Doorstep Grocery Deliveries to Immigrants in the Inland Empire

(INLAND EMPIRE) Community groups across the Inland Empire are rushing groceries and essential supplies to immigrant families who are too afraid to step outside as immigration enforcement intensifies in 2025. Volunteers say the need spiked after reports of raids at day laborer sites in Riverside and San Bernardino, leaving parents and grandparents choosing between food and safety. Organizers describe a simple goal: keep families fed while they shelter at home.

Emergency Food Distribution Networks

TODEC Legal Center, long known for legal aid, has shifted much of its operation to home deliveries. Staff and volunteers assemble bags with rice, lentils, tortillas, oil, and cereals, then drop them discreetly at doorsteps across the Inland Empire.

Luis Guzman, coordinating the effort, said the network now relies on about 400 volunteers. The nonprofit has supported local families since the 1980s, but it was not a food bank until fear changed the math. When people stopped coming to pick up help, TODEC took the help to them.

Organizers say the pivot was driven by direct pleas from families of six or more who had gone days without food because they were “too scared to be caught.” The deliveries are now the safest way to reach people, especially mixed-status households and farmworker families.

On June 18, 2025, California’s First Partner joined TODEC staff in Perris, riding along to deliver food to farmworkers who said they feared arrest if they left home. She later said she “listened to accounts from grandmothers, mothers, and children—of families afraid of leaving their homes, fathers who committed suicide because they were unable to work. This is a campaign of terror on American soil—aimed at some of the hardest working people on earth.”

The Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (IC4IJ), a network of more than 35 partner groups, backs rapid response efforts, policy advocacy, and community education. The coalition:

• Trains local teams
• Provides micro-grants to partners
• Dispatches Rapid Response volunteers to known ICE hotspots

That infrastructure helps coordinate food drops with neighborhood watch updates, so families know when it’s safer to collect deliveries left outside.

Student-Led Grassroots Response

A younger wave of helpers is also on the move. Raíces con Voz: Latinos In Public Health, a student-led collective founded by Cal State L.A. student Miguel Montes, expanded from Boyle Heights into the Inland Empire and across Los Angeles neighborhoods.

Montes, 25, noticed changes first: empty supermarket aisles in immigrant corridors, missing street vendors, and quiet bus stops in the early morning. “People are staying in their homes,” he said.

The group screens and coordinates about 20 active volunteers at any time, while a larger pool stands ready after sign-ups ballooned from 10 people to more than 500. To date, they’ve delivered food and basic supplies to over 200 families.

Process and partnerships:
1. Households complete an intake form in English or Spanish.
2. Volunteers confirm whether to leave items at the door or meet outside, based on comfort level.
3. Deliveries are coordinated with neighbors and small businesses.

Partner examples:
– X’tiosu Kitchen (Boyle Heights) — organized grocery bag pick-ups
– YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles — used local centers as hubs for care packages
– Aqui Para La Comunidad — now leads many deliveries in Southeast Los Angeles

According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, community-based delivery networks often become the first line of support during periods of heightened immigration enforcement, especially when families fear public spaces like markets, bus stops, and work sites. These efforts can serve as a bridge to legal, medical, and housing resources once people feel safe enough to engage.

Enforcement Climate and Economic Fallout

The fear stems from a year of tougher actions since President Trump took office in January 2025. Day laborer corners, especially at Home Depot locations in Riverside and San Bernardino, have seen raids resulting in more than a dozen arrests, according to local worker centers.

Advocates describe plainclothes approaches and sudden moves by agents that leave workers unsure who is confronting them. One day laborer said he feared being dragged from his truck: “If they come up to my truck and break my window to try to get me, just like they don’t know me, I don’t know them. I don’t know if they’re immigration or kidnappers.”

Fannely Millan of the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center visits day laborer corners weekly, handing out Know Your Rights cards, tracking detentions, and checking whether family members need help. “We’re not going to be able to prevent every raid or be at every raid,” she said. “Not unless we get help from our community.” IC4IJ’s Rapid Response model tries to fill that gap by sharing alerts and sending trained volunteers to verify reports and provide real-time support.

Business leaders warn the fallout could ripple through the region’s economy. Paul Granillo of the Inland Empire Economic Partnership points to agriculture, construction, logistics, and food service—sectors that rely on immigrant labor. With only about 70,000 work visas available each year nationwide against a workforce need many times larger, he predicts:

• Higher food prices
• Slower construction
• Longer waits for care as staffing shortages spread

The stress is already evident in families skipping checkups, avoiding parks, and limiting trips to stores, even as refrigerators run empty.

Rights, Resources, and Practical Guidance

For households worried about rights during encounters, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties accepts complaints about alleged civil rights violations during immigration actions.

Community groups also advise families to prepare emergency plans. Recommended steps include:

• Designate a caregiver for children
• Keep key phone numbers on paper (not just in phones)
• Store copies of IDs, lease records, and school forms in a safe place

Volunteers note operational patterns shaping deliveries:
– Families request smaller, more frequent drops to avoid attention
– Drivers avoid evenings near known hotspots and prioritize daylight handoffs
– Households request basics that last: beans, rice, oil, baby formula, and diapers

Organizers stress that community relief is a stopgap, not a fix. They want clearer rules on enforcement, better access to counsel, and a visa system that meets labor demand so workers are not pushed into the shadows.

They also note that when agencies conduct operations at day labor corners, ripple effects reach classrooms and clinics the next day.

Human Moments and Continuing Work

Still, the quiet work continues. A volunteer in San Bernardino described leaving a bag of staples at an apartment where the curtains stayed closed all week. No one opened the door, but within minutes a child’s voice called out from behind the blinds: “Gracias.”

For many helpers, that’s the point—meeting fear with steady, practical help, one doorstep at a time. Officials and advocates disagree on tactics, but everyone agrees families need to eat.

For now, the home deliveries keep pantries stocked, give parents breathing room, and buy time for a longer debate about how enforcement should work in a region built by immigrant labor. As IC4IJ teams, student volunteers, and local businesses coordinate the next round of drops, they say they’ll keep showing up—even when the streets are empty and the bus stops are quiet.