Become a Driver

RIDES

Immigrants who live in the New Bedford area often must report to the Massachusetts ICE office in Burlington for check-ins. The office in Burlington is not accessible by public transportation. It is located behind the Burlington Mall. Sometimes immigrants must go to an office in Worcester or Cranston to be fingerprinted in order to be approved to get a minor relative out of detention at the border. Occasionally we have accompanied immigrants to appointments in court in South Boston.

Through a simple sign-up system the network has been able to provide over 300 rides to immigrants from the New Bedford area since January. Once you sign up as a driver, you can decide where and how often you are willing to drive. A coordinator will discuss each scheduled ride with you. An additional Spanish speaking coordinator will work with you to connect with the person to whom you are giving the ride. Occasionally we have hiccups like sending you to the wrong location or you needing to wait a longer time for the person at their appointment but overall this is rare. We also have available a small Spanish dictionary which can be printed and brought with you with common phrases you might need to communicate with your rider. In addition we have car seats that we loan out if the rider has a child but does not have a car seat. Children often need to attend these appointments with their parents.

We also have a script of a letter that you can use to help us recruit other drivers. You can download the letter and customize it to make it more personal. The link to get the letter is here on the left.