{"id":7682,"date":"2025-02-18T00:11:58","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T05:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aboutrc.com\/?p=7682"},"modified":"2026-01-05T01:24:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T06:24:42","slug":"project-vigia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/?p=7682","title":{"rendered":"Project: Vigia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2026so I see you have questions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is V\u00cdGIA?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

V\u00cdGIA<\/a> is a community-driven application designed to help protect immigrant rights and provide tools for safe interactions with authorities. Vigia<\/em> is Spanish for Lookout<\/em> (think, \u201clooking out for your community\u201d). 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(See NAACP v. Alabama, 1958, and Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia, 1980)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(See Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia, 1980; Smith v. Cumming, 11th Cir. 2000; Fordyce v. City of Seattle, 9th Cir. 1995)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can get to the site at http:\/\/vigia.co<\/a> . Go share it with everyone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did you make V\u00cdGIA?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I wrote an OpEd for Syracuse.com<\/a> about a Mexican store in Geneva, NY. They had posted a sign to help immigrants who were scared to come out. They said they would be happy to deliver food to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harriet Tubman lived about 30 min from here in Auburn. The women’s rights movement started an hour and change from here in Seneca Falls. Syracuse was known as the Great Depot for the Underground Railroad. I asked – with this in our DNA, is this new movement what we want to be known for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They posted it on Facebook… and lord did people respond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After feeling sad. I got angry. Then got to work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Information Disparity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of my biggest concerns comes from an individual\u2019s 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\u2014even immigrants. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • 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)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Did you know that many immigrants are unaware of constitutional amendments that set specific laws and protections for various situations?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 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\u2014in their own language?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Why is V\u00cdGIA personal for you?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    My mother was a Mexican immigrant. She married my father\u2014a Puerto Rican\u2014in 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    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…. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Looking Back and Forward<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I\u2019ve 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\u2019t take a chance to help others become informed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    A couple of years ago, my best friend Latanya took my daughter to see Hillary Clinton\u2014her first political event. I remember teaching her that this was part of the process\u2014you 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    I remember taking a picture of my daughter the following morning\u2014bawling over the fact that someone she thought represented progress had lost. That image has never left my mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    …immigrants are America’s ghost writers.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    are America\u2019s Ghostwriters<\/strong><\/p>\nSnow Tha PRoduct<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    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\u2014you know what they want more than anything? The right to come to the U.S., do the jobs we don\u2019t want, take the money they earn, buy the things we sell, and go home to their families. To provide for them\u2014and to be able to come back and work again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Truthfully\u2014if 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But we don\u2019t dare have this conversation because it\u2019s simpler and easier to hate what you don\u2019t know. It\u2019s easier to ignore that we argue from a \u201cme and mine\u201d mentality in an unfair fight against people who have their hands tied behind their backs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Was V\u00cdGIA built by yourself in a week using AI?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    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\u2019m honest\u2014creating this actually helps bring attention to something I have been studying and advocating for a long time\u2014the use of AI in low socioeconomic communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While I have the privilege to understand technology, AI, and its potential\u2014it 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    (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)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There are so many communities that don\u2019t have access to technology or education that exposes them to what AI can do. In some communities I\u2019ve spoken with, they see what we consider trivial uses of AI and, to them\u2014it looks like sorcery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While the world is in a massive AI race, where companies are making billions of dollars and changing industries, there are entire communities\u2014regardless of race\u2014that don\u2019t even know AI exists. It\u2019s as if there\u2019s a race going 100,000 miles per hour, and millions of people don\u2019t even know the race is happening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    (See FCC v. League of Women Voters of California, 1984; Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 1997)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If I can sit here and build something like this in just a week\u2014imagine what whole communities could do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I built this using a website called Bolt.new<\/strong>\u2014it\u2019s game-changing. I also used AI tools for speech encoding (ElevenLabs<\/em>) and translation (WhisperAI<\/em>). They don\u2019t even know I\u2019m using them. (Well, Bolt knows now\u2026 They think it\u2019s neat.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2026so I see you have questions What is V\u00cdGIA? V\u00cdGIA is a community-driven application designed to help protect…","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,553],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog","8":"category-immigration","9":"cs-entry"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7682"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7762,"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7682\/revisions\/7762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}