Storytelling × Advocacy

Every voice deserves to be heard.

We humanize immigrants from every background through storytelling — connecting real people, real lives, and real policy. From the restaurant owner to the tech founder, the nurse to the refugee. The immigration debate should never be abstract.

Immigrant family
1 in 4
Californians are immigrants
$86B+
In taxes paid by immigrants in CA yearly
37%
Of CA entrepreneurs are immigrants
∞
Stories still untold
What We Do

Three pillars. One mission.

🎙

Street Interviews

We go where the stories are. Our interviews capture the real experiences of immigrants from every background in our community — Latino, Asian, Arab, African, European, and beyond. Raw, unscripted, and unforgettable. Every participant has full veto power over their footage.

💻

Community Builds

We build free websites for immigrant-run businesses of all kinds — taquerías, pho shops, barbershops, tech startups, medical practices. Not charity. Investment. Because when immigrant businesses thrive, the whole community thrives.

📢

Policy Action

We track local immigration policy in plain language and tell you exactly what to do — who to email, where to show up, and when. The difference between feeling something and doing something.

Immigration Built This

When you block immigration, you block success stories.

Jensen Huang
Born in Taiwan

Jensen Huang

Founder & CEO of NVIDIA

Came to the U.S. at age 9. Built NVIDIA into a $2 trillion company that powers the entire AI revolution. Without immigration, no ChatGPT, no self-driving cars, no modern AI.

Sundar Pichai
Born in India

Sundar Pichai

CEO of Google & Alphabet

Grew up in a two-room apartment in Chennai. Came to the U.S. for grad school. Now leads the company that organizes the world's information. An immigrant runs the search engine you use every day.

Pierre Omidyar
Born in France · Iranian descent

Pierre Omidyar

Founder of eBay

Born in Paris to Iranian immigrant parents. Moved to the U.S. as a child. Founded eBay and revolutionized e-commerce. Now one of the world's leading philanthropists — an immigrant's son who changed how the world buys and sells.

"The immigration conversation gets kept intentionally abstract so people never have to confront who it actually affects. We're changing that."

— Voces Vivas
Join The Movement

From emotion to action.

We're not just raising awareness. We're giving people a roadmap from empathy to real, tangible change in our community.

Know Your Rights

Every person in the United States has constitutional rights, regardless of immigration status. Knowledge is protection.

⚠ This information is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. Consult an immigration attorney for your specific situation.

🏠 If ICE Comes to Your Door

You do NOT have to open the door unless agents have a judicial warrant signed by a judge. An ICE administrative warrant (Form I-200) is not enough.

Remember Ask agents to slip the warrant under the door. A real judicial warrant will have the court's name and a judge's signature. Stay calm. Stay silent. Stay inside.

🤐 Right to Remain Silent

You have the right to remain silent. You do not have to answer questions about where you were born, your immigration status, or how you entered the country. Simply say: "I am exercising my right to remain silent."

⚖ Right to an Attorney

You have the right to speak with a lawyer before signing any documents or answering questions. Never sign anything you don't understand. If you can't afford an attorney, you can request a list of free or low-cost legal services.

🚗 If Stopped by Police

In California, you are required to identify yourself to law enforcement if asked. However, you are NOT required to answer questions about your immigration status, country of origin, or how you entered the U.S. California is a sanctuary state — local police are limited in how they can cooperate with ICE.

📱 Document Everything

You have the right to record interactions with law enforcement in public spaces. Write down badge numbers, agency names, and details of the encounter as soon as possible. Share this information with your attorney.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family Preparedness

Create a family safety plan now, before an emergency happens. Designate a trusted person to care for your children. Keep important documents (birth certificates, IDs, medical records) in a safe, accessible place. Memorize key phone numbers, including your lawyer's.

National Immigration Legal Services Hotline

1-800-354-0365

Free, confidential immigration legal help. Available in multiple languages.

About Us

Not a charity. A movement.

Charities write checks. We write narratives that rewrite how people think. Voces Vivas is a student-led advocacy organization that tells the stories of immigrants from every background — Latino, Asian, African, Arab, European, and beyond. From the taquería owner to the tech executive, from the refugee to the research scientist. Every immigrant story matters.

Meet The Founders

Four students. One cause.

Jahir Sandoval

Jahir Sandoval

Junior · Class of '27

Leads interviews and field storytelling across communities.

Fluent in Spanish
Mustafa Mustafa

Mustafa Mustafa

Junior · Class of '27

Handles outreach and builds bridges across immigrant communities.

Fluent in Arabic
Aaron Ko

Aaron Ko

Junior · Class of '27

Manages partnerships and community connections across cultures.

Josh Dionisio

Josh Dionisio

Senior · Class of '26

Handles internal logistics and keeps everything running.

What Drives Us
🤝

Trust First

We never cold-approach vulnerable people. We partner with churches, mosques, temples, schools, ESL programs, cultural centers, and community organizations across every immigrant community. Every participant gets full veto power over their footage.

🛡

Safety Always

We offer silhouette filming, voice alteration, and text-only options. Some people have real legal reasons to protect their identity — we respect that completely.

🔥

Lasting Change

We're not just here to feel good. We're building a living digital archive of immigrant stories tied to specific local policies — something that outlasts any semester and actually gets used.

Forged in justice.

We are a group of juniors and seniors at Bellarmine College Preparatory, a Jesuit high school in San Jose, California. The Jesuit tradition has deeply shaped our commitment to justice — the belief that faith without action is incomplete, and that we are called to be "men and women for others."

This isn't a class project we're trying to pass. This is a cause we believe in — and we're building it to last.

Bellarmine College Preparatory Crest

Bellarmine College Prep

A Jesuit tradition of justice, service, and being people for and with others.

Our Mission

What We're Fighting For

"We humanize immigrants through storytelling."

We are flipping the narrative from "immigration as a national crisis" to "immigration as a local community asset" — proven through the people already living among us. Every background. Every walk of life. Every story.

Our Approach

How we're building power.

01

Capture Unreplicatable Stories

Real human stories don't need to be oversold. Every interview we complete is raw content that cannot be replicated — a Salvadoran restaurant owner, a Nigerian nurse, an Indian engineer, a Syrian refugee, a Korean shopkeeper. Faces and voices from every walk of life that make the abstract debate suddenly personal. We partner with trusted community institutions so we never exploit the people we're trying to uplift.

02

Target the Persuadable Middle

We're not preaching to people who already agree with us. We're going after the ones who haven't formed strong opinions yet — people who are still reachable, still open to seeing the full picture. That's where real change happens.

03

Apply Direct Pressure

We run a content series alongside our interviews that tracks local immigration policy decisions in plain language. We tag local decision makers when relevant votes come up, and we tell our audience exactly what to do: who to email, where to show up, and when.

04

Build for Immigrant Businesses

We build free websites for immigrant-run businesses across every industry — not as charity, but as tangible proof that immigration strengthens our local economy. A Vietnamese bakery, an Ethiopian coffee shop, an Indian IT consultancy. When these businesses have a digital presence, they grow. When they grow, the whole community benefits.

Myth vs. Reality

Myth

Immigrants take jobs from American citizens.

Reality

Immigrants fill essential labor gaps, start businesses at higher rates than native-born citizens, and create jobs that benefit the entire economy.

Myth

Undocumented immigrants don't pay taxes.

Reality

Undocumented immigrants pay billions in federal, state, and local taxes every year — including payroll, sales, and property taxes — often without being eligible for benefits.

Myth

Immigrants increase crime rates.

Reality

Studies consistently show that immigrants — including undocumented immigrants — commit crimes at lower rates than native-born citizens. Immigration correlates with lower crime, not higher.

Take Action

Immigration built this country. These are the policies that protect it — and the ones that threaten it. Know what's happening. Know what to do.

Policy Tracker

What's happening right now.

In Assembly
CA SB 747

The No Kings Act

Would let Californians sue federal immigration agents for constitutional violations like excessive force and false arrest. Passed the Senate 30-10. Now in the Assembly.

Introduced Nov 2025 By Sen. Scott Wiener (D-SF)
→ Read the bill
Now Law
CA SB 627

No Secret Police Act

Bans federal and local law enforcement from wearing masks during immigration enforcement. In effect since January 2026. Currently being challenged by the Trump administration in court.

Signed into law 2025 By Sen. Scott Wiener (D-SF)
→ Read the bill
Active
CA AB 1633

Detention Center Tax

Would tax for-profit corporations running ICE detention facilities in California. Seven private detention centers operate in CA with documented unsafe conditions.

Introduced Jan 2026 Co-sponsored by Supt. Tony Thurmond
→ Read the bill
Now Law
CA AB 1261

Legal Counsel for Immigrant Youth

Requires the state to provide free legal representation to unaccompanied undocumented minors in immigration proceedings.

Signed into law 2025
→ Read the bill
Oppose
Federal — FY2026 DHS Budget

ICE Funding Increase

Congress is pushing $400M more for ICE detention and $370M more for enforcement. ICE already detains over 70,000 people. This funds the raids, the detention centers, and the deportation machine.

FY2026 Appropriations U.S. Congress
→ Read more