She came to the US seeking asylum. Now, she’s helping support hundreds of undocumented families

On a bustling Tuesday morning, Xiomy de la Cruz greets volunteers at a local food bank and tasks them with the day’s assignments — distributing canned food, meat, and rice to dozens of people who have come to rely on the pantry for their week’s supplies.

But just over a year ago, de la Cruz could barely get by.

“When I came here to the United States, I was starting from zero. I didn’t have the economic support to buy diapers, formula. I didn’t know how to feed my kids,” de la Cruz told CNN’s Poppy Harlow. De la Cruz fled domestic violence in Peru and is now seeking asylum in the United States.

But not long after arriving in the United States, the coronavirus pandemic gripped the country, resulting in de la Cruz’s hours at a fast food restaurant being cut and requiring her to depend on a food pantry to provide for her children.

Out of that need grew an idea that has since become a source of support for nearly 1,000 mostly undocumented immigrants in Hartford, Connecticut — many of them children.

De la Cruz started “La Bodeguita de la Gente,” translated to “The People’s Little Market.” The food bank, supported by donations, is run from a basement below a mattress store and has become a place of comfort for many immigrant families fearful of using public benefits because of a Trump-era policy.

The public charge rule

Under former President Donald Trump, officials broadened the definition of the “public charge” rule, which, in effect, made it more difficult for immigrants to obtain legal status if they use public benefits such as food stamps and housing vouchers.

Advocates and immigration experts warned that the rule had a chilling effect on the immigrant community. Last year, just under one in seven adults in immigrant families reported that they avoided public benefits because of concerns about future green card applications, according to the Urban Institute, which released a report on the rule’s effects.

“Immigrant families avoided public benefits and supports not only because of perceived risks of how the public charge rule might affect their ability to secure a green card but because of broader immigration concerns, such as the risk of information being shared with immigration enforcement authorities or the deportation of family members,” the institute found.

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a case concerning the public charge rule, in response to a US Justice Department request. The Department of Homeland Security determined that continuing to defend the rule “is neither in the public interest nor an efficient use of limited government resources,” the department said in a statement Tuesday.

Hunger in America

While a welcome development for immigrant advocates who rallied against the rule, many immigrant families have still had to lean on each other to get by amid a pandemic that’s already disproportionately hit the Latino community. The food pantry de la Cruz runs used to serve around 10 people. Now, it serves more than 250 families.

“Many families experience hunger. During the pandemic, we have many families that have chosen to pay the rent, and don’t have anything to eat. And when Ingmar [Riveros, co-founder of La Bodeguita] and I visit their homes, they tell us, ‘If you hadn’t come, it’s already been three or four days that we haven’t eaten.’ I feel frustrated, or I feel bad, because I think, ‘How many more families are going through this?'” de la Cruz said.

“That’s what happens with these families. They’re afraid to ask for help from the government, or to receive it from other places. That they wouldn’t get their papers,” she added, holding back tears.

La Bodeguita

The basement where de la Cruz runs “La Bodeguita” stores a litany of supplies for families in need: Walls are lined with diapers. Racks stacked to the ceiling hold winter jackets of all sizes and colors. Books donated by a local library are set aside for children arriving from the US southern border.

On Tuesdays, dozens of immigrants line up outside the building with shopping carts and grocery bags to pick up food and supplies. Among them is Alejandrina Ortiz-Morales, a single mother who has lived in the United States for 15 years after arriving in the country illegally when she was 16 years old.

Ortiz-Morales came to depend on “La Bodeguita” to feed her 6-year-old and 8-year-old sons.

“I heard on the street that she was helping people with food,” she said. “We didn’t have food. And she’s the one who helped me with food. And now that she’s moved here, I come to help her.”

Because of her status, Ortiz-Morales, like other undocumented immigrants, doesn’t qualify for federal Covid-19 relief. So for now, in Hartford, Ortiz-Morales, along with dozens of others, rely on de la Cruz to get by.

“It’s incredible, because before I had to walk two hours just to get a box of diapers… And now, we get to help more than 250 families with those same diapers,” de la Cruz said.

Asked if they were tears of happiness or sadness, de la Cruz replied, “Right now, it’s happiness because I’m okay, but it’s also nostalgic or tears of memory, because I went through the same thing with the people that are being helped here.”