Allston-Brighton Residents Call for Release of Detained Immigrant Workers at Vigil

More than a hundred Allston-Brighton residents and local leaders gathered in Union Square in Allston on Thursday evening for a vigil honoring nine car wash workers who were arrested by immigrant enforcement officers earlier this week.

The nine people, at least some of whom are nationals of Guatemala or El Salvador, were working at the Allston Car Wash on Cambridge Street Tuesday morning when roughly 10 masked officers — some wearing vests that read “POLICE” — drove into the car wash and arrested some of the workers there.

Thursday’s vigil, which was organized by the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts, was held a few blocks from the car wash at the intersection of Cambridge Street and Brighton Avenue.

“These are not just workers, they’re people who care for our community every day through their labor and maintain the vehicles that carry our children, our elders, and our essential workers,” Lucimara Rodrigues, a member of the Brazilian Women’s Group, told attendees through a translator.

“We are here to witness them to hold space for their absence and to demand that they be safe returned to their homes,” she added.

Only seven of the nine workers detained have been located so far, according to Todd Pomerleau, an attorney whose office filed habeas corpus lawsuits on behalf of the nine detained immigrants. The workers are currently being held in ICE facilities in Burlington, the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, and the Strafford County Department of Corrections in New Hampshire, according to Pomerleau.

Records in ICE’s online locator showed at least two of the detained workers — Yuli Magali Mendez Luarca and Clarisa Aguilon, both Guatemalan nationals — were being held at ICE facilities but did not specify their location. Hector Valladares, of El Salvador, was listed as being held at the Plymouth prison on Thursday night.

The other six could not be found in the ICE locator, which requires full names and countries of origin, and does not provide information on detainees under 18. Court documents identified Felicita Valladares as a national of El Salvador.

Pomerleau’s office also filed habeas corpus complaints on behalf of Heidy Aguilon, Vanessa Vasquez Valladares, Jose P. Enriquez Sagastume, Dairo Preciado, and Pablo Oseas Lopez.

Pomerleau said at least two of his clients told him they were denied food and access to a phone for two days at the Burlington ICE facility.

“People are being treated inhumanely,” Pomerleau said.

An ICE spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday night.

Pomerleau said none of the workers had prior criminal records. He said some of them either had legal documentation to work or were in the process of applying for asylum and green cards.

“It’s gonna be frightening for anyone to see this, let alone some of these people are following the lawful process applying for asylum,” Pomerleau said. “I know one of the people is just waiting, awaiting his green card. It’s just not available yet because there’s a visa backlog. It’s not his fault.”

During Thursday’s vigil, a speaker read a statement from Mendez Luarca’s sister, who wrote that her family has been “deeply distressed” as they are left in the dark about Mendez Luarca’s status.

“It is very worrisome what is happening to immigrants in this moment, and we know this feeling is shared among the other families whose loved ones were also taken,” the sister wrote.

“We are very worried because, up to this moment, we do not know anything about her or how she is doing. We are left in anguish,” she added.

Allston-Brighton’s City Councilor Elizabeth A. “Liz” Breadon, speaking at the vigil, applauded the neighborhood’s resilience in supporting the immigrant workers and criticized the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“This is a community that has turned up in the cold and the dark and short notice to rally in support of people they may have never met or they may have met down the street at the car wash,” she said.

“ICE doesn’t know our community. ICE’s goal is to intimidate us. ICE’s goal is to break our spirits. ICE’s goal is to cower us into silence,” Breadon added. “But because I know the Allston-Brighton community, I also know that they will never, ever succeed.”

State Rep. Kevin G. Honan and Boston City Councilors Enrique J. Pepén and Benjamin J. Weber also attended the vigil on Thursday.

LUCE dedicated a GoFundMe fundraiser to support the families of those arrested. Since the raid on Tuesday, the organization has raised more than $20,000.

Amanda Eisenhour, an organizer with LUCE’s Allston-Brighton hub, commended the work of volunteers in the neighborhood for organizing the vigil. She said that within 20 minutes of the arrest, LUCE sent volunteers to gather information about the incident.

“This, to me, is the greatest example of what mutual aid looks like. It’s community coming together,” Eisenhour said.

“Rights matter only so much as we know how to exercise them,” she added.

—Staff writer Kevin Zhong can be reached at kevin.zhong@thecrimson.com.