Eleven people, including eight Mainers, were arrested Tuesday while trying to deliver care packages of food, personal items and a letter of support to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees in Massachusetts.
In total, several dozen faith leaders and volunteers from Maine and Massachusetts participated in the action at ICE’s Burlington field office, which has drawn scrutiny from immigration lawyers and elected officials over reports of overcrowding and unsanitary conditions.
Andy Burt, one of the organizers of the action, said the group was not allowed into the ICE field office in Burlington, and was later arrested by local police for trespassing.
But Burt said the group is undeterred.
“For some people who were here, it was the first time that they had ever taken an action like this, and they really were moved by the spirit of it all,” she said.
Before departing for Massachusetts early Tuesday morning, the Rev. Allison Smith, senior minister of the Congregational Church in Cumberland, acknowledged it was unlikely that the care packages would make it to the detainees, but said it was about sending a message.
“This is a matter of doing what’s right,” Smith said, “even in the face of the possibility of not being successful.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the number of detainees currently held at the Burlington facility, which serves as a regional processing center.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
