About Us

I’m Veronica Cardenas | The Founder behind Humanigration

My parents immigrated to America from Colombia and Peru. Even though I was born here, I always felt stuck between two worlds, not entirely Latina or American…

Nonetheless, I climbed the ladder of progress. I was the first in my family to graduate college, then law school. I the first to join the U.S. Federal Government as a lawyer. In December 2018, I hit a wall. It was invisible, a construction built from my limitations as told through the lens of white America. I know firsthand what it means to feel the pressure of your parents, pushing you to do something BIG. For most of my life, I felt pressure to pick a side as if loyalty belonged to one person, one community. As the daughter of immigrants, I chose the side of America. The decision felt more like an obligation, an actionable thank you to my parents for giving me the greatest gift––American citizenship.

I was an unlikely prosecutor. Responsible for representing America’s interests inside the immigration courtroom, yet I carried pieces of my mother’s secret.

The narrative I held close to my chest was that becoming an attorney with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2010 was my greatest achievement. When I stepped into my role as “Assistant Chief Counsel,” I released remnants of my old life in favor of a promising future. I hid behind titles, little gems of status, because there was a time when my mother didn’t have any. It was my own defense mechanism, to distract from what I was too embarrassed to talk about.

I was an unlikely prosecutor. Responsible for representing America’s interests inside the immigration courtroom, yet I carried pieces of my mother’s secret. Decades before, she desperately pleaded with the same system when she was arrested for illegally crossing into the United States.

Working under the Trump Presidency felt like an assault on my soul. It didn’t matter who came into the immigration courtroom – judges were just deporting men, women, and children like their jobs depended on it. The system didn’t understand the non-citizens who needed America’s protection nor did the non-citizens understand the immigration system. With each person, I saw glimpses of myself and my own family’s beginnings. There was no fairness. The scales of justice were broken beyond repair.

When we force our immigration stories into hiding because of shame, that shame has the power to become their own prisons. It was my prison for many years. But there comes a time when we have to face our fears, our inner demons. I resigned from the Department of Homeland Security without a job or a plan, just a knowing that I was meant for something more.

“A human approach to immigration, one where we can change the perspective around immigration.”

It was my prison for many years. But there comes a time when we have to face our fears, our inner demons. I resigned from the Department of Homeland Security without a job or a plan, just a knowing that I was meant for something more.

And through that process Humanigration was born. A human approach to immigration, one where we can change the perspective around immigration. I still have unseen scars left by my family’s immigration journey, but I couldn’t be more proud of my beginnings. My parents are my family’s trailblazers.

“Every immigration story is worth celebrating.”

My hope for you is that you go through your immigration journey with confidence. To understand what to expect every step of the way. Because every immigration story is worth celebrating.