When Walter Mejia arrived in Valley Stream as a 10-year-old immigrant from El Salvador in 2006, he couldn’t have imagined that nearly two decades later he would be recognized among New York’s most influential Latino leaders.
Mejia, now 29 and a resident of East Patchogue, has been named for the second consecutive year to City & State’s Latino Power 100 list, which highlights leaders shaping the state’s political and business landscape.
The honor recognizes Mejia’s growing role in public service and his leadership as the founder and president of New York Republican Latinos, an organization focused on civic engagement and outreach within the Hispanic community.
After immigrating to the United States, his family settled down in a one-bedroom apartment on South Grove Street, near Rockaway Avenue, where his parents, Tatiana and Jimmy, raised him and his younger brother, Eduardo.
“The only time we would come here was when we would come from vacation, and that’s about it,” Mejia said. “But moving and having the realization as a 10 year old that this is it, and you’re never going back to your home country, the friends you left behind, your family, your grandparents, it’s a totally different feeling.”
Mejia and his family arrived in Valley Stream at a time when they were seeking to escape gang violence in El Salvador. Adjusting to a new language and culture came with challenges, including discrimination in school. He attended Brooklyn Avenue School, then Memorial Junior High School and graduated from Valley Stream Central High School in 2015.
Mejia continued his education at Nassau Community College and earned his bachelor’s degree in political science, with a minor in public policy, from the City College of New York in 2020.
Shortly after college, he first became involved with Hispanic outreach through an existing political organization, before launching New York Republican Latinos in 2022. He aimed to connect with Latino communities across the state and encourage civic participation built around shared cultural values, such as family, faith and patriotism.
That same year, he joined the New York State Assembly Republican Conference as a communications coordinator. Working with multiple state legislators, Mejia relocated to Albany and developed a deeper understanding of state government. Later that year, Minority Assembly Leader Will Barclay promoted him, and Mejia now serves as executive director for the Assembly Minority Conference’s Office of Community Affairs, focusing on connecting Latino residents with resources and the representatives who can address their needs.
Mejia credited Valley Stream with helping to shape his career path. He spent much of his youth in the same apartment building, and the community’s schools, teachers and programs left a lasting imprint on him. He recalled the support he received from language department teachers, who encouraged him when he was still adapting to a new environment. Those interactions, along with his experiences as a student learning English, have helped to push him through the bridge-building work he now prioritizes in state government.
Mejia also recognizes the personal significance of his journey, from struggling with language barriers as a child to meeting national and state leaders as an adult. He has described the experience of shaking the hand of President Donald Trump as a milestone symbolizing how far he has come since his early years in Valley Stream.
His organization, New York Republican Latinos, has become a platform for outreach across New York City, Long Island and upstate regions. The group seeks to increase Latino representation in government and to encourage engagement in local issues, which Mejia views as critical to community empowerment. His work has included involvement in statewide campaigns and local efforts, as well as serving on the Hispanic Advisory Board for Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine.
For Mejia, the recognition by City & State proves to be a testament of what immigrant communities can achieve through persistence and civic involvement.
“It’s a testimony of hard work, resilience and what we can do when other people tell us it’s impossible,” Mejia said. “I admire our community a lot, because how many times have we heard that coming to America is one of the most difficult decisions ever, and that the things that we want to do are impossible, but it’s a testimony of accomplishing what others may say is impossible, and we make it possible. So at the end of the day, I don’t do this for me.”
Mejia also gives special thanks to Assemblyman Ed Ra for his unwavering support, his pastor for serving as his spiritual mother and advisor, and to his church family at Iglesia De Amor in Hauppauge.
While Mejia now lives in Suffolk County with his wife, Stephanie, and their 10-month-old daughter, Isabella, Valley Stream remains a foundation of his identity, where he first experienced both hardships and support, developing the sense of community he carries into his work.
Being named to the Latino Power 100 for a second year reflects both the journey of his family and the enduring ties to the Valley Stream community where it began.
