More young people are getting involved with South Texas civil rights group amid Trump’s immigration crackdown
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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More young people are getting involved with South Texas civil rights group amid Trump’s immigration crackdown
PHARR — Kimberly Trujillo became a card-carrying member of La Unión del Pueblo Entero only two months ago. But already, she’s stepped into a leadership position for one of the organization’s most important events.
The 24-year-old Brownsville native served as a delegate for LUPE’s biennial Cumbre de Miembros, a convention held in August that gathers LUPE members to determine which issues the group will mobilize around and how they will prioritize them.
As a delegate, Trujillo made the case to the rest of the membership for immigration as a top priority for them. It was the issue that motivated her to join LUPE, a community nonprofit, in the first place.
“I was really inspired by the work they were doing,” Trujillo said. “Seeing a campaign so dedicated to letting people know what their rights are, especially now amongst really harsh immigration enforcement, was important to me.”
Not surprisingly, the members voted immigration as its top priority at the organization's convention this year.
Trujillo, like many her age, became involved with LUPE as immigrant communities across the nation face increased arrests and enforcement actions under President Donald Trump.
Participation in LUPE’s cumbre nearly doubled from 99 people in 2024 — the time it was held previously — to 197 in 2026, driven largely by an increase in members under the age of 45.
Getting involved
Trujillo first got involved by volunteering with LUPE in February after learning about a Know-Your-Rights campaign that the organization had launched in December.
The campaign, called “Valle Fuerte, Valle Libre,” consisted of distributing kits to the public that contained information about their rights in case they encountered officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Valle Fuerte campaign helped usher a shift in its membership, motivating younger people like Trujillo to get involved, said Tania Chavez Camacho, executive director of LUPE.
“We've actually seen a change,” Chavez Camacho said. “We've seen a lot of young people … and that has been surprising for us.”
This year, members under 45 years old made up the largest share of cumbre participants at 35%. Members between 45 and 64 years old made up 34%, while those 65 and older 32%.
Going by raw numbers alone, the membership participation in the cumbre of those under 45 years old also saw a significant increase, adding 36 to those who participated in this year’s cumbre. The 45 to 64 age group and the 65 and over each grew by 31 member participants.
The growth in participation this year prompted the group to shift its cumbre convention from its headquarters in San Juan, Texas, to a larger community center in Pharr. This increase in engagement comes despite fear among some in their ranks of being targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Involvement with the group comes despite disturbing allegations that were unearthed earlier this year against one of LUPE’s founders — Cesar Chavez. In March, the New York Times published accounts that Chavez, one of the most revered Latino civil rights leaders, sexually assaulted several girls and women, including Dolores Huerta who co-founded LUPE with Chavez.
Following the allegations, LUPE covered up a mural that pictured Chavez. The group also did not participate in any Cesar Chavez Day activities.
LUPE directors say the organization's mission remains central to keeping its community safe.
“As an organization led by women, we knew the profound impact it would have on our community,” said a LUPE spokesperson said of news of the allegations against Chavez. “It was a moment to move intentionally, listen and learn from each other, and ground ourselves in our values of hope and justice.”
Despite the controversy that it caused, young LUPE members are still focused on the work that lies ahead.
“Their commitment lies with the issues impacting them currently, and that is leading the advocacy in the community organizing they participate in,” LUPE said. “Second to healing and facing this painful truth about Cesar Chavez, the historical preservation of the farmworker movement has been a concern for our membership, especially our movement elders who all contributed to the foundation of this work.
Taking action
As immigration enforcement increased in the Rio Grande Valley last fall, LUPE members began looking for ways to respond, said Dani Marrero Hi, deputy director of LUPE. That prompted LUPE to launch the Valle Fuerte, Valle Libre campaign, which focused on raising awareness of immigration arrests and providing residents with information about their rights.
“We wanted to give people something practical to do because there was so much anger,” she said.
It was particularly useful for people like Trujillo — those who are U.S. citizens or have some type of protected status and want to take action in support of those who are vulnerable to deportation and may not feel safe advocating for themselves.
In other places across the country, the issue of immigration has been a motivating factor for some Latinos, citing it as the most important issue for them in elections.
Outside elections, events like the cumbre provide Trujillo and others an opportunity to effectuate change in her community. And the organization is not just focused on immigration.
The members voted the economy as their second-highest priority, followed by health. Their other top issues, in order of priority, include civic participation, infrastructure, LGBTQ issues, youth education and unity and solidarity.
“It's a testament to what's a concern to the broader membership,” Chavez Camacho said.
During the event, the issues were presented in the form of resolutions that were formulated over months by working groups in the lead-up to the cumbre.
As the head of the immigration delegation, Trujillo and her group brainstormed actions they could take to address issues undocumented immigrants currently face.
Their goals include increasing transparency between public officials and the community and electing people who will value their members. They’re increasing awareness of constitutional rights among the public as much as possible.
“Our drive for this is that we think no one is free until we are all free, and so that really drove a lot of the components of our resolution,” Trujillo said.
Another change to the cumbre this year was that after the vote on the resolutions, the working groups broke off into groups to make definitive plans to decide what direction to take on their priorities.
The civic engagement team, for example, is tasked with coming up with a guided direction on which legislation they will engage with state lawmakers on during the 2027 legislative session.
Navigating current events
Given the increase of immigration enforcement, LUPE members and event attendees now ask before events whether ICE agents could be there.
Marrero said the organization couldn’t guarantee that agents won’t show up, but said LUPE’s events attract large numbers of people and doesn’t expect ICE to target one of its events.
“Ultimately, people have to make that personal decision of, ‘Well, I'm already living in so much fear, what else do I have left than to fight? What else do I have left than to fight for my family?” Marrero said. “I think that's why we're seeing so much member engagement.”
Organizing under the heightened attention and targeting of people who are undocumented has not been easy for the group, said Chavez Camacho, LUPE’s executive director. But, organizing has always had its challenges, she said, and addressing these issues is part of the reason LUPE exists in the first place.
“We are here to help advance the issues of the community through power building, and who has the power? The people,” she said.
Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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