Ascentria Care Alliance — Providing Essential Immigration Legal Services in Central and Western Massachusetts

Program Director Jessica Pelletier, Esq. Will Be Featured Speaker at 2025 Annual Meeting

For centuries, immigrants have come to the United States in search of a better life, often seeking refuge from abuse and economic insecurity. Today, the path to legal status has become increasingly complex, marked by tedious applications, prolonged wait times, shifting policies, and frequent arrests.

Access to legal services makes successfully maneuvering through the immigration system much more feasible, yet many face it alone. Nationally, only 37% of immigrants have legal representation in court, and the number drops to 14% for detained immigrants as reported by an American Immigration Council (AIC) study. The same study underscores that represented immigrants are much more likely to apply for and obtain relief from deportation.

Ascentria Care Alliance, a collective of social enterprises and community services throughout the New England region, is improving outcomes for the immigrant community through their humanitarian-based immigration legal services.

Ascentria’s Worcester-based Immigration Legal Assistance Program serves immigrant survivors of abuse or other trauma, helping clients access necessary resources and legal support. Currently, the program operates under two main grants which focus on providing legal representation to vulnerable immigrant youth, particularly unaccompanied minors. They support youth placed in long term foster care after entering the U.S. without a parent or legal guardian. Many of these clients qualify for Special Immigrant Juvenile Visas, which means they are dependent on the court for their wellbeing due to abuse, abandonment, or neglect in their home country.

As the National Immigrant Justice Center highlights, 73% of unaccompanied children with legal representation are allowed to stay in the U.S. compared to only 15% of those without representation. Ascentria’s advocacy is essential.

Leading this effort is Jessica Pelletier, Esq., a 2008 graduate of New England Law | Boston. Pelletier began at Ascentria in 2022 after deciding to transition from her work in criminal law with the District Attorney’s Office in Worcester County. She was driven by the devastating images of Afghan citizens clinging to U.S. planes during the country’s collapse, an event which emphasized the urgent need for asylum relief.

Reflecting on how she chose to join Ascentria, Pelletier said, “I couldn’t get those images out of my head. The staff attorney position was specifically for the Afghan grant, and that opportunity was something that I was really interested in pursuing.” Pelletier became the program’s Director in 2023 and has overseen the organization amid growing demand for services.

Pelletier shared that most of her clients come to the U.S. because the government in their home country is unable to protect them. They are primarily motivated by safety and security, both for themselves and their families.

“I most recently had a case of a woman who was experiencing abuse towards her children and profound domestic violence in El Salvador and had been experiencing that since she was 15 years old,” Pelletier said. “In that country, there was one domestic violence shelter and not a strong government response to domestic violence crimes. Abusers would get arrested and then released a few hours later. No court cases, no convictions, no jail time. So, she came to the United States, applied for asylum, and won her case.”

“Our clients really want a better life, and they participate in their communities,” she continued. “They go to church; they work. One of the first things we get asked is, how can I work? How can I support my family?”

Immigrants in Massachusetts are active, productive members of society. According to the Migration Policy Institute, 18% of the state’s residents are foreign born. Yet, they make up an even larger segment of the labor force at 22%. The American Immigration Council further reports that immigrants account for 26% of Massachusetts entrepreneurs and play a huge role in the state’s economy as earners, consumers, and taxpayers. “Rather than a drain on communities, refugees, with their high employment rate and entrepreneurial spirit, actually sustain and strengthen their new hometowns,” the AIC states.

Despite their many contributions, anti-immigrant sentiment is growing in the U.S. amidst intensified efforts to deport immigrant community members. “There's a level of fear and so many questions that people have at this point that is so profound, scary, and sad, and we provide them as much information as possible,” Pelletier said. “But the reality is, with this administration, things are changing at such an incredibly rapid pace.”

“For as afraid as they are about what's happening right now, they are also so afraid for family members that they may have left behind,” she continued.

The demand remains high for immigrant legal services, especially as providers keep up with policy changes. After losing grants, however, Ascentria’s program has had to decrease from 21 staff members to ten. The West Springfield office has closed. “Our downsizing is not based on a lack of demand by any means,” said Pelletier.

Funding continues to be a major challenge for organizations like Ascentria, especially due to the lengthy nature of immigration cases. Oftentimes, grants from state or federal funding sources will run out before cases come to completion. “For example, I was hired under an Afghan grant, which was only ever going to last for two years,” Pelletier explained. “We would have to get green cards or apply for asylum status for a lot of the people, and we still have open cases from that. We started taking them in 2021.”

Even with funding constraints, Pelletier and her staff remain dedicated to the people they serve. “We feel like we have an ethical and moral responsibility not to abandon clients just because a funding source has run out,” she stated.

Pelletier remarked that grants from foundations are critical for sustaining her team’s work as other grants expire. She cited a human trafficking grant from the Department of Justice which was not renewed even though around 67 clients were still being served under it.

“Partnerships with funders like the Massachusetts Bar Foundation (MBF) are utterly essential,” Pelletier said. “They're a foundation of what enables us to provide these services to people in the community. And it's not even just about getting someone their green card. You're providing them with safety, stability, a means to self-sufficiency, and the ability to provide for their family.” Ascentria is a long-standing MBF grantee, consistently receiving funding for over two decades.

The MBF is proud to support Ascentria’s Immigration Legal Assistance Program. Pelletier and her team exemplify a cohort of advocates and legal service providers committed to supporting the immigrant communities that enrich our neighborhoods, schools, and businesses.

In a time of uncertainty and fear for the community, Pelletier and many in the immigration space are emphasizing the importance of Know Your Rights resources. Educating the community on how to interact with law enforcement and what to do in the event of being stopped or detained by ICE is critical.

It is also key to spread awareness about how the immigration process works and what the immigrant community is experiencing. “It is worrying how people are trying to change the language to describe what is happening and saying things like someone is here illegally when they are not,” Pelletier said. “They may have been paroled into this country for humanitarian purposes. They may have a designation called temporary protected status, and these are all categories of legal status.”

“But it's the fact that there's a tendency right now to place an entire category of persons at a disadvantage and use language that is inherently dehumanizing. It is an alarming indicator,” she continued.

In today’s climate, it is vital to highlight the life changing work of organizations like Ascentria Care Alliance, which provides essential aid to immigrant populations. Jessica Pelletier will be the grantee speaker at the Massachusetts Bar Foundation’s Annual Meeting on March 11. Register today to hear more from this community leader. The MBF is committed to providing opportunities for everyone to thrive in Massachusetts, no matter where they came from.

Immediately prior to publishing, the MBF was made aware that, as of February 18, 2025, the Office of Refugee Resettlement has issued a stop work order on all of Ascentria Care Alliance’s unaccompanied minor cases.

For more information on this developing situation, click here.