
06/14/2025
From our newsletter this week which was all about immigration and agave spirits...
Spend a few hours in a palenque (or vinata or taberna) talking to mezcaleros and other folks working there and inevitably the conversation will turn to an immigration story.
I (Susan) learned this back before Mezcalistas was born, talking to the producer of one of the most sought out mezcal brands at that time. He told me about living in LA, working jobs at Burger King and a hospital mopping floors. I asked him if people ever knew he was a master distiller and he told me no, that for the most part he was invisible.
Another mezcalero told me he had to leave home at 14 because his father had left and his mother could not take care of all of the kids. He traveled all by himself to the border, sleeping where he could and trying to cross several times before giving up and returning home, ashamed he had failed his family.
Another told me he worked road construction in the midwest, and what it was like to do emergency work in the middle of winter. He returned to Mexico when the work dried up and began working in a vinata. I asked him what was harder work, construction or making mezcal and he said, “I made more money in construction.”
So many immigrant stories if you choose to listen.
The below four organizations are fighting for the rights of immigrants - please consider supporting their efforts.
➡ - AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
➡ - NATIONAL IMMIGRATION LAW CENTER
➡ NATIONAL IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CENTER
➡ IMMIGRANT LEGAL RESOURCE CENTER
And if you want to know what is happening in LA, follow which has been on the ground covering the ICE raids, protests and more.
**Note - this is not an invitation to engage in a debate about immigration policy in our comments section.