Luis Luna immigrated from Ecuador with his family when he was 13 years old. After seeing how inequalities affect immigrant families like his own, Luna dedicated his life to advocacy work.
“As an immigrant person, I have been really centering my life around immigrant rights justice, and that relates to housing. It relates to access to education, jobs, et cetera,” Luna said.
Immigrant rights also relate to healthcare, he said, a sector in which he did a significant amount of advocacy work as Husky 4 Immigrants (H4I) Coalition Manager.
H4I is a coalition made up of immigrant rights and healthcare advocacy organizers, which fights for publicly-funded HUSKY Health coverage for immigrants in Connecticut. HUSKY Health is a state program that provides assistance to eligible people with low incomes, who are struggling to cover their medical bills. H4I includes groups like CT Students for a Dream, Make the Road CT, Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, and more.
Under Luna’s two years of leadership, H4I developed a comprehensive four-year strategic plan to expand HUSKY Health access to more immigrant communities. The coalition also expanded HUSKY Health eligibility to cover children 15 years old and younger, regardless of immigration status.
“We were able to pass legislation, and it hasn't been easy, but that's what I bring into the work. And similarly of, you know, whatever is ahead, whatever is coming ahead. I just want to bring that spirit into the work that we do,” Luna said.
His departure comes as the nation prepares for President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office. The uncertainty surrounding Trump’s plans regarding immigration and deportation have brought a great amount of fear to the immigrant community.
“I am really confident of how the steering committee of Husky 4 Immigrants has moved the work forward and I’m really confident in the movement to continue to build and to continue to move forward,” Luna said.
The H4I Steering Committee is running the coalition as they search for a new leader. An announcement of the new coalition manager will likely come in the next few weeks, Luna said.
Continuing the conversation
Luna is looking to continue advocacy work for the immigrant community in a different capacity.
He’s planning to do some community organizing, specifically in community defense, he said, which involves bringing change to the criminal justice system.
His focus, however, is mainly going toward his passion for radio. About 10 years ago, Luna started a show with the Bridgeport-based community radio station WPKN. It’s called Módulo Lunar, or The Lunar Module, a play on words of his name and the space (pun intended) for him to broadcast alternative Latin American music and to discuss immigrant rights issues.
The monthly show includes programs that cover immigration, deportation, incarceration, and other issues important to the immigrant community. One of these programs is called Melting the Ice / Derritiendo el Hielo, which Luna said he is planning to relaunch now that he has left H4I.
“I think it's important to tell these stories and to use alternate media to share stories, so we can understand the impact that the Trump administration will have on residents and to shed light on how we can organize to protect immigrant communities,” Luna said.
It’s also a space where he aims to bring the community together through a shared love of Latin American music and showcase work from upcoming young immigrant artists, he said.
“Within the work that we do as organizers and as justice advocacy organizers, I feel like there is this intersection of music and the struggle where we have been facing a lot of really dark moments, or we will face really dark moments,” he said. “But I think the spirit that we have, the light in our spirits, is what keeps us moving.”
