Over 100 new SUVs purchased by the government were recently parked in a Burlington parking garage, video captured by a local activist shows.
The activist, Jay Duchin, is an organizer of Bearing Witness, the group that protests outside ICE’s Burlington office every Wednesday. The new SUVs are parked in a garage next to State Street’s office at 700 District Ave., just a few doors down from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) New England Headquarters at 1000 District Ave.
The video shows rows of Chevrolet Tahoes, Nissan Armadas, and Dodge SUVs, among other vehicles. None of the cars Duchin counted in the video had license plates.
Some had stickers on the windows, however.
The information on the sticker reveals the car was purchased by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which indicates it will likely be used by a federal government agency.
The sticker also indicates the SUV has a “jet black” interior and “black” exterior, which are common choices for government and law enforcement fleets. Some of the vehicles shown in the video are white.
Duchin and his wife, Linda, believe the vehicles will be used by ICE officers because they were parked so close to the agency’s local headquarters.
“Many people who stand out at this ICE detention center think it’s a sign of a likely surge,” Linda told the Observer.
LexObserver reached out to ICE’s media office to confirm whether these new cars are theirs, but did not hear back in time for publication.
Twenty-four SUVs were delivered to the parking lot of that ICE office in January.
Last year, 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 SUV deliveries in Burlington are a result of that proposal. Cars bought by the government are paid for with taxpayers’ money, however.
“Massachusetts taxpayers are helping foot the staggering bill for hundreds of brand-new SUVs,” Linda wrote in a press release about the recent car delivery.
These SUVs arrived around the same time ICE made headlines in Vermont. Last week in South Burlington, VT, ICE agents pepper sprayed and “wrestled protesters to the ground as a crowd of more than 200 people sought to prevent [ICE] officers from detaining a suspect they believed was hiding inside a house,” the Globe reported.