RIC Grad Builds Career in Gov’t While Fighting for Immigration of Her Parents

“In Colombia, politics is on everyone’s mind, says Michelle Arias-Santabay ’17, a political science/public administration major. “Between the guerillas and drug cartels, Colombia has had a politically violent history. My father was a Colombian police officer during the late 80s and early 90s when Escobar was in power. At that time, Escobar was targeting police officers. My parents lived in a hot spot – a small town close to the mountains. They were literally always under cover.”

Arias-Santabay’s parents fled to the United States. They gave birth to her in Rhode Island. However, when she was nine years old, the family had to return to Colombia to avoid the clamp down on undocumented immigrants.

When she was 16, Arias-Santabay returned to the United States alone. She would become the pathfinder for her family’s reentry. First she stayed with distant relatives. When that didn’t work out, she was taken in by a leader in the Central Falls community – Sonia Grace. “Sonia is now family,” she says.

While a senior at Central Falls High School, Arias-Santabay interned at City Hall and also became involved in the campaign to elect the first Latino mayor of Central Falls James Diossa, a Colombian-American. “It was great to be a part of that campaign,” she says. “Central Falls is 70 percent Latino, so to have a Latino mayor was a big deal. It was also a great opportunity to learn about local politics and to meet other community leaders. They’re like family to me. They helped me apply to Rhode Island College.”

At RIC Arias-Santabay excelled. She was president of the Political Science Club, vice president of Pi Sigma Alpha and a member of the 3.5 Society. She wrote her honors thesis on the politics of U.S. immigration policy. “I focused on right wing political rhetoric and how it influences immigration policy in the United States,” she says.

But at the forefront of her mind was the immigration status of her parents. Her goal was to bring them to the United States. To apply for their residency, she needed to be 21 and hold a full-time job. She had to bide her time.

After earning a B.A. in political science and public administration, Arias-Santabay became a field organizer for the Rhode Island Democratic Party from 2017-2018 and was finally able to apply for her parents’ residency and to take out a loan for an immigration attorney.

In 2018 she became campaign manager for U.S. Congressman David Cicilline. “I loved being completely devoted to a campaign,” she says. “I loved interacting with volunteers, setting up canvassing lists, knocking on doors and talking to people on the phone.”

That hard work didn’t go unnoticed. In 2019 Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha hired her to be his executive assistant.

Currently Arias-Santabay is working for the attorney general while completing her last semester of graduate school at Northeastern University, where she won a full scholarship to their master’s in public administration program, with a graduate certificate in public policy analysis.

However, she would tell you her biggest accomplishment was obtaining residency for her mother in 2020 and now her father in 2022. She received word on Feb. 3 that her father’s application had been accepted.

“It’s something I’ve wanted for so long,” says the 26-year-old. “It’s been my main motivator. It’s what has driven me. Now I’ll have both my parents with me. It makes me feel like the sacrifice of being here on my own was worth it.”

Arias-Santabay hopes to get involved in policy-driven decision making in the future. Despite government bureaucracy, she knows that elected officials and community leaders are the driving force for change. “I want to be a part of that change,” she says. Certainly, she’s changed the lives of two immigrants.