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As a deportee who was kidnapped upon his return to Mexico, Israel created New Comienzos NGO to help other individuals in the same situation as himself. Concha was born in Mexico City, Mexico. He was two years old when he arrived in the United States.
Growing up, Concha was well aware of the fact that he was an undocumented immigrant. Unauthenticated, he lacked opportunities others take for granted like having an identity, a social security number, or fly, which prevented him from participating in activities such as his senior trip or expanding his business, which required air travel.
In 2012, Concha married his American girlfriend and expected a child.
After graduating in Business, Concha’s lack of documentation made it difficult for him to find employment. At that point, he made a decision. He would start his own business if he could not find a company to work for.
At the age of 30, Concha established “American Yellow Cab”. His company started small but soon grew and even expanded, employing over 20 American employees. American Yellow Cab offered multiple transportation services, including cabs, rentals, limo service, concierge, and shuttles.
Later in 2012, Concha was on his way to pick up an important client. He was running behind and was speeding on the interstate. He was pulled over for speeding and ultimately detained for not having an id. Due to his lack of citizenship, Concha would spend the next two years in ICE custody fighting his immigration case. Concha eventually lost the case, which led to his deportation back to Mexico. During his detention, Concha’s son was born preventing him from meeting him to this day.
Upon his arrival in Mexico, Concha was immediately kidnapped and subjected to torture. His kidnappers accused him of being a DEA agent. After three days, Concha was able to extract himself from the situation.
Finally, back in Mexico City after the kidnapping, Concha spent seven days in the hospital due to the injuries he sustained while being tortured for information.
Upon his release, Concha immediately set out to find work. Being bilingual, he found a job the same day at a call center located in the Little L.A. area. Concha created a system known as LISA, which connected bilinguals directly to the company where over 90% of applicants were dreamers, deportees, and returnees. LISA helped Concha connect with 100+ people a week.
As Concha worked with numerous deportees and returnees, he saw a need. They, too, were arriving in Mexico with nothing. He saw their needs for food, shelter, legal assistance, speaking Spanish, navigating the Mexican system as well as medical and psychological care. Concha worked for two years, eventually saving enough to start an organization designed to help those returning, New Comienzos NGO.
So far he has helped over 40,000 dreamers, deportees, returnees, migrants and binational families reintegrate into Mexican society.
Concha’s favorite slogans are “The American dream can also be accomplished in Mexico”. “There is life after deportation, New Comienzos”.
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About New Comienzos NGO
Concha’s life experiences helped him realize that he was not the only one living this reality and that something needed to be done in order to help his community reintegrate into Mexican society after being deported. So far he has helped over 40,000 dreamers, deportees, returnees, migrants and binational families reintegrate into Mexican society.
