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New York Times
3 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Move to Canada? Migrants Face ‘No Good Options' After Supreme Court Ruling.
On weekend mornings, the La Boulangerie Bakery in East Orange, N.J., is normally bustling with customers who come for its Haitian baked goods, cookies and coconut sweets. It was empty on Saturday, a day after a Supreme Court ruling made many Haitians and other immigrants who came to the United States legally vulnerable to deportation. 'Look around,' said the owner, Rosemond Clerval, 50. 'People are afraid.' The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Trump administration to revoke temporary legal status from immigrants who qualified for humanitarian parole under a program that began in 2022 and 2023 under the Biden administration. It allowed certain immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to come to the United States and stay for up to two years. Now, tens of thousands of immigrants who only recently fled instability in their home countries and thought they had found a temporary legal refuge in the United States are facing a daunting, new dilemma. Where to go from here? Some were making plans to move to Canada, rather than face being picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Jeffrey Thielman, the president of the International Institute of New England, which works with refugees and immigrants in the Boston area and beyond. 'They're trying to figure out where else they can go,' Mr. Thielman said. 'The bottom line is that these folks can't go back to Haiti.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Politico
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Politico
The Trump factor in Mass. migrant crisis
Presented by SHELTER SOLUTIONS — Gov. Maura Healey has sparred with the president over many of his policies. But Donald Trump's immigration crackdown may be helping solve one of the Democratic governor's biggest political headaches. Almost two years after Healey declared a state of emergency over the surge of migrants arriving in Massachusetts, the administration announced Monday it would shutter all hotel shelters by the summer. That's because the number of families in the once-overflowing emergency shelter system is expected to drop below 4,000 — a goal Massachusetts lawmakers were aiming to hit by the end of the year. Healey's administration is pointing to the limits they've placed on which and how many families are eligible to stay in state-run shelters. 'A hotel is no place to raise a family, and they are the least cost effective. That's why we implemented reforms to lower caseloads and the cost of the shelter system,' Healey said in a statement. 'We also promised to close all hotel shelters by the end of the year. I'm pleased that we are ahead of schedule, with more families getting jobs and moving to stable housing.' But the dramatic decrease in immigration is also undoubtedly playing a role. 'We know since June of 2024 that fewer people have been coming into the country,' said Jeff Thielman, the CEO of International Institute of New England. The restrictions then-President Joe Biden placed on asylum last year have only increased under Trump, who won back the White House after promising to crack down on immigration. And as the number of families in Massachusetts' shelter system has dropped, the percentage of families who are long-time Massachusetts residents has also shifted: It's now at roughly 85 percent, a change from 2023 when the state estimated that about half of those in the system were migrant families. But it's not just state restrictions or federal immigration law that's responsible for the state's plummeting caseload. 'There's been a lot of work to prepare people to exit the shelters,' Thielman told Playbook, including English classes and job search assistance. 'And there's been an increase in that effort from organizations like ours to get people out of the shelters. Still, lower shelter caseload isn't guaranteed to last, even as House and Senate budget writers gear up for a steep drop in shelter spending in fiscal year 26. Both chambers are calling for $275 million to fund the system that has cost the state closer to the $1 billion in recent years. But other federal policies — tariffs, for example — could mean more people turning to the shelter system down the line. 'There's a lot of factors that put pressure on the emergency assistance system, one of which is, if the economy doesn't go in the right direction, and all of a sudden people don't have jobs or don't have enough money coming in,' Thielman said. DOGE DATA TRACKER — POLITICO just launched a new Pro tool to track the latest actions by Trump's Department of Government Efficiency. A look at April and May alone reveals over 5,000 new contract, grant or lease cancellations. Pros can search new cuts, additions, and modifications by government agency, contractor, or congressional district. For access to exclusive reporting and tools like this, subscribe to POLITICO Pro or request a demo of our news service, directories and other products. GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. The two Republicans competing to run against Healey in next year's gubernatorial race were both quick to write off the announcement. Former MBTA executive Brian Shortsleeve's campaign said Healey 'has just reshuffled the deck and is again putting migrants ahead of our legal residents.' And Mike Kennealy, a former state economic development secretary, warned that the crisis 'will persist' as migrant homeless families are moved into 'taxpayer-subsidized apartments.' TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey, first lady Joanna Lydgate and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll attend the Medals of Liberty and Fidelity Memorial Day ceremony at 11 a.m. at the State House. Healey and Driscoll join the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce's Annual Meeting at 6 p.m. in Boston. Attorney General Andrea Campbell participates in a fireside chat at the Massachusetts Library Association's annual conference at 11:30 a.m. in Falmouth. Rep. Ayanna Pressley hosts a press conference on the budget reconciliation package at 3:45 p.m. in D.C. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu hosts a coffee hour at 10 a.m. in Dorchester, speaks at the at the grand opening of The Toussaint Louverture Cultural Center at 5:45 p.m. in the West End and delivers remarks at the Boston EMS Awards and Retirement Banquet at 7 p.m. in Dorchester. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Drop me a line: kgarrity@ DATELINE BEACON HILL — Mass. Senate leaders tuck $10m in earmarks into 'corrective' amendment to millionaires tax spending bill by Matt Stout, The Boston Globe: 'The final change Massachusetts senators made to a 'millionaires tax' spending bill appeared to be a technical one. Without debate, the chamber this month approved a so-called corrective amendment, an addition former lawmakers and staff say is generally used to correct drafting errors or make sure the bill's bottom line is accurate. This one, however, did far more than make esoteric adjustments. In that single action, Senate Democrats swept in dozens of earmarks totaling nearly $10 million, many of which would push money to the towns and cities represented by Senate President Karen Spilka, Senate budget chief Michael Rodrigues, and other Senate leaders.' — Senate urged to bail out safety-net fund by Christian M. Wade, The Eagle-Tribune: 'State lawmakers are being urged to carve out a larger slice of the state budget to help community hospitals and clinics cover medical costs for large numbers of uninsured and low-income patients. The state Senate, which takes up a $62 billion state budget proposal on Tuesday, will be considering an amendment that calls for transferring $230 million from the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund to plug revenue gaps in the state Health Safety Net program.' FROM THE HUB — These Boston office buildings have been approved for housing conversion. Will investors buy in? by Catherine Carlock, The Boston Globe: 'The owner of two downtown Boston office buildings that have been approved for conversion to housing is looking for other investors to make the transformation happen. In a key test of the appetite to fund residential conversions downtown, Billerica-based real estate firm KS Partners has tapped real estate brokerage CBRE to market 15 Court Square and 85 Devonshire St. in Boston to investors or developer partners, though KS plans to stay involved in the project. The Boston Planning and Development Agency board has approved plans to convert the downtown offices into a combined 175 apartments — 80 at 15 Court Square, and 95 at 85 Devonshire St. But the projects, which KS estimates would cost a combined $65 million, will need more equity financing to become a reality.' — Boston Mayor Wu leads legal challenge to Trump administration's plans to strip immigration protections by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: 'Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is co-leading a coalition of 30 U.S. cities, counties and elected officials challenging the Trump administration's plans to strip legal protections for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Wu announced that she was spearheading an amicus, or 'friend of the court,' brief on Monday, at around the same time that the Supreme Court chose to allow the Trump administration to strip legal protections from 350,000 Venezuelans, potentially exposing them to deportation.' — Boston takes new steps to recognize the legacy of Malcolm X by Magdiela Matta, GBH News. THE RACE FOR CITY HALL — Josh Kraft pushes Mayor Wu to reveal Cabinet chief's 'role' in Boston City Hall dispute by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: 'After a city councilor called for Boston's Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion Segun Idowu to be ousted, mayoral candidate Josh Kraft pressed Mayor Michelle Wu to reveal Idowu's 'role' in the City Hall domestic violence scandal. Kraft released a statement Monday that his campaign said is 'regarding questions surrounding the role of the city's chief of economic opportunity and inclusion in a recent dispute between several subordinates.'' — Amesbury's Rinaldi not seeking reelection by Matt Petry, The Newburyport Daily News: 'While municipal elections are still months away, District 2 City Councilor Anthony Rinaldi shook the local political landscape on Monday by announcing he will not be returning once his term ends this fall. 'I think we need some younger people. I'd be 83 when they swore me in,' Rinaldi said.' PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES — Merrimack Valley prepares to launch New England's first zero emission passenger ferries by Chris Burrell, GBH News: 'Merrimack Valley officials are planning to launch New England's first-ever zero emission ferry next year to provide passenger service on the Merrimack River between Haverhill, Amesbury and Newburyport. The small scale project is being eyed by other transit officials as a kind of proof-of-concept that could open the door to wider use of zero-emission boats around the state. Officials from the Merrimack Valley Transit, also known as MeVa, say they will advertise this month for bids to build two solar-powered ferries, armed with a $4.2 million federal grant.' DAY IN COURT — Supreme Court allows Trump administration to revoke legal statuses of 350K Venezuelans by Sarah Betancourt, GBH News: 'The Supreme Court on Monday permitted the Trump administration to revoke the legal protections of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants President Joe Biden, at the end of his term, extended the deadlines of about 350,000 Venezuelans with temporary protected status so they could remain and work in the United States legally. That includes many in Massachusetts.' IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN — No signs of major progress at offshore wind project by Michael P. Norton, State House News Service: 'In February 2024, Gov. Maura Healey and Vineyard Wind touted 68 megawatts of power pouring onto the grid from five offshore wind turbines, saying Massachusetts was on its way toward fulfilling the promise of more jobs, lower costs and energy independence associated with home-grown production. … Fifteen months later, the Healey administration's ambitious offshore wind procurement pursuits have largely stalled. The governor's team says Vineyard Wind is running four turbines in the waters south of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. And Vineyard Wind officials don't want to answer basic questions about their project.' FROM THE 413 — Mayor Marchetti's encampment ban ordinance draws backlash from housing advocates, city residents by Claire O'Callahan, The Berkshire Eagle: 'Pittsfield mayor Peter Marchetti has introduced an ordinance that would amend the city's code to ban people from creating temporary shelter on public property, whether that be a tent in a local park, a bedroll in a doorway on North Street or a sleeping bag tucked under the eave of the library. Advocates say it would criminalize people who don't have a place to live — exposing them to heightened policing, reinforcing structural racism and further entrenching them in poverty with fines they can't pay.' — Rowe Selectboard race questioned after campaign miscues by Madison Schofield, Greenfield Recorder: 'Town officials are awaiting guidance from the State Ethics Commission after both candidates for a Rowe Selectboard seat in Saturday's election may have committed campaign or ethics law violations.' THE LOCAL ANGLE — Worcester councilor slams ICE protesters, says they should have helped children by Adam Bass MassLive: 'A Worcester City Councilor asserts that people on Eureka Street who protested the May 8 arrest of a Brazilian mother made the situation worse, claiming they should have focused their efforts on helping the mother's daughters. … People who protested the arrest 'crossed a line,' and were accused by authorities of obstructing and physically assaulting ICE agents and Worcester Police officers at the scene, [Councilor-at-Large and Public Safety Committee Chair Kathleen] Toomey said in her statement.' — Four South Shore towns voted on tax overrides to help budget. Only one passed measure by Hannah Morse, The Patriot Ledger: 'At its annual election, Hanover passed its $3.7 million override by a vote of 3,118 for, or 60%, and 2,065 against. This turnout was equivalent to a little over half of the votes cast during the 2024 general election, which tends to bring more voters out to the polls. But Hanson, Norwell and Whitman all rejected their proposed overrides. Hanson had pitched a $3 million override, while Norwell asked for a $3.7 million override and Whitman requested a $2 million override.' — Report describes aggressive behavior by Billerica Select Board member by Peter Currier, The Lowell Sun: 'An investigation by an outside firm into the conduct of Billerica Select Board member Dina Favreau found she violated the Code of Conduct on multiple occasions during interactions with town staff and fellow Select Board members in recent months.' HEARD 'ROUND THE BUBBLAH TRANSITIONS — Former Methuen City Councilor James McCarty will be the new chief of staff to Mayor David D.J. Beauregard. HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Corey Welford, former state Rep. Juana Matias, Allison Goldberg, Kathy Giles, Matt Solberg, Charlotte Zanecchia, Bill Broadway, Boston City Councilor Erin Murphy and UMass journalism's Kathy Roberts Forde. Happy belated to Francine Segan, who celebrated Monday.
Boston Globe
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump's first 100 days have brought chaos and change to New England
Immigration Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk, in white coat, was detained by federal immigration authorities on March 25 in Somerville. For decades, the International Institute of New England has helped refugees and migrants escaping dictatorships, violence, and chaos in their home countries adjust to life in the United States. Its staff has worked to convince the new arrivals they can trust the legal system and build stable lives here, unlike where they came from. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up But now, for the first time any of them can recall, migrants and refugees are telling them they feel as if they've landed in a country too similar to the one they fled. Advertisement 'We have a saying in Creole, 'You are running from the rain and you end up in the river,' ' said Andrins Renaudin, the group's shelter services director and a Haitian American who works with the institute's sizable Haitian population. 'A lot of them are not happy that they came. . . . It's impossible to go back to Haiti, and they're at a crossroads.' Advertisement The first 100 days of Trump's second term have brought about dramatic and sweeping changes in immigration policy, befitting an area that has been his signature policy focus since he kicked off his political career. The effects have not just reached migrants, but have pushed the limits of constitutional rights and placed Trump on a collision course with the courts, where judges are accusing the administration of stonewalling and ignoring their orders. Related : His supporters have cheered the changes, touting the historically low numbers of people arriving at the southern border and swift deportations of migrants the administration claims are gang members or risks to public safety, often with little or no evidence. Trump officials have told migrants not to come to the United States and encouraged immigrants to self-deport. His detractors say Trump has not just transformed immigration policy, but is punishing legal immigrants as quickly as the undocumented, with blatant disregard for the laws. Public approval of Trump's immigration policies, once a point of strength, has taken a Trump's numerous actions have had immediate effects on the nation's immigration system. A Boston with retribution for not sufficiently cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. Many of those actions have been temporarily halted by courts while being contested, leaving immigrants unsure of their status. Advertisement Immigration officials have been authorized to arrest any undocumented immigrant they find during their raids, including a Prisoners looked out of their cell as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem toured the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, in March. Alex Brandon/Associated Press Trump has Related : And Trump has also invoked a rarely used provision of law that gives the secretary of state singular authority to revoke immigrants' status and visas if they're determined to run counter to American foreign policy interests, which they've used to detain several immigrants from colleges who protested or expressed pro-Palestinian views during the Israel-Hamas war. — Tal Kopan Health Anna Hicks prepared a measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine at the Andrews County Health Department in Andrews, Texas. Annie Rice/Associated Press It took just 24 hours for Dr. Julia Marcus's research project, years in the making, to totally unravel. Advertisement Marcus, of Newton, is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, where she has focused on how to improve access to PrEP, a lifesaving HIV medication, for people who need it. She and her team were halfway through a five-year federal grant, a coveted resource that had taken years to win. Then, one morning in March, a superior walked into Marcus's office and told her the Department of Health and Human Services had sent a letter terminating their funding. The project, seen as a DEI initiative, 'no longer effectuates agency priorities,' the letter said. Marcus believes it was because her grant mentioned 'equity,' given that HIV disproportionately affects LGBTQ+ and Black populations. Later that day, she got another letter from the Trump administration, canceling another grant for a similar project. A third one came the next morning. Shocked, Marcus huddled with colleagues to figure out how to keep the research alive without federal funding — and more immediately, how to ensure that her postdoctoral research fellows could get their next paycheck. Marcus said she lost half her own salary 'overnight.' 'It's been a scramble, a really chaotic scramble, but all of this is nothing compared to what's happening on a larger level,' Marcus said. 'These grant terminations are like the tip of the iceberg.' Indeed, Marcus is far from alone. Nearly 800 federal grants for medical research have been eliminated since Trump took office, according to KFF Health News — a stunning renunciation of the federal government's role as the primary funding engine of American scientific innovation. Demonstrators gathered at the Kill the Cuts protest on April 8 outside the John F. Kennedy Federal Building. Brett Phelps for The Boston Globe It's just one of many seismic disruptions to the fields of medicine and health science in the first 100 days of Trump's administration. Advertisement The president entered office intent on drastically shrinking the scope of much of the federal government's work, with a stated goal of saving trillions of taxpayer dollars. But he and his allies have brought a particular intensity to reshaping the public health system. Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has epitomized the administration's attitude that the country's medical and health establishment is corrupt, lost after the COVID-19 pandemic, and is too focused on minority groups and special interests. The confluence of those views, Kennedy's own deep skepticism of vaccines, and the government-slashing work of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have resulted in dizzying changes. Since January, roughly 25 percent of HHS staff — some 20,000 workers — have reportedly left. The departures have included top public health officials such as Peter Marks, the well-regarded vaccine expert at the Food and Drug Administration, who resigned after making clear there was no place for him under Kennedy. Across key health agencies, cuts are having immediate effects on programs that have long kept Americans safe. The FDA is reportedly planning to end routine food safety inspections and has suspended its quality control program for milk and dairy products. The National Institutes of Health axed the Women's Health Initiative, a continuous study since 1991 that has provided a number of insights on health and disease treatment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gutted teams that study car crash injuries, child abuse, traumatic brain injuries, and drowning, among other things. And the administration terminated an entire team that researched in vitro fertilization and provided information to those considering it. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made no secret of his deep skepticism of vaccines. George Walker IV/Associated Press Meanwhile, Kennedy has hired as an adviser a doctor who has suggested vaccines cause autism as Kennedy launches a very public federal investigation into the causes of autism. At the same time, his department has stopped research aimed at addressing vaccine skepticism and is moving to put resources into the federal system for reporting side effects from vaccine. Advertisement Kennedy has said he wants to return the federal health system to a 'gold standard' of science. But as federal grants get canceled, freezing not only many threads of research but potentially displacing a generation of rising scientists, Marcus has deep concerns about the future. She is also worried the termination of her grant and others like it could lead to a resurgence of HIV. 'We were making a lot of progress toward talking about eliminating HIV,' she said. 'Now, it seems far off.' — Sam Brodey Higher education The Widener Library at Harvard University in Cambridge. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff In the first 100 days of his second term, the Trump administration has framed college campuses as ground zero for the spread of leftist ideology it says has harmed the country. There is perhaps no better case study for the administration's intentions and what hangs in the balance than Harvard University, arguably the most iconic and powerful higher education institution in the country. The administration alleges Following a brief negotiation period, the administration expanded its demands to include a university-wide audit to ensure sufficient 'viewpoint diversity' and an overhaul of the international student admission process, among other things. Then The White House fired back, Since then, the Trump administration has levied further retribution against Harvard — In February, the Department of Education Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in schools, has similarly been utilized by DOE to push the administration's agenda. Trump signed President Trump held up a signed executive order aimed at shutting down the Department of Education. With him was Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. Ben Curtis/Associated Press Both moves occurred before Trump's most wide-ranging change to the higher education landscape in March: Meanwhile, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security have (On Friday, the administration said it was reversing for now a separate policy of removing international students from the federal system that manages their immigration status, which had faced multiple court challenges.) Large swaths of research grants distributed by federal agencies such as the NIH, National Science Foundation, and All said, Harvard may have started a trend of defiance. While some universities have taken preemptive action to avoid the administration's wrath, others have chosen to fight. In late April, after Harvard sued the Trump administration, more than 500 higher education leaders — Julian E.J. Sorapuru Economy Traders worked in the S&P options pit at the Cboe Options Exchange in the Chicago Board of Trade Building in the Loop April 7. Ashlee Rezin/Associated Press Mark Shiring, chief executive of Air Technology Americas in Farmington, Conn., thought he was doing everything right in prioritizing production of its fans and motors in the United States. The company Then Trump started levying tariffs, only to abruptly pause some and threaten others, while triggering retaliatory ones from China and other nations. The tariffs have hit the company, the US subsidiary of Germany's ebm-pabst, because certain components needed to make its large rooftop air conditioners and other products are only available from abroad, or from US suppliers who use foreign parts. The Farmington company has had to pass on the costs of those new tariffs to its customers, Shiring said. But he can't make any decisions about altering supply chains (a complicated process that takes a year) without knowing how long the tariffs will be in place or at what level they'll be. All those specifics are up in the air because of Trump's chaotic governing approach and the administration's ongoing trade negotiations. So Shiring's plans to expand — and the 50 to 100 new jobs that would be created by it — are on hold. 'You knew something was coming, but you didn't know what it was, the timing and the scale,' he said of the tariffs Trump promised during last year's campaign. 'And I think all those things combined with almost no notice, you have no ability to react to that and you have no ability to plan your business.' Trump appeared on a television screen at the stock market in Frankfurt, Germany, on April 3. Michael Probst/Associated Press Trump's impact on the economy in his first 100 days can be summed up in one word: uncertainty. His sweeping tariffs have rattled business owners, investors, and average Americans, causing financial markets to tank, 'Beyond the abrupt increase in tariffs, the surge in policy uncertainty is a major driver of the economic outlook,' Pierre‑Olivier Gourinchas, chief economist for the International Monetary Fund, told reporters on Tuesday as Trump has said the tariffs are needed for several reasons: to pressure Mexico and Canada to better secure their borders with the United States as well as reverse years of trade deficits with those and other nations while encouraging more domestic manufacturing. Critics have said the Trump administration's revenue estimates are overstated and note tariffs are simply another form of domestic tax because they're paid by the US importer and usually passed along to the consumer. After a spike in inflation, the economy was the major campaign issue last year and The promise was unrealistic from the start. Except for gasoline, prices rarely go down. And Trump has only added to the upward pressure by enacting tariffs; the Budget Lab at Yale University has estimated Meanwhile, many grocery prices were up in March, including a 5.9 percent increase in the cost of eggs. Trump has falsely claimed egg prices are way down since he took office. point decline from just after the election. Eggs were displayed for sale in a Manhattan grocery store on February in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Trump hasn't made the Fed's job easier by publicly criticizing its chairman, Jerome Powell, and threatening to fire him for not lowering interest rates — a move the central bank is not likely to embrace because easier access to borrowing would only add to the expected tariff-induced inflation. Trump backed off recently from his legally questionable threat of firing Powell after large stock market declines driven by investors fearful of political influence over the independent Fed. But his attempt to bully Powell only added to the uncertainty about the economy that Shiring and other Americans are grappling with. 'I don't know what the landscape looks like from a policy standpoint out of Washington,' Shiring said, 'for businesses and for tariffs and for me.' — Jim Puzzanghera Sam Brodey can be reached at
Boston Globe
02-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Amid growing fears and uncertainty, immigrants share their stories
'The climate right now is such a heightened level of anxiety,' said Cheryl Hamilton, executive director of Stellar Story Company, one of the organizers behind the event. Concern and panic have rocked immigrant communities in recent weeks following anti-immigrant rhetoric from President Trump and his administration. Last week, the Trump administration unveiled plans to create a registry for all people who are undocumented in the US, saying that those who don't self-report could face fines or prosecution. Advertisement One of the events speakers, Purnima Thakre, an organizational coach who grew up in Mumbai and came to the US to earn her MBA, said she has avoided the news for her own sanity. 'Everyone is scared,' said the Natick resident. Another program speaker, Albino Mbie, a Cambridge resident, grew up in Mozambique and moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music. He said he thought it was time for Americans to urge their government to have a 'clear direction' regarding immigration. 'These are very challenging times,' he said. Steph Dalwin, a stand-up comic who grew up the daughter of a Vietnamese immigrant in Lexington, said, 'universal differences don't have to push people in, they can welcome people.' Immigration authorities raided her cousin's nail salon recently, she said, and Dalwin feared the US was becoming more isolationist. 'I don't think it's going to benefit us,' she said. Advertisement Zainab Abdo came to the US as a Syrian refugee in 2016. Learning English and finding a job were chief among her challenges, she said. She has many relatives in Turkey who are waiting to come to the US, but she is concerned the Trump administration will complicate that process. 'I feel sad,' she said of the situation. Jeffrey Theilman, the chief executive for the International Institute of New England, an organizer behind Sunday's event, spoke of the importance of engaging and welcoming immigrants. 'This is a fundamental part of who we are and if we stop doing that, we're going to lose our soul,' he said. Danny McDonald can be reached at
Boston Globe
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
‘We lose those folks, we lose part of our economy'
Advertisement President Trump called for mass deportations even before he took office, and immediately started allowing arrests of undocumented immigrants at schools, churches, and other previously protected places, sowing fear in immigrant communities even though such actions haven't taken place yet. He also issued an executive order Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The extension of temporary protected status, or TPS, of migrants from Venezuela was also terminated, leaving them legally vulnerable as early as April 7 — although a lawsuit has been filed — followed by the end of TPS for Haitians on Aug. 3. More restrictions are expected. In his first term, Trump tried unsuccessfully to revoke TPS for The effect of all of this could take a heavy toll in Massachusetts, which has the country's There are roughly 30,000 TPS holders in Massachusetts, about half of them from Haiti, according to the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. Many new arrivals with temporary protections are working in health care, hospitality, manufacturing, and food service — caring for the elderly and those with disabilities, cleaning rooms, and assembling parts. This is the kind of physically demanding, low-wage work many Americans won't do, employment specialists say. Advertisement 'Those jobs are important for everything we do,' said Jeffrey Thielman, president of the International Institute of New England, which helped place more than 1,100 recent migrants in jobs in fiscal year 2024, 60 percent of them from Haiti. 'We lose those folks, we lose part of our economy.' Walldina, 25, a TPS holder from Haiti who works at a packing warehouse, is worried about losing this vital protection, which also granted her a work permit. 'It's hard,' said Walldina, in French, who asked that her last name not be used because of fears about her legal status. 'If TPS is stopped, we become illegal.' The Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Immigrants with asylum or pending asylum claims remain protected. Nearly 6,400 people who are currently or were recently in emergency shelters have earned work authorization, and more than 4,800 are employed, according to the state's Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. A number of local employers declined to speak, expressing concerns about exposing staffers with temporary status to scrutiny, especially after border czar Tom Homan said he was Some have stopped hiring, training, and making other labor-related decisions involving new immigrants. Others have already started firing workers. Weeks before Trump was inaugurated, around Advertisement In the last few months, a surge of fired immigrant workers have started showing up at workers' rights clinics, said Milagros Barreto, an organizer at La Colaborativa, a Latino immigrant social services organization in Chelsea. 'Unfortunately, employers are already starting to clean the house,' Barreto said. Northeast Arc, a developmental disabilities provider in Danvers that has struggled to fill jobs, hired 13 Haitian migrants last summer to work in residential programs, and had hoped to bring on more. For now, it's business as usual at the organization, but uncertainty fills the air. Northeast Arc brought in an immigration attorney to talk to employees about their rights and put plans in place in the event that federal immigration agents show up. If the Haitian workers' legal status is revoked, Northeast Arc would likely have to pay overtime to cover those positions or bring on expensive temp workers who aren't familiar with residents' needs, said chief human resources officer Mara Kaufman. If staffing falls too low, a home might have to close. 'If we were to lose this group of employees, it would pose a tremendous hardship,' she said. 'It's horrible because they've done nothing wrong.' The vast majority of immigrants with work authorization have jobs, said Mandy Townsend, senior vice president of employer engagement at the workforce development provider JVS Boston. And if TPS ends for Haitians in August, more than 10,000 workers could suddenly be in legal limbo. 'It makes no logical sense to me to remove a status for folks who are here legally, want to work, are able to work, and are doing critical jobs in our economy ' she said. 'Who are they going to be replaced by?' Advertisement JVS itself will be impacted if workers with temporary protections lose their legal status. Around 20 employees have TPS or are here on humanitarian parole, four of whom could lose their legal status this year. It's not just employers that would struggle if these workers were no longer on the payroll, said Kevin Brown, president of 32BJ SEIU in New England, whose members include as many as 1,000 cleaners, security guards, and airport workers with TPS. 'Immigrants contribute tremendous amounts of money to the New England economy,' he said. 'They rent, they buy houses, they buy food, they use transportation — all the things that keep the economy going.' Even if they lose their jobs, some people would try to stay and may turn to the government for assistance. This could have a 'snowball effect' on cities' finances, said Chelsea City Councilor Manuel Teshe, who represents the business district on Broadway, where foot traffic has plummeted in recent months. 'Donald Trump would be effectively making some cities come to a halt financially in terms of social services,' he said. The new immigration policies are putting employers in a difficult position, said Michael Goodman, a public policy professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth: Fire employees who may be impossible to replace, or keep them on illegally and risk being raided by federal authorities. Either way, more people will be in the country without authorization, he said: 'It actually makes the problem that the federal government is claiming it wants to solve worse.' Advertisement Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio of the Globe staff contributed to this report. This story was produced by the Globe's team, which covers the racial wealth gap in Greater Boston. You can sign up for the newsletter . Katie Johnston can be reached at
