As immigration enforcement continues to spread fear among working-class Latino communities, some Inland Empire immigrants are afraid to leave the house — even to go to the store.
One group in Perris offers a lifeline, hoping to ease their anxieties by taking groceries and essential goods right to their doorstep.
The Perris-based TODEC Legal Center, a nonprofit organization that since the 1980s has provided resources to immigrant workers across the region, started a grocery and essential goods distribution program this year in response to growing immigration operations that made some families afraid to leave their homes for anything but work or school, organizers said.
From food products and diapers to basic hygiene needs and household essentials, the deliveries are for those who fear immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign that ramped up in summer.
“The fears are very real,” TODEC Executive Director Luz Gallegos said. “People are just going to work or coming home, and their first priority is making sure their kids are housed. Often second comes food. We realized we needed to keep our community fed, to keep showing up for those going through the trauma and fear.”
TODEC collects donated food and funds to buy groceries and other items in bulk. Then it delivers the bags to families across Riverside and San Bernardino counties, including the Coachella Valley. The program is run from TODEC’s Perris, Victorville and Coachella-area offices. The center also provides legal assistance, immigration-related workshops and resources as well as operates a 24/7 hotline for reporting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity.
Over the past few months, local nonprofit and grassroots groups have started donation drives in which they deliver to families across the Inland region and beyond. They include organizations such as 909 Mutual Aid, Indivisible Inland Empire, Raíces Con Voz and Cafe Con Libros Press in Pomona.
In August, border czar Tom Homan said federal officials would “ramp up” immigration enforcement actions in so-called sanctuary cities across the country and called out Los Angeles. In September, the nation’s highest court lifted restrictions for federal agents to conduct sweeping immigration operations in and around L.A.
ICE officials did not respond to multiple inquiries for comment.
Gallegos said the demand for groceries and other essentials “continues to grow, as fear and impact of enforcement continues to rise.”
“We’ve tried to connect (families) to local food banks and resources, but the issue was that people were just going to work and coming home,” Gallegos said. “So from that, we decided to start buying groceries for the families who were calling us, those in fear, because they didn’t have anybody that could drive to the grocery store. We didn’t want this to be public, but the demand for these services just kept growing.”
Gallegos said the amount the center can donate and deliver is based on how many groceries and donations it receives or can afford to buy. Though the need is always great, she said, the supply is constantly changing.
“One way or another, we see a lot of people with good hearts stepping up,” she said. “During these difficult times we see so much love and compassion, despite a lot going on. We have to respond with our hearts — that’s what gives us the energy to continue.”
More than 500 volunteers, from youths to businesses, have helped with the grocery drives and distributions, which happen practically daily.
TODEC has helped more than 3,000 Inland immigrant families since spring, Gallegos said.
“We’re serving our community’s needs — a community that just wants to work, to have their kids fed, to be together with their families, in a country they live,” she added.
A grocery drive in early October was led by participants in TODEC’s Monarcas Luchadoras program, a youth civic engagement and leadership program, at the group’s Perris headquarters. The atmosphere was lively as 15 children organized and packed about 50 bags of groceries and supplies — including beans, tortillas, cooking oil, tuna, spaghetti and rice. All were donated by community organizations.
Parents of most of the TODEC youth volunteers that day asked that their children’s full names not be used because of safety concerns.
“We’re putting together bags of groceries for people afraid to leave, because of immigration,” a 10-year-old boy said. “I think it’s scary for those (who) can’t be with their families.”
Viviana Murillo, 12, said she liked packing the bags with food and knowing that they would go to kids like herself.
“I hope (youths) know they don’t have to be scared; because they’re not alone,” she said.
Christian Romero, 16, lifted the heavy, donation-filled bags into trucks for distribution.
“For me, this is a little bit like changing the world,” Romero said.
Each bag included a packet of TODEC information and resources, including an English/Spanish Know Your Rights card detailing immigrants’ constitutional rights should they be approached by law enforcement, and TODEC’s ICE-tip hotline number. The bags will be handed out this month throughout Riverside County.
The kids added a special touch — pots of colorful flowers, donated by a Coachella farm — to the bags. The flowers were part of a fundraiser and aim to bring a bit of cheer to those in need.
Perris resident Crystal Garcia started as a youth member of TODEC’s Monarcas Luchadoras — named for the fighting spirit of monarch butterflies — and began volunteering with the program during high school. The recent UC Riverside graduate said that giving back to her community — whether it’s through helping people throughout the coronavirus pandemic, or mobilizing voters in the last presidential election — has been worth it.
Now 23, Garcia helps lead the Monarcas youth group in the packing efforts at TODEC’s Perris office. She said working with the kids — some as young as age 4 — has been healing. As they packed bags, Garcia led them through a mental health check-in, asking about what they’ve heard about immigration enforcement and immigrants’ rights.
Garcia said the kids understand what’s been happening with U.S. immigration, and that’s essential. She quizzed them on topics like First Amendment rights, what a police warrant means, and what to do or say with family members if ICE shows up at their door.
This program, she said, is about “having a safe space where they can come in and talk about their feelings and what they’re going through, as well as what’s going on in the world.”
TODEC officials hope to do more community drives and provide hope for those who feel hopeless, officials said.
The organization launched its annual holiday toy drive for farmworkers’ children and expanded outreach to include families affected by immigration enforcement.
One volunteer, a student at Tomas Rivera Middle School in Mead Valley, said she knows people living in fear. That drives her more to help, because “our voices matter.”
“Nobody should be scared to feed their child, because they’re afraid they’ll get detained,” the 13-year-old said. “Nobody is illegal.”
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