MARBLEHEAD – At approximately 8:21 a.m. Friday, on Beach Street in Marblehead, three unmarked vehicles, believed to be U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stopped a Lassana’s Landscaping truck to capture multiple individuals.
The officials were wearing Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and police vests.
Sarah Fox said she was walking by when the vehicles pulled over the landscaping truck, and she heard one agent yell, “Your identification is fake!”
Fox said, “It was grotesque.”
The Marblehead Police Department and District Attorney Paul Tucker were not notified of ICE’s presence before the arrest.
Rep. Jenny Armini wrote in a statement, “It is shocking and distressing to see federal agents in Marblehead. Landscapers are not criminals. They are part of our economy and, by extension, our community.”
Armini added, “The goal of today’s actions is not to keep us safe. That’s the big lie. The goal is to destabilize our communities and terrorize individuals and their families. Marblehead has never given in to tyrants, and we’re not about to start now.”
Fox described seeing several vehicles surrounding the landscaping truck, blocking it from the front and side. “It was like a high-speed chase without the high speed,” she said. “The guy’s truck was in the middle of the road.”
When she approached, she noticed one individual wearing a vest labeled “FBI” and another marked “police.” She said the men yelled at the driver, accusing him of having fake identification.
Alarmed, Fox phoned her husband, Matt, an attorney who speaks Spanish.
He ran to the scene, identified himself as both a lawyer and a resident of the street – and he refused orders to leave. “They would not let him engage at all,” Fox said.
She said he attempted to cite laws and call attention to what she believed were violations, but the agents continued with the detention.
Fox and her husband took photos of the incident. She described at least five individuals wearing different vests, with no two uniforms the same.
Some vehicles appeared ordinary, including a bright blue Nissan. “This did not look official,” she said. “It looked like something you’d order on Amazon for Halloween.”
She believes multiple workers were detained, though accounts differ on whether there were two or four. “They violated every right in every law you can imagine,” she said, noting that the men were not read their rights, and her husband was not allowed to intervene as an attorney.
Fox added, “Normally, my street has a truck at every house on Friday,” she said. “This was the first quiet Friday I’ve had.”
Fox said the stop did not appear targeted. “It was clear they just pulled over a random landscaping truck,” she said. “It’s profiling.”
As of press time Marblehead’s Town Administrator and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office have not replied to a request for comment.
This is an evolving story, it will be updated as information becomes available.
