The theme of the 5th Annual Immigrant Youth Empowerment Conference (IYEC) at Vassar College is “Reclaiming Our Voices in the Law.” This theme recognizes the law as both a source of harm and a tool for protection, and the role youth voices have in activating the law for good. The law is but words on paper until it is realized and brought to life. Laws are not set in stone, nor are they neutral. They are too often shaped by power and manipulated by greedy interests, and at times questioned and challenged by us. That can change through our collective voices, so that we have a system that protects people and treats communities with respect and dignity.

Informed by our collective lived experiences, we must learn, assert, and protect our rights to reclaim our voices in the law. We experience the law in our everyday lives, from our schools and jobs, friends and families, to our housing and neighborhoods. Cities across the country are witnessing firsthand the conditions that poor and immigrant communities have faced for generations: the criminalization of civil offenses, violent arrests with excessive use of force, and the separation of families. This happens, not out of legal necessity, but out of malicious interpretations of the law coupled with blatant disregard of judicial orders. We invite participants to imagine and practice the ways we can use our voices to ensure the law more fully protects our communities.

This conference explores our voices and the law by centering the following three questions as they apply to all youth and immigrants: Where has the law fallen short? How has it served as a tool for protection and empowerment? And, is the law redeemable?