Greater Boston sees ‘surge’ in immigration enforcement

The Greater Boston area has seen a dramatic uptick in immigration enforcement over the past week, according to groups monitoring reports of ICE activity across Massachusetts.

“We're at over 300 calls this week” and rising, said Danny Timpona, one of the volunteers answering the hotline at the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts, a network of organizations that advocate for immigrants.

Timponi said the hotline started lighting up last Sunday, with callers reporting federal agents making arrests in Waltham. Soon, he said, it was clear that a larger series of actions was underway: “Waltham, Watertown, Lowell, Lawrence, Lynn, East Boston, Chelsea.” And the list went on: Everett, Springfield, Worcester, New Bedford, Milford, Framingham.

All week, social media was flooded with videos of enforcement activity by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. WBUR covered a violent arrest on the Newton-Watertown line on Monday. And in Worcester on Thursday, community members poured into the street to protest the apprehension of a Brazilian woman. Worcester police got involved because of the unrest and arrested two people in the crowd.

Reports of more standoffs continued into the weekend, including in Acton, leading to a protest in Framingham and another planned for Sunday in Worcester.

Timpona said it’s hard to gauge the number of enforcement actions over the week. And he said the uncertainty over the scale of the operations — and the lack of disclosure from ICE — is “terrifying.”

“You could have a neighbor 10 doors down the street and you might never know that they were taken, because there is no system in place of transparency, of due process, of really just human rights,” he said.

The LUCE hotline was set up earlier this year, in part to dispel false reports of enforcement activity, as well as to alert local groups of ICE actions underway. The phones are open seven days a week, from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., with volunteers who speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and Chinese.

The apparent surge recalls an earlier wave of enforcement targeting the Boston Area. Soon after Donald Trump returned to the White House, border czar Tom Homan threatened to bring “hell” to Boston, in terms of immigration enforcement. In a six-day stretch in March, ICE announced it had arrested 370 people in the region.

Now, LUCE volunteers say, this feels like round two of Homan’s campaign.

“I hate to say yes, but yeah, it's definitely that,” said Jaya  Savita of the Asian Pacific Islanders Civic Action Network, one of the groups helping track ICE activity in Massachusetts.

“What we experienced in March was horrific,” she said. “And what we're seeing this week is just a far more aggressive approach by ICE. This is the surge. This is the attack on the city, the attack on the state.”

ICE did not respond to WBUR’s requests for comment over the past week regarding the violent arrests of two men in Newton. The driver arrested, Kiender Lopez-Lopez, had previously been charged with domestic assault and battery, and later with violating a judge's abuse prevention order related to the battery issue, Waltham court records show. Both charges were "continued without a finding," meaning Lopez-Lopez admitted to facts sufficient for a guilty finding, but was not convicted.

Officials did issue a comment about the Worcester fracas. In a statement, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said: “The target of this ICE operation was a violent criminal illegal alien … [who had been] arrested by local police for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery on a pregnant victim.”

McLaughlin also said a Worcester city councilor who showed up at the protest, Etel Haxhiaj, “pulled a political stunt and incited chaos by trying to obstruct law enforcement.”

WBUR tried to reach Haxhiaj on Friday but did not hear back.

Haxhiaj was not charged with any crime. But Worcester County prosecutors said another woman, Ashley Spring, was arraigned Friday on four counts: assault and battery on a police officer; interfering with a police officer; disorderly conduct; and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Spring pleaded not guilty and is due back in court on June 23.

Worcester police were condemned by some in the community for assisting ICE, despite city policies limiting cooperation with immigration enforcement. The Worcester Police Patrolman’s Union defended officers, saying in a statement they “will not stand silently in the face of such outrageous conduct or allow the safety of our officers to be put at risk by any individual.”

Progressive groups say ICE appears to be operating with a sense of impunity, and doesn’t have to meet the disclosure standards of local police. But conservative activists like Lou Murray say the agency is fulfilling its duty and helping "make America safe again."

“Everyone in their right mind should feel safer,” said Murray, who started a group called Bostonians Against Sanctuary Cities. He cited ICE’s Boston X feed, which highlights the criminal records of some of the people its agents arrest.

“We're talking about felons, rapists, child molesters, child pornographers that had been walking the streets of Massachusetts,” Murray said. “These are people that have been either convicted in their home countries, or convicted here and somehow eluded final deportation orders.”

ICE’s own statistics show that most of its arrests are for immigration matters, not criminal charges or convictions. The most recent data runs through 2024.

Democratic presidents also cracked down on illegal immigration; deportations peaked under President Obama, ICE records show. But Murray said now that Trump is doing it, the actions seem to spur more public alarm and media attention.

" I'm wondering about the profound double standard," he added.

Immigration lawyers say what’s different this time is the brazenness of the crackdown — and that can leave any non-citizen feeling like a potential target.