The Southside Worker Center is a left-of-center advocacy and assistance organization operated by the Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona. The group was started by the church in 2006 to assist day laborers and operate a center for day laborer employment on church property, moving such activity off the streets in the neighborhood around the church. The group is a member of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), and supports left-of-center policy regarding illegal immigration including opposition to deporting illegal immigrants. ¹

The Heritage Foundation Oversight Project has accused Southside Worker Center hosting events that train “illegal aliens on how to lie to law enforcement and fraudulently seek asylum.” ²

Background

The Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona founded the Southside Workers Center in 2006. The church itself was formed in 1906 as a Presbyterian church for local Native American and Mexican churchgoers. The church’s history details a long history of providing sanctuary to illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, stating, “In the 1980’s, civil wars in Central America brought refugees to our borders. In spite of the atrocities that refugees were fleeing, the US government were deporting refugees back to death squads. In the face of this humanitarian crisis, Southside and other people of faith in Tucson felt called to respond.” ³

Southside Church further detailed that it and others in the sanctuary movement “formed an underground railroad that moved refugees throughout the United States to other sanctuary churches” and that the church hosted over 13,000 refugees in that time frame. ³

In 2006, the Southside Presbyterian Church founded the Southside Worker Center at the church to keep day laborers from congregating on neighborhood streets and prevent conflicts between police, border control, and day laborers. The group criticized the Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration-enforcement law that was passed in 2010, and in 2010, the center joined the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON). ¹

The center was led by immigration activist Raul Alcaraz Ochoa, who was arrested in 2013 for intervening in traffic stop where authorities were trying to determine the immigration status of an individual. When border agents arrived at the scene, Ochoa “attempted to intervene, and at one point laid beneath a Border Patrol vehicle. He was pepper sprayed and then arrested by agents, but was released early Monday afternoon. He face[d] charges of interfering with a federal officer.” ⁴

Criticism

In 2025, the Oversight Project, a project of the right-of-center Heritage Foundation, obtained footage of a former Mexican consulate lawyer allegedly “coaching illegal aliens on how to lie to law enforcement and fraudulently seek asylum” at the Southside Worker Center. ²

The Oversight Project further alleged that “the Southside Worker Center in Tucson, Arizona, acts as an employment and information center for illegal aliens. Not only is the center linking illegal day laborers with businesses across Tucson, but they are also training illegal aliens to break the law.” ²

One of the informational seminars at the center that the Oversight Project obtained footage from included “former Mexican consulate attorney Mayra De La Torre encouraged illegal aliens to lie to law enforcement. Mayra told illegal aliens that in the event they are questioned by law enforcement while working, to say that they are only volunteering, and to seek asylum by claiming that their life was in danger in their home country.” ²

The Oversight Project stated, “Our investigation reveals that the Southside Worker Center is in direct violation of 8 U.S. Code § 1324. Accordingly, we have referred our findings to Border Czar Tom Homan and the Department of Homeland Security.” ²

1. “About Us.” Southside Workers Center. Accessed February 9, 2025. https://www.southsidecentro.org/about-us.html
2. “BREAKING – The Mexican consulate of Tucson, Arizona is coaching illegal aliens through a radical left NGO.” Oversight Project. X. February 3, 2025. https://x.com/OversightPR/status/1886406597867405585?t=r1ykQQdKrwQKFP-fCcfNaQ&s=19
3.  “History of Southside.” Southside Presbyterian Church. Accessed February 9, 2025. https://www.southsidepresbyterian.org/history-of-southside.html
4. “Immigration arrests spark TPD HQ protest.” Tucson Sentinel. February 18, 2013. Accessed February 9, 2025. https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/021813_immig_protest/immigration-arrests-spark-tpd-hq-protest/