In a two-story parking garage in Burlington, Mass., big red signs warn that spots are reserved for the Federal Aviation Administration. But that’s not the only agency using it.
Rows upon rows of full-sized SUVs fill the spaces. Dark-painted GMC Yukons and Chevy Tahoes. Nissan Armadas with 12-speaker sound systems and “intelligent 4WD” that retail for $79,000.
Several of these shiny government vehicles have window stickers showing they were delivered next door, to the New England headquarters for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“At my last count, 104 un-plated, brand new SUVs,” and 20 more since then, said Nathan Phillips, an ecology professor at Boston University. Lately, he spends his free time keeping tabs on the ICE office about 17 miles northwest of Boston. “It’s just incredible to me to see all of this.”
ICE officials won’t say what the fleet will be used for. But for some residents, it’s a sign that a new wave of immigration enforcement could be on tap.
“Parking might not seem like a big deal,” Phillips said, “but ICE’s operation is all about driving, parking, finding people and abducting them.”
ICE’s New England headquarters in Burlington sits in the type of late ’70s/early ’80s suburban office park where you’d expect software companies and law firms – not a detention facility.
The building is primarily an administrative site. But the agency caused an outcry when it began holding immigrants there for days at a time, forcing them to sleep in crowded rooms on cement floors, with substandard food and unsanitary conditions.
ICE is just one tenant among dozens in the office park, branded “The District.” The landlord of the ICE building, Robert Murray, has come under fire from protesters for nearly a year. And now the adjacent landlords are starting to catch criticism too.
National Development
Laurie Berezin co-founded the weekly “Bearing Witness” protests that have been held outside the ICE building for months. At one recent protest, she said she watched 24 SUVs get delivered there. Moments later, she said, they were then moved into a nearby lot owned by a Newton real estate firm.
“The car haulers parked in National Development’s private lot, and the SUVs were unloaded and parked,” Berezin said.
National Development owns 13 parcels around the ICE office, including the garage and adjacent parking lots. As ICE’s own lot started filling up, agents began using National Development’s.
Berezin called on protesters to picket the company’s office in Newton. But in February, company executives sent a letter to the activists asking them to cancel the action, saying ICE activities “are not in any way enabled by National Development.”
The letter, reviewed by WBUR, acknowledged that ICE vehicles were being “improperly parked” in National Development spaces. In January, the company said, it “reached an arrangement with ICE that they would no longer park their vehicles on our property.”
At the same time, the company noted it has allowed the protests on its private property for nearly a year, “despite the significant disruption to our 50 tenants and approximately 2,500 employees and their guests.” (National Development also pays for the police details at the weekly protests, according to Burlington police.)
The activists agreed to call off the protest. But Phillips, the BU professor, said he’s still concerned about the SUV fleet in National Development’s garage: “ What we’ve just seen in the parking garage to me is even worse,” he said. “Whether they say their hands are tied or not, they’re facilitating this really horrible operation.”
National Development declined to comment. In the letter, the company said the FAA has rights to use the garage, and National Development does not control how the federal government allocates parking spaces to different agencies.
Robert Murray
The protests, and ICE’s sprawling presence, are spilling into everyday life around town.
Murray, the owner of the ICE headquarters building, also owns a restaurant, Cafe Escadrille, about a half-mile away. On a recent Friday evening, on the sidewalk in front of his upscale dining spot, protesters called on Burlington officials to hold him accountable for how the ICE detention center is being used.
“We’re asking Murray to end the ICE lease,” said Alex Johnson, an engineer who lives in Burlington. Records show he’s leased the building to ICE since 2007, and the current contract expires in 2028.
Around the corner from the restaurant is an office marked BI Inc., a company contracted by ICE to fit immigrants with monitoring devices. Property records indicate Murray owns that building too.
Murray didn’t respond to WBUR’s requests for comment on public pressure for him to stop leasing to ICE.
But the protests are having some effect. The Lexington Chamber of Commerce recently canceled a fundraiser at the Cafe, citing concerns over the ICE connection. And regular protests at the cafe are drawing public attention.
Locals say Cafe Escadrille is a longtime gathering place for politicians. It looks like a country club and has a menu that touts $50 steaks and sushi offerings, plus a staff sommelier offering more than 100 wines.
Beyond its doors and along the busy roadway, meanwhile, there was a raucous scene. One guy held a sign that said “proud boyfriend of the wife of an ICE agent.” A driver shouted out the window: “I’m military — f— ICE!”
Other drivers honked in favor of the counterprotesters, who included Laura Simpson. She waved a MAGA-style flag that said “we stand with ICE,” and taunted the activists while filming them.
“That’s why you are here? To stop ICE from deporting illegals out of Massachusetts? … Bothering these poor people at the restaurant when they’re trying to eat?” Simpson said. “Disgusting!”
Simpson said she belongs to a group called Mass ICE Patriots, and with 45,000 Facebook followers, she’s become a regular at the local protests. She showed off a U.S. Border Patrol patch she said a man outside the ICE office gave her.
“I was just out there hanging out, doing my videos and stuff, and a gentleman came over and thanked me for coming out and supporting them and gave me a patch and a coin,” she said.
Another counterprotester that day, 76-year-old David DeMambro of Woburn, got into a debate with Phillips, the BU professor, who had a sign calling on Burlington to “subpoena Robert W. Murray.”
“What’s the code violation? What’s he doing?” DeMambro asked.
“Housing people overnight in a facility that was never zoned to be housing anyone overnight,” Phillips responded. The back-and-forth continued.
“That’s your opinion,” DeMambro said. “You have a right to an opinion.”
DeMambro said he came out to show support for Murray and ICE: “A hundred percent ICE,” he said, noting his daughter and sons-in-law are police officers. “Get the drugs off the street, get the criminals out of here.”
DeMambro defended Murray’s right to rent to anybody he chooses. He and others also say Murray gives back to the community. Murray has a $6 million charitable foundation, according to tax filings. The foundation gave away $325,000 in 2024, including to a host of local hospitals and nonprofits, a women’s shelter and a conservative legal defense group.
For the counterprotesters, ICE isn’t going anywhere — and the 100-plus SUVs in the Burlington parking garage seem to back that up.
Asked about the parked fleet, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson wouldn’t comment.
“For operational security purposes, ICE will not discuss ongoing or future operations or disclose personnel or resources on the ground,” according to a statement.
The spokesperson instead sent mugshots of five people ICE has arrested with serious criminal backgrounds. ICE routinely refuses to provide arrest records for the people agents arrest; data show fewer than half of those caught up in the Trump administration’s local deportation push have serious criminal records.
Members of Congress have become regular visitors at the Burlington facility, demanding to carry out inspections as part of their oversight role.
The town, meanwhile, has attempted to do the same — without any success. In June, Burlington’s building inspector wrote to Murray to request an inspection, citing the “unlawful use of the property as a detention center.”
The answer was no — from ICE — saying the town lacks the authority to oversee its federal law enforcement activity.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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