WE SEE HIGH levels of stress and anxiety in immigrant communities. At Mixteca, we provide direct services for immigrants, like “know your rights” and legal clinics, but we incorporate mental health components. People may be waiting to meet with the lawyer, and we have little packages with lavender, a stress ball, something you can smell, touch, and hear to activate the five senses. We get feedback from the community like, “I don’t know why, but I feel better when I meet with my lawyer here.” We create spaces where the community feels safe, or safer than other places.

I don’t know if we are safe at this point. People ask, “Can I send my daughter to school?” [We see] kids whose parents were deported struggling to make a living. People ask “Can I go to the hospital and have my surgery? I need it, but I don’t want to get deported.” Others say, “I’ve been in this situation for many years. Immigrants are under attack every day from the day I got here.”

Being here in the front line, it’s heavy on us as well. Imagine listening to one person and then the next one, and the next. As an immigrant, I feel honored; this is what I want to do with my life. I don’t have to push my team to take care of others, but I have to push them to take care of themselves, because I know that is the hardest part for us. I burn palo santo. It was used by my grandma to clean a space. The smell really helps me to center. I usually do it in the morning, or any time I feel like the day is really heavy: Just burn my palo santo and bring my ancestors, my abuela and whoever needs to be here to support with the heaviness of the work.

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