Friends and family told the Chattanooga City Council on Tuesday that Esai Navarro was recently fired from her position as director of the Office of New Americans, a city function that Mayor Tim Kelly created in October 2021.
“I am here today asking each of you to do your part in keeping Mayor Kelly’s administration accountable for their actions in equity and political interference that has led to the release of the director of the Office of New Americans,” Layra Navarro, Esai’s sister, told council members during public comment Tuesday.
Kelly announced Esai Navarro’s appointment to the role in September 2022, with his office noting in a news release at that time that Navarro would shape the office’s services and programs to properly welcome migrants who relocate to Chattanooga.
The office works to connect migrants and refugees with resources like translation services and citizenship application processing.
In a phone call Tuesday evening, Kelly’s chief of staff, Joda Thongnopnua, said the leadership of the office of New Americans is important to the mayor.
The city will be working with partner organizations, specifically the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition and La Paz, to make sure “we have leadership that is able to build strong coalitions with the community, build strong partnerships and also serve our immigrant refugee community well,” Thongnopnua said.
“While we can’t get into specific HR decisions out of respect for everybody involved, we are going to be starting a search for the right and appropriate leader for that team that is able to build really strong coalitions in our community,” he said.
In the September news release, the mayor said Navarro spent her first day on the job involved in coordinating a multiagency response for migrants who had been passing through Chattanooga by bus towards the Northeast, which had been part of a protest of border policies by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
“The establishment of the office of new Americans and the appointment of Esai gave this community hope … because she has the reputation of getting work done with integrity and keeps the community at the forefront,” Layra Navarro told council members.
“But the fact that Esai Navarro was unable to release any work for the six months that she was employed and was met with comments like ‘there’s no appetite for your work,’ and ‘I cannot catch any heat for this right now,'” made it seem like the office was a scam or had no substance, she said.
Another speaker, Nitza Velasco, has lived in Chattanooga since 1999 and worked in the Latino community through her business, a Hispanic-services agency called Las Americas.
Velasco said in an interview with the Chattanooga Times Free Press that she has known Esai Navarro for four years and has worked with her on a variety of community efforts, including tornado relief and immigration bail bonds.
“I would really like for them to give her a chance,” Velasco said, stating Navarro was working on numerous projects before her departure, “and now we don’t know if they’re going to get off the ground. Hopefully, they will give her a chance to prove what she can do.”
Another city resident, Hector Zarco, was unable to be at the council meeting because of work but said in a letter to city leaders — which Velasco shared with the Times Free Press — that he cooperated with Navarro on several projects, including COVID-19 relief and handing out food boxes.
One of their most important collaborations, Zarco wrote, was rebuilding the homes of Ooltewah tornado victims in 2020.
“Without Esai’s help, it would have been nearly impossible to rebuild 42 homes, mostly of Latino families,” he said. “She was responsible for coordinating material delivery, food for volunteers, and most importantly, she helped to secure funding to complete this project. I believe the city is losing an asset by firing Esai Navarro. She has always served her Latino community with no self-interest. She was the representation we need at the mayor’s office.”
The executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition, Lisa Sherman Luna, didn’t comment specifically on Navarro’s departure but said in a phone interview her organization is looking forward to working with Kelly in finding the right candidate for that post.
“From the beginning, we were advocates of having the community involved in the process of hiring for the office, but we were not initially, and so moving forward, we want to work with the mayor’s office to write up a job description and have organizations and community members … in Chattanooga involved in the recruitment and hiring,” she said.
She hopes the next appointee can “build coalitions and work with groups that have been established for a long time.”
The Office of New Americans reports to the city’s chief equity officer, a position previously filled by Tamara Steward. The city announced earlier this month that Steward would be leaving the city “to pursue opportunities in the private sector.” Steward was appointed to that role in February 2022.
Stacy Johnson, the executive director of La Paz Chattanooga, said in a statement Wednesday that the organization learned through news coverage Tuesday that the city had reportedly terminated Navarro’s employment.
“We also learned that La Paz Chattanooga was referenced as an organization the city plans to partner with to ensure subsequent steps are taken to strengthen the department,” Johnson said. “As we have since our founding two decades ago, we will do whatever we can to create a stronger, more connected and equitable Chattanooga. It is our hope that the city will lean on us as a true partner at this critical moment so that together we can empower the client base we mutually serve, as well as the entire city.”
Contact David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.