Efrén C. Olivares, Director of Strategic Litigation, Southern Poverty Law Center
On the 37th episode of Immigration Today! Angeline Chen welcomes Efrén C. Olivares, Director of Strategic Litigation at The Southern Poverty Law Center. Efrén is a civil rights lawyer who has represented clients before federal courts and international human rights bodies for over a decade. His work focuses on ending immigrant detention and providing pro bono legal representation to detained immigrants at immigration detention centers in the deep South. Efrén and his team also defend workers’ rights, ensure local policing is not entangled with immigration enforcement, seek family reunification, and protect the rights of asylum seekers. In this interview, Efrén tells us about his upbringing and how that influenced the work he does today as an immigration attorney and fearless advocate for civil rights.
Author of My Boy Will Die of Sorrow: A Memoir of Immigration from the Front Lines, which was published in 2022, Olivares recounts his own immigration journey as young teenager arriving in the U.S. His work has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, Newsweek, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, CNN and many other outlets. Efrén's grandfather was born in the U.S. to farmworker parents who would travel in between Mexico and Texas for work which eventually lead to his family establishing roots in Texas when he moved to the U.S at the age of 13. In his book he recounts what life was like assimilating into the U.S. and how his own experiences allowed him to see immigration work through a personal lens.
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“There was an audio during the family separation crisis, a heartbreaking audio of children crying, that was leaked and this was a turning point because that audio is so difficult to listen to. It was leaked on a Monday night and by Wednesday afternoon the President signed an executive order reporting an end to family separation policies. That audio was so powerful in turning public opinion against this policy. This audio was so powerful and much more effective than a video or a photograph because when you hear those children cry… you don’t see the color of their skin. All children cry the same. It got to people at a visceral level in a way that when you see somebody’s skin, or hear them speak a different language or the way they look, you’re able to treat them as the “other”… The power of that audio transcended race in a way that very few other things have.”
[Listen to the audio during the family separation crisis here.]
You can keep up with Efrén on Twitter/X @efrencolivares and on IG @e.olivares.a. Purchase his book via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target or any other outlet found on his website. Consider donating to the amazing work done at The Southern Poverty Law Center here. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter/X, and Instagram as well.
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