As a social worker I believe that the town of Plymouth, and other Massachusetts towns should prohibit ICE raids in immigrant-based family communities. I find it so upsetting that there are ICE raids being performed in areas of North Plymouth that are highly populated with Brazilian families. The families in these communities are innocent; they are just hard-working individuals who want better for their families. Targeting areas that are known to have higher populations of undocumented immigrants is inhumane. Just because someone is undocumented, it does not mean they are a criminal. As a social worker we must advocate to kick ICE out of Plymouth.
When ICE raids are performed, even though women are also taken, most of the time men are targeted. When fathers are kidnapped from their own homes, it leaves a burden on the entire family. In Brazilian culture especially, the father is usually the head of the household, providing most of the financial stability. When a father is suddenly detained and split apart from his family, his family will financially struggle.
When I was six years old my Brazilian father was detained, and deported by ICE. My father was the provider at home, so this ruined my family. My mother, myself, and my 3 brothers had to live with family members until my mother could get back on her feet. It breaks my heart to see that more than 15 years later this is still something that is affecting families. Families come to the United States for a better life. It is so hard to come the “right way.”
I believe that Plymouth, and all other towns in Massachusetts can do better than this. Most people will say that they don’t have an opinion regarding these ICE raids, but this is because they probably have never had anyone close to them who is an undocumented immigrant. I believe to fix this problem of ICE kidnapping innocent families, we as social workers should get groups together to protest, even if the people involved do not have an “opinion.” After we get enough people to protest, we should get everyone at the protest to sign a petition so we can present it to the governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, to have ICE banned from Plymouth, and all other towns/cities. We as social workers need to get these ICE bandits kicked out from our family towns.
– Shailyn Da Silva