Inside a packed Santa Ana Bistro, supporters are on their feet. Some wave Mexican flags, others sing through the heartbreak — and soon the room fills with the chorus of Cielito Lindo: Canta y no llores, sing, don't cry.

England had ended Mexico's World Cup campaign, winning 3-2 at the Azteca Stadium. But for the Mexican-American community gathered in this Orange County restaurant, it did not feel like the end of anything.

"It's a loss," supporter Alicia Rojas said. "But it's a win for our community in Santa Ana."

Mexican-American Louie Leyla, who has lived in California since 1990, captured the mood. "We're going to keep rooting for our people, no matter what," he said.

More than a football tournament

For Mexican supporters across Southern California — home to one of the largest Mexican communities outside Mexico itself — this World Cup became something far bigger than sport. Mexico exceeded expectations, made the knockout stages as one of the tournament's three host nations, and for weeks gave their diaspora reason to gather, sing, and celebrate openly.

That sense of liberation carried particular weight given what these same communities endured only a year earlier. At the height of ICE immigration raids, Latino neighbourhoods fell quiet. Businesses lost customers. Families stayed indoors. Public gatherings felt too risky for many.

Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano described the transformation as he stood inside the same crowded bistro, maracas and horns almost drowning out conversation.

"They were occupying the same streets that a year earlier were completely and utterly dead," he said. "These streets were empty unless you were protesting."

Arellano recalled National Guard vehicles stationed blocks from his wife's shop during immigration operations, while businesses across the neighbourhood suffered severe losses. A year on, the same streets were alive with colour and noise.

"Fast forward a year later — this is catharsis," he said, "for Mexicans especially, but for Latinos in general."

Pride without contradiction

For many supporters, wearing an El Tri shirt in a public fan zone — singing the Mexican national anthem, waving the flag — was an act that carried deeper meaning than any scoreline. Supporters who had spent months anxious about immigration enforcement were now celebrating Mexican identity in the open, without apology.

Arellano noted that Mexican football fans were once portrayed as "unpatriotic" for displaying their flags, particularly during anti-immigration politics of the 1990s. That narrative, he argued, has shifted as the United States has grown more diverse.

"The expression of these fan bases has gotten bigger as America has gotten more diverse," he said.

Outside the bistro, Cynthia Rebolledo pointed to her young son, dressed head-to-toe in Mexico colours. "He keeps asking if we're still going to the parade," she said with a smile. "He thought we won."

As the United States marks its 250th anniversary amid renewed debate over immigration and national identity, diaspora communities turned out in force — not only for Mexico but for Scotland, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Morocco, Egypt, and more — revealing an America where millions hold deep ties to more than one home.

Arellano, reflecting on what the tournament meant at "a really difficult moment" for Latino communities, put it simply: "It was an opportunity to express joy."