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CBS News
a day ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Hundreds of union workers and supporters call for end to ICE raids in Massachusetts
Hundreds of people gathered in Boston's City Hall Plaza to call for an end to ICE raids in Massachusetts and the release of California labor leader, David Huerta. "Trump and his ICE regime have been tearing families apart and wreaking havoc across the country including our own neighborhoods," Dave Foley, the president of SEIU Local 509 told the crowd. Huerta was arrested while protesting ICE operations in Los Angeles last week. Huerta was released from custody on $50,000 bond on Monday. The arrest of Huerta and more than 40 other protesters sparked tension and unrest in the area. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard in response. "Not bad people" In Boston, those who attended the rally reacted with emotion to the scenes from LA and ICE operations locally. "A lot of workers that we're calling immigrants are employees at a lot of these major businesses and they're being snatched up off the jobs," said Adam McIntosh. "They are not bad people. They work hard, they have a family, they have a dream," one woman told WBZ. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu voiced her support for the rally and said protesters should not be fearful of President Trump deploying the National Guard in Boston. "It's important not to get bullied out of saying what we see with our own eyes," Wu said. "Secret police do not make communities safer." Bruce Foucart, the former Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations for ICE Boston, argued that political rhetoric is what is fueling the unrest and putting federal agents at risk. "You have to think about officer safety. You have to think about going home to your family, the things that you have to do," Foucart said. "And to have people that are being incendiary with their remarks within the news, with comments that are being made by politicians, it only exacerbates the situation. It makes things extremely difficult for these professionals to do their job."
CBS News
09-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Supporters celebrate judge's order to release Tufts student from ICE custody, "she can come home"
Cheers erupted outside of Vermont federal court after a judge ruled that Tufts University grad student Rumeysa Ozturk must be released from immigration custody on bail, allowing her to return to Massachusetts. "Ms. Ozturk is going to be walking out of Louisiana's detention center today," Jessie Rossman, ACLU of Massachusetts' legal director said. "She can come home, she come back to her community." Ozturk was arrested off a Somerville sidewalk on March 25 by a group of masked and plainclothes ICE agents. Her lawyer said her visa was revoked because of an op-ed she co-authored in the Tufts student newspaper about Palestine. She was shuffled from Massachusetts to Vermont and ended up in Louisiana where judges tend to be stricter on immigration laws. "She was punished for an op-ed to her employer asking them to meaningfully engage with the student body," SEIU 509 President Dan Foley said. "That is free speech. That is political expression." "Absolutely no evidence" A Vermont federal judge agreed citing First Amendment and due process concerns. "There is absolutely no evidence that she has engaged in violence or advocated violence... She has no criminal record. She has done nothing other than essentially attend her university and expand her contacts within the community in such a supportive way," said U.S. District Court Judge Williams Sessions Once Ozturk makes bail, her lawyers said she'll be on the first flight back to Massachusetts - a relief for her friends and co-workers at Tufts University. "She's got friends here who are ready to welcome her home and excited to continue to advocate for her and protect her," Foley said. Ozturk is due back in court in Vermont on May 22.
