Markey Continues Pressure on Boston ICE Field Office to Answer for Continued New England Deportation Regime

Letter to ICE (PDF) | ICE Response to December 2025 Letter (PDF)

Washington (August 6, 2026) - Today, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) again demanded answers from David Wesling, Acting Field Office Director for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Boston Field Office, after receiving an incomplete response from ICE to his December 17, 2025, letter that was sent following the Senator's inspection of the Burlington field office.

In the new letter released today, Senator Markey again asked ICE to address his concerns over the inhumane conditions, overcrowding, prolonged detention, lack of adequate access to medical care and legal counsel, and other poor treatment of detainees at the Burlington ICE field office facility. He highlighted how ICE's response effectively acknowledged severe overcrowding at the Burlington field office and conceded violations of its own prolonged-detention policies. Senator Markey further inquired about ICE's arrest of minors and enforcement activity at sensitive locations, use of excessive force, officer misconduct, and insufficient vetting of new hires.

In today's letter, Senator Markey wrote, "ICE claimed that a 'statistical reporting hold' blocked it from identifying the number of individuals processed at the field office in 2025 who committed violent crimes. Meanwhile, public reporting indicates that only 2% of individuals arrested during an enforcement surge in Massachusetts in September 2025 had violent convictions. And the data ICE provided for 2026 arrests appears misleading, as ICE noted that it deems illegal entry sufficient grounds for arrest and that an individual need not commit any additional crimes-violent or not-to be subject to removal. Moreover, ICE's response suggests that out of all the individuals it arrested with criminal convictions, a mere 15 percent were convicted of an offense ICE labeled as "serious." It is imperative that ICE admit the extent of the Trump administration's falsehoods by turning over the rest of the requested arrest data."

Senator Markey continued, "I am also seeking information related to ICE's harmful, nontransparent operation of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program ("ISAP")-an alternative to detention program-in the Commonwealth. ICE's website contains very little information about the program or the nongovernment contractors involved, despite perturbing incidents at these facilities that demand transparency into these contractors' activities. Massachusetts residents deserve to know who is operating ISAP and what guardrails are in place to prevent nongovernment contractors from violating their rights."

Senator Markey requested answers by August 19, 2026, to questions including:

• What is the nature of the conditions that individuals processed at the ICE field office in Burlington are held under?
• What are the field office's policies and procedures regarding the medical care of detainees?
• What are the field office's policies and procedures related to detainee access to interpretive services, their support systems, and legal counsel?
• What is the nature of the arrests of individuals processed at the field office?
• Since January 2025, how many minors (i.e., individuals under the age of eighteen) has ICE arrested in the Boston area of responsibility?

On July 28, Senator Markey led 11 colleagues in writing to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, DHS Secretary Mullin, and Defense Secretary Hegseth demanding to know whether the Trump administration plans to deploy armed federal law enforcement officers at polling sites during the November 2026 elections, an escalation of the Administration's assault on free and fair elections that is clearly meant to intimidate voters.

On July 17, Senator Markey conducted an official unscheduled oversight visit at the ICE field office in Scarborough, Maine, where he demanded answers about the recent, nearby shooting and killing of 26-year-old Johan Sebastián Guerrero by an ICE officer.

On July 16, Senator Markey and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to the ICE Boston Field Office in Burlington, Massachusetts, demanding a full, transparent, and independent accounting of this killing, given the office's direct jurisdiction over enforcement operations in Maine and New England.

In January, Senator Markey wrote to ICE Boston Acting Field Office Director David Wesling, demanding answers about conditions at the ICE field office in Burlington, Massachusetts, and the conduct of ICE agents in the Commonwealth. This letter followed Senator Markey's previous December letter to Acting Director Wesling, raising concerns about the cruel conditions at the Burlington field office.

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