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Immigrants say they’ve been helping battle the blazes where they can
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Maria Sacchetti
Immigrants have been going into burning neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area to fight the wildfires with shovels, hoses and buckets of water, according to a
report Friday by NPR’s “Morning Edition.”
Immigrants from Guatemala, Mexico and other countries said they sometimes work in Altadena and other afflicted areas as gardeners, landscapers and housecleaners. Some are undocumented, making them potential targets for arrest under the incoming Trump administration’s plan for mass deportations. But those fighting fires said they wanted to help.
“Our values and our principles come first, that’s what our parents taught us,” Maria Garcia, an undocumented house cleaner from Guatemala, told NPR. “They always used to say, ‘Help others without concern for who they are or why they need help.’”
Immigrants make up about 27 percent of California residents, and the vast majority are in the United States legally. Nearly 1 in 5 are undocumented, however, according to the Pew Research Center. State lawmakers have passed laws to protect them from being deported and to ensure they have access to higher education and health care. Undocumented immigrants are also eligible for some disaster relief funding, state records
show.
Analysts say immigrants are a key part of the state’s workforce, including in farming and construction, and will be crucial to the state’s recovery from the wildfires.