A beloved and well-known leader in the immigrant rights and social services community received a death threat before a press event on Monday.
Gladys Vega is executive director of La Colaborativa, a social services organization that serves the Chelsea community, which is about 70% immigrant. She said on Monday, a white man approached her outside the organization’s building, claiming she had “destroyed the city.” Vega said the man knew who she was and the type of work she does.
“[He said], 'I have a countdown on you. Your days are numbered,'” Vega told a GBH News reporter on Thursday.
She said she is aware of who the individual is but did not identify him to GBH News. The organization has surveillance footage of the man in the building, where he had been taking photos and was present for an hour and a half before threatening Vega. The incident occurred when she was heading to City Hall to support the lawsuit filed against the Trump administration by Lawyers for Civil Rights on behalf of the sanctuary cities of Chelsea and Somerville.
Vega is unsure if she will press charges. “I have to decide that, and I’m not really sure what I’m going to do — but people are telling me that I should. I have to make that decision.”
The Chelsea Police Department didn’t reply to multiple requests for comment.
Now, Vega said she has three police details throughout the day monitoring all of La Colaborativa’s buildings. “It’s unnecessary, because that money can be going for our ESL classes, citizenship classes, etc. that I need to take care of my community,” she said. Vega initially mentioned the situation in La Hora del Café , a podcast by El Mundo Boston.
Elizabeth Sweet, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy coalition, said there have been other instances of organizations that work with immigrants receiving “negative messaging” in recent months.
“Which might range from an email criticizing them for carrying out their mission to voicemail that is disrespectful of the work they’re doing,” she said. The organization launched a project a few months ago called “Speak Up Against Hate,” asking the public to report to MIRA any “hate incidences and negative messages towards immigrants and immigrant-serving organizations.” Sweet said they are aware of a handful of instances so far, but it’s possible that more are happening that aren’t documented.
One state government resource she pointed to is the attorney general’s office. Victims of hate crimes or potential incidences can file a civil rights complaint with the office’s Civil Rights Division.
Other immigrant leaders in the community are also concerned. Sandra Lorena Aleman Nijjar is originally from El Salvador and heads the East Boston Community Soup Kitchen. Many of her clients are also immigrants.
Nijjar said she’s experienced many racist experiences in her personal life in East Boston, and the incident with Vega hits close to home as a fellow immigrant woman.
“It’s so scary and so awful, so dark for someone to be so hateful, to just come in and shout, yell and threaten her, you know, taking her life just because she’s standing up for what she believes in, standing up for human rights,” she said.
Nijjar said the individual who accosted Vega should be penalized, because not punishing him could embolden others to do something similar.
“We are immigrants and they automatically think that we are undocumented. They assume that we are criminals because we came to this country,” she said. “And all of that is not true. We are hardworking people. We are people with integrity. We are people, you know, with values. And we come here to work.”
