What happens if ICE comes to Lexington?

Bruce Neumann, president of Lexington’s Refugee Assistance Program, or LexRAP, used to tell the immigrants he works with, “you’re safe now” when they arrive in Lexington. 

“Now, I can’t say that,” he told the Observer.

LexRAP works with refugees and asylum seekers to ease their transition to life in the US. Many immigrants live throughout Lexington and in the emergency shelter it hosts. 

Neumann said he’s sickened by the number of forceful and wrongful detainments the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, or ICE, has made across the country this year, including close to home. 

Agents broke the window of a van to arrest two men in Waltham earlier this month. A few days after that incident, agents broke another car window to arrest a man in Chelsea as he was leaving church with his family.

“The work I’ve done over the last 10 years gives me great sympathy for the hard-working, good-hearted people who immigrate to the US,” Neumann said. “What happened to the guy in Waltham makes me sick to my stomach.”

ICE wrongfully detained Rümeysa Öztürk, a doctoral student at Tufts University from Turkey, on a residential street in Somerville after the government revoked her student visa (which she was not made aware of) for participating in pro-Palestine activism. A judge in Vermont ordered the administration to release her earlier this month, but she could still face deportation.

The federal agency has repeatedly made headlines for their actions in Massachusetts this spring, which raises the question: What would happen if ICE comes to Lexington? 

Lexington’s Police Department said they would come to the scene to “preserve the public peace and ensure the safety” of the community, the person being detained, and ICE.

The local police would not involve themselves in any federal enforcement action, arrest, or detention — nor would they interfere. Federal law prohibits local police and members of the public from impeding federal immigration enforcement. 

“We are aware of instances of individuals interfering with ICE arrests that have included assaults on local police and federal agents. This type of behavior jeopardizes the safety of everyone in the area and, in addition to being illegal, is extremely dangerous,” Police Chief Michael McLean and Town Manager Steve Bartha wrote to LexObserver.

If anyone sees any suspicious activity, such as ICE detaining someone, they should call LPD, Bartha told the Observer. 

“Local police, if present, can provide a professional witness to the proceedings and will likely encourage the ICE agents to conduct themselves according to their rules and regulations,” Michelle Ciccolo, Lexington’s state representative, added.

Members of the public could also stay close by and take notes if they witness an arrest, she said. That could be helpful if the detainee is “brought before a court magistrate” down the road. 

Neumann and other immigrant advocates have long advised the public to help ensure immigrants know their rights when being detained. That includes the right to due process, which any person on US soil has, even if they entered the country illegally. 

Many advocacy groups point out that ICE needs a warrant to enter private spaces such as a home or office. But ICE has sought to detain people in public without a warrant, which they can do, if they have “probable cause.” That subjective standard allows them to target a wide swath of people. 

“Now, I don’t know what advice to give,” Neumann said. 

This week, three people were detained at immigration courts in Massachusetts. Individuals must go to immigration court for several reasons: to apply for immigration benefits or relief such as asylum, to adjust immigration status, for bond hearings, appeals, or for violating immigration law. Missing a hearing can result in a judge issuing an order of removal, or deportation.

“It’s really concerning to hear of ICE coming into immigration courts and then acting to deprive people of their day in court, trying to ship people away who have a procedure in that court that they’re entitled to receive by statute and under the Constitution,” Adriana Lafaille, managing attorney at the ACLU of Massachusetts, told GBH News.

Neumann has been telling immigrants to carry copies of documentation that shows they have a right to be in the country, speak English, avoid doing anything illegal (even as benign as running a stop sign), and “basically keep your head down.”

Local immigrants, who are watching others be forcefully and wrongfully detained by ICE, are scared, Neumann said. One man LexRAP works with from Venezuela has become physically ill from the stress. 

Ciccolo called Trump and ICE’s actions un-American.

“No one should have to live in fear and the tactics of the current administration are entirely unacceptable,” she told the Observer. 

Neumann worries the lives of thousands of people who “risked their lives to leave their countries, not just because they wanted a better life, but because they feared for their lives,” will once again be upended. 

He gave the example of a woman who left Afghanistan and moved to Massachusetts. Since arriving in the US, she has earned an MBA and works for an engineering firm. He said if she returns to Afghanistan, she will not be able to leave her home without a male escorting her, let alone have a career.

“People who focus on deporting undocumented immigrants seem to forget about the humanity of the people they are talking about,” Neumann said.