ICE Ramps Up Deportation Flights from Hanscom Field

The recent letter from Maura Healey demanding that ICE halt flights out of Hanscom and the Boston Globe article examining ICE flights from Hanscom Field was the result of months of organizing, research, and coalition-building by Lexington Alarm and allied groups across the region. Far from being a sudden media moment, the story reflected a growing public effort to bring transparency and accountability to the use of a Massachusetts state facility for immigration enforcement operations.

The issue first gained momentum after a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that Massport had knowledge of ICE-related charter flights at Hanscom but was not fully sharing that information with the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission. This lack of disclosure raised the possibility that Massport was deliberately keeping information about ICE flights from the Commission.

In response to the Commission’s request for this data and our desire to increase public scrutiny, Lexington Alarm and partner organizations launched a coordinated letter-writing campaign directed at Massport executives, the Massport Board of Directors, and Governor Maura Healey. To make participation easy and accessible, we developed an online tool that allows individuals to send letters directly to Massport and the Governor both electronically and via regular mail.

As of this week over six hundreds of letters and emails were sent. This response demonstrated that concern about ICE flights from Hanscom extended well beyond Lexington and involved residents across multiple communities.

photo by Sasha Patkin: Ayla Modirzadeh-March, LHS Junior, Speaking at No Kings Day in Lexington

Nearly 2,000 people came to the Lexington Visitor’s Center, across from the Battle Green, on March 28, part of the largest single-day protest in American history. Nationally No Kings had more than 3,100 events nationwide, with an estimated 8 million participants, including 180,000 in Boston.

Lexington Alarm and IndivisibleLAB held the rally in Lexington, after it became apparent that many wanted one here, as has been done 3 other times this past year. Of course, Lexington is among the most fitting locations. “The Battle of Lexington and Concord was here,” one eighth-grade resident told the Lexington Observer. “It was the first place where we took our stand against kings. And I feel like we’re doing that again.”

Toby Sackton opened by naming the stakes directly. “We are not just fighting for survival, but for the rebirth of our Constitution and its promise.”

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.