BURLINGTON WEATHER

How Burlington Works

TL;DR

  • The ICE Boston Field Office at 1000 District Ave. has operated in Burlington since 2007 under an agreement that detainees would not be held overnight — an agreement that detainees and visitors say has been violated.
  • The town requested access to inspect the facility and was denied; a subsequent court petition was also denied.
  • The town has coordinated regularly with the AG's Civil Rights Division and Congressman Moulton's office but has not achieved local oversight.
  • Conditions appear to have improved since summer 2025, with fewer overnight stays reported — though residents note that detainees may simply be being moved through faster, not released.
  • Residents called for quarterly updates, a subcommittee, and a focus on the facility's lease renewal in 2028 as the town's next real point of leverage.

More than a year after Burlington residents began raising alarms about conditions inside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing facility at 1000 District Ave., the Select Board held its first formal public update on the town's efforts Monday night — detailing a sustained behind-the-scenes campaign that has included court filings, regular coordination with the state Attorney General's office, and congressional briefings, but has yet to produce the access town officials say they need to do their jobs.

Select Board member Sarah Cawley, who requested the agenda item, said the goal was transparency, not debate.

"This has been a topic of concern and conversation in Burlington for more than a year," Cawley said. "I felt like a public update was warranted."

A federal facility on private property within a municipality

The ICE Boston Field Office, located at 1000 District Ave. in Burlington, was approved at a Special Town Meeting in 2007 following assurances from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that the office would be used as a processing facility during business hours. The property is not zoned as a detention center, and overnight stays were not a part of the agreement.

However the facility gained local and national attention in 2025 when Milford resident Marcelo Gomes da Silva was released after spending several days and nights in detention. He, and later other detainees, told media and government officials of overcrowding, unhygienic conditions, and lack of access to adequate nutrition and medication, sparking an increase in the demonstrations that had already been taking place outside the facility and a public outcry that continues today.

Hundreds gather at a demonstration outside the ICE Boston Field Office in July 2025.

The concerns also sent members of the Select Board and town administration down a year-long path of trying to determine how they could exercise local oversight over the conditions at the facility. At the June 22 meeting of the Select Board, Town Administrator John Danizio and Assistant Town Administrator Patrick Lawlor explained what has been done to date.

What the town has tried — and what's stopped it

Danizio opened the presentation by reinforcing the town's commitment to public health and safety. "The safety and well-being of every person in the Town of Burlington is of paramount importance. That is how we have approached this complex situation at 1000 District Ave." He went on to add, "We certainly appreciate the community's involvement."

Lawlor then walked through a timeline of actions dating back to the summer of 2025, when concerns from detainees and visitors first surfaced.

The town's first step was requesting access to conduct a building inspection; this request was denied. Town officials then pursued a court order, supporting their petition with affidavits from a former detainee and a member of Congress who had visited the facility. In September 2025, the Massachusetts District Court denied the town's petition. The court's concern, Lawlor said, was the timeliness of the affidavits: The filing was made on September 2, but the supporting statements described conditions from June.

"The feedback we received was that those affidavits were not timely, or there was concern that they were not accurate for what was happening at that time," Lawlor said.

Since then, the town has been working to obtain fresh, firsthand accounts — a task that has proven difficult. Cawley noted that some individuals who initially agreed to provide sworn statements later changed their minds.

"I won't speculate as to why they have changed their mind," she said, "but I think we can all get into that mindset as to why they might not want to speak out in that way."

Resident Cecilia Mercado, who immigrated from the Philippines, offered a more direct answer: "What you need for an affidavit is from a very vulnerable person — the one that has been targeted by ICE. They can be deported and separated from their families and children."

In parallel, the town established ongoing communication with the Attorney General's Civil Rights Division — with Town Counsel in contact with the AG's office almost daily at certain points — and coordinated repeatedly with Congressman Seth Moulton's office. Lawlor said a briefing following the Congressman's December visit to the facility helped inform a public statement Moulton made that same day. He also noted that several days after that visit, 40 beds were delivered to the facility.

"I think it was the congressman's staff that helped expedite some of the issues that were involved in the procurement process at the federal level," Lawlor said.

The facility, however, still is not zoned for overnight stays.

A shift in conditions — with caveats

Both town officials and members of the public noted that reported conditions at the facility appear to have improved since the summer of 2025. Danizio said there seem to be fewer reports of overcrowding and shorter stays overall.

Town Meeting member Joanne Frustaci said she'd confirmed this directly with Moulton's office earlier that day. "There are very, very few people sleeping in Burlington," she said. But she added that conditions remain imperfect. "I did meet a man who was there for a night last month — he did not eat. He was not fed lunch or dinner, not any food until the following day."

Reverend Andrew Harris of the United Church of Christ, Congregational, on Lexington Street pushed back on reading shorter stays as good news. "This is not the kind of place you go when you cut class or if you cheat on your homework," he said, adding that the Burlington facility is just one in a network of camps meant to "diminish personhood" for "people deemed unwanted or 'out of place.'"

Detainees might not be staying in Burlington, said Harris, but, "That means they're abducting people off the streets in Vermont or Maine, bringing them to Burlington for processing, and sending them out to Plymouth County Correctional Facility or to Hanscom Air Force Base, and then off to far-off camps."

Board members reflect on a frustrating year

Former Select Board Chair Mike Espejo, who served as chair from April 2025 to April 2026, gave a personal account of the toll the issue has taken on him. He credited a network of contacts he'd built over the year — including, he noted, MA-06 congressional primary candidate Dan Koh, whose endorsement Espejo is expected to announce today — with helping open doors, even when the outcomes fell short.

Espejo said he had hoped to come to the public with an update when a resolution was reached. "In the end, the meaningful change I was hoping to accomplish as chair just never came," Espejo said. "The affidavit I've been hoping for — despite all of my scratching, clawing, calling, emailing, texting — we just never got it."

He said he questioned at times whether to remain on the board at all, caught between constituents who felt the town wasn't doing enough and those who felt it was overstepping.

"It was a no-win situation for us either way," he said. "It was a long, hard lesson to learn that even as Select Board chair, you can't do everything."

That sustained effort was visible in the room. Pine Glen resident Alex, appearing next to what she says is the single known photo from inside the facility, said she has attended Select Board meetings regularly for the past year to raise concerns about the ICE facility. She acknowledged the board's responsiveness even in the absence of a resolution.

A resident speaks at the June 22 Select Board meeting alongside what she called the only known image from inside the ICE Boston Field Office at 1000 District Ave. in Burlington. Image from BCAT Government YouTube Channel

"I cannot imagine how different my life would have been over the last year if you'd been antagonistic or even apathetic," she told the board. "That's not what I found at all."

Select Board member Nick Priest framed the issue in terms of governmental accountability.

"The concern before us is simple," Priest said. "When a facility operates within Burlington's borders, yet local officials cannot inspect it, local health and safety authorities cannot verify conditions, and the federal government can unilaterally declare itself beyond meaningful local review — we have a problem that extends beyond this single building."

The DHS and ICE, which is a subagency of DHS, are subject to congressional oversight, but Burlington as a municipality has authority to enforce zoning and building code.

"The town doesn't have the legal authority to shut down the ICE facility for zoning reasons," said Danizio, "but what the town can do is enforce building code. But we need to get into the building to enforce the building code. The town has not been granted access to enter the building for an inspection. Without a court order or without those affidavits attesting to the condition, the town will not be permitted to enter the building."

Chair Jim Tigges, along with his colleagues, expressed his appreciation for the collaboration and coordination between the Burlington Police and the "people exercising their first amendment rights," noting that the demonstrations have remained peaceful and safe for all.

Residents offer suggestions, push for more

Public comment produced several concrete proposals. Town Meeting member Phyllis Neufeld, who authored the October 2025 Town Meeting resolution condemning conditions at the facility, called for quarterly public updates and suggested the town form a subcommittee to look for solutions ahead of the facility's lease renewal in 2028.

"With the lease for the ICE building coming up for renewal in 2028, the town needs to look at all possibilities to bring ICE into compliance with our bylaws," Neufeld said, a sentiment that was echoed by Rev. Harris.

Former Town Meeting member Shari Ellis suggested the town begin formally documenting potential zoning violations — even if the federal government won't pay resulting fines — as a record that could be relevant to the lease renewal conversation and to the landlord.

An attorney who said he had practiced in Massachusetts for 50 years suggested the town explore a "petition for discovery," a civil statutory mechanism for compelling testimony, as an alternative path to obtaining sworn accounts of conditions inside the facility.

Tigges said the town and its legal team will continue pursuing affidavits and maintaining communication, coordination, and information sharing efforts with state and federal partners.

"We will continue working to obtain affidavits and to maintain communications with state and federal officials," Danizio said. "We're doing what we can as a town of Burlington."

Along with the concrete ideas provided by resident speakers, Rev. Harris offered a human perspective. "The cruelty and inhumanity that our neighbors suffer in that building is part of the thing that we carry in Burlington on our souls and I think all of us have to do everything that we can to try to live into our call to compassion and love and justice here in Burlington."

Continue reading →

Editor's Picks

ALL STORIES

See all