Peruvian Immigrant Javier Juarez Aims for a Judgeship

RIC’s May commencement was a culminating experience for Peruvian immigrant Javier Juarez (Class of 2017), who persevered for 10 years to earn a college degree.

Following high school, Juarez attended CCRI for a year, transferred to RIC for a semester and then dropped out to work full-time, from 2010-2016, to raise enough money to finish school. On May 13 he earned a bachelor’s degree in history.

The next step, Juarez said, is law school. The 28-year-old’s plan is to serve as a law clerk and then become a judge, a goal rooted in his activism surrounding immigration and civil rights law.

In 2016, in a history class taught by Associate Professor of History Quenby Hughes, Juarez wrote a paper on the evolution of immigration in Rhode Island. In 2017 he responded to a call for papers by the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s Department of Sociology and presented an abstract of the paper he wrote for class.

At the conference, among a panel of four other scholars, Juarez addressed “Immigration Policy and the Racialization of Immigrants.” Fellow panelists were either professors or Ph.D. students. Juarez was the only undergraduate and only one of two historians at the conference.

During his talk, Juarez clarified misconceptions surrounding undocumented immigrants, ideas such as immigrants do not pay taxes or immigrants receive federal aid for college, neither of which are true, he said. He then focused his remarks on how immigrants benefit their communities and what our communities will lose by tightening restrictions on immigration.

Recently he also spoke at a press conference with the ACLU to give his testimony on how Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an executive order created by President Barack Obama, benefitted him. As a result of this policy, Juarez, who came to the United States at the age of 10, is no longer undocumented but a DACAmented immigrant.

“DACA allowed me to obtain a work permit and a driver’s license,” Juarez said, and without employment, Juarez would not have been able to earn his degree.

He is also reaching back to help high school DACAmented immigrants. As an ally, Juarez advises them on the tools they’ll need to graduate and helps them navigate college. 

“I tell them that the best thing an immigrant can do to lift his or her family from poverty is to get an education,” he said. “I show my activism not by raising a placard and picketing but by earning an education, learning as much as I can and talking to those who will benefit from my experience.”

“Javier was one of the most dedicated, conscientious students I have ever had in class,” said RIC Professor of History Ronald Dufour. “His probing questions concerning the issues raised in my courses suggest that he has a stellar career ahead of him.”

He is “a natural born leader,” added Associate Professor of History Quenby Hughes. “He elevated the level of discourse in class and raised the bar for all of his peers. He’s the kind of person who has the courage, intelligence and perseverance to find success,” she said. “I look forward to following his accomplishments.”​