El Salvadorian Immigrant Invests in Community to Make Santa Fe Welcoming for All

When Ana Magaña was 12, her family fled civil war in their native El Salvador. “My mother was worried that we would be killed if we stayed,” she said. However, Magaña faced significant challenges coming to the United States. She didn’t speak English and couldn’t read or write in Spanish. It took many months of feeling lost in her Santa Fe public school before she felt confident navigating her new environment. “Bit by bit, I began to learn,” she said. 

As a young adult, Magaña began working as a caregiver at Professional Home Health Care. “I enjoyed taking care of senior citizens,” Magaña said. “I liked being able to make a difference in people’s lives.” After getting married and having two children of her own, she began working for Savers Thrift Store, where proceeds partly benefit the nonprofit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central New Mexico. 

These days, Magaña is active in her local community through Somos Un Pueblo Unido (Somos), a statewide community-based immigrant-led collective with 2,500 members across ten New Mexico counties. The organization promotes workers’ rights and racial justice and helps undocumented workers file labor complaints if they encounter wage theft or workplace discrimination.  

Magaña works with two of the organization’s committees: the Centro de Trabajadores Unidos: United Workers’ Center, which helps people understand their rights under federal and state laws, and Somos Acción, which helps new immigrants connect to resources, access higher education and financial aid, navigate the healthcare system, attend church services, and engage in Somos Un Pueblo Unido events and programs.   

“Immigrants make up the fabric of Santa Fe,” Magaña said. “It is a welcoming city. Immigrants help a lot; I think they are very hard workers. Today, thank God, all of my family is here in Santa Fe. It’s beautiful here. I feel fortunate, and I love it.”