LA immigrant rights groups were bracing for Trump — and then came the fires

The fires that have ravaged Los Angeles County also have added a new layer of complexity for immigrant rights and other progressive groups who are preparing to fight the policies of the incoming Trump administration.

“Our entire focus has switched,” said David Levitus, executive director of L.A. Forward, a group that works on progressive policies. “We have members who have lost their homes.”

The trauma has only added to the trepidation that permeates immigrant communities ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday. Immigrants rights groups are inundated with calls from people not only worried about their immigration status but also from people who’ve lost homes and jobs in the fires.

Some have set up fire relief funds with cash payments to immigrants without legal status who may not be eligible for federal FEMA assistance.

“I think everybody is just very afraid of the unknown,” said Stacy Tolchin, an immigration attorney with offices in Pasadena, referring both to the unknown of whether a person’s house burned or whether federal authorities will target them for deportation.

“So many immigration clients are just asking for assurances that they are going to be OK and it's really heartbreaking because we can’t say that,” Tolchin said.

Facing dual challenges

José came to the U.S. from El Salvador in 1990. When the year started, he said, his biggest concern for the future was getting picked up by Trump’s Immigration Customs and Enforcement agency. José asked that LAist not use his last name because he is undocumented.

The Sun Valley business where he worked burned to the ground in the Hurst Fire, which charred nearly 800 acres last week.

"We are trying to reach our employer to find out if there are any ways he can assist us; We haven’t heard from him yet," José, 54, told LAist through a Spanish interpreter.

José also asked LAist not to identify the business. He said he worked there for the past year and a half doing assembly work. A person who picked up a phone call to the business declined to comment.

“I feel sad and devastated,” José said. “In the United States, if you work, you are somebody. If you do not work, you are a nobody.”

It's been especially hard for domestic workers who worked in the upscale neighborhoods of the Pacific Palisades.

“We have nannies and housekeepers and gardeners and pool cleaners that have nowhere to go and work now,” said Karla Aguaya, director of legal services at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, or CHIRLA.

“A lot of our staff live in areas under evacuation warnings or evacuation orders," Aguaya added. "So we are dealing with that as well while also still having to support the community and help the community that has been so drastically affected by the fires."

Losing everything ‘in one swath’

An aerial view shows homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire.

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As of Friday, the fires in L.A. County had burned more than 40,000 acres, damaged or destroyed over 10,000 structures. At the height of the fires, more than 180,000 homes were under mandatory evacuation orders.

For José, the loss of a job had a cascading effect. With no work, he decided to move out of his apartment because he couldn’t afford the biweekly rent. He has been living in his Chevy van for the past few days, unaware of available assistance programs like one CHIRLA has set up for those in need.

“Due to nature’s wrath, I lost everything in one swath,” he said.

José has two children — he said his daughter is in the U.S. Navy and his son serves in the Marine Corps. He is coping with no job, no home, and the threat of deportation looming.

“I have worked hard in this country," he said, "and I'm afraid if I go through one of those checkpoints that I might be told that I don’t belong here."

Juggling fire cleanup and immigration concerns

The immigration work of CHIRLA continues as immigrants light up phone lines asking for help.

“The fear is pretty widespread,” Aguayo said.

CHIRLA continues to conduct “Know Your Rights” seminars informing people that they don’t need to allow ICE agents into their homes if they don’t have a warrant and that they may remain silent and ask for an attorney.

Tolchin, the immigration attorney, lives in Altadena and was forced to leave her home during the fires. She is now back cleaning up the soot that covers the inside of her house.

“It's a lot of fires to juggle,” she said of the flames and needs of immigration clients.

She’s back to advising clients.

“Emotionally it's a lot,” she said. “There’s only so much I think your mind can take… We have so many clients who are so anxious.”

Marchers after Trump's election in November demanded Los Angeles officially become a sanctuary city.

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Tolchin said she is especially concerned about expedited removal, a process that allows a person to be deported without having to appear before an immigration judge.

Officials with the incoming Trump administration have suggested expanding expedited removal to people who have been in the U.S. for less than two years, she said.

“It's important to have something with you that shows that you’ve been here for more than two years,” she said. Something like a Social Security statement that would show years of history, she said.

Levitus of L.A. Forward said he refocused the group’s monthly meeting on how the organization can help members and guide city and county policies coming out of the fires.

“We want to make sure we are building back better and as the recovery starts — that it's done in a smart way,” specifically that affordable housing be included in the rebuilding, he said. “It's going to be a major focus of ours in the coming months and years.”

He said if the city is going to waive various regulations for rebuilding homes in Pacific Palisades then it should do the same for affordable housing throughout the city.

The East Valley Indivisibles, which does advocacy work with elected officials, said they were planning on meeting last week to plan how to counter Trump policies, said organizer Sulu Vijayan. They canceled the meeting.

“The fires have slowed us down,” she said. “It's also reminding us that we want to make sure we focus on the local for a while and be here for our fellow Angelenos to help in any way we can.”

Nobody lost their homes in their group, but many were forced to evacuate, she said.

“I think the whole city feels stressed and tense and worried about the future of the city itself,” she added.

Resources for immigrants

• The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles has a relief fund for immigrants regardless of status. https://www.chirla.org/ The coalition also has created a guide on Instagram or call (888)-6-CHIRLA.
• The National Day Laborers Organizing Network also has created a relief fund. https://ndlon.org/
• For outdoor workers — street vendors, landscapers and recyclers: Apply to Inclusive Action’s emergency fund. Through this fund, impacted outdoor workers can apply for one-time cash assistance support of $500.
• For unemployed workers, connect with L.A. County’s Department of Economic Opportunity services here.
• LAist has compiled a list of resources, though not all may be available to people of every immigration status.

LAist's Brian De Los Santos contributed to this report.