From Cuba to Capitol Hill: One RNC staffer's journey to the US
Washington Examiner
Melissa Quinn
October 9, 2017
"For more than 10 years, Yali Nunez has kept the backpack. It's small and black, with three pockets, so it doesn't take up much room.
"She keeps it because that little Mike Mike backpack is a constant reminder of a monumental change in her life.
"Nunez bought the backpack in Honduras when she and her family arrived there in 2003, and it has traveled from there to Guatemala, across the country's northern border into Mexico, and, finally, to the United States.
…
Fleeing Cuba
"Today, Nunez, 29, works as the director of hispanic media for the Republican National Committee, having joined the organization in June.
"In her role at the RNC, Nunez works to communicate to Hispanic voters why the values of the Republican Party are the same as the values they hold dear.
"The committee has ramped up its outreach efforts for Hispanic Heritage Month, which spans from mid-September to mid-October, and is working to speak directly to each corner of the Hispanic community, demonstrating why the Republican Party is the party that aligns with most with their values and beliefs, and how President Trump's policies will improve their lives.
"'We're working everything not by state, but by turf, so it's more like micromanaging everything we're doing as far as reaching out to the communities,' Nunez says of the RNC. 'The Hispanics are very diverse. We're a vibrant and diverse community. The issues the Venezuelan community have are not the same issues the Cuban community have or that the Colombian community have, or Honduras or Salvador.'
"But more than a decade before moving to Washington, D.C., to work for the RNC, before working for Univision, and before settling in Tampa, Fla., Nunez's parents were plotting how to make their escape from Cuba.
"Nunez was involved early on in her parents' discussions about how and why they would leave their family, including Nunez's grandmother, and friends, and they decided to make their move to travel through Central America when she was 16 years old.
…
Settling in the U.S.
"Nunez and her family crossed the border into the U.S. while the 'wet foot, dry foot' policy was still in effect.
"Since 1995, the policy allowed Cubans fleeing the country without a visa to remain in the U.S. Former President Barack Obama ended the "wet foot, dry foot" policy earlier this year as part of his efforts to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba.
"Nunez says the promise her family would be able to stay in the country upon touching U.S. soil was a major motivator for them to leave Cuba, and one that shaped her views on illegal immigration.
"'We knew that we were going to have legality once we arrived in the U.S.,' she says. 'I think it's only with the law that you can accomplish dreams and that you can move forward with a better future. Nobody wants to be in the shadows. We have to understand that it's complicated for these families, but that there is a law in the United States, and we need to abide by the laws that make this great nation what it is.'
"Nunez and her family took a bus from Texas to Florida, where some of her aunts lived, and ultimately settled in Tampa.
…
"Upon graduating from the University of South Florida, Nunez and her family decided to leave Tampa for Los Angeles after the death of her grandmother, who raised Nunez as a young girl in Cuba and also fled the country for the U.S.
"It was time, Nunez says, to put some of those memories behind them.
"She freelanced first for a local California television station, and then received an offer to work at Fox Deportes, working as a production assistant, and then as an on-air reporter covering baseball.
"'Journalism was always in my bloodstream because I always wanted to communicate what was happening, but never could in Cuba, even when I was a kid,' Nunez says.
"'Seeing how much repression they have toward information, and how much control they wanted to have over what people knew, instilled in me the desire of wanting to communicate the truth to the people of what was happening. I think one of the main reasons that I went into journalism was in defiance of the regime.'
"Nunez moved to Univision roughly a year later to begin working as a sports anchor in Fresno, a move she made with her parents.
"Eight months later, the trio — the 'Three Musketeers,' as she calls them — journeyed back to the East Coast when Univision asked her to cover news and politics in Miami.
"Nunez says she became well-known within the community, and in 2015 she retraced her steps back through Central America to show viewers how she arrived in the U.S. for the channel's morning show, 'Despierta America.'
"Nunez jokes that when she arrived to leave for the trip, carrying only the same backpack she traveled with nearly a decade earlier, she shocked a colleague, who came armed with a large duffel bag.
"The young reporter's visibility within the Hispanic community led to a job with Sen. Marco Rubio's, R-Fla., Senate re-election campaign in 2016.
"'I said 'Listen, I think it's time for change,' she says of her decision to move from journalism to the campaign. 'I've never thought that a comfort zone is something that's going to take you to the next place. It's not conducive to growth, so I took the opportunity.'
"Rubio's background as a Cuban-American drew Nunez to him, as did his political stances on issues related to her home country, and Nunez said she was pleased her introduction to the political world was with a 'Cuban-American that has represented the Cubans for so long in the highest spheres of the country.'
"After the campaign ended, the RNC called.
"'I ran with it,' she says.
Reaching the Hispanic Community
"In recent years, the RNC has tried to revamp its efforts to reach the Hispanic community.
"In 2015, the committee launched the Republican Leadership Initiative, which aims to boost its staff and volunteer capabilities.
"Nunez is focused on communicating the GOP's values and principles, which she says are 'many of the values and principles that the Hispanic community takes to heart.'
"'[We take] a pro-life stance and believe in limited government. We are people that love to be entrepreneurial, and we have that driving force of coming through and finding new opportunities and opening our own businesses. We're pushing for things such as tax reform,' she says.
"The RNC is also committed to drilling down deeper into the overall Hispanic community, focusing on 'turfs' to explain what Republicans and the Trump administration are doing to help specific aspects of the broader Hispanic community.
"The party, for example, has worked to educate Venezuelans in the U.S. about sanctions the Trump administration imposed on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, as well as Vice President Mike Pence's visit to Latin America in August, during which he met with Venezuelan families seeking refuge in Colombia.
"'We're targeting each aspect of every community because we want to collaborate with those communities,' Nunez says. 'We want to show them that the administration and the Republican Party is with them.'
"Now in the midst of Hispanic Heritage Month, the RNC is ramping up its outreach efforts with op-eds and letters to the editor in different publications.
"Last week, the RNC unveiled a new video for Hispanic Heritage Month featuring members of its staff celebrating their backgrounds, and the committee remains in contact with the White House in an effort to push Trump's agenda forward.
…
"Indeed, Trump outperformed 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney among Hispanic voters, but didn't fare as well as 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, according to exit poll data analyzed by the Pew Research Center.
"'That's an accomplishment worth mentioning,' she says. 'I think now that he is in the position he is, he will make more informed comments and decisions when it comes to the Hispanic community. ... I think the Hispanic community trusts him now more than ever.'
"Despite the success Nunez has achieved since arriving in the U.S. — from Cuba to a migrant detention center in Mexico and now to the RNC's headquarters on Capitol Hill — she feels there is more work to be done, both for herself and the country.
"'I think back, and I think of all the struggle that we went through, and I think of all the challenges that we had to face, and the only thing that comes to my mind is, you need to do better in what you're doing,' she says. 'This is a great nation. What you don't accomplish here, you don't accomplish anywhere in the world.'
"'We're so privileged to have what we have here, and we need to preserve this system that we have because there's nothing more precious than democracy and liberty and freedom. We have it so good. It doesn't get better than this. We always can aim for more in the United States.'
…
To read more, click here.
Special Occasions Holidays, Anniversaries and Celebrations Read more press releases
