Updated, May 28
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, along with assistance from other federal agencies, detained at least 20 people on the Island Tuesday morning.
MV Times reporters and eyewitnesses saw officers, wearing masks and vests that read “FBI,” “DEA,” and “Police,” detaining people across the Island, though the specifics for why each individual was detained have not been made public.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement — ICE — released a statement on Wednesday morning stating that roughly 40 people had been detained on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, including, they stated, one documented gang member and one child sex offender. The agency offered no statement for the remaining roughly 38 people.
The U.S. Coast Guard supported ICE’s operations on the Vineyard. A Coast Guard spokesperson confirmed with The Times that Coast Guard Station Menemsha was being used to transfer detainees off the Island. Video footage showed 20 detainees wearing orange life jackets being loaded onto a Coast Guard vessel that left the Island.
The Nantucket Current reported that at least 12 people had been “detained and removed” on Tuesday from Nantucket, also on a Coast Guard vessel.
At least one individual detained was taken off-Island to a field office overseen by ICE in Burlington.
In response to the detentions on both islands, federal elected officials are urging the Trump administration and ICE agents to give anyone detained due process.
“Congressman Keating was made aware of the presence of federal agents on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket today by concerned constituents,” Congressman Bill Keating’s office said in a statement. “While the specifics of these detentions remain unknown at this time, Congressman Keating encourages any family members of those detained to contact his office so a congressional inquiry can be submitted to ICE to ensure due process is followed and not, once again, thrown to the wayside.”
The Trump administration has come under fire for not giving some detained by ICE agents due process before being shipped out of the country. The administration has sent migrants to El Salvador, and most recently tried to deport individuals to war-torn South Sudan, largely seen as a ploy to strike fear into immigrants who are in the U.S. without documentation.
Local police have said that they were not informed prior to ICE’s arrival. Oak Bluffs Police Chief Jonathan Searle said that in prior instances — before the Trump administration — local police were informed, and those detentions were for undocumented individuals who had committed crimes. Searle said that local police do not write police reports on the activities of ICE, although they will follow up to account for who was detained and taken off the Island.
The immigrant community on the Island has been reeling from the recent detentions, many calling out of work. There have been reports of empty lumberyards and construction sites, as well as housecleaners calling out.
“Everybody is so scared,” said Meiroka Nunes, a community organizer from Brazil who has lived on the Island for more than two decades. She has heard from one Brazilian whose husband was detained on Tuesday, and whose wife has not been able to reach him.
Nunes said that she worries about the mental health of Island immigrants who fear they or their family members will be deported. She noted that it’s especially scary on the Vineyard, because there is nowhere to run.
For Nunes, the majority of immigrants to the Island are fleeing poverty, corruption, and violence, and want to work.
“I came here 21 years ago, and I have three boys here,” she said. “I live in a good house; we just want a place to form a family. We have a great hospital, we can buy good food, and have a life without violence. Ninety percent of the Island Brazilian community just want this.”
Nunes also encouraged anyone who is undocumented on the Island with children to provide a plan for their kids if they are detained.
This is not the first time that ICE has been on the Vineyard. Last year, ICE confirmed they arrested at least five individuals on the Island.
The events on the Vineyard Tuesday began to take place in the morning. At about 8:30 am, near the roundabout at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, agents wearing FBI vests were seen pulling two workers out of an MV Mini Splits white work van. Left on the side of the road following the arrests were a single worker and a group of concerned Islanders trying to figure out what had happened.
The single worker, through a translator, declined to respond to a reporter’s questions, but noted that he had been working with the two individuals detained.
A Tisbury Police officer arrived on the scene, and said he had not been informed of the arrests before they were made.
Soon after, at about 9 am, across from Hillside Village in Vineyard Haven, three men also in padded green vests with logos of different federal police agencies — FBI, DEA, and just “Police” — and also wearing masks covering their faces, walked around a gray van that had been pulled over. An unmarked black car was parked behind the van. The officers took one man, who was wearing a landscaping sweatshirt, and handcuffed him; he did not resist arrest. The man was eventually placed in an unmarked car flashing red and blue police lights and taken from the scene.
Federal authorities’ activities so far do not seem to have specific targets outside of undocumented individuals. Thiago Alves, owner of Rhode Island–based L&R Electrical Services, said his workers were stopped by ICE on Tuesday morning on the Vineyard, but were sent on their way after they showed their paperwork.
Alves said that agents were stopping all work trucks, and that his business did not appear to be singled out: “It’s nothing against us.”
At least one of the immigrants who was detained by federal officials on Tuesday was given the choice to either leave the country on his own or be deported.
Chris Miller, owner of Miller’s Professionals in Oak Bluffs, said one of his workers was detained by immigration enforcers on Tuesday after they stopped his worker’s truck across from Vineyard Grocer on State Road in Tisbury. He heard from eyewitnesses that officers asked for papers before detaining him. Miller said that the worker, although he did not provide his name, was taken to the ICE facility in Burlington, and has booked a plane ticket for Brazil. His family on the Island is expected to do the same.
At the Coast Guard Station in Menemsha on Tuesday afternoon, it appeared that at least 20 individuals picked up in unmarked police cars around the Vineyard were transported off-Island via a Coast Guard boat.
A group of roughly 10 Islanders gathered outside the station, trying to get information from any officials within shouting distance.
“We are sorry you are caught in the middle of this,” one civilian waiting outside the office told the Coast Guard. One Coast Guard officer responded, “Thank you.”
“We deeply value the community and the support the community gives to Station Menemsha,” one Coast Guard official said. An individual asked if the Coast Guard felt like their building had been commandeered, to which the official responded, “No, I don’t feel like the building is being commandeered.” The official confirmed that they were ordered to work with ICE. “I am sorry this is causing distress to the community,” he said before leaving. He thanked the crowd for being cordial.
ICE on Wednesday released a statement praising the work of their officers.
“Operations like this highlight the strong alliances that ICE shares with our fellow law enforcement partners,” said Patricia H. Hyde, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting field office director, in a written statement. “ICE officers and FBI, DEA, and ATF agents worked together to arrest a significant number of illegal alien offenders [who] included at least one child predator. Our partners in the U.S. Coast Guard facilitated a safe and efficient transport of the alien offenders off Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, ensuring the safety of the residents of those communities. ICE and our federal partners made a strong stand for prioritizing public safety by arresting and removing illegal aliens from our New England neighborhoods.”
Vineyard immigration activists are urging people to report what they see — including photos and videos — to the LUCE Immigration Justice Network of Massachusetts’ hotline at 617-370-5023.
Eunki Seonwoo, Nicholas Vukota, Sam Houghton, and Sarah Shaw Dawson contributed to this report.
When I leave the country (usually by plane) I can’t even STEP ONTO the plane until my Passport is examined and stamped by the Customs Enforcement. AND, when I arrive at my destination (let’s say the UK), I cannot get STEP INTO that country without having my Passport inspected by THEIR country’s Customs Officers. WHY is everyone shocked here when illegals are arrested? They snuck in somehow! SO, why do WE TAXPAYERS have to foot the bill for people who are here on the dole: we (our taxes) are buying them free food, hotels, medical, school, etc., etc., etc., when we don’t even take care of our OWN citizens?? Why does EVERYONE IN THE WORLD have to have passports to LEAVE their country and ENTER any other country in the ENTIRE world?
Not every undocumented person snuck in. Some were brought by undocumented parents, or were perhaps born here. Undocumented workers are not “on the dole”, but pay taxes from which they will never benefit by the millions every year. $96.7 billion in 2024 alone. This racist purge will affect the government budget in the negative.
They are not ALLOWED to work! Period! They need Work Visas as
EVERY OTHER COUNTRY in the world does.
If you read this article, the people being detained were all pulled from work vans. They are all working. Undocumented immigrants pay nearly $100 billion in taxes every year. The Trump administration promised they were going to remove criminals from the US. That’s not what they are doing. This is just sad, horribly sad.
But they shouldn’t be here. Don’t care how much they pay in taxes. They are using medicaid that is costing billions.
One of the commenters on this thread said last year that trump would never deport MV immigrants unless they were terrible criminals. Now, this person has the nerve to say that ICE is just doing their job, and hardworking immigrants shouldn’t be here.
Every single immigrant should be afraid of the republicans.
It is a mistake to think immigrants don’t have passports. They do, most enter this country on planes in the same way that you have traveled, and with a visa. Those who walk across the border are not often found on Martha’s Vineyard. The truth of the matter is that the job market is international now and immigrants are wanted because their services are essential to the US economy. Immigrants are serving higher income people, helping entrepreneurs make money, sustaining the economy, building and maintaining Martha’s Vineyard. Immigration laws have not caught up with the needs of the economy. Those who want to hire as well as those looking for work have tried to work around the problem. So, some people arrive in the US legally, with a US government issued tourist visa, or student visa, or temporary worker visa. They stay and work because they are needed, hired, and sending money to the family they left behind in their country. It is a misconception to think that immigrants are costing the US. They are contributing; and many pay to the IRS and never file for their return. In addition, if these agents were doing the right thing, they wouldn’t have to wear masks to hide their faces. No other officials of the government do their job with hoods on.
Thank you for this clarifying explanation. We have to wonder, where is the compassion??
They are not here for the dole.
They are here to improve their lives, just like our founding fathers and and your forbearers.
they are here escape violence and political oppression, often at the hands of US supported government.
The US has been manipulating the economies of these countries for 200 years.
“Why does EVERYONE IN THE WORLD have to have passports to LEAVE their country and ENTER any other country in the ENTIRE world?” – Blatantly false.
I have left the US at least 200 times. Never have I been asked to show a passport.
Even before the EU we often were just waived thru border.
As kids our whole car would often be just waived thru, both ways, on trips to Montreal.
A very different experience than in Eastern Europe, Russia, and China where you had to show your passport just to go to the bathroom (in East German speak – “Zeigen Sie mir bitte Ihre Papiere”).
Should all persons in the US be subject to constant “your papers please!”
Should leaving the US require a passport?
Do you have one?
You should.
A passport is simply a document saying that you are a citizen of a certain country. It is verification that you are the person you say you are. If some of the countries you have visited “wave you through”, it’s on them to answer to their officials should they be in the wrong for doing so.
Many of these people are registered with the government and are
trying to follow the directions we ask them to follow. Sounds like when you go to the UK, you are on a fun vacation. Many of these people are fleeing violence, hunger and terror. I feel lucky that I don’t know what that feels like but I am pretty sure I would illegally cross a border to save my kids from a nightmare.
ICE please come monthly. You are the answer to our traffic issues
Mrs Robert, who will clean your bathroom, paint your house, take care of your garden, wash and cook in the restaurant where you eat, take care of the elderly in the nursing home? because Americans don’t want to do the jobs that immigrants do, even if they pay twice as much. And the immigrants they send away, do all this work sometimes for minimum wage. You should feel proud to have been born in a country of opportunity and to be able to help those born in a country without opportunity, you should feel proud to have these immigrants serving Americans like a King , you should be proud to share , you should be proud to be able to share, help the poor, their families back home sometimes don’t have food on the table, don’t have access to medications, doctors. Of course there are a few bad apples but mostly they’re honest and hard worker helping Americans navigate in their busy lifestyle every day.
This was the same reasoning that the South used to defend slavery. “Who’s gonna clean our toilets, work our fields, cook our meals, wash our dishes, polish our silver?” Paying a living wage today—on jobs many locals don’t want— could help locals want these jobs. It’s a poor excuse to use the desperation of an immigrant workforce that sends much of their earnings back to family in their country of origin, as reason to blindly accept people who are undocumented. Still, I am sorry for those who’ve made a life for themselves on the island.
Also, simply arresting people suspected of criminal doings does not require a public announcement of “Hey, we’re coming”, nor is it necessarily a violation of due process. Those arrested may indeed have access to legal representation, etc, but we can’t tell from this article. These arrests are different from any arrested terrorist instigators in the news.
And I remind people that unlike the current administration, the goal of Nazi Germany was to exterminate Jews. If only these slaughtered people had been deported… to anywhere on the planet that would have them. If only.
My mother is a happy and proud gardener she is American and started cleaning houses in the 80s on island which lead to gardening. Some Americans are ok with these jobs. Please don’t insult hard working islanders. Regardless of nationality.
What an ignorant comment Robert. It’s a fact that it’s all the white tourists creating traffic. The immigrants are the ones literally keeping the island operational. Learn to shut your mouth before you say something stupid.
Martha’s Vineyard has a rich history of being a multi-cultural vacation destination. That’s not a fact to gloss over.
I think he might have been trying to be slightly humorous . . . maybe everyone can lighten up just a smidge.
This is now who we are as a country and we should all be ashamed that this kind of thing has been allowed to happen under Trump’s administration.
The whole tone of the article is negative toward the authorities. The tone should be supportive that they are doing their jobs.
Didn’t you say that hard working immigrants had nothing to fear, and that ICE was just deporting hardened criminals ? And why do they wear masks ? The tone is negative towards the authorities because the authorities are doing illegal things and hiding behind masks. There is no transparency. no due process and no compassion. They are doing illegal things and reducing the protections provided by the constitution to not just be randomly pulled over and “disappeared” . I am all for deporting criminals – Not hard working people who contribute to our community in many ways.
Well Andrew, if there was transparency concerning the particular detainees ie. arrest warrants or criminal records, there’d likely be more support for these efforts.
As it stands, there are many anecdotal reports of random detentions and expulsions for the common “crime” of being “brown”.
Seems too many are “good” with that.
if they are just doing their jobs why are they masked?
To protect their identity so they and there families, here legally BTW do not have to worry about an MS 13 gang banger identifying them and taking revenge.
Pretty simple
Joe Biden was an authority.
Your tone was negative about him doing his job.
We all need to protect our immigrants because they are the people who make things happen on our island. We all benefit from their presence. Of course there are a few bad apples but there are also a few natives who are bad apples. Statistically speaking across the US, more of the latter than the former.
When armed agents wearing masks are rounding up people in work trucks that tells you all you need to know about how far we are from living in a truly free society.
Just curious. Is a “free country” where criminals get to roam free at will? Would you call the police if you came home and four strangers were in your living room? I doubt it.
John Axel you dont understand. They are not criminals, humans are not illegal. The Maryland man was and is a good citizen and didnt beat his wife or join a gang —-he was simply in a parking lot with MS13 and he wasnt arrested on a Missouri Highway with 8 human trafficking people with no luggage. People are basically good and it is our police and ICE who are bad.
Harrison, you have that right. Last year, before the election, several people warned that trump and his people would behave like pre-WWII Germany. And if you recall, in trump’s first administration, trump’s goons in black clothing, ski masks, and unmarked cars, snatched people off the streets and spirited them away with no due process. It’s still happening.
Mary, law enforcement are not “Trump’s goons”. In real life, we daily walk past large men clad in black riot gear, holding big rifles and wearing helmets that cover and hide their faces. These “goons” are protecting us. And all over America we all show “our papers” (picture ID, license, registration) at traffic stops, to board a plane, open a bank account, wire funds, etc. Sometimes people are detained at a traffic stop, airport security, foreign embassy— or even arrested. No warrants needed. Prevention of the horrors from real threats, be they from ill-intentioned people who should not be in our country or from our home-grown law-breakers is necessary in our 2025 world. We all know sometimes that prevention and protection can be harsh or seem unfair, in this case to legal immigrants who feel scared. But we all also know precautions still aren’t enough to stop the shootings, gun running, sex trafficking, and drug dealing. But sometimes they stop some of it. I remain grateful to law enforcement. People who are not personally vulnerable to criminal acts and who feel cocooned on the island can afford to let their hearts bleed and make inappropriate and false equivalencies to Nazi Germany. I’m afraid that is a moral lapse and disregard for those of us who are at risk in the real world. Martha’s Vineyard is the real world, too, no matter how much anyone objects to this reality.
Yeah, about time.
Very disappointing response.
I had words with these exact protesters stating that I support Ice and voted for exactly what they are doing. One of the women angrily made derogatory malcious comments toward me. Many people voted for exactly what’s happening. This community has suffered the burden of another countries people for far too long. Congratulations Ice we welcome you here on Martha’s Vineyard! Please get comfortable here!
Can anyone explain the necessity for sending out masked officers to apprehend men,women,children,familes & elders? It just seems unnecessary & overly cruel especially if there is a language barrier.
Show me a picture of the detainees and lets see if they are women and children? every picture i have seen they have been young to middle aged men. The federal agents you see in masks need to protect their identity as they often are apprehending gang members and cartel members, they need to protect themselves and their families.
So far we know one is an MS13 gang member and another is a sexual predator. That is two out of 20. Wait until we find out who the other 18 are. Doesnt matter because to some MV types everyone is a hard working immigrant that Trump and his goons illegally arrest.
Facts matter.
What is the name of the MS-13 gang member?
What is the evidence of MS-13 gang membership?
What is the name of the sexual predator?
Nature of the predation.
Locus of the predation?
Facts matter.
Trump has goons?
Are they convicted felons, like Trump
Law enforcement is one thing but that’s not what this is. Wearing masks and randomly rounding people up and carting them away without a judicial warrant is not law enforcement, it’s intimidation if not kidnapping. There’s a reason we have due process. Remember, if the authorities can take away due process from these folks, they can take it away from you and me. Is that the kind of country we want to live in?
So Rev, due process occurs after the arrest, you understand that right? ICE has a job. Removing illegals is that job. Yes, I want to live in a country that has laws and enforces them. These people in ‘work trucks’ are undercutting wages of union carpenters and electricians. People living on the Vineyard and Nantucket can afford to pay more for services.
Respectfully, Mr. Collins, due process begins before an arrest: that’s precisely what a warrant is for. The arresting agency has to show a judge that there’s probable cause to arrest a particular person for a particular crime. Without that judicial warrant, there is no due process.
Ms Hus. Warrants are needed to enter a house or personal property. They are not needed for an arrest on public property. Due process is done after an arrest and the arresting officer has to show probable cause but later. Most of you are wrongly informed if you believe our ICE agents and other officers are haphazardly detaining innocent people. ICE is targeting people they have specific information about. It would be a fools errand if they simply drove up and arrested anyone, not efficient, not lawful, a waste of time. A Brazilian or anyone else for that matter who is here legally has nothing to worry about. I am a legal immigrant and I sleep well every night but any of these hysterical comments keep me up occasionally.
It’s been proven by public records that more than half the people sent to El Salvador had no criminal record. The republican politicians are lying to us. Stop repeating their lies.
The probable cause standard does not apply to ICE / Border Patrol within 100 miles of a border. See 8 U.S.C. § 1357(a)(1)–(3), which allows interrogation and arrest based on the much lower reasonable suspicion standard. Within 25 miles of a border, ICE can access private property (not dwellings) without a warrant. This law is a 1950’s era anticommunist legacy.
We don’t know these people were even here illegally. My understanding is that ICE is taking people, documented and not, and sending them not to their home countries, but to jails in other countries and other states where they have no access to phones, lawyers, family members or due process.
This is ok with you?
you are wrong, this was targeted, they knew who they were going for.
Obama (Deporter-in-Chief) deported 3.2 million illegals. Where was your outrage then???
Joseph– check the records– Obama deported the people he did under the legal rules of our country. The people he deported did not meet the criteria to be here. He vetted them at the border, checked out their claims to seek asylum and determined which people actually deserved legal status and which one’s didn’t. It was done LEGALLY, with transparency and with border patrol agents that did not wear masks. My outrage was non existent because his administration was conducting the legitimate business of immigration in a legal manner. I am outraged now because this administration is illegally pulling people out of their vans , with no justification for stopping them in the first place , no accountability, no information about who they are, where they are or what crimes they may have committed. I for one don’t believe for a second that they got one MS 13 member and a pedophile. — Yeah right– that makes the stupes who believe this stuff feel vindicated. If it’s true they should produce the evidence. That’s been the way we do it here in the U.S — This is not a totalitarian state where masked gunmen round people up for political reasons. At least not yet..
These aliens entered our country illegally, therefore they are criminals. Trump is protecting our borders and deporting these criminals. Biden failed to protect our border and intentionally brought these criminals without vetting them and following the legal process to allow immigrants in. Biden actually broke his presidential oath for allowing this alien invasion. Biden”s corrupt presidency was a total failure in many other areas.
The ancestors of many of us entered this country illegally and proceeded to kill off many of those who were here first. Does your knowledge of U.S. history go back further than the election of Joe Biden? If not, why not?
Isabella Stewart…..you’re sadly misinformed. Immigrants pay taxes and work harder than anyone else here. Our heritage is based on immigrants building this country. So unless you’re a member of the Wampanoag tribe ( your name would indicate otherwise) you too are from immigrant stock. And by way….. who cleaned your house and mowed your lawn recently? I’ll bet it was a hard working immigrant
@Isabella Stewart
A) You don’t know that any of these individuals “snuck in somehow”. They very well may have a passport from another country.
B) You don’t know that any of these individuals receiving “free food, hotels, medical, school, etc., etc., etc.”
Do you just make this stuff up as you go?
Don’t government agents such as FBI, ICE and police wear uniforms, badges, shields or some form of official identification? Why the masks? Mismatched vests? Who did they arrest and where are they being sent ?
Until there is a formal announcement from the FBI/ICE, we should remain suspicious of this kind of operation. Looking forward to more reporting from the MVTimes.
How did ICE agents get a car across on a holiday week-end? Is the Steamship Authority complicit?
As yearly visitors to the Vineland (Canadians), we’ll miss our regular trips. For various reasons, including the continued disrespect and bullying from your American President. I’d like to add my late maternal grandmother was born in New York, we have two grandsons born in Texas (dual citizens as our Canadian daughter lives with her American husband, and she also has full American citizenship. I feel for the non USA residents living and working in the USA. The US has always had a love, hate relationship for the undocumented humans. Many of them are doing menial jobs in the services and farming operations. Many are (or were) attending colleges and universities. Still others worked in higher positions. Yes, there was criminality and some awful ones, but why throw everyone out? I agree you should deport the ‘bad ones”. And as far as crime is concerned, you Americans statistically create far more crime on the average than the aliens. To you, Canadians are now being counted as “aliens”. To us, Americans are “Visitors” when they come here, and are very welcome. And no, we do not want to be the 51st State. I wish you better luck in the future.
OK, no problem, just pay your fair share to NATO.
Where’s Vineland?? Is it near Oaks Bluff?
Once again ashamed of this country. Deport Trump and his henchmen.
HOORAY for ICE !
Did ICE agents get car reservations to come across on a holiday week-end? Did the ICE agents commit a state crime of kidnapping? Is the Steamship Authority complicit in this whole sorry affair? Did the ICE agents commit a state crime of kidnapping?
“Social Security’s actuaries estimate the impact of immigration over 25, 50, and 75 years, showing in all time periods that as immigration increases, the trust fund deficit decreases.” It is not just legal immigrants funding this program. In 2022, undocumented immigrants contributed $25 billion to Social Security, but will never be eligible for the benefits of the program. Our Social Security system as it stands right now requires immigration to stay solvent” – from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
If I moved to another country in the civilized world, would I get social security or the that
country’s equivalent? No. Free health/dental care, legal assistance free? I do admit that because of DOGE the hundreds of thousands of People over the age of 120 will have their Social Security cut off will create problems for those aged people, as returning to work will be difficult.
Let’s get this straight: In 2022, in a purely political stunt which is still in litigation, Ron DeSantis flew 50+ immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard with no advance notice. Hoping to embarrass the community, the media hardly noticed the outpouring of welcome–the clothing and meals and warmth. No, it was noted only that they were summarily shipped off- island as unwanted non native-speaking scum. No attention paid to the embrace the island gave them.
Now descends the second wave to REMOVE the same population, that of other people. This time, of course, they’re branded criminals, murderers, rapists, etc. You see? DeSantis brought them here for points. Trump is expelling the very same people, each without process by U.S. law. Political expedience.
– William Graves
You make a very good point Mr Graves! Thanks for sharing that angle with the readership.
Everyone who hates this, open your hearts and homes and wallets and pay their medical bills. Come on, prove you have big hearts. 🤷🏻♀️
Jacklyn— do you know something we don’t ? Did the ICE officers beat the crap out of these people and now they need money to pay their medical bills? But I see a paradoxical problem with your comment. According to some here,and I would presume even you, think these “illegals” get all the free medical care they need. You know, it might be more compassionate if you were advocating for getting food to the families who had their “breadwinner” picked up off the street and left them with only the food in the pantry.
Don, they are getting MassHealth. Plain and simple. Where is your proof that they are not getting MassHealth? Ask any healthcare professional.
That was a pivot off the subject so let’s get back to it but follow your train of thought. Maybe you could volunteer to accompany anyone of these people to the gulag to understand first hand why this is an abomination of your country’s constitutional laws concerning due process for every ‘person’? I just read that Harvard (that awful Harvard that accepts foreign students who pay their own way) has a free online course in Civics. Join me.
Outrage over removal of the same group of people that the island dispatched as fast as possible when they came in 2022
You all realize that when it comes to people in the country illegally, Martha’s Vineyard is the epicenter of hypocrisy
You realize that you are wrong ? Were you here? Do you know what actually happened?
They were not “ dispatched”. Care was taken to take them to another community with more resources to provide for them. The hypocrisy is from the politicians who lied to them about where they were being sent and what was awaiting them there (i.e. here). Not to mention the fact that Gov. DeSantis’s own forebears, as with many of us, arrived in the US undocumented, unable to speak English, etc., all to make a better life in the face of the type of discrimination we are sadly still witnessing today. If his ancestors were treated as many on this thread are happy to see our local immigrants treated, he wouldn’t be the Governor of Florida today. He is a living example (much as I disagree with his politics) of what immigrants can provide for this country when they are given respect and dignity.
People I care about on this island are afraid today. People who have stood by me and helped me in tough times, who have never been anything but kind and hardworking. They are afraid to go to work, afraid to send their children to school. Those of you here who celebrate this cruelty should be ashamed.
And the island’s economy will suffer from this barbarian behavior.
These lawbreakers will soon be back in their true homelands, NOT my beloved Aquinnah!
1. I believe you mean an interpreter not a translator.
2. These events should come as a surprise to no one. Being undocumented, for whatever reason, which is currently against federal law, is a risk and these events are the consequences.
3. Will this paper be providing balanced coverage by reporting on immigration fraud? For example, the marriage market, frivolous asylum applications, etc.
The hard working Brazilians in our community do the jobs Americans are too lazy or too proud to do. They have come here just like our immigrant ancestors did- (unless you’re native American ). To find a better life, to keep their kids safe and to work hard and make money to support their families. Ice agent with masks on smacks of Nazi Germany., we should be ashamed …..
No one has pointed out that ICE is swooping up green card holders, and those with government-certified apprenticeship papers (electricians, plumbers, carpenters, etc.). And no one has mentioned the backlog of visa-holding visitors waiting for years for court appearances to establish residency. “Criminals”? Most of the immigrants amongst us are far more honest and hardworking than we are.
Harriet Barrow
‘Such a climate of fear and division in these remarks and throughout the country. This is a moment of reckoning for having put in office, a person who is without compassion, civility or respect for others. He, clearly, only cares about himself and furthering his own selfish policies – mocking those who care about their neighbor. Let us pray.
Harris lost.
Not too long ago Fidel Castro was accused of not allowing his citizens to leave Cuba. Castro told all the news agencies that anyone who REALLY wanted to leave could-AND-he would help them go by boatloads to nearby MIAMI- The lefties thought he was Mr.Nice Guy Republicans smelled a rat-FIIDEL HONORED HIS WORD-HE LET ALL THE JAILS- MENTAL HOSPITALS and drug users sail away to the USA !! McCULLOUGH was right-history can teach us many things- CUBA saved a bundle AND- USA is still paying for those Kennedy boo boos AND the stupidity of president Biden/you should elect a new leader if you can find one instead of spending all day-throwing rocks atTrump onDEMOCRACY NOW-go get Shapiro its a start -enough said…..
To Andrew Engleman. He comments 2 out of 20 are criminals. He says, Let’s not complain, Wait until we find out who the other 18 are. Isn’t that the point of due process, to find out whether the other 18 actually require deportation? Due process requires the Government to prove that the individual deserves to be deported. These detainees will be deported without a chance to defend themselves against allegations of criminality or even that they are here illegally. The point is to satisfy the base. I can see deporting a child molester, but what’s the point of deporting workers who pay taxes and contribute vital services to our economy?
To relish in the terror and fear of others, no matter the circumstances is psychopathic. The dissenting opinions here fail to acknowledge that the majority of us do not want hardened criminals in our society anywhere. However, when the established laws of our country are not being followed, as is happening elsewhere on the mainland, and people here legally are still being arrested, flown to other countries, and detained without due process and in a chaotic and violent manner all it does is instill fear and terror. We have well trained police on this island who already deal with this, I could understand if we have had an influx of violent crimes wave over this community but we have not. This manner of political terror is scaring children and hard working families for no reason.
I’ll put it more simply this time. The governor of Florida spent taxpayer money to fly two planes with 50+ immigrants aboard to the island in 2022 for a campaign stunt. Now masked federal agents from ICE, the FBI and DEA are deployed to the same island to remove 20 immigrants, not apparently charged with any warranted crime, and are shipped off by the Coast Guard, a branch of the U.S. military, and without legal representation.
And half of you are celebrating this abrogation of a person’s rights under the U.S. Constitution as written.
Send the people here, send them there; it’s all good for the cameras.
I did reach out and offer my home as refuge, if needed.
No matter what you believe about the so-called “immigration problem” – everyone should think about this: do you want to live in a country where masked agents of the government can stop ANYONE they want, no cause needed, and detain them if they see fit? I just don’t think people are looking at the big picture here. This is wrong and we cannot stand for it, or we are all doomed.
Or, there MAY actually be gang members in the group and with digital tools today, anyone can be found, id have a mask on as well. I Understand the paranoia but i would prefer our men/women in uniform are safe, as are the families of these people.
ICE agents are at risk on the Island?
Your opening sentence totally discredits your statement that follows, Ms. Lambert.
Your statement that follows is sober and thought provoking.
But, consider…
The Families of Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungary and Rachel Morin may disagree with your disclaimer that the immigration problem is ‘so called”.
Shouldn’t we consider border states and communities that ARE affected by the so called “immigration problem.” And if we do, how do we determine which border crossers are above the law and which aren’t?
It is against the law to cross the border and remain in the USA. This is either unlawful for all
or unlawful for some, or maybe just ignore the law? That doesn’t seem reasonable. Nor sustainable.
Unless One follows Old Majors 7 Commandments I can’t keep up with the selective outrage.
There is no consistency
Considering many who own property in places with such a high cost of living you know they cut labor expenses by putting illegal aliens to work not allowed to sponge off of government programs like they are in Crazyfornia cities especially southern Crazyfornia cities, also NYC, Chicago, and a good many in Detroit as well.
I doubt you will even find a Department of Social Services in the Cape Cod region.
Clearly you know nothing about “the Cape Cod region.” Social services, both public and private, make it possible for many of us to survive. Look up “Martha’s Vineyard Community Services” when you get a chance. It was founded in the 1960s.
We are all immigrants or children of immigrants or grandchildren or great grandchildren of immigrants – everyone of our ancestors came originally from somewhere else. The immigrants here are hardworking, smart and are here for a better life. I agree with Joanne Lambert when she asks -“Do we really want to live in a country where Masked ICE agents can just pick up anyone off the street ?” I am reminded of Rev. Niemollers poem ( paraphrased)
” First they came for the Communists, then they came for the Socailists and trade unionists,then they came for the Jews, and then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out ” Trumps cruel agenda will have a pernicious effect on this beautiful island and it’s irreplaceable workforce.
Comments are closed.