Immigration attorney briefs Worcester Human Rights Commission on rising enforcement, legal protections and resources

Susan Church, an immigration attorney, told the Worcester Human Rights Commission on Aug. 1 that recent federal enforcement activity has expanded in settings beyond traditional ports of entry and advised residents, service providers and employers on practical steps to protect immigrants and families.

Church described differences among the Department of Homeland Security components — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) — and said CBP now conducts enforcement operations within 100 miles of the border, including checkpoints and roadside stops in New England. She told commissioners that officers can request to search phones and computers at secondary inspections and that at least two attorneys have recently been detained during such inspections before being released.

Church said arrests often arise from collateral contacts with the criminal system: when local police take fingerprints after an arrest, that data can be shared with federal immigration systems and trigger ICE courthouse arrests. She told the commission that the current enforcement posture includes arrests at immigration check-ins and, increasingly, arrests in immigration court. She said pending applications, work authorization or asylum filings do not reliably prevent arrest.

The presentation included practical guidance Church said families should prepare now: identify caregivers and execute caregiver affidavits for children; keep copies of identification, immigration documents and a lawyer’s G-28 authorization form; store passports and birth records where family members can access them; and, when possible, have a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident meet arriving travelers at airports. Church said parents should confirm home-country document rules (she cited Brazil as an example where parents may need a foreign birth certificate to obtain a passport for a U.S.-born child).

Church reviewed legal technicalities she said attendees should understand: ICE needs a judicial warrant to enter a private home; administrative ICE warrants differ and use DHS letterhead; reasonable suspicion is required for many vehicle stops; probable cause is required to arrest; and absent a judicial warrant, officers must show both that a person is unlawfully present and likely to flee to arrest on the street. She said courts have narrowed federal remedies for misconduct (referencing limits on Bivens actions) and that civil enforcement mechanisms are constrained.

Church summarized the federal harboring statute and recent case law, including the Hansen decision in the U.S. Supreme Court, and said the statute’s reach has been clarified but remains unsettled. She advised that providing basic needs, legal help and lawful assistance to people with documented or pending status is unlikely to constitute harboring, while deliberate acts to hide someone from enforcement (for example, warning of imminent investigations or installing systems to conceal employees) have been treated as higher risk in precedent.

Church described state and local resources. She said the state Attorney General’s Office, working with ORI, helped launch the Legal Representation Fund (LRF), administered by the Boston Immigrant Justice Coordination Network, which can provide pro bono representation to detained immigrants who meet eligibility (Massachusetts residents, workers in Massachusetts, or detained in Massachusetts; no final order of removal; and other basic screens). Church said ORI’s outreach program and a community support initiative bring lawyers and state service providers into local community meetings for intake and assistance.

Church gave examples and quantitative details: her office has counted about 11,000 attendees to Know Your Rights presentations; she warned that green card holders with even old criminal convictions may be detained on return from travel; she described a recent case of extended detention for a green card holder with a decades-old sealed marijuana charge. Church said Haitian TPS remains authorized through Feb. 2026 under the guidance she cited, and she described employer guidance the office published to reduce wrongful terminations and navigate I-9 reverification issues.

Commissioners asked about legal standards for stops, when a person must state their name, whether houses of worship are private places for purposes of warrant law, and what recourse exists if ICE acts outside its authority. Church advised that interrogation can occur without a legal threshold, reasonable suspicion applies to car stops, and immigrants are generally required to carry proof of status; she recommended contacting civil-rights groups such as the ACLU for potential systemic remedies and encouraged partnerships that bring lawyers into community meetings.

Church shared practical links and phone numbers for detainee locators, the LRF hotline and legal-resource pages, and asked commissioners and community groups to invite lawyers into local gatherings. She also recommended that employers be cautious about reverification and warned that some parole-based authorizations have been revoked and that verification timing can be complex.

Commissioners thanked Church for the presentation and requested the slides and materials for distribution. Patricia Lafore, director of Human Rights and Accessibility for the City of Worcester, agreed to circulate Church’s materials to commissioners when available, and commissioners discussed coordinating local outreach events with ORI and other partners.

Ending: Commissioners said they would use Church’s materials to inform outreach and community education work and noted a desire to invite similar legal briefings to neighborhood meetings.