Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center will say goodbye to its executive director, Enrique Orozco-Perez, at the end of month.
As Orozco-Perez heads back east to the New York City metropolitan area where he grew up, he leaves Compañeros a larger, more established organization than the one he first began volunteering with eight years ago.
Initially, the nonprofit dedicated to supporting Southwest Colorado’s immigrant communities was small and primarily offered direct services, he said. Its programming has since expanded. Today, Compañeros oversees a legal services program, as well as education and community outreach programs.
And it has found its voice in the broader state arena.
“When I first started, Southwest Colorado and especially rural Colorado didn't have much of a voice,” he said. “ … I feel like this area of the state has a bigger voice now than it ever has when it comes to the immigrant community.”
The federal government’s increased immigration enforcement efforts under President Donald Trump have made Compañeros an even more important community resource. As executive director, Orozco-Perez has been an integral voice for a community navigating federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of Durango residents.
Orozco-Perez has also been a divisive figure around town. His immigration advocacy has often been, in his own words, “bullish.”
“A lot of people haven't liked my outspokenness because they're not used to a brown man of color being so outspoken in this town,” he said. “When you're not used to that, you get defensive.”
He stands behind his approach and believes his outspokenness has been crucial to putting Compañeros “on the map,” procuring more funding and forcing Durango, a predominantly white community, to think about how it addresses immigration issues.
“Our voices are important here, and a big part of that is because I've been outspoken,” he said.
Beyond playing the role of bullish, divisive advocate, Orozco-Perez has also been involved in the organization’s quieter, more joyful work, including the Escuelitas education program.
Some of the most rewarding moments of his tenure came when the first naturalization case was completed through the nonprofit’s immigration legal services program. It was a joyful moment, he said, that demonstrated the value of the program.
He also said watching the Latin American cultural celebration grow from its small beginnings at Buckley Park into a polished, community-wide event has been beautiful.
But those moments have been just the tip of the iceberg, he said.
“The best moments for me have just been sitting with community members … learning about them,” he said. “It's been the fact that when I first started in this line of work, they completely trusted me because they sensed that I was someone who was ready to fight for them.”
Orozco-Perez plans to continue “the fight.”
He is leaving Durango and Compañeros to become executive director of First Friends of New Jersey and New York, an organization that provides support to people affected by the immigration enforcement system.
As goodbyes often are, the departure is bittersweet.
“I'm excited. I'm also sad. I'm nervous, but I'm also super confident in being able to fulfill this next chapter of my life,” he said.
And he has full confidence that Compañeros’ staff, volunteers and next generation of leaders are well-equipped to continue the work without him.
It’s the “right time” to step aside, he said. The organization is financially stable, with strong young leadership and well-run programs.
His advice for whoever steps into the role after him is to balance courage with safety and remember to advocate for the Compañeros team, which, on the front lines, experiences extensive secondary trauma.
“And then finally, be bold. Be bold in demanding things from city council. Be bold in demanding things from our local law enforcement. Be bold in demanding things from our allied community,” he said.
Orozco-Perez had one last thing to say: “I hope y'all can quote me on this, to the ICE agent that has been in our community for 10 years, Steve Kohler. I hope he kicks rocks.”
Orozco-Perez’s last day at Compañeros is Sept. 30. He has served as executive director for about a year and worked in several other capacities for seven years.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
