Fighting for human rights might seem like it would be a gruesome commitment. One might imagine raids, tiresome protests, or time-consuming marches upon the discovery of a human rights movement. But for one McClintock senior, the fight is on.

The Puente Human Rights Movement is a non-profit grassroots migrant justice organization that takes place in Phoenix. Their work focuses on helping the migrant community as well as spreading awareness of the issues migrants and other minority groups face.

“The Puente Human Rights Movement’s main objective is to help migrant families; however we also focus on a lot of other things. We help families who have family members in detention centers, and we are also partners with an LGBTQ+ non-profit organization and do a lot of our events with them as well. We focus on spreading understanding.” senior Sandra Cornejo said.

Puente describes their strategy as being a ‘closed fist, open hand’ strategy. This means that they are an organization that does not participate in violence and instead work on fighting enforcement through other methods as well as making sure they try to build a welcoming and understanding network. Their work varies from protests and marches to trying to contact local politicians in hopes of helping migrant families.

“At the moment our main goal is to end all detention centers as well as mass incarceration. [In the past] we’ve had several protests and marches against Joe Arpaio. We’re also trying to get the City Council to allow people who are undocumented to have state IDs,” Cornejo said.

Puente has hopes of helping the many migrant families in detention centers. Members of the movement work to spread awareness of the brutality that lurks in these centers. The marches and protests are not in vain for they help expose the cruelty taking place.

“During the summer we had a strike outside of the Elois Detention Center in Tuscon,  and it was because there was around four deaths in less than four months in one detention center alone. Within the detention center they were giving pregnant women medication that would lead them to have ]. There were people with severe illnesses that would not be given any medication at all and would be told by CCA (the corporation that runs all detention centers in the U.S.) to just drink water.” Cornejo said.

While this movement makes it clear that they want to do all they can for migrant families, a majority of people are unaware of how close to home this cause may hit.

“[This is important to me because] I grew up with people who could not get a decent job, buy a house, people who could not do most of the stuff that people do, and to me it’s insane. A majority of the people in the detention centers are our dads, our moms, our sisters, our neighbors who came to the U.S. for a better future and are being treated like prisoners.” Cornejo said.

Protests and marches are generally the main way Puente works to help migrants. These experiences may be gruesome and graphic, but they could also change their member’s lives forever.

“My experiences have been eye-opening. It definitely gets really depressing at times just knowing that some things you really can’t do anything about. For awhile, I didn’t really want to speak out about it [her work for this movement] or tell my friends. It felt like it wasn’t my job to talk about it. But in the last couple of months I have been getting closer to the non-profit, the people that I’m helping, the people that I’m fighting for, and now I feel like it’s everyone’s job to talk about these issues, spread the word, and continue to fight.” Cornejo said.

Volunteering for any organization is something that most students are encouraged to do. Volunteering not only looks great on college applications but opens you up to new experiences as well as leaving you feeling accomplished.

“[Working for this movement] makes me feel extremely proud and happy. Being able to go to a place where people have the same beliefs that I do and are fighting for the same things that I am, it’s peaceful. I love meeting new people everyday. I got to meet John Legend and Juanes, that was such an amazing experience that I will never forget.” Cornejo said.

The organization always needs more volunteers.

“Students can get involved by attending our meetings which are Monday nights in Downtown Phoenix,” Cornejo said, “They can always talk to me, we do have a lot of protests, marches, and strikes, so if anyone is willing to come march, stand, and fight with us, they are welcome.”

If you are interested in helping the Puente movement, look for Sandra around campus, or you can always contribute donations to this non-profit movement since it’s workers do not receive much funding. If you find a cause like Puente that moves you then Chargers fight on.