Gate-Openers: Role of Trust and Gender Among Latino Immigrants during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated social inequities for marginalized populations, including immigrants in the United States. Specifically, unauthorized immigrants’ experiences of exclusions were deepened by their material and legal precarity, which limited their access to governmental support programs. In this context, grassroots organizations and NGOs worked together to address the absence of government support for these vulnerable populations. We analyze the New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia (NSMP), a power-building organization, that along with community leaders, which we call gate-openers, rapidly assisted the Latino community. NSMP's speedy adaptation to continue serving the community resulted from their grassroots orientation and close-knitted relations with the Latino immigrant population. However, the role of gate-opener undertaken by key Latina women not only assisted NSMP in reaching its goals but also enhanced its outreach capacity. In this paper, we shed light on the interplay between immigrant women’s agency and leadership in grassroots organizations during the pandemic, focusing on the role played by ender and trust in building those networks.