Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, responded to the Marblehead Weekly’s request for comment regarding the recent ICE arrest in Marblehead on Sept. 12.
At 8:21 a.m. Friday on Beach Street in Marblehead, three unmarked vehicles, which were confirmed to be U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stopped a Lassana’s Landscaping truck to capture multiple people.
The officials were wearing Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and police vests.
Marblehead resident Sarah Fox said she was walking by when the vehicles pulled over the landscaping truck, and she heard one agent yell, “Your identification is fake!”
Fox said, “It was grotesque.”
Fox described seeing several vehicles surrounding the landscaping truck, blocking it from the front and side. “It was like a high-speed chase without the high speed,” she said. “The guy’s truck was in the middle of the road.”
When she approached, she noticed one individual wearing a vest labeled “FBI” and another marked “police.” She said the men yelled at the driver, accusing him of having fake identification.
Alarmed, Fox phoned her husband, Matt, an attorney who speaks Spanish.
He ran to the scene, identified himself as both a lawyer and a resident of the street — and he refused orders to leave. “They would not let him engage at all,” Fox said. She said he attempted to cite laws and call attention to what she believed were violations, but the agents continued with the detention.
Fox and her husband took photos of the incident. She described at least five individuals wearing different vests, with no two uniforms the same. Some vehicles appeared ordinary, including a bright blue Nissan. “This did not look official,” she said. “It looked like something you’d order on Amazon for Halloween.”
“They violated every right in every law you can imagine,” she said, noting that the men were not read their rights, and her husband was not allowed to intervene as an attorney. Fox added, “Normally, my street has a truck at every house on Friday. This was the first quiet Friday I’ve had.”
Fox said the stop did not appear targeted. “It was clear they just pulled over a random landscaping truck,” she said. “It’s profiling.”
McLaughlin wrote in an email that “While conducting a targeted enforcement operation to arrest the worst of the worst in Massachusetts, ICE encountered and arrested three illegal aliens in Marblehead on Sept. 12.”
McLaughlin continued, “Two of the illegal aliens entered the United States illegally on an unknown date and location, and another was released into the country by the Obama Administration 2012. This administration is not going to ignore the rule of law.”
She said she “encourage(s) illegal aliens” to “take control of their departure with the CBP Home app.”
McLaughlin added that the American taxpayer is “generously paying for illegal aliens to fly home and receive $1,000 stipend, while preserving the option to return the legal way and live the American dream.”
The Marblehead Police Department and District Attorney Paul Tucker were not notified of ICE’s presence before the arrest.
Congressman Seth Moulton wrote that “Armed agents in unmarked cars surrounding a local landscaping truck and screaming at the driver in front of neighbors without even notifying Marblehead Police or the District Attorney is not law enforcement –– it’s intimidation.”
Moulton continued that “these tactics do nothing to protect our communities; they only terrorize them. People should not have to fear being caught in the middle of an ICE operation on their way to work or school. When residents are afraid of their own government, they are less likely to cooperate with law enforcement — and that makes everyone less safe.
“I have already asked the FBI and DOJ for an explanation for why this situation was handled so aggressively and unprofessionally.”
Rep. Jenny Armini wrote in a statement, “It is shocking and distressing to see federal agents in Marblehead. Landscapers are not criminals. They are part of our economy and, by extension, our community.”
Armini added, “The goal of today’s actions is not to keep us safe. That’s the big lie. The goal is to destabilize our communities and terrorize individuals and their families. Marblehead has never given in to tyrants, and we’re not about to start now.”
