New Bedford rally at Riverside Park calls for an end to ICE operations

NEW BEDFORD A crowd gathered at Riverside Park in New Bedford on Saturday to demand that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stop its operations and that the country change its immigration system, NBC 10 reported. The rally came a month after an ICE operation in southeastern Massachusetts that the agency says led to 82 arrests.

The LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts organized the "Free Them All" rally, NBC 10 reported. Speakers described how immigration enforcement has affected their families and urged elected officials to act. One speaker said her mother had been deported, leaving her in foster care. "It's something very painful to see your parents in that position," she said, according to NBC 10.

LUCE describes itself as a coalition of immigrant-led grassroots organizations working through organizing, information sharing and mutual aid. It runs a hotline, 617-370-5023, that takes reports of suspected ICE activity every day from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in several languages.

A candidate for governor spoke

Andrea James, an independent candidate for governor, told the crowd she supports abolishing ICE. "We don't need ICE in Massachusetts," James said, according to NBC 10. "We need the diversity, the workforce, the love of immigrant families." Asked what should replace the agency, she said the country needs "fair and just immigration policy."

Three tickets for governor and lieutenant governor are on the Nov. 3 ballot, printed as Healey and Driscoll, Democratic; Minogue and Oliver, Republican; and James and Kittredge, Independent.

SC360 sent the same question on immigration enforcement to all three tickets for governor on Monday.

James's campaign confirmed her remarks at the rally. "She supports removing ICE in Massachusetts and building a fair immigration system that protects due process, keeps families together, provides access to legal representation, and creates meaningful pathways to lawful status," Ari Goode, her communications director, said Monday.

In a statement to SC360, James said: "I condemn the September ICE raids in New Bedford, Dartmouth, and Fall River. Reports of parents taken from their children and workers detained on their way to their jobs show the harm these operations cause. Families should be able to go to work, send their children to school, and seek medical care without fear of being torn apart."

"As governor, I would direct the Massachusetts Department of Correction to end its voluntary 287(g) agreement with ICE, support access to immigration legal services, and use the lawful powers of my office to protect residents' constitutional rights," she said. "Changing federal immigration policy requires federal action, but Massachusetts must decide how it uses its own agencies and resources."

"Immigrant families are our neighbors. Their work, their love, and their lives are part of this Commonwealth. Their safety belongs at the center of any honest conversation about public safety."

ICE's account of the September operation

ICE Boston said in an Oct. 19 release that it ran a targeted operation in southeastern Massachusetts during the week of Sept. 21 and arrested 82 people. The agency said several of them had been released from jail by sanctuary jurisdictions that refused to honor ICE detainers, and that many have criminal histories including charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, possession of child sexual abuse material, strangulation or suffocation, driving under the influence and larceny.

"ERO Boston will continue to proudly protect Massachusetts communities from these dangerous criminals," acting ICE Boston Field Office Director Joseph Sher said in the release, which also criticized Massachusetts officials over sanctuary policies.

The arrests in New Bedford, Dartmouth and Fall River

Immigrant advocates counted more than two dozen people detained at roadside stops in New Bedford, Dartmouth and Fall River on Sept. 21 and 22, GBH News reported. New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said then that ICE "continues to overreach," and that there was no indication eight people detained the morning of Sept. 21 had any criminal records beyond minor motor vehicle violations. "It failed yet again to notify our police department of its operations, putting at risk police officers who might arrive on scene," Mitchell said. "This is not the way the system should work."

What comes next

Organizers said they will keep pressing municipal and state leaders for action as Election Day approaches, NBC 10 reported. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.