Local News

As flights increase, Hanscom commission says ICE is withholding information

With intense public scrutiny on ICE's use of Hanscom Field, officials are trying in vain to get basic data.

Detainees at Hanscom Field are picked up for a flight to Louisiana. John Tlumacki / The Boston Globe

December 18, 2025

4 minutes to read

As Gov. Maura Healey demands that ICE stop using Hanscom Field in Bedford for immigration enforcement flights, members of the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission say they are being left in the dark by federal authorities.

The body, which includes representatives from Lincoln, Lexington, Concord, and Bedford, is tasked with educating the public about what is happening at Hanscom. With intense public interest surrounding ICE’s use of the airport, the commission’s members are trying to obtain basic information from the agency so that it can be shared with residents.

At the very least, members want to know how many ICE-related flights are taking off and landing at the airport, and the numbers of people on each flight, Christopher Eliot, a commission member from Lincoln, told Boston.com.

“We’re not getting enough information, but we’re persistent,” he said.

Hanscom is a civilian airport operated by the Massachusetts Port Authority that shares airspace with an adjacent U.S. Air Force base. There were 114 ICE flights that departed from Hanscom between the beginning of 2025 and Nov. 30, according to a report from Human Rights First. This represents a 143% increase from the same period last year.

Human Rights First maintains a detailed “ICE Flight Monitor” that tracks how the immigration enforcement agency is using airports around the country, both for deportation flights and for frequent internal transportation of detainees. The commission is aware of this reporting, but is hoping to obtain data from an official source on a regular basis, Eliot said, so that there is a public record.

ICE does not own planes but works with an airline broker that in turn subcontracts to several airline carriers for the flights, according to Human Rights First.

The commission is also trying to get more information from Massport, Eliot said. When reached for comment Thursday, a Massport spokesperson said that the term “ICE flights” refers to “charter flights operated by fixed based operators at Hanscom.”

“Massport does not receive prior knowledge of these flights, nor does the Authority have a role in their operation. Massport cannot discriminate who can or cannot use the airport. Public use airports like Hanscom are required to accommodate all flights to the airport, including those by or on behalf of the federal government,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

ICE is causing massive disruption for Massachusetts residents, Eliot said, and he is appalled at how agents are conducting enforcement operations. He called Healey’s public call for ICE to stop using Hanscom “overdue” but “wonderful.”

Healey, in a letter to federal officials this week, called ICE’s tactics “disturbing and anti-American.” A major ICE operation in Massachusetts in September resulted in more than 1,400 arrests, according to the agency. Healey called attention to recent reporting in The New York Times that found that 63% of the people arrested during this operation had no prior criminal charges. She accused ICE of indiscriminately targeting all immigrants, saying that this is actually harming public safety.

ICE has been using Hanscom for detainee flights since at least 2014, according to previous reporting from The Boston Globe. Eliot acknowledged that ICE’s use of the airport is not new. But the greater frequency of flights this year, paired with a change in ICE’s tactics, is causing more concern among commission members.

“It hasn’t been a general concern until now because they haven’t been arresting citizens and minors and respected academics and people with no criminal record that they’re calling the ‘worst of the worst,’” he said.

Christopher Celozzi, a public affairs representative for ICE’s Boston office, attended a Nov. 18 meeting to take notes on the commission’s concerns and relay those back to leaders in the Department of Homeland Security, according to the meeting minutes. Eliot said that he appreciated Celozzi’s attendance but was disappointed by the lack of information he could provide.

Celozzi was invited to attend the Dec. 16 meeting but did not show up. In an email to commission chair Margaret Coppe, Celozzi provided a statement attributable to an “ICE spokesperson” in response to the questions he got at the November meeting.

“Due to operational security and officer safety ICE does not discuss any ongoing, upcoming, or planned immigration enforcement operations. With regards to flights at Hanscom, all proper authorities are notified prior to ICE using the airfield. ICE is in constant communication with our local law enforcement partners, and all appropriate notifications are made through them,” the statement said. “Due to the aforementioned operational security concerns, ICE will continue to operate under this process.”

Eliot is hoping that the commission can maintain communications with Celozzi and others from the federal government. He would like to see a “public dialogue with ICE” where members of the public and ICE officials can, ideally, have a civil conversation.

But Eliot also is worried that ICE is deliberately spreading fear, laying the groundwork for a crackdown on free speech and broader democratic ideals.

“They’re training a group of people to act in a paramilitary capacity that could later be turned loose on just protesters and anybody that they don’t like,” he said. “I feel this is building a militia to support a fascist takeover of this country.”