PITTSFIELD — A Pittsfield-based armored-vehicle manufacturer is facing calls from some state leaders to refuse further contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement until the federal agency reins in its aggressive immigrant deportation campaign.

Lenco Industries, which operates three manufacturing sites in the city, currently holds the largest ICE contract in Massachusetts, according to federal spending data. It has accepted over $5.2 million in contracts with the agency over the past year to produce and repair tactical vehicles that have featured prominently in the federal agency’s deportation campaign, used in raids everywhere from Great Barrington to Minneapolis.

That financial connection, first reported by independent journalist Bill Shein for his newsletter Reason Gone Mad, has prompted some state and local leaders — including Gov. Maura Healey, state Sen. Paul Mark and state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier — to call on Lenco to refuse further contracts with ICE for the time being.

“Lenco plays an important role in our state's defense manufacturing industry, including providing essential equipment for local police departments. But the unconstitutional tactics of ICE are creating significant fear in our communities and making everyone less safe,” said Karissa Hand, a spokesperson for Healey, in an emailed statement.

“That is why Governor Healey believes it would be in the best interest of both the company and the people of Massachusetts if Lenco refrained from entering into further contracts with ICE until there is real reform in the agency and a serious commitment to public safety and due process.”

Lenny Light, the executive vice president of Lenco, gave no indication that the company would refuse future contracts with ICE.

“Lenco does not set or influence federal, state, or local policy regarding how or where these agencies operate,” Light wrote in an emailed statement to The Eagle. “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.”

Massachusetts Democrats, at both the state and local levels, have largely been outspoken in their criticism of ICE’s actions under President Donald Trump's administration. But some of those same leaders have remained silent on Lenco’s business relationship with ICE entirely, a discrepancy that intrigued Shein during his reporting process.

He said he wanted to know how elected officials felt about the downstream uses of equipment produced by a local manufacturer, especially as he explored the tension between the state’s generally liberal views and the role of a Massachusetts company in furnishing ICE’s enforcement actions.

“These are complex and probably politically difficult questions,” he told The Eagle. “I can’t say I was surprised that some didn't want to have that conversation.”

His article noted the use of a BearCat in a Great Barrington ICE raid last May to detain a local restaurant worker. The BearCat also has a presence in local policing; the Pittsfield Police Department has used one to conduct drug raids in the past.

Offices for U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey did not respond to emails seeking comment on Lenco’s business dealings with ICE. A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton did not respond to requests for comment.

After an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, protests decrying the agency were held throughout the city. Local organizers also staged a demonstration at Home Depot on Feb. 17 to protest the company’s alleged complicity in allowing ICE raids to take place near its stores.

Mark, the first local leader to comment publicly on the issue in Shein’s newsletter, emphasized the incongruence between ICE’s actions and Berkshire County’s generally liberal values.

“I think it would be a great tribute to the values held by the overwhelming majority of our community if Lenco could avoid taking on new contracts with ICE for the foreseeable future,” Mark wrote in a message to The Eagle.

But calling for a local company to end a lucrative contract deal remains a hard sell. Lenco has been considered a point of local pride for its contributions to the local economy and job market, and has taken contracts with ICE many times in the past under several different presidential administrations. The company also emphasizes the safety its vehicles can provide in emergency situations.

Founded in 1981, the family-owned Lenco Industries has since put Pittsfield on the map as the nation’s largest manufacturer of armored vehicles. Almost 1,500 agencies utilize vehicles it has produced, according to the company, ranging from local police departments and rescue units to specialized federal agencies like ICE. The vehicles also have been used to support overseas military efforts.

In November, Lenco accepted nearly $4.8 million to produce BearCat armored security vehicles for ICE in a contract slated to end in May. It additionally received $411,124 in September to provide a BearCat vehicle to a “special response team” in Kansas City, as well as over $10,000 last April to provide a replacement axle for a vehicle.

Lenco has also garnered state funding in recent years to bolster its production, including a $200,000 MassTech grant in 2024. It additionally received $145,600 in June to train 86 workers, with 18 additional jobs expected by 2027.

The company currently employs almost 150 people, according to Light. It has also partnered with local high schools to provide training to students interested in working with automotives and manufacturing in the past.

These local contributions have made some leaders reluctant to place Lenco’s business in jeopardy, even for those who oppose the company’s continued collaboration with ICE.

Despite calling for Lenco to refuse future contracts with the agency, Farley-Bouvier acknowledged she still felt conflicted about potentially affecting Lenco’s role in the local economy.

“There’s a lot of tension in my own thinking about this,” she said. “This is a company … we've been so proud of in the past.”

“I always felt like that wasn't my place, to criticize a company for making decisions about what contracts they would get involved with,” she said. However, “we are in a new era. We are in times that can only be called not normal.”

“I think that they should not take further contracts during this current crisis that we’re in, where democracy itself is [on] the line,” she said.

While she emphasized her continued opposition to ICE’s recent actions and the militarization of police forces, state Rep. Leigh Davis said she hesitated to call for a private company to make any specific business decisions.

“If Lenco were to walk away from the federal contracts, the work doesn’t disappear,” she said. “Lenco is a significant local employer, and I don't think they're defined by one single client. … I wouldn't want to scapegoat a Berkshire company to make a point.”

“I feel that targeting one local employer might feel satisfying in the moment, but it sets a slippery precedent,” she added. She said she felt immigration enforcement reform should instead be carried out in Congress and the court system.

Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti highlighted the role Lenco vehicles have played in agencies outside ICE, including rescue services.

“I understand that LENCO [sic] provides a variety of vehicles to various entities including police, fire and rescue and other emergency management agencies and has done so even before these recent violent incidents have taken place,” he said in an emailed statement provided to The Eagle through a spokesperson.

“To my knowledge, the City of Pittsfield has not provided Lenco with city funds for their business operations,” he added.

He did not comment on whether he believed Lenco should accept or refuse future contracts with ICE.

Lenco’s role as a supplier for ICE has made some community members concerned that Pittsfield is now tied to broader federal actions they disagree with.

“When local manufacturers support federal enforcement operations in a way many residents see as harmful, that raises specific civil and moral questions,” said Fernando León, a community organizer with local progressive group Greylock Together.

“I think the company definitely is not a reflection on how the community feels about ICE,” he said. “We can see that through major protests that have been happening throughout Berkshire County.”

For León, the problem lies not with Lenco’s workers but with management at the corporate level.

“I don't think the conversation has to be about undermining local jobs, but I think it has to be about transparency," he said.

“I just refuse the idea that jobs can be used to justify arming an agency that is terrorizing immigrant families,” he added. “I don't think anyone is attacking the workers or the jobs, but we are against those corporate decisions."

Shein’s reporting additionally documented how BearCats have featured prominently in social media content produced by the Department of Homeland Security, as well as ICE recruitment fairs, which emphasize spectacle and brute strength.

“Vehicles like the BearCat play a pretty prominent role in projecting that image,” he said in an interview.

Light acknowledged to Boston.com that the vehicle was noticeable during ICE activity but denied that they were a “visually central” part of operations.

The vehicles also lend themselves to aggrandizement at the local level. Just last December, a local radio station dubbed Lenco “the Berkshires’ most badass manufacturer.”

Some fear that widespread use of the BearCat, coupled with how it is depicted by the government on social media, is the latest symptom of how increasingly militarized law enforcement has become.

“Lenco is a company that's contributing to the militarization of police forces,” said Kamaar Taliaferro, a community activist in Pittsfield. And its role in the Trump administration's deportation campaign, he said, struck him as nothing new: "A company like Lenco, which is essentially a defense manufacturer, is situated within a broader history than just ICE."

“It’s a bipartisan project,” he said. “As much as we want to put this on Trump, Obama deported more people than anyone before him.”

Now, Taliaferro hopes that local leaders will recognize the impact that Lenco vehicles have had on policing over the years.

“What I would ask of politicians is that they attempt to be honest,” he said. “Now that their eyes are opened and that they're able to see the violence behind their beloved liberal democracy, are they going to be able to find the courage to tell the full story?”