UCLA Labor Center Helps Illegals

The L.A. Times reports:

There are nights when Bryon Alvarez can’t get the stories of the immigrants he works with out of his head.

Dozens of men, women and children who have been physically or sexually abused are relying on his aid to get legal status. Now they’re panicked that instead they’ll be sent home.

“You want to help everyone,” said the legal assistant at the Central American Resource Center in Westlake. “But no matter how hard you work, it’s impossible.”

There are days when his colleague Susana Zamorano comes home so frustrated, she feels she’s going to break down.

“It’s like I’m in the middle of an endless ocean. I have to find strength,” said Zamorano, a program coordinator at the center, also called Carecen.

Many activists in Los Angeles have been in the trenches for years, fighting for immigrant rights and social justice. They know strategy. They know crisis.

But five months into the Trump presidency, they’ve never had their endurance so tested.

So, in need of relief themselves, they go to a longtime community organizer for help.

In his workshops and webinars, Victor Narro tells them to unplug, garden, hike, dance, volunteer, build altars at their cubicles and look at photos that bring them joy. They’re in it for the long haul, after all. President Trump still has nearly 200 more weeks in office.

He teaches them how to slow down and breathe deeply. He gets them to stretch, to close their eyes and meditate.

He also tells them to be vigilant.

“He wants to make you angry. He wants you to lose focus,” he says of Trump. “But we’re not going to let that happen.”

The project director at the UCLA Downtown Labor Center, who has organized immigrants on the front lines for decades, lately has dedicated himself to spreading the gospel of self-care to legions of overextended protesters, lawyers and outreach workers.

“If you’re going to be at your best for the people you’re trying to help,” Narro tells them, “you have to take care of yourself.”

Your tax dollars at work!