Updated at 6:57 p.m.
Several members of the Boston City Council and Mayor Marty Walsh are seeking answers on Wednesday after a city resident said he was stopped by three men he believed to be federal immigration officers.
Bena Apreala, a local real estate agent, said in a post on social media that he was jogging yesterday afternoon along the VFW Parkway in West Roxbury when he was stopped and questioned. Apreala, who is Black, said the men didn't identify themselves and Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents but he saw one of them wearing an ICE badge. Apreala, who was born and raised in Boston, videotaped the incident that has been circulating on social media.
In the video, one of the men ask Apreala to see whether he has any tattoos on his arms. After being told he was free to go, Apreala declined to show his arms.
A spokesperson from ICE-ERO confirmed in a statement Wednesday that the men in the video were ICE officers. The spokesperson said the officers were "conducting surveillance as part of a targeted enforcement action" in West Roxbury, "looking for a previously deported Haitian national with multiple criminal convictions and pending cocaine and fentanyl trafficking charges that may have been residing in the area."
“An individual matching the subject’s description appeared in the area associated with their subject. The ICE officers approached him, identifying themselves as Police/ICE, and asked to speak with the individual," the spokesperson said. "During the encounter, ICE officers determined the individual was not the subject of their investigation and that he did not have any additional information regarding their subject or his whereabouts and was free to leave the scene.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley tweeted that she is "calling for an immediate investigation."
"ICE must report whether these officers are affiliated with their agency & how many other agents are patrolling our streets," she wrote. "We must understand what they were doing and rationale behind their deployment."
Boston City Councilwoman Andrea Campbell told GBH News she is outraged by the incident, and said she has been in touch with the jogger and his family. “Obviously, this is an illegal stop, blatant racial profiling … which suggests of course they’re freely roaming our streets and targeted Black and brown residents in the city of Boston.”
When questioned about the incident during a news conference, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said it was a disturbing video to watch and the incident is unacceptable. “The fact that ICE has not confirmed or denied ... if these were agents in Boston" is a problem, he said. "We believe in the power of community policing. And it is the important trust between law enforcement and our community to make sure that we ensure public safety for everyone. Incidents like this have no place in our city, have no place for this in our country.”
Walsh said he asked the Boston Police Department to reach out to federal officials for answers.
Councilwoman Michelle Wu said there is no justification for what happened. “Boston residents and member of our community should be free to be out and about in their own communities … with no fear of being stopped by men who are looking to perpetuate structural racism and induce fear into people’s daily lives.”
“It’s beyond horrifying,” said Councilman Matt O’Malley, adding that he often jogs that route frequently himself. O’Malley said he is furious it happened, and he is trying to get to the bottom of it. “It’s abhorrent … and we need to do everything in our power to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
