Alondra Reyes
Policy and Partnerships Manager
Alondra has been at the NMILC since 2020 and has worked in direct legal services and community-led legislative advocacy. Her primary efforts are focused on passing the Dignity Not Detention (DND) bill, aimed to ban current and future intergovernmental service agreements between the state of New Mexico and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) relating to immigration detention facilities. In efforts to support this legislation, Alondra is currently collaborating with local directors to uplift the voices of individuals impacted by ICE detention through several different artivism projects such as a documentary. Alondra was the lead organizer and MC for the DND Legislative Day of Action in 2023 in which the Dignity Not Detention Documentary part 1 was premiered and impacted communities presented their stories, with an attendance of over 100 people, including legislators. She is currently working on the DND documentary part 2 and strategizing for the 2025 Legislature.
Alondra graduated from the University of New Mexico (UNM) in 2021 with a double Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Psychology. She was heavily involved in the Cultures and Cognition Lab as a research assistant focused on the healthcare and education experiences of Latinx in the U.S. She was also a Research Institute for Students of Equity Fellow (RISE) at the North Carolina Central University where she focused on pursuing a research project on how Latinx and Black, female-identifying individuals utilize their cultural capital to succeed in higher education. Due to her efforts in leading research to uplift marginalized communities, she was awarded the UNM Outstanding Citizenship Award soon after graduating.
Before coming to the NMILC, Alondra worked as a UNM Service Corp Educational Researcher for PB&J Family Services, where she led mixed-methods research aimed to understand the relationship between familial poverty, incarceration, and/or addiction on pre-school students’ access to and success in academia. She also worked at the Bernalillo County Youth Services Center as a UNM Service Corps Journalist, focused on leading education and research on creating and maintaining alternatives to detention through supervision programs that promote education, healthy lifestyles, and positive choices for youth.
Alondra is a proud first-generation Mexican American and is committed to uplifting her community through community-led advocacy. She enjoys fitness, traveling, reading, and spending time with loved ones.