LAANE Honoree Angelica Salas Fights for the Rights of Immigrants

Angelica Salas was 29 years old when she became the executive director of CHIRLA—Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. The Mexican-born community leader began her immigrant rights work as a volunteer for CHIRLA in 1995, when the organization consisted of only seven paid staff members.

Almost eleven years later, CHIRLA has grown to become one of the leading community organizations in Los Angeles serving immigrants from all over the world. The staff of 30 runs over a dozen programs to help educate immigrants about their rights, offer legal aid referrals, train immigrant youth to become leaders, assist in employee/employer wage disputes, as well as do advocacy at the local, state and federal level.

“Everybody in the community knows about CHIRLA or has our phone number,” says Salas, who is being honored on November 30 at LAANE’s City of Justice Awards Dinner for her dedication to immigrant workers.

Drawing her inspiration from immigrant workers’ determination to make the American Dream a reality, Salas’ vision for the organization is to help improve the lives of immigrants and help create an atmosphere where they can learn from other groups and be able to work together.

“When we know each other, we can build a progressive community,” says Salas. “We know that we have more power when we unite.”

CHIRLA has also become very important in the labor movement. The group is part of the LAANE-initiated Coalition for a New Century, which is working to improve pay and working conditions for hotel workers along Century Boulevard and just won an historic Living Wage policy for those workers.

“Immigrants are part of the labor movement. They bring a sense of optimism about the ideals of America and the pursuit of happiness,” says Salas. “Theirs is a tenacious fight to succeed and they won’t give up.”

The 35-year-old Salas has other passions besides justice for immigrants. She loves cooking Salvadoran-style breakfasts for her husband and two children and weekend jaunts to flea markets, where she hunts for Mexican art and other treasures.