Our Elected Representatives Must Condemn ICE's Methods

They Should Not Stand By in Silence When People Get Abducted

This is adapted from an opinion piece I wrote that is scheduled to run today, May 23, in my weekly newspaper, The Falmouth (MA) Enterprise.

The basic facts are now known: Either ICE or other agents from the Department of Homeland Security came to my hometown of Falmouth, Mass., late last week, gathering in a church parking lot and later outside medical offices on a busy through street. Early Friday, May 16, they stopped a young Brazilian house painter, who had lived in this country for several years, as he headed to work. They led him back to his West Falmouth basement apartment a few houses away and, once inside, pinned his hands behind his back and placed him into custody.

The officers who arrested – or should I say abducted – him reportedly refused to identify themselves. They refused to produce any warrant. Both are required by federal law, but this is a pattern that’s been seen increasingly around Massachusetts and around the country. When they drove off minutes later – in six or seven separate unmarked cars, some of them wearing masks, others not – the detained man’s phone had been turned off. He had, in essence, been “disappeared.”

Yet as the news spread around Falmouth – through word of mouth, on Facebook, in emails – no public official in Congress, or state government or local government notified Falmouth residents. Nor did they condemn the manner in which this individual, described by neighbors as kind, hard-working and honest, had essentially been kidnapped.

I am writing today because I find this disturbing. I respect the privacy of the man arrested, his neighbors, the owner of his apartment. I realize that elected officials must be careful not to react too quickly lest they be accused of interfering in a law-enforcement operation. And, though there is no indication, the possibility remains that there may be some reason why this man, in particular, has been targeted.

But as I write – nearly five days later – I’ve yet to see a press release from my U.S. senator, my congressman, my state senator, my state legislator or my selectmen questioning, let alone condemning, the quite frightening series of events that took place in our community more than 100 hours ago.

That, in my view, is wrong. If we are to remain a sovereign Commonwealth, those representing it must sound the alarm when our laws are violated. If we are to remain a democratic nation, our elected representatives must push back when immigration enforcement agencies, in their haste to deport as many undocumented immigrants as possible, do not follow their own legal mandate.

Yet that is not happening, not only in Falmouth, but across the Commonwealth, though elected officials in some communities, such Lynn, have spoken up, according to The Boston Globe. Most vociferous, however, have been neighbors and friends who are witnessing, and often videotaping, increasingly brutal abductions with no due process, The Globe reports.

“The resistance to ICE actions has increased as operations become more visible and brazen,” The Globe reported. One statewide organization, LUCE has created a hotline for citizens to call if they see an ICE action in their neighborhoods. They alert a network of volunteers so that people can bear witness.

Other state and local nongovernmental organizations exist that work to provide immigrants, documented and undocumented, with information on their rights, how to prepare their families for the possible ICE arrest and deportation, how to find legal counsel. At a statewide level, MIRA (the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition) offers an immigration hotline, advice to immigrants in multiple languages about their rights, training for allies, legislative advocacy and more. It can be reached through https://miracoalition.org/. In my community, the Falmouth Immigration Rights Coalition, of which I am a member, has worked to distribute know-your-rights and other materials in multiple languages to churches, schools, businesses and not-for-profit organizations.

But it is elected officials – at all levels – who should be speaking out when enforcement operations appear to cross the line of what is legal. This week, even as some officials worked behind the scenes on the case of the West Falmouth painter after they were alerted on Friday, all failed to speak to a public left adrift by what surely seemed an operation outside the normal bounds of law enforcement.

Just what will become of the young house painter, who has not been named publicly, is unclear. I’ve been told, however, that he has a lawyer who knows where he is being detained.

To me, however, the series of events last weekend cast a dark shadow. Under the Fifth and 14^th Amendments of the US Constitution, all people in this country are guaranteed due process. They should be arrested on charges, not stuffed into a car with tinted windows, their hands pinned behind their backs, and whisked away. They should know who arrested them. They deserve their day in court.

We in Falmouth and on all of the Cape rely heavily on our immigrant neighbors, some documented, some not. They build our houses, serve us in restaurants, tend to our yards, clean our homes, care for our aging parents and lots more. Most are law-abiding, hard-working peaceful and gracious. But even if they weren’t, we must remain a nation of laws and call out efforts to warp them.

We cannot allow immigrants to be grabbed from the street or their homes in silence. I hope you’ll join me in demanding that our elected representatives do better, this time and in the future. That they inform us and speak out against illegal actions. That they find out and tell us who has been arrested and why.

None of our neighbors deserve to disappear this way. If we choose to ignore it, we just might be next.