Meet Ylenia
Ylenia is a single mom and school board member running to be Arizona’s first formerly undocumented Member of Congress.
Ylenia Aguilar knows what families are going through. Ylenia is a single mom who grew up undocumented – moving from school to school, and sometimes without a place to live.
That’s why Ylenia has dedicated her career to giving struggling families a voice. She worked as a translator and interpreter to help families navigating the immigration process and people struggling to access health care. She represents our community on the Central Arizona Project Water Board, and as a leader at a Green Tech company, she helped secure funding for community drinking water solutions across the state in some of our most underserved communities.
In a district with 75% Latino families, Ylenia is the first ever Latina to serve on the school board. Her first order of business was protecting students and families from ICE during the Trump administration and stopping English-only education policies that hold our students back.
Arizonans have no advocate stronger or more effective than Ylenia. She listens and uses her own experiences to personalize and contextualize tough issues in order to create change and help students and families.
Now Ylenia Aguilar is running for Congress because our community is under attack by politicians who want to take away our rights – and the challenges families in our communities face are getting even harder. She will fight to make sure women have the right to an abortion, children have the right to a good education, and families have a right to a living wage and affordable health care.
Ylenia’s Story
Ylenia Aguilar was an aerospace program student in South Mountain High School when she discovered her undocumented status and realized her plan to join the U.S.Air Force Academy was not possible.
In that moment, the years of moving from school to school and living with different family members made more sense. But the uncertainty and vulnerability that comes with not having full rights or freedoms was just beginning for Ylenia.
She was denied opportunities and the ability to contribute and earn a living. She faced daily uncertainty, not always having a reliable place to call home. She confronted danger and experienced violence because abusers target people who they think don’t have a voice.
Despite the struggles and setbacks, Ylenia never stopped working towards a better, more secure future. She earned temporary work authorization, permanent residency, and then full citizenship.
Ylenia graduated from the University of Arizona, became a proud mom to two boys, and dedicated herself to a career focused on giving a voice to people who are struggling or are unseen.
She worked as a translator and interpreter to help people struggling to gain health care and families navigating the immigration process – including those who experienced unspeakable trauma like gang violence and sexual assault.
As a single mom, Ylenia became the first Latina member of her local school board in a district where 75% of the families are Latino.
She creates change by listening and using her own experiences to personalize and contextualize tough issues. She successfully protected students and families from ICE under President Trump, stopped English-only education policies that hold our students back, and helped get young Latina girls access to STEM education and opportunities. Today, she is helping to deliver clean water to the Pueblos and other underserved communities.
Now, Ylenia is running for Congress because our community is under attack by politicians who want to take away our rights – the very rights that Ylenia fought so hard to secure.
In Congress, Ylenia will be our voice. She will make certain women have the right to an abortion, children have the right to a good education, and families have a right to affordable health care.
