“We need more leaders in Washington who are going to fight for working families at every opportunity”

CHICAGO — This week, Anabel Mendoza, the youngest candidate running for Congress in Illinois’ 7th District, joined a live interview with Patti Vasquez on WCPT 820/Heartland Signal’s Driving It Home. During the interview, Anabel shared her personal story that inspires her to fight for working people. She also previewed a Town Hall she’s hosting in Oak Park to talk about the impact of recent immigration enforcement operations on Chicago’s local economy. The interview comes days after her debut on the MeidasTouch Network. 

You can listen to the entire interview here. 

On being born and raised in Chicago: 

• “I was born and raised, born and raised here in Chicago. My whole life, I am a Chicago girl through and through. I love this city more than anything. And I grew up in West Lawn.”

  
  

• “Which is a neighborhood that is extremely hardworking. It is predominantly Latino and immigrant, and it's where I have some of my best childhood memories of block parties and going to Marquette Park and riding my bike while my dad would go on his long jogs.”
  

On her education: 

• “I believe the education that I got [...] should not be an anomaly. It should be accessible to every single student, regardless of your income, your zip code, your immigration status.”

  
  

• “I went to Northwestern, I studied journalism [...] I stayed at Northwestern for my master's degree as well, and I studied social justice and investigative reporting, and did some freelancing after I graduated. And a lot of what I focused on for freelancing was on immigration and really reporting on rural towns and some of the manufacturing, meat packing plants, the farms, the workforce abuses that were happening to many undocumented workers, not just in the Midwest, but of course, across the country, which I think is becoming obviously the top of mind for so many people with what we've seen with the raids.”
  

On what inspires her to fight for working people: 

• “I was raised by two extremely, extremely courageous and hard working people who instilled in me that fighter energy. It is quite literally in my DNA. It's in my blood. No matter where I go, I'm going to fight for the people who I love and care about.”

  
  

• “I grew up in a working class family. I saw the struggles that my parents faced. They work two jobs, some of the hardest working people I know, and I'm sure many children of immigrants can relate to that sentiment. And still, despite working long hours [...] there were times, many times, where my mom and my dad could not have dinner. They had to skip dinner because that food had to go to feed me instead, or my two older siblings.” 

  
  

• “I don't take that sacrifice that they made lightly. I also am enraged that they ever had to make that kind of sacrifice, and to know that this many years later, now as an adult [...] to know that there are millions of families who are facing either that same situation or worse, because of how expensive life is becoming, it's something that I cannot just sit on the sidelines and witness. So to me, we need more leaders in Washington who are going to fight for working families at every opportunity.” 
  

On protesting the conditions at Broadview alongside faith leaders: 

• “We know that our communities are still under attack, and that this administration's threats of sending 1000 or more agents in the coming months, we need to take that very seriously. But my time in Broadview, I mean, it is a very visceral experience. You are there. You see state police collaborating with these federal agencies, which is something in and of itself to say that you have enforcement working at these local and federal levels to go after peaceful protesters.”

  
  

• “I was standing alongside faith leaders like you said, peacefully protesting, exercising our constitutional right to be able to speak out against these atrocities. And you see Broadview right there, boarded up. There's no light coming in through those windows. People are crowded into cells with one bathroom, no privacy. I mean, it is truly atrocious conditions.” 

  
  

• “There's no accountability, because there's no oversight for it. I mean, we just saw a congresswoman, Lauren Underwood, be able to actually go inside Broadview, which was something that has been denied of sitting members of Congress for weeks, and that's unacceptable.  This is why we need new leaders in Congress to continue to join champions and fight alongside them for the accountability of these agencies.”
  

On the town hall she hosted focused on immigration and the impact on our local economy: 

• “My campaign is having a town hall [...] and the focus is going to be on how we can continue to protect our immigrant neighbors, but also our communities at large. We know that these attacks are affecting all of us, US citizens and non citizens alike, but it's also affecting our economy.”

  
  

• “We are seeing it when small businesses can't open their doors because they've lost workers, or because customers are too afraid to actually go out to a restaurant out of fear that ICE may pick them up. It trickles into hurting our city, and it hurts our economy.” 
  

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Anabel Mendoza is a community organizer, immigrant advocate, and the youngest candidate running for Congress in Illinois’ 7th District. A lifelong Chicagoan and the proud daughter and granddaughter of immigrants, she has dedicated her career to fighting for working families, immigrant rights, and a government that serves people, not corporations. She’s running to bring unity, honesty, and courage to Washington. For more information, visit www.anabelforcongress.com