Posted on 04/10/2025 8:47:58 PM PDT by 11th_VA
Helena DaSilva Hughes, president of the Immigrants’ Assistance Center, said she’s been talking with Portuguese officials in the Azores to understand what families will need in order to “self-deport.” Credit: Jodi Hilton/The Public’s Radio Lucia flips through immigration papers she keeps in a large pink folder at her home in New Bedford. She’s originally from the Azorean islands, an autonomous region of Portugal, and has lived in the U.S. with her husband and two children for about 12 years.
The walls of her home are lined with family photos and potted plants with little Portuguese flags stand by the entrance. At the center of her living room, a large ceramic statue of the saint Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres watches over Lucia, cloaked in green robes.
For years, her life in the U.S. has been comfortable. She and her husband own their own businesses, and their kids are in the local school system.
“We fell in love with this country,” Lucia said. “I never felt scared here. I never felt that I was a target to no one.”
But Lucia said she no longer feels secure in the U.S. She sees the news about ICE raids across the country and here in New Bedford. It hits home because Lucia doesn’t have legal status to live in the U.S., and fears being targeted by immigration officials. That’s why The Public’s Radio is not using her full name.
“If they deport me, you know, I’m going to lose everything that I worked hard to build here; they won’t let me take anything with me,” Lucia said.
Lucia came to the U.S. for economic opportunities and a better education for her children. The family arrived on 90-day tourist visas. Now that she’s overstayed her visa for years, there isn’t a clear way for her to apply for citizenship. And her children don’t benefit from Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, because they came to the U.S. after 2012.
Lucia said she is scared of ending up detained in a cell and separated from her family. So her family is looking into leaving the country proactively before the Trump administration forces them to. But, Lucia says, it’s a hard decision to sell their home, their businesses, and leave their lives in the U.S. behind to return somewhere that, she feels, doesn’t have much for them.
“There’s nothing left for us there [in Portugal], even for my kids. No,” Lucia said. “It’s a big step. We have so many things. We have a life of 12 years. You cannot put 12 years in a bag and pack and go.”
Immigrant advocates in the region say that Ecuadoran and Brazilian immigrants are also considering self-deportation. But Helena DaSilva Hughes, president of the Immigrants’ Assistance Center in New Bedford, said most of the calls she’s getting are from Azorean immigrants.
DaSilva Hughes said there are at least 1,000 Portuguese families in Bristol County where at least some of the family members have overstayed on tourist visas. She said this includes people who have since started families, established businesses or are homeowners now.
“The ones who are basically trying to sell their house or they have small businesses. They’re trying to cash out so they can go back to Portugal,” DaSilva Hughes said…
The finale touch for tagging their homes is the bathtub shrine in the front yard
What the Hell was this stupid woman thinking? She cries about building a life in the US and now losing it. Did the idiot ever think that she should apply to become a permanent resident and go through the legal process? I guess not. Its easier to show up, stay illegally and hope you don’t get caught. I lived in countries in Europe and the Carribean for periods of time for work. I always made sure my papers were in order and never thought I would just stay illegally. It boggles my mind that people think that is OK.
Third world culture, Third world vaalues.
Do you know what WOP means? Do you know its historical significance?
“...potted plants with little Portuguese flags stand by the entrance.”
There ya go. Couldn’t they go to Hobby Lobby and find little AMERICAN flags?
They’re illegal; they don’t belong here.
That’s interesting - they’re scared, but not scared enough to just up and leave. They’re going to take the time to sell. Can’t sell a home or a business overnight.
Where do people get the idea they can come and stay? Outside the law?
Why not work for a better life/government/system where they were?
Did their kids speak English? Unless their lives were threatened, in coming here the best way I can think to “have a better life” is learn English.
Well, so many questions. None of which matter.
I see a lot of people moving to Portugal in youtube videos. They all like it and say it is a great place to live...
My Grandparents did the same thing, only they were actual refugees fleeing from communist aggression in Russia. And now the stupid idiot libtards want to do the same thing here. Where is there left to go? All these illegal aliens today just want to commit crimes and get handouts. My grandparents were farmers, and turned useless South Dakota plains into wheat fields to feed thousands. They were a tax burden to no one.
“Sounds like a Portuguese business family flying their Portuguese flags in America while making money off of Americans.”
____________________________________________
Those particular folks are so arrogant.
The multiple Portuguese flags in the plant pots practically jump off the page.
UGH.
Hughes, if you liked the place so much, you should have gone about keeping your visa updated and upgraded.
I think you mis-understood. Listen again. He was speaking of those who voluntarily deport within the next 60 days or so. After that point they won’t have the option of coming back.
He’s basically trying to incentivize self-deportation. He’s also setting himself up so that once we start deporting those who chose not to self-deport, he can respond to the critics and their sob-stories with “We gave them the opportunity to leave and come back, and they chose not to take that very generous offer.”
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