Maria-Elena Dunn’s interest in immigration stems from personal experience: her family immigrated from Cuba a couple of years after the revolution there. Many years later she is an advocate for immigrants, including those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, helping them access resources.
For DACA immigrants, through her role as immigration coordinator for Prescott Indivisible Dunn has helped line up scholarships for college and raise funds to cover the high fees required to maintain their legal status.
It’s the culmination of a life of service to people needing help.
Dunn spent much of her childhood in boarding school on Long Island, later attending college in Florida and earning a graduate degree in Latin Studies from Georgetown University in DC. Her first job out of college was working abroad for the US Census Bureau on a contract with the US Agency for International Development. During a stint in Jamaica she met her future husband, David Dunn, a diplomat who later served as ambassador to Togo and Zambia.
Her husband’s work led her to live in Tunisia, France, DC, Burundi, Mauritius, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa. She learned how to adapt in each country, and spoke the local language to the best of her ability. Along with English and Spanish, Dunn speaks fluent French and some Swahili, Arabic and Brazilian Portuguese.
“Building connections is what has made me tick,” Dunn says.
Her husband’s work also made her keenly aware of immigration issues affecting those countries and the US, too.
“My view is colored not only by living overseas, but also because the business that David was in is diplomacy, and he had to work on helping people with visas, etc.,” Dunn said. “So we understand immigration from the official point of view as well. There is no question that we know it’s a flawed system that doesn’t work for anyone. It’s just not fair. There are needs on both sides in terms of what the US can gain from a more robust or more balanced immigration system. We have needs and not everybody who wants to immigrate to the US wants to just bilk the system, or just stay here forever. Some want to work and send money home, or some want to work and go back home eventually. Yet we don’t accommodate a lot of those.”
Dunn got involved with Prescott Indivisible shortly after the 2016 election, and the organization formed to focus on protecting human rights that were under attack by the Trump administration, including reproductive rights, education, and environment.
“We remain committed to immigration,” Dunn said. “Back in 2017 already we saw a need to work with people with regard to their DACA permits, because it was obvious that it was expensive. In our community there were many who didn’t have the funds, yet qualified to be covered by that program. During Covid we were just doing what we can to help the young people with their renewals, and now that we meet in person more often, we are putting together an immigration team again.”
Dunn said the treatment of immigrants and political refugees has improved some since the Biden administration took over, but it still leaves much to be desired.
“They have attempted to deal with some of the issues, but with a very intransigent Congress, or in some instances non-working Congress, not much has been advanced,” Dunn said. “Some of the issues have gone to the courts, which then takes forever, and no sooner is there a decision made than it’s appealed. So not much is moving forward. Now recently I read that there is some progress again on the reunification of the children who were taken way back when, and there are some improvements in terms of how people are processed at the border. But there are still some inconsistencies in terms of how the rules are applied, depending on where people reach the border.”
While US immigration remains problematic and “a humanitarian crisis,” Dunn is optimistic that helping people on the local level can have an impact.
“At Prescott Indivisible we have focused on something that is immediate,” Dunn said. “Real need, and something that everybody can agree upon. We have people who have gone down and volunteered at the border in the past, and have sent items and money and food and all kinds of things down to the border. We have also worked with families who have all of a sudden arrived in our area that are recent asylum-seekers. We try to get them help, but it’s very complex. I think that there’s a lot of misinformation in terms of what’s really happening. But there’s no question that you could construe what is still happening down there as a humanitarian crisis. Because even the facilities on the Mexican side, and most of it is involving religious communities, those are the ones who are handling a lot of these individuals who have to wait at the border on both sides. It’s not the best of circumstances, but definitely not as bad as during the Trump administration.”
Dunn’s husband David, who retired with her in Prescott in 2010, has been supportive of her efforts and even made signs to join in protests, Dunn said. While as a diplomat he had to be publicly neutral on issues, he feels free to express his personal opinions now.
“He just worries sometimes that I get too emotionally involved,” Dunn said, “and I will admit to that, but he’s very supportive. Interestingly enough, when we were overseas, the poor man, you know, I’ve never been able to keep my mouth shut. I don’t know how he managed to make it through as ambassador and not get kicked out of somewhere.”
