{shortcode-a8a978d2f029cc160117d13705dbea09c005a3f8}
As the Trump administration conducts a nationwide deportation campaign against undocumented immigrants, long-standing support infrastructure for immigrants in Allston-Brighton is now adapting to a climate of fear after straining to support influxes of immigrants over the past few years.
With one of the highest immigrant populations in Boston, Allston-Brighton saw its residents, civic leaders, and elected officials mobilize to respond to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when they zeroed in on the Boston neighborhood in May.
In response, local leaders helped staff a hotline run by the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts to review and confirm crowd-sourced footage of potential arrests and train residents who encounter federal agents. Nonprofit groups also organized a protest with over a hundred attendees to demonstrate against ICE’s actions in the area.
Now, in the four months since that sweep, both the city and nonprofit services have begun to more systematically marshal resources to support immigrants living in fear of ICE.
In late May, the Boston Mayor’s Office of Immigration Advancement announced it would more than triple the grant money it awards to organizations serving vulnerable immigrant populations, especially as immigrants face increased federal enforcement.
Carolline P. Hickey, who teaches adult education at the Jackson Mann Community Center in Allston, said that the leaders of several local nonprofit organizations — including the Allston-Brighton Health Collaborative and the Gardner Pilot Academy Adult Education Program — now meet monthly to discuss the state of ICE activity and immigrant services in the neighborhood.
Heloisa M. Galvão, executive director of the Brighton-based Brazilian Women’s Group, said that she created a WhatsApp group to answer immigration questions and circulate information about ICE among fellow Brazilian immigrants. Since June, more than 100 residents have joined.
Galvão also added that natural-born citizens have begun working with her organization in a volunteer capacity.
“We have a group of mostly women. I think there are some men also that offer to accompany people to the doctor’s, to school, to shopping,” Galvão said.
The adjustments these and other service providers in the neighborhood are making in response to the new reality for immigrants may soon be tested as federal officials threaten a second major ICE sweep in the city.
Last Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced “Operation Patriot 2.0,” pledging to “target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens” in the state — particularly singling out Boston for its sanctuary city status.
Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents made a return to Allston-Brighton, making at least one arrest last Wednesday morning.
According to Boston City Councilor Elizabeth A. “Liz” Breadon, agents detained an adult just outside of Brighton High School who had a child in the back of the car.
It’s often difficult for residents to know whether their loved ones have been taken or which agency was responsible.
“I got asked for help from one Brazilian that know a woman whose husband and son disappeared yesterday. They left to work in the morning, and they never came back,” Galvão said on Sunday. The woman believes they were taken to New York, she added.
While fears of deportation are not a new problem for immigrant service providers in the area, ICE activity has brought such anxieties to unprecedented levels in recent months — a contrast to the very different conditions that providers faced only two years ago, when thousands of new arrivals to the state left services scrambling to find them shelter, documents, and work.
The state-funded Family Welcome Center in Allston that opened at that time to help settle newcomers to the state — many from Haiti and Venezuela — has since closed down, with far fewer immigrants now entering the country. That center was operated by the Brazilian Worker Center, who did not respond to a request to interview for this story.
Hickey said that some undocumented immigrants have reached out to local leaders with questions or fears about ICE. But others worry that seeking help will expose their undocumented status.
“Some of them just freak out or are super scared, and others are like, ‘We have to live with this. Let’s move on,’” Hickey said.
“They don’t really seek out help, because they feel like there’s nothing that they can do. And they feel like if they seek out help, they’re going to expose themselves,” Hickey added.
Breadon, who represents the neighborhood, called the agency’s enforcement approach a “very deliberate strategy to instill fear in people.”
“There’s this practice of just popping up where immigrants are going to be. It is very intimidating,” Breadon said.
“You don’t feel safe going to your church, you don’t feel safe taking your kids to school, feel safe going to the doctors,” Breadon added. “All of those things have an impact on people’s health and well being.”
—Staff writer Angelina J. Parker can be reached at angelina.parker@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @angelinajparker.
—Staff writer Emily T. Schwartz can be reached at emily.schwartz@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @EmilySchwartz37.
