About 100 people gathered Feb. 17 at Old North Church to learn about new changes to immigration rules and how to help protect neighbors who may be targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
At the forum, Marblehead immigration attorneys Diann Slavit Baylis and Nancy Norman, along with Brandeis University professor and Massachusetts ACLU board member Alexandra Piñero-Shields, outlined recent changes to immigration proceedings, the law and community activism.
People who have ‘done everything right’
Prior to the Trump administration, there were injustices within the immigration system, Norman said, but Trump’s “unilateralism” and the “anti-immigrant climate” have contributed to what she described as an immigration crisis.
It has become increasingly difficult for lawyers to practice immigration law, Norman said, as clients are detained and transferred to different parts of the country. As a result, attorneys must coordinate with professionals in other states to advocate for their clients.
“People who have done everything right are now hunted down like criminals with no chance of bail or bond,” said Slavit Baylis, who represents asylum seekers, families and work permit applicants.
Slavit Baylis said the Trump administration is sending letters to unaccompanied immigrant children offering them $2,500 to self-deport. Typically, unaccompanied children are sponsored by family members already living in the United States, but she said the federal government is imposing restrictive sponsor requirements, making it more difficult for children to be claimed. Sponsors, especially those who are undocumented, are afraid to come forward, she said.
In the absence of a sponsor, ICE determines placement in the child’s best interest. Slavit Baylis said children fear being placed in adult detention centers — which has happened in the past — where obtaining bail or bond is difficult.
How to respond to an ICE incident
ICE and FBI agents took three Marblehead landscapers into custody on Beach Street last September. At least two were deported to Guatemala.
At the forum, one community member asked whether police have an obligation to stop “obvious assault and battery” by ICE. Piñero-Shields encouraged residents to meet with Marblehead police to ask that question and to explore ways to draw clear lines between local law enforcement and ICE.
Police are not required to enforce federal immigration law, she said, and can instead choose to protect community members from violent altercations with ICE.
She also urged residents to examine which companies the local Police Department partners with. She noted that Salem recently joined Somerville, Cambridge, Newton, Chelsea and Lynn in ending its contract with Flock, a license plate-reading service that shares information with ICE.
Neighborhood watch, accompaniment system
In the past, the immigration system operated under a norm that allowed many undocumented workers to remain in the United States provided they checked in annually with ICE. Many of those individuals have lived in the country for years, Piñero-Shields said, but are now being pursued.
The current immigration system is based on the logic of expulsion, she said, and can only be answered with the logic of belonging. She suggested Marblehead could create systems of solidarity, such as a neighborhood watch for ICE activity.
ICE has also been targeting courthouses, Piñero-Shields said, detaining clients before they can appear before a judge. Local organizations such as LUCE and ECHO provide court accompaniment to help protect individuals from ICE detention.
“We want people who commit crimes to serve time. But people are not getting due process … Without due process, there is no democracy,” Norman said. She is one of Massachusetts’ most seasoned removal defense attorneys, with nearly 40 years of experience in immigration law.
Community members expressed concern that immigrant neighbors are afraid to buy groceries or vote in upcoming elections for fear of detention. Piñero-Shields suggested creating a community accompaniment system, drawing nods and murmurs of agreement from the audience.
“That’s a good idea,” someone in the audience said.
“It is a really hard time, but I do believe people are banding together… At the end of the day, we’re trying to protect our clients,” Norman said.
‘They weren’t on my radar’
Marblehead resident Barbara Roy, who volunteers with the LUCE Foundation, said she recently used her LUCE training to help an immigrant neighbor and emergency medical services worker whose temporary protected status was revoked by the government.
“I ask you all to learn more and be ready to help people… I was so busy in my own lane with my little white privilege thing, and I wasn’t caring about them. They weren’t on my radar, but they are now. They are our neighbors,” Roy said.
Refugee changes
The Trump administration has also overhauled the refugee process, Slavit Baylis said, reducing the number of refugees admitted from 125,000 under the Biden administration to 7,500, with priority given to English-speaking South Africans. In addition, refugees — particularly Afghan nationals — admitted during the Biden administration are being re-vetted, she said.
The meeting ended with a minute of silence, during which attendees were asked to consider one way they could help their immigrant neighbors.
