Public Comment on the Resolution Calling for Federal Immigration Agents to Be Held Accountable for Violations of Massachusetts Criminal Law
ICE processing and detention facility, Burlington, MA. Photo: Indivisible MA Coalition
The following public comment was submitted to the Amherst Town Council for their meeting on February 23, 2026.
My name is Margaret Smith, I live in Amherst’s District 4, and I’m a retired teacher. My family moved to Amherst in 1968, I graduated from ARHS, and I studied at Hampshire College and earned a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from UMass Amherst. I also worked on and off at the Jeffrey Amherst Bookshop, for a total of about 13 years. Study and teaching jobs took me far away, but I returned to Amherst every summer and Christmas to visit family and friends. When I retired in 2020, I was delighted to move back here to my adopted hometown, and I’ve been even happier living here than I had anticipated.
Today I’m asking you to adopt the resolution named above.
In the early months of 2025, I became used to reading and hearing accounts of inhumane conditions at ICE detention centers in other states far away. When I learned that immigrants are being mistreated at an ICE facility in Burlington, MA, right across the street from the mall, I was deeply moved and felt privileged to join a western Mass group of protestors standing vigil with hundreds of Eastern Mass residents outside that facility. Participants read aloud sections from the Constitution and reports of abuses that detainees had suffered, and a table displayed written accounts describing the cruel treatment that other detainees had experienced during arrest and in detention. The demonstration was as friendly and high-spirited as those I’ve attended around here, but there was also at times a spirit of solemnity. I saw fewer signs with insults and jokes directed at the White House and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Instead, the focus of the gathering seemed to be on the suffering of the detainees in the building a few yards away and the claim that makes on our consciences.
The final clause of the proposed Town Council resolution urges Gov. Healey to “cease all cooperation agreements with ICE.” Perhaps that’s too sweeping. Gov. Tim Walz (MN) and Gov. Wes Moore (MD) have both said they would cooperate with DHS to arrest immigrants who pose a danger to the community. Instead of trying to end all cooperation, let’s urge Gov. Healey to discontinue the practice of automatically inviting ICE to deport convicted criminals who have already served their sentences. Problems with that policy are explained in this article, Inside Ice’s Only Contract with a Blue State.
Why Should Our Town Council Adopt This Resolution?
On Dec. 11, 2025, the group Free Speech for People sent a letter to Attorney General Andrea Campbell and four District Attorneys, urging them “to open investigations into the activities of federal agents in Massachusetts,” pointing out that in “incidents across the state, federal agents have repeatedly committed criminal acts that are not immunized by federal law.” The letter presents seven examples of such acts and provides extensive legal justification for labeling the acts “criminal.” The resolution before you invites Amherst residents to be among the leaders in a state-wide effort to let DHS know that illegal actions by agents will be prosecuted and to assure our neighbors that we aim to keep each other safe.
Margaret Smith is a resident of Amherst.