Over 109 executive orders have been released by President Trump, which have sparked discussions across the nation. These conversations are familiar to Brookline as well, as it is a diverse community, with 27.2 percent of the population born outside of the United States. A small committee of 8, the Brookline Immigration Advancement Committee helps bring together newcomers and current residents of Brookline through stories, speeches and more.
The Brookline Immigration Advancement Committee (BIAC) is a volunteer-run subcommittee of the Offices of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Relations (ODEICR), which aims to help all newcomers—immigrants and people from other parts of the United States—acclimate to Brookline. They recently published a pamphlet answering questions about Brookline schools, jobs, recreational activities and more. However, under the Trump administration, the committee is facing challenges to their accomplishments.
According to Jessica Chicco, chair of the BIAC, the committee was founded for the purpose of welcoming immigrants and promoting inclusivity in local government.
“It really came from a place of wanting to learn more about Brookline’s immigrant communities and wanting to do more to bring members of all of our really diverse immigrant communities into town government,” Chicco said.
Currently, the committee has eight members who meet once a month and function under open meeting law, meaning that their meetings must be open to the public. Other than their Welcome to Brookline pamphlet, the committee hired Ahmad Hamssa, a language access coordinator, and put up Know Your Rights posters around the high school, which detail what to do when encountering officers from the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They are currently organizing a celebration of immigrant stories to be held at the Brookline Village Public Library in June.
In order to support immigrants, Caitlin Starr, chair of ODEICR and staff liaison of the BIAC is partnering with the library to host forums for immigrants to speak in light of the new executive orders under the Trump Administration.
“[We’ll have] two of them in April. One will be in English and Spanish at the beginning of the month, and one will be in English at the end of the month,” Starr said. “We know that these kinds of events tend to draw advocates, and not necessarily the immigrants themselves who need the resources.”
In regards to the executive orders, Starr said she feels that under the new presidential administration, many of the committee’s triumphs are being revoked.
“I think we’re having conversations about things that we thought were done. We had moved on to the next area of focus, and now, we seem to be going back and protecting the things that we’ve already put in place,” Starr said.
Chicco, who works as an immigration lawyer by day, said the executive orders have emphasized negative connotations that have led to less and less immigrants being in contact with the organization.
“Regardless of the lots of different policy changes, the overarching impact is really demonizing our immigrant communities,” Chicco said.
Paul Epstein, a social worker at the high school, works with many students to improve their mental health through counseling. He said he urges people to think about the constant anxiety someone might feel because of an uncertain citizenship status.
“Think about the constant state of elevated fear about the possibility of someone you know or yourself being deported or arrested or detained. I mean, that is the mental health toll of living in that constant state of fear, and it’s actually affecting the way you are living your life,” Epstein said.
Through conversations between immigrants and BIAC leaders, Chicco said she has learned that the executive orders have impacted the immigrant community by promoting ostracizing and discriminatory language toward them.
“I would say that there is a common thread that runs across many of the executive orders and policies that are coming out right now from the Trump administration,” Chicco said. “That thread is really ugly rhetoric with regards to our immigrant communities.”
