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Town of Burlington overwhelmingly condemns ‘inhumane’ conditions at ICE facility
Burlington leaders say that ICE is violating local zoning bylaws and keeping migrants detained in poor conditions for long periods of time.
Burlington’s Town Meeting members overwhelmingly voted Monday to denounce actions being taken by ICE agents at a facility in town that the agency is using to detain migrants.
In Burlington, residents elect 126 members to serve on the body. The vote came on the final night of Town Meeting sessions, which have been ongoing since last month. Only five members voted against the largely symbolic resolution.
Phyllis Neufeld, the Town Meeting member who introduced the resolution, said that she did so to draw attention to the treatment of migrants while also hoping to protect Burlington’s reputation.
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“I don’t want our town synonymous with the inhumane behavior,” she said.
The ICE Boston field office, located on District Avenue near the Burlington Mall, came onto the radar of residents and anti-ICE activists earlier this year as ICE ramped up operations in Massachusetts. After a Milford teen was detained on his way to volleyball practice and kept there for six nights, he described “humiliating” conditions inside the facility.
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Images shared with Boston.com that were apparently taken within the facility around that time show detainees in close proximity to one another, packed into a corner of a holding area. Most of them appeared to be sleeping directly on concrete, with mylar blankets to keep warm. The Milford teen’s lawyer said that the conditions represented a “new level of depravity” for an ICE facility.
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ICE officials say that the facility is only intended to hold detainees for short periods of time as they go through the intake process. It is a “rarity” for detainees to stay there longer, and the building is equipped to “facilitate a longer-term stay when necessary,” an ICE spokesperson said in June.
ICE representatives did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
In 2007, soon after the facility was established, residents voiced their objections. In response to some of that outcry, ICE officials at the time committed to complying with all zoning ordinances required by the town. They assured Burlington residents that the holding areas in the building were for temporary use only and that no migrants would be held overnight, according to records presented by Neufeld during the Town Meeting session Monday night.
Neufeld asserted that ICE is now violating Burlington’s zoning bylaws by holding people there for longer periods of time. She cited comments from those who have been inside the facility, including lawyers, former detainees, and congressmen Seth Moulton and Jake Auchincloss. These comments paint a picture of a place where overcrowding is prevalent, unsanitary conditions are widespread, food is insufficient, and temperatures are poorly controlled.
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After touring the building earlier this year, Moulton and Auchincloss compared the conditions they saw to some they experienced in the Marines. The facility is “grossly inappropriate for detaining anyone overnight,” Moulton said at the time.
Neufeld also pointed to an August article in The New Bedford Light, where a former detainee said that “Burlington was a nightmare.”
Amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, protesters have gathered outside the facility every week to protest ICE and express their solidarity with the detained migrants.
In passing the resolution, Town Meeting members formally called for ICE to stop keeping detainees in the building for extended periods of time. They also called upon federal, state, and local authorities to “investigate and take corrective action” to ensure compliance with local zoning laws, and to confirm that detainees are being treated humanely.
In June, Burlington’s Select Board made a formal request with ICE to inspect the facility. More than a month later, federal officials denied their request, saying that “operational security considerations” prevented such an inspection.
Select Board Chair Michael Espejo spoke after Neufeld’s presentation, saying that he has received a massive influx of messages from concerned residents and others who say they are opposed to the ICE facility being used as a detainment center. He urged a “yes” vote on the resolution, saying that “perception is reality” and that it is important for local leaders to make clear that ICE’s alleged actions do not reflect Burlington’s values.
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“In my heart and soul I do not believe this is a partisan issue. Nor is it an issue about how people feel about immigration or what we, as a nation, should be doing about it. Those issues are beyond the scope of town government, and what we do here,” he said. “What I do believe is that this is a human issue.”
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