Shock rippled through the Berkshires when images of federal agents wearing masks and bulletproof vests, and black vehicles with tinted windows proliferated across social media Wednesday. Spotted alongside ICE agents were representatives of other federal agencies including the FBI and ATF. In the largely progressive region, the daytime appearance of Immigration and Customs Enforcement was a sharp reminder of the scope of President Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
“We have never seen this happen. A lot of members in the community, we were hoping that, because the Berkshires are, it's a rural area, we're in the middle of nowhere, we have a low immigrant population, we were safe here, but unfortunately, that was just a perception," said community organizer Fernando Leon, who works with Berkshire Interfaith Organizing. “One of the concerns is they have taken people with valid work permits. They have taken people in retaliation for not sharing information about other coworkers and colleagues. Unfortunately, that's fostering a lot of fear in the community.”
A flurry of tips and reports of detainments and raids in Berkshire communities including Pittsfield, Monterey, Lee, and Lenox made it difficult to discern what was happening and to whom. Reached by WAMC Wednesday, an ICE representative said the agency would not comment on any “ongoing, upcoming, or planned operations” due to concerns for officer safety.
The Berkshire District Attorney’s Office told WAMC it had not been warned by ICE ahead of Wednesday, and noted that as policy, it does not report individuals to the agency or inquire about citizenship status.
The only Berkshire law enforcement agency reached by WAMC that had any knowledge of the actions was the Pittsfield Police Department.
Chief Thomas Dawley told WAMC that “ICE provided a courtesy call to the Department early [Wednesday] morning informing us that they would be in the area of Pine Street,” but added his department was not involved in the effort.
That information did not make its way to the desk of Mayor Peter Marchetti just across Allen Street in city hall.
“There are a lot of moving parts," Marchetti told WAMC. "In my mind, we continue to say, I want to be kept in the loop at all times, and it doesn't always happen.”
Top Massachusetts leadership on the state and federal level were mute when reached by WAMC. Governor Maura Healey, Attorney General Andrea Campbell, and Senators Liz Warren and Ed Markey – all Democrats – all declined to comment on the raids.
However, Democratic State Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier of the 2nd Berkshire District denounced the move in no uncertain terms.
“You can't help but hear the echoes of the Holocaust in this when people are being rounded up and put in detention, maybe taken far away, disappeared from the community without due process," she told WAMC. "I don't know how you don't think that. And like I said, if these are not criminals, we are just tearing apart families. And we have to stand up. We have to stand up and say, this is not right. At the same time, it's really frustrating, because as individuals, we have so few tools. One tool we have is to raise our voices, and we need to do that.”
The abandonment of due process and the scattershot approach to the detentions disturbs Farley-Bouvier.
“While the federal administration is saying that they are picking up criminals, that doesn't seem to be the case at all," said the state rep. "It seems that they are just picking up people, and they are- Some people are here with documentation, have current working papers, are working, paying taxes, have families, and they're getting swept up anyway. Others have a, perhaps an expired visa, but they have a court date for their next appointment in court- But it's taking so long to get those court dates that the visa expired in the meantime. And so, these are not criminals, these are our neighbors. And to spread this kind of fear confusion in the community is not making our community safer, and it, quite frankly, is not humane.”
With information scant and silence from top Massachusetts officials, Berkshire activists sprung into action and tried to assemble a picture of what exactly happened Wednesday.
“I have been able to talk personally with every single one of those families," Fernando Leon told WAMC. "So, this is not coming from third or fourth [sources], it’s directly from the families. They have been trusting enough to provide documentation, like personal information documents, the A-Number. We have been able to confirm that we have 10 people that, we have confirmed that they are in ICE custody right now.”
Leon broke down how activists worked to track and verify the detainments.
“Basically, how the data work is, if you are already in the immigration system, you're going to get assigned a case number, and that case number is called an A-Number," he explained. "So through that, it is very easy, because it's a unique identifier. So you'll be able to plug that into the ICE navigation system or location system, and they will tell you where that person is. So, it gives you a status, the status says, in ICE custody, and then it will give you the location.”
Leon echoed what other witnesses to the detentions had told WAMC – that the federal agents blatantly disregarded the law while removing community members from their homes and places of work.
“What was very concerning is that, allegedly, ICE is not following protocol," he told WAMC. "They came in without a warning, they did not produce any type of document. We also know for a fact that we have two landscapers that were in Monterey, they disappeared. People were very concerned, they were reported missing to the police, so the police informed them that ICE have taken them. We can be talking about serious violations of protocol”
With federal agents apparently taking breadwinners out of their homes, Leon says families are now living essentially on the run in Pittsfield. Afraid of staying in apartments or houses targeted by ICE, a couch surfing network is providing short-term shelter and local mutual aid efforts have risen up to support them.
“We have three kids in Pittsfield High School that didn't have fathers to come home to," Leon said. "So, fortunately, those kids have connection in the community, they have families that came and picked them up, but what happens when they don't? What's the school district going to do with those kids? What's the community going to do with those kids? Because if it's left to the Pittsfield school district, if it's left to government, they might surrender those kids to [the Department of Children and Families], and we don't want that. We will rather have them with people that know the situation, with people that know their families, that they have some information on how to navigate the situation when they will be able to reunify them with their families.”
The Pittsfield Public Schools issued a statement to the school community Wednesday saying that no ICE agents had been present at schools or buses, and that the district’s top priority is to provide a safe environment to students regardless of background or circumstances.
The Berkshire Alliance to Support the Immigrant Community or BASIC told WAMC that the group was “not in a position to make any statements or speak to the press.”
Berkshire Immigrant Center Executive Director Melissa Canavan told WAMC that the organization had not been in contact with detainees or established the number of community members impacted, but reiterated that everyone living in the United States has the same legal protections regardless of citizenship status.
Leon says Trump’s narrative that his aggressive campaign against undocumented immigrants is about removing dangerous criminals is a lie.
“Two people have warrants- They were not for convictions, they were for charges," he told WAMC. "And then we're talking about charges that, they can be misdemeanors, they can be DUIs. So, they are actually negating justice for those families. They are negating justice for that people, because they are not having their day in court, right? The rest of the people are just hard-working members of our community. So, we are not talking about criminals, we are not talking about gang members. We're not talking about illegals, because this is not about legality. We're talking about members of our community that they were taking away [Wednesday]. They were taken away [Wednesday] because they are the wrong color. They are Brown, they are Black. No one is going after Polish immigrants or Ukrainians. So, I think we have to be clear as well, say that this is about racism, this is about to push a rhetoric that is divisive, so it makes easy on them to dismantle government and do whatever they want.”
Pittsfield attorney Scott Clark is representing one of the community members detained by ICE.
“There's a recent expansion in the authority of ICE ERO, which is Enforcement and Removal Operations, to arrest people simply for having a charge- Not even being convicted, not even presenting evidence, not presenting the defense, but simply being charged, and they can be charged as something as petty as shoplifting, and therefore they are subject to arrest and detention," he told WAMC. "And it's nuts.”
The agency has the ability to literally print its own warrants under the Immigration and Nationality Act originally enacted in 1952.
“They're not going before a judge, they're not going before someone impartial or presenting evidence and giving someone a chance to listen to the whole story and apply an evidentiary standard and in the law to issue that warrant," Clark explained. "All they have to do is determine that someone might be here unlawfully, and so they take these warrants, and they go out, and people see a warrant, and it says, 'a warrant for arrest of alien' right on the top. It's a pretty powerful tool they have, but it's not a real warrant. It's not a warrant issued from a court that's authorized by the Constitution or the state's constitution.”
Clark says that if ICE shows up at your door, inspecting the warrant – if one is provided at all – is the first thing to do.
“If that warrant is not from a court, and you see Department of Homeland Security, and you don't see a judge's signature, you see a supervisor's signature, don't open that door because they don't have a right to be there,” he told WAMC.
Clark agrees that Wednesday’s raids represent an undeniable turning point for both the Berkshires and the country writ large.
“There is no restriction, there is no limitation," he said. "It is just, let's go. And it's scary. There's no- I want to say, oversight. There's just nothing to stop it.”
For Berkshire County community members without documentation, fear reigns supreme at the dawn of the second Trump presidency.
“We see a lot of a lot of people out there saying that we broke the law and a lot of things like that," said one undocumented resident. "So, in a way, you feel threatened, you feel that you don't belong fully in the community. And this is an experience that an immigrant has since one arrives here- You're completely afraid to be outside or outdoors, or wherever you live, to the police, to the community, because once you learn you broke the law, then you are a criminal, right?”
He spoke to WAMC on condition of anonymity.
“I'm back to that point where, you know, all right, what's going to happen if I go out the door?" he continued. "Should I go out the door? Should I go today? Should I go tomorrow? And that has a whole other psychological connection, where people like myself who has been here for over 15 years- I have a daughter, I have a family, I have pretty much a life built. And although I've tried to behave myself, I have a very good record – I went to school here, paid for school, I went to school here, and I'm trying to be a good citizen – that fear comes back again, because that uncertainty is there, and I can get a knock on my door today, this afternoon, tomorrow, I don't know.”
The resident says the illusion that tiny Berkshire County in westernmost Massachusetts would remain untouched by the administration’s hardline immigration policies has been shattered.
“One of the immigrant traditions of people I've seen is that you just hope for the best and live every day today," he told WAMC. "And you know, just, I guess you can say, let God decide on us.”
