Yes, it's a risk every day when I go out, but I need to work
In the Boston area, a federal immigration enforcement campaign known as 'Patriot 2.0' is reshaping the rhythms of daily life for immigrant communities — pulling workers from trucks, arresting people outside courthouses, and leaving families afraid to leave their homes. The Trump administration frames the effort as a necessary reckoning with sanctuary city policies that it argues shield criminals from justice, while local officials and advocates contend the operations are sweeping up legal immigrants, asylum seekers, and the simply vulnerable alongside any intended targets. What is unfolding is an old and unresolved American tension: the question of who belongs, who decides, and at what human cost enforcement of that decision is carried out.
- ICE agents are making arrests in parking lots, work trucks, and courthouse steps in broad daylight — the visibility itself is part of the pressure, designed to signal that no space is beyond reach.
- Entire communities are contracting inward: children left at school, doctor's appointments abandoned, a Hispanic Heritage Month festival canceled because residents are too frightened to gather in public.
- The Justice Department has sued Boston's mayor and city over sanctuary policies, while Mayor Wu and Chicago's Mayor Johnson push back publicly, framing federal action as political theater and constitutional overreach.
- Advocates have mobilized multilingual hotlines and airport monitoring networks, documenting over 300 shackled detainees transferred on flights since early August — a shadow infrastructure of resistance tracking an enforcement apparatus that declines to release its own numbers.
- Legal immigrants, asylum seekers with pending cases, and workers with no criminal record are being caught in what ICE itself calls 'collateral arrests,' with advocates warning that the fear spreading through communities is already outpacing the enforcement itself.
In the Boston area, immigrants are being arrested on their way to work — pulled from cars, taken from work trucks in broad daylight, detained outside courthouses and in strip mall parking lots. The Trump administration's enforcement campaign, called 'Patriot 2.0,' is targeting what it calls sanctuary cities: municipalities that limit local police cooperation with federal immigration agents. The visible operations have transformed daily life. Families are sheltering at home. Children are not being picked up from school. An unidentified ICE vehicle was spotted near a Vietnamese neighborhood in Boston the same week five residents from that area were detained. In Saugus, a man filmed three landscapers being arrested after agents broke the window of their work truck — on the grounds of Town Hall.
The city of Everett canceled its annual Hispanic Heritage Month festival, its mayor saying it would not be right to celebrate while residents were too frightened to attend. The Justice Department sued Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, the city, and its police department on September 4th, alleging sanctuary policies obstruct federal enforcement. Wu accused the Trump administration of 'attacking cities to hide the failures of his administration.' In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson called the crackdown an act of tyranny; the administration responded by threatening to deploy the National Guard.
'Patriot 2.0' followed a May operation that resulted in nearly 1,500 detentions across Massachusetts. Detainees are being held in county jails, a federal prison in New Hampshire, and a private facility in Rhode Island. Volunteers monitoring flights out of Portsmouth International Airport have documented more than 300 people transferred since early August — all of them shackled, according to organizer David Holt, who leads regular protests at the airport.
Advocate organizations have built their own infrastructure in response. The Massachusetts Immigrant Justice Network staffed a multilingual hotline in six languages and is now recruiting speakers of Cape Verdean Creole, Nepali, and Vietnamese to handle the volume. Kevin Lam of the Asian American Resource Workshop noted that many immigrants are still going to work despite the fear — they have no choice. 'Yes, it's a risk every day,' one told him, 'but I need to work to support my family.'
Federal officials insist the operations target dangerous criminals. But advocates say ICE's own language — 'collateral arrests' — reveals the reality: people with pending asylum applications, no criminal record, and legal processes underway are being detained. Alexandra Peredo Carroll of the Mabel Center for Immigrant Justice said the administration is forcing people into a narrative of illegality 'when in fact, many of these are individuals who are actually going through the legal process.' The fear, she and others warn, is already spreading faster than the enforcement itself.
In the Boston area, immigrants are being pulled from their cars on the way to work. They're being arrested outside courthouses and in parking lots of strip malls. They're being taken from work trucks in broad daylight. This is happening now, under the Trump administration's push against what it calls sanctuary cities—municipalities that limit how much their local police cooperate with federal immigration agents.
The visible enforcement has changed the texture of daily life in immigrant communities across Massachusetts and beyond. Families are staying home, afraid to leave. Children aren't being picked up from school. People are skipping doctor's appointments. An unidentified ICE vehicle was spotted parked in a lot near a Vietnamese neighborhood in Boston; five residents from that area were detained the week before. In Saugus, a man recorded video of three landscapers being arrested after agents broke the window of their work truck—this happened on municipal property, at Town Hall itself.
The city of Everett, north of Boston, canceled its annual Hispanic Heritage Month festival. The mayor said it wouldn't be right to celebrate while community members were too frightened to attend. In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson called the Trump administration's immigration crackdown an act of "tyranny." The administration has threatened to deploy the National Guard there. The Justice Department sued Boston's Mayor Michelle Wu, the city itself, and its police department on September 4th, alleging that sanctuary city policies interfere with immigration enforcement. Wu fired back, accusing Trump of "attacking cities to hide the failures of his administration."
The operation is called "Patriot 2.0." It followed an earlier initiative in May that resulted in nearly 1,500 detentions across Massachusetts. The latest push came just before a preliminary mayoral election, which Wu won decisively. She has become a frequent target of conservative critics for defending the city's sanctuary policies—rules that restrict how much local police can work with federal immigration agents. Tricia McLaughlin, a deputy secretary of homeland security, said the Boston operations would focus on "the worst criminal illegal aliens" in Massachusetts. She also stated that sanctuary city policies "not only attract and harbor criminals, but protect them to the detriment of law-abiding American citizens." ICE announced the arrest of seven individuals, including a 38-year-old from Guatemala with prior assault charges. The agency declined to say how many people have been detained since "Patriot 2.0" began.
The detained are being held in facilities scattered across New England—county jails, a federal prison in Berlin, New Hampshire, and a privately operated prison in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Volunteers monitoring flights from Portsmouth International Airport in New Hampshire have documented more than 300 people transferred since early August, with at least five flights per week carrying detainees from New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts. All of them have been shackled, according to David Holt, who has been organizing regular protests at the airport. Demonstrators have gathered at ICE offices in Burlington; three were arrested for trespassing.
Advocate organizations have mobilized to track the enforcement. Luce, the Massachusetts Immigrant Justice Network, staffed its hotline with interpreters speaking English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Mandarin, and Haitian Creole to collect reports of ICE sightings. They're now recruiting volunteers who speak Cape Verdean Creole, Nepali, and Vietnamese to handle the volume of calls. Kevin Lam, co-executive director of the Asian American Resource Workshop, said his organization has documented a spike in ICE activity. He noted that many immigrants are still going to work despite the fear—they have no choice, because they're the primary earners for their families. "Many of them say, 'Yes, it's a risk every day when I go out, but I need to work to support my family,'" he said.
Republican federal prosecutor Leah Foley said she is "100% in favor" of the ICE operation and that her office will prosecute immigrants without legal status who commit crimes. But advocates point out that ICE's own term for innocent people caught in raids is "collateral arrests." Alexandra Peredo Carroll, director of legal education and advocacy at Boston's Mabel Center for Immigrant Justice, said the Trump administration is trying to fit people into a narrative of being illegal or criminal "when in fact, many of these are individuals who are actually going through the legal process." She expects to see more family separations and arrests of people with no criminal record but pending asylum applications or other pending relief requests. The operation is catching more than it's supposed to. And the fear it generates is spreading faster than the enforcement itself.
Notable Quotes
This is really increasing fear in communities, which is already incredibly high.— Elizabeth Sweet, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
I think you're going to see increasingly more families separated and arrests of individuals with no criminal background, with pending relief forms or pending applications.— Alexandra Peredo Carroll, director of legal education and advocacy at the Mabel Center for Immigrant Justice
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why are sanctuary cities the focus here? What makes them different from other places?
Sanctuary cities have policies that limit how much local police cooperate with ICE. So if you're arrested for something minor, local cops won't automatically hand you over to federal immigration agents. The Trump administration sees this as obstruction. They're treating it as a political problem to solve.
But are the people being detained actually criminals, or is that just the framing?
That's the central tension. The administration says they're targeting the worst offenders. But advocates are documenting asylum seekers, people with pending legal cases, people with no criminal record at all. ICE calls these "collateral arrests." It's becoming clear the net is much wider than advertised.
What does it feel like on the ground? How are people actually living?
People are terrified to move. A parent won't pick up their kid from school. Someone skips a doctor's appointment. You stay home because leaving feels like Russian roulette. That's the real enforcement mechanism—not just the arrests themselves, but the fear that makes people disappear from public life.
Is there any pushback from local officials?
Yes, but it's complicated. Democratic mayors like Wu are defending sanctuary policies. Republican officials in New Hampshire are actually passing laws to ban sanctuary policies and cooperate more with ICE. The country is splitting on this.
What happens to the people who are detained?
They're moved through a network of jails and prisons across New England. Volunteers have tracked over 300 people transferred through Portsmouth Airport since August alone, shackled on planes, five flights a week. Most are being held pending deportation proceedings.
Do the advocates have any way to help?
They're trying. Hotlines with interpreters, legal aid, documentation of sightings. But they're overwhelmed. The infrastructure of fear is outpacing the infrastructure of support.