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NEW BEDFORD — Petronila Morales quietly sipped a coffee in a corner booth of Restaurante y Tortilleria Guatemalteco early Wednesday morning.
“Look at this here,” she said in Spanish, motioning toward the dozens of empty tables at her restaurant. “It’s a desert.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” she continued. “This restaurant always has at least two or three people here at tables eating.”
The quiet at the tortilleria came on the heels of two chaotic days as agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement surged into the South Coast. As of Tuesday night, The Light had reported 19 confirmed detentions over the course of two days. On Wednesday afternoon, the Office for Refugees and Immigrants said that lawyers were working with 40 South Coast detainees to file habeas corpus petitions in federal courts.
Among those were two Guatemalan men who had just left the tortilleria when a Light reporter captured their detention by agents as they left the shop Tuesday afternoon.
“Everyone is so scared,” Morales said. “No one is coming out.”
The silence permeated the length of Acushnet Avenue and prompted a visit by New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell to its intersection with Sawyer Street, where on Tuesday ICE agents were filmed tasing a man as he tried to escape.
“I know [Acushnet Avenue] has obviously been in the middle of a lot of the activity over the last couple of days,” he said in an interview with The Light. “But I wanted to make sure that people are aware that we are keeping an eye on things.
“The unfortunate part is, as frustrating as it has been, there’s not a lot that the local government or state government, frankly, can be doing,” he added. “But we want people to know that if they need to understand their legal rights, that we’re going to help them understand them.”
Advocates had come down hard on city officials in recent days as allegations of ICE vehicles being parked at police property propagated online. Authorities had repeatedly denied cooperation with ICE, and Mitchell reiterated that.
“There’s information out there that suggests the city is sort of abetting it,” he said. “That’s absolutely false. We don’t facilitate immigration enforcement like that. … I’ve been saying that for several years now, but it needs to be said over and over now.”
The mayor added that the city does not have “a large pot of money” with which it can help local businesses, but he said he has been in conversation with area advocates and business owners to see what possibilities for support there may be.
“There isn’t a lot the city can do in the way of backstopping,” he said, referring to financial support for affected businesses.
Reports on social media from LUCE showed that ICE focused its efforts in Fall River Wednesday.
Why New Bedford?
Advocates as well as ICE supporters spoke with The Light about what they think drew ICE’s attention to New Bedford. Helena DaSilva Hughes, president of the Immigrants’ Assistance Center, pointed out that the demographics of the city make it a known target.
“I do feel that it’s because New Bedford has such a diverse population,” she said, “and a lot of this population works in the fish houses.”
But, she said, she feared the PROTECT Act may have brought federal ire to the Bay State and that New Bedford may just be the first target.
“It’s very symbolic and I think that’s what attracted ICE to the area,” she said “I agreed with [the PROTECT Act], but I think that played a role.”
The PROTECT Act, signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey in August, prohibits civil immigration arrests at schools, courthouses, medical clinics, and includes other provisions aimed at enhancing immigrant protections when it comes to ICE.
Former Bristol County Sheriff Tom Hodgson, an immigration hawk known to have connections within the Trump administration, said “sanctuary policies” were at the root.
“It’s no surprise because Massachusetts is a sanctuary state,” Hodgson said. “Anywhere where there are attempts to shield people, particularly these criminal illegal aliens, by giving them sanctuary is always going to be what attracts [the attention of] ICE.
“The bigger problem with all this and the reason you’re seeing it in the community is because in Massachusetts, we said we’re not gonna allow local law enforcement to work with ICE.”
Hodgson told The Light he had been in communication with Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, but that he had not spoken with any administration officials about immigrants in the New Bedford area.
DaSilva Hughes also hypothesized that in an election year, Trump may be trying to drum up support among his conservative base by carrying out immigration sweeps targeting blue states. A similar event happened in Danbury, Connecticut, in August when ICE took more than 70 area immigrants into custody over the course of a week.
“This administration needs to show the number of people being picked up,” she said. “Because President Trump needs to get his [poll] numbers up.”
Corinn Williams, director of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts, said there appeared to be no real evidence that the raids targeted those with removal orders or criminal charges. A review of court records by The Light of the six men it has so far identified found either no prior charges or only minor vehicle infractions on all except one.
“I think a lot of it has to do with profiling,” she said. “There hasn’t been much of a pattern around someone with outstanding warrants or outstanding issues.
“That’s what’s really disturbing,” she continued. “It’s happening all over the country, obviously, but it’s happening here.”
Local response
Cristina Aguilera Sandoval, executive director of the state’s Office for Refugees and Immigrants, visited New Bedford Wednesday to talk about the resources available for families and detainees at the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores. She noted that New Bedford is particularly aware of the damage such operations cause.
“I think that any type of ICE enforcement operation in New Bedford is going to be very triggering because of what this community lived through during the [Michael N.] Bianco raid many years back,” she said. “In this area, the communities are really afraid, as in many others, but have that previous experience and [are] very vulnerable to the situation.
“I think it’s part of our values as a commonwealth and our leadership in the governor and beyond to make sure that our Massachusetts residents feel safe,” she added. “And can completely contribute to their communities and be part of it.”
Aguilera pointed to collaboration between her office, the city, and area advocates to connect detainees with lawyers through the Habeas Project to file habeas corpus petitions to ensure detainees remain nearby. Volunteer attorneys with the project filed 24 habeas corpus petitions as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Heather Arroyo, senior immigration attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.
Fundraisers sprang up Tuesday as the day wore down. One sponsored by the CCT raised $1,415 of a $3,500 goal by Wednesday afternoon. Another, organized by LUCE and Humanity at Work, raised $37,386 toward a goal of $60,000.
Contact Kevin G. Andrade at kandrade@newbedfordlight.org
