The devastating LA wildfires are putting significant financial strain on undocumented immigrant workers who often have nowhere to turn to for help.
“Mayra Chacon’s home cleaning service, Ocean Housekeeping, employs Guatemalan and Mexican immigrants who arrived in the US less than six months before. They clean dozens of houses around Los Angeles and, every Saturday, send their paychecks to loved ones back home.
But as wildfires erupted earlier this month, Ocean Housekeeping lost more than 50% of its business overnight. Fires burned down 25 homes in the Palisades that Chacon’s company cleaned on a weekly basis, and 10 homes in Altadena and Pasadena. Her employees speak little English and don’t know how to find work elsewhere, Chacon said. With the plunge in revenue, she’s offering a 25% discount to new customers so she could book more jobs to keep everyone paid.
‘At this point’, Chacon said, ‘it’s not only my family but 10 more families I have to look out for.’
The deadly wildfires that swept across LA county have scorched more than 40,000 acres of land and killed 25 people as of Friday. The Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed more than 10,000 structures, including multimillion-dollar homes where thousands of house cleaners, gardeners, nannies and caregivers worked day and night to pay bills and provide for their families.
Domestic workers and day laborers, who are predominantly immigrants, face unique burdens during wildfires because their jobs are often paid by the day and offer few social protections, said Maegan Ortiz, executive director of Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA).”
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