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Boston Globe

‘Silent and hiding': ICE actions at courthouses creating climate of fear for immigrants, advocates say

'This creates tremendous fear for people in immigrant communities, and not just those who are undocumented,' said Amy Grunder, director of state government affairs for the MIRA Coalition, a Boston-based immigrant and refugee advocacy group. That's because many immigrant families have some members here legally and others here without authorization, Grunder said. Parents detained at court may have children who are citizens; victims may have undocumented relatives who witnessed a crime, but could be detained if they show up to testify. 'The greatest fear of every parent is the risk of family separation,' Grunder said. Advertisement ICE did not return a request for comment. Under the Trump administration, ICE ended Biden-era restrictions on immigration enforcement at 'protected areas' such as courthouses that were intended to serve as a buffer between the local criminal justice system and federal immigration policies. Instead, ICE issued a Advertisement In one high profile case, an ICE agent arrested a man in the middle of his criminal trial, drawing fury from Boston Municipal Court Judge Mark Summerville. Summerville found the agent in contempt of court after ICE refused to return the defendant to face trial. In late April, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said he could not legally charge the federal agent, but criticized ICE for interfering with the local justice system. ICE's actions have discouraged immigrants from participating in the criminal justice system, according to Jim Borghesani, a spokesman for the Suffolk District Attorney's Office. 'We have had numerous cases where witnesses or victims or family members have told us they fear moving forward on their cases because of their fear of ICE,' Borghesani wrote in an email. Tanvi Verma, a Boston-based public defender with the Committee for Public Counsel Services, said she had clients take plea deals because they were so afraid of showing up inside a courthouse, even though any conviction could put them on ICE's radar. And it has sometimes led to bizarre scenarios such as defense attorneys deliberately 'This is a bad scenario for everyone,' said Zachary Cloud, a supervising public defender with CPCS in Roxbury. 'No one walks away from this with a better justice system as a result.' The effect of those fears extends beyond criminal prosecutions, advocates said. For instance, the specter of courthouse detention is making some immigrant workers afraid to take legal action against abusive employers, said Heloisa Maria Galvão, executive director of the Brazilian Women's Group, a Boston-based nonprofit that advocates for Brazilian immigrants. Advertisement Galvão said she knows workers who had their wages stolen but are afraid to file small claims suits against their employer because of ICE enforcement. 'People that have any complaint about violations of workers rights, they are very hesitant to go forward,' Galvão said. 'They prefer to lose the money.' One undocumented Brazilian worker, a house painter who lives in Allston, told the Globe he was owed $2,600 from an owner who was flipping a property and had not paid him for a recent job. He said he chose to not file a small claims suit, in part because he is worried going to court would put him at risk for detention. 'I'm afraid about that because of everything that is going on right now with the administration,' said the worker, who spoke under the condition of anonymity because of fears of being targeted by immigration authorities. 'I feel like I'm going to give up.' For 30 years, Galvão's organization has encouraged Brazilian immigrants to advocate for themselves and assert their legal rights, she said. The current climate of fear is undermining that progress. 'It took us all this time to inform, to educate, to empower. To make their voices heard,' Galvão said. 'Now people are just getting silent and hiding, and I don't blame them.' The Office of Attorney General Andrea Campbell said it does not ask about immigration status when workers file labor complaints, and does not voluntarily share personal information with ICE. Advertisement 'The federal administration has incited fear, fueled distrust in government and wrongly pushed our law-abiding immigrants into the shadows,' Campbell said in a statement. 'I encourage all workers to know their rights and contact the AG's Office when they believe these rights have been violated.' Advocates who work in domestic violence cases are particularly concerned, they said: Victims who are immigrants are especially vulnerable as they may be unwilling to report abuse because of their immigration status. They may wish to call 911 during an assault, but may not want their offender, who is perhaps the co-parent of their children, to be arrested and face the punishment of deportation. They may want to ask a judge for a protection order or to press criminal charges, but fear that doing so could expose them to ICE agents waiting at the courthouse. Each choice requires victims to make a 'safety risk analysis,' said Amanda Walsh, a deputy director for the Victim Rights Law Center, a Boston-based nonprofit that provides legal services for survivors of domestic violence. 'If I go in to testify, I may never come home. I may never see my kids again,' Walsh said. 'Or are my family also witnesses? Am I not just putting myself at risk of being deported, but my children, my parents, my colleagues, my roommates?' Those dilemmas have worsened since Trump's inauguration and can backfire on public safety efforts, especially the work to help those most impacted, said Ren Liu, communications and outreach manager for Jane Doe Inc., a Boston-based domestic violence advocacy organization. 'That is something that is really dangerous because we know that abuse thrives in silence,' Liu said. Advertisement Dan Glaun can be reached at