Pedro was born and raised in south San Diego, a short distance from the US-Mexico border.  The experience of living on the border has informed his political perspective on border and immigration issues.  Pedro became active in the migrant rights movement in the early 90s as an undergraduate student at the University of San Diego.  After completing an undergraduate degree in English, Pedro worked in the San Francisco Bay Area for seven years for a community-based legal organization.  There he represented migrant seniors who were at risk of losing public benefits as a result of draconian welfare laws passed in 1996.  Pedro also volunteered with an organization called Ojo a la Migra, which organized to create “safe cities” for the undocumented population in the greater Bay Area.  While in San Francisco, Pedro graduated with university honors while completing an MA from the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University.  In 2002 Pedro returned to San Diego and continues to work on migrant and human rights issues as the Director of the American Friends Service Committee's San Diego Area Office.

Presentation

This presentation examines two cases related to the theme of unequal treatment by the media of migrant families during the October fires in San Diego County.  The first case will be of the Santiago family, which was unfairly targeted by SDPD and subsequently referred to Border Patrol custody. The second case will be of the migrants who died as a result of the fires.  In both cases I will present a context for the media response, as well as our work to support the victims and surviving family members (http://www.afsc.org/pacificsw/sandiego.htm)