A fleet of around 24 white SUVs were delivered to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Burlington on Jan 7. That office, which sits just one town over from Lexington, is ICE’s New England headquarters. The delivery includes a mix of Dodge Durangos and Ford Interceptors.
Jared Berezin, an organizer of Bearing Witness, a group that protests ICE’s actions outside the Burlington ICE office every Wednesday, saw the SUVs get delivered to the office, he told the Observer during this week’s Wednesday protest.
“It’s clearly a sign of escalation that’s coming to our community,” he speculated.
LexObserver reached out to ICE for clarification on what the vehicles are for, but did not hear back in time for publication. Gov. Maura Healey’s press secretary told LexObserver they do not have any information on the delivery of the SUVs or what they’ll be used for.
The cars, which are parked in ICE’s parking lot, have stickers on the back windshields that show they are “fleet” and “special order” vehicles.
The word “fleet” indicates the cars are owned or leased by a business, government agency, or organization and used for work-related tasks.
The word “special order” indicates the vehicles have specific features that were requested by the buyer or renter to meet their unique operational needs. Special features could include GPS navigation, for example.
None of the new cars had license plates on them as of Monday.
Just a few months ago, ICE proposed spending about $100 million on approximately 1,000 new SUVs to support President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts. ICE’s proposal specifically requested Ford Police Interceptor Utility SUVs, Dodge Durango Pursuit SUVs, and Chevy Tahoe Police Pursuit Vehicle SUVs.
It is not clear whether the delivery of SUVs to the Burlington ICE office last week is a result of that proposal.
Another local activist who leads a different weekly protest outside the ICE office told LexObserver he is “concerned that the cars mean some type of ‘gearing up’ for more actions” over email.
Hundreds of protestors gathered outside the ICE office Wednesday for Bearing Witness’ 39th weekly protest. Like the organizers LexObserver checked in with, many demonstrators fear ICE activity will soon escalate in Massachusetts.
“We know what the delivery of the cars mean, we’re watching it happen in other states and we’re getting ready for what’s going to be unleashed here in Massachusetts,” Ellen Lawton, an Arlington resident, said. “We need to organize, we need to speak out, and we need our elected officials next to us as we speak out because this is terrifying — they’re coming for us, they’re coming for our neighbors, they’re coming for our communities.”
Wednesday’s protest came a week after an ICE agent shot and killed Minneapolis resident Renee Good. Many protestors help up signs showing support for Good.
“The fact that our president has already decided there is no culpability for the officer who killed Renee Good is a very dire consequence,” Patricia Wellenkamp, a Gloucester resident, said. “It has emboldened all the ICE agents to act with recklessness and dangerousness and I am extremely concerned about that.”
One woman at the protest, Woburn resident Michelle Rodriguez, dressed up as a Handmaid from Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.” The popular novel turned TV series is a dystopian story set in the US after a totalitarian theocracy overthrew the government. Rodriguez thought the outfit was “fitting” because “it feels like we’re following the script,” she argued.
Rodriguez protests to protect her family.
“I live in fear every day, because my kids are Spanish looking and they have Spanish last names, that they’re gonna get snatched,” Rodriguez said. “It’s very clear that ICE doesn’t care that people are citizens…I’m worried that someday I’m not gonna know where [my children] are.”
Two counter protestors showed up in Burlington Wednesday. They waved flags that read, “MAGA” and “Jesus is my savior. Trump is my president” while heckling demonstrators.
“Renee no Good,” one of the protestors yelled through a megaphone, laughing. “Losers, losers, losers. Look at all you white liberals. Why are you all white? Yeehaw.”
Volunteers and local police ensured there was no conflict between demonstrators and counter protestors at the rally Wednesday.
I was at the protest on Jan.14. There were about 300 Bearing Witness protestors and maybe 8 Trumpy counter-protestors. The latter hurled abuse (reported above) while the BWs, per guidance, did not respond. Note that the Trumpies’ greatest insult was racial (“Why are you all white?”).
Thank you for your coverage of local ICE activities. Very much appreciated.
The best and fastest way to get the federal government to leave Massachusetts alone is to arrest and deport all illegal alien criminals. The sooner our communities are rid of law-breakers who are not citizens, the better.
Look at all the trolls even on this forum. What a shame. We are so fortunate to have the Observer in our community. Countless local news organizations nationwide are gone.
Haters always gonna hate, even in these abnormal and problematic times.
Thank you Lexington Observer for covering a local aspect of national news. Keep true to your journalistic integrity. Know that it is greatly appreciated by your community! (Besides when the haters hate your stuff, it usually means you’re on the right track.)
This type of, one sided article, is what instills public fear and ultimately fuels violence.
My understanding is that Ice deported significant numbers under President Obama as well, without protest, why are people protesting now?
The poor unstable woman who was killed in MN was ginned up by articles like these and felt empowered to lash out at Federal officers and, in doing so, put herself in a very dangerous situation.
Journalists had a part to play in her death.
Please be a little more responsible in the articles you post.
I verified the accuracy of Mr. Thenen’s statements about Renee Nicole Good in GPT-5. In writing the query, I assumed no bias by Mr. Thenen, for example, that he was attempting to validate a particular interpretation (political or otherwise) of Renee Nicole Good’s death and the events that led up to it. The analysis shows that there is no credible, verified evidence to support any of Mr. Thenen’s statements about Renee Nicole Good. I’m comfortable with the accuracy of the statement I just made, but I would be happy to provide the query I used, the report generated by GPT-5, and the reference list.
First of all AI has its limitations, especially in critical thinking. But more importantly what are you talking about?? Are you saying my opinion is invalid because AI doesn’t agree?? What kind of a world are we living in ?
Mr. Thenen, of course you are entitle to your opinion. Almost all of the comments that are posted to articles and letters to the editor on the Observer are someone’s opinion. You appear to believe that because it’s your opinion, that it’s unassailable truth and not subject to fact checking or opposing comments. I am confident enough in the quality of my query and the response the query produced to make the statement that there is no credible, verified evidence that supports any of the statements you made about Renee Nicole Good. My offer stands to provide my query, the response, and the sources that were consulted.
I do agree with you that AI does not always provide reliable information. For example, when the Department of Homeland Security manipulates original video footage to make it appear that Renee Nicole Good was not murdered in cold blood by ICE agent Jonathan Ross. Just my opinion, of course.
Does the Lexington Observer want tips when people are violent, disrespectful and disruptive when police officers are doing their jobs?
This is great news. How many illegals did Obama deport? The answer is 3MM. You wont hear that in the news. You come to this country illegally and break a law doing so, their is finally consequences.
When hundreds of people gather repeatedly to exercise free speech, I appreciate hearing why they are there. I’m also interested in conditions in town that are deeply problematic; all big issues affecting Lexington are newsworthy. I support the editorial choices at the Observer and have to think with more financial support their coverage might expand.
Were the vehicles electric or at least hybrid? Maybe ICE can deport landscapers using gas engine powered equipment to reduce Global Warming here.
The costumes are curious. Did they protest totalitarian mandates on wearing ineffective face masks and getting dangerous, untested drug injections? How many died from the blood clots and myocarditis those injections caused? Surely more than people obstructing and attacking law enforcement.
Whats hilarious is that none of these anti ice protesters were protesting when Obama was removing illegals. And by the way, the head of ICE under Obamba was Tom Homan, THE SAME GUY who works for Trump.
I appreciate Lexington Observer’s coverage of local ICE activity and responses to it. This chilling New York Times report of the ICE assault on Minnesota shows why it is important that we stay informed: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/24/us/minnesota-ice-violence-tactics-videos.html?unlocked_article_code=1.G1A.Nmea.EWFuUwEkKaMG&smid=url-share How anyone can defend this as lawful immigration enforcement is hard to fathom.
Mr. Merrick, you should get a new source of information about the knowledge and motives of the protesters.
I can’t speak for any other protesters, but speaking for myself, I knew that Tom Homan did the same job for President Obama that he’s doing for Trump. Mr. Homan doesn’t make policy, he carries out orders. At the current time, the policies/orders are issued by Trump through his surrogates Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi.
President Obama deported between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 illegal immigrants, but President Obama really was deporting the worst of the worst. Trump, Noem, and Bondi may be saying the words “worst of the worst” but in practice they are allowing ICE to grab and/or abuse anyone off the street they please to. They are deporting first and never asking questions later.
If you are wondering why “none of these anti ice protesters were protesting when Obama was removing illegals” you don’t understand what we are protesting. We are protesting the Trump sanctioned deployment of the military into U.S. cities, ICE surges, the deportation of veterans of the armed forces and innocent U.S. citizens, the murder of U.S. citizens and the abuse of children, illegal searches and seizures, and loss of first amendment, civil, and religious rights (to name some of the reasons).
President Obama achieve his objective of deporting the worst of the worst without having to resort to any of these abuses.