More than 900 people registered for two “know-your-rights” workshops in January to help immigrants prepare for potential encounters with U.S. immigration enforcement.
The free presentations were organized by Cambridge’s Commission on Immigrant Rights & Citizenship as a direct response to Trump administration actions. The federal government has issued a flurry of directives targeting immigrants, including empowering Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct arrests in schools, churches and hospitals and fast-tracking deportations.
The Zoom workshops took place Jan. 27 and Thursday, with live interpretation in eight languages that are spoken commonly in Cambridge. Nearly 200 attendees took advantage of the online interpretation services during the sessions. Adult learners also had access to additional, in-person language support at the Community Learning Center.
Led by immigration lawyers from the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition, the trainings outlined legal rights when confronted by ICE agents, including the right to remain silent and the right to speak with a lawyer. The rights are shared by any person regardless of their immigration status.
“Anyone who is not a U.S. citizen can be vulnerable to deportation,” explained Pricilla Cadet, a lawyer and Mira’s immigration advocate legal helpline manager, at the Jan. 27 workshop. “People who don’t have immigration status can be deported just for not having status, but even people with immigration status can sometimes be deported, usually if they’ve been convicted of a crime.”
Cadet and Jessica Chicco, a Mira staff attorney who led the Thursday training, outlined several scenarios in which people can encounter agents and shared best practices for each situation. For example, attendees were advised not to open the door or allow immigration police to enter their homes without a warrant signed by a judge. The presentation included a visual example of a judicial warrant and instructions on how to tell it apart from other kinds of Department of Homeland Security warrants, which do not give officers the right to enter.
Training facilitators instructed individuals to stay calm and cooperate if stopped by immigration officers while driving or out in public, but stressed that they are not obligated to consent to a car search or agree to be fingerprinted if they are not under arrest. If arrested, they encouraged people not to sign paperwork without first speaking to a lawyer.
Any adults with kids, regardless of their or their children’s immigration status, also have specific parental rights. Parents do not have to provide information about their children to immigration officers and, if arrested, are entitled to make arrangements for their children’s care. To prepare for the possibility of detention, advocates recommend that families make a plan, which can include obtaining passports for children from the parent’s home country or authorizing a caregiver to make decisions about a child’s care if their parent is detained or deported.
Public benefits
Accessing public benefits and the potential immigration repercussions for doing so are common concerns among immigrant communities. Under current law, the vast majority of benefits – food and nutrition benefits such as food stamps and free school lunches, housing benefits such as emergency shelter and public housing, cash assistance with utility bills, unemployment benefits and most health care benefits – are safe for immigrants to receive.
There are two kinds of benefits that fall under a so-called “public charge” rule, a test immigration agencies use to assess if a green card or visa applicant has the resources to financially support themselves in the United States. These are government cash benefits (also called welfare) and long-term institutional care (most commonly, living in a nursing home). Back in 2019, the Trump administration tried to amend the rule to encompass benefits such as Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, Medicaid and certain housing programs, making it harder for people who rely on these services to secure legal immigration status. The change was struck down by a court order in 2021, but the administration could try to enact similar policies in its second term.
For now, the old public charge rule stands and, in practice, does not concern most immigrants. “Many immigrants don’t have to worry about [the] public charge rule,” Cadet said. “This rule only applies to some individuals who are applying for a green card or visa … Usually, it’s only an issue for individuals who are applying for a green card through a family member.”
State benefits agencies in Massachusetts, including MassHealth and the Department of Transitional Assistance, do not report immigrants to immigration agents.
Where to get legal help
Although the know-your-rights trainings organized by the city provided valuable information to immigrant communities, they cannot substitute individualized legal advice by licensed immigration attorneys. In light of the Trump administration’s attacks on noncitizens, demand often outstrips supply.
“There’s a number of nonprofit organizations in Massachusetts that provide free and low-cost legal advice,” Chicco said at the end of Thursday’s presentation. “Unfortunately, there are not enough lawyers and accredited representatives to serve everyone that is in need.”
The commission and city’s community engagement team hosts a special Zoom training for direct service providers who work with immigrants from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Feb. 12. The event requires preregistration at this link.
Another session for the public is being planned for early March at the Main Library.
You can find the full “know-your-rights” community presentation slides here in English and 30 other languages. For “know-your-rights” cards, handouts and recorded presentations, visit Mira’s resources page here. If you are in need of additional legal support, consult the CLC’s immigration legal resources here.
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