She was a link between the governor and immigrant communities amid Trump's crackdown ...

Valentina Amaro Bowser has for years bridged the gap between Governor Maura Healey’s administration and the state’s immigrant communities, building relationships with Brazilian and Haitian newspapers, answering questions in Spanish on local radio programs, and helping address** **fears wrought by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Now, Bowser, a Venezuelan native, is facing similar legal troubles to many of the immigrants with whom she’s communicated as Healey’s multicultural media director, forcing the Healey administration to put her on leave.

That loss comes as Massachusetts’ immigrant communities remain on high alert amid the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement raids. Students have missed school, immigrant employees have lost their jobs, and advocates raced to distribute know-your-rights information. Without Bowser, outlets that worked with her worry these communities may have a weaker connection to state leaders, yet another aftershock of the Trump administration’s hard-line approach.

“We’re feeling her absence right now. She’s the liaison between the governor’s office and the community,” said Alberto Vasallo, president of El Mundo Boston, the region’s oldest Spanish-language newspaper. Bowser’s case, he said, is “a real-life example of how unfair some of these measures are.”

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As the Trump administration has aggressively** **detained and deported immigrants, it’s removed many pathways to staying in the country legally, pausing visa processing for several dozen countries and issuing travel bans for others.

Bowser, who has lived in the United States legally since 2013, last year took steps to receive a green card as a spouse of a US citizen, whom she married in 2024. Separately, the Healey administration filed for an extension of her work visa that was set to expire in December.

But after the Trump administration froze visa processing for Venezuelan nationals, immigration officials told Bowser they couldn’t take action on her applications, according to court documents. That prompted her to sue the Trump administration to force action on her applications.

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A federal** judge on Friday night ruled the Trump administration must make a decision on her work authorization bid within the next 10 days, which could restore her ability to work for the state. The ruling **did not address her application to receive a green card.

Healey’s office put Bowser on unpaid leave on Feb. 14, the date her employment authorization expired.

Media sources that convey news in languages other than English to immigrant and non-English-speaking communities have only become more important touch points over the past year as forums where community members can ask questions or find resources, supporters said.

“It’s crazy times,” said Javier Marin, chairman and founder of El Planeta, a Massachusetts-based Spanish language newspaper. “The community is being hunted — and this is not the first time that we’re being hunted this way — but Spanish-speaking media is extremely important because it’s the most trusted source of information for the community.”

Luis Jiménez, a UMass Boston professor who studies Latin American politics, said while trust in traditional, English-language media sources has declined among the American public, many immigrant communities already did not trust them because of language differences. But media outlets specifically targeted toward a community “tend to have angles or frames that make sense or are more in tune with what people care about,”** **Jiménez said.

“People don’t find government trustworthy right now, so having someone that can reach out to them in a way that can calm them down or you can at least ask for help ... is absolutely crucial because there’s a lot of misinformation,” Jiménez said.

While outlets had relationships with prior gubernatorial administrations, Healey creating Bowser’s position fostered deeper relationships with immigrant communities. She began working for the governor in March 2023, shortly after Healey took office.

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Vasallo said Bowser would reach out several times a week and answer questions on El Mundo’s program.

“Sometimes it was better to have her on than the governor, meaning she could do it in Spanish,” he said.

Anthony Drago, Bowser’s attorney, said in a statement to the Globe that his client “plays an important role” in her state job, calling her work “exemplary.”

“She’s the type of person this country needs more of,” Drago said, “and to have her legal process held up just because she was born in Venezuela makes no sense.”

A lawyer for the Trump administration argued Massachusetts court cannot force a decision in her case and suggested officials could deny the Bowsers’ application “if a premature adjudication is compelled without completed security screening.”

Her situation is similar to that of immigrants in Massachusetts and beyond grappling with tumultuous policy changes under the Trump administration.

Few, however,** **have the backing of the state’s chief executive. Healey in a statement this month said Bowser “has done everything right” and the “federal government is taking away her livelihood.”

Karissa Hand, a spokesperson for Healey, said Bowser connected more than 60 multicultural media outlets in Massachusetts with** **state government, holding roundtables with state leaders and media outlets and translating government materials. One of the office’s deputy press secretaries now oversees that outreach, she said.

“Millions of Massachusetts residents rely on ethnic and non-English media as their primary source of information, and without a dedicated role to engage these outlets, critical updates about laws, services and public safety would not reliably reach the people they are intended to serve,” Hand said.

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Yves Cajuste, who has reported for InfoHaiti since 1999, said he has covered state government for decades, working with the administrations of Deval Patrick, a Democrat, and Charlie Baker, a Republican. Under Healey, Bowser would bring state officials to his outlet and facilitate access to the State House.

“For a small media outlet working with the government, when they want us, they will come to you, but when you want them, it’s not that easy,” said Cajuste. “Thanks to Valentina, it’s really easy.”

For much of InfoHaiti’s audience, who receive reports in Haitian Creole and French, immigration policy has always been a “main issue” in Haitian media because it’s “not just news — some people live the situation,” Cajuste said.

Outlets said they’ve faced other** **challenges. Some rely on advertising from small, immigrant-owned businesses that have taken a hit as immigrants avoid leaving their homes amid Trump’s crackdown.

Many of their reporters, immersed in the communities they cover,** **also worry about those they know who may face the very legal troubles they’re covering.

“There’s a lot of misinformation, a lot of speculation, and people panicking because they’re not informed,” said Paulina Arruda, owner of the Portuguese Times who works in New Bedford.

“It’s important that we keep informing people and sending them to the right places ... to inform them properly,” she said.

Arruda said since Bowser left, the weekly direct communication she used to receive from the governor’s office stopped. So did J.R. DeOliveira, host of a Brazilian radio program, who noted he has often had to help officials understand differences within Massachusetts’ Latino communities. Bowser, he said, was different.

“It’s always hard to to build new relationships and to build trust because it’s just not just the office — it’s the person behind it,” Oliveira said.

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Leandro Moura, the host of Brazilian radio station Insuperável, said Bowser helped “bring the community more together” as fear circulated among Brazilians about ICE officers. Massachusetts has the second-largest Brazilian population in the United States.

“All of the Brazilians are scared. They don’t know if they can go to work and come back home, and people don’t want to spend money because they don’t know what’s going to happen to them,” Moura said.

Those increased fears have come as Massachusetts’ immigrant communities have exploded in recent years. About eight in 10 new residents were Latino between 2014 and 2023, during which the state’s Latino population grew by 25 percent, per the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

Still, the Latino community in Massachusetts has at times felt “isolated,” said Marin, the El Planeta chairman — a separation Bowser tried to remedy.

“Now she’s not in her job because of [the Trump administration’s] absurd attacks,” Marin said. “Here’s a good example of how those attacks effectively work.”

Anjali Huynh can be reached at [email protected].