After immigration arrests, Brazilian community in Allston on alert (Allston-Brighton TAB)

After immigration arrests, Brazilian community in Allston on alert

By Meghann Ackerman/Correspondent
Fri Feb 20, 2009, 08:00 AM EST

Allston, Mass. - Jailton Tavares was about to go to work when a man knocked on his car window, showed him a California driver’s license and asked if he’d seen the man pictured. Tavares said he hadn’t seen him, but the man continued to ask him questions and asked to see Tavares’ ID, which was a Brazilian passport.

“After he asked several questions and he saw my passport, he said, ‘You’re under arrest. I’m from immigration,’” Tavares, 35, said in Portuguese.

Tavares, Wesley de Farias, 22, Elson de Olivira, 36, and a fourth man were all arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Jan. 30 before 6:30 a.m. The men were all leaving for work at construction jobs, they said in an interview translated by Heloisa Galvao, co-founder of the Brazilian Women’s Group. The four men arrested on Jan. 30 have since been released from custody with ankle monitors.

Although they face deportation, Tavares, de Farias and de Olivira are immediately concerned with trying to get a bond and removing their ankle monitors. With them on, their employers won’t give them work and the men cannot provide for their families, hire attorneys or save money for a possible trip back to Brazil.

“With something like this, they think you did something real bad,” said de Farias, who has lived in America for six years. “They think you’re a criminal.”

Although all three men said they hoped to stay in America, they have started making plans for deportation or voluntarily leaving. De Olivira has lived in the United States for seven years and has two American-born children. If he had to leave the country, they will go with him and he’s been trying to get their paperwork in order.

“I don’t think they’ll have a problem in Brazil,” he said. “But I want to stay here. I have two American children and I want to raise them here. It will be harder for them in Brazil.”

Tavares, an American resident for eight years, said it’s “impossible” to move to America legally from Brazil.

“Even as a tourist, it’s hard,” he said.

Although they were arrested in January, each of the three men said they had never been in trouble with the police before.

“I filed income taxes every year. I’ve never been stopped by the police,” de Olivira said. “This is a good country; they don’t come after me.”

On Jan. 23, members of ICE’s Fugitive Operation Unit arrested nine Brazilians in Brighton, said Paula Grenier, an ICE spokesperson. Five of the people arrested had warrants of deportation, meaning a judge had already ordered them deported; two were wanted for re-entering the country after deportation; and two more were found to be in the country illegally, Grenier said. The two people without orders against them were not held in custody, Grenier said.

On Jan. 30, eight Brazilians were arrested in the Brighton area — one on a warrant of deportation; two on charges of illegal re-entry; and five for being in the country illegally, Grenier said.

The recent arrests have made the Allston-Brighton Brazilian community uneasy.

“People are psychologically traumatized because of fear. They don’t want to leave the house,” said de Olivira.

The men said some people had moved out of their Washington Street apartment building or have stopped talking to them out of fear of ICE coming for them next.

Agents conduct “targeted” operations, said Grenier. But, she added, if an agent comes across an undocumented immigrant during an operation, they will arrest them.

Knowing your rights can go a long way in the fight against deportation, said Nancy Kelly and John Willshire-Carrera, lawyers with Great Boston Legal Services.

“They [ICE] can ask anything. They don’t have to give you a warning,” Kelly said. “But, in reality, you’re not required to give testimony against yourself.”

Willshire-Carrera said he advises people who are asked to show an ID to ICE agents to politely refuse.

“Many immigrants come from countries where the police have the right to go up to people and ask for ID,” he said. “I tell people not to lie, not to be nasty about it, but just say no.”