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regular posts

  • ICE Supporters Try and Suppress Bearing Witness Demonstrations

    ByToby Sackton

    The weekly Bearing Witness protests at ICE headquarters on District Avenue have become a regional center of peaceful resistance, drawing 700–900 participants each week. Organized by a broad interfaith coalition, the demonstrations elevate the voices of those harmed by ICE while reaffirming a commitment to nonviolence. That very commitment has triggered escalating efforts to suppress the protests: parking bans, intimidation, and towing by powerful real estate interests and complicit local authorities. As businesses and police “bend the knee” to protect ICE, Bearing Witness remains resolute. Peaceful assembly is not a threat—it is a constitutional right, and it will continue to grow. See our Letter to National Development

  • We Are All Minneapolis

    ByToby Sackton

    Alex Pretti, a 37 year old nurse known by neighbors as an amiable man in his neighborhood was murdered by federal ICE agents today in Minneapolis.

    Alex was not the target of any investigation. He was using his iphone to film the violent threats of ICE agents in the street, and he was talking to another woman filming the scene. ICE agents approached him and the woman, wrestled him to the ground, and after he had been subdued one agent took out a gun and fired up to ten shots killing him. His last words, to the woman who was pinned to the ground near him as they were pepper sprayed, were “all you alright?”

    We are at war. No sense mincing words. Until we tear the present DHS agency down to the ground and start with a new structure, no one in America is safe.

  • Lexington Alarm!’s New Research on Shutting Down ICE Flights at Hanscom Field

    ByToby Sackton

    Lexington Alarm! has completed a research project on how Hanscom field was developed as an airport for small regional airplanes only, and how the use of large planes there by ICE may be illegal under Massachusetts laws and regulations. Use of Hanscom by commercial air service is limited to airplanes with 60 seats or less, and the ICE charters are clearly in violation of this.

  • 2 Ice Planes Land Same Day at Hanscom

    ByToby Sackton

    When Hanscom Airfield was first taken over by Massport, there was immense community opposition in Lexington, Concord, and surrounding towns because people did not want a major second Boston airport, as the infrastructure to support it was non-existent and it also would have changed the character of the Minuteman National Park, nearly an abutter.

    The result was a compromise for a small regional airfield, where jets of more than 60 seats would not be allowed. This agreement, limiting commercial airlines to 60 seats, was codified into law in the act enabling Massport to acquire the airport in 1980. The FAA sued, saying that FAA rules preempted local airport authorities from restricting operations in this way. Massachusetts won.

  • Viola Luzzo, Heather Heyer and Renee Good: Three Ordinary Women Killed Because They Were Like Us

    ByToby Sackton

    An ICE agent in Minneapolis today shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37 year old mother of a six-year old, who lived with her partner in Minneapolis. Renee was a legal observer, and based on videos she stopped her car when other Ice vehicles blocked the street. Than another ICE vehicle, a truck with flashing lights, came up behind her car and Ice officers swarmed out, tried to open her door, terrified her, and as she was trying to leave, one of them pulled a gun and shot her in the face multiple times, killing her. Her wife was left sobbing on the sidewalk.

  • Addressing the Massachusetts Due Process Emergency

    ByToby Sackton

    Massachusetts is confronting a due-process crisis of statewide scale: an estimated 6% of the Commonwealth’s residents—about 442,000 people—are undocumented or live with an undocumented family member and are therefore vulnerable to immigration enforcement actions that often proceed without judicial warrants or bond hearings.

    During the first year of Covid in 2020, about 5% of the Massachusetts population got infected. This galvanized the governor and legislature to action, and a number of emergency actions were initiated. Our current crisis demands the same response.

    Immigration enforcement that violates basic legal rights puts 6% of the State’s population at risk, but our legislature is not acting like there is a crisis.

  • General Meeting Wed, Jan 14th

    ByToby Sackton

    2026 will be the second year of Lexington Alarm!. it was exciting as we quickly came together around Patriots Day in 2025 to proclaim “No King, No Tyranny” and “In America, the Law is King” during the town celebrations. We quickly stuck a chord, distributing thousands signs, hosting large rallies and standouts, culminating in our Oct 18th No Kings Rally on the Battle Green, which was the 2nd largest in the state.

    But now we face the Valley Forge Years, the “winter of our discontent”. Many of the worst aspects of what we feared came to pass. Some did not. Many institutions and media capitulated to non-confrontation rather than uphold the values they still believed in. There was also resistance. But above all, the same dark anti-democratic forces we feared retained and used their power. It is hard to maintain commitment and enthusiasm when you have to pick and choose your battles.

    This meeting will give us a chance to reflect on our role in 2026. What should be our commitment. What should be our battles?

  • Governor Healey Demands ICE Halt Flights from Hanscom

    ByToby Sackton

    On December 12, Governor Maura Healey wrote to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE leadership denouncing the use of private charter flights at Hanscom Field to remove Massachusetts residents from the state.

    The letter came after months of organizing, research, and sustained pressure from Lexington Alarm and other groups north and west of Boston who founded DE-ICE Hanscom, began weekly standouts at the entrance of the airport, and began a letter campaign to Governor Healey and Massport.

    In her letter, Governor Healey wrote that ICE is using chartered aircraft at Hanscom to “quickly remove residents and sever them from their family, friends, and counsel without due process of law.” She emphasized that many of the people being detained and flown out of Massachusetts have no criminal convictions or charges, and that many are in the middle of lawful immigration processes through Massachusetts courts. She concluded “This is not the justice we believe in or stand for in Massachusetts. This practice must stop.”