‘They just left him there’: Waltham city councilor details ICE interaction that left boy stranded alone

On the morning of Sunday, May 4, Waltham City Councilor Colleen Bradley-MacArthur received a message telling her that ICE agents were conducting operations in her area. 

The message came from a local group of volunteers that works to verify and monitor immigration enforcement in the city and around the state. Bradley-MacArthur was told that agents were near Waltham City Hall, so she decided to go take a look. She did not expect to find much. But upon arrival she spotted multiple vehicles with tinted windows and masked men wearing tactical gear. She knew these were federal agents. 

Bradley-MacArthur had participated in training to prepare for these exact circumstances, but it was her first time interacting with ICE directly and she still felt scared. She and other volunteers took out their phones and began recording. But soon the agents moved to nearby Felton Street. Bradley-MacArthur followed. 

The scene that greeted her was shocking. Unmarked vehicles blocked off the entire street, while more masked agents mulled about. On a sidewalk, a boy that appeared to be around 12 stood alone. At one point, an unmarked vehicle drove toward her and swerved at the last minute. It felt like an attempt at intimidation, she recalled. 

Some of the agents spoke to the child. Others told Bradley-MacArthur to stand back and not interfere. None of them answered her questions, but she kept filming. The federal agents were there for what felt like an eternity, she said, but all of a sudden they got in their cars and drove off. 

The boy was left alone. Bradley-MacArthur would later find out that the person he was with had been detained and loaded into an ICE vehicle before she arrived on Felton Street.  

“I couldn’t believe that they just left him there,” Bradley-MacArthur told Boston.com. “I can’t imagine what kind of trauma he’ll have from seeing that.”

Footage taken by Bradley-MacArthur and shared with Boston.com can be viewed below.

Bradley-MacArthur and other volunteers spoke with the child. Some offered to walk him home. 

More than a week removed from the incident, Bradley-MacArthur still feels angry. 

“I wasn’t prepared for how angry I was seeing these masked men. They looked like those white supremacists with the tiki torches that march through neighborhoods to intimidate people. It just incensed me that they would come into my community and terrorize my neighbors,” she said. 

Spokespeople for ICE did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. 

Bradley-MacArthur followed up with members of the Waltham Police Department, who confirmed with her that they played no part in the ICE operations. Local police departments in Massachusetts are not legally allowed to make arrests based on federal civil immigration matters.

The incident is one of many that have alarmed and angered residents throughout Massachusetts in recent months. A few days after Bradley-MacArthur witnessed ICE agents leaving the boy alone, a Worcester neighborhood descended into chaos after dozens of residents surrounded agents attempting to detain a member of an immigrant family. Two people, including a candidate for the Worcester School Committee, were arrested. Outrage was immediate and appears to be growing. 

Earlier this week, ICE agents were again filmed in Waltham. This time, they were seen smashing a van window in order to arrest two men, NBC10 Boston reported. 

To Bradley-MacArthur, ICE operations in Waltham appear to have gotten more “severe and serious” over the last few weeks. She hopes this will spur her fellow elected officials to engage with community members more. 

“I think that all of the elected officials in Waltham need to be in their communities and hear these stories because I think it will have an impact and highlight how severe this situation really is,” she said. 

Bradley-MacArthur offered nothing but praise for the Waltham Police Department, and highlighted how members of the department have been holding community engagement sessions with residents to build trust in the department. But attendance has been low, police told Bradley-MacArthur. She has told them that residents are scared, and attributes the low attendance numbers to that fear. 

Bradley-MacArthur keenly follows reports of ICE activity throughout the area. She saw video of the incident in Worcester and is concerned about how things may continue to escalate. 

“I do worry that it’s going to reach Worcester levels or worse, and that’s going to bring more backlash at the federal level, which we don’t want,” she said. 

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