Diana Roque

Diana Roque ('21) is majoring in Political Science with a minor in Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. She was raised in South Central Los Angeles and witnessed the injustices that immigrant communities, especially undocumented immigrants, experience in the United States. Through various professional and academic experiences, Diana understands that immigrants lack access to quality education and citizenship. Diana's work in the education field as a high school counselor for the YMCA Teen Center and as an Advising Fellow for Matriculate helped further expose the need for research on education and immigration policy reform. To empower and uplift these immigrant communities, Diana believes that they should have access to high-quality K-12 education and higher education, along with a feasible pathway to citizenship so that they have the tools to advocate for their civic rights.

As a former Cal-in-Sacramento Fellow, Diana pursued her commitment to public service in the legal sector. Diana interned for the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, where she helped over fifty asylum, permanent residency, and naturalization applicants in the Bay Area. During the same summer, Diana interned for One Fair Wage, where she contacted tipped service workers in Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s 14th congressional district. She helped tipped service workers register to vote, access Emergency Relief Funds, and download the Outreach Circle application: a tool that facilitates grassroots organization. With the generosity from the Center on Civility & Democratic Engagement, Diana will continue her commitment to public service by interning for Mil Mujeres, a non-profit that offers legal services to low-income immigrants who have been victims of violence. Read her story.