Members of the crowd laughed when Ciarán Nagle said “I stand here in front of you as the immigrant.”

It was because, Nagle said, he doesn’t look like one. An Irish immigrant who became an American citizen in December 2017, Nagle said he often raises his hand to tell people “My journey here is as relevant and as difficult for someone who doesn’t look like me” when he hears “immigrant” used in a derogatory fashion.

Furthermore, he noted that it was the Irish who were the undesirable immigrants a century ago.

“We were the worst of the worst,” said Nagle, who is an Irish tenor and owner of Foundation Kitchen – Share Commercial Kitchen. “We were the bottom of the barrel.”

Along with Mariposa Museum founder David Blair and Democratic state Rep. Peter Leishman, Nagle was one of three “conversation starters” at Wednesday’s Community Conversation – “Immigration and the Monadnock Region” – at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture, sponsored by the center and the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript.

In front of a crowd seated in chairs along the outside of the room, as well as two and three deep where there was room and standing along the wall where there was not, Nagle discussed the difficult journey to naturalization, starting with the decision to leave one’s home country and continuing through getting permanent residency, acquiring a green card and the forms and interviews and money required.

“In my route, I was lucky to marry the woman of my dreams, and she happened to be an American citizen, and provided a pathway for me,” he said.

Blair’s experience with immigration has included being the son and husband of immigrants, service as the English as a Second Language director at ConVal, working in the Philippine Refugee Processing Center, meeting immigrants through the Mariposa Museum and aiding asylum-seekers with Project Home. He said they have faced hardship to help their families and children.

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“If anyone believes in the American Dream, it is the immigrants I have come to know,” he said.

As ESL director from 1994 to 2002, the students he met included Cambodian-Americans among the 50 living in Peterborough at the time. Their grandparents came to the United States to escape the Khmer Rouge in the 1980s.

“They made lives for themselves and their families,” he said.

Leishman, who represents Peterborough and Sharon, said that in all his years in the Legislature, immigration bills are “something I never saw until recently.” Of particular concern is HB511, which passed the House 211-161 earlier this month and is now in the Senate. Titled “An act relative to cooperation with federal immigration authorities,” it “prohibits state and local government entities from adopting sanctuary policies to prohibit or impede the enforcement of federal immigration law.”

Peterborough has an ordinance preventing its police officers from participating in enforcing federal immigration laws or asking people their immigration status. Because of that ordinance, Select Board Chair Tyler Ward said that while Police Chief Scott Guinard was notified of February’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers search at the Mi Jalisco Mexican restaurant in the Peterborough Shopping Plaza and another recent incident, Peterborough officers did not participate.

Ward could not provide any details about a second incident, and Guinard could not be reached for comment.

“Going forward, I don’t know what would happen” if HB511 passes, Ward said.

What would happen, Leishman said, is that HB511 would supersede local ordinances like Peterborough’s. The bill’s text states that “a law enforcement agency shall use best efforts to support the enforcement of federal immigration law,” allowing the state attorney general’s office to sue in the event of a violation. 

As for how to fight the bill, Leishman said that while people protest with signs on sidewalks and legislators get hundreds of emails, what makes an impression is showing up in Concord. The Senate hearing for HB511 is Tuesday, April 29, at 1:40 p.m. in Room 100 of the state House.

“If people don’t show up, things happen,” he said.

After Blair, Nagle and Leishman spoke and before opening the floor to questions, moderator Adar Cohen of Adar Cohen & Associates did something unusual for Community Conversations – asking attendees to gather in small groups to discuss what concerns they had and what gave them hope. In one of those groups, David Luker, an immigrant from England, said that while there was a lot of hatred after 9/11, he also saw people coming together.

“For me, as an immigrant, I wanted to take that and show it to the world and say, ‘This is what Americans are all about,’” he said.

Immigration resources

Peterborough’s Economic Development Authority has compiled the following list of resources to help local businesses and employees regarding immigration issues:

-- WelcomingNH.org: An organization looking to foster the integration and inclusion of immigrants and refugees into New Hampshire communities.

-- “What to do if immigration comes to your workplace”: A document providing guidance for employers on handling immigration enforcement actions.

-- “Red Cards”: A website hosted by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center that provides information about people’s rights during encounters with immigration enforcement officers.

-- Modest Means Legal Program: Free service to match people with attorneys.

-- NH Bar Association Legal Services: A website to connect people with legal services.

-- NH Lawyer Referral Service: A website to connect people with attorneys through the New Hampshire Bar Association.

-- 603 Legal Aid: Free legal civil advice for low-income individuals and families.

-- ACLU of NH.

-- American Friends Service Committee: Supports and advocates for the rights of migrants and immigrants through legal services, training and humanitarian relief.

-- Catholic Charities of NH: Affordable legal services to people eligible for immigration benefits.

-- International Institute of New England: Low-cost legal services for family and humanitarian immigration matters, including family reunification and refugee/asylum petitions.

‘Las Abogadas’ screens May 2

Peterborough Community Theatre will present the documentary “Las Abogadas: Attorneys on the Front Lines of the Migrant Crisis” Friday, May 2, at 6 p.m. to benefit ABBA House Migrant Shelter in Calaya, Mexico. Following the film, there will be a discussion with Judith Gille, president of the Latin American Relief Fund; and Rebecca Eichler, one of the attorneys profiled in the movie.

Suggested donation is $10.