Sponsored message
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen

The Brief

The most important stories for you to know today
  • Some California immigrants work for $1 a day
    Viewed through chainlink fencing across a sandy lot is another fence topped with barbed wire. Five people are visible behind it. One to the right is crouching in white clothing. The person to the far left wears a red tee-shirt. The sky above is cloudless and light blue. In the distance, more fencing and barbed wire overlap.
    People detained inside the Golden State Annex, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility run by The GEO Group, in McFarland on July 8, 2024.

    Topline:

    Even with all the industries where Californians went on strike during last year’s “hot labor summer,” some of the most active sites of organizing in the state may well be a pair of private immigration detention centers in the Central Valley.

    The Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex facilities, operated by The GEO Group, a Florida-based federal detention contractor, have been a hotbed of activism since the pandemic. But it’s not The GEO Group’s staff agitating for better pay and working conditions.

    It’s their detainees — immigrants awaiting the outcomes of deportation cases or asylum claims, many of whom also work where they’re jailed, scrubbing bathrooms and cutting hair for $1 a day.

    Why it matters: ICE requires its detention contractors to provide voluntary work programs that improve “essential operations and services” and reduce the “negative impact of confinement” through “decreased idleness, improved morale and fewer disciplinary incidents.” While the work can take as many as eight hours a day, ICE requires the jobs to pay “at least” $1 a day; its contracts with The GEO Group show that’s how much the company budgets for the program.

    Many participants take the jobs to afford food and hygiene products from the commissary, or phone calls to family. (A limited number of calls were free during the pandemic, but that’s recently been revoked, advocates said.) Common assignments include cleaning the dorms and bathrooms, and cutting fellow detainees’ hair.

    The backstory: In one of many moves against the Trump administration, state lawmakers in 2019 tried to ban private immigration detention centers from operating in California.

    The for-profit facilities “contribute to over-incarceration” and “do not reflect our values,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement when signing the bill.

    In 2021, Newsom signed a law clarifying the facilities had to abide by local and state health orders. Another provision made them subject to state workplace safety rules.

    Go deeper: To read more about the case for the labor rights of people detained at the California border...

    Even with all the industries where Californians went on strike during last year’s “hot labor summer,” some of the most active sites of organizing in the state may well be a pair of private immigration detention centers in the Central Valley.

    The Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex facilities, operated by The GEO Group, a Florida-based federal detention contractor, have been a hotbed of activism since the pandemic. But it’s not The GEO Group’s staff agitating for better pay and working conditions.

    It’s their detainees — immigrants awaiting the outcomes of deportation cases or asylum claims, many of whom also work where they’re jailed, scrubbing bathrooms and cutting hair for $1 a day.

    Detainees in the two Kern County facilities said this month they started the second labor and hunger strike in two years to protest poor working and living conditions. Two years ago, they sued over the program’s wages.

    And during the 2022 strike, they prompted California workplace safety regulators to inspect the Golden State Annex facility and issue a citation to The GEO Group — showing how far the state is pushing the traditional boundaries of labor rights.

    The case, alleging a “willful and serious” violation of state labor laws meant to prevent the spread of COVID-19, has turned heads. Labor and immigration policy experts believe it is the first time the state has treated detained immigrants as employees who benefit from workplace safety protections. The case is before a three-member appeals board of Cal/OSHA — the state’s occupational safety and health agency — as California grapples with whether to expand labor rights to state prisoners, including a proposition on the November ballot.

    Even more novel: The state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health in May sent the U.S. Department of Homeland Security a request not to deport seven complainants for at least two years, under a Biden administration program to temporarily protect immigrant workers who are assisting with labor investigations.

    “Cal/OSHA cannot properly pursue enforcement action without the cooperation of worker detainees in these situations,” agency chief Debra Lee wrote.

    It’s “highly unusual, if not unique” for the state to ask federal immigration authorities to temporarily waive deportation for state witnesses against the immigration authorities’ contractor, said Anastasia Christman, senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project.

    Cal/OSHA spokesperson Erika Monterroza declined to comment on the case as it is being appealed by the company. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson also declined to comment.

    The GEO Group’s corporate counsel Spencer Winepol did not respond to multiple requests for comment about detainees’ complaints, the Cal/OSHA citation or the current labor and hunger strikes.

    The company, in its appeal of the citation and in prior public statements, has denied that detainees should be considered employees who were exposed to workplace hazards. It also argues the alleged violation was only technical, and has been corrected.

    In the complaint, detainees said they weren’t informed of close contacts with others who had COVID-19; the state’s citation alleges the company did not maintain a required written plan for preventing the spread of the virus.

    The company “vehemently disputes the notion that any of these individuals are employees,” attorneys for The GEO Group wrote to a Cal/OSHA appeals board administrative law judge in April 2023. “Rather, the named detainees were voluntary participants in a federally established Voluntary Work Program, designed to offer rehabilitation and job skill training.”

    If the citation is upheld, it would be a victory for immigrants’ advocates who have pushed unsuccessfully for years to curb private detention facilities in California.

    “It is uncharted territory both in terms of worker issues but also uncharted territory overall about what California can and can’t do versus these private entities,” said Hamid Yazdan Panah, advocacy director of Immigrant Defense Advocates, which has backed a ban on private detention in California. “We’ve continuously pushed the envelope on that.”

    California fights private detention centers

    In one of many moves against the Trump administration, state lawmakers in 2019 tried to ban private immigration detention centers from operating in California.

    The for-profit facilities “contribute to over-incarceration” and “do not reflect our values,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement when signing the bill.

    Instead, the Trump administration expanded immigration detention beds in California, including with The GEO Group, a global private prison giant that reported $2.4 billion in revenues last year. Under its new contract, the company opened the Golden State Annex facility in McFarland and immigration authorities began sending detainees there in 2020.

    ICE pays the company to hold as many as 880 immigrants in its Golden State Annex and Mesa Verde facilities, though the numbers have been far lower, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a regularly updated database of immigration records at Syracuse University.

    The company and federal government sued over California’s ban. It was ultimately overturned last year by the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which ruled the state was unconstitutionally overstepping on federal immigration enforcement.

    But during the COVID pandemic, as outbreaks hit Mesa Verde and other ICE detention centers in California, there appeared to be confusion over whether local health departments had jurisdiction. Advocates called for stricter regulations.

    In 2021, Newsom signed a law clarifying the facilities had to abide by local and state health orders. Another provision made them subject to state workplace safety rules.

    The red, white, and blue flag of the United States blows in the wind, propped up high above the awning of a fenced-off building's entrance. The camera's perspective is from a parking lot, with asphalt in front, a white car to the left, and a green tree to the right.
    The Golden State Annex, a U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement detention facility, in McFarland on July 8, 2024.
    (
    Larry Valenzuela
    /
    CalMatters/CatchLight Local
    )

    One of the complainants in the Cal/OSHA case said he was sent to Golden State in late 2021, after being released from a state prison. But the living conditions, such as the food, were worse in the detention centers, he said.

    The man, who was released last year after nearly two years in detention, spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of jeopardizing ongoing legal cases. He said that he contracted COVID-19 in a dorm room with dozens of other detainees — allegations echoed in the Cal/OSHA complaint.

    “I’m not going to say prison is a good thing, but a state prison is far more well-conditioned to be housed in,” he said.

    Detainee jobs worse than prisoners?

    The jobs were worse, too, the former detainee said, even as most California prison jobs pay less than 74 cents an hour.

    ICE requires its detention contractors to provide voluntary work programs that improve “essential operations and services” and reduce the “negative impact of confinement” through “decreased idleness, improved morale and fewer disciplinary incidents.” While the work can take as many as eight hours a day, ICE requires the jobs to pay “at least” $1 a day; its contracts with The GEO Group show that’s how much the company budgets for the program.

    Many participants take the jobs to afford food and hygiene products from the commissary, or phone calls to family. (A limited number of calls were free during the pandemic, but that’s recently been revoked, advocates said.) Common assignments include cleaning the dorms and bathrooms, and cutting fellow detainees’ hair.

    Some even help care for other detainees. Ever Oropeza-Paz, who has been detained at the Golden State Annex for nearly two years, said he spent several months working as an aide for a dormmate who had a mental health condition. Oropeza-Paz said he was paid $1 a day to assist with basic tasks such as buying items in the commissary, using a tablet to communicate and teaching him how to shower.

    “People are forced to work,” said Oropeza-Paz, who does not currently have a job in the facility. “They do it just to have the funds to make a quick call to their relatives.”

    Critics of immigration detention have challenged the work program’s legality around the country.

    Washington state’s attorney general and a group of detainees sued The GEO Group in 2017, arguing participants should have been paid the state minimum wage, which was $11 an hour at the time. A federal jury decided in 2021 the company owed $17 million in back wages to hundreds of immigrants who had cooked and cleaned.

    In a lawsuit challenging the program at The GEO Group’s detention center in Adelanto, California, a federal judge decided in 2022 the detainees should be considered employees because the contractor paid them and dictated their hours and working conditions. The case is on hold as the Washington case is appealed.

    And in July 2022, nine detainees at Mesa Verde and Golden State, represented by attorneys at the the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, sued The GEO Group over the work program’s wages.

    At Golden State, the advocacy organization also helped file a workplace safety complaint. Detainees there complained of cleaning black mold without protective equipment, black dust in the heating and air conditioning system, and a lack of COVID-19 notification and testing protocols.

    “There’s fungus on the bathroom floor, on the shower walls,” said the former detainee who made the comparison to state prisons and who echoed allegations in the Cal/OSHA complaint. “We weren’t given the proper equipment, we weren’t given the proper chemicals … We didn’t even get a small talk of what everything’s for.”

    The detainees staged a work stoppage that summer. It ended up lasting nearly a year, into 2023, and escalated into a hunger strike. In a civil rights complaint to the Department of Homeland Security and a 2023 lawsuit, detainees claimed they experienced retaliation, including having family visits suspended and being placed in solitary confinement. They withdrew the suit when they ended the strikes.

    The company told KQED in 2022 it didn’t consider detainees “choosing not to participate in a voluntary work program” to be on strike, and told other local media outlets last year that allegations of abuse were “baseless.”

    A recent inspection of Golden State by the Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog office found GEO Group staff were slow to respond to some medical complaints from detainees, and hadn’t fixed leaks that regularly caused pools of water on the floor, “forcing detainees to live in a potentially dangerous setting.”

    But the department’s inspector general said the work program didn’t violate any ICE policies.

    Detention company resists

    Cal/OSHA accuses The GEO Group of resisting state inspections, according to case records obtained by CalMatters through a public records request.

    After the agency opened an investigation in June 2022, The GEO Group “refused to produce any documents pertaining to worker detainees, taking the position that worker detainees are not employees” and told inspectors to request documents from ICE, Cal/OSHA senior safety engineer Greg Clark later declared in a court filing. But an August 2022 memo shows GEO employee and facility administrator Minga Wofford told Clark’s colleague that ICE wanted requests routed “through the facility.”

    Wofford declined to comment.

    When Clark and a colleague visited in August 2022 for a second inspection, Clark said the company “denied us access to worker detainees to conduct interviews with them.”

    Cal/OSHA eventually got a warrant from a Kern County judge for the company to turn over documents about the work program and allow inspectors to speak with detainees. An inspector returned to the facility three times in December 2022, and issued citations that month, barely missing the six-month cutoff after which an investigation must be closed.

    Among the citations are that the company blocked access to a chemical eyewash station, didn’t properly label chemicals in the barbershop and train workers on their uses, and failed to have a written plan to prevent the spread of airborne diseases such as COVID-19. Because there had been COVID cases, the agency issued that citation as a “serious” violation, bumping the total fines up to over $100,000.

    Over the past year and a half, the appeals have centered on whether the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice and other advocacy groups, representing the detainees, can also participate in the legal case.

    The GEO Group has pushed back, arguing that several of the detainees involved no longer are housed in the facility and that none were exposed to actual hazards in the work program.

    “The citation in question is for a written policy deficiency,” company attorneys wrote to the Cal/OSHA appeals board last October. The detainees’ attorneys and Cal/OSHA disagreed; agency attorney Lidia Marquez wrote that “worker-detainees tasked with cleaning and maintenance assignments found themselves directly exposed to the hazard” of being at a higher risk of contracting the virus.

    As those proceedings dragged out, Cal/OSHA asked the federal government to help keep the complainants in the country.

    Cal/OSHA first tried in April 2023, and then again in May, this time writing to the Department of Homeland Security that the case will fall apart without witnesses and naming specific immigrants the state hopes can testify. One of the witnesses Cal/OSHA had interviewed, agency director Lee wrote, had already been deported.

    “There have already been an alarming number of reports by worker detainees stating they are facing retaliation for cooperating with Cal/OSHA’s investigation,” she wrote. “The loss of one witness is a setback to Cal/OSHA’s enforcement action, which is why immediate protection for the remaining witnesses is critical.”

    Homeland Security declined to comment on Cal/OSHA’s request in The GEO Group case, and a spokesperson did not answer questions about the deportation protection program, known as deferred action. Earlier this year, the department said it’s granted more than 1,000 workers involved in labor investigations nationwide such protections.

    It’s not clear how the department will handle California’s request. Lisa Knox, co-director of the collaborative representing detainees, said the workers are still in the process of using Cal/OSHA’s letter to apply for deportation protections individually.

    Meanwhile, ICE has steadily sent more immigrants to the Golden State center. Records show the detainee population in June was more than 300 people — double the number a year ago.

  • Concert helps survivors get their vinyl back
    stacks of records, wood paneled shelves, golden light fixtures
    Interior of Healing Force of the Universe records in Pasadena, where a benefit concert is held on Sunday to help fire survivors build back their record collections.

    Topline:

    This Sunday, a special donation concert at Pasadena's Healing Force of the Universe record store helps fire survivors get their vinyl record collections back.

    The backstory: The record donation effort is the brainchild of musician Brandon Jay, who founded the nonprofit Altadena Musicians after losing his home and almost all of his family’s musical instruments in the Eaton Fire. Now, he has turned his efforts on rebuilding people's lost record collections.

    Read on ... to find details of the show happening Sunday.

    In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena and Pasadena’s music community have really shown up to support fire survivors, especially fellow musicians who lost instruments and record collections.

    That effort continues this weekend with a special donation concert at a Pasadena record store, with the aim of getting vinyl records back in the hands of survivors who lost their collections.

    “You know, our name is Healing Force of the Universe, and I think that gives me a pretty clear direction… especially after the fires,” said Austin Manuel, founder of Pasadena record store, where Sunday’s show will be held.

    The record donation effort is the brainchild of musician Brandon Jay, who founded the nonprofit Altadena Musicians after losing his home and almost all of his family’s instruments in the Eaton Fire. Through Altadena Musicians’s donation and registry platform, Jay said he and his partners have helped some 1,200 fire survivors get their music instruments back.

    Brandon Jay sits in front of a row of amplifiers.
    Brandon Jay.
    (
    Robert Garrova
    /
    LAist
    )

    Now, that effort has fanned out to restoring vinyl record collections.

    “All of that stuff evaporated for thousands of people,” Jay said. “Look at your own record collection and be like, ‘Wow, what if that whole thing disappeared?’”

    You might know Jay from several bands over the years, including Lutefisk, a 1990s alt-rock band based in Los Angeles. He and his wife, Gwendolyn Sanford, composed music for TV shows, including Orange is the New Black and Weeds.

    Jay plans to play some holiday tunes at Sunday's record donation show (which LAist is the media sponsor), along with fellow musician Daniel Brummel of Sanglorians. Brummel, who was also a founding member of Pasadena’s indie-rock sensation Ozma, said he was grateful to Jay for his fire recovery work and to Manuel for making Healing Force available for shows like this.

    Brummel, who came close to losing his own home in the Eaton Fire, recalled a show he played at Healing Force back in March.

    Ryen Slegr (left) and Daniel Brummel perform with their band, Ozma, on the 2014 Weezer Cruise.
    (
    Even Keel Imagery
    )

    “The trauma of the fires was still really fresh,” Brummel said. After playing a cover of Rufus Wainwright’s “Going to a Town,” that night — which includes the lyrics “I’m going to a town that has already been burnt down” — Brummel said his neighbors in the audience told him the rendition hit them hard. “It felt really powerful. And without that space, it just wouldn’t have occurred.”

    Details

    Healing Force of the Universe Record Donation Show
    Featuring: Quasar (aka Brandon Jay), Sanglorians (Daniel Brummel) and The Acrylic.
    Sunday, Dec. 14; 2 to 5 p.m.
    1200 E. Walnut St., Pasadena
    Tickets are $15 or you can donate 5 or more records at the door. More info here.

  • Sponsored message
  • Fire department honored with 'Award of Excellence'
    A close-up of a star plaque in the style of the Hollywood Walk of Fame on top of a red carpet. The star reads "Los Angeles Fire Dept." in gold text towards the top.
    The "Award of Excellence Star" honoring the Los Angeles Fire Department on Friday.

    Topline:

    The Hollywood Walk of Fame has a new neighbor — a star dedicated to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

    Why it matters: The Fire Department has been honored with an “Award of Excellence Star” for its public service during the Palisades and Sunset fires, which burned in the Pacific Palisades and Hollywood Hills neighborhoods of L.A. in January.

    Why now: The star was unveiled on Hollywood Boulevard on Friday at a ceremony hosted by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and Hollywood Community Foundation.

    Awards of Excellence celebrate organizations for their positive impacts on Hollywood and the entertainment industry, according to organizers. Fewer than 10 have been handed out so far, including to the LA Times, Dodgers and Disneyland.

    The backstory: The idea of awarding a star to the Fire Department was prompted by an eighth-grade class essay from Eniola Taiwo, 14, from Connecticut. In an essay on personal heroes, Taiwo called for L.A. firefighters to be recognized. She sent the letter to the Chamber of Commerce.

    “This star for first responders will reach the hearts of many first responders and let them know that what they do is recognized and appreciated,” Taiwo’s letter read. “It will also encourage young people like me to be a change in the world.”

    A group of people are gathered around a red carpet with a Hollywood star in the center. A man wearing a black uniform is hugging a Black teenage girl on top of the star.
    LAFD Chief Jaime E. Moore, Eniola Taiwo and LAFD firefighters with the "Award of Excellence Star" Friday.
    (
    Matt Winkelmeyer
    /
    Getty Images North America
    )

    The Award of Excellence Star is in front of the Ovation Entertainment Complex next to the Walk of Fame; however, it is separate from the official program.

    What officials say: Steve Nissen, president and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement Taiwo’s letter was the inspiration for a monument that will “forever shine in Hollywood.”

    “This recognition is not only about honoring the bravery of the Los Angeles Fire Department but also about celebrating the vision of a young student whose words reminded us all of the importance of gratitude and civic pride,” said Nissen, who’s also president and CEO of the Hollywood Community Foundation.

    Go deeper: LA's wildfires: Your recovery guide

  • Councilmember wants to learn more
    A woman with brown hair past her shoulders is speaking into a microphone affixed to a podium. She's wearing a light blue turtleneck under a navy blue checkered jacket and small earrings. Two other women can be seen standing behind her on the left.
    L.A. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto was accused of an ethics breach in a case the city settled for $18 million.

    Topline:

    Fallout from allegations of an ethics breach by Los Angeles’ elected city attorney has reached the City Council. Councilmember Ysabel Jurado introduced a motion Friday requesting a closed-session meeting about an allegation that City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto improperly contacted a witness days before her office entered into one of the city’s biggest settlements in recent years. The motion came a day after LAist reported about the allegation.

    The case: In September, the city settled a lawsuit brought forward by two brothers in their 70s who said they suffered serious injuries after an LAPD officer crashed into their car. Days before the $18 million settlement was reached, lawyers for the brothers said Feldstein Soto called an expert witness testifying for the plaintiffs and “attempted to ingratiate herself with him and asked him to make a contribution to her political campaign,” according to a sworn declaration to the court by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Robert Glassman.

    The response: Feldstein Soto did not respond to an interview request. Her spokesperson said the settlement “had nothing to do” with the expert witness. Her campaign manager told LAist the city attorney had been making a routine fundraising call and did not know the person had a role in the case, nor that there were pending requests for her office to pay him fees.

    What Jurado says: In a statement to LAist, Jurado said she wants to “make sure that the city’s legal leadership is guided by integrity and accountability, especially when their choices affect public trust, civic rights and the city’s limited resources."

    What’s next: The motion needs to go through a few committees before reaching the full City Council. If it passes, the motion calls for the city attorney to “report to council in closed session within 45 days regarding the ethics breach violation and give updates to the City Council."

    Topline:

    Fallout from allegations of an ethics breach by Los Angeles’ elected city attorney has reached the City Council. Councilmember Ysabel Jurado introduced a motion Friday requesting a closed-session meeting about an allegation that City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto improperly contacted a witness days before her office entered into one of the city’s biggest settlements in recent years. The motion came a day after LAist reported about the allegation.

    The case: In September, the city settled a lawsuit brought forward by two brothers in their 70s who said they suffered serious injuries after an LAPD officer crashed into their car. Days before the $18 million settlement was reached, lawyers for the brothers said Feldstein Soto called an expert witness testifying for the plaintiffs and “attempted to ingratiate herself with him and asked him to make a contribution to her political campaign,” according to a sworn declaration to the court by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Robert Glassman.

    The response: Feldstein Soto did not respond to an interview request. Her spokesperson said the settlement “had nothing to do” with the expert witness. Her campaign manager told LAist the city attorney had been making a routine fundraising call and did not know the person had a role in the case, nor that there were pending requests for her office to pay him fees.

    What Jurado says: In a statement to LAist, Jurado said she wants to “make sure that the city’s legal leadership is guided by integrity and accountability, especially when their choices affect public trust, civic rights and the city’s limited resources."

    What’s next: The motion needs to go through a few committees before reaching the full City Council. If it passes, the motion calls for the city attorney to “report to council in closed session within 45 days regarding the ethics breach violation and give updates to the City Council."

  • How one Santa Ana home honors the holiday
    At the center of the altar is a statue of the Lady of Guadalupe -- a brown-skinned woman wearing a green veil with her hands clasped in prayer and an angel at her feet. Behind the statue is a tapestry with a glass-stained window design. The statue is surrounded by flowers of all kinds of colors.
    Luis Cantabrana turns the front of his Santa Ana home into an elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe.

    Topline:

    Today marks el Día de La Virgen de Guadalupe, or the day of the Virgen of Guadalupe, an important holiday for Catholics and those of Mexican descent. In Santa Ana, Luis Cantabrana builds an elaborate altar in her honor that draws hundreds of visitors.

    What is the holiday celebrating? In 1513, the Virgin Mary appeared before St. Juan Diego, asking him to build a church in her honor. Her image — a brown-skinned woman, wearing a green veil with her hands clasped in prayer and an angel at her feet — miraculously appeared on his cloak. Every year on Dec. 12, worshippers of the saint celebrate the Guadalupita with prayer and song.

    Read on … for how worshippers in Santa Ana celebrate.

    Every year in Santa Ana, Luis Cantabrana turns the front of his home into an elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe that draws hundreds of visitors.

    Along the front of the house, the multi-colored altar is filled with lights, flowers and a stained-glass tapestry behind a sculpture of the Lady of Guadalupe. Cantabrana’s roof also is lit up with the green, white and red lights that spell out “Virgen de Guadalupe” and a cross.

    Visitors are welcomed with music and the smell of roses as they celebrate the saint, but this year’s gathering comes after a dark year for immigrant communities.

    A dark-skinned man wearing a navy blue long sleeve shirt stands in front of the altar he built for the Lady of Guadalupe. At the center of the altar is a statue of the Lady of Guadalupe -- a brown-skinned woman wearing a green veil with her hands clasped in prayer and an angel at her feet. Behind the statue is a tapestry with a glass-stained window design. The statue is surrounded by flowers of all kinds of colors.
    Luis Cantabrana stands in front of the stunning altar he built in front of his home in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe. Every year, his display draws hundreds of visitors.
    (
    Destiny Torres
    /
    LAist
    )

    Why do they celebrate? 

    In 1513, the Virgin Mary appeared before St. Juan Diego between Dec. 9 and Dec. 12, asking him to build a church in her honor. Her image — a brown-skinned woman wearing a green veil with her hands together in prayer and an angel at her feet — miraculously appeared on his cloak.

    To celebrate in Santa Ana, worshippers gathered late-night Wednesday and in the very early hours Dec. 12 to pray the rosary, sing hymns and celebrate the saint.

    Cantabrana has hosted worshippers at his home for 27 years — 17 in Santa Ana.

    The altar started out small, he said, and over the years, he added a fabric background, more lights and flowers (lots and lots of flowers).

    “It started with me making a promise to la Virgen de Guadalupe that while I had life and a home to build an altar, that I would do it,” Cantabrana said. “Everything you see in photos and videos is pretty, but when you come and see it live, it's more than pretty. It's beautiful.”

    The roof of a home is decked out in green, white and red lights. At the center peak of the roof is a small picture of the Virgin Mary. Lights spell out the words, "Virgen de Guadalupe." on the slope of the roof, the lights are laid out in the display of a cross.
    The Santa Ana home's elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe draws hundreds of visitors each year.
    (
    Destiny Torres
    /
    LAist
    )

    Gathering in a time of turmoil 

    Many also look to the Lady of Guadalupe for protection, especially at a time when federal enforcement has rattled immigrant communities.

    “People don’t want to go to work, they don’t want to take their kids to school, but the love we have for our Virgen de Guadalupe,” Cantabrana said. “We see that la Virgen de Guadalupe has a lot of power, and so we know immigration [enforcement] won’t come here.”

    Margarita Lopez of Garden Grove has been visiting the altar for three years with her husband. She’s been celebrating the Virgencita since she was a young girl. Honoring the saint is as important now as ever, she said.

    “We ask, and she performs miracles,” Lopez said.

    Claudia Tapia, a lifelong Santa Ana resident, said the Virgin Mary represents strength.

    “Right now, with everything going on, a lot of our families [have] turned and prayed to the Virgen for strength during these times,” Tapia said. “She's a very strong symbol of Mexican culture, of unity, of faith and of resilience.”

    See it for yourself

    The shrine will stay up into the new year on the corner of Broadway and Camile Street.