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 Editorials | Issues | June 2007 
Their Lives in Limbo, They Fight to Stay
 Yvonne Abraham - The Boston Globe
Immigrants in raid find legal benefactors.
Early most weekday mornings, groups of immigrants from New Bedford pile into donated vans and make the journey north to Greater Boston Legal Services in downtown Boston. Fueled by coffee and doughnuts on a recent day, a dozen of them crammed into the advocacy group's tiny reception area, waiting for their harried lawyers to see them. They are among the 361 workers arrested and accused of being here illegally in a raid on a New Bedford leather goods factory March 6.
Three months after their arrests animated the national discussion over immigration reform and sparked controversy over the tactics of immigration officials, the workers largely have disappeared from public view. But away from the spotlight, a whirl of activity continues around them.
Of the 361 workers arrested that morning, 42 have been deported, and 137 remain in custody - some in local jails, but most in detention centers in Texas, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. More than half of those arrested have been released, on bail or because they were sick or their children's sole caregivers, to await their deportation hearings.
Scores of attorneys are fighting their deportations. And as at least 200 individual cases work their way through the immigration courts, larger suits challenging the transfer of workers to Texas and accusing the owner of the Michael Bianco Inc. factory of immigration and labor law violations continue.
The workers come to Greater Boston Legal Services to appear before Boston immigration judges in person, or via telephone before judges in Texas. They come to help build asylum cases and to seek counseling for their sleeping problems. They come because there is nothing else for them to do. Suspended between a future here and a return to their home countries, most are without jobs. Many who had regularly sent money to relatives now are supported by charities or family.
"I need to give my family a lot of help," said Isabela Colaj , a 23-year-old from Chilil, Guatemala, speaking through a translator as she awaited her court hearing on Thursday. She is Mayan, and she said she is afraid of ethnic and gang violence if she is deported to Guatemala. "I think about the things my family suffer, and I will be very sad if I can't win my case."
Those who favor stricter immigration policies say immigrants such as Colaj knew that they were risking arrest when they entered the country illegally. Still, the immigrants and their advocates say they will do anything they can to win their cases and remain in the country.
Fighting cases such as Colaj's has "consumed us," said Nancy Kelly, an attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services, who is arguing the suit seeking the return of the workers from Texas, and whose group represents scores of workers seeking to avoid deportation. "We had our first day off on Memorial Day weekend."
The attorneys and their clients see so much of one another that they have started organizing group meals at the law office. The immigrants pitch in to keep the kitchen clean, while they wait hours for their appointments.
Some of those who were arrested are finding it difficult to put the raid out of their minds, said Marguerita Reczycki , a clinical nurse specialist in refugee trauma who has been working with some of the clients at Greater Boston Legal Services.
"All of them have depression and anxiety," she said. "They all have poor appetites, difficulty sleeping, and feelings that they have no future."
Some of the immigrants at the lawyers' offices on Thursday said they were mistreated by guards here and in Texas. Antonia Mejia said one guard on a flight to Port Isabel detention center, in Texas, made advances toward her and watched her as she used the bathroom. Mejia, 29, with two children in her native Honduras, said guards frequently taunted her and other detainees. Her attorneys say she was too afraid to complain.
"Until the day I die I will carry it in my heart," she said, crying. "There is so much sadness."
Immigration and Customs spokesman Marc Raimondi vehemently denied her allegations, pointing out that male guards do not accompany women to bathrooms, and that Mejia never lodged a complaint with the agency.
"We treat detainees with dignity and respect," Raimondi said. "They are briefed when they enter custody how they can report complaints, and we encourage them to make the allegations known through those channels and we will investigate them."
Some of the released detainees have found their way back into New Bedford's underground job market.
"You can't stay not working," said Anibal Lucas , who drives the vans to Boston many days, and is director of Maya K'iche, an advocacy group for New Bedford's Mayan Guatemalans. "Who will pay their rent and their bills?"
Others rely on charities set up in the days after the raid. A fund to help the arrested workers with rent and other bills has raised more than $200,000 so far, said Craig Dutra , president of the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts, which is coordinating the fund. So far, 98 families have received more than $100,000 in rent assistance, and another $50,000 will be distributed this week.
Some families have moved in together to save money. And donations continue to arrive, Dutra said.
Few of the detained immigrants have been able to find money for bonds set by judges in Texas and Boston.
Boston investment banker Bob Hildreth , who has helped support immigrant education initiatives for 20 years, so far has paid $107,000 for workers whose family members could not come up with all of the bonds set by judges, which range to $5000. He is also paying for a full-time attorney to assist with asylum allegations.
Hildreth, 56, said he realizes those who favor more restrictive immigration policies will criticize him for putting up the money.
"I don't care," he said. "Hey, I'm paying bail. That only gives them a day in court. I'm just trying to make sure they get due process."
Meanwhile, at the Michael Bianco Inc. factory, the sewing machines whir on, though the factory is not operating at full capacity, having lost 361 of its 600 workers in the raid. The company lost most of its five-year, $138 million Defense Department contract after the arrests. Owner Francesco Insolia was charged with conspiring to hire illegal immigrants, and is set to appear in court on those federal charges July 27. But his factory is still working on a $64 million job stitching military backpacks, and company spokesman Doug Bailey says Insolia has sought an extension on that contract, because he cannot find enough qualified workers to take the places of those arrested in March.
"He has hired about 135 replacement employees," Bailey said. "He would like to hire more, but he can't find them. Finding people with experience hasn't been easy. We're still working on a way to try to keep this factory open." |
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