During President Donald Trump’s ongoing mass deportation campaign, a variety of organizations have been created or have been upping efforts around pushing for policy change, legal representation for those slated for deportation and rapid response to federal immigration agents.
But one thing Aurora-born Juan Garcia didn’t see was many organizations helping the families of those who had been deported.
“When people are in crisis, you have to ask the further question as to what happens after,” Garcia said.
That’s how he got the idea for Kalpulli Across Borders, a new organization he founded alongside others who are also from Aurora. The goal of the organization, he said, is to create a system of aid surrounding and helping immigrant communities.
Someone who gets deported might leave behind a wife and children — but unlike when someone simply loses their job, these families aren’t able to receive unemployment assistance, according to Garcia. Still the bills keep coming, he said, and so the families of those who have been deported are left with the difficult decision of how to move forward.
So, Kalpulli helps families by directly paying things like rent, utility bills or phone bills, or by providing things like gift cards to buy groceries, Garcia said. People can apply for help or learn how to get involved through the organization’s website, which is www.kalpulliacrossborders.org.
Through the intake form, those looking for assistance will need to provide contact information, what their current situation is, how much financial assistance they are looking to receive and the case number of the person who was deported, according to Garcia. The organization investigates, he said, and then distributes aid if the application is accepted.
Right now, the organization is small enough that Garcia is still doing a lot of the footwork, he said. In one case, he has even hand-delivered a check to a landlord just to make sure it was there on-time.
Kalpulli so far has helped three families since launching late last year, according to Garcia. He said the organization’s goal is to help 50 people in total — so for families of four or five people, that’s about 10 families each month.
Currently, the organization’s target is Aurora and surrounding areas, but it is working to grow its following and expand into other communities, Garcia said. The group is really open to helping anyone in the Midwest, he said.
In some cases, Garcia said, Kalpulli has provided just one-time support to families who are looking to leave the country and reconnect with the person who was deported. For these cases, the organization is looking to expand its efforts into helping these people move back to their home country at a discounted rate, he said.
Examples of future services may include helping a family move money from a U.S. bank to a foreign bank or helping to move their belongings, according to Garcia. If the group can find a way to provide these services through the nonprofit at a discounted rate, he said, it may be a reliable way to bring money in while helping people reconnect.
However, Kalpulli has also provided ongoing support to a family, Garcia said. The organization is looking to eventually help set these people up with financial literacy classes or other ways to help them find a financially sustainable way to keep paying their bills, he said.
Beyond the organization working to provide people with direct aid in the short term, Nicholas Richard-Thompson wants Kalpulli to build a “strong, robust ecosystem of resources for families impacted — but also activists, advocates, organizers, people wanting to help.”
Thompson, one of the organization’s co-founders, was born and raised in Aurora, plus is the city’s deputy chief of staff. Rounding out the list of co-founders is Jesus Del Toro, who Garcia grew up with and is currently the director of policy and strategic initiatives at the city of Chicago Mayor’s Office of Immigrant, Migrant and Refugee Rights.
Unlike a charity organization, which is more like a bandage over a problem, mutual aid groups like Kalpulli look to address the core causes of the problems they are also helping alleviate in the short-term, according to Thompson. He doesn’t want the organization to still exist in five to 10 years, he said, because by then he wants there to be a comprehensive solution to the way immigration currently works.
“So, the immediate need right now is humanitarian aid, but collectivizing this ecosystem is to say, ‘How do we bring together advocates across the country to fight on a coordinated effort to ensure that we have proper pathways to citizenship and that we take care of refugees?,’” he said.
Kalpulli is still in the early stages of this process, Thompson said, but he believes that relationships are the basis of “everything we do.”
In the more immediate future, the organization is looking to do fundraising, to build the organization’s board and to build its roster or network of volunteers, he said.
Thompson called those who are feeling hopeless or like change is insurmountable to look into joining the organization. It isn’t insurmountable, he said, but coordination and community are needed.
The group is also set to host a fundraising event — “Noche de Loteria” — at 6:30 p.m. March 26. To be hosted at Nide Jardin, 140 S. River St. in downtown Aurora, the event will feature $5 game cards with prizes for winners, tacos from Pariente Mix, wine and coffee.
That fundraiser will be the organization’s third but the first in Aurora, according to Thompson. It will give Kalpulli the chance to educate people on its mission, he said, and to get local buy-in from other local organizations like the city’s various rapid response groups or those doing work around immigrant and refugee rights.
“These other non-profits and grassroots efforts, we want to invite them out and incorporate them into the work being done,” Thompson said.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
