This is a web edition of GBH Daily, a weekday newsletter bringing you local stories you can trust so you can stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.
☀️Autumnal morning, sunny day, with highs in the 70s. Sunset is at 7:03 p.m.
Department of Homeland Security officials have confirmed a new immigration operation in Massachusetts. A Homeland Security official told GBH News that “ICE is arresting sex offenders, pedophiles, murderers, drug dealers and gang members released by local authorities.”
Tania Martinez, an immigration lawyer in Lawrence and chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association New England Chapter, told GBH News she got seven calls about people being detained yesterday morning — and only one person had a criminal record.
One of the people federal immigration agents detained is 34-year-old Kely Espinosa, who was pulled over in Revere on Friday with her partner and two children, 10 and 13, according to her mother, Carmen Viana. She said Espinosa has no criminal record in either the U.S. or Colombia, where she was born. Espinosa crossed the U.S.-Mexico border three years ago after gang members killed her father, cousin and uncle, her mother said, and has not been able to afford to pay for an attorney who could help her get legal status.
“My granddaughter called me crying and said these people grabbed mommy, and they’re taking her away,” Viana told GBH’s Sarah Betancourt. Viana said she managed to speak with her daughter in an immigration detention facility in New Hampshire. “She’s not doing well psychologically. She had a panic attack and they took her to the infirmary.” You can read Sarah’s full reporting here.
Four Things to Know
1. Today is Election Day in Boston. All registered voters in the city regardless of party affiliation who have not yet cast a ballot by mail or in early voting can head to the polls to vote for mayor (incumbent Michelle Wu is seeking re-election against former Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston head Josh Kraft, activist Domingos DaRosa and former police officer Robert Cappucci) and four at-large city council seats. If you live in District 7, which covers Roxbury, you can vote for a new district councilor as well.
Some election resources: you can find your polling place and see a sample ballot here and check on the status of your mail-in ballot here. You can also read some thoughts from GBH’s Adam Reilly on what he’s watching: vote margins in the mayoral race, voter turnout, who advances in the District 7 election, whether At-Large Councilor Henry Santana keeps his seat and the nuts and bolts of running an election.
2. More than 100 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employees who signed a letter criticizing the agency’s deregulation efforts under the Trump administration have been issued two-week unpaid suspensions, while 15 others have been fired. Agency leaders say their conduct was unbecoming of federal employees.
“In the end, their two-month long investigation found that I did not use agency time or equipment to sign the letter, so they have decided to throw a vague allegation of 'conduct unbecoming’ at us to see if it sticks,” one employee who works for the EPA’s Boston office told GBH News. “This entire investigation has been a waste of my time and taxpayer dollars, and it has hurt the credibility of the agency more than the original declaration of dissent ever could.”
3. Send this story to your friend who always tails you at the T’s fare gates to avoid paying: the MBTA has started deploying employees called “fare engagement representatives’ to catch fare evaders and issue warnings or fines ranging from $50-100. They’re dressed in blue shirts, khaki pants and MBTA hats.
An MBTA analysis estimated that the agency lost between $5 and $6 million in 2021 because of fare evasion. Though the same analysis put the Commuter Rail’s fare evasion losses at $10 to $20 million, the fare engagement representatives will stick to the Red, Orange and Blue lines for now.
4. Bostonians will soon have a new neighbor: Hasbro, the toy company that owns Monopoly and My Little Pony, is moving here from Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Company officials say they will move their corporate offices to the Seaport in the next year, bringing about 700 jobs with them. The State House News Service reports that moving jobs here will make the company eligible for tax credits of $20,000 per job — up to $14 million over a few years.
Boston activists, doctors start hunger strike for Gaza awareness
About 30 Boston-area activists are taking turns fasting for seven days each, a hunger strike they hope will bring more attention to a Congressional bill that would stop weapon transfers from the U.S. to Israel, GBH’s Saraya Wintersmith reports.
“I tried to think about what I could do that was under my control that might actually make a difference,” said Dr. Miriam Komaromy, one of the people participating.
She said she wants to draw more attention to what’s happening in Gaza, where a UN-backed agency declared widespread famine last month.
“Hopefully focus people’s gaze on the suffering in Gaza and the need to take action to stop our role in supporting the genocide and the forced starvation there,” Komaromy told Wintersmith. “To hopefully get the attention of our senators and compel them to play a leadership role in stopping the U.S. government role in Gaza.
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