What is striking about the Burlington ICE Field Office is its unremarkable appearance. Save for the two flagpoles, with the red, white, and blue American and Department of Homeland Security flags, the two-story building could be mistaken for just another blah office building, in a sea of corporate buildings and parking garages bordering the expansive Burlington Mall. On Wednesday morning, June 24, I had driven three friends to Burlington. We were part of a monthly western Massachusetts delegation joining with Bearing Witness New England, Justice 4 All, and other immigrant rights groups, who have stood in solidarity in front of the Field Office, each Wednesday morning since Jan. 20, 2025 to protest the unconstitutional and inhumane conditions inside the Burlington ICE facility, to distribute food to immigrants arriving for their check-ins with ICE, and to hold our lawmakers accountable for inspecting the facility.

It was my first Bearing Witness protest, yet the camaradarie of those gathered created a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Those who spoke recounted horrific stories of immigrants forcibly disappeared behind the doors of this ICE facility. A woman in tears shared that on this very morning, she witnessed a 6-year-old girl being escorted out of the building by a guard. Her father had been detained inside the building.

“To see a little six-year-old girl walk out of that building alone, knowing her father wasn’t coming with her… on the day of her kindergarten graduation, alone among strangers…”

The crowd of protestors, stifling their tears, chanted, “Shame,” “Shame,” “Shame.” My eyes focused on the Burlington Field Office, while speakers shared more stories of families torn apart in a building overflowing with pain and heartbreak. The Burlington ICE Regional Field Office was not created as a detention center. Part of a national network of 170 “Holding Rooms,” for routine check-ins and to hold immigrants taken by ICE for processing, ICE’s National Detention Standards required that stays would not exceed 12 hours.

In June of 2025, ICE increased the limit to 72 hours to handle the thousands of people being detained by ICE under the administration’s quota system. That limit has been consistently violated. Behind the doors of the Burlington facility, immigrants are held for extended stays. Between January and March 2026, 11 people were detained for more than a week, with one stay lasting 18 days. With no beds, individuals are forced to sleep on the floor. Detainees have reported appalling conditions, including poor sanitation, no sinks, no soap, inadequate food, lack of water, lack of medical attention and no access to medications. Some have reported that ICE prevented them from contacting their attorneys or letting their families know where they are. Others reported ICE attempted to force them to self-deport. An attorney, whose client was held at the ICE facility told a WBUR reporter that, “her client spent a couple days in — an 8-foot-by-10-foot space with nothing but a toilet. Eventually, two other women were moved into the room. The space was so small that all three of them couldn’t lie down at the same time… so two of them could lie down while one was leaning up against the toilet.”

Here we were, holding our protest signs, singing freedom songs, taking turns at the podium to read the Constitution, while a few feet away, immigrant mothers, fathers, and even pregnant women were being held captive in unbearable conditions, 85% of them with no criminal record. This privately owned building is being illegally used as a detention center, and taxpayers are footing the bill to the tune of $2.2 million a year!

What are our elected officials doing to hold ICE accountable for such violations of human rights? Members of Congress are legally permitted to exercise their duty of congressional oversight, by making unannounced inspections of ICE facilities. Such “surprise” visits are essential to prevent ICE from concealing information about conditions within these facilities, however, ICE has repeatedly stonewalled legislators from conducting both announced and unannounced inspections.

Rep. Jim McGovern is the only member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation to conduct an unannounced inspection of the Burlington Field Office, which he did on April 8. Congresswoman Katherine Clark attempted an announced visit, but was denied. In McGovern’s words, “Inside that facility, I witnessed the real, human cost of Trump’s cruelty up close. They’re going after good people — people who belong with their families and in their communities, not locked inside detention centers.” Other members of the Mass. delegation have made announced visits. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Richard Neal have made no visits to the Burlington Field Office. As Rep. Neal’s constituent, I phoned his office three times and sent emails to him and his staff requesting a meeting to discuss the need for congressional oversight at the Burlington Field Office. Weeks later, I have not heard back from anyone.

On July 1, the New York Times reported that ICE arrests had surged to 10,000 people in five days. Without action, conditions in the Burlington Field Office will only worsen. Please phone Senators Markey and Warren and Representatives McGovern or Neal to demand they use their statutory authority to conduct unannounced and ongoing oversight visits to the ICE facility in Burlington, where rampant human rights violations will only worsen without action.

Show up in Burlington to stand in solidarity with immigrants. For more information go to: https://bearingwitnessne.org/the-standout. For more information, Google: Burlington ICE Field Office Fact Sheet.

I want to acknowledge The Indivisible Statewide Immigration Justice Team for their research and campaign for congressional oversight of the Burlington ICE Facility.

Sara Weinberger lives in Easthampton.