PITTSFIELD — Local activists took to the streets on Wednesday to call on Lenco Industries to consider refusing further contracts from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Nearly 20 demonstrators gathered at the entrance to Betnr Industrial Drive, where Lenco produces armored vehicles, including its flagship BearCat. The demonstration, organized by Berkshire County Veterans for Peace, also drew participants from other political advocacy organizations throughout the Berkshires.

Waving signs and singing protest songs, they called on Lenco to consider pivoting its manufacturing to other products that won’t contribute to what they see as the militarization of law enforcement at the local and national levels.

“Lenco group are our neighbors, not our enemies,” a press release for the event said. “However, Lenco’s manufacturing potential is being used to militarize the police.”

A protester holds a sign during a demonstration calling on Lenco Industries to consider refusing further contracts from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Lenco has entered into contracts with ICE worth $5.2 million to manufacture and repair tactical vehicles since the beginning of the Trump administration. While Lenco has supplied ICE with vehicles under previous presidents, the current administration's aggressive approach to immigration enforcement has unsettled local activists to the point they feel a change must be made.

While Lenco’s may be “just one contract out of many,” co-organizer Jemma Spofford said, “it is right here in Pittsfield.”

Though she said Lenco produces some “helpful” rescue vehicles, she argued that “the majority of vehicles they build get used to oppress civilians in one way or another.”

In addition to protesting Lenco’s financial ties to ICE, Spofford said the demonstration also served to commemorate Earth Day by pushing Lenco to acknowledge the environmental impact of its manufacturing.

“Those vehicles are also fuel inefficient,” she said. “They’re heavy, they burn a lot of diesel fuel.”

A protester holds a sign during a demonstration calling on Lenco Industries to consider refusing further contracts from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Lenco’s role in supplying ICE with armored vehicles has also caused some local and state officials, including Gov. Maura Healey, to call on Lenco to refuse further contracts with ICE until the agency curbs its aggressive deportation campaign.

Lenny Light, executive vice president of Lenco, could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.

In a previous statement to The Eagle, Light said that Lenco had no control over the policies that dictated how public safety and defense agencies conduct themselves.

“We believe that withholding protective equipment from authorized law enforcement personnel — whether at the local, state, or federal level — would contradict our core mission and potentially place officers and civilians at greater risk,” he said last month.

On April 1, Lenco began an additional $11,852 contract with ICE to provide repair parts for a fleet vehicle used by a Homeland Security Investigations team in San Antonio, according to federal spending data. The vehicle is used to support law enforcement investigations, the contract description states.

Lenco, a family-owned company founded in 1981, currently employs about 150 people.

In light of Lenco’s contributions to the job market, some community members are hesitant to condemn Lenco for what a federal agency does with its products, especially when the federal contracts it receives are energizing Pittsfield’s economy.

Matt Bertoldi, a resident on nearby Hungerford Street, said he felt conflicted about the protest visible just across the road. On one hand, he thinks ICE has gone too far by detaining some people unjustly, including children. But on the other, he believes that Lenco is a long-standing company that produces useful products for a variety of agencies.

“Those vehicles are meant to protect the police,” he said. “It’s not just ICE.”

And, Bertoldi argued, refusing a contract with ICE would just mean it gets fulfilled by another company. “If it ain’t here, guess where it’s going to be?” he said. “Someplace else.”

Dot Spaniol, a neighbor, felt similarly conflicted.

“I think ICE gets way out of control,” she said. But she said Lenco has given her son over 20 years of work as a welder, and that when it comes to producing armored vehicles, “it’s big money” for the company.

“They do a lot for the community,” she said. “I don’t think they’re completely into ICE.”

Eric Wasileski, an organizer with Veterans for Peace, said prior to the event that he hoped Lenco could pivot to alternative products that won’t contribute to the militarization of law enforcement.

“I just want to be clear: We’re not protesting the workers there,” Wasileski said. “We’re asking [Lenco] to convert to civilian needs instead of military uses.”

“Folks need to work, and I get it,” he added. “[Lenco employees] deserve to have good jobs. I hope that Lenco can find a way to keep the jobs.”

However, he said, “ICE has been used as an agent of fear. It’s not hyperbole to say they're manufacturing fear there.”

“We don’t want to chase business out of Pittsfield,” said Spofford, the co-organizer. When it comes to activism, “we want to make sure we put our attention at the top and not the working-class people.”

Members of Stand Up, Berkshires!, Western Massachusetts Labor Action, Pittsfield Indivisible, Berkshires DSA and Greylock Together were also present, according to Wasileski and other demonstrators interviewed at the event.

“I felt like it was great,” Wasileski said after the event. “I’m thrilled with how it turned out.”