ICE Operation Patriot 2.0 Hits East Coast's Sanctuary Cities

BOSTON, MA- The so-called “cradle of liberty,” also known as Boston, Massachusetts, is quickly discovering that the Trump administration is in no mood to screw around with their defiance of the federal immigration crackdown.

A blathering piece on ABC News complains that “immigrants are being detained while going to work, outside courthouses, and at store parking lots in Metro Boston” as part of the administration targeting “so-called sanctuary cities” as part of immigration enforcement.

“So-called sanctuary cities” is a key part of that sentence. 

Boston, along with several other Massachusetts cities, are self-identified “sanctuary cities.” There is nothing “so-called” about it. 

ABC whined about families hiding in homes, “afraid to leave and risk detainment.”

At the same time, illegal alien advocates have noted an increased presence of unmarked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicles in parking lots and other public areas “throughout immigrant communities,’ with enforcement agencies appearing “to target work vans.”

One video captured three landscapers working at the Saugus Town Hall being arrested after agents allegedly smashed their truck window. 

Horror of horrors, the city of Everett was forced to cancel its “Hispanic Heritage Month” festival after the mayor became afraid that ICE would be lurking, saying it was wrong to “hold a celebration at a time when community members may not feel safe attending.” 

In a rarity in dead, blue New England, New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican, has praised ICE’s action.

Earlier this year, Ayotte signed legislation banning sanctuary cities in the Granite State, promising that New Hampshire wouldn’t “go the way of Massachusetts.” New Hampshire doesn’t have the motto “Live Free or Die” for nothing. 

Some folks in far-left Massachusetts, however, are unhappy with ICE doing what President Trump was elected to do. 

“This is really increasing the fear in communities, which is already incredibly high,” said Elizabeth Sweet, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. 

The president has promised to target sanctuary cities such as Boston and Chicago, whose mayors have openly defied his immigration crackdown.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a committed leftist, recently called the crackdown “tyranny.”

The administration has stepped up enforcement efforts in Chicago as well, and the president has threatened to deploy the National Guard in the Windy City as well, although it appears he may have been bluffing. 

On Sept. 4, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, the city of Boston, and the Boston Police Department over the city’s sanctuary policies.

Wu, who is clearly in way over her head, accused the president of “attacking cities to hide his administration’s failures.” It appears more likely that the president is “over the target,” which is why Wu is pushing back. 

ICE recently launched an operation called “Patriot 2.0” after a May crackdown that led to the detainment of nearly 1,500 illegal aliens in the Bay State. The latest operation came only days before a preliminary mayoral primary. 

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the Boston surge is focusing on “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens” living in Massachusetts. 

“Sanctuary policies like those pushed by Mayor Wu not only attract and harbor criminals but protect them at the peril of law-abiding American citizens,” she said in a press release last week.

That release detailed the arrest of seven individuals by ICE, including a 38-year-old Guatemalan man who was previously arrested on assault-related charges. 

ICE didn’t respond to requests from the AP about the number of illegal aliens detained since “Patriot 2.0” began. 

ICE currently has contracts with multiple correctional facilities across New England to detain illegal aliens, including county jails, a federal prison in Berlin, New Hampshire, and a publicly-owned, privately operated prison in Central Falls, Rhode Island, ABC News reported. 

Flights operating out of Portsmouth International Airport at Pease have transferred over 300 individuals since early August, according to volunteers monitoring flights, operating at least five times per week.

Those flights have carried people from New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts. All detainees have been in shackles, according to David Holt, who has a lot of time on his hands and has been organizing protests at Pease. 

Protesters, whom some believe are being paid by NGOs associated with billionaire socialist George Soros, have been gathering at various venues, including the ICE office in Burlington, where three protesters were arrested on trespassing charges. 

Kevin Lam, co-executive director of the Asian American Resource Workshop, a community group that works on immigration issues, admitted there has been a “spike” in ICE activity.

He said many illegals have expressed fear about everyday tasks like picking up kids at school or riding on public transportation. Some, however, still go to work since they are the primary source of income for their families. 

“Many of them are like, ‘Yeah, it is a risk every day when I step out, but I need to work to be able to provide for my family,” he said. 

The U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, Leah Foley, said she “100%” supports ICE’s latest operations in the state, and her office will aggressively prosecute illegal aliens who commit crimes. Some “non-criminals,” ABC reported, have been caught up in raids in what ICE calls “collateral arrests.” 

“We stand ready to charge individuals who violate all federal laws, including those who enter our country without authorization after being deported and those who assault federal law enforcement officers or impede or interfere with federal officers doing their jobs,” Foley told the AP in a statement. 

Alexandra Peredo Carroll, director of legal education and advocacy at the Boston-based Mabel Center for Immigrant Justice, complained that families are getting “torn apart.” 

“I think you’re going to see more and more families are going to be torn apart, how individuals with no criminal history, with pending forms of relief, pending applications are just going to be rounded up,” she said.