Wild: ‘There’s a Spanish press?’ from Boston, Massachusetts

“In early February, undocumented immigrants, terrified of being pulled off the T by a guy with a badge, stayed home. Children didn’t go to school. Doctors’ appointments, visits to ailing family members, any task requiring travel on public transportation were canceled. When immigrant advocacy groups learned of the rumors and ensuing panic, they began a series of “Know Your Rights” seminars. In a subsequent e-mail, however, my friend told me that when she tried to distribute a “Know Your Rights” pamphlet (available in English, Spanish and Portuguese) on buses, people, even people who shared that same bus with her daily and, therefore, recognized her, shook their heads and refused to take her offering.
“They were really scared,” she told me.
You know what disturbs me about this story? That a “mass panic” happened last month and I had no clue. It disturbs me that I live in a community of immigrants yet had no idea that children in my neighborhood might have been kept home from school, their parents terrified to go to work. It disturbs me that my ignorance perpetuates the fears and the exploitation Somerville’s immigrants face every day. (Did you know there’s an organization, the Brazilian Immigrant Center in Allston, which helps immigrants actually get a paycheck for their labor?! Neither did I.) And it disturbs me that every day, I literally “buy in” to this exploitation and fear. The men and women who perform the most menial of jobs, like washing dishes at my favorite restaurants, might very well be undocumented. (”Undocumented,” not “illegal.” As immigration advocates explain, “There is no such thing as an ‘illegal’ human being.”) Because these immigrants are willing to work for next to nothing, I pay less for my meal. And so do you”

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