On Mother’s Day afternoon, several hundred people gathered in front of Acton Town Hall to protest the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) action that occurred on Great Road (Rt 2A) less than 24 hours before.
The protest, organized by The Peacemakers Network, Indivisible Acton Area, and other groups, featured speakers Lorena Betts and Jeff Champagne of the Peacemakers Network, along with State Senator Jamie Eldridge and State Representative Dan Sena. People lined both sides of Rt. 27 holding signs, and the peaceful protest filled the green in front of Town Hall and spilled down the street.
Lorena Betts, one of the Peacemakers Network co-founders, started the rally with a moment of silence. She then spoke about the fact that we now have masked agents coming into our town and arresting Acton residents.
She noted that we are now in a constitutional crisis and that ICE and other law enforcement agents are ignoring laws and taking people without due process.
Reflecting on recent ICE actions across the nation, Ms. Betts stated, “Let me be clear, these actions violate core constitutional and legal rights:
- Stopping vehicles without reasonable suspicion, whether to check immigration status or for any other reason, violates the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
- Racial profiling violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth. Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law for all persons.
- ICE cannot detain individuals without a valid judicial or administrative warrant, as required under federal immigration law.
- Demanding to see someone’s “papers” without reasonable suspicion is not legal grounds for detention or arrest, and violates protections under the Fourth Amendment.
- Individuals have the right to remain silent when questioned by authorities, a protection guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment.”
Ms. Betts then proclaimed that the moment calls for action. If you see injustice, film it or photograph it and report it to LUCE, the Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts.
She stated that “No one is safe until everyone is safe.”
In a later email, Ms. Betts said, “As an immigrant, seeing what has been happening in our community is beyond heartbreaking and it’s scary. It was so encouraging to see so many community members who care and support our vulnerable immigrant neighbors and are saying there’s no place for injustice here, give them their constitutional rights, due process, and humane treatment.”
After her rousing speech, State Senator Jamie Eldridge started his speech by pointing out the Isaac Davis monument across the street from the rally. Isaac Davis, who was the first person killed in the Revolutionary War 250 years ago, gave his life defending against tyranny. Eldridge said that ICE’s targeting of Acton residents harkens back to that time, when British soldiers were entering people’s homes.
He noted that during the ICE action on Great Road yesterday, so many people were there that “ICE Agents got fed up and moved away, probably saving a number of Acton residents.” He also stated that having ICE agents in your town harms public safety.
Senator Eldridge stated that attacking immigrant communities harms the very fabric of our society. The audience responded by yelling, “Shame!” at this and other statements that he made about ICE and their interactions with immigrants.
State Representative Danillo Sena spoke next. He came to the US from Brazil as a child and was a DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as “Dreamer”) recipient. “As an immigrant,” he said, “this is personal.” He reminded people that he has worked hard for the immigrant community, including getting the Work and Family Mobility Act passed, which allows undocumented immigrants to have drivers licenses, as well as other important legislation.
As with the other speakers, Rep. Sena emphasized that we need to keep reaching out to elected officials and to keep mobilizing, even when we’re all tired.
Rep Sena said, “It’s mentally tiring, but at the same time we want to do something, we want to act, we want to change what is happening. But then, at moments we have to figure out how we will cope for the next three or four years. We need to use every tool that we have, everything that we can at the local level, at the state level, and we need to partner with our federal delegation. We cannot be silent, and that is the reason we are here today. If we are silent, we are complicit.”
Lorena Betts introduced the final speaker, Acton resident Jeff Champagne, who is a member of the Peacemakers Network. Mr. Champagne stated that “we stand today at a crossroads, just as our forebears did 250 years ago…. We reflect on the Minutemen who marched to Lexington and Concord, defying a king’s tyranny with unwavering resolve.”
Mr. Champagne also called forth the 80th anniversary of victory in Europe, as a reminder of the cost of freedom, as well as George Washington’s words to beware the “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men who would erode our liberties.”
He finished by saying that the “raids in Acton are not just an attack on a few; they are an assault on the ideals our Minutemen died for…Tyranny will not prevail in Acton – not today, not ever. Stand tall, Acton. The crossroads is ours and we choose freedom for all.”
Ms Betts then wrapped up the rally with an exhortation to keep up the work; get trained to be a LUCE volunteer, keep reporting injustice, and contact your representatives, both state and federal.
Miriam Lezak is an Associate Editor of the Acton Exchange and writes on a variety of topics.