Detroit nonprofit forced to shut down after immigration raids in Texas
Immigrants in Detroit aren’t the only ones feeling the effects of the Trump Administration.
A local nonprofit, Hey Y’all Detroit, has been delivering fresh produce and grocery boxes monthly to nearly 300 families in need. But their partnership with a Texas farm ended after workers there experienced several immigration raids.
“This was a huge blow,” said Charmane Neal, the founder of Hey Y’all Detroit.
“We had to, unfortunately, completely stop the produce delivery program. I mean not only is all of our supply gone now, but we don’t actually have the distribution center to do the logistics, and we also don’t have the vehicles or the manpower to actually run this program on the scale that we were running it on.”
Neal says the farm was the sole provider of produce and provided all logistics and a distribution center for the program.
Neal has decided not to reveal the name of the farm to protect the owners and workers. 68% of the farm’s workers were migrants and DACA recipients. Since speaking out, Neal says the farm has been raided three times. Some workers have been deported; others have stopped showing up to work out of fear.
The farm ultimately had to shut down.
However, Neal is attempting to rebuild. The organization has expanded its community gardens from two to four, secured partnerships with local farms, and increased efforts in food rescue programs. Additionally, Hey Y’all Detroit is working with Eastside Mutual Aid to host more free farmers markets in public parks.
But, Neal says even with all the new partnerships, she will only be able to help up to 100 families, instead of everyone she helped before.
However, Neal said she does have hope.
“We’ve raised $1,500 in the last 72 hours on our GoFundMe, like, I just can’t even believe it. That’s the most we’ve ever raised in a short amount of time. And so I feel very hopeful because I have the community, the community has Hey Y’all’s back, and I feel like, you know, we’ll raise another $1,000 by the end of this week.”
Neal said she is exploring collaborations with farms in Northern Michigan and Ohio and seeking funding for dedicated delivery vehicles.
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