Local Leaders, Residents Hold Allston Rally To Condemn Alleged ICE Activity

More than a hundred Allston-Brighton residents and local leaders gathered on a lawn behind the Charlesview Residences affordable housing complex on Tuesday evening to protest alleged Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the neighborhood, pledging to “stand up and fight back” for their immigrant neighbors.

Rumors of local ICE activity have swirled across the neighborhood in recent days, with accounts of at least five different ICE sightings since May 5 circulating over Facebook groups, email listservs, and by word of mouth.

Protesters condemned alleged ICE arrests, but The Crimson was not able to verify whether arrests had been made in the neighborhood. A spokesperson for ICE did not immediately return a request to confirm whether, where, or when ICE has made any arrests in Allston-Brighton this month.

In speeches delivered in both English and Spanish, speakers at the protest denounced the climate of extreme fear that rumored ICE activity has wrought on the neighborhood’s immigrant population. Since the Trump administration mounted a campaign in January to deport millions of immigrants from the United States, local leaders across the country have said that many immigrants without legal status are opting to stay home and keep away from public spaces.

“We are here because ICE’s activity in our community is causing fear, pain, lost income, lost education, and is damaging all of the things that make a community healthy,” Anna E. Leslie, director of the Allston Brighton Health Collaborative, said.

In an interview before the protest, Boston City Councilor Elizabeth A. “Liz” Breadon, who is herself from Northern Ireland, noted that Allston-Brighton has long been an “immigrant neighborhood.”

She added that the Boston Police Department does not work with ICE to detain residents, and emphasized that residents should not fear that reporting crimes to the police will put them at risk of ICE detention.

Leslie, who helped to organize the protest, said in an interview afterward that she hoped the event had raised awareness that what many have largely consumed as a national issue is directly unfolding in their neighborhood.

“We want people to know this is happening here, in Allston-Brighton, and not somewhere else to someone else,” Leslie said. “This is happening to the parents of our schoolchildren and the people who work at our restaurants and the people that we walk by in the neighborhoods.”

Jo-Ann Barbour, executive director of the Charlesview Residences, said that fears of ICE are “retraumatizing” for some who live in the Charlesview and may have arrived to the U.S. after fleeing police repression in their home country.

Nicolasa López, a member of the Allston Brighton Health Collaborative board, called on attendees to stand up for their immigrant neighbors.

“Do not wait until they come for you, because they are threatening our immigration neighbors. They are threatening the very fabric of our democracy,” López said.

“Let us rise together, not as divided community, but as one people committed to justice, compassion, and the fundamental truth that no human being is illegal,” she said.

Throughout the rally, participants distributed flyers advertising LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts’s hotline for people to report ICE sightings, as well as know-your-rights print-outs for encounters with immigration authorities.

In her speech, Heloisa M. Galvão, executive director and co-founder of the Brazilian Women’s Group, spoke directly to immigrants fearing for their security.

“Hear my message for those who think that they do not have a voice: You do. You better. You have rights. Civil rights are not erased in this town,” Galvão said.

—Staff writer Angelina J. Parker contributed reporting.

—Staff writer Emily T. Schwartz can be reached at emily.schwartz@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @EmilySchwartz37.

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