For immigrant workers, high security can mean high anxiety
For many immigrant workers in Boston, the security checkpoints, subway searches, and beefed-up police presence for the Democratic National Convention are more than just pesky commuter inconveniences. They're cause for alarm and anxiety.
Many undocumented workers fear they will be detained or even deported if they are stopped by police checking for identification. Even immigrants here legally, especially those who fled countries with repressive governments, are shaken by the prospect of random stops and searches.
Immigrant advocacy organizations have held community meetings, taken to radio airwaves, and visited churches in recent weeks to quell worries and educate immigrants about the security measures. Still, the fear remains palpable, advocates say, causing many workers to shift schedules, change travel routes, and adjust living arrangements in an attempt to avoid getting caught in the security web.
"We are up in the air because we don't know what is the police criteria for stopping people," said Maria, an undocumented immigrant who came to the United States five years ago. "I prefer to stay in my house [rather] than go through the risk of being detained." So the 45-year-old Brazilian native, who has not missed a day since she started delivering newspapers three years ago, said she may skip work during the convention.
Ann Roman, a spokeswoman for the US Secret Service, said officials will check for credentials at security checkpoints and allow only those with IDs or who have passed FBI clearance checks to pass. But, she said, the agency will not be targeting immigrants.
"The security plan is meant to allow for a safe and secure environment where everyone could be assured to be safe in," Roman said. "It's not our goal to determine who is legal and illegal."
Despite such assurances, worry is swirling within immigrant communities. Many immigrants depend on public transportation and often work in hotels and restaurants, on cleaning crews in downtown office buildings, and in other neighborhoods where security will be especially tight.
At the Brazilian Immigrant Center in Allston and Centro Presente in Cambridge, advocates say they have fielded dozens of calls from immigrants worried and confused by the security measures planned for the convention.
One Brazilian immigrant, who works a morning shift at a store in Newton and an evening shift at a fast-food restaurant near the FleetCenter, said she plans to take a week off from her downtown job, rather than risk her usual subway ride from Allston to Government Center.
"What I've heard is people who do not have [legal immigration] papers cannot go to work because there is no way to go and come back," she said in Portuguese through a translator. "Even my Spanish-speaking co-workers, who have visas, aren't going to work because they are worried."
The loss of a paycheck will be a hardship for the 25-year-old woman and her husband, who send money to her mother and their infant son in Brazil. But the woman, who came to Boston eight months ago, said the fear of detention by immigration officials overshadows the financial strain. Just in case, she plans to travel with a valid Brazilian photo ID on the advice of the Brazilian consulate.
Maria Elena Letona, executive director of Centro Presente, and other advocates say they are concerned that immigrants without valid US IDs or those who have difficulty understanding instructions given by law enforcement officials could be detained. The immigrant advocacy group has used a Spanish-language radio program and fliers to spread the word about planned security on the subway and around the convention site.
"It's important that they know what's going on and to cooperate so they don't get detained," said Letona, who has advised immigrants to find alternative ways to get to work. "We are also telling people that they have the right to say no [to authorities], but to cooperate to avoid being detained" by not boarding trains if authorities tell them to step aside.
Some immigrants, like two Honduran women who pass through the downtown subway stops Government Center and Park Street to get from their homes in Chelsea to factory jobs in Dorchester, said they will get by on hope -- and Honduran voter registration cards, which double as photo IDs.
"We don't know what to do. We always take the subway and the bus, and we can't miss work," said one of the women, a 26-year-old who said she arrived in this country about a year ago and did not want her name used.
"We don't want to hurt the country," said her 37-year-old co-worker. "We just want to get to work, so we must trust that everything will be all right."
Globe correspondents Alonso Soto and Christina Pazzanese also contributed to this report.
