A young Union City man whose passion for public policy originated in his hometown recently got a crash course in human rights and immigration.
Ebenezer Concepcion, 24, a graduate from St. Peter’s College in Jersey City, was selected from hundreds of applicants to participate in a prestigious fellowship program in Washington, D.C. It was sponsored by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.
“It is to develop future leaders in government,” said Concepcion, “expose them to the world of public policy.” Having grown up in a town where many Latinos reside, Concepcion said he decided to concentrate on human rights and immigration.
“Social justice and giving back and trying to learn about the different problems that communities face in Latin America and the United States really interests me a lot,” he said.
Three countries
In the past year, Concepcion took the opportunity to work at the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the United States Department of State as well as the National Council for La Raza (the Race), an advocacy group for Hispanic issues.
At the bureau, Concepcion focused on the quality of life of everyday people in three specific countries.
“My responsibility was to edit human rights reports for three countries in Latin America: Colombia, Honduras, and Panama,” he said. The reports are written by foreign service officers representing the United States abroad who are responsible for reporting any human rights violations. The reports gauge issues such as religious freedom.
“We need to make sure they are reporting all the violations,” said Concepcion.
He added that while working in this capacity, he also attended meetings with advocates and activists from foreign countries who sought help from the United States government. “I learned basically about human rights and how human rights are either violated or respected in Latin America,” said Concepcion.
His time at the bureau, he said, helped him realize there is still quite a bit of work to be done in that area.
“In most countries, there are a lot of violations of human rights,” said Concepcion. However, he said, violations differ greatly between the nations.
“Colombia is probably one of the biggest violators of human rights,” he said. He added that military men are terrorizing civilians. In many Latin American countries, he said, there is also not enough social programs or institutions for the young and old.
Advocating for immigration issues
In January, Concepcion turned his attention to immigration in the United States while at the National Council for La Raza.
“It is the largest Hispanic advocacy organization in the United States,” said Concepcion. “It advocates on issues surrounding immigration, housing, wealth-building, education, health, juvenile justice.”
Working with the immigration team, Concepcion provided policy information to community leaders on local and state levels who wanted to organize rallies to raise awareness of the national issue.
“We’re the ones that provide the resources for those people who would want to organize a rally or protest on the ground,” he said. “We just give them any information that they may need, such as talking points.”
The group also encourages the public to contact their congressmen to voice their concerns about immigration and push for immigration reform because, he said, the system is broken.
“In order for America to prosper and in order for it to stand true to its values, we need to fix our immigration system,” said Concepcion. He added that he believes immigration law has been stretched and misinterpreted for other purposes.
“After September 11, when we are trying to target terrorists and criminals, instead of doing that, we are targeting immigrants,” said Concepcion. Even people who are in the United States legally, he said, are being targeted.
Concepcion said he has always been passionate about the issues he was able to focus on during the past year. After all, he was a double major in Latin American and Latino studies and Spanish, and a minor in international and intercultural studies in college. But he said that public policy and politics are not where his heart is.
“I am very passionate about teaching,” said Concepcion, “so I really see myself in that field more than anything else. I think it would be very hard for me to put that aside and focus on something else, because I enjoy it so much.”
Now that the fellowship is over, he said, his next step is to wait for an answer to his application to a research program in the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress or make the decision to teach Spanish in Spain to non-native speakers.
Amanda Staab can be reached at astaab@hudsonreporter.com.