Federal immigration agents are working in Greater Boston today “in support of Patriot 2.0,” ICE confirmed to the Herald.
Patriot 2.0 was launched a week ago as a “result of the sanctuary policies here within the Commonwealth, specifically like the city of Boston,” local ICE/ERO Deputy Director David Wesling told the Herald during a sweep last week.
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, the Associted Press is reporting.
The AP added 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.
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 week.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Sept. 4 filed a lawsuit against Mayor Michelle Wu, the city of Boston and its police department over its sanctuary city policies, claiming they’re interfering with immigration enforcement. In response, Wu accused Trump of “attacking cities to hide his administration’s failures.”
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the Boston surge would focus on “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens” living in Massachusetts.
“Sanctuary policies like those pushed by Mayor Wu not only attract and harbor criminals but protect them at the peril of law-abiding American citizens,” she said in a press release early last week, which detailed the arrest of seven individuals by ICE, including a 38-year-old man from Guatemala who had previously been arrested on assault-related charges.
This is a developing story …
Originally Published:
About the Author
