Elected Burlington Town Meeting officials overwhelmingly voted to support a resolution focused on holding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement accountable for its actions at a local processing center.
The resolution decries “inhuman treatment of detainees,” as reported by formerly detained immigrants. The resolution also condemns violations of local zoning law and urges ICE to change how it’s using the facility.
Phyllis Neufeld, a town meeting member, filed and presented the resolution.
“I’ve been an activist for a long time, and to have the town of Burlington synonymous with inhumane behavior was abhorrent to me,” she told GBH News Tuesday. “I knew that the town had tried to get inspections done and that they were denied at various levels.”
The facility serves as a temporary space to hold detained immigrants after they’ve been arrested. Immigrants can be there for hours, days or even more than a week before they are transferred elsewhere.
According to the resolution, former federal officials told the local planning board in a 2007 letter: “There are no beds in the holding areas; they are for temporary use only. No aliens will be held overnight in the facility.”
The resolution says the promise to not use holding cells at the facility back then has been broken. demands ICE to cease overnight and extended detentions at the Burlington facility and to “comply fully with the conditions set forth by ICE itself.”
The town meeting members also want ICE to allow state and local authorities to gain access to the property to ensure compliance with the town’s zoning laws, and to assess humane treatment of detainees. ICE has previously refused such access to Burlington officials.
The agency didn’t return GBH News’ requests for comment.
While the resolution is symbolic in nature, it notes that local authorities want to investigate and take “corrective action.”
Some of the humanitarian issues at the facility were mentioned by teenager Marcelo Gomes Da Silva to GBH News after he was released. Other former and current detainees say they have been forced to sleep on cement floors with only a thin Mylar blanket, denied adequate food, and subjected to overcrowding, poor temperature control and lack of hygiene.
Select Board Chair Mike Espejo spoke in favor of the resolution. He told GBH News that a judge recently denied the select board’s effort to get into the facility, despite affidavits from U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton and Gomes Da Silva.
Moulton and U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss did visit the facility a few months ago and reported they encountered poor conditions inside.
“The resolution is very important to state our case as a town,” Espejo said. “We’re kind of at a crossroads as far as the town goes. And I think this kind of sends a strong message to the select board and town administration to keep going, to keep trying.”
“It’s an awful helpless feeling to be a town official when this is happening in your town,” he added.
