JOURNEY RADIO Immigration Services Officer Connie Lopez Anaya
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is one of the agencies under the umbrella of the Dept of Homeland Security. USCIS is the administrative arm of Homeland Security. This agency processes hundreds of thousands of petitions and applications from people inside and outside of the U.S. who would like to immigrate or become U.S. citizens of the United States.
The American Federal Government Employees (AFGE) union is a nation-wide union representing over 300K federal employees throughout all federal agencies nationwide. AFGE is broken down into districts and locals. Every local has a board consisting of a President, VP and Secretary/Treasurer of the Local. Each local has designated Stewards and Union Representatives who assist, negotiate and represent federal employees during any alleged disciplinary actions against them by the agency they work for.
People who want to immigrate permanently to the U.S. must do so through certain means and meet certain qualifications under the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) laws.
Connie Lopez Anaya is a native Arizonan. She grew up in the border town of Nogales, Arizona as the 8th of 9 children. She graduated from the Nogales High School as a proud Apache and later moved to Tucson, Arizona where she began her college education at the University of Arizona. She married in Tucson, Arizona and is a mother of two wonderful children. Connie became a devoted Christian and after raising her two children as a single mother, she returned to school and completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice at the University of Phoenix, Tucson Campus in 2008.
Connie began her career with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in 2008. Connie served at the Texas Service Center in Dallas, Texas as an Immigration Services Officer. During her tenure at the Texas Service Center from June 2008 through April of 2012 she was assigned to the “Dream Team” which was assigned to work a variety of employment-based petitions, including all first preference categories. Soon after she arrived at the Texas Service Center, she was voted President of the Welfare and Recreation Association for the Texas Service Center. She was responsible for fundraising and coordinating social events for the entire 500+ staff. 
Subsequently, Connie received a transfer to the Tucson Field Office, Tucson, Arizona in 2012 where she calls home. She maintains the title as an Immigration Services Officer mainly in family- based petitions and applications, and naturalization applications. Besides her usual adjudication duties, she conducts naturalization ceremonies, children’s citizenship ceremonies, and is trained in fraud detection and national security. She has also served as the Acting Community Relations Officer for District 25.
As the Acting Community Relations Officer for District 25, covering Arizona and Nevada, and as the Collateral duty Community Relations Officer for the Tucson Field Office she enjoyed conducting numerous immigration workshops, presentations, and community outreaches to teach and familiarize southern Arizona communities in the immigration and naturalization process.
Connie was also named the AFGE Union Steward for the Tucson Field Office since 2012. This position has come with a high price and is no stranger to EEO violations where she has represented herself and other bargaining unit employees against abuse and unfair labor practices. Connie is a strong advocate for equality and fairness for everyone and claims she is an enemy of prejudicial biases and bullies and will defend anyone within any legal means against racists and bullies and anyone who abuses their authority.
Connie holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and is currently enrolled at Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law (online campus) to obtain a Master’s in Law degree in March 2019. Although the majority of professional experience has been in criminal defense and immigration, she feels a pull to switch to employment law as her area of concentration but continues to keep an open mind and will go where God leads her.
ABOUT JOURNEY RADIO
Tune into Journey Radio to learn from successful professionals who will provide you with a roadmap for your own Journey to success. Our guests are individuals who want to share stories, tips and guidelines based on their own journey. Listeners will be encouraged to stay the course after learning that a journey that ends successfully is not a straight line but is a winding road of experiences that teaches life lessons that can be built upon, providing us grit and knowledge to complete our Journey.
Journey Radio’s mission is to ensure all listeners have the opportunity to learn from guest’s experiences, failures and successes enabling Journey listeners to complete their “Path to Success” at a faster pace, with fewer failures. Every lesson learned does not need to be through experience, but can be learned by listening and learning from other’s experience. Journey Radio connects listeners with guests who have completed the journey that the listener is on.
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ABOUT YOUR HOST
Journey Radio’s host and sponsor Enid Moore-Cranshaw is a consummate business professional. Enid holds a Master’s Degree in Finance and Accounting from Regis University. She is the Immediate Past District Director of Toastmasters International, District 3 (state of Arizona) with a membership of over 4,000. District 3 Toastmasters is ranked seventh in Arizona’s networking and is one of the top organizations for communication and leadership development in the world. She is a Financial Professional and owner of Divinity Beauty Bar. Divinity Beauty Bar specializes in nails, hair styling, wigs, hair extensions, maintenance and growth. Enid is the Immediate Past Board President of Child Parent Centers (Headstart). Child Parent Centers is a leader in early childhood development and serves Southern Arizona’s underprivileged children. Her passion is early childhood development, community service, personal development, effective communication and empowering others to realize their full potential.
