Las Americas Advocacy Center Memo

Date: February 14, 2011
To: English 1311 classmates
From: Crystal Saavedra
Subject: Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center

Drugs, violence and abuse, the normal part of a young teenager’s life living in places like Ecuador and Honduras. Depression and never knowing where to turn for salvation, a feeling almost no one in this class may ever understand. This is the “typical” life of young children and women who are trying to escape the conditions at home. There are many people trying to cross to the United States to find freedom and peace and a fresh start at life, especially children. This journey could not be completed if not for the Las Americas group in El Paso, Texas.
The Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center is an organization created by Ruben Garcia to provide not only asylum but assistance for battered women and children forced into human trafficking. Las Americas began with the “Annunciation House” and eventually turned it into a place some call “home”. This organization specializes in representing men, women or children and giving each person an opportunity of asylum or escape. Las Americas representatives does not stop there, they serve as the voices of battered women, and children who lived their life in human trafficking.
Las Americas understands where their patients come from and what their objective in coming to the United States is and they take almost all clients in and represent them to fight for their freedom. “Today, Las Americas continues to be one of the only non-profit legal service providers to assist low-income asylum seekers, immigrant children and battered women in the El Paso region” (http://las-americas.org/?page_id=35). You can choose to become a donor or volunteer in helping the cases of thousands of helpless immigrants. Las Americas has grown tremendously with the hard work and efforts of Ruben Garcia the founder and the dedicated individuals who work every day to try and improve someone’s life.
The Las Americas website, http://www.las-americas.org/, is a very simple and informative site. It provides information to the public on their history and how Las Americas was created and what morals and missions the organization stands for. It is very navigational friendly and includes the different services that Las Americas assists in, such as battered women and children. The website is simple, and sincere. It even has one special tab to learn how to get involved, such as volunteering, donating and educating. The last part of the web site that I thought was good was that the site provides stories and articles on their success stories and how Las Americas helps each individual in their own situation. The whole organization as a whole is a wonderful creation that I hope will continue on for years and so we can continue to hear more success stories.