Since March 1, activists have reported 26 verified sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and 10 verified abductions in Medford, according to Julia Hendrix, a member of the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts’ Medford Hub. ICE activity has been concentrated at the Malden and Cambridge District Courthouses at 4040 Mystic Valley Parkway in Medford, potentially in collaboration with court officers.
These sightings come amid the August passage of the PROTECT Act, a Massachusetts law which limits collaboration between the state and ICE. Sections of the PROTECT Act that restrict unwarranted civil arrests in courthouses become effective on Nov. 3.
“People are fearful of ICE, so they are afraid to go to some of the things that they would have been open to going to before — like open to going to events in public, open to going to things in large gatherings, because there’s that fear,” Catherine Dhingra, Medford’s assistant director of health and human services, said…