Doctora Angeles Maldonado
Angeles Maldonado is a mother and a human rights scholar-activist and author living in Arizona, but proudly born and raised in Salvatierra, GTO, Mexico. She holds a Ph.D. in Education, a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, and a Bachelor of Science in Justice Studies. Dr. Maldonado’s parents brought her to the United States when she was just eight years old to provide her and her siblings with better educational opportunities. Her experiences as an immigrant child inspired her to become an advocate for social justice and migrant rights.
She is now the CEO of Ybarra Maldonado Law Group, a firm dedicated to serving Spanish Speaking communities in the areas of Criminal, Immigration, and Personal Injury Law, while at the same time utilizing their platform to advocate and support local and grassroots social justice organizations and movement demands. She is the founder and executive director of The Border Crit Institute, whose mission is to foreground the voices and experiences of people of color living in the borderlands (through social justice education and pedagogy, borderland research, and the publication of counter-narratives of resistance). Through this institute, she studies and writes about migration, policing, rhetoric, and resistance.
Dr. Maldonado believes strongly that migration is a fundamental human right and all borders must be resisted. She is part of an international network of children’s rights advocates, whose research focuses on preserving children’s participation rights in research and foregrounding the voices of young children. Her writing and research documents the beauty, strength, and resilience of immigrant children and their families who find themselves in a state of liminality and uncertainty.
She has over 17 years of experience in community organizing, has worked for various non-profit, grassroots, and labor organizations, and was a former board member for the Community Advisory Board (CAB) in the racial profiling law suit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. In this role she witnessed up close the corrupt, systemic racism, and violent irreparable nature of policing. Currently she serves on the Board of Directors for the Arizona Latino Arts & Cultural Center (ALAC) and for Semillas Arizona. Dr. Maldonado's commitment to human rights is reflected in her long history and track record of service, direct action, and advocacy within the immigrant rights and Black Lives Matter movements.
