Because of You, Justice Moves Forward

I’m Roberto Lopez, Senior Advocacy Manager, Beyond Borders Program, at the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP). I grew up in the Rio Grande Valley, where the border wasn’t just a line on a map; it was part of everyday life. It shaped my community, my family, and ultimately, my calling to this fight. The walls that rose through our land, the families torn apart, and the jobs that demanded violence against immigrants left an imprint I could never ignore. That’s why I chose to stand for dignity and justice.

My journey with TCRP began in August 2017 as a volunteer helping young people navigate the uncertainty when the federal government rescinded DACA. It was during that time that I met Efrén Olivares, then TCRP’s director of the Beyond Borders program and author of My Boy Will Die of Sorrow. In June 2018, during the height of the family separation crisis, I joined the TCRP team full-time, working alongside Efrén to reunite families.

This work isn’t abstract to me — it’s personal. My grandfather was deported from South Texas in 1954 under “Operation Wetback” when the U.S. government forcefully removed him and his family in a mass deportation effort that rounded up over a million people. Seventy years later, not much has changed. This work is rooted in the place where I grew up and the communities I love. Over the last seven years, my work with TCRP and the Beyond Borders team has been grounded in a simple truth: real change requires collective power. There’s a saying I hold close, especially in moments that feel heavy: “If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together.”

With our community of donors and supporters, TCRP takes on urgent civil rights cases and unites and strengthens a statewide network of coalition partners, grassroots mobilizers, community advocates, and elected leaders. Together, this collective power is challenging injustice across Texas. 

Día de los Muertos: Honoring Lives, Demanding Change

Día de los Muertos is sacred — a space and time where grief, culture, and resistance meet. Every fall, we coordinate with more than ten organizations to host community events in the Valley and at our state’s Capitol. We partner with intersectional movement organizations, recognizing that no single organization can effectively combat systems of oppression and harmful policies alone. We build altars to honor those who have lost their lives due to state policies that prioritize profit and power over people. These altars are not quiet memorials but spaces of mourning and mobilizing. We demand justice and accountability while amplifying the voices of those most impacted. Your support creates a united front that is essential to driving meaningful change for Texans.

If our government stopped treating migration as a threat, families wouldn’t lose loved ones in detention — more than 20 lives have already been lost in ICE custody this year. We’re litigating on behalf of families whose children have died in these facilities, where basic medical care and human rights are out of reach and the risk of death is real. At the same time, we advocate relentlessly for eleven-year-old Sara, a U.S. citizen with serious medical needs, who has remained separated from her care in the U.S since February despite requests for humanitarian parole.

These are not isolated tragedies. They are the predictable, brutal outcomes of policy decisions made by people in power, decisions that determine whose lives are protected and whose are treated as expendable. 

Thank you for fueling the fight for no more lives lost.

Texans United for Justice

TCRP serves as the administrative lead for Texans United for Justice (TUFJ), a statewide coalition of 15 diverse movement organizations. The coalition’s mission is to dismantle the harmful impacts of Operation Lone Star, (a Texas-led operation using state forces to police the border), resist anti-immigrant laws and policies in Texas, and dismantle the criminalization and militarization infrastructure that threatens the rights and freedoms of all Texans.

Through TUFJ, we’ve advocated for and directed hundreds of thousands of dollars in regrants to smaller, underfunded partners on the front lines of fighting for immigrants’ dignity.

That investment has led to real, tangible outcomes: 

• Blocking harmful bills in the Texas Legislature

• Stripping billions in funding from Operation Lone Star, and 

• Building power in places like Southwest Texas, where a newly formed League of Women Voters chapter recently registered 100 high school students to vote. 

These ripple effects extend far beyond our organization. They strengthen the communities that hold the line every day.

These partnerships are only possible because TCRP has been rooted in these communities for more than 35 years — building trust, standing alongside community leaders, and learning directly from those most impacted. Through these relationships, we listen, learn about civil rights violations as they’re happening, create pathways to connect individuals and communities with legal representation, and empower impacted communities to advocate for themselves. Your support sustains the legacy of TCRP’s critical work that began decades ago in the Valley, fighting for farmworkers’ rights.

What gives me hope is the story of the Rio Grande Valley itself — a place that’s faced deep structural racism and harm, yet where organizers continue to build something bold and new. 

Why Your Support Matters

We can’t do this work alone, and we don’t. Thanks to your support, TCRP stands shoulder to shoulder with Texas communities. I’ve seen firsthand how lives can change through solidarity. Because of your generosity and partnership, families find hope, communities find power, and justice moves forward.

— Roberto Lopez

Senior Advocacy Manager, Beyond Borders Program

Texas Civil Rights Project