Friends surround Cecilia Santana at the fundraiser for th e Immigrant Resource Center of San Gabriel Valley in Monrovia on May 9. Santana, an author and pastor, spoke about how the social services organization helped her establish life in the U.S. More than 200 people attended the Cocktails with a Cause event on May 9 in Monrovia. (Photo courtesy of IRCSGV)
About 200 people danced and celebrated at a Monrovia home on May 9, but they all knew the work they do is serious. The faces of each person they help support were distinct.
The Immigrant Resource Center of San Gabriel Valley (IRCSGV) provides free and low-cost legal services to immigrants regardless of ability to pay. That includes reuniting families and helping victims of violence and domestic abuse.
“We broke all the records this year,” said Jean Grant, the center’s director of development and strategic partnerships, noting “Cocktails for a Cause” raised more than $25,000, a hefty increase from last year’s total donations.
Artist Ryan Burch, aka Sellout, painted live and later donated his pieces to an auction. The deejay also donated his time and talent. More than 40 volunteers showed up.
Grant said local, immigrant-owned sponsors and businesses such as Chicas on the Rocks, homemade crunchy tacos dorados, and an Esfuerzo Mezcal tasting by David Martinez inspired attendees to enjoy themselves and bid generously.
“Our people delivered, and the list of heroes is long,” Grant wrote online.
Guests stand before an art piece Ryan Burch created with help from attendees at the Cocktails for a Cause event on May 9 in Monrovia. The artwork and several others were auctioned off to help raise fund for the Immigration Resource Center of San Gabriel Valley. (Photo courtesy of IRCSGV)
Local businesses donated its services and items for the Cocktails for a Cause fundraiser benefitting the Immigration Resource Center of San Gabriel Valley on May 9 in Monrovia. (Photo courtesy of IRCSGV)
Artist Ryan Burch works on one of three pieces he completed at the Cocktails for a Cause event benefitting the Immigration Resource Center of San Gabriel Valley on May 9 in Monrovia. Burch later donated the art, helping raise more than 5,000 for the aid center. (Photo courtesy of IRCSGV)
Guests and supporters of the Immigrant Resource Center of San Gabriel Valley helped create this oversized artwork with help from artist Ryan Burch. The social services organization in Monrovia raised a record-breaking amount at the fundraiser on May 9. (Photo courtesy of IRCSGV)
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Guests stand before an art piece Ryan Burch created with help from attendees at the Cocktails for a Cause event on May 9 in Monrovia. The artwork and several others were auctioned off to help raise fund for the Immigration Resource Center of San Gabriel Valley. (Photo courtesy of IRCSGV)
The record show of support is a boon to center staff, who have geared up after the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown that marks a year in June, shoring up coalitions with churches, service clubs and social service agencies.
“I feel like it’s a watershed moment for our community, because people are realizing we can’t just stand by and allow our immigrant neighbors to be brutalized and treated as if they are not human beings and equal members in our society,” Grant said. “We can’t stand by and do nothing. As people of conscience, I see people saying, ‘We’re not going to stand for this.’”
Author and pastor Cecilia Santana spoke about her four-year relationship with the immigrant resource center, starting from her escaping violence in her country, only to encounter more violence and pain in the U.S. Santana received her legal permanent resident status this year, as well as a work permit. She’s using both in her work as a pastor and author of the book, “Deeply Loved by God: A healed heart, a discovered identity.”
IRCSGV has participated in local rallies and protests, including those at Monrovia’s Home Depot, where day laborer Roberto Carlos Montoya was killed while fleeing ICE agents at the store’s parking lot in August 2025.
“We are kicking that door open to become a place for people to get trained and do work, get them pro bono attorneys, and work with civic groups and churches to adopt a family who’s loved one was detained” and help them while waiting for them to come home, and help them once that person has come home.
From 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, June 6, the center will present “Immigrant Detention: Human Rights Abuses – What We Can Do,” a training workshop for those interested in learning about what’s happening in immigrant detention centers across the country.
The training is free but reservations are required by visiting https://immigrantdetentiontraining.eventbrite.com.
A panel will also discuss immigration and detainee visitations, including immigration attorneys Dulce Velasquez and Sergio Fernandez and immigrant advocate Guillermo Torres from CLUE Justice.
The training will include a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to visiting immigrants detained at Adelanto Detention Center, as a way to bear powerful witness, help break the isolation for detained immigrants and demand accountability for a system that profits from their suffering.
The IRCSGV was founded in 2014 by members of the Mountainside Communion Sanctuary in Monrovia as a way to help immigrant families helping build this country while fighting for their place in it.
Grant and Anna Gee, the center’s development assistant, said in California alone, more than 6,400 immigrants are being held in substandard facilities facing human rights abuses every day, and that the center’s staff and supporters will not let them languish and be forgotten.
“Immigrant violence is at an all-time high in our country,” Grant said. “Regardless of immigration status, most are living in fear due to heightened incidents of unlawful detainment, disregard for due process and acts of violence. We will continue to provide free legal services with dignity to our immigrant neighbors regardless of ability to pay and will expand to visit detained individuals to provide legal support, relief from isolation and to bear witness to their powerful stories of courage amidst cruelty and violence.”