Karina Ruiz makes history, taking oath as the first migrant and dreamer to reach the Mexican Senate

Karina Ruiz felt like her feet were sinking with each step she took in the clingy sand outside of Agua Prieta, Sonora. At just 15 years old, she and her parents, Virginia and Mauro, had tried crossing the desert and into the United States six times without success.

The exhaustion and the risk of losing their lives convinced them to give it just one last try, what would be their last chance. This time, they took another tactic: a ‘coyote’ dug a hole under the border wall near Lukeville, Arizona.

“We crossed over. We dusted ourselves off, got in a car, and the rest is history,” Karina remembered.

Now, at 40 years old, the image of that young woman lives on in Karina. The memory of crossing the border pushed her to become an activist fighting for immigrant causes in Arizona. Now, without ever expecting it, her fight will continue in México. But this time, she’ll do it in a different way.

Karina made history on Aug. 29 when she took the constitutional oath and assumed her seat as migrant senator during the Constitutional House Senate Session . She was elected on that day to the Board of Directors that will function during the First Year of the LXVI Legislature.

On Sept. 1, the Mexican Congress began its session, and Karina will joined the 128 senators that make up the Senate.

She was the first migrant and dreamer senator elected by Mexicans both in the country and abroad.

“As a Senator, I’m not going to forget that 15-year-old girl who crossed the desert. That girl is always going to live in me,” she told Arizona Luminaria.

After the federal elections held on June 2, Claudia Sheinbaum will become the next Mexican president on Oct. 1, 2024, one month after Karina takes office.

Karina was elected based on the principle of proportional representation through migrant affirmative action. The 2024 elections in México were the first in which the new affirmative action protocols were applied, compelling Senate candidate nominations from underrepresented communities.

Few countries allow citizens, such as Karina, living abroad to run as candidates in their home country. And yet, few countries are experiencing the upward trending rates of emigration seen in México.

An estimated 12.27 million Mexicans live outside of the country, 97.3% of whom are in the United States, according to statistics from the Institute for Mexicans Abroad .

Karina is clear that she needs to remember her roots, where she came from and her people’s struggles. “It’s the only way I can fulfill my duties with dignity and not let politics corrupt me,” she said.

Born in Tlalnepantla de Baz , in the state of México, which surrounds the capital city in the center of the country, she migrated to Arizona in 1999. As an undocumented student, she lived through anti-immigrant laws such as the abolition of bilingual education in 2000 and the “show me your papers” law, SB1070 .

Karina also fought for immigration reform and so that undocumented students could pay in-state tuition at Arizona universities.

She directed the organization Arizona Dream Act Coalition , which advocates for immigrant rights and promotes policies that would benefit undocumented youth. That led her to her current challenge: being México’s first migrant senator.

Her plan is to live six months of the year in México to be able to legislate in person and then six months a year in Phoenix. She also plans to travel to different U.S. states with the highest populations of Mexicans, including California, Texas, Illinois and New York.

She’ll accomplish that through Advance Parole , a process that offers dreamers the ability to leave the United States for humanitarian reasons, or for education or work, and then allow them to return.

Karina has organized groups of Arizona dreamers to travel to México since 2021, conducting 25 cultural and educational trips to her home country.

That benefit of being able to visit México with some regularity allowed Karina to involve herself with Mexican politics and support the ideology of Sheinbaum, with whom she has built strong ties.

Karina knows that she has taken on a lot of responsibility with the millions of Mexicans in the United States wanting to have a voice representing them in México. She knows that Mexicans who have immigrated to the United States “are more than remittances.”

“I want them to know that I didn’t get here alone, all of us Mexicans abroad got here together, that’s the message,” she said.

Karina already has her slogan as a senator.

She goes quiet, takes a breath, and then adds: “For the good of México, first the poor and then the Mexicans abroad.”

Credits

Translation: John Washington

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