
05/01/2025
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Visit Boxborough Resident
The following article has been condensed for print. To read the full article, visit BoxboroughNews.org/news
Saturday, April 19, started out as most mornings do for Joel Richman, a long time Boxborough resident. It was just after 8 a.m. when Richman headed outside with his two dogs for their morning walk in the woods behind his house.
After about five minutes, Richman told Boxborough News, the dogs emerged from the woods and started barking and running toward his driveway; Richman ran after them to the front of his house. When he reached the front of his house, Richman said, he saw that at least six plain clothes officers “had surrounded his house” and “one was banging on his front door.” At least six unmarked vehicles lined the street in front of his home, Richman recalled.
The officers identified themselves as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, Richman said. They informed him that they were looking for someone who was using his address, but they did not give any specifics.
Richman told Boxborough News that the first 30 seconds after he came back to his house were “terrifying…It happened so fast…these guys were not there five minutes ago. Within minutes, they had the house surrounded.”
When asked to comment, Boxborough Police Chief John Szewczyk provided the following statement to Boxborough News: “US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contacted Nashoba Valley Regional Dispatch District (NVRDD) who in turn contacted the Boxborough Police Department to make us aware that they were in Boxborough and would be conducting an investigation. Boxborough Police was not on scene and did not provide assistance to ICE.” Boxborough Police has received no further communication from ICE regarding the case.
When asked about Boxborough Police policy “not to voluntarily comply with ICE detainer requests absent a judicial warrant,” Chief Szewczyk indicated that the policy is rooted in state law.
In 2017, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held in Commonwealth v. Lunn that Massachusetts law does not provide law enforcement the authority to hold individuals based solely on a federal civil immigration detainer. An ICE detainer is not a judicial warrant; it is an administrative request from a federal agency. Accordingly, holding an individual beyond their lawful release time solely based on an ICE detainer is considered an unlawful arrest under Massachusetts law.
If police or ICE are at your home, you have rights under the U.S. Constitution, regardless of your immigration status. For “know your rights” information, you can visit the American Civil Liberties Union page: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/immigrants-rights -or-ice-are-at-my-home
Regardless of your immigration status, you have guaranteed rights under the Constitution. Learn more here about your rights as an immigrant, and how to express them.