The current national debate on whether and how to change our immigration laws presents us with an opportunity to not only fix a broken immigration system, but also to break a cycle of mistreatment of immigrants that is as old as this country. It's a chance for us to act on our shared values, model respect for others to our children, and be a better America.

Andrea Guerrero is the Executive Director of Alliance San Diego. She leads an outstanding team that is building coalitions and mobilizing resources to achieve greater impact on the issues that matter.

Before joining Alliance San Diego, Ms. Guerrero was the Field & Policy Director of the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties. Prior to that, she practiced immigration law before administrative, federal district and appellate courts. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley Law School (J.D. 1999), University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs (M.A. 1994), and Stanford University (B.A. 1992). Originally from Mexico City, Ms. Guerrero views the world from a binational, bicultural, and bilingual lens. She has dedicated her professional life to protecting civil rights and advancing social justice.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, selforganized events that bring people together to share a TEDlike experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, selforganized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are selforganized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)