Para La Gente: For United Fort Worth Co-Founder, Activism Centers Around Community

Arlington TX

25 November, 2021

6:51 PM

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By Kristen Barton, Fort Worth Report November 25, 2021 When Omar Garcia and Benita Rodriguez came to the United States almost three decades ago from Mexico, they were searching for a chance to have a better life for themselves and the family they hoped to build. From that journey came Daniel Garcia Rodriguez, 26, who was born in Brownsville, the southernmost city in Texas. In 2017, he co-founded the local grassroots organization United Fort Worth. "I'm a proud son of immigrant parents who were too afraid to have a child in Mexico because of the conditions and wanted to assure that I had a close proximity to the American dream," Rodriguez said. "My mom did everything that she could — she lived in a shack for several months — so that I could be the first U.S.-born child in my family." After his birth, his parents still traveled between countries; Rodriguez spent five years living in Mexico, before his family left everything behind to move to Florida. He said they did not initially have a space to go to, and his parents felt unwelcome as undocumented people in the U.S. They spent some time homeless. The fear in his father's eyes around police officers will "never be erased" from his life, he added. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.