Felipe Reinoso

Reinoso was born in Arequipa, Peru,^[1][2] one of five sons to parents Cirilo Reinoso and Angelica Cervantes Reinoso.^[3] He lived in Peru for nineteen years,^[4] before he and his family immigrated to the United States in 1969, settling in Bridgeport, Connecticut.^[1][5] He earned a bachelor's degree at Sacred Heart University in 1984, followed by a master's degree from Fairfield University in 1987.^[5][6]

Reinoso taught social studies in two languages at Warren Harding High School for fourteen years.^[6] Starting in 1989, he served as founding director of the Saturday Hispanic Academy in Science at Sacred Heart University.^[7] In 1998, Rachel Allison, Tim Dutton, and Reinoso established in Bridgeport the Bridge Academy High School, a charter high school.^[7][8] Reinoso served as the institution's principal at least through 2006.^[7][9] In 2005, Reinoso completed a master's degree in public administration at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.^[5]

In the 1970s, Reinoso joined the Puerto Rican Democratic Club. He later worked for politician Americo Santiago.^[5] Reinoso contested his first state legislative election in 1995, seeking Santiago's open seat, but was not elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives, losing to Héctor A. Díaz.^[5][10] Reinoso first won election as a representative of state house district 130 in November 2000,^[5][11] unseating Díaz.^[10] Upon taking office, Reinoso became the first Peruvian-American to be seated in any U.S. state legislature.^[6]

During his third state legislative term in 2004, Reinoso worked to pass a bill that allowed undocumented immigrants to attend Connecticut universities at the in-state tuition rate^[12][13] if they had received at least two years of schooling in Connecticut and graduated from a secondary school or equivalent.^[14] The bill was voted down in 2005, and Reinoso tried to propose similar bills for discussion in 2007 and 2008.^[15] In 2005, Reinoso introduced a bill permitting non-U.S citizens living in Connecticut to obtain a drivers' license.^[14][16] In 2005, Reinoso considered running for Ernie Newton's Connecticut Senate seat.^[17] Instead, Reinoso remained on the Connecticut House of Representatives, from which he stepped down in 2009 and was succeeded in office by Ezequiel Santiago.^[18]

Subsequently, Reinoso returned to Peru, settling in Lima.^[3][1] In February 2016, he was named a replacement legislative candidate for Moisés Mieses. Reinoso represented the Popular Force in the 2016 general elections for a seat on the Congress of the Republic of Peru^[19] to represent Lima and residents abroad. He was not among the 14 representatives elected,^[20] having received the fewest votes from among the 36 candidates.^[21]