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The executive director of the Immigrants’ Assistance Center has stepped down, resolving one management conflict at a time of crisis for the city’s longest-standing immigration advocacy organization. The change in leadership comes as the Trump administration continues aggressive enforcement on immigrants in New Bedford.
Anne Ohlrich, hired by the organization in early 2023 and promoted to executive director in October, is no longer named on the IAC’s web site, and no executive director is shown. John Markey, a lawyer for the IAC, confirmed in an email that Ohlrich is no longer with the IAC, but offered no other comment.
Helena DaSilva Hughes, who has been the IAC’s public face for decades, is still shown as president, apparently surviving an effort to oust her amid questions about her job performance.
A statement released by the board of directors on April 16 did not address or acknowledge management changes or the internal struggles of the past year. Instead, the statement affirmed the significance of the IAC’s work.
“The IAC’s mission — to serve as a beacon of hope by promoting equality, diversity, inclusion, and dignity for all immigrants, migrants, and refugees — has never been more vital than it is today,” the board said in a three-paragraph statement conveyed by Markey.
The eight current members of what had been a 12-member board did not respond to individual emails seeking interviews. They are Rosemary Neto Hazzard, Robyn Branco, Anne Broholm, Patricia Hotel, Jeffrey Pelletier, Derek Mendes, Lindsay Hill, and Irondina Abreu.
The Light has learned that Ohlrich left the organization in early April. Ohlrich did not respond to a request for comment. DaSilva Hughes released a statement but declined to answer specific questions.
Materials obtained by The Light show that the move came as board members and staff worked to resolve conflicts that had simmered for more than a year. The materials include reports by a lawyer and a management consultant, and an email to the board of directors from the former board chair urging that DaSilva Hughes be asked to resign or be fired.
Laurie Bullard sent that email to other board members on Feb. 17. A day later, at a board meeting, Bullard announced she was resigning.
In an interview with The Light the morning after the meeting, Bullard (who is married to founding member of The Light and former New Bedford Mayor John Bullard) declined to elaborate on her reasons for leaving the IAC, saying she wanted to spend more time traveling and with family.
Shortly after that, three other board members, Jennifer Velarde, Taylor DeLoach and Antonio Lima resigned.
Bullard’s resignation came two weeks after DaSilva Hughes presented board members with a letter bristling at questions about her leadership, and demanding that they choose between her and Ohlrich. DaSilva Hughes’s letter questioned whether Ohlrich was an appropriate director for the IAC, since she had given up her immigration law practice in Texas in 2019 amid allegations of professional misconduct.
A Texas Supreme Court order shows that Ohlrich resigned her license to practice law in August 2019, The Light reported Feb. 26. A U.S. Department of Justice order shows that Ohlrich was disbarred from practicing immigration law in November 2019. A motion accepting resignation prepared by the Texas State Bar shows that Ohlrich faced allegations from four clients, including misappropriating $90,000 of client funds and producing false bank records in response to the client’s claims.
In an interview with The Light in late January, Ohlrich said the misconduct occurred in her small law firm in San Antonio during the summer of 2019 when she was out on medical leave. She said she chose to surrender her law license rather than challenge the allegations because she was physically exhausted and emotionally distraught over her father’s death that summer.
She soon left Texas for New England. She started working for the IAC as a volunteer grant writer late in 2022.
The internal IAC reports and the email show that the board and the staff have been trying to improve management practices at least since early 2024 — about a year after Ohlrich was hired as director of development. The hope was to allow DaSilva Hughes and Ohlrich to best use their respective strengths: DaSilva Hughes as a public voice with deep knowledge of the community, Ohlrich as an administrator and grant writer.
The effort continued through 2024, as the organization worked with the city’s large immigrant population, providing information on keeping families together in the event of deportations, and helping people understand their rights if they are stopped by federal authorities.
Established in 1971, the IAC runs on a budget of about $700,000, with a mission to help immigrants find work, health care, educational opportunities, know their legal rights, and, if they wish, become citizens. According to a city public information officer, the IAC received $15,000 in a Community Development Block Grant, a federal program administered by the city, in the most recent budget.
Recent events have put a spotlight on the IAC’s work. Since Trump’s second presidential term began on Jan. 20, federal agents — often in plainclothes and showing no arrest warrants, and on at least two occasions by force — have detained at least 17 people in New Bedford.
Two reports criticize IAC president
Bullard wrote in her Feb. 17 email that after trying to resolve the clash in IAC management, “I have sadly come to the conclusion that the IAC would best be served by asking Helena to step aside from her position,” or that the board should vote to fire her.
If the board chose to retain DaSilva Hughes, Bullard recommended that the board create an “ad hoc Management Committee to carefully oversee Helena to promote a functioning IAC and protect the board from liability for Helena’s conduct.”
Bullard’s email claims DaSilva Hughes handled finances improperly and without consulting the board in four instances. Bullard also summarized three “legal” issues, including an allegation that she created a “hostile work environment.” Bullard also alleged that DaSilva Hughes had revealed information about Ohlrich’s medical history to a Portuguese immigrant advocacy organization where Ohlrich had been offered a new job in the fall of 2024, and that the job offer was later rescinded.
The allegations summed up in the email were drawn mostly from two separate reports completed by management consultant Katie Gilfeather and by lawyer Stephen Adams.
Gilfeather submitted to the board an eight-page report on her efforts to develop a plan for DaSilva Hughes and Ohlrich to work side by side.
Adams handed in a 19-page account of his investigation of a potential violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the alleged disclosure of information about Ohlrich.
After interviewing DaSilva Hughes, Ohlrich, Bullard and Gilfeather, Adams concluded that personal health information had been disclosed. He reported that while he found “no ‘smoking gun’” about who had disclosed the information and when, “DaSilva Hughes more likely than not” had done so in early October.
Both Gilfeather and Adams praised DaSilva Hughes for her wealth of knowledge and work as the public voice of the IAC. Gilfeather faulted her for undermining Ohlrich, creating staff confusion and straying into administrative work.
Bullard’s Feb. 17 email to the board echoes Gilfeather’s report in claiming that DaSilva Hughes allowed an employee who no longer works with the IAC to use IAC funds to pay her sister’s mortgage. The email also claims three other instances of mishandling funds that are not mentioned in the written report.
Bullard claims that DaSilva Hughes used IAC funds to pay rent for a person who was not eligible for IAC assistance, a tenant of DaSilva Hughes’s mother. Bullard also claims that DaSilva Hughes used IAC funds to pay off an organization line of credit in violation of the donor’s instructions, and, without consulting the board, signed a lease with the city for their office space that committed to a “large rent increase.”
Gilfeather wrote that Ohlrich felt targeted after she disclosed improper use of IAC funds, and warned the board about exposure to legal action.
Gilfeather said the conflicts and confusion between the president and others in leadership have happened before and “I believe this will continue whoever you hire for the Executive Director position based on my direct observations.”
DaSilva Hughes sent The Light a statement on April 22 declining specific comment. “To the extent that the Board has provided me with guidance and suggestions as to how we can improve, our number one goal at this time is to support the staff and our community in implementing the mission of the IAC,” she wrote.
Despite repeated attempts, organization officials declined to comment. It is not clear how the organization is responding to these reports.
Email reporter Arthur Hirsch at ahirsch@newbedfordlight.org.
