Immigrants across Metro Boston have been detained while going to work, outside courthouses and in public parking lots as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement surged enforcement in areas with so-called sanctuary policies, advocates and officials said.
The agency this month launched an operation it calls “Patriot 2.0,” a follow-on to a May crackdown that resulted in nearly 1,500 detentions in Massachusetts. ICE and Department of Homeland Security officials said the current focus is on immigrants with criminal records, while advocates, community groups and some local officials say the actions have sown fear in neighborhoods and swept up people with no criminal histories.
Videos and reports collected by immigrant-rights groups show arrests in a range of public settings. One video circulated online showed three landscapers detained after agents smashed the window of their truck while they were working on Saugus Town Hall property. Volunteers and local advocates have reported unmarked ICE vehicles parked in neighborhood lots and agents appearing to target work vans.
The uptick in enforcement has had immediate effects on community life. The city of Everett, just north of Boston, canceled its annual Hispanic Heritage Month festival after its mayor said it would not be appropriate to hold a celebration when residents may not feel safe attending. Community hotlines staffed by interpreters in multiple languages have logged increased calls about ICE sightings, and organizers have recruited volunteers fluent in languages including Cape Verdean Kriolu, Nepali and Vietnamese to handle demand.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the Boston surge would focus on "the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens," and a DHS news release accompanying recent arrests highlighted seven individuals detained, including a 38-year-old Guatemalan man with prior assault-related charges. The agency did not immediately respond to requests from The Associated Press about the total number of detentions since Patriot 2.0 began.
Federal and local officials have traded sharply different characterizations of the operation. Republican Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said she was "100% supportive" of ICE's actions and that her office would prosecute immigrants without legal status who commit federal crimes. Foley said prosecutors "stand ready to charge individuals who violate all federal laws, including those who enter our country without authorization after being deported and those who assault federal law enforcement officers."
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and other local officials have criticized the enforcement push. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on Sept. 4 against Mayor Wu, the city of Boston and the Boston Police Department, alleging sanctuary policies interfere with federal immigration enforcement. Wu called the legal action an attack on cities and argued the federal government was using enforcement to deflect from other issues.
Advocates and legal aid groups said many people being detained are not the criminal targets described by federal officials. "This is really increasing the fear in communities, which is already incredibly high," said Elizabeth Sweet, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. Kevin Lam, co-executive director of the Asian American Resource Workshop, described a spike in ICE activity and said his group had documented recent detentions of several Vietnamese residents.
Alexandra Peredo Carroll, director of legal education and advocacy at the Mabel Center for Immigrant Justice in Boston, warned that the operation could ensnare people with pending asylum claims or other legal forms of relief. "Many of these are individuals who are actually going through the legal process," she said, adding that the policy risks tearing families apart and detaining people without criminal histories.
Volunteers monitoring flights at New Hampshire’s Portsmouth International Airport at Pease reported more than 300 transfers of detainees since early August, with at least five flights per week moving people from New England states to federal or contracted facilities. Organizers said detainees were shackled during transfers. ICE uses a mix of county jails and contracted facilities across New England, including a federal prison in Berlin, New Hampshire, and a privately operated facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island.
The enforcement surge has become a flashpoint in broader political fights over immigration and sanctuary policies. President Donald Trump has criticized sanctuary cities and threatened stronger measures, and theBoston operation comes amid rhetoric from the White House about targeting jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal authorities. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and others have condemned recent federal actions, and Trump at one point suggested deploying the National Guard to Chicago, though plans for military deployments have wavered.
State and local responses have varied. New Hampshire Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who signed a ban on sanctuary policies in her state earlier this year, praised stronger enforcement. In Massachusetts, community groups have launched hotlines, organized protests and pressed for legal support for those detained. At least three protesters were arrested on trespassing charges outside an ICE office in Burlington, organizers said.
The dispute over enforcement tactics and the legal limits of sanctuary policies is likely to continue in courts and local politics. The Justice Department's lawsuit seeks to compel cooperation that Boston officials characterize as an overreach of federal authority and a politicized campaign against cities that have adopted policies limiting local involvement in immigration enforcement. ICE officials framed Patriot 2.0 as a law-enforcement effort aimed at public-safety threats, while advocates warned of broad social consequences for immigrant communities and of detentions that include so-called collateral arrests of noncriminals.
As enforcement continues, immigrant-rights groups and legal advocates said they are prioritizing assistance for those detained and outreach to help families navigate the changing environment. Organizers described difficulty convincing some community members to leave their homes, even for essential tasks, because of fear of detention. Still, advocates said many immigrants continue to go to work despite the risks because they are primary breadwinners for their families.
Reporting on the surge and its impacts is ongoing as federal and local authorities, community groups and courts address the legal and humanitarian questions raised by the latest round of enforcement in Boston and other sanctuary jurisdictions.