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 and how the use of large planes there by ICE may be illegal under Massachusetts laws and regulations. Use of Hanscom is limited to airplanes with 60 seats or less and the ICE charters are clearly in violation of this.  The FAA defines ICE contractors such as Eastern and GlobalX as providing commercial passenger service, just like Delta or American, and this is exactly the type of service originally limited to 60 seats.

Massport has claimed it can’t take action due to federal preemption. That is generally true. No local airport has been able to regulate capacity or airplane size since the Aircraft Noise Control Act of 1990. But that act contained a grandfather clause. The 1980 Hanscom regulation is fully protected under that law from federal preemption, meaning Massport is free to use that 60-seat regulation as it was intended: to keep large planes out of Hanscom field except in rare and unique circumstances.  Other airports grandfathered in this way, such as Santa Monica and John Wayne airports in California, have won lawsuits over the FAA and were able to preserve their local regulatory rights.

We have launched round two of our letter campaign to the Governor and to Massport, and urge you to take one of two actions on our campaign page. Send a quick two-minute email or mail a formal letter to all members of the Massport Board and the Governor urging them to end ICE flights by using the law currently in place and grandfathered under the ANCA of 1990.

If you want to dive deeper you can read our entire 60-seat research document here.

Similar Posts

  • 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.

  • What Does Graham Platner’s Exit Mean for Our Movement?

    ByToby Sackton

    Graham Platner won Maine’s Democratic primary in a landslide, then quit after allegations he could not survive. His fall split the movement he built. We believe women, and violence against women is disqualifying, period. But his takedown was also coordinated Republican opposition research, and that is nothing to cheer. What does his exit mean for our movement?

  • Burlington Passes Anti-ICE Town Meeting Resolution

    ByJohn

    The Burlington Town Meeting voted nearly unanimously to condemn violations of local zoning laws and the inhuman conditions of detention at the ICE district facility in Burlington. The resolution called for ICE to cease overnight and extended detentions at the Burlington facility and to comply fully with the conditions they agreed to when they first…

  • How Lexington Alarm helped set the Stage for Public Discussion of Hanscom ICE Flights

    ByToby Sackton

    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.