BOSTON (AP) — Immigrants are being detained while going to work, outside courthouses, and at store parking lots in Metro Boston as President Donald Trump targets so-called sanctuary cities in his effort to ramp up immigration enforcement.
As families hole up in homes — afraid to leave and risk detainment — advocates are reporting an increased presence of unmarked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles sitting in parking lots and other public areas throughout immigrant communities, where agents appeared to target work vans. One man captured a video of three landscapers who were working on the Saugus Town Hall property being arrested after agents smashed their truck window.
Just north of Boston, the city of Everett canceled its annual Hispanic Heritage Month festival after its mayor said it wouldn’t be right to “hold a celebration at a time when community members may not feel safe attending.”
The actions have been praised by public officials like New Hampshire Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who signed legislation this year banning sanctuary city policies in her state, vowing not to let New Hampshire “go the way of Massachusetts.” ICE this summer began utilizing a New Hampshire airport about an hour from Boston to transport New England detainees.
However, others argue that ICE’s presence in Massachusetts is doing more harm than good.
“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.
Trump aims at so-called ‘sanctuaries’
Cities like Boston and Chicago — where Mayor Brandon Johnson has also condemned the Trump administration’s recent immigration crackdown, calling it an example of “tyranny” — have become targets for enforcement in recent days. Trump also threatened to potentially deploy the National Guard to Chicago, though he had wavered on a military deployment last…