ST. LOUIS — Vanessa Crawford Aragon, executive director of Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Association, said she takes her job seriously because what maybe talking points for politicians are daily concerns for those she represents.
“My goal is to empower people to advocate for themselves, to be able to stand up for themselves and their families. This isn’t just an issue for them — it’s their lives,” Aragon said. “So there’s a lot of really fulfilling moments in the work but it also means I have to take it really seriously because they’re not messing around and I’m not messing around either.”
After studying at Truman State University, Aragon interned in former Senator Wayne Goode’s office. Post graduation, Aragon interned in Washington, D.C. but as a self-proclaimed “Missouri girl,” she felt the need to come back to the Show-Me State.
When Sen. Claire McCaskill ran during 2006, Aragon worked for the Democratic Coordinated Campaign.
Through her experience, Aragon befriended former representative Rebecca McClanahan and worked as her legislative aide when she took office in Jefferson City. She broke through the non-profit world when she became the political and field director at NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri and was able to learn more about community organization and issue advocacy.
Aragon worked on the Federal level for an environmental campaign concerning climate change and energy policy. Meanwhile, she met her husband — the son of two Mexican immigrants who reside in Arizona. During conversations, Aragon said, she listened to the immigration and discrimination issues of her parents-in-law, making her current job very personal, as well as professional. But they weren’t.
The only ones with concerns —many others like them in the community were as well.
“Despite them having their green cards renewed, discrimination and the fear and this wild anti-immigrant sentiment was a kitchen table issue in a family,” Aragon said.
When her predecessor at MIRA moved with her husband, Aragon saw an opportunity to utilize the skills she developed through organizing and advocating “on an issue that was really close to home” Aragon said.
Aragon’s day-to-day duties include campaign meetings about Federal immigration reform, local community meetings with coalition partners about discrimination and education, fundraising, administrative management and grant writing.
Aragon said her and MIRA’s greatest success came when a Missouri bill that mimicked an Alabama “anti-immigrant” bill was killed.
“It would’ve required schools to check immigration status, police officers to check statuses of immigrants or victims before investigating the reason they were called. It would’ve been a crime to not have your documentation,” Aragon said. “When we saw something like this passed in Alabama, people fled the state. People took their kids out of school and just left. So it was a very serious, very scary threat. But, it was also a great moment where the entire immigrant and refugee community came together during that legislative session.”
For future legislative sessions, Aragon had suggestions. One being beware of anti-immigration rhetoric.
“There’s this idea that, ‘Well, we just introduced this bill, kicked it around for a little while and we didn’t pass it so it’s OK,’” Aragon said. “But for the immigrant community, that can have as negative of an effect it still has anti-immigrant sentiment and it makes everyone feel unwelcome.”
A more “concrete” idea, she said, is to change the driver’s license requirements.
“If you passed the test and paid the fee, you could get a driver’s license. We need to restore that … it would be a major quality of life issue for those families and it would be a major safety issue for the rest of the community because you make sure people who are driving have licensure and insurance.”
