On Saturday night, Angel City fans, players, and staff came together as a united front in support of LA’s immigrant communities, rallying around the moniker “Immigrant City Football Club.”
“Los Angeles is and always will be an immigrant city,” said Senior Social Media Coordinator Yaoziuatl Martinez. “‘Immigrant City FC’ points to the makeup of not just the city itself and how we represent it, but who our team is. Our team is made up of immigrants. Our staff is made up of immigrants. It’s just very plainly reflecting what and who we are as an organization.”
“It's a very hard time,” said defender and club captain Ali Riley. “It feels so uncertain right now, but to look around the stadium and see these shirts everywhere, it’s like we’re saying, ‘this is our home, we know who we are, and we know what we believe in.’”
“There’s been so many things this season that have affected us, but we are all very proud to represent LA,” said defender Sarah Gorden after the game. “We made a point to wear our shirts for the walkout and we really wanted to stand with the community.”
In addition to the Immigrant City t-shirts worn by both the team during their walkout and many fans in the stands, Angel City founding investor and LA-native Becky G read a statement from the club. It read, in part, “The fabric of this city is made of immigrants. Football does not exist without immigrants. This club does not exist without immigrants.”
That sentiment has been part of ACFC and its supporter culture from the beginning. “[LA is] a melting pot,” said Ruby Badio, a member of Mosaic 1781, one of the team’s six official supporter groups. “We named [the group] Mosaic for a reason—lots of interwoven pieces, like different fabrics, different colors of life, different people.”
According to the US Census Bureau, just over a third of Los Angeles County—more than three million people—is foreign-born. Many more Angelenos are the children or grandchildren of immigrants. Immigrants and their families are represented in all parts of the club, from the team to the front office to the stands. This issue is personal for Badio, Martinez, and Riley, as it is for much of the ACFC community.
“My mom's parents came here from China, and it wasn't easy for them,” said Riley. “They had to find a way to make a life here. My dad is first-generation American. Being from Los Angeles, everything we do, everything we play, everything we eat, this is a city of immigrants.”
Badio’s parents immigrated from El Salvador. “My mom fled the civil war, and luckily we were raised here and we have citizenship,” she said. “She had to work three jobs as a single mom to make that happen for us… and I know it's not only the Latino community that is dealing with this. It’s individuals from all over the world.”
“But even if it doesn't hit home or it doesn’t affect you, you should be speaking up about this,” Badio added.” They come after one group or one person, they come after all of us.”
As Martinez says, showing up for the community has always been a core value for ACFC. “Our mission is to make sport and soccer accessible to everyone, regardless of identity, regardless of immigration status,” they said. “Sport is a place where everyone has opportunities and everyone belongs, and we have to back that up.
“Football, the game that we all love, we have it here because of immigrants,” concluded Riley. “It's played the way it is because of immigrants. This club that is such a huge part of me wouldn't be here without immigrants.”
All net proceeds from the Immigrant City Football Club t-shirt will go to Camino Immigration Services to help support the community.
