From a squat gray brick building on Castle Street in North Plymouth, Pastor Gessuy Freitas leads a congregation of about 100 at the First Brazilian Baptist Church of Plymouth.
The congregation has been roiled by recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, leaving families frightened, and wondering what will happen next.
Freitas said that 90 percent of the church’s members are Brazilian immigrants. In Brazil, most were farmers, he said. Many of the most recent arrivals are fleeing violence in their home country.
In Plymouth, they are – like most people – trying to eke out a living and be part of the greater community. The men work in construction and landscaping. Most of the women clean houses. Their children attend local schools.
Many have been here for years. Some are U.S. citizens.
“The church offers tremendous support for them,” Freitas said in a recent interview in his office at the church. “That’s where they get well, [develop] good relationships.”
Sunday school and other programs for children bring the parents in, and that creates a community, he said.
“The kids like to be here,” Freitas said.
But in recent months, he said, the congregation’s families have been terrorized by ICE raids – and the ongoing fear that federal agents will return.
Freitas believes more than 20 people in Plymouth’s Brazilian community have been detained so far. Not all are part of the First Brazilian Baptist Church, but he cares for all of them.
“I see my church as my family [but also] I see my community as part of my family,” he said.
Because of the uncertainty, many local Brazilians have withdrawn from their daily routines.
“They’re scared,” Freitas said. “They are locked [in] at home. They are afraid of doing anything.”
Many avoid coming to church now, he said. They don’t even go to the supermarket.
“They’re afraid to drive,” Freitas said. “They’re afraid to be outside.”
The congregation helps people by buying food, and the church itself provides a place where they can find a sense of stability.
Emotional support is the most important, Freitas said, especially when a father is detained and his wife is home with the children now that school is out.
The constant fear of having their families torn apart, however, is driving some to give up on the American dream that brought them to Plymouth.
“Some families are already going back to Brazil because they’re scared,” Freitas said. “They don’t want to be caught by ICE and go to jail.”
Freitas tries to provide encouragement to his congregants during this time of trial. He tells them that what they are going through is like a proverbial journey through a desert.
“There’s a way to get in, but [also] a way to get out,” he said.
After 39 years in the United States, he takes the long view. A few more months, maybe years, and things will probably get better, he said.
Freitas estimates that half his congregation is undocumented and an even higher number – 80 percent – of the estimated 3,500 Brazilians who live in Plymouth are undocumented.
Most of them live North Plymouth, partly because rents are cheaper there, but also for another reason – until two years ago, undocumented immigrants could not get a driver’s license in Massachusetts, so people needed to carpool to work with those who did have a license.
“They have to be close to one another,” Freitas said.
In addition, by living in North Plymouth, parents can walk their children to Hedge Elementary School. And when some mothers have to go to work early, other women help by walking their children to school, Freitas said.
“Sometimes you’re going to see one person with [four or five] kids walking behind, because they take everybody so the others can continue to [go to] work,” he said.
Despite the solidarity, he said, in the end there is not much the Brazilian community can do to protect itself from ICE raids.
“ICE is going to go places,” he said. “You’re not going to stay inside the house 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
But he holds on to hope that times will change eventually.
“I believe God is in control, even right now,” he said. “We don’t know tomorrow but tomorrow can be better.”
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org.