NEW BEDFORD — The Supreme Court ruling Thursday that blocked President Barack Obama’s plan to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation is a crushing blow, SouthCoast advocates say.
“There is no church or spiritual group that would support breaking up families. I’m terribly disappointed on behalf of so many people,” said the Rev. Marc Fallon of Catholic Social Services who has long worked with immigrants in New Bedford. He said Obama’s plan revolved around keeping families together.
The court’s 4-4 decision, which effectively upholds a lower court ruling, “is like a bucket of cold water for thousands of dreamers,” said Adrian Ventura, executive director of Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores, a workers rights organization in the city.
Luis Gomez said he was 9 years old when his family brought him to New Bedford. He said he faced first-hand the anxieties undocumented families go through — from learning the language to getting a job.
Gomez graduated from GNB Voc-Tech with a scholarship but ended up working at a fish plant because of his immigration status. A work permit under President Barack Obama’s Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program announced in 2012 was his salvation, he said. Now 25, Gomez is an electrical apprentice at IBEW Local 223 in Taunton.
Other members of his family have not been as lucky and Thursday’s rulings shattered their hopes, he said.
“On top of not being able to live a normal life, they have to live in fear and uncertainty,” Gomez said. “In a way, they are not welcome here even though they have lived here for many years.”
An immigrant advocate for 32 years, Helena DaSilva Hughes said she was fielding calls from worried residents right up until Thursday’s vote not to extend Obama’s protections for undocumented parents of children born here and residents who were brought in as children.
Disappointing as the one-sentence decision is, that’s how immigration reform rolls, said Hughes, executive director of the Immigrants’ Assistance Center which helps numerous immigrants file for citizenship and learn the language each year.
“Immigration reform is only a priority for elections. Politicians use it as a political football,” she said. “People get very excited and then get let down. It happens over and over again. What this says is that immigration reform is a not a high priority.”
The decision doesn’t require the administration to begin deporting affected immigrants, but stops a plan to normalize their presence in the country.
“I think it’s very unfortunate because most people had their hopes raised to not be in danger of being deported under the president’s decision,” said Lisa Maya Knauer, a UMass Dartmouth anthropology professor who has worked with immigrant groups in the city.
“We’re deeply disappointed,” said Corinn Williams, executive director of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts (CEDC) in New Bedford, who also works with immigrants. She called the court’s vote “another blow for hard-working families … So many families have anticipated an opportunity to come out of the shadows and live with their families without fear.”
The decision does not affect Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA program, which has shielded more than 800,000 young immigrants from deportation since 2012 but does stall Obama’s effort to shelter newer immigrants, said Schuyler Pisha, an immigration attorney with Catholic Social Services.
“I think it increases a sense of hopelessness,” he said. “It leaves people in limbo with no real solution.”
