The migrant workers at the forefront of Los Angeles wildfire relief efforts
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As firefighters, many of whom are incarcerated and forced to work for a fraction of the state’s minimum wage, struggle to put out the wildfires, migrant workers are leading relief efforts across Los Angeles. Immigrant day laborers, organized with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), have launched a “Fire Relief Brigade” to help clean up the streets of Los Angeles following the devastation incurred by the wildfires. Arriving with trucks, migrant workers are volunteering to clean up streets clogged with branches and other debris from the fires.
NDLON, an organization of migrant workers that has also been gearing up to prepare for Trump’s promised wave of mass deportations, has been promoting the slogan “solo el pueblo salva al pueblo” (only the people can save the people). NDLON volunteers are also distributing food, water, and emergency kits, and providing temporary shelter through the Pasadena Community Job Center.
According to NDLON volunteer Manuel Vicente, the day laborer volunteer brigades are “a way to respond to those attacks that our community has faced” as well as the
“stigma that is around us,” which alleges that migrants are “criminals” and “rapists,” recalling Trump’s racist rhetoric against immigrants. “We respond to those attacks with love,” Vicente said.
According to Vicente, migrant workers have had to step in given that the city of Los Angeles “is not prepared for this type of disaster.” According to Vicente, the city of Los Angeles misallocated resources, placing them in “things that are not important for our community.”
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