Oral history interview with Astrid Silva conducted by Monserrath Hernández and Barbara Tabach on April 22, 2019 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Astrid Silva was born in Gomez Palacio, Durango in 1988. She immigrated with her mother to the United States in 1992, where they were met by her father before flying to Los Angeles. She recounts her first impression of the United States and her families eventual move to Las Vegas, where she describes her time living in Las Vegas’ west side and struggles she faced being an undocumented student living in Las Vegas. She describes her first meeting with Senator Harry Reid and the friendship that developed afterwards. She has spoken at the Democratic National Convention and has been vocal about her status as a Dreamer. She is currently the Executive Director for DREAM Big Nevada which was established in 2017 in order to provide aid to Nevada’s immigrant families. She writes about her hopes for Dreamers and her continued work in expanding the ways that immigrant families can be helped in an always changing political climate. Subjects discussed include: DACA, Dreamers, Immigrant Rights, and Higher Education.

Oral history interview with Hamed Ahmady conducted by Stefani Evans on March 22, 2023 for the Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Interviewed by Stefani Evans. Culinary Union Local 226 organizer Hamed Ahmady recalls his childhood as the oldest of six children in Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan. As an child, he remembers hearing about the September 11, 2001 attack in New York while living in a Taliban-controlled city on a television connected to a concealed antenna that received signals from Uzbekistan. He recalls how, one month after he graduated high school, he became an translator for the U.S. Army, which he did for more than four years. He talks about securing his Special Immigrant Visa (SIV); landing in Los Angeles, California in 2013 and moving his family to the United States; and supporting his siblings and parents in Afghanistan. He also discusses relocating his family from California to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2018, finding a mosque community, and working with Culinary Union Local 226.