Residents of Winthrop, Massachusetts, were left feeling uneasy on Friday morning after federal agents, some wearing masks and arriving in unmarked vehicles, detained two individuals during a stop of a commercial van. According to NewsCenter 5, the event occurred around 7:30 a.m. near Buchanan Street and Pleasant Street, with the agents appearing to be affiliated with the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security.
The agents arrested at least one man, with a witness, Scout Grifoni, recounting the incident saying, "He was showing his ID, saying he has a wife and kids" and that the use of face masks by the agents "makes me feel uneasy as a civilian in the United States," Grifoni told NewsCenter 5; the scene left Grifoni, and evidently others in the community, shaken by the display of force on their normally quiet streets.
Details provided by the owner of the van suggest that the persons detained were his employees one had a legal work permit and a driver's license, the other was in the asylum application process none matching the photo of an alleged criminal the agents were searching for. The action stirred a mixture of reactions among Winthrop residents, with some standing behind Immigration and Customs Enforcement's measures, while others expressed that those living peacefully should not be targets for such enforcement. "They’ve created whole communities and they’re just ripping them apart," a resident expressed in an interview with NBC10 Boston.
The broader context of these arrests may link to a second surge of federal immigration activity in the Boston area, as mentioned by the acting head of ICE to the Boston Herald; despite this, Winthrop residents like Joseph Brennan argue for different measures: "I don't even know why they would be here, we should all stop hunting people and work on immigration reform," as he told NBC10 Boston. Information regarding the charges or when the detained persons will make a court appearance remains to be disclosed, as both NBC10 Boston and NewsCenter 5 reports indicate that ICE had yet not responded to inquiries related to the incident.
