On September 17, Niurka Meléndez, co-founder and director of Venezuelans and Immigrants Aid (VIA), led the workshop “Covering Immigration and Deportation.” The presentation was part of a class by Professor Gisele Regatao at Baruch College in Manhattan. During the event, Meléndez shared her personal experience as an asylum seeker in the United States and explained the work that VIA does to support migrants in New York.

The relationship between Gisele Regatao, a journalism professor at Baruch College, and Niurka Meléndez began several years ago when Regatao and her colleague Vera Haller interviewed Meléndez for a report on the National Public Radio program (NPR) “The World,” the longest-running global news program on U.S. public radio. Later, they met again when Regatao covered another story on newly arrived immigrants to New York at St. Paul and St. Andrew Church.

In this recent talk at Baruch College, the VIA director spoke with students about the asylum process in the United States, the current situation of migrants in the city, and the impact of the nonprofit organization’s work in the immigrant community. The discussion provided an opportunity for students, most of whom are immigrants or children of immigrants, to connect with the realities of the migration process and migrant rights advocacy.

Baruch College is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) public higher education system. With a highly diverse student body, the university is known for hosting a large number of immigrants or their descendants.

For more information about Venezuelans and Immigrants Aid (VIA) and their work, visit www.vianyc.org.