When Jesús Morales — also known as Juixxe on TikTok — drives down a street in Los Angeles, excitedly honking and shouting a hearty “Amigo!,” the migrant day laborers in the area waiting for a chance to pick up some work have no idea what they’re in for.
Morales has been supporting street vendors, day laborers, and housekeepers in his community for the past three years, paying them to take the day off and join him on viral outings, or buying out their street carts so they can take a week off.
In a recent video, two day laborers get in the back of his car and one asks, “What are we going to do?”
Morales replies: “We’re going to have some fun.”
He and a friend, whom he calls “the boss for the day,” offer them $250 and some swim trunks, followed by a quick cut away to the men joyfully riding an inner tube down a waterslide.
Donning bright blue sunglasses and grinning from ear to ear, the men spend the whole day having fun and cooling down in the summer heat.
At the end, Morales asks: “Did you regret hopping in the car?”
“No!” they reply emphatically.
He hands them each $1,000 more in cash, but behind the scenes, after he’s posted the video, his millions of followers are contributing to a GoFundMe, which has raised nearly $25,000 in additional funds for the two men.
“I'm creating this fundraiser to help these two day laborers (names withheld for their safety) stay home during these uncertain times,” Morales shared on the GoFundMe.
“We recently met them at a Home Depot looking for work, just a week after that location had been raided. Many of their fellow hardworking companions had been detained … yet these two are still out there seeking work because they need to support themselves and their families.”
“My hope is to raise as much as possible and split the funds evenly between them so they can take time off, stay safe, and care for their well-being,” he continues. “Your donation will go directly to these two individuals, providing much-needed income and allowing them the chance to stay safe and off the streets during a time of heightened risk.”
This fundraiser works in tandem with Morales’s Echándole Ganas Foundation Giving Circle to provide financial support and resources for immigrant workers.
To date, the community has given away over $500,000, according to the nonprofit’s donation page, with a goal to “triple that number by the end of 2025.”
It is a time of exceedingly heightened uncertainty for migrant workers, as the Trump administration carries out countless Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, often leading to mass deportations enforced without due process.
Morales’s work is not only joyful, but also necessary to protect and uplift the immigrant community.
He has taken others on trips to baseball games, to Disneyland, and even skydiving. But he is only able to provide a short break.
“We never really take things seriously, but then we do get serious,” Morales recently told The Los Angeles Times, referring to the behind-the-scenes conversations he has with his subjects. “They’ll start really speaking about their struggles and their journey.”
Although his contributions can be life-changing, he has learned even more about the barriers migrant workers face while trying to help them. For instance, he and his audience helped raise $97,000 for an elderly fruit vendor in L.A.
But because she didn’t have the right documentation, it took them about four or five months to set up a bank account for her to get her the money.
“I’m surprised we were able to make it happen,” Morales told The Los Angeles Times. “It took a lot of loopholes.”
Although he said these outings and individual donations can feel like a “Band-Aid to the wound,” he’s been trying to make a greater impact and educate himself about the challenges immigrants face, now more than ever.
Part of the funding that is gathered through his nonprofit’s giving circle goes toward helping vendors pay for permits to sell their products, as well as the goal of creating a vendor lot for small businesses to safely set up and make a living.
“With your contributions, we hope to find sustainable jobs for day laborers, help vendors start their own small businesses, and continue to sustain themselves through entrepreneurship,” Morales writes.
Supporters can donate as little as $1 a month, with tiers of $8 and $15 monthly donations also available.
And based on the comments on his videos, it’s the kind of collective support people want to be a part of.
“Please never stop doing this,” one person wrote beneath the video of the two men at the waterpark.
“They woke up that morning thinking a ‘good day’ would be doing exhausting work for little pay in uncertain safety,” another added. “Instead they made $1,000 having fun. What a well-deserved reprieve.”
To sum it all up, another commenter said: “This is how human beings should treat each other.”
Header images courtesy of Juixxe/TikTok
