There’s an apprehensive stillness in the air as I walk through Valley Mall on Main Street in El Monte. Brightly colored lanterns and papel picado flutter invitingly overhead, but many of the storefronts remain empty, without the usual shoppers that frequent the street.
Valley Mall is a diverse, bustling street mall with shops and food from all parts of Latino America, including various Asian stores and nail salons. However, since ICE raids started in June, stores now close early and foot traffic is minimal at best, even on weekends.
“The change is drastic,” Alma said. “Especially on a day like today, where streets are usually packed with people attending the Thursday farmer’s market. There’s nobody walking anymore, there aren’t any families out. People are scared.”
Alma Castro is a kind, soft-spoken woman who turns passionate when speaking about community building, mutual aid, and giving back. The owner of Alma’s Closet and Vice President of the Downtown El Monte Business Association, Alma began hosting food drives from her storefront to help families affected by ICE raids, and she hasn’t stopped, even six months later.
“The first massive raid in LA on June 6 was actually the same day as our 11 year anniversary,” she said. “I originally wanted to have a big Mexican fiesta at the store for the community, but we didn’t get to have that due to the raids.”
She continued, “Instead, I decided to take the fiesta budget and started the first food drive on that day. Hosting the food drive was my celebration of giving back to our community, showing them that we’re still here and we’re standing behind them.”
Since the raids began, Alma has provided food to over 400 affected families and counting. Without any prior knowledge on managing a food drive, she decided to put her shop on pause to focus on providing mutual aid when she saw her community being ripped apart by state-sanctioned kidnappings.
Born in El Monte, Alma could never stand by while injustice was happening in front of her, even as a young girl. That same thread continues to this day, as Alma wonders, “How can you stand by and not do something?”
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said softly. “Seeing families, kids, walk up to the store with their head on a swivel, always looking behind their backs. I go to sleep thinking about them and wake up trying to figure out how I can best help out.”
At the height of the raids, she worked long hours from morning to night, and was figuring it out day by day. While having her morning coffee, Alma logged onto social media to correspond with families and schedule pickup times to lessen their danger by reducing their time spent outside. Then, the physical work would begin at her store: receiving, sorting, organizing, and distributing donations.
During dinner at night, she planned out the next day—creating Instagram posts for needed priority items, inventorying her list of goods, and communicating with families again to add them to her growing list of people in need. Alma even began offering delivery services to families who were too afraid to leave their home, and often ended her long days at the shop with scheduled deliveries.
“I’ve never done this before, and at one point,” she said. “It was hard to keep up. There was so much support but also so much need. It was overwhelming, in a good way.”
Now, Alma’s days have slowly gone back to normal—though not by choice. Decreased media attention on ongoing raids combined with a higher cost of living have naturally led to a decline in donations.
Alma explained, “Families are still scared, even if they have legal status, just because they look a certain way. The cost of everything has also gone up significantly; people are struggling to survive even themselves, let alone give.”
As ICE raids carry on, so do Alma’s ongoing efforts at providing food for families in danger. She continues to host food drives from her storefront when she can and most recently collaborated with Operation Healthy Hearts in November to offer ingredients for chicken caldo.
“I’ve bought things out of pocket, but I’ve been very fortunate to have had so much support from the community,” said Alma. “I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Alma still feels that she hasn’t done enough. As of November 16, there are over 65,000 ICE detainees around the nation, 73% of whom have no criminal convictions. Student absenteeism from grades K-5 rose 22% in the Central Valley due to fear and psychological trauma of immigration raids. Seasoned immigration judges who have a history of higher than average rates of granting migrants asylum or providing immigrants legal defense are being purged throughout the nation.
Even as a one-woman operation, Alma’s efforts have aided hundreds of families in need. Though her system may not be perfect and she experiences burnout often, her story is a reminder that the people have the power, not the institutions that try to rip us apart.
Alma hopes that community efforts will continue to stay strong during the next series of upcoming raids, which continue to happen all throughout Southern California. She reminds me that immigration raids have always been a part of the migrant’s experience, from our parents’ generation and before. Our unique position now compared to in the past is that people have the power of widespread communication through social media, and when used effectively, it can transform into a powerful tool to organize, inform, and collaborate.
“At the end of the day, it’s always going to be community helping community and offering them water and a meal.”
