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© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
Immigration arrest raises more questions than answers
By Benjamin Witte
A pair of blue jeans, folded and with an unclasped brown belt attached, rest neatly on a wicker chair in Jose Alfredo Alfaro’s small Norwood Ave. bedroom. They’ve been there for about two weeks now, lying in exactly in the same spot Alfaro placed them before crawling into bed on the night of March 14.
When Alfaro awoke the next morning, sometime around 8:30 a.m., it was to the sound of men clomping around his small basement apartment. According to Jilberto, the only witness to the incident, there were about six of them, police probably, or maybe immigration officials. Jilberto, who’s asked that his last name not be published, isn’t quite sure who they were, though he can say with certainty that the men stayed in the house for about 15 minutes.
The arresting officers, the witness claims, demanded he present papers. Jilberto, who like Alfaro is a Salvadoran immigrant, complied. Clearly, though, it wasn’t Jilberto, but rather his housemate Alfaro the authorities had come for. Alfaro, who was still in his pajamas when the men apprehended him, asked why he was being arrested. “We don’t know,” Jilberto heard the officers say. “You’ll find out later in court.”
Alfaro also asked he be allowed to put on some warm clothes, something besides the T-shirt, sweatpants and flip-flops he had on. The men denied the request, and busied themselves instead with snooping around the apartment. They then ventured through a door that leads upstairs to a separate flat.
The man who lives in that second apartment, Hugo Escobar – owner of the entire Norwood Ave. dwelling – wasn’t home at the time. Both he and his wife were at work. That, however, didn’t stop the arresting officers from inviting themselves in to Escobar’s apartment. From his basement bedroom, Jilberto could hear the men banging around upstairs.
And then suddenly the officers and their patrol cars (one of the upstairs neighbors counted eight vehicles) were gone, taking Alfaro with them. The Salvadoran immigrant is now in a detention facility in Snow Hill, MD. In a letter that arrived last week, Alfaro described conditions in the jail, requesting that his family send him food, soap and warm clothes.
“I want to ask you, please, if you could find out from the mail people whether you can send me a pair of shoes, some pants and a shirt. I don’t have clothes,” he wrote. “I was sleeping when they came to arrest me. I’d also like you to send some money so I can buy socks, underwear and soap, and to buy something to eat, because here everyone gets sent things. It seems that’s the only way people are eating, because here all they give us is one sandwich and a little bit of coffee. That’s it.”
Escobar, the owner of the property – also Alfaro’s brother-in-law – is clearly shaken up. The incident has also left him with far more questions than answers. To start with, he would like to know who arrested his brother-in-law and why. Why also, was Alfaro treated like a “terrorist?” he wonders.
“What really bothers me is how they took him,” he said. “They came in here without anyone having opened the door. That, first of all, is something that shouldn’t happen on private property, because this is private property. Secondly, [Alfaro] was sleeping. They took him out of here in pajamas, and they didn’t even give him time to change. When he said, ‘I’m going to put my clothes on, and my shoes,’ they didn’t let him. As cold as it was outside, that’s how they took him away. That’s the way to treat a criminal, or a terrorist, not someone whose work permit has expired. It’s just unbelievable.”
As Alfaro has since explained to his family over the telephone, his work permit had indeed expired. Sometime this week or next the Salvadoran immigrant is expected to go before an immigration judge, who will decide whether or not he should be deported or allowed to pay a fine and return to Somerville.
But Escobar is right. Immigrants who allow their work permits to expire are not generally subject to the type of arrest procedures applied on the morning of March 15.
So who did arrest Alfaro, and why?
Angel “Tito” Meza of the Somerville Community Corporation thinks he knows the answer. “This is the continuation of a series of arrests,” he said. “He was one of the 60.”
Sixty, in this case, refers to the number of arrests made during a two-day, mid-March roundup dubbed Operation Avalanche. The operation, led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), took place between March 14 and 15 throughout the greater Boston area. It’s overall purpose, according to ICE spokesperson Paula Grenier, was “the removal of criminal aliens from the streets.”
“Those arrested,” ICE explained in a March 16 press release, “have extensive criminal histories that include either convictions for or charges of violent crimes that include Rape, Armed Robbery, Assault and Battery on a Child with Injuries… Criminal histories also include other violent crimes and a variety of narcotics and weapons related offences.”
A number of factors suggest that Alfaro was indeed “one of the 60.” The date of the arrest, March 15, certainly coincides. The Somerville Police, furthermore, insist they weren’t involved and have no record of Alfaro’s apprehension, meaning the arrest must have been carried out by either county or federal officials – or both.
Finally, Alfaro’s immigrant status – combined with a past criminal conviction – fits precisely the legal profile of others arrested in the ICE raids. Several years ago, according to Escobar, Alfaro was convicted on a domestic violence charge. The issue has since been resolved. But, said Paula Grenier, a past conviction of that type can be grounds alone to deport a non-citizen, particularly someone whose work papers have expired. While the operation, in other words, was essentially an immigration matter, ICE’s point of departure in selecting those to be arrested was – as was likely the case with Alfaro – the existence of a criminal record.
None of that, however, helps Escobar understand why the arresting officers were so apparently heavy-handed in their methods, why they refused to immediately inform Alfaro of the reason for his arrest, or why they entered the property unannounced and then proceeded to search Escobar’s own, separate apartment upstairs.
Statements made by both ICE and the Middlesex Sheriff’s Dept, which cooperated closely in Operation Avalanche, do little to clarify the matter. According to the Middlesex Sheriff Dept., an arrest is an arrest, meaning basic police procedural protocol should apply in all cases – even in Federal matters. “Whether it’s State or Federal or whatever, it’s still an arrest,” said Middlesex County Sheriff James V. DiPaola. “All the same rights and due process have to be given.” And, insisted ICE spokesperson Grenier, “We do identify ourselves and why we are arresting someone.”
For Tito Meza and other immigrant community leaders, Escobar’s concerns – particularly regarding the issue of privacy rights – are valid and ought to be addressed. “Why did they go in without a permit to search his house,” Meza would like to know. “[Escobar] is a legal resident. He doesn’t have any problem with the law. His child was at school. His wife was at work. He was at work, so there was nobody there… The question is, if you’re not home, can immigration go through your house? Get inside? Walk around? Is this a violation of privacy? A violation of human rights? That’s why we want clarification.”
The issue has also been brought to the attention of Mary Lu Mendonca, executive director of City Hall’s Human Rights Committee. Like Meza, Mendonca is concerned by what she’s heard and feels strongly that the authorities overstepped their bounds by going into Escobar’s apartment.
Still, Mendonca admits she’s not terribly surprised. “Not because I think this is more rampant in Somerville than anywhere else,” she said. “But before I worked here I worked for the ACLU,
where every week someone calls with something like this.”
On Friday Escobar sent his brother-in-law a care package with the items he’d requested: soap, clothes, a pair of shoes and a little money. He’s not sure how the upcoming immigration hearing will turn out. He wants to be optimistic, though with all the proceedings taking place several states away, he’s finding it difficult to offer more than moral support.
The homeowner is also dealing with some serious financial concerns, especially now that his upstairs tenants, Brazilian immigrants, have said they are so frightened by everything that transpired they may move out.
“The people that live there right now, they’re afraid,” said Escobar. “They’re saying they want to move out, because they’re scared they too might be arrested. This really bothers me, since I’m the one who has to pay for this house. For me, this is just unbelievable that something like this would happen in Somerville. But if we don’t say anything, if we just always stay quiet, this is never going to get better.”
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