It is easy to see why Jazmín Irazoqui-Ruiz is so passionate about policy. As a child, her family immigrated from Mexico to Phoenix, Arizona and when she was in high school, they decided to move to New Mexico where the immigration policies were friendlier. In New Mexico, undocumented immigrants could get a driver’s license and Jazmin and her sister would be able to attend UNM and be eligible for financial aid and even the lottery scholarship.

Ms. Irazoqui-Ruiz attended UNM for undergrad and then law school. Upon graduation, not only was she the first DACA lawyer in our state, she also brought her family out of poverty and even paid for her sister to finish medical school. She worked with the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center for two years and is now the Managing City Attorney of Policy for the City of Albuquerque.

As someone who is directly impacted by immigration policies, Ms. Irazoqui-Ruiz brings a very different lens to the table than people who are removed from the situation. For this reason, she is very open about her story. She told the MPP students, “You cannot fact or data someone into caring.” Sometimes you need a personal story to get people to see why certain policy changes need to happen. She also explained that the bills that are going to make positive changes in the lives of immigrants in New Mexico did not happen overnight and instead are the culmination of at least a decade of advocacy work. For example, Senate Bill 219 is currently awaiting the Governor’s signature. This bill would make immigrants who have graduated from a higher education institution able to obtain a license to practice in New Mexico. This would benefit our state because it would allow these graduates to contribute to our economy and invest in New Mexico.

Ms. Irazoqui-Ruiz’s main advice to the MPP students is to get plugged into the community as soon as possible. She told the students to start networking whenever possible, and always say yes to connections and opportunities because they never know where they might lead.