“ICE and U.S. Border Patrol have taken 32 of our clients”

Interview with Martha Stein,

Executive Director of Hope Acts

By Karen Levine Egee of Activate Maine

MARTHA STEIN Executive Director, Hope Acts

Like many Americans these days, I’ve been hearing dreadful stories across the country about immigrants with no criminal record being taken away and imprisoned. So — fearing the worst — I interviewed my friend and neighbor Martha Stein, Executive Director of Hope Acts, to learn about what’s happening with immigrants in Maine. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

What does Hope Acts do?

My organization is called Hope Acts, in Portland. We provide housing and other services for asylum seekers. The organization was founded in 2012, and we opened the doors in 2013. I joined first on the board for a couple of years, and then I became the Executive Director in January of 2018.

About how many people does Hope Acts support?

We have an apartment building for 13 asylum seekers, Hope House. But we have thousands of clients we support in navigating their life in Maine. Most of our work is focused on housing, obtaining work permits, and helping people understand their immigration paperwork. Sadly, we now spend a lot of time supporting individuals and families of those kidnapped by ICE or the Border Patrol. We have 11 staff members and about 70 volunteers.

You support people who are in the process of seeking asylum. So how does that work?

Everyone we work with is documented. They are all in the process of seeking asylum. 

There are two ways that people can seek asylum. One is they fly in, usually on a student visa, work visa, or visitor visa, and then they decide for whatever reason it’s unsafe to go home, and they apply for asylum once they’re here. The other way that’s gotten a ton of attention recently is crossing the border and asking for asylum. As you cross in, you encounter U.S. Border Patrol or some other agency, and then you say you are there because it’s not safe to go back to your country. They apply for asylum, file all the government paperwork, and then after about six months — though there are all kinds of caveats with it — they can apply for a work permit and work.

The threshold for winning an asylum case is that you have to prove that going home would put you at great risk of harm or death, because of the circumstances that caused you to apply for asylum.

So when people say, oh, well, they’re illegals — many of the immigrants thrown in jail are documented, they’re working, they’re contributing to the economy, they’re paying taxes, and they have no criminal record.

So has it changed recently?

Since the start of Trump’s current term it has been horrendous. This administration puts everybody in this category called “Illegals.” And what’s happening is people are being arrested and detained by either ICE or U.S. Border Patrol. It doesn’t matter which — the end result is pretty much the same. Border Patrol’s line of authority is supposed to be within 100 miles of a border. And so for Maine, that’s the entire state, basically.

We have about 32 clients who have been picked up, arrested, and detained. It might be a few more at this point, but that’s just who I’m aware of. They’re all men, and to the best of my knowledge, none of them has committed a crime or had interaction with law enforcement — maybe somebody has a parking ticket somewhere, but nothing criminal.

There’s a lot of racial profiling going on when people are driving. They pull people over. It’s been mostly young Black and brown men.

What happens after they are picked up by ICE or Border Patrol?

The men aren’t usually told why they are being picked up. Their families are not generally informed. Often, they take people as far away as possible. They might briefly be held in Maine, either in the Cumberland County Jail or the Two Bridges Jail in Wiscasset and then flown to Arizona, Texas, or somewhere else. The goal is to make it as hard as possible by moving people far from their families, attorneys, and support systems. It often takes several days or longer for their families to locate them.

Once someone is taken, you don’t know how long it’s going to be. You don’t know if the family is going to get an order for deportation or if just the husband will and the rest of the family is stuck having to make this horrible decision. Or they could just languish in jail while things move slowly. Some people are granted bond (bail) and others don’t have that option. There are more unknowns than knowns when someone is taken.

What sorts of things does Hope Acts do now?

We are helping families however we can. Losing the household income of the person detained creates a cascade of impacts, aside from dealing with the emotional side of things. Because now there’s no income. We’ll get in touch with employers and schools if requested by the client or their family. We help people find an attorney if they don’t already have one. In any given case, multiple agencies, people from the client’s ethnic and faith community, and individual volunteers are banding together.

Every case has its own little quirks. Every jail and each court work slightly differently. If somebody’s in jail in Texas, they’re likely to have a different experience than somebody in Ohio. It’s all bad, but in terms of whether they can have visitors, how they access communication, how they pay for basic supplies — it varies.

We often write letters of support — a character reference — for our clients, and we’ll encourage other people who know the individual — employers and clergy, for example — to submit letters as well. A recent example is a man who has volunteered with Hope Acts for a long time. He works for a major Maine employer, and he has a wife and two children, a toddler and a baby. It was easy to write a letter to the judge listing the many contributions this person makes to our organization and our economy.

We work closely with another organization called Mainers for Humane Immigration. They help set up commissary accounts for people in jails, because people have to make phone calls, they have to buy shampoo and soap and toothpaste, and they have no way to do it. A commissary account is a lifeline for our incarcerated clients.

And what were the numbers like before Trump was reelected?

It was unheard of for the people we work with — people who are all engaged in the lawful process of applying for asylum.

It sounds like kidnapping! And what about due process? It is hard to grasp this is what is going on now in this country! Why are they held in jail? How is that even justified?

Because they’re “criminals” in the eyes of the administration. Sadly, too many people have bought into these racist lies.

Do you have any staff or clients who have been taken by ICE and ultimately freed?

About two weeks ago, one of my staff members informed me that Felix [not his real name], a long-time volunteer with Hope Acts, was picked up by ICE in Portland. Felix is an asylum seeker, husband, and father of two children under four years old. He has a work permit and is employed by one of Maine’s largest employers. He has no criminal record.

Felix was “lucky.” He had an attorney, and the judge in charge of his case allowed him to post bond. While he still has to win his asylum case in court, he is no longer imprisoned. I was thrilled just the other day to get a phone call from him: “Martha, I am home.”

Where do you see this going in the future?

With ICE funding about to have a massive increase, the situation is clearly going to become much worse in the near future. Fortunately, many people in communities across Maine are working to keep their immigrant neighbors safe. If a community member is detained, neighbors are stepping up to photograph and document the arrest and doing whatever they can to help. Some are established groups, others are informal networks.

How can people help?

I’d have to say, basically four ways.

·      By donating money: All organizations working with immigrants need financial support to staff operations. Other groups raise funds for bonds, attorneys, and more. These include the Solidarity Fund(https://presentemaine.networkforgood.com/projects/254055-the-maine-solidarity-fund), Mainers for Humane Immigration (www.mainersforhumaneimmigration.org/donate), Project Relief(https://www.facebook.com/ProjectReliefME), and others.

·      By volunteering:

Attorneys: There is a huge need for detention and immigration attorneys. Please contact the Maine ACLU, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, and/or the University of Maine Law School Refugee and Human Rights Clinic.

Interpreters and translators: Whether it’s communicating with a family or responding to a request by a judge for translated documents, Hope Acts is grateful to volunteers who speak and write other languages. Top needs are French, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Drivers: We need drivers to bring clients to check-in appointments with ICE, to deliver client documents to the ICE office (in Scarborough), and to drive clients to the Boston and Chelmsford (Mass.) Immigration Courts. 

·      By advocating: Keep up the protests, write to our Congressional delegation, send LTEs, connect with a local immigrant support group, or start one in your community.

·      And by staying informed: Everyone should watch the ACLU’s Know Your Rights videos, available in multiple languages (https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/immigrants-rights#overview). Stay up to date on immigration policy with ILAP’s monthly newsletter (https://ilapmaine.org/news). And for news about Maine’s immigrant communities and much more read Amjambo Africa (https://www.amjamboafrica.com).