Following the detention of a Watertown man by federal immigration enforcement agents on April 10, School and City officials discussed actions being taken or planned by local officials.
At about 9 a.m. on Friday, April 10, a man was taken from his vehicle on Rutland Road by ICE agents after they broke the window. Witnesses contacted the LUCE hotline, which got in touch with the Watertown Rapid Response Network (RRN) (a group of about 250 residents with “concerns about the current immigration enforcement”) who contacted the man’s wife. The man was taken to a detention facility in Plymouth, according to a member of the RRN.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, a member the Rapid Response Network requested that City officials “issue an executive order that prohibits City resources from being used for immigration enforcement, prohibits immigration activities on City property, requires valid warrants before ICE enters City buildings, ensures transparency and community notifications regarding ICE activity, and protects every Watertown residents Constitutional and human rights.”
City Council President Mark Sideris said he has received emails from constituents, and heard public comment at the Council and Monday’s School Committee meetings.
“I will be bringing forward some information based on discussions that I’m having with the Manager (George Proakis) and the Police Chief (Justin Hanrahan) on what we’re doing to keep this community safe,” Sideris said. “I’m also going to include what we’ve done, and we talked about at the School Committee meeting, and we will have that discussion at the next meeting (on April 28).”
The ICE action was the first that the RRN has been aware of in Watertown since Nov. 4, and the group estimates between 10 and 13 people have been detained in the City limits since immigration enforcement has been intensified in 2025. In May 2025, two men were detained on Maple Street near the Mass Pike exit in Newton Corner. Detainments have taken place in surrounding communities, including at the Waltham District Court, which serves Watertown.
The detainment took place less than a mile from Cunniff Elementary School. On Monday, members of the RRN asked the School Committee what plans the Watertown Public Schools have in place when something occurs near or impacts a school, and urged Schools officials to follow the school defense toolkit endorsed by the Massachusetts Teachers Association.
In February, the School Committee adopted a resolution “protecting the rights of immigrant students and their families.” The resolution had language about what protections the Watertown Schools would provide, but did not include details.
Superintendent Dede Galdston provided some details about the WPS plans and protocols. The district began looking at how to respond in the winter of 2025. She said the Watertown Schools have had to respond after prior ICE actions.
“We have had incidents where families have been very impacted by the actions that are being taken, to the point of our social emotional support staff staying, waiting, working with the child, making sure that they found the right person to go home with,” Galdston said. “It’s not like this has not happened. It has, and it has happened at the high school level too, with students who may be 18 — making sure that if they needed anything, and they have come to leadership, they’ve come to their guidance counselors, in terms of, what can you do to support me and we are there for whatever they need.”
If ICE agents are seen in the area of a school, Galdston said, staff members have been told to find their principal, and who would contact the Superintendent.
“Then I will take care of whatever needs to be taken care of,” Galdston said. ” The rule is, don’t engage. And they know the protocols for what to do.”
Each school has a critical incident team that is trained on how to respond to a variety of types of incidents, including immigration enforcement.
“They know the protocols around what to do if ICE agents were in the neighborhood,” Galdston said. “We would more than likely put the school in a shelter in place, just to make sure that our students are not necessarily impacted visually by what’s happening outside, and trying to take care of our kids within and then checking in to make sure that there’s nothing that we need to do, and to keep our kids in the school until we’re able to make sure there’s a safe transmission to the right caregiver.”
The Watertown Schools have been following the recommendations of the MTA’s toolkit, including gathering information in one place.
“What I learned in January is, while I knew that we had everything in place it was in many places, not just in one place,” Galdston said. “So having the toolkit is a place where we can bring everything together. There’s a team of people who are working at that currently.”
One more plan the Watertown School officials must complete is what to do if there is no parent or other caregiver available for a student.
“The last thing that I think that we need to do is finding out a way to gather volunteers within our school community if there’s a situation where a child might need to be somewhere overnight,” Galdston said. “Like, who can take a child in, and we have people who will do it, but knowing exactly who will do it is one of those pieces that we’re still working on at this time.”
A reminder, we are trying something new with comments. In addition to signing your full name, please indicate where you live or how you describe yourself, such as Watertown Resident, former Watertown Resident, from Waltham, etc. That way people can get an idea “where you are coming from,” both literally and figuratively.
Thanks,
Charlie Breitrose, Watertown News Editor
I totally understand this policy as a necessity of making sure that Watertown’s conversations stay rooted in Watertown and at bare minimum defending against bots. I am not unwilling to “let people know where I am coming from” as you say, by listing my name and place of residence but weighing in on divisive local topics has always required courage and depended on trust, trust in one’s neighbors if nothing else. Please at least acknowledge that commenting by name and identifying yourself as a Watertown resident on something like the recent ICE arrest in Watertown….much less replying after ugly or just factually incorrect statements by real people implying comfort with or even celebrating violence is asking a lot. I don’t know the answer here’s a reason “comments” sections in these times quickly skew towards extremism and rancor in these times.
Really … “I will be bringing forward some information based on discussions that I’m having with the Manager (George Proakis) and the Police Chief (Justin Hanrahan) on what we’re doing to keep this community safe,” Sideris said.
ICE is taking serious criminal off the streets. That’s what is being done to keep us safe? How do you not understand this?
Per DHS and ICE’s own records, there are multiple reports of hiring ICE agents who have a criminal background. Some recruits were found to have very serious criminal records such as armed robbery, domestic violence and sexual assault. Some have gang affiliations, 2 were MS13 members, outstanding warrants and discharges from police departments for misconduct. Dozens are failing current drug tests. Thousands were flagged as former law enforcement but have no such background. As a result, they only got 4 weeks of training vs 13. And it shows. One does not leave an automatic weapon dangling from his beer gut. While that may be funny to see, it is not so funny if that gun goes off. Hundreds were involved in the Insurrection on January 6th, one was convicted for brutally assaulting a police officer.
As for the detainees, 70% do not have a legal status – a civil not criminal violation. Of those captured 30% have a criminal record, the vast majority being traffic violations. Of the 30%, 3 to 5%, about 3000, have a committed a crime described above. Citizens commit 14 million crimes each year, 1.2 million are violent crimes, 12 million are property crimes and the remainder are traffic violations and the like. Less than half lead to an arrest. Seven or more citizen criminals are just walking around unencumbered continuing to commit crimes. This is being done with our taxes, money that could go to existing police departments who already are charged with protecting the public from criminals. This is an expensive circus for little impact. And now our tax money has facilitated at least 13 murders of citizens and detainees, numerous assaults on citizens and detainees, bribery, drug tracking and sexual abuse of detainees.
Logic would dictate that such agents should be at the borders. But since we have Border Control, a better solution would be immigration reform in which those south of the border have an actual path to citizenship. Not everyone coming here through proper channels is a non-criminal. For an investment of 450,000, a Chinese sex trafficker, Russian gangster and South African murderer can easily gain entry, and they are. This renders the whole concept of ICE as completely useless and bogus.
Well said Rita!
Thank you for your thoughtful research and comment.
Was the man released or is he still in Plymouth detention facility?
I think the frustration and anger about ICE arrests is misdirected.
I think we should be upset with the previous administration which let tens of millions of unvetted immigrants into our country. In addition, Massachusetts ‘sanctuary’ policies prevent ICE detainers for immigrant criminals from being honored which results in criminal illegal immigrants being released from custody and back into our communities. When ICE cannot arrest criminal illegal immigrants at state facilities, they must pursue them into our communities.
Although ICE enforcement costs are considerable, it should be noted that Massachusetts spent over $978 million on emergency shelters and related services for migrants in fiscal year 2025 alone and those costs continue. Those monies would have certainly helped existing police departments who already are charged with protecting the public from criminals. The money could also help all residents of Massachusetts which is currently facing a $650 million budget shortfall.
Like it or not, people in this country illegally have committed a crime and are subject to the consequence of that crime. We may not like the way the laws against illegal immigration are enforced but they must be.
The anger against American brown shirts isn’t at all misdirected. Trump lied (what else is new) when he said ICE would only do after undocumented immigrants with criminal records. All evidence over the last 15 months shows what a lie that way. But again, what else is new with this evil autocrat and those who STILL support him!
Biden and Obama detained far more than Trump did in his first adminstration. Additionally, we are taking 11 million people approximately. The US has 375 million people. If this the source of all our problem or the one that needs addressing, then we are missing the forest through the trees. Again, white males commit almost all of the crimes, and yet women out number them. How about some common sense laws regarding child molestation and other situation? Some guy is doing 20 years for have a few grams of coke, but the child molester is a few blocks over from any school because the max sentence has been met. Life would be more appropriate. Again, an expensive circus that results in nothing.
People’s righteous anger at ICE/CBP’s abusive and illegal behavior is not “misdirected,” instead it should be re-directed toward our fellow citizens who support this disgusting approach to “law enforcement.” In truth, it’s “racism enforcement.” Almost all immigrants are good, moral, family-focused, law-abiding people… unlike many native-born white folks, who commit crimes but are not often caught or held accountable (witness the current administration). Note that it is a misdemeanor to be in the USA without authority. For a misdemeanor, fascist thugs are using violence and bullying at their personal whim, brutalizing and detaining green card holders, asylum applicants and U.S. citizens … injuring and even KILLING them. We will not let this stand.
I am a Watertown resident, homeowner and property tax payer. I patronize Watertown businesses, and I worked for a Watertown-based company for 2 years.
1000% Kathi!