Dignity, Not Detention: Catalina Nieto at TEDxFoggyBottom

Catalina Nieto, an activist for human rights and immigration, shares her personal message of advocacy and action.

Catalina Nieto is the Field Director of the Detention Watch Network (DWN), a national coalition of organizations and individuals working to expose and challenge the injustices of the U.S. immigration detention and deportation system. Ever since Catalina migrated from Colombia to the United States in 2000, she has been actively engaged in the immigrant rights and Latin American solidarity movement as a community organizer, artist and popular educator. Through her work at DWN, Catalina supports local and national organizing against detention expansion and towards policies that promote the rights and dignity of all persons. Catalina graduated with an M.A. in Social Justice and Intercultural Relations from SIT Graduate Institute in Vermont and a double B.A. in Sociology and Communications, Media and Theater from Northeastern Illinois University. Before joining DWN, Catalina worked as a community organizer with the immigrant rights organization Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Coalition (TIRRC), the Latin American solidarity organization Witness for Peace, and supported movement building as an interpreter and popular educator with the Highlander Center for Popular Education and the Wayside Center for Popular Education.

"SimplyZinhle Production" - Filming and production directed by Zinhle Essamuah.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)