UnidosUS CEO Janet Murguía on COVID

Janet Murguía is one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year, a recognition of women across the country who have made a significant impact. The annual program is a continuation of Women of the Century, a 2020 project that commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. Meet this year’s honorees at womenoftheyear.usatoday.com.

Without hesitation, Janet Murguía acknowledges the proudest moment in her life: the day she escorted her parents into the Oval Office to meet President Bill Clinton.

Murguía was serving as a deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Office in the Clinton administration, where she worked for six years. The best way to pay her parents back for their support and love was to show them how far she had come.

She gets emotional and tearful when she talks about it. Her pride in family – and her own accomplishments – is palpable.

“These two hard-working, simple people, who sacrifice so much for their family, for their country, were able to come and visit me,” she said. “And I’ll never forget as we were just outside the Oval Office, my mom had tears coming down her face and, in Spanish, you could hear her whisper, ‘Cómo llegamos hasta aquí?’ How did we get here?”

Murguía, 61, is now president and CEO of UnidosUS (formerly National Council of La Raza), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. Her advocacy spans issues such as immigration reform, education, employment, economic prosperity, civil rights and health care for Latino people.

She gives of herself because she wants a better existence for all Americans. But the pandemic has hit the Latino community hard, particularly vulnerable immigrants. Murguía knows the struggle. She watched her parents, who came from Mexico with limited education and language barriers, work to raise seven children in Kansas City, Kansas, while pursuing the American dream. 

“I’ll never forget it,” Murguía said of that day in the White House. “Just as we were at the door of the Oval Office, my dad made a beeline for President Clinton and he shook his hand, stuck his hand out and shook it. And he said, ‘Mr. President, thank you for giving my daughter this opportunity.’ And President Clinton put his hand on my dad’s shoulder, my mom’s shoulder and he said, ‘You know what, Mr. Murguía? I hired your daughter and she walked you in here, but you’re the ones who got her here.’ 

“And to me, I don’t know, maybe the American dream is still a challenge for so many people, but to have my parents experience that moment and to be in the Oval Office with the president of the United States, and for him to acknowledge their sacrifice, their hard work, it’s an unforgettable moment for me.”

At UnidosUS, Murguía oversees a network of almost 300 community-based organizations that provide support and various assistance related to programs in health, education, workforce, technology, housing and home ownership and, of course, civil rights and immigration. On the advocacy side, she uses her voice to promote policies that advance those often denied access or who have faced barriers because of the color of their skin or their culture.

“I know it’s daunting right now, and we’ve faced some very dark times and there’s real challenges, but I believe it’s so important to encourage young people to try to move through this darkness and keep their sights set on a bigger dream, a bigger vision for themselves, for their community and for the country,” she said.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

It’s probably when my mom passed away. It was hard. I so admired her. She was a simple woman, strong values, not a lot of education, but she was smart and she had a big heart. I feel like so many of us with our mothers, there’s a bond there that’s so special. She actually had Alzheimer’s. And so in some ways, I lost her before she was actually gone. But it opened my eyes to so many who struggle with caring for their parents and making sure that they’re taken care of with dignity. 

I think it’s fair to say I have always relied on one particular word that captures how I function, and it has been daunting at times to face the challenges that we’ve seen roll out as a result of the pandemic. And to be quite honest, as a result of the previous administration.

My guiding principle is a word in Spanish. It’s called adelante, and it means keep moving forward. Keep pushing forward. For me, internally, it means never give up. You just can never give up.

And I think it reflects, ultimately, my sense of optimism and belief in a bigger, brighter future, and the fact that we have to work toward it. My dad had a saying that he shared that I often recall. In Spanish, it’s el sol sale para todos. He says the sun shines for everyone, but you have to be determined and you have to work to get out there and seek what you want. And that is something that drives me every day.

I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve had family support to rely on, and a lot of folks have relied on their families.

The virus itself has devastated our families. Latinos and African Americans have been three times as likely to contract the virus and twice as likely to die. Literally, these families are being devastated by the pandemic, but somehow, they have a degree of fortitude and resilience that has allowed them to keep moving forward, but not without the need for real assistance and response. And I’ve been very disappointed to see that again, sometimes that assistance has stopped when it comes to immigrant families and these mixed-status families.

But these women, in particular, leading these families are incredibly strong, resourceful and resilient, but I do worry that we need to provide the right emotional supports, mental health supports, assistance in general, for them as we move forward. But I think, like most folks, I have relied on the strength of the family around me to get through this, and through the strong people that I’ve surrounded myself with in this organization.

It’s so difficult to hear the debate around immigration and the polarization that we’ve seen around immigration reform. I’ve seen firsthand, through my own family experience and through the mission and the work of UnidosUS and the work of our affiliates, so many families that are contributing and have been contributing for a generation, and are now in mixed-status families where many in the family are here as citizens but yet some are not, and they’re still in the shadows and in fear that at some point they could be separated from their families. 

It’s devastating to have seen and witnessed families that through extreme enforcement actions were deported and who are in fear that they could still be deported. It’s not a humane way to treat so many who, when we faced our darkest hour in crisis, through the pandemic, stepped up at the risk of their own lives to be exposed to the virus, to make sure that our economy was open, whether it was in the fields, making sure that we were getting crops; whether it was in the warehouses, making sure that they were being produced and delivered; whether it was in the stores to make sure that they were on shelves; and whether it was actually delivering food, caring for people, whether in the professions of nurses or doctors or at home. In every way, we have stepped up as a community, as a people, to keep this country going.

And we can’t create a solution that acknowledges their real sacrifice. We have a labor shortage right now that is in no way, shape or form going to be addressed with the current labor market we have. So it’s heartbreaking to see us as a country still struggle and so polarized over what could be a common sense solution to immigration reform.

Well, I don’t talk about it a lot, but my faith is very important to me. It was important to my family growing up, and having faith and family is what sustains me. What also sustains me is the belief in people and in the fact that, if given a chance, everyone can have an opportunity to succeed. And I saw that in my family.

I know it’s not true for every family, but I do believe that if we’re at least given a level playing field, if we’re given a chance at having some success, that we can deliver on that. I just fundamentally believe in the human spirit. I’m a champion of the human spirit and believe that we have to let everybody achieve their potential. And if we do, we’ll do wonders.

National columnist/deputy opinion editor Suzette Hackney is a member of USA TODAY’S Editorial Board. 

Published
10:05 am UTC Mar. 24, 2022
Updated
2:55 pm UTC Mar. 30, 2022