Biographies

Jorge A. Bustamante is a Mexican sociologist with a Ph. D. from the University of Notre Dame, where he also holds an endowed chair ( Eugene Conley Professor of Sociology) since 1986. He was also the founder and first President of El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, a research and degree granting institute located in Tijuana, Mexico, from its creation in 1982 until January of 1998. He has more than 200 publications in scholarly journals of the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Venezuela, Spain and Mexico. The majority of these publications deal with Mexican immigration to the United States and the US-Mexico border phenomena. He has been writing a weekly column in the editorial pages of Reforma of Mexico City since June of 2006, after having written a similar one in Milenio Diario, from September 2000 to June 2006, and Excelsior from 1984 to 1997. His research on international migrations was awared by the President of Mexico with the “Premio Nacional de Ciencias” in 1998 and with the “Premio Nacional de Demografia” in 1994. He has been a faculty member of: the University of Texas at Austin, El Colegio de México in Mexico City, the University of Notre Dame, The National University of Mexico and The Institute of Political Sciences of Paris. He has served as Coordinator of the Committee of Social Sciences for the National Council of Advisors on Science and Technology for the President of Mexico since 1999 to the present. He served as “Correspondant” for the OCDE-Sopemi for 10 years until 2004. He was appointed as UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants as of July 29 2005, position he held until June 2011. On January 3 of 2005 The Permanent Committee (Comisión Permanente) of the Legislative Power of México produced a resolution which was voted unanimously to nominate Dr. Jorge A. Bustamante for the Peace Nobel Price. On January 14 Dr. Bustamante was notified by the President of the American Sociological Association that he was selected as the 2007 recipient of the Cox-Johnson-Frazier Award, one of the two highest granted to a sociologist in the United States. On October 26, 2010 the Mexican Bar Association awarded Prof. Bustamante the National Jurisprudence Award for his work in favor of the human rights of migrants.

Denise Dresser is a professor of political science at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), where she has taught comparative politics, political economy, and Mexican politics since 1991. Dr. Dresser is the author of numerous publications on Mexican politics and U.S.-Mexico relations including Neopopulist Solutions to Neoliberal Problems: Mexico's National Solidarity Program, "Exporting Conflict: Transboundary Consequences of Mexican Politics," "Treading Lightly and Without a Stick: International Actors and the Promotion of Democracy in Mexico," "Falling From the Tightrope: The Political Economy of the Mexican Crisis,” and "Mexico: Dysfunctional Democracy," in Jorge Domínguez and Michael Shifter (eds.), Constructing Democratic Governance in Latin America, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. She has published articles in the Journal of Democracy, Current History, Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics and Foreign Policy.

In May of 2010, she was awarded the National Journalism Prize (Premio Nacional de Periodismo) for her article "Carta Abierta a Carlos Slim" published in Proceso magazine (number 1685, February 14,2009).

She writes a political column for the Mexican newspaper Reforma and the news weekly Proceso and was the host of the political talk shows "Entreversiones"and “El País de Uno” on Mexican television. She is a Contributing Editor at the Los Angeles Times, and has contributed numerous opinion pieces to The New York Times and La Opinion, and is a frequent commentator on Mexican politics in the U.S. and Canadian media. She has also worked as a consultant to the United Nations Development Program, Barings Research and the Bank of Montreal. Dr. Dresser has been a member of the Research Council of the Forum for Democratic Studies, National Endowment for Democracy, the World Academy of Arts and Science, the advisory board of Trans-National Research Corporation, the editorial board of the Latin American Research Review, the advisory board of Human Rights Watch, the Global Affairs Board at Occidental College, the board of the General Service Foundation and the editorial committee of the Fondo de Cultura Económica. She also served on the Citizens’ Committee in charge of investigating Mexico’s dirty war. She is currently on the board of the Human Rights Commission for Mexico City.

Dr. Dresser earned her Ph.D. in Politics at Princeton University, where she was a Fulbright Scholar, after completing her undergraduate work at El Colegio de México. She has received research grants from the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Institute for the Study of World Politics, the Center for International Studies at Princeton University, and the Organization of American States. In 1993 she was given the Junior Third World Scholar award by the International Studies Association. She has taught at Georgetown University and the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Dresser has been a Senior Fellow at the School of Public Policy at UCLA, a Visiting Fellow at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California, San Diego, a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Center for International Studies at the University of Southern California, a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington D.C., and a Fellow at the Salzburg Seminar.

She edited a bestselling collection of essays by prominent Mexican women entitled Gritos y susurros: experiencias intempestivas de 38 mujeres (2004), and also produced a television documentary based on the book. In collaboration with novelist Jorge Volpi, she edited a book of political satire México: lo que todo ciudadano quisiera (no) saber de su patria (2006). Her most recent publication is Gritos y susurros II: experiencias intempestivas de otras 39 mujeres (2009), a second volume with a new group of prominent Mexican women. She has been named one of the 300 most influential people in Mexico by the magazine Líderes Mexicanos.

Enrique Morones received Mexico's highest award, the OTHLI, presented by Mexican government on September 15th, 2009 the eve of Mexican Independance Day. In December of of 2009 Mexico's Human Rights Comission Presented Enrique with its highest award. Mexico's National Human Rights Award (this first time a man outside of Mexico wins the award) presented personally by Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Long time internationally acclaimed Human Rights activist, was born in San Diego to Mexican parents Luis Morones of Mexico City and Laura Careaga of Culiacan Sinaloa. They instilled in him a deep love for Mexico and a passion for social justice and a deep spiritual faith. On March 20th 1998, Enrique was the first person to apply and be granted dual nationality with Mexico in a beautiful ceremony in Mexico City's National Palace with President Ernesto Zedillo in June of 1998.

Enrique has a long history of firsts and accomplishments, amongst them 1st two time President of the San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; 1st Director then Vice President in Major League Sports with the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball where he directed Padres & Major League Baseballs efforts in first ever regular season games outside the US/Canada (La Primera Serie, August 16-18, 1996 Monterrey, Mexico); President and Founder of House of Mexico in San Diego's Balboa Park (to promote Mexico's wonderful art, culture and history); President & Founder of Border Angels (saving migrant lives) an all volunteer group he established in 1986 which place water in the desert and blankets and food in the winter on the border areas to help save migrant lives; First Director and founder of Mexico's Border Commission and advisory group to Mexican President Vicente Fox ad part of Mexico's Institute of Mexican Abroad.

Enrique has been featured on NBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, BBC, NPR, HBO, the TODAY SHOW, Univision's Don Francisco Presenta, Televisa Nacional, Rocio en Telemundo and countless other international media around the world. He frequently lectures and has more than held his own on shows with Bill O'Reilly, Lou Dobbs, Minutemen founders and many other promoting the TRUTH about the migrant community and exposing the Vigilantes for who they really are. As a founder of GENTE UNIDA (a human rights border coalition of 65 Human Right Groups) in May of 2005, he lead the national effort against the Vigilante Minutemen, and soundly shut down the minutemen in California. He is recognized as one of the 100 most influential Latinos in the USA by HISPANIC BUSINESS MAGAZINE and his recognitions include being : FRONTLINE HUMAN RIGHTS international awardee for his lifelong dedication to Human Rights.

February 02-28 2006 was the National March for Migrants as he led 111 vehicles and thousands across the country from San Diego to Washington DC and back in the month of February where they visited 40 cities in 27 days demanding NO ON HR 4437, NO MORE DEATHS AND JUSTICE FOR MIGRANTS. He encouraged people across the country to raise their voices for Justice, and hundreds of thousands have responded with marches and rallies across the country.

A standout student/athlete @ Saint Augustine High School in San Diego, he was offered several scholarships across the country, but stayed close to the border and accepted a four year full scholarship the University of San Diego (International Marketing), where he later returned to get his masters (Executive Leadership)

Enrique continues his all volunteer Human Rights work, resides in San Diego and lives by "when I was hungry did you give me to eat, when I was thirsty did you give me to drink" Matthew 25:35

Dan-el Padilla-Peralta. Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Dan-el came to the United States with his family at the age of five. He grew up undocumented in New York City. With the help of a family friend, he applied to a private high school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and was accepted on a full scholarship. There he studied Latin and Greek and fell in love with ancient Greece and Rome. For his undergraduate studies, he was fortunate to be accepted by Princeton, where he won the Freshman First Honor Prize for academic excellence and was chosen Salutatorian of the Class of 2006. During his senior year at Princeton, Dan-el was the subject of a Wall Street Journal profile on his efforts to obtain legal status. Despite the hard work of many friends and supporters, the immigration service declined to review Dan-el’s application for a retroactive change of status. Following his graduation from Princeton, he moved to the United Kingdom and attended Oxford University, earning a Master’s in Greek and Roman History. He returned to the United States in 2008 on an H1B visa after being hired by Princeton as a part-time research assistant. Dan-el is currently a third-year PhD candidate in Classics at Stanford University, specializing in the study of Roman Republican history and culture. He is also working on a memoir about his experiences as an undocumented immigrant, to be published by Penguin Press.

Carlos M. Sada is the Consul General of Mexico in New York. His most recent assignment was as Minister for Congressional Affairs at the Embassy of Mexico in Washington, DC, from March 2007 to April 2011. He was previously Consul General of Mexico in Chicago from July 2000 to March 2007, where he acted as the Dean of the Consular Corps since 2005.

Carlos M Sada has been working most of his life for the Mexican public sector and his prior responsibilities include: Consul General of Mexico in San Antonio, Texas (1995-2000); Mayor of the City of Oaxaca, State of Oaxaca, Mexico (1993-1995); Consul General of Mexico in Toronto, Canada (1989-1992); and Secretary of Social and Economic Development of the State of Oaxaca (1986-1989).

Consul General Sada holds a degree in industrial engineering from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. He completed graduate studies at the University of Newcastle in Great Britain, at the University of Delft in the Netherlands, and from the Public Administration Institute of The Hague, in the Netherlands.

Carlos M Sada has participated in the creation of several organizations that include: San Antonio-Mexico Friendship Council; San Antonio-Mexico Foundation for Education; Association of Mexican Businessmen in San Antonio; New Alliance Task Force in Chicago; The Friederick Katz Center for Mexican Studies at the University of Chicago. He also has served on the Board of Directors of numerous civic, business and educational organizations in both Mexico and the United States.

Carlos Sada is married to Maria Elena Vazquez. They have two sons, Andres and Manuel, 24 and 22 years old respectively.