![\"Rochelle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Kat.jpg\")
Rochelle Garza, chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, delivers the symposium\u2019s keynote speech. Credit: Kat McKinney<\/p>\nRochelle Garza, chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, delivers the symposium\u2019s keynote speech. Credit: Kat McKinney<\/p>\n
Speakers at the San Antonio-based Mexican American Civil Rights Institute\u2019s 2026 Symposium this weekend urged the audience to raise their voices and speak truth amid the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n
The event, held at downtown\u2019s Mal\u00fa & Carlos Alvarez Theater, convened scholars, organizers, artists and policymakers to discuss the state of civil liberties and the evolving identity of Mexican Americans.\u00a0The two-day gathering featured speeches on Saturday by Carmen Perez-Jordan and Rochelle Garza, two of the country\u2019s most influential Latina civil rights leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perez-Jordan, a human rights activist and co-chair of the 2017 Women\u2019s March, opened the day\u2019s programming with an address grounding the audience in a vision of ancestral memory. She argued that civil rights work must start with an understanding of the origins of our communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMemory tells us who we are,\u201d Perez-Jordan said. \u201cMemory reminds us where we come from. \u2026 We belong to a people, to a legacy, to a story.\u201d<\/p>\n
The activist also challenged narratives that cast Mexican Americans, who represent more than 11%<\/a> of the total U.S. population, as outsiders.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBefore there was a border, we were here,\u201d Perez-Jordan said. \u201cBefore our stories were politicized, criminalized, distorted and erased, we were here.\u201d<\/p>\n Perez-Jordan also spoke about the personal loss that propelled her into activism. She explained that after her sister\u2019s death when she was a teenager, she learned that \u201csilence has consequences.\u201d She urged attendees to stop waiting for permission to lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI believe this nation is still unfinished. I believe democracy is still being written, and I believe every generation has a responsibility to write the meaning of freedom,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since the historic 2017 Women\u2019s March, Perez-Jordan has traveled the country asking communities what they would insist upon if the nation\u2019s founding promise were being written today. From those conversations, she said, a common thread emerged.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIndependence is not enough. We need interdependence. We need a country where our freedom is tied to one another\u2019s freedom. \u2026\u2029 Our humanity is tied to everyone\u2019s humanity,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause none of our liberation is separate.\u201d<\/p>\n Perez-Jordan\u2019s remarks were followed by a keynote by Rochelle Garza, the chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and president of the Texas Civil Rights Project. She said that her road to social justice work started at home, with her brother Robbie, who faced discrimination because of his disabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c\u2029I learned sadly, at a very young age, that there are people in positions of power who will look at someone like my brother and decide that it\u2019s just not worth the time to treat them like a person,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Garza connected that personal history to a broader pattern of exclusion Mexican Americans face.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCivil rights are not abstract,\u201d Garza said. \u201cThey are about whether we, the people, allow those in power to decide who deserves dignity, who has the right to protection under the law, and ultimately, who gets to be treated as fully human.\u201d<\/p>\n From there, Garza delivered a sweeping historical indictment. She traced the history U.S. immigration enforcement from the Mexican Repatriation between 1929 and 1939 to Operation Wetback in 1954 to today\u2019s interior-enforcement machine. She also detailed the modern tools of exclusion, which have grown to accommodate facial recognition technology, license-plate tracking, AI-driven surveillance and collaboration between police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe should all assume that our daily movements are being watched,\u201d she warned, citing a 2024 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report finding \u201cno existing safeguards\u201d on federal use of facial recognition.\u00a0<\/p>\n The heart of Garza\u2019s keynote was the political power of truth-telling. In her role on the Civil Rights Commission, Garza has moderated the People\u2019s Hearings on Immigration Enforcement<\/a>, where communities have created their own public record of racial profiling, ICE violence and disappearances.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDuring times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery story passed down from generation to generation, every corrido, news article and court case \u2014 we have been documenting and speaking truth to power, no matter the consequence.\u201d<\/p>\n Her assessment of the state of Mexican American civil rights added to Perez-Jordan\u2019s judgment that \u201cindependence is not enough.\u201d Garza sharpened that idea into a mandate that interdependence requires truth, and truth requires courage.\u00a0<\/p>\n Together, the two leaders left the audience with the charge that in a moment of national deceit, telling the truth is not only a radical act of resistance, but also our path to liberation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sign Up for SA Current newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>| Twitter<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tMinnesota prosecutors say the agent lied about what led up to the shooting. He is now charged with four felonies and one misdemeanor.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Accused](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mpls.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"Federal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Threaten.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n![\"ICE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement_ICE_Enforcement_and_Removal_Operations_ERO_in_Los_Angeles_Califo.jpeg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n