Table of Contents
By Julia Hendrix
With the recent passage of the Protect Act in Massachusetts, there’s a sense that the Commonwealth is taking the care and safety of all citizens and members of the public seriously and we can relax somewhat in our vigilance around federal immigration actions here in Massachusetts. After all, the big street sweeps from 2025, which got so much coverage in the press, have died down. However as a member of the LUCE MA Medford Hub who has been involved in immigrant protection work and ICE verifying, I can tell you that abduction of immigrants is still happening and there has been an uptick in ICE activity since the passage of the Protect Act.
Beginning in the spring here in Medford, we saw a significant increase in ICE presence at court houses. Since March 1, 2026, there have been 26 verified sightings of ICE agents in Medford and 10 verified ICE abductions; all of the abductions have happened at the district courthouse. Since the passage of the Protect Act, we’ve seen an increased ICE presence at the district court. On August 24, 25, and 26 there was one abduction each day. Additionally we have verified ICE sightings at local restaurants and auto repair garages.
These two graphics use information from public ICE alerts from LUCE local groups. Not all LUCE local groups publish public data on ICE sightings and abductions. One is for several communities and one represents Medford. These are verified sightings and abductions, which means that local LUCE hubs have confirmed them with trained verifiers.
At the Cambridge/Malden District Court which is located in Medford at 4040 Mystic Valley Parkway, ICE agents have been allowed by court officers to use the closed parking garage to detain people.
An example of what this looks like: Recently I was there when a defendant who was charged but not convicted was set for release with an ankle monitor. Their friends were told to post bail in the morning at 8:30 and the defendant would be fitted with an ankle monitor and released. At the same time that friends were posting bail at 8:30 a.m. in the court clerks’ office, the court officers were handing the defendant over to ICE officers in the closed back area of the court and the person was then taken through the district court garage. After the abduction, the court clerk refused to return the bail money, and the friends had to appear before the judge to request return of the bail money, which the judge did order. To be clear, this person who is being abducted has not been convicted of any crime. Any warrant ICE had for them was a civil warrant.
A Request for the City
The Protect Act, recently signed into law, limits state and local participation in federal civil immigration enforcement. The restrictions in this act apply to the courts and our local police departments. They cannot:
- share non-public information with federal civil immigration enforcement, unless they have a written request in the last 30 days
- allow local police resources to be used for federal civil immigration enforcement
- ask about or record a person's immigration status, with limited exceptions for certain criminal investigations or when required by law
- stop, arrest, search, investigate, or detain someone for federal civil immigration enforcement purposes
- detain people solely based on an ICE detainer (a request from ICE to hold someone for immigration purposes)
I’d like to believe that the spirit and the letter of the Protect Act will be fully implemented and followed, throughout the courts and the city. We know that the spirit and letter of this act currently are not being followed in the courts. We also know that in the previous ICE surge the Medford Police Department did not involve itself in any way with ICE activities in Medford.
Prior to the effective date (September 1 to November 3) for the Protect Act to go into enforcement, it’s important for the city of Medford to implement a plan to make sure that the Act is being followed in Medford. We have a Welcoming City ordinance, which should be aligned with the Protect Act, and it should include a way that citizens can register complaints when the ordinance is not followed.
As a citizen of Medford, I’m asking for a system for members of the public to file a complaint if they see local law enforcement engaging and/or supporting Federal civil immigration officials in any way. This system should be designed and publicized prior to November 3, 2026. Hopefully this system would never be used, however, having it in place and publicly known would add a level of accountability that citizens of Medford deserve.
As citizens, we may not be able to influence federal actions as much as we’d like, however, we should be able to influence what happens here in our city.
Julia Hendrix is a Medford resident.
