Former state senator, Lehi official, immigrant advocate recognized for their work with immigrants

SALT LAKE CITY — A former Arizona state senator now living in Utah, a Lehi official who recruits volunteers and an advocate for the immigrant community are the three recipients of this year’s Tonahuac Awards.

The awards are handed out each year by the Federation of United Mexicans in Utah to honor people for their work with the Hispanic and immigrant communities in the state. This year’s award recipients are Bob Worsley, a former Arizona senator who now lives in Midway and helps lead the American Business Immigration Coalition, Rob Craig, volunteer coordinator for the city of Lehi, and Ciriac Álvarez Valle, senior policy analyst for Voices for Utah Children.

Related: Immigration in Utah: Finding balance between fear and freedom

The awards “are given to those people who help our community, contribute to our community and make a difference in our community,” Salvador Lazalde, president of the non-profit group, said at a press conference Tuesday to formally announce the award recipients. The press conference was held at the Mexican Consulate in Salt Lake City, which works with the federation, and a formal dinner to honor the three is set for Wednesday in Sandy.

Lazalde singled out the work Worsley has done to defend the rights of the immigrant community. As a senator, Worsley said, he helped stall anti-immigrant bills in the state. Now in his role with the American Business Immigration Coalition, his advocacy work continues.

The organization works with the administration of President Donald Trump to help farm workers, recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which is geared to immigrants brought to the country as children, and others. The focus is to “keep families together and (to) try to get the Trump administration to legalize folks that have been here a long time,” Worsley said.

America is great, he said, because of immigrants. Varied waves of immigrants from different parts of the world over the years “were positive to America, but the anti-immigrant pushback was not. It was always unfair and cruel and split up families, and I’m against that,” he said.

Craig “helps and supports the immigrant community, improving their lives and … showing them how to live together with the Anglo-Saxon community here,” Lazalde said. “As a team we can do so much more.”

Craig is a part-time city employee, he said, and as part of his duties, he recruits volunteers to take part in community projects, work with charitable groups and help those in need in Lehi. Volunteer participants, including Latinos and members of the local immigrant community, collectively contributed 3,000 hours of their time in 2024, and that doubled to around 6,000 hours in 2025.

Álvarez puts a focus on helping immigrant children through her work with Voices for Utah Children, and Lazalde singled out those efforts. She was unable to take part in Tuesday’s press conference.

“Children are the future,” Lazalde said. “If we don’t support them, we won’t have a future. They need our support.”

As part of its efforts, the federation provides aid to communities around Mexico and has assisted locales in the states of Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Durango, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Jalisco, Mexico and Morelos. Nancy Carolina Vazquez Luna, president of the municipality of Nombre de Dios in the state of Durango, was on hand Tuesday and lauded the help the federation has provided for her community.

“It changes lives,” she said.