [took] the oath of office this week, a diverse coalition of voters can lay claim to having built his victory: The president received overwhelming support among African-Americans, single women, and people under 30. But one of the most talked about aspects of the Obama win was his pull with Latino voters, who for the first time cast the decisive vote in a number of battleground states—just the latest example of the growing political, social, and cultural influence of America’s largest minority group.

To kick off their new series, the magazine put together a front page feature with Cristina Jimenez, a DREAMer and managing director of United We DREAM; Julian Castro, San Antonio’s Democratic mayor and last year’s DNC keynote speaker; Larry Gonzalez, a Republican Texas state representative; and Linda Alvarado, president and CEO of Denver’s Alvarado Construction and a co-owner of the Colorado Rockies.

During the interview, Cristina talked about growing up undocumented, how her community helped push her, and what she continues to fight for.  As she told Parade:

I’ve worked with many young people who want to succeed, and they realize that because of their immigration status, they can’t. They can’t go to college. They can’t do an internship. They can’t join fellowship programs. How do you even feel motivated to finish school and pursue higher education when there are so many obstacles?

View the full Parade Magazine article here.

Also check out Cristina’s interview last Friday with Morning Joe, where she talks about her frustration with the “talk, talk, talk” part of politics and the lack of politicians taking action: