Help Edi & Family Avoid Homelessness

This fundraiser is for my dear and long-time friend Edi, a Salvadoran immigrant, who is about to become homeless, along with his partner, Laura, and their children and grandchildren.

I met Edi in 2017 through my University of Minnesota class at the US/Mexican border. Every year, Edi has deeply broadened my students’ awareness of the reality of immigrants by sharing his story of hardship, strength, and commitment to self and community.

That story began in El Salvador where Edi was beaten, shamed, and kicked out of his family home for being a lesbian - just like me. The hostility towards LGBTQ in El Salvador led Edi to migrate to the US. When about 70 miles inside the US, Edi almost lost his life walking 3 days in the brutal desert to avoid an immigration checkpoint; a desert in which well over 10,000 people have died. Edi survived but was immediately picked up by the Border Patrol and brought to a detention center.

Edi spent 15 months at a private detention center, where he was harshly treated. He was finally released when a community organization paid $15,000 for his bond. Edi has legal permission to be in this country and has a good chance of gaining asylum because he is from a protected group according to US and UN asylum laws. But his long wait for a resolution will continue for years because of the horrendous backlog in the immigration system, which has also caused a delay in renewing his work permit -- despite applying for it on time.

Finding work in Arizona without a permit is almost impossible. Edi and his partner currently clean and cook for an immigrant rights organization, but they earn very little in this part-time work.

Edi, his partner, children, and grandchildren will be homeless on Feb. 15, 2023, unless they can raise $5000 for a rather run-down trailer, that nonetheless would provide stable housing and is something that Edi can fix up little by little. I’m reaching out to my community to ask for support for this beautiful family that has enriched my life and that of my students beyond measure.

I’m asking you to dig a little deeper in your pocket than you might otherwise, with whatever amount that you can, knowing that every penny will go to buying a home for this family of 8. Your support will also let them know that there are people in the US that do care about them, that do care about the maltreatment that they have received and want to help them move on to becoming more settled and part of the community in Arizona, a place that has been there home for many years.

I truly thank you for absolutely any support that you can give.

With great appreciation and solidarity,

La paz,

Kathleen / Katalina