Since President Donald Trump began his second term in office, New Bedford’s immigrant community has been transformed.
The first nine months of mass deportations were marked by sudden and violent raids that drew national and international attention. Over time, enforcement became more targeted, moving largely out of public view.
2025 IN REVIEW
Federal authorities have arrested at least 60 immigrants living or working in the New Bedford area. The Light has confirmed the apprehension of 53 through local sources, court records, and area and federal law enforcement. Some were detained during large-scale actions. Others were arrested individually, or at check-ins for immigration appointments.
Of those individuals, nine have been confirmed released. Some are awaiting decisions in immigration court, while others were released under supervision. Twelve detainees have since been deported from the United States.
Violent raids
People felt the mass deportation campaign before it hit New Bedford. Shortly after the 2024 election, advocates, lawyers, and some public officials urged their community to brace for impact. Businesses on Acushnet Avenue began to feel the pinch before the first street arrest happened.
U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s hammer fell upon New Bedford on March 11, when agents descended on the Minit-Man Car Wash and detained three Guatemalan men.
On March 21, ICE agents detained two Guatemalan men when they used a battering ram to enter their home on Viall Street. Teenagers present at the home said agents did not present warrants for entry. The raid left a 19-year old as household head. The action spurred 200 residents to demonstrate outside City Hall.
On April 14, Marilú Domingo Ortiz used her cellphone to record a federal agent as he smashed the car window when agents arrested her husband, Juan Francisco Méndez. The tape led to an international outcry and prompted declamation from U.S. Rep. Bill Keating. After more than two months in detention, ICE released Méndez on bond.
Dramatic street raids continued. Operation Patriot in May and Operation Patriot 2.0 arrested thousands of immigrants statewide, largely with no criminal convictions. In New Bedford, the vast majority of immigrants detained had no violent criminal convictions.
The overwhelming majority of those detained locally have been Indigenous men from Guatemala. The gender disparities led some advocates to speculate that it may point to a strategy of removing breadwinners to pressure their families to leave.
On June 8, ICE detained Emerson Garcia DosSantos as he drove his car in Fall River, leaving his U.S. citizen wife, Erika Hartman DosSantos, to fight brain cancer alone. DHS later deported Garcia DosSantos to his native Brazil. The couple is arranging for Hartman DosSantos to relocate to Brazil.
In the coming months, tactics evolved. The last confirmed street operation took place in Fairhaven on Sept. 19, when agents took three Guatemalan men into custody. Among them was Luís David Ajtzac Osório, an 18-year old with special immigrant juvenile status and a legal work permit.
Tactics have moved beyond street arrests. In July, Market Basket told 47 workers to leave their New Bedford store unless they could show proof of legal work authorization.
That demonstrated New Bedford’s economic dependence on immigrants as fear pushed people to leave their jobs, and often enough, the area. After months of terror, some businesses along Acushnet Avenue reported drops in sales as high as 50%.
The number of immigrant students enrolled in New Bedford Public Schools also dropped by 6% from last year, and a further 13% since September.
Bishop Edgar Moreira da Cunha, the prelate of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River, leads New Bedford’s large Catholic community. He spoke with The Light on the impact of ICE raids on church attendance.
“The United States is shooting themselves in the foot because they are doing harm to themselves by the things that they are doing,” da Cunha told The Light.
From the streets to the courts
ICE agents’ presence on the streets of New Bedford shrank significantly by the fall as federal operations shifted to other parts of the country. In Massachusetts, while street arrests have continued, ICE’s gaze fell upon district courts and immigration check-ins at the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office in Framingham, or for check-ins at the ICE Field Office in Burlington.
Data collected by the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by The Light show that over 400 arrests in Massachusetts from January to mid-October 2025 occurred across 44 courts statewide.
In Bristol County, emails obtained by The Light show routine exchanges between the sheriff’s office and ICE, including booking logs, court dates, and release times. At the Dartmouth House of Correction, jail officials often coordinated directly with ICE, sharing information that has helped facilitate immigration arrests.
However, sheriffs are limited in how much they can assist ICE, even when detainers are issued. A 2017 ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court bars sheriffs from holding someone solely on an ICE detainer once they are cleared for release, a ruling that has led to friction with federal agents.
That tension culminated in May, when the Department of Homeland Security published a list of “sanctuary jurisdictions,” accusing them of obstructing immigration enforcement. Nearly every county in Massachusetts appeared on the list, a move the president of the National Sheriffs’ Association, Kieran Donahue, criticized as arbitrary and damaging to cooperation between law enforcement and the White House.
In April, Mayor Jon Mitchell criticized ICE over a lack of transparency around Méndez’s arrest.
Communication has been inconsistent with the New Bedford Police Department as well, Police Chief Jason Thody told The Light in October. Most of the time, he said, officers learn of immigration arrests through news reports or social media.
In response to increased immigration enforcement activity and “some community pushback,” Thody issued interim guidance outlining how officers should interact with ICE when agents conduct operations in the city.
Legal developments
Enforcement continues to reflect massive changes in policy. And it has rippled into the court systems, where advocates and lawyers say many of those policies violate civil and due process rights.
Many complaints revolve around the speed at which those detained are processed and transferred outside Massachusetts. ICE detained Pascual Cuin González, a Guatemalan asylee in New Bedford, on Sept. 12, alongside his partner, Manuela Morales González.
Over the next week, authorities transferred him between Burlington and detention facilities in New York and Louisiana before agents released him to find his way back to New Bedford.
The use of Hanscom Air Force base to swiftly fly detainees out of Massachusetts prompted a letter from Gov. Maura Healey on Dec. 15 protesting the flights from the base.
“Flying these residents out of state and away from their support systems and legal counsel — often within hours of arrest — is intentionally cruel and purposely obstructs the due process and legal representation they are owed,” Healey said.
As fears of ICE permeate communities, nonprofits across the state have noticed a sizable increase in the number of residents applying for U.S. citizenship.
But many others seeking legal status, including Ajtzac Osório, the New Bedford teenager from the Fairhaven raid, have been de-documented despite following legal processes. The same day Ajtzac Osório was arrested, U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services removed his deferred action and later terminated his work permit.
As allegations of civil rights violations increased, so have the numbers of habeas corpus petitions filed in U.S. District Court Massachusetts. As of Dec. 29, there had been 629 habeas petitions filed in the court, 432 of which remained active. The number of habeas petitions filed continued to rise after multiple Board of Immigration Appeals decisions and an ICE policy change in July resulted in blanket bond hearing denials.
That happened to Yury Melissa Aguiriano Romero, a Honduran asylum seeker and the first confirmed female detainee from New Bedford. An immigration judge denied her a bond hearing at the behest of DHS. That judge later granted her release on bond only after a U.S. District Court judge ordered a bond hearing.
In December, U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris declared that DHS had misclassified many detainees in order to deny their right to a bond hearing. She ordered DHS to allow for bond hearings to notify all current and future detainees within the jurisdiction of U.S. District Court Massachusetts and the Boston and Chelmsford immigration courts of that right in an appropriate language.
The rapidly shifting environment has taxed immigration lawyers, who find themselves overwhelmed with policy changes and people seeking legal representation.
The Massachusetts hub
The ICE Field Office in Burlington, where many are processed after arrest, has become a focal point of discussion over detention conditions. Stories of harsh treatment and possible civil and human rights violations have led to weekly protests outside the building and visits from federal lawmakers.
In August, The Light collected testimonies from immigrants in the Greater New Bedford area who had spent time in Burlington and, in some cases, other ICE facilities out of state. They described being kept in rooms with no windows for most of the day, receiving little food and water, and sometimes going days without bathing.
Others said their experiences in jails in New England, where immigrants were held with the general inmate population, felt more humane than ICE-run facilities.
Andrés De León Castro, arrested in Fairhaven in May and deported to Guatemala on July 12, said agents at Burlington told detainees they were not allowed to talk or move and left them in a freezing room without food or water.
“When we complained, they told us that’s what we deserved.”
Conditions inside the facility drew public attention after the release of Marcelo Gomes da Silva, a Milford High School student detained in May and held there for six days. His detention prompted a visit on June 5 by the U.S. Reps. Jake Auchincloss and Seth Moulton.
After his second visit in November, Moulton said at a news conference outside the facility that he saw fewer detainees than during his earlier visit, but that access to blankets remained a concern.
“It seems that they are moving people through here more quickly,” said Moulton. “The consequence of that is that they don’t have as much time to have lawyers intervene in their cases.”
Email Kevin G. Andrade at kandrade@newbedfordlight.org. Email Eleonora Bianchi at ebianchi@newbedfordlight.org.
It’s real simple Ice is only doing there job, blame Joe Biden, Maura Healey, and all the Far Left Liberals that left the borders wide open and let undocumented Illegals including (Criminals, Rapists, and Child Molesters) enter our country. 100% if you are here illegally, you should be deported.
“‘“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’
When my grandmother’s uncle Larry arrived in Derby CT from Ireland in the mid-1800s, he was met by a man while walking down Elizabeth Street who waved a cheery hello. When Larry responded in kind, the man recognized his brogue, stiffened and said, “Get to the street. No Irish and ni@@@rs on the sidewalk.”Sounds like some things will never change.
Do you read? They are deporting people who are here legally
Unfortunately, agents conducting raids are detaining too many people who have not committed any crimes and are also legally in the US, including citizens.
Citizens and long-time residents are being subject to detention without due process by masked, armed agents. This is unconstitutional and a dangerous precedent because it weakens the due process rights of us all.
The US Constitution grants due process rights to all residents in this country and we are all entitled to our day in court.
A few sources:
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
https://www.propublica.org/article/immigration-dhs-american-citizens-arrested-detained-against-will
He’s a citizen with a Real ID. ICE detained him anyway. Twice.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11/10/ice-construction-worker-real-id-detained/
Conveniently always leaving out the links to the articles where illegals have committed crimes of murder, rape, and assault, and crimes of children being assaulted and molested. The law states entering this country illegally is a crime and if you’re here with no documentation, fake documentation, or committing crimes you deserve to be deported. Time to stop the Far Left Liberal nonsense, the fact is the majority of Americans support our Law Enforcement Agencies across this country.
No one is questioning the legitimate arrest of any undocumented person who has committed a crime.
That does NOT excuse the arrest and denial of due process rights to the undocumented, those with green cards or other permissions to be here, and even citizens. Nor does it accuse the practice of profiling people or color, or people who speak with an accent, or even those with tattoos and denying them due process.
The people who are actually guilty of crimes are the minority of those actually being detained and treated inhumanely.
Essentially, many of those unjustly detained are “disappeared” into other states in remote areas far from family, legal help and authorized legislative oversight in violation of our US Constitution.
This is wrong and a violation of the constitutional rights of all of us. It is our duty as citizens to protest unlawful acts by our government.
correction “excuse the practice”
Agreed
Do you have the links for illegals committing crimes of murder, rape, and assault, and crimes of children being assaulted and molested in Bristol County?
Number of citizens detained?
You spew Far Right nonsense.
Support for our Law Enforcement Agencies across this country is at an all time low .
See Law Enforcement convictions
Thank you!
I would hope that that federal agent who broke that car window has been charged with a crime and is held financially responsible for crime and also punished. It is likely he did not have a warrant.
I liked Joebiden. He was smart and gracious. Just sayin’
You mean stumbling, mumbling, and bumbling, how could anyone forget the Easter Bunny having to recuse a confused Joe Biden after he was seen wandering around helplessly.
Spouting lies again. It’s sickening how you people just make things up. Funny the economy was going strong until trupp took over. Since then inflation has gone back up and prices continue to rise
I am aware of the number of detainees in ICE custody as of December, 2025, and the DHS reported number of those who were detained for violent offenses.
When we do the math, only a small percentage of detainees and people being deported are violent criminals.
I have attached the following links to information documenting this fact. People interested in this issue can look at the facts presented and judge for themselves.:
Cato Institute November 24, 2025 5:50PM
5% of People Detained By ICE Have Violent Convictions, 73% No Convictions
https://www.cato.org/blog/5-ice-detainees-have-violent-convictions-73-no-convictions
Number of people in ICE detention hits record high, data shows
“In one of the biggest changes in immigration enforcement policies, immigrants with no criminal record continue to make up the largest group in US immigration detention, despite the administration’s rhetoric about focusing its anti-immigration efforts on “the worst of the worst” criminals. “
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/22/ice-detentions-record-immigration
Trump administration deadlier for ICE detainees than COVID-19 Pademic
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/trump-deadlier-for-ice-detainees-than-covid-19-pandemic/
Repeat, repeat, repeat, write all the religious quotes, far left liberal comments, and provide all the links on immigration you want. When it comes to illegal immigration every one has the right to not agree with the far left liberal nonsense and most importantly anything coming out of fake news. Give it break already.