St. Louis volunteers lead the way as immigration advocacy groups deal with vast needs

By St. Louis Public Radio

Credit: Charlotte Keene/St. Louis Public Radio

Volunteers help clients package food during one of the International Institute's free food events at the center in St. Louis’ Tower Grove East neighborhood on May 29.

As immigration enforcement from the Trump administration has increased across the country, St. Louisans have found ways to help immigrant families fearing detainment and deportation.

Much of that work relies on grassroots groups and other organizations that are supporting each other and recruiting volunteers.

Aid through care packages

It’s Erika Murray’s first time volunteering at a Kirkwood church auditorium on a Sunday afternoon in May, where she and others are packing boxes of food for immigrant families across the St. Louis area.

Many of these families rely on these packages because they’ve lost their primary breadwinner, either through deportation or detainment by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“I think the most Christian thing you can do is end suffering, and these families are suffering right now,” Murray said.

The sentiment is shared by about a hundred volunteers who are at the church to assist Abide in Love St. Louis. It's one of several St. Louis immigration advocacy groups that have mobilized over the past year, recruiting volunteers.

Charlotte Dahlby is packing fruits, vegetables and other foods in a box that will be delivered to 43 families and 200 individuals.

The 14-year-old remembers how hard it was for her father, who immigrated from Norway, to become an American citizen.

“Imagine if English wasn’t your first language and how hard it is to be discriminated against,” Dahlby said. “It’s just so unfair and unjust.”

Filling in the gaps

Abide in Love’s St. Louis chapter grew out of the Rolla chapter last year. The organization focuses on a few critical needs, including providing food to families when a loved one has been detained or faces deportation. The group formed after hearing from other advocacy groups that provide services like legal support but can’t meet all of immigrant families’ needs, Abide in Love St. Louis President Chris DePalma said.

“The gap is the families who are left behind when their loved one is detained by ICE,” DePalma said.

DePalma said volunteers reach out to the families of those who were deported, making sure they can pay rent, checking if the children have food and delivering care packages. The group also started a reunification team whose volunteers help families get plane tickets and passports to follow a loved one who's been deported.

All donations go to the families at risk, many of whom are referred to them through the St. Louis Rapid Response Hotline. It was formed last year by the St. Louis Rapid Response Coalition, a group of immigration advocacy groups across the St. Louis area, including the Ashrei Foundation.

The hotline operates daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., providing families with resources, a listening ear to their concerns and answers to their questions. Hotline organizers initially thought it would primarily focus on alerting people when ICE enforcement is taking place, Ashrei Foundation Executive Director Sara Ruiz said.

“We quickly realized on the hotline that most of the calls we were going to receive were after enforcement activity had already happened,” Ruiz said. “Some of that's because of the differences in the enforcement tactics that have been used in the region and some of it is also just by nature of being in the community that we are that makes us different than places like Chicago and Los Angeles.”

Much of the work relies on volunteers to help find people in ICE custody who have been transferred to different detention centers. That means calling police departments, jails and using federal tools like ICE locators to find people who have been moved around. Volunteer attorneys also speak with families to offer assistance and understand what kind of relief they need, though they're not taking cases.

The rules keep changing

Ruiz said that it's a lot of work and that the coalition is seeking more bilingual volunteers. She said it's hard to measure success when federal policies and rules constantly change and protections that existed years ago are no longer relevant.

“It's also challenging for people to understand that having a pending asylum case and a work permit and a social security card is also not enough to make a difference,” Ruiz said. “It doesn't protect you from being detained, and it doesn't protect you from being removed from this country.”

A report by the Midwest Newsroom found ICE arrests in Missouri have nearly tripled since the start of the second Trump administration.

Over the past year, groups like the International Institute of St. Louis have seen how those fears have impacted St. Louis’ immigrant communities.

The institute has seen a 20% reduction in onsite services because families are afraid to leave their homes.

Yet, its food pantry, which started last year, has been a success.

"A lot of people are losing their food stamps and they need food," International Institute of St. Louis Food Pantry Manager Mahmud Barekzy said. "Every day the amount of our clients increase."

The pantry serves about 1,000 people each month and is conducted in partnership with Operation Food Search and the Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“This sudden sort of increase in need meant that we had to bring more food,” International Institute of St. Louis President Blake Hamilton said. “But more food means more volunteers and more needs for folks that can help organize the pantry.”

Claire Baldeck is the institute's volunteer coordinator. She and a team are bringing in carts of food they received from Operation Food Search to their pantry.

“Changes are constant and the people that you see here running this food pantry, they're an extremely adaptable group of people,” Baldeck said. “They're very flexible, they're hardworking, and they're willing to do almost anything.”

The volunteers who run the pantry are a lifesaver for many, including a woman from Afghanistan picking up food for her six children. St. Louis Public Radio is not naming her for her safety, but she said she relies on the institute.

“My husband’s father has died, right now my husband’s not home,” she said. “I have [no] job.”

DePalma said the work can be grueling, especially when hearing the hard stories from the families they’ve sought to help. But it also propels the organization to do what it does.

”Every day there's a different emotion, to be really honest,” DePalma said. “But it's really, really great to be working side by side, arm in arm with people who think exactly like you do.”

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