NORTHAMPTON — As a Northampton mother faces possible deportation, a small group of immigrant and U.S.-born organizers from across western Massachusetts is working around the clock to keep her in the country and with her family.
The woman, originally from Ecuador, is preparing for an asylum status appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Burlington, Massachusetts — a meeting from which she might not return. To help her hire a lawyer, the Immigrant Solidarity Collective (ISC), a Northampton group, has raised more than $5,000 from the community.
The collective, formed about 18 months ago, supports community members facing the federal government’s stepped-up immigration enforcement.
“This woman’s son goes to my son’s school [Bridge Street Elementary], and he asks my son if he can ask me if his mom is coming back,” ISC organizer Soledad Thorman said. “I said ‘I don’t know.'”
The woman, who has two children in the Northampton Public Schools, came to the U.S. more than 13 years ago while pregnant and was paroled into the country, a status that allows a person to enter or remain temporarily without a visa. Thorman said that months ago, when the woman was due for her next status interview, she received a letter denying her asylum claim and directing her to appear in Burlington.
ISC organizer Laurel Carangelo said ICE currently operates with little to no regard for detainees’ rights, which means an attorney can do little to prevent the woman’s detention or deportation.
However, filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, a federal lawsuit challenging the legality of a person’s detention, could keep her from being transferred out of state, Carangelo said.
“It’s a strategy that lawyers are using now, so that people don’t get moved out of state. What’s happening is; immediately, people are being moved to New Hampshire, Louisiana, Texas, and we’re losing track of them,” Carangelo said. “Habeas corpus helps with that, and it gives the person a right to have a bond hearing.”
ISC organizer and Northampton School Committee member Amy Martyn said ICE has already arrested and detained Northampton residents outside the Hampshire County Courthouse downtown immediately after their court appearances.
Referencing the School Committee’s passage of a resolution declaring Northampton Public Schools an ICE-free zone and the body’s later vote to bring the district into compliance with the state’s PROTECT Act, Martyn explained that the committee is working to implement strict procedures to protect students from an ICE intervention in schools.
“We had a resolution passed in August that directs the superintendent and NASE, the union’s immigrant solidarity committee, to work on the procedures and to really drill down to make sure that all educators and staff are trained and ready, to build much more robust protections in case we need them,” Martyn said. “That hasn’t been the case in Northampton yet, but we just don’t know when, and it’s better to be prepared.”
ISC organizer Kristen Elde said more can be done to protect the immigrant community, such as policies requiring police to issue warnings rather than citations for minor traffic infractions. Citations often put undocumented immigrants on the federal government’s radar, Elde said.
The collective is also rallying behind a system that can provide low-cost or free legal services for immigration cases, similar to defendants’ rights to free legal counsel for criminal cases, Carangelo said.
Since its founding, the group has raised more than $65,000 to help immigrants and their families across the region, including more than 15 Northampton residents. The money covers legal expenses, housing and family support while residents navigate immigration proceedings.
While much of the money has been raised online, ISC organizer Eliza Menzel said that some comes from social events such as bake sales or potluck dinners, which she said foster cultural exchange and deeper community ties.
“It’s been a beautiful experience, and I think that in addition to the very important defensive and protection work, it’s also just about trying to be a friend and about trying to show somebody that they have support, especially if they don’t speak English or they don’t have familiarity with the area or community connections,” Menzel said. “It goes a very long way just to have another person out there who you know you can rely on.”
