WORCESTER – Catholic Charities Worcester County stopped offering immigration services after the director, Kaska Yawo, a Liberian refugee, left to work full-time at African Community Education, a program he co-founded in Worcester to tutor African children.
That was a few years ago, Executive Director Timothy McMahon said.
The need for the services never went away, however.
Mr. McMahon said that, during the pandemic, non-citizens were reluctant to pick up food at Catholic Charities out of fear of affecting their immigration status or out of fear of being deported. So, the organization began delivering food to them.
“When folks needed food and they were afraid to come get it,” Mr. McMahon said. “that’s when we said, ‘We really need to start up a program again.’”
In January, Rhiannon Snide was hired as the first attorney to coordinate immigration services. Her mission is to provide immigrants with services and guide them along the path to citizenship.
Ms. Snide, 26, grew up in Pelham, New Hampshire, and she graduated from UMass-Amherst in 2018 and Albany Law School in 2021. She joined Catholic Charities after working as a staff attorney at the law offices of Johanna Herrero in Boston since the previous September. She had also served as an immigration legal intern for Greater Boston Legal Services in Boston for nine months and as a shelter attendant for the Interfaith Partnership for the Homeless in Albany for 2½ years.
She had planned to become a criminal defense lawyer but changed her mind after serving internships in immigration services.
“I decided that immigration was a path that I was really passionate about,” she said. “I see the difference we make in peoples’ lives and I agree with it. I just don’t think borders should limit somebody from accessing health care, safety, food, resources, things like that.”
“She really hit the ground running and has been doing a great job in getting this thing going,” Mr. McMahon said.
Ms. Snide credited her supervisor, Maydee Morales, director of emergency services at Catholic Charities, for also advocating for immigration services.
“Between her personal connections and her guidance as emergency services director,” Ms. Snide said, “she is basically the reason we are able to connect our clients with so many social service resources in the area.”
Recently, Yvette Ababio joined immigration services as a paralegal and Nahla Kyasa began serving an internship. Rich Boucher volunteers twice a week.
“I enjoy helping people,” Ms. Ababio said. “I just wish I could do more for them.”
“Legal assistance isn’t necessarily the end-all for every client’s success,” Ms. Snide said. “We want to be a bridge to access health care, housing, food and all these other crucial needs for immigrants to really integrate into our society.”
Ms. Snide said some of the people she works with have come from the border and face deportation unless they can demonstrate eligibility for immigration relief. Other people hold visitor or immigrant visas because they’re spouses or children of a U.S. citizen. For the latter, immigration services help them become citizens.
Immigration services will host a citizenship clinic from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 12, at Rock of Salvation Pentecostal Church at 829 Main St. Legal permanent residents who are eligible to apply for citizenship or naturalization will receive free legal assistance. Donations will help subsidize at least part of the $725 filing fee for individuals who aren’t granted a fee waiver. Walk-ins are welcome.
Immigration services also assist in humanitarian applications, including those seeking asylum and those who are victims of domestic violence or abuse or human trafficking. The organization has also recently begun helping people in deportation proceedings or immigration court.
“That’s really expanded our services,” Ms. Snide said, “and those are the individuals that often need most of our social service assistance and support.”
Catholic Charities provides immigration services in each of their four regional offices: Worcester, Leominster, Southbridge and Milford.
Ms. Snide said since June she and her small staff have handled cases for more than 150 clients of all religions, but have spoken with or assisted hundreds of people.
“Without these services,” she said, “a lot of people would be paying significant amounts of money to private attorneys, or they would not have any legal assistance whatsoever because there’s been such an influx of immigration legal needs. The need has increased so much in Worcester and Central Massachusetts.”
Ms. Snide said some non-profits have stopped taking cases or temporarily closed their registrations, leaving a lot of people without low-cost or free legal service options. So, immigration services are trying to fill the void.
Ms. Snide said non-citizens arrive in Worcester from the U.S.-Mexico border nearly every day, some of them bussed in with no idea of where they were headed.
“I think a lot of our immigration laws and regulations are unconscionable,” she said, “and I think what’s going on at the border right now, no matter what portion you’re talking about, is equally as unconscionable.”
Ms. Snide is bothered by talk of the U.S. sending Haitian immigrants to Guantanamo Bay or another country.
“We have the resources,” she said. “We have the ability to create affordable housing. We have the resources to support these people. We just don’t initiate what’s needed to get that started. It’s really disheartening to see that people are being treated so inhumanely.”
Ms. Snide supported the passing of Question 4 on the ballot, allowing Massachusetts residents who could not provide proof of lawful presence in the U.S. to obtain a standard driver’s license or learner’s permit. With 86 percent of the vote counted, Wednesday morning, the Associated Press reported that Massachusetts’ voters passed Question 4 with a count of 53% to 47%. The Massachusetts bishops had urged Catholics to vote yes.
“I think it will be so beneficial for not only road safety,” she said, “but driving and being comfortable on the road is so important for these individuals to access other resources. Individuals who are able to work or eligible to work, it’s crucial for them to get legal assistance, it’s crucial for them to be able to drive their kids to school.”