Go and be detained … or stay home and be detained
BOSTON – Margarita fled Honduras for the United States in 2014, leaving behind gender-based violence from an uncle who stalked her and threatened her physically.
“I was afraid of what he would do to me, and my daughters,” she said. Margarita asked to only use her first name for this story out of fear of repercussions in Honduras if her last name is known.
Since arriving in Boston, she’s had a US-born daughter, now nine, and spends her time working in food preparation and as a janitor in local restaurants. What should be a safe haven for her has become an unsteady reality under the second Trump administration, which is actively searching for immigrants to detain and deport as a part of mass deportation policies.
Margarita reports to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Burlington, Massachusetts for check-ins, a regular occurrence for immigrants across the country. For years, immigrants in removal proceedings have to check-in with ICE at least once per year—if they don’t go, a warrant for their arrest can be issued, and ICE can proceed with deportation.
In March, Margarita went to a check-in and had an electronic monitor attached to her ankle for GPS monitoring—despite having never committed any criminal offense, she says.
Margarita tried to gain asylum many years ago, but had the case denied, and was only told by her former immigration lawyer more than six months after the denial—which meant she couldn’t appeal. Since then, she’s been in removal proceedings, but hasn’t been given a specific date to self-deport.
With the growing number of check-ins lately, and news of community members being detained and deported, she is fearful.
“I’m scared because the problems that I came here with still exist in Honduras,” she said. Here with my two jobs, I pay for my rent, what we need, food—we don’t have a lot, but we have what is necessary,” she said.
When she goes to the appointments, Margarita said she takes several buses to Burlington, traveling almost 2 hours each way. She waits in a room, often bringing her youngest daughter out of fear of separation, and signs a piece of paper saying she has been compliant by physically presenting herself at the Burlington, Massachusetts Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office. The appointments mean entire days of lost work, since she doesn’t know how long she will be there for.
Patricia Montes is executive director of Centro Presente, a nonprofit immigrant rights organization that has been supporting Margarita. They’ve gone to and plan to go to her ICE check-ins, reached out to elected leaders about her case, and are seeking to meet with Gov. Maura Healey about Margarita’s case, and others like it.
“She’s going to be in a country that is dangerous for women and girls, you know? Honduras has one of the highest levels of femicides,” said Montes.
Margarita is not alone in her apprehension of going to a check-in. Centro Presente has long advised its members to go to their check-ins and be compliant with the law.
“However, because of this political environment, a lot of our clients, women and girls—they are afraid to go to court, they’re afraid to go to the ICE check-ins because they fear that they are going to be detained.”
Montes recounted one specific instance this winter when a Salvadoran mother with a nine-year-old went to an ICE check-in in Burlington. She was detained the same day, and was deported the next day to El Salvador.
The Department of Homeland Security pushed back on the concerns of its ICE agents detaining people at check-in appointments.
“ICE’s ATD- Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) exists to ensure compliance with release conditions. All illegal aliens are afforded due process,” a DHS spokesperson wrote in a message. The unnamed spokesperson said those who are arrested have “executable final orders of removal by an immigration judge,” and will not have complied with self deportation.
“If you are in the country illegally and a judge has ordered you to be removed, that is precisely what will happen,” the statement went on. DHS claims that under the Biden administration, thousands of undocumented immigrants, including “including violent criminals-with final orders of removal were on ATD and allowed to roam our communities.” “ATD” refers to ICE’s “Alternatives to detention” programs—which include the ankle monitor that Margarita has to wear.
Montes said her organization has fielded many calls and messages from immigrant single mothers who have no criminal records, who are worried about being deported and have US citizen children, like Margarita.
“They are terrified. The main concern is family separation. They are afraid to go back to their countries, countries where they don’t feel safe, and they are also afraid to leave their kids,” Montes said. Most, she said, would prefer to be deported with their children, afraid of current laws in the state around guardianship of a suddenly unaccompanied minor.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s office said it has been in touch with Centro Presente and “expressed our support for Margarita’s case.”
“The Congresswoman consistently affirms that our constituents and immigrant families across the nation should be granted due process, a fundamental legal right and ICE’s enforcement tactics are nothing short of terrorizing,” said a spokesperson for the Congresswoman.
With so many immigration policies coming out of the White House directly impacting women and children, Montes said she wants to see the governor take a stand.
“We don’t have a governor having meetings with a lot of people from the community—particularly women and girls,” she said. “There is not an immigration policy at the state level that is protected, that has a gender-focused point of view and a gender-justice view.”
Adam Bejtlich volunteers with the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network and recently started accompanying immigrants to the appointments.
Not long ago, he brought a male individual to the office 30 minutes before his check-in. They went in together, but it became obvious quickly that Bejtlich couldn’t stay since he isn’t an attorney. “There was a small waiting room. And there were signs on the walls in various languages, basically making it pretty clear that I was not allowed to stay,” he said. mentioning that he couldn’t even park in the parking lot.
He said the man had an ankle monitor despite a judge having previously said GPS monitoring wouldn’t be required. Bejtlich said he doesn’t speak a lot of Spanish and he and the man couldn’t communicate much, but they established a connection.
“I’m just a guy who wants to help people when they’re scared because, you know, this isn’t something that people used to be scared about,” Bejtlich added.
He said another individual he’s accompanying to a check-in is “definitely afraid” and not certain of whether they will be detained for potential deportation that day.
The number of people that ICE agents must detain in their regions has increased recently, according to news reports, jumping from around 1,000 immigrants per day to 3,000 per day.
“I think all that really matters is the fear. The randomness, right? It’s like—putting a quota on it just means … it’s just another way to scare people,” Bejtlich said.
“My main motivation is the dehumanization of others has got to stop. We’ve got to start caring about each other,” he said.
Margarita said she has organized her guardianship of her daughter in the event that they have to self-deport, and that she would buy the tickets herself. She said she doesn’t want to be arrested and detained the way she has seen other people in the news get treated—she wants autonomy to go with her daughter.
She’s hoping her effort to stay in the US will be successful because she’s been here a decade. Generally, if an undocumented immigrant in deportation proceedings proves they’ve been in the US for ten years, with no criminal issues, and their deportation would cause extreme hardship to a US citizen, there’s a possibility of staying.
“My daughter when she found out what was going on, she cried, she got really depressed, she didn’t want to go to school, she said she didn’t want to go,” said Margarita, who said she’s told her daughter it’s “in God’s hands” now.
This article was produced for HorizonMass, the independent, student-driven, news outlet of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and is syndicated by BINJ’s MassWire news service.
