Editor’s Note: This is the sixth in a series of seven essays written by authors with local ties that will explore why inequalities in income, wealth and opportunity are bad for Franklin County and what the community can do about it.
At the recent “Power of An Equitable Community” conference in Greenfield, sponsored by the Unitarian Universalists of Western Massachusetts, one of the conference coordinators, Pam Kelly, told me that she thought the Immigrant Protection Project of Western Massachusetts (IPP) constitutes “a systemic response” to the immigration dilemma.
Pam is on to something. Western Massachusetts has, I think, developed a coordinated community response, but that response is not simply, or primarily, about the IPP, which was founded by the ACLU of Massachusetts in early 2017 – although IPP plays a part. Rather, the paradigm is about partnerships, shared beliefs, a willingness to help, to be unselfish, and to value community. Let me explain.
IPP has joined together to make available legal and other services and coordinate with some 35 community-based project partners – the Pioneer Valley Project, Community Legal Aid and Cliniquita in Springfield; the Holyoke Health Center in Holyoke; the International Language Institute, the Center for New Americans and the Pioneer Valley Workers’ Center in Northampton; Community Action in Greenfield; the Brick House in Turners Falls; and the Berkshire Immigrant Center in Pittsfield, for example.
The IPP and project partners work together. Referrals go both ways. There is interwoven cooperation and assistance involving most importantly, the immigrant communities as well as organizations that serve immigrants. The assembled resources embody an ability and willingness to struggle for justice on many fronts: in the various legal venues that impact immigration and deportation decisions, at the level of local government for humane and common-sense law enforcement practices, in the media, and on the streets.
One of IPP’s initial efforts was its bond program. For a detainee locked up by ICE, Immigration Court bond matters. A lot. A detainee who is released on bond (the Immigration Court equivalent of bail) has time to prepare an effective defense. Conversely, denial of bond effectively shuttles an immigrant onto a deportation fast track.
Keep in mind that deportation is a civil proceeding, not criminal, so a detainee has no right to a lawyer. A detainee with a lawyer at a bond hearing has a far better chance of being released, but most detainees at their bond hearings do not have an attorney. This is why bond representation remains a priority for IPP.
Of course, bond only matters if it can be posted. IPP recently initiated a fund that, in coordination with resources provided by a detainee’s family, friends and supportive religious and community groups, helps post Immigration Court bonds.
The ACLUM’s Immigrant Protection Project also:
represents individuals who should be freed from indefinite ICE custody because they cannot be deported, e.g. they are stateless;
conducts, with two other immigrant rights legal groups, monthly sessions for immigrants held at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) pod at the Franklin County jail;
helps parents prepare family protection documents the IPP helped write to insure safe arrangements for their kids if a family separation is caused by an ICE detention;
assists individuals in DACA (Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals) and TPS (Temporary Protected Status) renewals after Trump’s attempted revocation of those programs. (Contrary to Trump’s recent accusations, no one is crossing the border to get DACA, which requires, as one of its criteria, that the individual has lived in the United States continuously since 2007);
provides a translation service for immigration lawyers working pro bono or “low bono” who need documents translated, particularly in asylum cases;
arranges, when appropriate, for individuals to have a pro bono consultation with an immigration attorney to plan next steps;
coordinates a region-wide – from New Haven to Northern Franklin County – network of advocates that includes law schools, law firms and advocacy groups (ICE functions regionally and not by state, so IPP necessarily does, too);
continues representation of some clients after bond. Ashfield attorney Buz Eisenberg, for example, recently freed his Iraqi client, Niberd Abdalla, after eight months in the Suffolk County jail. Buz now is helping Niberd reopen his immigration case;
advocates for Safe City ordinances and related legislation, including recently joining with community activists to successfully support passage of an ordinance that prohibits police surveillance cameras (with images available to ICE) in downtown Northampton; provides legal information, counsel and assistance on religious sanctuary and other related issues, cases and efforts.
The heart of IPP is its Call Center, staffed by dozens of trained and talented bilingual volunteers. Call Center workers spend countless hours speaking to hundreds of immigrants to identify their concerns. IPP then, after consultation with legal counsel, makes appropriate referrals, sometimes to IPP-affiliated lawyers, sometimes to community partners, who provide myriad services for immigrants.
Two sobering caveats: First, immigration can be a world of heartbreak. Sometimes there is no visible path toward status or a stay of removal. Second, all of our community’s efforts and planning do not mean that we necessarily have the resources to meet a full-fledged local onslaught by ICE. Hopefully we will not need to find out.
Still, our collective efforts have created a formidable resistance to America’s heartless, discriminatory and broken immigration system. The work goes on. The fight continues.
Tomorrow: How do we measure success?
Bill Newman is the director of the Western Massachusetts Regional Office of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, which founded and is the parent organization of the Immigrant Protection Project of Western Massachusetts.