The high-profile detainment of a well-known Irishman by immigration officers last month has added greatly to growing concerns about the fate of many residents of the city’s immigrant communities. John Cunningham, a former chairman of the Gaelic Athletic Association, was arrested for staying past a 90-day visa initially granted to him in 2003. He is now subject to deportation. The story broke just weeks before the deadline for Haitian residents across the country to re-register for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

According to Ronnie Millar, the executive director of the Irish International Immigrant Center, there was rampant anxiety in local immigrant neighborhoods about more brazen activity by US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel long before Cunningham’s arrest. “This has been going on now for five or six months now,” he said. “There’s definitely an increase in concern even though there may not statistically be an actual increase [in ICE arrests] in the Irish community.”

The danger for people in Cunningham’s position is that staying past the end-date of their visa disqualifies them from hiring legal representation. Millar explained their situation in stark terms: “It’s actually imprisonment. We use the word ‘detention’ but these detention centers are prisons. It’s hard to prepare yourself to think you’ll get home and then the next day you’re in prison,” he said.

Perhaps the most vulnerable group to detainment and deportation is the Haitian-American community. Some 50,000 Haitians are now legal residents of the city under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a term-limited measure intended to grant refuge to citizens of nations experiencing crisis. TPS was initially granted to Haitians in 2011 following the country’s catastrophic earthquake; in May it was renewed for an additional six months. The deadline for those with TPS status to re-register is July 24.

A Haitian pastor in Mattapan, Dieufort Fleurissaint, says anxiety has taken hold of his community. “People who have been granted TPS are still afraid. The fear still remains. Even people with green cards are afraid,” he said.

Brian Concannon, executive director of the Center for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, concurred with pastor’s sentiment. “People are worried that the announcement will be that TPS is over,” he said. “Having it come so close to not being renewed [in May] really drives home how precarious their position is. The six months gives them a breather, but it’s a very nervous breather. You have people with very strong ties to the US, there are people with kids born in the US, kids who are five years old,” he said.

For Dorchester’s immigrant communities, this is a time to wait and see, but the IIIC’s Millar says it’s also a time for educating the public about immigrants’ rights for what might come next. As he put it, “If you’re undocumented and living in Dorchester and ICE comes to the door, what we stress is: “Don’t open the door unless you see a signed warrant.’ ”