Candid Conversations with WAVE: Demystifying Migration and Immigration

Co-hosted by the Migrant Rights and Social Justice Working Action Groups.

Migration and immigration are part of the human story. For centuries, people have left their homelands, battling fear, and embracing hope. Yet today, there is more confusion than ever about the people, policies, and impact of immigration. Learn how you can be a better ally and find your place in the story. Join us for an insightful fireside chat featuring: Ada Briceño, Chair, Democratic Party of Orange County; Co-President of UNITE-HERE Local 11. We look forward to seeing you and ask that you share this free event with friends, family, and community. 

Ada Briceño has dedicated her career to uplifting marginalized voices and bridging communities. In addition to union organizing and political work, she has led many civil rights, immigrant rights, women’s rights, and environmental efforts. She was named one of Orange County’s “100 Most Influential” by the Orange County Register for 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2014.

Ada Briceño immigrated to the United States at age 6, when her family fled civil war in Nicaragua. She settled in Orange County, California when she was 14, and began working as a hotel front desk clerk after high school. It was her first union job, and it provided her first pair of glasses and her best meal of the day.

Ada rose quickly to union leadership, and at age 26, she became the first Latina President of UNITE-HERE Local 681 at a time when anti-immigrant, anti-worker sentiment thrived in Orange County.

Today, Ada serves as Co-President of UNITE-HERE Local 11, representing over 32,000 hotel workers in Los Angeles County, Orange County and Arizona. She is a Vice President of UNITE-HERE International Union and a National Steering Committee Member for the Labor Campaign for Single-Payer.

UNITE-HERE Local 11 won historic living wage initiatives for thousands of workers in California. It is leading the fight to end the rampant sexual harassment in the hotel industry, while lifting wages and pension benefits for low wage workers.

In the 2020 Presidential election, UNITE-HERE Local 11 earned national recognition as the only major union that launched a full canvassing operation. In Arizona, workers safely knocked on roughly 800,000 doors. These efforts helped turn Arizona blue for the first time in more than seven decades, boosted Joe Biden’s margin of victory, and flipped a U.S. Senate seat.

UNITE-HERE Local 11 is continuing these efforts, sending 120 members to the Georgia runoffs.

In 2020, Ada was elected a Democratic National Committee Member representing California. She was the top vote-getter among all candidates, including female and male categories. As a DNC member, Ada aims to help build an inclusive and accessible national organization, especially for under-represented voices including immigrants, working women and men, and communities of color.

In the California Democratic Party, Ada is the Former Lead Co-Chair of the Finance Committee, and is a Former Lead Chair on the Ad Hoc Committee on Committee Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She has served as Assembly Delegate for the 65th District.

She is the former Chair of Orange County Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), an organization that unites faith and political advocacy to expand rights for workers and immigrants. As a Steering Committee member of the OC Women’s March, she works to build an inclusive, empowering experience that has attracted over 20,000 attendees in prior years.

As a member of the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Environmental Justice Advisory Committee, Ada strives to uplift the voices of communities of color who are disproportionately impacted by air quality and related climate and environmental harms.

Ada is trained in organizational transformation that creates continual growth. She is experienced in breaking stagnation to build up leaders for long-lasting, systemic team change. A graduate of Cornell University’s National Labor Leadership Initiative, Ada has also been selected for its advanced leadership program’s inaugural class in 2021.

Ada was elected Chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County in January 2019, and is the first immigrant to hold that role. Her efforts helped Democrats flip 20 seats from red to blue and secure an historic plurality of school board seats in the county. Under Ada’s leadership, fundraising expanded with more call time and partnerships, to ultimately maintain a larger staff and expand operations in the midst of a global pandemic.

Ada’s approach is driven by inclusivity, to give rise to the best ideas in any group: “I am incredibly grateful to benefit from the ideas of a talented community of grassroots organizers, candidates, and elected officials.”