…so I see you have questions
What is VÍGIA?
VÍGIA is a community-driven application designed to help protect immigrant rights and provide tools for safe interactions with authorities. Vigia is Spanish for Lookout (think, “looking out for your community”). The app is intended to educate users about their rights and responsibilities and does not encourage evasion of law enforcement. Compliance with lawful orders, such as warrants issued by a judge, is essential.
(See NAACP v. Alabama, 1958, and Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia, 1980)
This app is not designed to allow an individual to evade capture from law enforcement authorities or Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The information provided here is gathered from public sources and community input. The user (you) is responsible for how they choose to use this information.
(See Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia, 1980; Smith v. Cumming, 11th Cir. 2000; Fordyce v. City of Seattle, 9th Cir. 1995)
You can get to the site at http://vigia.co . Go share it with everyone.
Why did you make VÍGIA?
One of my biggest concerns comes from an individual’s ability to get clear information to make educated choices. While it may not be apparent to some, there are large groups of individuals that are not fully aware of the rights and protections the United States affords—even immigrants. For example:
- Did you know that there are a lot of immigrants who believe that the Constitution only applies to U.S. citizens? This is not true. If you are on U.S. soil, you are protected by the Constitution. That is how the Founding Fathers intended it. (See Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 1886; Zadvydas v. Davis, 2001; Kwong Hai Chew v. Colding, 1953)
- Did you know that many immigrants are unaware of constitutional amendments that set specific laws and protections for various situations?
- Did you know that so many immigrants never learn about the Constitution because no one explains it to them in an easy-to-understand way—in their own language?
I feel that it is important for everyone to understand their rights and the principles of the United States clearly. What they choose to do with that information is up to them. But an uninformed citizenry is not a strong citizenry.
Why is VÍGIA personal for you?
My mother was a Mexican immigrant. She married my father—a Puerto Rican—in the 1970s in the Bronx. They never went to school but always made sure that I understood that in order for me to be able to better myself, I needed to work hard and prove that I could make something of myself.
There were plenty of times when we did not have food. I remember going to school and being picked up by my mother and father in a van full of empty cans. While I was at school, working toward a future, they were out collecting cans to provide for our family.
I remember when I graduated from college, when all my friends were taking vacations or getting new cars, my mother presented me with a FILA Mountain Bike from Pepsi. Back then, you could collect bottles and cans to earn Pepsi points. She had been collecting cans for years, saving every point, just so she could redeem them for that bike for me.
That bike was such a reminder of how hard both of them worked in the shadows to -try- to give us something. What we didnt have in money – man did they give us in character….
The Journey Forward
I’ve done a lot of really cool things because of their push, and I now sit in a position where I can teach others how to use their voice. Who would I be if I allowed the desperation of hardship to hold me back and didn’t take a chance to help others become informed?
A couple of years ago, my best friend Latanya took my daughter to see Hillary Clinton—her first political event. I remember teaching her that this was part of the process—you pick someone you align with, and you do what you can to help them win. We canvassed, knocked on doors, and did our best to try to elect the first woman president of the United States.
I remember taking a picture of my daughter the following morning—bawling over the fact that someone she thought represented progress had lost. That image has never left my mind.
…immigrants are America’s ghost writers..
are America’s Ghostwriters
Snow Tha PRoduct
There are so many hardworking immigrants who drive the engine of this economy, despite constantly being pushed into the shadows. When I have talked to immigrants—you know what they want more than anything? The right to come to the U.S., do the jobs we don’t want, take the money they earn, buy the things we sell, and go home to their families. To provide for them—and to be able to come back and work again.
Truthfully—if we wanted real comprehensive reform, the ones who would benefit the most would be the airlines, with frequent flyers who happen to have brown skin.
But we don’t dare have this conversation because it’s simpler and easier to hate what you don’t know. It’s easier to ignore that we argue from a “me and mine” mentality in an unfair fight against people who have their hands tied behind their backs.
Those are bigger conversations I hope we can have. At the bare minimum, I just want to provide basic information that so many of us take for granted.
Was VÍGIA built by yourself in a week using AI?
Yup. Just me sitting and thinking about what kind of solutions we could bring to people, and working with AI to make it happen. If I’m honest—creating this actually helps bring attention to something I have been studying and advocating for a long time—the use of AI in low socioeconomic communities.
While I have the privilege to understand technology, AI, and its potential—it is not lost on me that there are so many communities that look like the one I grew up in that have no idea of its potential.
(See Brown v. Board of Education, 1954; San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, 1973; Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, 2007)
There are so many communities that don’t have access to technology or education that exposes them to what AI can do. In some communities I’ve spoken with, they see what we consider trivial uses of AI and, to them—it looks like sorcery.
While the world is in a massive AI race, where companies are making billions of dollars and changing industries, there are entire communities—regardless of race—that don’t even know AI exists. It’s as if there’s a race going 100,000 miles per hour, and millions of people don’t even know the race is happening.
(See FCC v. League of Women Voters of California, 1984; Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 1997)
I believe this is creating a new form of digital redlining. Many communities will be left behind because they are never taught how AI could uplift them.
I wish AI companies talked about this more. I want to dedicate myself to finding out how to use AI systems to solve these problems.
If I can sit here and build something like this in just a week—imagine what whole communities could do.
I built this using a website called Bolt.new—it’s game-changing. I also used AI tools for speech encoding (ElevenLabs) and translation (WhisperAI). They don’t even know I’m using them. (Well, Bolt knows now… They think it’s neat.)
