A handcuffed man was taken out of one ICE vehicle and put into another outside Market Basket. A group of three men on a painting job were detained in front of their boss when they were found to be undocumented. One of the busiest intersections by Washington Avenue had several agents outside of an apartment building while people filmed with their phones.
These were scenes in Chelsea Tuesday morning, a small city populated by immigrants: about half the people were born in another country.
The earliest known incident was around 6:30 a.m. near Chestnut Street. Jose Orellana, who runs a small painting company, was picking up three employees to head to a job in Needham. He said they had never been approached by agents before.
He pulled up to the corner and the agents came up to the van.
“They asked me for my driver’s license, and they ask me my status. And I say I am an American citizen, and they check anyway,” Orellana said.
Agents, he said, then proceeded to ask for paperwork from the workers, and found they were undocumented. All three were detained, and he hasn’t heard from them since.
“It’s sad what happened, especially for the families,” he told GBH News.
Jose Wilfredo Lemus was driving by as it was happening, livestreaming the incident on Facebook.
“It was three guys,” he said. “They took all three of them — there were like four, six ICE guys doing that.”
Later in the day, shortly after 8:45 a.m. a group of vehicles clustered outside of Market Basket. Emily Menjares drove to the parking lot when she heard from a family member that agents were there to watch. She described seeing about 10 agents, and a man in handcuffs being taken out of one vehicle and put into another. Photos taken by Menjares and several community members show the agents wearing vests marked with “Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
“A few of them came out of the car and then I guess they opened up the black van — because I was on the opposite side — and they took an individual out of a car and they had him out for a bit. Like, I was able to see his face and everything,” she recalled to GBH News.
This is one of several times ICE agents have been spotted staging at Market Basket’s parking lot over the past few months. A media inquiry to the supermarket about whether they are aware or permit actions to occur on the private property went unanswered.
From there, Menjares and other community members told GBH News they saw the agents go to 48 Washington Avenue near a busy intersection, where they remained for about 15 minutes outside the door to the apartment building. Community members said they didn’t see anyone detained there.
“It’s like, why come bother people? I would understand, take the bad guys. But if you’re going to be going around grabbing random people — I have an issue with that, because you’re ruining lives, you’re ruining families,” Menjares said.
Just one sighting of immigration enforcement sends shock waves across the community, but seeing several sent people into a panic on social media and prompted the temporary closure of local social services organization that supports many immigrants, La Colaborativa.
Gladys Vega, executive director of the group, says they closed down for the day over concerns that agents would show up but also to let staff process what was happening.
“We saw them on Broadway. We saw them near Market Basket. We saw them in Chestnut Street,” Vega said. “It was the first time that they stayed for a very long time, and they went to so many places scoping people out,”
One of the individuals detained from the painting business was well connected to La Colaborativa, she said, and the staff was “in shock.”
Vega is calling on Market Basket to not allow the agents to stage their operations in the major parking lot.
“It is ironic: their clients are immigrants, and they’re not fazed by the fact that immigration agents are in their backyard and they’re not telling them anything,” she said. “Market Basket should be ashamed.”
A media inquiry to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement went unanswered. The city of Chelsea has been a sanctuary city since 2007, and has barred local law enforcement and city workers from voluntarily cooperating with ICE.
“The City of Chelsea did not participate in the actions that occurred today. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates independently from the City,” city manager Fidel Maltez said. “The Chelsea Police Department was notified, but did not take part in any federal law enforcement actions that occurred today.”
