Alina Diaz

In 2019, Alina Diaz was a Power To Inspire Honoree at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights 2019 Power To Inspire Annual Gala.

I believe in social justice and the need to fight for a better world for all.

Across the United States, hundreds of thousands of immigrant women and girls work under difficult conditions to produce the food Americans eat. Because of language barriers, geographic isolation, or their legal status, employers or supervisors prey on many of these women and girls, exploiting their vulnerability by demanding sex. Some victims are too ashamed to come forward. Others have trouble navigating the legal system or fear they will be fired, and many cases are never reported because the women are in the United States illegally and they believe they will be deported if they report they have been sexually assaulted. 

Alina Diaz was vice-president and a founding member of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas and continues as a member of this organization to promote the rights of women farmworkers in the United States, the first of its kind. Drawing on her own experience of abuse and poverty as an unauthorized immigrant from Colombia, Alina became a community educator. Today, she travels to immigrant communities, raising awareness among women about their right to report domestic violence, sexual abuse, and other mistreatment. She helps to make sure the voices of women farmworkers are heard at the national level, where she works to educate policy makers and the public about the dangers women farmworkers face. 

Learn more about Alina Diaz’s story from The Marshall Project