Is Mass. next for ICE? Sen. Markey presses for answers on conditions at Burlington office
Fearing a Minnesota-style escalation in the Bay State, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey says he wants ICE to explain its plans for an influx of new vehicles at its Burlington field office and to justify the "inhumane conditions" there.
Markey, D-Mass., raised those, and other concerns in a Friday letter to David Wesling, the acting director of the agency's Boston field office.
The Malden pol visited the office late last year. And in the wake of that visit, he fired off a previous letter to Wesling that so far has gone unanswered, he said.
Since that visit, immigration agents have shot and killed two U.S. citizens on the streets of Minneapolis, touching off protests in the city and nationwide, and renewed scrutiny of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign.
"Against this national backdrop, numerous reports of a large delivery of unmarked vehicles to the Burlington facility have raised fears of an aggressive immigration crackdown in Massachusetts of the scale and brutality seen in Minnesota," Markey wrote.
MassLive has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment for this story.
Markey's letter came amid heightened concerns over the Trump administration's hardline immigration enforcement tactics.
It also came as the White House and U.S. Senate Democrats reached a deal that swapped temporary funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for time to negotiate restrictions on those tactics.
Earlier this month, ICE received a shipment of 24 SUVs to its Burlington field office, raising eyebrows among local and state elected officials.
Asked if she feared an ICE surge in Massachusetts, Gov. Maura Healey told reporters the agency is already operating in the state.
"We've had ICE in Massachusetts for months now and unfortunately their actions have led to, as I just said, people are terrified," Healey said, according to The Boston Herald. "They're scared to death, they're not going to school, they're not going to work, they're not going to their doctors' appointments, they're not going to court when they're a victim of a crime. That's not right."
Healey ratcheted up her rhetoric during a news conference this week.
" I've said this time and time again. People can buy in and continue with the absolute (expletive) rhetoric out of the Trump administration on this," she said. "You know, they have no respect for cities and states. They don't respect law enforcement because they've got this group of rogue individuals who, I guess, (are) taking the bounty of $50K, sign me up, you're in a uniform tomorrow."
In his letter to Wesling, Markey raised similar concerns.
"The worsening national context has rattled Massachusetts residents, who have also watched ICE officers employ dangerous and aggressive tactics to execute arrests in their own backyards," he wrote, noting that he had previously asked about "specific instances of excessive force by ICE officers in Massachusetts, ICE's sweeping operations, and policies regarding arrests and detentions.
"Given the growing calls for ICE's transparency, I request answers to my prior questions with heightened urgency," he said.
Markey's letter set out 14 questions for Wesling to answer by Feb. 13. They included specific queries about the number of people being held at the ICE field office, and whether any of them had been minors, pregnant or nursing women or people with disabilities.
He also asked about access to showers and medical treatment, as well as access to lawyers and family members for those who are detained there. The letter also seeks information on ICE enforcement actions across the state.
"Congress has a statutory responsibility to oversee federal agencies, and ICE has a statutory obligation to comply with that oversight. The scenes of ICE's activities in Minnesota demand renewed vigilance and transparency about the agency's operations in the Commonwealth," Markey wrote.
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