This was not charity bestowed from afar, but mutual aid. The organizers are a group of immigrant women who have endured their own struggles and face similar risks as the people they are helping. Five of them asked to use only their second last names because of fears of being targeted by ICE.<\/p>\n
The same drive that has guided them through their own harrowing journeys is what motivated them to form Barrio Power. <\/p>\n
One of the leaders, Cruz, grew up working in the fields with her family in Oaxaca, Mexico, and spoke only their indigenous language, Chinanteco, as a child. Determined to learn Spanish, she would sneak out to the local school and eventually began teaching others in her town.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Barrio Power volunteers wrap Christmas presents for immigrant families in Maywood. <\/p>\n
(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
When she got to the U.S. decades later, she would tape dollar bills to the wall to memorize the country\u2019s currency, which landed her a cashier job.<\/p>\n
She brings that same ambition to Barrio Power. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy ancestors, my parents, all the hardship we\u2019ve gone through as Indigenous people, and we still have to suffer? It\u2019s enough,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cWe have to come out of the shadows because we\u2019ve done nothing wrong. And if we have to leave, we are going to leave with pride.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead of preparing their own holiday festivities on the day before Christmas Eve, the women raced against the clock, with only hours left to perform a Christmas miracle. As the sun went down and a phone notification warned of more rain, the women, donning elf aprons and Santa hats, scrambled to move the boxes under cover. <\/p>\n
Mireya, a petite and reserved woman, approached Franco\u2019s driveway, her ear-flap beanie pulled snugly over her head, 12-year-old son following quietly. She makes a living selling gelatin in the streets of Los Angeles, but she has been terrified to leave her home since the raids first started over the summer. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t walk down the street with confidence,\u201d said Mireya, who asked to use only her first name for fear of immigration enforcement. \u201cIf we leave our house, we have no idea if we\u2019re going to return.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unable to work, Mireya couldn\u2019t afford gifts for her son. All she wanted was a smile on her son\u2019s face this Christmas. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rosa Vazquez organized angel trees for more than 100 immigrant families across the country through the organization Barrio Power.<\/p>\n
(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Barrio Power, also known as Semillas de Poder (Seeds of Power), began as a small collective spearheaded by Rosa Vazquez and the five other women, all immigrants, who sought a space for the community to safely express themselves. Their goal is to build a large network of immigrants, who can be mobilized to advocate for themselves.<\/p>\n
They began hosting community forums over Zoom during the immigration raids in June and spent months speaking with hundreds of immigrant families to get a sense of their needs. One concern quickly rose above the rest: How would they afford Christmas?<\/p>\n
Many families had a head of household detained, deported or unable to work because of the raids, Vazquez said.<\/p>\n
She suggested an angel tree program for families affected by ICE. They set up an Instagram account just days after Thanksgiving and initially adopted 10 families.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not charity for us,\u201d Vazquez said. \u201cThis is what mutual aid can look like when it\u2019s organized by undocumented people for undocumented people.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Volunteers put together a gift bag for an immigrant family during an angel tree event in Maywood. <\/p>\n
(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
The stories they heard over the last month were heartbreaking. <\/p>\n
One of the leaders, Catarino, spoke with multiple day laborers in Bakersfield who couldn\u2019t afford food, let alone warm jackets during the harsh winter.<\/p>\n
Their experiences flooded her mind: the father of a young boy with autism was detained by ICE; two brothers, whose family now struggles to sell half the desserts they used to, needed bicycles to get to school. A 13-year-old girl requested a replacement for her mom\u2019s broken bike, as riding in their neighborhood was their only chance to spend time together.<\/p>\n
One 8-year-old boy asked for \u201cthe cheapest shoes at Walmart.\u201d <\/p>\n
The interviews were a painful reminder that the impact of immigration enforcement ripples through families, she said.<\/p>\n
But the generosity people showed lifted their spirits. <\/p>\n
\u201cOh my god! They just bought the AirPods!\u201d exclaimed Vazquez at a meeting in early December, as she scrolled through Barrio Power\u2019s Amazon registry. A single donor bought nearly all 350 items.<\/p>\n
Just the night before, Azusena Favela, a Central Los Angeles resident, had bought the organization\u2019s entire Walmart registry.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A Christmas card addressed to an immigrant family during an angel tree event.<\/p>\n
(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
For the last nine years, Favela had turned her late-November birthday into a fundraiser, encouraging family and friends to donate. The funds have often gone toward toys for a shelter in Tijuana. This year she raised $2,000 and wanted to support families affected by ICE raids. After a 10-minute phone call with Vazquez, Favela said she knew this is where the money would go. <\/p>\n
The Amazon items ranged from gift cards and shoes to Beats headphones and even a Nintendo switch that a farmworker family from Bakersfield had asked for.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat this administration is forcing us to recognize is that we\u2019ve only got each other,\u201d Favela said. \u201cI think it\u2019s these small acts of kindness that remind us, this is what the holidays are for, and this is what community does.\u201d<\/p>\n