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Southeast Immigrant Rights Network
our team
Mónica Hernández (she/her),
Co-Director
Mónica has worked at SEIRN since May 2011 and has been organizing in immigrant communities for over 25 years. A native of Mexico with roots in both countries, Mónica moved to the South in 2001 to join the staff of the Highlander Research and Education Center, where she worked until 2011, She led Highlander's immigration work, co-developing and co-facilitating the Institute for Immigrant Leadership Development (INDELI), a regional Latinx grassroots organizing and leadership development program, and Threads, a multi-racial, intergenerational, multi-issue leadership development program. Mónica served as Highlander's Interim Co-Director in 2005-06. She was the Founding Board President of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and currently serves on the board of the National Network of Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Before moving to the South, she worked at the Northern California Coalition for Immigration Rights in San Francisco for 13 years in various capacities, including hotline operator, program coordinator, and executive director.
Nayely Perez-Huerta (she/her),
Co-Director
Nayely immigrated to North Carolina from Guanajuato, México at the age of 13. Her family was one of the thousands of farmworker families displaced by the North American Free Trade Agreement. As an undocumented student, Nayely began organizing at the age of 16 and became the first member of her family to graduate from college. Nayely has organized with undocumented youth and adults on issues around in-state tuition, driver licenses for undocumented immigrants, poli-migra, and more. In 2012, she was hired as regional organizer at the Southeast Immigrant Rights Network and transitioned to the role of Co-Director. At SEIRN, Nayely works to develop and lift up the leadership of directly impacted grassroots groups; supports campaigns and initiatives that promote grassroots leadership; and helps bring together member organizations to strengthen the immigrant rights movement in the Southeast region.
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