The politics, the climate, the music, we can do better.
This is my page, and these are my writings.
Popular
2024 | San Diego Law Review
The "Uses of the Border" breaks down the weaponization of the border, and how the “border crisis” narrative was deliberately broadcast and injected into U.S. politics. It also explains the actual cross-border policies utilized in our economic region, and why labor migration is neither accidental nor incidental to the U.S. economy.
Dec 2018 | OC Register
"In the lead-up to the [2018] midterms, Orange County’s GOP doubled-down on an anti-sanctuary strategy to rescue its endangered Congressional reps. It failed. And for the first time in our lifetime, Orange County will enjoy zero Republican members of Congress. It’s a sharp rebuke to the politics of hate that have inundated the political airwaves."
2014 | WCL Human Rights Brief
Building a Dangerous Precedent documents the de-nationalizing of Dominicans of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic (stripping away people's Citizenship). It's a cautionary tale about how easily politicians used the excuse of "modernizing" the civil registry to deny legal status to a whole segment of the population.
2010 | Foreign Policy in Focus
"When 136 countries attended the high-level International Donors' Conference in New York in March 2010, it looked like good news for Haiti..."
"Of Donors and Disasters" explains how big foreign aid commitments after major disasters often don't come through, and what basic standards for foreign aid can help donor countries do better to provide humanitarian assistance.
Salvador G. Sarmiento, esq
Policy & Campaign Expert, Organizer, Lawyer
For two decades, my work has centered on strategic interventions to advance civil and human rights in the U.S., Mexico and Caribbean region. I direct campaigns at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) in defense of the rights of immigrant and Latino workers and families.
This work has placed me on the frontlines of the fight for civil rights in cities across the country, with years of experience building grassroots infrastructure and moving cities to reject federal overreach on immigration. Today, those same localities are a critical line of defense against mass deportations - and authoritarianism.
I think, when it comes to today's politics, our arts and culture, the climate and human rights - how we treat each other - we can do better, much better. I believe in constructive critique, mostly. I write so that we might better understand what we're up against and what we're trying to do while we're here.
My most recent article, The Uses of the Border, breaks down the weaponization of the border in American politics today! It also offers a reality check about the economic regional bloc we do live in, where labor migration is neither accidental nor incidental. I offer suggestions for the necessary political practice in these times.