Waltham crowd gathers to support mother of detained immigrant

Several dozen people gathered at the corner of Chestnut and Moody streets on Monday night in support of a Waltham mother whose son was reportedly detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to a video posted by the woman on Feb. 26, her son was arrested on Feb. 4.

The Waltham Times has not been able to confirm whether ICE had detained the man.

Jonathan Paz, a former Ward 9 city councilor and an immigrant and refugee advocate, said “The young man had a certain situation with his car license. I don’t want to comment much on that, but I’ll just say that this boy didn’t hurt anyone. He wasn’t a criminal. He deserved a legal process, that’s what the courts are for, and he’s already in deportation proceedings. His mother couldn’t get a lawyer to help with the situation.” 

Word of the incident has made local immigrants afraid to leave their homes, said Amarely Gutiérrez Oliver of REACH Beyond Domestic Violence, a nonprofit that supports people experiencing domestic violence. 

Oliver said people who need help to escape domestic violence are now afraid to seek help. She wants people in crisis to know “everything we do is confidential.” 

She added, “We can provide support virtually so they don’t need to leave the house.”

Paz and Oliver are interviewed in the videos below (credit: Joseph Sharkey). For translated subtitles, turn on closed captions (CC) and set to auto-translate into the language of your choice under settings.