On a recent frigid and icy morning, more than a dozen volunteers huddled together in the warmth of an unassuming storefront tucked beneath the shadows of St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
“We’ve been here since 8 a.m.,” said Claudia Cortez, reaching for a sleeve of Ritz Crackers with one hand and a packet of applesauce with the other before stuffing them into a plastic grocery bag.
Cortez is a cook at El Guanaco, a Salvadoran restaurant that's joined a growing list of nearly 50 Latino businesses in St. Louis participating in a weeklong labor strike.
She’s also just one volunteer helping to sort thousands of dollars worth of donations destined for St. Louis-area residents without legal status — the same community members who have been living in dread of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans and the possibility of the state creating stricter penalties for residing in Missouri.
"There are several families that have lost their jobs because they're afraid to go out and drive," said Gabby Moreno, one of the founders of the fledgling mutual aid group Manos Unidas STL. "There's families that have had [family members] detained by ICE that were their main source of income, and right now, they don't have a way to get by."
The mutual aid group’s efforts to assist those without legal status facing food insecurity are the latest response in a sudden mobilization of community activists fighting to push back on the administration’s policy agenda.
One St. Louis-based coalition recently launched a hotline to report U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity. An attorney from Fairmont City, Illinois, has been preparing numerous legal guardianship and power of attorney certifications for individuals who fear deportation.
After receiving hundreds of messages and calls since the labor strike was announced, Moreno realized the community's need was greater than she initially thought.
“It's very upsetting because we shouldn't be afraid,” Moreno said. It’s why she helped create Manos Unidas STL. “We’re here to support those families and [for them to] know they’re not alone.”
Moreno said witnessing the growing challenges some immigrants in her community faced inspired her to connect with a small group of like-minded individuals on social media. Eventually the self-described “group of fierce Latina women uniting to combat racial injustice & demand equality” was born.
Sandy Arango, an administrative assistant who works with various area construction companies, said she decided to join the mutual aid group after seeing how the tone around immigration in the community — and across the nation — has become increasingly combative.
“I’ve heard friends [at work say], ‘Hey, you know, the people from the houses are telling the company we don’t want these Hispanics or Mexicans on the job,’” she said, adding that some clients would even ask the business owners to get “a white crew on the house.”
The immigration crackdown has become one of the Trump administration’s core issues. Still, it has come under fire from legal scholars, religious groups and local activists. But, not everyone is supportive of the efforts of groups like Manos Unidas STL.
Mosha Betancourt, another volunteer sorting dozens of bags of food and hygiene supplies, said she has received pushback, and even some threats, because of her work supporting people without legal status. Betancourt says she was unable to close her business for a week because she lives paycheck to paycheck — but she’s still has found ways to help.
“I live off of my sales. If I don’t sell one day, what am I going to do? But that’s not a reason to not help,” she said in Spanish. “Maybe you’re not able to assist monetarily but there’s a thousand ways you can help.”
Moreno and other organizers emphasized they understand not everyone can participate in the same way.
“We know that not everyone is able to close the doors because they're afraid to leave their employees without pay,” she said, adding many businesses have instead donated food or money. “[It] does not mean that we're going to boycott their business or speak bad about them because we are here to unite everyone — we want unity, not division.”
The strike and food drive are just the beginning of what Moreno and her group are planning.
“We are trying to advocate for immigrants and hopefully get immigration reform here soon because we all deserve it,” she said. “We're all we've all been here … working from sunrise to sunset, doing what we can to provide a better life for our family.”
As the last bags of produce are accounted for and volunteers begin to head home, Arango and Moreno sit in the fading sunlight and reflect on the work still ahead.
"I would just like to see people be more kinder toward other people — have more sympathy towards immigrants," Arango said. "We're all human, and I think we all deserve the same respect."
