Patricia Guadalupe

For the first 10 years that Jerome D. Mack Middle School, in Las Vegas, Nev., was open, skin color, religious preferences, gang affiliation, language skills—and…

RIO PIEDRAS, Puerto Rico — Every week for the past months, Raquel Lopez Oliver and her family wonder, “What do we do on Sundays?”
Lopez Oliver remembers a time when most of her family gatherings would take place at the home of her husband's grandmother, known to everyone as Abuela (grandmother) Paulina. On Sundays, that was the place to visit.
That tradition ended exactly a year ago after Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico and took the lives of nearly 3,000 people in the deadliest nat...

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the School of Communication hosted an event titled Latinos and The Midterm Election Panel, discussing how important Latino voices are to the upcoming midterm elections on Oct. 30.
Eric Hershberg, the director of AU’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, moderated the discussion between CNN reporters Antoine Sanfuentes and Boris Sanchez, Telemundo reporter Lori Montenegro, Univision reporter Fernando Pizarro and NBC Latino reporter ...

Chapter hopes to help Hispanic students pursue journalism careers
AU students and faculty launched the first student chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) in Washington this fall, according to the chapter’s faculty advisor and AU professor Bill Gentile.
Gentile, who is a documentary filmmaker, said he has done the “vast majority of (his) most important work as a professional” outside of the country, including in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“It’s nice to be at...

José Urias owns a construction company in suburban Boston, where he has lived since he was a teenager. This year, he and his wife had the “what if” talk: What will they do if they have to say goodbye to the life they’ve built?
Urias, 40, and his wife are among the 195,000 Salvadorans who have lived in the U.S. since 2001 under Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, which granted temporary legal status to immigrants from certain countries fleeing natural disasters and civil wars.
Through almost t...

Charlyn Gaztambide Janer, a Puerto Rico-based public relations specialist, lived for several years in New York City, near Times Square. Though she lived in a bustling part of the city, she avoided the Christmas holidays in New York, and it wasn't just because of the "cold and darkness."
What she really missed when she heard traditional Christmas carols like "Silent Night,” were the Puerto Rican parrandas.
"It’s such a dramatic difference," said Gaztambide Janer. "Everyone is partying and hang...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Chanting several slogans, including “up with liberation, down with deportation” and “we are the mighty, mighty immigrants fighting for justice,” a coalition of immigrant rights groups held a small rally today in front of the Capitol building, demanding that Congress consider completely defunding the Department of Homeland Security and its agencies within, such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Last week, Presiden...

WASHINGTON — At a ceremony to usher in a record number of Latino Democrats in Congress, lawmakers exuded more outrage than delight as they recognized their legislative ambitions are contending for now with a standoff over a border wall with Mexico that has partially shut down the government.
"It's because of Trump’s obsession with stirring up anti-immigrant sentiment that we're in this predicament and it is quickly affecting the most vulnerable,” said newly minted Democratic Congressman Jesús...

WASHINGTON — Angela Vásquez, a maintenance worker at the Department of Agriculture and a single mother of six, says she's perpetually worried these days.
"I’m in this situation right now where I have no money coming in," said Vásquez, a native of Guatemala who has lived in the nation's capital for 26 years.
“I have a lot of bills to pay, including tuition for my son in college," she said. "What am I supposed to tell my kids when they open the refrigerator and there’s no food? I can’t afford t...

WASHINGTON — New York City resident Dominga de los Santos, who has held a variety of jobs including as a housekeeper and a factory worker, came to Capitol Hill with a list of concerns.
“Is the government going to shut down again? What’s going to happen with immigration legislation and funding for education?” she told NBC News.
De los Santos was one of several hundred from all walks of life who traveled from cities around the country to participate in the first-ever Dominicans on the Hill day,...

WASHINGTON — Long before the growing #MeToo and #TimesUp movements of female empowerment, there was what I’d like to call the Puerto Rican Puig "posse," four feisty women who took no prisoners and opined their way into every situation.
They happened to be my mother’s aunts: Ana, Alejandra, María and Luisa Puig. Separately or together, for a young girl like me growing up in Puerto Rico under their imposing shadows, they were the most aggravating and exasperating bunch of people. They were alwa...

WASHINGTON — María Meléndez, the mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico’s second-largest city, came to Washington this week on a mission to ensure that federal aid already allocated for hurricane recovery is finally delivered to her city and others on the island.
Meléndez's visit to talk about local governance during natural disasters and crisis management came a day before Trump declared a national emergency to secure funding for the U.S.-Mexico border wall that he dangled as a presidential campaign pr...

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Even though Latino-owned businesses are a fast-growing sector of the U.S. economy — contributing more than $700 billion annually — ongoing obstacles include access to capital and reliable lenders.
Latino business owners and entrepreneurs who gathered in the nation's capital for a business legislative summit sought answers on those issues as well as reassurances that trade at the U.S.-Mexico border will continue.
"Top of mind for me is keeping the border open," said Lea Márqu...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dozens of students from Hispanic Serving Institutions, or HSIs — colleges and universities where at least 25 percent of the student body is Latino —are in Washington to push back against proposed Trump administration cuts and changes to several education programs the students say are crucial to obtaining future degrees.
While Latinos have seen substantial gains in college enrollment, the number of Hispanic students who graduate with a Bachelor’s degree continues to lag behi...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — While Latinos represent close to 18 percent of the population in the United States, fewer than five percent participate in clinical trials. For advocates who push for greater participation in the Latino community, this is a problem, and being left out could have a significant negative impact.
“There are diseases that you have [out there], and this new drug comes out or this new therapy comes out and you want to know that at least people like you were in the study. It doesn’...