By Jack Nicas

Local organizations dedicated to strengthening the rights of all immigrants combined efforts last week to discuss how community members can respond to federal immigration raids.

Centro Presente, Voices of Immigrants in Somerville, the city’s Human Rights Commission, and the Somerville Community Corporation met with more than 50 city residents on Thursday at the Capuano School and unveiled plans for an Immigrant Support Network.

The model for the network included a nucleus called “The Coordinators,” with five branches stemming outward. The five arms of the network consisted of “the community, the media team, the legal community, government liasons, and translation services.” The network would serve as a support center for immigrants affected by raids by providing legal, political, and financial aid.

‚ÄúThe network is necessary because there are families devastated when these raids happen, and as a community we need to stand up for those families because they themselves won’t be able to,‚Äù Ify Mora, one of the event’s organizers, said.

Some concern was expressed at the meeting over the network serving simply as a reactionary step rather than a preventative one. Centro Presente Executive Director Elena Letona agreed with the need for steps of prevention, but said that “federal raids are legal, there is little we can currently do.”

Last year federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement swooped into Somerville and other surrounding communities and arrested alleged MS-13 gang members. Letona said the operation was “a mask.”

‚ÄúThey may have a search warrant for one person, but when they get into the house, they’re taking everybody there,‚Äù she said.

Those raids came six months after a bigger ICE raid at Michael Bianco Inc., a New Bedford factory where workers, mostly undocumented immigrants from Guatemala and El Salvador, were taken into federal custody.

Thursday’s event included a screening of ‚ÄúDetained,‚Äù a documentary on the New Bedford raids, and an open-mic discussion on how to help those families affected. The film depicted the struggles of two immigrant families directly affected by the New Bedford raids. One storyline involved a mother being torn away from her ill 8-month old daughter, which was juxtaposed with a clip of an ICE official stating that no children were left in inappropriate situations. 

The film evoked much emotion in the crowd. Consuela Perez, a 20-year Somerville resident, pleaded with the audience. She asked them to imagine their family members being detained and said, “we must protect our children; they are our future!”

Her cries were met with sympathy from the crowd, as hands went up to offer solutions to the problem. Suggestions included fundraisers in advance to help those affected by the raids, a better relationship with local police, investigation into possible unlawful action by ICE, and raised awareness among Somerville’s youth.

Mora said she was pleased Somerville residents were tackling the federal immigration issue: ‚Äú[Thursday night] was a successful event because people voiced their opinion on what’s going on, how it impacts our city, and what we can do about it.‚Äù

No raids have been reported in recent months, but organizations such as Centro Presente and the Voices of Immigrants in Somerville maintain they are an ongoing problem. Mora said, “We are continually hearing stories, [these raids] are a constant thing.”